A lyrical digression about the Russian troika. “Lyrical digressions in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

With every word of the poem, the reader can say: “Here is the Russian spirit, here it smells of Russia!” This Russian spirit is felt in humor, and in irony, and in the expression of the author, and in the sweeping power of feelings, and in the lyricism of digressions...

V. G. Belinsky

I know; If I now open “Dead Souls” at random, the volume will usually open at page 231...

"Rus! What do you want from me? What incomprehensible connection lies between us? Why are you looking like that, and why has everything that is in you turned its eyes full of expectation on me?.. And yet, full of bewilderment, I stand motionless, and a menacing cloud has already overshadowed my head, heavy with the coming rains, and my thoughts are numb before yours. space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And the mighty space envelops me menacingly, with terrible force reflected in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: Ooh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!" This is a favorite. Read and re-read a hundred times. Therefore, the volume always opens itself on page 231...

Why this? Why not this: “Eh, three!..” Or: “God, how good you are sometimes, long, long way!” Or... No, it's still this. Here he is. Gogol, embraced by the “mighty space” of Rus', which was reflected in its depth with “terrible power”... And what depth did the immortal writer give to the words that reflected all his “sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth...”. This is the “incomprehensible connection” between talent and the land that nurtured this talent.

“In “Dead Souls” his subjectivity perceptibly and tangibly emerges everywhere... which in the artist reveals a person with a warm heart... which does not allow him to be alien to the world he depicts with apathetic indifference, but forces him to carry through his I live my soul phenomena outside world, and through that inhale into them I live my soul... The predominance of subjectivity, penetrating and animating Gogol’s entire poem, reaches high lyrical pathos and covers the reader’s soul with refreshing waves...” (V. G. Belinsky).

Reading the lyrical digressions (and not only them, but the entire poem) for the first time, without knowing the name of the author, you can confidently say: “Wrote by a Russian.” What precise expressions, the very construction of phrases, deep and extensive knowledge of the land you are writing about! Truly Russian (smooth, slightly sad, rich in the most subtle shades of mood) poetry. You have to be a poet like Gogol was to write such a poem in prose! In “Dead Souls” Gogol became “a Russian national poet in the entire space of this word” (V. G. Belinsky).

Poet? Poem? Yes. Poet. And a poem. It was not for nothing that Gogol called his brainchild a poem. Neither in a story, nor in a novel, nor in a novel can the author so freely intrude his “I” into the course of the narrative.

Digressions in "Dead Souls" represent great value. They are valuable for their highly artistic quality, the extreme self-expression of the author, and their relevance in a particular context.

Gogol ironically talks about “fat” and “thin” representatives of the nobility, about “gentlemen big hands” and “gentlemen of the middle class,” speaks of the Russian word and Russian song. All this is subtly and skillfully woven into the plot of the work.

Remember the beginning of chapter six? “Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...” Remember: “... O my youth! oh my freshness! And a few pages later: “Near one of the buildings, Chichikov soon noticed a figure... The dress she was wearing was completely vague, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap, like that worn by village courtyard women, only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for woman". Bah, it’s Plyushkin! Well, this “hole in humanity” looks pathetic against the backdrop of such a lyrical passage!

And between two wonderful digressions (“Rus! Rus'! I see you...” and “How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road!”), which at the beginning of the eleventh chapter, sounds with a terrible dissonance: “Hold , hold on, you fool! - Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I am with a broadsword!” - shouted a courier with a mustache as long as he was galloping towards. “Don’t you see, damn your soul: it’s a government carriage!”

The vulgarity, emptiness, baseness of life emerge even more clearly against the background of sublime lyrical lines. This technique of contrast was used by Gogol with great skill. Thanks to such a sharp contrast, we better understand the vile traits of the heroes of Dead Souls.

This is the role of lyrical digressions in the composition of the poem.

But the most important thing is that many of the author’s views on art and relationships between people are expressed in lyrical digressions. From these short passages you can get so much warmth, so much love for your native people and everything created by them, so much smart and necessary things that you can’t get out of some multi-volume novels.

Gogol brought to the pages of the book “all the terrible, amazing mud of little things, all the depth of everyday characters...”. Gogol, with the strong force of an inexorable chisel, exposed the boring, vulgar little things of life in a convex and bright way for the whole people to see and ridiculed them properly.

And here is the road. The way Gogol paints it:

“A clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in your travel overcoat, a hat over your ears, let's snuggle closer and more comfortably into the corner!.. God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt...” Honestly, I just want to get ready and go on the road. But now they travel a little differently: by train, plane, car. Steppes, forests, cities, stops, and clouds sparkling under the sun would only flash before our eyes. Our country is wide, there is something to see!

“Isn’t it like that, too, Rus', that you are rushing along like a brisk, unstoppable troika?..” Rus is rushing, forever moving towards the better. She is already beautiful, Rus', but is there a limit to the best, is there a limit to the human dream? And is this “unfamiliar distance on earth” familiar to us now? Familiar in many ways. But she still has a lot ahead of her, which we will not see.

It is impossible to analyze each lyrical digression separately, it is impossible to evaluate each passage in a short essay: in “Dead Souls” there are many large and terse author’s digressions, assessments, comments, each of which requires and deserves special attention. They cover many topics. But the common thing is that from each digression we see one of the features of a writer dear to our memory, as a result of which we get the opportunity to draw the image of a true humanist, a patriotic writer.

The poem “Dead Souls” cannot be imagined without “lyrical digressions”. They entered the structure of the work so organically that we can no longer imagine it without these magnificent author’s monologues. Thanks to “lyrical digressions,” we constantly feel the presence of the author, who shares with us his thoughts and experiences about a particular event described in the poem. He becomes not just a guide leading us through the pages of his work, but rather a close friend with whom we want to share the emotions that overwhelm us. Often we wait for these “digressions” in the hope that he, with his inimitable humor, will help us cope with indignation or sadness, and sometimes we just want to know his opinion about everything that is happening. In addition, these “retreats” have incredible artistic power: we enjoy every word, every image and admire their precision and beauty.
What did Gogol’s famous contemporaries say about the “lyrical digressions” in the poem? A. I. Herzen wrote: “Here the transition from the Sobakeviches to the Plyushkins is filled with horror; With every step you get stuck, you sink deeper, the lyrical place suddenly revives, illuminates and is now replaced again by a picture that reminds even more clearly what kind of pit of hell we are in.” V. G. Belinsky also highly appreciated the lyrical beginning of “Dead Souls,” pointing to “that deep, comprehensive and humane subjectivity that in the artist reveals a person with a warm heart and a sympathetic soul.”
With the help of “lyrical digressions,” the writer expresses his attitude not only to the people and events he describes. These “digressions” carry within them a statement of a person’s high calling, the significance of great social ideas and interests. Does the author express his bitterness and anger about the insignificance of the heroes he shows, does he talk about the writer’s place in modern society, whether he writes about the living, lively Russian mind - the source of his lyricism is thoughts about serving his native country, about its destinies, sorrows and hidden gigantic forces.
The author includes lyrical passages in the work with great artistic tact. At first, they contain his statements only about the heroes of the work, but as the plot develops, their themes become more and more versatile.
Having talked about Manilov and Korobochka, the author briefly interrupts the story, as if he wants to step aside a little so that the picture of life painted becomes clearer to the reader. The author's digression, which interrupts the story about Korobochka, contains a comparison of her with a “sister” from an aristocratic society, who, despite her different appearance, is no different from the local mistress.
After visiting Nozdreva Chichikov On the road he meets a beautiful blonde. The description of this meeting ends with the author’s remarkable digression: “Wherever in life, whether among the callous, rough-poor and unkempt and moldy low-lying ranks of it, or among the monotonously cold and boringly neat upper classes, everywhere at least once you will meet on a person’s path is a phenomenon unlike anything he has ever seen before, which will at least once awaken in him a feeling not similar to those he is destined to feel throughout his life.” But all this is completely alien to Chichikov: his cold caution is here compared with the direct manifestation of human feelings.
At the end of the fifth chapter, the “lyrical digression” is of a completely different nature. Here the author is no longer talking about the hero, not about the attitude towards him, but about the mighty Russian man, about the talent of the Russian people. Outwardly, this “lyrical digression” seems to have little connection with the entire previous development of the action, but it is very important for revealing the main idea of ​​the poem: true Russia is not the Sobakevichs, Nozdryovs and Korobochki, but the people, the element of the people.
Closely connected with lyrical statements about the Russian word and national character is the artist’s inspired confession about his youth, about his perception of life, which opens the sixth chapter.
The story about Plyushkin, who most powerfully embodied base aspirations and feelings, is interrupted by the author’s angry words, which have a deep, generalizing meaning: “And a person could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgusting!”
Gogol begins the seventh chapter with his thoughts about the creative and life fate of the writer in his contemporary society, about two different destinies awaiting the writer who creates “exalted images” and the realist writer, satirist. This “lyrical digression” reflected not only the writer’s views on art, but also his attitude towards the ruling elite of society and the people. “Lyrical digression”: “Happy is the traveler who, after a long and boring road...” is an important stage in the development of the narrative: it seems to separate one narrative link from another. Gogol's statements illuminate the essence and meaning of both previous and subsequent paintings of the poem. This “lyrical digression” is directly related to the folk scenes shown in the seventh chapter, and plays a very important role in the composition of the poem.
In the chapters devoted to the depiction of the city, we come across the author’s statements about ranks and classes: “... now all ranks and classes are so irritated with us that everything that is in a printed book already seems to them to be a person: that’s how it is, apparently, location in the air."
Gogol ends his description of the general confusion with reflections on human delusions, false paths, which humanity has often followed in its history: but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new errors, which posterity will also laugh at later.”
The writer’s civic pathos reaches particular strength in the “lyrical digression”: “Rus, Rus'! I see you from my wonderful, beautiful distance.” Like the lyrical monologue at the beginning of the seventh chapter, this “lyrical digression” forms a clear line between two parts of the narrative - the city scenes and the story about the origin of Chichikov. It's already wide here topic expanded Russia, in which it is “poor, scattered and unpleasant,” but where heroes cannot help but be born. Following this, the author shares with the reader the thoughts that the distant road and the rushing troika evoke in him: “How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! and how wonderful this road itself is.” Gogol sketches here one after another pictures of Russian nature that appear before the gaze of a traveler racing on fast horses along an autumn road. And despite the fact that the image of the three-bird is left behind, in this “lyrical digression” we feel it again.
The story about the main character of the poem is completed by the author’s statements, presenting sharp objections to those who may be shocked by both the main character and the entire poem, depicting the “bad” and “despicable”.
“Lyrical digressions” reflect high feeling the author's patriotism. The image of Russia that concludes the novel-poem is filled with deep love, an image that embodies the ideal that illuminated the artist’s path when depicting petty, vulgar life.
But the most important question for Gogol remains unanswered: “Rus, where are you rushing?” What awaited this “God-inspired” country at the end of the road, then only God could know.

I. Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, thereby emphasizing the equality of the lyrical and epic principles: narration and lyrical digressions (see Belinsky on the pathos of “subjectivity” in terms of “ Genre originality"Dead Souls") I. Two main types of lyrical digressions in the poem: 1. Digressions associated with the epic part, with the task of showing Rus' “from one side.” 2. Digressions contrasted with the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author. 1. Digressions associated with the epic part serve as a means of revealing characters and generalizing them. 1) Digressions revealing the images of officials. - A satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. WITH common problem The poem (the death of the soul) correlates with the antithesis on which this digression is based: it is physical qualities that are the main ones in a person, determining his fate and behavior. Men here, as elsewhere, were of two kinds: some thin, who all hovered around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from those from St. Petersburg... The other type of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, that is, not too fat, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, looked askance and backed away from the ladies and only looked around to see if the governor’s servant was setting up a green table for whist... These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin people. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are just registered and wander here and there; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all are straight, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off. (Chapter I) - The images of officials and Chichikov are also revealed in digressions: - about the ability to address: It must be said that in Rus', if we have not yet kept up with foreigners in some other respects, then we have far surpassed them in the ability to address... in our country There are such wise men who will speak to a landowner who has two hundred souls completely differently than to one who has three hundred, and to one who has three hundred they will again speak differently than to one who has five hundred. and with the one who has five hundred of them, again it is not the same as with the one who has eight hundred of them - in a word, even if you go up to a million, there will be shades of everything. The author paints an image of a certain conventional ruler of the office, in which he takes rank and understanding of subordination to the grotesque, to the point of reincarnation: I ask you to look at him when he sits among his subordinates, but you simply cannot utter a word out of fear! pride and nobility, and what does his face not express? just take a brush and paint: Prometheus, determined Prometheus! Looks out like an eagle, acts smoothly, measuredly. The same eagle, as soon as he left the room and approaches the office of his boss, is in such a hurry like a partridge with papers under his arm that there is no urine. (Chapter III) - about a millionaire: A millionaire has the advantage that he can see completely disinterested meanness, pure meanness, not based on any calculations... (Chapter VIII) - about hypocrisy: This happens on the faces of officials during an inspection by a visiting boss entrusted to the management of their places: after the first fear had already passed, they saw that he liked a lot, and he himself finally deigned to joke, that is, to utter a few words with a pleasant grin. .. (Chapter VIII) - about the ability to conduct conversations with ladies: To our greatest regret, it must be noted that sedate people and occupying important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captains... (Chapter VIII) 2) A group of lyrical digressions generalizes the characters of landowners, elevates particular phenomena to more general phenomena. - MANILOV: There is a kind of people known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, according to the proverb. (Chapter II) - MANILOVA's wife LIZA (about boarding schools): And a good education, as you know, comes from boarding schools. And in boarding houses, as you know, three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: the French language, necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for bringing pleasant moments to the spouse, and, finally, the actual economic part: knitting wallets and other surprises. However, there are various improvements and changes in methods, especially in modern times; all this depends more on the prudence and abilities of the boarding house owners themselves. In other boarding houses it happens that first the piano, then the French language, and then the economic part. (Chapter II) - Speaking about Korobochka, Gogol uses the technique of several stages of generalization: 1) see the digression about landowners like Korobochka in the topic “Means of revealing characters in Dead Souls.” 2) comparison of the landowner with “her aristocratic sister”: Maybe you will even begin to think: come on, is Korobochka really standing so low on the endless ladder of human improvement? Is it really so great that the abyss separating her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house... (Chapter III) 3) A very broad generalization is given through an apparent illogicality: However, Chichikov was in vain angry: he is a different and respectable, and even a statesman, and in fact, it turns out to be a perfect Box. Once you’ve got something in your head, you can’t overpower it with anything; No matter how much you present him with arguments, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall. (Chapter III) - NOZDREV: Maybe they will call him a beaten character, they will say that now Nozdrev is no longer there. Alas! those who speak like this will be unjust. Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only wears a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person. (Chapter IV) - Nozdrev's son-in-law MIZHUEV: Blonde was one of those people whose character, at first glance, has some kind of stubbornness. .. And it will always end with the fact that there will be softness in their character, that they will agree to exactly what they rejected, they will call stupid things smart and will go to dance in the best possible way to someone else’s tune - in a word, they will start as smooth and end up as shit. (Chapter IV) - SOBAKEVICH: Were you really born a bear or have you been bearded by provincial life, grain crops, fussing with peasants, and through them you have become what is called a man - a fist?.. No, whoever is a fist cannot straighten up. in the palm of your hand! And if you straighten your fist with one or two fingers, it will turn out even worse. If he tasted the top of some science, he would let all those who had actually learned some science know later, having taken a more prominent place. (Chapter V) - Only PLYUSHKIN is an atypical phenomenon. The lyrical digression in Chapter VI is based on negation, the generalization is given as if by contradiction: It must be said that such a phenomenon rarely comes across in Rus', where everything likes to unfold rather than shrink. 3) In addition, there are digressions on everyday topics that are close to the epic part in pathos and language and also serve as a means of generalization: - about the food and stomachs of middle-class gentlemen: The author must admit that he is very envious of the appetite and stomach of this kind of people. For him, all the gentlemen of great hands who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow, who spend time thinking about what to eat tomorrow and what kind of dinner to create for the day after tomorrow, mean absolutely nothing... (Chapter IV) - about scientific reasoning and discoveries: Our brothers , smart people, as we call ourselves, do almost the same, and our scientific reasoning serves as proof. (Chapter IX) - about human strangeness: Come and make peace with man! does not believe in God, but believes that if the bridge of his nose itches, he will certainly die... (Chapter X) From the analysis carried out it is clear that in Gogol’s works we are not dealing with traditional typification, but rather with a generalization, universalization of phenomena. 2. Digressions contrasted with the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author. 1) Lyrical digressions about Russia (Rus), linking together the themes of the road, the Russian people and the Russian word. - a digression about the aptly spoken Russian word in Chapter V (see “ Folk images, image of the people, nationality of “Dead Souls”). - about barge haulers (the image of the people): And really, where is Fyrov now? He walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having arranged himself with the merchants. Flowers and ribbons on the hat, the whole gang of barge haulers is having fun, saying goodbye to their mistresses and wives, tall, stately, in monasteries and ribbons; round dances, songs, the whole square is in full swing... and the entire grain arsenal looms large until it is all loaded into deep marmot ships and the goose and the people rush off into the endless valley. That's where you'll work hard, barge haulers! and together, as before they walked and raged, you will set to work and sweat, dragging the strap under one endless song, like Rus'. (Chapter VII) - about the troika bird (author’s spelling): Eh, troika! bird troika, who invented you?.. Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika, rushing?.. Rus', where are you rushing, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it. (Chapter XI) How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in your travel overcoat, a hat over your ears, you will press closer and more comfortably to the corner!.. And the night? heavenly powers! what a night is taking place on high! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in its inaccessible depths, so vastly, sonorously and clearly spread out!.. God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!.. (Chapter XI) - about Rus' and its heroes: Rus'! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; The daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, will not amuse or frighten the eyes... Everything in you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song heard and heard incessantly in your ears, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea? What is in it, in this song?.. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus'!.. (Chapter XI) 2) Lyrical digressions on philosophical topics, approaching in language the lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal. - about the inconsistency of life: whether Korobochka, or Manilov, whether life is dual or uneconomical - ignore them! This is not how the world works wonderfully: what is cheerful will instantly turn into sadness if you just stand in front of it for a long time; and then God knows what comes to mind. If at that time, instead of Chichikov, some twenty-year-old youth had come across, whether he was a hussar, a student, or simply someone who had just begun the career of life, and God! no matter what woke up, moved, or spoke in him!.. (Chapter V) Today’s fiery young man would jump aside in horror if they showed him a portrait of himself in old age. Take it with you on the journey, leaving the soft teenage years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later! (Chapter VI) III. In addition, we can highlight a number of digressions that reveal the author’s views on artistic creativity: - About two types of writers. Based on this digression, Nekrasov’s poem “Blessed is the gentle poet” (on the death of Gogol) was written. Happy is the writer who, past characters that are boring, disgusting, and striking with their sad reality, approaches characters that demonstrate the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily rotating images, has chosen only a few exceptions, who has never changed the sublime structure of his lyre... There is no equal in his power - he is God! But this is not the fate, and the fate of the writer, who dared to call out everything that is every minute before the eyes and which indifferent eyes do not see, is different - all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which ours teems. an earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road, and with the strong power of an inexorable chisel, who dared to expose them prominently and brightly to the eyes of the people! He cannot gather popular applause, he cannot ripen the grateful tears and unanimous delight of the souls excited by him... (Chapter VII) - The digression about the portrait of heroes in Chapter II is connected with the problem of method. It is built on an antithesis: romantic hero(portrait) - an ordinary, unremarkable hero. It's much easier to portray characters big size: there, just throw paint from your entire hand onto the canvas, black scorching eyes, drooping eyebrows, a wrinkled forehead, a cloak black or scarlet as fire thrown over your shoulder, and the portrait is ready; but all these gentlemen, of whom there are many in the world, who look very similar to each other, and yet, when you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features - these gentlemen are terribly difficult for portraits. Here you will have to greatly strain your attention until you force all the subtle, almost invisible features to appear before you, and in general you will have to deepen your gaze, already sophisticated in the science of prying. (II chapter) - In a lyrical digression about language work of art the principle of democratization of the language is declared, the author opposes its artificial “ennoblement”. Guilty! It seems that a word that was noticed on the street came out of our hero’s mouth. What to do? Such is the position of the writer in Rus'! However, if a word from the street ends up in a book, it is not the writer’s fault, it is the readers, and above all the readers, who are to blame high society: from them you won’t be the first to hear a single decent Russian word, but they will probably endow you with French, German and English in such quantities that you won’t even want to. (Chapter VIII) See also “ Women's images in The Inspector General and Dead Souls. - About the choice of a hero: But a virtuous person is still not chosen as a hero. And you can even say why it wasn’t taken. Because it’s time to finally give the poor virtuous man a rest, because the word idly spins on his lips: a virtuous man, because they turned a virtuous man into a workhorse, and there is no writer who would not ride him, urging him on with a whip and with anything else that came his way. ; because they have starved a virtuous man to such an extent that now there is not even a shadow of virtue on him, and only ribs and skin instead of a body remain... because they do not respect a virtuous man. No, it’s time to finally hide the scoundrel too. So, let's harness the scoundrel! (Chapter XI) Gogol claims the role of chief actor antihero (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”). - About creative plans, about a positive ideal: But... maybe in this very story one will sense other, hitherto unstrung strings, the untold wealth of the Russian spirit will appear, a husband gifted with divine virtues will pass, or a wonderful Russian maiden, such as one cannot find nowhere in the world, with all the wondrous beauty female soul, all out of generous aspiration and selflessness. And all the virtuous people of other tribes will appear dead before them, just as a book is dead before a living word!.. But why and why talk about what lies ahead? It is indecent for the author, who has long been a husband, brought up by a harsh inner life and the refreshing sobriety of solitude, to forget himself like a young man. Everything has its turn, place and time! (Chapter XI) See also about the plan “The plot and composition of “Dead Souls”. - The author is aware of his lofty mission: And for a long time it has been determined for me by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to survey the whole enormously rushing life, to survey it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears! And the time is still far off when, in another key, a menacing blizzard of inspiration will rise from the chapter, clothed in holy horror and splendor, and in confused trepidation they will sense the majestic thunder of other speeches... (Chapter VII) IV. Unlike Pushkin, Gogol has no autobiographical digressions, except for the poetic “Oh my youth, oh my freshness!”, but it is also of a general philosophical nature: Before, long ago, in the years of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, I had fun approaching an unfamiliar place for the first time... Now I indifferently approach any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance. (Chapter VI) V. From the point of view of the principle of artistic generalization, the lyrical digressions of “Dead Souls” can be divided into two types: 1. From the private, the author ascends to the national. ...but the author likes to be extremely thorough in everything and from this side, despite the fact that the man himself is Russian, he wants to be careful, like a German. (Chapter II) Such is the Russian man: a strong passion to become arrogant with someone who would be at least one rank higher than him... (Chapter II) Since the Russian man, in decisive moments, will find something to do without going into long-range reasoning, then, turning right onto the first cross road, he [Selifan] shouted: “Hey, you, respectable friends!” - and set off at a gallop, thinking little about where the road taken would lead. (Chapter III) Here a lot of difficult and difficult things were promised to Nozdryov. strong desires ; There were even some bad words. What to do? A Russian man, and in his heart too! (Chapter V) Selifan felt his mistake, but since a Russian person does not like to admit to another that he is to blame, he immediately said, poised: “Why are you jumping around like that? did he put his eyes in a tavern, or what?” (Chapter V) The guest and the host each drank a glass of vodka, ate, as the whole of vast Russia eats in cities and villages... (Chapter V) In Rus', lower societies are very fond of talking about gossip that happens in higher societies... (Chapter V) IX) What did this scratching mean? and what does it even mean?.. Scratching one’s head means many different things to the Russian people. (Chapter X) See also digressions about Plyushkin and Sobakevich. - Russia in “Dead Souls” is a special world, living according to its own laws. Its wide open spaces give rise to broad natures. ...she [the governor] was holding by the arm a young sixteen-year-old girl, a fresh blonde with thin, slender features, a sharp chin, and a charmingly round oval face, the kind an artist would take as a model for the Madonna and which is only rarely seen in Rus', where loves everything to appear in a wide size, everything that is: mountains, and forests, and steppes, and faces, and lips, and legs. (Chapter VIII) And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast? Is it possible for his soul, trying to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her? (Chapter XI) 2. Through the all-Russian, national, the path to the universal lies. Many phenomena of life are recognized by the author as universal (see philosophical digressions). We find a global generalization of the historical and philosophical plan in a lyrical digression about the fate of mankind: And in the world chronicle of mankind there are many entire centuries that, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many mistakes have been made in the world that, it would seem, even a child would not have made now. What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable roads that lead far to the side have been chosen by mankind, striving to achieve eternal truth, while the straight path was open to them, like the path leading to the magnificent temple assigned to the king’s palace! (Chapter X) All universal generalizations are in one way or another connected with the plot-forming motif of the road (see “The Plot and Composition of Dead Souls”). VI. Gogol's poem is built on the thematic and stylistic opposition of the epic and lyrical principles. Often this antithesis is specially emphasized by Gogol, and he collides two worlds: And a mighty space threateningly embraces me, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus'!.. “Hold it, hold it, you fool!” - Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I am with a broadsword!” - shouted a courier galloping towards him with a mustache as long as an arshin. “Don’t you see, damn your soul: it’s a government carriage!” And, like a ghost, the troika disappeared with thunder and dust. How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! (Chapter XI) In general, speaking about the stylistic originality of lyrical digressions, we can note the features of romantic poetics. - conceptually: in contrast to youth and old age. See lyrical digressions on philosophical topics. - in artistic means (hyperbole, cosmic images, metaphors). See “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”. - the voice of the author, a romantic poet, with its intense, emotional intonation is also heard in the digression about the road: God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!.. (Chapter XI) VII. The compositional role of lyrical digressions. 1. Some chapters open with digressions: - a digression about youth in Chapter VI (“Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...”). - a digression on two types of writers in Chapter VII (“Happy is the writer...”). 2. Digressions can end the chapter: - about the “aptly spoken Russian word” in Chapter V (“Expressed strongly Russian people..."). - about “scratching the back of the head” in Chapter X (“What did this scratching mean? And what does it even mean?”) - about the “bird troika” at the end of the first volume (“Eh, troika, bird troika, who invented you?.. "). 3. A digression may precede the appearance of a new hero: a digression about youth in Chapter VI precedes the description of the village of Plyushkin. 4. Turning points in the plot can also be marked by lyrical digressions: - Describing Chichikov’s feelings when meeting the governor’s daughter, the author again reminds the reader of the division of people into fat and thin. It is impossible to say for sure whether a feeling of love has truly awakened in our hero - it is even doubtful that gentlemen of this kind, that is, not so fat, but not so thin, are capable of love; but despite all this, there was something so strange here, something of this kind, which he could not explain to himself... (Chapter VIII) - the author includes discussions about the ability of fat and thin gentlemen to entertain ladies in the description of another novel scenes: Chichikov's conversation with the governor's daughter at the ball. .. people who are sedate and occupy important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captains... This is noted here so that readers can see why the blonde began to yawn during our hero’s stories. (Chapter VIII) 5. Towards the end of the poem, the number of lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal increases, which is explained by Gogol’s plan to build “Dead Souls” on the model of “ Divine Comedy"Dante (see "Plot and composition of "Dead Souls"). VIII. The language of lyrical digressions (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).

