According to Kuprin, love is a tragedy or. Quotes from Alexander Kuprin about touching love
Essays on literature: The theme of love in the works of A. And Kuprin.
Love... Someday this feeling comes to everyone. There is probably no such person who would never love. Didn't love his mother or father
Tsa, a woman or a man, your child or friend. capable
To resurrect, to make people kinder, more soulful and humane. Without love there would be no life, for life itself is love. It was this all-absorbing feeling that inspired A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, L. N. Tolstoy, A. A. Blok, and in general, all the great writers and poets.
A slight wave of the quill pen and such wonderful poems and works as “I loved you...”, “Anna Karenina”, “They loved each other so long and tenderly...” appeared on the sheets of paper.
The 20th century gave us A.I. Kuprin, a writer in whose work the theme of love occupied one of the most important places. I especially admire this man - open, courageous, straightforward, noble. Most of Kuprin's stories are a hymn to pure, ideal, sublime love, which he wrote about throughout his life.
The writer acutely felt the need for “heroic plots”, for selfless, self-critical heroes. As a result, under the pen of Alexander Ivanovich, the most wonderful works were born: “Garnet Bracelet”, “Olesya”, “Shulamith” and many others.
The story “Olesya” was written in 1898 and was included in the cycle of Polesie works. In addition to the theme of love, A. And Kuprin touches on no less than important topic interaction between the civilized and natural worlds. From the very first pages of the work we find ourselves in a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. It was here that fate threw Ivan Timofeevich - literate, intelligent person. From his lips we learn about the wild customs of the Perbrod peasants. These people are illiterate, uncouth, and uncommunicative. It is clear from everything that they have not yet completely gotten rid of the habits of Polish serfdom. Ivan Timofeevich is terribly bored in this place, where there is no one to talk to, where there is absolutely nothing to do. That’s why Yarmola’s story about old witch. The young man is hungry for adventure, he wants to escape from the daily routine of village life, at least for a while.
During his next hunt, Ivan Timofeevich unexpectedly stumbles upon an old hut, where his first meeting takes place with Olesya, the granddaughter of the local witch Manuilikha. Olesya fascinates with her beauty. Not the beauty of a society lady, but the beauty of a wild fallow deer living in the lap of nature. But it’s not just this girl’s appearance that attracts Ivan Timofeevich. The young man admires the self-confidence, pride, and audacity with which Olesya carries herself. That is why he decides to visit Manuilikha again. Olesya herself is also interested in the unexpected guest. Growing up in the forest, she had little contact with people and was accustomed to treating them with great caution. But Ivan Timofeevich captivates the girl with his ease, kindness, and intelligence. Olesya is very happy when the young guest comes to visit her again. It is she who, fortune telling by hand, characterizes us the main character as a person “although kind, but only weak,” admits that his kindness is “not heartfelt.” His heart is “cold, lazy,” and those who “will love him ", he will bring, albeit unwittingly, "a lot of evil." Thus, according to the young fortune teller, the young man appears before us as an egoist, incapable of deep emotional experiences. But despite everything, Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich fall in love with each other and completely surrender to this feeling.
Olesya's love makes clear her sensitive delicacy, her special innate intelligence, observation and tact, her instinctive knowledge of the secrets of life. In addition, her love reveals the enormous power of passion and selflessness, and reveals in her the great human talent of understanding and generosity. Olesya is ready to give up her feelings, endure suffering and torment for the sake of her beloved and only one. Against the background of all the people surrounding the main character, her figure looks sublime and makes
Faded surrounding. The images of Polesie peasants become dull, spiritually enslaved, evil, and recklessly cruel. They have neither breadth of mind nor generosity of heart. And Olesya is ready to do anything for the sake of her love: go to church, endure mockery local residents, find the strength to leave, leaving behind only a string of cheap red beads as a symbol eternal love and devotion. For Kuprin, the image of Olesya is the ideal of the sublime, exceptional personality. This girl is an open, selfless, deep nature, the meaning of her life is love. She raises her above the level ordinary people, she gives her happiness, but she also makes Olesya defenseless and leads to death.
The figure of Ivan Timofeevich also loses from its proximity to Olesya. His love is ordinary, sometimes even similar to infatuation. The young man understands deep down that his beloved will never be able to live outside of nature. He does not imagine Olesya in a secular dress and yet offers her his hand and heart, implying that she will live with him in
City. Ivan Timofeevich does not even allow the thought of giving up his position in society for the sake of his love and remaining to live with Olesya in the forest. He completely comes to terms with what happened and is not going to fight for his love or challenge the current situation. I believe that if Ivan Timofeevich truly loved Olesya, he would definitely have found her and tried to change his life, but, unfortunately, he never understood what kind of love passed him by.
The theme of mutual and happy love is touched upon by A. I. Kuprin in the story “Shulamith”. The love of King Solomon and the poor girl Shulamith from the vineyard is strong as death, and those who love themselves are higher than kings and queens.
But the writer kills the girl, leaving Solomon alone, because, according to Kuprin, love is a moment that illuminates the spiritual value of the human personality and awakens the best in it.
In one of the writer’s most famous works, “The Garnet Bracelet,” the theme sounds unrequited love as a great gift that transforms the human soul. Princess Vera Sheina was strict, independent, kind and “royally
A calm "woman who loved her husband. But the idyll in the house was destroyed after the appearance of a gift with a letter from "G. S.Zh". Together with the message, selfless, selfless love, not expecting a reward, entered the house of the Shein princes: love is a mystery, love is a tragedy. The whole meaning of the life of Zheltkov, the sender of the message, was to love Vera Nikolaevna, without demanding for this is nothing in return, to praise your beloved from the bottom of your heart, uttering the words: “Hallowed be your name.” The vague anxiety of Princess Vera after receiving a gift from Zheltkov grew into the bitterness of the loss of something lofty and beautiful at her last meeting with her already dead admirer: "At that second she realized that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by."And Vera Nikolaevna cried, listening to Beethoven's Second Sonata, knowing that she loved. She loved only for one moment, but forever.
In his stories, A.I. Kuprin showed us a sincere, devoted, selfless love. The love that every person dreams of. Love, for the sake of which you can sacrifice anything, even your life. Love that will survive millennia, overcome evil, make the world beautiful, and people kind and happy.
ABSTRACT
THE THEME OF LOVE IN THE WORK OF A. KUPRIN
INTRODUCTION
For the essay, I chose a topic related to the work of the famous Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The choice of this name is explained by the fact that it is quite famous and interesting writer, but in school curriculum not much time is devoted to his work, but when working on an essay, you can study the writer’s work in detail. The very life of the writer, his personality produces strong impression. This is a person of integrity, distinguished by firmness life position, true intelligence and kindness, the ability to understand life.
The purpose of my work:
Reveal the features of the depiction of the theme of love in Kuprin’s works;
Show the significance of this theme in his work.
Show the place of the theme of love in world and Russian literature;
Reveal the peculiarities of understanding this feeling by different authors;
Using the example of a trilogy about love, reveal its different sides and faces;
Show the writer's skill in depicting characters.
Sometimes it seems that everything has been said about love in world literature. What can you tell about love after Shakespearean history Romeo and Juliet, after Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, after Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”? This list of creations that glorify love can be continued. But love has thousands of shades, and each of its manifestations has its own light, its own sadness, its own fracture and its own fragrance.
Kuprin has many subtle and excellent stories about love, about the expectation of love, about its tragic outcomes, about longing and eternal youth in the human soul. Kuprin always and everywhere blessed love. You cannot hide anything from love: either it highlights the true nobility of the human soul, or it reveals vices and base desires. Many writers in their books have tested and will test their characters, sending them this feeling. Each author tries to explain love in his own way, to contribute to its definition. For Kuprin, love is a gift from God, not available to everyone. Love has its peaks, which only a few out of millions can overcome. Unfortunately, now it is increasingly rare to find great fiery love between a man and a woman. People stopped bowing and revering her. Love has become an ordinary, everyday feeling. The relevance of this work is that it is addressed to the eternal feeling, it shows an example of extraordinary, bright, selfless love and makes us, living in such an unromantic and sometimes spiritless time, once again think about the meaning of the most amazing meeting on the roads of life - the meeting of a Man and a Woman.
creativity kuprin love story
THE THEME OF LOVE IS ONE OF THE ETERNAL THEMES OF LITERATURE
The theme of love is eternal, as the very feeling that gave birth to it, has inspired the art of all times and peoples. But in each era it expressed some special moral and aesthetic values. After all, love is a feeling that makes you perform feats and commit crimes, a feeling that can move mountains, change the course of history, a feeling that gives happiness and inspiration and makes you suffer, a feeling without which life has no meaning.
