Features of the genre and composition of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". Artistic features of the poem
Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work “in which all of Rus' would appear.” This was supposed to be a grandiose description of life and customs
Russia in the first third of the 19th century. The poem became such a work
"Dead Souls", written in 1842. First edition of the work
was called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls." This
the name was reducing true meaning This work translated into the realm of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only in last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol calls it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part, the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil appears to the poet, which accompanies the lyrical hero to hell, they go through all the circles, a whole gallery of sinners passes before their eyes. The fantastic nature of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland - Italy, and its fate. In fact, Gogol planned to show the same circles of hell, but hell in Russia. It is not for nothing that the title of the poem “Dead Souls” ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy,” which is called “Hell.”
Gogol, along with satirical negation, introduces a glorifying, creative element - the image of Russia. Associated with this image is the “high lyrical movement”, which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.
A significant place in the poem “Dead Souls” is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is typical for the poem as literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing Russian social issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here contrasted with gloomy pictures of Russian life.
So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov to N.
From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after Chichikov’s meeting with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess the end of the poem, because all its characters are derived according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if considered as a separate image, cannot be perceived as positive hero(on his table there is a book open on the same page, and his politeness is feigned: “Let me not allow you to do this >>), but in comparison with Plyushkin, Manilov even wins in many ways. However, Gogol put the image of Korobochka in the center of attention , since she is a kind of unified beginning of all characters. According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the “box man”, which contains the idea of an insatiable thirst for hoarding.
The theme of exposing officialdom runs through all of Gogol’s work: it stands out both in the collection “Mirgorod” and in the comedy “The Inspector General”. In the poem "Dead Souls" it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom.
“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but has great value for disclosure ideological content works. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.
The world of “dead souls” is contrasted in the poem lyrical image people's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.
For scary world of landowner and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a quickly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: “Isn’t it so for you, Rus', that a brisk, unstoppable troika rushes along?” So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social illness of society, but we should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this.
Firstly, Gogol uses social typification techniques. In depicting the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), and are captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses his favorite technique - characterizing the character through detail. Gogol can be called a “genius of detail”, so accurately sometimes details reflect the character and inner world character. What is it worth, for example, the description of Manilov’s estate and house! When Chichikov drove into Manilov's estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room - either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which were never reached. the owner's hands. All these and many other details bring us to main characteristic, made by the author himself: “Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!” Let us remember Plyushkin, this “hole in humanity,” who even lost his gender.
He comes out to Chichikov in a greasy robe, some kind of incredible scarf on his head, desolation, dirt, disrepair everywhere. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A.S. admired so much. Pushkin: “Not a single writer has ever had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so clearly, to be able to outline in such force the vulgarity of a vulgar person, so that all the little things that escape the eye would flash large in everyone’s eyes.”
The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of his homeland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts" Divine Comedy“Dante: “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov’s trip remained a trip into the unknown. Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia : “Rus, where are you going? Give me the answer! Doesn't give an answer."
Genre originality of the poem “Dead Souls”
Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, but famous critic Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky defined their genre as a novel. In the history of Russian literature, this definition of Belinsky was established, and “Dead Souls,” keeping the word “poem” in the subtitle, was recognized as a brilliant novel from Russian life.
In Russian literature in the 30-40s there was a rapid development of the novel and story. Starting from Pushkin’s “Belkin’s Tales” (1830), there has been a continuous appearance of works of this genre. Belinsky wrote about this multitude of novels and stories that flooded literature back in 1835: “Now all our literature has turned into a novel and story. Ode, epic poem, even so-called romantic poem, poem Pushkinskaya, which used to flood and drown our literature - all this is now nothing more than a memory of some fun, but long-ago time. Roman killed everything, consumed everything. And the story that came with him even erased the traces of all this, and the novel itself stood aside with respect and gave it a path ahead of itself... But that’s not all: in what books are human life, and the rules of morality, the philosophical side, and , in a word, all sciences? In novels and stories." 11 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. I, p. 267
Belinsky’s definition of the “Dead Souls” genre, developed in his articles (1835-1847), was based on the experience of studying the evolution of Russian realism in the 30-40s, works of foreign, French, English, American, works of novelists, it was forged in polemics with critics different directions, especially reactionary and Slavophile, and changed over a number of years, when Belinsky wrote about “ Dead souls" In Gogol literature, in cases where the genre of “Dead Souls” is considered, Belinsky’s views and their evolution in resolving the issue are not taken into account and not analyzed; “Dead Souls” must be recognized as a novel or poem. Meanwhile, it is Belinsky’s doctrine of the novel that has been the fundamental theory of this genre to this day.
In the very first article written after the poem’s publication in 1842, Belinsky, noting the humorous nature of Gogol’s talent, wrote: Most of us understand “comic” and “humour” as buffoonish, as a caricature - and we are sure that many are not joking , with a sly and satisfied smile from their insight, they will say and write that Gogol jokingly called his novel a poem. That's right! After all, Gogol is a great wit and joker, and what a cheerful person, my God! He laughs constantly and makes others laugh! That’s right, you guessed it, smart people...” 11 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 220 This was a response to N. Polevoy, who wrote in the Russian Messenger: “We did not at all think of condemning Gogol for what he called “Dead Souls” poem. Of course, the name is a joke.” 22 - E.S. Smirnova-Chikina. Poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" - literary commentary. M. “Enlightenment”, 1964, p. 29 Further, Belinsky reveals his understanding of the “poem”: “As for us... we will only say, that Gogol did not jokingly call his novel a “poem” and that he does not mean a comic poem by it. It was not the author who told us this, but his book... Do not forget that this book is only an exposition, an introduction to the poem, that the author promises two more such large books, in which we will meet Chichikov again and see new faces in which Rus' will be expressed on the other hand..."
