The direction of the novel is a hero of our time. The genre of the work "A Hero of Our Time". Psychological novel by Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov

Ostanina Anastasia

Like any classical work, "The Hero of Our Time" has been living an intense artistic life for over a century and a half, constantly renewing itself in the minds of new and new generations. Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" is simple and accessible to every reader, at the same time complex and polysemantic. All this gave rise and continues to generate discussions about him - from the moment of his birth to the present day. The history of its study is characterized not only by inconsistency, but also by the opposite of judgments. Target: In this work, we will try to determine to which genre the work "A Hero of Our Time" gravitates. And although this is known, we want to come to the set goal ourselves with the help of evidence.

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Municipal budgetary educational institution

"Average comprehensive school No. 6 "Perm

"Hero of Our Time": the formation of the genre

Pupil of grade 10B MBOU "Secondary School No. 6", Perm

Head: Guseva Tatiana Vladimirovna,

Russian language and literature teacher

MBOU "Secondary School No. 6", Perm

Perm 2014

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………… 2

Chapter I. Formation of the genre of the work …………………………………… 3

1. Genre sources of Lermontov's "book" ………………………. 3
2. The drama of the work ……………………………………………… 9
3. The form of the “book” ……. …………………………………………………. 19

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 21

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………. 22

Introduction

"A hero of our time" for many

remained a secret until now and will remain

a secret for them forever! ..

V.G. Belinsky

Like any classical work, "The Hero of Our Time" has been living an intense artistic life for over a century and a half, constantly renewing itself in the minds of new and new generations. About such works by V.G. Belinsky wrote that they belong to eternally living and moving phenomena ... each epoch pronounces its own judgment about them. And no matter how correctly she understood them, she will always leave the next era to say something new and more true, and no one will ever express everything. Speaking directly about the novel, the great critic argued: "Here is a book that is destined to never be erased, because, at its very birth, it was injected with the living water of poetry."

Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" is simple and accessible to every reader, at the same time complex and polysemantic. All this gave rise and continues to generate discussions about him - from the moment of his birth to the present day. The history of its study is characterized not only by inconsistency, but also by the opposite of judgments.

The first readers of the novel were struck by the unusualness of its art form... V.G. Belinsky was the first critic to establish how, out of several stories, the reader gets “the impression of a whole novel”. He sees the secret of this in the fact that Lermontov's novel "is a biography of one person." About the extraordinary artistic integrity of the novel by V.G. Belinsky says: "There is not a page, not a word that would have been thrown by accident: everything here follows from one main idea and everything comes back to it."

Target: In this work, we will try to determine to which genre the work "A Hero of Our Time" gravitates. And although this is known, we want to come to the set goal ourselves with the help of evidence.

As an object research, the genre originality of the work of M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time".

Subject studies are the forms through which the poet creates the genre of the work.

The author of the study puts forward hypothesis that the work was going beyond the limits of small forms by combining them in the genre of the novel. It was a complex genre process, the result of which was the “book” by M.Yu. Lermontov.

The proof of the hypothesis will be facilitated by solving the following tasks: 1) get acquainted with the literature on this topic; 2) consider the genre sources of Lermontov's "book"; 3)

Chapter I. Formation of the genre of the work

1.1 Genre sources of Lermontov's "book"

M.Yu. Lermontov calls his work "A Hero of Our Time" a "book" ("This book has experienced on itself ..." or "composition").

Usually "Hero of Our Time" is named after B.M. Eichenbaum "cycle of stories". “Lermontov,” wrote this famous researcher, “combined ... such genres characteristic of the 30s as travel sketch, a story on a bivouac, a secular story, a Caucasian short story ", and" A Hero of Our Time "" was a step beyond these genres - on the way to the genre of the novel that unites them. " Adding to the listed forms "the hero's confession, his diary", B.T. Udodov also believes that Lermontov was carried away by “the possibilities of synthesizing a realistic travel sketch, notes with an action-packed romantic story and a short story. The first experience of such "hybrid" ... in their genre and method of works were "Taman" and "Fatalist".

So, Lermontov's “book” is the fruit of the cyclization of various (essay, confessional, etc.), but small forms? The experience of "hybridization" in Russian literature also existed besides Lermontov - for example, in the unfinished novel by A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky "Vadimov", in "Russian Nights" by V. Odoevsky. Neither the one nor the other work did not acquire the deep epic sound and meaning than "A Hero of Our Time". Meanwhile, Lermontov's “composition” is the “epic of the new world” (V. Belinsky), already because, together with the hero of the time, he recreates this time itself. It is present in "Hero ..." as much in the moral and psychological appearance of Pechorin as in the characters of other characters, whose artistic purpose is not at all limited to "an official, subordinate position" to the central figure. "And what, - Belinsky emphasized, are the typical faces of Bela, Azamat, Kazbich, Maksim Maksimych, a girl in Taman!" "These," he adds, "are such persons that will be equally understandable to an Englishman, a German, and a Frenchman, as they are understandable to a Russian."

Are, in fact, Bela, Azamat, Kazbich - "simple" "children of nature", and not people of their time, amazed, like Pechorin, by his common "vices"? The most striking feature of Pechorin - duality ("There are two people in me ...") - is it characteristic of him alone? And Dr. Werner, whose very appearance would have amazed a phrenologist with a "strange interweaving of opposing inclinations" really inherent in this man. “He is a skeptic and materialist, like almost all doctors, and at the same time a poet, and in earnest, although he never wrote two poems in his life. He studied all the living strings of the human heart, as they study the veins of a corpse, but he never knew how to use his knowledge. " And what about the cadet Grushnitsky, draping into a gray soldier's greatcoat and dreaming of becoming a "hero of the novel"? And Lieutenant Vulich? Smuggler Yanko, mountaineer Kazbich - these heroes and individualist robbers rolled into one, fearless and cruel, poetic and prosaic at the same time? Even the smuggling girl, who is very far from Pechorin, is called a "strange creature" in "A Hero of Our Time". “… This,” Belinsky wrote about her, “is some kind of wild, sparkling beauty, seductive like a siren, elusive, like an undine, terrible like a mermaid… You can't love her, you can't even hate her, but you can only love and hate her. together" . And here is Kazbich. “I began to peer,” Maksim Maksimych introduces him, “and recognized my old acquaintance Kazbich. You know, he was not that peaceful, not that not peaceful. They said about him that he loves to drag around the Kuban with abreks, and, to tell the truth, his face was the most robber ... But he was dexterous, dexterous, like a devil! The beshmet is always torn, and the weapon is always in silver. And his horse was famous in the whole Kabarda ... ". Again we have a dual nature: a hero and a robber at the same time. Its first “half” comes to life in the plot and style, in particular, the following praiseworthy word of the faithful horse: “Yes,” Kazbich answered after some silence: “You will not find such a thing in the whole Kabarda. Once, - this was beyond the Terek, - I went with the abreks to fight off the Russian herds; we were not lucky, and we scattered in all directions. Four Cossacks rushed after me; I could already hear the shouts of the giaurs behind me, and in front of me was a dense forest. I lay down on the saddle, entrusted myself to Allah and for the first time in my life I insulted a horse with a blow of a whip. Like a bird he dived between the branches ... My horse jumped over the stumps, tore apart the bushes with his chest. " Everything here - from the name of the Cossacks "gyaurami" and the appeal to Allah to the comparison of a horse friend with a bird and the rhythm of speech - in the spirit of a folk heroic legend. This is understandable, since Kazbich is here a representative of the Muslim Caucasian community, in relation to which Russians are perceived as “infidels” and enemies. But the work also implements another essence of Kazbich, given by the depressing details of his initial portrait: "mug", "drag around", "like a devil." All of them will respond in Maksim Maksimych's story about Kazbich's abduction of Bela: “It was, you know, very hot; she sat down on a rock and dipped her feet into the water. Here Kazbich crept up, - a claw-claw at her, clamped his mouth and dragged her into the bushes, and there he jumped on a horse, and a thrust! " ... This is the style of a story about a robber and a thief. This is how Kazbich appears here: “He shouted something to us in his own way and raised a dagger over her ... We jumped off our horses and rushed to Bela. Poor thing, she lay motionless, and blood poured from the wound in streams ... Such a villain: if only he struck in the heart ... he would have finished everything at once, or else in the back ... the most robber blow. "

Another mountaineer - Azamat - is younger than Kazbich and already “terribly greedy for money”. The trait is also modern: after all, Lieutenant Vulich is obsessed with winning. And Azamat is a daring man and at the same time a traitor, who neglected the blood relationship that is sacred for a highlander. However, Pechorin ("Princess Mary") likens his behavior to the "miserable role of an executioner or a traitor".

