Analysis of the story “Clean Monday. Analysis of “Clean Monday” Bunin Clean Monday detailed analysis

Analysis of I. Bunin’s work “Clean Monday” in the genre-genre aspect

“Clean Monday” is one of Bunin’s most wonderful and mysterious works. “Clean Monday” was written on May 12, 1944, and was included in the cycle of stories and short stories “Dark Alleys”. At this time, Bunin was in exile in France. It was there, already in old age, in France occupied by Nazi troops, experiencing hunger, suffering, and a break with his beloved, that he created the cycle “Dark Alleys.” This is how he himself talks about it: “I live, of course, very, very badly - loneliness, hunger, cold and terrible poverty. The only thing that saves us is work.”

The collection “Dark Alleys” is a collection of stories and short stories, united by one common theme, the theme of love, the most diverse, quiet, timid or passionate, secret or obvious, but still love. The author himself considered the works in the collection, written in 1937 - 1944, to be his highest achievement. The author wrote about the book “Dark Alleys” in April 1947: “It talks about the tragic and about many tender and beautiful things - I think that this is the best and most beautiful thing that I have written in my life.” The book was published in 1946 in Paris.

The author considered the story “Clean Monday” to be the best work in this collection.The assessment of the novella made by the author himself is well known: “I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.”

Like the other 37 short stories in this book, the story is dedicated totheme of love. Love is a flash, a brief moment for which you cannot prepare in advance, which cannot be held back; love is beyond any laws, it seems to say:“It can’t be dirty where I’m standing!” - this is Bunin’s concept of love. This is exactly how - suddenly and dazzlingly - love flared up in the heart of the hero of “Clean Monday”.

The genre of this work is a short story. The turning point of the plot, forcing us to rethink the content, is the unexpected departure of the heroine to the monastery.

The narration is told in the first person, so the feelings and experiences of the narrator are deeply revealed. The narrator is a man, recalling what must be the best period of his biography, his young years and the time of passionate love. Memories are stronger than him - otherwise, in fact, this story would not exist.

The image of the heroine is perceived through two different consciousnesses: the hero, a direct participant in the events described, and the distant consciousness of the narrator, who looks at what is happening through the prism of his memory. Above these angles is built the author's position, manifested in artistic integrity and selection of material.

The hero's worldview undergoes changes after the love story - depicting himself in 1912, the narrator resorts to irony, revealing his limitations in the perception of his beloved, a lack of understanding of the meaning of the experience, which he can only appreciate in retrospect. The general tone in which the story is written speaks of the inner maturity and depth of the narrator.

The short story “Clean Monday” has a complex spatiotemporal organization: historical time (horizontal chronotope) and universal, cosmic time (vertical chronotope).

The picture of life in Russia in the 1910s in the novel is contrasted with ancient, centuries-old, real Rus', reminiscent of itself in churches, ancient rituals, literary monuments, as if peeking through the superficial vanity:“And now this Rus' remains only in some northern monasteries.”

“The Moscow gray winter day darkened, the gas in the lanterns was coldly lit, the shop windows were warmly illuminated - and the evening Moscow life, freeing from daytime affairs, flared up: the cabbies' sleighs rushed thicker and more vigorously, the crowded, diving trams rattled more heavily, in the darkness it was visible how green stars hissed from the wires, - dull black passers-by hurried more animatedly along the snowy sidewalks...” - this is how the story begins. Bunin verbally paints a picture of a Moscow evening, and in the description there is not only the author’s vision, but also smell, touch, and hearing. Through this cityscape, the narrator introduces the reader to the atmosphere of an exciting love story. A mood of inexplicable melancholy, mystery and loneliness accompanies us throughout the entire work.

The events of the story “Clean Monday” take place in Moscow in 1913. As already noted, Bunin draws two images of Moscow that determine the toponymic level of the text: “Moscow is the ancient capital of Holy Rus'” (where the theme “Moscow - III Rome” found its embodiment) and Moscow - the beginning of the 20th century, depicted in specific historical and cultural realities: Red Gate, restaurants “Prague”, “Hermitage”, “Metropol”, “Yar”, “Strelna”, Egorova tavern, Okhotny Ryad, Art Theater.

These proper names immerse us in the world of celebration and abundance, unbridled fun and dim light. This is Moscow at night, secular, which is a kind of antithesis to another Moscow, Orthodox Moscow, represented in the story by the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Iveron Chapel, St. Basil's Cathedral, Novodevichy, Conception, Chudov monasteries, Rogozhsky cemetery, Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. These two circles of toponyms in the text form the shape of peculiar rings communicating with each other through the image of a gate. The movement of the characters in the space of Moscow is carried out from the Red Gate along the trajectory of “Prague”, “Hermitage”, “Metropol”, “Yar”, “Strelna”, Art Theater.Through the gates of the Rogozhskoe cemetery they find themselves on another toponymic circle: Ordynka, Griboyedovsky Lane, Okhotny Ryad, Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent, Egorova Tavern, Zachatievsky and Chudov Monasteries. These two Moscows are two different worldviews that fit into one given space.

The beginning of the story seems ordinary: before us is the everyday life of evening Moscow, but as soon as significant places appear in the narrativeMoscow, the text takes on a different meaning. The life of the heroes begins to be determined by cultural signs; it fits into the context of the history and culture of Russia. “Every evening at this hour my coachman rushed me on a stretched trotter - from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior,” the author continues his beginning of the story - and the plot takes on some kind of sacred meaning.

