“Superfluous people” in literature are images characteristic of Russian prose of the mid-nineteenth century. Examples of such characters in works of art- topic of the article.

Who coined this term?

“Extra people” in literature are characters that appeared at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is unknown who exactly introduced this term. Perhaps Herzen. According to some information - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. After all, the great Russian poet once said that his Onegin was “an extra man.” One way or another, this image was firmly established in the works of other writers.

Every schoolchild, even if he has not read Goncharov’s novel, knows about someone like Oblomov. This character is a representative of the outdated landowner world, and therefore cannot adapt to the new one.

General signs

“Superfluous people” are found in the works of such classics as I. S. Turgenev, M. Yu. Lermontov. Before considering each of the characters that can be classified in this category, it is worth highlighting common features. “Extra people” in literature are contradictory heroes who are in conflict with the society to which they belong. As a rule, they are deprived of both fame and wealth.

Examples

“Extra people” in literature are characters introduced by the author into an environment alien to them. They are moderately educated, but their knowledge is unsystematic. The “superfluous man” cannot be a deep thinker or scientist, but he has the “ability of judgment”, the gift of eloquence. And the main sign of this literary character- disdainful attitude towards others. As an example, we can recall Pushkin’s Onegin, who avoids communication with his neighbors.

“Superfluous people” in Russian literature of the 19th century were heroes who were able to see vices modern society, but do not know how to resist them. They are aware of the problems of the world around them. But, alas, they are too passive to change anything.

Causes

The characters discussed in this article began to appear on the pages of the works of Russian writers in the Nicholas era. In 1825 there was a Decembrist uprising. For the next decades, the government was in fear, but it was at this time that the spirit of freedom and the desire for change appeared in society. The policy of Nicholas I was quite contradictory.

The tsar introduced reforms designed to make life easier for the peasants, but at the same time did everything to strengthen the autocracy. Various circles began to appear, whose participants discussed and criticized the current government. Landowner image life for many educated people caused contempt. But the trouble is that the participants in various political associations belonged to the society towards which they suddenly became inflamed with hatred.

The reasons for the appearance of “extra people” in Russian literature lie in the emergence in society of a new type of person who was not accepted by society and did not accept it. Such a person stands out from the crowd, and therefore causes bewilderment and irritation.

As already mentioned, the concept of “superfluous person” was first introduced into literature by Pushkin. However, this term is somewhat vague. Characters in conflict with the social environment have been encountered in literature before. The main character of Griboyedov's comedy has the traits inherent in this type of character. Can we say that Chatsky is an example of “ extra person"? To answer this question, you should do brief analysis comedies.

Chatsky

Griboyedov's hero rejects the inert foundations of Famus society. He denounces veneration for rank and blind imitation. This does not go unnoticed by representatives of Famus society - the Khlestovs, the Khryumins, the Zagoretskys. As a result, Chatsky is considered strange, if not crazy.

Griboyedov's hero is a representative of an advanced society, which includes people who do not want to put up with reactionary orders and remnants of the past. Thus, we can say that the theme of the “superfluous person” was first raised by the author of “Woe from Wit.”

Eugene Onegin

But most literary scholars believe that this particular hero is the first “extra person” in the prose and poetry of Russian authors. Onegin is a nobleman, “heir to all his relatives.” He received a very passable education, but does not have any deep knowledge. Writing and speaking French, behaving at ease in society, reciting a few quotes from the works of ancient authors - this is enough to create a favorable impression in the world.

Onegin is a typical representative of aristocratic society. He is not able to “work hard”, but he knows how to shine in society. He leads an aimless, idle existence, but this is not his fault. Evgeniy became like his father, who gave three balls every year. He lives the way most representatives of the Russian nobility exist. However, unlike them, at a certain moment he begins to feel tired and disappointed.

Loneliness

Onegin is an “extra person.” He is languishing from idleness, trying to occupy himself with useful work. In the society to which he belongs, idleness is the main component of life. Hardly anyone from Onegin’s circle is familiar with his experiences.

Evgeniy tries to compose at first. But he is not a writer. Then he begins to read enthusiastically. However, Onegin does not find moral satisfaction in books either. Then he retires to the house of his deceased uncle, who bequeathed his village to him. Here the young nobleman seemingly finds something to do. He makes life easier for the peasants: he replaces the yoke with a light quitrent. However, these good initiatives also lead to nothing.

The type of “superfluous person” appeared in Russian literature in the first third of the nineteenth century. But by the middle of the century this character acquired new features. Pushkin's Onegin is rather passive. He treats others with contempt, is depressed and cannot get rid of conventions and prejudices, which he himself criticizes. Let's look at other examples of the “extra person” in literature.

Pechorin

Lermontov’s work “Hero of Our Time” is dedicated to the problems of a rejected person, spiritually not accepted by society. Pechorin, like Pushkin’s character, belongs to high society. But he is tired of the mores of aristocratic society. Pechorin does not enjoy attending balls, dinners, or festive evenings. He is depressed by the tedious and meaningless conversations that are customary to have at such events.

Using the examples of Onegin and Pechorin, we can complement the concept of “superfluous person” in Russian literature. This is a character who, due to some alienation from society, acquires such traits as isolation, selfishness, cynicism and even cruelty.

"Notes of an Extra Man"

And yet, most likely, the author of the concept of “extra people” is I. S. Turgenev. Many literary scholars believe that it was he who introduced this term. According to their opinion, Onegin and Pechorin were subsequently classified as “superfluous people,” although they have little in common with the image created by Turgenev. The writer has a story called “Notes of an Extra Man.” The hero of this work feels alien in society. This character calls himself such.

Whether the hero of the novel “Fathers and Sons” is a “superfluous person” is a controversial issue.

Bazarov

Fathers and Sons depicts society in the mid-nineteenth century. Violent political disputes had reached their climax by this time. In these disputes, on one side stood the liberal democrats, and on the other, the revolutionary commoner democrats. Both of them understood that changes were needed. Revolutionary-minded democrats, unlike their opponents, were committed to rather radical measures.

