The originality of the composition is the hero of our time. Compositional features of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "hero of our time". How the compositional division of the work helps to reveal the image of the main character

The compositional features of the novel “A Hero of Our Time” come from the fact that the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov became a leading work of its time: in it the author used a new genre of psychologically oriented novel, a new image of the main character and, accordingly, a new compositional division of the work.

The author himself, after the publication of his novel in its finished form, admitted that not a single word, not a single line in it arose by chance, everything written was subordinated to one main goal - to show readers their contemporary - a man with noble and evil inclinations, who, obeying his feelings selfishness, was able to realize in life only his vices, and his virtues remained only good desires.

When the novel was first published, critics and ordinary readers had many questions regarding the compositional division of this work. Let us try to consider the main of these issues.

Why was the chronology of the presentation of episodes in the life of the main character disrupted?

The peculiarities of the composition of “A Hero of Our Time” are related to the fact that we learn about the life of the main character in a very inconsistent way. The first part of the novel tells how Pechorin kidnapped the Circassian Bela from his own father, made her his mistress, and later lost interest in this girl. As a result of a tragic accident, Bela was killed by the Circassian Kazbich, who was in love with her.

In the second part, entitled “Maxim Maksimovich,” readers learn that several years have passed since Bela’s death; Pechorin decided to go to Persia and died on the way there. From Pechorin's diary we learn about the events that happened to the main character before he met Bela: Pechorin got into a funny adventure with smugglers in Taman and in the city of Kislovodsk he met the young princess Mary Ligovskaya, whom, without meaning to, he fell in love with him, and then he refused to share her feelings. A duel took place there between Pechorin and Grushnitsky, as a result of which the latter was killed.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" ends with the part "Fatalist", which tells about a private episode from the life of Pechorin.

Studying the plot and composition of “A Hero of Our Time,” literary scholars agree that the author violated the chronological presentation of the main character’s life in order, on the one hand, to emphasize the confusion of Pechorin’s life, his inability to subordinate his fate to one main idea; on the other hand, Lermontov tried to reveal the image of his main character gradually: first, readers saw him from the outside through the eyes of Maxim Maksimovich and the narrator-officer, and then only became acquainted with Pechorin’s personal diary, in which he was extremely frank.

How do plot and plot relate in a novel?

The innovation of Lermontov the prose writer contributed to the fact that the plot and plot of the novel “A Hero of Our Time” do not coincide with each other. This leads to the fact that the reader pays more attention not to the external outline of events in the life of the main character, but to his internal experiences. Literary scholars have dubbed this method of constructing a work “intense composition,” when readers see the heroes of the novel at the peak moments of their fate.

Therefore, the composition of “A Hero of Our Time” by Lermontov represents a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian literature: the author talks about key episodes from the life of his hero, characterizing him precisely at the moments of the highest trials in life: these are Pechorin’s love experiences, his duel with Grushnitsky, his clash with a drunken Cossack, his dangerous adventure with smugglers on Taman.

In addition, Lermontov resorts to the technique of a ring composition: for the first time we meet Pechorin in the fortress in which he serves with Maxim Maksimovich, the last time we see the hero in the same fortress, before he leaves for Persia.

How does the compositional division of the work help reveal the image of the main character?

According to most literary scholars, the unique compositional solution of the novel helps to examine the image of Pechorin in detail.
In the first part of “Bel,” Pechorin’s personality is shown through the eyes of his commander, the kind and honest Maxim Maksimovich. The author debunks the myth existing in the literature of that time about the beautiful love between a savage woman and a young educated nobleman. Pechorin in no way corresponds to the image of the young romantic hero that was created in the works of the writer’s contemporaries.

In the second part of “Maxim Maksimovich” we find a more detailed description of the personality of the main character. Pechorin is described through the eyes of the narrator. Readers get an idea of ​​the hero's appearance and behavior. The romantic aura around Grigory Alexandrovich is completely dissipated.

In Taman, Lermontov refutes the myth of romantic love between a girl engaged in smuggling activities and a young officer. The young smuggler with the romantic name Ondine does not behave at all sublimely; she is ready to kill Pechorin only because he turned out to be an unwitting witness to her crime. Pechorin is also characterized in this part as an adventurous person, ready to do anything to satisfy his own desires.

The part “Princess Mary” is built on the principle of a secular story: it contains a love story and a conflict between two officers for the possession of a girl’s heart, which ends tragically. In this part, the image of Pechorin receives a complete realistic description: readers see all the external actions of the hero and the secret movements of his soul.

