The general meaning of the title of the novel by I.A. Goncharov “Ordinary History. Ivan goncharov - an ordinary story Other compositions based on this work

We present to your attention the work of I. A. (summary). This article describes the main events of the novel, first published in 1847.

Part one

One summer, from the estate of Anna Pavlovna Adueva, a poor landowner from the village of Grachi, Alexander Fedorovich, her only son, a fair-haired young man in the prime of life, years and health, is sent to St. Petersburg to serve. The valet Yevsey is also traveling with him.

Seeing off

Anna Pavlovna grieves and gives her last instructions to her son. He is also seen off by the strict and Agrafena, struggling to contain her emotions. Neighbor Marya Karpovna, together with her daughter Sophia, come to see off. The hero has an affair with the latter, the beloved gives him a parting strand of cut hair and a ring.

They swear fidelity and eternal love. Pospelov also appears, a friend of Alexander, who has come from afar only to hug his comrade.

Petr Ivanovich

We continue to present the events of the novel "Ordinary History". A brief summary of the work will tell about the further development of the story.

Finally, Alexander and Yevsey set off. The main character's uncle, Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev, was also sent to Petersburg by Alexander's father and lived in this city for 17 years, long time not talking to relatives. He served as an official for special assignments under one important person, occupied a very nice apartment, had several servants. Uncle, a reserved person, was considered a businesslike and active member of society. He always dressed with taste and carefully, one might even say dapper. When Pyotr Ivanovich found out about the arrival of his nephew, he first decided to get rid of him under the first pretext. The uncle throws away letters from relatives without even reading them (including those from Alexander's aunt, with whom he had an affair in his youth and who never married). But in a letter to his nephew's mother, something touches him, he recalls how many years ago, seeing him off to St. Petersburg, Anna Pavlovna cried. Pyotr Ivanovich is horrified by the fact that the latter is punishing her to stand up for her son before the authorities, baptize him at night and cover his mouth with a handkerchief from flies.

First difficulties

We present you a description of the first difficulties that the young man faced, their summary. Goncharov's "Ordinary History" continues its story chapter by chapter. The hero's first troubles were as follows. Uncle does not let him hug him, indicates a room that can be rented, instead of inviting him to live with him. This brings melancholy to the emotional and exalted Alexander, who is accustomed to sincere outpourings and friendly disposition. The romantic attitude of the young man to life in the eyes of Peter Ivanovich is completely unacceptable. He ridicules his nephew's manner of expressing himself in romantic clichés, throws away Sophia's hair and ring, and pastes over the wall with poems that the young man was so proud of. Pyotr Ivanovich gradually lowers Alexander from heaven to earth, assigns him to the service. The nephew dreams of a dizzying career, imagining it extremely vaguely. He talks about this uncle, about his projects, which, according to the latter, are either already completed or do not need to be done at all. Knowing that the young man dreams of becoming a writer, his uncle looks for translations for an agricultural magazine for him.

New life

Begins new stage in the life of the protagonist of the work "Ordinary History". A brief summary of it is the following events. Two years later, Alexander is already mastering graceful manners, becoming more self-confident and balanced. Pyotr Ivanovich was already deciding that he was on the right track, when suddenly the young man falls in love with Nadenka Lyubetskaya and forgets about everything in the world: about career, education, duties. The uncle tries to explain that it is still too early for him to get married, because in order to support a family, it is necessary to have a decent income. In addition, you need to be able to win a woman with your mind and cunning, while the nephew is primitive. Nadenka's infatuation will pass quickly, his uncle warns. Alexander is indignant when he learns that his uncle is going to marry, he reproaches him for a marriage of convenience.

Nadenka Lubetskaya

Goncharov's "Ordinary History" in brief continues its development. Alexander begins to visit the Lyubetskys' house. His beloved was impressionable to the extreme, had a fickle and wayward heart and an ardent mind. At first, she is satisfied with talking about nothing, loving glances and walking under the moon. Alexander visits Pyotr Ivanovich less and less, abandons his career, starts writing again, but publishers do not accept his works, pointing to their unnaturalness and immaturity. Gradually, Nadenka gets bored with her admirer. The year appointed by her to Alexander ends probationary period and she tries to avoid explanation. One of the reasons is a visit to Count Novinsky, a well-educated and well-mannered young man, a socialite. He begins to visit Nadenka, teaches her how to ride. Alexander, seeing that he is being avoided, falls into melancholy, then into panic, then decides to disappear for a while so that they begin to look for him, but this does not happen. The young man finally dares to call his beloved to a decisive conversation. Nadenka admits that she likes the count. Alexander, leaving the house, sobs.

The summary of the book "Ordinary History" continues. In the middle of the night, the hero runs to Pyotr Ivanovich in order to arouse sympathy for himself, asks his uncle to agree to be his second during a duel with Novinsky. Pyotr Ivanovich speaks of the senselessness of the duel: Nadenka can no longer be returned, but her hatred can be acquired if the count is harmed. In addition, in the event of a murder, hard labor or exile awaits him. In return, he offers to beat the opponent, to convince Nadenka of superiority over the count, primarily in the intellectual. The uncle proves that the beloved is not to blame for preferring Novinsky. At the end of the conversation, the nephew bursts into tears. The wife of Pyotr Ivanovich, Lizaveta Alexandrovna, comes to console him.

Part two

We have reached the second part of the novel "Ordinary History". Its summary is as follows.

Another year has passed. Alexander passed into cold despondency. Auntie spends a lot of time comforting him. The nephew likes the role of the sufferer. To her objection that true love does not seek to demonstrate himself to everyone, Alexander immodestly notices that love for the wife of Peter Ivanovich is hidden very deeply, so that it is completely invisible. Mentally, the aunt agrees with him. Although she has no right to complain about her husband, who provides for everything, Lizaveta Alexandrovna still sometimes wants a greater manifestation of feelings.