From the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Bunin's Moscow stretches; from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, every evening the hero makes this path in his desire to see his beloved. The Red Gate and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior are the most important symbols of Moscow, and beyond it, of all of Russia. One marks the triumph of imperial power, the other is a tribute to the feat of the Russian people. The first is a confirmation of the luxury and splendor of secular Moscow, the second is gratitude to God, who stood up for Russia in the war of 1812. It should be noted that the Moscow style in urban planning at the turn of the century is characterized by a strange combination and interweaving of various styles and trends. Therefore, Moscow in Bunin’s text is Moscow of the modern era. The architectural style in the text of the story corresponds to a similar process in literature: modernist sentiments permeate the entire culture.

The heroes of the story visit the Art Theater and Chaliapin's concerts. Bunin, naming in “Clean Monday” the names of the cult symbolist writers: Hoffmannsthal, Schnitzler, Tetmeier, Przybyshevsky and Bely, does not name Bryusov, he introduces into the text only the title of his novel, thereby turning the reader to this work, and not to everything the writer’s work (“- Have you finished reading “The Fiery Angel”? - I finished it. It’s so pompous that I’m ashamed to read.”)

In all their splendor and characteristic Moscow eclecticism, “Prague”, “Hermitage”, “Metropol” appear - famous restaurants where Bunin’s heroes spend their evenings. With the mention in the text of the story about the Rogozhsky cemetery and the Egorov tavern, where the heroes visited on Forgiveness Sunday, the narrative is filled with ancient Russian motifs. The Rogozhskoe cemetery is the center of the Moscow community of Old Believers, a symbol of the eternal Russian “schism” of the soul. The newly emerging gate symbol accompanies those entering.Bunin was not a deeply religious person. He perceived religion, in particular Orthodoxy, in the context of other world religions, as one of the forms of culture. Perhaps it is from this culturological point of view that the religious motifs in the text should be interpreted as an allusion to the dying spirituality of Russian culture, to the destruction of ties with its history, the loss of which leads to general confusion and chaos. Through the Red Gate, the author introduces the reader to Moscow life, immerses him in the atmosphere of idle Moscow, which has lost its historical vigilance in stormy fun. Through another gate - “the gate of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery” - the narrator leads us into the space of Moscow of Holy Rus': “On Ordynka I stopped a cab driver at the gate of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery... For some reason I definitely wanted to enter there.” And here is another important toponym of this Holy Rus' - Bunin’s description of the cemetery of the Novo-Maiden Convent:“Creaking in silence through the snow, we entered the gate, walked along the snowy paths through the cemetery, it was light, the branches in the frost were marvelously drawn on the golden enamel of the sunset like gray coral, and the unquenchable lamps scattered over the graves mysteriously glowed around us with calm, sad lights.” The state of the external natural world surrounding the heroes contributes to the heroine’s concentrated and in-depth perception and awareness of her feelings and actions, and decision-making. It seems that when she left the cemetery, she had already made a choice. The most important toponym in the Moscow text of the story is also Egorov’s tavern, with which the author introduces significant folklore and Christian realities. Here the “Egorov pancakes” appear before the reader, “thick, ruddy, with different fillings.” Pancakes, as you know, are a symbol of the sun - a festive and memorial food. Forgiveness Sunday coincides with the pagan holiday of Maslenitsa, also the day of remembrance of the dead. It is noteworthy that the heroes go to the Egorov tavern for pancakes after visiting the graves of people dearly loved by Bunin - Ertel and Chekhov - at the cemetery of the Novo-Devichy Convent.

Sitting on the second floor of the tavern, Bunin’s heroine exclaims: “Good! There are wild men below, and here are pancakes with champagne and the Mother of God of Three Hands. Three hands! After all, this is India! » Obviously, this is a jumble of symbols and associations with different cultures and different religions in one the Orthodox image of the Mother of God gives us the opportunity for an ambiguous interpretation of this image. On the one hand, this is the deep-rooted, blind worship of the people of their deity - the Mother of God, rooted in the pagan fundamental principle, on the other - worship, ready to turn into a blind, cruel in its naivety, popular revolt, and rebellion in any of its manifestations Bunin the writer condemned.

The plot of the story “Clean Monday” is based on the unhappy love of the main character, which determined his whole life. A distinctive feature of many of I. A. Bunin’s works is the absence of happy love. Even the most prosperous story often ends tragically for this writer.

Initially, one may get the impression that “Clean Monday” has all the signs of a love story and its culmination is the night the lovers spend together. But the storynot about this or not only about this.... Already at the very beginning of the story it is directly stated that what will unfold before us« odd love» between a dazzling handsome man, in whose appearance there is even something« Sicilian» (however, he only comes from Penza), and« Shamakhan queen» (as those around her call the heroine), whose portrait is given in great detail: there was something in the beauty of the girl« Indian, Persian» (although her origin is very prosaic: her father is a merchant of a noble family from Tver, her grandmother is from Astrakhan). She has« dark-amber face, magnificent and somewhat ominous hair in its thick blackness, softly shining like black sable fur, eyebrows, eyes black as velvet coal» , captivating« velvety crimson» lips shaded with dark fluff. Her favorite evening outfit is also described in detail: a garnet velvet dress and matching shoes with gold buckles. (Somewhat unexpected in the rich palette of Bunin’s epithets is the persistent repetition of the epithet velvet, which, obviously, should highlight the amazing softness of the heroine. But let’s not forget about« coal» , which is undoubtedly associated with firmness.) Thus, Bunin’s heroes are deliberately likened to each other - in the sense of beauty, youth, charm, and obvious originality of appearance

