Lermontov. Research and findings Andronikov Irakli Luarsabovich
2
In 1837, Akim Akimovich Khastatov, with the rank of lieutenant of the Life Guards Semenovsky Regiment, was adjutant to the chief of staff of the Caucasian Line troops in Stavropol. It was there, therefore, that Lermontov met him when he was traveling through Stavropol to the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment.
Having served for several years in the Semenovsky regiment in St. Petersburg, Khastatov was retired from 1832 to 1835, lived in his Shelkozavodsky and, going to the Line with the Cossacks in response to all alarms, was known as a desperate brave man. He pranced under the bullets in a civilian dress, in a round straw hat, without a weapon, with only a whip, quite surprising the Cossacks with his appearance and, obviously, even more surprising the Chechens, for whom he served as an excellent target. On his business cards, proud of the fact that he lives on the “front line,” Khastatov wrote instead of the title: “Advanced landowner of the Russian Empire.” In general, there were many jokes about him.
In 1835, he again joined the Semenovsky regiment, but with the appointment of adjutant to the chief of staff of the line troops in Stavropol. This position, as we know, was held at that time by Major General Pavel Ivanovich Petrov, married to Khastatov’s sister.
A.P. Shan-Girey, who was Khastatov’s own nephew, told P.A. Viskovatov that during his first exile, Lermontov visited Khastatov in Shelkozavodskoye. This means that in 1837 the poet again visited the places he had seen in childhood. Shan-Girey also reported that the story “Bela” was based on “an incident that happened with Khastatov, who actually had a Tatar woman of this name living with him.” He said that in “Fatalist” Lermontov described the incident that happened to Khastatov in the village of Chervlenaya, when he burst into a hut in which a drunken Cossack, armed with a pistol and a saber, had locked himself.
But even without this, it is clear that the poet could not help but visit Chervlenaya and Shelkovskaya, since he began his journey “along the Line” from Kizlyar. The line, as is known, ran along the Terek. From Kizlyar to Shelkovskaya it was considered fifty-eight miles. Traveling from Kizlyar, Lermontov inevitably had to pass through villages. We know that he was visiting Khastatov there - obviously, he just went there with him.
This trip enriched Russian literature with the “Cossack Lullaby Song” and “Gifts of the Terek”, and in addition, provided Lermontov with rich material for “Bela” and “Fatalist”.
“I once happened to live for two weeks in a Cossack village on the left flank; an infantry battalion was stationed right there; the officers gathered at each other’s houses one by one and played cards in the evenings.”
This is how "Fatalist" begins.
We owe Lermontov’s stay in Chervlenaya and Shelkovskaya the mention in this story of the Cossacks, “the charm of which is difficult to comprehend without seeing them,” and the description of the night village, when Pechorin returns home through empty alleys after a bet with Vulich and the month, “full and red , like the glow of a fire,” appears “from behind the jagged horizon of houses.”
The Cossack village is described in “Fatalist” unusually sparingly, and yet Lermontov’s image remains in the memory for a lifetime and is not replaced by other descriptions.
“The killer locked himself in an empty hut at the end of the village,” Lermontov writes in “Fatalist.” - We went there. Many women ran crying in the same direction. From time to time, a late Cossack would jump out into the street, hastily fastening his dagger, and run ahead of us.”
The action of "Bela" takes place beyond the Terek, on the left flank of the cordon line, "in the fortress at Kamenny Ford."
This is not made up: Lermontov names a specific place. The fortress was located on Aksai, eighteen miles from the Shelkovskaya village, beyond the crossing, and was called “Tash-Kichu”, or “Stone Ford”. It was built under Yermolov, at the same time as the “Sudden” fortress, and protected the Line that ran along the Aksai and Aktash rivers from Chechen raids.
All this is the area of the Grebensky villages well known to Lermontov. No wonder Pechorin sends a messenger for gifts to Kizlyar (“Bela”), and then leaves for the Cossack village (“Fatalist”).