Meeting with a friend

This is how I. A. Goncharov unfolds further events ("Ordinary History"). The summary of the chapters that you are reading continues with the meeting of the protagonist with an old friend. One day, Alexander comes to his aunt and tells her about the betrayal of a friend whom he has not seen for many years. He met him on Nevsky Prospekt. He did not respond to sincere outpourings, dryly inquiring about the service and inviting him to come to his house the next day for dinner, which was attended by about a dozen guests. Here he offers to play cards, as well as money if he needs it. Alexander begins to talk about unhappy love, but his friend just laughs. The nephew reads to his aunt and uncle quotes from French novelists who defined friendship in a very pretentious way. This angers Peter Ivanovich, he declares that his friend behaved decently towards him. The uncle reprimands the young man that it is time to stop complaining about people and whining when he has friends, to whom he also counts himself and his wife.

Alexander's Tale

We will describe further events, their brief content. Goncharov's "Ordinary History" continues its development. Pyotr Ivanovich reminds his nephew that he has not written to his mother for 4 months. Alexander is completely crushed. To console him, the aunt advises to take up literature again. A young man writes a story, the action of which takes place in a Tambov village, and the characters are liars, slanderers and monsters. He reads it aloud to his aunt and uncle. Petr Ivanovich writes a letter to an editor he knows, in which he claims that the story was written by him, and he intends to publish it for a fee. He reads the editor's reply to his nephew. He saw through the deception, noticing that the author was a young man, not stupid, but angry at the whole world. The reasons for this, in his opinion, are dreaminess, pride, premature development of the heart and immobility of the mind, leading to laziness. Labor, science, practical work should help this young man. According to the editor, the author of the story has no talent.

Relations with Yulia Tafaeva

After the events described above, Alexander burns all his literary works. Uncle asks him for help: to compete with Surkov, his companion. He is in love (Peter Ivanovich believes that he only thinks that he is in love) with a certain Yulia Tafaeva, a young widow. He intends to throw money away for her sake, and take it from Uncle Alexander. The young man begins to visit Tafaeva, with whom they have much in common (gloomy outlook on the world, daydreaming). Soon he falls in love, and Tafaeva, who was brought up on French sentimental literature and married early to a man much older than her, reciprocates.

New disappointment

The hero will again be disappointed in the further development of events. Here is a summary of them. Goncharov's "Ordinary Story" is already nearing its end. Preparations are underway for the wedding. Alexander asks Lizaveta Alexandrovna for secret assistance from his uncle. Aunt pays a visit to Julia, the girl is amazed at her beauty and youth. Tafaeva protests against the communication of her lover with the Aduevs. Alexander behaves arbitrarily with Yulia, demands obedience and the fulfillment of any whim (he fences her off from familiar men, forbids her to leave). Julia takes it down, but after a while they get bored, the hero's nit-picking begins with his beloved. He understands that he lost two whole years in vain, his career has once again suffered. He wants to communicate with friends, work, go to society, and she despotic demands that Alexander belong only to her. Julia humiliates herself, even begs to marry her on the condition that the hero be given complete freedom. Alexander does not want this, but does not know how to refuse. He turns to his uncle for advice. Yulia has a nervous attack, Pyotr Ivanovich comes to her and settles the matter, saying that Alexander does not know how to love. The nephew falls into apathy. He does not strive for anything, does not appear at his uncle's house. The young man notices that there is not a single hope and dream left, in front of him is only a naked reality, which he is not ready to confront.

Liza

The author, however, does not end the novel "An Ordinary Story" on this. The summary will tell how this story will end. Main character goes fishing with old man Kostikov, a miser and a grump.

They meet one day with a certain elderly summer resident and his daughter Lisa, who falls in love with the hero. He plays the role of an uncle, teaches her to be sober about love and life. Lisa's father kicks him out. The young man contemplates suicide, but the bridge on which he is standing is pulled apart at that moment, and he jumps onto a solid support. After some time, he receives a note from his aunt asking him to take her to a concert, as his uncle is sick. Music makes a strong impression on Alexander, he cries right in the hall, they laugh at him.

Return to the village

These were the main events before returning to the village (briefly). Goncharov's "Ordinary Story" is already unfolding in Grachi. The young man completely loses faith in humanity, decides to return to the village. He tells his uncle that he does not reproach him for opening his eyes, but, seeing things in their true light, he is completely disappointed in life. In the village, Alexander learns that his ex-lover Sophia has been married for a long time and is expecting her sixth child. The mother begins to fatten the young man, allows him to do nothing, hints that the time has come to get married, but the hero refuses.

New trip to Petersburg

Our usual story continues. A brief development of events is as follows. A thirst for activity gradually awakens in the hero, and a desire arises to return to the capital. He writes letters to his aunt and uncle confessing his selfishness. He is also carrying evidence to his uncle - a letter to his aunt from Rooks, in which he once spoke in a romantic vein.

Epilogue

4 years after the next arrival of the young man in St. Petersburg, he announces to his uncle about his intention to marry. He takes a large dowry, and barely remembers the bride herself. The uncle, however, cannot fully support his nephew, since great changes have taken place in him during that time. Pyotr Ivanovich began to treat his wife differently. He tries to show his feelings, but it's too late: she doesn't care, she lives, only silently obeying her husband, not reacting in any way to these attempts. The doctor discovers a strange illness in his aunt, one of the reasons for which, in his opinion, is that she did not have children. Petr Ivanovich decides to sell the plant, retire and go on a trip with his wife. But she is not ready to accept such sacrifices. She does not need any belated love or freedom. Lizaveta Alexandrovna feels sorry for the former Alexander. Pyotr Ivanovich hugs his nephew - for the first time since they met.

This is the plot of the work "Ordinary History", briefly described in this article. We hope it will help you in your study of this novel.

Brief analysis

In this work, every person at all stages of life and development will find the right lesson for himself. In a business atmosphere, the sentimentality and naivety of Alexander Aduev are ridiculous. His pathos is false, and his ideas about life and the sublimity of his speeches are far from reality. However, the uncle cannot be called an ideal: a respected person, a breeder, he is afraid of a living feeling and goes too far in his practicality. He is unable to show warm feelings for his wife, which leads to her nervous breakdown. There is a lot of irony in the teachings of this hero, and the nephew, being a simple, unsophisticated person, takes them too directly.

Alexander Aduev, having lost his former false ideals, does not acquire other, genuine ones. He simply turns into a prudent vulgar. Goncharov is ironic about the fact that such a path is far from an exception. Youthful ideals disappear - this is an ordinary story. Few people can resist the pressure on their soul and mind big city and bourgeois society. At the end of the work, the cynical uncle is much more humane than his student-nephew. Alexander became a business man, for whom only money and a career matter. And the city is waiting for new victims - inexperienced and naive.

