Moral problems in the work exchange of trophies. C
Lesson objectives:
educational – to reveal the philosophical meaning of the work; identify the position of the characters in the story in relation to the issue of exchange; Having created a problematic situation, encourage students to speak out own point views on the life principles of the Dmitriev and Lukyanov families, as well as the main characters - Victor and Lena Dmitriev;
educational – to promote the formation of students’ own point of view on the identified problem; create situations in which students understand that from any difficult situation there is a way out;
developmental – to promote the formation of skills in group work, public speaking, and the ability to defend one’s point of view; activation of students' creative abilities.
Equipment: slide material, computer, screen, images of the characters in the play.
Methodical techniques: educational dialogue, elements role playing game, creating a problematic situation.
Methods: verbal, visual, partially search and research.
Lesson form: reflection lesson.
During the classes
“Ice on the ground, ice...”.
Vladimir Vysotsky
From good to bad one chateau "k.
Proverb
“There are two abysses in a person,” Dostoevsky taught, and he does not choose between them, but rushes about like a pendulum.”
Joseph Brodsky
1. introduction teachers.
Today, in a series of events, you and I have our last joint public lesson. Very soon we will part with you, and you will enter adult life with its ups and downs, joys and disappointments, wonderful acquaintances and the desire to separate yourself from someone... Say, didn’t all this happen in our lives today? It happened, of course, but it was not always conscious, it happened when the shoulder of loved ones and relatives was always nearby, and their opinion was almost undeniable and very authoritative. However, in adult life you will find many pitfalls, stones in your bosom, the opinions of former authorities do not work. And I would really like our excursion into adulthood to be remembered one day and at least make difficult moments a little easier.
2. Questions for discussion.
A) Working with the lesson epigraph:
Look at the epigraphs that I offered you to start our conversation?
How do they fit into the topic of our lesson? And which one would be preferable for you? Give reasons for your point of view. (Teacher’s slide No. 1)
B) Working with the title of the story.
You already know that title is an important component of the text, it is important for revealing the ideological and philosophical meaning of the work.
The title is always a message about the content of what we have to read. “When starting to read a book,” noted A.M. Peshkovsky, “the reader is interested in its content and in the title he sees a hint of this content or even a condensed expression of it... This means that the title of a book is always something more than a title.”
Look at the title of our story and determine the future direction of the conversation, the semantic core.. (Presentation)
Why does an ordinary everyday, family situation suddenly develop into a conflict? Give us a brief summary of this story.
So, in order to understand the conflict, let’s take a closer look at the main character of the story, Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev.
Before giving the floor to the first creative group, I remind you of the basic requirements that we impose on speakers (clarity of thought, conciseness, consistency, evidence, clarity, schematization when working with presentations. Students have sheets in front of them that contain an assessment of the materials of the speakers’ presentations )
1) Group “Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev” relying on textual material - general acquaintance with the character without going into depth:
A native Muscovite from a family of pre-revolutionary intellectuals;
In the story - a junior researcher, a specialist at a research institute for pumping units - 37 years old;
Married, has a wife Elena and a daughter Natasha, a student at a special school for studying English;
Lives in Moscow in a small communal apartment;
Organizes an exchange of apartments precisely at the moment when it is discovered that the mother is terminally ill.
Teacher's word:
What kind of person could do this: an unprincipled grabber? Spineless spineless? Who is he? Or maybe just a selfish person? To answer these questions, let's take a closer look at his origins, his family (already in the composition in which we find it). And we'll try to answer main question: In what world was Victor’s worldview formed? What influenced the development of Victor's character?
In the article “Choose, Decide, Sacrifice,” the writer rightly said that “everyday life is ordinary life, a test of life, where a new, modern morality is manifested and tested.” And further he added that “everyday life is a war that knows no truce.” According to Yu. Trifonov, in “The Exchange” he strove for density of writing, to “depict as fully as possible the complexity of the circumstances in which a person lives,” the complexity of relationships. That is why the story is full of subtexts, and that is why it rests on allegories. Every action here is a move in a positional struggle, every remark is a fencing attack. Let's try to understand the essence of the story.
2) Dmitriev family:
Origin, social status(mother, father, grandfather, sister Laura);
Everyone’s range of interests, hobbies, and activities;
Family priorities;
The cult of family is sacrifice, fear of being a burden to someone.
Bottom line: so what does the Dmitriev family appear before us, at least at first glance?
origin, social status;
Family priorities;
Cult of family.
Bottom line: so what does the Lukyanov family appear before us, at least at first glance?
Origin, social status;
Range of interests, hobbies, activities;
Priorities;
Lena's trouble is not in her desires and aspirations, but in the means of realizing them.
5) So who is he more, the main character: Dmitriev or Lukyanov?
The steps of gradual “peeling” are an irreversible process that boils down to getting bogged down in details
“You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place... It was a very long time ago. And it always happens. Every day, so don’t be surprised, Vitya. And don't be angry. It’s just so unnoticed..”:
The first very inconspicuous step was to rush after failing to enter the art school at least somewhere. The first loss of oneself is an unloved job;
Marriage to another girl is not a dream - a loss family happiness and eternal concessions in small things;
Dreams about.. and “.. you’re late, Vitenka.” Page 50;
Dmitriev - candidate of sciences, gave up - did not finish his dissertation - page 51.
