How they appeared in stories about the soul. Analysis of "Dead Souls"

One of the most famous works Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is considered to be. The author worked meticulously on this work about the adventures of a middle-aged adventurer for 17 long years. The history of the creation of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is truly interesting. Work on the poem began in 1835. Dead Souls was originally conceived as comic work, but the plot kept getting more complicated. Gogol wanted to display the entire Russian soul with its inherent vices and virtues, and the conceived three-part structure was supposed to refer readers to “ Divine Comedy» Dante.

It is known that the plot of the poem was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich briefly outlined the story of enterprising person, who sold dead souls to the guardianship council, for which he received a lot of money. Gogol wrote in his diary: “Pushkin found that such a plot of Dead Souls was good for me because it gave me complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.” By the way, in those days this story was not the only one. Heroes like Chichikov were constantly talked about, so we can say that Gogol reflected reality in his work. Gogol considered Pushkin to be his mentor in matters of writing, so he read the first chapters of the work to him, expecting that the plot would make Pushkin laugh. However great poet was darker than a cloud - Russia was too hopeless.

The creative story of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” could have ended at this point, but the writer enthusiastically made edits, trying to remove the painful impression and adding comical moments. Subsequently, Gogol read the work in the Askakov family, the head of which was the famous theater critic and public figure. The poem was highly appreciated. Zhukovsky was also familiar with the work, and Gogol made changes several times in accordance with Vasily Andreevich’s suggestions. At the end of 1836, Gogol wrote to Zhukovsky: “I redid everything I started again, thought over the whole plan and now I am writing it calmly, like a chronicle... If I complete this creation the way it needs to be done, then... how huge, what original story!.. All Rus' will appear in it!” Nikolai Vasilyevich tried in every possible way to show all sides of Russian life, and not just the negative, as was the case in the first editions.

Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote the first chapters in Russia. But in 1837 Gogol left for Italy, where he continued to work on the text. The manuscript went through several revisions, many scenes were deleted and redone, and the author had to make concessions in order for the work to be published. Censorship could not allow “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” to be published, since it satirically depicted the life of the capital: high prices, the arbitrariness of the tsar and the ruling elite, abuse of power. Gogol did not want to remove the story of Captain Kopeikin, so he had to “extinguish” the satirical motives. The author considered this part to be one of the best in the poem, which was easier to redo than to remove altogether.

Who would have thought that the history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls” is full of intrigue! In 1841, the manuscript was ready for printing, but censorship in last moment changed her mind. Gogol was depressed. In upset feelings, he writes to Belinsky, who agrees to help with the publication of the book. After a while, the decision was made in Gogol’s favor, but he was given a new condition: to change the title from “Dead Souls” to “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” This was done in order to distract potential readers from relevant social problems, focusing on the adventures of the main character.

In the spring of 1842, the poem was published; this event caused fierce controversy in the literary community. Gogol was accused of slander and hatred of Russia, but Belinsky came to the writer’s defense, highly appreciating the work.

Gogol again leaves abroad, where he continues to work on the second volume of Dead Souls. The work was even more difficult. The story of writing the second part is full of mental suffering and personal drama of the writer. By that time, Gogol felt an internal discord that he could not cope with. Reality did not coincide with the Christian ideals on which Nikolai Vasilyevich was raised, and this gap grew larger every day. In the second volume, the author wanted to portray heroes different from the characters in the first part - positive ones. And Chichikov had to undergo a certain rite of purification, taking the true path. Many drafts of the poem were destroyed by order of the author, but some parts were still preserved. Gogol believed that the second volume was completely devoid of life and truth; he doubted himself as an artist, hating the continuation of the poem.

Unfortunately, Gogol did not realize his original plan, but Dead Souls rightfully plays its very own role. important role in the history of Russian literature.

Work test

The main work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is not only in the scale and depth of artistic generalizations. For this author, working on it became a long process writerly and human self-knowledge. Analysis " Dead souls" will be presented in this article.

Gogol noticed after the publication of the first volume that the main subject of his work was not the ugly landowners or the province, but a “secret” that was suddenly to be revealed to readers in the following volumes.