(1812-1891)

IA Goncharov came from the ancient noble family. He was born in the city of Simbirsk, the writer spent his childhood in a rich landowner's estate. From 1822 to 1830, Goncharov studied at the Moscow Commercial School, and in 1831 he took an exam at Moscow University for the philological or, as it was then called, the verbal faculty. The university left a memory of itself as the best time in the writer's life: here he got to know the wonderful spirit of freedom of Moscow University, the temple of science, which brought up "not only the mind, but the whole young soul." In memoirs about the university (they have the subtitle "How we were taught 50 years ago") there are the names of Lermontov and Herzen, Belinsky and K. Aksakov, historian M. Kachenovsky and professor of theory of fine arts and archeology N. Nadezhdin.

One of the brightest impressions of those years was A. Pushkin's visit to the university in September 1832. Goncharov recalls the atmosphere of the dispute that arose after a lecture between Pushkin and Kachenovsky about the authenticity of the Tale of Igor's Campaign. Goncharov creates the image of "literary antagonism" that arose between the participants in the dispute as early as 1818, when Pushkin wrote the first, but by no means the last, epigram on Kachenovsky. In his student years, interest in professional literary pursuits was manifested: in the journal "Telescope" in 1832, an excerpt from E. Xu's novel "Atar-Gul" translated by Goncharov was published.

After graduating from the university in 1834, Goncharov went home, where he was “swept over by the same Oblomovism that he observed in childhood.” In order not to fall asleep on his own, looking at this calm, Goncharov moves to St. Petersburg in the fall and begins his service in the Ministry of Finance.

Significant in the development of Goncharov's literary talent was the role of the literary and artistic circle of the academician of painting N. Maikov, whose sons, Valerian and Apollo, the future writer taught literature. The appearance in print of the novel An Ordinary Story (1846) meant the recognition of Goncharov's literary talent.

In 1853, Goncharov went on a round-the-world voyage on the military frigate Pallada, which lasted two years. The result of the trip was the essays “The Frigate Pallada” - a unique phenomenon in Russian literature of the middle of the 19th century.

In 1859, Goncharov published the novel "Oblomov", and ten years later - "Cliff" (1869). In the last years of his life, Goncharov appeared as a brilliant publicist in "Notes on the Personality of Belinsky", literary critic- in the study "A Million of Torments", a memoirist ("Servants of the Old Age"), an art historian who collected a lot of material for articles on the work of A.N. Ostrovsky. A special place in Goncharov's journalism belongs to the articles “Better late than never”, “Intentions, tasks and ideas of the novel “The Precipice”, in which the writer substantiates the principles of realism.

artistic method

In 1879, an article by I.A. Goncharova "Better late than never". Thirty-three years after the publication of his first novel, An Ordinary Story, Goncharov held an answer to readers, trying in an article "to explain once and for all his own view of the author's tasks." This critical analysis of his own work was a revision of the preface to a separate edition of The Cliff in 1870, which was never published. Goncharov returned to him in 1875, but only now, says Goncharov, can this material serve as a preface to a collection of all his works.

Goncharov's article is of fundamental importance for characterizing the originality creative method writer. The formulation of his own aesthetic principles Goncharov begins with the definition of the essence artistic creativity which is "thinking in images". According to Goncharov, there are two types of creativity - "unconscious" and "conscious". The "unconscious" artist creates, obeying the demand to describe the impression, to give scope to the work of the heart, to the flow of fantasy. For such artists, the ability to convey the power of impression prevails over the analysis of life. In other writers, Goncharov believes, "the mind is subtle, observant and overcomes fantasy, the heart," and then the idea is expressed in addition to the image and often obscures it, showing a trend. Goncharov defines his type of creativity as "unconscious".

Belinsky was one of the first to draw attention to this feature of Goncharov's work, defining it as an excellent "ability to draw." At the heart of his artistic images was always the impression of a person, event, phenomenon, and he was in a hurry to remember it, putting a verbal image on scraps of paper: Oblomov and Raisky), and I myself get bored writing, until suddenly the light floods in and illuminates the roads where I should go ... I always have one main image and together the main motive: it is he who leads me forward - and on the way I inadvertently grab what comes to hand, that is, what is close to him ... ”From the episode, the etude subsequently developed overall picture. This happened with "Oblomov's Dream", which, being published in 1849 as a separate work, served as a sketch for the epic canvas "Oblomov".

Explaining to the reader how the “mechanism” of the unconscious works in an artist, Goncharov resorts to the metaphorical image of a “mirror”, comparing their ability to reflect life. “It is difficult to draw from life,” writes Goncharov, “and in my opinion, it’s simply impossible for types that have not yet developed, where its forms have not settled down, faces have not been layered into types.” The mirror of creative consciousness can repeat any number of images, but it cannot convey something that does not yet have a definite form, especially when it comes to the laws of social development.

The process of creating your artistic image Goncharov calls typification, which he understands as a “mirror” reflection of everyday life, the environment, the era in the phenomenon of interest to him: “All this, in addition to my consciousness, by itself, by the power of reflection, was reflected in my imagination, as the landscape from the window is reflected in the mirror, as it is sometimes reflected in a small pond there is a huge setting: the sky overturned over the pond*, with a pattern of clouds, and trees, and a mountain with some buildings, and people, and animals, and vanity, and immobility - all in miniature likenesses. And so this simple physical law takes place over me and my novels - in a way that is almost imperceptible to me.

Goncharov is the author of three large epic works. The time interval between the appearance of each of them in print is about ten years: Ordinary History was published in 1846, Oblomov was completed in 1857, and published in 1859, The Cliff is dated 1869 G.

In this temporary space, the implementation of ideas is an important feature of Goncharov's creative method. He needed time to process the impressions of being, to put them into the artistic system of one, as Goncharov himself insisted, and not three novels: the reader had to "catch one common thread, one consistent idea - the transition from one era of Russian life to another" . Thus, according to Goncharov's plan, each part of this novel cycle was an artistic picture of a certain era of Russian reality, and together they represented her biography, told by an intelligent, thoughtful writer. These principles noted by Goncharov were realized in the artistic structure of the novels, in their plot organization, compositional scheme, system of images-characters.

