The theme of power in fiction. Power and people in “The History of a City” (Saltykov-Shchedrin M

The focus is on the figure of Emelyan Pugachev - a rebel, a man who opposed the authorities. What prompted him to do this? Why did he not only encroach on the throne himself, but also lead the people with him? How did the people believe the impostor? Why? Under the burden of years we can forget that historical situation, in which the idea of ​​rebellion was born. People (note, not slaves, not cattle), being in serfdom from their not always humane masters (remember, for example, Skotinin from “The Minor”), were forced to obey their will, unquestioningly listening to every, even delusional, demand. The idea of ​​a good king lived in the heart of every person. A brave, daring, desperate rebel took responsibility and decided to give people freedom, albeit short-lived, albeit ephemeral, but freedom. The degree of his courage can only be assessed by understanding the fairy tale told to Grinev. Pugachev initially knew the final outcome of the events into which he plunged his country. But he was not afraid, did not loot and disappeared. No, he went to the scaffold to prove how inhuman power can plunge a country into the horror of a merciless bloody massacre.

2. A.A. Akhmatova "Requiem"

The poem was written at a time when Stalin's repressions brought the entire country to its knees, when the author of the poem herself stood in line to be handed over to her son, who was condemned as an enemy of the people. The poem was formed from memories and living impressions:

It was when I smiled
Only dead, glad for the peace.

The lyrical heroine draws a parallel between the fate of her contemporary and her old compatriot, whose husband was executed as a Streltsy rebel

I will be like the Streltsy wives,
Howl under the Kremlin towers.

Death stars stood above us
And innocent Rus' writhed
Under bloody boots
And under the black tires there is marusa.

3. M.A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”

The main character of the novel is the Master - a man living in scary time Stalin's repressions. Having written a novel about Pontius Pilate, he touched upon the problem of human responsibility for decision. His main character in the Master's novel - the procurator of Judea - a man invested with almost unlimited power, doubts that he is right. This phenomenon is practically unacceptable for the authorities. For the era of Stalinism, a person in power has no right to doubt that his decision is fair. This means that such a work is a priori harmful. The master is arrested. This act broke him, made him weak-willed. Thus, a person who opposed the authorities found himself outlawed and himself subjected to repression.

4. A.I. Solzhenitsyn "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

The story is dedicated to the fate of a man who found himself in a camp on charges of treason, although his whole fault was that he was in captivity for several days, but came out of encirclement and was ready to defend his Motherland further. However, his action seemed like a betrayal to the authorities. While serving his sentence, Ivan Denisovich carefully preserves his human dignity, he works and complies with all the requirements of the law that prevails in the zone. This is a kind of denial of Shukhov’s guilt. This person is always and everywhere law-abiding. Why is he disliked by the authorities? It’s just that the authorities are looking for enemies, and who is among them today is of little importance.

Theme of Power in modern classical literature.
Dear readers! I was surprised by the unusually frequent demand for this article. In fact, it was written by me in a deeply private debate with one of my friends, who recommended that I publish it on Prose.ru. If you are so interested in this topic, why has no one ever contacted me with comments? Or with a request to write in the same spirit about something else? I'm at a loss. Please write your clarifications or questions through Proza ru. For now I’m leaving the publication of the article. Sincerely, O.V. Kuratov.
It is impossible in the world without servants
F.M. Dostoevsky
The purpose of power is power.
J. Orwell

The theme of Power belongs to a very small number of so-called absolute truths, or, more simply, to enduring phenomena human society. There are really few of them, this Private property, Religion, Nationality (Race) and Social Inequality. The concept of Social Inequality, or the immutability of the forced organization of one or another hierarchy of any society, is inextricably linked with the phenomenon of Power. In fact, the meanings of these concepts are identical, and we will use the word Power to denote them.
Let's skip childhood, when the authorities are the parents, the school principal and the local district police officer. Let's skip adolescence, when Power is the guards in the store, the police on the road and the dressed-up squads of the special services. Let's finally leave out youth, when Power is the first bosses in college or at work, the police and tax office, as well as the leaders of their circle or group.
When we reach maturity, the formal signs of age include (including) payments, debts, documents (passports, passes, etc.), rights and obligations, participation in elections and some other public organizations, all of the above properties of Power are preserved, becoming more and more dense in the consciousness of a thinking person. In the end, a truly thinking person asks himself the question: what is Power? What are its origins? Who rules us? Modern young man It is not so much necessary as it is interesting to clarify this area for yourself and thereby rise higher to a true understanding of the world around you. And this can be facilitated by a truly worthy book.
Let's go on a journey through modern books in search of the most vivid and accurate answers to this question. But first, let us strictly agree: we are not lawyers, not philosophers, not gurus or some kind of moral dictators. We just want to enjoy the skill of the authors who managed to find the most frank answer purely in an artistic way. And one more thing: we will search modern books, without delving into the centuries from Machiavelli to Karamzin, to whom we give our deep veneration and respect.

