WWII in prose of the 20th century. Theme of the Great Patriotic War in prose of the 20th century

K. Vorobyov’s story “Killed near Moscow” tells about the tragedy of young Kremlin cadets sent to their deaths during the German offensive near Moscow in the winter of 1941. The writer raises the important problem of killing one's own. He managed to show the horror of the betrayal of his boys, who at first “almost joyfully” reacted to the flying Junkers. The main character of the story, Alyosha Yastrebov, like everyone else, “carried within himself an irrepressible, hidden happiness,” “the joy of a flexible young body.” The landscape also corresponds to the description of youth and freshness in the children: “...Snow - light, dry, blue.

It gave off the smell of Antonov apples... something cheerful and cheerful was conveyed to the legs, as if listening to music.” The young lieutenants ate biscuits, laughed, dug trenches and were eager to fight. They had no idea about the approaching trouble. “Some kind of soul-searching smile” on the lips of the NKVD major, the lieutenant colonel’s warning that 240 cadets would not receive a single machine gun, alerted Alexei, who knew by heart Stalin’s speech that “we will beat the enemy on his territory,” and he guessed the deception. “There was no place in his soul where the incredible reality of war could settle down,” but the reader guessed that the boy cadets would become its hostages.

The plot begins with the appearance of reconnaissance aircraft. The commander, Captain Ryumin, already knew: “the front has been broken in our direction,” when General Pereverzev appeared at the company’s location - strange, confused, and having lost his will. Ryumin advised Alexey Yastrebov to tell the guys that Pereverzev was a shell-shocked fighter posing as a general. A wounded soldier spoke about the true situation at the front: “Even though darkness killed us there, there were still more alive! So now we’re wandering.” The appearance of political instructor Anisimov aroused hope when he “called on the Kremlinites to be steadfast and said that communications were reaching here from the rear and neighbors were approaching.” But this was another lie. The mortar shelling began, shown by Vorobyov in naturalistic details of the suffering of Anisimov, who was wounded in the stomach: “Cut... Well, please, cut...” - he begged Alexei. “An unnecessary tearful cry” accumulated in Alexei’s soul. A man of “swift action,” Captain Ryumin understood: no one needs them, they are cannon fodder to distract the enemy’s attention. "Only forward!" - he decides to himself, leading the cadets into the night battle. They didn’t shout “Hurray! For Stalin!".

Prose about the war occupied a special place in post-war literature. It became not just a topic, but an entire continent, a continent in literature, where almost all the ideological and aesthetic problems of our time were found using specific life material.

Now it is possible to fully trace the evolution of military prose genres: from the smallest forms to multi-volume epics. This development is due to the problems that peoples faced during a sudden attack by fascist troops, as well as a five-year period of severe trials for millions of people.

War prose began with short slogans and appeals aimed at mobilizing people. Many writers note with bitterness the confusion of people in the first days of the war. The official propaganda of those years claimed that a peace treaty had been signed with Germany, that the Germans were our friends, and Stalin, blinded by his own greatness, did not believe in the possibility of Hitler’s attack on the USSR. K. Simonov’s trilogy “The Living and the Dead”, M. Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for the Motherland” and many other works describe the first days of the war, when Soviet soldiers psychologically could not shoot at German soldiers, there was no hatred in their souls. And only when burning fields of grain and villages burned by the Nazis appeared before their eyes, hatred for the enemy began to rise in their hearts.

As a rule, most writers and journalists became war correspondents during the war. It fell to them to report events from the front and form the correct attitude towards the enemy. The beginning of their activities were short notes, small essays describing the atrocities of the Nazis and the courage of Russian soldiers and the population who found themselves in the occupied territories. The situation required adequate visual and genre means. The essay genre was ideal for multi-faceted coverage of events. The war years are usually called the first wave of prose about war. Its main task was to maintain the courage and resilience of people, their will to win, which the authors successfully accomplished.

Later, when it became obvious that the Nazis failed to conquer the country with lightning speed, writers had the opportunity to understand the situation more broadly and deeply using the short story genre. At the same time, the essay continued to perform the function of closely monitoring the pulse of the country.

The second wave of development of military prose began in the post-war years. The first surge occurred immediately after Stalin's death in 1954-1955. The Soviet Union, which bore all the burdens of the war on its shoulders, defeated Nazi Germany and liberated half the world, could not continue to exist in the regime of camps. It was time to collect stones and take stock. Reliable information about military events, expressed in artistic form, has become most in demand in literature. Already in the first stories and tales of this period, there is an increase in new qualities, including interest in documentary prose, in authentic testimonies of participants in military operations. This includes S. Smirnov’s essay “Heroes of the Brest Fortress” (1954), which laid the foundation for the documentary story “Brest Fortress”, completed ten years later.