Having given a number lyrical digressions from the eleventh chapter about the road, fast driving, bird-three, Belinsky ends the article with the words: “It’s sad to think that this high lyrical pathos, these thundering, singing praises of the blissful in oneself national identity, worthy of the great Russian poet, will not be accessible to everyone, that good-natured ignorance will laugh heartily at something that will make the hair on another’s head stand up in sacred awe... And yet this is so, and it cannot be otherwise. High inspirational poem will go for the majority as a “humorous joke...” 11 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 222
So, in 1842, Belinsky accepted the genre of “Dead Souls” as a poem, based on the high, pathetic lyricism of Gogol, on the author’s promise to show “Russia from the other side” in the second and third parts and bring out new faces, new heroes.
The appearance of K. S. Aksakov’s sensational brochure “A few words about Gogol’s poem “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls”” confronted Belinsky with the problem of genre as an expression of content, ideological meaning And artistic method works of Gogol.
K. S. Aksakov argued in his brochure that in Gogol’s poem “the ancient epic rises before us”, that in artistic manner He sees Gogol’s “epic contemplation... ancient, true, the same as Homer’s,” that Gogol can and should be compared with Homer, that “Dead Souls” is a poem similar to the “Iliad.”
Belinsky sharply objected to the comparison of “Dead Souls” with the “Iliad”: “It was in vain that he (the author of the brochure) did not delve into these deeply significant words of Gogol: “And for a long time it was determined for me by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to survey the whole enormously rushing life, look at it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears" 22 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 255 Belinsky now sees the justification for the genre in the tone of the depiction of Russian life, in humor combined with invisible tears unknown to the world, and in lyricism. Belinsky emphasized the critical pathos of Dead Souls, refuting Aksakov’s thoughts about Gogol’s supposedly contemplative attitude towards the reality he depicts.
In the same review of the brochure, Belinsky expresses and develops one of the main theses of the poetics of realism he creates, namely the thesis about the relationship between the epic and the novel, about the organic development of literature, its content and poetic genres, as an expression of the worldview characteristic of people of a certain historical era. But Belinsky has not yet applied the theory of the novel in this article to “Dead Souls”; in the pathos of lyrical digressions and Gogol’s humorous view of life, he sees a justification for the choice of the genre of the poem.
Aksakov’s anti-historical and reactionary brochure took “Dead Souls” and their creator to the distant past and separated them from the social problems of our time.
These statements provoked a sharp rebuke from those who took the position of historicism in explaining social and literary phenomena Belinsky. A comparison of Gogol's poem with the Iliad showed Aksakov's misunderstanding of the connection literary process with the historical development of human society. “In reality,” wrote Belinsky, “the epic developed historically into the novel, and the novel is a modern epic. Gogol's work is closely connected with Russian life XIX century, and not from ancient Greek, this is where its “colossal greatness for us Russians” lies. 11 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 254
In the next book of “Notes of the Fatherland,” Belinsky again wrote about “Dead Souls” and again examined the question of why Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem. The genre of Gogol's work was not yet clear to him. In the interval between Belinsky’s two articles, a review of O. Senkovsky’s “Dead Souls” appeared, where he mocks the word “poem” in the appendix to “Dead Souls.” Belinsky explains these ridicule by saying that Senkovsky “does not understand the meaning of the word “poem.” As can be seen from his hints, the poem must certainly glorify the people in the person of its heroes. Perhaps “Dead Souls” is called a poem in this sense; but it is possible to carry out some kind of judgment on them in this regard when the other two parts of the poem come out.”
These words show Belinsky’s reflection on the reasons for Gogol’s choice of the poem genre for “Dead Souls.” He still does not refuse to call “Dead Souls” a poem, but now in a very special understanding of this definition, almost equal to refusal. He wrote that " Bye I am ready to accept the word poem in relation to “Dead Souls” as equivalent to the word “creation”.
The controversy surrounding “Dead Souls” grew, capturing more and more new participants. An article by P.A. appeared in Sovremennik. Pletnev with analysis of the poem, called “smart and efficient” by Belinsky, article by S.P. Shevyreva in “Moskvityanin”, which provoked satirical remarks from Belinsky; K. Aksakov responded to Belinsky in “Explanation,” where he continued to develop his abstract idealistic views on the genre of the poem.
Belinsky gave an answer to Aksakov in the article “Explanation for explanation about Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” 11 - V. G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 410, in which he set out clear socio-historical and materialist theses of his understanding of the life and movement of universal humanity , the world literary process from the ancient poems of India, Greece to mid-19th century, before the appearance of the novels of W. Scott, Charles Dickens, Russian novels, primarily “Eugene Onegin”, “A Hero of Our Time”.
Belinsky's historicism, “historical contemplation,” as he put it, gave him the opportunity to show the process of development ancient epic into a novel that is “a representative of modern epic.” Belinsky proves that “the modern epic did not appear exclusively in one novel: in modern poetry there is a special kind of epic that does not allow the prose of life, which captures only poetic, ideal moments of life and the content of which consists of the deepest worldviews and moral questions of modern humanity. This type of epic alone retained the name of the poem.” Belinsky now doubts the direction of Gogol's work in the future and wonders how " however, the content of “Dead Souls” will be revealed in the last two parts.”
It didn’t take long for Belinsky to recognize “Dead Souls” as a poem. In his review of the second edition of Dead Souls (1846), Belinsky, as always, ranks them highly, but definitely calls them not a poem, but a novel. In the quoted words of Belinsky one can see recognition of the depth of a living social idea, the significance of the pathos of “Dead Souls”. But now the recognition of the importance of the main idea makes it possible for Belinsky to definitely call them a novel.