And immediately the genius of R.P. appears before us. Warren, American writer(1905-1989), who wrote a magnificent novel “All the King’s Men” on the topic of Power.

Robert Penn Warren. All the King's Men.

The main character of the novel, Stark, goes through a terrible path to Power: from a simple honest guy to a sophisticated and ruthless cynic-schemer, a high-ranking politician. The main credo of this moral transformer:
"- Man is conceived in sin and born in abomination, his path is from a stinking diaper to a stinking shroud. There is always something."
The hero means a misdemeanor, a secret vice or crime, that is, as they say now, compromising evidence. He is absolutely sure of this and turns out to be right. The author skillfully shows what led Governor Stark to such a position: the corruption and complete unscrupulousness of everyone related to the Authority. His retinue of politicians, his closest friends and collaborators, smart, educated, decent men and women, are forced to push their conscience inside and fight other scoundrels vying for Power with their own methods and means, losing the best human qualities and doing vile things. Or they simply leave the game, turning to hopeless idleness or suicide.
The reader who understands and accepts this book will easily make a very important generalization: the great R.P. Warren did not depict the system of government of the American state of Louisiana and its governor H. Long, as narrow-minded critics noted, and not even state system US Administration. He rose above the particulars and painted the disgusting universal portrait Power as such, regardless of scale - from a wild tribe to the most advanced superpower in the world. Whatever the size of human society, it will be controlled by the Power of a group of politicians, always and everywhere relying on a “system of checks and balances,” that is, on blackmail, extortion and intimidation.

It is difficult to find a book comparable in artistic skill and entertainment, but we soon encounter an equally outstanding book German writer G. Hesse (1877-1962). In the book "Steppenwolf" the question of Power is not central, as in R.P. Warren, but its main meaning is directly related to the forced rejection by Power of a highly gifted single intellectual from participation in socio-political creation.

Hermann Hesse. Steppenwolf.

Constantly driven by the ubiquitous terry bureaucracy created by the Power, the main character of the book, Harry Haller, spontaneously moves from place to place across Old Europe, similar wild beast- a wolf who has neither a spiritual shelter nor like-minded people, driven by the Power into the deep holes of loneliness. With all the power of his talent, the author reveals the immovable passivity of the philistinism as the main support of Power. G. Hesse's book is full of thought; it illuminates the diverse, sometimes secret properties of creativity, alienation and fantastic thinking. Despite the diversity of ideas and meanings analyzed by the author, one of the leitmotifs of this masterpiece - the inevitable evil of Power - constantly accompanies all aspects of the events and thoughts of the author. The following dialogue between its characters is very characteristic of the book:
- “Is it always like it is today? Is the world always only for politicians, speculators, lackeys and revelers, and people can’t breathe?
- "... It has always been so and always so and will be that time and the world, money and power belong to the small and shallow, and to others, truly people, nothing belongs. Nothing except death."
Leaving the book by G. Hesse, we note that the extraordinary versatility of the author’s theses and thoughts is combined with the highest artistic logos of the author.

At the same level artistic skill There is an outstanding story by A. Camus (1913-1960) “The Fall”. In this masterpiece of world literature, the author describes with elegant Gallic subtlety inner world a man who took a reckless risk

Albert Camus. A fall.