Political disputes have penetrated into all spheres of life. And, of course, they became the theme of artistic and journalistic works. But there was another phenomenon at that time that interested the writer Turgenev. Namely, nihilism. Adherents of this movement rejected everything related to the spiritual.

Bazarov, like Onegin, is a deeply lonely person. This trait is also characteristic of all characters whom literary scholars classify as “superfluous people.” But, unlike Pushkin’s hero, Bazarov does not spend his time in idleness: he is engaged in the natural sciences.

The hero of the novel “Fathers and Sons” has successors. He is not considered crazy. On the contrary, some heroes try to adopt Bazarov’s oddities and skepticism. Nevertheless, Bazarov is lonely, despite the fact that his parents love and idolize him. He dies, and only at the end of his life does he realize that his ideas were false. There are simple joys in life. There is love and romantic feelings. And all this has a right to exist.

Rudin

It’s not uncommon to encounter “extra people.” The action of the novel "Rudin" takes place in the forties. Daria Lasunskaya, one of the heroines of the novel, lives in Moscow, but in the summer she travels out of town, where she organizes musical evenings. Her guests are exclusively educated people.

One day, a certain Rudin appears at Lasunskaya’s house. This person is prone to polemics, extremely passionate, and captivates listeners with his wit. The guests and the hostess of the house are enchanted by Rudin’s amazing eloquence. Lasunskaya invites him to live in her house.

In order to give a clear description of Rudin, Turgenev talks about facts from his life. This man was born into a poor family, but never had the desire to earn money or get out of poverty. At first he lived on the pennies his mother sent him. Then he lived at the expense of rich friends. Even in his youth, Rudin was distinguished by his extraordinary oratory skills. He was a fairly educated man, because he spent all his leisure time reading books. But the trouble is that nothing followed his words. By the time he met Lasunskaya, he had already become a man fairly battered by life’s hardships. In addition, he became painfully proud and even vain.

Rudin is an “extra person.” Many years of immersion in the philosophical sphere led to the fact that ordinary emotional experiences seemed to have died out. This Turgenev hero is a born orator, and the only thing he strived for was to conquer people. But he was too weak and spineless to become a political leader.

Oblomov

So, the “extra person” in Russian prose is a disillusioned nobleman. The hero of the novel Goncharov is sometimes classified as this type literary heroes. But can Oblomov be called a “superfluous person”? After all, he misses, yearns for his father’s house and everything that made up the landowner’s life. And he is in no way disappointed in the way of life and traditions characteristic of representatives of his society.

Who is Oblomov? This is a descendant of a landowner family who is bored with working in an office, and therefore does not leave his sofa for days. This is a generally accepted opinion, but it is not entirely correct. Oblomov could not get used to life in St. Petersburg, because the people around him were entirely calculating, heartless individuals. The main character of the novel, unlike them, is smart, educated and, most importantly, has high spiritual qualities. But why doesn’t he want to work then?

The fact is that Oblomov, like Onegin and Rudin, does not see the point in such work, such life. These people cannot work only for material well-being. Each of them requires a high spiritual goal. But it doesn’t exist or it turned out to be insolvent. And Onegin, and Rudin, and Oblomov become “superfluous”.

Goncharov contrasted Stolz, his childhood friend, with the main character of his novel. This character initially creates a positive impression on the reader. Stolz is hardworking, goal-oriented person. The writer endowed this hero German origin not by chance. Goncharov seems to be hinting that only Russian people can suffer from Oblomovism. And in the last chapters it becomes clear that there is nothing behind Stolz’s hard work. This person has neither dreams nor high ideas. He acquires sufficient means of subsistence and stops, not continuing his development.

The influence of the “extra person” on others

It is also worth saying a few words about the heroes who surround the “extra person”. mentioned in this article are lonely and unhappy. Some of them end their lives too early. In addition, “extra people” cause grief to others. Especially women who had the imprudence to love them.

Pierre Bezukhov is sometimes counted among the “superfluous people.” In the first part of the novel, he is in continuous melancholy, searching for something. He spends a lot of time at parties, buys paintings, and reads a lot. Unlike the above-mentioned heroes, Bezukhov finds himself; he does not die either physically or morally.

Introduction

Fiction cannot develop without looking back at the path traveled, without measuring its creative achievements today with the milestones of previous years. Poets and writers at all times have been interested in people who can be called strangers to everyone - “superfluous people.” There is something fascinating and attractive about a person who is able to oppose himself to society. Of course, the images of such people have undergone significant changes in Russian literature over time. At first these were romantic heroes, passionate, rebellious natures. They could not stand dependence, not always understanding that their lack of freedom was in themselves, in their soul.

“Deep changes in the socio-political and spiritual life of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, associated with two significant events - Patriotic War 1812 and the Decembrist movement - determined the main dominants of Russian culture of this period." Development of realism in Russian literature: In 3 volumes - M., 1974. - T. 1. P. 18.. Realistic works are born, in which writers explore the problem of relationships between the individual and society at a higher level. Now they are no longer interested in the individual striving to be free from society. The subject of research by word artists is “the influence of society on personality, self-worth human personality, her right to freedom, happiness, development and manifestation of her abilities" Literary dictionary. - M., 1987. - P. 90. .

This is how one of the themes of classical Russian literature arose and developed - the theme of the “superfluous man”.

The purpose of this work is to study the image of the superfluous person in Russian literature.

To implement this topic, we will solve the following work tasks:

1) we study the issues of the origin and development of the theme of the “superfluous man” in Russian literature;

2) let us analyze in detail the image of the “superfluous person” using the example of the work of M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time".

The origin and development of the theme of the “superfluous man” in Russian literature

the odd man out Russian literature

In the middle of the 18th century, the dominant trend throughout artistic culture became classicism. The first national tragedies and comedies appear (A. Sumarokov, D. Fonvizin). The brightest poetic works created by G. Derzhavin.

