Man and history in Russian literature. In what works of Russian literature are images of historical figures created and how can they be compared with Tolstoy’s assessment of real historical figures?
Reading range of literary characters in the Russian classical novel
1. What and how did the heroes of Russian classics read? Review of works and their heroes
A book is a source of knowledge - this widespread belief is familiar to, perhaps, everyone. Since ancient times, respected and revered educated people who knew their way around books. In the information that has survived and survived to this day about Metropolitan Hilarion, who made a huge contribution to the development of Russian spiritual and political thought in his treatise “The Word on Law and Grace”, it is noted: “Larion is a good man, a faster and a scribe.” It is “bookish” - the most apt and most capacious word, which, probably, in the best possible way describes all the advantages and benefits educated person in front of the others. It is the book that opens the difficult and thorny path from the Cave of Ignorance, symbolically depicted by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his work “The Republic,” to Wisdom. All the great Heroes and Villains of mankind drew the thick and fragrant jelly of knowledge from books. The book helps answer any question, if, of course, there is an answer to it at all. The book allows you to do the impossible, if only it is possible.
Of course, many writers and poets of the “golden age,” when characterizing their heroes, mentioned certain literary works, the names and surnames of great authors whom they either raved about, admired, or lazily read from time to time. artistic characters. Depending on certain characteristics and qualities of the hero, his book preferences and attitude towards the process of reading and education in general were also covered. Going a little beyond the time frame of the given topic, the author considers it appropriate to make a short excursion into history in order to use some examples of earlier literature to understand what and how the heroes of Russian classics read.
For example, take the comedy by D.I. Fonvizin's "Minor", in which the author ridiculed the narrow-mindedness of the landowner class, the simplicity of its life attitudes and ideals. Central theme The work was formulated by its main character, the ignorant Mitrofan Prostakov: “I don’t want to study, I want to get married!” And while Mitrofan painfully and unsuccessfully tries, at the insistence of teacher Tsyfirkin, to divide 300 rubles between three, his chosen one Sophia is engaged in self-education through reading:
Sophia: I was waiting for you, uncle. I was reading a book now.
Starodum: Which one?
Sophia: French, Fenelon, about raising girls.
Starodum: Fenelon? The author of "Telemacus"? Okay. I don't know your book, but read it, read it. Whoever wrote "Telemacus" will not corrupt morals with his pen. I fear for you the sages of today. I happened to read everything from them that was translated into Russian. They, however, strongly eradicate prejudices and uproot virtue.
The attitude towards reading and books can be traced throughout the comedy “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboedova. “The most famous Muscovite of all Russian literature,” Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov, is quite critical in his assessments. Having learned that his daughter Sophia “reads everything in French, aloud, locked,” he says:
Tell me that it’s not good to spoil her eyes,
And reading is of little use:
She can't sleep from French books,
And the Russians make it hard for me to sleep.
And he considers the reason for Chatsky’s madness solely to be teaching and books:
Once evil is stopped:
Take all the books and burn them!
Alexander Andreevich Chatsky himself reads only progressive Western literature and categorically denies authors respected in Moscow society:
I don't read nonsense
And even more exemplary.
Let's move on to more late works literature. In the "encyclopedia of Russian life" - the novel "Eugene Onegin" - A.S. Pushkin, characterizing his heroes as they get to know the reader, pays special attention to their literary preferences. The main character was "cut latest fashion“dressed like a London dandy,” “could speak and write in French perfectly,” that is, he received a brilliant education by European standards:
He knew quite a bit of Latin,
To parse epigrams,
Talk about Juvenal,
At the end of the letter put vale,
Yes, I remembered, although not without sin,
Two verses from the Aeneid.
Scolded Homer, Theocritus;
But I read Adam Smith
And he was a deep economist.
Onegin’s village neighbor, the young landowner Vladimir Lensky, “with a soul straight from Göttingen,” brought “the fruits of learning” from Germany, where he was brought up in labor German philosophers. Particularly worried the mind young man reflections on Duty and Justice, as well as Immanuel Kant's theory of the Categorical Imperative.
Pushkin’s favorite heroine, “dear Tatyana,” was brought up in the spirit characteristic of her time and in accordance with her own romantic nature:
She liked novels early on;
They replaced everything for her;
She fell in love with deceptions
Both Richardson and Russo.
Her father was a kind fellow,
Belated in the past century;
But I saw no harm in the books;
He never reads
I considered them an empty toy
And didn't care
What is my daughter's secret volume?
I dozed under my pillow until morning.
His wife was herself
Richardson is crazy.
N.V. Gogol in the poem "Dead Souls", when introducing us to the main character, does not say anything about his literary preferences. Apparently, the collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov did not have those at all, for he was “not handsome, but not bad-looking, not too thick, not too thin; one cannot say that he is old, but not that he is too young": Mr. mediocre. However, about the first one to whom I went for dead souls Chichikov, the landowner Manilov, knows that “in his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been constantly reading for two years.”
The triumph and death of “Oblomovism” as the limited and cozy world of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, against the backdrop of whose metamorphoses flows with an irrepressible surge active life Andrei Stolts, highlighted in his novel by I.A. Goncharov. Undoubtedly, the difference in the revaluation of the values of the two heroes casts its shadow on their attitude towards reading and books. Stolz, with his characteristic German tenacity, showed a special desire to read and study even in his childhood: “From the age of eight, he sat with his father at geographical map, sorted through the warehouses of Herder, Wieland, Bible verses and summed up the illiterate accounts of peasants, townspeople and factory workers, and read with his mother sacred history, taught Krylov’s fables and sorted out Telemak into warehouses.”
Once Andrei disappeared for a week, then he was found sleeping peacefully in his bed. Under the bed is someone's gun and a pound of gunpowder and shot. When asked where he got it, he answered: “Yes!” The father asks his son if he has a translation ready from Cornelius Nepos into German. Finding out that he was not, his father dragged him by the collar into the yard, gave him a kick and said: “Go back where you came from. And come again with a translation, instead of one, two chapters, and teach your mother the role from French comedy what she asked: don’t show up without this!” Andrei returned a week later with a translation and a learned role.
The process of reading Oblomov as the main character I.A. Goncharov pays a special place in the novel:
What was he doing at home? Read? Did you write? Studied?
Yes: if he comes across a book or a newspaper, he will read it.
If he hears about some wonderful work, he will have an urge to get to know it; he searches, asks for books, and if they bring them soon, he will set to work on them, an idea about the subject begins to form in him; one more step - and he would have mastered it, but look, he is already lying, looking apathetically at the ceiling, and the book lies next to him, unread, incomprehensible.