In 1957-1959, the stories “The Fate of a Man” by M. Sholokhov, “Ivan” by V. Bogomolov, the stories by Yu. Bondarev “Battalions Ask for Fire”, “An Inch of Earth” by G. Baklanov, the novel by K. Simonov “The Living and the Dead” and a lot others. Cinema experienced a similar rise. The films “The Cranes Are Flying”, “The Ballad of a Soldier”, “At Your Doorstep” appeared. This is the time of the culmination of military prose: subtle lyrical psychologism, based on real facts, destinies, and stories, has reached its limit. The distinctive features of the second wave of military prose are considered to be images and details that are as close as possible to real life at the front, bold and sharp details, close psychologism, depiction of events and human destinies in their contradictory complexity, interest in restoring names and events that have undeservedly remained in the shadows, awareness of the whole measures of losses caused by the war. The overall level of authenticity of the events depicted has increased noticeably.

New works complemented the truth that was told during the war years, but the innovation consisted in the fact that the usual genre forms were filled with new content. In military prose, two leading concepts have been developed: the concept of historical truth and the concept of man.

A fundamentally important role in the formation of the new wave was played by M. Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man” (1956). The significance of a story is determined through the genre definition itself: “tragedy story”, “epic story”, “epic compressed to the size of a story”. Thanks to this story, military prose moved from emphasizing the epithet real man to the story of fate person. Subsequently, writers consistently mastered the entire range of wartime problems. The theme of learning bitter lessons from difficult situations of war, especially at the first stage, is devoted to the stories and novels “Failure” by Yu. Goncharov (1964), “July 41” by G. Baklanov (1965), “Our Battalion Commander” by D. Granin (1967) .

“The Deserter” by Yu. Goncharov and “The Abyss” by L. Ginzburg are dedicated to depicting the psychology of traitors. The theme of the village during the war years is covered in the folk-epic narratives “Brothers and Sisters” and “Two Winters and Three Summers” by F. Abramov, “The Uncrying Willow” by M. Alekseev and others. Books about wartime childhood were “Ivan” by V. Bogomolov, stories by Vera Panova “Valya” and “Volodya”. Lyric-dramatic autobiographical works “War is thundering somewhere” by V. Astafiev, “When Father Went to the Front” by Y. Shcheglov, “Early Cranes” by Ch. Aitmatov and others appeared. This prose was dominated by three main motives: the tragedy of war, the rapid civil maturation of children and the humanistic rejection of war.

The depiction of love in war reflected the ability to preserve and appreciate pure feeling; love was a kind of challenge to war, a symbol of life. These include the following works: “Starfall” and “Shepherd and Shepherdess” by V. Astafiev, “Zosya” by V. Bogomolov, “Red Wine of Victory” by E. Nosov and others.

“Educational” military prose has been widely developed: “Goodbye, boys” by B. Balter, “Repetition of what has been passed” by S. Baruzdin, “From Home to the Front” by E. Rzhevskaya, “One of Us” by V. Roslyakov. Material from the site

The new beginnings of military prose manifested themselves most dramatically in works of psychological drama. The masterpieces of this direction include the works “The Dead Have No Shame” by G. Baklanov, “Killed near Moscow” by K. Vorobyov, the first stories by V. Bykov “Crane Cry”, “The Third Rocket”, “Front Page” and others. Their heroes, as a rule, young soldiers or lieutenants, were only superficially similar to the characters in foreign novels about the “lost generation.” However, internally they argued with the heroes of the First World War. Our soldiers emerged from the new war seasoned, morally mature, and confident that they were right.

Along with the prose of psychological drama, epic prose developed, but in a new quality. Works aimed at a wide panoramic coverage of reality were divided into three groups according to the type of narrative.

The first type can be called informative and journalistic: the novel has many characters acting at the front and in the rear. This is combined with showing the activities of Headquarters and higher headquarters. The best example is the five-volume “Blockade” by A. Chakovsky, the action of which moves from Berlin to the small town of Belokamensk, from Hitler’s bunker to Zhdanov’s office, to Stalin’s dacha and to the party committee. Later, the political novel emerged from this type of storytelling.

The second branch consisted of panoramic family novels: “Origins” by G. Konovalov, “Eternal Call” by A. Ivanov, “Fate” by P. Proskurin.

The third type of epic canvas was a new type of battle monumental novel. This is K. Simonov’s trilogy “The Living and the Dead,” which, like nowhere else, clearly shows the dynamics of victory.

For us, military prose is valuable because it shows the confrontation between two systems, two ideologies, which is still relevant in our time. The development of military prose has entered a new phase. It turned out that not all the tragic pages of this terrible book-war had been read, not all the secrets had been revealed.