Belinsky finally recognized Gogol’s “Dead Souls” social novel, and did not change this confession in further statements about “Dead Souls”. Accordingly, historically correct definition genre given by Belinsky, it must be admitted that Gogol’s calling “Dead Souls” a poem should be taken only in a conditional meaning, because the author called a poem a work that does not have the main features of this genre.
At the beginning of 1847, the article “On the historical and literary opinions of Sovremennik” appeared by Yu.F. Samarina 11 - E.S. Smirnova-Chikina. N.V. Gogol's poem “Dead Souls” - literary commentary. M. “Enlightenment”, 1964, p. 35, who continued the line of Aksakov, Shevyrev and other conservatives and Slavophiles in denying the social significance of Gogol’s work. Publicists and critics of the right camp continued to struggle with Belinsky’s understanding of the enormous social significance of “Dead Souls.”
Samarin tried to prove that “Dead Souls” brought reconciliation, that is, they affirmed the socio-political foundations of the feudal state, and thereby muffled the political struggle of the progressive strata of society, disoriented the reader in his desire to “realize himself” and his role, his activities as a citizen and patriot. The starting point of the views of Belinsky and his opponents were the contrasting concepts of Russian historical process. Belinsky recognized the inevitability of the replacement of one social system by another, more progressive one, while his opponents idealized the past and asserted the inviolability of the serfdom system.
Belinsky noted the enormous influence of Gogol’s works on the further development of the “natural school” towards the creation of a Russian realistic novel. The historicism of Belinsky’s thinking led him to define the genre of “Dead Souls” as novel, and this was the victory of the advanced, progressive beginning of Russian life and literature of the mid-19th century.
L.N. Tolstoy, drawing attention to the uniqueness of the genre of “Dead Souls,” wrote that this is “not a novel, not a story - something completely original.”
Gogol himself defined the genre of “Dead Souls” as poem emphasizing the equality of the epic (narrative) and lyrical principles.
The presence of a lyrical element in “Dead Souls” was also noted by Belinsky: “We consider the greatest success and step forward on the author’s part to be the fact that in “Dead Souls” his subjectivity is felt everywhere and, so to speak, tangibly. Here we mean... that deep, comprehensive and humane subjectivity. This predominance of subjectivity reaches high lyrical pathos... This pathos of the poet’s subjectivity is manifested not only in... highly lyrical digressions: it manifests itself incessantly, even in the midst of a story about the most prosaic subjects...
Thus, according to Belinsky, subjectivity manifests itself:
In lyrical digressions;
The epic and lyrical parts differ in the goals that the writer sets for himself. Task epic part- show “albeit from one side all of Rus'.” IN lyrical part a positive ideal of the author arises.
This opposition in goals and objectives is reflected in the language of the poem. If in Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” both the narration and the lyrical digressions are written in the colloquial language of an educated secular person and the transition from one to the other is practically imperceptible, then the language of the lyrical digressions in “Dead Souls” corresponds to a sublime task: here a high style of speech is used; means that bring the language of lyrical digressions closer to the poetic.
1. Evaluative vocabulary, often contrasting epithets (high - derogatory): “The modern court does not recognize that tall enthusiastic laughter is worthy of being next to high lyrical movement and that there is a whole gulf between him and the antics of a farcical buffoon!»; «… pale, scattered and unpleasant you... hear something ecstatically wonderful».
2. High imagery:
Metaphors (“How drowsiness creeps seductively... Which the night takes place on high... nothing will not deceive the eye...»);
Metaphorical epithets (“aimed piercing finger daring diva of nature, the sky... so vast, sonorously And It's clear sprawling enormously the bread arsenal looks out");
Hyperbole (“Shouldn’t a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk?”).
3. Poetic syntax:
Rhetorical questions (“And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?”);
Exclamations (“The Russian people express themselves strongly! Eh, horses, horses, what kind of horses!”);
Appeals (“Oh my youth! Oh my freshness!.. Rus', where are you rushing?”);
Anaphora (" What in it, in this sand?.. What prophesies your vast expanse? Is it here?, is it not possible that a boundless thought will be born in you?.. Is it here? shouldn’t be a hero when there is room for him to turn around and walk?”);
Repeats(" Is it his soul?, trying to get dizzy, go for a walk, sometimes say: “damn it all!” - Is it his soul not to love her?? Shouldn't I love her?, when something enthusiastically wonderful is heard in it?”);
Rows homogeneous members(“And again on both sides of the pillar path they entered again to write versts, station guards, wells, carts, gray villages With samovars, women and lively bearded master <...>, pedestrian in worn bast shoes, trudged 800 miles, small towns, built alive, with wooden shops, cloudy barrels, bast shoes, rolls and other small fry, pockmarked barriers, being repaired bridges, fields boundless both on that side and on the other, landowners Rydvany, soldier on horseback<...>, green, yellow and freshly dug black stripes, flashing across the steppes, drawn out in the distance song, pine tops in the fog, disappearing into the distance bell ringing, crows like flies and endless horizon...»);
Gradation - stylistic device, consisting in the consistent intensification or, conversely, weakening of comparisons, epithets (“What calls, and sobs and grabs your heart?; "Which strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word...");
Inversions (“Rus! Rus'! I see you from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you...”).
The language of the epic part of “Dead Souls” is simple and colloquial.
1. The characters’ speech is individualized.
2. Widely introduced:
Colloquial vocabulary;
Vernacular stable turns;
Proverbs and sayings.
Sometimes the author resorts to the technique of re-expanding stable phrases, playing with sayings and proverbs, which achieves comic effect and a more complete description of the characters’ characters: “... others dressed in what God sent to the provincial town».