However, further Bunin carefully, but very consistently« prescribes» difference between« Sicilian» And« Shamakhan queen» , which will turn out to be fundamental and ultimately lead to a dramatic outcome - eternal separation. Nothing bothers the heroes of Clean Monday; they live such a prosperous life that the concept of everyday life is not very applicable to their pastime. It is no coincidence that Bunin literally piece by piece recreates a rich picture of the intellectual and cultural life of Russia in 1911-1912. (For this story, the attachment of events to a specific time is generally very important. Bunin usually prefers greater temporal abstraction.) Here, as they say, on one spot, all the events that during the first one and a half decades of the 20th century are concentrated. excited the minds of the Russian intelligentsia. These are new productions and skits of the Art Theater; lectures by Andrei Bely, read by him in such an original manner that everyone talked about it; the most popular stylization of historical events of the 16th century. - witch trials and V. Bryusov’s novel “Fire Angel”; fashionable writers of the Viennese school« modern» A. Schnitzler and G. Hofmannsthal; works of the Polish decadents K. Tetmaier and S. Przybyszewski; the stories of L. Andreev, who attracted everyone's attention, the concerts of F. Chaliapin... Literary scholars even find historical inconsistencies in the picture of life in pre-war Moscow depicted by Bunin, pointing out that many of the events he cited could not have occurred at the same time. However, it seems that Bunin deliberately compresses time, achieving its utmost density, materiality, and tangibility.

So, every day and evening of the heroes is filled with something interesting - visiting theaters, restaurants. They should not burden themselves with work or study (it is true that the heroine is studying at some courses, but she cannot really answer why she attends them), they are free and young. I would really like to add: and happy. But this word can only be applied to the hero, although he is aware that the happiness of being near her is mixed with torment. And yet for him this is undoubted happiness.« Great happiness» , as Bunin says (and his voice in this story largely merges with the voice of the narrator).

What about the heroine? Is she happy? Isn’t it the greatest happiness for a woman to discover that she is loved more than life itself (« It's true how you love me! - she said with quiet bewilderment, shaking her head.» ), that she is desirable, that they want to see her as a wife? But this is clearly not enough for the heroine! It is she who utters a significant phrase about happiness, which contains an entire life philosophy:« Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it, it swells, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing.» . At the same time, it turns out that it was not invented by her, but said by Platon Karataev, whose wisdom her interlocutor also immediately declared« eastern» .

It’s probably worth immediately paying attention to the fact that Bunin, clearly emphasizing the gesture, emphasized how the young man responded to Karataev’s words quoted by the heroine« waved his hand» . Thus, the discrepancy between the views and perceptions of certain phenomena by the hero and heroine becomes obvious. He exists in the real dimension, in the present time, therefore he calmly perceives everything that happens in him as an integral part of him. Boxes of chocolates are as much a sign of attention for him as a book; in general, he doesn’t care where to go - to« Metropol» whether to have lunch, or wander around Ordynka in search of Griboedov’s house, or sit at dinner in a tavern, or listen to the gypsies. He does not feel the surrounding vulgarity, which is wonderfully captured by Bunin and in the performance« Poles Tranblanc» when your partner shouts out« goat» a meaningless set of phrases, and in the cheeky performance of songs by an old gypsy« with the gray face of a drowned man» and a gypsy« with a low forehead under tar bangs» . He is not very offended by drunk people around, annoyingly helpful sex workers, or the emphasized theatricality in the behavior of people of art. And his agreement to her invitation, spoken in English, sounds like the height of disagreement with the heroine:« Ol right!»

All this does not mean, of course, that high feelings are inaccessible to him, that he is unable to appreciate the unusualness and uniqueness of the girl he meets. On the contrary, his enthusiastic love clearly saves him from the surrounding vulgarity, and the rapture and pleasure with which he listens to her words, how he knows how to highlight a special intonation in them, how attentive he is even to little things (he sees« quiet light» in her eyes, it makes her happy« good talkativeness» ), speaks in his favor. It is not without reason that when he mentioned that his beloved might go to a monastery, he« lost in excitement» , lights a cigarette and almost admits out loud that out of despair he is capable of stabbing someone to death or also becoming a monk. And when something really happens that only arose in the heroine’s imagination, and she decides first to obey, and then, apparently, to take monastic vows (in the epilogue the hero meets her in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy), he first sinks and drinks himself to such an extent degree that it seems impossible to be reborn, and then, albeit little by little,« is recovering» , comes back to life, but somehow« indifferent, hopeless» , although he sobs, walking through those places where they once visited together. He has a sensitive heart: after all, immediately after a night of intimacy, when nothing portends trouble, he feels himself and what happened so strongly and bitterly that the old woman near the Iveron Chapel turns to him with the words:« Oh, don't kill yourself, don't kill yourself like that!»
Consequently, the height of his feelings and ability to experience are beyond doubt. The heroine herself admits this when, in her farewell letter, she asks God to give him strength.« do not answer» to her, realizing that their correspondence will only« it is useless to prolong and increase our torment» . And yet the intensity of his mental life cannot be compared with her spiritual experiences and insights. Moreover, Bunin deliberately creates the impression that he, as it were,« echoes» the heroine, agreeing to go where she calls, admiring what delights her, entertaining her with what, as it seems to him, can occupy her in the first place. That doesn't mean he doesn't have his own« I» , own individuality. He is no stranger to reflections and observations, he is attentive to the changes in the mood of his beloved, he is the first to notice that their relationship is developing in such a way« strange» a city like Moscow.