Main objectives of the lesson:


“Grade 9 Lesson No. 45 Lyrical digressions in Gogol’s poem.”

9th grade

Lesson #45

Lyrical digressions and their role in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls".

Lesson objectives:

    to introduce students to the topic of lyrical digressions, to determine the role of lyrical digressions in Gogol’s poem, through analysis and comparison of Gogol’s motifs in the works of writers of subsequent generations;

    improve oral and writing, contribute to the development of the ability to express one’s point of view and prove it; the ability to compare, analyze, assume, draw conclusions;

    to form a culture of thought, feeling, communication.

Predicted results:

students know the content and issues of the work, are able to analyze the text, retell it, and read expressively; complete the learning task in accordance with the goals; are able to formulate their own thoughts; generalize and draw conclusions; use adequately speech means to present the result.

Equipment:

presentation, audio file, lesson plan (for each group), A-4 sheets, markers (green, black, blue, red), magnets

Lesson format:

creative workshop

During the classes

Teacher activities

Student activities

Organizational and motivational stage

    Greeting students.

    Creating an emotional and psychological mood.

The teacher's word to a romance written to Gogol's poems.

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich is not only a writer, whose works have been an achievement of world literature for about two centuries, but he is also an artist and a poet! Gogol's prose is so sonorous and melodic that it can only be compared with the poet's creation! Our glorious Russian language is transformed in Gogol’s works and becomes even more vibrant, even more diverse. Did you know that a lyrical romance is being played now? A. Zhurbina, written to a verse by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol(E. Guseva - L. Serebrennikov)

    Inductor

3.1. Play with the word "lyrics". Choose association words for it (synonyms, words with the same root).

3.2. Goal setting.

– The mysteries of “Dead Souls” begin even before reading the work. So, for example, the genre is a poem (lyric-epic work.) We became acquainted with the epic (narrative) component of “Dead Souls” in previous classes.

– What tasks do you set for yourself today in class?

Observe... behind the features of the lyrical component of the poem

Research... fragments of lyrical digressions of the poem

Define... the role of lyrical digressions in the poem

Greetings from the teachers.

They're bugging introduction teachers, romance based on Gogol's poems.

Students write down on their technology cards: feelings, moods, experiences, emotions, type of literature...

Students write down tasks in the technological map

Operational stage

    Creating a creative product in group interaction based on deconstruction(work in the technological map.)

4.1. Read an excerpt from the article by D.I. Pisarev.

D.I. Pisarev wrote: ... Gogol was our first folk, exclusively Russian poet; (...) the best modern figures of our literature can be called followers of Gogol; all their works bear the stamp of his attention, the tears of which will probably remain on Russian literature for a long time.

4.2. Describe the critic’s attitude towards the work of N.V. Gogol. What seemed unusual to you about the writer’s characterization? What does D.I. Pisarev give him credit for?

Discuss as a group and write down your observations. Prepare an argumentative speech from the group. Formulate your answer in one sentence using expressions -emphasizes, affirms, draws attention. (3 min)

4.3. Group performances (about 2 minutes) / recordings are drawn up on A3 sheets and posted on a magnetic board.

    Reconstruction. Work in groups.

How did the lyrical component expand the horizons of the poem “Dead Souls”, how did it influence contemporaries and subsequent generations of Russian writers?

Group work

- Read an excerpt from the work. Decide for yourself how you will complete the task. Either everyone analyzes the passage and brings their conclusions to the overall conclusion, or you will go through all the stages of the work together. Present your conclusion in the form of a table (15 min)

    Advertising and adjusting the creative product/ presentation of results in a common stand (work with markers: black, green, blue, red)

– Tell us what conclusions you came to as a result of working in groups. While listening to your comrades, complement your conclusions. (7 min)

* Explanation of the meaning of color in psychology

Blue color - this is constancy, perseverance, perseverance, devotion, dedication, seriousness, rigor.

Green color - People who choose green choose their life path

Red color -represents power, breakthrough, the will to win. Red loves to be first

Black color -People who prefer black are mysteries. They want to unconsciously attract the attention of others.

    Reading by heart the passage “Rus-troika”

    Creative work “Paths and Crossroads” (implementation of homework).

    Create a symbol of Gogol's Russia.

    What Dead Souls cover would you draw today?

    Create a poem that reflects the main idea of ​​the poem.

    Write a travel essay: “What kind of Rus' did we see?”

    Create a collage “Where is Gogol’s Rus' rushing?”

They get acquainted with the statement, discuss it on the proposed questions, and formulate conclusions in one sentence.

For example, D.I. Pisarev emphasizes the exceptional poetry of Gogol’s legacy, draws attention to the fact that the best figures of Russian literature can be called his followers, argues that the main thing in the writer’s legacy is tears, which left a mark on all Russian literature

They read excerpts from the poem, analyze, compare with the works of writers of the twentieth century, draw conclusions, write them down in a technological map

They choose the color of the marker and display the results of the work in a common stand.

They read by heart in groups, choose the best reader - listening at the board.

Present creative works made at home

Reflective-evaluative stage

    Reflection(3 min)

Like next to the statement by N.V. Gogol, which in to the greatest extent reflects your state after the lesson:

    No matter how stupid the words of a fool are, sometimes they are enough to confuse an intelligent person.

    Youth is happy because it has a future.

    The higher the truths, the more careful you need to be with them: otherwise they will suddenly turn into commonplaces, and they no longer believe commonplaces.

    ...there is hardly any higher of pleasures than the pleasure of creating.

    By teaching others, you also learn.

Put “likes” next to Gogol’s statement (you can ask several people to comment on your choice)

Homework

RR: Homework based on Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”

Determine the topic of the essay, write it down in a notebook for creative work

View document contents
"LYRICAL DISTRACTIONS IN"

LYRICAL DISTRACTIONS IN “DEAD SOULS”

I. Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, thereby emphasizing the equality of the lyrical and epic principles: narration and lyrical digressions (see Belinsky on the pathos of “subjectivity” in terms of “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).

II. Two main types of lyrical digressions in the poem:

1. Digressions related to the epic part, with the task of showing Rus' “from one side.”

1. Digressions associated with the epic part serve as a means of revealing characters and generalizing them.

1) Digressions revealing the images of officials.

A satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. The antithesis on which this digression is based correlates with the general problem of the poem (the death of the soul): it is physical qualities that are the main ones in a person, determining his fate and behavior.

Men here, as elsewhere, were of two kinds: some thin, who all hovered around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from those from St. Petersburg... Another type of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, i.e. not too thick, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, looked askance and backed away from the ladies and only looked around to see if the governor’s servant was setting up a green table for whist... These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin people. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are just registered and wander here and there; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all are straight, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off.

