Genre features who live well in Rus'. "Who should live well in Rus'": history of creation, genre and composition
“My favorite brainchild,” Nekrasov wrote in his manuscript about the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Later, in one of his letters to the journalist P. Bezobrazov, the poet himself defined the genre of the poem “Who should live well in Rus'”: “This will be the epic of modern peasant life.”
And here the modern reader will immediately have a lot of questions, because the word epic reminds us of large-scale works, for example, Homer's epics or Tolstoy's multi-volume books. But does an unfinished work even have the right to be called an epic?
To begin with, let's figure out what we mean by the concept of "epopee". The problematics of the epic genre involves consideration of the life of not a single hero, but of an entire nation. Any significant events in the history of this people are selected for the image. Most often, this moment is war. However, at the time of Nekrasov's creation of the poem, there is no war going on in Russia, and the poem itself does not mention military operations. And yet, in 1861, another event, no less significant for the people's life, took place in Russia: the abolition of serfdom. It causes a wave of controversy in the highest circles, as well as confusion and a complete reorganization of life among the peasants. It is to this turning point that Nekrasov dedicates his epic poem.
The genre of the work “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” required the author to comply with certain criteria, first of all, the scale. The task of showing the life of a whole people is not at all easy, and it was this task that influenced Nekrasov's choice of a plot with a journey as the main plot-forming element. Travel is a common motif in Russian literature. Both Gogol in "Dead Souls" and Radishchev ("Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow") addressed him, even in the Middle Ages there was a popular genre of "walking" - "Walking over three seas". This technique allows you to depict in the work a complete picture of folk life, with all its customs, joys and sorrows. At the same time, the main plot fades into the background, and the narrative breaks up into many separate kaleidoscopic parts, from which at the same time a three-dimensional picture of life gradually emerges. Peasants' stories about their destinies are replaced by drawn-out lyrical songs, the reader gets acquainted with a rural fair, sees festivities, elections, learns about the attitude towards a woman, mourns with a beggar and has fun with a drunk.
It is characteristic that the parts sometimes deviate so strongly from each other in the plot that they can be interchanged without harm to the composition of the work. This at one time caused a long debate about the correct arrangement of the chapters of the poem (Nekrasov did not leave clear instructions on this).
At the same time, this "patchwork" of the work is compensated by the internal unceasing development of the plot - one of the prerequisites for the epic genre. The people's soul, sometimes very contradictory, sometimes despairing under the yoke of troubles and yet not completely broken, moreover, constantly dreaming of happiness - this is what the poet shows the reader.
Among the features of the genre “To whom it is good to live in Rus'”, one can also name a huge layer of folklore elements included in the text of the poem, from directly introduced songs, proverbs, sayings and to implicit references to this or that epic story, the use of phrases like “Savel, the Russian hero”. Here you can clearly see Nekrasov's love for the common people, his sincere interest in the topic - it is not for nothing that the collection of material for the poem lasted for so many years (more than 10)! Note that the inclusion of folklore elements in the text is also considered a sign of the epic - this allows you to more fully depict the features of the national character and way of life.
A bizarre combination of historical facts with fairy tale motifs is also considered a genre originality of the poem. In the beginning, written according to all the laws of fairy tales, seven (magic number) peasants set off on their journey. The beginning of their journey is accompanied by miracles - a warbler speaks to them, in the forest they find a self-assembled tablecloth. But their further path will not go according to a fairy tale.
A skillful combination of a fabulous, unburdening plot with serious political problems of post-reform Rus' favorably distinguished Nekrasov's work immediately after the publication of parts of the poem: it looked interesting against the background of one-sided pamphlets and at the same time made one think. This also allowed the epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” not to lose its interest for the reader today.
Artwork test
“My favorite brainchild,” Nekrasov wrote in his manuscript about the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Later, in one of his letters to the journalist P. Bezobrazov, the poet himself defined the genre of the poem “Who should live well in Rus'”: “This will be the epic of modern peasant life.”
And here the modern reader will immediately have a lot of questions, because the word epic reminds us of large-scale works, for example, Homer's epics or Tolstoy's multi-volume books. But does an unfinished work even have the right to be called an epic?
To begin with, let's figure out what we mean by the concept of "epopee". The problematics of the epic genre involves consideration of the life of not a single hero, but of an entire nation. Any significant events in the history of this people are selected for the image. Most often, this moment is war. However, at the time of Nekrasov's creation of the poem, there is no war going on in Russia, and the poem itself does not mention military operations. And yet, in 1861, another event, no less significant for the people's life, took place in Russia: the abolition of serfdom. It causes a wave of controversy in the highest circles, as well as confusion and a complete reorganization of life among the peasants. It is to this turning point that Nekrasov dedicates his epic poem.
