Evgeny Onegin direction in literature. The main character as a typical representative of his generation

“Eugene Onegin” reflected the entire life of Russian society early XIX century. However, two centuries later, this work is interesting not only in historical and literary terms, but also in terms of the relevance of the questions that Pushkin posed to the reading public. Everyone, opening the novel, found something of their own in it, empathized with the characters, noted the lightness and mastery of the style. And quotes from this work have long become aphorisms, they are pronounced even by those who have not read the book itself.

A.S. Pushkin created this work for about 8 years (1823-1831). The history of the creation of “Eugene Onegin” began in Chisinau in 1823. It reflected the experience of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, but the subject of the image was not historical and folklore characters, and modern heroes and the author himself. The poet also begins to work in line with realism, gradually abandoning romanticism. During the period of Mikhailovsky exile, he continued to work on the book, and completed it during his forced imprisonment in the village of Boldino (Pushkin was detained by cholera). Thus, the creative history of the work has absorbed the most “fertile” years of the creator, when his skill evolved at breakneck speed. So his novel reflected everything that he learned during this time, everything that he knew and felt. Perhaps the work owes its depth to this circumstance.

The author himself calls his novel “a collection of motley chapters,” each of the 8 chapters has relative independence, because the writing of “Eugene Onegin” took a long time, and each episode opened a certain stage in Pushkin’s life. The book was published in parts, each release becoming an event in the world of literature. The complete edition was published only in 1837.

Genre and composition

A.S. Pushkin defined his work as a novel in verse, emphasizing that it is lyrical-epic: the plot line, expressed by the love story of the heroes (epic beginning), is adjacent to digressions and author’s reflections (lyrical beginning). This is why the genre of Eugene Onegin is called a “novel.”

"Eugene Onegin" consists of 8 chapters. In the first chapters, readers get acquainted with the central character Evgeny, move with him to the village and meet their future friend - Vladimir Lensky. Further, the drama of the story increases due to the appearance of the Larin family, especially Tatyana. The sixth chapter is the culmination of the relationship between Lensky and Onegin and the escape of the main character. And in the finale of the work there is a denouement of the storyline of Evgeniy and Tatiana.

Lyrical digressions are related to the narrative, but it is also a dialogue with the reader; they emphasize the “free” form, the closeness to an intimate conversation. The same factor can explain the incompleteness and openness of the ending of each chapter and the novel as a whole.

About what?

A young nobleman, already disillusioned with life, inherits an estate in the village and goes there, hoping to dispel his blues. It begins with the fact that he was forced to sit with his sick uncle, who left his family nest to his nephew. However, the hero soon becomes bored with rural life; his existence would become unbearable if not for his acquaintance with the poet Vladimir Lensky. Friends are “ice and fire,” but differences did not interfere with friendly relations. will help you figure this out.

Lensky introduces his friend to the Larin family: the old mother, sisters Olga and Tatyana. The poet has long been in love with Olga, a flighty coquette. Much more serious and more complete character Tatiana, who herself falls in love with Evgeniy. Her imagination had been picturing a hero for a long time; all that remained was for someone to appear. The girl suffers, is tormented, writes a romantic letter. Onegin is flattered, but understands that he cannot respond to such a passionate feeling, so he gives a harsh rebuke to the heroine. This circumstance plunges her into depression, she anticipates trouble. And trouble really came. Onegin decides to take revenge on Lensky because of an accidental disagreement, but chooses a terrible means: he flirts with Olga. The poet is offended and challenges yesterday's friend to a duel. But the culprit kills the “slave of honor” and leaves forever. The essence of the novel “Eugene Onegin” is not even to show all this. The main thing worth paying attention to is the description of Russian life and the psychologism of the characters, which develops under the influence of the depicted atmosphere.

However, the relationship between Tatiana and Evgeniy is not over. They meet at a social evening, where the hero sees not a naive girl, but a mature woman in full splendor. And he falls in love. He is also tormented and writes a message. And he meets with the same rebuke. Yes, the beauty did not forget anything, but it’s too late, she was “given to someone else”: . The failed lover is left with nothing.

The main characters and their characteristics

The images of the heroes of “Eugene Onegin” are not a random selection characters. This is a miniature of Russian society of that time, where all the known types of noble people are scrupulously listed: the poor landowner Larin, his secular but degenerate wife in the village, the exalted and insolvent poet Lensky, his flighty and frivolous passion, etc. All of them represent Imperial Russia during its heyday. No less interesting and original. Below is a description of the main characters:

1. Evgeny Onegin is the main character of the novel. It carries within itself dissatisfaction with life, fatigue from it. Pushkin talks in detail about the environment in which the young man grew up, about how the environment shaped his character. Onegin's upbringing is typical of the nobles of those years: a superficial education aimed at being successful in decent society. He was not prepared for real business, but exclusively for secular entertainment. Therefore, from a young age I was tired of the empty glitter of balls. He has “direct nobility of soul” (he feels a friendly attachment to Lensky, does not seduce Tatyana, taking advantage of her love). The hero is capable of deep feelings, but is afraid of losing freedom. But, despite his nobility, he is an egoist, and narcissism underlies all his feelings. The essay contains the most detailed description of the character.
2. Very different from Tatyana Larina, this image appears ideal: an integral, wise, devoted nature, ready to do anything for love. She grew up in a healthy environment, in nature, and not in the light, so real feelings are strong in her: kindness, faith, dignity. The girl loves to read, and in books she drew a special, romantic image, shrouded in mystery. It was this image that was embodied in Evgenia. And Tatyana gave herself up to this feeling with all passion, truthfulness and purity. She did not seduce, did not flirt, but took upon herself the courage to confess. This brave and honest act did not find a response in Onegin’s heart. He fell in love with her seven years later, when she shone in the world. Fame and wealth did not bring happiness to the woman; she married someone she didn’t love, but Eugene’s courtship is impossible, family vows are sacred to her. More about this in the essay.
3. Tatiana's sister Olga is not of great interest, there is not a single sharp corner in her, everything is round, it is not for nothing that Onegin compares her to the moon. The girl accepts Lensky's advances. And any other person, because why not accept, she is flirtatious and empty. There is immediately a huge difference between the Larin sisters. The youngest daughter took after her mother, a flighty socialite who was forcibly imprisoned in the village.
4. However, it was the flirtatious Olga that the poet Vladimir Lensky fell in love with. Probably because it’s easy to fill the emptiness with your own content in dreams. The hero still burned with a hidden fire, felt subtly and analyzed little. He has high moral concepts, so he is alien to the light and is not poisoned by it. If Onegin talked and danced with Olga only out of boredom, then Lensky saw this as a betrayal, his former friend became an insidious tempter of a sinless girl. In Vladimir’s maximalist perception, this is immediately a break in relations and a duel. The poet lost in it. The author poses the question, what could await the character if the outcome is favorable? The conclusion is disappointing: Lensky would have married Olga, become an ordinary landowner and become vulgar in routine vegetation. You may also need .

Themes

• The main theme of the novel “Eugene Onegin” is extensive - this is Russian life. The book shows life and upbringing in the world, in the capital, village life, customs and activities, typical and at the same time unique portraits of characters are drawn. Almost two centuries later, the heroes contain features inherent in modern people; these images are deeply national.
• The theme of friendship is also reflected in Eugene Onegin. Main character and Vladimir Lensky were in close friendship. But can it be considered real? They got together by chance, out of boredom. Evgeniy sincerely became attached to Vladimir, who warmed the hero’s cold heart with his spiritual fire. However, just as quickly he is ready to insult a friend by flirting with his beloved, who is happy about it. Evgeny thinks only about himself, the feelings of other people are absolutely unimportant to him, so he could not save his comrade.
• Love is also an important theme of the work. Almost all writers talk about it. Pushkin was no exception. True love is expressed in the image of Tatiana. It can develop against all odds and remain for life. No one loved and will love Onegin as much as the main character. If you miss this, you remain unhappy for the rest of your life. Unlike the sacrificial, all-forgiving feelings of the girl, Onegin’s emotions are self-love. He was afraid of a timid girl who had fallen in love for the first time, for whose sake he would have to give up the disgusting but familiar light. But Evgeny was captivated by the cold, secular beauty, with whom visiting was already an honor, let alone loving her.
• Theme of the extra person. The trend of realism appears in Pushkin’s works. It was the environment that raised Onegin to be so disappointed. It was precisely this that preferred to see superficiality in the nobles, the focus of all their efforts on creating secular splendor. And nothing else is needed. On the contrary, education in folk traditions, society ordinary people made the soul healthy and the nature whole, like Tatyana’s.
• Theme of devotion. Faithful to your first and most strong love Tatyana, and Olga is frivolous, changeable and ordinary. Larina's sisters are completely opposite. Olga reflects a typical secular girl, for whom the main thing is herself, her attitude towards her, and therefore she can change if there is a better option. As soon as Onegin said a couple of pleasant words, she forgot about Lensky, whose affection was much stronger. Tatyana’s heart is faithful to Evgeniy all her life. Even when he trampled on her feelings, she waited a long time and could not find another (again, unlike Olga, who was quickly consoled after Lensky's death). The heroine had to get married, but in her soul she continued to be faithful to Onegin, although love had ceased to be possible.

Problems

The problematics in the novel “Eugene Onegin” are very indicative. It reveals not only psychological and social, but also political shortcomings and even entire tragedies of the system. For example, the outdated, but no less creepy, drama of Tatyana’s mother is shocking. The woman was forced into marriage, and she broke under the pressure of circumstances, becoming an evil and despotic mistress of a hated estate. Here's what actual problems raised

• The main problem that is raised throughout realism in general, and by Pushkin in Eugene Onegin in particular, is the destructive influence of secular society on the human soul. A hypocritical and greedy environment poisons the personality. It imposes external requirements of decency: a young man must know a little French, read a little fashionable literature, be decently and expensively dressed, that is, make an impression, seem, and not be. And all the feelings here are also false, they only seem. That is why secular society takes away the best from people, it cools the brightest flame with its cold deception.
• Eugenia’s blues is another problematic issue. Why does the main character become depressed? Not just because he was spoiled by society. The main reason is that he does not find the answer to the question: why is all this? Why does he live? To go to theaters, balls and receptions? The absence of a vector, direction of movement, awareness of the meaninglessness of existence - these are the feelings that overcome Onegin. Here we are faced with the eternal problem of the meaning of life, which is so difficult to find.
• The problem of selfishness is reflected in the image of the main character. Realizing that no one would love him in a cold and indifferent world, Eugene began to love himself more than anyone else in the world. Therefore, he doesn’t care about Lensky (he only relieves boredom), about Tatyana (she can take away his freedom), he thinks only about himself, but for this he is punished: he remains completely alone and is rejected by Tatyana.