But still it is she who leads« party» , it is her voice that is especially clearly distinguishable. Actually, the heroine’s fortitude and the choice she ultimately makes become the semantic core of Bunin’s work. It is her deep concentration on something that is not immediately definable, for the time being hidden from prying eyes, that constitutes the alarming nerve of the narrative, the ending of which defies any logical or everyday explanation. And if the hero is talkative and restless, if he can put off a painful decision until later, assuming that everything will be resolved somehow by itself or, in extreme cases, not think about the future at all, then the heroine is always thinking about something of her own, which is only indirect breaks through in her remarks and conversations. She loves to quote Russian chronicle legends, and she is especially fascinated by ancient Russian« The story of the faithful spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom» (Bunin incorrectly indicated the name of the prince - Pavel).

However, it should be noted that the text of the life is used by the author of “Clean Monday” in a significantly revised form. The heroine, who knows this text, in her words, thoroughly (“I re-read what I especially like until I learn it by heart”), mixes two completely different plot lines of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia”: the episode of the temptation of Prince Paul’s wife, to which the devil-snake appears in the guise of her husband, then killed by Paul’s brother, Peter, and the story of the life and death of Peter himself and his wife Fevronia. As a result, it seems as if the “blessed death” of the characters in the life is in a cause-and-effect relationship with the theme of temptation (cf. the heroine’s explanation: “This is how God tested”). Absolutely not corresponding to the actual state of affairs in life, this idea is quite logical in the context of Bunin’s story: the image “composed” by the heroine herself of a woman who did not succumb to temptation, who, even in marriage, managed to prefer eternal spiritual kinship to “vain” physical intimacy, is psychologically close to her.

Even more interesting is what shades such an interpretation of the ancient Russian story brings to the image of Bunin’s hero. Firstly, he is directly compared to “a serpent in human nature, extremely beautiful.” The comparison of the hero with the devil, who has temporarily taken on human form, is prepared from the beginning of the story: “I<. >was handsome at that time<. >was even “indecently handsome,” as one famous actor once told me<. >“The devil knows who you are, some kind of Sicilian,” he said.” In the same spirit, the association with another work of the hagiographic genre can be interpreted in “Clean Monday” - this time introduced by the hero’s remark, who quotes the words of Yuri Dolgoruky from a letter to Svyatoslav Seversky with an invitation to a “Moscow dinner”. At the same time, the plot of “The Miracle of St. George” and, accordingly, the motif of snake fighting are updated: firstly, the ancient Russian form of the prince’s name - “Gyurgi” is given; secondly, the heroine herself clearly personifies Moscow (the hero defines the inconsistency of her actions as “Moscow quirks” ). It is not surprising, by the way, that the hero in this case turns out to be more erudite than the heroine who loves antiquities: as a sybarite, he knows better everything that concerns “dinners” (including historical ones), and as a “snake” - everything that concerns “snake fighters” .

However, precisely because the heroine of “Clean Monday” treats the Old Russian text quite freely, the hero of the story in the subtext turns out to be not only a “snake”, but also a “snake fighter”: in the work, for the heroine, he is not only “this snake”, but also “this prince” (as she herself is “princess”). It should be taken into account that in the real “Tale of Peter and Fevronia” Peter kills a snake in the guise of his own brother, Paul; The motive of “fratricide” in Bunin’s story takes on meaning, because it emphasizes the idea of ​​“the two-part nature of man, the coexistence and struggle of the “divine” and the “devilish” in him. Of course, the hero-narrator himself “does not see” these extremes in his own being and does not oppose them; Moreover, it is impossible to reproach him for any malicious intent: he plays the role of a tempter only involuntarily. It is interesting, for example, that although the heroine claims that the lifestyle they lead is imposed by the hero (“I, for example, often go in the mornings or evenings, when you don’t drag me to restaurants, to the Kremlin cathedrals”), the impression is that that the initiative belongs to her. As a result, the “serpent” is put to shame, the temptation is overcome - however, the idyll does not come: a joint “blessed dormition” is impossible for the heroes. Within the framework of the “paradise lost” scheme, the hero embodies “Adam” and “Snake” in one person.

Through these reminiscences, the author to some extent explains the strange behavior of the heroine of “Clean Monday”. She leads, at first glance, a life typical of a representative of the bohemian-aristocratic circle, with quirks and the obligatory “consumption” of various intellectual “food”, in particular the works of the symbolist writers mentioned above. And at the same time, the heroine visits churches and schismatic cemetery, without considering herself too religious. “This is not religiosity. “I don’t know what,” she says. “But I, for example, often go in the mornings or evenings, when you don’t drag me to restaurants, to the Kremlin cathedrals, and you don’t even suspect it...”

She can listen to church hymns. The very vowel sounds of the words of the Old Russian language will not leave her indifferent, and she, as if spellbound, will repeat them... And her conversations are no less “strange” than her actions. She either invites her lover to the Novodevichy Convent, then leads him around Ordynka in search of the house where Griboyedov lived (it would be more accurate to say, he visited, because in one of the Horde alleys there was the house of uncle A.S. Griboyedov), then she talks about her visiting an old schismatic cemetery, he confesses his love for Chudov, Zachatievsky and other monasteries, where he constantly goes. And, of course, the most “strange” thing, incomprehensible from the point of view of everyday logic, is her decision to retire to a monastery, to sever all ties with the world.