Like all other literatures of the world, Russian literature devotes considerable space to the theme of love, its “specific” weight is no less than in French or English literature. Although " love stories"in their pure form are not found so often in Russian literature, more often love story burdened with side lines and themes. However, the implementation of this theme in various texts belonging to Russian classical literature is distinguished by great originality, sharply distinguishing it from all other literatures of the world.
This originality lies, first of all, in the fact that Russian literature is characterized by a serious and close look at love and, more broadly, at intimate relationships between a man and a woman. The well-known proverb “you don’t joke with love” can serve as a motto for this attitude. There is only one reason for such seriousness - love in Russian literature almost always belongs to the realm of dramatic and very often tragic pathos, but extremely rarely the history of relations between a man and a woman - whether in prose or poetry - gives reason for fun. Happy ending loved by many foreign writers and sometimes admitted even by Balzac, he is not only absent from Russian literature, he is alien to it. All the famous love stories of Russian classics, from Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” to Bunin’s “Dark Alleys,” proceed very tensely and end very badly.
Tragedy in the development of love themes stems from several sources, the oldest of which is, of course, folk tradition. Only in Russian folklore are love ditties called “suffering,” only in the Russian village a synonym for the word love was the word “to regret.” Thus, the emphasis is placed precisely on the sad, painful side of the relationship between a man and a woman, and the spiritual principle is placed at the head of the relationship. The popular understanding of marriage and love echoes the Christian, Orthodox understanding of marriage as a test of the strength of a person’s spiritual and physical strength, hard work in the name of a common goal.
The understanding of love as a higher power connecting the divine with the human is characteristic of 20th-century literature. It can be argued that writers largely defined the holistic concept of life through comprehension of the essence of love. First of all, this aspiration was expressed in the prose of Alexander Kuprin and Ivan Bunin. Writers were attracted not so much by the history of the relationship of a loving couple or the development of their psychological duel, but by the influence of the experience on the hero’s understanding of himself and the whole world. Therefore, the outline of events in their works is extremely simplified, and attention is focused on moments of insight, turning points in the internal states of the characters:
Love, love - says the legend -
Union of the soul with the dear soul -
Their connection, combination,
And their fatal merger,
And... the fatal duel...
(F. Tyutchev)
Bunin's love stories are a story about the mystery of love. He had his own concept of love: it arises like a sunstroke and affects a person. True love, Bunin believes, has something in common with eternal nature. Only that feeling is beautiful that is natural, not false, not invented. I. Bunin’s book “Dark Alleys” can be considered an encyclopedia of love. The author himself considered her his most perfect creation. The writer sets a difficult artistic task: thirty-eight times (this is the number of stories in the book) to write about the same thing - about love. Bunin shows the varied and bizarre faces of love: love is enmity, corrupt love, love is pity, love is compassion, carnal love. The book opens with the story of the same name, “Dark Alleys.” Despite the fact that it is small, the action develops quickly, the author managed to fully develop the theme tragic love people of different classes. At an inn, an old gray-haired officer Nikolai Alekseevich meets a woman with whom he was in love in his youth, and then abandoned him. She carried her feeling throughout her life. “Everyone’s youth passes, but love is another matter,” says the heroine. This huge passionate feeling passes through her destiny like a bright ray, filling her with happiness, albeit alone. Their love was born in the shadow of the alleys and Nikolai Alekseevich himself will say at the end of the story: “Yes, of course, the best moments. And not the best, but truly magical!” Love, like a “light breath”, visits the heroes and disappears. Fragile and fragile, she is doomed to death: Nikolai Alekseevich abandons Nadezhda, and, having met many years later, they are forced to part again. Love turned into tragedy. The hero now understands which moments of his life were the most important. There was no place for happiness in his life: his wife left him, his son “turned out to be a scoundrel, an insolent man, without a heart, without honor, without a conscience.” The story could not have a happy ending, but still does not leave a painful impression, since according to Bunin, “all love is great happiness.” One short moment is enough to illuminate the entire life of the heroes. In love, as in life, light and dark principles always compete. Along with the feeling that illuminates life, every lover has his own dark alleys. The best pages of the love prose of another representative of Russian literature, A. Kuprin, are about this.
TRILOGY ABOUT LOVE A.I. KUPRINA
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is one of the outstanding realist writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He entered our spiritual life as a singer of bright and healthy human feelings, as the heir to the democratic and humanistic ideas of the great Russian literature of the 19th century. He left us excellent examples of realistic storytelling, sharp and dynamic in plot, laconic, and psychologically interesting. Kuprin was the creator of bright and joyful art, imbued with a love of life.
Having begun his literary career in the early 80s of the 19th century, Kuprin, over the course of his almost fifty years creative life created many significant works that have stood the test of time. Passionate love for life, intoxication with its beauty, interest in the most diverse social and psychological types generated by Russian reality, and the sharp criticism of the writer - a democrat in relation to social evil - this is what can be called pathos, the general mood of Kuprin’s work. Recognized Master short story, the author of wonderful stories, Kuprin created a broad and diverse picture of the life of contemporary Russia, depicting representatives of almost all strata of pre-revolutionary society. Faith in man served as a source of romantic coloring, characteristic of many of the writer’s works.
A.I. Kuprin, a wonderful master of artistic expression, a humanist and a truth-seeker, with no less justification can be called a singer of sublime love, who gave readers three stories - “The Pomegranate Bracelet”, “Olesya” and “Shulamith” - united by this beautiful theme.
Protesting against the vulgarity and cynicism of bourgeois society, corrupt feelings, “zoological” manifestations of instincts, the writer creates examples of ideal love of amazing beauty and strength, going to the depths of centuries (“Sulamith”), climbing into the wilderness of the Volyn province (“Olesya” ), looking into the closet of a hermit in love, the latest romance in a tough and calculating world (“Garnet Bracelet”).
The theme of love gave the artist the opportunity to more deeply show the destructive effects of abnormal social relations on the human soul, to show the hostility of the world of pickles to everything pure and holy. But this is not the only issue, of course. For Kuprin, the theme of love opposed everything base, mercantile, and cynical; it could not help but attract a great and spiritually healthy artist who believed in man, in the strength and beauty of the human spirit. Kuprin, in developing this theme, was the legitimate heir of Russian literature of the 20th century.
THE STORY “GARNET BRACELET”
Kuprin's works dedicated to love are always fascinating in their plot and in their dynamic richness. But the writer does not set the goal to “Entertain” or “Scare.” In the acute and dramatic situations that he depicts, the high is always opposed to the low, the noble - to the base, the beautiful - to the ugly. Motives of sincere, often unrequited love are constantly heard here; the collision of “good” and “evil”, spiritual beauty and spiritual ugliness reaches a high tragic intensity.
Kuprin began writing “The Garnet Bracelet” in Odessa in 1910. His state of mind by this time was extremely depressed. He reached such impoverishment that he was forced to pawn all his belongings in a pawnshop and print, as he put it, “whatever and wherever.”
At the same time, he persistently searches in the most real, modern, “everyday” reality for people “possessed” by a high feeling of love, capable of rising, at least in dreams, above the surrounding prose of life. And, as always, he turns his gaze to the “little one”, to the common man. This is how it arose in creative consciousness writer's poetic theme of "Garnet Bracelet".
When starting to analyze the story “The Garnet Bracelet,” it is necessary to briefly dwell on the plot of the work, which will help to understand the main problems raised in it, to understand the circumstances of the tragic love of the “little man,” and to feel the time within which the events of the story take place.
A petty official, a lonely and timid dreamer, falls in love with a young society lady, a representative of the so-called “upper class”. Unrequited and hopeless love continues for eight years. The lover's letters serve as the subject of ridicule and bullying by members of the family clan of princes Shein and Bulat-Tuganovsky. Princess Vera Nikolaevna, the recipient of these love revelations, does not take them seriously either. A gift sent by an unknown lover - a garnet bracelet - causes a storm of indignation from the princess's brother, fellow prosecutor Bulat-Tuganovsky. He is ready to trample and destroy the “plebeian” who dares to show signs of attention to a hereditary noblewoman. People close to the princess consider the poor telegraph operator to be abnormal, a maniac. And only the old general Anosov, with whom the princess likes to be frank, guesses about the true motives for such risky actions of the unknown lover: “And - who knows? Maybe yours life path, Verochka, crossed exactly the kind of love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of.”
The love of the “little man” ends tragically. Unable to withstand the collision with the world of cruelty and indifference, with the embitterment of hardened souls, the hero of the story dies.
Could such love really exist? “Garnet Bracelet” - pure fiction or did Kuprin manage to find a plot in life that corresponds to his author’s idea?