At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries decisive influence influenced the development of literature, in particular, the emergence of the theme of the “superfluous man” historical events era. In 1801, Tsar Alexander I came to power in Russia. The beginning of the 19th century was felt by everyone as a new period in the history of the country. Later, Pushkin wrote in verse: “The days of Alexandrov are a wonderful beginning” Pushkin A.S. Collection op. V. 10 vol. - M., 1977. - T. 5, P. 212.. Indeed, it encouraged many and many and seemed wonderful. A number of restrictions in the field of book publishing were lifted, a liberal censorship Charter was adopted and censorship was relaxed. New educational institutions were opened: gymnasiums, universities, a number of lyceums, in particular the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum (1811), which played a big role in the history of Russian culture and statehood: it was from its walls that the most great poet Russia - Pushkin and its most outstanding statesman figure XIX century - the future chancellor Prince A. Gorchakov. A new, more rational system of government institutions, ministries, and in particular the Ministry of Public Education, adopted in Europe, was established. Dozens of new magazines have appeared. The journal “Bulletin of Europe” (1802-1830) is especially characteristic. It was created and initially published by the remarkable figure of Russian culture N.M. Karamzin. The magazine was conceived as a conductor of new ideas and phenomena of European life. Karamzin followed them in his writing, establishing such a direction as sentimentalism (the story “ Poor Lisa"), with his idea of ​​equality of people, however, only in the sphere of feelings: "even peasant women know how to love." At the same time, it was Karamzin who, already in 1803, began work on the “History of the Russian State,” which clarified the special role of Russia as a historically developed organism. It is no coincidence that the enthusiasm with which the volumes of this history were received upon their publication. The discoveries helped greatly in understanding this role of Russia early XIX century in the history of Russian culture (the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was found and published in 1800) and Russian folk art (“Songs of Kirsha Danilov” was published - 1804).

At the same time, serfdom remained unshakable, albeit with some concessions: for example, it was forbidden to sell peasants without land. The autocracy with all its strengths and weaknesses has been fully preserved. The centralization of the multi-component country was ensured, but the bureaucracy grew and arbitrariness remained at all levels.

The War of 1812, called the Patriotic War, played a huge role in the life of Russia and in its understanding of its place in the world. “The year 1812 was a great era in the life of Russia” Quote. from: Development of realism in Russian literature: In 3 volumes - T. 2. P. 90. - wrote the great critic and thinker V.G. Belinsky. And the point is not only in external victories, which ended with the entry of Russian troops into Paris, but precisely in the internal awareness of itself as Russia, which found expression, first of all, in literature.

The most remarkable phenomenon in Russian literature of the early nineteenth century was educational realism, which reflected the ideas and views of the Enlightenment with the greatest completeness and consistency. The embodiment of the ideas of the rebirth of man meant the most close attention To inner world of a person, creating a portrait based on insightful knowledge of the psychology of the individual, the dialectics of the soul, the complex, sometimes elusive life of his inner self. After all, a person in fiction always thought of in the unity of personal and public life. Sooner or later, every person, at least at certain moments in life, begins to think about the meaning of his existence and spiritual development. Russian writers clearly showed that human spirituality is not something external; it cannot be acquired through education or imitation of even the best examples.

Here is the hero of the comedy A.S. Griboedova (1795-1829) “Woe from Wit” Chatsky. His image reflected typical features Decembrist: Chatsky is ardent, dreamy, freedom-loving. But his views are far from real life. Griboedov, the creator of the first realistic play, found it quite difficult to cope with his task. Indeed, unlike his predecessors (Fonvizin, Sumarokov), who wrote plays according to the laws of classicism, where good and evil were clearly separated from each other, Griboyedov made each hero an individual, a living person who tends to make mistakes. The main character of the comedy, Chatsky, turns out, with all his intelligence and positive qualities, a person superfluous to society. After all, a person is not alone in the world, he lives in society and constantly comes into contact with other people. Everything that Chatsky believed in - in his mind and advanced ideas - not only did not help win the heart of his beloved girl, but, on the contrary, pushed her away from him forever. In addition, it is precisely because of his freedom-loving opinions that Famus society rejects him and declares him crazy See: Griboyedov A.S. Woe from the mind. - M., 1978. .

Immortal image Onegin, created by A.S. Pushkin (1799-1837) in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is the next step in the development of the image of the “superfluous man”.

“Russia’s heart will not forget you, like its first love!..” Quote. by: Skaftymov A.P. Moral quest Russian writers. - M., 1972. - P. 12. A lot has been said in more than one and a half years more than a century wonderful words about Pushkin the man and Pushkin the poet. But perhaps no one said it so poetically sincerely and so psychologically accurately as Tyutchev did in these lines. And at the same time, what is expressed in them in the language of poetry is completely consistent with the truth, confirmed by time, by the strict court of history.

The first Russian national poet, the founder of all subsequent Russian literature, the beginning of all its beginnings - such is the recognized place and significance of Pushkin in the development of the Russian art of speech. But to this we should add one more and very significant one. Pushkin was able to achieve all this because for the first time - at the highest aesthetic level he achieved - he raised his creations to the level of “enlightenment of the century” - European spiritual life XIX century and thereby rightfully introduced Russian literature as another and most significant nationally distinctive literature into the family of the most developed literatures of the world by that time.

Throughout almost the entire 1820s, Pushkin worked on his greatest work, the novel Eugene Onegin. This is the first realistic novel in the history of not only Russian, but also world literature. "Eugene Onegin" - peak Pushkin's creativity. Here, as in none of Pushkin’s works, Russian life is reflected in its movement and development, the change of generations and at the same time the change and struggle of ideas. Dostoevsky noted that in the image of Onegin, Pushkin created “the type of Russian wanderer, a wanderer to this day and in our days, the first to guess him with his brilliant instinct, with his historical destiny and with his enormous significance in our group destiny...” Quote. by: Berkovsky I.Ya. On the global significance of Russian literature. - L., 1975. - P. 99..

In the image of Onegin, Pushkin showed the duality of the worldview of a typical noble intellectual of the 19th century. A person of high intellectual culture, hostile to vulgarity and emptiness environment, Onegin at the same time bears the characteristic features of this environment.