Reveal your own “I” to yourself based on insight and repentance. Perhaps there are no such sides of the sophisticated mind of the modern educated person, which would not fall under the microscope of spiritual Camus analysis. His hero Clamence, with bitter irony, examines the basic life attitudes of the world intelligent people, not forgetting to note the problem of Power as its indispensable component:
“I know well that it is impossible to do without domination and without slavery. Every person needs slaves like air. After all, ordering is as necessary as breathing. Do you agree with me? Even the most disadvantaged person happens to give orders. A person standing on the last step of the social hierarchy ", there is marital or parental power. And if he is single, he can order his dog. In general, the main thing is that you can get angry, and they don’t dare answer you."
Here Camus comes closer than anyone else to unraveling the meaning of Power as a human need, that is, he expresses a vague guess at the biological origins of this phenomenon.

The objectivity of the search obliges us to turn to great Russian literature, one of the recognized masters of which is L.N. Tolstoy.

L.N. Tolstoy. Diaries.

In his famous writings, Tolstoy says:
“I am seriously convinced that the world is run by completely crazy people. Those who are not crazy either abstain or cannot participate.
...Crazy people always achieve their goals better than healthy people. This happens because for them there are no moral barriers: no shame, no truthfulness, no conscience, not even fear."
Comments are hardly required on such a succinctly and clearly expressed opinion.

Conscientiousness of the search requires us to turn to the literary heights of the latest Russian literature. Alas, modern public opinion unanimously confirms: at the end of the twentieth and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, no new books appeared that could even approach the rank of artistic masterpieces. So we have to turn to what has appeared on our Russian literary horizons during this time. At the same time, we will avoid numerous works devoted to the topic of bearers of Power (leaders of the revolution, commanders and top officials modern Russia), is most likely not literature, but low-quality journalism, biased by various political groups. However, there are also attempts to create literary works, dedicated specifically to the theme of Power, which, despite some of their awkwardness, can still be called novels. For us, they are of interest because they openly and in detail relish all sorts of tricks of the vipers in which the Russian struggle for power is organized and takes place. Thus, modern Russian literature confirms the meaning of Power, formulated by artists recognized by the whole world as great (see above). Such works include the novel by A.A. Prokhanov (born in 1938) "Mr. Hexogen."

Alexander Andreevich Prokhanov. Mr. Hexogen.

We emphasize once again that we will avoid assessment artistic merit novel, but after reading it, we discover an even more naked essence of the politicians who are in power or fighting for it. The author writes:
“- The sophisticated art of controlling human vices, passions and lusts, developed in Jewish chapels, perfected in the sanctuaries of Egyptian priests, tested in Roman palaces and baths, brilliantly applied by Vatican nuncios, was embodied in the policy of Stalin, who managed to pit and embroil his own worst enemies. With the hands of some, destroy the others, and chain the latter, exhausted in the bloody conflict, to their political chariot, dragging along the cobblestone road five-year plans, collectivizations and purges.”

So what's the deal? Why are unscrupulous, immoral people in power everywhere, incapable of anything other than vile intrigues, deception and betrayal? What kind of people are these, what are their characteristics? Perhaps Camus is right in hinting that the desire to command has deep biological roots? And we find the answer to these questions from the brilliant Russian writer and thinker G. Klimov (1918-2007) in his novel “The Prince of This World.”