From books and manuscripts on the history of the Greben Cossacks, from the memoirs of participants in the Caucasian War, one can glean rich material, but even approximately one cannot imagine how close all of this is from one another - Kizlyar, Shelkovskaya, Chervlenaya, the fortress behind the Kamenny Ford, the Argun and Assy valleys , described in “Izmail Bey”, Groznaya, from where Lermontov went to the Cossack villages in 1840. From Shelkovskaya to Gudermes (formerly Alkhan-Yurt on Sunzha) - about thirty kilometers, to Khasav-Yurt - about thirty-two.
This became clear to me after I managed to visit the Terek, travel through the villages to Kizlyar, listen to the stories of old-timers, especially Doctor Stepan Petrovich Larionov in the village of Shelkovskaya.
The current Shelkovskaya is not where it was under Lermontov. Its inhabitants moved to a new place - four kilometers from the Terek - after the flood of 1885. The heirs of Akim Akimovich Khastatov then sold the estate to settlers, and the Kharkovsky farm arose on the lands of the Khastatov estate. But even now, in the dense forest, you can still find places where there was a Shelkozavodskoye settlement, a village, a cemetery, and the Khastatovs’ estate.
You walk through a plane and elm forest, entwined with lashes of wild grapes, the impenetrable thicket, dark greenery, clearings surrounded by thorns and blackberries, grassy roads, one and a half man-sized reeds with dry panicles seem endless. And suddenly - a sudden expanse: the smooth, fast flow of the Terek, wide, like in a flood, with a glossy surface of heavy, as if thick water. And beyond the Terek there are mountains, also already familiar to us through Lermontov, and then through Leo Tolstoy.
No wonder Shelkoe was called “earthly paradise.” And it’s clear why Lermontov became so attached to these places for the rest of his life.
There is a legend that Lermontov wrote “Cossack Lullaby” in the village of Chervlenaya. They say that upon entering the hut where he was given an apartment, he found there a young beautiful Cossack woman, Dunka Dogadikha, singing songs over the cradle of her sister’s son. And as if this meeting inspired Lermontov to create his wonderful poem.
Let's assume that in reality this did not even happen. And if it was, then we must still remember that, in addition to songs, Lermontov knew the customs and life of the Greben Cossacks and that his “Song” is not an imitation of a folk song, but a generalization of a wide variety of impressions. But it is indisputable that these impressions are embodied in the spirit of folk poetry. It was not for nothing that the residents of Chervlenaya believed that Lermontov wrote “Cossack Lullaby” after hearing authentic Cossack songs in their village. If they had not felt this inner affinity of Lermontov’s song with their own, there would not have been a legend about how, having heard the singing of a Cossack woman, Lermontov immediately, while his things were being brought into the hut, sat down at the table and sketched out his “Lullaby Song” on a piece of paper “, and even calling out to the Cossack Boriskin, he read this song to him in order to hear his opinion.
This legend has several versions, which means that it is very stable and is obviously based on a real case.
Songs with lyrics by Lermontov are very popular among the Greben Cossacks, including the “Cossack Lullaby Song”. As is known, alien words and book phrases in the songs of poets are inevitably subject to replacement or alteration among the people, in relation to singing and the living folk language. However, the compiler of the collection “Songs of the Greben Cossacks” specifically notes that “the texts of Lermontov’s poems in folklore do not undergo significant changes” - new evidence that the images and epithets of Lermontov’s poems are akin to Greben songs.
What songs of the Greben Cossacks are akin to Lermontov’s “Cossack Lullaby”?
A person cannot understand himself until he determines the purpose of his life and human existence in general. “Pechorin's Journal” is filled with reflections on meaning, on the relationship between the individual and society, on the place of man in a series of generations, on his role in the history of mankind. In “A Hero of Our Time,” this topic is compositionally completed by the chapter “Fatalist,” which is rich in philosophical issues: both social and psychological issues are interpreted in it from a philosophical position.