Chichikov: “ Don't have money, have good people for appeal, said one wise man."
3. It is in the spoken language of the epic part of “Dead Souls” that Gogol significantly expands the scope of Russian literary language, justifying himself to the reader in a lyrical digression about an aptly spoken Russian word and about an inappropriate word that “escaped” from Chichikov’s lips.
The contrast between the epic and lyrical principles is also noticeable in the landscape.
The main motive of the lyrical landscape is space: “ Open-deserted and everything is exactly in you; like dots, like icons, they stick out inconspicuously among the plains your low cities... And the night? heavenly powers! what a night is taking place on high! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in inaccessible depth yours, so immensely, loud and clear, spreading out!”
In the epic landscape there is almost no wildlife, here the motifs of a fence, a border, an intersection appear: “At the bottom of this elevation, and partly along the slope itself, gray log huts darkened along and across... the yard was surrounded by a strong and prohibitively thick wooden lattice.” The epic landscape contains social elements.
"Dead Souls" has been compared to epic, was called the Russian “Odyssey”, “Russian “Iliad”” based on the comprehensive issues raised by Gogol, but Belinsky argues that this is incorrect, since the “Iliad” is a universal work, and “Dead Souls” is deeply national, understandable only to Russian people.
In the draft “Training Book of Literature for Russian Youth” (1845-1846), Gogol talks about “ lesser kinds of epic“and the attributes attributed to this genre allow us to attribute “Dead Souls” to it: “... a hero... may be a private and invisible person, but nevertheless significant in many respects for the observer of the human soul. The author leads his life through a chain of adventures and changes, in order to present at the same time a true picture of everything significant in the traits and morals of the time he took, that earthly, almost statistically captured picture of the shortcomings, abuses, vices, everything that he noticed in the era he took and time."
The small epic, according to Gogol, includes the features of an epic and the features of a novel.
Traits novel in "Dead Souls":
The novel's beginning is associated primarily with the image of Chichikov, although he cannot be called the hero of the novel in the traditional sense of the word. If in the first six chapters it is only a compositionally connecting image and is given among others, described by the author in no less detail, then in the second part of Volume I, elements of a concentric plot appear.
There are hints of a traditional novel love affair (the story with the governor's daughter).
Gossip is also an element of a novel's plot. (“Of the many clever assumptions of its kind, there was finally one - it’s strange to even say: that Chichikov might not be Napoleon in disguise”).
A biography of the hero is also given, although in XI, the final chapter of Volume I, which is atypical for a novel, where the biography was given, as a rule, before the start of the main storyline.
"Dead Souls" can be compared to picaresque novel popular genre European literature XVII-XVIII centuries, which appeared first in Spain, and then in England, France, Germany (Quevedo “The Life Story of a Rogue named Don Pablos”, Lesage “The Lame Demon”, “Gilles Blas”).
The first publishers of “Dead Souls” also pushed the reader to make such a comparison; at the request of the censors, they distributed the title: “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.”
Principles of a picaresque novel:
1. The main character is an anti-hero, a rogue hero, a scoundrel hero.
2. The plot is built on logically unrelated episodes, which are united by the adventures and antics of the hero (often the plot-forming motif is the road).
3. The hero does not change under the influence of external circumstances, he tries either to deceive society or to adapt to it, therefore a picaresque novel makes it possible to show a wide social panorama.
4. As a rule, a picaresque novel has a satirical orientation.
Although all these features are evident in Dead Souls, Gogol’s work is broader in its themes than a picaresque novel.
Plug-in elements Also unique in genre are the short story “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” and the parable about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich.
1.3 Genre originality poem "Dead Souls"
Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, but the famous critic Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky defined their genre as a novel. In the history of Russian literature, this definition of Belinsky was established, and “Dead Souls,” keeping the word “poem” in the subtitle, was recognized as a brilliant novel from Russian life.
In Russian literature in the 30-40s there was a rapid development of the novel and story. Starting from Pushkin’s “Belkin’s Tales” (1830), there has been a continuous appearance of works of this genre. Belinsky wrote about this multitude of novels and stories that flooded literature back in 1835: “Now all our literature has turned into a novel and story. An ode, an epic poem, even a so-called romantic poem, a Pushkin poem that used to flood and drown our literature - all this is now nothing more than a memory of some cheerful, but long-ago time. Roman killed everything, consumed everything. And the story that came with him even erased the traces of all this, and the novel itself stood aside with respect and gave it a path ahead of itself... But that’s not all: in what books are human life, and the rules of morality, the philosophical side, and , in a word, all sciences? In novels and stories."1
Belinsky’s definition of the “Dead Souls” genre, developed in his articles (1835-1847), was based on the experience of studying the evolution of Russian realism in the 30-40s, works of foreign, French, English, American, works of novelists, it was forged in polemics with critics of different directions, especially reactionary and Slavophile, and changed over the course of a number of years when Belinsky wrote about “Dead Souls.” In Gogol literature, in cases where the genre of “Dead Souls” is considered, Belinsky’s views and their evolution in resolving the issue are not taken into account and not analyzed; “Dead Souls” must be recognized as a novel or poem. Meanwhile, it is Belinsky’s doctrine of the novel that has been the fundamental theory of this genre to this day.