In the original edition of the preface to the second edition of his "work", Lermontov explained: "The hero of our time" is like a portrait, but not of one person; this is the type - you will tell me that a person cannot be so bad, and I will tell you that you are all almost like that; some are slightly better, many are much worse. " Note: the writer names here as the main person of his "book" not Pechorin, but the Hero of our time, he speaks further about him in general terms. And this is no coincidence. Let's take the liberty to suggest a simple experiment: let's imagine for a moment that Lermontov's “composition” is titled, like Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin,” with the name of the main character: not “A Hero of Our Time,” but “Grigory Pechorin”. It would seem that there are grounds for this. And yet what a fundamental substantive difference is immediately felt by us! How the potential of the work narrows with this replacement!

Noting the "deepening into the reality of life" inherent in Lermontov's prose, Gogol saw in the author of "A Hero of Our Time" the future great painter of Russian life ... ". “Lermontov, - wrote Belinsky, - great poet: he objectified modern society and its representatives ”. It is the society new era("Our time") of the current "century" and in the person not of the main one, but of all the heroes and their not accidentally similar lonely and dramatic destinies, entered, of course, with certain amendments to the originality of highland or secular life, in Lermontov's "book" about "modern man. " Its objectification not only did not interfere, but the well-known lyrical animation of the narrative structure of the “book”, in a number of fragments reminiscent of “prose poems” (for example: “No, I would not get along with this share! I, as a sailor, born and raised on the deck of a robber brig, etc., which has been noted more than once by researchers. artistic function this lyricism?

"A hero of our time," writes A.I. Zhuravlev, - many threads are associated with the poetry of Lermontov ... This similarity could not but be reflected in the style of the work. " Indeed, it is enough to recall at least such poems as "Sail", "Duma", "Both boring and sad", "Testament", "I go out on the road alone" for the connection of Lermontov's poetry with his "book" to become obvious. Let us also recall the important fact that the first (or parallel to the idea of ​​the "Hero ...") attempt to create the image " modern man"Was undertaken by Lermontov in the genre of the poetic novel (or story)" A Tale for Children ", which remained unfinished.

Zhuravleva sees the lyrical "background" of the "Hero of Our Time" in the "repetition of certain verbal and semantic motives that have symbolic meaning... The repetition of the motifs of the sea, mountains, starry sky creates in the reader a sense of unity ”of the work, in particular“ the unity of the hero seeking consciousness ”. Udodov believes that the lyrical beginning organizes in Lermontov's “book” the images of some characters: Vera (“this is the least objectified, lyric plan image "), partly and Maxim Maksimych:" The motives of loneliness, longing to find a “dear soul” in the world are organically included in the image of an old campaigner ”.

These observations, of course, are not groundless. But do they exhaust the purpose of lyricism in A Hero of Our Time?

I think not. Lermontov the prose writer really does not forget the experience of Lermontov the poet. However, the latter is needed by the first to create a complex word, internally contradictory nature heroes, their consciousness, reality in general. "Poetisms" and "proseisms" do not simply alternate in "A Hero of Our Time", but are constituent components of a single style of the work. This can be seen in the following examples.

The speech of Lermontov's "book" amazed even her ill-wishers. S.P. Shevyrev emphasized "the faithful and the living", i.e. accurate and ambiguous, description of the "road through Good Mountain." But the same can be said about any other piece of the work. Fusion, interweaving of different voices is also characteristic of the characters' speech. Here is the story of Maksim Maksimych about Kazbich at the time of the abduction of his horse by Azamat6 “Urus Yaman, Yaman! - he roared and rushed headlong out like a wild leopard. In two leaps he was already in the yard; at the gates of the fortress, a sentry barred his way with a gun; he jumped over the gun and rushed to run along the road ... Dust curled in the distance - Azamat rode on a dashing Karagez; as he ran, Kazbich grabbed a gun from the case and fired. He remained motionless for a minute, until he was convinced that he had missed; then he screamed, hit the gun on a stone, smashed it to smithereens, fell to the ground and sobbed like a child ... ”.

The captain's speech is a fusion of voices. It has notes of Kazbich ("like a wild leopard") and Azamat, in this case a fearless daredevil: "Dust swirled in the distance - Azamat rode on a dashing Karagez." Last phrase- monosych. The words “fell to the ground and sobbed like a child” foreshadow the tragic state of Pechorin at the moment of his last attempt to see Vera (“He fell on the wet grass and cried like a child”).

In “A Hero of Our Time, you can see the very process of speech formation. Here is Maksim Maksimych's story about a mountain wedding.

“- How do they celebrate their wedding? I asked the staff captain.

Yes, usually. First, the mullah will read them something from the Koran; then they give the young people and all their relatives; eat, drink booze. Girls and young guys stand in two lines, one opposite the other, clap their hands and sing. Here comes one girl and one man in the middle and begin to sing poetry to each other in a chant, whatever ... ".

Here the captain's speech is monophonic. Measuring everything by the usual yardstick, the old campaigner notices only the ordinary side of the event. But Maxim Maksimych explains to the wandering officer what exactly Pechorin sang "the owner's younger daughter (that is, one of the" girls "), a girl of about sixteen": "Yes, it seems like this:" Slender, they say, our young horsemen and the caftans on them are lined with silver, and the young Russian officer is slimmer than them, and the galloons on him are gold. He is like a poplar between them; just not to grow, not to bloom in our garden ”. So another voice arises, expressed by a deep feeling of a pure soul. His poetry, determined by the comparison of the Russian officer with both the poplar and the mountain horsemen, is also justified and therefore no less accurate than the first story of the staff captain. The result of the described “voices” can be heard in the following words of Maxim Maksimych: “And as if she (Bela) was good: tall, thin, black eyes, like a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul. Pechorin, lost in thought, did not take his eyes off her ... ".

The above examples do not allow us to consider lyricism as the basis of the genre unity of the "Hero of Our Time". At the same time, the idea of ​​a penetrating common genre tendency is present. This is a drama that goes back to the tragic confrontation between the hero and fate.

1.2. The drama of the work

Drama is present in Lermontov's "book" in many ways. This can be seen when comparing "A Hero of Our Time" with the work of A.S. Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin". In Onegin, we see Pushkin's detailed depiction of the circumstances themselves, both in the general historical (contemporary Russian society) and in the class aspects (everyday life, customs, etc.).

In A Hero of Our Time, the situation is different. Almost all of his characters lack, for example, backstory. And nevertheless, this did not become a hindrance to "deepening" into modernity.

