The pride of Russia: Russian scientists in painting. Coursework: The originality of artistic images of a scientist-researcher in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle

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1 Lexical semantics is a system that captures and interprets Various types knowledge. Along with the area of phenomena revealed and explained by the new natural science, the language contains the ideas of a child, a primitive man, and also a poet. One of the laws of artistic thinking is the desire to understand the world through specific images. “Through the external, the individual, the substantial is cognized in the artistic image” [Hegel 1971: 384-385].

Reality is represented to the subject through the prism of perception. An artistic image is a method of concrete sensory perception of reality in accordance with the chosen aesthetic ideal. The writer, as it were, translates the objects of the sensually appearing world into internal spiritual images [Valgina 2003: 123-124]. In literary texts, the description of the external becomes the basis for the emotional perception of the image and its aesthetic generalization.

The image is the most important category for a literary text and is described in detail in literary criticism. In recent years, the point of view has prevailed, according to which an image can be an object and model of semasiological analysis [Ilyukhina 1999]. One of the directions of linguistic research of the artistic image is the study of various ways of figurative interpretation of a certain denotation of the national Russian language [Nefedova 2001, Dyachkova 2002, Anisimova 2003, Oskolkova 2004]. Such works are based on the concept of denotative class, developed by T.V. Simashko. We believe that the main provisions of the concept of denotative class can be extended to cross-linguistic studies of the artistic image, which have not yet been carried out.

We have developed a methodology for comparative and semasiological analysis of artistic images, taking into account the concept of denotative class. It comes down to this. As part of the denotative classes of each of the studied languages, there are groups of individual author’s images directly or indirectly oriented towards a specific object in one of its specific states or manifestations. Data about an object in one or another of its manifestations is recorded in artistic images in the unity of sensual, pragmatic and rational semantic components, which consolidate the results of the aesthetic method of mastering reality, and can be compared. Similar information is interpreted as manifestations of semantic similarity between the languages being compared, and specific data - as manifestations of the semantic originality of the languages being studied.

The basis for the comparative-semasiological analysis of artistic images is a set of direct and indirect conceptual features. Direct conceptual features include: part-verbal fixation, word-formation models, internal form, the attribution of a semantic unit to phraseological units or stable combinations of words of a non-phraseological nature, stratification characteristics of semantic units, as well as lexical meaning as a dynamic complex. Indirect conceptual features include: features of the expression of the visual-sensory basis of the artistic image, the dependence of the emotional, utilitarian and aesthetic assessment of the phenomenon on the position of the text subject, interpretation hidden meanings, constituting the aesthetic meaning of the word, the structuring of the associative space associated with the object, the features of the expression of the metaphorized properties and states of the object in the linguistic cultures under consideration.

A certain subjectivity of research conducted on the basis of undefinable entities is compensated by an integrated approach to the analysis of ways to consolidate conceptual features in artistic images.

By comparing artistic images according to the specified conceptual characteristics, it is possible to establish with sufficient certainty and completeness which properties of the object in the compared languages are considered as similar and which as specific.

Interlingual semasiological study of artistic images allows us to identify what is typical and original in the nature of the interpretation of reality in the sphere of artistic knowledge of different languages. The information obtained seems to be essential for semasiological typology, and in this we see the prospect of the approach chosen in the work.

Bibliographic link

Nifanova T.S. ABOUT THE COMPARATIVE SEMASIOLOGICAL STUDY OF ARTISTIC IMAGES // Advances in modern natural science. – 2005. – No. 1. – P. 69-70;
URL: http://natural-sciences.ru/ru/article/view?id=7833 (access date: 04/21/2019). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Sevastopol City State Administration

Sevastopol City Humanitarian University

Faculty of Philology

Department of Russian Language

and foreign literature

Coursework in the discipline

“History of foreign literature of the 19th century.”

The originality of artistic images of the scientist-researcher in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle

Students of group UA-2

Voronova Angelina Igorevna

scientific supervisor – Ph.D.,

Assoc. Milenko V.D.

Sevastopol-2010

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF STUDYING THE WORKS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

The concept of artistic image from the point of view of modern research

The theme of the scientific transformation of the world in English literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries

The originality of A. Conan Doyle's scientific worldview

CHAPTER II IMAGES OF SCIENTISTS-RESEARCHERS IN THE WORKS OF A. CONAN DOYLE

Sherlock Holmes image

Professor Challenger's image

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The turn of the 19th – 20th centuries in the world was a time of rapid development of science and technology. After many centuries of gradual accumulation of natural scientific knowledge, a technological breakthrough occurred in many areas of human activity, and enormous prospects opened up for humanity. The authority of the exact sciences, scientists, and education has grown sharply. Under the influence of scientific and technological progress, works of art were also created. The genre of science fiction appeared. It should be noted that in art, especially in the literature of that time, authors admire the technical achievements of that time, widely using scientific themes in their works (M. Shelley “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus”, O.L. Huxley “Brave New World”, G. Wells “The Time Machine”, “The Invisible Man”, War of the Worlds”, etc.).

The work of Arthur Conan Doyle was also decisively influenced by progress in the sciences. But he puts first place not results, but the basis of this progress - logic. It is noteworthy that its central characters - Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger - demonstrate a purely scientific approach to practical issues. The author, perhaps without knowing it himself, in the person of these heroes showed the world an example of scientists, researchers, for whom there are no trifles and there should be no ambiguities.

Interest in studying the biography and work of Conan Doyle was shown at different times by domestic and foreign literary critics and researchers, such as J.D. Carr, H. Prison, M. Urnov and others, as well as the writer’s son Adrian Conan Doyle. And they were interested in him not only as the greatest representative of English literature, but also as a brilliant writer of world literature.

The literary activity of A. Conan Doyle is an important aspect of the cultural life of England at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and makes a huge contribution to the formation of new artistic thinking of that time. Studying the writer’s work cannot but enrich the idea of the individuality and originality of this period in the development of English literature.

The topic of the originality of artistic images of a scientist-researcher in the works of A. Conan Doyle is not the subject of scientific research in domestic literary criticism, in addition, domestic literary criticism does not present a systematic view on this topic. This state of the problem determines not only relevance, but also novelty presented in the research work, which is due to the increasing attention to the creative heritage and personality of the writer, the increased interest of the reading public in his works.

Purpose This work is to study and analyze the artistic images of the scientist-researcher based on the works about Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger, to comprehend the contemporary scientific worldview of the writer and its reflection in the images of scientists. Achieving the goal involves solving specific tasks:

1). Consideration of the topic of scientific transformation of the world in English literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries.

2). Clarification and analysis of the scientific worldview of the writer A. Conan Doyle.

3). Research, description and characterization of the image of Sherlock Holmes.

4). Research and characterization of the image of Professor Challenger.

Object research is the specificity of the creative personality in the works of A. Conan Doyle. Material research - the works of A. Conan Doyle: novels and stories about Sherlock Holmes and science fiction stories. Item studies – artistic images of research scientists in these works.

Basic methods works were selected in accordance with the characteristics of the study:

Biographical - helps to trace the degree and nature of the influence of the topic of scientific transformation of the world on the worldview and creativity of the writer.

Receptive - used to characterize the perception of Conan Doyle’s work as a literary and cultural phenomenon.

Sociological - for understanding literature as one of the forms of social consciousness and reflecting in it historical trends, socially conditioned moments, depicting the operation of economic and political laws, characters, closely related to the situation in society in the era of the writer.

The method of literary hermeneutics is to trace the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the system of images from the text of the work.

Theoretical and practical importance The work lies in the opportunity to apply the conclusions and research material in lecture and practical courses “History of Foreign Literature” and “History of English Literature”, in special courses devoted to various aspects of the work of A. Conan Doyle, as well as in seminars on foreign literature.

Structure course work: the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references. The text part consists of 30 pages, the bibliography includes 21 titles.

The introduction substantiates the relevance of the research topic, formulates goals and objectives, defines the object, subject, research methods, theoretical and practical significance, and novelty.

Chapter I is devoted to the study of the theoretical foundations of the study. It clarifies the concept of an artistic image from the point of view of modern research, identifies the main features of the literary process in England at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, the originality of the writer’s scientific worldview, and the reasons for his appeal to this topic.

Chapter II examines the writer’s works, their place in his work, and the main images of scientific researchers.

In conclusion, the results of the work are summed up and the main conclusions of the research and analysis are presented.

CHAPTER I THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF STUDYING THE WORKS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

The concept of artistic image from the point of view of modern research

In the most general sense, an image is a sensory representation of a specific idea. Images refer to empirically perceived and truly sensory objects in a literary work. With the help of images, writers indicate in their works a picture of the world and man. The artistry of the image lies in its special - aesthetic - purpose. He captures the beauty of nature, the animal world, humans, and interpersonal relationships.

In terms of the structure of a literary work, an artistic image is the most important component of its form, without which the development of action and understanding of meaning is impossible. If a work of art is the basic unit of literature, then an artistic image is the basic unit of a literary creation. Using artistic images, the object of reflection is modeled. The image expresses landscape and interior objects, events and actions of the characters. The author's intention appears in the images; the main, general idea is embodied. An artistic image is not only an image of a person - it is a picture of human life, in the center of which stands a specific person, but which also includes everything that surrounds him in life.

An artistic image not only reflects, but above all generalizes reality, reveals the essential, eternal in the individual, transitory. The specificity of the artistic image is determined by the fact that it comprehends reality and creates a new, fictional world. With the help of his imagination and fiction, the author transforms real material: using precise words, colors, sounds, the artist creates a single work.

The theme of the scientific transformation of the world in English literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, science and technology developed rapidly in the world, and especially in Europe. The accumulation of knowledge and discoveries in these areas led to a technological revolution - the telegraph, telephone, automobile, and cinema appeared. Under the influence of scientific and technological progress, works of art were also created. The genre of science fiction has emerged as a type of fantastic literature, imbued with a materialistic view of reality and based on the idea that science (modern or future) is capable of resolving all the mysteries of the Universe. The main character of science fiction turned out to be an evolving, developing person. It is not for nothing that its emergence coincided with the spiritual revolution in Western European society, caused by the publication of Charles Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” (1859).

In 1818, the novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” by the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was published. The fate of the Swiss scientist, who created a living creature from inanimate matter and turned into a victim and at the same time an executioner of his own invention, has become a special sign that over time covers ever wider cultural layers, moving far away from the problem identified by the writer. In this novel, Mary Shelley touched upon the most important questions of human existence, which permeate philosophical, scientific and aesthetic quests for centuries: can a person act as God, producing others like himself, does he have the right to intervene in the mysteries of nature, how does the creation of life occur? ? It is precisely this problem of the creation of the Universe, which was originally the prerogative of God, that so attracts writers of the 20th century. Mary Shelley's novel, which contemporaries perceived as a kind of artistic experiment that arose at the intersection of Gothic, Enlightenment and Romantic aesthetics, “sprouted” powerfully in the twentieth century.

The dystopian novel Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Leonard Huxley features human beings who are born in laboratories and unable to be free due to brainwashing and drug use. This is a “new world” where people are grown from embryos, already classified into varieties, where completely different values dominate (or their absence, because everything is written down, what is provided is available, and nothing more is required).