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War as a tragedy of the people in the literature of the twentieth century War is death, suffering, pain of people. Many works have been written about her. The authors of books about the war explored military everyday life, accurately depicted battles, they also spoke about the courage of their native land, about the pricelessness of human life, about how ordinary people, with a conscience and a sense of duty to the Motherland, sacrificed themselves. Georgy Baklanov in the story Forever - Nineteen-Year-Olds talks about the short life of his hero. Before the war, Viktor Tretyakov lived like all ordinary people. The boy was happy, loved his father and mother, but the war took everything from him. Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Viktor Tretyakov’s father, innocent of anything, was arrested. A stranger appeared in the family - a stepfather. Tretyakov did not accept him, his relationship with his mother changed. The hero condemned her, believing that her mother had cheated on her father. And here comes the war. First, her stepfather leaves for her, then Tretyakov himself. The writer shows how honest and kind the young man is. Tretyakov has the best qualities. In war, he does not hide behind other people's backs. Lieutenant Tretyakov appreciates and takes pity on soldiers, is not afraid of difficulties, is capable of heroic deeds, is true to his word, and understands that a word is also an action. Tretyakov grows up during the war. He sees death and now knows the true value of life. Memories of loved ones, home, and peacetime help the hero preserve the person within himself in tragic conditions. While in the hospital, Tretyakov reflects on life, scolds himself for his boyish insolence and stupidity. He is a young man who has no right to condemn his mother for her decision to marry again. The hero disliked his stepfather, not understanding that he was bringing pain to his mother, a dear, beloved person. Now he asks her for forgiveness in a letter, he wants her to be happy. In the hospital, Viktor Tretyakov met his first love. His feeling is tender, strong, pure. Sasha is the girl who is infinitely dear to him. The hero is ready to share her misfortune and anxiety. He truly loves her and tries to help her in everything. You read the pages of the story dedicated to their meetings, and you worry about the love of the heroes. I want happiness to happen. But the war will destroy everything. You could pretend that you didn't notice her. Tretyakov is offered to stay in this small town where the hospital was located, but the honor and duty inherent in the young man do not give him such an opportunity. Front again. Now Victor is responsible not only for his mother, sister, stepfather, from whom there have been no letters for a long time, but also for Sasha, for her mother. There is no peace in Sasha’s family: the mother has a German patronymic, and therefore worries. How will their lives turn out next? War with the Germans! Tretyakov, and with him we, understand how much grief the war brought with it. She separated the hero from his father, stepfather, and took his life. Victor never lived to reach the age of 20, and remained forever nineteen. He received a letter wishing his mother and sister a happy birthday.

It arrived a day before the celebration. On this day, Tretyakov was wounded, it seemed that everything would be fine, because he was sent to the hospital, but the war deals its final blow. On the way to the hospital, Tretyakov dies. Before his death, he thinks about the people with whom he found himself on the same cart, tries to help them, gives way, and walks himself. A stray bullet kills him. Yes, undoubtedly, the hero lived every minute of his existence on earth according to his moral values. The war destroyed his dreams, and Sasha, his beloved girl, who managed to overcome many difficulties, lost her happiness. War is tragedy, pain, death. In the hero, G. Baklanov embodied the best features of his generation - a sense of duty, patriotism, responsibility, mercy. It seems to me that the main thing is that we must inherit humanity from that generation. By demonstrating it in everything, we will always live without war.

SECOND:
People of honor and duty in modern Russian literature Honor, duty - these moral categories are undoubtedly very important in people's lives. For many heroes of the works of classical writers, it is an honor and duty to speak words filled with deep meaning. Pyotr Grinev and Pierre Bezukhov are endowed with fearlessness, a sense of justice and duty, responsibility, and kindness. Time passes, everything around changes. Duty and honor remain either necessary for a person or not. The twentieth century is an era of wars and destruction. In my opinion, in extreme situations a person shows his true colors. Vasily Bykov is a seventeen-year-old participant in the war, a writer who reflects in his works about man, about his behavior in war, about the duty and honor that guides the hero of the story of the same name by Ch. Sotnikov. The writer sent two partisan intelligence officers Ch. Sotnikov and Rybak on their mortal journey. They were supposed to deliver food to a detachment that had taken refuge in the forest. At first, the heroes appear before us as comrades in a partisan detachment, as like-minded people. The fisherman attracts attention more than Sotnikov with his physical strength, luck, and vitality. Sotnikov is shown as a gloomy, irritable person. The events of the story gradually unfold, and we see how people's characters are manifested in their actions. The fisherman becomes unpleasant to us, arouses hatred, since he is capable of betrayal. Sotnikov reveals himself as a strong-willed, courageous nature. The writer is proud of Sotnikov, whose last feat was an attempt to take all the blame upon himself, removing it from the headman and Demchikha, who fell to the Nazis for helping partisan intelligence officers. Duty to the Motherland, to people, as the most important manifestation of one’s own self, is what the author draws attention to. Consciousness of duty, human dignity, soldier's honor, love for people - such values ​​exist for Sotnikov. It is about people in trouble that he thinks. The hero sacrifices himself, knowing that life is the only real value. But Rybak simply had a thirst for life. And the main thing for him is to survive at any cost.

