What gives melody to the story is dwarf. Elizaveta Aprosimova. Northern images and motifs in the story "Stlanik". An essay on a work on the topic: The story “Stlanik” by V. T. Shalamov

“Stlanik” was written by the Russian writer Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov in the fifties of our century, during his residence in the Kalinin region, and belongs to the cycle “Kolyma Stories”. Like many other writers of that time, Varlam Tikhonovich became a victim of totalitarianism. Endless exiles, gold mines, taiga business trips, hospital beds...

In 1949, in Kolyma, he first began recording his works. In documentary and philosophical prose, Shalamov expressed the entire painful experience of superhuman trials in Stalin's maximum security camps. Hunger, cold, beatings and humiliation stopped only after he was rehabilitated in 1956. But this event, alas, was not the end of all the suffering endured.

As a writer, the author of many thoughtful works, the worst awaited him: a boycott from various literary publications, a complete disregard for creativity. Shalamov's stories were not published. This was motivated by the fact that they lacked enthusiasm, only abstract humanism. But how could he, who had suffered so much from this regime, praise him? Despite the fact that his stories were constantly returned by the editors, he continued to write.

His severe health condition did not allow him to do this himself, so he dictated his poems and memoirs. Only five years after the writer’s death, in 1987, were his first works published: works from the Kolyma notebooks. Among them is the story I am reviewing. Elf dwarf is a taiga tree, a relative of cedar, growing, thanks to its unpretentiousness, on mountain slopes, clinging to stones with its roots. It is notable for its ability to respond to environmental conditions.

In anticipation of cold weather or snowfall, it presses against the surface and spreads out. This is the literal meaning of the story, its theme. But it seems to me that this tree is not only a weather predictor for Shalamov.

He writes that dwarf dwarf is the only evergreen tree in these northern regions, the tree of hope. Strong, stubborn, unpretentious, he is like a man left alone in the fight against the elements. In summer, when other plants are trying to bloom as quickly as possible, outpacing each other, dwarf, on the contrary, is invisible. He is an unshakable ideologist of the struggle, embraced by the warm spirit of summer, does not give in to temptation and does not betray his principles. He is constantly alert and ready to sacrifice himself to the elements.

Isn't that similar to people? Do you remember what humiliation you were subjected to? And a little later, it would seem, at a completely different time, the bullying of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov? Yes, these people survived, although they were misunderstood by the majority and rejected.

But many others broke under the yoke of the totalitarian system. Were they unfaithful to their ideals or simply too trusting? Maybe they really faded and left behind only an extinct, cold forest? Shalamov wrote about dwarf dwarf as an overly trusting tree: as soon as you light a fire near it, it immediately raises its fluffy green branches. The fire will go out, and the dwarf tree, upset by the deception, will go down, covered with snow. According to the author, human feelings are not so refined.

But despite this, people too often remain deceived. If a tree is able to return to everyday life after this, then a person is rarely able to do so. The appearance of a fire in the life of a cedar tree can be compared, in my opinion, with the period of Khrushchev’s “thaw”. How many people then

In the Far North, at the junction of taiga and tundra, among dwarf birches, low-growing rowan bushes with unexpectedly large light yellow watery berries, among six-hundred-year-old larches that reach maturity at three hundred years, there lives a special tree - dwarf dwarf. This is a distant relative of the cedar, cedar - evergreen coniferous bushes with trunks thicker than a human arm and two to three meters long. It is unpretentious and grows by clinging to cracks in the rocks of the mountainside with its roots. He is courageous and stubborn, like all northern trees. His sensitivity is extraordinary.

It’s late autumn, it’s high time there was snow and winter. For many days, low, bluish clouds, as if bruised, have been walking along the edge of the white sky. And today the piercing autumn wind has become ominously quiet in the morning. Does it smell like snow? No. There will be no snow. Stlanik had not gone to bed yet. And days pass after days, there is no snow, clouds wander somewhere behind the hills, and a pale little sun comes out into the high sky, and everything looks like autumn...