Grigory Klimov. Prince of this world

The fate of G. Klimov (Igor Borisovich Kalmykov) is completely unusual. Front-line soldier, officer Soviet army, being a senior employee of the Soviet administration in Allied-occupied Germany, fled in 1947 from the KGB massacre to the West. There he was chatted around prisons and anti-Soviet offices until he decided to completely alienate himself from politics and turn to independent, original creativity. It is still not possible to determine G. Klimov’s citizenship: his Soviet documents were stolen (by the way, along with a lot of money) by the American military administration, the German documents were temporary, and the American passport was received only 10 years after the escape. G. Klimov remained a sincere patriot of Russia right up to his death. His books have been published in Russian and almost all Western European languages ​​with a total circulation of more than 17 million copies, including about 7 million in Russian. In Russia, his books sold out instantly, and due to the wary attitude of the authorities towards his ideas, they were not published after the death of G. Klimov. However, all of his works can be found on the Internet.
The main theme of G. Klimov’s work was the search for answers to the above questions about Power. The fruit of many years of searching, collecting and processing statistical data, and the author’s research was the novel “The Prince of This World,” which incorporated brilliant generalizations and discoveries in the field human nature. The meaning of G. Klimov’s concept is contained in his following words:
"- When close relatives marry each other, the children from this marriage will be degenerates (degenerates). This is old, good for everyone known fact. That is why the Church prohibits marriages between relatives. Up to the sixth knee. Many degenerates have unusual qualities - such as an insatiable desire to dominate, an abnormal, downright pathological desire to always be on top. Many of them have a clear and insatiable thirst for power.
These degenerates feel “chosen”, “elite” (delusions of grandeur), but at the same time, they also feel “persecuted” and “persecuted” (delusions of persecution). After all, “delusions of grandeur” and “delusions of persecution” are sisters.”
"...Almost all world leaders have a pronounced innate power complex. This complex, as a rule, is the result of suppressed sadism...
Any, okay organized group people who have knowledge of this taboo topic, can find and promote future leaders to power, like pawns in a world chess game."
"We all saw on TV how 5-6 hefty orderlies cannot cope with one puny madman. The energy produced by this madman - best illustration of the truly irresistible energy possessed by a half-crazed, sadistic degenerate, obsessed with a thirst for power."
In his novel and other books, G. Klimov paid attention to demonology, lowering it to the level of a sound, rational medical analysis of human health and mental illness. The author examines the most serious mental illnesses and their cost for the individual and the entire society. In particular, with ruthless sarcasm, G. Klimov depicts the system of Western intelligence services, chock full of degenerate employees.
Unfortunately, when considering the concept of Power, G. Klimov showed excessive attention to issues of anti-Semitism, which was the reason for ignoring him as an outstanding thinker and writer (and in our country - the reason for official ostracism). However, there is no doubt that his works are a real breakthrough in sociology and open new horizons in the processes of improving the social structure.
Reflecting on eternal questions good and evil, God and the devil, the main character of the novel "The Prince of This World", the fictional head of the fantastic Soviet intelligence service during the Stalin and post-Stalin periods, Maxim Rudnev says:
"God is simply a healthy human spirit, a healthy soul and mind. God is simply what is called normal person who is able to live and love truly, in a divine way.
The devil is a complex social disease, degeneration, degeneration, sexual perversion and mental illness, that is, a slow death stretching over several generations."
O.V. Kuratov

IN last years During the reign of Alexander the First over Russia, the biblical question arose: “Where are you coming?” It is not surprising that during these years Pushkin studied Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State,” Shakespeare’s dramatic chronicles, and Russian chronicles. Before the Decembrist uprising in 1825, the poet completed the tragedy “Boris Godunov,” at the very end of which “the people are silent.”
The first years of the reign of Nicholas II were associated with the uprising in Poland, the war in the Caucasus, supported by Turkey, and the restructuring of the cumbersome bureaucratic system, which the tsar could not cope with until his death. Pushkin greeted the accession of Nicholas to the throne with “Stanzas”, in which he set Peter the Great as an example to the new emperor:
Be proud of your family resemblance;
Be like your ancestor in everything:
How tireless and firm he is,
And his memory is not malicious.
But at the same time, the noble soul of the Russian nobleman remained faithful to his Decembrist friends:
Deep in Siberian ores
Be patient and proud...
The poet did not split his soul, but expressed his life position: He was a “statist” and a convinced monarchist. A free and trusting relationship with the king allowed him to remind him of the royal duty to show “mercy to the fallen.” “Stateism”, deeply rooted in the poet’s consciousness, continued the Lomonosov and Derzhavin tradition of serving the Fatherland with his creativity. But this is not reckless servility, but civil demands on the monarch:
Darkness low truths I care more
A deception that exalts us...
Leave your heart to the hero... well
Will he be without him? Tyrant...
Pushkin demands that an ideal monarch strive for the ideals of humanism, which Catherine the Great also proclaimed as her motto, although her reign was far from ideal. But that’s why an ideal was invented, so that you can strive for it all your life. A hero who looks like a god from Greek myths, becomes Peter the Great for the poet, to whom he dedicates the unfinished novel “Arap of Peter the Great” about his own great-grandfather Hannibal and the pathetic poem “Poltava”. Like Derzhavin, Pushkin highly values ​​freedom of creativity. There is no paradox in this: the poet and the jester in history more often spoke the truth to the autocrat than the nobleman. Treacherous Polish uprising, raised by personal friends of the late Tsar Alexander the First, forced Pushkin to respond with the poem “To the Slanderers of Russia” to the next “Polish ultimatum” of the West:
Or is it new for us to argue with Europe?
Or is the Russian unaccustomed to victories?
But this is just a patriot’s reaction to an external threat. Inside Russian life, Pushkin clearly distinguishes the vices of the Russian government: its centuries-old alienation from the people, distrust of local self-government, predatory “feeding” of officials - that is, all those “damned issues” of Russian history that have not been resolved in the 21st century. The story "Dubrovsky", "The Story of Pugachev" and the novel " Captain's daughter» impartially remind Russian authorities about her hereditary ailments, the main one of which remained serfdom. Pushkin could have seen “slavery that fell due to the tsar’s delusion.” He would have been just over sixty in 1861. In one of his later poems, “The Feast of Peter the Great,” the poet paints his ideal: a general celebration of fraternal merging in a single impulse of power and common man. Alas, that’s why poets were given to us, to amuse us with a sweet dream.