for him to survive at any cost. Of course, a lot depends on the person, his principles and beliefs. Rybak has many virtues: he has a sense of camaraderie, he sympathizes with the sick Sotnikov, shares the remains of steamed rye with him, and behaves with dignity in battle. But how did it happen that he becomes a traitor and participates in the execution of his comrade? In my opinion, in Rybak’s mind there is no clear boundary between moral and immoral. Being in the ranks with everyone, he conscientiously bears all the hardships of partisan life, without thinking deeply about either life or death. Duty, honor - these categories do not disturb his soul. Faced face to face with inhumane circumstances, he turns out to be a spiritually weak person. If Sotnikov thought only about how to die with dignity, then Rybak is cunning, deceives himself and, as a result, surrenders to his enemies. He believes that in moments of danger everyone thinks only of themselves. Sotnikov, despite the failures: captivity, escape, then captivity again, escape, and then the partisan detachment, did not become embittered, did not become indifferent to people, but retained loyalty, responsibility, and love. The author does not pay attention to how one day in battle Sotnikov saves the life of Rybak, how the sick Sotnikov still goes on a mission. Sotnikov could not refuse, since it contradicted his life principles. On the last night of his life, the hero remembers his youth. Lying to his father as a child became a lesson in pangs of conscience for him. Therefore, the hero judges himself strictly and answers to his conscience. He remained a man in the brutal conditions of war. This is Sotnikov’s feat. It seems to me that in tragic situations of war it is difficult to remain true to oneself and one’s moral principles. But it is precisely such people of duty and honor who fight evil, make life more beautiful, and they make us think: do we know how to live according to our conscience.

Non-literary factors

influencing changes in the perception and evaluation of literature about the war.
For a long time, the war years were perceived as the only tragic years of modern history. Today, the revision of the history of the modern period has actually been completed, as a result of which it is all presented as a people's tragedy (p. 36).

Events related to the war itself are assessed differently. The conclusion of a non-aggression pact with Hitler, previously seen as a necessary measure for a temporary reprieve, is now defined as an absolute mistake. The actions of the Soviet Army in the Baltic states, Western Ukraine and Belarus are perceived as occupation (the fate of the partisans in the Baltic states, the ashes of N. Kuznetsov from Lvov).

Recently, there has been an active effort to clarify the question: at what cost did we get our victory? The lists of career officers who were repressed just before the war, as a result of which the army was beheaded, are more than impressive, as is the fact that the life of a junior lieutenant in the first months of the war “on the front line” was... 9 minutes. The activities of SMERSH and the incompetence of the headquarters, the ever-increasing number of our losses - all this forced V. Astafiev to say in a bitter moment: “Victory at such a price is defeat.”
In addition to non-literary ones, there are also

intraliterary factors,

which also influenced the change in attitude towards the Great Patriotic War.
Recently, numerous sensational revelations of “imaginary heroes of the Great Patriotic War” have appeared on the pages of newspapers: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Young Guards, Alexander Matrosov, who became heroes of literature, but, it turns out, were not impeccable heroes in life. A very wise piece of advice turned out to be forgotten: it’s either good or nothing about the dead. As a result, a whole layer of literature appears to the general reader as fake.

During the Great Patriotic War, works were created that were characterized by a heroic beginning and an almost obligatory final chord, characterized by high pathos and oath intonation ("Holy War" by V. Lebedev-Kumach, etc.). For this time, the emphasis on the beauty of feat and even the beauty of death in the name of the freedom of the Motherland was important.

In the 60-70s, the style discovered by the book “In the Trenches of Stalingrad” by V. Nekrasov prevailed. War is not only a feat, but also the hardest, everyday work, mortal work. The prose of Yu. Bondarev, V. Bykov, V. Kondratiev is even characterized by some deheroization of the feat. In the 80-90s, works were published that introduced the reader to an unconventional view of the events of the Great Patriotic War. This is V. Grossman’s novel “Life and Fate”: fascism, according to Grossman’s artistic concept, is absolutely adequate to socialism. This is K. Vorobyov’s story “It’s us, Lord!”, written in 1943, published in 1986, a story about the fate of those captured by Germans. This is Lev Razgon's "Uninvented" - a look at the war of a prisoner of Soviet camps. This is also V. Astafiev’s novel “Cursed and Killed” (New World magazine, 1992, No. 10-12), where the author talks about the murder of his own.