And the elfin wood bends. It bends lower and lower, as if under an immense, ever-growing weight. It scrapes the rock with its top and presses itself to the ground, stretching its emerald paws. He creeps. He looks like an octopus, dressed in green feathers. Lying down, he waits for a day, then another, and now snow falls from the white sky like powder, and the elfin tree plunges into winter hibernation, like a bear. Huge snow blisters are swelling on the white mountain - these are dwarf bushes that have gone to winter.

And at the end of winter, when snow still covers the ground with a three-meter layer, when snowstorms have compacted dense snow in the gorges, yielding only to iron, people look in vain for signs of spring in nature, although according to the calendar it’s time for spring to come. But the day is indistinguishable from winter - the air is thin and dry and no different from the January air. Fortunately, a person’s sensations are too crude, his perceptions are too simple, and he has few feelings, only five - this is not enough for predictions and guessing.

Nature is more subtle than man in its sensations. We know something about this. Remember salmon fish that come to spawn only in the river where the eggs from which this fish developed were spawned? Remember the mysterious bird flight paths? We know a lot of barometer plants and barometer flowers.

And now, among the endless snowy whiteness, among complete hopelessness, an elfin tree suddenly rises. He shakes off the snow, straightens up to his full height, and raises his green, icy, slightly reddish needles to the sky. He hears the call of spring, elusive to us, and, believing in it, gets up before anyone else in the North. Winter is over.

There is something else: a fire. Stlanik is too gullible. He dislikes winter so much that he is ready to trust the warmth of a fire. If in winter, next to a bent, winter-twisted dwarf bush, you make a fire, the dwarf tree will rise. The fire will go out - and the disappointed cedar tree, crying with resentment, will bend over again and lie down in its old place. And it will be covered with snow.

No, he's not just a weather forecaster. The dwarf tree is the tree of hope, the only evergreen tree in the Far North. Among the white shine of the snow, its matte green coniferous paws speak of the south, of warmth, of life. In summer it is modest and unnoticeable - everything around is hastily blooming, trying to bloom in the short northern summer. Spring, summer, and autumn flowers outstrip each other in an uncontrollable wild bloom. But autumn is close, and now small yellow needles are falling, exposing the larches, the fawn grass curls up and dries, the forest becomes empty, and then you can see in the distance how huge green torches of elfin wood are burning in the middle of the forest among the pale yellow grass and gray moss.

The dwarf dwarf tree has always seemed to me to be the most poetic Russian tree, better than the famous weeping willow, plane tree, and cypress. And dwarf wood is hotter.