The main character trait of Pechorin is self-knowledge. He constantly
Analyzes his thoughts, actions, desires, likes and dislikes, trying to reveal the roots of good and evil in one person: “I sometimes despise myself, ... is that why I despise others ...”, “evil begets evil”, “What is happiness? ... if everyone loved me, I would find an endless source of love in myself.” There is no true personality without depth of introspection. But this quality is exaggerated in Pechorin. Not having the opportunity to realize himself in this matter, without “guessing” his “destination,” he directed all the “immense forces” of his soul towards self-knowledge. And this disfigures Pechorin’s soul, distorts the development of his personality. He persistently returns to the idea of the deformation of his own psyche. He spoke, a little flirtatiously, to Princess Mary about the two halves of his soul. The same thought in a conversation with Werner before the duel is expressed much more clearly and harshly, without a shadow of romantic undertakings: “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges him.”
To understand the image of Pechorin, it is important to compare his two self-characteristics. One is extremely romantic: “I am like a sailor, born and raised on the deck of a robber brig; his soul has become accustomed to storms and battles, and, thrown ashore, he is bored and languishing, no matter how the shady grove beckons him, no matter how the peaceful sun shines on him...” This is how he explains his refusal of the “quiet joys” of marriage with Princess Mary, his inability to find family happiness under the “peaceful sun”. But everything is much more complicated: summing up his life the night before the duel, Pechorin said about himself harshly and definitely: “I am like a man yawning at a ball who does not go to bed only because his carriage is not yet there.” And both of these characteristics are true! For “the man yawning at the ball” could not appear from nowhere, could not appear out of nowhere. The soul, akin to storms and battles, cannot help but yearn in monotonous secular living rooms, from where one can only escape into death. “After this, is life worth the trouble? but you still live out of curiosity...” This “curiosity” is the main core of his life; It is no coincidence that on the way to the duel, Pechorin, in a conversation with Werner, will return to this thought: “I weigh, analyze my own passions and actions with strict curiosity, but without participation.”
This curiosity has nothing to do with the curiosity of an idle onlooker; it pushes Pechorin to interfere in the life of “honest smugglers,” to endlessly experience Vera’s love and Werner’s friendship, to achieve love
Mary, to play a deadly game with Grushnitsky on the edge of the abyss... He constantly tempts fate. For what? Why did he accept Vulich’s bet, why did he break into the hut where the drunken Cossack killer had locked himself?
"The Fatalist" answers all these questions. The dispute about predestination, with which this chapter begins, is the most important, central issue of life for Pechorin. It is clearly and unambiguously formulated: “And if there is definitely predestination, then why were we given will, reason?” This is what torments Pechorin, this is what makes him turn life into a chain of experiments on himself and those around him! A ghost stands obsessively, persistently before him: he plays the unworthy role of “an ax in the hands of fate”! Is this role assigned to him from above or does he take on it himself? That’s why Pechorin accepts Vulich’s bet; It is important for him to make sure whether his participation will decide Vulich’s fate, whether his intervention will ruin him?
But the trouble is that no experiments will give a final answer to questions about the meaning of existence. Only faith can give you confidence. And the deep faith of our ancestors was lost in the age of Pechorin. The faith of the fathers gave a person self-confidence, gave him firm moral guidelines and spiritual ideals, but deprived him of internal freedom and took away the right to independent decisions. A person who renounces this faith gains freedom, and for Pechorin, personal freedom is the highest good: “I will put my life on the line twenty times, but I will not sell my freedom.” But this freedom turns out to be the only thing that can be treasured in the world for a person who feels like a grain of sand, on whose will nothing depends, whose life and death will not change anything.