In the very first article written after the poem’s publication in 1842, Belinsky, noting the humorous nature of Gogol’s talent, wrote: Most of us understand “comic” and “humour” as buffoonish, as a caricature - and we are sure that many are not joking , with a sly and satisfied smile from their insight, they will say and write that Gogol jokingly called his novel a poem. That's right! After all, Gogol is a great wit and joker, and what a cheerful person, my God! He laughs constantly and makes others laugh! That’s right, you guessed it, smart people...”1 This was the answer to N. Polevoy, who wrote in the Russky Vestnik: “We did not at all think of condemning Gogol for calling “Dead Souls” a poem. Of course, the name is a joke.”2 Further, Belinsky reveals his understanding of the “poem”: “As for us... we will only say that it was not in jest that Gogol called his novel “poem” and that he does not mean a comic poem by it. It was not the author who told us this, but his book... Do not forget that this book is only an exposition, an introduction to the poem, that the author promises two more such large books, in which we will meet Chichikov again and see new faces in which Rus' will be expressed on the other hand..."
Having cited a number of lyrical digressions from the eleventh chapter about the road, fast driving, bird-three, Belinsky ends the article with the words: “It’s sad to think that this high lyrical pathos, these thundering, singing praises of a blissful national self-consciousness, worthy of a great Russian poet, will be far away It is not accessible to everyone that good-natured ignorance will laugh heartily at something that will make the hair on another’s head stand up in sacred awe... And yet it is so, and it cannot be otherwise. For most, a lofty, inspired poem will be considered a “humorous joke...”1
So, in 1842, Belinsky accepted the genre of “Dead Souls” as a poem, based on the high, pathetic lyricism of Gogol, on the author’s promise to show “Russia from the other side” in the second and third parts and bring out new faces, new heroes.
The appearance of K. S. Aksakov’s sensational brochure “A few words about Gogol’s poem “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls”” confronted Belinsky with the problem of the genre as an expression of the content, ideological meaning and artistic method of Gogol’s work.
K. S. Aksakov argued in his brochure that in Gogol’s poem “the ancient epic rises before us”, that in Gogol’s artistic manner he sees “epic contemplation ... ancient, true, the same as in Homer”, which can and should compare Gogol with Homer, that “Dead Souls” is a poem similar to the “Iliad”.
Belinsky sharply objected to the comparison of “Dead Souls” with the “Iliad”: “It was in vain that he (the author of the brochure) did not delve into these deeply significant words of Gogol: “And for a long time it was determined for me by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to survey the whole enormously rushing life, to look at it through laughter visible to the world and invisible tears unknown to him.”2 Belinsky now sees the justification for the genre in the tone of the depiction of Russian life, in humor combined with invisible tears unknown to the world, and in lyricism. Belinsky emphasized the critical pathos of Dead Souls, refuting Aksakov’s thoughts about Gogol’s supposedly contemplative attitude towards the reality he depicts.
In the same review of the brochure, Belinsky expresses and develops one of the main theses of the poetics of realism he creates, namely the thesis about the relationship between the epic and the novel, about the organic development of literature, its content and poetic genres, as an expression of the worldview characteristic of people of a certain historical era. But Belinsky has not yet applied the theory of the novel in this article to “Dead Souls”; in the pathos of lyrical digressions and Gogol’s humorous view of life, he sees a justification for the choice of the genre of the poem.
Aksakov’s anti-historical and reactionary brochure took “Dead Souls” and their creator to the distant past and separated them from the social problems of our time.
These statements provoked a sharp rebuke from Belinsky, who took the position of historicism in explaining social and literary phenomena. A comparison of Gogol's poem with the Iliad showed Aksakov's lack of understanding of the connection between the literary process and the historical development of human society. “In reality,” wrote Belinsky, “the epic developed historically into the novel, and the novel is a modern epic. Gogol’s work is closely connected with Russian life of the 19th century, and not with ancient Greek life, and this is where his “colossal greatness for us Russians” lies.1
In the next book of “Notes of the Fatherland,” Belinsky again wrote about “Dead Souls” and again examined the question of why Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem. The genre of Gogol's work was not yet clear to him. In the interval between Belinsky’s two articles, a review of O. Senkovsky’s “Dead Souls” appeared, where he mocks the word “poem” in the appendix to “Dead Souls.” Belinsky explains these ridicule by saying that Senkovsky “does not understand the meaning of the word “poem.” As can be seen from his hints, the poem must certainly glorify the people in the person of its heroes. Perhaps “Dead Souls” is called a poem in this sense; but it is possible to carry out some kind of judgment on them in this regard when the other two parts of the poem come out.”
These words show Belinsky’s reflection on the reasons for Gogol’s choice of the poem genre for “Dead Souls.” He still does not refuse to call “Dead Souls” a poem, but now in a very special understanding of this definition, almost equal to refusal. He wrote that “for now I am ready to accept the word poem in relation to “Dead Souls” as equivalent to the word “creation.”
The controversy surrounding “Dead Souls” grew, capturing more and more new participants. An article by P.A. appeared in Sovremennik. Pletnev with analysis of the poem, called “smart and efficient” by Belinsky, article by S.P. Shevyreva in “Moskvityanin”, which provoked satirical remarks from Belinsky; K. Aksakov responded to Belinsky in “Explanation,” where he continued to develop his abstract idealistic views on the genre of the poem.
Belinsky gave an answer to Aksakov in the article “Explanation for explanation regarding Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”1, in which he set out clear socio-historical and materialist theses of his understanding of life and the movement of the universal, world literary process from the ancient poems of India and Greece to the middle of the 19th century , before the appearance of the novels of W. Scott, Charles Dickens, Russian novels, primarily “Eugene Onegin”, “A Hero of Our Time”.
Belinsky's historicism, “historical contemplation,” as he put it, gave him the opportunity to show the process of development of the ancient epic into a novel, which is “a representative of the modern epic.” Belinsky proves that “the modern epic did not appear exclusively in one novel: in modern poetry there is a special kind of epic that does not allow the prose of life, which captures only poetic, ideal moments of life and the content of which consists of the deepest worldviews and moral questions of modern humanity. This type of epic alone retained the name of the poem.” Belinsky now doubts the direction of Gogol’s work in the future and wonders how “however, the content of Dead Souls will be revealed in the last two parts.”
