Shakhbulatov Rajab Saitasanovich, Student – National Philology, Chechen languages literature, Russian languages literature. Chechen State University. Grozny.
Serdyukova Elena Fedorovna,
Art. Lecturer at the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Chechensky state university; trainer, psychological consultant, Grozny [email protected]
Genre and compositional features novel "Peter the First" by A. Tolstoy
Abstract. This article was written during the research of the novel “Peter the Great”. In many ways, this work and article are aimed at identifying genre and compositional features. “A historical novel cannot be written in the form of a chronicle, in the form of history... What is needed first of all, as in any artistic canvas, is the composition, the architectonics of the work. What is this composition? This is, first of all, the establishment of a center, the center of the artist’s vision... In my novel, the center is the figure of Peter I.” Key words: historical novel about the era of Peter, composition and plot of the novel.
INTRODUCTIONRelevance. Alexey Tolstoy is one of the greatest Soviet writers, a wonderful master of words, the creator of a number of well-known books here and abroad. literary works. His extensive creativity, in which the best traditions of Russian were embodied classical literature, is a valuable contribution to the literature of socialist realism. A. Tolstoy’s artistic talent was exceptionally bright and versatile. The writer proved himself as a prose writer and as a poet, as a publicist and as a playwright. He created stories, tales, novels, poems, fairy tales, plays, film scripts, essays, journalistic and critical articles. With equal interest and liveliness, he painted both modernity and recent events. civil war, and the distant past of our people. The action of his works unfolds either in the context of Russian life or abroad. The palette of A. Tolstoy, the artist, was so rich, his creative range was so wide that it seemed that nothing was impossible for him in the creative development of the most diverse themes. By his very perception of the world, A. Tolstoy was an artist of life, a realist writer, acutely sensitive to all colors and her smells. Always gravitating toward the concrete, visible, and visually imaginable, Tolstoy as an artist stubbornly eschewed all kinds of artificial abstractions in literature, far-fetched decadent tricks and conventions. According to A. Tolstoy, true art“must smell like flesh,” the artist must be able to “stick his hands up to the elbows in the dough of life.” With the keen eye of a true artist and painter, with the amazing mastery of the literary form, Alexey Tolstoy was able to combine the formulation of large, deep socio-philosophical problems and living topical issues of our time. The best creations A. Tolstoy - his trilogy “Walking through Torment” and the monumental historical novel “Peter the Great” - are characterized by the exceptional richness and depth of their ideological content. The research material is A. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great”, published for the first time in 1930-1934.
The object is the novel “Peter the First” by A. Tolstoy. The subject is genre and compositional features using the example of the novel “Peter the First” by A. Tolstoy. The goal of the work is to determine the genre and compositional features of the novel “Peter the First” by A. Tolstoy. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are formulated: consider the work of A.N. Tolstoy; study the genre organization of the novel "Peter the Great"; study the compositional organization of the novel "Peter the Great";
analyze the figurative structure of the novel "Peter the Great"; identify and describe the author's picture of the world of the novel. The purpose and objectives determined the choice of research methods; a comparative method is used, which provides the opportunity to study genre specificity, a systematic method that allows us to identify ideological and artistic unity, a stylistic analysis of the work.
Main partPeter's personality and his era excited the imagination of writers, artists, and composers of many generations. From Lomonosov to the present day, the theme of Peter has not left the pages of fiction. It was addressed by Pushkin, Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, Blok and others. Before moving on to the topic of Peter in the works of A. N. Tolstoy, let us briefly dwell on the depiction of Peter and his era in Russian literature, in particular in the works of A. S. Pushkin and L.N. Tolstoy. Pushkin carefully studied the history of Peter, worked in the archives, compiled interesting notes, but he failed to complete his work. The poet's correct understanding of history helped him to see deep contradictions in the great transformer, whose image he captured in his poems and verses. Thus, he writes in the notes of “The History of Peter”: “The difference between the state institutions of Peter the Great and his temporary decrees is worthy of surprise. The first are the fruits of an extensive mind, filled with goodwill and wisdom, the second are often cruel, capricious and, it seems, written with a whip. The first were for eternity, or at least for the future; the second were wrested from an impatient autocratic landowner.”1 Already in the poem " Bronze Horseman"The poet showed