The story with the portrait of the father;
Trip to Golden Sands in Bulgaria – father’s illness (stroke);
The story with my grandfather (talk about contempt);
Grandfather's funeral and wake - death and canned saury - shortage (pp. 47-49);
The transition to the Institute of Gas and Oil - and the reasons for this transition (the story of Levka Bubrik) (according to the grandfather, everyone expected that Victor would turn out something different. “Nothing terrible, of course, happened. You are not a bad person. But not amazing” - betrayal of a friend;
The story with Tatyana is a game – deception – a break in Tanya’s family;
Exchange of apartment due to mother's illness;
Mother's funeral and exchange.
Compare with another character – Ionych + Solzhenitsyn’s “Young Ones”.
Find in these “micro-concessions” those where there is an equalization of concepts that are incomparable in their significance.
So why is the death of his grandfather and the death of Viktor Georgievich’s mother mentioned in passing? Why did these, perhaps, the most tragic moments of life, especially the loss of the mother, not become a tragedy? What role did the Dmitriev family play in this? (The same sacrifice that was cultivated in the Dmitriev family was the fundamental basis for the son’s rejection from the family; it was the sacrifice of the parents (not to be a burden to their children) that gave birth to Viktor Georgievich’s complete conviction that parents and grandfathers are not the most sacred. It is not for nothing that they say that evil does not seek harmony, his strength lies in routine. And this routine was able to regenerate moral values in the inner world of the main character).
Another detail is alarming and keeps us from feeling sorry for him: Lena calls a spade a spade, but Victor does not. He needs cover, some noble legend. Like the one he gives to his sister Laura: “I don’t need a damn thing, absolutely not a damn thing. Besides, to make our mother feel good. She always wanted to live with me, you know that, and if now this can help her...”
6) Please share the observations and reasoning of our parent experts who also took part in the discussion of this story. Tell me the ways out of this zugzwang. (Children’s statements, parents’ statements about the main character and his actions are read out). Presentation
I would like to conclude our lesson with the words of Joseph Brodsky, which he spoke to students at the University of Michigan back in 1988.
"Consider what you are about to hear as simply the advice of the tip of a few icebergs, so to speak, and not Mount Sinai. I am not Moses, you are not the Old Testament Jews either; these slightly disordered sketches, (...) are not tablets. Ignore them, question them if you like, if necessary, forget them, if you cannot do otherwise: there is nothing obligatory in them. If some of them are useful to you now or in the future, I will be glad. If not, my anger will not overtake you. ”
Lesson note: create a syncwine (each group has its own character).
Reflection:
Mark with the colored cards lying on your table your emotional condition during class and put them in an envelope.
We ask the guests of the lesson - parents - to express their observations and thoughts on the topic of the lesson.
Homework: written work “Reflecting on what you read.”
Federal Agency for Education Russian Federation
State educational institution higher vocational education
Far Eastern State Social and Humanitarian Academy
TEST
Introduction.
1. Title "Exchange" - double meaning.
2. “Exchange” of the main character Dmitriev’s decency for meanness.
Conclusion.
Introduction
Trifonov exchange story
Everyone knows that it is easier to love all of humanity than to love, cherish, build and maintain normal relationships with your loved ones - husband, wife, mother-in-law, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law... Yuri Trifonov in his “Moscow” stories “Exchange”, “ Another Life”, “House on the Embankment”, “The Long Farewell”, “Preliminary Results” plunges its heroes into the “abyss” of everyday life. For the characters in his works, everyday life is both a habitat, a place of action, and a kind of litmus test that tests their decency and moral strength. In the everyday content of life, the writer finds hidden potential and recreates everyday life as a sphere of things, events, relationships, which is a source of creative, cultural, historical, moral, philosophical content life.
As the writer himself wrote in one of his articles, “everyday life is a great test. There is no need to talk about him contemptuously, as if he were the baser side human life, unworthy literature. After all, everyday life is ordinary life, a test of life, where a new, modern morality is manifested and tested.
Relationships between people are also everyday life. We find ourselves in an intricate and complex structure of everyday life, at the intersection of many connections, views, friendships, acquaintances, dislikes, and ideologies” (2).
For the heroes of Trifonov’s stories, everyday life is a source of endless tension, conflicts, disputes, and misunderstandings. Moreover, the world of everyday life becomes a source of conflict (ideological, social, love, family), as a rule, at the moment of actualization of the “housing issue”.
1. It would seem that the name “Exchange” is too ordinary, everyday for a work of art; it is more likely a section in an advertising publication, and simply a matter familiar to our lives. Much more common than at the time the story was written, which was 1969. “Exchange is a word firmly assigned to a certain area of our life, immediately evoking in most people habitual associations generated both by their own experience and the surrounding everyday life... This business-like word is unexpectedly included in the title by Trifonov” (4).