“It should be noted,” noted one of the critics of A Hero of Our Time, “that the author is not too fond of dwelling on pictures of nature. He prefers people. " At the beginning of the story "Maksim Maksimych" Lermontov notes the validity of this observation: "I will spare you from describing the mountains, from exclamations that do not express anything, from pictures that do not depict anything ... and from statistical remarks that no one will definitely read." And we see that in the subsequent chapters of the work, the writer will keep his promise: his descriptions will acquire laconicism. For example, we can observe this in the scene with Grushnitsky and Princess Mary who dropped the glass. “I turned and walked away from him. For half an hour I walked along the vineyards, along the limestone rocks, the bushes hanging between them. It was getting hot and I hurried home. Passing an acid-sulfur spring, I stopped at a covered gallery to breathe under its shadow, and this gave me the opportunity to witness a rather curious scene. The characters were in the following position. The princess with the Moscow dandy was sitting on a bench in the covered gallery, and both were busy, it seems, serious conversation... The princess, probably having finished her last glass, was pacing thoughtfully by the well; Grushnitsky stood at the very well; there was no one else on the site. " As if we are facing a director's work - with a clear indication of the position and posture of each of the "characters" on the stage and the setting of the "stage".

"Taman is the nastiest town of all the seaside towns in Russia." The situation in the story of the same name is limited to one phrase. The next phrase: "I arrived on a transfer cart late at night." She already begins the action itself: a passing officer's search for a place to sleep, who led him "to a small hut on the very shore of the sea." Another set where the drama ensues.

The events of "Fatalist" take place in the Caucasian " Cossack village on the left flank. " Here you could talk about an interesting and distant land. But Lermontov gives only the most necessary information in one sentence ("the officers gathered at each other's place one by one, played cards in the evenings").

There are more descriptions in Bela. And they are more detailed. This is understandable: the story opens the entire work. But here, too, the descriptions fall on the part that is set forth by a passing officer (a newcomer in the Caucasus and, moreover, an essayist (“I am not writing a story, but travel notes"). This is, firstly, Secondly, and the action is visible in them. For example , the Ossetian "smoky saklya", which sheltered two travelers, is described without vivid details: here is the inconvenient entrance to the dwelling through the barn, its interior view with a smoking fire and people in rags around it. It happened - and the sakla was forgotten. Another example. The action in Maxim Maksimych's story is also tied in a sakla, where a Circassian wedding is played. But we do not see the wedding, its ceremony, because it serves as a "stage" for the relationship of several actors: Pechorin, Bela, Maksim Maksimych, Kazbich and Azamat.

Another feature of Lermontov's "book": the way of introducing the characters into the depicted events. If in Pushkin this happens gradually and the heroes are divided by whole chapters (Lensky appears in the second, and Tatyana in the third chapter), then the characters in Lermontov's stories appear in groups. And unlike Pushkin's, the story of which is interrupted by digressions, they immediately interact. For example, Bela's poetic greeting to a “young Russian officer” is followed by the reaction of an admiring Pechorin (“Lovely!” - he answered ”). And then the heroes are already in a state of complex "dialogue": "Pechorin, in thought, did not take his eyes off her, and she often glanced at him from under her brows." “Only,” adds Maksim Maksimych, “Pechorin was not alone in admiring the pretty princess: two other eyes, motionless, fiery, were looking at her from the corner of the room” [ibid.]. This is Kazbich, immediately involved in the situation that has arisen. Half a page later, the girl's brother, Azamat, joins this group. Thus, all the faces entered the action of the story at the same time.

This principle can be observed in any "part" of the work. Together with the foreman and the orderly ("When I was the orderly, the line Cossack") appears Pechorin in "Taman". And then each of his companions will be involved in what will happen to the protagonist. The first morning of Pechorin's stay in Pyatigorsk ("Princess Mary"), or rather even the first walk, brings the hero to Grushnitsky; in "Fatalist", too, swiftly, with the assistance of those who stayed too long at Major C*** officers, a "pair" of Pechorin - Vulich was formed, and then others: Vulich - a drunken Cossack; "Old esaul" and a Cossack murderer; Cossack and Pechorin, etc. even the relationship of two fellow travelers - a passing officer and a staff captain - who appear before us at once ("Bela"), are not limited to a beginner's curiosity about the "adventures" of an experienced Caucasian, but create a conflict as soon as the conversation touches the character of a "modern man". "The captain did not understand these subtleties ...", - states the officer-narrator and later reports: "We parted rather dryly."

These features prove that Lermontov's “book” is imbued with a dramatic beginning. Is it an accident that a number of episodes are presented in direct dispute with the terms of drama? (Almost all relations between Pechorin and Princess Mary, Pechorin and Grushnitsky, as well as the "trial of fate" in "Fatalist"). ("- There is a tie! - I shouted in admiration: - we will bother about the denouement of this comedy"; "This comedy was beginning to bore me," etc. "I was, - Pechorin says about himself, - required person the fifth act; unwittingly, I played the miserable role of an executioner or a traitor. " Is it, finally, an accident that the five stories that made up Lermontov's "book" correspond to the five acts of traditional drama?

Defining the "specifics dramatic action"(Content," ideas "), the literary theorist emphasizes: it" manifests itself primarily in the fact that the initial situation of the play is completely absorbed "into the action" as an organically inherent "preceding moment". V epic the direction of the action is neutral to many aspects of the initial situation, and "the content, pathos and results are not in such a direct relationship with the alignment of forces given at the beginning, as is the case in the drama."

This difference is the main source of the genre line between Eugene Onegin and The Hero of Our Time. The action of the latter is always associated with the initial situation, constantly “looking back” at it and striving to “attract” all its lines, forces and directions. Here are some examples.

There is an overlap between the epithet “the worst town” (“Taman”) and Pechorin’s moral state at the end of this story: “And why would fate have thrown me into a peaceful circle of honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into an ugly spring, I disturbed their calmness and, like a stone, I almost sank myself! " ...

Researchers (B. Udodov, A.I. Zhuravleva) have recorded the presence in the "Hero of Our Time" stable and common motives: fate, fortress, star. They not only serve the unity of the work (problematic, compositional), but build this unity in a special way. Here we again observe the dramatic "tendency to ... overlapping concentration" of individual events and states of the heroes, while in the epic they can be located side by side.

For example, three fragments with stars from the beginning, end and middle of the piece are in a complex interaction.

“Contrary to the predictions of my companion,” says a passing officer in the Bela, “the weather cleared up and promised us quiet morning; round dances of stars intertwined in wonderful patterns in the distant sky and one after another extinguished as the pale gleam of the east spread over the dark purple vault, gradually illuminating the steep echoes of the mountains covered with virgin snow. Everything was quiet in heaven and on earth, as in the heart of a person in a minute morning prayer". “You think,” Pechorin reflects on the eve of the duel (“Princess Mary”), “that I will present my forehead to you without a dispute ... but we will cast lots! ... and then ... then ... what if his happiness outweighs? If my star finally cheats on me? .. And no wonder: for so long she served faithfully to my whims; there is no more constancy in heaven than on earth. " “I was returning home,” we read in Fatalist, “through the empty lanes of the village; the moon, full and red like the glow of a fire, began to appear from behind the jagged horizon of the houses; the stars calmly shone on the dark blue vault, and it made me laugh when I remembered that there were once wise people who thought that the heavenly bodies were taking part in our insignificant disputes ....

Each of these landscapes also performs its own individual functions. For example, the "full and red, like the glow of a fire" month in the last passage is a metaphor for the bloody event that just happened in the village. But it is also clear that they are all connected and "work" on common problem- the relation of free will and predestination (fate) in human life and behavior. Therefore, in all three landscapes, a person is present along with the sky and the stars.