The genre of the work “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” required the author to comply with certain criteria, first of all, the scale. The task of showing the life of a whole people is not at all easy, and it was this task that influenced Nekrasov's choice of a plot with a journey as the main plot-forming element. Travel is a common motif in Russian literature. Both Gogol in "Dead Souls" and Radishchev ("Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow") addressed him, even in the Middle Ages there was a popular genre of "walking" - "Walking over three seas". This technique allows you to depict in the work a complete picture of folk life, with all its customs, joys and sorrows. At the same time, the main plot fades into the background, and the narrative breaks up into many separate kaleidoscopic parts, from which at the same time a three-dimensional picture of life gradually emerges. Peasants' stories about their destinies are replaced by drawn-out lyrical songs, the reader gets acquainted with a rural fair, sees festivities, elections, learns about the attitude towards a woman, mourns with a beggar and has fun with a drunk.
It is characteristic that the parts sometimes deviate so strongly from each other in the plot that they can be interchanged without harm to the composition of the work. This at one time caused a long debate about the correct arrangement of the chapters of the poem (Nekrasov did not leave clear instructions on this).
At the same time, this "patchwork" of the work is compensated by the internal unceasing development of the plot - one of the prerequisites for the epic genre. The people's soul, sometimes very contradictory, sometimes despairing under the yoke of troubles and yet not completely broken, moreover, constantly dreaming of happiness - this is what the poet shows the reader.
Among the features of the genre “To whom it is good to live in Rus'”, one can also name a huge layer of folklore elements included in the text of the poem, from directly introduced songs, proverbs, sayings and to implicit references to this or that epic story, the use of phrases like “Savel, the Russian hero”. Here you can clearly see Nekrasov's love for the common people, his sincere interest in the topic - it is not for nothing that the collection of material for the poem lasted for so many years (more than 10)! Note that the inclusion of folklore elements in the text is also considered a sign of the epic - this allows you to more fully depict the features of the national character and way of life.
A bizarre combination of historical facts with fairy tale motifs is also considered a genre originality of the poem. In the beginning, written according to all the laws of fairy tales, seven (magic number) peasants set off on their journey. The beginning of their journey is accompanied by miracles - a warbler speaks to them, in the forest they find a self-assembled tablecloth. But their further path will not go according to a fairy tale.
A skillful combination of a fabulous, unburdening plot with serious political problems of post-reform Rus' favorably distinguished Nekrasov's work immediately after the publication of parts of the poem: it looked interesting against the background of one-sided pamphlets and at the same time made one think. This also allowed the epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” not to lose its interest for the reader today.
Artwork test
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is known all over the world for his folk, unusual works. His dedications to the common people, peasant life, the period of a short childhood and constant hardships in adult life arouse not only literary, but also historical interest.Such works as "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" is a real digression into the 60s of the XIX century. The poem literally immerses the reader in the events of the post-serf times. A journey in search of a happy person in the Russian Empire reveals numerous problems of society, paints a picture of reality without embellishment and makes you think about the future of the country that dared to live in a new way.
The history of the creation of the Nekrasov poem
The exact date of the start of work on the poem is unknown. But the researchers of Nekrasov's work drew attention to the fact that already in his first part he mentions the Poles who were exiled. This makes it possible to assume that the idea of the poem arose from the poet around 1860-1863, and Nikolai Alekseevich started writing it around 1863. Although the sketches by the poet could have been done earlier.
It is known that since 1866 the first part of Nekrasov's work tried to see the light. For four years, the author tried to publish his work and constantly fell under discontent and sharp condemnation of censorship. Despite this, work on the poem continued.
The poet had to print it gradually all in the same magazine Sovremennik. So it was printed for four years, and all these years the censorship was unhappy. The poet himself was constantly criticized and persecuted. Therefore, he stopped his work for a while, and was able to start it again only in 1870. In this new period of the rise of his literary creativity, he creates three more parts to this poem, which were written at different times:
✪ "Last Child" -1872.
✪ "Peasant Woman" -1873.
✪ "Feast for the whole world" - 1876.
The poet wanted to write a few more chapters, but he was working on his poem at the time when he began to fall ill, so the illness prevented him from realizing these poetic plans. But still realizing that he would soon die, Nikolai Alekseevich tried in his last part to finish it so that the whole poem had logical completeness.