At the end of the novel, the hero comes to a terrifying conclusion: all his life he was “a stranger to everyone...” Pushkin A.S. Collection op. V. 10 vol. - T. 8. P. 156.. What is the reason for this? The answer is the novel itself. From its first pages, Pushkin analyzes the process of formation of Onegin’s personality. The hero receives a typical upbringing for his time under the guidance of a foreign tutor; he is separated from the national environment; it is not for nothing that he even knows Russian nature from walks in the Summer Garden. Onegin perfectly studied the “science of tender passion” Ibid. - P. 22., but it gradually replaces in him the ability to feel deeply. Describing Onegin’s life in St. Petersburg, Pushkin uses the words “dissemble”, “appear”, “appear” Ibid. - P. 30, 45.. Yes, indeed, Evgeniy very early understood the difference between the ability to appear and to be in reality. If Pushkin’s hero were an empty man, perhaps he would have been satisfied with spending his life in theaters, clubs and balls, but Onegin is a thinking man, he quickly ceases to be satisfied with secular victories and “everyday pleasures” Ibid. - P. 37.. The “Russian blues” takes possession of him. Ibid. - P. 56.. Onegin is not accustomed to work, “languishing with spiritual emptiness” Ibid. - P. 99., he tries to find entertainment in reading, but does not find in books anything that could reveal to him the meaning of life. By the will of fate, Onegin ends up in the village, but these changes also do not change anything in his life.

“Whoever lived and thought cannot help but despise people in his soul” Ibid. - P. 138. - Pushkin leads us to such a bitter conclusion. Of course, the trouble is not that Onegin thinks, but that he lives in a time when a thinking person is inevitably doomed to loneliness and turns out to be a “superfluous person.” He is not interested in what mediocre people live with, but he cannot find use for his powers, and he does not always know why. As a result - complete loneliness hero. But Onegin is lonely not only because he was disappointed in the world, but also because he gradually lost the ability to see the true meaning in friendship, love, and the closeness of human souls.

A superfluous person in society, “a stranger to everyone,” Onegin is burdened by his existence. For him, proud in his indifference, there was nothing to do; he “didn’t know how to do anything” Ibid. - P. 25.. The absence of any goal or work that makes life meaningful is one of the reasons for Onegin’s inner emptiness and melancholy, so brilliantly revealed in his reflections on his fate in excerpts from “The Journey”:

“Why wasn’t I wounded by a bullet in the chest?

Why am I not a frail old man?

How is this poor tax farmer?

Why, as the Tula assessor,

Am I not lying in paralysis?

Why can’t I feel it in my shoulder?

Even rheumatism? - ah, Creator!

I am young, the life in me is strong;

What should I expect? melancholy, melancholy! Right there. - P. 201..

Onegin's skeptical and cold worldview, deprived of an active life-affirming principle, could not indicate a way out of the world of lies, hypocrisy, and emptiness in which the heroes of the novel live.

Onegin's tragedy is the tragedy of a lonely man, but not romantic hero, running away from people, but a person who is cramped in the world of false passions, monotonous entertainment and empty pastime. And therefore, Pushkin’s novel becomes a condemnation not of the “superfluous man” Onegin, but of the society that forced the hero to live exactly such a life.

Onegin and Pechorin (the image of Pechorin’s “superfluous man” will be discussed in more detail below) are the heroes in whose image the features of the “superfluous man” were embodied most clearly. However, even after Pushkin and Lermontov, this topic continued to develop. Onegin and Pechorin begin a long series of social types and characters generated by Russian historical reality. These are Beltov, and Rudin, and Agarin, and Oblomov.

In the novel “Oblomov” I.A. Goncharov (1812-1891) presented two types of life: life in motion and life in a state of rest, sleep. It seems to me that the first type of life is typical for people with strong character, energetic and purposeful. And the second type is for calm, lazy natures, helpless in the face of life’s difficulties. Of course, the author, in order to more accurately depict these two types of life, slightly exaggerates the character traits and behavior of the heroes, but the main directions of life are indicated correctly. I believe that both Oblomov and Stolz live in every person, but one of these two types of characters still prevails over the other.

According to Goncharov, the life of any person depends on his upbringing and on his heredity. Oblomov was brought up in a noble family with patriarchal traditions. His parents, like his grandfathers, lived a lazy, carefree and carefree life. They did not need to earn their living, they did not do anything: the serfs worked for them. With such a life, a person plunges into a deep sleep: he does not live, but exists. After all, in the Oblomov family everything came down to one thing: eat and sleep. The peculiarities of the life of Oblomov’s family also influenced him. And although Ilyushenka was a living child, the constant care of his mother, which saved him from the difficulties that arose in front of him, his weak-willed father, his constant sleep in Oblomovka - all this could not help but affect his character. And Oblomov grew up as sleepy, apathetic and unadapted to life as his fathers and grandfathers. As for heredity, the author accurately captured the character of the Russian person with his laziness and careless attitude towards life.

Stolz, on the contrary, came from a family belonging to the most lively and efficient class. The father was the manager of a rich estate, and the mother was an impoverished noblewoman. Therefore, Stolz had great practical ingenuity and hard work as a result of his German upbringing, and from his mother he received a rich spiritual inheritance: a love of music, poetry, and literature. His father taught him that the main thing in life is money, rigor and accuracy. And Stolz would not have been his father’s son if he had not achieved wealth and respect in society. Unlike Russian people, Germans are characterized by extreme practicality and accuracy, which is constantly manifested in Stolz.

So, at the very beginning of life, a program was laid down for the main characters: vegetation, sleep - for the “superfluous man” Oblomov, energy and vital activity - for Stolz.

The main part of Oblomov’s life was spent on the sofa, in a robe, inactive. Undoubtedly, the author condemns such a life. Oblomov's life can be compared with the life of people in Paradise. He does nothing, everything is brought to him on a silver platter, he doesn’t want to solve problems, he sees wonderful dreams. He is taken out of this Paradise first by Stolz, and then by Olga. But Oblomov cannot stand real life and I.A. Goncharov dies. Oblomov. - M., 1972. .