It's better to die standing than to live on your knees. The story “Stlanik” was written by the Russian writer Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov in the fifties of our century, during his residence in the Kalinin region, and belongs to the cycle “Kolyma Stories”. Like many other writers of that time, Varlam Tikhonovich became a victim of totalitarianism. Endless exiles, gold mines, taiga business trips, hospital beds... In 1949, in Kolyma, he first began recording his works. In documentary and philosophical prose, Shalamov expressed the entire painful experience of superhuman trials in Stalin's maximum security camps. Hunger, cold, beatings and humiliation stopped only after the writer was rehabilitated in 1956. But this event, alas, was not the end of all the suffering endured. As a writer, the author of many thoughtful works, the worst awaited him: a boycott from various literary publications, a complete disregard for creativity. Shalamov's stories were not published. This was motivated by the fact that they lacked enthusiasm, only abstract humanism. But how could a person who had suffered so much from this regime sing its praises? Despite the fact that his stories were constantly returned by the editors, he continued to write. His severe health condition did not allow him to do this himself, so he dictated his poems and memoirs. Only five years after the writer’s death, in 1987, were his first works published: works from the Kolyma notebooks. Among them is the story I am reviewing. Dwarf dwarf is a taiga tree, a relative of cedar, growing, thanks to its unpretentiousness, on mountain slopes, clinging to stones with its roots. It is notable for its ability to respond to environmental conditions. In anticipation of cold weather or snowfall, it presses against the surface and spreads out. This is the literal meaning of the story, its theme. But it seems to me that this tree is not only a weather predictor for Shalamov. He writes that dwarf dwarf is the only evergreen tree in these northern regions, the tree of hope. Strong, stubborn, unpretentious, he is like a man left alone in the fight against the elements. In summer, when other plants are trying to bloom as quickly as possible, outpacing each other, dwarf, on the contrary, is invisible. He is an unshakable ideologist of the struggle, embraced by the warm spirit of summer, does not give in to temptation and does not betray his principles. He is constantly alert and ready to sacrifice himself to the elements. Isn't that similar to people? Remember how humiliated Boris Pasternak was subjected to? And a little later, it would seem, at a completely different time, the bullying of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov? Yes, these people survived, although they were misunderstood by the majority and rejected. But many others broke under the yoke of the totalitarian system. Were they unfaithful to their ideals or simply too trusting? Maybe they really faded and left behind only an extinct, cold forest? Shalamov wrote about dwarf dwarf as an overly trusting tree: as soon as you light a fire near it, it immediately raises its fluffy green branches. The fire will go out, and the dwarf tree, upset by the deception, will go down, covered with snow. According to the author, human feelings are not so refined. But despite this, people too often remain deceived. If a tree is able to return to everyday life after this, then a person is rarely able to do so. The appearance of a fire in the life of a cedar tree can be compared, in my opinion, with the period of Khrushchev’s “thaw”. How many people then became victims of deception and betrayal! As Shalamov wrote, a person has only five senses. Yes, perhaps they are not enough to recognize the changes taking place around, but they are quite enough to penetrate the thousands that possessed the writer. After reading the story, I understood the importance of hope and faith in the best for a person. Like a sprout, an evergreen tree, making its way through the blizzard and cold to the sunlight, hope in the human mind makes it believe and defend its ideals. No wonder they say that she is the last to die. In addition, I couldn’t help but think about the enormous courage of both the lone taiga tree and the many people fighting for justice. Review is a study containing a critical assessment. My rebellious nature could certainly help me with criticism, but only when I disagree with something. This seemingly abstract work contains so many hidden meanings and various arguments that I simply cannot argue with, that I can only completely share my opinion with the author. If the criticism is positive, then the review was a success. And finally, I want to say that it would be wonderful if the fire in the soul of every fighter for justice burned as hot and bright as firewood from the wonderful taiga tree.

LINGUOCULTUROLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ARTISTIC CONCEPT OF SPANIK (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF “KOLYMA STORIES”

AND “KOLYMA NOTEBOOKS” by V.T. SHALAMOVA)

The image of a tree is one of the main images of the concept sphere of V. T. Shalamov’s creativity. Among the trees described in the author’s poetic and prose works, the satellite occupies a special place, since the artistic image of this tree is not traditional for Russian literature, like the images of apple, birch, maple, willow, topot, larch, pine and other trees. This is evidenced by the lack of description of this image in the study of M. N. Epstein, dedicated to the system of landscape images in Russian poetry, and in the “Dictionary of Poetic Images” by N. V. Pavlovich. The novelty of the theme was also recognized by the author himself, who wrote in a commentary to the poem “Slanik”: ““Slanik” is one of my main poems, both in terms of “technical merits” and success in the novelty of the topic, in the find, as well as the essence of my understanding of relationships man, nature and art. I also have a story with this title<.. >» .

This article is devoted to the linguocultural analysis of the artistic concept of dwarfism, presented in the “Kolyma Stories” (the stories “Kant” and “Stlanik”) and in the “Kolyma Notebooks” (the poem “Slanik”). The analysis is carried out on the basis of the methodology proposed by V. A. Maslova in the textbook “Poet and Culture: Marina Tsvetaeva’s Concept-tosphere”.