The writer tried to find in real world plots and samples for their works. The story is based on facts from the family chronicle of the Tugan-Baranovsky princes. In October 1910, Kuprin reported this to his friend, critic and literary historian F.D. Batyushkov: “Do you remember this? - the sad story of the little telegraph official K.P. Zheltikov, who was so hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov’s wife (D.N. is now the governor in Vilna).” Who is the hero of the story?
The poem by the Austrian poet of the first half of the 19th century Nikolai Lenau is in tune with the content of the story “The Garnet Bracelet”:
To remain silent and die... But dearer,
Than life, magical shackles!
Your best dream is in her eyes
Search without saying a word! -
Like the light of a shy lamp
Trembling in the face of Madonna
And, dying, he catches the eye,
Her heavenly gaze is bottomless!…
“Be silent and perish” - this is the spiritual vow of a telegraph operator in love. And yet he violates it, reminding himself of his only and unacceptable Madonna. This supports hope in his soul and gives him strength to endure the suffering of love. Passionate, sizzling love, which he is ready to take with him to the other world. Death does not frighten the hero. Love is stronger than death. He is grateful to the one who aroused this wonderful feeling in his heart, which elevated him, a little man, above the huge, vain world, the world of injustice and malice.
The scene of representatives of the ruling caste coming to Zheltkov is the plot and dramatic hub of the story. Here bearers of different spiritual principles collide and a tragic ending is outlined, which is prepared by the entire narrative.
According to the logic of things, Zheltkov is a suffering person. And at the beginning of the scene, the painful state in which he found himself is depicted.
The appearance of this man reinforces the impression that he is a predetermined victim. Everything, almost everything in him speaks of a timid, shy character. Here the writer resorts to an interesting technique. He gives two drawings that form an artistic portrait of Zheltkov. The first of them is a drawing of the hero’s figure: “At first the owner’s face was not visible: he stood with his back to the light and rubbed his hands in confusion. He was tall, thin, with long fluffy soft hair.”
Zheltkov's face is not shown at first. And all his movements indicate deep confusion. He rubs his hands in confusion, and then: “Zheltkov’s thin, nervous fingers ran along the side of his short brown jacket, buttoning and unfastening the buttons.” And finally, the writer shows his face. This is the second drawing: “Now he became completely visible: very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle.”
Everything in this appearance confirms the first impression of a gentle and shy nature, everything except one detail speaks of purposefulness and perseverance of character. This detail is a stubborn chin.
At the beginning of the scene, Zheltkov is attacked by Bulat - Tuganovsky. The hero's confusion and depression intensify. Zheltkov cannot help but feel his involuntary “guilt”. As long as the accusations brought against Zheltkov do not go beyond the circle of ethical principles, as long as we are talking about peace of mind and the dignity of the woman he loves, it is difficult for him to say anything in his defense. But Bulat-Tuganovsky hinted at his intention to appeal to the authorities, and the conversation immediately took on a different character. After the phrase about the authorities, Zheltkov begins to completely ignore him. He seems to gain consciousness of his own moral superiority. Here comes crucial moment scenes:
" - Sorry. As you said? – Zheltkov suddenly asked carefully and laughed. – Did you want to appeal to the authorities?.. Is that what you said?
He put his hands in his pockets, sat down comfortably in the corner of the sofa, took out a cigarette case and matches and lit a cigarette.”
Although Bulat-Tuganovsky is still trying to bully Zheltkov and threaten him, the spiritual advantage is already completely on the latter’s side. The little official “straightens up” and speaks as if from a height of feeling that lifted him above the bustle of everyday life, opening up a new, shining world to him.
Actually, there is not even a conversation between Zheltkov and Shein, only Zheltkov speaks, and Shein listens, depressed by the enormity of experiences inaccessible to him. Subsequently, he confessed to his wife: “For him there was no life without you. It seemed to me that I was present at enormous suffering from which people were dying, and I even almost realized that in front of me dead man. You see, Vera, I didn’t know how to behave, what to do.”
Zheltkov's last letter raises the theme of love to the highest tragedy. It is dying, so each of its lines is filled with a particularly deep meaning: “...I am infinitely grateful to you just for the fact that you exist. I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea, this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something.
Let me be ridiculous in your eyes and in the eyes of your brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich. As I leave, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
Eight years ago I saw you in a box at the circus, and then in the first second I said to myself: I love her because there is nothing like her in the world, there is nothing more beautiful and tender than you. It’s as if all the beauty of the earth was embodied in you...”
But it is even more important that the death of the hero does not end the sound of pathetic motives of omnipotent love. The great feeling that “struck” Zheltkov does not die with him. His death spiritually resurrects Princess Vera, revealing to her a world of hitherto unknown feelings, for love for her husband has never been such a “miracle”, the existence of which she has now learned. The great love of an unknown person enters her life, and will exist in her mind as an indelible memory of the sacrament with which she came into contact, and the meaning of which she was unable to understand in time. She tells her husband: “I don’t want to hide anything from you, but I feel like something terrible has intervened in our lives.”
Previously coldly arrogant and indifferent to the feelings of ordinary people, aristocrat Vera Sheina goes to a poor home where Zheltkov lies dead. Here again the motive of love as a great sacrament sounds pathetically. “There was deep importance in his closed eyes, and his lips smiled blissfully and serenely, as if, before parting with life, he had learned some deep and sweet secret that resolved all human life.”
This scene ends with the receipt of Faith last note Zheltkov, which, as in the letter, contains a request for a Beethoven sonata. The tragic emotional wave seems to be growing, reaching its highest limit in the final chapter, in which the theme of great and purifying love is finally fully revealed in the pathetic chords of the brilliant sonata. To the sounds of solemn and sad music, the soul of Princess Vera begins to tremble and, as it were, split into two. The woman is shocked that great love has passed her by, “which is repeated only once in a thousand years.” Music powerfully takes possession of Vera Sheina, and words are composed in her soul that seem to be whispered to her by the deceased. Rhythmic phrases appear to the music: “... words were composed in her mind. In her thoughts they so coincided with the music that they were like verses that ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
“Now I will show you in gentle sounds a life that has humbly and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death. I knew neither complaint, nor reproach, nor the pain of pride. I have one prayer before you: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
Yes, I foresee suffering, blood and death. And I think that it is difficult for the body to part with the soul, but, Beautiful One, praise to you, passionate praise and quiet love"Hallowed be Thy name."
I remember your every step, smile, look, the sound of your gait. My last memories are enveloped in sweet sadness, quiet, beautiful sadness. But I won't cause you any grief. I leave alone, silently, as God and fate willed. "Hallowed be Thy name."
In my sad dying hour, I pray only to you. Life could be wonderful for me too. Don't complain, poor heart, don't complain. In my soul I call upon death, but in my heart I am full of praise to you: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
You, you and the people who surrounded you, you all don’t know how beautiful you were. The clock is striking. Time. And, dying, in the sorrowful hour of parting with life, I still sing - glory to You.
Here she comes, death pacifying everything, and I say - glory to You!..”
Difficult to define genre features a passage inspired by the theme of tragic love and at the same time expressing the mournful pathos of Beethoven’s work. Before us is a kind of prose poem - here is a prayer for love and deep sorrow about its unattainability; This reflects the contact of souls, one of which realized the greatness of the other too late. Shein's faith is, as it were, reincarnated, acquiring the great power of love inspired by the dead. She whispers words that only he could utter, she is overwhelmed by feelings that fate wanted to reward only him.
This ballad about love, which turned out to be stronger than death and victorious after death, consists of six stanzas - according to the number musical phrases Beethoven's sonata - and ends with the recognition that great love for a moment - perhaps forever - united two souls.
“Calm down, darling, calm down, calm down. Do you remember about me? Do you remember? You are my only one and last love. Calm down, I'm with you. Think of me and I will be with you, because you and I loved each other for only one moment. But forever. Do you remember about me? Do you remember? Do you remember? Now I feel your tears. Calm down. I sleep so sweetly. Sweet, sweet."
The lyrics of this melodious musical period are colored with quiet sadness, mournful joy, consciousness of the all-conquering beauty and greatness of true love.
So what is love anyway? In Kuprin's story, the old general Anosov stands up for strong love, which “contains the whole meaning of life - the whole universe.”
Love cannot be isolated. It manifests itself in the entire spectrum of human activity. True love, according to Kuprin, is the basis of everything earthly. Perhaps this is why lovers often turn their gaze to the starry sky. Great Italian poet It is no coincidence that Dante Alighieri wrote the final verse of each of the three parts “ Divine Comedy” made the words: “Love that moves the sun and other stars.”
The writer considers love as a deep moral and psychological feeling. Through the mouth of General Anosov, he says that this feeling should not be frivolous, nor primitive, and, moreover, based on profit and self-interest: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.”
Love, according to Kuprin, should be based on high, sublime feelings, on mutual respect, sympathy, trust, fidelity, sincerity, honesty and truthfulness.