The traits of an “extra person” also appear in some of L.N.’s heroes. Tolstoy (1828 - 1910). Here it is necessary to take into account that Tolstoy, in his own way, “builds action on spiritual turning points, drama, dialogues, disputes” Linkov V.Ya. The world and man in the works of L. Tolstoy and I. Bunin. - M., 1989. - P. 78. . It is appropriate to recall the reasoning of Anna Zegers: “Long before the masters of modernist psychologism, Tolstoy was able to convey in all spontaneity the stream of vague, half-conscious thoughts of the hero, but with him this did not come to the detriment of the integrity of the picture: he recreated the spiritual chaos that takes possession of one or another character at one time or another. acutely dramatic moments of life, but he himself did not succumb to this chaos” Quote. by: Tarasov B.N. Analysis of bourgeois consciousness in the story by L.N. Tolstoy “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” // Questions of Literature. - 1982. - No. 3. - P. 15. .

Tolstoy is a master of depicting the “dialectics of the soul” Shepeleva Z. The art of creating a portrait in the works of L. Tolstoy. - In the book: Mastery of Russian classics: Sat. Art. - M., 1959. - P. 190.. He shows how sharp a person’s discovery of himself can be (“The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “Posthumous Notes of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich”). From the point of view of Leo Tolstoy, egoism is not only evil for the egoist himself and those around him, but a lie and disgrace. Here is the plot of the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” This plot, as it were, unfolds the entire spectrum of inevitable consequences and properties of an egoistic life. The hero's impersonality, the emptiness of his existence, indifferent cruelty towards his neighbors and, finally, the incompatibility of egoism with reason are shown. “Egoism is madness” Tolstoy L.N. Collection cit.: In 14 volumes - M., 1952. - T. 9. P. 89. . This idea, formulated by Tolstoy in his Diary, is one of the main ones in the story and was clearly manifested when Ivan Ilyich realized that he was dying.

Knowledge of life's truth, according to Tolstoy, requires from a person not intellectual abilities, but courage and moral purity. A person does not accept evidence not out of stupidity, but out of fear of the truth. The bourgeois circle to which Ivan Ilyich belonged developed a whole system of deception that hides the essence of life. Thanks to her, the heroes of the story are not aware of the injustice of the social system, cruelty and indifference to their neighbors, the emptiness and meaninglessness of their existence. The reality of social, public, family and any other collective life can only be revealed to a person who really accepts the essence of his personal life with its inevitable suffering and death. But it is precisely such a person who becomes “superfluous” to society.

Tolstoy continued his criticism of the selfish way of life, begun by The Death of Ivan Ilyich, in The Kreutzer Sonata, focusing exclusively on family relationships and marriage. As you know, he attached great importance to the family in both personal and public life, being convinced that “the human race develops only in the family.” Not a single Russian writer XIX centuries we will not find as many bright pages depicting a happy family life as in Tolstoy.

L. Tolstoy's heroes always interact, influence each other, sometimes decisively, change: moral efforts - ultimate reality in the world of the author of The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Man lives true life when he does them. The misunderstanding that divides people is considered by Tolstoy as an anomaly, as main reason impoverishment of life.

Tolstoy is a staunch opponent of individualism. He depicted and assessed in his works the private existence of a person, which is in no way connected with the universal world, as defective. The idea of ​​the need for man to suppress the animal nature of Tolstoy after the crisis was one of the main ones both in journalism and in artistic creativity. The selfish path of a person who directs all efforts to achieve personal well-being, in the eyes of the author of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” is deeply erroneous, completely hopeless, never, under any circumstances, achieving the goal. This is one of those problems that Tolstoy pondered over many years with amazing tenacity and persistence. “To consider one’s life as the center of life is for a person madness, insanity, an aberration” Ibid. - P. 178. . The conviction that personal happiness is unattainable by an individual lies at the heart of the book “On Life.”

The resolution of the deeply personal experience of the inevitability of death is accomplished by the hero in an ethical and social act, which has become main feature works of Tolstoy last period. It is no coincidence that “Notes of a Madman” remained unfinished. There is every reason to assume that the story did not satisfy the writer with the idea itself. The prerequisite for the hero's crisis were the special qualities of his personality, which manifested themselves in early childhood when he was unusually acutely aware of manifestations of injustice, evil, and cruelty. Hero -- special person, not like everyone else, superfluous to society. And the sudden fear of death experienced by him, a thirty-five-year-old healthy man, is assessed by others as a simple deviation from the norm. The unusual nature of the hero one way or another led to the idea of ​​​​the exclusivity of his fate. The idea of ​​the story was losing its universal significance. The uniqueness of the hero became the flaw due to which the reader escaped the circle of the writer’s arguments.

Tolstoy's heroes are absorbed primarily in the search for personal happiness, and they come to world problems, common ones, only if their logic of seeking personal harmony leads to them, as was the case with Levin or Nekhlyudov. But, as Tolstoy wrote in his Diary, “you cannot live for yourself alone. This is death." Ibid. - T. 11. P. 111. . Tolstoy reveals the failure of egoistic existence as a lie, ugliness and evil. And this gives his criticism a special power of persuasiveness. “...If a person’s activity is sanctified by the truth,” he wrote on December 27, 1889 in his Diary, “then the consequences of such activity are good (good for both oneself and others); the manifestation of goodness is always beautiful” Ibid. - P. 115..

So, the beginning of the 19th century is the time of the emergence of the image of the “superfluous man” in Russian literature. And then, throughout the “golden age of Russian culture,” we find in the works of great poets and writers vivid images of heroes who became superfluous to the society in which they lived. One of these bright images- image of Pechorin.