(chapterI )

The images of officials and Chichikov are also revealed in digressions:

About the ability to handle:

It must be said that in Rus', if we have not yet kept up with foreigners in some other respects, we have far surpassed them in the ability to communicate... We have such wise men who will speak to a landowner with two hundred souls completely differently than to to the one who has three hundred of them, and to the one who has three hundred, they will again speak differently than to the one who has five hundred, and to the one who has five hundred, again differently than to the one who has there are eight hundred of them - in a word, even if you go up to a million, there will be all shades.

I ask you to look at him when he sits among his subordinates - but you simply cannot utter a word out of fear! pride and nobility, and what does his face not express? just take a brush and paint: Prometheus, determined Prometheus! Looks out like an eagle, acts smoothly, measuredly. The same eagle, as soon as he left the room and approaches the office of his boss, is in such a hurry like a partridge with papers under his arm that there is no urine.

(Chapter III)

About the millionaire:

A millionaire has the advantage that he can see meanness as completely disinterested, pure meanness, not based on any calculations...

(chapterVIII )

About hypocrisy:

This is what happens on the faces of officials when a visiting chief inspects their places entrusted to management: after the first fear had passed, they saw that he liked a lot of things, and he himself finally deigned to make a joke, that is, to utter a few words with a pleasant grin...

(chapterVIII )

On the ability to talk with ladies:

To our greatest regret, it must be noted that sedate people and those occupying important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captain...

(chapterVIII )

2) A group of lyrical digressions generalizes the characters of landowners, elevates particular phenomena to more general phenomena.

MANILOV:

There is a kind of people known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, according to the proverb.

(chapterII )

Manilova's wife LISA (about boarding houses):

And a good upbringing, as you know, comes from boarding schools. And in boarding houses, as you know, three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: the French language, necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for bringing pleasant moments to the spouse, and, finally, the actual economic part: knitting wallets and other surprises. However, there are various improvements and changes in methods, especially at the present time; all this depends more on the prudence and abilities of the boarding house owners themselves. In other boarding houses it happens that first the piano, then the French language, and then the economic part.

(chapterII )

Speaking about the BOX, Gogol uses several stages of generalization:

1) see the digression on landowners like Korobochka in the topic “Means of character development in Dead Souls.”

2) comparison of the landowner with “her aristocratic sister”:

Maybe you will even begin to think: come on, is Korobochka really standing so low on the endless ladder of human improvement? Is it really so great that the abyss separating her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house...

(Chapter III)

3) A very broad generalization is given through an apparent illogicality:

However, Chichikov was angry in vain: he is a respectable man, and even a statesman, but in reality he turns out to be a perfect Korobochka. Once you’ve got something in your head, you can’t overpower it with anything; No matter how much you present him with arguments, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall.

(Chapter III)

NOZDREV:

Maybe they will call him a beaten character, they will say that now Nozdryov is no longer there. Alas! those who speak like this will be unjust. Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only wears a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.

(chapterIV )

Nozdryov's son-in-law MIZHUEV:

The blond man was one of those people in whose character, at first glance, there is some kind of stubbornness... But it will always end with the fact that their character will turn out to be soft, that they will agree to exactly what they rejected, they will call stupid things smart and go dancing like It couldn’t be better to follow someone else’s tune - in a word, they’ll start as smooth and end up as shit.

(chapterIV )

SOBAKEVICH:

Were you really born a bear, or did provincial life, grain crops, fussing with peasants make you bearish, and through them you became what is called a man - a fist?.. No, whoever is a fist cannot bend into a palm! And if you straighten your fist with one or two fingers, it will turn out even worse. If he tasted the top of some science, he would let all those who had actually learned some science know later, having taken a more prominent place.

(chapterV )

Only PLYUSHKIN is an atypical phenomenon. The lyrical digression in Chapter VI is based on negation; the generalization is given as if by contradiction:

It must be said that such a phenomenon rarely occurs in Rus', where everything likes to unfold rather than shrink.

3) In addition, there are digressions on everyday topics that are close to the epic part in pathos and language and also serve as a means of generalization:

About food and stomachs of average gentlemen:

The author must admit that he is very envious of the appetite and stomach of this kind of people. For him, all the big-time gentlemen who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow, who spend their time thinking about what to eat tomorrow and what kind of dinner to create for the day after tomorrow, mean absolutely nothing to him...

(chapterIV )

About scientific reasoning and discoveries:

Our brothers, the intelligent people, as we call ourselves, do almost the same, and our scientific reasoning serves as proof.

(chapterIX )

On human weirdness:

Go and have fun with the man! does not believe in God, but believes that if the bridge of his nose itches, he will certainly die...

(chapterX )

From the analysis carried out it is clear that in Gogol’s works we are not dealing with traditional typification, but rather with a generalization, universalization of phenomena.

2. Digressions contrasted with the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author.

1) Lyrical digressions about Russia (Rus), linking together the themes of the road, the Russian people and the Russian word.

A digression about the aptly spoken Russian word in Chapter V (see “Folk images, the image of the people, the nationality of “Dead Souls”).

About barge haulers (the image of the people):

And in fact, where is Fyrov now? He walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having arranged himself with the merchants. Flowers and ribbons on the hat, the whole gang of barge haulers is having fun, saying goodbye to their mistresses and wives, tall, stately, in monasteries and ribbons; round dances, songs, the whole square is in full swing... and the entire grain arsenal looms large until it is all loaded into deep marmot ships and the goose and the people rush off into the endless valley. That's where you'll work hard, barge haulers! and together, as before they walked and raged, you will set to work and sweat, dragging the strap under one endless song, like Rus'.

(chapterVII )

Eh, three! bird troika, who invented you?.. Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika, rushing?.. Rus', where are you rushing, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it.

(chapterXI )

About the road:

How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in your travel overcoat, a hat over your ears, you will press closer and more comfortably to the corner!.. And the night? heavenly powers! what a night is taking place on high! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in its inaccessible depths, so vastly, sonorously and clearly spread out!..

(chapterXI )

About Rus' and its heroes:

Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; The daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, will not amuse or frighten the eyes... Everything in you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song heard and heard incessantly in your ears, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea? What is in it, in this song?.. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..

(chapterXI )

2) Lyrical digressions on philosophical topics, similar in language to lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal.

On the inconsistencies of life:

Whether it’s a box, whether it’s a Manilova, whether life is economic or non-economic - pass them by! This is not how the world works wonderfully: what is cheerful will instantly turn into sadness if you just stand in front of it for a long time; and then God knows what comes to mind.

(chapterIII )

About youth:

If at that time you had come across some twenty-year-old youth instead of Chichikov, whether he was a hussar, a student, or simply someone who had just begun the career of life, - and God! no matter what wakes up, moves, or speaks in him!..

(chapterV )

Today's fiery young man would jump aside in horror if they showed him his own portrait in old age. Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, you will not pick them up later!..

(chapterVI )

About old age:

The old age coming ahead is terrible, terrible, and nothing gives back and back!

(chapterVI )

III. In addition, we can highlight a number of digressions that reveal the author’s views on artistic creativity:

About two types of writers. Based on this digression, Nekrasov’s poem “Blessed is the gentle poet” (on the death of Gogol) was written.

Happy is the writer who, past characters that are boring, disgusting, and striking with their sad reality, approaches characters that demonstrate the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily rotating images, has chosen only a few exceptions, who has never changed the sublime structure of his lyre... There is no equal in his power - he is God!

Blessed is the gentle poet,

Who has little bile, a lot of feeling...

Loving carelessness and peace,

Disdaining daring satire,

He firmly dominates the crowd

With your peace-loving lyre.

But this is not the fate, and the fate of the writer is different, who dared to call out everything that is every minute before the eyes and what indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which ours teems. an earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road, and with the strong power of an inexorable chisel, who dared to expose them prominently and brightly to the eyes of the people!

But fate has no mercy

To him whose noble genius

Became an accuser of the crowd,

Her passions and delusions.

He will not receive popular applause, he will not experience the grateful tears and unanimous delight of the souls excited by him...

(chapterVII)

He is persecuted by blasphemers;

He catches the sounds of approval

Not in the sweet roar of praise,

And in the wild screams of anger.

The digression about the portrait of heroes in Chapter II is connected with the problem of the method. It is built on an antithesis: the romantic hero (portrait) is an ordinary, unremarkable hero.

It is much easier to depict large characters: there, simply throw paint from your entire hand onto the canvas, black scorching eyes, drooping eyebrows, a wrinkled forehead, a cloak black or scarlet as fire thrown over your shoulder, and the portrait is ready; but all these gentlemen, of whom there are many in the world, who look very similar to each other, and yet, when you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features - these gentlemen are terribly difficult for portraits. Here you will have to greatly strain your attention until you force all the subtle, almost invisible features to appear before you, and in general you will have to deepen your gaze, already sophisticated in the science of prying.