Idea

The main idea of ​​the novel “Eugene Onegin” is to criticize the existing order of life, which dooms more or less extraordinary natures to loneliness and death. After all, there is so much potential in Evgenia, but there is no business, only social intrigue. There is so much spiritual fire in Vladimir, and besides death, only vulgarization in a feudal, suffocating environment can await him. There is so much spiritual beauty and intelligence in Tatyana, and she can only be the hostess of social evenings, dress up and carry on empty conversations.

People who do not think, do not reflect, do not suffer - these are the ones for whom the existing reality suits. This is a consumer society that lives at the expense of others, which shines while those “others” vegetate in poverty and filth. The thoughts that Pushkin thought about deserve attention to this day and remain important and pressing.

Another meaning of “Eugene Onegin”, which Pushkin laid down in his work, is to show how important it is to preserve individuality and virtue when temptations and fashions are rampant around, subjugating more than one generation of people. While Evgeny was chasing new trends and playing the cold and disappointed hero Byron, Tatyana listened to the voice of her heart and remained true to herself. Therefore, she finds happiness in love, albeit unrequited, and he finds only boredom in everything and everyone.

Features of the novel

The novel “Eugene Onegin” is a fundamentally new phenomenon in the literature of the early 19th century. He has a special composition - it is a “novel in verse”, a lyric-epic work of large volume. In lyrical digressions, the image of the author, his thoughts, feelings and ideas that he wants to convey to readers emerges.

Pushkin amazes with the ease and melodiousness of his language. His literary style is devoid of heaviness and didacticism; the author knows how to talk about complex and important things simply and clearly. Of course, a lot needs to be read between the lines, since harsh censorship was merciless even towards geniuses, but the poet is also not a natural person, so he was able to tell in the elegance of verse about the socio-political problems of his state, which were successfully hushed up in the press. It is important to understand that before Alexander Sergeevich, Russian poetry was different; he made a kind of “revolution of the game.”

The peculiarity also lies in the image system. Evgeny Onegin is the first in the gallery " extra people”, which contain enormous potential that cannot be realized. Tatyana Larina “raised” female images from the place “the main character needs to love someone” to an independent and complete portrait of a Russian woman. Tatyana is one of the first heroines who looks stronger and more significant than the main character, and does not hide in his shadow. This is how the direction of the novel “Eugene Onegin” is revealed - realism, which will more than once open the theme of the superfluous person and touch upon the difficult woman's destiny. By the way, we also described this feature in the essay “”.

Realism in the novel "Eugene Onegin"

"Eugene Onegin" marks Pushkin's transition to realism. In this novel, the author first raises the topic of man and society. A personality is not perceived separately, it is part of a society that educates, leaves a certain imprint or completely shapes people.

The main characters are typical, but at the same time unique. Eugene is an authentic secular nobleman: disappointed, superficially educated, but at the same time not like those around him - noble, intelligent, observant. Tatyana is an ordinary provincial young lady: she was brought up on French novels, filled with the sweet dreams of these works, but at the same time she is “Russian in soul,” wise, virtuous, loving, harmonious in nature.

It is precisely in the fact that readers for two centuries see themselves and their acquaintances in the heroes, and it is precisely in the inescapable relevance of the novel that its realistic orientation is expressed.

Criticism

The novel “Eugene Onegin” evoked a great response from readers and critics. According to E.A. Baratynsky: “Everyone interprets them in their own way: some praise them, others scold them, and everyone reads them.” Contemporaries criticized Pushkin for the “labyrinth of digressions”, for the insufficiently defined character of the main character, and careless language. The reviewer Thaddeus Bulgarin, who supported the government and conservative literature, especially distinguished himself.

However, V.G. understood the novel best. Belinsky, who called it “an encyclopedia of Russian life,” is a historical work, despite the absence of historical characters. Indeed, a modern lover of belles lettres can study Eugene Onegin from this point of view in order to learn more about noble society beginning of the 19th century.

And a century later, the comprehension of the novel in verse continued. Yu.M. Lotman saw complexity and paradox in the work. This is not just a collection of quotes familiar from childhood, it is an “organic world.” All this proves the relevance of the work and its significance for Russian national culture.

What does it teach?

Pushkin showed the life of young people and how their fate could turn out. Of course, fate depends not only on the environment, but also on the heroes themselves, but the influence of society is undeniable. The poet showed the main enemy that affects young nobles: idleness, aimlessness of existence. Alexander Sergeevich’s conclusion is simple: the creator calls not to limit oneself to secular conventions and stupid rules, but to live life to the fullest, guided by moral and spiritual components.

These ideas remain relevant to this day; modern people are often faced with a choice: to live in harmony with themselves or to break themselves for the sake of some benefits or public recognition. By choosing the second path, chasing illusory dreams, you can lose yourself and discover with horror that your life is over and nothing has been done. This is what you need to fear most.

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Love in the understanding of Onegin and Tatiana.

(according to A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”)

In my essay I want to understand and understand what love means for Onegin and Tatyana. I would like to understand why Evgeniy and Tatyana did not stay together, and, in general, whether this is possible.

Evgeny Onegin is an extraordinary figure. He is successful in society, popular with ladies, but, nevertheless, he felt bored and left for the village. In this complex spiritual phenomenon called Eugene Onegin, there are two main centers. One of them is indifference, coolness, the other center is described in the first chapter “but what was his true genius” - and this is followed by a description of Eugene as a “genius of love”. At the beginning, it can be mistaken for irony, a grin, or the hero’s philandering. We see a free, fashionable, ardent rake, a renegade of fashionable pleasures, an enemy and a waste of order.

He sees no meaning in anything, is indifferent to everything except self-esteem and independence. The feeling of love is alien to him, only the “science of tender passion” is familiar. It is difficult to imagine that in a few years this callous character will comprehend a selfless, spontaneous, poetic feeling. Well, for now he sees in the girls only potential brides planning how to spend his fortune after the wedding. He perceived Olga and Tatyana in exactly the same way. He was surprised to learn that his friend (Lensky) was in love with Olga:

If only I were like you, poet

Olga has no life in her features

Exactly like Vandyk's Madonna

She's round and red-faced,

Like this stupid moon

On this stupid sky.

He admitted that if he were a poet, he would choose Tatyana. He is not a poet, but he notices the individuality and unusualness of the heroine. She attracted his interest with her mystery, elusiveness, spirituality, and depth. But he only singled her out from the two sisters, nothing more. The girl did not arouse any other interest in him. But his soul, incapable of deep feelings, was touched by Tatyana’s letter:

But, having received Tanya’s message,

Onegin was deeply touched:

The language of girlish dreams

He was disturbed by a swarm of thoughts.

After reading the letter, Onegin felt excitement in his soul; he had long, and perhaps never known, a real deep feeling that worried him so much. “Perhaps the old ardor of feelings took possession of him for a minute,” but Eugene returned from the clouds to the ground, overcoming his feelings, decided that they were not suitable for each other, and did not dare to tempt fate. The hero is endowed with intelligence, therefore he acts intelligently, consciously, but love and intelligence are different things. There are times when you need to “throw aside” your calculations, your head, and live with your heart. Eugene’s heart is “shackled in chains” and it is very difficult to break them.

After Lensky's death, we do not see the hero, he leaves, and returns completely different, the opposite. We don’t know what happened to the hero during his journey, what he thought about, what he understood, why he “removed the shackles from his heart,” but we see another person capable of feeling and loving, worrying and suffering. Perhaps he realized that he did the wrong thing by rejecting Tatyana, that in vain he decided not to try to live the fabulous, airy life that Lensky admired so much, but nothing can be returned, and the image of Tanya “melts” in Onegin’s memory.

His meeting with Tatyana in St. Petersburg was a surprise for him:

“Can it really be,” Eugene thinks, “is she really?..” both heroes have changed over these 2 years. Tatyana follows Evgeniy’s advice:

“Learn to control yourself,

not everyone will understand you like I do,

inexperience leads to disaster.”

Evgeny becomes sensual and vulnerable. He falls in love: he counts the hours until he meets Tanya; when he sees her, he is speechless. The hero is overwhelmed with feelings, he is gloomy, awkward, but this does not touch Tatyana’s soul:

He's barely awkward

The head answers her

He is full of gloomy thoughts.

He looks gloomily. She

sits, calm and free.

Inexperience is visible in all of Evgeniy’s actions; he never loved as much as he did now. He lived his youth - the time of love - as an adult, strict, indifferent man. Now, when this time has passed, and the time for real adult life has come, love makes him a boy, inexperienced and crazy.

In the anguish of loving thoughts

He spends both day and night.

He's happy if he throws it at her

Fluffy boa on the shoulder,

Or touches hotly

Her hands, or spread

Before her is a motley regiment of liveries,

Or he will lift the scarf for her.

Onegin rejoices at every minute of his life spent next to Tatyana. Does not pay attention to his appearance, painful condition:

Onegin begins to turn pale:

She either can’t see it or isn’t sorry,

Onegin dries - and barely

He's no longer suffering from consumption.

With every action, Evgeniy wants to earn Tatyana’s attention and tender gaze, but she is insensitive and cold. She hid all her feelings far, far away, she “chained her heart with chains,” as Onegin once did. Tanya's current life is a masquerade. There is a mask on her face that looks quite natural, but not for Evgeniy. He saw her in a way that no one else around her now did. He knows tender and romantic, naive and in love, sensitive and vulnerable Tanya. The hero hopes that all this could not disappear without a trace, that under this mask hides the real face of the girl - the village Tatyana, who grew up on French novels and dreams of great and pure love. For Evgeny, all this was very important, but gradually hope faded, and the hero decided to leave. At the last explanation with Tatyana, he “looks like a dead man.” His passion is similar to Tanya’s suffering in chapter 4. When the young man came to her house, he saw the real Tanya without a mask and pretense:

...A simple maiden

with dreams, the heart of former days,

now she has risen again in her.

We all see that village Tanya is alive, and her behavior is just an image, a cruel role. Now let's move to the village and try to understand what love means to Tanya at the beginning and at the end of the novel.

Tatyana, like Onegin, was a stranger in the family. She did not like noisy games, feasts, and was never affectionate towards her parents. Tanya lived in another, parallel world, the world of books and dreams.

