In almost all works Russian literature there is a landscape.
Landscapes - This is one of the main means of revealing the emotional experiences of the heroes. In addition, they serve to convey the author’s attitude to what is happening. Writers strive include this extra-plot element in works for different purposes.
In the story " Poor Lisa» Karamzin uses scenic paintings nature, at first glance, as random episodes, as a beautiful background for the main action. Most of the landscapes in the story are aimed at conveying state of mind and experience main character, because Lisa is as close to nature as possible.
Exercise: determine what the role of landscape is in the passages:
1. Let's turn to Lisa. Night came - the mother blessed her daughter and wished her a gentle sleep, but this time her wish was not fulfilled; Lisa slept very poorly. The new guest of her soul, the image of the Erasts, appeared so vividly to her that she woke up almost every minute, woke up and sighed. Even before the sun rose, Lisa got up, went down to the bank of the Moscow River, sat down on the grass and, saddened, looked at the white mists that were agitated in the air and, rising up, left shiny drops on the green cover of nature. Silence reigned everywhere. But soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation; The groves and bushes came to life, the birds fluttered and sang, the flowers raised their heads to drink in the life-giving rays of light. But Lisa still sat there, saddened. Oh, Lisa, Lisa! What happened to you? Until now, waking up with the birds, you had fun with them in the morning, and a pure, joyful soul shone in your eyes, like the sun shines in drops of heavenly dew; but now you are thoughtful, and the general joy of nature is alien to your heart - Meanwhile, a young shepherd was driving his flock along the river bank, playing the pipe. Lisa fixed her gaze on him and thought: “If the one who now occupies my thoughts was born a simple peasant, a shepherd, - and if he were now driving his flock past me; ah! I would bow to him with a smile and say kindly : "Hello, dear shepherd! Where are you driving your flock?" And here green grass grows for your sheep, and here flowers grow red, from which you can weave a wreath for your hat." He would look at me with an affectionate look - maybe he would take my hand... A dream! " A shepherd, playing the pipe, passed by and with his motley flock disappeared behind a nearby hill...
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2. She threw herself into his arms - and at this hour her integrity had to perish! Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood - Liza had never seemed so charming to him - never had her caresses touched him so much - never had her kisses been so fiery - she knew nothing, suspected nothing, was afraid of nothing - the darkness of the evening fed desires - not a single star shone in the sky - no ray could illuminate the delusions. - Erast feels awe in himself - Lisa also, not knowing why, but knowing what is happening to her... Ah, Lisa, Lisa! Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence? The delusion passed in one minute. Lisa did not understand her feelings, she was surprised and asked. Erast was silent - he searched for words and did not find them. “Oh, I’m afraid,” said Lisa, “I’m afraid of what happened to us! It seemed to me that I was dying, that my soul... No, I don’t know how to say it!.. Are you silent, Erast? Are you sighing?.. My God! What is it? Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Lisa trembled all over. “Erast, Erast!” she said. “I’m scared! I’m afraid that the thunder will kill me like a criminal!” The storm roared menacingly, rain poured from the black clouds - it seemed that nature was lamenting about Liza’s lost innocence. Erast tried to calm Lisa down and walked her to the hut. Tears rolled from her eyes when she said goodbye to him...
There are almost no works in Russian literature that lack landscape. Writers have sought to include this extra-plot element in their works for a variety of purposes. So, for example, in the story “Poor Liza” by Karamzin, picturesque pictures of nature, at first glance, can be considered random episodes that are just a beautiful background for the main action. But landscapes are one of the main means of revealing the emotional experiences of the characters. In addition, they serve to convey the author’s attitude to what is happening.
At the beginning of the story, the author describes Moscow and the “terrible bulk of houses”, and immediately after that he begins to paint a completely different picture: “Below... along the yellow sands, a fresh river flows, agitated by light oars fishing boats... On the other side of the river you can see oak grove, near which numerous herds graze...” Karamzin takes the position of defending the beautiful and natural, the city is unpleasant to him, he is drawn to “nature.” Thus, here the description of nature serves to express author's position.