The first revolution in the development of science fiction took place in the late 90s of the 19th century. outstanding English writer Herbert Wells. He introduced elements of pessimism, grotesqueness and social criticism into previously generally optimistic science fiction. After the release of the most important novels by H. Wells of the first period of his work (“The Time Machine” (1895), “The Island of Doctor Moreau” (1896), “The Invisible Man” (1897), “War of the Worlds” (1898), “When the Sleeper Awakens” "(1899), "The First Men on the Moon" (1901)), the subject of science fiction was limited to the following topics: space travel, time travel, parallel worlds, human evolution or mutation, modeling of society, the fate of scientific inventions, future wars and cataclysms. IN pure form each of the themes rarely appears in a science fiction book. Any significant work of the genre is a talented synthesis of several themes.

The idea of progress is one of the main ones in Wells's work. What does it bring to humanity - “Great Peace” or suicide of the mind? The future in novels grows out of the present and appears before the reader in the frightening form of grotesque creatures that cannot be considered intelligent. Each step of half progress is achieved not only with the help of force and terrible punishments, but also comes with cruel suffering.

When Wells talks about scientific problems, his imagination finds the most fertile soil. The extensive knowledge gained in the natural sciences allowed the writer to predict many discoveries of the 20th century. For example, the book "A World Set Free" mentions nuclear energy, and "The War in the Air" predicts the rapid development of aviation.

Despite the abundance of original themes in science fiction, in the 1910s. it began to acquire the features of entertainment literature, losing its educational-popularization emphasis and social orientation.

However, readers who experienced not the fictional First World War, but the real one, did not want to think about social problems or difficulties that humanity might face. Therefore, entertainment-type works, like those created by A. Merritt and E. R. Burroughs, received greater success in the 1920s. Their works could be classified as fantasy if the authors, in the spirit of their materialistic times, did not try (often very far-fetched) to give the events described a supposed scientific justification or use science-fiction surroundings. In general, science was seen during this period in the history of science fiction only as an auxiliary means to enliven the plot of the work.

The revival of serious science fiction that began in the 1930s and led to the so-called "Golden Age of Science Fiction" began in the pages of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, which arose in 1930. It was thanks to the position of the magazine's leader in 1937 writer John W. Campbell identifies modern science fiction with strictly scientific literature, with the “literature of ideas” and with the “popularization of scientific knowledge.”

Thus, the theme of the scientific transformation of the world appeared and flourished for a long time in English literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reflecting the reaction to scientific and technological progress with the emergence of the science fiction genre. Writers of that era, in their works, assessed the technological revolution in their country and the world and tried to predict and predict the further development of science, using their rich imagination.

The originality of A. Conan Doyle's scientific worldview

Family traditions dictated that he follow an artistic career, but Arthur decided to take up medicine. In October 1876 he became a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. While studying, Conan Doyle met many future famous authors, such as James Matthew Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson. Here he listened to lectures by Joseph Bell, Professor Rutherford, and became friends with George Budd and Herbert Wells.

In 1880, while studying in his third year at the university, he took a position as a surgeon on the whaler Nadezhda, which was sailing in the Arctic Circle. In 1881 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery, and found work as a ship's doctor on the Mayuba, which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa.

In his post-graduate years, Conan Doyle experienced a spiritual turning point and finally abandoned religion. For him, born and raised in the traditions of Irish Catholicism, this was a very painful crisis. And yet neither Catholicism nor the Anglican Church could keep him in their bosom. He was greatly influenced by science, natural science and philosophy, represented in England by the names of Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and J. Stuart Mill. These people, Conan Doyle later noted, were resolute deniers and, at the same time, morally they offered much less in return than they rejected, but the power of their liberating influence on minds was irresistible.

In 1885 he defended his dissertation as a doctor of medicine. But since 1891, literature became his profession. He continued to travel. Traveled around Europe; in Switzerland, in Davos, he met Rudyard Kipling. In Norway he was together with Jerome K. Jerome. Conan Doyle visited the United States and was in Egypt.

When the Boer War began in December 1899, Conan Doyle volunteered to fight as a military doctor. For several months he was in Africa, where he saw more soldiers die from fever and typhus than from war wounds. Before the outbreak of war (August 4, 1914), Doyle again joined the volunteer detachment. During this war, Doyle lost a brother and a son, two cousins and two nephews.

Conan Doyle matured as a writer at a time when a literary movement called neo-romanticism was developing in England, as opposed to naturalism and symbolism - two other movements that formed in the latter. thirds of the XIX centuries. Neo-romanticists did not share the naturalists’ passion for the everyday atmosphere and down-to-earth heroes. They were looking for colorful, energetic, inspired characters, unusual settings, and turbulent events. The fantasy of neo-romantics moved in different directions: they called readers to the past or to distant lands, to the unknown and unusual. They did not evade modernity at all, but presented it from an unexpected side, away from everyday life in the city. His hero Sherlock Holmes called it his “predilection for everything unusual, for everything that goes beyond the usual and banal flow of everyday life.” But the same Sherlock Holmes followed a clear rule: “To find these incomprehensible phenomena and extraordinary situations, we must turn to life itself, for it is always capable of more than any effort of imagination.”

We can conclude that the writer’s worldview was influenced by many factors, which together helped Conan Doyle create outstanding works of English and world literature. Medical education, war, hobby scientific literature, as well as acquaintance with Professors J. Bell and Rutherford, H. Wells and other writers, his own literary talent and enormous patriotism - the fate of such a personality could not but leave an imprint on his work, which, created in the era of neo-romanticism, allowed the author to show his inexhaustible fantasy.

CHAPTER II IMAGES OF SCIENTISTS-RESEARCHERS IN THE WORKS OF A. CONAN DOYLE

With Conan Doyle, it is sometimes difficult to determine the genre boundary between detective and science fiction. The line between historical storytelling and “alternative history” is very arbitrary. The writer's attention to each of the “lost worlds” is highly organic.

Conan Doyle did not set popularization goals; he was attracted by the very romance of the genre, the severity of plot conflicts, the possibility of creating strong and courageous characters acting in exceptional circumstances, which were revealed to him in the development of his fantastic assumptions.

Conan Doyle's books definitely add up to several cycles. Each of these cycles is connected thematically or by the fates of the same heroes. This is how books follow one after another, where Sherlock Holmes fights, where Professor Challenger acts.

A writer rarely copies one specific person in a particular character. A literary hero combines many of the author’s observations, both consistent and random.

For example, George Budd, a student at Edinburgh University, later Doctor Budd. When the famous detective Sherlock Holmes appears under the pen of Conan Doyle, he will receive his indomitable energy from George Budd, and Professor Challenger will, just like Budd, rush about either with a project for neutralizing torpedoes, or with a new and cheap method of obtaining nitrogen from the air, etc. d.

And also William Rutherford, professor of anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. They say he began giving lectures in the corridor, gradually entering the audience. And this was one of the small and harmless eccentricities that were attributed to him. Rutherford's black beard of a special style belongs to Professor Challenger, along with other habits, manners and fantasies of the original scientist.

A particularly important person was Dr Joseph Bell, who was universally popular in Edinburgh. The exceptional observation of Bell, who also taught at the University of Edinburgh, his ability to “read” a person’s biography, to unravel his previous life by appearance, clothing, speech, gestures, suggested to the writer the amazing insight of Sherlock Holmes. “What's wrong with this man, sir? - he asked the student. Take a better look at him! No. Don't touch it. Use your eyes, sir! Yes, use your eyes, use your brain! Where is your tubercle of apperception? Use the power of deduction!” Joseph Bell himself did not deny the similarities. He even spoke out in print about this, recognizing his school in the Sherlock Holmes method. With even greater certainty, he pointed to his most capable student - Conan Doyle himself, who took the lessons of his mentor with dignity.

The image of Sherlock Holmes reflects some of the author's autobiographical traits, his character traits and habits. Sherlock Holmes's passion for boxing and dislike for sorting through his papers: “He hated destroying documents, especially if they were related to business..., but to sort out his papers and put them in order - he had the courage to do this no more than once or twice once a year" (« Rite of the House of Musgrave"), passed down to him from Conan Doyle.

Adrian Conan Doyle, the writer's son, referred to his father's words that he once said: "If there was a Holmes, it was me." He meant all the same qualities of nature, personality - will, perseverance, the ability to see through people, the ability to think strictly logically, the power of imagination - everything that distinguishes Sherlock Holmes and which was in its own way inherent in Budd, and Bell, and Rutherford.

Conan Doyle is attracted by integral, cheerful and strong-willed characters; the heroes of his novels are people who are alien to class restrictions, imbued with a freedom-loving spirit, endowed with a sense of personal dignity.

Sherlock Holmes image

Sherlock Holmes is the main character in four detective novels and 56 short stories (5 collections). Among the predecessors of Sherlock Holmes were detectives Dupin and Legrand from the stories of E. Poe and Lecoq from the novels of the Frenchman E. Gaboriot. “Gaborio attracted me because of how he knew how to twist a plot, and the insightful detective Monsieur Dupin of Edgar Poe was my favorite hero since childhood,” A. Conan Doyle once admitted. The third “ancestor” of the detective-consultant can be considered detective Cuff from W. Collins’ novel “The Moonstone”. The first book about Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, was written in 1887. The last collection, The Archive of Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1927. The narration is told on behalf of Holmes' friend and companion, Dr. Watson.

At his first meeting with Sherlock Holmes in the hospital laboratory (“A Study in Scarlet”), Dr. Watson describes his new acquaintance very ambiguously: “Even his appearance could strike the imagination of the most superficial observer. He was more than six feet tall, but with his extraordinary thinness he seemed even taller. His gaze was sharp, piercing... his thin aquiline nose gave his face an expression of lively energy and determination. A square, slightly protruding chin also spoke of a decisive character. His hands were always covered in ink and stained with various chemicals...”

Sherlock Holmes doesn't serve anywhere. His permanent position is that of a gentleman who lives at his own expense and sometimes earns money by agreeing to solve a crime and return something lost. When investigating cases, he relies not so much on the letter of the law as on his life principles, the rules of honor, which in some cases replace paragraphs of bureaucratic norms for him. Holmes repeatedly allowed people, in his opinion, who justifiably committed a crime, to escape punishment (“The Scarlet Ring”, etc.). The author emphasizes his unselfishness: “He was so unselfish - or so independent - that he often refused his help to rich and noble people if he did not find anything interesting for himself in investigating their secrets. At the same time, he zealously occupied himself with the work of some poor man for whole weeks” (“Black Peter”).

Sherlock Holmes is a private detective. He has no office, only an apartment, which he rents with Watson from Mrs. Hudson at 221b Baker Street. Those who seek his help come there. They can be confident that they will receive help. It is here, and not in the police, which is part of ordinary, boring life. Holmes is outraged when he is mistaken for a policeman: “What impudence to confuse me with police detectives!” (“Motley Ribbon”). However, Holmes is lenient towards individual representatives of the police investigation: “Jones will also be useful to us. He is a nice fellow, although he knows nothing about his profession. However, he has one undoubted advantage: he is courageous, like a bulldog, and clingy, like a cancer" ("Union of Redheads"). In some cases, Holmes uses a group of London street boys as spies to assist him in solving cases. Holmes also keeps a detailed file of crimes and criminals, and also writes monographs as a criminologist.