She liked novels early on;

They replaced everything for her:

She fell in love with deceptions

And Richardson and Russo.

from those around her, deep concentration on the internal movements of the soul makes love more powerful for Tatyana. In Onegin she saw everything best sides literary heroes, she fell in love with the image created by writers, society and Tatyana herself. She lives the dream, believes in a happy ending novel called life. But the dreams dissipate when Evgeniy answers her letter, flirts with Olga, and kills his friend. Then Tatyana understands that dreams and reality are different things. The hero of her dreams is far from humanity. The world of books and the world of people cannot exist together, they need to be separated. After all these events, Tatyana does not suffer, does not try to forget her lover, she wants to understand him. To do this, the girl visits Eugene’s house, in which she learns other, secret sides of Onegin. Only now Tanya begins to understand and comprehend the actions of the hero. But she understood him too late, he left, and it is unknown whether they will see each other again. Perhaps the girl would have lived with dreams of meeting, studying his soul, spending time in his house. But an event happened that changed Tanya’s life. She was taken to St. Petersburg, married, separated from native nature, books, the village world with the stories and fairy tales of the nanny, with her warmth, naivety, cordiality. Everything that she was separated from constituted the heroine’s favorite circle of life. In St. Petersburg, no one needs her; her provincial views seem strange and naively funny there. Therefore, Tanya decides that the best thing in this case would be to hide under a mask. She hides her affections, becomes a model of “impeccable taste,” a true snapshot of nobility and sophistication. But I am sure that Tanya constantly remembers that serene life, full of hopes and dreams. She remembers her beloved quiet nature, she remembers Evgeniy. She does not try to “bury” the village Tanya, but simply does not show her to others. We see that internally Tanya has not changed at all, but now she has a husband, and she cannot recklessly surrender to love.

Reflecting on what love means for Tatyana at the end of the novel (since we already understood that at the beginning love played a big role in the heroine’s life), I came to this conclusion. Tanya has remained the same, so sometimes she allows herself to think and dream about a different life, full of love and tenderness. But she, who grew up in the spirit of the patriarchal nobility, cannot break the bonds of marriage, cannot build her happiness on the misfortune of her husband. Therefore, she surrenders to the will of fate, rejects love and lives in a world full of lies and pretense.

At the beginning of the novel, when the happiness of the heroes seems so close, Onegin rejects Tatyana. Why? Simply because he is not only cruel, but also noble. He understands that happiness will be short-lived and decides to reject Tanya immediately rather than gradually torment her. He sees the hopelessness of their relationship, so he decides to break up without starting. At the end of the novel the situation changes, the hero lives with his love, it means a lot to him. But now the heroine has the final say. But she also refuses the relationship. Again, why? The girl was brought up according to ancient customs. It is impossible for her to cheat on her husband or leave him. For this act, everyone would condemn her: family, society, and, first of all, herself. We see different tempers heroes, education, worldview, different attitude to love. To connect them, we need to change all these qualities, all these data, but then we will see not Evgeny Onegin and Tatyana Larina, but completely different heroes, with different qualities. But who can guarantee that these people will be drawn to each other, like our heroes?

PLAN

1. What is romanticism?
2. The reasons for the emergence of romanticism.
3. The main conflict of romanticism.
4. The era of romanticism.
5. Pushkin is the pioneer of new paths for Russian literature.
6. “Eugene Onegin” - image modern reality.
7. Conclusion

Romanticism (from the French Romantisme) is an ideological and artistic movement that arises at the end XVIII centuries in European and American culture and continues until the 40s XIX century. Reflecting disappointment in the results of the Great French Revolution, in the ideology of the Enlightenment and bourgeois progress, romanticism contrasted utilitarianism and leveling of the individual with the aspiration for boundless freedom and the “infinite”, the thirst for perfection and renewal, the pathos of the individual and civil independence.

The painful disintegration of the ideal and social reality is the basis of the romantic worldview and art. The affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong passions, spiritualized and healing nature, is adjacent to the motives of “worldly sorrow”, “worldly evil”, the “night” side of the soul. Interest in the national past (often its idealization), the traditions of folklore and culture of one’s own and other peoples, the desire to publish a universal picture of the world (primarily history and literature) found expression in the ideology and practice of Romanticism.

Romanticism is observed in literature, fine arts, architecture, behavior, clothing and human psychology.

REASONS FOR THE ARISE OF ROMANTICISM.

The immediate cause of the emergence of romanticism was the Great French bourgeois revolution. How did this become possible?

Before the revolution, the world was orderly, there was a clear hierarchy in it, each person took his place. The revolution overturned the “pyramid” of society; a new one had not yet been created, so the individual had a feeling of loneliness. Life is a flow, life is a game in which some are lucky and others are not. In literature, images of players appear - people who play with fate. You can remember such works European writers, like “The Gambler” by Hoffmann, “Red and Black” by Stendhal (and red and black are the colors of roulette!), and in Russian literature it is “The Queen of Spades” by Pushkin, “The Players” by Gogol, “Masquerade” by Lermontov.

THE BASIC CONFLICT OF ROMANTICISM

The main one is the conflict between man and the world. The psychology of a rebellious personality emerges, which was most deeply reflected by Lord Byron in his work “Childe Harold’s Travels.” The popularity of this work was so great that a whole phenomenon arose - “Byronism”, and entire generations of young people tried to imitate it (for example, Pechorin in Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time”).

Romantic heroes are united by a sense of their own exclusivity. “I” is recognized as the highest value, hence egocentrism romantic hero. But by focusing on oneself, a person comes into conflict with reality.

REALITY is a strange, fantastic, extraordinary world, as in Hoffmann’s fairy tale “The Nutcracker,” or ugly, as in his fairy tale “Little Tsakhes.” In these tales, strange events occur, objects come to life and enter into lengthy conversations, the main theme of which is the deep gap between ideals and reality. And this gap becomes the main THEME of the lyrics of romanticism.

THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM

For the writers of the early 19th century, whose work took shape after the Great French Revolution, life presented different tasks than for their predecessors. They were to discover and artistically shape a new continent for the first time.

The thinking and feeling man of the new century had behind him a long and instructive experience of previous generations, he was endowed with a deep and complex inner world, images of the heroes of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, national liberation movements, images of the poetry of Goethe and Byron hovered before his eyes. In Russia, the Patriotic War of 1812 played a spiritual and moral development society the role of the most important historical milestone, profoundly changing the cultural and historical appearance of Russian society. In terms of its significance for national culture, it can be compared with the period Revolution XVIII century in the West.

And in this era of revolutionary storms, military upheavals and national liberation movements, the question arises whether, on the basis of a new historical reality, a new literature, not inferior in its artistic perfection to the greatest phenomena of literature of the ancient world and the Renaissance? And can it be based on further development to be a “modern man”, a man of the people? But a man from the people who participated in the French Revolution or on whose shoulders fell the burden of the struggle against Napoleon could not be depicted in literature using the means of novelists and poets of the previous century - he required other methods for his poetic embodiment.

PUSHKIN – THE PROGRAMMER OF ROMANTICISM

Only Pushkin was the first in Russian literature of the 19th century to be able, in both poetry and prose, to find adequate means for embodying the versatile spiritual world, the historical appearance and behavior of that new, deeply thinking and feeling hero of Russian life who occupied it central place after 1812 and especially after the Decembrist uprising.

In his Lyceum poems, Pushkin could not yet, and did not dare, make the hero of his lyrics a real person of the new generation with all his inherent internal psychological complexity. Pushkin’s poem seemed to represent the resultant of two forces: the poet’s personal experience and the conventional, “ready-made”, traditional poetic formula-scheme, according to internal laws which this experience took shape and developed.

However, gradually the poet frees himself from the power of the canons and in his poems we no longer see a young “philosopher”-epicurean, an inhabitant of a conventional “town,” but a man of the new century, with his rich and intense intellectual and emotional inner life.

A similar process occurs in Pushkin’s works in any genre, where conventional images of characters, already sanctified by tradition, give way to figures of living people with their complex, varied actions and psychological motives. At first it is the somewhat distracted Prisoner or Aleko. But soon they are replaced by the very real Onegin, Lensky, young Dubrovsky, German, Charsky. And finally, the most full expression a new type of personality will be the lyrical “I” of Pushkin, the poet himself, spiritual world which represents the most profound, rich and complex expression of burning moral and intellectual questions time.

One of the conditions for the historical revolution that Pushkin made in the development of Russian poetry, drama and narrative prose was his fundamental break with the educational-rationalistic, ahistorical idea of ​​​​the “nature” of man, the laws of human thinking and feeling.

A complex and contradictory soul “ young man” of the beginning of the 19th century in “Caucasian Prisoner”, “Gypsies”, “Eugene Onegin” became for Pushkin an object of artistic and psychological observation and study in its special, specific and unique historical quality. Putting your hero every time certain conditions, depicting him in various circumstances, in new relationships with people, exploring his psychology from different sides and using for this each time a new system of artistic “mirrors”, Pushkin in his lyrics, southern poems and “Onegin” strives with various sides to come closer to understanding his soul, and through it, further to understanding the patterns of contemporary social life reflected in this soul. historical life.

The historical understanding of man and human psychology began to emerge with Pushkin in the late 1810s and early 1820s. We find its first clear expression in the historical elegies of this time (“The daylight has gone out...” (1820), “To Ovid” (1821), etc.) and in the poem “ Prisoner of the Caucasus”, the main character of which was conceived by Pushkin, by the poet’s own admission, as a bearer of feelings and moods characteristic of the youth of the 19th century with its “indifference to life” and “premature old age of the soul” (from a letter to V.P. Gorchakov, October- November 1822)

“EVGENY ONEGIN” – a depiction of modern reality

Having first emerged during the period of southern poems, Pushkin’s historical approach to understanding the “laws” of the soul and heart of man - past and modern - will soon receive consistent expression in “Eugene Onegin” and “Boris Godunov”. Pushkin’s comparison in “Eugene Onegin” of the social, everyday and moral-psychological appearance of two generations - Onegin with his father and uncle, Tatyana with her parents - is evidence of an exceptionally deep, subtle understanding of the dependence of human psychology on the everyday and cultural-historical atmosphere of the time . Unlike the main characters in the works of his predecessors and older contemporaries, including the heroes of Karamzin and Zhukovsky, Onegin and Tatyana are people, all psychological and moral character which are permeated with reflections of intellectual and moral life from time.

As Pushkin perfectly understands, Onegin’s father and Larina’s mother, finding themselves in the position of Evgeny and Tatyana, behaved differently, since their time was characterized by other ideals and other moral ideas, and at the same time, a different system of feeling, a different rhythm of life. A young man who grew up in St. Petersburg, was raised by a French tutor and read Adam Smith, thinks differently than his narrow-minded father, brought up in the morals of the last century, who “nobly” served and wasted money. The generation whose idols were ladies' men and grandsons felt differently than the generation that read Byron, Benjamin Constant and Madame de Staël. Comparing the characters of Onegin and Tatyana with the characters of people of the previous generation, Pushkin shows how new, historically unique properties of the soul are formed in the real process of life people XIX century. These properties determine the special features of the entire life - external and internal - of the young generation, which is fundamentally, qualitatively different from the life of the “fathers”, fraught with new, complex moral and psychological problems unknown to previous literature.

Tatiana meets Onegin. In the genre of a sentimental story, such a meeting would be described as a meeting of two sublime hearts, in a romantic poem - two chosen, although different in their makeup, lofty, poetic natures, contrasted by the poet with the surrounding reality and superior to other, ordinary people in the strength of their feelings and aspirations . We see something else in Pushkin. Both Tatyana and Onegin are presented by Pushkin not as variations of ready-made, repeating types, but as dialectically complex human characters, each of which bears the imprint of the conditions of his life, his own special spiritual experience. The dissimilar circumstances of the development of the novel's heroes also determine the nature of the psychological refraction that the image of each of them receives when reflected in the consciousness of the other.