In the last part of the novel “Fatalist,” Lermontov poses the most important questions for him about the meaning of human life on earth: is a person the master of his destiny or is he being led by some kind of evil fate; Is it possible to cheat your fate or is it impossible, etc.? In the last part, Pechorin appears before us in the image of a man who is ready to fight fate. However, readers understand that this struggle will ultimately lead him to an early death.

The role of composition in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is very important. It is thanks to the unusual compositional division of the work that the author manages to achieve the full embodiment of his creative plan - the creation of a new psychologically oriented genre of the novel.

The presented compositional features of the work can be used by 9th grade students when preparing material for an essay on the topic “Features of the composition of the novel “A Hero of Our Time”.”

Work test

Critics defined the genre "Hero of our time" How psychological novel. When writing this work, M. Yu. Lermontov set out to show “the history of the human soul”, to reveal the inner world of the main character. M. Yu. Lermontov began work on the novel under the impression of his first exile to the Caucasus. At first, separate stories were written, which were published as they were written: “Bela”, “Fatalist” were published in the journal “Otechestvennye zapiski” in 1839, followed by the story “Taman”. Later, all five stories: “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist” - were combined into a novel entitled “Hero of Our Time”.

Critics and readers had mixed reactions to the image of the main character: some considered Pechorin a caricature of a modern man, and the novel itself as immoral; others - that the image of Pechorin is a portrait of the author himself. M. Yu. Lermontov was forced to write a preface to the second edition, in which he commented on his perception of the hero and explained his creative principles. The author writes that his main principle when writing a novel is following the truth of life and critical assessment of the hero.

The stories from which “A Hero of Our Time” is composed are arranged in a certain sequence. This was done for a specific purpose: the author gradually immerses the reader into the inner world of the main character, revealing his character.

The work has three narrators. In the story “Bela” we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, a staff captain, who notes the “oddities” in Grigory Alexandrovich’s behavior, selfishness, and mystery. In "Maxim Maksimych" the role of the narrator is given to a traveling officer - a person closer in attitude and social status to the hero. He notes in Pechorin’s appearance the features of a strong, but internally lonely personality. In the next three stories - “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist” - Pechorin himself plays the role of narrator, who tells about his adventures in a seaside town, about his stay in Pyatigorsk, about an incident in a Cossack village. The reader learns about the hero’s feelings and experiences from the lips of the hero himself, who impartially analyzes his actions, his behavior, and motives. For the first time in Russian literature, much attention was paid not to events, but specifically to the “dialectics of the soul,” and the form of a diary confession allows one to show all the “movements of the soul” of Pechorin. The hero himself admits that his soul is familiar with such feelings as envy, pity, love, hatred. But reason still prevails over feelings: we see this in the scene of the pursuit of Vera.

The author shows the hero in various life situations, surrounds him with a variety of characters (Pechorin among the mountaineers, in the circle of “honest smugglers” and the “water society”). I believe that this is an exceptional and at the same time typical hero of that time: he is looking for love, but he himself only brings suffering and even death; this is a person who lives a complex spiritual life, but is absolutely inactive or wastes energy on trifles; aware of his own vices and mercilessly condemning them in other people; a person who, according to V. G. Belinsky, “frantically chases... life, looking for it everywhere” and at the same time seeks death.

“A Hero of Our Time” can be described as a socio-psychological novel. M.Yu. Lermontov in his work shows the reader the era of changing ideals in Russian history. Grigory Pechorin (like the author himself) can be attributed to the so-called “lost generation”, since after the Decembrist uprising, which failed, society has not yet acquired new ideals and goals.

Throughout the entire work, the character of Pechorin is revealed to the reader, and the composition of the novel serves to solve this artistic problem.

In “A Hero of Our Time” there is no traditional compositional division of the text. There is no exposition, since the reader knows little about the life of the main character before his arrival in the Caucasus. There is also no plot, and the action is represented by a series of episodes telling about the life of Pechorin. The combination of several plot lines forms the polyphonic structure of the novel, which consists of five separate stories. That is why the reader sees five climaxes in the work at the same time. The denouement of the novel can be considered the moment of Pechorin’s death, when the main character dies while returning from Persia. Thus, it can be noted that the overall storyline consists only of climaxes and denouement. But an interesting fact is that in each story individually one can note the presence of a traditional compositional division of the text. Take, for example, the first part of the novel “Bela”, in which the plot of the story is a conversation between Bela’s brother and Kazbich, which Pechorin accidentally learns about. The direct exposition is the moment the officer-narrator meets retired staff captain Maxim Maksimovich. The climax is the scene of Pechorin's abduction of Bela. And the denouement is the death of Bela at the hands of Kazbich, who was in love with her, whose mind was clouded by jealousy and the desire for revenge.