But Bunin, as a writer, does everything to “explain” this strangeness. The reason for this "strangeness"» - in the contradictions of the Russian national character, which themselves are a consequence of Rus'’s location at the crossroads of East and West. This is where the story constantly emphasizes the clash between Eastern and Western principles. The author's eye, the narrator's eye, stops at the cathedrals built in Moscow by Italian architects, ancient Russian architecture that has adopted Eastern traditions (something Kyrgyz in the towers of the Kremlin wall), the Persian beauty of the heroine - the daughter of a Tver merchant, discovers a combination of incongruous things in her favorite clothes (the arhaluk Astrakhan grandmother, then a European fashionable dress), in the setting and affections - “Moonlight Sonata” and the Turkish sofa on which she reclines. When the Moscow Kremlin clock strikes, she hears the sounds of a Florentine clock. The heroine’s gaze also captures the “extravagant” habits of the Moscow merchants - pancakes with caviar, washed down with frozen champagne. But she herself is not alien to the same tastes: she orders foreign sherry with Russian navazhka.

No less important is the internal contradiction of the heroine, who is depicted by the writer at a spiritual crossroads. She often says one thing and does something else: she is surprised by the gourmandness of other people, but she herself has lunch and dinner with an excellent appetite, then she attends all the newfangled meetings, then she does not leave the house at all, she is irritated by the surrounding vulgarity, but goes to dance the Tranblanc polka, causing everyone’s admiration and applause, delays moments of intimacy with her beloved, and then suddenly agrees to it...

But in the end, she still makes a decision, the only correct decision, which, according to Bunin, was predetermined by Russia - by its entire destiny, its entire history. The path of repentance, humility and forgiveness.

Refusal of temptations (it is not for nothing that, agreeing to intimacy with her lover, the heroine says, characterizing his beauty: “A serpent in human nature, extremely beautiful...» , - i.e. refers to him the words from the legend of Peter and Fevronia - about the machinations of the devil, who sent the pious princess “a flying kite for fornication”» ), which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. before Russia in the form of uprisings and riots and, according to the writer, served as the beginning of its “cursed days» , - this is what was supposed to provide his homeland with a decent future. Forgiveness addressed to all those who are guilty is what, according to Bunin, would help Russia withstand the whirlwind of historical cataclysms of the 20th century. The path of Russia is the path of fasting and renunciation. But that didn't happen. Russia has chosen a different path. And the writer never tired of mourning her fate while in exile.

Probably, strict zealots of Christian piety will not consider the writer’s arguments in favor of the heroine’s decision convincing. In their opinion, she clearly accepted him not under the influence of the grace that descended on her, but for other reasons. They will rightly feel that there is too little revelation and too much poetry in her adherence to church rituals. She herself says that her love for church rituals can hardly be considered real religiosity. Indeed, she perceives the funeral too aesthetically (forged gold brocade, a white bedspread embroidered with black letters (air) on the face of the deceased, snow blinding in the cold and the shine of fir branches inside the grave), she listens too admiringly to the music of the words of Russian legends (“I’m re-reading what what I especially liked, until I memorize it”), becomes too immersed in the atmosphere accompanying the service in the church (“the stichera are wonderfully sung there,” “there are puddles everywhere, the air is already soft, my soul is somehow tender, sad...”, “ all the doors in the cathedral are open, ordinary people come and go all day» ...). And in this, the heroine in her own way turns out to be close to Bunin himself, who also in the Novodevichy Convent will see “jackdaws that look like nuns» , “gray corals of branches in frost”, marvelously emerging “on the golden enamel of the sunset» , blood-red walls and mysteriously glowing lamps.

Thus, in choosing the ending of the story, it is not so much the religious attitude and position of Bunin the Christian that is important, but rather the position of Bunin the writer, for whose worldview a sense of history is extremely important. “The feeling of the homeland, its antiquity,” as the heroine of “Clean Monday” says about it. This is also why she abandoned a future that could have turned out happily, because she decided to leave everything worldly, because the disappearance of beauty, which she feels everywhere, is unbearable for her. “Desperate cancans” and frisky Poles Tranblanc, performed by the most talented people of Russia - Moskvin, Stanislavsky and Sulerzhitsky, replaced singing on “hooks” (what is that!), and in the place of the heroes Peresvet and Oslyabi - “pale from hops, with a large sweat on forehead”, the beauty and pride of the Russian stage almost falling off his feet - Kachalov and the “daring” Chaliapin.

Therefore, the phrase: “It’s only in some northern monasteries that this Rus' now remains” - appears quite naturally in the mouth of the heroine. She means the irretrievably disappearing feelings of dignity, beauty, goodness, for which she yearns immensely and which she hopes to find in monastic life.

The main character experiences the tragic ending of his relationship with the heroine very hard. This is confirmed by the following passage: “I spent a long time drinking myself in the dirtiest taverns, sinking more and more in every possible way... Then I began to recover - indifferently, hopelessly.” Judging by these two quotes, the hero is a very sensitive and emotional person, capable of deep feelings. Bunin avoids direct assessments, but allows one to judge this by the state of the hero’s soul, by skillfully selected external details, and light hints.

We look at the heroine of the story through the eyes of the narrator who is in love with her. Already at the very beginning of the work, her portrait appears before us: “She had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty: a dark-amber face, magnificent and somewhat ominous hair in its thickness, softly shining like black sable fur, black like velvet coal , eyes". Through the mouth of the protagonist, a description of the heroine’s restless soul, her search for the meaning of life, worries and doubts are conveyed. As a result, the image of a “spiritual wanderer” is revealed to us in its entirety.