As Pushkin shows the reader, Tatyana’s love is a psychological reflection (and expression) of her entire previous life (material and spiritual factors): Russian nature, communication with her nanny, perception folk life. And finally, all the coloring love feeling Tatiana's relationship with Onegin would have been different if she had not passed his image through the prism of the heroes and plots of her love stories, and had not associated him with them.

Pushkin’s depiction of Onegin and Tatyana’s childhood and adulthood, their attitude to nature, people, and the everyday objects around them are interconnected moments of a single process of social, everyday and psychological development of the heroes, turning into each other. And the characteristics of Onegin’s father, his uncle, teachers, and the description of his lifestyle in St. Petersburg create a vivid picture of Russian noble life at the beginning of the 19th century. Familiarity with the upbringing and lifestyle of the main character before meeting Tatyana explains to the reader his reaction to meeting the heroine and not her letter. And the description of this reaction is a new further stage in the reader’s more in-depth acquaintance with the hero, gives new material for insight into the character and psychology of the “young man” of the 19th century.

Thus, all the individual episodes in the novel turn out to be not indifferent to each other, but internally connected with each other. And not only environment and external factors of life help to explain and understand the inner world of the characters, but this world itself acquires enormous, exceptional significance in depicting the modern reality of that time.

The historical understanding of not only the external environment and conditions in which people live and act, but also the very structure of their feelings and moral life is no less clearly expressed in Pushkin's prose– from “Arap Peter the Great” to “ Queen of Spades", "The Captain's Daughter" and "Egyptian Nights".

In Pushkin’s works, along with the change in the “spirit of the times,” not only social mores, characters and fashions change, but also the relationships that develop between people: the love of a medieval paladin or “poor knight” is fundamentally, qualitatively different from the love of young people of the 19th century. Therefore in XVIII literature centuries, the “poor knight” was supplanted by the gentleman Phoblas, and half a century later the “Phoblases’ glory fell into disrepair,” and their place was taken by Onegin and Childe Harold.

CONCLUSION

The peculiarity of any work of art and literature is that it does not die with its creator and its era, but continues to live later, and in the process of this later life it historically naturally enters into new relationships with history. And these relationships can illuminate the work for contemporaries with a new light, can enrich it with new, previously unnoticed semantic facets, bring from its depth to the surface such important, but not yet recognized by previous generations, moments of psychological and moral content, the meaning of which for the first time could be realized. - truly appreciated only in the conditions of the next, more mature era. This happened with Pushkin’s work. The experience of the historical life of the 19th and 20th centuries and the work of the great poet’s heirs revealed new important philosophical and artistic meanings in his works, often still inaccessible to either Pushkin’s contemporaries or his first closest, immediate successors, including Belinsky. But just as the work of Pushkin’s students and heirs helps today to better understand the works of the great poet and appreciate all the hidden seeds in them that were developed in the future, so the analysis of Pushkin’s artistic discoveries allows literary science to penetrate deeper into the subsequent discoveries of Russian literature of the 19th century and XX centuries. This emphasizes the deep, organic connection between the new paths laid out in art by Pushkin and the entire later development of Russian literature right up to the present day.

Literature

1. “Literature in the Movement of Time”, Friedlander G.M.
2. “The Life and Work of A.S. Pushkin”, Kuleshov V.I.
3. “Pushkin’s Prose: Paths of Evolution”, Tomashevsky B.V.

History of creation. "Eugene Onegin", the first Russian realistic novel, is Pushkin's most significant work, which has a long history of creation, covering several periods of the poet's work. According to Pushkin’s own calculations, work on the novel lasted for 7 years, 4 months, 17 days - from May 1823 to September 26, 1830, and in 1831 “Onegin’s Letter to Tatyana” was written. The publication of the work was carried out as it was created: first, individual chapters were published, and only in 1833 the first complete edition was published. Up until this time, Pushkin did not stop making certain adjustments to the text.

Completing work on the last chapter of the novel in 1830, Pushkin sketched out a rough plan for it, which looks like this:
Part one. Preface. 1st canto. Handra (Chisinau, Odessa, 1823); 2nd canto. Poet (Odessa, 1824); 3rd canto. Young lady (Odessa, Mikhailovskoe, 1824).
Part two. 4th Canto. Village (Mikhailovskoe, 1825); 5th Canto. Name Day (Mikhailovskoe, 1825, 1826); 6th canto. Duel (Mikhailovskoe, 1826).
Part three. 7th canto. Moscow (Mikhailovskoe, St. Petersburg, 1827, 1828); 8th Canto. Wandering (Moscow, Pavlovsk, Boldino, 1829); 9th Canto. Big light (Boldino, 1830).

In the final version, Pushkin had to make certain adjustments to the plan: for censorship reasons, he excluded Chapter 8 - “Wandering”. Now it is published as an appendix to the novel - “Excerpts from Onegin’s Journey”, and the final 9th ​​chapter - “Big Light” - has, accordingly, become the eighth. In this form, the novel was published in a separate edition in 1833.

In addition, there is an assumption about the existence of chapter 10, which was written in the Boldino autumn of 1830, but was burned by the poet on October 19, as it was dedicated to depicting the era of the Napoleonic wars and the birth of Decembrism and contained a number of dangerous political hints. Minor fragments of this chapter (16 stanzas), encrypted by Pushkin, have been preserved. The key to the cipher was found only at the beginning of the 20th century by the Pushkin scholar NO. Morozov, and then other researchers supplemented the decrypted text. But there is still ongoing debate about the legitimacy of the assertion that these fragments really represent parts of the lost 10th chapter of the novel.

Direction and genre. “Eugene Onegin” is the first Russian realistic socio-psychological novel, and, importantly, not prose, but a novel in verse. For Pushkin, the choice of artistic method was fundamentally important when creating this work - not romantic, but realistic.

Starting work on the novel during the period of southern exile, when romanticism dominated the poet’s work, Pushkin soon became convinced that the peculiarities of the romantic method did not make it possible to solve the task. Although in terms of genre the poet is to a certain extent guided by romantic poem Byron's Don Juan, he rejects the one-sidedness of the romantic point of view.

Pushkin wanted to show in his novel a young man, typical of his time, against the broad background of a picture of contemporary life, to reveal the origins of the characters he created, to show their internal logic and relationship with the conditions in which they find themselves. All this led to the creation of truly typical characters who manifest themselves in typical circumstances, which is what distinguishes realistic works.

This also gives the right to call “Eugene Onegin” social novel, since in it Pushkin shows noble Russia in the 20s of the 19th century, raises the most important problems of the era and seeks to explain various social phenomena. The poet does not simply describe events from the life of an ordinary nobleman; he gives the hero a bright and at the same time typical character for secular society, explains the origin of his apathy and boredom, and the reasons for his actions. Moreover, the events unfold against such a detailed and carefully depicted material background that “Eugene Onegin” can be called a social and everyday novel.

It is also important that Pushkin carefully analyzes not only the external circumstances of the heroes’ lives, but also their inner world. On many pages he achieves extraordinary psychological mastery, which allows for a deeper understanding of his characters. That is why “Eugene Onegin” can rightfully be called a psychological novel.

His hero changes under the influence of life circumstances and becomes capable of real, serious feelings. And let happiness pass him by, this often happens in real life, but he loves, he worries - that’s why the image of Onegin (not a conventionally romantic, but a real, living hero) so struck Pushkin’s contemporaries. Many found his traits in themselves and in their acquaintances, as well as the traits of other characters in the novel - Tatyana, Lensky, Olga - the depiction of typical people of that era was so faithful.

At the same time, “Eugene Onegin” also has features of a love affair with the traditional for that era love story. The hero, tired of the world, goes traveling and meets a girl who falls in love with him. For some reason, the hero either cannot love her - then everything ends tragically, or he reciprocates her feelings, and although at first circumstances prevent them from being together, everything ends well. It is noteworthy that Pushkin deprives such a story of its romantic overtones and gives a completely different solution. Despite all the changes that have occurred in the lives of the heroes and led to the emergence of mutual feelings, due to circumstances they cannot be together and are forced to part. Thus, the plot of the novel is given obvious realism.

But the innovation of the novel lies not only in its realism. Even at the beginning of work on it, Pushkin wrote in a letter to P.A. Vyazemsky noted: “Now I’m not writing a novel, but a novel in verse - a devilish difference.” The novel as an epic work presupposes the author’s detachment from the events described and objectivity in their assessment; the poetic form enhances the lyrical principle associated with the personality of the creator. That is why “Eugene Onegin” is usually classified as a lyric-epic work, which combines the features inherent in epic and lyric poetry. Indeed, in the novel “Eugene Onegin” there are two artistic layers, two worlds - the world of “epic” heroes (Onegin, Tatyana, Lensky and other characters) and the world of the author, reflected in lyrical digressions.

Lyrical digressions - this is a compositional and stylistic device that consists in the author’s deviation from the plot narrative and the introduction of direct author’s speech. They create the image of the author as a living interlocutor, a storyteller, and open the world of the narrative outward, introducing additional themes not related to the plot. In Eugene Onegin, lyrical digressions make up a significant part - almost a third of its volume. Lyrical digressions perform numerous functions in the novel: they mark the boundaries of the novel’s time and replace the plot narration, create the completeness of the image characteristic of an “encyclopedia” and provide the author’s commentary on events. It is lyrical digressions that introduce the author’s “I” and allow for a kind of dialogue with readers. By creating a distance between the author and the hero, they allow Pushkin to take the position of an objective researcher in relation to the events and characters depicted, which is necessary in a realistic work.

Plot and composition. Pushkin's innovation in the field of genre also determined the originality of the novel's composition, which is built on the interweaving of plot and extra-plot elements. The author easily moves from narration to lyrical digressions, which creates the impression of a relaxed story, a confidential conversation with the reader. Some researchers note that this construction technique helps create a feeling of spontaneity, as if the novel was not written according to a clear plan, but was told. Pushkin himself spoke about this: “the distance of a free novel,” asserting his copyright to freedom of choice.

Pushkin deliberately refuses some traditional elements, such as the introduction with an appeal to the muse - at the end of the seventh chapter there is a parody of it:

Yes, by the way, here are two words about that:
I sing to my young friend
And many of his quirks.
Bless my long work,
O you epic muse!
And, handing me the faithful staff,
Don't let me wander at random.

He omits a number of events in the lives of the characters, for example, Tatiana's wedding, and there is no traditional denouement that should complete the plot. Pushkin does all this in order to emphasize the verisimilitude of the story told: in real life there are no introductions or epilogues, some events remain unknown to us, but we continue to live on, as Onegin, Tatyana and other heroes of the novel do after its completion.