"Pale Beginning" of a Grand Design

The search for a genre, changing the concept, working on the text of the first two volumes, as well as thinking about the third - these are fragments of a grandiose “construction”, carried out only partially by Nikolai Vasilyevich. When analyzing “Dead Souls,” it should be understood that the first volume is only a part in which the outlines of the whole are outlined. This is the “pale beginning” of the work, as defined by the writer himself. No wonder Nikolai Vasilyevich compared it to a porch hastily attached to the “palace” by the provincial architect.

How did the idea for the work come about?

Features of the composition and plot, the originality of the genre are associated with the deepening and development of the original concept of “Dead Souls”. Pushkin stood at the origins of the work. As Nikolai Vasilyevich said, the poet advised him to take up big essay and even suggested a plot from which he himself wanted to create “something like a poem.” However, it was not so much the plot itself, but the “thought” contained in it that was Pushkin’s “hint” to Gogol. Were well known to the future author of the poem real stories, which are based on scams with the so-called " dead souls". IN teenage years Gogol in Mirgorod one of these cases occurred.

"Dead souls" in Russia during the time of Gogol

"Dead Souls" - who died, but continued to be listed as alive until the next "revision fairy tale". Only after it were they officially considered dead. It was after this that the landowners stopped paying a special tax for them. The peasants who existed on paper could be mortgaged, donated or sold, which is something scammers sometimes do They took advantage of seducing the landowners not only with the opportunity to get rid of serfs who did not generate income, but also to receive money for them.

The buyer of “dead souls” became the owner of a very real fortune. The adventure of the main character of the work, Chichikov, is a consequence of the “most inspired thought” that dawned on him - the guardianship council will give 200 rubles for each serf.

An adventurous picaresque novel

The basis for the so-called picaresque adventure novel was provided by an “anecdote” with “dead souls.” This type of novel has always been very popular because it is entertaining. Gogol's older contemporaries created works in this genre (V. T. Narezhny, F. V. Bulgarin, etc.). Their novels, despite their rather low artistic level, were a great success.

Modification of the genre of the picaresque novel in the process of work

The genre model of the work we are interested in is precisely an adventurous picaresque novel, as the analysis of “Dead Souls” shows. It, however, changed greatly during the writer’s work on this creation. This is evidenced, for example, by the author’s designation “poem”, which appeared after overall plan And main idea corrected by Gogol (Dead Souls).

Analysis of the work reveals the following interesting features. “All of Rus' will appear in it” - Gogol’s thesis, which not only emphasized the scale of the concept of “Dead Souls” in comparison with the initial desire “albeit from one side” to show Russia, but also meant a radical revision genre model, previously chosen. The framework of the traditional adventure and picaresque novel became cramped for Nikolai Vasilyevich, since he could not accommodate the richness of the new plan. Chichikov’s “odyssey” turned into just one way of seeing Russia.

An adventurous picaresque novel, having lost leading value in "Dead Souls", remained at the same time a genre shell for the epic and morally descriptive tendencies of the poem.

Features of Chichikov's image

One of the techniques used in this genre is the mystery of the hero's origin. Main character in the first chapters he was either a man from the common people or a foundling, and at the end of the work, having overcome life's obstacles, he suddenly turned out to be the son of rich parents and received an inheritance. Nikolai Vasilyevich decisively refused such a template.

When analyzing the poem "Dead Souls", it should certainly be noted that Chichikov is a man of the "middle". The author himself says about him that he is “not bad-looking,” but not handsome, not too thin, but not too fat, not very old and not very young. The life story of this adventurer is hidden from the reader until the final, eleventh chapter. You will be convinced of this by carefully reading “Dead Souls”. Analysis by chapter reveals the fact that the author tells the backstory only in the eleventh. Having decided to do this, Gogol begins by emphasizing the “vulgarity,” the mediocrity of his hero. He writes that his origins are “modest” and “obscure.” Nikolai Vasilyevich again rejects extremes in defining his character (not a scoundrel, but not a hero either), but dwells on Chichikov’s main quality - he is an “acquirer”, “owner”.

Chichikov - an "average" person

Thus, there is nothing unusual in this hero - he is a so-called “average” person, in whom Gogol strengthened a trait that is characteristic of many people. Nikolai Vasilyevich sees in his passion for profit, which has replaced everything else, in the pursuit of the ghost of an easy and beautiful life a manifestation of “human poverty,” poverty and spiritual interests - all that is so carefully hidden by many people. An analysis of “Dead Souls” shows that Gogol needed a biography of the hero not so much in order to reveal the “secret” of his life at the end of the work, but rather to remind readers that this is not exceptional person, but quite ordinary. Anyone can discover some “part of Chichikov” in themselves.