If he somehow managed to get through a book called statistics, history, political economy, he was completely satisfied. When Stolz brought him books that he still needed to read beyond what he had learned, Oblomov looked at him silently for a long time.
No matter how interesting the place where he stopped was, but if the hour of lunch or sleep found him at this place, he put the book down with the binding up and went to dinner or put out the candle and went to bed.
If they gave him the first volume, after reading it he did not ask for the second, but when they brought it, he read it slowly.
Ilyusha, like others, studied at a boarding school until he was fifteen. “Of necessity, he sat upright in class, listened to what the teachers said, because there was nothing else he could do, and with difficulty, with sweat, with sighs, he learned the lessons assigned to him. Serious reading tired him.” Oblomov does not accept thinkers; only poets managed to stir his soul. Stolz gives him books. “Both were worried, cried, made solemn promises to each other to follow a reasonable and bright path.” But nevertheless, while reading, “no matter how interesting the place where he (Oblomov) stopped was, if the hour of lunch or sleep found him at this place, he put the book down with the binding up and went to dinner or put out the candle and went to bed.” . As a result, “his head represented a complex archive of dead affairs, persons, eras, figures, religions, unrelated political-economic, mathematical or other truths, tasks, provisions, etc. It was as if a library consisting of only scattered volumes By different parts knowledge." "It also happens that he will be filled with contempt for human vice, for lies, for slander, for the evil spilled in the world and is inflamed with the desire to point out to a person his ulcers, and suddenly thoughts light up in him, walk and walk in his head, like waves in the sea, then grow into intentions, ignite all the blood in him. But, look, the morning flashes by, the day is already approaching evening, and with it Oblomov’s weary strength is approaching peace.”
reading hero russian novel
The apogee of the erudition of the heroes of a literary work is, without a doubt, the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". The pages are simply replete with names, surnames, titles. There are Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang Goethe, whom Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov respects. Instead of Pushkin, the “children” give Nikolai Petrovich “Stoff und Kraft” by Ludwig Buchner. Matvey Ilyich Kolyazin, “preparing to go to the evening with Mrs. Svechina, who then lived in St. Petersburg, read a page from Candillac in the morning.” And Evdoksiya Kukshina really shines with her erudition and erudition in her conversation with Bazarov:
They say you started praising George Sand again. A retarded woman, and nothing more! How is it possible to compare her with Emerson? She has no ideas about education, physiology, or anything. She, I am sure, has never heard of embryology, but in our time - how do you want without it? Oh, what an amazing article Elisevich wrote on this subject.
Having reviewed the works and their characters regarding the literary preferences of the latter, the author would like to dwell in more detail on the characters of Turgenev and Pushkin. They, as the most striking exponents of literary passions, will be discussed in the following parts of the work.
"The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov: the meaning of the name and features of the genre
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Russian literature has given us a cavalcade of both positive and negative characters. We decided to remember the second group. Beware, spoilers.
20. Alexey Molchalin (Alexander Griboedov, “Woe from Wit”)
Molchalin is the hero “about nothing”, Famusov’s secretary. He is faithful to his father’s behest: “to please all people without exception - the owner, the boss, his servant, the janitor’s dog.”
In a conversation with Chatsky, he sets out his life principles, consisting in the fact that “at my age I should not dare to have my own judgment.”
Molchalin is sure that you need to think and act as is customary in “Famus” society, otherwise people will gossip about you, and, as you know, “evil tongues are worse than pistols.”
He despises Sophia, but in order to please Famusov, he is ready to sit with her all night long, playing the role of a lover.
19. Grushnitsky (Mikhail Lermontov, “Hero of Our Time”)
Grushnitsky has no name in Lermontov's story. He is the “double” of the main character - Pechorin. According to Lermontov’s description, Grushnitsky is “... one of those people who have ready-made pompous phrases for all occasions, who are not touched by simply beautiful things and who are importantly draped in extraordinary feelings, sublime passions and exceptional suffering. Producing an effect is their pleasure...”
Grushnitsky loves pathos very much. There is not an ounce of sincerity in him. Grushnitsky is in love with Princess Mary, and she initially answers him special attention, but then falls in love with Pechorin.
The matter ends in a duel. Grushnitsky is so low that he conspires with his friends and they do not load Pechorin’s pistol. The hero cannot forgive such outright meanness. He reloads the pistol and kills Grushnitsky.
18. Afanasy Totsky (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Idiot”)
Afanasy Totsky, having taken Nastya Barashkova, the daughter of a deceased neighbor, as his upbringing and dependent, eventually “became close to her,” developing a suicidal complex in the girl and indirectly becoming one of the culprits of her death.
Extremely averse to the female sex, at the age of 55 Totsky decided to connect his life with the daughter of General Epanchin Alexandra, deciding to marry Nastasya to Ganya Ivolgin. However, neither one nor the other case burned out. As a result, Totsky “was captivated by a visiting Frenchwoman, a marquise and a legitimist.”
17. Alena Ivanovna (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”)
The old pawnbroker is a character who has become a household name. Even those who have not read Dostoevsky’s novel have heard about it. Alena Ivanovna, by today’s standards, is not that old, she is “about 60 years old,” but the author describes her like this: “... a dry old woman with sharp and angry eyes with a small pointed nose... Her blond, slightly gray hair was greasy with oil. Some kind of flannel rag was wrapped around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg...”
The old woman pawnbroker is engaged in usury and makes money from people's misfortune. She takes valuable things at huge interest rates, bullies her younger sister Lizaveta, and beats her.
16. Arkady Svidrigailov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”)
Svidrigailov is one of Raskolnikov’s doubles in Dostoevsky’s novel, a widower, at one time he was bought out of prison by his wife, he lived in the village for 7 years. A cynical and depraved person. On his conscience is the suicide of a servant, a 14-year-old girl, and possibly the poisoning of his wife.
Due to Svidrigailov's harassment, Raskolnikov's sister lost her job. Having learned that Raskolnikov is a murderer, Luzhin blackmails Dunya. The girl shoots at Svidrigailov and misses.
Svidrigailov is an ideological scoundrel, he does not experience moral torment and experiences “world boredom,” eternity seems to him like a “bathhouse with spiders.” As a result, he commits suicide with a revolver shot.