Nevertheless, the composition of the novel is clear and carefully thought out. It is built on the basis of two storylines, one of which breaks off in the middle of the work. First storyline: Onegin - Tatiana; its beginning - Onegin's acquaintance with Tatyana - occurs only in Chapter III. Second storyline: Onegin - Lensky; its beginning in Chapter II - Onegin's acquaintance with Lensky - comes immediately after the extensive exposition that Chapter I represents. In Chapter VI, where the duel and death of Lensky take place, the second storyline reaches its climax, which is immediately followed by a denouement. The denouement of the first storyline occurs at the end of the novel - in the last, VIII chapter. The peculiarity of both endings is that they are both devoid of certainty: after the story of Lensky’s death in a duel, the author describes two possible paths for this hero. And after the explanation with Tatyana in the last chapter, Pushkin “leave” Onegin “at a moment that was evil for him,” which means the open ending of the novel.

The main principle of the novel's organization is symmetry and parallelism. It has a “mirror” structure: in the center is the scene of Lensky’s murder, and individual episodes and details are parallel in pairs. In the first part of the work, Onegin travels to the village from the city and Tatyana falls in love with him, writes a letter of recognition, and he only reads instructions to “poor Tanya”; in the second part, Tatyana comes from the village to the capital, where she meets Onegin, being a married lady, and Eugene falls in love with her, in turn writes her a letter, and she refuses him and also reproaches him: “What about your heart and mind / To be a slave to petty feelings? Some details also echo: the description of Onegin’s village and city offices, the books he reads in the city and village, the images that appear in Tatyana’s dream (the monster among whom Eugene appears, killing Lensky), correlated with the image of the guests at her name day and subsequent events related to the duel. The novel also has a “ring” structure: it begins and ends with a depiction of the hero’s life in St. Petersburg.

The character system also has an orderly structure. The main principle of its construction is antithesis. For example, Onegin is contrasted with Lensky (as a Byronic hero - a romantic dreamer), and Tatyana (as a metropolitan dandy - a simple Russian girl), and high society (although he is a typical young man, but already tired of empty entertainment), and his neighbors - to landowners (as an aristocrat with metropolitan habits - to rural landowners). Tatyana is contrasted with both Olga (the latter is too empty and frivolous compared to the heroine, who “loves seriously”), and the Moscow young ladies (they tell her about their “heart secrets,” fashions, outfits, while Tatyana is focused on her solitary inner life) , and secular beauties (“without these little antics, without imitative tricks...”). It is very important to note that the author contrasts and compares shades and details of the same qualities (which is also typical for real life), these are not classicist or romantic literary clichés: good - evil, vicious - virtuous, banal - original, etc. An example is the Larina sisters: both Olga and Tatyana are natural, sweet girls who fell in love with brilliant young men. But Olga easily exchanges one love for another, although quite recently she was Lensky’s bride, and Tatyana loves one Onegin all her life, even after getting married and finding herself in high society.

The authenticity of what is happening in the novel is also emphasized by inserting text that is foreign to the author’s: letters from Tatyana and Onegin, songs of girls, poems by Lensky. Some of them are distinguished by a different stanza (written not in the “Onegin stanza”), have a separate title, which not only stands out from the general text of the novel, but also gives it a “documentary” quality.

The main compositional unit of the novel is the chapter. Each new chapter is a new stage in the development of the plot. But this does not prevent Pushkin from unexpectedly interrupting one of the chapters, leaving the characters for a while, but without destroying the plan of the work: each chapter is devoted to a specific topic, such as the fourth chapter - Onegin’s refusal, Tatiana’s misfortune and mutual love her sisters, and the fifth - name day. This allows, on the one hand, to place unique authorial accents, on the other, to interest readers (after all, the novel was published first in separate chapters as they were written), and on the third, to challenge literary conventions: “I’ll finish it later somehow,” says Pushkin , interrupting Chapter III “in fact interesting place": Tatyana's meeting with Onegin after he received a letter with a declaration of love.

A smaller compositional unit is the stanza: it also usually contains a complete thought, and breaking this creates additional emphasis. But in any case, each stanza represents a certain element of the plot movement.

Extra-plot compositional elements are lyrical digressions, but they are still, as a rule, connected with the plot (for example, the lyrical digression about past youth in Chapter VI is connected with the scene of the duel and death of Lensky). Often digressions begin or end a chapter (for example, famous retreat about Pushkin's Muse at the beginning Chapter VIII), appear before the climactic moments of the plot (before the explanation in the garden at the end of Chapter III; before Tatyana’s sleep; before the duel). Sometimes lyrical digressions replace plot time (in Chapter VII, a digression about the war with Napoleon is given “instead of” a description of the route of the Larins’ cart around Moscow). Finally, lyrical digressions can contain an appeal to the reader, which allows you to smooth transition from the lyrical to the epic part of the novel.

Topics and problems. “Eugene Onegin” is an innovative work, which has become, according to Belinsky, a genuine “encyclopedia of Russian life.” The novel amazes with its breadth of coverage of life material, the variety of problems posed in it and the depth of their development. “A collection of motley chapters” - this is how Pushkin himself defines the diversity and versatility of the themes and issues of his work. In it, the poet sets the task of depicting the social, everyday and cultural way of Russian society in the first quarter of the 19th century. He strives to show the typical characters of his era in their evolution. Before us are pictures of the lives of representatives of different walks of life - from the capital's high society to provincial nobility, simple urban people and sketches from the life of peasants. The spatial breadth of the picture of life depicted is also striking: from St. Petersburg and Moscow to the villages and provinces. Creating realistic images of typical representatives of the nobility, Pushkin touches on the topic of education and upbringing, cultural traditions, family relations and, of course, love and friendship, which forms the basis of the plot of the novel.

In addition, through lyrical digressions and extra-plot sketches, the theme of the work expands even further. Total there are 27 lyrical digressions in the novel, and they are devoted to a variety of issues: biographical facts and thoughts of the author about life, his aesthetic views on issues of literature, theater, music and attitude to problems of language; questions of history, philosophy, politics; discussions about manners, customs, morality and individual details of the life of society of that era; thoughts about nature.

The problematics of the novel “Eugene Onegin” consist of the most important social, moral and philosophical problems. It is based on the main socio-historical problem of Russian society, not only of the Pushkin era, but of the entire 19th century: the opposition between the European-enlightened Russian nobility and the majority of Russian society, which has preserved national foundations and traditions. She goes through two central themes novel: “national - non-national”, “city - village”, which, thanks to the indicated problems, turn out to be closely interconnected. It is within the framework central problem the poet creates images of the main characters of the novel - Evgeny Onegin and Tatyana Larina, and raises the question of national character and patriotism. Socio-historical issues are complemented and deepened by the formulation of moral and philosophical problems: the purpose and meaning of life, true and false values, the destructiveness of individualism and selfishness, fidelity to love and duty, the transience of life and the value of the moment, which have universal human significance.

Idea and pathos. Pushkin named the novel after the main character, Eugene Onegin, thereby indicating the special significance of this character in the work. Indeed, even in the first “southern” poem “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” the poet wanted not only to show a romantic similar to the heroes of Byron’s works, whose character is determined by proud loneliness, disappointment, boredom, pessimism and a sense of exclusivity, contempt for people and generally accepted norms. Even then, Pushkin set himself a broader task: to create a portrait of a hero of the time. “In it I wanted to portray this indifference to life and its pleasures, this premature old age of the soul, which became the hallmarks of the youth of the 19th century,” the poet wrote. But this task could not be solved only by means of romanticism, but required a realistic approach. That is why it became central only in the realistic novel “Eugene Onegin”,

No less important in the novel is the idea associated with the creation of the first national character of the Russian heroine. An approach to it has already been outlined in the work of Pushkin’s poetic “teacher” and friend Zhukovsky in his ballad “Svetlana”. But the framework of a romantic ballad did not allow the author to give a detailed explanation of the deep foundations of this nature. It was Pushkin in “Eugene Onegin” who was able to do this for the first time, showing Tatyana not only as a “Russian soul” heroine, but also as an ideal woman. To do this, it was necessary to present this image in dynamics, development and comparison with others, which the poet’s creation made it possible to do. big picture life of the Russian nobility of that era.

The nobility in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is presented heterogeneously. This, on the one hand, is the secular society of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where character is formed central character, and on the other - the provincial nobility, with which the image of the heroine of the novel - Tatyana Larina - is associated. The author’s attitude towards these layers of the nobility is unequal and ambiguous, and accordingly, his assessment is also different.

Highly appreciating the circle of educated metropolitan nobles, understanding the importance noble culture for Russia, the author still critically reproduces the general spirit (“cold”, “empty”, “deadly”) of Moscow and especially St. Petersburg high society depicted in the novel. For the sake of the concepts of “decency,” the world kills any manifestations of individuality in a person, therefore, a secular society divorced from national life is “brilliant” and “impersonal,” where everyone is occupied only with “incoherent, vulgar nonsense.” His image is dominated by satirical pathos,

In the description of the patriarchal life and morality of the provincial nobility, critical notes are also heard, but not so harsh, and therefore there is irony here. The poet condemns serfdom, however overall rating of the provincial nobility is softened by an emphasis on their more active lifestyle (they run the household themselves), greater simplicity, naturalness and tolerance in relationships. Life on a landowner’s estate is close to nature, to the traditions and customs of the Russian people, and therefore it is here that the character of the national Russian heroine, Tatyana, is formed.

Main characters. The system of images of the novel is based on the opposition City - Village (non-national - national). This is exactly how both the main and secondary and episodic characters are located (the Larin family, their landowner neighbors; St. Petersburg and Moscow society).

The main characters are contrasted: Onegin, a representative of “Russian Byronism,” and Tatyana, the embodiment of the national ideal of a Russian woman. This opposition is clarified by the line Lensky - Olga (a romantic dreamer - an ordinary Russian girl). At the same time, several more parallels arise: Onegin - Lensky (two types of romantics), Lensky - Author (romantic poet and realist poet), Onegin - Author (two types of representatives of the Russian cultural nobility).

"Hero of Time" is represented in the image Evgenia Onegina , In an effort not only to show, but also to explain the reasons for the appearance of such an unusual hero in Russian life, Pushkin talks in detail about what happened to Onegin before the start of the plot action (Chapter I). Before us is a picture of the upbringing, education, pastime and interests of a typical rich secular young man born “on the banks of the Neva”; his ordinary day is described in detail. Outwardly rich, the life of a secular person turns out to be monotonous, revolving in a set circle. For an ordinary person, all this looks normal, but Onegin is an extraordinary person. He is characterized by “involuntary devotion to dreams, / Inimitable strangeness / And a sharp, chilled mind.” A life in which “tomorrow is the same as yesterday” leads to the appearance in Onegin of a kind of “disease of the century”, for which Pushkin finds a clear and succinct definition:

The disease whose cause
It's time to find it long ago,
Similar to the English spleen,
In short: Russian blues
I mastered it little by little...