A.M. Gorky, who had previously criticized Kuprin for moving away from reality into the world of mysticism, was delighted with this story. In one of his letters he wrote: “And what an excellent thing “Garnet Bracelet” by Kuprin... Wonderful! Wonderful literature begins."
So, the story “Garnet Bracelet” is a confirmation of how Kuprin real life is looking for people “possessed” by a high feeling of love, capable of rising above the surrounding vulgarity and lack of spirituality, ready to give everything without demanding anything in return. The writer sings of sublime love, contrasting it with hatred, enmity, mistrust, antipathy, and indifference. In a letter to F.D. Batyushkov (1906), he states: “Love is the brightest and most understandable reproduction of my Self. Individuality is not expressed in strength, not in dexterity, not in intelligence, not in talent..., not in creativity. But in love."
This idea of the writer was embodied in his other story - “Olesya” (1898).
FOREST TALE ABOUT LOVE. THE STORY "OLESYA"
The story “Olesya” (1898) was supposed to be one of the works of the Polesie cycle, but in the course of work the work seemed to outgrow its original plan. In its ideological richness, in the depth of its images, in its poetic mood, it no longer fit into the framework of stories about a picturesque corner of Russia.
The first version of the story had a rather long introduction, but Kuprin later removed it. This introduction told how a group of guests of a certain landowner, Ivan Timofeevich, spends time hunting, and in the evenings, over a glass of homemade liqueur, they are amused by hunting stories. But then one day the owner of the house talks, or rather, reads his notes about one interesting episode from his life.
As we can see, in the first version the approaches to the main plot were too broad, the narrative lost its poetry and slowed down. But that's not all. Ivan Timofeevich is an old man telling the story of his youth; Consequently, events are pushed back into distant times and lose their revealing power. In addition, although in the first version the love story was told in the first person, it still lost some of its poetic charm. Its sad outcome was known in advance; the narrator had already “experienced” his worries and feelings and calmed down. The love poem has largely lost the colors of living life.
In the second and final version, the story begins with a description of the life of its hero, who, by the will of fate, found himself in a remote village on the outskirts of Polesie. All introductory part, which includes two and a half chapters, is to a certain extent autobiographical in nature. It even says that the hero imagined himself to be a writer, because “...he had already published a story in one small newspaper with two murders and one suicide and knew theoretically that it is useful for writers to observe morals.”
Here Kuprin is clearly ironic about himself and his creative achievements. But autobiography lies, of course, not only in this playful digression. “Fate threw me for six whole months into a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie.” And indeed, Kuprin spent exactly six months there. In general, the entire introduction is factual in nature, reproducing the details of Polesie life with the accuracy inherent in the writer, which leaves no doubt that we are talking about the transfer of personal impressions.
The introductory part of the story tells about the unsociable nature of the Polesie peasants, their darkness, and the traces of Polish serfdom. It must be said that, in describing the morals of the Polesie peasants in the introductory part, Kuprin is too laconic, because these morals are directly related to the tragic ending of Olesya’s love story.
The action takes place on the outskirts of Polesie, where, it would seem, malice and deception, from which the hero of the story is running, should not penetrate. Here, in the wilderness, he meets the “daughter of nature” - the Polesie girl Olesya.
None of Kuprin’s works dedicated to love shows so inspiredly, with such chaste tenderness, the merging of two hearts. Kuprin's story, despite its tragic ending, is a poem about the high happiness of mutual love.
A bright and extraordinary event in the life of the hero of the story is prepared gradually. Immediately before it begins to sound in the story main topic, the writer creates an atmosphere of melancholy and sadness that engulfs the hero, an atmosphere as if filled with a vague expectation of something exceptional.
“A strange, vague uneasiness came over me. “Here,” I thought, “I am sitting on a dead and stormy winter night in a dilapidated house, in the middle of a village, lost in forests and snowdrifts, hundreds of miles from city life, from society, from women’s laughter, from human conversation... And it began to seem to me, that this stormy evening will drag on for years and decades, will drag on until my death, and the wind will roar outside the window just as dimly, the lamp under the miserable green lampshade will burn just as dimly, I will walk up and down my room just as anxiously , the silent, concentrated Yarmola will also sit near the stove - a strange creature alien to me, indifferent to everything in the world: to the fact that there is nothing for his family at home, to the raging wind, and to my vague, corroding melancholy.” .
The hero's meeting with Olesya is preceded by several scenes that serve as preparation for this meeting. At first, the hero’s interest in the “witch” is caused only by the opportunity to get acquainted with the legend that has arisen around her, to get acquainted with how she “casts spells,” and to hear her stories. For now, the “witch” is the old woman - Manuilikha.
The central image of the story - the image of Olesya - is still in the fog. Kuprin does not want to anticipate the development of events, he only instills the idea that something should happen soon.
Why did Kuprin need all this? Sudden Appearance a girl of extraordinary beauty makes it possible through the lips of his hero to more vividly and excitedly describe her original charm. But the main reason that nothing is known about the “forest” girl in the first pages of the story, until her meeting with the hero, lies elsewhere. The writer wants to “separate” Olesya from the outside world in every possible way, to show her in a natural environment of beautiful and powerful nature.
The image of Olesya, the poetry of her love, painted in pantheistic tones, reflect the writer’s aesthetic attitude to reality. Truly beautiful things can triumph only far from a world where purity and hypocrisy reign.
Naturally, nature plays an exceptional role in this work. Already in the third chapter, describing the hunt, the artist draws a winter forest landscape. This landscape contributes to the emergence of a new state of mind, foreshadowing the great feeling that awaits the hero. “It was as quiet as it can be in the forest in winter on a windless day. Lush lumps of snow hanging on the branches pressed them down, giving them a wonderful, festive and cold look. From time to time a thin branch would fall from the top, and you could hear very clearly how it, falling, touched other branches with a slight crack. The snow turned pink in the sun and turned blue in the shade. I was overcome by the quiet charm of this solemn, cold silence, and it seemed to me that I felt time slowly and silently passing by me ... "
The languid detachment from the world that the hero of the story experienced during the days of the blizzard is replaced by another detachment, full of solemn peace, some kind of inner grace. The hero’s quiet excitement is especially accurately defined by the words: “... time passes slowly and silently past me.” But even without these words, the landscape gives an idea of the slow passage of time, taking place in almost complete silence. The impression of stillness, cold peace comes from the pink and blue snow.
The hero has not yet seen Olesya, but he has already entered that fairy-tale world in which the most exciting events of his life took place. The writer shows the hunt in passing: a hare crosses the clearing with big leaps, and soon Yarmola’s dog runs out of the forest, she stops for a second to lick the snow, and continues to chase the gray one.
Carried away by the hunt, the hero gets lost, and chance leads him to a swamp, near which the lame and dilapidated hut of the “witch” is located. The scene of the hero's conversation with old Manuilikha is described in Kuprin's usual realistic manner, and at the same time in this description there are touches common to traditional fairy tales about Baba Yaga. The hut is on stilts, it is askew. Appearance Mauilihi also corresponds to the traditional image of a fairy-tale witch. “... Thin cheeks, pulled inwards, passed below into a sharp, long, flabby chin, almost touching the nose hanging down; the sunken, toothless mouth moved incessantly, as if chewing something; faded, once upon a time Blue eyes, cold, round, convex, looked like the eyes of an unprecedented ominous bird.”
And the appearance of the “witch,” and the appearance of the hut, and the surrounding landscape - all this creates the impression of picturesque wildness and whimsicality of the environment in which Olesya’s original and bright beauty blossomed. As always, Kuprin strives to create a contrast, to highlight the beautiful and bright against the background of the gloomy and terrible. In this case, folk tales came to his aid.
In describing the hut, the writer continues to recreate an atmosphere close to a fairy tale: “I didn’t notice either an owl or a black cat, but from the stove two pockmarked, respectable starlings looked at me with a surprised and incredulous look.” Outlining the character, attitude and behavior of old Manuilikha, the writer also combines the ordinary with the unusual.
Manuilikha and her granddaughter are not natives of Polesie, they are newcomers, from the north, where, as the writer notes, folk speech is replete with biting words, jokes and sayings. Therefore, Manuilikha’s speech is rich in peculiar phrases, to which are added “magical” phrases, usually used by fortune-tellers.
With the arrival of Olesya, the poetic tone of the work begins to change, melancholy gives way to joy, the beautiful triumphs over the ugly. Kuprin could have surrounded Olesya’s appearance with some external effects. But, as always, he prefers details that reflect people’s moods and their psychology.
A song is heard, sung in a fresh, strong and ringing voice. Unusual excitement covers old Manuilikha.