The plot of the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'"
In one of the volosts, on a wide road, there are seven peasants who live in neighboring villages. And they think about one question: who lives well in their native land. And their conversation reached such a point that it soon turns into an argument. The matter went on towards the evening, and they could not resolve this dispute in any way. And suddenly the peasants noticed that they had already traveled a long distance, carried away by the conversation. Therefore, they decided not to return home, but to spend the night in a clearing. But the argument continued and ended in a fight.
From such a noise, a chick of a warbler falls out, which Pahom saves, and for this an exemplary mother is ready to fulfill any desire of the men. Having received a magic tablecloth, the men decide to go on a journey to find the answer to the question that interests them so much. Soon they meet a priest who changes the opinion of the men that he lives well and happily. Heroes also get to the village fair.
They try to find happy people among the drunks, and it soon turns out that a peasant doesn’t need much to be happy: eat enough to protect himself from troubles. And in order to learn about happiness, I advise the heroes to find Yermila Girin, whom everyone knows. And here the men learn his story, and then the gentleman appears. But he also complains about his life.
At the end of the poem, the heroes try to look for happy people among women. They get acquainted with one peasant woman Matryona. They help Korchagina in the field, and for this she tells them her story, where she says that a woman cannot have happiness. Women only suffer.
And now the peasants are already on the banks of the Volga. Then they heard a story about a prince who could not come to terms with the abolition of serfdom, and then a story about two sinners. The story of the son of the deacon Grishka Dobrosklonov is also interesting.
You are wretched, You are plentiful, You are powerful, You are powerless, Mother Rus'! In slavery, the saved Heart is free - Gold, gold The heart of the people! The strength of the people, the mighty strength - the conscience is calm, the truth is tenacious!
Genre and unusual composition of the poem "To whom in Rus' it is good to live"
About what is the composition of the Nekrasov poem, there are still disputes between writers and critics. Most researchers of the literary work of Nikolai Nekrasov came to the conclusion that the material should be arranged as follows: the prologue and part one, then the chapter "Peasant Woman" should be placed, the chapter "Last Child" follows the content and in conclusion - "Feast - for the whole world."
Evidence of this arrangement of chapters in the plot of the poem was that, for example, in the first part and in the subsequent chapter, the world is depicted when the peasants were not yet free, that is, this is the world that was a little earlier: old and obsolete. In the next Nekrasov part, it is already shown how this old world is completely destroyed and perishes.
But already in the last Nekrasov chapter, the poet shows all the signs that a new life is beginning. The tone of the narrative changes dramatically and now it is lighter, clearer, more joyful. The reader feels that the poet, like his characters, believes in the future. Especially this striving for a clear and bright future is felt at those moments when the main character, Grishka Dobrosklonov, appears in the poem.
In this part, the poet completes the poem, so it is here that the denouement of the entire plot action takes place. And here is the answer to the question that was posed at the very beginning of the work about who, after all, is well and free, carefree and cheerful in Rus'. It turns out that the most carefree, happy and cheerful person is Grishka, who is the protector of his people. In his beautiful and lyrical songs, he predicted happiness for his people.
But if you carefully read how the denouement in the poem comes in its last part, then you can pay attention to the oddities of the story. The reader does not see the peasants returning to their homes, they do not stop traveling, and, in general, they do not even get to know Grisha. Therefore, a continuation was probably planned here.
In the work, the fabulousness of the composition is easily visible. There are many elements in the text that can easily be attributed to folklore. During the entire journey, the author inserts his lyrical digressions and elements that are completely irrelevant to the plot.
Analysis of Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'"
It is known from the history of Russia that in 1861 the most shameful phenomenon, serfdom, was abolished. But such a reform caused unrest in society, and soon new problems arose. First of all, the question arose that even a free peasant, poor and destitute, cannot be happy. This problem interested Nikolai Nekrasov, and he decided to write a poem in which the question of peasant happiness would be considered.
Despite the fact that the work is written in simple language, and has an appeal to folklore, it usually seems difficult for the reader to perceive, since it touches on the most serious philosophical problems and issues. For most of the questions, the author himself has been looking for answers all his life. Perhaps that is why it was so difficult for him to write a poem, and he created it for fourteen years. But, unfortunately, the work was never finished.
The poet was conceived to write his poem of eight chapters, but due to illness he was able to write only four and they do not follow at all, as expected, one after another. Now the poem is presented in the form, in the sequence suggested by K. Chukovsky, who for a long time carefully studied the Nekrasov archives.
Nikolai Nekrasov chose ordinary people as the heroes of the poem, which is why he also used colloquial vocabulary. For a long time there were disputes about who can still be attributed to the main characters of the poem. So, there were suggestions that these were heroes - men who walk around the country, trying to find a happy person. But other researchers still believed that it was Grishka Dobrosklonov. This question remains open to this day. But you can consider this poem as if the protagonist in it is the whole common people.