15. Kabanikha (Alexander Ostrovsky, “The Thunderstorm”)
In the image of Kabanikha, one of the central characters of the play “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky reflected the outgoing patriarchal, strict archaism. Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna, “a rich merchant’s wife, widow,” mother-in-law of Katerina, mother of Tikhon and Varvara.
Kabanikha is very domineering and strong, she is religious, but more outwardly, since she does not believe in forgiveness or mercy. She is as practical as possible and lives by earthly interests.
Kabanikha is sure that the family way of life can be maintained only through fear and orders: “After all, out of love your parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach you good.” She perceives the departure of the old order as a personal tragedy: “This is how the old times come to be... What will happen, how the elders will die... I don’t know.”
14. Lady (Ivan Turgenev, “Mumu”)
We all know the sad story about how Gerasim drowned Mumu, but not everyone remembers why he did it, but he did it because a despotic lady ordered him to do so.
The same landowner had previously given the washerwoman Tatyana, with whom Gerasim was in love, to the drunken shoemaker Capiton, which ruined both of them.
The lady, at her own discretion, decides the fate of her serfs, without regard at all to their wishes, and sometimes even to common sense.
13. Footman Yasha (Anton Chekhov, “The Cherry Orchard”)
The footman Yasha in Anton Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” is an unpleasant character. He openly worships everything foreign, but at the same time he is extremely ignorant, rude and even boorish. When his mother comes to him from the village and waits for him in the people’s room all day, Yasha dismissively declares: “It’s really necessary, she could come tomorrow.”
Yasha tries to behave decently in public, tries to seem educated and well-mannered, but at the same time alone with Firs he says to the old man: “I'm tired of you, grandfather. I wish you would die soon.”
Yasha is very proud that he lived abroad. With his foreign polish, he wins the heart of the maid Dunyasha, but uses her location for his own benefit. After the sale of the estate, the footman persuades Ranevskaya to take him with her to Paris again. It is impossible for him to stay in Russia: “the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, and, moreover, boredom...”.
12. Pavel Smerdyakov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov”)
Smerdyakov is a character with a telling surname, according to rumors, the illegitimate son of Fyodor Karrmazov from the city holy fool Lizaveta Stinking. The surname Smerdyakov was given to him by Fyodor Pavlovich in honor of his mother.
Smerdyakov serves as a cook in Karamazov’s house, and he cooks, apparently, quite well. However, this is a “foulbrood man.” This is evidenced at least by Smerdyakov’s reasoning about history: “In the twelfth year there was a great invasion of Russia by Emperor Napoleon of France the First, and it would be good if these same French had conquered us then, a smart nation would have conquered a very stupid one and annexed it to itself. There would even be completely different orders.”
Smerdyakov is the killer of Karamazov's father.
11. Pyotr Luzhin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”)
Luzhin is another of Rodion Raskolnikov’s doubles, business man 45 years old, “with a cautious and grumpy face.”
Having made it “from rags to riches,” Luzhin is proud of his pseudo-education and behaves arrogantly and primly. Having proposed to Dunya, he anticipates that she will be grateful to him all her life for the fact that he “brought her into the public eye.”
He also wooes Duna out of convenience, believing that she will be useful to him for his career. Luzhin hates Raskolnikov because he opposes his alliance with Dunya. Luzhin puts one hundred rubles in Sonya Marmeladova's pocket at her father's funeral, accusing her of theft.
10. Kirila Troekurov (Alexander Pushkin, “Dubrovsky”)
Troekurov is an example of a Russian master spoiled by his power and environment. He spends his time in idleness, drunkenness, and voluptuousness. Troekurov sincerely believes in his impunity and limitless possibilities (“This is the power to take away property without any right”).
The master loves his daughter Masha, but marries her to an old man she doesn’t love. Troekurov's serfs are similar to their master - Troekurov's hound is insolent to Dubrovsky Sr. - and thereby quarrels old friends.
9. Sergei Talberg (Mikhail Bulgakov, “The White Guard”)
Sergei Talberg is the husband of Elena Turbina, a traitor and an opportunist. He easily changes his principles, beliefs, without special effort and remorse. Talberg is always where it is easier to live, so he runs abroad. He leaves his family and friends. Even Talberg’s eyes (which, as we know, are the “mirror of the soul”) are “two-story”; he is the complete opposite of Turbin.
Thalberg was the first to wear the red bandage at the military school in March 1917 and, as a member of the military committee, arrested the famous General Petrov.
8. Alexey Shvabrin (Alexander Pushkin, “The Captain's Daughter”)
Shvabrin is the antipode of the main character of Pushkin’s story “The Captain’s Daughter” by Pyotr Grinev. He was exiled to the Belogorsk fortress for murder in a duel. Shvabrin is undoubtedly smart, but at the same time he is cunning, impudent, cynical, and mocking. Having received Masha Mironova’s refusal, he spreads dirty rumors about her, wounds him in the back in a duel with Grinev, goes over to Pugachev’s side, and, having been captured by government troops, spreads rumors that Grinev is a traitor. In general, he is a rubbish person.
7. Vasilisa Kostyleva (Maxim Gorky, “At the Depths”)
In Gorky's play "At the Bottom" everything is sad and sad. This atmosphere is diligently maintained by the owners of the shelter where the action takes place - the Kostylevs. The husband is a nasty, cowardly and greedy old man, Vasilisa’s wife is a calculating, resourceful opportunist who forces her lover Vaska Pepel to steal for her sake. When she finds out that he himself is in love with her sister, he promises to give her up in exchange for killing her husband.
6. Mazepa (Alexander Pushkin, “Poltava”)
Mazepa is a historical character, but if in history Mazepa’s role is ambiguous, then in Pushkin’s poem Mazepa is unambiguous negative character. Mazepa appears in the poem as an absolutely immoral, dishonest, vindictive, evil person, as a treacherous hypocrite for whom nothing is sacred (he “does not know the sacred,” “does not remember charity”), a person accustomed to achieving his goal at any cost.
Seducer of his young goddaughter Maria, he betrays public execution her father Kochubey and - already sentenced to death - subjects brutal torture to find out where he hid his treasures. Without equivocation, Pushkin denounces and political activity Mazepa, which is determined only by the lust for power and thirst for revenge on Peter.
5. Foma Opiskin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants”)
Foma Opiskin is an extremely negative character. A hanger-on, a hypocrite, a liar. He diligently pretends to be pious and educated, tells everyone about his supposedly ascetic experience and sparkles with quotes from books...