But the writer puts a double meaning into the title, as well as into the content of the story itself. Not only the actual exchange of some square meters to others, as one might assume at the very beginning, but also to what happens to the main character of the work, Viktor Dmitriev. In this regard, the story “Exchange,” on the one hand, is a very typical work for Trifonov’s work, and on the other hand, it is deep and strong in its emotional impact, which, in principle, is also characteristic of other novels and stories of this writer. Because the description of everyday, everyday details is one layer of the story, through which another peeks through - the moral one. Even after for a long time after reading it, you think about the characters and actions of the main character and other characters in the story, about Lena’s actions and Dmitriev’s inaction, you regret and empathize, agree and condemn, measure your own life with a different measure.
The story “Exchange” has, at first glance, a simple plot, and outwardly everything in it is really connected with an apartment exchange: Dmitriev’s wife, Lena, offers to exchange a good twenty-meter apartment for her mother-in-law, Ksenia Fedorovna, and their own room in communal apartment, where the three of them live in shared housing. That is, move in together. The pretext under which this exchange is made seems plausible: Ksenia Fedorovna’s illness, which needs care. In a different situation, the exchange could actually be a good thing - if not for the “ossified and lasting enmity” between Lena and her mother-in-law. At the same time, Ksenia Fedorovna speaks out categorically against the exchange, and then unexpectedly agrees.
2. The idea of exchange appears literally in the first paragraph of the story, and with the completion of the exchange and the death of Ksenia Feodorovna, the work ends. At the same time, the reader experiences Dmitriev’s life, his childhood, youth, love, his doubts, conflicts with his wife and mother, mental turmoil, suffering, relationships with other people. Although the narrative is told not from the first person, but from the third, the writer suggests following the development of events through the eyes of Dmitriev. The reader, as it were, gets into his skin and doubts, suffers, and commits actions with him. We learn about the main character and judge ourselves as we do about ourselves - not only by actions, but also by thoughts, movements of the soul - unlike other characters, whom we know only by their actions. Dmitriev suffers, knowing that his mother and wife cannot stand each other, and for the mother this exchange will only bring suffering, but does not stop the wife, although he should have done so. He tries to evade the situation, not to make a moral compromise, but also not to confront evil directly, not to interfere. However, such a position of non-resistance to evil ultimately turns into evil. The exact moral diagnosis of his inaction are the words of Ksenia Fedorovna: “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place...” (1).
3.One of the important ways of expression author's position is the use of the so-called “little things in life”. This term was introduced by Saltykov-Shchedrin in his series of essays “Little Things in Life”. In the story “Exchange,” through the prism of little things, the relationships between family members are clearly seen, and the hidden motives of the characters’ actions are revealed. Yuri Trifonov deliberately enlarges the “little things in life” for the sake of highlighting the personal qualities of the heroes, capturing the finest nuances souls, revealing the true motives of actions. These “little things” serve as a kind of signaling system in the story: a piece of clothing, a household item, a gesture, a smell play the role of an author’s commentary, complementing and concretizing the words spoken by the characters. Everyday detail, the particularity of human life, inconspicuous and at first glance insignificant, helps Trifonov open the framework of the narrative and discover depth in the structure of everyday life. For example, in an episode of a meeting with Tanya in her apartment, the author says that Dmitriev’s love was inseparable from the smell of paint and fresh oak floors. Some, at first glance, even insignificant details, create not only images, they are kind of keys to plot collisions– tomatoes on the balcony of Nevyadomsky’s exclusive, almost “general” apartment, obtained through an exchange with his terminally ill mother-in-law – this is a symbolic designation of the upcoming exchange of the Dmitrievs.
About his sister Laura, Dmitriev says that her thoughts never bend. One episode related to the funeral of Dmitriev’s grandfather, in which death looks as ordinary and everyday as possible. His grandfather was always spiritually close to him, he was the only person thanks to whom Victor saved live connection with mother and sister. Despite this, his grandfather’s funeral does not cause him any mental suffering. A thick yellow briefcase with several cans of saury bought for Lena, which Dmitriev thinks about all the time, afraid to forget it in the crematorium, deliberately reduces the tragedy of the loss of a loved one. There is no trace of tragedy in this episode; one can conclude that the hero is mentally callous. And a detail of the opposite property - found in a trolleybus German Shepherd without the owner, Dmitriev gets off at the nearest stop himself and calls the dog. He is worried that the animal may die if it travels too far. And the episode with the portrait of Dmitriev Sr.? Lena took it out of the middle room into the hallway, which, in Laura’s opinion, was not a household trifle, but simply tactless. In Lena’s perception, on the contrary, this is a trifle: she took the portrait only because she needed a nail for wall clock. This episode then triggers a whole chain of negative events - a quarrel between the spouses, the departure of the Lukyanovs, Lena's parents.
In the description of the Dmitrievs' marital bedroom, the emphasis is placed on such a detail as two pillows, one of which had a less recent pillowcase; this pillow belonged to Dmitriev. The contrast between the stale pillowcase and Lena's fresh nightgown is evidence of the fading feelings between the spouses. Details this kind are scattered throughout the pages of the story very generously, and they are more eloquent than the author’s verbose comments. An attentive reader easily finds the subtext in them and understands its meaning.