"Extra person" is socio-psychological type, imprinted in Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century; its main features: alienation from official Russia, from his native environment (usually noble), a feeling of intellectual and moral superiority over it and at the same time - mental fatigue, deep skepticism, discord between word and deed. The name “Superfluous Man” came into general use after I.S. Turgenev’s “Diary of a Superfluous Man” (1850), but the type itself had developed earlier: the first vivid incarnation was Onegin (“Eugene Onegin”, 1823-31, A.S. Pushkin ), then Pechorin (“Hero of Our Time”, 1839-40, M.Yu. Lermontov), ​​Beltov (“Who is to Blame?”, 1845 by A.I. Herzen), Turgenev’s characters - Rudin (“Rudin”, 1856), Lavretsky (" Noble Nest", 1859), etc. The features of the spiritual appearance of the "Superfluous Man" (sometimes in a complicated and modified form) can be traced in the literature of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. IN Western European literature“The Superfluous Man” is to a certain extent close to the hero, disillusioned with social progress (“Adolphe”, 1816, B. Constant; “Son of the Century”, 1836, A. de Musset). However, in Russia, the contradictions of the social situation, the contrast between civilization and slavery, the oppression of reaction, brought the “Superfluous Man” to a more prominent place and determined the increased drama and intensity of his experiences.

At the turn of the 1850s-60s, criticism (N.A. Dobrolyubov), leading an attack on the liberal intelligentsia, sharpened weak sides“The Superfluous Man” is half-heartedness, the inability to actively intervene in life, but at the same time the theme of the “Superfluous Man” was wrongfully reduced to the theme of liberalism, and its historical background- to lordship and “Oblomovism”. The relationship between the typology of the “Superfluous Man” as a cultural problem and literary text, in which - in the most difficult cases - the stability of the psychological complex of character turned out to be problematic: thus, Onegin’s mental fatigue and indifference was replaced in the final chapter of Pushkin’s novel by youthful passion and enthusiasm. In general, in the broader context of the literary movement, the “Extra Man” type, having emerged as a rethinking of the romantic hero, developed under the sign of a more versatile and flexible characterology. Significant in the theme of “The Superfluous Man” was the rejection of educational, moralizing attitudes in the name of the most complete and impartial analysis, reflection of the dialectics of life. It was also important to affirm the value of the individual person, personality, interest in the “history of the human soul” (Lermontov), ​​which created the ground for fruitful psychological analysis and prepared the future achievements of Russian realism and post-realistic artistic movements.

To some extent, this theme is the opposite of the depiction of the “little man”: if there one sees a justification for the fate of everyone, here, on the contrary, there is a categorical impulse “one of us is superfluous,” which can both relate to the assessment of the hero and come from the hero himself , and usually these two “directions” not only do not exclude each other, but also characterize one person: the “superfluous” one is the accuser of his neighbors.

"Extra person" is also a certain literary type. Literary types (types of heroes) are a collection of characters who are similar in their occupation, worldview and spiritual appearance. The spread of a particular literary type may be dictated by the very need of society to depict people with some stable set of qualities. The interest and favorable attitude towards them on the part of critics, the success of books in which such people are depicted, stimulate writers to “repeat” or “variate” any literary types. Often a new literary type arouses the interest of critics, who give it a name (“ noble robber", "Turgenev's woman", "an extra person", " small man", "nihilist", "tramp", "humiliated and insulted").

The main thematic features of "extra people". This is, first of all, a person potentially capable of any social action. She does not accept the “rules of the game” proposed by society, and is characterized by disbelief in the possibility of changing anything. An “extra person” is a contradictory personality, often in conflict with society and its way of life. This is also a hero who, of course, has a dysfunctional relationship with his parents, and is also unhappy in love. His position in society is unstable, contains contradictions: he is always at least in some way connected with the nobility, but - already in the period of decline, fame and wealth are rather a memory. He is placed in an environment that is somehow alien to him: a higher or lower environment, there is always a certain motive of alienation, which does not always immediately lie on the surface. The hero is moderately educated, but this education is rather incomplete, unsystematic; in a word, this is not a deep thinker, not a scientist, but a person with the “ability of judgment” to draw quick but immature conclusions. The crisis of religiosity is very important, often a struggle with churchliness, but often internal emptiness, hidden uncertainty, a habit of the name of God. Often - the gift of eloquence, writing skills, note-taking, or even writing poetry. There is always some pretension to be the judge of one's fellow men; a hint of hatred is required. In a word, the hero is a victim of life's canons.

However, despite all the seemingly apparent definiteness and clarity of the above criteria for assessing the “extra person,” the framework that allows us to speak with absolute certainty about the belonging of a particular character to a given thematic line is greatly blurred. It follows from this that the “superfluous person” cannot be “superfluous” entirely, but he can be considered both in line with other topics and merged with other characters belonging to other literary types. The material of the works does not allow one to evaluate Onegin, Pechorin and others only from the point of view of their social “benefit”, and the type of “superfluous person” itself is rather the result of understanding the named heroes from certain social and ideological positions.

This literary type, as it developed, acquired more and more new features and forms of display. This phenomenon is quite natural, since every writer saw the “extra person” as he was in his mind. All masters artistic word, who ever touched upon the theme of the “superfluous man”, not only added a certain “breath” of their era to this type, but also tried to unite all the contemporary social phenomena, and most importantly, the structure of life, in one image - the image of a hero of time. All this makes the type of “extra person” universal in its own way. This is precisely what allows us to consider the images of Chatsky and Bazarov as heroes who had a direct impact on this type. These images, undoubtedly, do not belong to the type of “superfluous person,” but at the same time they perform one important function: Griboyedov’s hero, in his confrontation with Famusov’s society, makes it impossible to peacefully resolve the conflict between an extraordinary personality and an inert way of life, thereby pushing other writers to highlight this problem, and the image of Bazarov, the final (from my point of view) type of “superfluous person,” was no longer so much a “carrier” of time as its “side” phenomenon.