When he gets power into his hands, he shows his true essence. “A low soul, having come out from under oppression, oppresses itself. Thomas was oppressed - and he immediately felt the need to oppress himself; They broke down over him - and he himself began to break down over others. He was a jester and immediately felt the need to have his own jesters. He boasted to the point of absurdity, broke down to the point of impossibility, demanded bird's milk, tyrannized beyond measure, and it got to the point where good people, not having yet witnessed all these tricks, but listening only to tales, they considered it all a miracle, an obsession, crossed themselves and spat on it...”
4. Viktor Komarovsky (Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago)
Lawyer Komarovsky is a negative character in Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago. In the destinies of the main characters - Zhivago and Lara, Komarovsky is " evil genius" and "gray eminence". He is guilty of the ruin of the Zhivago family and the death of the protagonist's father; he cohabits with Lara's mother and Lara herself. Finally, Komarovsky tricks Zhivago into separating him from his wife. Komarovsky is smart, calculating, greedy, cynical. Overall, a bad person. He understands this himself, but this suits him quite well.
3. Judushka Golovlev (Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, “The Golovlev Lords”)
Porfiry Vladimirovich Golovlev, nicknamed Judas and Blood Drinker, is “the last representative of an escapist family.” He is hypocritical, greedy, cowardly, calculating. He spends his life in endless slander and litigation, drives his son to suicide, and at the same time imitates extreme religiosity, reading prayers “without the participation of the heart.”
Towards the end of his dark life, Golovlev gets drunk and runs wild, and goes into the March snowstorm. In the morning, his frozen corpse is found.
2. Andriy (Nikolai Gogol, “Taras Bulba”)
Andriy - younger son Taras Bulba, the hero of the story of the same name by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Andriy, as Gogol writes, with early youth I began to feel the “need for love.” This need fails him. He falls in love with the lady, betrays his homeland, his friends, and his father. Andriy admits: “Who said that my homeland is Ukraine? Who gave it to me in my homeland? The Fatherland is what our soul is looking for, what is dearer to it than anything else. My fatherland is you!... and I will sell, give away, and destroy everything that I have for such a fatherland!”
Andriy is a traitor. He is killed by his own father.
1. Fyodor Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov”)
He is voluptuous, greedy, envious, stupid. By maturity, he became flabby, began to drink a lot, opened several taverns, made many fellow countrymen his debtors... He began to compete with his eldest son Dmitry for the heart of Grushenka Svetlova, which paved the way for the crime - Karamazov was killed by his illegitimate son Pyotr Smerdyakov.
A careful study of the past of one’s people is a very characteristic property of every Russian person. At all times, thinking people tried to find answers to emerging questions that the present posed to them, deep in the past. The theme of history found its place in ancient Russian literature.
Interest in history in Russian literature
A striking example is “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “The Message of Vladimir Monomakh” - works in which the authors depicted events taking place in the recent past. It is noteworthy that until the beginning of the 18th century, literary works did not introduce fictional characters, the characters were real historical ones existing personalities. In the process of becoming Russian fiction, historical topics has not exhausted itself.
The Golden Age of Russian literature is of particular interest: the authors of that time not only turned to historical events of the past, but also performed the function of chroniclers of the present. IN historical theme Pushkin's creativity was revealed the logical relationship human life and historical events. Through the psychological description of the main characters, we see their attitude to the historical process taking place in their lives. Vivid examples are the works "Boris Godunov" and "The Captain's Daughter".
The trend of the historical motif from Pushkin was adopted by the most talented prose writer - L. N. Tolstoy. His monumental historical novel War and Peace, during the writer’s lifetime, became a kind of chronicle of the historical events of 1812. Moreover, due to his unsurpassed writing skills, Tolstoy managed to depict the attitude of the main characters to military operations, their psychological basis.
History as a subject of image
The first half of the 20th century was marked historical events, which became a real shock for all humanity and determined its future path of development. Russia was engulfed in the abyss of revolution, the First and Second World Wars, the most brutal Stalin's repressions with its millions of victims. The writers of this period, in their works, tried not only to describe historical facts, but also to leave for posterity an idea of how an ordinary, ordinary person lived and felt in such horrific conditions.
On the pages literary works heroes appear - loners, whose lives were broken by the war and the totalitarian regime. Poetry and prose of the first half of the 20th century are real crying, which burst out from the chests of writers and poets about their people and their historical past, so inhumanly crossed out by the new government.
However, some literary figures, in particular V. Mayakovsky, M. Gorky, M. Sholokhov, revealed another side of the historical past. Their works were filled with the belief that the Russian people, despite all the obstacles and difficulties, would nevertheless reach a new level of their development and achieve prosperity and happiness.
Unfortunately, these writers were used as a tool of ideological propaganda Soviet authorities. Writers who depicted historical reality “without cuts” - A. Akhmatova, N. Gumilyov, A. Solzhenitsyn, were subject to severe persecution.
A.B. GalkinHeroes and plots of Russian literature: names, images, ideas.
Is there anything that unites such diverse heroes as the heroes of works of Russian literature appear to readers? Is it possible to talk about common or at least similar story situations, in which these heroes find themselves?
It would be natural to answer both of these questions in the negative. Of course: characters from Griboedov to Chekhov act in the vast expanses of Russia for an entire century - from the beginning of the 19th century to the turn of the 20th. The heroes and plots of Russian literature are created by the imagination of such different and original writers. How can they be similar?!
Nevertheless, the heroes and plots of Russian literature have common features that are characteristic of Russian literature.
Back in the 19th century, ideas about the types of heroes began to take shape. The 20th century continued these classifications. Russian criticism made the types " little man", "hero of our time", "superfluous man". Literary scholars started talking about "Turgenev's girls", nihilistic heroes, ideologists, etc.
Of course, sometimes it is difficult to do without these now familiar clichés. It is convenient to trace the development over time, for example, of the “little man” type: Pushkin’s Samson Vyrin (“ Stationmaster") and Gogol's Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin ("The Overcoat") became the founders of the type. Maxim Maksimych ("Hero of Our Time"), Makar Devushkin and Semyon Marmeladov of Dostoevsky ("Poor People", "Crime and Punishment"), Captain Tushin ("War and the world") - new variations of the "little man" type.
Onegin, Pechorin, Chichikov, Raskolnikov, Bazarov, Oblomov, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov are, without a doubt, “heroes of their time.” They sometimes " extra people"and hero-ideologists, because they become mouthpieces or exponents of the ideas of their time.
The Turgenev girls (Natalia Lasunskaya, Liza Kalitina, Katya Odintsova), as well as Natasha Rostova, Dunya Raskolnikova, Olga Ilyinskaya, one way or another continue and develop the ideal female image Pushkin's Tatiana.