the other side of Peter's progressive activity. But in Pushkin this is hinted at, and in the novel by Alexei Tolstoy, who followed Pushkin’s tradition in the depiction of Peter, it is developed, as D. D. Blagoy rightly notes, on “real historical material. The novel gives us a clear idea of the two sides of Peter’s activity that Pushkin guessed about in his unpublished notes about the tsar.” Leo Tolstoy collected material for several years to create a novel about Peter and his era, but he never wrote it, although I did it whole line preliminary notes. Tolstoyne was able to write it because this era, as he said, “is too remote from us.” But the real reasons were apparently different. As researchers point out (B. Eikhenbaum, A. Alpatov, L. Polyak), the novel from the era of Peter was not written, probably because the very personality of the king 1 Serov S. A. Tolstoy and Russian history // Tolstoy A. N. Peter First. M: Fiction, 1990.P. 12. transformer, actively influencing the course of historical events, came into conflict with Tolstoy’s concept of historical fatalism, his understanding of the role of the individual in history. For over twenty years, Alexei Tolstoy was also worried about the theme of Peter. The story “The Day of Peter” was written in 1917, the last chapters of his historical novel “Peter the Great” were written in 1945. A. N. Tolstoy was not immediately able to deeply, truthfully and comprehensively draw the Peter the Great’s era, to understand the progressive nature of Peter’s transformations2. “On Peter I've been aiming for a long time, from the beginning February revolution, wrote A. N. Tolstoy. “I saw all the stains on his camisole, but Peter still stuck out as a mystery in the historical fog.” This is evidenced by his story “The Day of Peter” and the tragedy “On the Rack” (1928), which I recommend getting acquainted with. A comparison of the story “The Day of Peter” and the tragedy “On the Rack” with the novel “Peter the Great” clearly shows how Marxist-Leninist philosophy was important for Tolstoy’s ideological and artistic growth. historical science, helping to correctly reveal the driving forces of the historical process, the personality of Peter. It is characteristic that A. N. Tolstoy turned to the Peter the Great era in 1917. In the distant past, he tried to find answers to the questions that tormented him about the fate of his homeland and people. Why did the writer turn to this era? Peter's era - a time of transformative reforms, a radical break in patriarchal Rus' - was perceived by him as something reminiscent of 1917. How does Tolstoy depict Peter and the Petrine era in the story “The Day of Peter”? Peter is shown in the context of everyday affairs and concerns, the writer makes one feel the scale of his activities, his colossal will, tireless energy aimed at transforming the state. But is these transformations necessary for Russia? Is this whole turnaround, a radical restructuring of the country, necessary - this is the thought that runs through the entire story. Denying the expediency of sharp changes in the development of the country, Tolstoy in 1917 could not answer this question positively and could not show the pattern of Peter the Great's transformations. Moreover, throughout the course of his story and in the author’s digressions, he asserted the futility of Peter’s measures, the impossibility of sharply turning around the slowly moving course of history, independent of human will. Therefore, the country did not become what Tsar Peter wanted it to be: “...Russia did not enter the feast of the great powers, smart and strong. And pulled up by his stripes, bloodied and maddened with horror and despair, she appeared to her new relatives in a pitiful and unequal form - a slave.” According to the author, the entire turnaround that took place in Russia was caused by Peter’s personal will alone. The entire Russian land, all classes, all estates were against Peter’s reforms; he alone rebelled against the entire country: “...sitting in wastelands and swamps, with his terrible will he strengthened the state, rebuilt the land.” Tolstoy gloomily, tragically depicts the contradictions of the era, shows cruelty, harsh methods of implementing reforms. Tolstoy’s interpretation of the image of Peter is close to the interpretation of the Slavophiles and symbolists, who saw in Peter the destroyer of national foundations, the familiar, centuries-old way of Russian life. He is presented in the story as a cruel, proud man; there is even something mystical in the description of Peter’s black eyes, “as if burning with madness,” his soul is “greedy, dashing, hungry.” He is lonely and scary. Tolstoy deliberately reduces the image of Peter. 2Alpatov A.V. The work of A.N. Tolstoy. M: Uchpedgiz, 1956. P. 120; Andreev Yu. A. Once again about “Peter the Great” // Russian literature, 1958, No. 2. P. 123.
A certain creative concept of the author finds expression in artistic form. A comparison of excerpts from the story “The Day of Peter” and the novel “Peter the Great,” dedicated to the depiction of St. Petersburg under construction, makes it possible to verify this. Let’s analyze the excerpts and try to understand what is common in the depiction of the construction of St. Petersburg in the story and the novel, how the descriptions differ, how it manifests itself in them the author's position.