Most of the landscapes in the story are aimed at conveying the state of mind and experience of the main character. It is she, Lisa, who is the embodiment of everything natural and beautiful, this heroine is as close as possible to nature: “Even before the sun rose, Lisa got up, went down to the bank of the Moscow River, sat down on the grass and, saddened, looked at the white mists... but soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation..."
The heroine is sad because a new, hitherto unknown feeling is born in her soul, but for her it is beautiful and natural, like the landscape around her. Within a few minutes, when an explanation takes place between Lisa and Erast, the girl’s experiences dissolve in the surrounding nature, they are just as beautiful and pure. And after the lovers separate, when Liza feels like a sinner, a criminal, the same changes occur in nature as in Liza’s soul. Here the picture of nature reveals not only Lisa’s state of mind, but also foreshadows the tragic ending of this story.
One of the main landscape functions in the novel “A Hero of Our Time” is to more fully and deeply reveal the personality of the main character, Pechorin. His character is reflected in his descriptions of nature (“Fatalist”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”).
Pechorin is able to feel the movement of air, the stirring of tall grass, and admire the “foggy outlines of objects,” revealing spiritual subtlety and depth. In difficult moments, nature helps him, a lonely man, to preserve peace of mind. “I greedily swallowed the fragrant air,” writes Pechorin after an emotionally intense meeting with Vera.
Nature in the novel is constantly contrasted with the world of people with their petty passions, and Pechorin’s desire to merge with the harmonious world of nature turns out to be futile. The landscapes written by the protagonist are full of movement - such descriptions emphasize the hero’s internal energy, his constant tension, thirst for action, and reflect the dynamics of his mental states.
Thus, the landscapes in work of art help to penetrate deeply into the soul of the characters and their experiences, to better understand ideological plan author.
On this lesson we will get acquainted with the story by N.M. Karamzin "Poor Liza". We will find out why this work has a special place among other works of Russian literature, and we will also analyze the role of landscape in this story.
Topic: LiteratureXVIIIcentury
Lesson: “Poor Lisa.” Inner world heroes. The role of landscape
In the last lesson, we talked about the unity of everything that Karamzin wrote, about one thought that permeates everything that Karamzin wrote, from beginning to end. This idea is to write the history of the soul of the people along with the history of the state.
Everything written by Karamzin was intended for a narrow circle of readers. First of all, for those with whom he was personally acquainted and with whom he communicated. This is the part high society, St. Petersburg and Moscow nobility, who were involved in literature. And also for a certain part of the people, the number of which was measured by the number of seats in the imperial theater. As a matter of fact, those one and a half to two thousand people who gathered at the performances of the imperial theaters made up the entire audience to which Karamzin addressed. These were people who could see each other, see each other, first of all, in the theater, at balls, meetings of high society, which were sometimes official, sometimes not. But these meetings always represented the circle of communication and interests that shaped the future of Russian literature.
Everything that Karamzin wrote is addressed to a circle of people whom he calls friends. If we open “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” we read the very first phrase - an appeal to friends: “I broke up with you, dears, I broke up! My heart is attached to you with all the tenderest feelings, but I am constantly moving away from you and will continue to move away!” 18 months later, returning from a trip, Karamzin ends “Letters of a Russian Traveler” again with an appeal to his friends: “Coast! Fatherland! I bless you! I am in Russia and in a few days I will be with you, my friends!..” And further: “And you, dear ones, quickly prepare for me a neat hut in which I could freely have fun with the Chinese shadows of my imagination, be sad with my heart and take comfort with friends." An appeal to friends, as a cross-cutting motif, is constantly present in the text, and in the text of any work by Karamzin.