The climax of the story is the decision of the hero’s beloved to go to a monastery. This unexpected plot twist allows us to understand the undecided soul of the heroine. Almost all descriptions of the heroine’s appearance and the world around her are given against a background of dim light, in the twilight; and only in the cemetery on Forgiveness Sunday and exactly two years after that Clean Monday does the process of enlightenment take place, the spiritual transformation of the heroes’ lives, a symbolic and artistic modification of the worldview takes place, the images of light and the brilliance of the sun change. Harmony and tranquility dominate in the artistic world: “The evening was peaceful, sunny, with frost on the trees; on the bloody brick walls of the monastery, jackdaws chattered in silence, looking like nuns; the chimes played every now and then subtly and sadly in the bell tower». The artistic development of time in the story is associated with symbolic metamorphoses of the image of light. The whole story takes place as if in twilight, in a dream, illuminated only by the mystery and sparkle of the eyes, silk hair, and gold clasps on the red dress shoes of the main character. Evening, darkness, mystery - these are the first things that catch your eye in the perception of the image of this unusual woman.

It is symbolically inseparable both for us and for the narrator with the most magical and mysterious time of day. However, it should be noted that the contradictory state of the world is most often defined by the epithets calm, peaceful, quiet. The heroine, despite her intuitive sense of space and time of chaos, like Sophia, carries within herself and gives harmony to the world. According to S. Bulgakov, the category of time as the driving image of eternity “seems not applicable to Sophia, since temporality is inextricably linked with being-non-existence» and if in Sophia everything is absent, then temporality is also absent: She conceives everything, has everything within herself in a single act, in the image of eternity, she is timeless, although she carries all eternity within herself;

Contradictions and oppositions begin from the first sentence, from the first paragraph:

the gas was lit coldly - the shop windows were warmly illuminated,

The day grew darker - passers-by hurried more animatedly,

every evening I rushed to her - I didn’t know how it would all end,

I didn’t know - and try not to think,

We met every evening - once and for all we stopped talking about the future...

for some reason I studied in courses - I rarely attended them,

it looked like she didn’t need anything - but she always read books, ate chocolate,

I didn’t understand how people wouldn’t get tired of having lunch every day - I dined myself with a Moscow understanding of the matter,

my weakness was good clothes, velvet, silks - I went to courses as a modest student,

went to restaurants every evening - visited cathedrals and monasteries, when she was not “dragged” to restaurants,

meets, allows himself to be kissed - with quiet bewilderment he is surprised: “How you love me”...

The story is replete with numerous hints and half-hints with which Bunin emphasizes the duality of the contradictory way of Russian life, the combination of the incongruous. In the heroine’s apartment there is a “wide Turkish sofa.”The all too familiar and beloved image of Oblomov’s sofa appears eight times in the text.

Next to the sofa there is an “expensive piano”, and above the sofa, the writer emphasizes, “for some reason there was a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy”Apparently, the famous work of I.E. Repin’s “Leo Tolstoy is barefoot,” and a few pages later the heroine quotes a remark from Tolstoy’s Platon Karataev about happiness. Researchers reasonably correlate the influence of the ideas of the late Tolstoy with the hero’s mention of the story that the heroine “had breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian canteen on the Arbat.”

Let us once again remember that verbal portrait of her: “... When leaving, she most often put on a garnet velvet dress and the same shoes with gold buckles (and she went to courses as a modest student, had breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian canteen on the Arbat).” These daily metamorphoses - from morning asceticism to evening luxury - super-concisely and mirror Tolstoy’s life evolution, as he saw it himself - from luxury at the beginning of his life’s journey to asceticism in old age. Moreover, the external signs of this evolution, like Tolstoy’s, are the preferences of Bunin’s heroine in clothing and food: in the evening, a modest student student transforms into a lady in a garnet velvet dress and shoes with gold buckles; The heroine has breakfast for thirty kopecks in a vegetarian canteen, but she “had lunch and dinner” “with a Moscow understanding of the matter.” Compare with the peasant dress and vegetarianism of the late Tolstoy, effectively and efficiently contrasted with the refined clothing of the nobility and gastronomy (to which the writer paid generous tribute in his youth).

And the final escape of the heroine looks quite Tolstoyan, except with inevitable gender adjustments. from And from this world full of aesthetically and sensually attractive temptations. She even arranges her departure similarly to Tolstoy, sending the hero a letter - “an affectionate but firm request not to wait for her any longer, not to try to look for her, to see her.” Compare with the telegram sent by Tolstoy to his family on October 31, 1910: “We are leaving. Don't look. Writing".

A Turkish sofa and an expensive piano are East and West, barefoot Tolstoy is Russia, Rus' in its unusual, “clumsy” and eccentric appearance that does not fit into any framework.

The idea that Russia is a strange but clear combination of two layers, two cultural structures - “Western” and “Eastern”, European and Asian, which in its appearance, as well as in its history, is located somewhere at the intersection these two lines of world historical development - this idea runs like a red thread through all fourteen pages of Bunin’s story, which, contrary to the initial impression, is based on a complete historical system that touches on the most fundamental moments of Russian history and the character of the Russian person for Bunin and the people of his era.