The author’s reflections on life, including unexpected ones, are conveyed by Dmitriev’s thoughts: “In this world, it turns out, it is not people who disappear, but entire nests, tribes with their way of life, conversations, games, music. They disappear completely, so that no trace can be found” (1:33).
One of strong ways expressions of the author's position - the use of a different language style, in in this case-official business. In “Exchange” Trifonov resorts to this technique once - when describing the exchange process itself, he uses a clerk, which, we understand, piece of art cannot decorate; on the contrary, it depersonalizes everything: “... all the documents were in order: a document confirming family relations, that is, Dmitriev’s birth certificate; b) copies of orders issued at one time for the right to occupy residential space; c) extracts from house books”... (1, 72) The author avoids direct assessments, nevertheless, the author’s position in relation to the characters in the story, or rather, to their specific act, is more than definitely expressed in this way.
Life changes the character of the main character of the story, Viktor Dmitriev, and does not change better side. Dmitriev does not condemn Lena’s spiritual callousness. He calls this a certain spiritual inaccuracy, and this property became aggravated when another, strongest quality of Lena came into play: the ability to achieve her own. But under her influence, he himself becomes indifferent, indifferent to the suffering of others, becomes capable of meanness, in a word, morally degenerates. “Only as a result of the whole exchange story will the sad outcome of his family life, a series of small capitulations to the principles of Lena and her parents become clear to him” (4, 11). Sister Laura calls this process “olukyanization” (Lukyanovs is the surname of Lena and her parents).
At the same time, Dmitriev is tolerant of manifestations of spiritual callousness in other people - so, he reflects on sympathy and insight. These reflections seem cynical: “This compassion and this insight are as big as boots or hats. They should not be stretched too much. But, my God, is it really possible to compare - a man dies and a girl enters the music school? Yes Yes. Can. These are hats of approximately the same size - if a stranger dies, and your own daughter goes to music school” (1, 16). With these reflections of the main character, who justifies other people’s callousness, moral deafness (because he himself thinks the same way), Trifonov gives an assessment of the moral troubles of society.
Portrait characteristics the main character and other characters in the story are also a way of expressing the author’s position. The portrait of Dmitriev is given twice, and both times very briefly. In the episode of the meeting with Lena, when he is not very young (we know that he is 37), overweight, with an unhealthy complexion, with the eternal smell of tobacco in his mouth. The second time Dmitriev’s appearance is described is at the very end of the story: “He somehow immediately gave up, turned gray. Not an old man yet, but already an elderly man with limp cheeks” (1, 72). As for his character traits, his “always weak-heartedness” is emphasized. The moral degradation of the hero was also reflected in his appearance. Meanwhile, the author says that he remembers him as a boy at Pavlinov’s dachas: “Then he was a fat man, we called him Vituchny.”
Trifonov shows Dmitriev's relationship with two women - his wife Lena and his colleague, former lover Tanya. The gaze of a hero in love sees the complete image of his beloved woman, while a hero who is not in love captures only little things and details. The fact that Lena is an unloved wife is evidenced by numerous portrait sketches, although fluent, but with a negative connotation. “The gaze of an unloving person notes flaws in appearance and wardrobe, not shaded by attractive features, which is why the holistic image falls apart into little things, seems mundane and insufficiently lyrical” (2, 28). Lena’s appearance emphasizes something massive and heavy: thick, ugly arms, a heavy body. In Tanya’s appearance, on the contrary, one is struck by a piercing, touching fragility and thinness. When Dmitriev fell in love with Tanya, it seemed to him that he had “joined that normal, truly human state in which people should – and will eventually – find themselves.” This is also a very important reflection, echoing Chekhov’s “what we experience when we are in love is normal condition».
Conclusion
At the time of the events of the story, Dmitriev does not love either Tanya or Lena - for the simple reason that he is not capable of strong feeling. Tanya evokes much more reader (and author) sympathy. Dmitriev knows that Tanya will always love him: she is sincere, natural, “real.” She does not blame Dmitriev for ruining her life. She is happy just because she loves. Meanwhile, Viktor Georgievich, although he does not love his wife and quarrels with her, as happens in any family, his views on life and people are much closer to Lena than to Tanya. Of all the people living on earth, he had the only truly close person, mother, but he failed to protect her either.
A true master words, an excellent writer, Yuri Trifonov reflects and evaluates the processes taking place in life in his works of “urban” prose. He does not idealize what is happening, but gives assessments, sometimes explicit, more often expressed with restraint, forcing us to think about own life.
LIST OF REFERENCES USED
1.Trifonov Yu. Exchange. Collected works in 4 volumes, volume 2. M, 1985
2. Cherdantsev V. Urban prose Yuri Trifonov. M, 2001
3. Trifonov Yu. Sacrifice, choose, decide. Collection Op. in 4 volumes, volume 4. M., 1985
4. Turkov A. Life, people, history. M, 1985
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/ / / Moral problems in Trifonov’s story “Exchange”
In Trifonov's story, among other problems, a moral issue is raised.
The mother of the main character Dmitriev was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. The man was very worried, even though the operation was successful and the woman’s health improved.
However, his wife did not share his feelings. All the woman’s thoughts were occupied with the “housing issue.” She found a “decent” living space and was preparing for a serious conversation with her husband.