And yet, the similarities between the heroes should be sought elsewhere, namely: in the purpose and meaning of the works of Russian literature. All these heroes are united by the search for the ideal and meaning of life. The absence of such in the consciousness of heroes (Gogol’s, Shchedrin’s, Chekhov’s) is always negative and is compensated by both the author’s ideal and an immutable sense of the meaning of life, for the sake of which Russian writers took up their pen to bring unidealized characters into the light of God.
Another common feature of works of Russian literature is their appeal to Christian values. Hence, the hero of Russian literature must take up and carry his cross, like Christ. Hence the tragedy of Russian literature, including satire (it is no coincidence that the great Russian satirists - Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin - had a tragic view of things). The Christian worldview, on the one hand, cannot help but recognize the tragedy of life, because Christ’s saving mission on Earth turned into his crucifixion. On the other hand, the crucifixion of Christ ended with the resurrection and victory of man over death. In other words, hope and joy, the final triumph of life over death, the light of goodness and beauty - this is what flickers and glows at the very core of the tragic plots of Russian literature.
But death is strong and does not want to give up.
That is why Russian literature devotes such enormous influence to the plot of death. Trial by death is a typical situation in works of Russian literature. Finding the meaning of life in the face of death is not an easy task; it tests the hero’s strength. At the same time, realizing that death is the result of life is a temptation that can lead the hero to doubt Divine justice, so that the disappointed hero intends to grumble to heaven, cry out to God, like the biblical righteous Job, who in one moment lost everything he had. it was there. Such are Pechorin, Raskolnikov, Bazarov.
Almost all the heroes of Russian literature seek the truth. They do not agree to live without an ideal. But if, as Christianity promises us, a person finds beauty, truth, and ideal only beyond the grave, the mystery of life is always before the hero of Russian literature. He struggles painfully over this unsolvable riddle, approaching its cherished line, unable to comprehend it to the end.
The hero of Russian literature exhausts himself with “damned” Shakespearean questions. "Hamlet's" question "To be or not to be?" if it arises among the heroes of Russian literature, it is after another Shakespearean question about life as a story written by a fool. This question about meaning was voiced in Macbeth:
Life is just a shadow, comedian,
Clown around for half an hour on stage
And then forgotten; this is a story
Which was retold by a fool;
There are a lot of words and passion in it, but there is no meaning
(Act 5, scene 5, translation by Yu. Korneev).
The impossibility of resolving this question - is there any meaning in life? - gives rise to melancholy and boredom in many heroes of Russian literature (Onegin, Pechorin, Oblomov, the hero of Chekhov’s “A Boring Story”).
The Christian view of man does not at all imply happiness granted to man. Suffering is what awaits a person life path. To experience suffering, go through it and purify yourself in order to become kinder, more generous, more compassionate - in a word, to love your neighbor - isn’t this the most worthy goal that Russian writers set for their heroes?!
Therefore, in Russian literature there are almost no lucky, successful, victorious heroes. The exception is Goncharov's Stolz. However, the writer clearly did not succeed with this image, and, in essence, few readers remember it. Basically, all the heroes of Russian literature are unhappy in their own way.
Three classic Russian questions: "Who is to blame?" (Herzen), “What to do?” (Chernyshevsky) and “Who can live well in Rus'?” (Nekrasov) - will forever remain unanswered questions. They are turned to eternity, to God. There, in the sky, they disappear. However, the heroes of Russian literature must suffer through the answers to these questions. The plots of Russian literature unfold these “damned” questions about the meaning of life, the ideal, good and evil in space and time. The moral choices of the heroes on their thorny path to the truth and to God are plot milestones, milestones that coincide with moments of spiritual turning points in the souls of the heroes and/or with moral insights prepared by writers for their heroes. Along this road leading to the truth, all the characters of Russian literature walk one by one. The reader follows them.
A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit"
Names. At first glance, Griboedov is correct artistic principle significant names that developed in the 18th century. According to the classicist principle, the hero's surname fully corresponds to his character or passion, and often the character's surname contains a direct author's assessment - positive or negative. It’s as if Griboedov’s name is unilinear and completely exhausts his character. Molchalin is silent. Platon Gorich- grief groans under the heel of a despotic wife. Skalozub - bares his teeth, or, in other words, jokes like a soldier. Old woman Khlestova, on occasion, will lash out with words at anyone she doesn’t like, regardless of age or rank. Prince Tugoukhovsky is hard of hearing; He is connected to the outside world only by a horn, into which his wife shouts. Thank God, everything is fine with her ears. Repetilov seems to be forever rehearsing life, living it out in confused tossing, bustle, hustle and bustle among acquaintances and strangers, in noise and inspired disinterested lies, the unconscious purpose of which is to entertain the interlocutor, please and make him laugh.
However, if you take a closer look, Griboyedov’s first and last names are far from so clear. Let's say Sophia. Her name means wisdom in Greek. Name typical for positive heroine. (Remember, for example, goodies“The Minor” by Fonvizin: Sophia, Milona, Starodum. And vice versa, negative heroes: To Prostakov, Skotinina.) However, Griboyedov’s Sophia is not wise at all. With all her virtues - honesty, will, capacity for sincere love and sacrifice, contempt for Skalozub's wealth, not supported by intelligence - Sophia is still the first to spread gossip about Chatsky's madness, unable to resist petty female vindictiveness. Wisdom, moreover, completely denies her understanding of Molchalin’s character. On the contrary, she is driven by blind love. Although she regains her sight at the end of the play, this insight can hardly be considered a consequence of wisdom. This is how circumstances developed: they forced her to see clearly. This means that Sophia is a dual image, and the name only emphasizes a certain idealism of the heroine, her impractical trust in Molchalin. This is wisdom in quotes. Like any person, Sophia would like to consider herself wise, but her name comes into conflict with reality. There is an element of chance inherent in life itself.
Famusov. This surname is often derived from the Latin "fama" - rumor. Yu.N. Tynyanov puts forward a convincing hypothesis that the surname is most likely formed from another - English - word "famous" - famous, famous in Russian letter-by-letter reading.