As Belinsky noted, “Onegin is not fit to be a genius, does not fit into great people, but the inactivity and vulgarity of life choke him; he doesn’t even know what he needs, what he wants; but he knows, and knows very well, that he does not need, that he does not want, what self-loving mediocrity is so happy with, so happy.” Onegin is trying to do something: he reads, writes, but “he was sick of persistent work.” This is no longer so much the influence of the environment as the quality of his nature. Onegin's apathy and laziness also manifest themselves when he moves to the village. Although his usual living conditions had changed, “the blues were still waiting for him on guard.”

It is no coincidence that Onegin’s illness, associated with Western European “Byronism,” strikes him, who was brought up and raised in the most European city in Russia. Onegin’s isolation from the national “soil” is both the cause of his melancholy and what underlies the very important consequences of the “disease of the century.” It turns out to be a truly serious illness that is difficult to get rid of. The very persistence of Onegin’s attempts to overcome this state speaks of the depth and seriousness of the problem. It is not for nothing that Pushkin, having begun the novel in a somewhat ironic tone, gradually moves on to a thoughtful analysis of all the components of this problem. As the plot develops, it becomes obvious that the consequences of this “disease” of modern man can be extremely difficult both for himself and for the people around him.

In the village there is a meeting between a “Russian European” and a dreamy Russian girl, sincere in her impulses and capable of deep, strong feelings. This meeting could be salvation for Onegin. But one of the consequences of his illness is “premature old age of the soul.” Having appreciated Tatyana, her brave, desperate act, when she was the first to confess her love to him, Onegin cannot find it in himself mental strength to respond to a girl's feelings. In his monologue-“sermon” in the garden, there is a sincere confession of the soul, and the caution of a secular person who is afraid of getting into an awkward situation, but most importantly - callousness and selfishness. This is what the human soul becomes when it suffers premature old age. She was not created, as Onegin himself says, “for the bliss” of family life. This is also one of the consequences of the illness of the Russian “Byronicist”. For such a person, freedom is above all; it cannot be limited by anything, including family ties. For Tatyana, this is an opportunity to find a kindred spirit in a loved one, and for Evgeny, it is a danger of losing his priceless freedom. This reveals the difference between two life systems formed in different cultural and ethical traditions. Onegin belongs to the type of “modern hero” about which Pushkin so accurately said:

We respect everyone as zeros,
And in units - yourself.
We all look at Napoleons...

Only as a result of tragic events does change begin in the hero. Lensky's death is the price of Onegin's transformation. The “bloody shadow” of a friend awakens frozen feelings in him, his conscience drives him out of these places. It was necessary to experience all this, to “travel through Russia” in order to realize that freedom can become “hateful” in order to be reborn for love. Only then will Tatyana with her “Russian soul”, with her impeccable moral sense, become a little clearer to him.

In the last chapter of the novel, the scale of Onegin’s worldview changed, who finally realized himself not only as an independent person, but also as part of a huge country with a rich history. Now for secular society, where he lived for eight years, Onegin has become a stranger, and he is looking for a soul mate in Tatyana, who is so different from everyone else here. Intense experiences and reflections enriched his inner world. From now on, he is able not only to coldly analyze, but also to deeply feel and love.

But the huge difference between Onegin and Tatyana does not disappear so easily; the problem is much deeper and more complex. Unlike Tatiana, Onegin, intoxicated by his newfound ability to love and suffer, cannot understand that love and selfishness are incompatible, that one cannot sacrifice the feelings of other people. Whether Onegin will find moral support in life or become an even more devastated person is unknown: the ending of the novel is open. Pushkin does not suggest clear solutions; only life itself can answer such questions. “What happened to Onegin later? ...We don’t know, and why should we know this when we know that the powers of this rich nature are left without application, life without meaning, and the romance without end?” - wrote Belinsky.

After Onegin, a whole galaxy of young people will appear in Russian literature, also suffering from the “Russian blues”, restless, searching for themselves and their place in life. Absorbing new signs of their time, they preserved main feature. At first they began to be called “strange people,” and only in the middle of the 19th century, after the publication of Turgenev’s story “The Diary of an Extra Man” (1850), the definition of “extra man” was firmly assigned to such heroes. These people, troubled through life in search of their place and a worthy cause, were never able to find their calling and guess their destiny, and were unable to recover from their terrible illness. The attitude of society towards such people was also different: they were admired, they aroused surprise, envy, hatred, then they began to be despised for their inability to find a solution to the problem. But the essence of this type of people is dissatisfaction with life and constant search. Skeptics, critics, pessimists, they are needed in life because they do not allow it to freeze and stop, but encourage us to move forward, although the lot of the “superfluous person” itself is often sad and tragic.

Another central character of the novel is its main character - Tatyana Larina - the author’s “sweet ideal”, the poet’s ideas about the Russian national character are connected with her. Belinsky said that Pushkin “... was the first to poetically reproduce, in the person of Tatyana, a Russian woman.” Raised in the village, Tatyana, “Russian in soul,” absorbed Russian customs and traditions, which were “kept in a peaceful life” in the Larin family. Since childhood, she fell in love with Russian nature, which forever remained dear to her; She accepted with all her soul those fairy tales and folk legends that her nanny told her. Tatyana retained a living, blood connection with that “soil”, the folk foundation, which Onegin completely lost.

At the same time, the personalities of Onegin and Tatyana have much in common: mental and moral originality, a feeling of alienation to their environment, sometimes acute feeling loneliness. But if Pushkin treats Onegin with ambivalence, then he treats Tatyana with open sympathy. Pushkin endowed his beloved heroine with a rich inner world and spiritual purity, “a rebellious imagination, a living mind and will, a wayward head, and a fiery and tender heart.”

Since childhood, Tatyana was different from her peers: her circle of friends did not attract her, their noisy games were alien to her. She loved folk tales and “believed the legends of the common people of old times.” Tatyana's dreams are filled with traditional folklore images and symbols (an angry bear, monsters with horns and scary faces).

But, like all noble girls of that era, Tatiana at the same time was brought up on sentimental French novels, where there was always a noble hero, capable of deep feeling. Having met Onegin, she, with all the strength of her sincere “Russian soul,” not only fell in love with him, but also believed that he was her hero, that, as in novels, a happy ending awaited them - a family union. She decided to take a very bold step - to be the first to confess her love in a letter. Her letter was written in French, because the Russian language of that time did not yet know the words to express the subtlest nuances of feeling, and Pushkin gives his “translation”, which became a wonderful example of a love letter in Russian poetry. But a terrible blow awaited the girl: the hero behaved completely differently than the novels depicted, and she recalled his “sermon” with horror even many years later - in St. Petersburg, being a brilliant society lady.

Tatyana is a strong person, she manages to pull herself together and look critically at what happened. Having visited Onegin's house, Tatyana reads his books in order to understand whom she loved so much, and is not afraid to face the truth for the sake of truth, asking the question: “Is he really a parody?”

But Tatyana’s strength lies not only in this: she is capable of changing, adapting to life’s circumstances, without losing herself. Having married at her mother's request, Tatyana finds herself in higher education. secular society, but the capital does not deform her sincere, deep nature. This is also emphasized by the way the description of married Tatiana is given - it is built on denials typical features secular person:

She wasn't in a hurry
Not cold, not talkative,
Without an insolent look for everyone.

The simplicity and naturalness inherent in her initially do not disappear, but are only emphasized in a new environment for her: “Everything was quiet, it was just there.”

Tatyana's moral strength is manifested in the ending of the novel. Having gone through trials and turmoil, Tatyana learned to be restrained and to appreciate the real life that did not fall to her lot. That's why, carrying through the years unrequited love to Onegin, she, having met him again in St. Petersburg, refuses happiness, which could lead to trouble for her family and seriously injure her husband. Tatyana shows not only prudence, but also responsibility. Belinsky rightly noted: “Tatiana is one of those integral poetic natures who can love only once.” She rejected Onegin not because she stopped loving him. This, as the critic said, is obedience to “the highest law - the law of one’s nature, and its nature is love and self-sacrifice.” In her refusal - selflessness for the sake of moral purity, fidelity to duty, sincerity and certainty in relationships, which was so lacking for a woman in secular society. This is what allowed Pushkin to call Tatyana a “sweet ideal” and with this image open a long series of wonderful heroines of Russian literature.

Plays a major role in the novel Vladimir Lensky. Like Onegin, he is a representative of the young Russian nobility, but this is a different socio-psychological type - a young romantic dreamer. The author's assessment of this hero is very ambiguous: it intertwines irony and sympathy, smile and sadness, ridicule and admiration. Lensky “from foggy Germany” brought not only “shoulder-length black curls” and “always enthusiastic speech,” he is “an admirer of glory and freedom,” ardent and impetuous, a poet in spirit (unlike the fundamentally unpoetic Onegin, but comparable in this quality with the Author). Onegin's disappointment and apathy are sharply contrasted by the impetuosity and enthusiasm of Lensky, who believes in the “perfection of the world.” Lensky is endowed with a romantic worldview, but not of the Byronic type, like Onegin. He is prone to dreams, faith in ideals, leading to a break with reality, which was the basis of the tragic ending - the early death of the poet.

The desire for a heroic deed lives in Lensky, but the life around him gives almost no reason for this. But imagination replaces reality for him: Evgeniy’s cruel joke in Lensky’s eyes turns ex-friend into the “tempter”, “insidious seducer”, villain. And without hesitation, Lensky throws down a challenge, although there is no real reason for a duel, in order to defend the concepts that are sacred to him: love, honor, nobility.

Pushkin is ironic not at the duel, but at the fact that the thirst for heroic impulse expresses itself in such an essentially naive and absurd act. But can one still be condemned for this? young hero? Belinsky, who fiercely fought against idealism and romanticism in literature and in life, gives this hero a rather harsh assessment: “There was a lot of good in him, but the best thing is that he was young and died in time for his reputation.” Pushkin is not so categorical; he leaves his hero two options: the opportunity to live “for the good of the world” or, having survived youthful romanticism, to become an ordinary ordinary landowner.

With true realism, “Eugene Onegin” also presents other minor and even episodic characters, such as guests at Tatiana’s name day or regulars at social events, sometimes drawn with just one or two words. Like the novel's main characters, these are "typical heroes in typical circumstances." Among them special group constitute female images that are somehow related to the main character. In the contrast and comparison of Tatiana with her mother, sister, Moscow princess Alina and nanny, two main themes and antitheses of the novel are revealed: “national and European”, “city and countryside”.