There are no accurate and detailed descriptions of these men in the plot, their characters are also incomprehensible, the author simply does not reveal or show them. But on the other hand, these men are united by one goal, for the sake of which they travel. It is also interesting that the episodic faces in Nekrasov's poem are drawn by the author more clearly, accurately, in detail and vividly. The poet raises many problems that arose among the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom.
Nikolai Alekseevich shows that for each character in his poem there is a concept of happiness. For example, a rich person sees happiness in having financial well-being. And the peasant dreams that in his life there would be no grief and troubles that usually lie in wait for the peasant at every step. There are also heroes who are happy because they believe in the happiness of others. The language of the Nekrasov poem is close to the folk language, so there is a huge amount of vernacular in it.
Despite the fact that the work remained unfinished, it reflects the whole reality of what was happening. This is a real literary gift to all lovers of poetry, history and literature.
GENRE ORIGINALITY OF THE POEM
This task - to comprehensively explore the life and being of the Russian people, to penetrate into the depths of his soul largely determines the genre originality of the poem. We must agree with L.A. Evstigneeva, which defines Genre "Who should live well in Rus'"- How " epic review, montage of various kinds of events subject to the development of the central thought of the author". “The consistent implementation of the plot scheme outlined in the Prologue,” the researcher writes, “Nekrasov replaces with a sequence of analytical judgments about the people, their present situation, the fate of Russia and the future of the revolutionary movement. An innovative plot is born, later called centrifugal, which brings Nekrasov closer to the literary process of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.
Accurate definitions of the poem - "encyclopedia of folk life" or "epopee of folk life"- suggest not only the ability of the writer to draw a generalized portrait of all classes of Russian society, but also to give a kind of "philosophy of life" of the people, to recreate the national character in the poem. This task, the theme chosen by the author, is subject to the author's orientation towards polyphony. In the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'", a significant place is occupied by dialogues of often unnamed, undescribed characters, polylogues, each of which can be developed into a separate narrative. But the extreme brevity of dialogues and polylogues does not prevent us from imagining the nature of the interlocutors or even their fate. The desire to recreate the life and existence of the people determines the multi-hero character of the story: each hero enters the story with his own destiny and with his own intimate history.
A special role in the narrative is played by folklore genres - riddles, proverbs, sayings and - most importantly - songs. It is known how Nekrasov perceives songs: “folk poetry for Nekrasov was not only the keeper of the poetic ideas of the peasantry, but also the result of the life of the masses as a whole, the focus of national artistic thinking, the best expressor of the Russian national character.”
The people in Nekrasov's poem cry out their pain, complain and grieve, open their soul to the reader and try to understand the secrets of their soul and heart.
COMPOSITION OF THE POEM
This issue is also debatable. First of all, because researchers do not have a unanimous opinion in resolving the question: what principle to follow when forming the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” - whether to take as a basis the time of creation of the parts or the chronology of the peasants' journey. Given the time of writing the parts, they should go in the following sequence: Prologue; First part; "The Last"; "Peasant Woman"; "A feast for the whole world." But such a composition is contradicted by the author's will: according to Nekrasov's notes, "Last Child" and "Feast for the Whole World" are plot-related: the poet attributed both of these chapters to the second part, and "Peasant Woman" to the third part. Thus, the composition should be different: Prologue, Part One, "Last Child", "Feast for the Whole World", "Peasant Woman".
There is another justification for just such a composition - the duration of the parts. The wandering of the peasants was supposed to cover several months, and time in chapters, as shown by V.V. Gippius, "calculated according to the calendar." The action of the Prologue refers to the beginning of spring. “In the chapter “Pop,” the researcher noted, “the wanderers say: “and the time is not early, the month of May is coming.” In the chapter “Village Fair” there is a mention: “Only the weather stared at Nikola of spring”; apparently, on the day of Nikola (May 9) the fair itself takes place. “Last Child” also begins with the exact date: “Petrovka. The time is hot. Haymaking in full swing." This means that the time of the chapter is June 29 (old style). In A Feast for the Whole World, haymaking is already over: the peasants are going to the market with hay. Finally, in the "Peasant Woman" - harvest and, as shown by K.I. Chukovsky, in draft versions there is even the name of the month - August.