"Positive" heroes of the work

In adventure and picaresque novels, the traditional plot “spring” is the persecution of the main character by malicious, greedy and vicious people. Compared to them, the rogue who fought for his own rights seemed almost like a “model of perfection.” As a rule, compassionate people helped him and virtuous people, naively expressing the author’s ideals.

However, no one is pursuing Chichikov in the first volume of the work. Also, there are no characters in the novel who could, to any extent, follow the writer’s point of view. Carrying out an analysis of the work “Dead Souls”, we can notice that only in the second volume do “positive” heroes appear: the landowner Kostanzhoglo, the tax farmer Murazov, the governor, who is irreconcilable with the abuses of various officials. But even these characters, unusual for Nikolai Vasilyevich, are very far from novel templates.

What interests Nikolai Vasilyevich first of all?

The plots of many works written in the genre of the picaresque adventure novel were far-fetched and artificial. The emphasis was on adventures, the “adventures” of rogue heroes. And Nikolai Vasilyevich is interested not in the adventures of the main character in themselves, not in their “material” result (Chichikov eventually got his fortune through fraudulent means), but in their moral and social content, which allowed the author to make trickery a “mirror” reflecting modern Russia in the work "Dead Souls". Analysis shows that this is a country of landowners who sell “air” (that is, dead peasants), as well as officials who assist the swindler instead of hindering him. The plot of this work has enormous semantic potential - various layers of other meanings - symbolic and philosophical - are superimposed on its real basis. It is very interesting to analyze the landowners (“Dead Souls”). Each of the five characters is very symbolic - Nikolai Vasilyevich uses the grotesque in their depiction.

Slowing down the plot

Gogol deliberately slows down the movement of the plot, accompanying each event detailed descriptions the material world in which the heroes live, as well as their appearance, reasoning about their Not only dynamics, but also significance is lost by the adventurous and picaresque plot. Each event of the work causes an “avalanche” of the author’s assessments and judgments, details, facts. The action of the novel is contrary to requirements of this genre almost completely stops last chapters. You can verify this by independently analyzing Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” For the development of the action, only two events out of all the others are significant, which occur from the seventh to the eleventh chapters. This is the departure from the city of Chichikov and the execution of a deed of sale.

Demanding on readers

Nikolai Vasilyevich is very demanding of readers - he wants them to penetrate into the very essence of phenomena, and not skim over their surface, ponder hidden meaning works "Dead Souls". It should be analyzed very carefully. It is necessary to see behind the “objective” or informative meaning of the author’s words the not obvious, but the most important meaning is the symbolically generalized one. Just as necessary, as for Pushkin in “Eugene Onegin,” is the co-creation of readers for the author of “Dead Souls.” It is important to note that the artistic effect of Gogol’s prose is created not by what is told or depicted, but by how it is done. You will be convinced of this once you analyze the work “Dead Souls”. The word is a subtle instrument that Gogol mastered perfectly.

Nikolai Vasilyevich emphasized that a writer, when addressing people, must take into account the fear and uncertainty that lives in those who commit bad deeds. Both approval and reproach should be carried by the word of the “lyric poet”. Discussions about the dual nature of the phenomena of life are the favorite topic of the author of the work that interests us.

That's how brief analysis("Dead Souls"). A lot can be said about Gogol’s work. We have highlighted only the main points. It is also interesting to dwell on the images of landowners and the author. You can do this yourself, based on our analysis.

A STORY ABOUT SOUL AND BODY

The young man did not want to say anything more without his lawyer. At the same time, I pressed further. I told him:

– The human soul is a small house, and the room of the soul is furnished. This furniture is our present. If this very present were cared for and cherished, if they paid as much attention to it as to the past and future (and these are the walls of the soul), then maybe the present could develop, maybe it would grow, it would bloom magnificently color and would rise at the expense of the walls of the past and future, returning to its original order and becoming the measure that we have long ago curtailed, nurturing our past and future at the expense of what is rejected today, and withers more and more: and more. If you don’t come to your senses, I will find a way to tear another piece from your already flawed present...

Backed up against the wall, he told me the following face to face.

At the invitation of his employer, he came from New Orleans via Lyon. The garden in which the event took place belonged to Senor Razin, and Mrs. Razin knew about it. There is a well in the garden, although it contains more mud than water. It was in connection with this well that the young man was given a special assignment.