Tatyana's story is in many ways similar to her mother's, and this is no coincidence: children often inherit the traits of their parents. The fact that Pushkin showed this is undoubtedly evidence of the realism of the novel. In her youth, Tatyana’s mother was an ordinary Moscow young lady:

Happened to pee blood
She is in the albums of gentle maidens.
Called Polina Praskovya
And she spoke in a sing-song voice,
She wore a very narrow corset,
And Russian N is like N French
She knew how to pronounce it through her nose.

But she was married off against her will, and she was taken to the village. “I was torn and cried at first, / I almost divorced my husband...” - but then I got used to it and, taking up housekeeping and forgetting the old habits of the capital, I became a real Russian landowner, simple, natural, maybe a little rude:

She traveled for work.
Salted mushrooms for the winter,
She kept expenses, shaved her foreheads,
I went to the bathhouse on Saturdays.
She beat the maids in anger...

During their life together, she became attached to her husband and, when he died, she sincerely mourned him. Thus, one can notice clear similarities in the destinies of Tatyana and her mother: both had to adapt to a new, difficult life in an unfamiliar environment, and both of them, after all the difficulties, retained the best in themselves. Tatyana's mother became more natural and found family happiness, and her daughter found her place in the world, remaining a pure and strong nature.

The image of Tatyana’s mother also helps in revealing the theme “City and Countryside”. In the village, Larina became completely different thanks to caring for her family and doing housework, but her Moscow cousin Alina did not change a bit. When old friends meet, the latter almost immediately begins to talk about a mutual friend long forgotten by Larina, which indicates the invariability of the Moscow cousin’s interests, because, apparently, she never had any new activities, which also clearly speaks not in favor of the city residents.

The same idea is confirmed when comparing Tatiana and Moscow young ladies, Tatiana and St. Petersburg beauties. Tatyana, with her reading of books, love of nature and seriousness of character, seems an order of magnitude higher than the inhabitants of the capital, even such brilliant ones as “Cleopatra of the Neva” Nina Voronskaya. What can we say about Moscow girls who are only busy with

...believe in a sing-song voice
Secrets of the heart, secrets of virgins,
Others' and your own victories,
Hopes, pranks, dreams.

But even more important for the characterization of Tatyana is her opposition younger sister- Olga. Although both girls were raised in the same family and in similar conditions, they turned out to be very different. Thus, Pushkin emphasizes that for the formation of such an exceptional character as Tatyana, external circumstances alone are not enough; the special qualities of a person’s nature are also important. By comparing the two sisters in the novel, the poet emphasizes the depth of Tatyana’s character, her originality and seriousness. Olga is natural and “playful”, but in general she is too ordinary and superficial:

Always modest, always obedient,
Always cheerful like the morning,
How a poet's life is simple-minded,
How sweet is the kiss of love...

Her ordinaryness and mediocrity are emphasized by the portrait, which is contrasted with the portrait of Tatiana:

Eyes like the sky blue;
Smile, flaxen curls,
Movements, voice, light stance...

This is a standard image of a beautiful girl, which has become a literary template: “... any novel / Take and you will find correctly / Her portrait...”.

Olga favorably accepts Lensky's advances, and all her love is expressed in a smile. “Encouraged by Olga’s smile” is the only thing that allows Lensky to feel Olga’s reciprocal love. It is not surprising that she, without hesitation, flirts with Onegin, which subsequently leads to the death of her fiancé, whom she mourns for only a short time;

Another caught her attention
Another managed her suffering
To lull you to sleep with loving flattery,
Ulan knew how to captivate her
Ulan loved her with his soul...

Very important for creating an image national heroine Tatiana is compared with her nanny Filipevna and an analysis of their relationship. Pushkin shows their spiritual kinship, the amazing inner closeness of a noblewoman and a peasant woman, but at the same time points out their differences. It is known that the prototype of the image of the nanny was Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, Pushkin’s nanny. She, like Tatyana's nanny, was a master of telling folk tales, the world of which had a huge influence on the formation of the character of both the Russian national poet Pushkin and his heroine Tatyana, who embodies the traits of a Russian girl. That is why for a confidential conversation about the most important and intimate things, Tatyana chooses not a friend, sister or even mother, but her nanny. The girl talks to her as to the person closest to her about her love, about her feelings, but the nanny simply does not understand her. On the one hand, this is evidence of Tatyana’s excessive passion for romantic dreams. But on the other hand, their dialogue demonstrates the difference between the nobility and the peasantry in general. After all, the fate of a peasant woman is completely different from what awaits a young lady from a noble family in life. From the story of nanny Fshshpyevna we learn how life was built in a peasant family:

...These summers
We haven't heard about love;
Otherwise I would have driven you away from the world
My deceased mother-in-law.
...My Vanya
Was younger than me, my light,
And I was thirteen years old.

As the researcher of Pushkin’s creativity Yu.M. showed. Lot-man in the comments to the novel1, Tatyana and the nanny invest fundamentally different meaning in the word “love”: for Tatyana this is a high romantic feeling, but for a simple peasant woman it is sinful love for a man.

In such relationships, juxtapositions, comparisons and antitheses, the image of a national heroine emerges. But there is another hero with whom she also correlates - this is one of the most unusual characters in the novel: its Author. His image is formed in lyrical digressions. The image of the author is a conventional carrier of the author's speech in the work on whose behalf the narration is conducted, as well as a character close to the biographical author, possessing the features of a lyrical hero or hero-storyteller. The specificity of the image of the author in the novel “Eugene Onegin” lies in the fact that he acts not only as an author-narrator and author-storyteller, conducting a lively dialogue with the reader, but also as one of the main characters of the work, entering into certain relationships with them, possessing his destiny, based on some biographical facts from the life of Pushkin.

Like all the other heroes of the novel, the author-character is a certain human type, characteristic of the life of Russia of that era, and at the same time a unique bright individuality, a man of extraordinary spiritual wealth, sharp mind and philosophical depth. At the same time, the true facts of Pushkin’s biography alternate with fictitious ones. The author knows Onegin, loves Tatyana and keeps her letter, as well as Lensky’s poems. At the same time, we read about the southern exile, his stay in Odessa, his lyceum years, and about Pushkin’s life in the village. But something else is more important: the reader penetrates into the inner world of this unique hero, tracing changes in the views, moods, hobbies of the Author - from the ardent dreams of youth, with its “fun dreams”, “passion games” to calmness and balance mature years, when the Author’s ideal becomes “mistress”, and his main desire is “peace”. It is also important that the Author is a poet. It is from him that we learn about the literary life of the era, the change literary trends and their features, about the genre of ode and elegy, about the hero of classicism and romanticism. The author enters into debates about language characteristic of the era, defending his own position in the dispute between the Shishkovists and Karamzinists. The Author is also associated with a peculiar idea of ​​the purpose of man, the meaning of being - this, along with the opinions of the heroes, is another important point of view in the search for the purpose and meaning of life, which covers all the heroes of the novel. But in general, another important life type appears before us: a representative of the Russian intelligentsia, a European-educated, original-thinking and deeply feeling truly Russian person, closely connected with folk, national roots. And most importantly, he is a great poetic genius, the creator of the novel “Eugene Onegin”.

Artistic originality. The novel “Eugene Onegin” is a unique artistic phenomenon. You can feel the hand in everything genius master. This is not just an oealistic work, but a broad picture of life, in which there is everything: from small to great. The portrait of the era and its representatives is unusually accurate and capacious, created with amazing psychological skill, the landscape sketches are extraordinary in beauty and expressiveness, and the richness of language and mastery of detail evoke well-deserved admiration. As noted by the philologist M.M. Bakhtin, “this is not a silent encyclopedia of things and everyday life. Russian life speaks here with all its voices, all the languages ​​and styles of the era." That is why it is so important, when speaking about the artistic originality of Pushkin's novel, to dwell on issues of language and poetic skill.

It is known that for this work the poet had to specially create a special stanza, which was called the Onegin stanza. It consists of 14 lines of iambic tetrameter, arranged according to the pattern AbAb CCdd EffE gg (cross rhymes, adjacent rhymes, encircling rhymes and a final couplet). The semantic structure of the stanza - the thesis, its development, culmination, ending - allows you to convey the course of the movement of thought. At the same time, such a stanza, being like an independent miniature, made it possible to avoid monotony of sound and gave great scope to the author’s thoughts. The entire novel is written in Onegin's stanza, with the exception of some insert elements: letters from Tatiana and Onegin and songs of girls.

Much attention is paid to issues of language in the novel, but the very verbal fabric of this work was one of the most important factors in the formation of realistic aesthetics, the formation of modern Russian literary language. Following Karamzin, Pushkin widely introduces foreign words and phrases, sometimes even using letters(tailcoat, vest, mechanically, spleen, dandy, Vulgar, Du comme il faut), but at the same time, unlike Karamzin, Pushkin strives to expand the vocabulary by including colloquial, sometimes even common, vocabulary (clap, rumor, top, silently he hung his nose).

At the same time, in the novel Pushkin uses all those innovative techniques that distinguish his lyrics. Landscape descriptions paint accurate, realistic and at the same time unusually poetic pictures of Russian autumn and winter, the sea and even distant Italy. The language spoken by the characters corresponds to their character and mood, and their letters rightfully take their place among the masterpieces of Pushkin’s love lyrics. “Helping” his heroes expand the boundaries of the Russian language in order to express the subtlest nuances of feeling, Pushkin showed how the Russian language is capable of conveying any, the deepest thought, any complex feeling with all its shades, and with extraordinary poetic power. All this makes the language of the novel surprisingly capacious, diverse, and flexible, which fully corresponded to the task of creating a realistically accurate picture of the era, a true “encyclopedia of Russian life.”

The meaning of the work. The great significance of the novel “Eugene Onegin” for Russian literature was already determined by the poet’s contemporaries, but for the first time a complete and detailed analysis of this work was given by the critic V.G. Belinsky in the 8th and 9th articles of the cycle “Works of Alexander Pushkin” (1843-1846). His assessment of Pushkin’s masterpiece remains relevant today.

First of all, Belinsky rightly pays tribute to the deep nationality of the novel, which he understands in the spirit of Gogol’s definition that “nationality does not consist in the description of the sundress.” “...A strange opinion has long been rooted in us, as if a Russian in a tailcoat or a Russian in a corset are no longer Russians and that the Russian spirit makes itself felt only where there is a zipun, bast shoes, fusel and sour cabbage, writes the critic. -...No, and a thousand times no!” "Eugene Onegin" is really "in highest degree original and national work“, and now no one doubts it.

Next, Belinsky talks about the significance of the novel for Russian literature and public life generally. The critic sees it as a comprehensive reflection of reality and truthfulness, which allows us to call the novel historical, “although among... the heroes there is not a single historical person.” How great merit Pushkin Belinsky notes that the poet in the novel “is a representative of the first awakened social consciousness.” He compares the novel with another work by Pushkin's contemporary. “Together with Griboedov’s contemporary brilliant creation - “Woe from Wit” - Pushkin’s poetic novel laid a solid foundation for new Russian poetry, new Russian literature,” the critic asserts.