But before the hero himself could certify himself as an “extra person,” a more hidden appearance of this type had to occur. The first signs of this type were embodied in the image of Chatsky, the main character of the immortal comedy by A.S. Griboedov “Woe from Wit.” “Griboyedov is a “man of one book,” V.F. Khodasevich once remarked. “If it were not for Woe from Wit, Griboyedov would have no place at all in Russian literature.” And, indeed, although in the history of drama Griboyedov is spoken of as the author of several wonderful and funny comedies and vaudevilles in their own way, written in collaboration with the leading playwrights of those years (N.I. Khmelnitsky, A.A. Shakhovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky), but it was “Woe from Wit” that turned out to be a one-of-a-kind work. This comedy for the first time broadly and freely depicted modern life and thus opened a new, realistic era in Russian literature. Creative history This play is extremely complex. Her plan apparently dates back to 1818. It was finished in the fall of 1824; censorship did not allow this comedy to be published or staged. Conservatives accused Griboyedov of thickening his satirical colors, which, in their opinion, was a consequence of the author’s “squawking patriotism,” and in Chatsky they saw a clever “madman,” the embodiment of the “Figaro-Griboyedov” philosophy of life.

The above examples of critical interpretations of the play only confirm the complexity and depth of its social and philosophical problems, indicated in the very title of the comedy: “Woe from Wit.” The problems of intelligence and stupidity, insanity and insanity, tomfoolery and buffoonery, pretense and acting are posed and solved by Griboyedov using a variety of everyday, social and psychological material. Essentially, all characters, including minor, episodic and off-stage ones, are drawn into a discussion of questions about the relationship to the mind and various forms stupidity and madness. The main figure around whom all the diversity of opinions about comedy was immediately concentrated was the smart “madman” Chatsky. The overall assessment of the author’s intention, issues and artistic features comedies. The main feature of the comedy is the interaction of two plot-shaping conflicts: a love conflict, the main participants of which are Chatsky and Sophia, and a socio-ideological conflict, in which Chatsky faces conservatives gathered in Famusov’s house. I would like to note that for the hero himself, the paramount importance is not the socio-ideological conflict, but the love conflict. After all, Chatsky came to Moscow with the sole purpose of seeing Sophia, finding confirmation of his former love and, perhaps, getting married. It is interesting to see how the hero’s love experiences exacerbate Chatsky’s ideological confrontation Famusov society. At first, the main character does not even notice the usual vices of the environment where he finds himself, but sees only the comic aspects in it: “I am an eccentric of another miracle / Once I laugh, then I forget...”.

But Chatsky is not an “extra person.” He is only the forerunner of "superfluous people." This is confirmed, first of all, by the optimistic sound of the comedy's finale, where Chatsky remains with the right of historical choice given to him by the author. Consequently, Griboyedov’s hero can find (in the future) his place in life. Chatsky could have been among those who went out on December 14, 1825 Senate Square, and then his life would have been predetermined for 30 years in advance: those who took part in the uprising returned from exile only after the death of Nicholas I in 1856. But something else could have happened. An irresistible disgust for the “abominations” of Russian life would have made Chatsky an eternal wanderer in a foreign land, a man without a homeland. And then - melancholy, despair, alienation, bile and, what is most terrible for such a hero-fighter - forced idleness and inactivity. But these are just readers’ guesses.

Chatsky, rejected by society, has the potential to find a use for himself. Onegin will no longer have such an opportunity. He is a “superfluous person” who has failed to realize himself, who “silently suffers from his striking resemblance to children this century". But before answering why, let's turn to the work itself. The novel "Eugene Onegin" is a work of amazing creative destiny. It was created over seven years - from May 1823 to September 1830. The novel was not written "in one breath", but took shape - from stanzas and chapters created at different times, in different circumstances, in different periods of creativity. The work was interrupted not only by the turns of Pushkin’s fate (exile to Mikhailovskoye, the Decembrist uprising), but also by new ideas, for the sake of which he more than once abandoned the text of Eugene Onegin. "It seemed that history itself was not very kind to Pushkin's work: from a novel about a contemporary and modern life how Pushkin conceived "Eugene Onegin", after 1825 it became a novel about a completely different historical era. And, if we take into account the fragmentation and intermittency of Pushkin’s work, then we can say the following: for the writer the novel was something like a huge “notebook” or a poetic “album”. Within seven seconds extra years these notes were replenished with sad “notes” of the heart, “observations” of a cold mind. extra person image literature

But “Eugene Onegin” is not only “a poetic album of living impressions of a talent playing with its wealth,” but also a “novel of life,” which has absorbed a huge amount of historical, literary, social and everyday material. This is the first innovation of this work. Secondly, what was fundamentally innovative was that Pushkin, largely relying on the work of A.S. Griboedov “Woe from Wit,” found new type problematic hero - "hero of the times". Evgeny Onegin became such a hero. His fate, character, relationships with people are determined by the totality of the circumstances of modern reality, extraordinary personal qualities and the range of “eternal”, universal problems that he faces. It is necessary to immediately make a reservation: Pushkin, in the process of working on the novel, set himself the task of demonstrating in the image of Onegin “that premature old age of the soul, which became the main feature younger generation". And already in the first chapter the writer notes social factors, which determined the character of the main character. The only thing in which Onegin “was a true genius,” that “he knew more firmly than all sciences,” as the Author notes, not without irony, was “the science of tender passion,” that is, the ability to love without loving, to imitate feelings, while remaining cold and calculating. However, Onegin is still interesting to Pushkin not as a representative of a common social and everyday type, the whole essence of which is exhausted by a positive characteristic given out by secular rumor: “N.N. is a wonderful person.” It was important for the writer to show this image in movement and development, so that later each reader would draw the proper conclusions and give a fair assessment of this hero.

The first chapter is a turning point in the fate of the main character, who managed to abandon the stereotypes of secular behavior, the noisy, but internally empty “rite of life.” Thus, Pushkin showed how, from a faceless crowd that demanded unconditional obedience, a bright, extraordinary personality suddenly emerged, capable of overthrowing the “burden” of secular conventions and “getting behind the bustle.”