Thus, Lermontov’s loneliness of worldview melts into Pechorin’s loneliness, and Lermontov’s homelessness into Pechorin’s craving for the destruction of the House. Creation requires faith, but in the divided consciousness of the “hero of our time” there is no place for faith.
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 11. Who was Azamat Bela?
And the father
b) friend
c) brother
d) son
2. Indicate the title of Maxim Maksimych.
a) second lieutenant
b) colonel
c) lieutenant
d) staff captain
3. Indicate Bela’s nationality.
a) Ossetian
b) Georgian
c) Circassian
d) Chechen
4. Where did Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych go on the day when Bela died?
a) on official business
b) fishing
c) to hunt
d) for a wedding
5. Indicate the first and patronymic of Pechorin.
a) Alexey Petrovich
b) Grigory Alexandrovich
c) Alexander Maksimovich
d) Petr Grigorievich
6. Indicate which animals the author-narrator used to transport luggage?
a) horses
b) buffalos
c) bulls
d) dogs
7. What is the peculiarity of the composition of the story “Bela”?
a) the story about Bel is interspersed with a story about the author’s journey
b) Bela’s story is in the middle of the author’s travel story
c) Bela’s story includes a story about the author’s journey
8. Which of Pechorin’s things did Maxim Maksimych keep and then give to the author?
a) pistols
b) notes
c) scarf
d) epaulets
9. How did Maxim Maksimych surprise the author-storyteller? (chapter “Maksim Maksimych”)
a) by successfully roasting a pheasant
b) by killing a boar with a well-aimed shot
c) because he swam across the Terek
d) by putting the servant in his place
10. What did Maxim Maksimych pay attention to before he learned about Pechorin’s arrival? (chapter “Maksim Maksimych”)
a) on a stroller
b) for suitcases
c) on horses
d) on the handset
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 2
1. What noble title did Bela’s father have?
a) graph
b) baron
c) baronet
d) prince
2. Indicate the name of the horse for which Azamat sold Bela.
a) Circassian
b) Karagyoz
c) Kazbich
d) Abrek
3. Indicate the place where the love story of Pechorin and Bela took place?
a) in the fortress beyond the Terek
b) in a sakla on the bank of the Aragva
c) in a castle at the foot of Kazbek
d) in a mansion in Tiflis
4. Where did Pechorin first see Bela?
a) at a wedding
b) for housewarming
c) at a folk festival
d) on name days
5. From whose perspective is Bela’s story told?
a) Pechorin
b) Maxim Maksimych
d) Bela
6. Indicate the reason why the author-narrator had to spend the night at the station at the foot of Krestovaya Mountain?
a) a storm was approaching
b) there were no horses
c) the road was washed out
d) there were no porters
7. When do the events described in the story “Maksim Maksimych” take place?
a) before the story with Bela
b) after the story with Bela
c) during the story with Bela
8. Where did Pechorin go when Maxim Maksimych met him for the second time?
a) to St. Petersburg
b) to Georgia
c) to Persia
d) to Turkey
9. When did the meeting between Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych take place after the servant reported that the old man was in the hotel? (chapter “Maksim Maksimych”)
a) immediately
b) in an hour
c) in the evening
d) the next morning
a) gait
b) smile
in the eyes
d) nose
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 3
1. Indicate the surname of Princess Mary.
a) Lanskaya
b) Ligovskaya
c) Petrovskaya
d) Raevskaya
2. In what city did Pechorin and Mary meet?
a) Essentuki
b) Kislovodsk
c) Zheleznovodsk
d) Pyatigorsk
3. What did Grushnitsky drop at the well to attract Mary’s attention?
a) glass
b) tube
c) cane
d) lorgnette
4. Indicate the ballroom dance to which Grushnitsky dreamed of inviting Mary, but Pechorin invited her in advance.
a) mazurka
b) polonaise
c) waltz
d) square dance
5. In what military rank did Grushnitsky come to the waters and hide it from the princess.
A) officer
b) cadet
c) cadet
d) ensign
6. What was the name of the woman with a mole on her cheek, with whom Pechorin secretly met?
a) Mary
b) Faith
c) Bela
d) Dasha
7. What were the names of the people who came to the Caucasus for treatment?
a) secular society
b) sick society
c) water society
d) mountain society
8. At how many steps did Pechorin and Grushnitsky shoot?
a) 9
b) 8
at 7
d) 6
9. Whose portrait is this: “... small in stature, thin, and weak, like a child; one of his legs was shorter than the other, like Byron; in comparison with his body, his head seemed huge..."?