“Well, go, go now, falcon,” the old woman fidgeted anxiously, pushing me away from the table. “There’s no point in you hanging around other people’s houses.” Go where you were going...
She even grabbed me by the sleeve of my jacket and pulled me towards the door. Her face expressed some kind of animal concern.”
The subtext of these few phrases is unusually capacious. People have already caused a lot of harm to old Manuilikha. They drove her and her child out of the village, they doomed her to loneliness, they continue to persecute her. The old woman fears and hates them, but most of all she fears for her granddaughter, who grew up in the lap of nature, does not know people and could become a victim of their malice. The old woman’s anxiety seems to foreshadow the tragic outcome of the forest fairy tale.
In the beauty of Olesya, in the proud strength emanating from her, the writer embodies the beauty and proud strength of nature, which, as it were, shaped man in its own image. “My stranger, a tall brunette of about twenty to twenty-five years old, behaved easily and slenderly. A spacious white shirt wrapped freely and beautifully around her young, healthy breasts. The original beauty of her face, once seen, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even to get used to it, to describe it. His charm lay in those large, shiny, dark eyes, to which the thin eyebrows, broken in the middle, betrayed an elusive shade of slyness, power and naivety; in the dark-pink tone of the skin, in the willful curve of the lips, of which the lower, somewhat fuller, protruded forward with a decisive and capricious look.”
This girl has the naivety of a “natural person”, who developed away from bourgeois civilization. Olesya is also characterized by the variability of mood to which a person is subject, surrounded by nature, sometimes gentle, sometimes harsh.
In general, nature, with its beauty and charm, with its powerful and enlightening effect on the human soul, occupies an extremely important place in the story and determines its entire flavor.
The first meeting of the hero and Olesya took place in the winter, and the subsequent ones take place in the spring. During the separation, feelings matured in the souls of two people who felt a lively sympathy for each other at the first meeting. And when the awakening of nature begins, all the joyful and hasty anxiety of the revived forest evokes vague premonitions and languid expectations in the hero’s soul. The mighty gust of spring takes possession of the hero so powerfully because the image of the girl, now constantly appearing before him, is inseparable from nature: “I liked, being left alone, to lie down, close my eyes in order to better concentrate, and constantly evoke in my imagination that harsh , now sly, now beaming with a gentle smile, her young body, which grew in the open spaces of the old forest as slender and as powerful as young fir trees grow, her fresh voice, with unexpected low velvety notes... Also attracted me to Olesya and a certain halo the mystery surrounding her, the superstitious reputation of a witch, life in the thicket of a forest among a swamp...”
Far from the bourgeois environment with its conventions, petty vanity, its cynicism and hypocrisy, the hero of the story completely surrenders to a wonderful, soul-refreshing rapprochement with nature. The hero's experiences very fully reflected the thoughts and moods of the young writer. Already at its dawn writing work Kuprin more than once thought about the question: why in his contemporary society are people so far from nature? Big city life attracted him in many ways. But at the same time, the city seemed to him a monster, crippling, disfiguring people’s lives. That is why he so inspiredly sings in the story the life-giving, cleansing power of nature, the fertile power of the earth.
The dramatic development of the relationship between the hero and heroine is, as it were, pushed by external circumstances. Old Manuilikha and her granddaughter avoid people, but cannot help but come into contact with a hostile world. Human hatred explodes their loneliness and encroaches on them. Both the authorities in the person of the local police officer and the ignorant, superstitious peasants are unanimous in this persecution. The arrival of police officer Evpsikhy Afrikanovich in the forest hut, who gives the women twenty-four hours to evict, his visit to the hero of the story, and finally, the outbreak of hostility of the Perebrod peasant women towards Olesya, who overcame her fear and came to church - all this foreshadows a tragic ending.
The immediate danger, thanks to the efforts of the hero of the story, who gave the policeman a bribe, seems to have been diverted from the inhabitants of the forest hut. Nevertheless, clouds continue to gather over Olesya’s head. Anxiety is felt in complex overflows of feelings, in those changes that occur in the relationship of two people who love each other, when they become more aware of what is happening to them, they stop in bewilderment, fear in front of the feeling that has powerfully taken possession of them.
Olesya's attitude towards the hero of the story changes. Trusting tenderness, animation, childish playfulness are replaced by some kind of irresistible awkwardness in handling, in words, in gestures. Now the hero of the story falls ill, the lovers are deprived of the opportunity to see each other. Olesya does not know why her beloved does not come, she is tormented and sad. She will no longer be afraid of her love, she would probably tell him that she loves him if he suddenly appeared in front of her.
With deep tact, the artist depicts the experiences of lovers. The pages describing the explanation without words when the hero of the story appears in the forest hut for the first time after recovery, and the subsequent chapter of the love meeting in the forest belong, undoubtedly, to some of the most poetic pages about love created by Russian literature. It is here, in these scenes of love, in which the slightest wrong word, the slightest error of taste in descriptions is unacceptable, that the writer shows himself to be a deep psychologist and a great artist.
Stepping onto the threshold of the hut, the hero feels his heart beating with anxious fear in his chest. He doesn't dare push the door, he can barely catch his breath.
“I remember, I remember very clearly only that Olesya’s pale face quickly turned towards me and that on this lovely, new face for me, in an instant, bewilderment, fear, anxiety and a vague, radiant smile of love were reflected, replacing each other... and how much I read in Olesya’s big dark eyes: the excitement of the meeting, and the reproach for my long absence, and the ardent declaration of love... I felt that along with this look Olesya was joyfully giving me her entire being, without any conditions or hesitation.”
In the episode of the declaration of love between the hero and Olesya, Kuprin again turns to the forest landscape - and not just to create a poetic setting, but in search of a meaningful, even symbolic background that seemed to explain a person’s feelings, gave them pristine purity, and acted on the soul like music .
“At that time we were right in the middle of a long, narrow and straight, like an arrow, forest clearing. Tall, slender pines surrounded us on both sides, forming a gigantic corridor stretching into the distance with a vault of fragrant intertwined branches. The bare, peeling trunks were painted with the crimson glow of the dying dawn...”
At this moment, it seems to lovers that there is no one else in the world except them. It’s as if the road of life opens up before them, along which they so passionately want to go together. But the crimson glow of the dying dawn gives this road some kind of sad mystery.
The scene of the declaration of love is laconic, but how much is said in it, with what ardent awe, what sincerity, every word is covered! The writer managed to put some kind of pristine strength and purity into the scene of explanation; in it one can hear the mighty call of nature, full of “fresh juices” and “thirst for new motherhood.”
In the forest that sheltered Olesya and her lover on the first night of their love, everything is full of mysterious charm. The moonbeam, passing through the foliage, draws bizarre patterns on the tree trunks. The artist’s main efforts are aimed at conveying the multicolor, endless diversity and deep, hidden life of the night forest. He likens the radiance of the moon's rays to “silver” and “transparent”, “gas” covers.
He calls the light path a “bright”, “elegant”, “charming” alley. Here, as often with Kuprin, the most common are combinations of three adjectives with a noun. It has great importance sonically, creating harmonious completeness. In general, Kuprin gives no small importance euphony. He extremely rarely uses short adjectives, which sound sharper and more abrupt than full ones. More often he uses adverbs derived from qualitative adjectives. But he sometimes uses them precisely because, having certain expressive properties short adjectives, these adverbs are still more harmonious. He does not write, for example, that in the glow of the moon the forest was “colorful,” “mysterious,” “bizarre.” His sentence is more melodic: “The moon has entered, and its radiance strangely, variegatedly and mysteriously blossomed the forest.”
The love of Olesya and the hero of the story blossoms in the precious frame of a green forest, simple and deep, tender and sensitive, like nature. This is “pagan” love, but bashfully chaste even in its sensual manifestations. “The naive, charming fairy tale of our love continued for almost a whole month, and to this day, together with the beautiful appearance of Olesya, these flaming evening dawns live with unfading power in my soul. These dewy mornings, fragrant with lilies of the valley and honey, full of cheerful freshness and the ringing noise of birds, these hot, languid, lazy June days... not once did boredom, fatigue, or the eternal passion for a wandering life stir in my soul during this time. I, like a pagan god or like a young, strong animal, enjoyed light, warmth, the conscious joy of life and calm, healthy, sensual love.”
The forest fairy tale ends tragically. And not only because the savagery and meanness of the surrounding world burst into Olesya’s bright world. The writer poses a more significant question.
The hero of the story sincerely and deeply loves Olesya, but he cannot help but take into account the opinion of his environment, the society in which he lives. The thought of marrying Olesya at first only occasionally crossed his mind. “The decision to get married grew stronger in my soul every day, and in the end I stopped seeing it as a daring challenge to society. “Good people marry and learned people as seamstresses, as maids,” I consoled myself, “and they live wonderfully and until the end of their days they bless the fate that pushed them to this decision. I won’t be more unhappy than others, will I?”