It didn’t take long for Belinsky to recognize “Dead Souls” as a poem. In his review of the second edition of Dead Souls (1846), Belinsky, as always, ranks them highly, but definitely calls them not a poem, but a novel. In the quoted words of Belinsky one can see recognition of the depth of a living social idea, the significance of the pathos of “Dead Souls”. But now the recognition of the importance of the main idea makes it possible for Belinsky to definitely call them a novel.
Belinsky finally recognized Gogol’s “Dead Souls” as a social novel, and did not change this recognition in his further statements about “Dead Souls.” In accordance with this historically correct definition of the genre given by Belinsky, it must be admitted that Gogol’s calling “Dead Souls” a poem should be taken only in a conditional meaning, because the author called a poem a work that does not possess the main features of this genre.
At the beginning of 1847, the article “On the historical and literary opinions of Sovremennik” appeared by Yu.F. Samarin1, who continued the line of Aksakov, Shevyrev and other conservatives and Slavophiles in denying the social significance of Gogol’s work. Publicists and critics of the right camp continued to struggle with Belinsky’s understanding of the enormous social significance of “Dead Souls.”
Samarin tried to prove that “Dead Souls” brought reconciliation, that is, they affirmed the socio-political foundations of the feudal state, and thereby muffled the political struggle of the progressive strata of society, disoriented the reader in his desire to “realize himself” and his role, his activities as a citizen and patriot. The starting point of the views of Belinsky and his opponents were contrasting concepts of the Russian historical process. Belinsky recognized the inevitability of the replacement of one social system by another, more progressive one, while his opponents idealized the past and asserted the inviolability of the serfdom system.
Belinsky noted the enormous influence of Gogol’s works on the further development of the “natural school” towards the creation of a Russian realistic novel. The historicism of Belinsky’s thinking led him to define the genre of “Dead Souls” as a novel, and this was the victory of the advanced, progressive beginnings of Russian life and literature of the mid-19th century.
2 Conclusions on the genre uniqueness of the poem “Dead Souls”
In literature, there are non-traditional and mixed genres, which include those works that, in form and content, do not fit into the framework of the traditional interpretation of a particular type or genre of literature. In other words, according to different characteristics they can be classified as different types of literature.
A similar work is Gogol’s prose poem “Dead Souls”. On the one hand, the work is written in prose speech and has all the necessary components - the presence of a main character, a plot led by the main character, and the spatio-temporal organization of the text. Moreover, like any prose work, “Dead Souls” is divided into chapters and contains multiple descriptions of other characters. In other words, Gogol’s text fully meets the requirements epic kind, except for one thing. Gogol did not just call his text a poem.
The plot of “Dead Souls” is structured in such a way that we first observe the collegiate adviser Chichikov communicating with people of different classes, but most of all with officials provincial town NN and landowners, owners of estates closest to the city. And only when the reader has looked closely at the hero and other characters and realized the meaning of what is happening, he becomes acquainted with the hero’s biography.
If the plot boiled down to the story of Chichikov, “Dead Souls” could be called a novel. But the author not only draws people and their relationships - he himself intrudes into the narrative: he dreams, grieves, jokes, addresses the reader, remembers his youth, talks about the hard work of writing... All this creates a special tone of the story.
Conclusion
"Dead Souls" - a brilliant literary work XIX century.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol wanted to show in it “all of Rus' from one side.”
The meaning of the title of the poem is connected with the plot of the work: the swindler Chichikov buys the “souls” of dead peasants for profit. Another meaning of the title of the poem: “dead souls” are landowners leading a monotonous, boring lifestyle and only seeking to get rich.
N.V. Gogol did not immediately define the genre of Dead Souls. In letters to Pogodin, Pushkin, and Pletnev, he several times calls “Dead Souls” a novel. At the same time, another word slips in - “poem”.
In his sketches for the “Training Book of Literature for Russian Youth,” Gogol defines the genre of “Dead Souls” as a “small epic.”
Whether Dead Souls was a poem or a novel was a major issue in the class and literary struggles of the 1840s.
The biggest contribution to this was made by the critic V.G. Belinsky, who, thanks to his research, defined the genre of this work as a novel.
Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem, not a novel, since the plot of the work comes down not only to the story of Chichikov. Chichikov communicates with people of different classes. The author not only leads the narrative, but also intrudes into it - he argues, jokes, and addresses the reader.
“Dead Souls,” together with Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” and Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time,” laid the foundation for the development of a new line of novels in great Russian literature.
Bibliography
1. Belinsky V.G. "Favorites". – M., 1954
2. Gogol N.V. “Dead Souls”: Text Analysis. Main content.
Essays." – “Bustard”, M., 2003
3. Gogol N.V. "Dead Souls". Preparation for literature lessons:
work, analysis, essays.” – “Dragonfly Press”, 2004
4. Smirnova-Chikina E.S. “Poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls".
Literary commentary." - “Enlightenment”, M., 1964.
5. “Handbook for a new type of student,” Publishing House “Ves” - St. Petersburg, 2003.
N.V. Gogol. Complete collection works in fourteen volumes, vol. VIII, ed. USSR Academy of Sciences, p. 294
1 - E.S. Smirnova-Chikina. Poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" - literary commentary. M. "Enlightenment", 1964, p.21
2 - A.I. Herzen, vol. II, p. 220
3 - The letter is stored in the Department of Manuscripts of the Library named after. V.I. Lenin in Moscow.
1 - Statement by V.K. Trediakovsky
1 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. X, pp. 315 – 316.