If Tynyanov is right, the name Famusov contains a completely atypical meaning, namely a dream come true, an ideal achieved. How famous is Famusov, really? Not so much as not to curry favor with Skalozub and not be in awe of the opinion of “Princess Marya Aleksevna.” Yes, most likely, Famusov belongs to the noble nobility. If he is able to obtain the rank of collegiate assessor for his secretary Molchalin, it follows that the rank of Famusov himself, who manages a government office, is considerable, at least at the level of chamberlain. However, Famusov is clearly not as rich as he would like, and is very dependent on " powerful of the world"The longed-for ideal of Famusov is Maxim Petrovich, who is called to play cards at court, even if he falls into the mud three times for the sake of laughter, just to amuse the royal person. And Famusov agrees to this, just to be among the most significant, those very "aces" of Moscow. One can only speak speculatively about his real fame: it seems that he feels too vulnerable to the opinion of the world.
If, after all, other literary scholars are right, for example M.O. Gershenzon, and Famusov was born from Latin word“fama” (rumour), then this is even more strange and paradoxical: it turns out that the surname contains a prediction, so to speak, tragic fate a hero who must inevitably suffer from scandalous rumors caused by the behavior of his daughter. Famusov is finally gaining the fame he coveted, alas! - bad. It is quite possible that Griboyedov put both of these meanings into the surname of Pavel Afanasyevich Famusov (note the abundance of ambitious “a” in this harmonious combination of first name, patronymic and surname). Sofya Pavlovna Famusova, following her father, also bears the burden of his ambition, again paradoxically combining in her full name the intention to be wise and at the same time scandalous fame, multiplied by rumor.
Skalozub. This is the name that traditional school literary criticism is accustomed to present as an example of martinet stupidity! It is unknown why this standard setting developed. There is nothing soldierly about the surname “Skalozub”. Rather, the surname interprets special kind wit, unacceptable for Griboedov, a kind of toothy playfulness, meaningless mockery, devoid of ideological basis, a kind of antipode to Chatsky’s irony, mixed with progressive values of the Decembrist sense. In other words, the surname Skalozub does not give any idea about either the profession or the social status, nor about the passion or vice of the hero. It is impossible to imagine a character from one surname, even in general terms. What kind of person is this? Probably bad. The negative connotation of the author’s assessment in the sound of the surname, be that as it may, is clearly felt, and this makes Skalozub related to his brothers who came from the pages works of the XVIII century. However, what writer XVIII centuries could dare to give a character a surname that signifies a way to behave in society?! Not a single characterization of Skalozub by other heroes of the comedy is in any way consistent with his surname: “a constellation of maneuvers and mazurkas,” “wheezing, strangled, bassoon” (Chatsky), “a golden bag and aiming to be a general” (Famusov) or “he didn’t say a smart word "(Sophia). The surname remains closed on itself or on the author's assessment, exercising a certain independence from the character of the hero and representing independent value.
Molchalin is not so silent. Seducing Liza, he, on the contrary, is eloquent and talkative, simply talkative to the point of stupidity, blurting out the secret of his relationship with Sophia, which is completely unwise on the part of the cautious Molchalin, who can easily imagine that his offensive words will immediately be conveyed to Sophia by her trusted chambermaid. Silence is not a property of his character, but exclusively a social mask, technical technique, natural for any careerist (“we are small in rank”). Again, this attitude towards the name is very far from the tradition of names in XVIII literature century.
Who can guess from his last name that Zagoretsky is a rogue and a scoundrel? Nobody! Something appears behind the mountain. But why? Inexplicable. Especially from the point of view of classicist rationalism. In the name of Zagoretsky one can already see something truly transcendental, irrational, creatively and phonetically accurate, but absolutely intranslatable into the language of literal author’s assessments and familiar social concepts. It is curious that Pushkin in “Eugene Onegin” cuts off one syllable in Zagoretsky’s surname, making him Zaretsky: because of the mountain, the hero moves across the river, although this does not make him more moral.
Finally, Chatsky. The surname taken by Griboyedov from life: Chaadaev (or in the colloquial version of Pushkin - Chadaev) was transformed at first (in the first edition of the comedy) into Chadsky, and then (in the latest edition) into Chatsky as a more hidden and easily pronounceable version of the surname. What prompted Griboyedov to give the main character this particular surname: the ideological significance of Chaadaev for Griboyedov or, as Tynianov proves, the story of gossip around the name of Chaadaev about his unsuccessful voyage to Tsar Alexander I to the congress in Troppau with the news of the uprising in the Semenovsky regiment - one can only guess . In any case, the surname Chatsky (Chadsky) may, with some stretch, hint at the child, but essentially says nothing about the character.
The sound element bursts into art world starting with Griboyedov. He is Gogol's predecessor and, perhaps, partly his unwitting teacher.
The surname of the grandmother and granddaughter of the Khryumins simultaneously grunts and teases the ear with a glass. By ear, the semantic dissonance completely disappears. On the contrary, an artificially constructed surname amazes with the extraordinary naturalness of its phonetic pattern.
First names and patronymics are in harmony with each other. The open sound “A”, claiming authority, dominates in names and patronymics: Pavel Afanasyevich, Alexey Stepanovich (Molchalin), Alexander Andreevich (Chatsky), Anton Antonovich (Zagoretsky), Sofya Pavlovna, Natalya Dmitrievna.
Double repetition in first names and patronymics is also not uncommon: Anton Antonovich Zagoretsky and Sergei Sergeevich Skalozub. The name tends to close on itself, like a circle. Subsequently, Gogol will brilliantly develop this tendency, first outlined by Griboedov.
Molchalin is in harmony with himself: A, L, Ch in his name and patronymic: Alexey Stepanovich Molchalin. It is no coincidence that Famusov is called Pavel Afanasyevich with a reinforced letter F: hands on hips, like a master, in the pose of a boss scolding his subordinates.
The background of the play is formed by inspiredly created names and surnames. They are presented at the junction of the consciousnesses of two heroes or the author and the hero.
Tatyana Yuryevna is called Molchalin three times, with an obsequious lisp:
Famous, at the same time
Officials and officials -
All her friends and all her relatives...
Chatsky, in contrast to Molchalin, is extremely harsh in his assessment of her, Furthermore sarcastic:
We haven't met her for ages,
I heard that she is absurd.
Foma Fomich for Molchalin is a “model of syllable”. For Chatsky - “the emptiest person, the most stupid.”
I continue the series “Literary Heroes” that I once started...
Heroes of Russian literature
Almost every literary character has its own prototype - a real person. Sometimes it is the author himself (Ostrovsky and Pavka Korchagin, Bulgakov and the Master), sometimes - historical figure, sometimes - an acquaintance or relative of the author.
This story is about the prototypes of Chatsky and Taras Bulba, Ostap Bender, Timur and other heroes of the books...