The first thing that catches the reader's eye is the violation of the chronological sequence during the narrative. That is why the denouement is in the middle of the text. Thus, the author gradually revealed the character of the main character. First, readers saw him through the eyes of the officer-narrator and Maxim Maksimovich, and then became acquainted with Pechorin’s diary, in which he was extremely frank.

The composition of “A Hero of Our Time” is also unique in that Lermontov characterizes his hero at moments of peak life experiences, such as an incident with smugglers, a duel with a former comrade Grushnitsky, a fight with the drunken Cossack killer Vulich.

In the novel “A Hero of Our Time,” the technique of a ring composition can be traced, since we meet Pechorin in the fortress where he served with Maxim Maksimovich, and there we see the hero for the last time before leaving for Persia. It is also characteristic that at the beginning and at the end of the novel there are two heroes - Pechorin and Maxim Maksimovich. Also in the work we encounter other compositional techniques, such as a novel within a novel - this is the diary of the main character. Another technique is silence, namely, a story about a certain story, after which Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus. There is also a flashback when the main character meets his old beloved Vera.

It is worth noting that the composition of the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is interesting, unusual and contains a lot of innovation.

The epic novel “Quiet Don” can be considered the pinnacle of M.A. Sholokhov’s work. It covers a large period of time, describes the events of the First World War, two revolutions and the Civil War, therefore, to understand this work, a large role must be given to composition.

At the center of the novel is the story of the Melekhov family. Through the prism of the personal life of each of its members, Sholokhov conveys the mood of the Don Cossacks in different historical periods.

This technique helps the reader acutely feel the tragedy of those events and also learn how ordinary people coped with the difficulties that suddenly befell them.

Lyrical digressions occupy a special place in the novel. M.A. Sholokhov follows the tradition of the genre and describes the landscape surrounding the heroes in all colors and details. In the writer’s work, the natural world is inseparable from the human world; the Cossacks sincerely love their native land, live in harmony with it and thank it for its generous gifts, which give them the opportunity to exist peacefully. Through nature, the feelings of the heroes seem to materialize. For example, Aksinya’s state of mind after the break with Gregory is compared to the deserted and wild steppe, where cattle once grazed. And Gregory himself, after the funeral of his beloved, saw above him “a dazzling black disk of the sun.” This technique helps the writer more strongly convey the psychologism of the characters, their emotional state, which is difficult to describe in words.

An important feature of the composition of “Quiet Don” is the use of antithesis. The entire novel is built on it: Sholokhov constantly compares war and peace, life and death. And accordingly, uncertainty and doubt characterize Grigory Melekhov as the main character. He rushes between whites and reds, between Aksinya and Natalya, between feelings and duty. The constant search for the truth, for one’s place in life is the main motive of “Quiet Don”.

This character trait determines not only an individual person, but also an entire era. The space of the novel is constantly narrowing and expanding. From the events taking place in the Tatarsky farm, the writer moves on to large-scale events that cover large cities and concern the whole country. Sholokhov includes real historical figures and documents in the narrative, and thus “Quiet Don” becomes a kind of chronicle, and Grigory Melekhov becomes a socio-psychological type characterizing society as a whole. And the problem of the work expands - it becomes nationwide.

The florid, unstable plot of “Quiet Don” ends in the Melekhovo courtyard, where it began. Gregory, after long wanderings, returns to his native kuren with his little son. The hero now has the opportunity to start all over again: restore the household, arrange his life, raise a child. The ring composition depicts the cycle of good and evil. And this reveals another important motif of the work - the motif of the transience of time. Peaceful life is disrupted by turmoil and destruction, but then returns to its normal course. This is a natural historical process. The earth is gradually healing its wounds. Humanity also heals its wounds. Only memory remains. And Sholokhov expresses this idea at the end of his novel.

Critics have defined the genre of A Hero of Our Time as psychological novel. When writing this work, M. Yu. Lermontov set out to show “the history of the human soul”, to reveal the inner world of the main character. M. Yu. Lermontov began work on the novel under the impression of his first exile to the Caucasus. At first, separate stories were written, which were published as they were written: “Bela”, “Fatalist” were published in the journal “Otechestvennye zapiski” in 1839, followed by the story “Taman”. Later, all five stories: “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist” - were combined into a novel entitled “Hero of Our Time”.