In order to determine the place of this concept in the linguistic picture of the world and the linguistic consciousness of the nation, we turn to linguistic and encyclopedic dictionaries. From linguistic dictionaries of the Russian language (“Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language” by M. Vasmer, “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” by V.I. Dahl, MAS and “Russian Semantic Dictionary” under the general editorship of N.Yu. Shvedova) we receive the following information about origin and meaning of the word dwarf:

1. General meaning (plant).

2. A group of plants (tree or shrub).

3. Places of growth (mountainous areas, tundra).

4. Growing conditions (indirect indication of unfavorable conditions: “growing above the forest line, poor and ugly”).

5. Method of growth (spreads along the ground). The method of growth motivates the name of the plant, which has a transparent internal shape that helps create an artistic image.

6. Plant height (short, “knee high”).

7. Types of plants (deciduous and coniferous; for example, birch, cedar, pine, spruce, etc.).

In encyclopedic sources ("Dictionary of botanical terms" under the general editorship of I.A. Dudka, "Big Encyclopedia" in 62 volumes, popular science brochure "Pine dwarf. Biology and use" by B.A. Tikhomirov and S.A. Pivnik) reflects the following characteristics of dwarf dwarf trees, including dwarf cedar:

1. General meaning (plant).

2. A group of plants (an average between a tree and a shrub).

3. Places of growth (forest-tundra, highlands, Siberia, Far East, Sakhalin, Kamchatka).

4. Growing conditions (unfavorable due to low temperatures, strong winds, shallow snow cover).

5. Method of growth (spreads along the ground, has a depressed shape).

6. Plant height (short, squat, dwarf cedar no higher than 5 meters).

7. Types of plants (deciduous and coniferous; for example, spruce, larch, fir, beech, rowan, juniper, etc.; dwarf cedar is an independent species).

8. Life expectancy (long-lived, up to a thousand years or more; an indirect indication of the life expectancy of dwarf cedar - the richest nut harvests are produced at the age of 60 to 100 years).

9. Natural significance of dwarf cedar (thickets of dwarf cedar form a vegetation cover that protects the soil from harmful external influences; forest animals and birds feed on dwarf cedar seeds).

10. The economic importance of dwarf cedar (seeds (nuts), needles, dwarf cedar wood are used in various sectors of the economy).

11. Property of dwarf cedar (lodging of branches at low temperatures, due to the structural features of the wood of the upper and lower sides of the branches).

Against the background of “universal, universal human knowledge” presented in linguistic and encyclopedic dictionaries,

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These are the “unique, original, sometimes paradoxical ideas of the author” of a work of art. Bearing in mind that each literary work embodies a “particular version of the conceptualization of the world,” we will try to identify the individual author’s meanings embedded in the concept of elfin wood by Shalamov. The formation of these meanings was significantly, and perhaps decisively, influenced by the fact that we see elfin wood through the eyes of a convict, a man innocently convicted, doomed to unbearably hard work in conditions of terrible hunger, cold, beatings and abuse from thieves and camp authorities. How does the elfin wood appear in the perception of the prisoner?

This is the only northern tree that remains alive and green even in winter, when all the other trees and shrubs, so lushly green and blooming in the summer, “die” and disappear. “And only one tree was always green, always alive - the dwarf elfin, the evergreen cedar.” This “ever-greenness” of the dwarf tree gives it symbolic meaning. In the perception of a person frozen to the very depths by the taiga, for whom the warmth brought in spring means the opportunity to survive, dwarf dwarf becomes a “tree of hope.” “The dwarf tree is the tree of hope, the only evergreen tree in the Far North. Among the white shine of the snow, its matte green coniferous paws speak of the south, of warmth, of life.” “Rustles with emerald clothing // Above the white desert of the earth. // And people’s hopes grow stronger // To see spring soon.”