"Peter's Day"
A damp wind drove a strong fog from the sea... blew away rotten straw from huts and cages, howled in the cold chimneys... many houses were empty at that time, because the people were dying to the last degree from ulcers, fogs and hunger. Life was rough and cheerless in St. Petersburg. The swollen river beat into the log embankments; ...snow and slanting rain splashed whole lakes on the squares and streets... In the black fire of the Gostiny Dvor that burned out last Thursday... four gallows stuck out... In the mud, in the yellow fog... new barns, long barracks appeared every day , hospitals, private houses of resettled boyars. The royal city was built on the edge of the earth, in the swamps, right next to the land. Who needed him, for what kind of new torment it was necessary to sweat and blood and die in thousands - the people did not know. (pp. 81-82).
"Peter the First"
Through bloody efforts, the passage from Ladoga to the open sea was opened. Countless obovs, crowds of workers and convicts came from the east... Huts and dugouts stood on the shore, fires were smoking, axes were knocking, saws were screeching. Here, to the ends of the earth, working people walked and walked without returning.... The open sea was just a stone's throw away from here. The wind covered it with cheerful ripples... There was not enough bread. There was no supply from the devastated Ingria, where the plague began... Peter wrote to the prince-caesar, asking him to send more people - “they are very sick here, and many have died” (end of the second volume)... A desired, beloved place was here. It’s good, of course, on the Azov Sea, whitish and warm, obtained with great difficulty, it’s good on the White Sea:..., but they are not equal to the Baltic Sea - a wide road to wonderful cities, to rich countries... Here the heart beats in a special way, and thoughts open their wings, and their strength doubles... The wind tears the flag on the fortress bastion, piles stick out from the muddy banks, people walk everywhere in their labors and worries, and the city already stands like a city, not yet great, but already in full ordinariness. The considered excerpts from the story “The Day of Peter” and the novel “Peter the First” are devoted to one topic - the construction of St. Petersburg. Both in the story and in the novel, Tolstoy depicts the hard labor of the people, poverty, hunger, countless diseases that decimated the working people who were building a city on the edge of the earth. Nevertheless, the impression from the two passages is different. In the story “The Day of Peter”, Tolstoy sought to show Peter the Great as a willful landowner who wants to change life home country. “Yes, that’s it,” he writes below, “did Tsar Peter want the good of Russia? What was Russia to him, the tsar, the owner, inflamed with annoyance and jealousy: how is it that his yard and cattle, farm laborers and the entire household are worse, more stupid than the neighbor’s?” 3. And the city of Petersburg is a “royal” city, created at his whim, a city not needed by Russia - this is Tolstoy’s thought, which finds its expression in the selection of certain vocabulary, creating a gloomy picture of St. Petersburg under construction. The tone of passages from the novel “Peter the Great” is life-affirming, optimistic. Showing the harsh living conditions of workers, many of whom “died” from hard labor and hunger, revealing social contradictions Peter's era, Tolstoy, with the entire tone of the narrative, emphasizes the historical need for the construction of the city of St. Petersburg, from which the Baltic Sea is “at your fingertips.” This place is desirable, beloved, because it opens up wide opportunities for Russia to trade with the West, the road to “wonderful cities, rich countries.” The negative attitude towards Peter and his transformative activities was connected, as rightly so; say the researchers, with rejection and misunderstanding. A. N. Tolstoy in the 1917 October Revolution. One of the best works of Soviet literature on a historical theme was the “excellent,” according to A. M. Gorky, A. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great.” The beginning of work on this novel coincides with as is known, with events of great significance historical meaning in the life of our country. 1929 is the year of the great turning point. A decisive offensive is being launched against the capitalist elements of town and countryside. In the 1930s, new cities, factories, and power plants were built on once empty places. The appearance of the village is changing. The powerful labor upsurge in the country, the pathos of the socialist restructuring of town and countryside, and the flourishing of culture could not but influence Tolstoy4. It was during these years that Tolstoy again turned to the depiction of the Peter the Great era. He feels the roll call of the distant Peter’s time, “when the old world cracks and collapses,” with our time, feels a certain consonance between these two eras, which he writes about in one of his notes: “...despite the difference in goals, the era of Peter and our era resonates precisely with some riot of forces, explosions of human energy and will aimed at liberation from foreign dependence.” The main focus of the work on the novel was the study of the works of the classics of Marxism, the assessment in these works of the activities of Peter and his era. Peter ceased to be for the artist “a mystery in the historical fog.” Marxism, as the artist himself testified, enriched his art, Marxist knowledge of history gave him “purposefulness and method in reading the book of life.” Marxist-Leninist historical science, socialist reality, which illuminated the past in a new way, helped the writer understand the pattern and historical inevitability of the abrupt breakdown of the old way of Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, the progressive nature of Peter’s reforms and their class limitations. “Work on “Peter,” Tolstoy himself wrote, “is, first of all, an entry into history through modernity, perceived Marxistically. First of all, processing your artistic feeling. The result is that history began to reveal untapped riches. Under the superimposed grid of Marxist analysis 3Andreev Yu. A. Once again about “Peter the Great” // Russian literature, 1958, No. 2. P. 109,121.4 Baranov V. I. From creative history A. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great” // Philological Sciences, 1983, No. 1. P. 4. history came to life in all its living diversity, in all the dialectical laws of the class struggle.”