Sherlock Holmes is an explorer of sorts, preoccupied with the logical complexity of a problem. “My brain rebels against idleness. Give me a case! Give me the most complex problem, an unsolvable task, the most confusing case... I hate the dull, monotonous course of life. My mind requires intense activity” (“The Sign of Four”).

His method of deduction, that is, logical analysis, often allows him to solve crimes without leaving the room. The usual course of his reasoning is as follows: “If we discard everything completely impossible, then exactly what remains - no matter how incredible it may seem - is the truth!” (“The Sign of Four”).

At the same time, there is no intuition: the correct conclusions of the brilliant detective are based on his deep knowledge: “I did not see ... that he systematically read any scientific literature ... However, he studied some subjects with amazing zeal, and in some rather strange areas he had such extensive and precise knowledge that sometimes I was simply stunned.” - Watson notes. Holmes’s grotesque and somewhat comical rationalism only emphasizes the single-mindedness of this character: “Holmes’ ignorance was as amazing as his knowledge. He had almost no idea about modern literature, politics and philosophy.” Sherlock Holmes explains it this way: “You see,” he said, “it seems to me that the human brain is like a small empty attic, which you can furnish as you please. A fool will drag all sorts of junk in there... and there will be nowhere to put useful, necessary things, or at best... you won’t be able to get to them. And a smart person carefully selects what he places in his brain attic. He will take only the tools that he needs for his work, but there will be a lot of them, and he will arrange everything in an exemplary order.” . Later in the stories, Holmes completely contradicts what Watson wrote about him. Despite his indifference to politics, in the story "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognizes the identity of the supposed Count von Cramm; as for literature, his speech is replete with references to the Bible, Shakespeare, even Goethe. A little later, Holmes declares that he does not want to know anything if it is not related to his profession, and in the second chapter of the story “The Valley of Fear” he states that “any knowledge is useful for a detective,” and towards the end of the story “The Lion’s Mane” describes himself as "a promiscuous reader with an incredibly retentive memory for small details."

In the work, Sherlock Holmes examines evidence from both a scientific point of view and a substantive one. To determine the course of a crime, he often examines prints, tracks, tire tracks (“A Study in Scarlet”, “Silver”, “An Incident at the Boarding School”, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, “The Mystery of Boscombe Valley”), cigarette butts, ash remains ( "The Regular Patient", "The Hound of the Baskervilles"), letter comparisons ("Identification"), gunpowder residues ("Reigate Squires"), bullet recognition ("The Empty House") and even fingerprints left many days ago ("The Contractor from Norwood"). Holmes also demonstrates knowledge of psychology ("A Scandal in Bohemia").

Sherlock Holmes is extremely observant. He developed his powers of observation through long years of training, for observation, like any other ability of the mind, can be improved. “Every life is a huge chain of causes and effects, and we can know its nature one by one. The art of drawing conclusions and analyzing, like all other arts, is learned through long and diligent work...” Holmes writes in his article. “Observation is my second nature,” he admits later (“A Study in Scarlet”) and then adds “The ideal thinker, ... having examined a single fact from all sides, can trace not only the entire chain of events of which it is the result, but also and the consequences arising from it... Through inferences one can solve problems that have baffled everyone who sought their solutions with the help of feelings. However, in order to bring this art to perfection, the thinker must be able to use all the facts known to him, and this in itself presupposes ... exhaustive knowledge in all fields of science...” (“Five Orange Seeds”).

Holmes, when he had some unsolved problem, could stay awake for whole days and even weeks, thinking about it, comparing facts, looking at it from different points of view until he managed to either solve it or be convinced that that he is on the wrong path.

Holmes is a resident of Victorian England, a Londoner who knows his city very well. He can be considered a homebody and travels outside the city or country only when absolutely necessary. Holmes solves most cases without leaving the living room, calling them “one-touch cases.”

Holmes has stable habits in everyday life. He smokes strong tobacco: “... I entered the room and got scared: was there a fire? - due to the fact that the light of the lamp was barely visible through the smoke...” (“The Hound of the Baskervilles”), sometimes uses cocaine (“The Sign of Four”). He is unpretentious, indifferent to conveniences and luxury. Holmes conducts risky chemical experiments in his apartment and practices shooting at the wall of the room, plays the violin well: “However, there was something strange here, as in all his activities. I knew that he could perform violin pieces, and quite difficult ones... But when he was alone, it was rare to hear a piece or anything resembling a melody at all. In the evenings, placing the violin on his lap, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and casually moved his bow along the strings. Sometimes sonorous, sad chords were heard. Another time there were sounds in which one could hear frantic joy. Obviously, they corresponded to his mood...”

Unless there was urgent work, Mr. Holmes woke up late. When the blues came over him, he, dressed in a mouse-colored robe, could remain silent for days. He carried out his endless chemical experiments in the same robe. The remaining robes - red and bluish - expressed other states of mind and were used in a variety of situations. At times, Sherlock Holmes was overwhelmed by the desire to argue, then, instead of the traditional clay one, he lit a cherry wood pipe. Deep in thought, the famous detective allowed himself to bite his nails. He was unreasonably little interested in food and his own health.

Holmes is haunted by the boredom of everyday life. That's why he throws himself headlong into a new adventure. Just not the gray everyday life. “How sad, disgusting and hopeless the world is! See how the yellow fog swirls outside, enveloping the dirty brown houses. What could be more prosaic and crudely material? What is the use of exceptional abilities, Doctor, if there is no way to use them? Crime is boring, existence is boring, there is nothing left on earth except boredom” (“The Sign of Four”).

Sherlock Holmes is a convinced bachelor who, according to him, has never once experienced romantic feelings for anyone. He repeatedly states that he does not like women at all, although he is invariably polite to them and ready to help. Only once in his life was Holmes, one might say, in love with a certain Irene Adler, the heroine of the story “A Scandal in Bohemia.”

Sherlock Holmes is a versatile personality. He is a talented actor - a master of disguise, he owns several types of weapons (pistol, cane, sword, whip) and fighting (boxing, hand-to-hand combat, baritsu). He also loves vocal music, especially Wagner (“The Scarlet Ring”).

Holmes is not vain, and in most cases he is of little interest in gratitude for a solved crime: “I get acquainted with the details of the case and express my

If you look at the path that humanity has gone through, we can say that for a representative homo sapiens The main tasks have always been three: to survive, to learn and to create. If the first question does not arise at all, then the rest require a small reservation.

From the very beginning, in order to survive, a person had to get acquainted with the reality around him, perceive it, study it, expand the boundaries of his own knowledge and comfort. It is quite natural that this required some effort - this is how the first tools of labor and hunting were created, this is how cave drawings, which have become the starting point of creative potential.

Art and science are still closely linked, representing at the same time completely opposite, but extremely complementary things.

Specifics

Of course, researchers artistic creativity in any of its manifestations, and some physicists or programmers can tirelessly argue about the significance of these phenomena in human life. Nevertheless, art and science, paradoxically, are indeed very closely related, and sometimes they constitute a single, almost indivisible whole.

However, if we are talking about characteristic features and significant differences, attention should be paid to aspects specific to only one of the phenomena under consideration. On the one hand, art represents a real act of creativity, contact with something higher, unearthly, intangible. It is not without reason that those who laid the foundation of modern civilization considered poetry, music and theater to be one of the most important components of human life. Art and science differ, first of all, of course, in the accuracy and clarity of the tasks set, and if in the first case one can talk about practically unlimited freedom, then in the case of science one can only dream about this most often.

Another difference between these components of human life can be considered their goal setting. If art is aimed at creation, creation, approaching the deity, then most often it is cognition, analysis, and identification of patterns.

There is even an opinion that it is learning that kills creativity and creation. Any analysis is always a kind of dissection, a division into particulars in order to determine the mechanisms of work.

Finally, art and science differ in the degree of accessibility to humans. If in the first case we are talking about a phenomenon characterized by synesthesia, the highest degree of interaction with the subtle strings of the human soul, then comprehending science requires a certain level of training, a store of knowledge, and special thinking. Acts of creation are accessible to a greater or lesser extent to everyone, while it is simply impossible to become a space explorer or the creator of a nuclear bomb without many years of training and experimentation.

Similarities

However, are they as different from each other as it seems at first glance? Oddly enough, their similarity lies in the opposition itself. Art is, as mentioned earlier, creation, the creation of something new, beautiful from a certain available material, be it plaster, sounds or paints.

But is creating something alien to science? Didn’t man fly into space on a ship built thanks to the genius of engineering? Wasn’t the first telescope invented at one time, thanks to which an infinity of stars was revealed to the eye? Wasn’t the first serum made up of ingredients at one time? It turns out that science is the same act of creation as what we are used to calling art.

One whole

Finally, we must not forget that in many ways these phenomena, concepts, components of our life are not just similar, but practically identical. Take, for example, the treatise of N. Boileau - the main manifesto of the era of classicism. On the one hand, this is a classic literary work. On the other hand, a scientific treatise in which the basic aesthetic principles of its time are explained, argued and compared.

Another example is the work of Leonardo da Vinci, who, in addition to paintings, studied anatomy in his drawings. In this case, it is quite difficult to determine whether it was art or scientific activity.

Finally, let's turn to poetry. At first glance, it represents only correctly grouped words, which, thanks to rhyme, turn into However, how random is this order? How much effort does the author need to find it? What experience should he gain for this? It turns out that writing poetry is also a science.

Creators and scientists

So, when we have decided on the specifics of the problem, let’s take a closer, more demanding look at it. People of science and art are often the same representatives of the human race. Dante Alighieri, for example, in addition to the obvious belonging to literary world can also be considered one of the outstanding historians. In order to realize this, you just need to read his “Divine Comedy”.

Lomonosov, in turn, successfully studied chemistry and physics, but at the same time became famous as the author of numerous creations and also one of the legislators of Russian classicism.

The examples given are only a minuscule, small fraction of the number of figures who combined both sides of this coin.

Special sciences

Is it worth saying that the world rests not only on physics and mathematics? There are a huge number of types of scientific activities that are far from exact methods of calculation, evaporation or experiments in the field of plant compatibility.

The manifestations of art can be considered extremely connected, almost inseparable. Millions of philologists, cultural scientists and psychologists from time immemorial have been working to understand not only artistic creativity itself, but also the world through its prism. By and large, the correct study of a literary work makes it possible to understand not only the features of its organization, but also the time in which it was written, to discover new sides in a person, to add your own, no less significant nuance to the existing picture of the world.

Reasoning and perception

Religion, philosophy, science, and art are extremely closely connected. To prove this statement, let us turn our attention to the Middle Ages. It was the church that was the legislator of everything that happened in the earthly world. It defined the canons of art by limiting the subject matter, moving to a new level where the physical did not matter.