"Ordinary Story"

The appearance in print of Goncharov's first novel was preceded by several small experiments in verse and prose. On the pages of the handwritten almanac "Moonlight Nights", published by the Maykov circle, 4 of his poems are published (later these are Sashenka Aduev's poems from "Ordinary History"), the story "Dashing Pain" (1838) and "Happy Mistake" (1839).

In these early works, the influence of Pushkin's prose is felt. Thus, in The Happy Mistake, reminiscent of the genre of a society story, the passionate passions of romantic characters already have a psychological motivation.

Essay "Ivan Savvich Podzhabrin" - the only early work young writer, published during the life of Goncharov in Sovremennik in 1848. This is a typical physiological essay exploring mores, in which the features of Gogol's style are noticeable: the narration in it is oriented digressions, and Ivan Savvich and his servant Avdey were undoubtedly created under the influence of The Inspector General.

Already by the beginning of the 1940s, Goncharov's creative positions were being determined: his unconditional interest in Russian reality: in what “stood up”, but did not become a thing of the past, and in that new one that made its way into life.

The novel Ordinary History was the first Russian work that explored the forms of social progress in Russia. Goncharov's innovation lay in the fact that he tried to see the manifestation of social patterns in the fate of an individual. In the novel, we have an ordinary story of the transformation of the young romantic Alexander Aduev into a representative of a new bourgeois formation. Already in the first experience of the novel, certain plot and compositional principles of the structure of the conflict are being developed, which will later be used by Goncharov in his other works.

Outwardly, the plot of the "Ordinary Story" has a pronounced chronological character. Goncharov thoroughly and unhurriedly tells about the life of the Aduevs in Grachi, creating in the reader's imagination the image of a noble province dear to the author's heart. At the beginning of the novel, Sashenka Aduev is fascinated by Pushkin, he writes poetry himself, listening to what is happening in his heart and soul. He is exalted, smart, sure that he is an exceptional being, to whom not the last place in life should belong. Throughout the course of the novel, Goncharov debunks Aduev's romantic ideals. As for the social revelations of romanticism, they are not explicitly declared anywhere in the novel. To the conviction that historical time romanticism has passed, Goncharov leads the reader through the entire course of novel events.

The narration in the novel begins with a presentation of the story of Yevsey and Agrafena - the serfs of the Aduevs, an ordinary story of landlord arbitrariness, told in a casually calm tone. Sending her son to St. Petersburg, Anna Pavlovna is focused only on her experiences, and she does not care about the feelings of Yevsey and Agrafena, whom she separates for a long time. However, the author says, addressing the reader, she and her son "did not prepare for the fight against what awaited him and awaits everyone ahead."

Goncharov reveals the world of the provincial nobility, living in a completely different dimension, in three letters brought by his nephew to his uncle.

Each of them is associated with one of the motives of the plot movement, which will be implemented in the novel. So, Kostyakov is mentioned in Zayezzhalov’s letter - “ wonderful person– the soul is wide open and such a joker”, communication with which will be one of the “epochs” of the development of the younger Aduev. The aunt's letter also represents a kind of anticipation of one of the plot twists of the novel. The ardent enthusiasm of Marya Gorbatova's memories of a yellow flower and a ribbon as a symbol of the will of tender feelings for Pyotr Ivanovich is replaced by a completely reasonable request for English wool for embroidery. This letter is a kind of "summary" of the image of the future Sashenka, to which the hero will come in the finale. In the final letter to his mother, the phrase “Do not leave him, dear deverek, with your advice and take him into your care; I pass it on to you from hand to hand” the most important principle of constructing the system of images of the work is “programmed”. The role of Sashenka's mentor passes to his uncle, but his philosophy of life is just as little taken for granted by the young Aduev as the words of his mother. One of the functions of the image of the uncle in the novel is to debunk the romantic ideals of the nephew.

The fate of Pyotr Ivanovich is a clear example of the beneficial nature of abandoning romantic illusions. This hero does not deny reality and does not oppose himself to it, he recognizes the need for active inclusion in life, familiarization with the harsh working days. The hero of the novel, which appeared in print in 1846, became an artistic generalization of a phenomenon that was just "erupting" in Russian reality, but did not escape the attentive Goncharov. Many of the writer's contemporaries went through a harsh school of everyday work: Gogol, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, and Saltykov, who overcame social romanticism, but did not lose faith in ideas. As for the image of the elder Aduev, Goncharov shows what a terrible moral disaster the desire to evaluate everything around from the standpoint of practical benefit can turn out to be for a person.

Assessing the romantic essential quality personality is far from clear. Goncharov shows that the "liberation" of a person from the ideals of youth and the memories of love, friendship, family attachments associated with them destroys the personality, goes unnoticed and is irreversible. Gradually, the reader begins to understand that with Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev, an ordinary story of familiarization with the prose of life has already happened, when, under the influence of circumstances, a person is freed from the romantic ideals of goodness and becomes like everyone else. It is this path that Alexander Aduev goes through, gradually becoming disillusioned with friendship, love, service, kindred feelings. But the end of the novel - his profitable marriage and the loan of money from his uncle - this is not the end of the novel. The final - sad reflection about the fate of Peter Ivanovich, who succeeded on the basis of real practicality. The depth of the moral catastrophe that has already befallen society with its loss of faith in romanticism is revealed precisely in this life story. The novel ends happily for the younger, but tragically for the older: he is ill with boredom and the monotony of the monotonous life that filled him, the pursuit of a place in the sun, fortune, rank. These are all quite practical things, they bring income, give position in society - but for what? And only a terrible guess that the illness of Elizabeth Alexandrovna is the result of her devoted service to him, the service that killed her living soul, makes Peter Ivanovich think about the meaning of his life.