Let us pay attention to how Shalamov describes the green elfin forest, which awakens hope in people: “And in the midst of this dull spring, merciless winter, the elfin forest sparkled brightly and dazzlingly green.” “But autumn is close, and now yellow small needles are falling , exposing the larches, the fawn grass curls up and dries, the forest becomes empty, and then you can see in the distance how huge green torches of elfin wood burn among the pale yellow grass and gray moss in the middle of the forest.” “The earth is still covered with snow, // The ice shines and shines, // And the elfin wood is green and fresh // Already rising from under the snow<.. .>Rustles emerald clothes // Over the white desert of the earth." The words greening, green, green, emerald, found in these fragments, emphasize the “living” color of the tree, distinguishing it from the background of pale yellow, gray, white colors of the surrounding nature. The words bright, dazzling, sparkled, burn, torches describe the elfin wood as a source of light and heat, emphasizing its symbolic meaning.

Stlanik can predict the weather. When warmth approaches, it rises, stretches its branches to the sky, and on the eve of cold, it lies on the ground. “It was a weather forecaster. In two or three

the day before the first snow, when the day was still autumn-like hot and cloudless and no one wanted to think about the coming winter, the dwarf tree suddenly stretched its huge, two-foot paws along the ground, easily bent its straight black trunk two fist thick and lay flat on the ground . A day passed, then another, a cloud appeared, and in the evening a blizzard blew and snow fell. And if in late autumn low snow clouds gathered, a cold wind blew, but the elfin wood did not fall, one could be firmly sure that snow would not fall. At the end of March, in April, when there was no smell of spring yet and the air was thin and dry like winter, the elfin tree suddenly rose, shaking off the snow from its green, slightly reddish clothes. After a day or two, the wind changed, warm currents of air brought spring.”

This extraordinary sensitivity distinguishes the elfin tree not only from other northern trees, but also from a person, whose “sensations are too rough, perceptions are too simple.” “And now, among the endless snowy whiteness, among complete hopelessness, an elfin tree suddenly rises. He shakes off the snow, straightens up to his full height, and raises his green, icy, slightly reddish needles to the sky. He hears the call of spring, elusive to us, and, believing in it, gets up before anyone else in the North. Winter is over." At the same time, a person feels his kinship with the elfin tree: both the tree and the person crave warmth, since warmth both for a tree growing in unfavorable conditions and for a prisoner working without food and warm clothes in gold mines means the necessary condition of survival. “He grabbed the ground with his hands, // He is looking for at least a drop of warmth. // And pokes into the freezing stone // An almost lifeless needle.” “And at the end of winter, when snow still covers the ground with a three-meter layer, when snowstorms have compacted dense snow in the gorges, yielding only to iron, people look in vain for signs of spring in nature, although according to the calendar it’s time for spring to come.” Shalamov endows the dwarf with human feelings and experiences: just like a person, the dwarf experiences grief and torment, being in the grip of the northern winter, cold, and ice. “And black, dirty hands // He will stretch out to the sky - there, // Where there was no grief and torment, // Deadly, menacing ice.” (Cf.: “I can’t wait for warm weather // In the ice garden.”) According to E.A. Shklovsky, “here there is a feeling of a single fate, a single fate - nature and man, a feeling that largely determines Shalamov’s attitude towards nature in his poetry.” Just like a person, the dwarf tree is capable of being deceived by mistaking the warmth of a fire for the warmth of the approaching spring. In each of the works we are considering there is a fragment devoted to the description of the “gullibility” of the dwarf. “It also happened: you build a hotter fire in the morning so that at lunch you have somewhere to warm your feet and hands, put in more firewood and go to work.