1 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. I, p. 267
1 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 220
2 - E.S. Smirnova-Chikina. Poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" - literary commentary. M. "Enlightenment", 1964, p. 29
1 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 222
2 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 255
1 - V.G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 254
1 - V. G. Belinsky, vol. VI, p. 410
1 - E.S. Smirnova-Chikina. N.V. Gogol's poem “Dead Souls” - literary commentary. M. "Enlightenment", 1964, p. 35
All writers) - in the narrative nature of epic works. An epic work always tells about human destinies, about what has already happened, has already happened. To study epic works There are introductory classes, the purpose of which is to arouse children's interest in the material being studied and create conditions conducive to understanding it. That's it...
By Gogol himself, the word poem is highlighted in especially large letters.” (V.V. Gippius, “From Pushkin to Blok”, publishing house “Nauka”, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966). There was innovative courage in the fact that Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem. Calling his work a poem, Gogol was guided by his following judgment: “a novel does not take the whole life, but a significant incident in life.” In another way Gogol...
Travesting a chivalric romance into a picaresque romance sometimes leads to the fact that the folklore elements. Their influence on the formation of the genre originality of “Dead Souls” is quite great, and the work of Gogol, who was a Ukrainophile, was directly influenced by Ukrainian motifs, especially since travesties turned out to be the most widespread in...
Politics, science, technology, culture, art. New era historical and cultural development was characterized by rapid dynamics and acute drama. Transition from classical literature to the new literary direction was accompanied by far from peaceful processes in general cultural and literary life, an unexpectedly rapid change in aesthetic guidelines, a radical renewal of literary...
56. Genre originality of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". Features of the plot and composition.
Answer: “Dead Souls” is the poem of all Russian life and all of Gogol’s work. In 1835, Gogol read the first chapters to Pushkin, and in 1842 he published the first volume. Gogol burned the second volume. Fragments of individual chapters have reached us. “Dead Souls” is a poem of Gogol’s life.
M.D. determine the development of literature itself. Subsequent Russian prose refers to the text by M.D. Gogol's text was created at the turn of two socio-economic periods: the era of the nobility was ending and the era of commoners was beginning. A new hero is born: a man who makes money at any cost. In M.D. reflected global problems of human existence. The last romantic heroes can be traced here. The typology of social consciousness can be traced in Gogol's text.
Poem is a polysemantic definition. Gogol violates the lyroepic traditions of the poem, in which there is no poetic language. It was important for the author to emphasize the synthesis of epic and lyrical forms of expression. Gogol pushes the boundaries of prose and its possibilities. His epic takes on the energy of lyricism. Gogol relied on the traditions of the world epic poem (“The Divine Comedy” by Dante corresponds to the structure of Gogol’s plan to lead Russian people through hell, purgatory and heaven; “The Undivine Comedy” by Krasinski - parodia sacra). Writing climaxes M.D. was associated with Zhukovsky and his translation of the Odyssey. The idea of the cunning Odysseus, who has found his fatherland, gives Gogol associations with Chichikov. In 1847 Gogol wrote an article about
"Odyssey". In the last chapters of M.D. a reflection of the Homeric style is visible (complex epithets). Gogol is looking for a figure in the Russian world who will give Russia the meaning of development.
The double title was published for censorship reasons. The titles of “The Adventures of Chichikov” return to the tradition of the picaresque novel. The play of yellow and black on the cover is a play of light and darkness. Yellow is the color of madness. Starting with the cover, Gogol wanted his concept of the epic to reach the reader.
The poem grew out of an anecdote. The anecdotal situation gradually becomes symbolic. The most important motifs - road, troika, soul - express the Russian character. All of Chichikov’s thoughts correlate with Gogol’s way of thinking. Gogol defends his hero, calling him “the hero of our time.”
Gogol continues the traditions of Russian heroics. Chichikov is a hero capable of development. M.D. - his “Odyssey”, the movement of a wanderer in search of his homeland. The road is the path of Russian life. Gogol's hero constantly gets lost, losing his way.
In M.D. initially 33 chapters, returning to the sacred age of Christ. 11 chapters left.
Composition by M.D.:
1. Chapter I – exposition; 2. Chapter II – VI – landowner chapters; 3. Chapter VII – X – city heads; 4. Chapter XI – conclusion.
Gogol chooses the plot of a travelogue. The road plot gave a glimpse of the world. The poem begins with a road episode. The wheel is a symbol of Chichikov’s movement. Roads expand Russian space and the author's consciousness. The chaos of repetition is a symbol of unpredictable Russian life. The image of the heap as Russian dirt is symbolic. Symbolic images constantly create a feeling of the Russian world. The theme of Russian heroes and the Patriotic War is created, running through the plot.