(II chapter)

In a lyrical digression on the language of a work of art, the principle of democratization of language is declared; the author opposes its artificial “ennoblement”.

Guilty! It seems that a word that was noticed on the street came out of our hero’s mouth. What to do? Such is the position of the writer in Rus'! However, if a word from the street ends up in a book, it’s not the writer’s fault, it’s the readers, and above all the readers of high society: from them you won’t be the first to hear a single decent Russian word, but they will probably endow you with French, German and English words in such quantities, whatever you want.

(chapterVIII )

See also “Female images in The Inspector General and Dead Souls.”

About choosing a hero:

But a virtuous person is still not taken as a hero. And you can even say why it wasn’t taken. Because it’s time to finally give the poor virtuous man a rest, because the word idly spins on his lips: a virtuous man, because they turned a virtuous man into a workhorse, and there is no writer who would not ride him, urging him on with a whip and with anything else that came his way. ; because they have starved a virtuous man to such an extent that now there is not even a shadow of virtue on him, and only ribs and skin instead of a body remain... because they do not respect a virtuous man. No, it’s time to finally hide the scoundrel too. So, let's harness the scoundrel!

(chapterXI )

Gogol claims the role of the main character of the antihero (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).

About creative plans, about a positive ideal:

But... perhaps in this same story one will sense other, hitherto unstrung strings, the untold wealth of the Russian spirit will appear, a husband gifted with divine virtues will pass by, or a wonderful Russian maiden, which cannot be found anywhere in the world, with all the wondrous beauty of a woman souls, all from generous aspiration and selflessness. And all the virtuous people of other tribes will appear dead before them, just as a book is dead before a living word!.. But why and why talk about what lies ahead? It is indecent for the author, who has long been a husband, brought up by a harsh inner life and the refreshing sobriety of solitude, to forget himself like a young man. Everything has its turn, place and time!

(chapterXI )

See also the concept of “The Plot and Composition of Dead Souls.”

And for a long time it is determined for me by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to survey the whole enormously rushing life, to survey it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to it tears! And the time is still far off when, in another key, a menacing blizzard of inspiration will rise from the head, clothed in holy horror and splendor, and in confused trepidation they will sense the majestic thunder of other speeches...

(chapterVII )

IV.Unlike Pushkin, Gogol has no autobiographical digressions, except for the poetic “Oh my youth, oh my freshness!”, but it is also of a general philosophical nature:

Before, long ago, in the summers of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time... Now I indifferently approach any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance.

(chapterVI )

V. From the point of view of the principle of artistic generalization, the lyrical digressions of “Dead Souls” can be divided into two types:

(chapterII )

That's how it is Russian person: a strong passion to become arrogant with someone who would be at least one rank higher than him...

(chapterII )

Because Russian man in decisive moments, there will be something to do without going into long-term reasoning, then, turning right, onto the first cross road, he [Selifan] shouted: “Hey, you, respectable friends!” - and set off at a gallop, thinking little about where the road taken would lead.

(chapterIII )

Here Nozdryov was promised many difficult and strong desires; There were even some bad words. What to do? Russian man, and even in the hearts!

(chapterV )

Selifan felt his mistake, but since Russian man doesn’t like to admit to others that he is to blame, he immediately said, putting on his dignity: “Why are you jumping around like that? did he put his eyes in a tavern, or what?”

(chapterV )

The guest and the host each drank a glass of vodka and had a bite to eat. the entire vast Russia in cities and villages...

(chapterV )

In Rus' lower societies love to talk about the gossip that happens in higher societies...

(chapterIX )

What did this scratching mean? and what does it even mean?.. It means a lot of different things Russian people scratching the back of the head.

(chapterX )

See also digressions about Plyushkin and Sobakevich.

Russia in “Dead Souls” is a special world, living according to its own laws. Its wide open spaces give rise to broad natures.

She [the governor's wife] was holding by the arm a young sixteen-year-old girl, a fresh blonde with thin, slender features, a sharp chin, and a charmingly round oval face, the kind an artist would take as a model for the Madonna and which only comes across on rare occasions. in Rus', where everything loves to appear in a wide size, everything that is: mountains, and forests, and steppes, and faces, and lips, and legs.

(chapterVIII )

And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?? Is it possible for his soul, trying to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her?

(chapterXI )

2. Through all-Russian, national lies the way to universal.

AND in the world chronicle of humanity There are many entire centuries that, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many mistakes have been made in the world that, it would seem, even a child would not have made now. What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable roads did he choose? humanity, trying to achieve eternal truth, while a straight path was open before him, similar to the path leading to the magnificent temple assigned to the king’s palace!

(chapterX )

All universal generalizations are in one way or another connected with the plot-forming motif of the road (see “The Plot and Composition of Dead Souls”).

VI. Gogol's poem is built on the thematic and stylistic opposition of the epic and lyrical principles. Often this antithesis is specifically emphasized by Gogol, and he collides two worlds:

And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..

“Hold it, hold it, you fool!” - Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I am with a broadsword!” - shouted a courier with a mustache as long as he was galloping towards. “Don’t you see, damn your soul: it’s a government carriage!” And, like a ghost, the troika disappeared with thunder and dust.

How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road!

(chapterXI )

In general, speaking about the stylistic originality of lyrical digressions, we can note the features of romantic poetics.

Conceptually: in contrast to youth and old age.

See lyrical digressions on philosophical topics.

In artistic means (hyperbole, cosmic images, metaphors). See “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”.

God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like a perishing and drowning person, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..

(chapterXI )

VII. The compositional role of lyrical digressions.

1. Some chapters open with digressions:

A digression on youth in Chapter VI (“Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...”).

A digression about two types of writers in Chapter VII (“Happy is the writer...”).

2. Digressions can end the chapter:

About the “aptly spoken Russian word” in Chapter V (“The Russian people express themselves strongly...”).

About “scratching the back of the head” in Chapter X (“What did this scratching mean? And what does it even mean?”)

About the “bird troika” at the end of the first volume (“Eh, troika, bird troika, who invented you?..”).

3. A digression may precede the appearance of a new hero: a digression about youth in Chapter VI precedes the description of the village of Plyushkin.

4. Turning points in the plot can also be marked by lyrical digressions:

Describing Chichikov’s feelings when meeting the governor’s daughter, the author again reminds the reader of the division of people into fat and thin.

It is impossible to say for sure whether the feeling of love has truly awakened in our hero - it is even doubtful that gentlemen of this kind, that is, not so thick, but not so thin, were capable of love; but despite all this, there was something so strange here, something of the kind that he could not explain to himself...

(chapterVIII )

The author includes discussions about the ability of fat and thin gentlemen to entertain ladies in the description of another novel scene: Chichikov’s conversation with the governor’s daughter at the ball.

People who are sedate and occupy important positions are somehow a little difficult in conversations with ladies; for this, masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the ranks of captains... This is noted here so that readers can see why the blonde began to yawn during our hero’s stories.

(chapterVIII )

5. Towards the end of the poem, the number of lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal increases, which is explained by Gogol’s plan to build “Dead Souls” on the model of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (see “Plot and composition of “Dead Souls”).

VIII. The language of lyrical digressions (see “Genre originality of “Dead Souls”).

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"RM - Rus' (by heart)"

God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..

Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; the daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, cities with many-windowed high palaces grown into the cliffs, picture trees and ivy grown into houses, in the noise and eternal dust of waterfalls will not amuse or frighten the eyes; her head will not fall back to look at the boulders of stone endlessly piled up above her and in the heights; the dark arches thrown one upon the other, entangled with grape branches, ivy and countless millions of wild roses, will not flash through them; the eternal lines of shining mountains, rushing into the silver clear skies, will not flash through them in the distance. Everything about you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea, heard and heard incessantly in your ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls and cries and grabs your heart? What sounds painfully kiss and strive into the soul and curl around my heart? Rus! what do you want from me? what incomprehensible connection lies between us? Why are you looking like that, and why has everything that is in you turned its eyes full of expectation on me?.. And yet, full of bewilderment, I stand motionless, and a menacing cloud has already overshadowed my head, heavy with the coming rains, and my thoughts are numb before yours. space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; My eyes lit up with unnatural power: oh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!..

How strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful is the word: road! and how wonderful it is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air... tighter in our travel overcoat, a hat over our ears, let’s snuggle closer and more comfortably into the corner! IN last time a shudder ran through the limbs, and was already replaced by a pleasant warmth. The horses are racing...

God! how beautiful you are sometimes, long, long way! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt!..

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"RM for groups"

1 group.