How many heretical philosophers and scientists were then burned at the stake of the Inquisition, how many were simply excommunicated from the church for their own vision of the world or appeal to the form, volume in the image of a saint on an icon!

And at the same time, it was the church and religion that gave music to the world; it was philosophy that became the basis for a huge number of novels, which are now classics of literature.

Art as divination

Ever since Ancient Greece There is a definition of an artist (in the broad sense of the word) as a medium, a coordinator between the heavenly and the earthly, the divine and the human. That is why the goddess of art and science is represented in mythology in nine forms at once. In this case we're talking about, of course, about the muses who give inspiration to artists and researchers, chroniclers and singers. It was thanks to them that man was able, according to myths, to create beauty and look beyond the horizon, into the incomprehensible and immense.

Thus, the creative person was practically endowed with a kind of gift of clairvoyance. It should be noted that this point of view is by no means unfounded. Take, for example, the creator of the novel 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. How could he know about technologies that would become reality years later? Or the same Leonardo da Vinci, who predicted the movement of progress even before the rest of humanity thought about it...

Divination and Science

It would be a mistake to think that only the artist discovers the unknown. In the world of scientific high thought there are simply a huge number of such examples. The most famous of them is the periodic table, which the scientist dreamed of in the form of a deck of cards.

Or Gauss, who saw in a dream a snake biting its own tail. It turns out that science is no less characterized by openness to the unknown, the otherworldly, the subconscious, what artists define with no less accuracy on an intuitive level.

Common to all

Whatever you say, workers of science and art in their creativity serve one single, most important goal - the improvement of the world. Each of them strives to make our life more beautiful, simpler, cleaner, more accurate, while choosing their own path, different from all others.

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Sevastopol City State Administration

Sevastopol City Humanitarian University

Faculty of Philology

Department of Russian Language

and foreign literature

Coursework in the discipline

“History of foreign literature of the 19th century.”

The originality of artistic images of the scientist-researcher in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle

Students of group UA-2

Voronova Angelina Igorevna

scientific supervisor – Ph.D.,

Assoc. Milenko V.D.

Sevastopol-2010

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF STUDYING THE WORKS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

1.1 The concept of artistic image from the point of view of modern research

1.2 The theme of the scientific transformation of the world in English literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries

1.3 The originality of A. Conan Doyle’s scientific worldview

CHAPTER II IMAGES OF SCIENTISTS-RESEARCHERS IN THE WORKS OF A. CONAN DOYLE

2.1 The image of Sherlock Holmes

2.2 The image of Professor Challenger

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The work of Arthur Conan Doyle was also decisively influenced by progress in the sciences. But he puts first place not results, but the basis of this progress - logic. It is noteworthy that its central characters - Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger - demonstrate a purely scientific approach in practical matters. The author, perhaps without knowing it himself, in the person of these heroes showed the world an example of scientists, researchers, for whom there are no trifles and there should be no ambiguities.

Literary activity A. Conan Doyle is an important aspect cultural life England at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries and made a huge contribution to the formation of new artistic thinking of that time. Studying the writer’s work cannot but enrich the idea of the individuality and originality of this period in the development of English literature.

1). Consideration of the topic of scientific transformation of the world in English literature at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries.

2). Clarification and analysis of the scientific worldview of the writer A. Conan Doyle.

3). Research, description and characterization of the image of Sherlock Holmes.

4). Research and characterization of the image of Professor Challenger.

Basic methods works were selected in accordance with the characteristics of the study:

1. Biographical - helps to trace the degree and nature of the influence of the topic of scientific transformation of the world on the worldview and creativity of the writer.

2. Receptive - used to characterize the perception of Conan Doyle’s work as a literary and cultural phenomenon.

3. Sociological – for understanding literature as one of the forms public consciousness and reflection in it of historical trends, socially conditioned moments, images of the operation of economic and political laws, characters, closely related to the situation in society in the era of the writer.

4. The method of literary hermeneutics - to trace the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the system of images from the text of the work.

Structure course work: the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references. The text part consists of 30 pages, the bibliography includes 21 titles.

Chapter I is devoted to the study of the theoretical foundations of the study. It clarifies the concept of an artistic image from the point of view of modern research, identifies the main features literary process in England at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, the originality of the writer’s scientific worldview, the reasons for his appeal to this topic.

Chapter II examines the writer’s works, their place in his work, and the main images of scientific researchers.

In conclusion, the results of the work are summed up and the main conclusions of the research and analysis are presented.

CHAPTER І THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF STUDYING THE WORKS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

1.1 The concept of artistic image from the point of view of modern research

In terms of the structure of a literary work, an artistic image is the most important component of its form, without which the development of action and understanding of meaning is impossible. If piece of art- the basic unit of literature, then the artistic image is the basic unit of literary creation. Using artistic images, the object of reflection is modeled. The image expresses landscape and interior objects, events and actions of the characters. The author's intention appears in the images; the main, general idea is embodied. An artistic image is not only an image of a person - it is a picture of human life, in the center of which stands a specific person, but which also includes everything that surrounds him in life.

1.2 The theme of the scientific transformation of the world in English literature of the turn XIX – XX centuries

The first revolution in the development of science fiction took place in the late 90s of the 19th century. outstanding English writer Herbert Wells. He introduced elements of pessimism, grotesqueness and social criticism into previously generally optimistic science fiction. After release most important novels H. Wells of the first period of his work (“The Time Machine” (1895), “The Island of Doctor Moreau” (1896), “The Invisible Man” (1897), “The War of the Worlds” (1898), “When the Sleeper Awakens” (1899) , “The First Men on the Moon” (1901)) the subject of science fiction was limited to the following topics: space travel, time travel, Parallel Worlds, human evolution or mutation, modeling of society, the fate of scientific inventions, future wars and cataclysms. Each theme rarely appears in its pure form in a science fiction book. Any significant work genre is a talented synthesis of several themes.

When Wells talks about scientific problems, his imagination finds the most fertile soil. Extensive knowledge gained from natural sciences, allowed the writer to predict many discoveries of the 20th century. For example, the book "A World Set Free" mentions nuclear energy, and "The War in the Air" predicts the rapid development of aviation.

Despite the abundance of original topics in science fiction, in the 1910s. it began to acquire the features of entertainment literature, losing its educational-popularization emphasis and social orientation.

However, readers who lived through the real First World War, not the one invented by science fiction writers, did not want to think about social problems or difficulties that humanity may face. That's why greater success in the 1920s they received entertainment-type works, like those created by A. Merritt and E. R. Burroughs. Their works could be classified as fantasy if the authors, in the spirit of their materialistic times, did not try (often very far-fetched) to give the events described a supposed scientific justification or use science-fiction surroundings. In general, science was seen during this period in the history of science fiction only as an auxiliary means to enliven the plot of the work.

1.3 The originality of A. Conan Doyle's scientific worldview

Family traditions dictated that he follow an artistic career, but Arthur decided to take up medicine. In October 1876 he became a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. While studying, Conan Doyle met many future famous authors such as James Matthew Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson. Here he listened to lectures by Joseph Bell, Professor Rutherford, and became friends with George Budd and Herbert Wells.

When the Boer War began in December 1899, Conan Doyle volunteered to fight as a military doctor. For several months he was in Africa, where he saw large quantity soldiers who died from fever and typhus than from war wounds. Before the outbreak of war (August 4, 1914), Doyle again joined the volunteer detachment. During this war, Doyle lost a brother and a son, two cousins and two nephews.

Conan Doyle matured as a writer at a time when England was developing literary movement, called neo-romanticism, as opposed to naturalism and symbolism - two other movements that formed in the last third of the 19th century. Neo-romanticists did not share the naturalists’ passion for the everyday atmosphere and down-to-earth heroes. They were looking for colorful, energetic, inspired characters, unusual settings, and turbulent events. The fantasy of neo-romantics moved in different directions: they called readers to the past or to distant lands, to the unknown and unusual. They did not evade modernity at all, but presented it from an unexpected side, away from everyday life in the city. His hero Sherlock Holmes called it his “predilection for everything unusual, for everything that goes beyond the usual and banal current Everyday life". But the same Sherlock Holmes followed a clear rule: “To find these incomprehensible phenomena and extraordinary situations, we must turn to life itself, for it is always capable of more than any effort of imagination."

We can conclude that the writer’s worldview was influenced by many factors, which together helped Conan Doyle create outstanding works of English and world literature. Medical education, war, passion for scientific literature, as well as acquaintance with professors J. Bell and Rutherford, G. Wells and other writers, his own literary talent and enormous patriotism - the fate of such a person could not but leave an imprint on his work, which, being created in the era of neo-romanticism , allowed the author to show his inexhaustible imagination.

CHAPTER II IMAGES OF SCIENTISTS-RESEARCHERS IN THE WORKS OF A. CONAN DOYLE

A writer rarely copies one specific person in a particular character. A literary hero combines many of the author’s observations, both consistent and random.

2.1 Sherlock Holmes image

At his first meeting with Sherlock Holmes in the hospital laboratory (“A Study in Scarlet”), Dr. Watson describes his new acquaintance very ambiguously: “Even his appearance could strike the imagination of the most superficial observer. He was more than six feet tall, but with his extraordinary thinness he seemed even taller. His gaze was sharp, piercing... his thin aquiline nose gave his face an expression of lively energy and determination. A square, slightly protruding chin also spoke of decisive character. His hands were always covered in ink and stained with various chemicals...”

At the same time, there is no intuition: the correct conclusions of the brilliant detective are based on his deep knowledge: “I did not see ... that he systematically read any scientific literature ... However, he studied some subjects with amazing zeal, and in some rather strange areas he had such extensive and precise knowledge that sometimes I was simply stunned.” - Watson notes. Holmes’s grotesque and somewhat comical rationalism only emphasizes the single-mindedness of this character: “Holmes’ ignorance was as amazing as his knowledge. ABOUT modern literature, politics and philosophy, he had almost no idea.” Sherlock Holmes explains it this way: “You see,” he said, “it seems to me that the human brain is like a small empty attic, which you can furnish as you please. A fool will drag all sorts of junk in there... and there will be nowhere to put useful, necessary things, or at best... you won’t be able to get to them. And a smart person carefully selects what he places in his brain attic. He will take only the tools that he needs for his work, but there will be a lot of them, and he will arrange everything in an exemplary order.” . Later in the stories, Holmes completely contradicts what Watson wrote about him. Despite his indifference to politics, in the story "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognizes the identity of the supposed Count von Cramm; as for literature, his speech is replete with references to the Bible, Shakespeare, even Goethe. A little later, Holmes declares that he does not want to know anything if it is not related to his profession, and in the second chapter of the story “The Valley of Fear” he states that “any knowledge is useful for a detective,” and towards the end of the story “The Lion’s Mane” describes himself as "a promiscuous reader with an incredibly retentive memory for small details."