A. Gerasimov. I. Stalin and A.M. Bitter. 1930

Some time ago there was a popular song youth group, where there were words that “I love my country so much and hate the state.” Alexander Rosenbaum, who needs no special introduction, spoke in approximately the same vein. There is, of course, a reason for this opposition. Many people associate the state with violence, with a political regime, with coercion. And vice versa, when there is something and someone to be proud of, they remember history, culture, and language. This just begs the question: is there a country without political system, without a social structure? This is anarchy, and nothing more. So it makes sense sometimes to listen carefully to what you sing along to and what you stand for...

The English writer George Orwell, popular among certain circles, once stated that real writer will never be satisfied with the existing regime. Our Alexander Solzhenitsyn, echoing Orwell, clarified: the government is afraid not of those who are against it, but of those above it. Must be referring to “myself, my beloved.” Both of them undoubtedly had the right to think so. But where earlier was the ancient Chinese sage Confucius, who considered the state big family, and the ruler, accordingly, is a father to his subjects. Some will say this is an unattainable ideal. Maybe. But if you don’t strive for it, it’s even worse.

N.S. Khrushchev and A.T. Tvardovsky in Pitsunda, 1962

Perhaps for the first time, the relationship between literature and power was tested to the limit when an Athenian court tried and sentenced death penalty the sage Socrates. Democracy has revealed its vulnerability. But how worthy Socrates behaved! He himself drank the cup of poison, managed to talk with the disciples, lay down, turning to the wall, and soon he was gone. Philosophy, after all, is the same as literature, only special.

In the Middle Ages and beyond later eras court poets and artists appeared. Some openly sold themselves for money, some were forced to do this, and others sincerely served the regime faithfully and believed in it. And all the more bitter was the later disappointment - even to the point of suicide. At least remember fate Soviet writer Alexandra Fadeeva. Idealists have nothing to do in politics!

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This thesis also applies to writers who became bosses, functionaries, and party bosses. Sergei Narovchatov, Sergei Mikhalkov, etc. And this despite the fact that some went through the war, did not bow to bullets, but in “peaceful” life they lost themselves completely - they stopped drinking, becoming ideological teetotalers, and they also abandoned creativity. Except that from time to time they supported their reputation with who knows what poems and stories.

A.I. Solzhenitsyn and V.V. Putin. Photo by RIA Novosti

A separate topic is Stalin and writers. He didn't cut from the shoulder. He had a special weakness for some - for example, he repeatedly attended the production of M. Bulgakov’s play “Days of the Turbins” and in many ways saved the writer from persecution and suicide. He ordered Mandelstam and Pasternak to be “isolated but preserved.” Although there are also plenty of souls lost on the conscience of the “father and teacher” - Babel, Pavel Vasiliev, Artem Vesely, Boris Pilnyak. Yes, second and third tier writers. But is this a justification for the regime? Shouldn't only ideas fight ideas?

In general, it was not for nothing that Stalin called him a “celestial being”. Who else will so sweetly and naively shout “through the window to the kids” and ask a question about what kind of millennium it is today? A poet can be locked up, hidden in a fortress, sent to prison - and on his own calendar, “Boldino autumn.” And only when spiritual freedom is taken away, then there is no further way. Next comes Blok’s painful death or Tsvetaeva’s noose. So it’s not just about the regime and the authorities – it’s about the degree of their influence on people’s minds.