Philology

bot. After two or three hours, the elfin tree stretches out its branches from under the snow and slowly straightens out, thinking that spring has come. Before the fire had even gone out, the elfin wood fell back into the snow.” “Something else happens: a fire. Stlanik is too gullible. He dislikes winter so much that he is ready to trust the warmth of a fire. If in winter, next to a bent, winter-twisted dwarf bush, you make a fire, the dwarf tree will rise. The fire will go out - and the disappointed cedar tree, crying with resentment, will bend over again and lie down in its old place. And it will be covered with snow." “But if you light a fire, // For a moment you will drive away the frost, - // Deceived by a fiery lie, // Your height straightens to its fullest. // He cries upon learning of the deception, // Over our dying fire, // Glowing in the white fog, // In the frosty forest fog. // And, shaking off the drops, like tears, // Into the vastness of the earth’s whiteness, // He, again struck by the frost, // Will crawl under the snow - until spring,” As noted by E.A. Shklovsky, “with the author of the Kolyma Notebooks we are dealing not simply with the transfer of human properties to nature, not simply with its humanization. This is not only a poetic rapprochement of two worlds, but their interpenetration, their rare unity, when one shines through the other.”

If the poem describes only the two characteristics of the dwarf tree discussed above (“weather predictor”, “tree of hope”), then in the stories the author characterizes the tree from other sides. This reveals the difference between the poetic and prosaic components of Shalamov’s work: “p.. > the thirst for faith in man is more strongly expressed in Shalamov’s poetry than in his prose, which is strictly placed under the control of reality. The poetic feeling itself seems to imply, includes faith in a certain higher order, in the expediency of the world order and human involvement in it. It is mythological in its deepest essence." The prisoner, through whose eyes we see the elfin wood, notices in it what is vitally important to him. In the harsh conditions of hunger and cold, which most people could not endure, it is important that the dwarf cedar is a fruit tree that produces nuts, and that its wood, when burned, gives off a lot of heat. “In addition, nuts grew on it - small pine nuts. This delicacy was shared among people, nutcrackers, bears, squirrels and chipmunks.” “The dwarf dwarf tree has always seemed to me to be the most poetic Russian tree, better than the famous weeping willow, plane tree, and cypress. And wood from elfin wood is hotter” [14, p. 140]. The last fragment is an example of Shalamov’s characteristic “combination of the poetic and prosaic,” which represents “not only a technique, but the essence of life, being.”

laws that created hellish living conditions for other people turned dwarf pine needles into “an additional means of camp influence.” Convicts who were weakened in the gold slaughter were given kant - “light temporary work”, and were sent to “pluck dwarf wood”. This work could only seem “easy” in comparison with the work in the face. “My ears were ringing, and my fingers, frostbitten at the beginning of winter, had long been aching with a familiar dull pain. I tore off needles, broke entire branches into pieces without stripping the bark, and stuffed the spoils into the bag. But the bag did not want to be filled. Already a whole mountain of stripped branches, similar to washed bones, rose near the fire, and the bag kept swelling and swelling and took on new armfuls of elfin wood.” From the pine needles prepared in this way, a dark yellow, thick and viscous extract was boiled at the vitamin plant. Vitamin C, contained in fresh pine needles and preserved in aqueous infusions, could not be preserved in the extract, since the pine needles were subjected to prolonged cooking. However, the authors of the Moscow instructions did not take this into account and ordered that the extract be considered a medicinal, anti-scorbutic agent, mandatory in the diet of every prisoner. “We were forced to drink or eat this extract (as best we could) before every lunch.<...>It was impossible to get lunch in the canteens without a shot of this medicine - this was strictly monitored. Scurvy was everywhere, and elfin elfin was the only medically approved remedy for scurvy. Faith overcomes everything, and although this “drug” was later proven to be completely untenable as an anti-scorbutic remedy and was abandoned, and the vitamin plant was closed, in our time people drank this stinking rubbish, spat and recovered from scurvy. Or they didn’t recover. Or they didn’t drink and got better.” Thus, until there was an intermediary between the dwarf and the prisoner in the person of the camp authorities, the tree seemed to the person as a bearer of positive qualities (a weather predictor, giving hope; a source of food and warmth). With the advent of such an intermediary, the tree began to be perceived as a source of suffering (pain caused to the hands when harvesting dry needles; lunch and dinner spoiled by pine extract), which was reflected in the choice of evaluative vocabulary: the definition of pine needles as a “precious raw material” in the mouth of the prisoner was colored with bitter irony; a sharply negative assessment is contained in such definitions of the extract as “smelly rubbish” and “indescribably disgusting taste.” Indeed, “a symbol has a fluid, variable and multiple spread of designated meanings.” In this E.V. Volkova sees a feature that unites Shalamov’s prose and poetry: “<...>a specific word-concept, a plastic image of a natural or everyday nature<.. .>is not attached to the symbolized meaning, although it absorbs that canonical