a) Grushnitsky
b) dragoon captain
c) Werner
d) Pechorin
10. Who in the story says these words: “These St. Petersburg gangs are always arrogant until you hit them on the nose! He thinks that he is the only one who lived in the world, because he always wears clean gloves and polished boots...”
a) Grushnitsky
b) dragoon captain
c) Werner
d) Pechorin
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 4
1. Indicate the name of the doctor with whom Pechorin became friends on the waters.
a) Bitner
b) Apfelbaum
c) Werner
d) Vulich
2. Near which city did the duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky take place?
a) Essentuki
b) Kislovodsk
c) Zheleznovodsk
d) Pyatigorsk
3. What did Pechorin buy, giving a higher price than Princess Mary, and thereby causing her annoyance and anger?
a) armchair
b) carpet
c) plaid
d) shawl
4. Indicate the ballroom dance to which Mary was invited by a drunken gentleman, but Pechorin saved the princess from humiliation by saying that the dance was promised to him.
a) mazurka
b) polonaise
c) waltz
d) square dance
5. To what rank was Grushnitsky promoted at the waters and was he very proud of it?
A) officer
b) cadet
c) cadet
d) ensign
6. Who was the instigator of the dishonest duel between Grushnitsky and Pechorin?
a) Grushnitsky
b) Pechorin
c) dragoon captain
d) doctor
7. Why did everyone gather at the well every morning in Pyatigorsk?
a) take baths
b) breathe air
c) drink water
d) wash
8. Where, according to Pechorin’s proposal, should the one who was shot at be in the duel in order to be sure to be killed?
a) at the top of the mountain
b) on the edge of the abyss
c) on an unstable stone in the river flow
d) over an overhanging rock
9. Whose portrait is this: “... well built, dark and black-haired... Throws his head back when he speaks, and constantly twirls his mustache with his left hand, because with his right he leans on a crutch...”
a) Grushnitsky
b) dragoon captain
c) Werner
d) Pechorin
10. Who says these words in the story?: “Oh epaulets, epaulets! Your stars, your guiding stars... No! Am I completely happy now?