Rice. 2. Front page"Letters from a Russian Traveler" ()
About the landscape
The story “Poor Liza” consists of fragments connected by a story about the author’s experiences, and these are fragments of two kinds. The first of them (and this is where the story begins) is a description of nature. A description of nature, which serves Karamzin solely as a reflection of the internal state of the author-narrator. There is some idea about the person who writes the text. It turns out that it is impossible to read without this idea. In order to read the text, you need to step into the shoes of the one who wrote it, you need to merge with the author and see through his eyes what he saw, and feel for him what he felt. This is a special kind of landscape, which Karamzin apparently appears for the first time in Russian literature. Here is the beginning: “... no one is in the field more often than I am, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - wherever the eyes look - through meadows and groves, over hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauty in old ones.”
Karamzin does not dwell on details, he does not describe color, he does not convey sound, he does not talk about some small details, objects... He talks about impressions, about the trace visible objects (their colors and sounds) leave in his soul . And this in some way tunes the reader and makes him think and feel in unison with how the author thinks and feels. And Karamzin wanted it or not, whether he did it intentionally or by accident, it appeared. But this is precisely what became such a material feature of Russian prose for several centuries to come.
Rice. 3. Illustration for the story “Poor Liza.” G.D. Epifanov (1947) ()
And “Poor Liza” finds itself in a special place among these works. The fact is that friendly meetings of Karamzin’s time represented a very clear line between the male and female parts of society. Men, as a rule, communicated separately. If it's not a ball, don't children's party, then most often in the meeting where future or current Russian writers met, only men were present. The appearance of a woman was still impossible. Nevertheless, women were the subject of men's conversations, men's interests, and women were most often addressed by what men wrote. Karamzin already noted that the Russian reader at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries was predominantly women. And his story, dedicated to a woman, the main character of which was a woman, was addressed primarily to the reader, and not to the reader. Karamzin later addressed the male reader in his multi-volume “History of the Russian State.” He addressed the female reader at the very moment when, apparently, the idea of the unity of the history of the country and the history of the soul was born. Exactly female soul was of particular interest.
We must understand that in the system of education, in the system of communication that existed in that era (both the separate education of boys and girls, and the separate communication of men and women) was a very important part. And in this sense, in the male community of writers, women were something of an ideal, which they served, which they worshiped, and to which the texts they wrote addressed.
Rice. 4. “Poor Lisa.” O.A. Kiprensky (1827) ()
“Poor Liza” is the embodiment of the feminine ideal that Karamzin and his circle of friends see. At the same time, one must understand that the fictionality, some kind of artificiality, the sketchiness of the entire plot of “Poor Lisa” is a completely natural thing for that time.
There is a gulf between the nobleman and the peasant, there is a gulf between the master and his slave. Love story between a rich and noble man named Erast and a poor peasant girl named Lisa - this is quite true story. And in the circle of acquaintances to whom Karamzin addresses his story, the majority should have recognized real prototypes- those people whose story Karamzin tells in his story. Everyone else who did not personally know about these circumstances could guess that the characters were behind real people. And Karamzin doesn’t finish the story, doesn’t give any factual instructions, any hints about those who really stand behind these characters. But everyone realizes that the story is not fictional, the story is in fact the most ordinary and traditional: the master seduces a peasant woman and then abandons her, the peasant woman commits suicide.
Rice. 5. Illustration for the story “Poor Liza.” M.V. Dobuzhinsky (1922) ()
This standard situation is now for us, for those who look at this history from the height of two centuries that have passed since then. There is nothing unusual or mysterious about it. In essence, this is the story of a television series. This is a story that is repeatedly rewritten in notebooks, and now these notebooks have migrated to the Internet and are called blogs, and there, in essence, they tell exactly the same heart-warming stories that girls have been accustomed to since the time of Karamzin. And these stories are still incredibly popular. What's special? What holds our attention in this story now, two centuries later? From this point of view, it is very interesting to look at the reviews and comments left on the Internet by modern readers who have just read the story “Poor Liza.” They, it turns out, try this story on themselves. They put themselves in Lisa's shoes and talk about what they would do in similar circumstances.
The men in this story imagine themselves completely differently. None of the readers identify themselves with Erast and try to take on this role. A completely different male gaze, a completely different idea of the text, completely different thoughts, completely different feelings for men.