“I was told,” he says, “to do the following. Every evening on the full moon, I was told, Senora Vitacha casts a spell. She looks into a dish of water or into some well and sees who appears to her in the water. From the face that appears to her, and, in her opinion, depends on her future, the fate of the people she loves. On the very first full moon, you will go with her and see whose face she will call out of the water. If a man, - they ordered me, - therefore, in If it's a man, kill her and throw her body into the well. If there's a woman's face in the water, let her go wherever her eyes look...

On the very first night of the full moon I went with Senora Razin to the well. She said she wanted to cool the fruit. When she pulled out the bucket, I watched, for I am only blind in my own business. Vitacha did not pay attention to me and leaned over the bucket, waiting for the moonlight to gather in it. She waited while the stars fell like leaves. At this time she said:

– Let Sunday marry with Monday, Tuesday with Wednesday, Thursday with women’s Friday, and men’s Friday with Saturday. Leave the year twelve men's Fridays and don't dare to become short-tempered, don't go on the road, to war or into bed with your wife. And let women’s Fridays remain the same, let the first Friday after each full moon remain women’s for me. This is young Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, saint, patroness of horses; Let Paraskeva protect the barren; and leave twelve of these a year. And let Thursday remain a widower (in men’s week he is Friday), and Saturday remain a widow when Holy Fridays are in women’s weeks. And don't let them fight men's days With Women's Day weeks for excellence, may peace be upon them and on him who appeared...

And then I saw a face appear in the bucket. He took a good look at whether it was male or female, and did exactly as he was told.”

I ask you, Don Azeredo, after you read this letter, listen to the tape. You will hear what you cannot write on paper. Unlike our voices young man With curly hair– a deep, cracked alto that stutters and has no echo.

Although you probably already know all this.

A STORY ABOUT SOUL AND BODY - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "A STORY ABOUT SOUL AND BODY" 2017, 2018.

This theory was first voiced by the outstanding Christian theologian of the first centuries, Origen. Being an adherent of ancient philosophy, Origen tried to somewhat rework the teachings of Plato, Pythagoras and other ancient philosophers about the soul, putting a Christian meaning into the theory. Thus, Origen argued that God was originally a multitude of souls that were in contemplation of the Creator. Then, for some reason, the souls got tired of contemplating and deviated from it.

The most sinful souls became demons, and the least sinned - angels. And when man was created, souls of “average sinfulness” moved into him. This teaching was rejected by the Church in the 5th century as contradictory Holy Scripture. If we consider the sending of the soul into the body as punishment, then there would be no coming of Christ into the world. And sin itself appeared only with the Fall of people.

Theory of the creation of human souls

According to this, souls are created by God out of nothing for each individual person. In this case, the question arises about the time of creation of the soul. There are two opinions. The first is the moment of conception, the second is the fortieth day. The Church accepted the doctrine of the creation of the soul at the moment of conception. The advantages of this theory are that it shows the intangibility of the soul and explains its high dignity. Moreover, it can be explained different talents people, in accordance with the idea of ​​the individual creation of souls by God for everyone. However, this theory also has . She does not explain the ways of sinfulness human nature. After all, if the soul is created by God every time out of nothing, then where does sin come from in it? Sin itself lies in the will, the soul, and not the body. There appears to be some discrepancy.

Theory of the birth of human souls

The theory appears in the 4th century simultaneously with the second look at human souls. Thus, it is assumed that the human soul is “born” from its own. Figuratively speaking, souls are born from one another, like fire from fire or light from light. But this theory also has disadvantages. Sometimes it is difficult to explain the qualitative differences between children and their parents. Or, for example, a person does not know from whom exactly the soul is born - from the soul of the mother or the father, or perhaps from both? Here we can say that this is unknown to a person to the extent of ignorance of the laws spiritual world established by God. the positive side can be called the transmission of the sinfulness of human nature from parents (original sin).

IN currently Since then, the Church has accepted theories about the creation of souls by God and the birth of the latter from parents. These opinions complement each other and provide a possible view of the essence of human souls. For a Christian, one should know that at the moment of the origin of the soul, a person is a co-worker with God. That is, it can be assumed that a person receives the spiritual nature of the soul from his parents, but people become a unique personality under the direct influence of God, who is able to endow a person with various talents.