Unless there was urgent work, Mr. Holmes woke up late. When the blues came over him, he, dressed in a mouse-colored robe, could remain silent for days. In the same robe he spent his endless chemical experiments. The remaining robes - red and bluish - expressed other states of mind and were used in the most different situations. At times, Sherlock Holmes was overwhelmed by the desire to argue, then, instead of the traditional clay one, he lit a cherry wood pipe. Deep in thought, the famous detective allowed himself to bite his nails. He was unreasonably little interested in food and his own health.

Holmes is plagued by boredom everyday life. That's why he throws himself headlong into a new adventure. Just not the gray everyday life. “How sad, disgusting and hopeless the world is! See how the yellow fog swirls outside, enveloping the dirty brown houses. What could be more prosaic and crudely material? What is the use of exceptional abilities, Doctor, if there is no way to use them? Crime is boring, existence is boring, there is nothing left on earth except boredom” (“The Sign of Four”).

Holmes is not vain, and in most cases he is of little interest in gratitude for a solved crime: “I get acquainted with the details of the case and express my opinion, the opinion of a specialist. I'm not looking for fame. When I solve the case, my name does not appear in the newspapers. I see the highest reward in the work itself, in the opportunity to put my method into practice.” Although, in a number of cases, Holmes expresses his disappointment at this state of affairs. “Suppose I unravel this case - after all, Gregson, Lestrade and company will pocket all the glory anyway. Such is the fate of an unofficial person.” (“The Sign of Four”).

Other heroes of the works, friends and acquaintances of Holmes, evaluate him differently. Stamford speaks of him as a scientist devoted to science: “I’m not saying he’s bad. Just a little eccentric - an enthusiast of some areas of science... Holmes is too obsessed with science - this already borders on callousness... he will inject his friend with a small dose of some newly discovered plant alkaloid, not out of malice, of course, but simply out of curiosity, in order to have a visual representation of its action. However, to be fair to him, I am sure that he would just as willingly give this injection to himself. He has a passion for accurate and reliable knowledge."

Holmes's unusual ability to make astonishing guesses based on the smallest signs causes constant amazement for Watson and the readers of the stories. As a rule, Holmes subsequently thoroughly explains his train of thought, which after the fact seems obvious and elementary. At times Watson is close to despair: “I do not consider myself stupider than others, but when I deal with Sherlock Holmes, I am oppressed by the heavy consciousness of my own stupidity” (“Union of Redheads”).

Conan Doyle himself considered the stories about Holmes “light reading.” In addition, he was irritated by the fact that readers preferred works about Holmes, while Conan Doyle considered himself primarily a great author of the historical novel. In the end, Conan Doyle decided to end the detective's story by eliminating the most popular literary character in a battle with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. However, a stream of letters from indignant readers, among whom were members royal family, forced the writer to “revive” the famous detective.

And this is what is characteristic (and is an indisputable sign that this hero belongs to the cultural-mythological rather than to the strictly realistic literary series): for 40 years “lived” under the influence of our own creator, consummate master The deductive method of crime investigation has not aged at all.

Moreover: Sherlock Holmes and his inseparable companion Dr. Watson long outlived Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Three-quarters of a century has passed since the writer’s death, and the two inhabitants of the apartment on Baker Street continue to unravel puzzling criminal mysteries as if nothing had happened...

The detective genre has emerged in a world where everything is still stable, subject to custom and tradition. Subsequently life situation will become more complicated, but nevertheless Conan Doyle created not only a model for the entire genre, he created the image of an ideal detective. Sherlock Holmes makes you remember yourself as a living, whole and extraordinary person.

2.2 Professor Challenger's image

The year 1912 gave the reading population of the planet another unforgettable image of an unusual person - he turned out to be Professor Challenger George Edward, created by Arthur Conan Doyle and ranked on a par with the most famous detective in England, Sherlock Holmes. He is the main character in science fiction stories " lost World"(1912), "The Poison Belt" (1913), "The Land of Mists" (1926), "The Disintegration Machine" (1927), "When the Earth Screamed" (1928), the narration in which in most cases is told on behalf of the Daily reporter -Gazette" and Challenger's friend Edward D. Malone.

At the first meeting, Malone describes his new acquaintance as follows: “What was most striking was his size... and majestic posture. I have never seen such a huge head in my life. If I had dared to try on his top hat, I would probably have gone up to my shoulders in it. The professor's face and beard involuntarily brought to mind the image of Assyrian bulls. The face is large, fleshy, the beard is square, blue-black, falling in waves onto the chest. His hair also made an unusual impression - a long strand, as if glued, lay on his high, steep forehead. He had clear gray-blue eyes under shaggy black eyebrows, and he looked at me critically and quite authoritatively. I saw the broadest shoulders, a powerful wheel-shaped chest and two huge arms, thickly overgrown with long black hair. If we add to all this a booming, poking, thunderous voice...” However, in South America, when climbing to the plateau of the “lost world”, he “... was the first to reach the top (it was strange to see such dexterity in this overweight man) …”. At the end of the story, the professor looks completely different: “...a thin face, a cold gaze of ice-blue eagle eyes, in the depths of which a cheerful, sly light always smolders.”[5, p.133].

Little is known about the life of the professor in the second chapter of the story “The Lost World”; information is supplied as a certificate from the editor of the Latest News section of the Daily Gazette, McArdle: “Challenger George Edward ... Education: Largs School, Edinburgh University. In 1892 - assistant British Museum. In 1893 - assistant curator of the department at the Museum of Comparative Anthropology... Was awarded a medal for Scientific research in the field of zoology. Member of foreign societies...: Belgian Society, American Academy, La Plata and so on, ex-president of the Paleontological Society, British Association... Printed works: “On the question of the structure of the Kalmyk skull”, “Essays on the evolution of vertebrates” and many articles, including Weismann's False Theory, which caused heated debate at the Vienna Zoological Congress. Favorite pastimes: hiking, mountaineering.”

Like Sherlock Holmes, Challenger is an active, energetic nature, an expert and a knight in his field, who does not give in to obstacles. A research scientist, he dedicated his extraordinary talent and vitality to science, for the sake of scientific truth he is ready to take risks and sacrifices - in the story “The Lost World”, personally testing a balloon he made himself, and almost getting into trouble because of this, he does not think about the danger and loss of his creation, the main thing for him is the result: “Brilliant! - exclaimed the resilient Challenger, rubbing his bruised hand. “The experience was a success.” Even in the face of death (the story “The Poisoned Belt”) he wants to complete the experience: “I am for waiting for the end.” In extreme situations, the professor shows resourcefulness, courage and bravery: “...George Edward Challenger feels best when his back is against the wall... But where intelligence and will act together, there is always a way out.” - he says about himself. One might call it serene self-confidence, but it is not empty words– their author is truly capable of finding a solution in the most seemingly hopeless situations. For example, when travelers faced the problem of climbing a plateau, the only passage to which was blocked with stones, the professor, on reflection, invented a new way up and was rightly delighted with his discovery: “... Challenger, apparently, was delighted with himself and everyone his being radiated self-satisfaction. During breakfast, he kept looking at us with feigned modesty, as if saying: “I deserve all your praise, I know that, but I beg you, don’t make me blush with embarrassment!” His beard was bristling, his chest was stuck out, his hand was tucked over the side of his jacket. This is how he probably saw himself on one of the pedestals in Trafalgar Square, not yet occupied by another London scarecrow.” . “What a head our old man has!” - Lord John Roxton admires him.

Challenger is an irreconcilable enemy of all, in his own opinion, half-educated people and charlatans of the British scientific and pseudo-scientific environment. He is a scientist who has been associated with science all his life. She is an integral part of his existence. In the story “The Poison Belt,” he instructs Professor Summerlee: “A truly scientific mind,” I speak in the third person so as not to seem boastful, “an ideal scientific mind should be able to invent a new abstract scientific theory even in the period of time that is needed.” its carrier in order to fall from the balloon to the ground. Men of such strong temperament are needed to conquer nature and become pioneers of truth.” The professor gives every object in the surrounding world scientific analysis and classification, and immediately lectures about it to his companions - not in order to show off his scholarship, but simply considering it important: “Learn to look at things from a scientific point of view, develop the impartiality of a scientist,” he said. - For a person with a philosophical mindset, like me, for example, this tick with its lance-shaped proboscis and stretchable stomach is as beautiful a creation of nature as, say, a peacock or northern lights. It pains me to hear you speak so disapprovingly of him.” and then also: “The professor, not at all embarrassed, grabbed another Indian by the shoulder and, turning him from side to side, like visual material, began to give us a lecture.” Even in a tense situation, expecting death (in the story “The Poison Belt”) “... Challenger lectured us for a good quarter of an hour; he was so excited that he roared and howled at us, as if he were addressing the ranks of his old listeners, learned skeptics in Queens Hall.”

Professor Challenger is an innovator; he is not afraid to put forward even the most incredible theories if he believes that they have a right to exist. “Yes, that’s true, your worst enemies will not blame you for a lack of imagination...” Summerlee tells him. Challenger is happy if he turns out to be right: “I alone of all people foresaw and predicted all this,” he said, and the pride of scientific triumph sounded in his voice.” But he becomes furious if they don’t believe him: “You seem to think it certain, Challenger,” said Summerlee, “that the world was created solely for the purpose of generating and maintaining human life. - Of course, my sir, for what other purpose? - asked Challenger, who was irritated even by the possibility of an objection. But no one believed him - neither the skeptic Summerlee, nor the editor Malone McArdle - they called him a charlatan, “a modern Munchausen.” Nature magazine contributor Tharp Henry spoke of Challenger this way: “...he is not one of those people who can simply be brushed aside. Challenger is smart. This is a bundle of human strength and vitality, but at the same time he is a rabid fanatic and, moreover, is not shy about the means to achieve his goals...”

Challenger is a scientist who “...does not recognize any authority other than his own.” . To Summerlee’s complaints about the unfinished scientific work in the story “The Poison Belt,” he responds: “Your unfinished work is insignificant in its significance ... when you think that my own magnum opus, The Ladder of Life, has only just begun. My mental capital, everything that I have read so far, my experiences and observations, my truly absolutely exceptional talent - all this should have been concentrated in this book. She would undoubtedly have discovered new era in science.". However, he does not reject absolutely everything and is able to make compromises if the occasion deserves it: having received Summerlee’s trust and support in the “lost world” theory, “...both of our scientists shook hands for the first time.” The professor is also no stranger to scientific justice: “The plateau will be named after the pioneer who discovered it: this is Maple-White Country.”, although “the camp was called Fort Challenger.” And, of course, the professor has a “scientific” dream: “...I will spend all the money on equipment for a private museum...” he says at the end of the trip to the “lost world.”

Challenger is a born leader. He loves and knows how to command: “From the very beginning I decided to lead the expedition, and you will be convinced that not a single, even the most detailed map will replace my experience, my leadership.” – the professor says confidently. “The appearance and manners of this man make such an impressive impression that as soon as he raised his hand, everyone sat down and prepared to listen to him.” – this is how the author describes his influence on the audience.