Apparently, then in 1792 Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin discovered Russian literature as women's literature. And this discovery still continues to be important and relevant. The successors of this women's story, and then women's novel, which Karamzin created, can be found quite often these days, and book counters display a wide selection women's stories and novels. And they are not always composed by women; more often they are composed by men. But, nevertheless, these novels are still very popular.
Women's literature. Modern women's stories. The pattern of development of Russian literature: a woman as a judge to a man
Following the landscapes, the second element, the second part of the texts that are included in the story are conversations. These are conversations that, as a rule, give only a hint, an outline. They are completely different from the real conversations that people have with each other. Both now and in the 18th century, when Karamzin’s story was written, people spoke differently. Those dialogues that Karamzin reproduces, they rather outline, give some hints, short indications of the feelings that people experience when they pronounce these words. The words themselves are not important, what matters are the feelings behind them. Here is Lisa’s mother talking about the impression that Erast makes on her:
“What should we call you, kind, gentle gentleman?” - asked the old woman. “My name is Erast,” he answered. “Erastom,” said Lisa quietly, “Erastom!” She repeated this name five times, as if trying to solidify it. Erast said goodbye to them and left. Lisa followed him with her eyes, and the mother sat thoughtfully and, taking her daughter by the hand, said to her: “Oh, Lisa! How good and kind he is! If only your groom were like that!” Liza’s whole heart began to tremble. "Mother! Mother! How can this happen? He is a gentleman, and among the peasants...” - Lisa did not finish her speech.
Perhaps this is the first case in the entire history of Russian literature when a character’s broken speech gives more than its continuation. What Lisa is silent about more important than that What is she talking about? The technique of silence, when the unspoken word has a much stronger effect, is perceived much brighter than sound word, was famous in poetry. As a matter of fact, Karamzin also has a poem “Melancholy”, where he uses this. This is an imitation of Delisle, which ends with the words: “There is a feast there... but you don’t see, you don’t listen, and you lower your head into your hand; Your joy is to be silent, thoughtful, and turn a gentle gaze to the past.” In a poem, trying to convey feelings through silence is something like what a pause does in music. When the voice stops or musical instrument, the listener has a pause, a time appears when he can experience, feel what he has just heard. Karamzin gives the same thing: he interrupts Lisa’s monologue, and she does not talk about what worries her most. She is worried about the gap between her and her lover. She is worried that their marriage is impossible.
Lisa sacrifices herself, she refuses the rich peasant groom who proposed to her. And here she is silent about what is most important for the reader. Karamzin largely discovered this ability to let the reader hear, feel, understand what cannot be conveyed in words as a possibility in literature.
Speaking of the fact that “Poor Lisa” begins women's literature in Russia, you need to understand that women's literature is not at all prohibited for men. And when we talk about the fact that the heroes do not identify with negative character This story, we do not mean at all that this story causes disgust in the male reader. We're talking about the male reader identifying with another character. This hero is an author-narrator.
A man who, while walking around the outskirts of Moscow, came across a hut where Liza lived with her mother and tells this whole story not at all in order to read another morality for the edification of descendants and contemporaries. No. He talks about his experiences, about what touched him. Let us pay attention: the words “touch” and “feel” are among those that Karamzin used in the Russian language for the first time.
Another thing is that he borrowed these words from French and sometimes I just used it French words, replacing French roots Russians, sometimes without changing. Nevertheless, readers (both men and women) remain readers of Karamzin, because it is important for them to follow the movement of the soul, which makes up the meaning, which makes up the core, the essence of the narrative.
This discovery of Karamzin is much more important than his discoveries in literature and history. And the discovery of the soul, the discovery of the opportunity to look deep into a person, as an opportunity to look into the soul of another person and look into one’s own soul and read something there that was previously unknown - this is Karamzin’s main discovery. A discovery that largely determined the entire future course of Russian literature.
1. Korovina V.Ya., Zhuravlev V.P., Korovin V.I. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2008.
2. Ladygin M.B., Esin A.B., Nefedova N.A. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Bustard, 2011.
3. Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Antipova A.M. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2012.