For writers who paid attention to the theme of the “superfluous man” in their work, it is typical to “test” their hero with friendship, love, a duel, and death. Pushkin was no exception. The two tests that awaited Onegin in the village - the test of love and the test of friendship - showed that external freedom does not automatically entail liberation from false prejudices and opinions. In his relationship with Tatyana, Onegin showed himself to be a noble and mentally sensitive person. And you can’t blame the hero for not responding to Tatyana’s love: as you know, you can’t order your heart. Another thing is that Onegin listened not to the voice of his heart, but to the voice of reason. To confirm this, I will say that even in the first chapter, Pushkin noted in the main character a “sharp, chilled mind” and an inability to have strong feelings. And it was precisely this mental disproportion that became the reason for the failed love of Onegin and Tatyana. Onegin also could not stand the test of friendship. And in this case, the cause of the tragedy was his inability to live a life of feeling. It is not without reason that the author, commenting on the hero’s state before the duel, notes: “He could have discovered his feelings, / Instead of bristling like an animal.” Both at Tatiana’s name day and before the duel with Lensky, Onegin showed himself to be a “ball of prejudice,” “a hostage to secular canons,” deaf to both the voice of his own heart and Lensky’s feelings. His behavior at the name day is the usual “secular anger”, and the duel is a consequence of the indifference and fear of the evil tongue of the inveterate brethren Zaretsky and the neighboring landowners. Onegin himself did not notice how he became a prisoner of his old idol - “public opinion”. After the murder of Lensky, Evgeny changed simply radically. It is a pity that only tragedy was able to open to him a previously inaccessible world of feelings.

Thus, Eugene Onegin becomes a “superfluous man.” Belonging to the light, he despises it. All he can do, as Pisarev noted, is “to give up on boredom social life, as an inevitable evil." Onegin does not find his true purpose and place in life, he is burdened by his loneliness, lack of demand. In the words of Herzen, "Onegin... is an extra person in the environment where he is, but not possessing the necessary strength of character, cannot break out of it in any way." But, in the opinion of the writer himself, the image of Onegin is not complete. After all, the novel in verse essentially ends with the following posing of the question: "What will Onegin be like in the future?" Pushkin himself leaves the character of his hero open, thereby emphasizing the very Onegin’s ability to abruptly change value orientations and, I note, a certain readiness for action, for action. True, Onegin has practically no opportunities for realizing himself. But the novel does not answer the above question, it asks the reader.

So, the theme of the “superfluous man” comes to its end in a completely different capacity, having gone through a difficult evolutionary path: from the romantic pathos of rejection of life and society to the acute rejection of the “superfluous man” himself. And the fact that this term can be applied to the heroes of works of the 20th century does not change anything: the meaning of the term will be different and it will be possible to call it “superfluous” for completely different reasons. There will be returns to this theme (for example, the image of the “superfluous person” Levushka Odoevtsev from A. Bitov’s novel “Pushkin’s House”), and proposals that there are no “superfluous” people, but only different variations of this theme. But returning is no longer a discovery: the 19th century discovered and exhausted the theme of the “superfluous man.”

Bibliography:

• 1. Babaev E.G. Works of A.S. Pushkin. - M., 1988
• 2. Batyuto A.I. Turgenev the novelist. - L., 1972
• 3. Ilyin E.N. Russian literature: recommendations for schoolchildren and applicants, "SCHOOL-PRESS". M., 1994
• 4. Krasovsky V.E. History of Russian literature of the 19th century, "OLMA-PRESS". M., 2001
• 5. Literature. Reference materials. Book for students. M., 1990
• 6. Makogonenko G.P. Lermontov and Pushkin. M., 1987
• 7. Monakhova O.P. Russian literature XIX century, "OLMA-PRESS". M., 1999
• 8. Fomichev S.A. Griboyedov's comedy "Woe from Wit": Commentary. - M., 1983
• 9. Shamrey L.V., Rusova N.Yu. From allegory to iambic. Terminological dictionary-thesaurus in literary criticism. - N. Novgorod, 1993

An extra person... Who is this - the one who no one needs? The one who does not find a place for himself in his country, in his time? Someone who can't achieve anything?

These images, somewhat similar to each other and at the same time different, appeared in the texts of writers at the beginning of the 19th century. Onegin from the novel in verse by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Pechorin from the novel by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, Chatsky from the comedy by Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov... Isn’t it true, there is something in common in these three images?

The first of them - in chronological order - is Chatsky. Let us remember: he returns to Famusov’s house after a long, many-year absence. Even before his appearance on stage, we already know about the sharp mind and evil tongue of this hero (Sophia speaks about this). And, appearing on stage, he justifies her words. During his absence, Chatsky changed and became wiser, but society did not change and did not become wiser! And a conflict is brewing: society and Chatsky do not accept each other. And seeing that he does not have the slightest opportunity to express (and find those who understand!) his thoughts, his feelings and ideals here, Chatsky breaks with society. He is declared crazy and, indeed, blinkered secular people should have perceived the trends of the new worldview in exactly this way. The true conflict of the play is not in devoted love, but in the clash of two different worldviews, where power is obviously on the side of the more inert and older.

The next character is Evgeny Onegin. Since childhood, he has been poisoned by the hypocrisy of high society; he denies everything he can see. Unlike Chatsky, Onegin has neither aspirations nor lofty ideals. The ideal - love - comes to him only later, when everything has already been lost. But Onegin is an active person at his core. And if we sympathize with Chatsky, then Onegin at the end of the novel is capable of moral regeneration, the “late” Onegin is in some ways close to Griboyedov’s hero, it is no coincidence that Pushkin mentions this, comparing them as if in passing: “... and he ended up like Chatsky from the ship to the ball...,” he writes about Onegin. The last character from the gallery of “extra” people is Pechorin.

This image, in my opinion, is the most tragic. After all, if Chatsky initially strives for some ideals and believes in something, if Onegin comes to spiritual rebirth through suffering, then in Pechorin’s soul there is only emptiness and pain from unused potential. Pechorin sows evil, often deliberately (as in the case of the seduction of Princess Mary). In love he is incompetent (remember Vera), in creativity he is incapable of anything, although in his diaries he gives an unusually poetic description of nature...

So, the image of an extra person undergoes certain changes over time. If Chatsky is somewhere cheerful and cheerful, if Some kind of future can await Onegin, then Pechorin has no future...

The inability to use their powers is not the heroes' fault. This is the fault of time, the fault of the historical course of events... These images inevitably had to appear in Russian literature of the early 19th century.