One could say that Challenger has a vulnerable ego - he is very quickly offended by comments addressed to him, especially regarding his appearance, as in the case of the incredible similarity between the professor and the leader of the apes ("The Lost World"), or Professor Summerlee's inaccurate remark regarding Challenger's legs (" Poison Belt"): “Challenger became so enraged that he could not utter a word. He could only growl and squint his eyes, and his hair was tousled.” “And only after Lord John apologized to our offended friend, did he deign to change his anger to mercy.”

The only person who can tame Challenger is his wife Jessie. “If you imagine a gorilla next to a gazelle, you can get an idea about this couple.” – the author says about the Challenger family. The wife knows her husband’s character well: “As soon as you notice that he begins to lose his temper, immediately run out of the room. Don’t contradict him... Just don’t express your distrust out loud, otherwise he’ll start going on a rampage. Pretend that you believe him, then maybe everything will go well. Don't forget, he is convinced that he is right. You can be sure of this. He is honesty itself...and when you see that he is becoming dangerous...ring the bell and try to contain him until I arrive. I usually cope with it even in the most difficult moments.” The professor knows his shortcomings: “If George Edward Challenger had listened to your advice, he would have been a much more respectable man, but not himself. There are many respectable people, my dear, but George Edward Challenger is the only one in the world. So try to get along with him somehow." - he says to Mrs. Challenger.

But one cannot help but admire the reverent attitude of the huge Challenger towards his small and fragile wife: “For so many years we have been faithful companions to each other! It would be sad for us to part now, at this last moment... For a moment, a hitherto unfamiliar image of the soft and gentle Challenger appeared to me, so different from that noisy, pompous and impudent man who alternately amazed and offended his contemporaries. Here, overshadowed by death, was revealed the Challenger who was hiding in the deepest depths of this personality, the man who managed to win and retain the love of his wife.” (“The Poisoned Belt”). Even on the plateau of the “lost world”, Malone, having been wounded, sees the hitherto hidden features of the scientist: “Seeing their worried faces in front of me, I realized for the first time that our professors are not only men of science, but also people capable of simple human feelings.”

It is said of Professor Challenger that he is a fanatic of science and that his courtesy can be "almost as stunning as his rudeness." It is difficult to come to terms with the extremes of his character, but it is possible to understand and explain their manifestation. The excesses and intemperance of his tone and actions arise when he is faced with quackery, careerism, newspaper hype, self-promotion and distrust that offends his dignity. Prehistoric animals, he says, characterizing wild customs and impudent arrogance and intolerance, are “... our ancestors, but not only ancestors... but also contemporaries, who can be observed in all their originality - repulsive, terrible originality.” This is the opinion not only of the indignant Professor Challenger, but also of the author himself. He sympathizes with his hero and arouses the reader's sympathy for him. Professor Challenger has remarkable qualities as both a person and a scientist, and the author is not afraid to “humiliate” his hero, emphasizing his weaknesses and shortcomings: “Possessing a very primitive sense of humor, he rejoiced at every joke, even the rudest.”, “... thick and Challenger’s loud snoring echoed throughout the forest.”, and the writer often compares the professor’s behavior with animals: “... the roar of an angry bull...”, “Growling and cursing, he trudged after me like an angry chained dog.”, “... old lion with a tangled mane...", etc.

But despite this, in Challenger Conan Doyle portrays the image of a real research scientist, devoted to science, not afraid to experiment even with his own life and knowing exactly his duty - “... to prevent the use of scientific discoveries for the evil of humanity...” (“Disintegration Machine”) .

CONCLUSION

The artistic world of Arthur Conan Doyle is characterized by extraordinary integrity. This is achieved through a system of images, the smallest details their creation and naturalistic features. In the characters of his heroes, the writer sees a reflection of his own creative consciousness - this is not only the narrative structure of the work, but also the personalities of scientific researchers who are united by England and English qualities. In them, in addition to autobiographical elements, Conan Doyle reflected the traits necessary, in his opinion, for every person of science - perseverance, loyalty to the truth, devotion to duty.

To find out the prerequisites for the emergence of scientific and fantasy themes in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, the topic of the scientific transformation of the world in English literature of the 19th and 20th centuries was examined. Its influence on the writer is demonstrated by an analysis of his scientific worldview.

This work helps to trace and understand the originality of the images of research scientists Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger in the works of Conan Doyle. These are extraordinary individuals, courageous innovators, each dedicated to their own aspect of science and possessing a passion for accurate and reliable knowledge. At the same time, they are characterized by truly human qualities - sensitivity, sympathy, attention. Their images, brought to perfection by the writer, are perceived by readers not as fictional, but as completely real. According to the author, the main feature necessary for a scientific researcher is successfully reflected in the images of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger - a talented scientific mind should be directed exclusively for the benefit of humanity.

In general, only the first steps have been taken in the study of the images and works created by A. Conan Doyle. This topic The study is quite interesting and requires further study.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Professor Russian Chemical Technology University them. Mendeleev

The views on science of three great Russian writers are analyzed - A.P. Chekhova, F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy. Studying science in this context produces unexpected and interesting results. Key words: science, art, fiction.

Key word: science, art, fiction literature

The problem of the relationship between science and art has a long history and is solved from different or directly opposite positions. The idea was popular that scientific, discursive thinking was crowding out intuitive thinking and transforming the emotional sphere. The phrase “The Death of Art” has become fashionable. The threat to art was directly linked to science and technology. A machine, unlike a person, has perfection and enormous productivity. She challenges artists. Therefore, art faces a choice: either it submits to the principles of machine technology and becomes widespread, or it finds itself in isolation. The apostles of this idea were the French mathematician and esthetician Mol and the Canadian specialist in mass communications McLuhan. Mohl argued that art was losing its privileged position, becoming a type of practical activity, and being adapted by scientific and technological progress. The artist turns into a programmer or communicator. And only if he masters the strict and universal language of the machine can he retain the role of pioneer. His role is changing: he no longer creates new works, but ideas about new forms of influence on the sensory sphere of man. These ideas are realized by technology, which plays no less a role in art than in the creation of the lunar rover. In essence, this was only the first preventive war against the idea of the sacredness of artistic creativity and the very value of the author. Nowadays, the Internet has taken these ideas to the extreme and, as is usually the case, to caricature.

But there is also a directly opposite concept of the relationship between science and aesthetic values. For example, the French esthetician Dufresne believed that art in its traditional sense was really dying. But this does not mean that art in general is dying or should die under the aggressive pressure of science. If art wants to survive, it must stand in opposition to the social and technical environment with their ossified structures hostile to man. Breaking with traditional practice, art does not ignore reality at all, but, on the contrary, penetrates into its deeper layers, where object and subject are no longer distinguishable. In a sense, this is a version of the German philosopher Schelling. Art, therefore, saves man. But the price of such salvation is a complete break between art and science.

Of all the arts, the most intense relationship has developed between science and fiction. This is explained, first of all, by the fact that both science and literature use the same way of expressing their content - the discursive method. And although science has a huge layer of symbolic, specific language, the main one remains the spoken language. One of the famous representatives of analytical philosophy, Peter Strawson, believed that science needs natural language for its comprehension. Another analyst, Henry N. Goodman, believes that versions of the world consist of scientific theories, pictorial representations, literary opuses, and the like, as long as they conform to a standard and proven categories. Language is a living reality; it does not recognize boundaries and flows from one subject field to another. That's why writers follow science so closely and jealously. How do they feel about her? To answer this question, it is necessary to examine all the literature separately, because there is no one answer. It is different for different writers.

The above primarily applies to Russian literature. It's clear. A poet in Russia is more than a poet. And literature in our country has always performed more functions than art should. If, according to Kant, the only function of art is aesthetic, then in Russia literature taught, educated, was part of politics and religion, and preached moral maxims. It is clear that she followed the science with jealous interest - was it taking over part of her plot? Moreover, every year and century more and more objects fell into the sphere of interests of science, and its subject matter steadily expanded.

Part 1. A.P. Chekhov.

“I passionately love astronomers, poets, metaphysicians, privatdozents, chemists and other priests of science, to whom you consider yourself through your clever facts and branches of science, i.e. products and fruits... I am terribly devoted to science. This nineteenth-century sail has no value for me; science has obscured it from my eyes with its further wings. Every discovery torments me like a nail in the back....” Everyone knows these lines from Chekhov's story “Letter to a Learned Neighbor.” “This cannot happen, because this can never happen,” etc. And even people who know Chekhov’s work well think that Chekhov’s attitude towards science ends with such jokes. Meanwhile, this is the deepest delusion. None of the Russian writers took science as seriously and with such respect as Chekhov. What worried him first? First of all, Chekhov thought a lot about the problem of the connection between science and truth.

The hero of the story “On the Way” says: “You don’t know what science is. All sciences, how many of them there are in the world, have the same passport, without which they consider themselves unthinkable - the desire for truth. Each of them has as its goal not benefit, not convenience in life, but truth. Amazing! When you begin to study any science, the first thing that strikes you is its beginning. I will tell you that there is nothing more exciting and grandiose, nothing as stunning and captivating the human spirit as the beginning of some science. From the very first five or six lectures you are inspired by the brightest hopes, you already seem to be the master of the truth. And I devoted myself to science selflessly, passionately, like a beloved woman. I was their slave, and besides them I did not want to know any other sun. Day and night, without straightening my back, I crammed, splurged on books, cried when, before my eyes, people exploited science for their own ends.” But the trouble is that this value - truth - is gradually beginning to erode.

And Chekhov continues bitterly: “But I didn’t get carried away for long. The thing is that every science has a beginning, but no end at all, just like a periodic fraction. Zoology has discovered 35,000 species of insects, chemistry has 60 simple bodies. If, over time, ten zeros are added to the right of these figures, zoology and chemistry will be just as far from their end as they are now, and all modern scientific work consists of incrementing numbers. I realized this trick when I opened the 35001st species and did not feel satisfied” [ibid.]. In the story “The Mummers,” a young professor gives an introductory lecture. He assures that there is no greater happiness than serving science. “Science is everything! - he says. “She is life.” And they believe him. But they would have called him a mummer if they had heard what he said to his wife after the lecture. He told her: “Now, mother, I am a professor. A professor has ten times more practice than an ordinary doctor. Now I’m counting on 25 thousand a year.”

This is simply amazing. More than 60 years before the German philosopher Karl Jaspers, Chekhov tells us that truth disappears from the value horizon of science and the motives for doing science begin to become vulgar and philistine. Of course, he speaks in a specific way, as only Chekhov could say.

The next problem that worries Chekhov is the problem of value-laden science. In the story “And the Beautiful Must Have Limits,” the college registrar writes: “I also cannot remain silent about science. Science has many useful and wonderful qualities, but remember how much evil it brings if a person who indulges in it crosses the boundaries established by morality, the laws of nature, and so on? .

Chekhov was tormented by the attitude of ordinary people towards science and its social status. "People who completed the course in special institutions, sit idle or occupy positions that have nothing to do with their specialty, and thus higher technical education is still unproductive in our country,” writes Chekhov in the story “The Wall.”

In “The Jumper,” the writer unambiguously speaks of his sympathy for the exact sciences and the hero, the physician Dymov, and his wife, the jumper Olenka, only after the death of her husband understands that she lived with an extraordinary man, a great man, although he did not understand operas and other arts. “I missed it! I missed it!” she cries.