Belinsky examines the images of the main characters in detail and determines their main features. Unlike many of Pushkin’s contemporaries, the critic was able to objectively evaluate the main character of the novel, whom Belinsky largely justifies: “...Onegin was neither cold, nor dry, nor callous”; “... poetry lived in his soul... he was not one of the ordinary, ordinary people.” Although Belinsky immediately calls Onegin a “suffering egoist,” a “reluctant egoist,” he does not so much reproach the hero himself for this, but rather “claims that the existence of these negative aspects Onegin's nature is largely to blame for society. Belinsky tries to understand Onegin, and not condemn him. He obviously cannot accept Onegin’s way of life, but the fact that the critic understood the very essence of Pushkin’s hero is beyond doubt. Emphasizing the extraordinary nature of Eugene Onegin, the critic concludes: “The powers of this rich nature were left without application, life without meaning, a novel without end.”

A very unflattering assessment is given by the critic to another hero of the novel - Lensky. Belinsky clearly does not sympathize with this romantic dreamer, although he rightly notes: “He was a creature accessible to everything beautiful, lofty, a pure and noble soul.” But the critic’s main attention is drawn to the image of Tatyana, to whom a separate article is devoted. Belinsky highly appreciates Pushkin’s merit in creating this image: “Almost the entire feat of the poet is that he was the first to poetically reproduce a Russian woman in the person of Tatyana.” Describing the typical girls of that time, to which Olga, Tatiana’s sister, belonged, Belinsky notes: “Tatiana is a rare, beautiful flower, which accidentally grew in a crevice of a wild rock." He carefully analyzes her every step, trying to penetrate this complex and contradictory nature. Each of Tatyana’s actions, as Belinsky notes, reveals new features in her, but everywhere she remains herself: “Tatiana seems to have been created from one whole piece without any alterations or impurities. ... Passionately in love, a simple village girl, then a society lady, Tatyana is the same in all aspects of her life.” Analyzing Tatyana’s last conversation with Onegin, the critic writes that this monologue of the heroine reflected “the type of Russian woman”, as delightful for him as for Pushkin.

Summing up the analysis of the novel, Belinsky says: “In the person of Onegin, Lensky and Tatyana, Pushkin depicted Russian society in one of the phases of its formation, its development. The poet’s personality, so fully and vividly reflected in this poem, is everywhere so beautiful, so humane.” “Onegin can be called an encyclopedia of Russian life and a highly folk work.”

Subsequent critics assessed the significance of Pushkin’s novel differently, for example Pisarev in the article “Pushkin and Belinsky” and Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?” But the fact remains indisputable that this is a true masterpiece of Russian literature, which influenced its entire development, without which we now cannot imagine not only the history of our culture and society, but also the life of any educated person.

"Eugene Onegin" is a realistic novel that presents a broad, historically accurate picture of Russian life in the early 19th century. The poet painted various types of people, characters, conditioned social environment and time. Before him, writers did not see the dependence of character on the social environment. Pushkin explores the process of formation of heroes, shows them not static, but in development, in a collision with the environment, in spiritual transformation. For the first time in Russian literature, the poet reveals the psychological depths of characters, depicts their inner world with realistic motivation and fidelity. Pushkin conveys the internal psychological state through the external movement and behavior of the characters.

The realism of the novel is colored by a critical attitude towards reality. This is expressed primarily in the type of conflict - a disappointed individual, unsatisfied in his social needs, is in conflict with an environment that lives according to its own inert laws. However, while realistically portraying the hero, Pushkin does not tear Onegin out of his circle. According to Herzen’s correct remark, Onegin “never takes the side of the government,” but he is also “never capable of taking the side of the people.”

Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” determined the trend for the further development of Russian literature in line with critical realism.

The novel “Eugene Onegin” was named by V.G. Belinsky "encyclopedia of Russian life". Indeed, as if from an encyclopedia, from a novel you can learn everything about Pushkin era. The novel shows all layers of Russian society: the high society of St. Petersburg and patriarchal Moscow, the local nobility and the peasantry.

The novel gives an idea of ​​the education system of the nobles at that time, of the reading circle of provincial young ladies and young men of St. Petersburg. Onegin's description of one day recreates a typical pastime for noble youth: sleep until noon, invitation notes that the servant brings to bed, a walk along the boulevard, lunch in a fashionable restaurant, the theater, dressing for the ball, the ball itself until the morning.

As in a Dutch still life, the dishes served for lunch shimmer with rich colors. Pushkin waxes poetic about everyday details, describing Onegin's St. Petersburg office with elegant trinkets and French perfumes. We learn how young aristocrats dressed, what was fashionable in those days. A special place in the picture of life in St. Petersburg created by Pushkin is occupied by the theater - the “magical land”.

Pushkin is surprisingly accurate not only in describing details and signs of everyday life, but also of time. It is possible to reliably determine when this or that event in the novel occurs, what is the age of its characters.

In "Eugene Onegin" they are constantly mentioned real faces- poets, friends of Pushkin, ballet dancers, playwrights, fashionable hairdressers and tailors famous in those days.

The pages of the novel reflect the literary struggle, the confrontation between romanticism and realism, and new theatrical trends.

There is not a single aspect of life and everyday life in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century that would not be reflected, as in a mirror, in the novel. Moral, everyday, socio-political, literary and theatrical representations, realistically reproduced in “Eugene Onegin”, make it an encyclopedia in which “the century and modern man are reflected.”

With the title of the novel, Pushkin emphasizes the central place of Onegin among other characters. An aristocrat by birth and upbringing, “a child of fun and luxury,” Eugene Onegin, fed up with social life, became disillusioned with the surrounding reality. A man of acute critical mind, he becomes hostile to the light. He tries to find answers to emerging questions in books, but finds neither an ideal nor a goal. Onegin's disappointment in life is not a tribute to romantic fashion, not a desire to dress up in Childe Harold's cloak. This is a natural stage of development, due to belonging to the noble intelligentsia. Pushkin in Onegin reflected the dramatic situation of the advanced noble intellectual, who was in opposition to the authorities, but also far from the people, had neither a cause nor a goal in life. Onegin is an individualist, alone experiencing his disappointment with those around him. V.G. Belinsky called him a “suffering egoist.”

The duel with Lensky became a stage in spiritual development Onegin. Denying secular morality, Eugene Onegin could not resist the opinion of the world and refuse the duel. The senseless murder of a friend forces him to leave the village and becomes the impetus for a deeper and more serious perception of life.

Characterizing Onegin, Herzen wrote that the hero is “a smart useless person,” he is “an extra person in the environment where he is, not possessing the necessary strength of character to break out of it.”

The complex and contradictory image of Onegin determined the beginning of a whole galaxy of “superfluous people” in Russian literature.

Pushkin immediately gives the image of Lensky as an antithesis to Onegin:

They got along. Wave and stone

Poetry and prose, ice and fire are not so different from each other.

At the same time, Lensky is close to Onegin in terms of development and height of spiritual needs. This is also far from a simple image, which is sometimes seen as a debunking of romanticism. Pushkin ironically says:

He sang separation and sadness,

And something, and a foggy distance.

At the same time, Lensky is bright and pure man, whose trouble is that he does not know life, enthusiastically believes in the ideals gleaned from books. His freedom-loving dreams do not find real embodiment. “A dear ignoramus at heart,” Lensky, like Onegin, did not fit into his contemporary society. He had two options: either the gift of a poet would develop in him and acquire a civic meaning, or, broken by society, Lensky would live like everyone else. The idealistic-romantic attitude towards reality was unviable. And Lensky’s death is natural. Herzen noted: “The poet saw that such a person had nothing to do in Russia, and he killed him with the hand of Onegin.”

The female characters of the novel - Tatyana and Olga - are also based on opposition. Tatyana is the embodiment of Pushkin’s ideal, and not in some abstract romantic image, but in an ordinary Russian girl. Everything about Tatyana is normal; her appearance is not striking at first sight. Tatyana grew up in the village, among Russian nature, listening to the stories of the old nanny and the songs of the village girls. In her character, Russian and folk were combined with what the French carried with them. sentimental novels, developing daydreaming, imagination, sensitivity:

Dick, sad, silent...

She seemed like a stranger in her own family.

Tatyana has a rich inner world. She is naturally gifted

With a rebellious imagination,

Alive in mind and will,

And wayward head,

And with a fiery and tender heart.

Like any original nature, Tatyana finds herself alone. She longs to find a kindred spirit, which in her imagination she saw in Onegin.

Tatyana is different from the girls of her circle. She does not behave typically for a girl raised in patriarchal traditions - contrary to generally accepted concepts, she is the first to confess her love. Tatyana is sincere, pure, and open in her monologue-letter to Onegin.

After Onegin’s departure, Tatyana wants to understand who he is, her hero? Reading books with his notes, immersing himself in an unknown world, reflecting on what he read prepared Tatyana, according to Belinsky, for “rebirth from a village girl into a society lady.” But even being in the world, Tatyana maintains purity and sincerity, “everything is quiet, it was just in her.” “The rags of a masquerade, all this glitter, and noise, and fumes” are alien to her. To Onegin’s confession, Tatyana sadly replies:

I love you (why lie?),

But I was given to another;

I will be faithful to him forever.

Tatyana rejects Onegin because she cannot violate her moral principles. Brought up on folk ethical rules, Tatyana cannot make her husband, whom she deeply respects, unhappy. Her moral demands on herself are high, and she considers loyalty to her husband a duty. Belinsky is unlikely to be right when he saw Tatyana’s loyalty as a profanation of love. Consistency in standing up for yourself in life moral principles just speaks of the integrity of the heroine’s nature. The image of Tatiana embodied Pushkin's ideal of a Russian woman.

The complete opposite of Tatyana is her sister Olga. She is always “playful, carefree, cheerful.” Her portrait reflects a common type of beauty - the ideal of the novels of that time:

Any novel

Take it and you will find it, right,

Her portrait.

The insightful Onegin notes that “Olga has no life in her features.” This mediocre girl, who does not stand out among others, is incapable of strong, deep feelings. After Lensky’s death, “she did not cry for long,” she got married and will probably repeat the fate of her mother, who

Salted mushrooms for the winter,

She kept expenses, shaved her foreheads,

I went to the bathhouse on Saturdays,

She beat the maids, getting angry...

The skill of Pushkin the realist was especially clearly demonstrated in the creation of images of heroes. Reflecting the socially typical, the poet revealed the individual psychological traits of the characters and showed their inner world.

Creativity of A.S. Pushkin had a huge influence on the subsequent development of Russian literature. Gogol surprisingly accurately defined the role of the poet: “Pushkin is an extraordinary phenomenon and, perhaps, the only manifestation of the Russian spirit: this is the Russian man in his development, in which he may appear in two hundred years.”

"Eugene Onegin" - the first realistic novel in Russian literature

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