During a conversation with Lena, Dmitriev did not support the idea of an exchange. He was outraged by his wife’s cold calculation and her heartlessness in this situation. He condemned his wife for her lack of sympathy for her mother. The man believed that such behavior would be tactless and would not bring anything good. Moreover, the women did not get along with each other for a long time. And because of this, the issue of living together was not relevant. The couple did not come to an understanding that evening.
However, Lena’s persistence still “broke” the man, and this was not the first time. Under her sensitive “guidance” he occupied new position, which was previously intended for his friend. Workplace was much more promising than the one held by Dmitriev at that time. Therefore, Lena’s father, Lukyanov, after talking with his daughter, made every effort to ensure that his son-in-law found himself in a new workplace.
Nothing could stop the Lukyanovs on the way to achieving their goal. They were distinguished by unscrupulousness and a certain composure. Therefore, her mother-in-law’s illness did not stop Lena, but rather pushed her to action. While the husband was immersed in caring for his mother, the woman was looking for options for exchanging living space.
For all of Dmitriev’s reproaches, his wife had a weighty argument - she is trying not only for herself, but first of all for him and their joint daughter Natasha. After these words, the man gave up. He began to seriously think about the fact that it would actually be good if they started living with their mother and exchanged housing.
With this thought in mind, he prepared for the most important conversation with his sister and Ksenia Fedorovna herself. The man understood that women were unlikely to like this idea, despite the difficult situation.
Both Lena and her husband put their interests first. At the same time, Dmitriev finds an excuse for himself. But he sees right through his son. She condemns him for the fact that his son “got crazy” and gradually lost his human qualities.
The exchange that the son and daughter-in-law insisted on was carried out. The Dmitriev family moved into Ksenia Fedorovna’s room, and the woman even felt better for a while. However, she was able to discern in her son the traits that she despised in her daughter-in-law. This was another shock for the woman. She realized that the exchange of housing was made not for the sake of her well-being and care, but only for the pragmatic reasons of the couple.
After his mother passes away, the son realizes that the long-awaited “exchange” is the cause of her death. He and his wife committed a cruel and, unfortunately, irreparable mistake, for which he will now have to pay alone.
Lesson 7. Moral issues
stories by Yu.V. Trifonov "Exchange"
Lesson objectives: give an idea of “urban” prose, short review its central themes; analysis of Trifonov’s story “Exchange”.
Methodical techniques: lecture; analytical conversation.
During the classes
I. Teacher's word
In the late 60s - 70s, a powerful layer of literature emerged, which began to be called “urban,” “intellectual,” and even “philosophical” prose. These names are also conditional, especially because they contain a certain opposition to “village” prose, which, it turns out, is devoid of intellectuality and philosophy. But if “village” prose sought support in moral traditions, basics folk life, explored the consequences of man’s break with the earth, with the village “attitude”, then “urban” prose is associated with the educational tradition, the sources of opposition to catastrophic processes in social life she searches in the subjective sphere, in internal resources the man himself, a native city dweller. If in “village” prose the inhabitants of the village and the city are opposed (and this is a traditional opposition for Russian history and culture), and this often constitutes a conflict of works, then urban prose is interested, first of all, in a city person with a fairly high educational and cultural level in his problems, a person more connected with “book” culture - true or mass culture, than with folklore. The conflict is not associated with the opposition village - city, nature - culture, but is transferred to the sphere of reflection, to the sphere of human experiences and problems associated with his existence in modern world.
Is a person as an individual capable of resisting circumstances, changing them, or is a person himself gradually, imperceptibly and irreversibly changing under their influence - these questions are posed in the works of Yuri Trifonov, Yuri Dombrovsky, Daniil Granin, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Grigory Gorin and others. Writers often act not only and not so much as storytellers, but as researchers, experimenters, reflectors, doubters, and analyzers. “Urban” prose explores the world through the prism of culture, philosophy, and religion. Time and history are interpreted as the development, movement of ideas, individual consciousnesses, each of which is significant and unique.
What are the roots of this approach to man, to the individual in Russian literature?
(In many ways, this is a continuation of the traditions of Dostoevsky, who explored the life of ideas, the life of man at the limits of his capabilities, and raised the question of the “boundaries of man.”)
What do you know about Yu. V. Trifonov?
(One of the most notable authors of “urban” prose is Yuri Valentinovich Trifonov (1925-1981). In Soviet time he was not an outright dissident, but was an “outsider” to Soviet literature. Critics reproached him for writing “not about that,” that his works were entirely gloomy, that he was completely immersed in everyday life. Trifonov wrote about himself: “I write about death (“Exchange”) - they tell me that I write about everyday life, I write about love (“Another Farewell” - they say that it is also about everyday life; I write about the breakdown of a family (“Preliminary results" - again I hear about everyday life; I write about a person’s struggle with mortal grief (“Another Life” - they talk about everyday life again.”)
Why do you think the writer was reproached for being immersed in everyday life? Is this really true?
What is the role of “everyday life” in the story “Exchange”?