1.Chatsky "Woe from Wit"
The main character of Griboyedov's comedy - Chatsky- most often associated with a name Chaadaeva(in the first version of the comedy Griboyedov wrote “Chadsky”), although the image of Chatsky is in many ways social type era, "hero of the time."
Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev(1796-1856) - participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, was on a campaign abroad. In 1814 he joined Masonic lodge, and in 1821 he agreed to join a secret society.
From 1823 to 1826, Chaadaev traveled around Europe, comprehended the latest philosophical teachings. After returning to Russia in 1828-1830, he wrote and published a historical and philosophical treatise: “Philosophical Letters.” The views, ideas, and judgments of the thirty-six-year-old philosopher turned out to be so unacceptable for Nicholas Russia that the author of “Philosophical Letters” suffered an unprecedented punishment: by the highest decree he was declared crazy. It so happened that literary character did not repeat the fate of his prototype, but predicted it...
2.Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba is written so organically and vividly that the reader cannot leave the feeling of his reality.
But there was a man whose fate was similar to the fate of Gogol’s hero. And this man also had the surname Gogol!
Ostap Gogol was born in early XVII century. On the eve of 1648, he was the captain of the “panzer” Cossacks in the Polish army stationed in Uman under the command of S. Kalinovsky. With the outbreak of the uprising, Gogol, along with his heavy cavalry, went over to the side of the Cossacks. 
In October 1657, Hetman Vygovsky with the general foreman, of which Ostap Gogol was a member, concluded the Korsun Treaty of Ukraine with Sweden.
In the summer of 1660, Ostap's regiment took part in the Chudnivsky campaign, after which the Slobodishchensky Treaty was signed. Gogol took the side of autonomy within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was made a gentry.
In 1664, an uprising broke out against the Poles and the hetman in Right Bank Ukraine Teteri. Gogol initially supported the rebels. However, he again went over to the enemy's side. The reason for this was his sons, whom Hetman Potocki held hostage in Lvov. When Doroshenko became hetman, Gogol came under his mace and helped him a lot. When he fought with the Turks near Ochakov, Doroshenko proposed at the Rada to recognize the supremacy of the Turkish Sultan, and it was accepted.
.
At the end of 1671, Crown Hetman Sobieski took Mogilev, Gogol's residence. One of Ostap’s sons died during the defense of the fortress. The colonel himself fled to Moldova and from there sent Sobieski a letter of his desire to submit.
As a reward for this, Ostap received the village of Vilkhovets. The certificate of the estate's salary served the grandfather of the writer Nikolai Gogol as evidence of his nobility.
Colonel Gogol became Hetman of Right Bank Ukraine on behalf of King John III Sobieski. He died in 1679 at his residence in Dymer and was buried in the Kiev-Mezhigorsky Monastery near Kyiv.
Analogy with the story is obvious: both heroes are Zaporozhye colonels, both had sons, one of whom died at the hands of the Poles, the other went over to the side of the enemy. Thus, a distant ancestor of the writer and was the prototype of Taras Bulba.
3.Plyushkin
Oryol landowner Spiridon Matsnev he was extremely stingy, walked around in a greasy robe and dirty clothes, so that few could recognize him as a rich gentleman.
The landowner had 8,000 peasant souls, but he starved not only them, but also himself. 
N.V. Gogol brought out this stingy landowner in “Dead Souls” in the image of Plyushkin. “If Chichikov had met him, so dressed up, somewhere at the church door, he would probably have given him a copper penny”...
“This landowner had more than a thousand souls, and anyone else would try to find so much bread in grain, flour and simply in storerooms, whose storerooms, barns and drying rooms were cluttered with so many linens, cloth, dressed and rawhide sheepskins...” .
The image of Plyushkin became a household name.
4. Silvio
“Shot” A.S. Pushkin
Silvio's prototype is Ivan Petrovich Liprandi.
Pushkin's friend, the prototype of Silvio in "The Shot".
Author best memories about Pushkin's southern exile.
The son of a Russified Spanish grandee. Participant Napoleonic wars since 1807 (from 17 years old). Colleague and friend of the Decembrist Raevsky, member of the Union of Welfare. Arrested in the Decembrist case in January 1826, he was in a cell with Griboyedov. 
“...His personality was of undoubted interest in his talents, fate and original image life. He was gloomy and gloomy, but he loved to gather officers at his place and entertain them widely. The sources of his income were shrouded in mystery to everyone. A book reader and book lover, he was famous for his brawling, and a rare duel took place without his participation."
Pushkin "Shot" 
At the same time, Liprandi turned out to be an employee of military intelligence and the secret police.
Since 1813, the head of the secret political police under Vorontsov’s army in France. He communicated closely with the famous Vidocq. Together with the French gendarmerie, he participated in the disclosure of the anti-government “Pin Society”. Since 1820, the chief military intelligence officer at the headquarters of Russian troops in Bessarabia. At the same time, he became the main theorist and practitioner of military and political espionage.
Since 1828 - head of the Higher Secret Foreign Police. Since 1820 - directly subordinate to Benckendorf. Organizer of provocation in the Butashevich-Petrashevsky circle. Organizer of Ogarev's arrest in 1850. Author of a project to establish a spy school at universities...
5.Andrey Bolkonsky
Prototypes Andrey Bolkonsky there were several. His tragic death was “copied” by Leo Tolstoy from the biography of a real prince Dmitry Golitsyn.
Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was registered for service in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Justice. Soon Emperor Alexander I granted him the rank of chamberlain cadet, and then actual chamberlain, which was equivalent to the rank of general. 
In 1805, Prince Golitsyn entered military service and, together with the army, fought the campaigns of 1805-1807.
In 1812, he submitted a report with a request to enlist in the army, became an Akhtyrsky hussar; Denis Davydov also served in the same regiment. Golitsin took part in border battles as part of the 2nd Russian army of General Bagration, fought at the Shevardinsky redoubt, and then found himself on the left flank of the Russian formations on the Borodino field.
In one of the skirmishes, Major Golitsyn was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment., he was carried from the battlefield. After the operation in the field hospital, it was decided to take the wounded man further east.
"Bolkonsky House" in Vladimir. 
They made a stop in Vladimir, Major Golitsyn was placed in one of the merchant houses on a steep hill on Klyazma. But, almost a month after the Battle of Borodino, Dmitry Golitsyn died in Vladimir...
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Soviet literature
6. Assol
The gentle dreamer Assol had more than one prototype.