In studies of Goncharov's work, it was noted that the originality of the conflict of the novel is in the clash of two forms of life presented in the dialogues of uncle and nephew, and that dialogue is the constructive basis of the novel. But this is not entirely true, since the character of Ayauev Jr. does not change at all under the influence of his uncle’s convictions, but under the influence of circumstances embodied in the vicissitudes of the novel (writing poetry, infatuation with Nadenka, disappointment in friendship, meeting with Kostikov, leaving for the village, etc. .). Circumstances "alien" to the hero are concretized by the image of St. Petersburg, given in the second chapter of the novel against the background of the memories of the "provincial egoist" Aduev about the peace of rural life. A turning point in the hero occurs during his meeting with the Bronze Horseman. Aduev refers to this symbol of power "not with bitter reproach in his soul, like poor Eugene, but with an enthusiastic thought." This episode has a pronounced polemical character:

Goncharov's hero "argues" with Pushkin's hero, being sure that he can overcome circumstances and not submit to them.

Dialogue plays an essential function in clarifying the author's point of view, which is not identical with either the position of an uncle or the position of a nephew. It manifests itself in a dialogue-argument that goes on without stopping, almost until the end of the novel. This is a dispute about creativity as a special state of mind. The theme of creativity first appears in a letter from young Aduev to Pospelov, in which the hero characterizes his uncle as a man of the “crowd”, always and in everything equally calm, and completes his analysis of the moral qualities of Pyotr Ivanovich with the conclusion: “... I think he didn’t even read Pushkin. The serious conclusion that vegetating “without inspiration, without tears, without life, without love” can destroy a person will turn out to be prophetic: the uncle who added the prosaic (“And without hair”) to Pushkin’s lines, without suspecting it, passes sentence on himself. Sashenka’s romantic poems, which he destroyed with his criticism, from the position of Pyotr Ivanovich, are an expression of unwillingness to “pull the strap” of daily work, and his remark “writers are like others” can be considered as the hero’s conviction that unprofessional literature is pampering and a manifestation of lordly laziness . Pushing the positions of his heroes, Goncharov himself is arguing with an invisible enemy, because the poems of Dtsuev Jr. are the poems of the young Goncharov, which he never published, apparently feeling that this was not his kind of creativity. However, the fact that they are included in the text of the novel is very revealing. Of course, they are artistically weak and may seem like a parody of romantic daydreaming. But the lyrical pathos of the poems is caused not only by Goncharov's desire to expose idealism: Sasha's romanticism is aimed at criticizing the depersonalization of a person by the bureaucratic reality of St. Petersburg and at criticizing the moral slavery of women.

The theme of the poet and the crowd - one of the cross-cutting themes of the novel - manifests itself in a peculiar way. Its detailed interpretation by the young Aduev is given in Chapter IV, which reveals the state of the hero, who has reached the apogee of happiness in love. Dreams about Nadenka and dreams of poetic fame merge into one, but the author accompanies this enthusiastic monologue with his own commentary. From it, the reader learns about a comedy, two stories, an essay, about a “journey somewhere” created by Sashenka, but not accepted for publication, gets acquainted with the plot of the story from American life, which was listened to with enthusiasm by Nadenka, but was not accepted for publication. Failures are perceived by Aduev in the spirit of the romantic conflict of the poet and the crowd, he realizes himself as a person capable of "creating special world without difficulty, easily and freely. And only at the end of the monologue is the position of the author-narrator, who doubts the success of this kind of creativity, indicated.

Dialogue, as the most important content element of the genre form of Goncharov's novel, turns out to be a form of expression of the author's point of view in other novels: its dialectical character will increase. The writer's task was to try to define his position without insisting on it as the only reliable one. This, apparently, can explain the "absurdities" of the artistic structure, the inconsistency of the characters of the heroes of "Oblomov" and "Cliff", in which the author was reproached by Druzhinin, Dobrolyubov, and many others. Goncharov, due to the peculiarities of his character, temperament, worldview, could not and did not want to write out ill-conceived and unsuffered personal experience recipes for correcting damaged morals. Like his young hero Aduev, he took up elegant prose when "the heart beats more evenly, thoughts come in order."

In the 40s personality conflict and society was seen by him as developing in several directions at once, two of which he evaluates in Ordinary History, and outlines the other two as possible: the introduction of the hero to the life of Petersburg petty bureaucracy and petty-bourgeoisie (Kostyakov) - this conflict has already been partially revealed in Medny rider" in the fate of Eugene) - and immersion in physical and moral sleep, from which Aduev sobered up. Philistinism and sleep are intermediate stages in the evolution of the hero, which are fully realized in the artistic structure of Oblomov and will develop into independent storylines.

The theme, ideas and images of "Oblomov" and "Cliff" secretly already existed in the art world"Ordinary History", the measured life of Goncharov the official went on as usual. By the will of fate and his own will, he was destined to experience what he dreamed and dreamed of as a teenager.

Already in the first novel, An Ordinary Story (1847), the idea of ​​the entire trilogy received an original embodiment. The conflict between uncle and nephew was intended to reflect the very characteristic phenomena of Russian social life in the 1840s, the customs and life of that era. Goncharov himself explained his plan in the following way in a critical article “Better late than never” (1879): idleness, family and domestic lies of feigned, in essence unprecedented feelings<…>, a waste of time for visits, for unnecessary hospitality, ”etc.

The whole idle, dreamy and affective side of the old morals with the usual impulses of youth - to the lofty, great, elegant, to the effects, with a thirst to express it in crackling prose, especially in verse.

All this “was becoming obsolete, leaving; there were faint glimpses of a new dawn, something sober, businesslike, necessary. This assessment of the conflict is quite understandable if taken in a general historical context. According to Goncharov's plan, the landlord way of life, which brought up Alexander Aduev, the idle, without intense work of the soul and body, the atmosphere of the landowner's estate - these are the social reasons that led to the complete unpreparedness of the "romantic" Aduev to understand the real needs of modern social life.

These needs, to a certain extent, are embodied in the figure of Uncle Peter Ivanovich Aduev. Healthy careerism quite coexists in his character with education and understanding of the "secrets" of the human heart. Consequently, according to Goncharov, the coming "industrial age" in itself does not threaten spiritual development personality, does not turn it into a soulless machine, callous to the suffering of other people. However, the writer, of course, is by no means inclined to idealize the moral image of the representative of the new, victorious "philosophy of the case." The victim of this "philosophy" appears in the epilogue of the novel and the uncle, who lost the love and trust of his wife and himself found himself on the verge of complete spiritual emptiness.