In the story “The Thinker,” prison warden Yashkin talks to the superintendent of the district school:

“In my opinion, there are a lot of unnecessary sciences.” “That is, how is it, sir,” asks Pifov quietly. “What sciences do you find superfluous?” - “All sorts of things... The more sciences a person knows, the more he dreams of himself... There is more pride... I would outweigh all these sciences. Well, well, I’m really offended.”

Another truly visionary moment. In the story “The Duel,” the zoologist von Koren says to the deacon: “The humanities you are talking about will only satisfy human thought when in their movement they meet the exact sciences and go side by side with them. Whether they will meet under a microscope or in the monologues of a new Hamlet, or in a new religion, I don’t know, but I think that the earth will be covered with an icy crust before this happens.”

But even if you are not disappointed in science, if truth, science and teaching constitute the whole meaning of your life, then is this enough for happiness? And here I want to remind you of one of Chekhov’s most poignant stories, “A Boring Story.” The story is really boring, almost nothing happens in it. But it’s about us, and I can’t ignore it in developing this plot. The hero is an outstanding, world-famous scientist - physician, professor, privy councilor and holder of almost all domestic and foreign orders. He is seriously and terminally ill, suffers from insomnia, suffers and knows that he has only a few months left to live, no more. But he cannot and does not want to give up what he loves - science and teaching. His story about how he gives lectures is a real teaching aid for all teachers. His day starts early and at a quarter to ten he has to start giving a lecture.

On the way to the university, he thinks about the lecture and then reaches the university. “But the gloomy university gates, which have not been repaired for a long time, a bored janitor in a sheepskin coat, a broom, a pile of snow... Such gates cannot make a healthy impression on a fresh boy who came from the provinces and imagines that the temple of science is really a temple. In general, the dilapidation of university buildings, the gloominess of the corridors, the soot of the walls, the lack of light, the dull appearance of the steps, hangers and benches in the history of Russian pessimism occupy one of the first places along with the predisposing reasons... A student, whose mood is mostly created by the situation, at every step, where he learns, he must see in front of him only the tall, strong, graceful... God protect him from skinny trees, broken windows, gray walls and doors covered with torn oilcloth.”

His thoughts about his assistant, the dissector, who prepares drugs for him, are curious. He fanatically believes in the infallibility of science and mainly of everything that the Germans write. “He is confident in himself, in his preparations, knows the purpose of life and is completely unfamiliar with the doubts and disappointments that turn talent gray. Slavish worship of authority and lack of need to think independently.” But then the lecture begins. “I know what I will read about, but I don’t know how I will read, where I will start and where I will end. To read well, that is, not boringly and with benefit for listeners, you need, in addition to talent, to also have dexterity and experience, you need to have the clearest idea of your strengths, of those to whom you are reading, and of what constitutes the subject of your speech. In addition, you need to be a man on your own, watch vigilantly and not lose sight for a second.... In front of me are one and a half hundred faces, not similar to one another... My goal is to defeat this many-headed hydra. If every minute while I read, I have a clear idea of the degree of her attention and the power of understanding, then she is in my power... Next, I try to keep my speech literary, the definitions short and precise, the phrase as simple and beautiful as possible. Every minute I must check myself and remember that I have only an hour and forty minutes at my disposal. In a word, there is a lot of work. At the same time you have to pretend to be a scientist, a teacher, and a speaker, and it’s bad if the speaker defeats the teacher and scientist in you, or vice versa.

You read for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, and then you notice that students begin to glance at the ceiling, one will reach for a scarf, another will sit more comfortably, the third will smile at his thoughts... This means that attention is tired. We need to take action. Taking the first opportunity, I make some pun. All one and a half hundred faces smile broadly, their eyes sparkle cheerfully, and the roar of the sea is briefly heard. I laugh too. My attention is refreshed and I can continue. No sport, no entertainment or games gave me such pleasure as lecturing. Only during lectures could I give myself over to passion and understand that inspiration is not an invention of poets, but actually exists.”

But then the professor falls ill and, it would seem, he needs to give up everything and take care of his health and treatment. “My conscience and mind tell me that the best thing I could do now is to give the boys a farewell lecture, give them the last word, bless them and give up my place to a man who is younger and stronger than me. But let God judge me, I don’t have the courage to act according to my conscience... Just like 20-30 years ago, now, before my death, I am only interested in science. Emitting last breath, I will still believe that science is the most important, most beautiful and necessary thing in a person’s life, that it has been and will be the highest manifestation of love, and that only through it alone will a person conquer nature and himself.

This belief may be naive and unfair in its basis, but it is not my fault that I believe this way and not otherwise; I cannot overcome this faith in myself” [ibid.]. But if this is so, if science is the most beautiful thing in a person’s life, then why do you want to cry while reading this story? Probably because the hero is still unhappy. Unhappy because he is terminally ill, unhappy in his family, unhappy in his sinless love for his pupil Katya. And the last phrase “Farewell, my treasure,” as well as the phrase “Where are you, Missyus?” from another story by Chekhov - the best thing in world literature, which makes the heart clench.

Chekhov’s thoughts, both as a doctor and as a writer, on the problem of “genius and madness,” which is still relevant today, are extremely interesting. One of the best stories Chekhov's "The Black Monk". The hero Kovrin is a scientist, a very talented philosopher. He is sick with manic-depressive psychosis, which Chekhov, as a doctor, describes with scrupulous accuracy. Kovrin comes for the summer to visit his friends, with whom he practically grew up, and marries the owner’s daughter, Tanya. But soon a manic phase sets in, hallucinations begin, and a frightened Tanya and her father begin to fight for his treatment. This causes Kovrin nothing but irritation. “Why, why did you treat me? Bromide drugs, idleness, warm baths, surveillance, cowardly fear for every sip, for every step - all this will eventually drive me to idiocy. I was going crazy, I had delusions of grandeur, but I was cheerful, cheerful and even happy, I was interesting and original.

Now I have become more reasonable and respectable, but I am like everyone else: I am mediocre, I am bored with life... Oh, how cruelly you treated me. I saw hallucinations, but who cares? I ask: who did this bother?” “How happy Buddha and Mohammed or Shakespeare are that kind relatives and doctors did not treat them for ecstasy and inspiration. If Mohammed had taken potassium bromide for his nerves, worked only two hours a day and drank milk, then after that wonderful person there would be as little left as there was after his dog. Doctors and good relatives will eventually make humanity stupid, mediocrity will be considered a genius and civilization will perish” [ibid.]. IN last letter She writes to Tanya Kovrin: “My soul is burning with unbearable pain... Damn you. I took you for an extraordinary person, for a genius, I fell in love with you, but you turned out to be crazy.” This tragic discrepancy between the inner self-perception of a brilliant person and the perception of those around him, whom he actually makes unhappy, is a depressing circumstance that science has not yet coped with.

Part 2. F. M. Dostoevsky

We see a completely different image of science in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky. Probably the most important components of this image are in “Demons” and “The Brothers Karamazov”. In “The Possessed,” Dostoevsky speaks not about science in general, but more about social theories. “Demons” seems to record the moments when a social utopia with whimsical fantasies and romance acquires the status of a “textbook of life” and then becomes a dogma, the theoretical foundation of a nightmarish turmoil. Such a theoretical system is being developed by one of the heroes of “Demons” Shigalev, who is confident that there is only one path to earthly paradise - through unlimited despotism and mass terror. Everything has the same denominator, complete equality, complete impersonality.

He transfers Dostoevsky’s undisguised disgust for such theories that came from Europe to the entire European enlightenment. Science is the main thing driving force European Enlightenment. “But in science there is only that,” says Elder Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov, “that is subject to feelings. The spiritual world, the higher half of the human being, is completely rejected, expelled with a certain triumph, even with hatred. Following science, they want to get along without Christ.” Dostoevsky believes that Russia should receive from Europe only the external, applied side of knowledge. “But we have nothing to draw spiritual enlightenment from Western European sources, given the complete presence of Russian sources... Our people have been enlightened for a long time. Everything that they desire in Europe—all this has long been in Russia in the form of the truth of Christ, which is entirely preserved in Orthodoxy.” This did not stop Dostoevsky from sometimes speaking about the extraordinary universal love for Europe.

But, as D.S. Merezhkovsky aptly notes, this extraordinary love is more like extraordinary human hatred. “If you knew,” Dostoevsky writes in a letter to a friend from Dresden, “what a bloody disgust, to the point of hatred, Europe aroused in me during these four years. Lord, what prejudices we have about Europe! They may be scientists, but they are terrible fools... The local people are literate, but incredibly uneducated, stupid, stupid, with the most base interests” [ibid.]. How can Europe respond to such “love”? Nothing. Except hatred. “In Europe, everyone holds a stone in their bosom against us. Europe hates us, despises us. There, in Europe, they decided to put an end to Russia long ago. We cannot hide from their grinding, and someday they will rush at us and eat us.”

As for science, it is, of course, the fruit of the intelligentsia. “But having shown this fruit to the people, we must wait for what the whole nation will say, having accepted the science from us.”

But is it still needed for something, science, since it exists? And just then N.F. turns up. Fedorov with his project for the universal salvation of ancestors.

The doctrine of universal cause arose in the fall of 1851. For almost twenty-five years Fedorov did not put it down on paper. And all these years I dreamed that Dostoevsky would appreciate the project. Their difficult relationships dedicated to the wonderful work of Anastasia Gacheva.

A. Gacheva emphasizes that in many topics the writer and the philosopher, without even knowing it, go in parallel. Their spiritual vectors move in the same direction, so complete image the world and man that Fedorov builds acquires volume and depth against the backdrop of Dostoevsky’s ideas, and many of Dostoevsky’s intuitions and understandings resonate and find their development in the works of the philosopher of universal affairs. Dostoevsky's thought moves towards the scientific and practical side of the project. “THEN LET'S NOT BE AFRAID OF SCIENCE. WE WILL EVEN SHOW NEW WAYS IN IT” – in capital letters Dostoevsky denotes the idea renewed, Christian Science. It appears in the outlines of Zosima’s teachings, echoing other statements that outline the theme of transfiguration: “Your flesh will change. (Light of Tabor). Life is heaven, we have the keys.”

However, in the final text of the novel there is only the image of a positivist-oriented science that does not care about any higher causes and, accordingly, leads the world away from Christ (Mitya Karamazov’s monologue about “tails” - nerve endings: only thanks to them does a person contemplate and think, and not because , that he “is some kind of image and likeness there." In the late 1890s - early 1900s, Fedorov began to sound in a new round the themes that at one time united him with Dostoevsky back in the 1870s. He criticizes The secular civilization of the New Age, which deified the vanity of vanities, serving the god of consumption and comfort, points to the symptoms of an anthropological crisis that clearly emerged by the end of the 19th century - it was this crisis that Dostoevsky represented in his underground heroes, pointing to the dead end of godless anthropocentrism, the absolutization of man as he is.