a) Grushnitsky
b) dragoon captain
c) Werner
d) Pechorin
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 5
1. What did the commandant mean when he told Pechorin about the shack where he was staying that “it’s unclean there”?
a) the house was not cleaned
b) the owners were unkind people
c) the hostess was very unkempt
d) the house stood on the city dump
2. What was the name of the man for whom the blind boy and girl were waiting at night on the seashore?
a) Ivanko
b) Petro
c) Yanko
d) Mikhailo
3. Where was the girl when Pechorin first heard her singing?
a) on the roof
b) on the porch
c) on the fence
d) on a stone
4. Who lived in the shack with Pechorin?
a) Cossack
b) servant
all of a sudden
d) Maxim Maksimych
5. How did Pechorin find out about the smugglers?
a) he overheard a conversation between an old woman and a boy
b) he was watching the boy
c) the girl told him
d) the commandant told him
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 6
1. What congenital deformity did the boy have?
a) he was blind
b) he was hunchbacked
c) he was legless
d) he was deaf
2. What did Pechorin consider in the shack to be a “bad sign”?
a) it was dark in the house
b) there was not a single image on the walls
c) there were no windows in the house
d) weapons were hung on the walls
3. What was the weather like at sea that night when Pechorin was watching the smugglers?
a) rain
b) wind
c) thunderstorm
d) fog
4. What did the girl throw overboard when she tried to drown Pechorin?
a) dagger
b) wallet
c) pistol
d) tube
5. How does Pechorin talk about the smugglers whose lives he destroyed?
a) honest
b) brave
c) poor
d) unhappy
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 7
1. Indicate Vulich’s most passionate hobby.
a) drink wine
b) look after girls
c) collect weapons
d) play cards
2. What card did Pechorin throw in at the moment when Vulich shot himself in the forehead?
a) ace of hearts
b) queen of spades
c) cross seven
d) king of diamonds
3. What animal was the drunken Cossack chasing?
a) dog
b) pig
c) horse
d) cow
4. What did Vulich aim at and shoot with the second shot?
a) window
b) cap
c) carpet
d) lamp
5. What weapon did Vulich die from?
a) pistol
b) saber
c) checker
d) gun
Last name, first name ______________________________ Option 8
1. Why did the officer stay late with the major?
a) they played cards
b) they drank wine
c) they were having an interesting conversation
d) they listened to Vulich’s stories
2. Indicate Vulich’s nationality
a) Czech
b) Hungarian
c) Serb
d) Bulgarian
3. What happened to a drunken Cossack woman who “was sitting on a thick log, leaning on her knees and supporting her head with her hands...”
and the wife
b) mother
c) daughter
d) sister
4. Where did the drunken Cossack lock himself?
a) in the house
b) in the barn
c) in the stable
d) in the barracks
5. Who saw the imprint of imminent death on Vulich’s face?
a) esaul
b) major
c) Pechorin
d) drunk Cossack
1799-1811 Childhood. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was born on June 6, 1799 in Moscow. In his childhood, his best friend was his nanny Arina Rodionovna, an illiterate serf woman, whose songs and fairy tales instilled in her pupil a love of folk poetry.
1811-1817 Lyceum years A. Pushkin entered the Lyceum on October 19, 1811. These years shaped the poet’s worldview and political beliefs. In 1814, the magazine "Bulletin of Europe" published Pushkin's first poem - "To a friend the poet." In January 1815, the young poet, in the presence of Derzhavin, reads his poem “Memoirs in Tsarskoe Selo” . In Pushkin's Lyceum poems there are many similarities with the works of Russian and French writers. He was not ashamed of his apprenticeship, borrowed themes, motifs, images, poetic vocabulary, and used genres that emerged in the poetry of the early 19th century: ode, elegy, epistle, madrigal. Indeed, in many of Pushkin’s lyceum poems, the anacreontic motifs of Batyushkov’s lyrics are heard. An important “review” of old and new literature for the young poet, the poem “Town” (1814) is an echo of Batyushkov’s “My Penates” (1811). Elegies 1815-1816 (“Dreamer”, “To Her”, “Singer”, etc.) were written under the influence of Zhukovsky. In a few civil poems (“Memoirs in Tsarskoe Selo”, “Licinia”), Pushkin appears as a student of Derzhavin. The poet greedily absorbs all the best that European literature has created - from antiquity to Voltaire, the legendary Ossian and French “light poetry”. 