Brief description of the novel: an ordinary story. The general meaning of the title of I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History”
Elements of satire in “Ordinary History”. Despite Goncharov’s critically noted feature as an objective artist, he loved to introduce a satirical element into his works. And in each of his major works this element of satire is found. Thus, in his first novel, “Ordinary History,” the author does not limit himself to objectively reproducing pictures of urban and rural life and their types, but compares two figures, each of which sets off the somewhat comic character of the other, and in their depiction the author makes it possible to notice his somewhat sarcastic attitude towards him.
An ordinary story. Movie. Part 1
In the first half of the novel, one can feel the author’s slight mockery of the sentimentalism and “beautiful soul” of young Aduev. An exalted young man, rushing around with his exceptional, poetic figure, brought up in the lazy freedom of the countryside, comes to St. Petersburg. The young man imagines arms open for him everywhere, recognition of his genius, fame and incense of fame; he speaks in a high style and writes sentimental poems and stories. All the sobriety and dry efficiency of the capital city is embodied for the young romantic in his uncle, the elder Aduev. The venerable official, with his neatness, sobriety of views and efficiency, sets off the absurd enthusiasm of his nephew, which the author laughs at.
The comedy of the collision of a rural romantic with the sober metropolitan reality is emphasized by the memory of patriarchal relations in the village, of the mother’s worries about feeding and comfortably settling her son. But the sober official is not the author’s ideal; in the second half of the novel, the entire foundation of this positive person collapses. He, who preached to his nephew the need to curry favor, marry a rich woman, etc., sees that he himself, having achieved all external blessings, lost true, spiritual happiness in the pursuit of them. Young Aduev, who ultimately fulfills his uncle’s behests, has abandoned his pompous ideals, acquired a paunch and a rich bride, and wears an order with great dignity, is depicted in a rather comical form.
Thus, both types, the enthusiastic romantic and the dry practitioner, served the author as an object for reproducing the artistic and satirical.
Household paintings. Young Aduev. But these two figures are drawn against the backdrop of sweeping epic pictures of life. The author made one feel the quiet serenity of village life, in the bosom of which the young dreamer Aduev grew up and was brought up; the situation of village life is described in detail, and the details are not piled up chaotically, but give an overall harmonious and complete picture of village life. In the same way, in the city, following the various experiences of his hero, the author calmly and impartially depicts the figures and appearances of the people around him, describing the hobbies and disappointments of young Aduev. He is disappointed in everything: in his literary dreams, and in love, and in people. He seeks solace in carousing and finally decides to return to the village, saying goodbye to the capital in a lush rhetorical monologue. “Farewell,” the disappointed dreamer addresses the city, “the magnificent tomb of deep, strong, gentle and warm movements of the soul.”
An ordinary story. Movie. Part 2
The author's sarcastic attitude towards the young hero and his romantic dreams is justified in the second half of the novel, showing that poetry and daydreaming were not the main properties of his nature, but were externally borrowed from fashionable literary trends of our time. Plunging back into rural peace and a worry-free lazy life, young Aduev returns to the city completely transformed. He lost his daydreaming and, in his enthusiasm, acquired in return a sober and practical view of things, settled down and lived like everyone else, submitting to ordinary worldly wisdom.
The general conclusion of the novel “An Ordinary Story” can be considered pessimistic. Poetry and high hobbies turn out to be something superficial, external, and cannot withstand the resistance of everyday practicality; but the latter does not provide a lasting foundation for human life, for the acquisition of external benefits occurs at the expense of the most important thing: happiness and mental satisfaction in life.
But Goncharov does not impose any conclusions on the reader: as an impartial artist, he described what exists, what he saw around him in life. His task was to give readers a complete, harmonious and truthful image. Both types - the phrase-mongering dreamer and the dry bureaucrat - were strikingly striking at that time, and the artist aptly depicted them.
Writers explore life in two ways - mental, which begins with reflection on the phenomena of life, and artistic, the essence of which is the comprehension of the same phenomena not with the mind (or, rather, not only with the mind), but with all one’s human essence, or, as they say, intuitively.
Intellectual knowledge of life leads the author to a logical presentation of the material he has studied, artistic knowledge leads to the expression of the essence of the same phenomena through a system of artistic images. A fiction writer, as it were, gives a picture of life, but not just a copy of it, but transformed into a new artistic reality, which is why the phenomena that interested the author and illuminated by the bright light of his genius or talent appear before us especially visible, and sometimes even visible through and through.