Present in the "Hero of Our Time" and another of the generic signs of drama - "the richness and variety of components that carry out the action." In Pushkin's novel, its source is represented by personalities and actions central characters... Lermontov's action moves not only Pechorin. The beginning of Bela's story was laid by this girl herself at the moment of her greeting to the Russian officer; Azamat, Kazbich, even the kindest Maksim Maksimych are “to blame” for the development and tragic outcome. In "Taman" the activity of the smuggling girl is not at all less than that of the protagonist. They are equally responsible for what happened, since the heroine, with her attempt to drown the guest, created an insoluble situation. The idea ("conspiracy") of a duel in order to teach Pechorin a lesson, making him a laughingstock, belongs to the dragoon captain, Grushnitsky approved it. In Fatalist, the energy of events comes from Vulich and a drunken Cossack murderer, and only then from Pechorin. In general, there are simply no episodic persons in Lermontov's "book". Here, the blind boy, and the deaf old woman, and the mother of the criminal Cossack ("The Fatalist"), and Vera's husband, herself, etc. are important, because the action in this work is close to "a single, integral movement in itself."

The genre originality of "A Hero of Our Time" lies in the fact that the epic in it is not only dramatized, but also formed on a dramatic basis.

The concept of fate is the leading one among the cross-cutting motives of Lermontov's work. The concept of fate permeates the entire system and conflict of the "Hero of Our Time". Not all the characters in the work throw down a challenge to fate after Pechorin and Vulich (unconsciously, this is done even by Bela, who responded to the love of a foreigner and a non-believer). But from this they are no less in her power. Maksim Maksimych and Kazbich are doomed to homeless wandering, "loneliness together" awaits Vera, untimely death will befall Bela, her father, Azamat, Grushnitsky. The lot of all these people is tragic. The more likely this fate is predetermined for Pechorin, who is opposed to fate.

The dramatization in Lermontov's "book" captures and transforms almost every type of human connection (friendship, friendship, love).

How many reproaches have been expressed against Pechorin, who, in response to the open arms of Maxim Maksimych in the story of the same name, "rather coldly, although with a friendly smile, extended his hand to him." But we see the same result of friendly relations in other situations where Pechorin is not. Here is the scene of the farewell of a passing officer and an experienced Caucasian. “It’s a pity,” I said to him, “it’s a pity, Maxim Maksimych, that we have to leave before the deadline (compare in the above episode with Pechorin:“ Maksim Maksimych began to beg him to stay with him for another two hours ”[ibid.] ). - Where can we, uneducated old people, chase after you! , I have nothing to tell, dear Maksim Maksimych ... However, goodbye, I have to go ... I'm in a hurry ... Thank you for not forgetting ... - he added, taking his hand "[ibid.]). And nevertheless, the recent friends "said goodbye rather dryly," and the main role was played not by a representative of the "proud" youth, but by a warm-hearted man, "worthy of respect." But perhaps the good Maksim Maksimych suddenly "became a stubborn, grumpy staff captain" just because he himself was offended? But we see the same in the final scene of "Taman", where Yanko parted with a blind boy, his faithful and diligent assistant. The result of the episode is the same: “- Listen, blind man! - said Yanko, - you take care of that place ... you know? - After some silence, Yanko continued: - She will go with me; she can't stay here; and tell the old woman that, they say, it's time to die, healed, you need to know and honor. He won't see us again.

What do I need you for? - was the answer. "

The three situations are created by completely different people. They are all outwardly defined, not motivated by discord. And this is everywhere. In the scene of the duel, Pechorin and Grushnitsky, who were "once friends", could not agree. Grushnitsky and the dragoon captain do not understand each other at the last moment either. Pechorin and Doctor Werner, who once distinguished each other in the crowd, will coldly part forever. Such was the friendship between Onegin and Lensky before the fatal duel, where the former loved the young man “with all his heart,” and the latter responded with sincere respect?

According to Vera, Pechorin gave her nothing, "except for suffering." This did not interfere, but, according to the hero, precisely contributed to the strength and constancy of her love. As well as the feelings of Princess Mary, in the intrigue with which Pechorin was guided by the same conviction. On the contrary, Grushnitsky's devotion and adoration aroused the irritation and hatred of his beloved. “Like a father,” Maksim Maksimych loved Bela, but she “before her death never remembered” about him (compare with this and Bela’s reaction to the news of her father’s death: “she cried for two days, and then forgot” -). The final conclusion of the Faith in her farewell letter... The only woman who understood Pechorin, “absolutely, with all minor weaknesses, bad passions. " Vera considered the hero's attitude to her as a “norm” of modern love: “I will not blame you - you acted with me, as any other man would have done…”. Now, in the contradictions of love, the reader learns the character of the era.

Lermontov's contradictory ambiguity of “modern man” appears as the paradox of his consciousness and thinking. Conclusions from the reflections of the hero are unproductive already because the question asked(“… Did my upbringing make me so, did God create me that way…”; “Am I a fool or a villain…”; “… why do I so persistently seek the love of a young girl…”; “… why did I live? For what purpose was I born? "- either sums up the same" I don't know ", or turns into new, unanswered questions.

The paradox of consciousness and thinking in "A Hero of Our Time" is not only Pechorin's property. The work begins with a paradox. “I was driving,” says the narrator in Bela, “on the checkpoints from Tiflis. All the luggage of my cart consisted of one small suitcase, which was half full of travel notes about Georgia. Most of them, luckily for you, are lost. " “I recently learned that Pechorin had died. This news made me very happy ... ". “I,” Pechorin informs, “always go forward more boldly when I don’t know what awaits me.”

We observe the inconsistency of the characters in their speech, including the monologue: Pechorin's confession, Vera's letter, the statement of Dr. Werner or Grushnitsky. "These monologues ... - notes Udodov, - imperceptibly turn into a conversation with himself ...". We will note that these "dialogues" are aimed at consent and objection, i.e. are dialogues-disputes that do not have a winner. For example, Grushnitsky's French phrase addressed not only to Pechorin, but also to Princess Mary passing by: "My dear, I hate people so as not to despise them, because otherwise life would be too disgusting a farce." As you know, Pechorin answered Grushnitsky in his tone, after which "he turned and walked away from him."

“The composition of a Hero of Our Time,” says the researcher, “is not linear, but concentric. All parts of the novel are not so much separate aspects of a single whole, as closed circles containing the essence of the work in its entirety, but not in its entire depth. The superposition of these circles on each other does not so much expand the scope of the work as it deepens it. " According to Udodov, the successive "circles" of the "Hero of Our Time" are subordinated to the task of deeply revealing the image of the protagonist of the work, the "outline" of which begins in Bela. In "Maxim Maksimovich" and the Preface to the "Pechorin's Journal" Pechorin "makes his second round: again coming from St. Petersburg to the Caucasus ... and further to Persia, then returning to St. Petersburg, which was interrupted by death." “In Princess Mary,” the scientist concludes, “all Pechorin’s“ circles ”receive an in-depth explanation. Departure from Pyatigorsk to Kislovodsk, and from there again to the fortress last round... The end has merged with the beginning. From "Fatalist" we mentally return to what Maxim Maksimych told us about, as if rereading "Bela" with different eyes. Note that the final chapter is important in the work. In the light of this interpretation, it turns out to be a service one. But we have already noted that the dispute-duel with fate in "A Hero of Our Time" is not led by Pechorin alone. Here Vulich was the first to start it, the drunken Cossack continued in his own way, then the "old esaul", even the unfortunate mother of the murderer, joined him. And only then Pechorin.

"- I have sinned, brother, Efimych, - said the esaul, - there is really nothing to do, submit!" ... This is the position of the "old esaul", a believer, therefore, does not approve of any challenge to God.

“- I will not submit! - shouted the Cossack menacingly, and you could hear how the cocked trigger clicked "(compare the opinion of the esaul about the murderer:" ... he will not surrender - I know him. "- This is the position of the Cossack, challenging people and the Sky.

And here is the "solution" of the murderer's old mother: "She was sitting on a thick log, leaning on her knees and supporting her head with her hands ...". In response to the offer of the esaul “to talk to my son; maybe he will listen to you ... "," the old woman looked at him intently and shook her head. " This is fatalism, complete resignation to fate.