(The very title of the story “Exchange”, first of all, reveals the hero’s everyday, everyday situation - the situation of exchanging an apartment. Indeed, the life of urban families, their daily problems occupy a significant place in the story. But this is only the first, surface layer stories. Life - the conditions of existence of the heroes. The apparent routine, familiarity, and universality of this life are deceptive. In fact, the test of everyday life is no less difficult and dangerous than the tests that befall a person in acute, critical situations. It is dangerous because a person changes under the influence of everyday life gradually, imperceptibly to himself; everyday life provokes a person without internal support, a core, to actions that the person himself is horrified by later.)
What are the main events of the plot
What is special about the composition of the story?
(The composition gradually reveals the process of the hero’s moral betrayal. His sister and mother believed “that he had quietly betrayed them,” “got crazy.” The hero is gradually forced into one compromise after another, as if forced, due to circumstances, to deviate from his conscience: in relation to work, to the woman he loved, to a friend, to his family, and, finally, to his mother. At the same time, Victor “was tormented, amazed, racked his brains, but then he got used to it. He got used to it because he saw that it was the same for everyone, and everyone got used to it. And I calmed down on the truth that there is nothing more wise and valuable in life than peace, and it must be protected with all your might. "Habit, calmness are the reasons for the readiness to compromise.)
How Trifonov expands the scope of the narrative, moves from description privacy to generalizations?
(The word invented by Victor’s sister, Laura, “to get drunk” is already a generalization that very accurately conveys the essence of changes in a person. These changes concern not only one hero. On the way to the dacha, remembering the past of his family, Dmitriev delays the meeting with his mother, delays the unpleasant and a treacherous conversation about the exchange. It seems to him that he must “think through something important, the last thing.” “Everything changed on the other side. Everything “got crazy.” Every year something changed in detail, but when fourteen years passed, it turned out that everything had come to an end - completely and hopelessly. The second time the word has already been given without quotation marks, as an established concept. The hero thinks about these changes in much the same way as he thought about his family life: maybe this is not so bad? And if this happens to everything, even to the bank, to the river and to the grass, then maybe it’s natural and the way it should be?" No one except the hero himself can answer these questions. And it’s more convenient for him to answer: yes, This is how it should be - and calm down.)
How are the Dmitriev and Lukyanov family clans different?
(Unlike the two life positions, two systems of values, spiritual and everyday, is the conflict of the story. The main bearer of the Dmitrievs’ values is their grandfather, Fyodor Nikolaevich. He is an old lawyer, with a revolutionary past: “he was in a fortress, exiled, fled abroad, worked in Switzerland, Belgium, was acquainted with Vera Zasulich.” Dmitriev recalls that “the old man was alien to any Lukyan-likeness, he simply did not understand many things.” He could not understand how to “be able to live”, like Dmitriev’s father-in-law, Lukyanov, therefore, in the eyes of the Lukyanov clan, Fyodor Nikolaevich is a monster who does not understand anything in modern life.)
What is the meaning of the title of the story?
(Life changes only externally, but people remain the same. Let us remember what Bulgakov’s Woland says about this: “only the housing issue spoiled them.” Housing problem"becomes a test for the hero Trifonov, a test that he cannot withstand and breaks. Grandfather says: “Ksenia and I expected that you would turn out to be something different. Nothing bad happened, of course. You are not a bad person. But not surprising either.”
“Olukyanivanie” destroys the hero not only morally, but also physically: after the exchange and the death of his mother, Dmitriev suffered a hypertensive crisis, and he spent three weeks at home on strict bed rest.” The hero becomes different: no longer an old man, but already an elderly man with limp cheeks.”
The terminally ill mother tells Dmitriev: “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place... It was a very long time ago. And it always happens, every day, so don’t be surprised, Vitya. And don't be angry. It’s just so unnoticeable..."
At the end of the story there is a list of legal documents required for the exchange. Their dry, businesslike, official language emphasizes the tragedy of the incident. Phrases about a favorable decision regarding the exchange and the death of Ksenia Fedorovna stand nearby. An exchange of value ideas took place.)
Homework(by groups):
Present the work of young poets of the 60s: A. Voznesensky, R. Rozhdestvensky, E. Evtushenko, B. Akhmadulina.
Material for conducting a lesson-seminar on the story “Exchange”
1. Yuri Trifonov recalled how in the 60s the story “Eternal Themes” was returned to him from the editorial office of Novy Mir because the editor of the magazine (A.T. Tvardovsky) “was deeply convinced that eternal themes is the destiny of some other kind of literature - perhaps also necessary, but somewhat irresponsible and, as it were, lower in rank than the literature that he edited.”
What does “eternal themes” mean in literature?
Are there “eternal themes” in the story “Exchange”? What are they?
Are the themes of The Exchange "inferior" to the heroic-patriotic themes?
2. “Trifonov’s hero is, like the writer himself, an urban, intelligent man who survived difficult, if not tragically, Stalin’s times. Even if he himself did not serve time, was not in the Gulag, he almost accidentally put someone there, if he is alive, then he does not know whether to rejoice at this circumstance or be upset. At the same time, all these people, more or less, are sincerely inclined to analyze both their past and present, and for this very reason they hardly fit into the reality around them, into the so insincere Soviet society" ( S. Zalygin).