Curious in this regard is the attempt of modern researchers of Dostoevsky’s work to present the writer’s attitude to new, in particular, nuclear science. I. Volgin, L. Saraskina, G. Pomerants, Yu Karyakin think about this.
As G. Pomerantz noted, Dostoevsky in the novel “Crime and Punishment” created a parable about the deep negative consequences of “naked” rationalism. “The point is not in a separate false idea, not in Raskolnikov’s mistake, but in the limitations of any ideology. “It’s also good that you just killed the old woman,” said Porfiry Petrovich. “And if you had come up with another theory, then, perhaps, you would have made the thing a hundred million times uglier.” Porfiry Petrovich turned out to be right. Experience last centuries showed how dangerous it is to trust logic without trusting it with your heart and spiritual experience. A mind that has become a practical force is dangerous. The scientific mind with its discoveries and inventions is dangerous. The political mind with its reforms is dangerous. We need systems of protection from the destructive forces of the mind, like at a nuclear power plant from an atomic explosion.”
Yu. Karyakin writes: “There are great discoveries in science...But there are also great discoveries of absolutely suicidal and (or) self-saving...spiritual-nuclear human energy in art - incomparably more “fundamental” than all...scientific discoveries. Why...Einstein, Mahler, Bekhterev...almost exactly the same way treated Dostoevsky? Yes, because in a person, in his soul, everything, absolutely all lines, waves, influences of all the laws of the world converge and intersect... all other cosmic, physical, chemical and other forces. It took billions of years for all these forces to concentrate at just this one point...”
I. Volgin notes: “Of course... it is possible... to resist world evil exclusively with the help of aircraft carriers, nuclear bombs, tanks, and special services. But if we want to understand what is happening to us, if we want to treat not the patient, but the disease, we cannot do without the participation of those who have taken upon themselves the mission of “finding the person in a person.”
In a word, we, who are in a state of deepest global crises and in connection with the nuclear threat, are obliged, in the opinion of many philosophers and scientists, to go through dangerous revelations about man and society, through the most complete knowledge of them. This means that it is impossible to ignore Dostoevsky and the study of his work.

Part 3. L. N. Tolstoy

In January 1894, the 9th All-Russian Congress of Naturalists and Doctors took place, at which they discussed actual problems molecular biology. L.N. Tolstoy was also present at the congress, who spoke about the congress like this: “Scientists have discovered cells, and there are some little things in them, but they don’t know why.”

These “things” haunt him. In “The Kreutzer Sonata” the hero says “science has found some leukocytes that run around in the blood and all sorts of unnecessary nonsense,” but she could not understand the main thing. Tolstoy considered all doctors to be charlatans. I.I. Mechnikov, laureate Nobel Prize, called him a fool. N.F. Fedorov, who had never raised his voice against anyone in his life, could not stand it. He showed Tolstoy the treasures of the Rumyantsev Library with trepidation. Tolstoy said: “How many people write nonsense. All this should be burned." And then Fedorov shouted: “I’ve seen a lot of fools in my life, but this is the first time like you.”

It is infinitely difficult to talk about the attitude of L.N. Tolstoy to science. What is this? Disease? Obscurantism reaching the point of obscurantism? And it would be possible not to talk about it, to keep silent, just as fans and researchers of I. Newton’s work were silent for many years about his pranks with alchemy. But Tolstoy is not just a brilliant writer, probably the first in the line of Russian and world literature. For Russia, he is also a prophet, an almost uncanonized saint, a seer, a teacher. Walkers come to him, thousands of people write to him, they believe in him like God, and ask for advice. Here is one of the letters - a letter from the Simbirsk peasant F.A. Abramov, which the writer received at the end of June 1909.

F. A. Abramov turned to L. N. Tolstoy with a request for clarification on the following questions: “1) How do you look at science? 2) What is science? 3) The visible shortcomings of our science. 4) What has science given us? 5 ) What should be required from science? 6) What transformation of science is needed? 7) How should scientists relate to dark mass and physical labor? 8) How should young children be taught? 9) What is needed for youth?" . And Tolstoy answers. This is a very lengthy letter, so I will only pay attention to the main points. First of all, Tolstoy gives a definition of science. Science, he writes, as it has always been understood and is still understood by most people, is knowledge of the most necessary and important objects of knowledge for human life.

Such knowledge, as it cannot be otherwise, has always been, is and now only one thing: knowledge of what every person needs to do in order to live as best as possible in this world that short period of life that is determined for him by God, by fate , the laws of nature - whatever you want. In order to know this, how the best way to live your life in this world, you must first of all know what is definitely good always and everywhere and for all people and what is definitely bad always and everywhere and for all people, i.e. know what should and should not be done. In this, and only in this, has always been and continues to be true, real science. This question is common to all humanity, and we find the answer to it in Krishna and Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Christ, Mohammed. All science comes down to loving God and neighbor, as Christ said. Loving God, i.e. to love above all else the perfection of goodness, and to love one's neighbor, i.e. love every person as you love yourself.

So true, real science, needed by all people, is short, simple, and understandable, says Tolstoy. What so-called scientists consider to be science is, by definition, no longer science. People who are now engaged in science and are considered scientists study everything in the world. They need everything equally. “With equal diligence and importance, they investigate the question of how much the Sun weighs and whether it will converge with such or such a star, and what kind of boogers live where and how they are bred, and what can happen from them, and how the Earth became the Earth, and how grasses began to grow on it, and what animals, and birds, and fish there are on Earth, and what were there before, and which king fought with whom and who was married to, and who wrote which poems and songs and fairy tales when, and what laws are needed, and why prisons and gallows are needed, and how and with what to replace them, and what composition are which stones and what metals, and how and what kind of vapors exist and how they cool, and why only the Christian church religion is true, and how to make electric motors and airplanes, and submarines, etc., etc., etc.

And all these are sciences with the strangest pretentious names, and to all this... there is no and cannot be an end to research, because there is a beginning and an end to a matter, but there can be no end to trifles.” And these trifles are occupied by people who do not feed themselves, but who are fed by others and who, out of boredom, have nothing better to do than engage in any kind of fun.” Further, Tolstoy divides the sciences into three departments according to their goals. The first department is the natural sciences: biology in all its divisions, then astronomy, mathematics and theoretical, i.e. non-applied physics, chemistry and others with all their subdivisions. The second section will consist of applied sciences: applied physics, chemistry, mechanics, technology, agronomy, medicine and others, with the goal of mastering the forces of nature to facilitate human labor. The third department consists of all those numerous sciences, the purpose of which is to justify and establish the existing social order. These are all the so-called theological, philosophical, historical, legal, and political sciences.

The sciences of the first department: astronomy, mathematics, especially “biology and the theory of the origin of organisms, so beloved and praised by so-called educated people,” and many other sciences that have as their goal only curiosity, cannot be recognized as sciences in the exact sense of this, because they do not answer The basic requirement of science is to tell people what they should and should not do in order to have a good life. Having dealt with the first section, Tolstoy takes on the second. Here it turns out that applied sciences, instead of making life easier for people, only increase the power of the rich over enslaved workers and intensify the horrors and atrocities of wars.

There remains a third category of knowledge called science - knowledge aimed at justifying the existing structure of life. This knowledge not only does not meet the main condition of what constitutes the essence of science, serving the good of people, but also pursues the opposite, quite definite goal - to keep the majority of people in the slavery of the minority, using for this purpose all kinds of sophisms, false interpretations, deceptions, frauds... I think it is unnecessary to say that all this knowledge, which has the goal of evil and not the good of humanity, cannot be called science, Tolstoy emphasizes. It is clear that for these numerous trivial activities the so-called. scientists need helpers. They are recruited from the people.

And here the following happens to young people going into science. Firstly, they are distracted from necessary and useful work, and secondly, filling their heads with unnecessary knowledge, they lose respect for the most important moral teaching about life. “If the people of the people learn the true science, the rulers will have no helpers. And those in power know this and therefore, without ceasing, with all possible means, baits, bribes, they lure people from among the people to study false science and scare them away from the real, true science with all kinds of prohibitions and violence,” Tolstoy emphasizes. Don’t give in to deception, Lev Nikolaevich urges. “And this means that parents should not, as they do now, send their children to schools set up by the upper classes to corrupt them, and adult boys and girls, taking time away from honest work necessary for life, should not strive and not enroll in educational institutions set up to corrupt them. .

Just stop people from among the people enrolling in government schools, and not only will the false science, which is not needed by anyone except one class of people, be destroyed by itself, but it will also automatically be established by everyone and always needed and natural for man, the science of how he can best live the life span determined for each person before his conscience, before God. This letter... And in his novels, Tolstoy colors his attitude towards science and education through artistic means.

It is known that Konstantin. Levin is Tolstoy's alter ego. Through this hero he expressed the most pressing questions for him - life, death, honor, family, love, etc.

Levin's brother Sergei Koznyshev, a scientist, discusses a fashionable topic with a famous professor: is there a boundary between mental and physiological processes in human activity and where is it? Levin gets bored. He came across the articles in magazines that were discussed and read them, being interested in them as the development of the fundamentals of natural science familiar to him as a natural scientist at the university, but he never brought these scientific conclusions about the origin of man as an animal, about reflexes, about biology and sociology closer to those questions about the meaning of life and death for oneself, which in Lately came to his mind more and more often.

Moreover, he did not consider it necessary to convey this knowledge to the people. In a dispute with his brother, Levin decisively declares that a literate man is much worse. I don’t need schools either, but they are even harmful, he assures... And when they try to prove to Levin that education is a benefit for the people, he says that he does not recognize this as a good thing.

We find such a colorful, diverse, contradictory image of science in the works of our great writers. But with all the diversity of points of view and their controversy, one thing is indisputable - they all thought primarily about the moral security of science and its responsibility to man. And this is still the main plot in the philosophy of science.

Literature 1. Chekhov A.P. Complete collection stories, short stories and humorous stories in 2 volumes. T. 1. M.. 2009.2. Chekhov A.P. Complete collection stories, short stories and humoresques in 2 volumes. T. 2. M.. 2009.3. Dostoevsky F.M. Demons. “Demons”: an anthology of Russian criticism. Editor-compiler L. I. Saraskina. M., 1996.4. Gacheva A.G. F.M. Dostoevsky and N.F. Fedorov. Spiritual and creative dialogue. Abstract for the candidate's scientific degree. philological sciences. M., 2006.5. Pomerants G. Self-regulating Tower of Babel / Philosophical and cultural seminar "WORK OF LOVE" (Cycle of meetings 1996-2001). [Electronic resource]: URL: http://www.igrunov.ru/cat/vchk-cat-names/pomerants /publ/vchk-cat-names-pomer-publ-babil_tower.html 6. Karyakin Yu.F. Dostoevsky and the Apocalypse. [Electronic resource]: URL: http://www.pereplet.ru/text/kor_dos_apo.html.
7. Volgin I.L. Dostoevsky Street (“Letters from Peredelkino”). [Electronic resource]: URL: http://www.volgin.ru/public/894.html 8. Tolstoy L.N. Collection op. in 12 volumes. T.9. M., 1984.9. Tolstoy L.N.PSS in 90 volumes..38. M., 1928-1958.

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