Here we come to understanding the essence of the conflict in Goncharov's first novel. The types of "romantic" and "man of action" for the writer are not only and not so much signs of the hero's belonging to a certain class, profession, or even cultural and everyday microenvironment ("province" or "capital"). First of all, these are “eternal types” and even (in allegorical terms) “eternal” poles of the human spirit, understood and interpreted very broadly: the sublime and the base, the divine and the devilish, etc. No wonder the fate of the heroes is overgrown with many literary reminiscences. For example, Alexander's speeches and actions constantly "rhyme" (in the form of direct quotations, allusions) with the fates of many heroes of European literature, the same "disappointed idealists" as he himself. Here are Goethe's Werther, and Schiller's Karl Moor, and the heroes of Zhukovsky-Schiller's ballads. and Eugene from Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman", and Balzac's Lucien de Rubempre from "Lost Illusions" .... It turns out that the “romantic biography” of Alexander Aduev is as much a biography of the Russian provincial romantic of the 1840s as an “international” biography, “a barely noticeable ring in the endless chain of humanity.” Goncharov himself pushes the hero to this conclusion in the episode, which describes the state of Alexander after the inspired playing of a visiting violinist that struck his imagination. No wonder that sometimes Alexander perceives his dispute with his uncle through the prism of the plot of Pushkin's famous poem "The Demon", and then Pyotr Ivanovich appears to him in the form of an "evil genius", tempting an inexperienced soul ...

The meaning of the "demonic" position of Pyotr Ivanovich lies in the fact that the human personality for him is just a mechanical cast of his "Century". He declares love "crazy"; "disease" on the grounds that it only interferes with a career. Therefore, he does not recognize the power of heartfelt passions, considering human passions "mistakes, ugly deviations from reality." He also refers to "friendship", "duty", "fidelity". All this is allowed to a modern person, but within the boundaries of "decencies" accepted in society. The very essence of the "Century" he, consequently, unduly reduces only to a bureaucratic-bureaucratic career, narrowing the scope of the "affair". It is not for nothing that proportionality, correctness, measure in everything become dominant characteristics of both his behavior and his appearance (cf., for example, the description of a face: “not wooden, but calm”). Goncharov does not accept in his hero not an apology for the “case” as such, but extreme forms of denying dreams and romance, their beneficial role in the formation of human personality at all. And in this case, the correctness in the dispute already goes over to the side of the nephew: “Finally, isn’t it a general law of nature that youth should be anxious, ebullient, sometimes extravagant, stupid, and that every dream will eventually subside, as they subsided with me? » This is how the wise Alexander thinks in his final letter to his uncle.

Closer to the end, the genre structure of Goncharov's first novel, oriented towards the plot canons of the "novel of upbringing", also becomes clearer. The upbringing of life is understood in the novel primarily as the upbringing of the feelings of the hero. "Lessons of love" and become for Alexander a true school of life. It is not for nothing that in the novel it is the personal, spiritual experience of the hero that becomes the main subject. artistic research, and love collisions are closely intertwined with the main conflict of the novel - a dispute between two attitudes: "idealistic" and "soberly practical". One of the lessons of life wisdom was for Alexander the discovery of the beneficial, uplifting power of suffering and delusion: they "purify the soul", make a person "involved in the fullness of life." Anyone who at one time was not an "incurable romantic", was not "eccentric" or "crazy", will never become a good "realist". Pushkin's wisdom - "funny and windy old man, funny and sedate young man" - as if hovering over the final pages of Goncharov's creation. This wisdom helps to understand the enduring essence of the dispute between uncle and nephew.

Is it not because in the finale Pyotr Ivanovich pays so cruelly for his efficiency that he hastened too quickly to accept the "truth" of "Vek" and so easily and indifferently parted with both the "yellow flowers" and the "ribbon" stolen from his beloved's chest of drawers, and with other "romantic nonsense" that was still present in his life? And Alexander? The transformation of Alexander - a "romantic" into a "realist" differs from a similar uncle's transformation in that he takes a "sober look" at life, having previously gone through all the steps of the romantic school of life, "with full consciousness of its true pleasures and bitterness." That is why the “realistic” perception of the world suffered by Alexander is not at all the “necessary evil” of the “Century”, for the sake of which everything poetic must be crushed in oneself. No, Alexander, quite like Pushkin, begins, as the author notes, “to comprehend the poetry of a gray sky, a broken fence, a gate, a dirty pond and a trepak,” that is, the poetry of “the prose of life.” That is why the hero again rushes from Rooks to “businesslike”, “unromantic” Petersburg, that he is gradually imbued with a kind of “romance of business”. Not without reason, in a letter to his aunt, he now considers "activity" to be a "powerful ally" of his romantic love for life. His "soul and body asked for activity," the author notes. And on this path, the vector of the spiritual evolution of Aduev Jr. foreshadowed the appearance of the future hero Goncharov, who was also carried away by the “romance of the case” - Andrei Stolz ...

One can only complain that all these spiritual insights of the hero have remained insights. Stolz did not work out of him. In the epilogue, instead of Stolz, we see a somewhat softened copy of Aduev Sr. instead of the “hero of the case” - the “hero of the businessman”. Neither in the field of "dreams" nor in the field of "work" did Alexander succeed in spiritually transforming and defeating the heavy pace of the "industrial age".

But the reader still remembers that such a possibility was not at all excluded by Goncharov for his hero. Goncharov's first novel was definitely limited by the artistic framework " natural school". With the team of the collection "Physiology of St. Petersburg" the author of "Ordinary History" parted ways in the decision main problem realism - the problem of the typical. In Goncharov's characters, there is always a certain “residue” that cannot be directly derived from historical time, “environment”. Like the author of "Eugene Onegin", it is important for Goncharov to emphasize both the realized and unrealized capabilities of the heroes, not only the measure of their compliance, but also the degree of their inconsistency with their "Century". Projecting the conflict of Ordinary History onto the plot collisions of Goncharov's next novel Oblomov, one can say that Alexander Aduev's idealism harbored two equal, albeit opposite, developmental possibilities. As in the fate of Vladimir Lensky, in the fate of his younger “literary brother”, relatively speaking, both the “Oblomov variant” and the “Stolz variant” were laid down. The development of this dialectic of character will be traced by Goncharov in the system of images of the novel Oblomov.