Vestnik SUSU, No. 8(80), 2007

ical meaning that has developed in culture and in human memory."

And yet, dwarf dwarf, along with larch and pine, remains Shalamov’s favorite northern tree: “Of all the northern trees, I loved dwarf dwarf, cedar, more than others.” The best proof of this love is in the creation of a conceptual image of dwarf wood, which has occupied an important place not only in the conceptual sphere of V.T.’s creativity. Shalamov, but also in the conceptual sphere of Russian culture as a whole.

Literature

1. Epstein, M.N. “Nature, the world, the hiding place of the universe...”: a system of landscape images in Russian poetry: popular science. / M. N. Epstein. -■ M.: Higher. school, 1990, -303 p.

2. Pavlovich, N.V. Dictionary of poetic images: in 2 volumes / N.V. Pavlovich. - M.: Editorial URSS, 1999, -T. 1. -848 s.; T. 2.- 896 p.

3. Shalamov, V.T. Collected works: in 4 volumes / V.T. Shalamov. - M.: Artist. lit.; Vagrius, 1998.

T. 3, -526 p.

4. Maslova, V.A. Poet and culture: Marina Tsvetaeva’s concept sphere: textbook / V.A. Maslova. - M.: Flinta; Science, 2004. - 256 p.

5. Vasmer, M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language: in 4 volumes / M. Vasmer. - 2nd ed., erased. - M.: Progress, 1987. - T. 3. - 832 p.

6. Dal, V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: in 4 volumes / V.I. Dahl. - M.: TERRA, 1994,-T. 4, -688 p.

7. Dictionary of the Russian language: in 4 volumes / ed. A.P. Evgenieva. - 4th ed., erased. - M.: Rus. language; Polygraph resources, 1999. - T. 4. - 800 p.

8. Russian semantic dictionary. Explanatory dictionary, systematized by classes of words and meanings / under general. ed. N.Yu. Shvedova. - M.: Azbukovnik, 1998. - T. 1. - 807 p.

9. Dictionary of botanical terms / under general. ed. I, A. Pipes. - Kyiv: Nauk, Dumka, 1984. - 308 p.

10. Great Encyclopedia: in 62 volumes. - M.: Terra, 2006. - T. 48. - 592 p.

11. Tikhomirov, B.A. Cedar elfin wood. Biology and use / B.A. Tikhomirov, S.A. Pivnik. - Magadan: Magadan book. publishing house, 1961. - 37 p.

12. Babenko, L.G. Philological analysis of the text. Fundamentals of theory, principles and aspects of analysis: a textbook for universities. / L.G. Babenko. - M.: Academic Project; Ekaterinburg: Business book, 2004. - 464 p.

13. Shalamov, V.T. Kant /V.T. Shalamov /U Collected works: in 4 volumes - M.: Khudozh. lit., 1998. - T. 1, -S. 30-34.

14. Shalamov, V.T. Stlanik / V.T. Shalamov // Collected works: in 4 volumes - M.: Khudozh. lit., 1998.

T. 1, pp. 139-140.

15. Shklovsky, E.A. Varlam Shalamov / E.A. Shklovsky. - M.: Knowledge, 1991. - 64 p.

16. Volkova, E.V. Varlam Shalamov: the duel of words with absurdity / E.V. Volkova // Questions of literature. - 1997. - No. 6. - P. 3-35.