So, finding itself between two fires - the West and the East, at the point of intersection of opposing historical trends and cultural ways, Russia has at the same time retained in the depths of its history the specific features of national life, the indescribable charm of which for Bunin is concentrated in the chronicles on the one hand, and in religious ritualism - on the other. Spontaneous passion, chaos (East) and classical clarity, harmony (West) are combined in the patriarchal depth of national Russian self-awareness, according to Bunin, into a complex complex in which the main role is given to restraint, meaningfulness - not obvious, but hidden, hidden, although -in your own deep and thorough way.One of the most important components of the text is its title “Clean Monday”. On the one hand, it is very specific: Clean Monday is a non-church name for the first day of Great Easter Lent.

At this point, the heroine announces her decision to leave worldly life. On this day, the relationship between the two lovers ended and the hero’s life ended. On the other hand, the title of the story is symbolic. It is believed that on Clean Monday the soul is cleansed from everything vain and sinful. Moreover, not only the heroine, who chose monastic hermitage, changes in the story. Her act prompts the hero to introspection, forces him to change and cleanse himself.

Why did Bunin call his story that, although only a small, albeit important part of it takes place on Clean Monday? Probably because this particular day marked a sharp turning point from Maslenitsa fun to the stern stoicism of Lent. The situation of a sharp turning point is not just repeated many times in “Clean Monday”, but organizes a lot in this story

In addition, in the word “pure”, in addition to the meaning of “holy”, the meaning of “unfilled”, “empty”, “absent” is paradoxically emphasized. And it is quite natural that at the end of the story, in the hero’s memories of the events of almost two years ago, it is not Clean Monday that appears: “unforgettable” is called here previous evening - the evening of Forgiveness Sunday."

thirty eight times "about the same thing" wrote I. Bunin in the cycle of stories “Dark Alleys”. Simple plots, ordinary, at first glance, everyday stories. But for everyone these are unforgettable, unique stories. Stories that are painfully and acutely experienced. Life stories. Stories that pierce and torment the heart. Never forgotten. Endless stories, like life and memory...

Story by I.A. Bunin's "" was written in 1944 and was included in the collection of stories "Dark Alleys".

This work is of a love-philosophical nature, because it describes the wonderful feeling that arose between two people.

The story “Clean Monday” got its name because the main actions in it take place on Monday, the first day of Lent.

We feel the whole range of feelings that the main character experiences. This becomes possible because the story is told on behalf of the main character. It is worth noting that in the story you will not find either the first or last names of the main characters. Bunin calls them simply - He and She.

The work begins with a description of one winter Moscow day. The author pays great attention to small details: “a gray winter day”, “the trams rattled”, “the smell from the bakeries”. At the beginning of the story we know that He and She are already together. Bunin will tell us about the acquaintance of the main characters almost at the end of the work. They try not to think about the future and push this thought away.

I would like to note that the main characters lead a rather wasteful life. We had dinner at the Metropol, Prague or Hermitage. Bunin even describes to us the dishes that the main characters were treated to: pies, fish soup, fried hazel grouse, pancakes.

In addition to descriptions of entertainment venues, the story contains pictures of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Novodevichy Convent, and the Marfo-Maryinsky Convent.

The work “Clean Monday” leaves a feeling of constant movement. It is very dynamic, nothing stands still. So, the main character came to Moscow from the Penza province, the main character was from Tver. A couple in love reads modern literature, attends theatrical performances, and attends lectures.

The main characters I.A. Bunin shows how completely opposite people are. If He was an open and cheerful person, he loved to talk a lot, then She was a silent and thoughtful lady. The only thing they had in common was natural beauty and a good position in society. But even here, the author shows us the differences between the two people. He was like an Italian, She was Indian.

There are several time frames in the story. The first is 1912, the time when the main events of the work develop. The second is 1914, the time of the last meeting of the main characters. The third period is indicated by the graves of Chekhov and Ertel, the house of Griboyedov.

Thanks to these time frames through which the main character passes his feelings, Bunin tried to show us the lyrical basis of his work.

All these small details and historical events cannot distract us from the main theme of the work - the love experiences of the protagonist. Ultimately, this wonderful feeling brought only disappointment to the main character.

I.A. himself Bunin compared love to a bright flash, hinting not at its short duration. This outbreak almost never brings happiness. That is why he ends his story on a minor note.

“Clean Monday” is a short work by I. A. Bunin, written in 1944 and included in the collection “Dark Alleys”. The theme in the story, as in all short stories, is dedicated to love. Love and tragedy go hand in hand, from the beginning to the end of this work. The idea of ​​“Clean Monday” is for the reader to be able to think not only about the problem of love between a man and a woman, about their false relationships that do not bring happiness and moral satisfaction, but also about true values, and also think about the questions: “What is the meaning of life?”, “Where to find peace?”.

The main characters are a man and a woman.

They are in love with each other, and at the beginning of the story we understand that their relationship has been going on for quite some time. Bunin describes the main character as “unlike” all the other girls. She is taking various courses, but does not know why she needs it. To this the heroine herself answers: “Why is everything done in the world? Do we understand anything in our actions? The main character loves her, but is faced with the understanding that their love is very strange. Both characters are on a spiritual quest, although at first glance they have everything: wealth, youth. They live like many of those around them. However, gradually the main character understands that all this depresses her. She finds the strength to come to the conclusion that love for God can be her salvation and peace of mind.

It is also interesting that the events of the story take the reader either to ancient Russian - Orthodox Moscow, or to twentieth-century Moscow - secular. Bunin draws out every detail of one Moscow, then another, using contrast: “Every evening my coachman rushed me at this hour on a stretched trotter - from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: she lived opposite him, every evening I took her to “Prague” , to the Hermitage, to the Metropol, in the afternoon to the theaters, to concerts, and then to the Yar, to Strelna. In the house opposite the Church of the Savior, she rented a corner apartment on the fifth floor for the view of Moscow...” Thus, the plot takes the reader further and further into the world of symbolism.