1817-1820. Petersburg period. The years of life in St. Petersburg were for Pushkin not only a sometimes cheerful, carefree life, but also a period of rapid spiritual growth. The poems “Liberty” (1817) and “Village” (1819) were written under the direct influence of the ideas of the participants in the “Union of Welfare”. Pushkin’s bright political temperament manifested itself in the evil satire on Alexander I, “Fairy Tales. Noеl" (“Hurray! He’s galloping to Russia...”) (1818), in an epigram to the all-powerful temporary worker Arakcheev. The message “To Chaadaev” (1818) was dictated by a young impulse of a free heart. 1820-1822 Southern link Pushkin during the period of southern exile was a brilliant romantic poet. The leading position in “southern” lyrics was occupied by romantic genres: elegy and friendly poetic message. He was also attracted to the genre of romantic ballads (“Song of the Prophetic Oleg”). Elegies “The daylight has gone out...”, “I don’t feel sorry for you, the year of my spring...”, “The flying ridge of clouds is thinning...” and “I have outlived my desires...” - like romantic epigraphs to the new chapter of the creative biography of Pushkin. The present seemed to the exiled poet homeless, dull and uncertain. Psychological parallels often arose with famous disgraced poets - the ancient Roman poet Ovid and his contemporaries, Byron and E.A. Baratynsky. The vivid images of exiles and wanderers created by Pushkin in the message “To Ovid” (1821), in the historical elegy “Napoleon” (1821), in friendly messages to Baratynsky (1822), emphasized the symbolic meaning of his own fate. The poem “Prisoner of the Caucasus” ( 1821), “The Robber Brothers” (1821-1822), “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” (1821-1823) and “The Gypsies” (finished in 1824 in Mikhailovsky) - Pushkin’s main achievement during the period of southern exile. In May 1823 , in Chisinau, work began on the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”. Pushkin’s idea was innovative: the poet was looking for a new plot that would allow him to overcome the romantic conventions of the plots of “southern” poems, a new hero closely connected with the life of society, a new style. 1824-1825 exile to Mikhailovskoye. The Mikhailovsky period of creativity is a time of change in Pushkin’s aesthetic guidelines. In Mikhailovsky, the best romantic poem “Gypsies” was completed, a masterpiece of romantic lyricism was written - the poem “To the Sea”. The style of love lyrics is changing - the poet’s word accurately captures the psychological uniqueness of his experiences (“K***” (“I remember a wonderful moment...”), “Burnt letter”, “Under the blue sky of his native country...”, “ Confession"). Pushkin creates a cycle of poems “Imitations of the Koran” and “Songs about Stenka Razin”, in which he masters the imagery of oriental poetry and Russian folklore. In the poem “Count Nulin” and in the central chapters of “Eugene Onegin” (III-VI), written in Mikhailovsky, Pushkin moves even further away from romanticism. A milestone in the creative self-determination of Pushkin the realist is the historical tragedy “Boris Godunov”, completed on November 7, 1825 g. It reflected the poet’s new ideas about the relationship between history and personality, history and people, his interest in tragic, turning-point eras in the history of Russia. Creativity of the second half of the 1820s. Reflections on modern times and the prospects for a new reign led the poet to the theme of Peter I (“Stanzas,” the unfinished historical novel “Arap of Peter the Great,” the poem “Poltava”). In Stanzas (1826), Pushkin called on Nicholas I to be like his “ancestor” in everything. The new tsar impressed the poet with his directness and readiness for reform. Second half of the 1820s. - the time of creation of many lyrical masterpieces - is marked by a high level of Pushkin’s creative self-awareness. Reflections on the poet received a complete, conceptual character in the program poems “The Poet” (1827), “The Poet and the Crowd” (1828) and “To the Poet” (1830). Pushkin’s interest in philosophical issues intensified: the poems “Memory” (“When a noisy day falls silent for a mortal ...”), “A vain gift, an accidental gift ...”, “Premonition”, “Drowned”, “Anchar” (all - 1828), “Road complaints”, “Once upon a time there lived a poor knight...”, “Am I wandering along the noisy streets...” (all - 1829) “Poltava” (1828) - the only historical poem Pushkin is the largest work written in the second half of the 1820s. In the plot of the poem, the image of the triumph of “Young Russia” in the person of the unstoppable Peter is intertwined with the dramatic story of love and betrayal of Mazepa. The poet was groping for a new approach to history, which was fully manifested later in “The Captain's Daughter.” Boldino autumn(1830) - a short but most fruitful period in Pushkin’s work. The first were the prose “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin,” written in September-October. At the same time, work was underway on the comic-parody poem “The House in Kolomna” and the last chapters of “Eugene Onegin”. At the end of October - beginning of November, “small tragedies” appeared one after another - a cycle of philosophical and psychological “plays for reading”: “The Miserly Knight”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “The Stone Guest”, “A Feast in the Time of Plague”. The “fruitful” Voldinskaya autumn brought “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda”, “The History of the Village of Goryukhin”. The background of Pushkin’s “feast of imagination” is lyrical poetry: about 30 poems, including such masterpieces as “Elegy” (“The faded joy of crazy years...”), “Demons”, “My pedigree”, “My ruddy critic, mocker” fat-bellied...", "Spell", "Poems composed at night during insomnia", "Hero", "For the shores of the distant fatherland...". Marriage to Natalia Goncharova. On February 18, 1831, A.S. Pushkin married Natalya Goncharova. Marriage became both a source of happiness and a cause of death for him. Since 1836, the St. Petersburg aristocratic society has entwined A.S. Pushkin and his wife with a network of intrigues and vile slander. This was facilitated by a world wanderer, a French emigrant, officer Dantes, who persistently courted Pushkin’s wife. The situation became unbearable, and on January 27, 1837, a duel took place between Dantes and Pushkin. The poet was mortally wounded there.
Some time later, Pechorin had to live for two weeks in a Cossack village. There was an infantry battalion stationed there, and the officers gathered at each other's houses every evening and played cards. One evening they sat with Major S, talking about what determines a person’s fate. Among others, Lieutenant Vulich, a Serb by nationality, was present. He was brave. he spoke little, did not confide his spiritual secrets to anyone, and his greatest passion was playing cards.
Bet
The lieutenant suggested checking whether a person can control his own life or whether a fateful minute is assigned to everyone in advance. Pechorin agreed to bet and bet two hundred rubles that there was no predestination. Vulich defended the opposite opinion.
Vulich tempts fate
He silently walked into the major's bedroom, took the first pistol he came across from the wall, cocked the hammer and poured gunpowder onto the shelf. They began to dissuade him, but he did not listen to anyone. Sitting down at the table, the lieutenant asked everyone to take their places in a circle. Those present obeyed. Suddenly it seemed to Pechorin that the stamp of death lay on Vulich’s cold-blooded face. Grigory Alexandrovich told the lieutenant that he would die today. Replying that everything was possible, the Serb asked the major if the pistol was loaded. The major didn't remember. The officers began to make new bets. Pechorin was tired of all this, and he said that Vulich either shoot himself or hang up the pistol. Then the lieutenant put the barrel to his forehead and pulled the trigger. There was no shot. Vulich cocked the gun again and took aim at the cap hanging on the wall. A shot rang out. When the smoke cleared, it turned out that the bullet had pierced the cap in the very middle and lodged deep in the wall. The Serb calmly collected the money he won from the table and left.
Drunk Cossack
Pechorin headed to his home, thinking about human life and predestination, and suddenly tripped over something thick and soft. He bent down and saw that in front of him lay a pig, cut in half by a saber. Then two soldiers ran up and asked if he had seen a drunken Cossack chasing a pig. Grigory Alexandrovich showed them a slaughtered pig, and they followed further, saying that they needed to tie up the drunken man before he did anything bad.
Pechorin came home and went to bed. At four o'clock in the morning he was awakened by officers with the news that Vulich had been killed. Grigory Alexandrovich was dumbfounded. It turned out that when the lieutenant was returning home, a drunken Cossack ran into him. Perhaps the latter would have passed by, but Vulich asked him who he was looking for. "You!" - the Cossack answered, hit him with a saber and cut him from the shoulder almost to the heart. Witnesses said that with his last breath the Serb said: “He’s right!” Pechorin understood the meaning of these words: he himself unwittingly predicted Vulich’s fate.