It is assumed that a true writer gives us life only in the form of an artistic depiction of it. But in reality there are not many such “pure” authors, and perhaps there are none at all. More often than not, a writer is both an artist and a thinker.
Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov has long been considered one of the most objective Russian writers, that is, a writer in whose works personal likes or dislikes are not presented as a measure of certain life values. He gives artistic pictures of life objectively, as if “listening to good and evil indifferently,” leaving the reader to judge and pass judgment with his own mind.
It is in the novel “An Ordinary Story” that Goncharov, through the mouth of a magazine employee, expresses this idea in its purest form: “... a writer will only, firstly, write effectively when he is not under the influence of personal passion and passion. He must survey life and people in general with a calm and bright gaze, otherwise he will only express his own I, about which no one cares." And in the article “Better late than never,” Goncharov notes: “...I will first say about myself that I belong to the last category, that is, I am most interested in (as Belinsky noted about me) “my ability to draw.”
And in his first novel, Goncharov painted a picture of Russian life in a small country estate and in St. Petersburg in the 40s of the 19th century. Of course, Goncharov could not give a complete picture of life in both the village and St. Petersburg, just as no author can do this, because life is always more diverse than any image of it. Let's see whether the picture depicted turned out to be objective, as the author wanted, or whether some side considerations made this picture subjective.
The dramatic content of the novel is the peculiar duel waged by its two main characters: the young man Alexander Aduev and his uncle Pyotr Ivanovich. The duel is exciting, dynamic, in which success falls to the lot of one side or the other. A fight for the right to live life according to your ideals. But the uncle and nephew have exactly the opposite ideals.
Young Alexander comes to St. Petersburg straight from the warm embrace of his mother, dressed from head to toe in the armor of high and noble spiritual impulses, he comes to the capital not out of idle curiosity, but in order to enter into a decisive battle with everything soulless, calculating, vile. “I was attracted by some irresistible desire, a thirst for noble activity,” exclaims this naive idealist. And he challenged not just anyone, but the entire world of evil. Such a little home-grown quixotic! And after all, he has also read and listened to all sorts of noble nonsense.
The subtle irony of Goncharov, with which he describes his young hero at the beginning of the novel - his departure from home, vows of eternal love to Sonechka and his friend Pospelov, his first timid steps in St. Petersburg - it is this very mocking look of Goncharov at his young hero that makes the image Aduev Jr. is dear to our hearts, but already predetermines the outcome of the struggle between his nephew and uncle. The authors do not treat true heroes capable of great feats with irony.
And here is the opposite side: a metropolitan resident, the owner of a glass and porcelain factory, an official on special assignments, a man of sober mind and practical sense, thirty-nine-year-old Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev - the second hero of the novel. Goncharov endows him with humor and even sarcasm, but he himself does not treat this brainchild of his with irony, which makes us assume: here he is, the true hero of the novel, here is the one whom the author invites us to look up to.
These two characters, who interested the Gonchars, were the brightest types of their time. The founder of the first was Vladimir Lensky, the second was Eugene Onegin himself, although in a greatly transformed form. I will note here in parentheses that Onegin’s coldness and experience suffer exactly the same failure as the experience and significance of the life of Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev.
Still vaguely feeling the integrity of his novel, Goncharov writes: “... in the meeting of a soft, dreamer-nephew, spoiled by laziness and lordship, with a practical uncle - there was a hint of a motive that had just begun to play out in the most lively center - in St. Petersburg. This motive is a faint flicker of consciousness of the need for work, real, not routine, but living work in the fight against all-Russian stagnation.”
Goncharov really wants to take this man of “living action” as a model, and not only for himself, but also to offer him to the reader’s attention as a model.
With what brilliance the dialogues between uncle and nephew are written! How calmly, confidently, categorically, the uncle crushes his hot-tempered nephew, but not armed with the terrible weapon of logic and experience! And every critical phrase is deadly, irresistible. Irresistible because he tells the truth. Hard, sometimes even offensive and merciless, but exactly the truth.