Is the characterization given by S. Zalygin suitable for the heroes of the story “Exchange”?
Do the characters have a clear attitude towards the Gulag?
Which of the characters in the story is most inclined to “analyze” both their past and their present? What are the implications of this analysis?
3. “For Trifonov, everyday life is not a threat to morality, but a sphere of its manifestation. Taking his heroes through the test of everyday life, the test of everyday life, he reveals the not always perceptible connection between the everyday everyday and the lofty, ideal, reveals layer by layer all the complexity of human nature, all the complexity of influences environment"(A. G. Bocharov, G. A. Belaya).
How is life depicted in the story “Exchange”?
Does Trifonov lead his heroes “through the test of everyday life, the test of everyday life”? How is this test present in the story?
What in “Exchange” represents the high, the ideal? Is there a connection between everyday life depicted in the story and the high, ideal?
4. Literary scholars A.G. Bocharov and G.A. Belaya write about Trifonov: “He looks at people, at their daily life not from above, not from the high distances of abstraction, but with understanding and sympathy. But at the same time, he is humanistically demanding and does not forgive those “little things” that usually disappear with a generalized, enthusiastic look at a person.”
Is there really no generalized enthusiastic attitude in Trifonov’s view of the heroes of the story? What “little things” in the behavior and characters of the characters does the writer describe? What is his attitude towards these “little things”?
5. Literary critic V. G. Vozdvizhensky writes about the story “Exchange”: “Convincingly, visibly, with the full measure of the author’s condemnation, the writer traces how ordinary “micro-concessions”, “micro-agreements”, “micro-infractions”, gradually accumulating, can ultimately lead to to the loss of the truly human in man, for nothing arises suddenly, on empty space».
What “micro-concessions”, “micro-agreements”, “micro-transgressions” of his hero does the writer depict? How is the “full measure of condemnation” of these “micro-acts” manifested?
What is the meaning of adding the part “micro” to the words “concessions”, “agreements”, “misconduct”? Is it possible to use them to characterize the behavior of the hero of the story without her?
Identify the main stages of creating a picture of the loss of “the truly human in man” in the story “Exchange.”
6. “Yu. Trifonov, one might say, is not pursuing positive hero, and for positive ideal and, accordingly, exposes not so much obviously “negative characters” as the qualities of the human soul that interfere with the complete victory of the human” (V. T. Vozdvizhensky).
Try to divide the characters of “Exchange” into positive and negative. Did you succeed?
How does the moment of conviction manifest itself? negative characters V author's narration?
7. S. Zalygin notes: “Yes, Trifonov was a classic writer of everyday life... I don’t know another such meticulously urban writer. There were already enough rural writers of everyday life at that time, but urban ones... he was the only one then.”
What does “life-writing” mean in literature? What is characteristic of such literature?
Why does the story “Exchange” not go beyond the scope of pure “life-writing”?
Is the definition of “urban” in relation to Yuri Trifonov only an indication of the location of his work or something more?
8. Yu. Trifonov said: “Well, what is everyday life? Dry cleaners, hairdressers... Yes, this is called everyday life. But also family life- also everyday life... And the birth of a person, and the death of old people, and illnesses, and weddings - also everyday life. And relationships between work friends, love, quarrels, jealousy, envy - all this is also everyday life. But this is what life consists of!”
Does everyday life in the story “Exchange” really appear exactly as Trifonov himself writes about it?
How are “love, quarrels, jealousy, envy,” etc. presented and what role do they play in the story?
Why is everyday life depicted in the story “Exchange”?
9. Critic S. Kostyrko believes that in the case of Yuri Trifonov, “we are faced with the development of an image that is directly opposite to the conditions of censorship.” The critic recalls the “characteristic” beginning of the story “Exchange” for the writer and notes: “The writer begins, as it were, with a private social and everyday fact and builds and develops its image in such a way that themes eternal for art clearly emerge through the specifics... In other words, from limitations of a specific fact, phenomenon - to the vastness of its meanings, to the freedom of its artistic comprehension».
What is the origin of the story “Exchange”? Why in this beginning we're talking about about a private social fact?
Do “eternal themes for art” appear through the image placed at the center of the narrative? What “eternal” themes does the writer connect with “exchange”?
How does the “boundless meaning” of the fact of exchange manifest itself?
10. American writer John Updike wrote in 1978 about “Moscow Tales” by Yuri Trifonov: “ Typical hero Trifonova considers himself a failure, and the surrounding society does not dissuade him of this. This communist society makes itself felt through the bonds of rules and interdependence, allowing maneuverability within certain limited limits, and is affected by “tightness in the chest” and “unbearable anxious itch”... Trifonov’s heroes and heroines draw courage not from officially proclaimed hope, but from animal vitality person."
What is the reason for the idea of some of the characters in the story as losers?
What is the society surrounding the heroes of the story “Exchange” like? Does this society of heroes bind “the bonds of rules and interdependence”? How is this shown in the story?
How is the “animal vitality of man” manifested in the heroes of the story “Exchange”?