Analysis of the novel “An Ordinary Story”

In the "Ordinary Story" every person at any stage of his development will find the necessary lesson for himself. The naivety and sentimentality of Sashenka Aduev is ridiculous in a businesslike atmosphere. His pathos is false, and the loftiness of speeches and ideas about life are far from reality. But you can’t call an uncle an ideal either: an efficient breeder, a respected person in society, he is afraid of a sincere living feeling and in his practicality goes too far: he is afraid to show sincere warm feelings for his wife, which leads

her to a nervous breakdown. There is a lot of irony in the uncle's teachings, but the simple-minded nephew takes them too directly - first arguing with them, and then agreeing.
Depriving of false ideals, Alexander Aduev does not acquire true ideals - he simply becomes a prudent vulgar. The irony of Goncharov is aimed at the fact that such a path is no exception. Youthful ideals disappear like “hairs” from the son’s head, about which mother Aduev Jr. so laments. This is the "ordinary story". There are not many people who can resist the pressure of the big city and bourgeois society on their

mind and soul. At the end of the novel, we see that the cynic uncle is much more human than his capable student nephew. Alexander Aduev has turned into a business man, for whom there is nothing more important than career and money. And St. Petersburg expects new victims - naive and inexperienced.

(1 ratings, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Other works on this topic:

1. Studying the fate of Russians writers of the 19th century, you begin to involuntarily get used to the fact that often their lives were cut short by a bullet, a gallows, hard labor, madness ... Ryleev and Radishchev, Pushkin and ...
2. History of creation. I. A. Goncharov - the largest Russian novelist of the second half of XIX century, the creator of a kind of trilogy, which consists of three of his novels. According to the author, this...
3. History of creation. The novel "The Master and Margarita"; was the result of Bulgakov's entire life, his best creation. The novel brought the writer world fame, was and remains one of the most ...
4. The first part of the novel is devoted to one ordinary day of the hero, who spends it without getting up from the couch. The unhurried author's narration draws in detail and in detail the atmosphere of his apartment,...

"Ordinary History", published in 1847 in "Sovremennik", was the first work of art by I.A. Goncharov, which appeared in print. The writer worked on the "Ordinary Story" for three years. In an autobiographical article "An Extraordinary Story" (1875-1878), he wrote: "I was conceived in 1844, written in 1845, and in 1846 I had to finish a few chapters"

Goncharov read his "Extraordinary History" to Belinsky for several evenings in a row. Belinsky was delighted with the new talent, who performed so brilliantly. Before submitting his work "for judgment" to Belinsky, Goncharov read it several times in the Maykovs' friendly literary circle. Before appearing in print, the novel has undergone many corrections and alterations.

Recalling later the 40s, the dark period of the reign of Nicholas, when progressive Russian literature played a huge role in the fight against feudal-serf reaction, Goncharov wrote: morals in the mass - that was what stood in the queue in the struggle and what the main forces of the Russian intelligentsia of the thirties and forties were directed at.

Ordinary History showed that Goncharov was a writer sensitive to the interests of his time. The work reflects the changes and shifts that took place in the life of feudal Russia in 1830-1840. Calling for a fight against the “all-Russian stagnation”, for work for the good of the fatherland, Goncharov passionately searched around him for those forces, those people who could fulfill the tasks facing Russian life.

The essence of the pseudo-romantic worldview, inherent in a significant part of the idealistically inclined, divorced from reality, noble intelligentsia of the 30s, is revealed by Goncharov in the image of the main character of the novel - Alexander Aduev. I saw the soil on which this phenomenon grew in the nobility-local serf system of life, in the noble landowner education.

Romantic perception of life, sublime abstract dreams of glory and exploits, of the extraordinary, poetic impulses - who did not go through all this to some extent in his youth, in the "era of youthful unrest". But the merit of Goncharov as an artist is that he showed how these youthful dreams and illusions are distorted and disfigured by lordly serf education.

Young Aduev knows about grief and troubles only "by ear" - "life from diapers smiles at him." Idleness, ignorance of life "prematurely" developed in Aduev "heart tendencies" and excessive daydreaming. Before us is one of those "romantic sloths", barchuks who are accustomed to carelessly live at the expense of the labor of others. Young Aduev sees the goal and life not in work and creativity (it seemed strange to him to work), but in "sublime existence." "Silence... immobility... blessed stagnation" reigns in the Aduyev estate. But in the estate he does not find a field for himself. And Aduev leaves to "seek happiness", "make a career and look for fortune - to St. Petersburg." All the falsity of Aduev's worldly concepts begins to be revealed in the novel already in the first clashes of his nephew, a dreamer spoiled by laziness and nobility, with a practical and intelligent uncle, Peter Ivanovich Aduev. The uncle's struggle with his nephew also reflected the then, just beginning break-up of old concepts and mores - sentimentality, a caricature exaggeration of feelings of friendship and love, the poetry of idleness, family and domestic lies of feigned, in essence unprecedented feelings, a waste of time on visits, on unnecessary hospitality etc. In a word, the whole idle dreamy and affective side of the old morals, with the usual impulses of youth towards lofty, great, elegant, to effects, with a thirst to express it in crackling prose, especially in verse.

Aduev Sr. at every step mercilessly ridicules the feigned, groundless dreaminess of Aduev Jr. “Your stupid enthusiasm is no good”, “with your ideals it’s good to sit in the countryside”, “forget these sacred and heavenly feelings, and get accustomed to business.” But the young hero does not lend himself to moralizing. "But isn't love a thing?" he answers his uncle. It is characteristic that after the first failure in love, Aduev Jr. complains "of the boredom of life, the emptiness of the soul." The pages of the novel dedicated to the description of the hero's love affairs are an exposure of the selfish, possessive attitude towards a woman, despite all the romantic poses that the hero takes in front of the chosen ones of his heart.