Here he makes fun of “material signs... of immaterial relationships” - a ring and a lock of hair, given by Sonechka as a farewell to her beloved Sashenka, who is leaving for the capital. “And you brought this one thousand five hundred miles?.. It would be better if you brought another bag of dried raspberries,” the uncle advises and throws symbols of eternal love, priceless for Alexander, out the window. Alexander's words and actions seem wild and cold. Can he forget his Sonechka? Never!..
Alas, my uncle turned out to be right. Very little time has passed, and Alexander falls in love with Nadenka Lyubetskaya, falls in love with all the ardor of youth, with the passion characteristic of his nature, unconsciously, thoughtlessly!.. Sonechka is completely forgotten. Not only will he never remember her, but he will also forget her name. Love for Nadya will fill Alexander entirely!.. There will be no end to his radiant happiness. What kind of business can there be that my uncle keeps talking about, what kind of work, when he, one might say, disappears day and night outside the city with the Lyubetskys! Oh, this uncle, he only has business on his mind. Insensitive!.. How he dares to say that Nadenka, his Nadenka, this deity, this perfection, can deceive him. “She will deceive! This angel, this sincerity personified…” exclaims young Alexander. “But she’s still a woman, and she’ll probably deceive,” the uncle replies. Oh, these sober, merciless minds and experience. It’s hard!.. But the truth: Nadenka deceived. She fell in love with the count, and Alexander receives his resignation. My whole life immediately turned black. And my uncle insists: I warned you!..
Alexander fails on all counts - in love, in friendship, in impulses to creativity, in work. Everything, absolutely everything that his teachers and books taught him, everything turned out to be nonsense and scattered with a slight crunch under the iron tread of sober reason and practical action. In the most intense scene of the novel, when Alexander is driven to despair, starts drinking, has become depressed, his will has atrophied, his interest in life has disappeared completely, the uncle retorts his nephew’s last babble of justification: “What I demanded of you - I didn’t invent all this.” “Who? – asked Lizaveta Aleksandrovna (wife of Pyotr Ivanovich - V.R.). - Century.
This is where the main motivation for the behavior of Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev was revealed. Command of the century! The century demanded! “Look,” he calls out, “at today’s youth: what great fellows! How everything is in full swing with mental activity, energy, how deftly and easily they deal with all this nonsense, which in your old language is called anxiety, suffering... and God knows what else!”
“An Ordinary Story” by I.A. Goncharova
In “”, every person at any stage of his development will find the necessary lesson for himself. The naivety and sentimentality of Sashenka Aduev is funny in a business atmosphere. His pathos is false, and the loftiness of his speeches and ideas about life are far from reality. But the uncle cannot be called an ideal either: a efficient breeder, a respected person in society, he is afraid of sincere living feelings and in his practicality goes too far: he is afraid to show sincere warm feelings for his wife, which leads her to a nervous breakdown. There is a lot of irony in the uncle’s teachings, but the simple-minded nephew takes them too directly - first arguing with them, and then agreeing.
Deprived of false ideals, Alexander Aduev does not acquire genuine ideals - he simply becomes a calculating vulgarity. Goncharov’s irony is aimed at the fact that such a path is no exception. Youthful ideals disappear like “hairs” from a son’s head, which Aduev Jr.’s mother so laments. This is an “ordinary story.” There are not many people who can resist the pressure of the big city and bourgeois society on their mind and soul. At the end of the novel, we see that the cynic uncle is much more humane than his capable student nephew. Alexander Aduev has turned into a business man, for whom nothing is more important than career and money. And St. Petersburg expects new victims - naive and inexperienced.
Classic works are always considered the best publications to read. They have not only been tested over the years, but also raise complex, vital questions that are relevant at any time. In classical literature we find ourselves, it makes us think about our character, way of thinking, behavior and thinking.
Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” is precisely such an example of classical literature, the brief content of which will be the subject of our article. What kind of work is this? What is its essence and meaning? What is the psychological problem of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History”? Let's find out.
But before we get to know the work better, let's get to know its author.
I. A. Goncharov
The creator of “Ordinary History”, Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, was born in 1812, into a family of eminent and wealthy merchants. From early childhood, the boy led a carefree, satiated life - the cellars and barns were overflowing with all kinds of provisions and sweets, gold coins were stored in chests, and the owners were served by servants.