Conclusion: in order to give your own assessment of the events of 1941-1945, you need to read these works yourself and enter into a dialogue with the author.

V.P. Astafiev realized his story “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” was “...more difficult and painful than all.”
In “The Staff of Memory” he notes: “It seems to me that in “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess” I overcame myself, a tradition created for myself... While overcoming my tradition in “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess,” I at the same time returned to some very dear traditions of Russian literature, in particular, to the Tolstoyan tradition.”

V.P. Astafiev wrote: “What would I like to see in prose about war? - The truth. All the cruel but necessary truth, without which it is impossible to understand the meaning of the feat of the Soviet soldier.”
In the military story, the author claims that “war is both the defense of the Fatherland, therefore, a sacred duty and necessity, and a phenomenon contrary to human nature” (Tolstoy traditions).

"...But how to write about all this? The events of that time cannot be desecrated by an inexperienced, timid touch. And if we start talking, then we must say everything to the end!" – Olga Kozhukhova states in her story “Don’t Throw Words to the Wind.”

Our task:

The history of the story

V. Astafiev worked from 1967 to 1971. “I carried this little story inside me for 14 years, wrote and rewrote for several years...”; published in 1971, has the subtitle "Modern Pastoral" . The story "The Shepherd and the Shepherdess" was unexpected for literary criticism. Why? V. Astafiev first addressed the topic of war; The already established image of V. Astafiev as a storyteller, working in the genre of social and everyday narration, changed before our eyes, acquiring the features of a writer striving for a generalized perception of the world, for symbolic images. What was your first perception of the story?

Pastoral as a genre

The 1983 SES gives the following definition of pastoral: from the French pastorale... from the Latin pastoralis - pastoral: a genre variety of modern European literature of the 14th-17th centuries, associated with idyllic perception; opera, pantomime or ballet, the plot of which is associated with an idealized depiction of shepherd life; vocal or instrumental work drawing paintings of nature or scenes of rural life.

Ozhegov's dictionary (1990) gives a more laconic definition: pastoral - in European art of the 14th-18th centuries, a dramatic or musical work, idyllically depicting the life of shepherds and shepherdesses in the lap of nature.

Pastoral in art

In the early Renaissance, humanistic ideas were expressed in pastorals and glorified earthly love, the feeling of nature was conveyed- F. Sacchetti “Mountain Shepherdesses”, G. Boccaccio “Fiesolan Nymphs.”

During the crisis of Renaissance humanism (15-16 centuries), pastoralism was penetrated ideas about preserving the inner peace of the individual, aristocratic tendencies are intensifying. Singing serene life, sublime feelings, refined pleasures in the lap of nature(M. Cervantes “Galatea”, F. Cindy “Arcadia”).

At the end of the 16th century, the musical pastoral “Daphne” by the poet Rinuccini and composer J. Peri appeared in Italy, which laid the foundation for opera. In the 17th century, pastoral became one of the characteristic genres of aristocratic literature, exquisite feelings accessible only to a select few are glorified. Nature turns into an elegant setting for gallant disputes between “shepherds” - aristocrats.

Pastoral images are also found in the literature of the 18th century, interpreted mainly in the manner of sentimentalism.

In Russia, pastoral appears in the 18th century and is predominantly of a song nature).

Our task:

find out in what ways the writer remains faithful to the traditions of the pastoral genre, in what ways he deviates from them, and for what purpose he does this.

The work will proceed according to the following plan:

1. Chronotope (time and space) of pastoral.
2. Features of the plot and composition.
3. System of images.
4. The ideological originality of the story by V.P. Astafiev "The Shepherd and the Shepherdess".

1. Pastoral chronotope. Pastoral in art.

Time and space in the artistic world of Astafiev

It has signs of the real world: the author talks about the events of 1944, about the defeat of the German group near the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky point “Our troops were finishing off an almost strangled group of German troops, whose command, as at Stalingrad, refused to accept the ultimatum of unconditional surrender.” It was during this period of the war that the enemy became different: “The Germans are different: hungry, demoralized by the environment and the cold.”
Unlike the traditional pastoral, in V. Astafiev’s pastoral duration of action - night, winter night.“The roar of guns overturned and crushed the silence of the night. Cutting through clouds of snow and darkness, flashes of guns flashed, and under our feet the disturbed earth swayed, trembled, and moved, along with the snow, with people pressing their chests to it.”