We think that I. Vinogradov is absolutely right, considering in his article "The Philosophical Novel of Lermontov" the story "Fatalist" as not just the final, but the final "part" of the "Hero of Our Time". The part, which would be more accurate to name the last act by analogy with the drama, because The Fatalist does not just return us to Bela, but, as in the drama, “absorbs” the “initial situation” outlined in the first story of the “book” and deepens it. Time is filmed, as in a drama, in space, and space - in time, which allowed the author not only to disrupt the chronological sequence of events, but also to turn it from an epic factor into one that works for a creative whole.

1. The form of the work

So, the epic beginning in A Hero of Our Time is dramatized. But in what form? Ultimately, the "book" becomes a novel. This happens due to the law fixed by M. Bakhtin, according to which “in the era of the dominance of the novel,” after other genres, drama is also romanized.

In Lermontov's "book" irony is realized over the characters, over the meaning of their actions and motives. The most important of these is the motive of the game.

We see this in "Princess Mary" and "Fatalist". This does not mean that characters in other stories are not players. On the contrary, Kazbich acts under the guise of (either a peaceful or not a peaceful mountaineer), against whom, according to the captain, there were many suspicions. There is, in our opinion, meaning in the consonance of the names of Kazbich, Vulich and Pechorin. They are players everywhere. In actor's vestments, they perform, leading double life, smugglers in "Taman": an imaginary deaf old woman, a blind man, Ondine. Bela herself is not devoid of a penchant for the game. "Princess Mary". Everyone always plays here: from the poseur Grushnitsky and the actor Pechorin to Doctor Werner, the dragoon captain, Princess Mary, Vera and her husband. The concept of "play" permeates the story. “You won the bet” (Grushnitsky); “I'm not your toy” (Pechorin); "... your hoax you will not succeed", "... how many times have I already played the role of an ax in the hands of fate"; "... I play the most pitiful and disgusting role in your eyes" (Pechorin). This is not a complete list of only direct references to this word in episodes of the story. As in Fatalist, play appears here as the main principle of life, its way. An indicative detail: one of Pechorin's meetings with Vera is involuntarily, but not accidentally, “facilitated” by the “magician Apfelbaum,” whose presentation allowed Pechorin to deceive the ill-wishers watching him. Introducing the readers ("Fatalist") to Lieutenant Vulich, Lermontov immediately calls his main feature - "passion for the game." And this passion will not only not be forgotten, but will also be the key to the next action.

But this is not enough. The fact is that modernity, even in its playful nature, excludes the possibility of an unambiguous genre definition in The Hero of Our Time.

How did the events that made up "Princess Mary" begin? "Comedy" (remember: "... we will bother about the denouement of this comedy") or even a "ridiculous melodrama", as Pechorin believes, "a disgusting farce," as Grushnitsky, who had lost to his rival (who, by the way, at the time of this statement, pose ").

And they develop in a farce, because this is how Grushnitsky's "friends" intended his duel with Pechorin. And how do they end? A tragedy, as their consequence was the "bloody corpse" of one of the players-participants and the broken soul of the player (Princess Mary). (“God!” Pechorin exclaimed on the last date with the girl, “how she has changed since I didn’t see her…”). Everything storylines or they reach a dead end, or, if they are resolved, then in some distorted way that does not bring victory and satisfaction to any of the participants. In the final story of "A Hero of Our Time" there is a thought: "... what a desire to joke!"

Silly joke! - picked up another. " In the novel, it is synonymous with modern reality, society and the historical era.

Conclusion

"Hero of Our Time" - the first socio-psychological and moral-philosophical novel about tragedy in Russian prose outstanding personality in the conditions of Russia in the 30s of the XIX century. Due to the fact that "A Hero of Our Time" was written at a time when the novel as a genre in Russian literature was not yet fully formed. M.Yu. Lermontov relied mainly on the experience of A.S. Pushkin and Western European literary traditions.

"A Hero of Our Time" is a novel consisting of five stories, united by the main character - Pechorin. The genre of "A Hero of Our Time" - a novel in the form of a "chain of stories" - was prepared by cycles of stories common in Russian prose of the 1930s, which were often attributed to a special storyteller or author ("Belkin's Tale" by A.S. Pushkin, "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka "NV Gogol and others). M.Yu. Lermontov updated this genre by moving on to describing the inner life of a person and combining all the stories with the personality of the hero. The cycle of stories turned into a socio-psychological novel. Lermontov combined such genres characteristic of the 30s as a travel sketch, a secular story, and a short story. A Hero of Our Time went beyond these small forms by combining them into the genre of the novel.

As a result of a complex genre process, the result of which was the "book," "A Hero of Our Time" has become a novel as unique as Pushkin's "Onegin". Lermontov's "book" is the sum of all the writer's work. The epic, lyrical and dramatic are organically merged and "flow" into each other. This allows the work to live forever, forcing each new generation of readers not only to discuss it in a new way, but to hope for new discoveries in artistic world works, and in themselves.

Literature

1. Bakhtin M.M. Epic and novel // Questions of literature and aesthetics. - M., 1975.S. 450.
2. Belinsky V.G. Floor. collection cit .: In 13 volumes - M., 1953 - 1959.Vol. IV.
3. V.P. Botkin Literary criticism... Journalism. Letters. - M., 1984.S. 244.
4. Zhuravleva A.I. Poetic prose of Lermontov // Russian Literature, 1974.
5. V.I. Korovin The creative path of M.Yu. Lermontov. - M., 1973.
6. Kurginyan M.S. Drama // Theory of Literature. Genera and genres. - M., 1964.S. 245.
7. Lermontov M.Yu. Full collection cit .: In 4 volumes.Vol. 4. - Moscow: L., 1948.
8. Rozanov V. Ends and Beginnings // Russian Eros, or Philosophy of Love in Russia. - M., 1991.S. 116.
9. B.T. Udodov Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time". - M., 1989.
10. Shevyrev S.P. Hero of our time. Op. M. Lermontov. Two parts // Russian criticism of the 18th - 19th centuries. - M., 1978.S. 149.
11. Eikhenbaum B.M. Articles about Lermontov. - M .; L., 1961.S. 251.

The novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time" was released in 1840. The writer wrote the main work of his life for two years, publishing it on the pages of the popular magazine Otechestvennye zapiski. This essay became significant not only in his work, but also in Russian literature as a whole, because this book became the first bold and at the same time successful experience of a detailed psychological analysis of the main character. The composition of the narrative itself was also unusual, which turned out to be torn. All these features of the work attracted the attention of critics, readers, and also made it a standard in its genre.

Design

Lermontov's novel did not arise from scratch. The author relied on both foreign and domestic sources, which inspired him to create an ambiguous character and an unusual plot. Mikhail Yuryevich's book is very similar in concept to Eugene Onegin by Pushkin, although it is written in a more dramatic style. In addition, the writer relied on foreign experience in creating the hero's inner world. The psychological novel was already known in Europe. "A Hero of Our Time" can be defined as a psychological novel due to the author's close attention to the behavior and mood of Pechorin.

Such features were especially vividly manifested in the work of the French enlightener Rousseau. You can also draw parallels between the author's composition and the works of Byron, Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. Creating his original composition, the author was guided primarily by the realities of his time, which is reflected in the title. According to the writer himself, he strove to create a general portrait of his generation - young intelligent people who cannot occupy themselves with anything and spend their energy on useless activities that harm both themselves and others.

Features of the composition

Lermontov's novel has an unusual construction in comparison with other works of a similar kind. Firstly, the chronological sequence of the events taking place is violated in it; secondly, the story is told by several characters, including the protagonist himself. This technique was not chosen by the author by chance. He deliberately began the story from the middle of Pechorin's life. The reader gets an idea about him from the words of a stranger, his former colleague Maksim Maksimych. Then the writer shows him through the eyes of the narrator, who saw him briefly, but nevertheless managed to form a generally correct idea about him.