But along with this thought, doubts appeared. And it's not just that society might turn away from him. It's also about Olesya herself. How will this girl, brought up among nature, free from any conventions of a bourgeois hostel, feel in a fashionable dress? How will she talk in the living room? The hero has enough intelligence and heart to overcome his doubts. He is ready for anything, because life without Olesya seems impossible to him. But what decision will Olesya make?
The theme of divided love is replaced in the story by another theme that is constantly heard in Kuprin’s work - unattainable happiness. The hero of the story, carried away by his feelings, closes his eyes to the future. But Olesya cannot do this. Her love is “generous love”; the girl is most afraid of causing grief to her loved one.
“- No, no... You yourself understand that it’s funny to even think about it. Well, what kind of wife am I to you, really? You are a gentleman, you are smart, educated, and me? I don’t know how to read and I don’t know where to step... You won’t get any shame because of me...”
“Don’t be angry, my dear! – she exclaimed with a plea, seeing from my face that these words were not pleasant to me. - I don `t want to offend you. I only think about your happiness.”
These words contain all of Olesya with her innate intelligence and generous heart. Before us is a clearly outlined image of a girl who is whole, noble and pure - one of the most interesting female images in Russian literature.
The story ends with a scene that brings into this forest fairy tale few but significant touches that contribute to creating an amazing overall mood. The hero comes to an abandoned forest hut and sees a string of red beads deliberately left by Olesya on the corner of the window frame.
“The hut was empty. It was dominated by that sad, dirty mess that always remains after a hasty departure. Heaps of rubbish and rags lay on the floor, and in the corner there was a wooden frame of a bed...
With a constricted heart overflowing with tears, I was about to leave the hut, when suddenly my attention was attracted by a bright object, apparently deliberately hung on the corner of the window frame. It was a string of cheap red beads, known in Polesie as “corals,” - the only thing that remained to me as a memory of Olesya and her tender, generous love.”
JOYFUL AND TRAGIC LOVE IN THE STORY “SHULAMITH”
During the years of reaction (1908), Kuprin created a wonderful work about love - the story “Shulamith”.
The story “Shulamith” is one of the most widely known and popular works of the writer. Not only in Kuprin’s work, but also among works of world literature dedicated to love, “Shulamith” occupies a prominent place in the brightness of its colors and the power of poetic generalization.
This patterned story, imbued with the spirit of Eastern legends, about the joyful and tragic love of a poor girl for the king and sage Solomon, about love that “will never pass or be forgotten,” is inspired by the biblical “Song of Songs.”
“Song of Songs” is the most poetic, inspired, most “earthly” and “pagan” of the biblical books, created, apparently, on the basis of folk love lyrics. The colorful biblical poem has no clear plot. It seems that it was intended for those who already knew well the love story of the king and a simple girl. The poet in the “Song of Songs” was given only the quintessence of events, their general mood, only philosophical and poetic “formulas” of love. It is quite natural that there is a desire to know this whole story, to know everything that is hidden behind these poetic hints, beautiful and strong chords, to know, so to speak, the whole melody. Kuprin was probably inspired by such a desire, especially since the “Song of Songs” is close to his work, in which the theme of all-conquering love occupies such an important place.
The plot of “Shulamith” is to a great extent the product of Kuprin’s creative imagination, but he drew the colors and mood from the biblical poem. However, this was not simple borrowing. Very boldly and skillfully, using stylization techniques, the artist sought to convey the pathetic, melodious, solemn structure, the majestic and full of energy sound of ancient legends. “You are a queen, Shulamith. You were born a real queen. You are brave and generous in love. I have seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and I have known countless girls, but you are my only one, my meek one, the most beautiful of women. I found you just as a diver in the Persian Gulf fills many baskets with empty shells and pearls of little value before he retrieves from the seabed a pearl worthy of a royal crown. My child, a person can love a thousand times, but he loves only once. Tens of people think they love, but God sends love to only two of them.”
The writer is captivated by the bright oriental flavor, and whole pages are devoted to the sparkling precious stones with which Solomon adorns his beloved Shulamith. “Shulamith listened to him when he told her about the inner nature of the stones, about their magical properties and mysterious meanings.
“Here is anfrax, the sacred stone of the land of Ophir,” said the king. - it is hot and humid. Look how red it is, like blood, like the evening dawn, like a blossoming pomegranate, like thick wine from the vineyards of Enged... Look, Shulamith, at these sapphires. Some of them are similar in color to cornflowers in wheat, others to the autumn sky, others to the sea in clear weather... The king of all stones is the Shamir stone. The Greeks call him Adamas, which means irresistible. It is stronger than all substances in the world and remains unharmed in the most intense fire. It is the color of the sun, condensed in the earth and cooled by time.”
These descriptions, with their stunning wealth of colors, epithets, comparisons, metaphors, also give a lot to reveal the image of Solomon. Giving stones to his beloved, he only experiences their beauty, endows them with special properties and qualities, while Solomon’s attitude towards people, his beliefs and wisdom become clear. Thus, he gives the greedy, silver-attracting stone Mgnadis-Fza to Shulamith, because she is selfless. “The king also gave his beloved Libyan amethysts, similar in color to early violets blooming in the forests at the foot of the Libyan mountains - amethysts that had the wonderful ability to curb the wind, soften anger...; Persepolis turquoise, which brings happiness in love..; and a cat's eye - protecting the property, mind and health of its owner... The king put valuable necklaces made of pearls, which his subjects caught in the Persian Sea, around the neck of Shulamith, and the pearls acquired a vibrant shine and delicate color from the warmth of her body. And the corals became redder on her dark chest, and the turquoise on her fingers came to life, and in her hands those yellow amber trinkets that brave shipmen brought as gifts to King Solomon from the shores of the distant northern seas emitted crackling sparks.” He gives her his favorite emerald stone. , for he is “green, pure, cheerful and tender, like spring grass” and “dispels black thoughts.”
Throughout the story there is a contrast between light and dark - like the opposition between love and hatred. The love of Solomon and Shulamith, which gives them incomparable joy, is described in light, festive colors, in a soft combination of colors. Here the sensual is spiritualized and illuminated with poetic light. And in the temple of Osiris and Isis, where bloody rituals are performed, where the cruel Queen Astis reigns, the reflections of smoking fires make the gloomy luxury of the pagan temple even more ominous. Both the feelings of the queen and Eliav, who is in love with her, are devoid of a sublime character.
In the image of Solomon's beloved Shulamith, love is embodied, passionate and pure, burning and bright. The opposite feeling - the feeling of hatred and envy - is expressed in the image of Astiz, rejected by the king. Shulamith is all, as it were, woven from sun rays. She brought Solomon great pure love, which fills her completely. Love worked a miracle with her - it revealed the beauty of the world to the girl, enriched her mind and soul. Love puts into her mouth inspired words that she could not have uttered before. And even death cannot defeat the power of this love. Shulamith dies with words of gratitude for the highest happiness given to her by Solomon. Astiz is also beautiful, but not bright beauty. Her hair is dyed Blue colour, and the face was “heavily rouged and whitened”, “the eyes, thinly outlined with mascara, seemed huge and glowed in the darkness, like a strong beast of feline nature.” “Dark, evil, terrible and captivating rumors circulated about Queen Astiz in Jerusalem. Parents of beautiful boys and girls hid their children from her sight; people were afraid to pronounce her name marital bed, as a sign of desecration and misfortune."
Her evil will leads the event to a tragic outcome. Queen Astis, promising her love to one of the king's bodyguards, Eliab, encourages him to kill Shulamith. He carries out the queen's orders, for which he is executed by Solomon.
Despite its small size, Shulamith is monumental.
Main figures characters moving against a majestic and vibrant background. Perhaps not a single work by Kuprin pays such attention to the setting of the action; it itself is the subject of poetry and at the same time serves to enhance the drama of the story. But the main thing, of course, is not the setting. The impression of monumentality is created here primarily by the grandeur and power of the experiences of Shulamith and her lover, the deep tragedy of the finale, and the glorification of the great and eternal.
Struck by the sword of Eliab, Shulamith says to Solomon: “I thank you, my king, for everything: for your love, for your beauty, for your wisdom to which you allowed me to cling to with my lips, as to a sweet source... There has never been and will never be a happier woman me". And in the words of Solomon’s farewell to Shulamith lies the hidden meaning of the poem: “As long as people love each other, as long as the beauty of soul and body will be the best and sweetest dream in the world, so long, I swear to you, Shulamith, your name for many centuries it will be pronounced with tenderness and gratitude.”