By using alliteration and assonance, the author gives us the opportunity hear the sounds of battle: [o], [a], [e] characterize sounds of flying shells; help to hear the whistle of shells cutting through the air; [zh],[w],[h"] transmit trembling of the earth, awakened by the night battle.

Seems, the whole world is in motion. The abundance of nouns denoting specific items(animate: signalmen, SR men, infantry, rear - and inanimate: "Katyusha" - “the cars themselves seemed to crouch on their paws before jumping...”; the trunks of our little fur babies ), And an abundance of verbs conveying the dynamics of the battle: cars... rushed about, signalmen cursed, missiles flared up.

This description is surprisingly reminiscent of the description of the Battle of Poltava in the poem “Poltava” by A.S. Pushkin:

Throwing piles of bodies upon piles,
Cast iron balls everywhere
They jump between them, strike,
They dig up ashes and hiss in blood
Swede, Russian - stabs, chops, cuts,
Drumming, clicks, grinding,
The thunder of guns, stomping, neighing, groaning,
And death and hell on all sides.

The image of a night torn to shreds; road image, along which soldiers walk and crawl, defending their home, their native nature; image of the steppe, snow-covered or dusted with grass seeds; the image of someone else’s house, where you can “take a nap” for a couple of hours, if possible; finally, image of a whirlpool of battle - a funnel, which draws in everything living and inanimate, breaks the usual connections, pulls into the abyss - all this works to create a different model of the universe - CHAOS, a picture of universal destruction.
The color scheme enhances the feeling of contrast with the traditional pastoral: “Black anger, black hatred, black blood suffocated and flooded everything around: night, snow, earth, time and space.”

2. Features of the plot and composition.

Plot is the basic outline of events in the sequence of their development. The plot is based on an artistic conflict. Conflict is a clash of characters and circumstances, views and principles of life. The conflict can occur between the individual and society, between characters, in the mind of the hero; can be obvious or hidden. We characterized the chronotope of the pastoral as idyllic, that is, depicting an idealized, serene life in which there are no and cannot be conflicts. The feelings that the characters experience are joyful and bright. Absence of conflict is ideal.

In the process of development of the pastoral genre, the love conflict appears more and more clearly, the love plot is further developed in Antoine Watteau’s painting “A Difficult Proposal” from 1716.
In music pastoral plot used in the 19th century by composer P.I. Tchaikovsky in the opera “The Queen of Spades” builds the composition of the pastoral scene like this:

Overture
1 hour - "Expectation"
2h. - "Date"
The final

V. Astafiev's pastoral also has a clear composition.

The love plot, it would seem, is concluded in two parts: “Date” and “Farewell”, but, besides them, the author gives two more parts: “Fight” and “Assumption”. For what? To show that the love plot was surrounded by a fiery ring of war, highlighting the catastrophic nature of the meeting of lovers(“I’ll come to meet you in a white dress” - and then “None of this will happen”). Each part has an epigraph. Let's consider what its role is.

The role of epigraphs

Rapture is a state of delight, admiration. The content of Part I serves as a refutation of this phrase. Fight is anger, black hatred, moral and physical death - cannot be beautiful. We see people who have lost their human appearance: “Mokhnakov threw one, then another skinny German over himself, but then another one came out of the darkness, and with a squeal, like a dog, he bit into the foreman’s leg, and they rolled in a ball into the trench, where the wounded were swarming in the snow and clods of earth, in pain and howling and rushing at each other in blind rage." The episode on the battlefield, when Boris tries to blow up a German tank, makes his way over the still warm bodies of his comrades crushed by this tank, or the scene in the medical battalion, where the doctor “stands knee-deep in blood” removing body parts that have become unnecessary, amazes with its naturalism, and the question arises : “Why do people suffer so much? Why war? Death?” And you involuntarily remember the words of L.N. Tolstoy that “war is an unnatural state for humanity.” It is no coincidence that in Astafiev’s story there appears the image of a huge man who "moving with a huge shadow and a torch fluttering behind him, he moved, flew on fiery wings to the trench, crushing everything in his path with an iron crowbar. ... It seemed that this prophet of heaven with a growing spear had fallen to the ground to punish people for their barbarity, to bring them to reason ".

IIch. "Date" - “And you came, having heard the expectation...” (Ya. Smelyakov). The epigraph gives a romantic mood: young creatures living in anticipation of the miracle of love, the miracle of meeting. But the first sentence of part II does not live up to hope, it is deliberately mundane: "The soldiers drank moonshine". The entire chapter is devoted to a description of the rest of B. Kostyaev’s platoon in Lucy’s house. Everything in life turns out to be not as beautiful as in books, paintings or movies: soldiers steam their clothes to kill lice; relieve tension after a fight by drinking moonshine; They sleep side by side on straw thrown on the dirt floor. The interior of the hut before and after the soldiers spend the night, the dialogue of the soldiers at the table, the portrait of Lucy and Boris, the skirmish with Mokhnakov - this is the structure of Part II.