At the age of seven, Vanya lost his father. His godfather Tregubov, a kind and enlightened man, a sailor by profession, became his guardian and educator. At first he taught the child himself, then sent him to a school in Moscow.
Eight years of study helped Ivan become more mature and knowledgeable; he became addicted to reading and wanted to write himself. Pushkin and Karamzin become his ideals; it is them that the future writer wants to be equal to, it is they who strives to imitate.
At nineteen, young Ivan Goncharov entered the capital’s university at the Faculty of Literature. Here he meets Belinsky, Aksakov, Lermontov, Turgenev. Such talented, thoughtful friends and comrades leave an indelible mark on the open soul of a young man.
He thinks a lot about the meaning of life and eternal values, literature and art, the life of the people and the morals of the nobility.
After graduating from university, young Ivan Goncharov receives a good government position, but continues to move in the literary circles of St. Petersburg. Here he becomes close friends with the painter Nikolai Maykov and his writer-wife. They meet representatives of the cultural life of the capital - poets, artists, musicians...
Continuing to work in the government field, occupying responsible positions and important positions, Ivan Aleksandrovich begins to write. His first work was “An Ordinary Story,” followed by the still famous “Oblomov” and “Cliff.”
What is remarkable about Goncharov’s first book, “Ordinary History”?
How the work was written
The history of the creation of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” covers a fairly long period of time. In general, he worked very slowly and unhurriedly, thinking through every stroke and every thought in detail, trying to comprehend not only the depth of the characters of his heroes, but also the historical time in which he lived and which he described.
Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” (a brief summary of it will be given below) was conceived by the author back in 1944. For the next two years, he worked on his creation, as always, intently working on every sentence, analyzing every situation and every line of the hero.
The writer revised his work several times. In 1945, after reading the sketches in the Maykov family, he made some changes to the manuscript, listening to the practical advice of the owner of the house. He then corrected the essay immediately before its publication.
Publication history
How was Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History” published? At first, the author entrusted the manuscript to the literary patron Yazykov, but he considered the work insignificant and trivial and did not want to show it to the famous critic Vissarion Belinsky.
If it were not for Nikolai Nekrasov, who took the manuscript from Yazykov and showed it to Vissarion Grigorievich, the world might not have seen the work published.
The critic liked the novel. He saw in it a modern and relevant trend, as well as subtle psychologism and artistic realism. In 1947, the work was purchased from Goncharov (for two hundred rubles for each sheet) and published in the Sovremennik magazine.
What is the plot of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History”, which so interested the famous writers of that time?
The beginning of the story
A brief summary of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” should begin with a description of the departure of the young, poor landowner Alexander Fedorovich, the only son of the kind-hearted lady Anna Pavlovna. Sasha is a handsome twenty-year-old romantic who has just graduated from university. He is eager to serve the Fatherland, find his own path in life and walk along it hand in hand with a gentle and kind girl. Alexander Fedorovich has many talents, writes poetry, he expects happiness and love to await him in St. Petersburg.
In his native village, a young man leaves a neighbor's young lady, Sonya, who is in love with him, a sincere and pure girl. She gives him a lock of hair as a souvenir and promises to wait.
To say goodbye to Sasha, his friend Alexander Pospelov comes, having specially ridden more than one hundred and fifty kilometers for this purpose. Young people fondly remember their intimate conversations about love, loyalty and service to the fatherland.
Meeting with uncle
In the capital, Aduev comes to visit his paternal uncle, Pyotr Ivanovich, an influential official and wealthy manufacturer. However, at first he does not even want to accept his nephew. However, remembering how kind Anna Pavlovna was to him, Aduev Sr. meets with a young man, but behaves with restraint and coldness.
Sasha doesn’t understand his uncle’s insensitivity; he feels uneasy about the city’s ceremony and indifference. Walking around St. Petersburg, the young man becomes disillusioned with the capital. He misses virgin nature, endless open spaces, the good nature and friendliness of his acquaintances.
Meanwhile, Pyotr Ivanovich is going to teach his nephew wisdom. He forbids him to show his sincere feelings and emotions, orders him to forget Sonyushka and even throws out her gifts. Uncle finds Alexandra a well-paid but tedious job, and encourages the young man to abandon poetry and literature as an unprofitable and stupid occupation.
Two years later
What happens to the main characters of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” after this short period of time?