11. Literary critic N. Kolesnikova (USA) noted that “Trifonov looks at his heroes from the inside rather than the outside... refuses to pass an open verdict on them, but simply depicts the heroes as they are, leaving it to the reader to draw conclusions... Dignity Trifonov's stories are that they show the complexity human nature without dividing people into good or bad, altruists or egoists, smart or stupid.”
How is Yu. Trifonov’s display of heroes “rather from the inside than from the outside” manifested in the text?
Is it fair to say that the writer refuses to pass an open verdict on his characters? Do the characters in “The Exchange” commit any actions that merit condemnation?
Does The Exchange really show the "complexity" of human nature without dividing people into "good or bad"?
12. Literary critic A.I. Ovcharenko writes about one category of heroes of Yuri Trifonov: “... they are assertive, tenacious, resourceful, unceremonious in the means of achieving their goal. And merciless. Talent, conscience, honor, principles - everything, both their own and someone else’s, will be given away by them for luck, which most often turns into material and spiritual comfort.”
Are there any of the characters in “The Exchange” that the critic writes about? What is their role in the story?
Which of the characters in Yuri Trifonov’s story is most interested in “material and spiritual comfort”? What is the idea of the heroes of the story about this and that comfort?
13. Yuri Trifonov stated: “I do not agree with those critics who wrote that the author’s position is not visible in the “Moscow” stories... The author's assessment can be expressed through the plot, dialogue, intonation. One most important circumstance must be kept in mind. There is hardly any need to explain to readers that selfishness, greed, and hypocrisy are bad qualities.”
How is the writer’s attitude towards the characters and events in the story “Exchange” expressed “through plot, dialogue, intonation”?
How are the explanations that “selfishness, greed, hypocrisy are bad qualities” manifested in “The Exchange”?
14. Critic L. Denis wrote about the stories of Yuri Trifonov: “The language is free, relaxed, the author tries to reproduce oral speech, does not hesitate, uses argotisms where necessary. But it doesn't stop there. We can say that there is something from Dostoevsky in this writer: the extreme internal complexity of the characters, the difficulty with which they try to understand themselves and make decisions. Thus, we come across extremely long paragraphs, self-winding phrases; the difficulty of being is partly conveyed through the external difficulty of writing.”
What is the role oral speech in the story?
Are “extremely long paragraphs” into “self-twisting phrases” often found in Trifonov’s works? What does the critic’s phrase mean that the difficulty of existence of the characters in the story is “transmitted through the external difficulty of writing”?
Trifonov's story Exchange belongs to the cycle of urban prose. It opened the cycle of the writer’s Moscow stories and covered various problems of Muscovites. First of all, focusing on moral problems Oh.
Moral problems of the story
To reveal one of the moral problems, the author uses the method of confrontation between two families. Thanks to a simple plot that describes a rather banal life situation, the author shows the mercilessness of life when cold calculation and the search for profit come to the fore. To better see the problems of the story Exchange by Yu. Trifonov, we invite you to get acquainted with it and the main characters.
In the story “Exchange” we meet the Dmitriev and Lukyanov family. Victor Dmitriev chose Lena Lukyanova as his wife. He wanted to pass on to her all the traditions, moral and family values your family, teach sensitivity, tact, intelligence. But everything happened the other way around. Instead of passing on moral values to Lena, Victor himself becomes a pragmatist, reaching for material wealth. As his sister said, the hero himself was fooled.
According to the plot of the story, Lena is at enmity with her mother-in-law and does not want to live with her. But everything was turned upside down by the news of Victor’s mother’s fatal illness. This is where Lukyanova takes everything into her own hands. She understands that she needs to hurry to make the exchange so as not to lose her room. The woman raises the question of further cohabitation, although she did not want to hear about such a thing before. Lena’s tactlessness outraged even Victor, but the girl stood her ground and went towards her goal. While the mother-in-law was lying on the operating table, she was looking for exchange options. As a result, under the pressure of his wife, Victor himself turns into a calculating and cold person.
At first Dmitrieva agreed to move to new apartment, where now everyone will live under one roof, but when the woman found out about the real reason exchange, she became very painful. As the mother noted, her son made the exchange long before they exchanged rooms for an apartment. The exchange took place when Victor married Lena and came under her influence.
Mother dies, but is our hero happy? Of course not. He is depressed, nothing makes him happy, Victor has aged prematurely. His sister, who blamed his brother for his mother’s death, did not forgive him either. When the mother died, the paths of the sister and brother diverged, and most likely will never cross again.
Heroes of the story Exchange
Viktor Dmitriev, a plump, hereditary Muscovite from an intelligent family. According to the plot, Victor looks weak-willed and driven by his wife, so he quickly becomes angry, losing his moral qualities for the sake of material well-being.
Lena Lukyanova is Victor's wife. Knows how to get her way, subjugate people, a woman with the grip of a bulldog, strong character, determination and initiative. This is a tactless and arrogant person for whom morality comes last.
Ksenia Fedorovna Dmitrieva is the mother of Victor and Laura. It's delicate and kind woman, who was ready to help people for free. Fate sent her a fatal illness, and this illness opened her eyes to her daughter-in-law, and made her understand how much her son had changed for the worse.