However, not all researchers agree with this composition. The main objection: such an arrangement of parts distorts the pathos of the poem. As he wrote in the comments to the poem K.I. Chukovsky, “demanding that we finish the poem “Peasant Woman”, V.V. Gippius, first of all, ignores the fact that in "The Peasant Woman" (in its last chapter) sounded, contrary to the entire content of the poem, "notes of liberal servility"<...>. This chapter is called "The Governor". After all the curses on the hated system that caused so much suffering to the enslaved peasant woman, in this chapter appears a noble aristocrat, the wife of the governor, who saves the peasant woman from all her torments.<...>The whole poem “Who lives well in Rus'” will be completed with a hymn to the benevolent lady<...>. And then to Nekrasov’s question: “Where are you, the secret of the people’s contentment?” - there will be only one answer: in the lordly caress, in the lordly philanthropy. K.I. Chukovsky proposed another version of the composition: the Prologue and the first movement; "Peasant Woman"; "Last Child" and "A Feast for the Whole World." This composition is adopted in most publications, although both the author's will and the temporary calendar, which underlies the parts, are violated.
Objecting to Chukovsky, the researchers point out that the “Peasant Woman” ends not with the anthem of the “governor”, but with the bitter “Woman's Parable” - a kind of conclusion in reflections on the inevitability of tragedy in the fate of a woman. In addition, ideological arguments, of course, should not determine the composition. Guided, first of all, by the time of creation of the parts, the author's will and the logic of the development of the author's thought, some researchers propose to print the chapter "Peasant Woman" after "Last Child", but to complete the poem "Feast for the whole world", indicating that "Feast" "directly connected with the chapter "Last Child" and is its continuation".
Nekrasov began work on the poem in 1863, when Frost, Red Nose was written, and continued until his death. But if the poem "Frost ..." can be compared with a tragedy, the content of which is the death of a person in a heroic struggle with the elements beyond his control, then "Who in Rus' should live well" is an epic where an individual finds the meaning and happiness of his existence in unity with the world of people and the world as God's creation. Nekrasov is interested in the holistic image of the people, and the individual images highlighted in the poem are given as episodic, the history of their life only temporarily emerges on the surface of the epic stream. Therefore, Nekrasov's poem can be called " folk epic”, and its poetic form emphasizes the kinship with the folk epic. The Nekrasov epic is “moulded” from various folklore genres: fairy tales, tales, riddles, proverbs, spiritual poems, labor and ritual songs, drawn-out lyrical songs, parables, etc.
Nekrasov's epic had a clear social task. In this sense, his work is quite topical and relevant. In the 1960s and 1970s, the movement of “going to the people” began, the practice of “small deeds”, when the Russian intelligentsia voluntarily went to the villages, organized schools and hospitals, tried to rebuild the life and work of the peasants, to lead them on the path of education and culture. At the same time, interest in the peasant culture itself was growing: Russian folklore was collected and systematized (the image of such a collector - Pavlusha Veretennikov - is in the poem). But the surest means of studying the condition of the people was statistics, a science that at that time received the most rapid development. In addition, these people: teachers, doctors, statisticians, land surveyors, agronomists, folklorists - left us a series of wonderful essays on the life and life of post-reform Russia. Nekrasov also makes a sociological cut of village life in his poem: almost all types of the Russian rural population pass before us, from the beggar to the landowner. Nekrasov is trying to see what happened to peasant Russia as a result of the reform of 1861, which turned the whole usual way of life upside down. In what way has Rus' remained the same as before, what has irretrievably gone, what has appeared, what is eternal and what is transient in the life of the people?
It is generally accepted that with his poem Nekrasov answers the question posed by him in one of his poems: “The people are liberated, but are the people happy? » In fact, this is a rhetorical question. It is clear that he is unhappy, and then there is no need to write a poem. But the question that became the title: “Who is living well in Rus'? ”- transfers Nekrasov’s search from the philosophical and sociological areas to the ethical area. If not the people, then who is still living well?
To answer the main question, “strange” people, that is, wanderers, set off on the road - seven peasants. But these people are strange in the sense we are accustomed to. A peasant is a sedentary person, tied to the land, for whom there are no holidays and days off, whose life is subject only to the rhythm of nature. And they start wandering, and even when - in the most difficult time! But this strangeness of theirs is a reflection of the upheaval that all of peasant Rus' is going through. All of it has moved, moved away, all of it is in motion, like spring streams, now transparent, clean, now muddy, carrying winter rubbish, now calm and majestic, now seething and unpredictable.
Therefore, the composition of the poem is based on motives of the road and search. They allow you to go through all of Rus' and see it in its entirety. But how to show all of Rus'? The author uses the technique of a panoramic image, when the image is created by a series of generalized paintings, mass scenes, from which individuals and episodes are snatched.