First prototype - Maria Sergeevna Alonkina, secretary of the House of Arts, almost everyone living and visiting this House was in love with her.
One day, while climbing the stairs to his office, Green saw a short, dark-skinned girl talking with Korney Chukovsky.
There was something unearthly in her appearance: flying gait, radiant look, ringing happy laugh. It seemed to him that she looked like Assol from the story “Scarlet Sails,” which he was working on at that time.
The image of 17-year-old Masha Alonkina occupied Green's imagination and was reflected in the extravaganza story. 
“I don’t know how many years will pass, but in Kaperna one fairy tale will bloom, memorable for a long time. You will be big, Assol. One morning, in the sea distance, a scarlet sail will sparkle under the sun. The shining bulk of the scarlet sails of the white ship will move, cutting through the waves, straight towards you..."
And in 1921 Green met with Nina Nikolaevna Mironova, who worked for the Petrograd Echo newspaper. He, gloomy and lonely, was at ease with her, he was amused by her coquetry, he admired her love of life. Soon they got married.
The door is closed, the lamp is lit.
She will come to me in the evening
There are no more aimless, dull days -
I sit and think about her...
On this day she will give me her hand,
I trust quietly and completely.
A terrible world is raging around,
Come, beautiful, dear friend.
Come, I've been waiting for you for a long time.
It was so sad and dark
But the winter spring has come,
Light knock...My wife came.
Green dedicated the extravaganza “Scarlet Sails” and the novel “The Shining World” to her, his “winter spring.”
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7. Ostap Bender and the Children of Lieutenant Schmidt
The person who became the prototype of Ostap Bender is known.
This - Osip (Ostap) Veniaminovich Shor(1899 -1979). Shor was born in Odessa, was an employee of the UGRO, a football player, a traveler…. Was a friend E. Bagritsky, Y. Olesha, Ilf and Petrov. His brother was the futurist poet Nathan Fioletov.
The appearance, character and speech of Ostap Bender are taken from Osip Shor.
Almost all the famous “Bendery” phrases - “The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!”, “I will command the parade!”, “My dad was a Turkish subject...” and many others - were gleaned by the authors from Shor’s vocabulary.
In 1917, Shor entered the first year of Petrogradsky Institute of Technology, and in 1919 he left for his homeland. He got home almost two years, with many adventures, which I talked about the authors of "The Twelve Chairs".
The stories they told about how he, unable to draw, got a job as an artist on a propaganda ship, or about how he gave a simultaneous game in some remote town, introducing himself as an international grandmaster, were reflected in “12 Chairs” practically unchanged.
By the way, the famous leader of the Odessa bandits, Teddy Bear, which UGRO employee Shor fought, became the prototype Benny Krika, from " Odessa stories" by I. Babel.
And here is the episode that gave rise to the creation of the image "children of Lieutenant Schmidt."
In August 1925, a man with an oriental appearance, decently dressed, wearing American glasses, appeared at the Gomel Provincial Executive Committee and introduced himself Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Uzbek SSR Fayzula Khojaev. He told the chairman of the provincial executive committee, Egorov, that he was traveling from Crimea to Moscow, but his money and documents were stolen on the train. Instead of a passport, he presented a certificate that he was really Khodzhaev, signed by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Crimean Republic, Ibragimov.
He was received warmly, given money, and began to be taken to theaters and banquets. But one of the police chiefs decided to compare the Uzbek’s personality with the portraits of the chairmen of the Central Election Commission, which he found in an old magazine. This is how the false Khojaev was exposed, who turned out to be a native of Kokand, traveling from Tbilisi, where he was serving his sentence...
In the same way, posing as a high-ranking official, ex-convict had fun in Yalta, Simferopol, Novorossiysk, Kharkov, Poltava, Minsk...
It was a fun time - the time of the NEP and such desperate people, adventurers as Shor and the false Khojaev.
Later I will write separately about Bender...
………
8.Timur
TIMUR is the hero of the film script and A. Gaidar’s story “Timur and His Team.” One of the most famous and popular heroes of Soviet children's literature of the 30s - 40s.
Under the influence of the story by A.P. Gaidar “Timur and his team” in the USSR arose among pioneers and schoolchildren in the early years. 1940s "Timurov movement". Timurovites provided assistance to military families, the elderly...
It is believed that the “prototype” of Timurov’s team for A. Gaidar was a group of scouts that operated back in the 10s in the dacha suburb of St. Petersburg.“Timurovites” and “scouts” really have a lot in common (especially in the ideology and practice of children’s “knightly” care for the people around them, the idea of doing good deeds “in secret”).
The story Gaidar told turned out to be surprisingly consonant with the mood of a whole generation of guys: the fight for justice, an underground headquarters, a specific alarm system, the ability to quickly gather “in a chain,” etc. 
It is interesting that in the early edition the story was called "Duncan and his team" or “Duncan to the rescue” - the hero of the story was - Vovka Duncan. The influence of the work is obvious Jules Verne: yacht "Duncan""At the first alarm signal I went to the aid of Captain Grant.
In the spring of 1940, while working on a film based on an unfinished story, the name "Duncan" was rejected. The Cinematography Committee expressed bewilderment: “A good Soviet boy. A pioneer. He came up with this useful game and suddenly - “Duncan”. We consulted with our comrades here - you need to change your name"
And then Gaidar gave the hero the name of his own son, whom he called “little commander” in life. According to another version - Timur- the name of the neighbor boy. Here's a girl Zhenya received the name from Gaidar’s adopted daughter from his second marriage.
The image of Timur embodies the ideal type of a teenage leader with his desire for noble deeds, secrets, pure ideals.
Concept "Timurovets" firmly entered into everyday life. Until the end of the 80s, Timurites were children who provided selfless help to those in need.
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9. Captain Vrungel
From the story Andrey Nekrasov "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel"".
A book about the incredible sea adventures of the resourceful and resilient captain Vrungel, his senior mate Lom and sailor Fuchs. 
Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel- the main character and narrator on whose behalf the story is told. An experienced old sailor, with a solid and prudent character, not lacking in ingenuity.
The first part of the surname uses the word "liar". Vrungel, whose name has become a household name, is the naval equivalent of Baron Munchausen, telling tall tales about his sailing adventures.
According to Nekrasov himself, the prototype of Vrungel was his acquaintance with the surname Vronsky, lover of telling maritime fables with his own participation. His last name was so suitable for the main character that the book was originally supposed to be called " The Adventures of Captain Vronsky", however, for fear of offending a friend, the author chose a different surname for the main character.
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