A. Discourse on thick and thin (Chapter 1)

The men here, as everywhere else, were of two kinds: some thin, who kept hovering around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from those from St. Petersburg: they also had very clean, deliberately and tastefully combed sideburns, or simply beautiful, very smoothly shaven oval faces, they sat down just as casually next to the ladies, they spoke the same way in French and made the ladies laugh just like in St. Petersburg. Another class of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, that is, not too fat, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, looked sideways and backed away from the ladies and only looked around to see if the governor’s servant was setting up a green whist table somewhere. Their faces were full and round, some even had warts, some were pockmarked; They didn’t wear their hair on their heads in crests, curls, or the devil-may-care style, as the French say; their hair was either cut low or slicked back, and their facial features were more rounded and strong. These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin people. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are just registered and wander here and there; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but always straight ones, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off. They do not like external shine; the tailcoat on them is not as cleverly tailored as on the thin ones, but in the boxes there is the grace of God. At the age of three, the thin one does not have a single soul left that is not pawned in a pawnshop; The fat man was calm, lo and behold, and somewhere at the end of the city a house appeared, bought in the name of his wife, then at the other end another house, then a village near the city, then a village with all the land. Finally, the fat man, having served God and the sovereign, having earned universal respect, leaves the service, moves over and becomes a landowner, a glorious Russian gentleman, a hospitable man, and lives and lives well. And after him, again, the thin heirs, according to Russian custom, send out all their father’s goods by courier.

Words, phrases, details

B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of the story “Thick and Thin” by A.P. Chekhov and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the story “Thick and Thin” or explain in your own way.

At Nikolaevskaya station railway two friends met: one fat, the other thin. The fat man had just had lunch at the station, and his lips, coated with oil, were shiny like ripe cherries. He smelled of sherry and fleur-d'orange. The thin one had just gotten out of the carriage and was laden with suitcases, bundles and cardboard boxes. He smelled of ham and coffee grounds. Peeking out from behind him was a thin woman with a long chin - his wife, and a tall high school student with a squinted eye - his son.

Well, how are you doing, friend? - asked the fat man, looking at his friend enthusiastically. - Where do you serve? Have you achieved the rank?

I serve, my dear! I have been a collegiate assessor for the second year now and I have Stanislav. The salary is bad... well, God bless him! My wife gives music lessons, I privately make cigarette cases out of wood. Great cigarette cases! I sell them for a ruble apiece. If someone takes ten grand or more, then, you know, there is a concession. Let's make some money. I served, you know, in the department, and now I’ve been transferred here as the head of the same department... I’ll serve here. Well, how are you? Probably already a civilian? A?

No, my dear, raise it higher,” said the fat man. “I’ve already risen to the rank of secret... I have two stars.”

The thin one suddenly turned pale and petrified, but soon his face twisted in all directions with a broad smile; it seemed as if sparks were falling from his face and eyes. He himself shrank, hunched over, narrowed... His suitcases, bundles and cardboard boxes shrank, wrinkled... His wife's long chin became even longer; Nathanael stood tall and fastened all the buttons of his uniform...

I, Your Excellency... It’s a pleasure, sir! A friend, one might say, from childhood and suddenly became such a nobleman, sir! Hee hee sir.

Well, that's enough! - the fat man winced. - What is this tone for? You and I are childhood friends - and why this respect for rank?

For mercy... What are you... - the thin one giggled, shrinking even more. - The gracious attention of your Excellency... seems like life-giving moisture...

2nd group.

Before, long ago, in the summers of my youth, in the years of my irrevocably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up for the first time to an unfamiliar place: it didn’t matter whether it was a village, a poor provincial town, a village, a settlement, the child discovered a lot of curious things in it curious look. Every building, everything that bore only the imprint of some noticeable feature, everything stopped me and amazed me. Is it a stone, state-owned house, of well-known architecture with half of the false windows, standing alone among a hewn log heap of one-story bourgeois, philistine houses, or a round, regular dome, all upholstered in sheet white iron, raised above the whitewashed, like snow, new church, whether it was a market, or a district dandy who came across the city - nothing escaped fresh, subtle attention, and, sticking my nose out of my traveling cart, I looked at the hitherto unprecedented cut of some frock coat, and at the wooden boxes with nails , with sulfur turning yellow in the distance, with raisins and soap, flashing from the doors vegetable shop together with the jars of dried Moscow sweets, he looked at the infantry officer walking aside, brought in from God knows what province, in the boredom of the district, and at the merchant who flashed in Siberia on a racing droshky, and was carried away in his mind with them into their poor life. The district official walk by - I was already wondering where he was going, whether for the evening to some brother of his or straight to his home, so that, after sitting for half an hour on the porch, before dusk had yet completely set in, he could sit down for an early dinner with mother, with his wife, with his wife’s sister and the whole family, and what they will be talking about at the time when the courtyard girl in monists or the boy in a thick jacket brings, after soup, a tallow candle in a durable household candlestick. Approaching the village of some landowner, I looked curiously at the tall, narrow wooden bell tower or the wide, dark wooden old church. From afar, through the greenery of the trees, the red roof and white chimneys of the manor's house flashed temptingly to me, and I waited impatiently until the gardens that surrounded it dispersed on both sides and he appeared all his own, then, alas! not at all vulgar in appearance, and from him I tried to guess who the landowner himself was, whether he was fat, and whether he had sons or six daughters with ringing girlish laughter, games and eternal beauty little sister, and whether they have black eyes, and whether he himself is a merry fellow or gloomy, like September in the last days, looks at the calendar and talks about rye and wheat, boring for youth.

Now I indifferently approach any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance; It’s unpleasant to my chilled gaze, it’s not funny to me, and what would have awakened in previous years a lively movement in the face, laughter and silent speech, now slides past, and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth! oh my freshness!

Words, phrases, details

Conclusions about the role of retreat (What the author thinks about)

The narrator in his youth

Narrator in adulthood

B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of S. Yesenin’s poem and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the poem or explain in your own way.

I do not regret, do not call, do not cry,

Everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.

Withered in gold,

I won't be young anymore.

Now you won't fight so much,

A heart touched by a chill,

And the country of birch chintz

It won't tempt you to wander around barefoot.

The wandering spirit! you are less and less often

You stir up the flame of your lips

Oh my lost freshness

A riot of eyes and a flood of feelings!

I have now become more stingy in my desires,

My life, did I dream about you?

As if I were a booming early spring

He rode on a pink horse.

All of us, all of us in this world are perishable,

Copper quietly flows from the maple leaves...

May you be blessed forever,

What has come to flourish and die.

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3 group

A. Lyrical digression about Rus' and the road (Chapter 11)

And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast? Is it his soul, striving to get dizzy, to go on a spree, to sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her? Isn’t it possible to love her when you hear something enthusiastically wonderful in her? It seems that an unknown force has taken you on its wing, and you are flying, and everything is flying: miles are flying, merchants are flying towards you on the beams of their wagons, a forest is flying on both sides with dark formations of spruces and pines, with a clumsy knock and the cry of a crow, it flies the whole road goes to who knows where into the disappearing distance, and something terrible is contained in this quick flickering, where the disappearing object does not have time to appear, only the sky above your head, and the light clouds, and the rushing month alone seem motionless. Eh, three! bird three, who invented you? to know, you could only have been born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but has spread out smoothly across half the world, and go ahead and count the miles until it hits your eyes. And not a cunning, it seems, road projectile, not grabbed by an iron screw, but hastily, alive, with only an ax and a chisel, the efficient Yaroslavl man equipped and assembled you. The driver is not wearing German boots: he has a beard and mittens, and sits on God knows what; but he stood up, swung, and began to sing - the horses were a whirlwind, the spokes in the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled and the stopped pedestrian screamed in fright! and there she rushed, rushed, rushed !.. And you can already see in the distance how something is gathering dust and drilling into the air.

Aren't you, Rus, like a brisk, unstoppable troika, rushing along? The road beneath you smokes, the bridges rattle, everything falls behind and is left behind. The contemplator, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: was this lightning thrown from the sky? What does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power is contained in these horses, unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what kind of horses! Are there whirlwinds in your manes? Is there a sensitive ear burning in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once tensed their copper chests and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into just elongated lines flying through the air, and rushing, all inspired by God !.. Rus', where are you going, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it.

Words, phrases, details

Conclusions about the role of retreat (What the author thinks about)

B. Assignment: Are there similar thoughts and reasoning in the text of A. Blok’s poem “Russia” and in this passage? Confirm the similarities with the text of the poem or explain in your own way.

Again, like in the golden years,

Three worn out flapping harnesses,

And the painted knitting needles knit
Into loose ruts...

Russia, poor Russia,

I want your gray huts,

Your songs are like wind to me, -

Like the tears of first love!