These words are reminiscent of what the official Zheltkov said in “Garnet Bracelet”: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
The story "Shulamith" is especially remarkable as a glorification of women. The sage Solomon is beautiful, but even more beautiful in her half-childish naivety and selflessness is Shulamith, who gives her life for her lover. Kuprin's talented story has a deeply universal human character.
“Many centuries have passed since then. There were kingdoms and kings, and no trace remained of them, like the wind that ran over the desert. There were long, merciless wars, after which the names of the commanders shone for centuries like bloody stars, but time erased even the very memory of them. The love of the poor girl from the vineyard and the great king will never pass or be forgotten, because love is strong as death, because every woman who loves is a queen, because love is beautiful!”
CONCLUSION
So, the stories “The Pomegranate Bracelet”, “Olesya” and “Shulamith” are a hymn to female beauty and love, a hymn to a spiritually pure and wise woman, a hymn to a sublime, primordial feeling. Love, which concentrates, gathers into a single bundle all the best, all that is healthy and bright, with which life rewards a person, overcomes the torments of death, justifies any hardships and hardships that may be encountered on the path of fate. So in Oles. So it is in “Garnet Bracelet”. So it is in Shulamith. This is generally the case with Kuprin. All three stories have a deeply universal human character. They raise issues that will forever trouble humanity.
The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was highly appreciated by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Alexey Maksimovich Gorky, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Konstantin Paustovsky wrote about him: “Kuprin cannot die either in the memory of the Russians or in the memory of many people - representatives of humanity, just as the angry power of his “Duel”, the bitter charm of his “Pomegranate Bracelet”, the stunning picturesqueness of his “Listrigons” cannot die, just as his passionate, intelligent and spontaneous love for man and for his land cannot die.”
Kuprin's moral energy and artistic, creative magic come from the same root, from the fact that he can safely be called the healthiest, most cheerful and life-loving among Russian writers of the 20th century. Kuprin’s books should definitely be read and lived in youth, for they are a kind of encyclopedia of healthy, morally impeccable human desires and feelings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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10. Lilin V. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. – L.: Education, 1975.
11. Afanasyev V. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. – 2nd ed., rev. And additional – M.: Fiction, 1972.
12. Krutikova L. A.I. Kuprin. – L.: Education, 1971.
We tried to find answers to questions about love. This is not to say that they did not solve the problem. Decided! And a striking example of this is love I.A. - one of the outstanding Nobel Prize laureates, who until the end of his days sought to know the truth of love. The theme of love runs no less subtly in Kuprin’s work. So what is this “gift of God” (according to these great Russian writers)?
To paraphrase the remark of Paustovsky K.G. that love has thousands of aspects, you can imagine this great feeling in the form of a precious stone with many facets (or even an infinite number of them), because a limit is impossible here, and is not necessary... After all, the end point means the end of everything! Not only for humanity, but also for the Universe. Love is the main goal, the highest meaning of life. This is life itself. It was this kind of love that A.I. Kuprin and I.A. wrote about. Bunin. In their works, heroes seek and discover new facets of love, get to know themselves and the world around them through the prism of a new understanding.
In the story by A.I. Kuprin's "Pomegranate Bracelet" the theme of love is revealed through the internal sensations, experiences, actions of the main character, a minor official Zheltkov, to a society lady - Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. His feeling is deep, humble and unconditional. He knows perfectly well that there is an abyss between them - she is a woman from high society, and he is from the middle class, they have different views on life, different inner attitudes, and finally, she is married. He, on the one hand, does not accept all these conventions, does not abandon her, and his deep attachment to her, he is ready to bear this “load”…. On the other hand, Zheltkov does not enter into a fight with society, does not try to prove or conquer anything. He just loves. And he wants only one thing - happiness for his chosen one. Of course, the hero was not understood by his contemporaries. And, most likely, it would not be accepted in today’s world. Why? Most people believe that love is, rather, a partnership, a passing passion, respect, friendship, where the most important thing is to observe the principle “you - to me, I - to you.” And if this rule is violated, then that means the end of the feeling. And you have to leave in search of new passions. How often do we turn away, betray, run away if something doesn’t like us, doesn’t suit us, doesn’t bring us happiness. Of course, when a person like Zheltkov appears, who does not back down, and his soul only wants to love, despite the fact that he is humiliated, insulted, and openly ignored, he becomes a real “black sheep.” Some laugh at him, like Prince Vasily, for whom the story turns out to be the main plot for table conversations. Others are openly afraid, because the unknown, the incomprehensible, always frightens, becomes a living threat. Therefore, Vera’s brother proposes to introduce a punishment for this kind of “crime” - beating with rods. Kuprin's hero passes away. All he could say, he said. He fulfilled his mission - he experienced a true feeling, learned that facet of love for which he was born. There remains hope that the princess and other heroes will understand and experience this endless impulse. Death made his dream come true - the princess thought about her life, about her soul, about her attitude towards her husband, and about what truth is...
The theme of love in the works of A. I. Kuprin . continues in the story “The Duel.” The title of the work is not accidental. The whole world (and each of us) is the unity and struggle of opposites, black and white, physical and spiritual, calculation and sincerity... The main character, Lieutenant Romashov, is ready to confront the meaninglessness of existence in a small military town. He is not ready to come to terms with the stupid, empty everyday life of the officers, whose members carry out the same tasks in the morning, and spend their evenings in games, drunken fights and vulgar novels. His soul is looking for true feelings, that real and sincere thing for which it is worth living and moving on. He falls in love with a married lady - Shurochka Nikolaeva. This is not just a hobby or an attempt to escape from the drabness of everyday life. No, this is the love that people dream about, but which they do not recognize in reality. She uses the warmth of the protagonist, sending him to certain death for the sake of her husband's career. Who won and who lost in this “Duel”? Lieutenant Romashov died, he was destroyed, but his soul rose above that petty, conventional, vain thing. Shurochka won, she got what she wanted. But she died inside.
The theme of love in the work of A.I. Kuprin invites reflection. And choose your path in life. Yes, love is not heaven on earth; rather, it is hard work, giving up your ego, stereotypes, and the conventions of life. But in return, you get so much more - it's heaven in the soul. From now on, life becomes harmonious, conscious, and fulfilling. A real gift from heaven! But the choice remains with each of us...
The theme of love in Kuprin’s work is not an abstract philosophy, it is living people with their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas. The writer does not condemn or elevate them. Everyone has the right to live life with their own truth. However, not every truth is the truth...
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One of the primary themes in Kuprin’s work is love. The characters of his creations, “illuminated” by the present strong feeling, open deeper. In the works of this wonderful writer, love, like a pattern, is selfless and selfless. Having analyzed a considerable number of his works, one can understand that in his work it is invariably tragic and condemned in advance to torment.
One of the most high values In the life of a person, according to A.I. Kuprin, there has always been love. Love, which collects into a single bouquet all the best, all that is healthy and bright, with which life rewards a person, which justifies any hardships and hardships that may come along his way. So in "Oles". So in "Garnet Bracelet". So in Shulamith. So in "Duel". Until the end of his life, the writer retained in his soul the romantic mood of his youth, and this is what makes him strong.
Many events take place before us on the pages of the story "The Duel". But the emotional culmination of the work was not the tragic fate of Romashov, but the night of love he spent with the insidious and therefore even more captivating Shurochka; and the happiness experienced by Romashov on this pre-duel night is so great that it is this alone that is conveyed to the reader.
The poetic and tragic story of a young girl in the story “Olesya” sounds in this vein. Olesya’s world is a world of spiritual harmony, a world of nature. He is alien to Ivan Timofeevich, a representative of a cruel, big city. Olesya attracts him with her “unusuality”, “there was nothing like the local girls in her”, the naturalness, simplicity and some kind of elusive inner freedom characteristic of her image attracted him to her like a magnet.
Olesya grew up among the forest. She could not read or write, but she had great spiritual wealth and a strong character. Ivan Timofeevich is educated, but indecisive, and his kindness is more like cowardice. These two are absolutely different people they fell in love with each other, but this love does not bring happiness to the heroes, its outcome is tragic.
Ivan Timofeevich feels that he has fallen in love with Olesya, he would even like to marry her, but he is stopped by doubt: “I did not even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like dressed in fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from the charming frame of the old forest, full of legends and mysterious forces." He realizes that Olesya cannot change, become different, and he himself does not want her to change. After all, to become different is means becoming like everyone else, and this is impossible.