It's better to die standing than to live on your knees.

The story “Stlanik” was written by the Russian writer Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov in the fifties of our century, during his residence in the Kalinin region, and belongs to the cycle “Kolyma Stories”. Like many other writers of that time, Varlam Tikhonovich became a victim of totalitarianism. Endless exiles, gold mines, taiga business trips, hospital beds... In 1949, in Kolyma, he first began recording his works. In documentary and philosophical prose, Shalamov expressed the entire painful experience of superhuman trials in Stalin's maximum security camps. Hunger, cold, beatings and humiliation stopped only after the writer was rehabilitated in 1956. But this event, alas, was not the end of all the suffering endured. As a writer, the author of many thoughtful works, the worst awaited him: a boycott from various literary publications, a complete disregard for creativity. Shalamov's stories were not published. This was motivated by the fact that they lacked enthusiasm, only abstract humanism. But how could a person who had suffered so much from this regime sing its praises? Despite the fact that his stories were constantly returned by the editors, he continued to write. His severe health condition did not allow him to do this himself, so he dictated his poems and memoirs. Only five years after the writer’s death, in 1987, were his first works published: works from the Kolyma notebooks. Among them is the story I am reviewing.

Elf dwarf is a taiga tree, a relative of cedar, growing, thanks to its unpretentiousness, on mountain slopes, clinging to stones with its roots. It is notable for its ability to respond to environmental conditions. In anticipation of cold weather or snowfall, it presses against the surface and spreads out. This is the literal meaning of the story, its theme. But it seems to me that this tree is not only a weather predictor for Shalamov. He writes that dwarf dwarf is the only evergreen tree in these northern regions, the tree of hope. Strong, stubborn, unpretentious, he is like a man left alone in the fight against the elements. In summer, when other plants are trying to bloom as quickly as possible, outpacing each other, dwarf, on the contrary, is invisible. He is an unshakable ideologist of the struggle, embraced by the warm spirit of summer, does not give in to temptation and does not betray his principles. He is constantly alert and ready to sacrifice himself to the elements. Isn't that similar to people? Remember how humiliated Boris Pasternak was subjected to? And a little later, it would seem, at a completely different time, the bullying of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov? Yes, these people survived, although they were misunderstood by the majority and rejected. But many others broke under the yoke of the totalitarian system. Were they unfaithful to their ideals or simply too trusting? Maybe they really faded and left behind only an extinct, cold forest?

Shalamov wrote about dwarf dwarf as an overly trusting tree: as soon as you light a fire near it, it immediately raises its fluffy green branches. The fire will go out, and the dwarf tree, upset by the deception, will go down, covered with snow. According to the author, human feelings are not so refined. But despite this, people too often remain deceived. If a tree is able to return to everyday life after this, then a person is rarely able to do so. The appearance of a fire in the life of a cedar tree can be compared, in my opinion, with the period of Khrushchev’s “thaw”. How many people then became victims of deception and betrayal!

As Shalamov wrote, a person has only five senses. Yes, perhaps they are not enough to recognize the changes taking place around, but they are quite enough to penetrate the thousands that possessed the writer. After reading the story, I understood the importance of hope and faith in the best for a person. Like a sprout, an evergreen tree, making its way through the blizzard and cold to the sunlight, hope in the human mind makes it believe and defend its ideals. No wonder they say that she is the last to die. In addition, I couldn’t help but think about the enormous courage of both the lone taiga tree and the many people fighting for justice. Review is a study containing a critical assessment. My rebellious nature could certainly help me with criticism, but only when I disagree with something. This seemingly abstract work contains so many hidden meanings and various arguments that I simply cannot argue with, that I can only completely share my opinion with the author. If the criticism is positive, then the review was a success. And finally, I want to say that it would be wonderful if the fire in the soul of every fighter for justice burned as hot and bright as firewood from the wonderful taiga tree.