III part. "Farewell" -

Bitter tears clouded my vision,
A gloomy morning sneaks like a thief, following the night.
Cursed be the day
Time takes you and me into the gray dawn.

(From the lyrics of the Vagants).

They cannot leave us indifferent and

lines of lyrical digression dedicated to mothers:

"... Mothers, mothers: why did you submit to the wild human memory, reconcile yourself with violence and death? After all, you suffer more than anyone, most courageously, in your primitive loneliness, in your sacred and bestial longing for your children. You cannot be purified by suffering for thousands of years, buy them off and hope for a miracle. There is no God. There is no faith. Death rules over the world. Who will pay for your torment? How will you pay for it? When? And what should we hope for, mothers?" It's sad that these questions remain unanswered today...

IVh. "Assumption" –

And there is no end to life
And the end of torment.

Petrarch.

Conclusion:

Thus we see that the composition of the modern pastoral by V. Astafiev made it possible to combine different stylistic streams: generalized philosophical, realistic - everyday and lyrical. The war was presented either as a hyperbolic picture of universal barbarity and destruction, or as an incredibly hard soldier’s work, or as an image of hopeless human suffering in the author’s lyrical digressions. Unlike the traditional pastoral, the plot and composition of Astafiev’s story allow us to characterize the conflict.

The moral aspect of the conflict concerned the relations between soldiers, between people. The philosophical conflict was realized in the confrontation pastoral love motif and monstrous the scorching elements of war.

3. The system of pastoral images in art.

The characters are quite happy, they live in harmony with themselves, with each other, with the world. There are no unresolved issues, no sharp corners - even the frame of the picture is given in the form of a medallion. The composition of the painting is such that the disorder located in the lower right corner does not introduce disharmony into the overall mood of the painting. Pastoral images of a shepherd and a shepherdess are also used by P.I. Tchaikovsky in the opera "The Queen of Spades". In the third scene of the opera, he gives an extended scene “The Sincerity of the Shepherdess”, in which the main characters: Prilepa and Milovzor - perform a duet. This scene also includes a chorus of shepherdesses and shepherdesses and the Sarabande dance of the shepherdesses and shepherdesses. The chorus sums up the whole scene: “the end of the torment has come,” which marks the victory of love. Announcing the victory of love, Cupid and Hymen (characters from ancient Greek mythology) appear on the stage to crown Prilepa and Milovzor. Love gives joy.

Astafiev’s system of images of modern pastoral.

The Russian army, represented by Kostyaev’s platoon, Astafiev “laid out” on

certain types traditional for the rural world:

• sage-scribe (Lantsov);
• hard worker-patient (Karyshev, Malyshev);
• Shkalik, who looks like a holy fool;
• a “dark” man, almost a robber (Pafnutyev, Mokhnakov);
• righteous man, keeper of the moral law (Kostyaev).

The role of shepherd and shepherdess is played by the platoon commander Boris Kostyaev and the mistress of the house Lyusya.

They are young (she is 21, he is 20), the need to love and be loved awakens in them. Love illuminates everyday life at the front with a bright flash. He and she. What are they, these heroes?

As in the traditional pastoral, Astafiev gives

portrait of Boris:

“The lieutenant’s blond hair, naturally wavy, became curly. His eyes would have washed out too. The rubbed abrasion on his thin neck turned brighter red.” This boy with a sinless look looks more like yesterday's schoolboy, boyishly embarrassed, but for all that he is a trench commander who has gone through many battles, seriously wounded, finally realizing that “it’s not the soldiers who are behind him - he’s behind the soldiers!”

Portrait of Lucy

created with skillful strokes: a swollen lower lip, a straight nose with narrow flaps, oatmeal eyes covered with curled eyelashes. “When the hostess opened her eyes, dark, seemingly elongated pupils were revealed from under these doll-like eyelashes. The eyes became mysteriously changeable,”- this is how Boris perceives Lucy. A woman with iconic eyes - this is how she will remain in his memory. A certain picture image - and the destruction of this image that arose in Boris’s soul by its everyday life: nose stained with soot, apron. At the moment of farewell, Lyusya will remind Boris of a schoolgirl, touching and funny, with a ribbon in her magnificent braid.