Uncle fiddled with Alexander for eight years. In the end, his nephew becomes a business man, he will have a brilliant career and a profitable marriage of convenience. From the former "heavenly" and "sublime" feelings and dreams, there was not a trace left. The evolution of the character of Alexander Aduev, shown in the "Ordinary History", was "ordinary" for part of the noble youth of that time. Having condemned the romantic Alexander Aduev, Goncharov contrasted him in the novel with another, undoubtedly more positive in a number of ways, but by no means an ideal face - Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev. writer, not former supporter revolutionary transformation of feudal-serf Russia, believed in progress based on the activities of enlightened, energetic and humane people. However, the work reflected not so much these views of the writer, only the contradictions that existed in reality, which carried with them the bourgeois-capitalist relations that were replacing the “All-Russian stagnation”. Rejecting the romanticism of the Aduev type, the writer at the same time felt the inferiority of the philosophy and practice of bourgeois "common sense", the egoism and inhumanity of the bourgeois morality of the elder Aduevs. Pyotr Ivanovich is smart, business-like and, in his own way, a "decent man." But he is extremely "indifferent to a person, to his needs, interests." “They look at what a person has in his pocket and in the buttonhole of his tailcoat, but the rest is nothing to do,” says his wife Lizaveta Alexandrovna about Pyotr Ivanovich and others like him about her wife: “What was the main goal of his labors? Did he work for a common human goal, fulfilling the lesson given to him by fate, or only for petty reasons, in order to acquire official and monetary significance among people, or, finally, so that he would not be bent into an arc by need, circumstances? God knows. He did not like to talk about lofty goals, he called it nonsense, but he said dryly and simply that things had to be done.

Alexander and Pyotr Ivanovich Aduyev are contrasted not only as a romantic provincial nobleman and a businessman-bourgeois, but also as two psychologically opposite types. “One is enthusiastic to the point of madness, the other is icy to bitterness,” says Lizaveta Alexandrovna about her nephew and husband.

Goncharov sought to find an ideal, that is, a normal type of person, not in Aduev Sr. and not in Aduev Jr., but in something else, a third, in the harmony of "mind" and "heart". A clear hint of this is already contained in the image of Lizaveta Alexandrovna Adueva, despite the fact that the “century” “stuck” her, according to the just remark of Belinsky, Pyotr Ivanovich.

Among these wonderful images, one should include not only Lizaveta Alexandrovna, but also Nadenka.

The daughter is a few steps ahead of the mother. She fell in love with Aduev without asking and almost does not hide it from her mother or is silent only for decency, considering herself the right to dispose of her inner world and Aduev himself in her own way, whom, having studied him well, she mastered and commands. This is her obedient slave, gentle, spinelessly kind, promising something, but petty proud, simple, ordinary young man, of which there are many everywhere. And she would accept him, marry him - and everything would go on as usual.

But the figure of the count appeared, consciously intelligent, dexterous, with brilliance. Nadenka saw that Aduev could not bear comparison with him either in mind, or in character, or in education. Nadenka in her everyday life did not acquire consciousness of any ideals of manhood, strength, and what kind of strength? It only took her to see that she had seen a thousand times in all the other young men with whom she danced, flirting a little. She listened to his poetry for a moment. She expected that strength, talent were hidden there. But it turned out that he only writes tolerable poems, but no one knows about them, and even sulks himself at the count because this one is simple, smart and behaves with dignity. She went over to the side of the latter: this was the conscious step of the Russian girl so far - silent emancipation, a protest against the helpless authority of her mother.

I. A. Goncharov with M. Yu. Lermontov, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. I. Herzen in the 1840s laid the foundation for the Russian classical novel.

Goncharov's first creation of this kind was Ordinary History, on which he worked in 1845-1846. Its publication in the journal Sovremennik (1847) brought the author not only fame, but a noisy fame, evoked rave reviews from the most demanding critics - V. G. Belinsky, Ap. Grigoriev, V.P. Botkin. Grigoriev considered her the best work since the advent of Dead Souls. Belinsky declared that Goncharov now occupies one of the most prominent places in Russian literature.

In the novel Ordinary History, the analysis of which interests us, Goncharov brought to the stage and forced to speak out two characters who personified the two sides of Russian reality, previously separated and far from each other, and now brought together by life itself.

Aduev Sr. is a type well known to the novelist, characteristic of his Petersburg environment. He is a sign of the times, a product of the "Petersburg period of Russian history." This is not only a successful metropolitan official, but also the latest businessman, an entrepreneur who derives considerable benefits from his work for the benefit of industry and general progress. He is a practitioner and at the same time a philosopher in his field, who has developed an irrefutable system of principles and rules that guarantee him success, well-being, and spiritual comfort. Pyotr Ivanovich has no doubt that he fully understood the nature of man and the laws of his existence, that he measured all his needs and possibilities; he is convinced that everything that goes beyond the measured is groundless dreams, idle and harmful fantasies, arising from inactivity, stupidity and ignorance of reality. Filled with such confidence, armed with experience, common sense, caustic irony, he mercilessly debunks and executes in his nephew the naive faith in “high and beautiful”, in “ eternal love”, into “the sanctity of friendly ties”.

Aduev Jr. was also well acquainted with Goncharov. These Aduevs are the pupils of old manor estates, for the most part enthusiastic idealists who brought from their native nest, from books, from the walls of the university, both lofty and abstract ideas about human feelings, about virtues, about creativity and public service. Petersburg becomes a difficult test for Alexander. And it turns out that the young hero has nothing to oppose to the logic and prose of Petersburg reality. His resources are few, his inspiration is formless, his enthusiasm is short-lived, his arguments are unconvincing in a dispute with modernity - and with his uncle. The further Goncharov develops and finishes the character of Alexander (repeatedly emphasizing his affinity to Pushkin's Lensky), the clearer it becomes that this romanticist appropriated romanticism to himself, but failed to embody it in his deed, in fate, in creativity, which is how he differs from true romantics. At the end of the novel, he decides to put his mental and spiritual wealth into a profitable circulation - into that circulation of abilities and capital, which creates St. Petersburg civilization - and succeeds in this no less than his uncle.

Goncharov does not judge and punish the heroes, he only carefully collects all the details of their lives and draws up a simple, harmonious picture - without sharp contours, without too thick shadows, without too bright spots of light. The meaning of the picture speaks for itself, ”although it is not so simple as it seemed to some critics. It is impossible to make a mistake in it: all the data are reliable, tangible, everything lives and moves here freely and naturally. This is the irresistible power of Goncharov's realism, which manifested itself already in the first novel, Ordinary History.