1. What was the audience to which N.M. addressed? Karamzin? Describe the circle of its readers.
2. Which work by N.M. Karamzin is predominantly addressed to the male reader, and which one is addressed to the female reader?
3. Which character from N.M.’s story? Karamzin's "Poor Liza" is often identified by male readers?
4. To what extent does the technique of silence used by N.M. contribute to understanding the emotional state of the characters? Karamzin?
5. * Read the text “Poor Lisa” by N.M. Karamzin. Tell us about your impressions.
The story "Poor Liza" is best work N. M. Karamzin and one of the most perfect examples of Russian sentimental literature. It contains many wonderful episodes describing subtle emotional experiences.
The work contains beautifully picturesque pictures of nature that harmoniously complement the narrative. At first glance, they can be considered random episodes that are just a beautiful background for the main action, but in reality everything is much more complicated. Landscapes in “Poor Liza” are one of the main means of revealing the emotional experiences of the characters.
At the very beginning of the story, the author describes Moscow and the “terrible mass of houses,” and immediately after that he begins to paint a completely different picture: “Below... along the yellow sands, a light river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats... On the other side of the river an oak grove is visible, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of trees, sing simple, sad songs..."
Karamzin immediately takes the position of everything beautiful and natural. The city is unpleasant to him, he is drawn to “nature.” Here the description of nature serves to express the author’s position.
Further, most descriptions of nature are aimed at conveying the state of mind and experiences of the main character, because it is she, Lisa, who is the embodiment of everything natural and beautiful. “Even before the sun rose, Lisa got up, went down to the bank of the Moscow River, sat down on the grass and, saddened, looked at the white mists... silence reigned everywhere, but soon the rising luminary of the day awakened all creation: the groves, bushes came to life, the birds fluttered and began to sing, the flowers raised their heads to be saturated with the life-giving rays of light.”
Nature at this moment is beautiful, but Lisa is sad because a new feeling is born in her soul, something she has never experienced before.
Despite the fact that the heroine is sad, her feeling is beautiful and natural, like the landscape around her.
A few minutes later there is an explanation between Lisa and Erast. They love each other, and her feelings immediately change: “What a beautiful morning! How fun everything is in the field! Never have larks sung so well, never has the sun shone so brightly, never have flowers smelled so pleasant!”
Her experiences dissolve in the surrounding landscape, they are just as beautiful and pure.
A wonderful romance begins between Erast and Lisa, their attitude is chaste, their embrace is “pure and immaculate.” The surrounding landscape is also pure and immaculate. “After this, Erast and Liza, fearing not to keep their word, saw each other every evening... most often under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks... - oaks that shade the deep, clean pond, fossilized in ancient times. There, the quiet moon, through the green branches, silvered Liza’s blond hair with its rays, with which the zephyrs and the hand of a dear friend played.”
The time of innocent relationships passes, Lisa and Erast become close, she feels like a sinner, a criminal, and the same changes occur in nature as in Liza’s soul: “... not a single star shone in the sky... Meanwhile, lightning flashed and thunder struck...” This picture not only reveals Lisa’s state of mind, but also foreshadows the tragic ending of this story.
The heroes of the work are parting, but Lisa does not yet know that this is forever. She is unhappy, her heart is breaking, but there is still a faint hope glimmering in it. The morning dawn, which, like a “scarlet sea,” spreads “across the eastern sky,” conveys the heroine’s pain, anxiety and confusion and testifies to an unkind ending.
Lisa, having learned about Erast's betrayal, ended her unhappy life. She threw herself into the very pond near which she had once been so happy; she was buried under the “gloomy oak tree,” which witnessed the happiest moments of her life.
The examples given are quite sufficient to show how important the description of pictures of nature in a work of art is, how deeply they help to penetrate into the soul of the characters and their experiences. Consider the story “Poor Liza” and not take it into account landscape sketches it is simply unacceptable, because they are the ones who help the reader understand the depth of the author’s thoughts, his ideological plan.