The story is called “Clean Monday” because it was on the eve of this day that a conversation about religion took place between the lovers. Before this, the main character did not think that his beloved was a believer. It seemed to him that she was happy with her social life. However, the heroine decides to become a nun, which indicates her deep mental torment. The girl seems aloof, unlike all the other socialites, which makes her unique.

Bunin himself was not a deeply religious person; most likely, he considered religion to be one of the forms of culture. If we interpret it this way, then the author with this work wanted to show the appearance of a dying culture by introducing characters who are far from spiritual. The author describes: sitting on the second floor of the tavern, the heroine of the story exclaims: “Good! There are wild men below, and here are pancakes with champagne and the Mother of God of Three Hands. Three hands! After all, this is India! Everything in her words is mixed and intertwined, even the room itself is not intended for such conversations. It is worth noting that the word “pure” has the meaning not only of “holy”, but also of “empty”. Perhaps the heroine, having obeyed, filled her spiritual emptiness and finally found happiness.

The story "Clean Monday" is included in the collection "Dark Alleys", written in France in 1937 - 1944. Ivan Bunin emphasized that the content of the works is tragic, dedicated to the gloomy, painful and sad “alleys of love.”

Bunin considered “Clean Monday” to be his best story and once wrote: “I thank God that he gave me the opportunity to write “Clean Monday.” To get to know the work better, let's do a brief analysis of the story “Clean Monday”. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the biography of Ivan Bunin and read the summary of “Clean Monday”.

The essence of the story “Clean Monday” in brief

Clean Monday is the name of the first day of Lent, which follows immediately after Shrovetide and Forgiveness Sunday. This day is the beginning of spiritual and physical cleansing, preparation for the sacraments of the coming Easter days.

The main event that changed the lives of both heroes takes place on Clean Monday. The girl makes a decision that she has been coming to for a long time: she goes to the Martha and Mary Convent and chooses the path of a novice. Clean Monday for her is the border between metropolitan life, going to luxurious restaurants, entertainment, love for a man and a new destiny associated with spiritual service.

According to many researchers, and analysis of the story “Clean Monday” confirms this, the heroine of the story personifies Russia, its complex combination of Orthodox traditions, ancient rituals, and modern culture. Then Clean Monday is also a symbol of the cleansing border between the festive, riotous pre-war capital life and deep, ancient, Orthodox Russia, a symbol of choosing a path on the eve of future events.

Images of the hero and heroine in the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”

Ivan Bunin's story is a poignant and sad love story between two people whose names are not even mentioned. He and she seem to be the perfect couple. Both are young, beautiful, in love, but for some reason happiness did not materialize. From the very beginning, Bunin makes us understand that despite all the external similarities, the heroes are very different, their inner world is filled with different interests and dreams.

A young man originally from the Penza province, “indecently handsome,” rich, with a light and lively character, always ready “for a happy smile, for a good joke.” The girl is beautiful with some kind of Indian, Persian beauty, silent, thoughtful. The beloved more than once uses the words “mystery” and “mystery” in relation to her. Let us continue the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”.

When analyzing the images of heroes, it is important to take into account what books and writers they like. The narrator recalls that he brought his beloved books by fashionable modern writers of a decadent orientation: Huysmans, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, Andrei Bely. The girl looked through them, and about “The Fiery Angel” Bryusova said that such a pompous book was “ashamed to read.” She herself loved ancient Russian chronicles and remembered many by heart, admired the story of Peter and Fevronia of Murom, and above her sofa hung a portrait of a barefoot Tolstoy. After reading the summary of “Clean Monday”, you can pay attention to some more important details.

What else does Bunin reveal to us in the image of the heroes of the story?

The heroes attended Andrei Bely’s lectures together, listened to Chaliapin’s speeches in fashionable restaurants, traveled to taverns and watched the rollicking singing of the gypsies. But the girl attracted her lover to other places: to look for Griboyedov’s house on Ordynka, to stop by the cemetery at the grave of Chekhov and Ertel. The hero is surprised to learn that she visits the schismatic cemetery, in the mornings she goes to the Kremlin cathedrals, where she listens to how “they sing, calling to each other, first one choir, then another, and all in unison, and not according to notes, but according to “ hooks." But while telling the story, the heroine feels how far her lover is from this: “No, you don’t understand this!”

An analysis of the story “Clean Monday” shows how complex the girl’s nature is: she combines unusual beauty, an outwardly simple life full of entertainment, and a deep intelligence, interest in the spiritual foundations of real, ancient, pre-Petrine Rus'. For Bunin, who lived in exile, this heroine personified Russia itself; the spiritual traditions of Orthodoxy were perceived as the basis of national identity.

Having momentarily illuminated the hero’s life, giving him love, the girl leaves forever for the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. At the end of the story, a young man, two years after separation, enters the Martha and Mary Convent and in the semi-darkness one of the nuns, as if sensing his presence, turns her dark eyes into the darkness, as if seeing her lover.

After reading the analysis of the story “Clean Monday”, you better understand what Ivan Bunin’s plan is - what exactly the author wanted to tell the readers. Go to the Blog section of our website, there you will find many articles on similar topics. Take the time to also read the summary of the story “Clean Monday”. Read