Entire monographs have been written on the topic of the title of this material. Therefore, the relevance of the topic does not subside literature and power or government and literature still continues to excite the minds of our contemporaries. Indeed, despite the millennium in the yard...

Pavel Nikolaevich Malofeev ©

POWER IN LITERATURE

This problem, posed with particular clarity by Mikhail Bakhtin, and after him by Western poststructuralists, is multi-level.

It is quite justified to talk about the power of the author (it is no coincidence that this word comes from the same nest as the word authority, which is precisely translated from Latin as power or influence). Moreover, this is power over your text (“ The writer has the main thing - the power of description“, - Sergei Shargunov weightily testifies), and over his perception (namely to the author, - according to M. Bakhtin, “ entrusted to guide the reader in art world works"), and over his fate - the author has the right to sign the book own name or a pseudonym, publish it, leave it in the manuscript, or completely destroy it, which is what Nikolai Gogol did, showing power, with the second volume of Dead Souls.

It is also legitimate to talk about the power of the publisher (publisher), who, with the consent of the author (or without) can edit (and in other cases rewrite) the text, shorten or supplement it, accompany it with comments, change the title of the work and/or the name appearing on title page and accordingly to the public.

It is also worth remembering the power that the circumstances of time and place have over the author, and therefore over the text: for example, censorship, literary etiquette accepted in a particular environment, as well as public opinion, which can both stimulate and limit the author’s will .

All this is the power that controls both the work and its author. But for the same reasons we can talk about the power that a work that has already been published (or that has become known from lists) and its author acquires. This is the power of influence - on readers, on other writers, on the literary (and in other cases, on the ideological, political) situation wherever this work is distributed. Legitimation of certain literary reputations and artistic practices, formation of literary hierarchy, canon and composition modern classics, approval and change of norms of literary taste and standards literary etiquette– these are all issues of power. And to achieve it they untie literary wars , is underway literary controversy , and circles of writers gathered on the principle of selective kinship turn into literary schools and directions.

It is quite clear that there is a difference between writers who, in order to achieve power, are ready to go to great lengths (for example, appeal to the power of the state or the power of the money bag, adapt to the expectations and tastes of the means mass media, engage in exhausting polemics on every occasion, indulge in public narcissism or exhibitionism), and writers who demonstrate complete, seemingly indifference to literary policy, limiting their participation in creative life solely by creation and publication own works. But let us admit in all conscience that in this case, as in general in any politics, non-participation is also a form of participation, since, presenting his works to the city and the world, every author, even against his own will, of course, affirms his own type writing strategy, and the correctness of his ideas about life and literature, and even the productivity of his writing technique.

In this sense, centers of literary power can be called not only the Writers' Union or the editors of thick magazines, but also Yasnaya Polyana- V last decades the life of Leo Tolstoy, the village of Veshenskaya, from where Mikhail Sholokhov brought order to the camp of masters and apprentices who obediently listened to him socialist realism, or New York - for those Russian poets who, after the award to Joseph Brodsky Nobel Prize needed his blessing. Moreover, as these examples show, it is hardly possible to say that someone (or something) has undivided, autocratic power in literature. As the ever-memorable Union of Writers of the USSR, which had both the carrot and the stick, was convinced of from its own experience, which never coped with the task of total control over the entire Soviet literature. And this is what any writer (or critic) with exorbitant power ambitions can be convinced of, for he immediately begins to look, according to the caustic assessment of Vissarion Belinsky, like an unfortunate “ in the insane asylum, which, with a paper crown on its head, majestically and successfully rules its imaginary people, executes and pardons, declares war and makes peace, fortunately no one bothers him in this respectable occupation».

Power resources are redistributed over time, and if Soviet era, just as during the period of perestroika, writers’ reputations were created primarily by literary magazines, then in market conditions, magazines, according to the caustic remark of Mikhail Berg, “no longer have the function of “legitimation”. Magazines no longer “make writers”; they are typographic samizdat, interesting mainly to the circle of authors published in it and critics writing about these authors.”. The role of the legitimizing authority was partly transferred to literary prizes, but with even greater success it is played by the media, and above all by television, which replaced the vacancy rulers of thoughts writers produced in literary stars.