I don't know how to feel sorry for you,

And I carefully carry my cross...

Which sorcerer do you want?

Give me your robber beauty!

Let him lure and deceive,

You won't be lost, you won't perish,

And only care will cloud

Your beautiful features...

Well? One more concern -

The river is noisier with one tear

And you are still the same - forest and field,

Yes, the patterned board goes up to the eyebrows...

And the impossible is possible

The long road is easy

When the road flashes in the distance

An instant glance from under a scarf,

When it rings with guarded melancholy

The dull song of the coachman!..

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"Worksheet"

    Fill the table:

Subject of l.o.

Examples from the text

About thick and thin

About education in Russia

About the subtlety of treatment

About gentlemen of the “middle class”

About apt

Russian word

About youth and youth

About the fate of the writer

in Russia

Lyrical digressions

in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"


Lyrical digressions –

deviations from immediate plot in a literary work

Lyrical digressions

give the poem scale, breadth and depth of coverage of problems, symbolism


Chapter 1

About thick and thin

Chapter 2

About education in Russia

Chapter 3

About the subtlety of treatment


Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem

Chapter 4

About gentlemen of the “middle class”

Chapter 5

About apt

Russian word

Chapter 6

About youth and youth


Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem

Chapter 7

About the fate of the writer

in Russia

Chapter 8

About city people

Chapter 9

About Russian peasants


Theme of lyrical digressions in the poem

Chapter 11

About Russia


The role of lyrical digressions in the poem

Lyrical digressions in the poem:

  • introduce the image of the author;
  • give breadth, depth, comprehensiveness, and lyricism to the narrative;
  • help characterize different sides of Rus'


I wish you all to plunge into a beautiful, bewitching world more than once in your life,

whose name is GOGOL



I. Prologue

A strange dream... As if in the kingdom of shadows, above the entrance to which an unquenchable lamp with the inscription “Dead Souls” flickers, the joker Satan opened the doors. The dead kingdom began to stir and an endless line stretched out from it.

Manilov in a fur coat on large bears, Nozdryov in someone else's carriage, Derzhimorda on a fire pipe, Selifan, Parsley, Fetinya...

And he was the last to move - Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov in the famous to his chaise.

And the whole gang moved towards Sovetskaya Rus' and amazing things happened in it then incidents. And which ones follow that? points.

Lyrical digressions in the poem "Dead Souls" play a huge role. They entered the structure of this work so organically that we can no longer imagine the poem without the author’s magnificent monologues. What is the role of lyrical digressions in the poem? Agree, thanks to their presence, we constantly feel the presence of Gogol, who shares with us his experiences and thoughts about this or that event. In this article we will talk about lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls” and talk about their role in the work.

The role of lyrical digressions

Nikolai Vasilyevich becomes not just a guide leading the reader through the pages of the work. He is more of a close friend. The lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls” encourage us to share with the author the emotions that overwhelm him. Often the reader expects that Gogol, with his inimitable humor, will help him overcome the sadness or indignation caused by the events in the poem. And sometimes we want to know Nikolai Vasilyevich’s opinion on what is happening. The lyrical digressions in the poem "Dead Souls", in addition, have great artistic power. We enjoy every image, every word, admiring their beauty and accuracy.

Opinions on lyrical digressions expressed by Gogol's famous contemporaries

Many of the author's contemporaries appreciated the work "Dead Souls". The lyrical digressions in the poem also did not go unnoticed. Some have spoken about them famous people. For example, I. Herzen noted that the lyrical passage illuminates and enlivens the narrative in order to be replaced again by a picture that reminds us even more clearly of the hell we are in. The lyrical beginning of this work was also highly appreciated by V. G. Belinsky. He pointed to the humane, comprehensive and deep subjectivity that reveals in the artist a person with a “nice soul and a warm heart.”

Thoughts shared by Gogol

The writer, with the help of lyrical digressions, expresses own attitude not only to the events and people described by him. They contain, in addition, an affirmation of the high purpose of man, the significance of great social interests and ideas. The source of the author's lyricism is thoughts about serving his country, about its sorrows, destinies and hidden gigantic forces. This manifests itself regardless of whether Gogol expresses his anger or bitterness at the insignificance of the characters he depicts, whether he speaks about the role of the writer in modern society, or about the lively, lively Russian mind.

First retreats

With great artistic tact, Gogol included extra-plot elements in the work “Dead Souls”. The lyrical digressions in the poem are at first only Nikolai Vasilyevich’s statements about the heroes of the work. However, as the story progresses, the themes become more varied.

Gogol, having talked about Korobochka and Manilov, interrupts his narrative for a while, as if he wants to step aside for a while so that the reader can better understand the picture of life he has drawn. For example, the digression that interrupts the story about Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna in the work contains a comparison of her with a “sister” belonging to an aristocratic society. Despite her slightly different appearance, she is no different from the local mistress.

Beautiful blonde

Chichikov, on the road after visiting Nozdryov, meets a beautiful blonde on his way. The description of this meeting ends with a wonderful lyrical digression. Gogol writes that everywhere on the way a person will encounter at least once a phenomenon that is unlike anything he has seen before, and will awaken in him a new feeling, not similar to the usual ones. However, this is completely alien to Chichikov: the cold caution of this hero is compared with the manifestation of feelings inherent in man.

Digressions in chapters 5 and 6

The lyrical digression at the end of the fifth chapter is of a completely different nature. The author here is not talking about his hero, not about his attitude towards this or that character, but about the talent of the Russian people, about a powerful man living in Rus'. as if not connected with the previous development of the action. However, it is very important for revealing the main idea of ​​the poem: true Russia is not boxes, nozdryovs and dogevichs, but the element of the people.

Closely related to lyrical statements dedicated to national character and the Russian word, and an inspired confession about youth, about Gogol’s perception of life, which opens the sixth chapter.

The angry words of Nikolai Vasilyevich, which have a generalizing deep meaning, interrupt the narrative about Plyushkin, who embodied base feelings and aspirations with the greatest force. Gogol is indignant about the “nastiness, pettiness and insignificance” a person could reach.

The author's reasoning in Chapter 7

Nikolai Vasilyevich begins the seventh chapter with discussions about the life and creative destiny of the writer in the society contemporary to him. He talks about two different destinies that await him. A writer can become a creator of “exalted images” or a satirist or realist. This lyrical digression reflects Gogol’s views on art, as well as the author’s attitude towards the people and the ruling elite in society.

"Happy traveler..."

Another digression, beginning with the words “Happy is the traveler...”, is an important stage in the plot development. It separates one part of the story from another. Nikolai Vasilyevich’s statements illuminate the meaning and essence of both the preceding and subsequent paintings of the poem. This lyrical digression is directly related to the folk scenes depicted in the seventh chapter. It plays a very important role in the composition of the poem.

Statements about classes and ranks

In the chapters devoted to the depiction of the city, we come across Gogol’s statements about classes and ranks. He says they are so "annoyed" that everything in a printed book seems "personal" to them. Apparently, this is the “disposition in the air”.

Reflections on human fallacies

We see lyrical digressions of the poem “Dead Souls” throughout the narrative. Gogol ends his description of the general confusion with reflections on the false paths of man, his delusions. Humanity has made many mistakes in its history. The current generation laughs at this arrogantly, although it itself is beginning to whole line new misconceptions. His descendants in the future will laugh at the present generation.

Last retreats

Gogol's civic pathos reaches particular strength in the retreat "Rus! Rus!...". It shows, like the lyrical monologue placed at the beginning of the 7th chapter, a clear line between the links of the narrative - the story about the origin of the main character (Chichikov) and the city scenes. Here the theme of Russia has already been widely developed. It is “unwelcoming, scattered, poor.” However, this is where heroes are born. The author then shares with us the thoughts that were inspired by the rushing troika and the distant road. Nikolai Vasilyevich paints pictures of his native Russian nature one after another. They appear before the eyes of a traveler racing along an autumn road on fast horses. Despite the fact that the image of the three-bird has been left behind, in this lyrical digression we feel it again.

The story about Chichikov ends with a statement from the author, which is a sharp objection to whom the main character and the entire work as a whole, depicting the “despicable and bad,” can shock.

What do lyrical digressions reflect and what remains unanswered?

The author’s sense of patriotism is reflected in the lyrical digressions in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” The image of Russia that completes the work is covered with deep love. He embodied the ideal that illuminated the artist’s path when depicting vulgar petty life.

Speaking about the role and place of lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls,” I would like to note one interesting point. Despite the author’s numerous arguments, the most important question for Gogol remains unanswered. And the question is, where is Rus' heading? You will not find the answer to it by reading the lyrical digressions in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls." Only the Almighty could know what awaited this country, “inspired by God,” at the end of the road.