Little time is allotted to the beloved: the first signs of attention, the first declaration of love, and memories of their past. Getting to know each other. Well-mannered, affectionate, attentive - like a mother; persistent, honest, straightforward - like his father Boris. Lucy hardly talks about her past (she studied at a music school), but she involuntarily shares with Boris the bitterness of what she experienced during the days of occupation: “The dog was set on a person... it bit the girl’s throat like it was a bird...” Boris did not recognize that Lucy, enthusiastic, changeable in mood...

Conclusion:

War and love, death and thirst for life. What will win? Unlike the traditional pastoral, Astafiev’s heroes live in a different world and they themselves are different: “There was something like this and that in this lieutenant... You could sense the dreaminess and romance in him. Romantics are impetuous people! They are the ones who die first. This young knight of a sad image, absolutely sure - they love only once in a life, and there is no better woman in the world with whom he was and never will be...” Without love, the soul burns out: "...To live on? Why? For what? Kill or be killed? No-no! Enough!"

4. The ideological originality of the story by V.P. Astafieva
"The Shepherd and the Shepherdess."

A feat is a heroic, selfless act. He is not born immediately, not suddenly. To accomplish a feat, you need to be ready for it, to have a generous soul. What is a “generous soul”? This is a soul filled with noble feelings: love for the Motherland, for one’s people, the willingness to sacrifice oneself in defense of the Fatherland. The generosity of the soul is manifested in a person in a difficult era for the entire country, when it is necessary to give all his strength for the sake of a common goal. During the Great Patriotic War, everyone had the same goal - to liberate their native land from the Nazi invaders.

Boris Vasiliev’s story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” tells about the feat of female anti-aircraft gunners and their commander, Sergeant Major Vaskov. The soldiers received the task: to detain a group of German saboteurs heading through the Karelian forests and swamps to the Kirov Railway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

In an unequal battle with the fascist occupiers, all the girls die. The commandant of the 171st patrol, Fedot Evgrafovich Vaskov, reproaches himself for not saving five girls just to save the Kirov Road and the White Sea Canal. Seriously wounded in the stomach by a grenade fragment, the dying Rita Osyanina reassures the foreman: “Don’t... The Motherland doesn’t start with the canals. Not from there at all. And we protected her. First her, and only then the channel.” Exploring the origins of the heroic, selfless actions of his heroes, Boris Vasiliev shows that their feat does not appear immediately. They are all different: each hero has his own character, his own destiny, his own reason for going to the front, his own feat. But they all accomplished the main task of their lives: they sacrificed themselves defending their Motherland.

Liza Brichkina, the daughter of a forester, goes on a patrol for help, since there were not two saboteurs, but sixteen. In her haste, Lisa strays from the path and drowns in the swamp. Sonya Gurvich, a university student who knows German, wants to bring Vaskov a pouch he had forgotten and, stumbling upon the saboteurs, receives a fatal blow to the chest with a dagger. Orphanage Galka Chetvertak goes with the sergeant on reconnaissance, but, not having time to overcome the feeling of fear, she runs in desperation to cross the path of the Nazis and falls under machine gun fire. Zhenya Komelkova sacrifices herself, saving her wounded friend Rita, leading the Germans with her. Shocked by the death of the girls, Vaskov takes prisoner all the surviving saboteurs. An ordinary person with a failed personal destiny, in difficult times, accomplishes a feat: it could not have been otherwise. There is some kind of inner strength in him, great courage, fearlessness, generosity of soul and kindness.

The story “Sotnikov” by front-line writer Vasil Bykov, written in 1970, tells the story of two partisans, one of whom accomplishes a feat, and the other becomes a traitor. Rybak and Sotnikov are sent on a mission: to get some food for the detachment. Stopping at Demchikha’s house, the partisans are captured. Sotnikov behaves with dignity, although he experiences inhuman torment. A fisherman, determined to survive at any cost, hopes to “outwit” the police. Step by step, losing moral ground, Rybak comes to betrayal, participates in the execution of his comrade, and then joins the police service. Sotnikov accomplishes an unprecedented feat of courage and perseverance. He immediately understands that death is inevitable, that compromise is impossible. Sotnikov lives in obedience to moral principles: the sick man goes on a mission because others refused. He takes an unequal battle with the police, wounded, and steadfastly overcomes the difficult path. In Demchikha’s attic, he prefers to be shot rather than endanger a woman and children. Sotnikov's physical capabilities were limited, but his fortitude, courage, firmness, and fearlessness in the face of death were limitless. He finds the strength to morally support the boy in Budenovka, who was in the crowd of residents herded to execution as spectators. Sotnikov smiles at the boy, realizing that he is also responsible for what will be left to the next generations.

We came to the conclusion that feats are not born immediately. It is committed by people with high moral principles, possessing perseverance, dedication, and prepared for a heroic act with their entire lives.

Updated: 2018-07-01

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