Hero image

Since the psychological novel involves a detailed analysis of the character's inner world, the last two parts are written on behalf of Pechorin himself in the form diary entries... Thus, the reader sees the character at different moments in his life, which outwardly seem to be in no way connected with each other. So Lermontov achieved the effect of the disruption of time, trying to show the aimlessness of the existence of his character, who in different periods his life shows himself not from the best sides.

Comparison with Onegin

The genre of the work "A Hero of Our Time" is a psychological novel. This essay, as mentioned above, was the first experience in Russian literature in creating a new type of character - the so-called extra person... However, even before Lermontov, some writers created a character who did not fit into the established socio-political framework of Russian reality in the first half of the 19th century. Most vivid example- Eugene Onegin, who, like Pechorin, was a nobleman and just as unsuccessfully tried to find at least some use of his powers and abilities. However, if Pushkin portrayed his character with good-natured humor, then Lermontov emphasized the dramatic component. The psychological novel by Mikhail Yuryevich became one of the most significant works of that time.

Feature of the image of Pechorin

Through the lips of his hero, he angrily criticizes the vices of his contemporary society, bitterly ridicules the shortcomings of the world around him. This is a characteristic feature of Pechorin's image - he does not spend idle time, like Onegin in the village, his attitude to life is quite active, he not only criticizes negative sides of the society where it revolves, but also acts, subjecting others to a kind of psychological tests.

First part

The genre of the work "A Hero of Our Time" also determined the peculiarity of the construction of the text of the novel. The author set himself the goal of breaking the tradition of Russian literature, founded by Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, which assumed an adventurous plot and a dynamic narration. Lermontov focused on detailed analysis internal state your hero. First of all, he was interested in explaining the reasons for the strange, unusual, contradictory behavior of Pechorin. The first attempt to clarify the character of the young officer was made by Maxim Maksimych, the commander of the Caucasian fortress, where Pechorin served.

The good captain sincerely tried to give at least some explanation for the eccentric actions of his colleague: the abduction of Bela, his love for her and the rapid cooling of feelings, his apparent, seeming indifference to her terrible death. However, Maxim Maksimych, a very simple and ingenuous person, could not understand the reason for Pechorin's emotional throwings. He only says to the narrator that the latter seemed to him a very strange person, since his appearance was followed by a whole chain of strange and tragic events.

Portrait

At school literature lessons, it is very important that students understand the genre of the work "A Hero of Our Time". This book is psychological picture Pechorin, which, in turn, is a collective portrait contemporary writer the younger generation. The second part of the work is interesting in that in it the reader sees Pechorin through the eyes of a person alone with him social status, age, education and upbringing. Therefore, the narrator's description of this character deserves special attention, because, despite the fluency of the inspection and the brevity of the meeting, it is more correct than the captain's explanations. An important fact is that the narrator describes not only the appearance, but also tries to guess the state of mind of Pechorin, and he partly succeeds in this. This is what explains the fact why the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is called psychological. The narrator notices in the character of Pechorin such traits as thoughtfulness, relaxation and fatigue. Moreover, he notes that it was not physical, but mental decline. The author pays special attention to the expression of his eyes, which shone with some kind of phosphoric light and did not smile when he himself laughed.

A meeting

The culmination of this part is the description of Pechorin's meeting with the captain. The latter longed for this meeting, he hurried to the young officer as to an old friend, but he met with a rather cool welcome. The old captain was very offended. However, the author, who later published Pechorin's diary entries, noted that after reading them, he understood a lot in the character of the character, who analyzed in detail his own actions and shortcomings. This is what makes it possible to understand why the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is called psychological. However, in the scene of the meeting with Maxim Maksimych, the reader may be surprised and even reproach the character for such indifference. In this episode, the sympathy is entirely on the side of the old captain.

The story "Taman"

This work opens the beginning of Pechorin's diary entries. In it, a young officer not only tells about an eccentric adventure in a small sea town, but also analyzes his behavior. He himself is surprised at his irrepressible thirst for life, noting that he has purposely and senselessly intervened in the life of smugglers.

The character's desire to participate in the lives of the people around him, even if against their will, is the main theme in this case. "A Hero of Our Time" is a novel that focuses not so much on describing external events as on detailed analysis the internal state of the actors. In the second part, Pechorin witnesses the machinations of the smugglers and rather inadvertently reveals his secret. As a result, he was almost drowned, and the gang was forced to flee from their homes. Thus, the Pechorins' attempt to understand their own inappropriate behavior is the main theme in the second part. "A Hero of Our Time" is interesting in that it consistently reveals the image of the character from the most different and unexpected sides.

"Princess Mary"

This is perhaps the most important and interesting part in the work. It is in this part that the character is fully revealed. The action takes place on the medicinal Caucasian waters.

A young officer, in order to tease his friend Grushnitsky, falls in love with the young princess Mary. Despite the fact that he himself is not indifferent to her, nevertheless he is not able to really love her. Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" in this story shows himself from the most disadvantageous side. He not only deceives the girl, but also kills Grushnitsky in a duel. At the same time, it is in this part that Grigory Alexandrovich most mercilessly exposes his shortcomings. Here he explains his character: according to him, aimless pastime, lack of friends, sympathy and understanding led to the fact that he became bitter, spiteful and unsociable. At the same time, he concludes that "the human heart is strange in general." He relates his statement not only to those around him, but also to himself.

Pechorin in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" in this story is fully revealed. The most interesting is his record of reflections on the eve of the duel with Grushnitsky, in which he sums up his life. The young officer claims that his life undoubtedly made sense, but that he never managed to understand it.

Love line

Better understanding of the hero is helped by his relationship with women. There are three love stories in the novel, each of which reveals the personality of a young officer from different angles. The first one is associated with the Bela line. By nature, she was a freedom-loving girl, as she grew up in the mountains among the Caucasian tribes.

Therefore, Pechorin's rapid cooling to her actually killed her. The novel "A Hero of Our Time" female heroes which allows you to better understand the psychological portrait of the character, is devoted to a detailed explanation of the behavior of the young officer. In the second part, there is also a love line, but it is rather superficial.

Nevertheless, it was this plot that served as the basis for the intrigue in the second story. The hero himself does not know how to evaluate his own actions: “I am a fool or a villain, I don’t know,” he says about himself. The reader sees that Pechorin is well versed in the psychology of the people around him: he immediately guesses the character of the stranger. At the same time, he is prone to adventurous adventures, which he himself admits, which led to a strange denouement.

The work "A Hero of Our Time", whose female characters are interesting in that they somehow influenced the fate of Pechorin, ends with the last love line officer and princess. The latter became interested in the original character of Pechorin, but did not manage to fully understand him. In the same story, there is a description of the relationship between Grigory Alexandrovich and Princess Vera, who understood his character better than anyone else. So, the first psychological novel in Russian literature was the work "A Hero of Our Time". The main character's quotes show him as a complex and ambiguous person.

The question of the genre of "A Hero of Our Time" has always been important for literary scholars who have been working on this work, because the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov is innovative work Russian classical literature.

Let's consider the genre of the work "A Hero of Our Time" and its main compositional and plot features.

Genre originality of the novel

The Hero of Our Time was created by the author as a novel consisting of a number of stories. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, such works were popular. In this series, it is worth paying attention to "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" by N.V. Gogol or "Belkin's Tale" by A.S. Pushkin.

However, Lermontov somewhat modifies this tradition, combining several stories not in the image of a single storyteller (as was the case with Gogol and Pushkin), but with the help of the image of the main character - a young officer G.A. Pechorin. Thanks to such a literary move, the author creates a genre of socio-psychological novel, new for Russian literature, which will later be continued in the works of his followers F.M. Dostoevsky, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy and others.