By the end of 1835, the dominant features of Gogol’s plan emerged: the motive of traveling around Russia, many different characters, a depiction “albeit from one side” of all of Rus', the genre of the novel. It is obvious that the image of Russia as a national substance, as “our everything,” is at the center of Gogol’s artistic reflection. But since there were quite long breaks between audits, many of the “audit souls” for whom taxes were supposed to be paid were often already dead, and the landowners naturally wanted to get rid of them. The essence of Chichikov’s adventure is based on this absurdity, who managed to turn the dead, “waning” revision souls into revived, living ones. The game itself with the concepts of living and dead souls acquired an anecdotal, but very real meaning. But it was no less important that in the vocabulary of Gogol’s poem, real-life landowners and representatives of the bureaucratic apparatus turned into dead souls. Gogol saw in them a lack of vitality, a deadening of the soul. Essentially, with the whole meaning of his poem, he revealed the idea of preserving a living soul during life. His philosophy of the soul was based on eternal values. The writer considers passive submission to the force of external circumstances and, above all, to the inhumane morality of Gogol’s contemporary society as the spiritual death of the individual, or the death of the soul.” In a word, the title of the poem is polysemantic and contains various artistic meanings, but the anthropological aspect, which helps to broadly reveal national problems, the “Russian spirit,” can be considered decisive. In this sense, the genre definition of POEM, which Gogol’s work received already at the first edition and which he so vividly graphically and with symbolic overtones (peculiar caryatids of heroes supporting the genre subtitle) recreated in his cover drawing, seems logical and significant in Gogol’s artistic system. It was the poem as a lyric-epic genre that made it possible to organically combine the epic potentials of the creative plan “All Rus' will appear in it!” with the author’s word, his reflection on the national substance, on the paths of development of Russia, what later came to be called “lyrical digressions.” The very tradition of the genre of the poem as a national epic (remember the numerous “Petriads”, “Rossiada” by Kheraskov), as heroes could not be alien to Gogol’s installation. Finally, the great examples of the genre, primarily Homer’s “Odyssey” and Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” could not help but stand before his mind’s eye and excite his artistic imagination. The very idea of a three-volume work with a recreation of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise of national existence gave rise to natural associations with Dante. Gogol introduced his genre phenomenon into Russian verbal culture - a poem in prose. With this definition, Gogol expanded the very possibilities of prose, giving it a special music of words and thereby creating an epic image of Russia - “a dazzling vision”, “the blue distance”. Even at the beginning of work on the work, Gogol realized the unusualness of his plan, which did not fit into the usual genre canons. The genre subtitle concentrates the creative strategies of the author of “Dead Souls”: synthetism of thinking, an organic combination of the epic and lyrical principles, expanding the boundaries and possibilities of prose, an orientation toward recreating national, substantial problems of existence. The image of Russia fills the entire space of the poem and manifests itself at the most diverse levels of its author’s artistic thinking. E.A. Smirnova, developing these thoughts, comes to the conclusion that “Dead Souls” owe many important features of its poetic structure to three ancient genres. The first of them is a folk song, the second is a proverb, and the third Gogol calls “the word of Russian church shepherds..."
The artistic structure of the poem contributes to the realization of the central image as the integrity of the changing, transitory aspects of things and phenomena, as a national substance. The composition of the poem is subject to the aim of identifying nature this substance. The 11 chapters create a ring that recreates the idea of “getting back to square one.” The first chapter is the entry of Chichikov’s chaise into the provincial town of NN. Chapters 3-6 - visiting the estates of the landowners Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, Plyushkin. Chapters 7-10 - Chichikov’s return to the city. Chapter 11 - the hero’s departure from the city N. By a strange coincidence, the nomination of the city changes: instead of NN there is simply N, but we are talking about one city. It is impossible to determine the time of Chichikov’s journey: all weather realities have been washed away. This is truly wandering in eternity. “Dead Souls” can be called, without exaggeration, a road poem. The road is the main anchor of the plot and philosophy. Road plot - a look at the world. Chichikov's travels and adventures are the compositional core that brings together the entire Russian world. Different types roads: dead ends, country roads, “spreading like crayfish,” “without end and edge,” directed into space - give rise to a feeling of endless space and movement. And Gogol’s hymn to the road: “How strange and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! and how wonderful it is, this 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!..” (VI, 221-222) - contributes to the formation in the reader’s consciousness of the image of a road-path. The path of an individual person and the path of the entire nation, Russia are matched in Gogol’s consciousness two plots: real, but mirage, and symbolic, but vital. The mire of little things, everyday, everyday life gives rise to the static of dead life, but symbolic leitmotifs - roads, troikas, souls - explode the static and reveal the dynamics of the flight of the author's thought. These leitmotifs become symbols of Russian life. On a troika along the roads of life in search of a living soul and the answer to the question “Rus, where are you rushing?” - this is the vector of movement of the author’s consciousness. The double plot reveals the complexity of the relationship between the author and the hero. The plot of the image and the plot of the story are plots different levels and volume, these are two pictures of the world. If the first plot relates to Chichikov’s adventures and his deals with landowners, then the second plot relates to the author’s view of the world, his reflection on what is happening. The author is invisibly present in the chaise, next to Chichikov, Petrushka and Selifan. “...But as for the author,” Gogol notes at the end of the first volume, “he should under no circumstances quarrel with his hero: the two of them will have to go through quite a lot of road and road together, hand in hand; two large parts in front are not a trifle” (VI, 245-246). There is no place for fantasy in the artistic space of the poem, but the author's imagination is limitless. She easily turns a scam into dead souls- into a real story, a chaise - into a bird troika, comparing it with Russia: “Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika, rushing?” (VI, 247); it promotes the “circulation of lyricism” in order to recreate not a gallery of satirical portraits, but to give a spiritual portrait of the nation. And this portrait has many faces: in it there is only one step from the great to the ridiculous. Each of the subsequent heroes has its own unique face. The traditions of Russian lubok, Tenier and Rembrandt painting are manifested in the depiction of faces, interiors, and landscapes. But behind all the differences in types, the commonality of their philosophy and behavior is revealed. Gogol's landowners are inert; they don't have vital energy and development. Gogol's laughter in Dead Souls is more restrained than in The Government Inspector. The genre of the poem itself, in contrast to comedy, dissolves it in epic pictures and lyrical author’s reflection. But it is an integral and organic part of the author’s position. Laughter in “Dead Souls” develops into satire. It acquires a world-building meaning, since it is aimed at the very foundations of Russian statehood, its main institutions. Landowners, the bureaucratic apparatus, and finally, state power itself are subject to sober analysis.