Alexander became more urban and important. He continues to work in one of the government departments, additionally translates articles and writes poetry or stories from time to time.
It turns out that the young man is in love with a young girl, Nadya, who responds to him with tenderness and reciprocity. However, the uncle condemns their romantic relationship, claiming that love is not needed for marriage.
Love and betrayal
The lover spends entire evenings at his beloved's dacha. Nadenka is raised by one mother and grows up to be a pampered and flighty young lady. She asks Alexander for a year to test her feelings and reunite together in a happy marriage.
And then, when the appointed time approaches, another person appears on the horizon of the young lady - the sophisticated, rich, eminent Count Novinsky. Nadya is carried away by him and pays little attention to Aduev.
He, tormented by jealousy, behaves defiantly both towards his beloved and towards his happy rival. Over time, the girl refuses Alexander.
This was a heavy blow for him. He silently sobs and yearns for his lost happiness. The uncle does not understand the young man’s feelings and, seeing that he wants to challenge the count to a duel, advises him to take revenge in a different, more sophisticated way. Only the aunt, the young wife of Aduev Sr., takes pity on Sasha in his unrequited love.
Twelve months have passed
Alexander still suffers from Nadya's refusal. He loses the meaning in life, loses faith in people, it seems to him that he is surrounded by unprincipled, evil ignoramuses. Finding joy in writing, the young man writes a story all day long, but Pyotr Ivanovich criticizes it and proves to his nephew that no one will publish it. This is true. The magazine refuses to publish the work, and young Aduev becomes disillusioned with his talent and his abilities.
Lizaveta Aleksandrovna, the wife of Aduev Sr., suffers from his coldness and aloofness. It is painful for her that her husband cares about her comfort, while forgetting about her heart and feelings.
Beautiful widow
Yulia Tafaeva, a young woman widowed early, becomes the cause of concern for Pyotr Ivanovich about his companion. He fell in love with a girl and spends all his money on her. Therefore, the uncle asks Alexander to play love with the widow in order to distract her from her partner.
Aduev Jr. doubts his success, but hits on a beautiful widow. Without noticing it, he falls in love with an experienced woman and, as it turns out, mutually.
Young people are very similar. They both want tenderness, violent manifestations of love, all-consuming passion. In their feelings, they seek solitude and want to belong to each other completely.
But such a dependent state, overshadowed by the constant jealousy and uncontrollability of his beloved, bothers Alexander. He loses interest in Yulia, and she insists on marriage.
The uncle helps the young people explain themselves and frees his nephew from the relationship that bothers him.
Main character's depression
A break with Tafaeva does not make the young man happy. He experiences enormous doubts - something has gone wrong in his life. He regrets that he came to St. Petersburg, that he abandoned the picturesque countryside and sweet Sonyushka.
However, such a rethinking of life does not prompt the main character to take action. He sinks lower and lower, works sluggishly, communicates with unsightly company, and does not visit his uncle.
Pyotr Ivanovich tries to stir up his nephew, he appeals to his ambition and reminds him of his career. Then he tries to awaken in him his former romantic impulses, but he became frozen in soul and became disillusioned with everything.
Soon the young man leaves the service and leaves St. Petersburg for his home, completely devastated and tired in soul and body.
But it's not over yet
The mother is very happy to see her son, but she is concerned about his appearance and physical condition.
Over time, Alexander becomes fresher and prettier. Nature and tender memories restore his strength. He lives a quiet life, but continues to dream of St. Petersburg. A year and a half later, the man writes to his aunt that he wants to return to the capital and start a new life. He realizes that he behaved stupidly and wants to improve.
End of the work
Four years have passed since Aduev returned to St. Petersburg for the second time. Much has changed in his uncle's family. Having reached unprecedented heights and wealth, Pyotr Ivanovich finally understands that all this was tinsel, now the main thing for him is the health of his beloved wife, who is slowly fading away from his coldness and isolation. However, Lizaveta Aleksandrovna has already lost joy in life and she is indifferent to her husband’s belated feelings.
Alexander's life turned out completely differently. His mother died, and he finally found himself - he became confident and contented, received a good position and an enviable rank. He is going to marry an unfamiliar girl with a good dowry, whom he does not love and does not even respect. Aduev Sr. is happy for his nephew and hugs him for the first time in his life.
This concludes the summary of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History”.