For the writer, the inner life of his protagonist comes to the fore, while the external circumstances of his life become only a background for the development of the plot.

Compositional features of the work and their influence on the genre of the novel

The genre of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov demanded that the author abandon the chronological sequence of the plot transmission, which influenced the compositional structure of the work.

The novel opens with a story about how Pechorin stole a young Circassian woman Bela, who later fell in love with him, but this love did not bring her happiness. In this part, readers see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimovich - a Russian officer, staff captain, who turned out to be the commander of the fortress in which Pechorin served. Maxim Maksimovich does not fully understand the strange behavior of his young subordinate, however, he talks about Pechorin without condemnation, rather with sympathy. This is followed by a part called "Maxim Maksimovich", which chronologically should have completed the novel. In it, readers learn that Pechorin died suddenly on the way to Persia, and the narrator got his magazine, in which its author confessed his secret vices and disappointments in life. As a result, the next parts of the novel are Pechorin's diary, which tells about the events that happened to him before meeting with Bela and meeting Maksim Maksimovich.

The genre features of "A Hero of Our Time" are also manifested in the fact that each of the stories included in the novel has its own direction. The genre and composition of "A Hero of Our Time" allows us to conclude that the stories that make up the novel are a reflection of the themes and plots characteristic of the literature of that time.

Bela's tale is a classic love story with a tragic and poignant ending. It is somewhat reminiscent of the romantic stories of the Decembrist A.A. Bestuzhev, published under the pseudonym Marlinsky. The stories "Taman" and "Fatalist" are action-packed works filled with mystical predetermination, secrets, escapes and a love story typical of this genre. The genre of the story "Princess Mary" is somewhat reminiscent of a novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin".

There is also a description of a secular society, which is equally alien to both the main character of the work, Princess Ligovskaya, and the main character, G.A. Pechorin. Like Tatyana Larina, Mary falls in love with a man who seems to her to be the embodiment of her ideal, however, having confessed her love to him, she also receives a refusal from him. The duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky is similar in plot to the duel that took place between Lensky and Onegin. The younger and more ardent hero Grushnitsky dies in this duel (just as Lensky died).

Thus, the features of the genre "Hero of Our Time" indicate that Lermontov laid the foundation for a new direction in Russian novels - this direction can be called socio-psychological. Salient features it became a deep attention to the world of personal experiences of heroes, an appeal to a realistic description of their actions, the desire to determine the basic range of values, as well as the search for the meaningful foundations of human existence on earth.

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The structure of the novel

The novel consists of several parts, the chronological order of which is violated. This arrangement serves special artistic purposes: in particular, at first Pechorin is shown through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, and only then we see him from the inside, according to the entries from the diary.

• Foreword
• PART ONE
  • I. Bela
  • II. Maxim Maksimych
• Pechorin's Journal
  • Foreword
  • I. Taman
• PART TWO ( The end of Pechorin's journal)
  • II. Princess Mary
  • III. Fatalist

Chronological order of parts

1. Taman
2. Princess Mary
3. Fatalist
4. Maxim Maksimych
5. Preface to "Pechorin's Journal"

Five years pass between the events of Bela and Pechorin's meeting with Maksim Maksimych in front of the narrator in Maksim Maksimych.

Also in some scientific publications "Bela" and "Fatalist" change places.

Plot

Bela

It is an embedded story: the story is led by Maxim Maksimych, who tells his story to an unnamed officer he met in the Caucasus. Pechorin, bored in the mountainous wilderness, begins his service by stealing someone else's horse (thanks to Azamat's help) and kidnapping Bela, the beloved daughter of the local prince (also with the help of Azamat in exchange for Kazbich's horse), which causes a corresponding reaction from the highlanders. But Pechorin does not care about this. The imprudent act of the young officer is followed by a collapse of dramatic events: Azamat leaves the family forever, Bela and her father are killed by Kazbich.

"Maxim Maksimych"

This part is adjacent to "Bela", has no independent novelistic significance, but for the composition of the novel it is entirely important. Here the reader only meets Pechorin face to face. The meeting of old friends did not take place: it is rather a fleeting conversation with the desire of one of the interlocutors to end it as soon as possible.

The narrative is built on the contrast of two opposite characters- Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych. The portrait is given through the eyes of an officer-storyteller. In this chapter, an attempt is made to unravel the "inner" Pechorin through the external "speaking" features.

"Taman"

The story tells not about Pechorin's reflection, but shows him from an active, active side. Here Pechorin unexpectedly becomes a witness of gangster activity. At first, he thinks that a person who sailed from the other side is risking his life for something really valuable, but in reality he is just a smuggler. Pechorin is very disappointed with this. But all the same, leaving, he does not regret that he visited this place.

The main point in closing words hero: "And why was fate to throw me into a peaceful circle honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calmness and, like a stone, I almost sank myself! "

"Princess Mary"

The story is written in the form of a diary. In terms of life material, "Princess Mary" is closest to the so-called "secular story" of the 1830s, but Lermontov filled it with a different meaning.

The story begins with Pechorin's arrival in Pyatigorsk at the healing waters, where he meets Princess Ligovskaya and her daughter, called Mary in the English manner. In addition, here he meets his former love Vera and friend Grushnitsky. Juncker Grushnitsky, a poser and secret careerist, acts as a contrasting character to Pechorin.

During his stay in Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk, Pechorin falls in love with Princess Mary and quarrels with Grushnitsky. He kills Grushnitsky in a duel and refuses Princess Mary. On suspicion of a duel, he is exiled again, this time to the fortress. There he meets Maxim Maksimych.

"Fatalist"

It takes place in the Cossack village where Pechorin comes. He sits at a party, the company plays cards. Soon they get tired of it, and they start a conversation about predestination and fatalism, in which some believe, some do not. A dispute ensues between Vulich and Pechorin: Pechorin says that he sees obvious death on Vulich's face. As a result of the argument, Vulich takes a pistol and shoots himself, but a misfire occurs. Everyone goes home. Soon Pechorin learns about Vulich's death: he was hacked to death with a saber by a drunken Cossack. Then Pechorin decides to try fate and catch the Cossack. He breaks into his house, the Cossack shoots, but by. Pechorin grabs the Cossack, comes to Maxim Maksimych and tells him everything.

Main characters

Pechorin

Pechorin is a Petersburg resident. Military, both in rank and in soul. He comes to Pyatigorsk from the capital. His departure to the Caucasus is connected with "some adventures." In the fortress, where the action of "Bela" takes place, he ends up after a duel with Grushnitsky, at the age of twenty-three. There he is in the rank of ensign. He was probably transferred from the guard to the army infantry or army dragoons.

The meeting with Maxim Maksimych takes place five years after the story with Bela, when Pechorin is already 28.

The surname Pechorin, derived from the name of the Pechora river, has a semantic affinity with the surname Onegin. Pechorin is a natural successor of Onegin, but Lermontov goes further: as r. Pechora north of the river. Onega, and the character of Pechorin is more individualistic than the character of Onegin.

The image of Pechorin

The image of Pechorin is one of Lermontov's artistic discoveries. The Pechorin type is truly epoch-making, and primarily because in it they received a concentrated expression of the peculiarities of the post-Decembrist era, when on the surface “only losses were visible, a violent reaction”, but inside “ great job... deaf and silent, but active and uninterrupted ... "(Herzen, VII, 209-211). Pechorin is an extraordinary and controversial personality. He may complain of a draft, and after a while he will jump with a saber head on at the enemy. The image of Pechorin according to the chapter “Maksim Maksimych”: “He was of average height; his slender, slender stance and broad shoulders proved a strong build, capable of enduring all the difficulties of nomadic life and climate change, not defeated either by the debauchery of the capital's life, or by spiritual storms ... ”.