The story "Olesya" develops the theme of Kuprin's creativity - love as a saving force that protects "pure gold" human nature from “subversion”, from the destructive influence of bourgeois civilization. It is no coincidence that Kuprin’s favorite hero was a man of strong-willed, courageous character and noble, kind heart, capable of enjoying all the diversity of the world. The work is built on a comparison of two heroes, two natures, two worldviews. On the one hand, an educated intellectual, a representative of urban culture, the rather humane Ivan Timofeevich, on the other, Olesya, a “child of nature” who has not been influenced by urban civilization. Compared to Ivan Timofeevich, a man of a kind but weak, “lazy” heart, Olesya rises with nobility, integrity, and proud confidence in her strength. Freely, without any special tricks, Kuprin draws the appearance of the Polesie beauty, forcing us to follow the richness of shades of her spiritual world, always original, sincere and deep. "Olesya" is Kuprin's artistic discovery. The writer showed us true beauty an innocent, almost childlike soul of a girl who grew up far from the noisy world of people, among animals, birds and forests. But along with this, Kuprin also highlights human malice, senseless superstition, fear of the unknown, the unknown. However, she triumphed over all this real love. A string of red beads is the last tribute to Olesya’s generous heart, the memory of “her tender, generous love.”
Poetizing life not limited by modern social and cultural frameworks, Kuprin sought to show the clear advantages of a “natural” person, in whom he saw spiritual qualities lost in civilized society. The meaning of the story is to affirm the high standard of man. Kuprin is looking for people in real, everyday life who are obsessed with a high feeling of love, who are able to rise, at least in their dreams, above the prose of life. As always, he turns his gaze to the “little” man. This is how the story “The Garnet Bracelet” arises, which tells
about refined all-encompassing love. This story is about hopeless and touching love. Kuprin himself understands love as a miracle, as a wonderful gift. The death of the official brought back to life a woman who did not believe in love, which means that love still conquers death.
In general, the story is dedicated to the inner awakening of Vera, her gradual awareness of the true role of love. To the sound of music, the heroine's soul is reborn. From cold contemplation to a hot, reverent feeling of oneself, a person in general, the world - such is the path of the heroine, who once came into contact with a rare guest of the earth - love.
For Kuprin, love is a hopeless platonic feeling, and also a tragic one. Moreover, there is something hysterical in the chastity of Kuprin’s heroes, and in their attitude towards a loved one, what is striking is that the man and woman seem to have swapped their roles. This is characteristic of the energetic, strong-willed “Polesie sorceress” Olesya in her relationship with the “kind, but only weak Ivan Timofeevich” and the smart, calculating Shurochka with the “pure and kind Romashov” (“The Duel”). Underestimation of oneself, disbelief in one’s right to own a woman, a convulsive desire to withdraw – these traits complete the picture of Kuprin’s hero with a fragile soul caught in a cruel world.
An increased passion for every human personality and mastery of psychological analysis are the specific features of A.I. Kuprin’s artistic talent, which allowed him to fully study the realistic heritage. The importance of his work lies in the artistically convincing discovery of the soul of his contemporary. The author analyzes love as a perfect moral and psychological feeling. The works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin awaken the original questions of humanity - questions of love.
The stories created by Kuprin, despite the complexity of circumstances and often tragic endings, are filled with love of life and optimism. You close the book you read with his stories, but in your heart you still long time the feeling of touching something light and clear is preserved.
Similar essays:
The duel of violence and humanism (based on Kuprin’s story “The Duel”) The meaning of the title of A. I. Kuprin’s story “The Duel” Works about love by A. I. Kuprin
We recommend:
Singer of sublime love (Based on Kuprin's stories "Pomegranate Bracelet", "Olesya", "Shulamith") Loneliness of love (A. I. Kuprin's story "Pomegranate Bracelet")
Garnet bracelet"">Next page
One of the primary themes in Kuprin’s work is love. The characters in his creations, “illuminated” by a real strong feeling, open up more deeply. In the works of this wonderful writer, love, like a pattern, is selfless and selfless. Having analyzed a considerable number of his works, one can understand that in his work it is invariably tragic and condemned in advance to torment.
One of the highest values in human life, according to A.I. Kuprin, has always been love. Love, which collects into a single bouquet all the best, all that is healthy and bright, with which life rewards a person, which justifies any hardships and hardships that may come along his way. So in "Oles". So in "Garnet Bracelet". So in Shulamith. So in "Duel". Until the end of his life, the writer retained the romantic mood of his youth in his soul, and this is what makes his works strong.
Many events take place before us on the pages of the story "The Duel". But the emotional culmination of the work was not the tragic fate of Romashov, but the night of love he spent with the insidious and therefore even more captivating Shurochka; and the happiness experienced by Romashov on this pre-duel night is so great that it is this alone that is conveyed to the reader.
The poetic and tragic story of a young girl in the story “Olesya” sounds in this vein. Olesya’s world is a world of spiritual harmony, a world of nature. He is alien to Ivan Timofeevich, a representative of a cruel, big city. Olesya attracts him with her “unusuality”, “there was nothing like the local girls in her”, the naturalness, simplicity and some kind of elusive inner freedom characteristic of her image attracted him to her like a magnet.
Olesya grew up among the forest. She could not read or write, but she had great spiritual wealth and a strong character. Ivan Timofeevich is educated, but indecisive, and his kindness is more like cowardice. These two completely different people fell in love with each other, but this love does not bring happiness to the heroes, its outcome is tragic.
Ivan Timofeevich feels that he has fallen in love with Olesya, he would even like to marry her, but he is stopped by doubt: “I didn’t even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from the charming the framework of an old forest full of legends and mysterious powers." He realizes that Olesya will not be able to change, become different, and he himself does not want her to change. After all, to become different means to become like everyone else, and this is impossible.
The story “Olesya” develops the theme of Kuprin’s work - love as a saving force that protects the “pure gold” of human nature from “degradation”, from the destructive influence of bourgeois civilization. It is no coincidence that Kuprin’s favorite hero was a man of strong-willed, courageous character and a noble, kind heart, capable of rejoicing in all the diversity of the world. The work is built on a comparison of two heroes, two natures, two worldviews. On the one hand, an educated intellectual, a representative of urban culture, the rather humane Ivan Timofeevich, on the other, Olesya, a “child of nature” who has not been influenced by urban civilization. Compared to Ivan Timofeevich, a man of a kind but weak, “lazy” heart, Olesya rises with nobility, integrity, and proud confidence in her strength. Freely, without any special tricks, Kuprin draws the appearance of the Polesie beauty, forcing us to follow the richness of shades of her spiritual world, always original, sincere and deep. "Olesya" is Kuprin's artistic discovery. The writer showed us the true beauty of the innocent, almost childlike soul of a girl who grew up far from the noisy world of people, among animals, birds and forests. But along with this, Kuprin also highlights human malice, senseless superstition, fear of the unknown, the unknown. However, true love triumphed over all this. A string of red beads is the last tribute to Olesya’s generous heart, the memory of “her tender, generous love.”
Poetizing life not limited by modern social and cultural frameworks, Kuprin sought to show the clear advantages of a “natural” person, in whom he saw spiritual qualities lost in civilized society. The meaning of the story is to affirm the high standard of man. Kuprin is looking for people in real, everyday life who are obsessed with a high feeling of love, who are able to rise, at least in their dreams, above the prose of life. As always, he turns his gaze to the “little” man. This is how the story “The Garnet Bracelet” arises, which tells about a refined all-encompassing love. This story is about hopeless and touching love. Kuprin himself understands love as a miracle, as a wonderful gift. The death of the official brought back to life a woman who did not believe in love, which means that love still conquers death.
In general, the story is dedicated to the inner awakening of Vera, her gradual awareness of the true role of love. To the sound of music, the heroine's soul is reborn. From cold contemplation to a hot, reverent feeling of oneself, a person in general, the world - such is the path of the heroine, who once came into contact with a rare guest of the earth - love.
For Kuprin, love is a hopeless platonic feeling, and also a tragic one. Moreover, there is something hysterical in the chastity of Kuprin’s heroes, and in their attitude towards a loved one, what is striking is that the man and woman seem to have swapped their roles. This is characteristic of the energetic, strong-willed “Polesie sorceress” Olesya in her relationship with the “kind, but only weak Ivan Timofeevich” and the smart, calculating Shurochka with the “pure and kind Romashov” (“The Duel”). Underestimation of oneself, disbelief in one’s right to own a woman, a convulsive desire to withdraw – these traits complete the picture of Kuprin’s hero with a fragile soul caught in a cruel world.
An increased passion for every human personality and mastery of psychological analysis are the specific features of A.I. Kuprin’s artistic talent, which allowed him to fully study the realistic heritage. The importance of his work lies in the artistically convincing discovery of the soul of his contemporary. The author analyzes love as a perfect moral and psychological feeling. The works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin awaken the original questions of humanity - questions of love.
The stories created by Kuprin, despite the complexity of circumstances and often tragic endings, are filled with love of life and optimism. You close the book you read with his stories, and for a long time the feeling of touching something light and clear remains in your soul for a long time.