Problems of the novel
As we see, the writer raised in his work serious psychological questions related to the hidden spiritual impulses and variability of the human heart. An analysis of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” shows us how the influence of society and one’s own worldview can radically change a person, force him to step over himself and his beliefs, forget his own impulses and aspirations.
Having adapted to the system around him, Aduev turned from a kind, dreamy person into a greedy careerist and unprincipled egoist. At the end of the work, he even changes places with his uncle, as he becomes more family-oriented and virtuous, worrying about the health of his beloved wife.
This is evidenced by the characteristics of the heroes of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History”.
Images of the work
If earlier young Sasha appears to readers as attractive externally and internally, with whom you involuntarily sympathize and sympathize, then over time, experiencing disappointments and being under the influence of a rich uncle, he turns into an ordinary self-lover, a careerist and a pretender.
A serious analysis of Goncharov’s “Ordinary History” leads the reader to the idea that it is not others who are to blame for the young man’s troubles, his tragedy and despondency, but himself. He, who abandoned the innocent Sonya, who was in love with him, and her free life in the village, and set off to conquer the capital. He, who was led by his weakness, fixated on unrequited love and his own feelings.
Is it bad to be rich? Is it bad to have a high paying position? Of course not! This is all very good if a person remains himself, if his heart is pure and his conscience is calm. If he does good and thinks about the feelings of others.
In 1846, Goncharov finished his first novel and, as he later recalled, “with terrible excitement” he handed it over to the court of V. G. Belinsky, who extremely highly appreciated the new work and dedicated a number of laudatory pages to it in the article “A Look at Russian Literature 1847” of the year". The novel was published in Sovremennik and created a real sensation in the capital.
The action of the novel covers about fourteen years, starting from 1830 and ending in 1843. This fairly extensive temporal capture of life allowed the writer to recreate a broad picture of the reality of the 30s and 40s, showing the most diverse social strata of the capital and provinces: bureaucracy, philistinism, bourgeoisie, secular world, patriarchal village landowners. The main conflict of the work was the clash between a romantic young man and a bourgeois man, a “collision” all the more acute because the novel depicts the martial arts between a nephew and an uncle.
The structure of the novel “An Ordinary History” by Goncharov (it consists of two parts, each of which has six chapters, and an epilogue) conveys a clear rhythm, sequence and methodicalness of the accomplishment of an ordinary story - the transformation of Aduev Jr. into the likeness of Aduev Sr. The lessons of the latter benefited Alexander. The epilogue reports on the nephew's marriage without love, but with strict calculation: 500 souls and a dowry of 30 thousand rubles await him. “Arithmetic common sense” prevailed and did not fail. The implementation of the law of symmetry and contrast is noticeable in the composition; both parts are held together by a single intrigue, giving the novel a rare harmony, and a common expressive conflict. The book is written in clear, pure and flexible language, enhancing the integrity of the work, despite the difference in the speech characteristics of the nephew and uncle.
The social and literary significance of Goncharov’s work is enormous. It dealt a double blow: against romanticism, provincial daydreaming, divorced from life, and soulless bourgeois businessmanism, forgetting about man. (Each of these properties and aspirations, as the author showed, has its own flaws and obvious disadvantages.) It outlined the leading trends in life of that time, painted the image of a “hero of the time,” recreated true pictures of reality, established realism in life and art, and revealed the author’s main method - “realism of an objective attitude towards the hero” (Belinsky), contributed to the development of the socio-psychological novel. L.N. Tolstoy called this book “charm.” He wrote: “This is where you learn to live. You see different views on life, on love, with which you may not agree with any of them, but your own becomes smarter and clearer.”
Goncharov’s work “An Ordinary Story” is distinguished by its exceptional topicality. It makes the reader of our day think about “how to live.” This is exactly what playwright Viktor Rozov titled his article about this novel. It is curious that, having read this novel for the first time, the writer immediately decided to make a play out of it and stage it on stage. This idea was realized at the Sovremennik Theater. This was not accidental and quite significant. V. S. Rozov wrote: “... this novel is modern. For me personally, it was precisely this modernity that was most important. That’s why I wanted to translate it into a play.” Ultimately, the novel by I. A. Goncharov and the play by V. S. Rozov became works about love for man and devotion to high spiritual ideals, which are the highest values in our lives.