Critics and readers had mixed reactions to the image of the main character: some considered Pechorin a caricature of a modern man, and the novel itself as immoral; others - that the image of Pechorin is a portrait of the author himself. M. Yu. Lermontov was forced to write a preface to the second edition, in which he commented on his perception of the hero and explained his creative principles. The author writes that his main principle when writing a novel is following the truth of life and critical assessment of the hero.

The stories that make up “A Hero of Our Time” are arranged in a certain sequence. This was done for a specific purpose: the author gradually immerses the reader into the inner world of the main character, revealing his character.

The work has three narrators. In the story “Bela” we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, a staff captain, who notes the “oddities” in Grigory Alexandrovich’s behavior, selfishness, and mystery. In “Maxim Maksimych” the role of the narrator is given to a traveling officer - a person closer in attitude and social status to the hero. He notes in Pechorin’s appearance the features of a strong, but internally lonely personality. In the next three stories - “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist” - Pechorin himself plays the role of narrator, who tells about his adventures in a seaside town, about his stay in Pyatigorsk, about an incident in a Cossack village. The reader learns about the hero’s feelings and experiences from the lips of the hero himself, who impartially analyzes his actions, his behavior, and motives. For the first time in Russian literature, much attention was paid not to events, but specifically to the “dialectics of the soul,” and the form of a diary confession allows one to show all the “movements of the soul” of Pechorin. The hero himself admits that his soul is familiar with such feelings as envy, pity, love, hatred. But reason still prevails over feelings: we see this in the scene of the pursuit of Vera.

The author shows the hero in various life situations, surrounds him with a variety of characters (Pechorin among the mountaineers, in the circle of “honest smugglers” and the “water society”). I believe that this is an exceptional and at the same time typical hero of that time: he seeks love, but he himself only brings suffering and even death; this is a person who lives a complex spiritual life, but is absolutely inactive or wastes energy on trifles; aware of his own vices and mercilessly condemning them in other people; a person who, according to V. G. Belinsky, “frantically chases... life, looking for it everywhere” and at the same time seeks death.

“A Hero of Our Time”: a novel or a collection of short stories?

Lermontov's novel “A Hero of Our Time” was created at the intersection of two artistic methods: romanticism and realism. According to romantic canons, the image of the main character is developed deeply and is opposed to all other characters. The entire system of images is built in such a way that the central character is highlighted from different angles of view. Each hero is endowed with a complex character. These are completely realistic images.

The very title of the novel, “A Hero of Our Time,” suggests that the author considers personality in the context of society and era. “A Hero of Our Time” is a socio-psychological, philosophical novel. The conflict between the individual and society is more acute here than in Eugene Onegin. Pechorin “frantically chases after life,” but gets nothing from it. The conflict was embodied not only in a typical display of personality, but also in the depiction of representatives of the “water society”, their life and entertainment.

Pechorin has his own relationship with each hero. He strives by any means to break through the external mask of the heroes, to see their true faces, to understand what each of them is capable of." Pechorin confronts the "water society" that hates him, shoots with Grushnitsky, interferes in the lives of "peaceful smugglers", falls in love with young Bela , daughter of a peaceful prince.

The history of the relationship between Pechorin and Werner is full of drama. This is the story of a failed friendship between people who are spiritually and intellectually close.

In relations with Vera, Pechorin is most contradictory; here the forces that determine all his connections with people are brought to the maximum, to the highest intensity.

The problem of personality is revealed in psychological terms through a psychological portrait built on antitheses and oxymorons (“... his dusty velvet frock coat made it possible to see his dazzlingly clean linen,” his eyes “did not laugh when he laughed”), through introspection, through internal monologues (“ I sometimes despise myself... isn’t that why I despise others?..”, “...why did I live? For what purpose was I born?.. And, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, I had a high purpose. ...")

Without the philosophical aspect of the novel, it is impossible to understand either the meaning of the era or the essence of the image of the main character. “Pechorin’s Journal” is filled with reflections on the meaning of life, on the relationship between the individual and society, on man’s place in the succession of generations, on faith and unbelief, and on fate. Compositionally, this topic is completed by the chapter “Fatalist”, rich in philosophical issues.

The main character trait of Pechorin is reflection. He constantly analyzes his thoughts, actions, desires, trying to uncover the roots of good and evil in one person. But Pechorin’s reflection is hypertrophied, it disfigures the soul, distorts the development of personality, makes both the hero and those with whom fate brings him unhappy.

The originality of the novel lies is that, despite the fact that the parts differ in genre, the novel does not fall apart and does not represent a collection of short stories, since all parts are united by one main character; the characters' characters are revealed from external to internal, from effect to cause, from epic through psychological to philosophical.