Publication

The novel appeared in print in parts from 1838. The first complete edition was published in g.

• Bela was written in the city. The first publication was in Otechestvennye zapiski, March, vol. 2, no. 3.
• The Fatalist was first published in Patriotic notes"In 1839, vol. 6, no. 11.
• Taman was first published in Otechestvennye zapiski in 1840, v. 8, No. 2.
• "Maxim Maksimych" first appeared in print in the 1st separate edition of the novel in g.
• "Princess Mary" first appeared in the 1st edition of the novel.
• The "Preface" was written in St. Petersburg in the spring of the year and first appeared in the second edition of the novel.

Illustrations

The book has been illustrated many times famous artists, including Mikhail Vrubel (1890-1891), Ilya Repin, Evgeny Lancere, Valentin Serov (1891), Leonid Feinberg, Mikhail Zichy (), Pyotr Boklevsky, Dementy Shmarinov (1941), Nikolai Dubovsky (1890) and Vladimir Bekhteev ( 1939).

Origins and predecessors

• Lermontov deliberately overcame the adventurous romantic tradition of novels on the Caucasian theme, set by Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky.
• Alfred de Musset's novel "Confessions of the Son of the Century" was published in 1836 and also tells about "illness", meaning "the vices of a generation."
• Rousseau tradition and the development of a motive for the love of a European for the "savage". For example, by Byron, as well as Pushkin's "Gypsies" and "Prisoner of the Caucasus".
• Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", " Prisoner of the Caucasus», « Captain's daughter"And so on.

Adjacent works of Lermontov

Geography of the novel

The novel is set in the Caucasus. The main place is Pyatigorsk. And also some heroes are in Kislovodsk.

Caucasian peoples in the novel

Lermontov, being an officer of the Russian army, leading fighting in the Caucasus, he was very familiar with both army life, and with the way of life and customs of the local population. When writing the novel, this knowledge was widely used by the writer; the picture of life in the Caucasus in the 1830s was reproduced in great detail, both by describing the traditions of the local population and the relationship between Russians and Caucasians. Already at the beginning of "Bela" Maksim Maksimych shows the characteristic look of the Russian officer at the local population, as at "Asians-rogues who tear money for vodka from passers-by." Kabardians and Chechens are defined by Maksim Maksimych as "robbers and naked, but desperate heads", while they are opposed to the Ossetians, whom the captain describes as "a stupid people, incapable of any education, in which you will not even see a decent dagger on anyone." ...

In more detail in "Bela" Lermontov dwells on the life of the Circassians, in fact, almost this entire chapter is devoted to this.

Screen adaptations

The image of a lonely, disappointed man, at war with society, runs through all of Lermontov's work. In the lyrics and in early poems, this image is given in a romantic manner, outside the social environment and real life. In "A Hero of Our Time" the problem strong personality, which does not know rest and does not find application for its forces, is solved by realistic means of writing.

In romantic works, the reasons for the hero's disappointment were usually not disclosed. The hero carried "fatal secrets" in his soul. Often, a person's disappointment was explained by the collision of his dreams with reality. So, Mtsyri dreamed of a free life in his homeland, but was forced to languish in a gloomy monastery resembling a prison.

Following Pushkin, who gave examples of realistic works of art, Lermontov showed that the character of a person is influenced by social conditions, the environment in which he lives. It is no coincidence that Lermontov depicted " water society"Pyatigorsk, forcing Pechorin to remember the life of St. Petersburg high society salons. Pechorin was not born a moral cripple. Nature gave him a deep, sharp mind, and a responsive heart, and a strong will. He is capable of noble impulses and humane deeds.

After tragic death Bela "Pechorin was unwell for a long time, emaciated." In the history of the quarrel with Grushnitsky, positive traits his character. So he accidentally learns about the dastardly plan of the dragoon captain. “If Grushnitsky didn’t agree, I would throw myself on his neck,” Pechorin admits. Before the duel, he is again the first to express his readiness to make peace with the enemy. Moreover, he provides "all the benefits" to Grushnitsky, in whose soul "a spark of generosity could wake up, and then everything would work out for the better."

Pechorin was vividly touched by the moral torment of Princess Mary. Genuinely his feeling for Vera, who alone understood him "perfectly with all ... minor weaknesses, bad passions." His hardened heart warmly and passionately responds to the spiritual movements of this woman. At the mere thought that he could lose her forever, Vera became for him "the most precious thing in the world, dearer than life, honor, happiness. "How mad he is racing on a lathered horse after Vera has left. When the driven horse" hit the ground, "Pechorin, not flinching at gunpoint," fell on the wet grass and, like a child, cried. "

Yes, Lermontov's hero is not alien to deep human affections. However, in all collisions of life, good, noble impulses ultimately give way to cruelty. “Ever since I live and act,” Pechorin argues, “fate has somehow always led me to the denouement of other people's dramas, as if without me no one could either die or despair. I was the necessary face of the fifth act. : I could not help playing the miserable role of an executioner or a traitor. "

Pechorin is guided only by personal desires and aspirations, in no way taking into account the interests of the people around him. “My first pleasure is to subordinate everything that surrounds me to my will,” he says. Pechorin's word does not differ from his deed. He really plays "the role of an ax in the hands of fate." Bela was ruined, good Maxim Maksimych was offended, peace of "peaceful" smugglers was disturbed, Grushnitsky was killed, Mary's life was destroyed!

Who is to blame for the fact that the excellent inclinations of Pechorin perished? Why did he become a moral cripple? Lermontov answers this question with the whole course of the story. The society is to blame, the social conditions in which the hero was brought up and lived are to blame.

"My colorless youth passed in the struggle with myself and the light," he says, "my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart; they died there."

"In my first youth ... - Pechorin tells Maxim Maksimych," I began to enjoy madly all the pleasures that money could get, and, of course, these pleasures made me sick of them. " Entering big light, he fell in love with beauties, but his heart "remained empty"; took up the sciences, but soon realized that "neither fame, nor happiness depend on them in the least, because the most happy people- not ignoramuses, and glory is good luck, and in order to achieve it, you just need to be clever. "" Then I got bored, "Pechorin admits and comes to the conclusion:" ... my soul is spoiled by light. " like Onegin,

To look at life as a ceremony And follow the decorous crowd To go, not sharing with it Neither common opinions nor passions.

Pechorin repeatedly says that in the society in which he lives, there is neither disinterested love, nor true friendship, nor fair, humane relations between people, nor meaningful social activity.

Disappointed, doubting everything, morally suffering Lermontov's hero reaches for nature, which calms him down, gives him true aesthetic pleasure. Landscape sketches in Pechorin's Journal help to understand the complex, rebellious nature of the novel's protagonist. They strengthen the motive of loneliness, deep emptiness of Pechorin and at the same time indicate that in the depths of his consciousness lives a dream of wonderful life worthy of a man. Casting his gaze over the mountains, Pechorin exclaims: “It's fun to live in such a land! why are there passions, desires, regrets? " The description of the morning in which the duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky took place is colored with deep lyricism. "I remember," Pechorin remarks, "this time, more than ever before, I loved nature."

Lermontov created a truthful, typical image, which reflected the essential features of an entire generation. In the preface to the novel, the author writes that Pechorin is "a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development." In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov pronounces a verdict young generation ZO-s. "Admire what the heroes of our time are!" - he says with all the content of the book. They "are no longer capable of great sacrifices either for the Good of mankind, or even for their own ... happiness." This is both a reproach to the best people of the era, and a call to civil exploits.

Lermontov deeply and comprehensively revealed inner world his hero, his psychology, conditioned by time and environment, told the "story of the human soul." A Hero of Our Time is a socio-psychological novel.