CONCLUSION
A. Tolstoy’s thoughts turned especially persistently to the knowledge and revelation of the great historical destinies of our homeland. The best and most sincere pages of his works are devoted to the theme of the homeland and the revolution, the depiction of the heroic struggle of the Russian people for their future, the revelation of the remarkable properties of the Russian national character, the process of its formation. The writer saw the origins of the formation of the character of our people in its distant historical past. He understood at the same time how immeasurably our people had grown and transformed, enriched by experience socialist revolution. He wrote with admiration about Soviet people, who amazed the whole world with their heroism, the strength of resistance discovered in the context of the recent struggle against fascism. Speaking with vivid journalistic articles, A. Tolstoy found the most ardent and heartfelt words to express his feelings of love for his homeland and devotion to it. The patriotic writer A. Tolstoy was proud of Russian literature, which had won worldwide fame. He loved Russian folklore and admired the beautiful and expressive language created by our people. In his very work on the word, A. Tolstoy discovered an amazing ability to deeply penetrate into the riches of Russian folk speech. A. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great” was called by A. M. Gorky “the first real one in our literature.” historical novel", "a book for a long time." Gorky called this book a real historical novel, what significance does Marxist-Leninist historical science have for a writer reproducing the events of a bygone era, how does it help Soviet artist figure it out driving forces historical process, in the contradictions of the depicted era. Reflecting one of the most interesting eras in the development of Russia - the era of the radical breakdown of patriarchal Russia and the struggle of the Russian people for their independence, A. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great” will always attract readers with its patriotism, extraordinary freshness and high artistic skill. This novel has great educational significance, because it introduces us to the life of Russia at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, depicts the struggle of a new, young Russia, striving for progress, with an old, patriarchal Russia, clinging to the old, and asserts the invincibility of the new. “Peter the Great” is a huge historical canvas, a broad picture of morals, but above all, according to A.S. Serafimovich, it is a book about Russian character. Tolstoy’s novel is an outstanding work of art, and this obliges us to reveal its aesthetic value, to show the writer’s high skill in depicting vivid pictures of the life and customs of the era of Peter the Great, in creating living images, in the ability to reproduce the originality and color of the language of the early 18th century. Studying the “juicy, musical and at the same time simple” language of the novel will help develop artistic taste, feel how “great and powerful” the Russian language is. The path of working on the novel “Peter the Great”, as with every a work of art, -from emotional perception of it to in-depth critical analysis works, comprehending it in everything artistic originality, in the unity of content and form.
Links to sources1. Petrov S. M. Russian Soviet historical novel. M: Sovremennik, 1980. P. 24. 2. Tolstoy A.N. Brief autobiography And Tolstoy A.N. Knowledge of happiness. M: Young Guard, 1981. P. 23. 3. Pautkin A.I. Soviet historical novel. M: Znanie, 1970. P. 19 20. 4. Perkhin V.V. The artistic prose of A.N. Tolstoy in the assessment of pre-revolutionary and Soviet criticism // The artistic world of A.N. Tolstoy. Articles. Messages /V. Skobelev/Kuibyshev: Book. Publishing house, 1983. P. 126. 5. Alpatov A.V. Two novels about Peter I (1933), Peter I for a teenage reader (1933), An image as if carved on copper (1934) cit. by Rozhdestvenskaya I. S., Khodyuk A. G. A. N. Tolstoy. Seminary. L: Uchpedgiz, 1962. P. 3542. 6. Veksler I. I. Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy: life and creative path. M: Soviet writer, 1948. P. 337.
In Russian language and literature.
1. Depiction of the Peter the Great era in the novel.
2. Peter I as a historical figure of a new type.
3. Genre originality novel.
One of the most important things in his life, A.N. Tolstoy considered writing the novel “Peter the Great,” which he worked on from 1929 to 1945. But interest in the era of Peter the Great arose much earlier, as evidenced by the story “The Day of Peter,” written in 1917. Peter the Great, according to A.N. Tolstoy, was for him “philosophy,.. religion,.. revelation in everything that concerns Russia.”
A novel was conceived, consisting of 5 parts, telling about the fate of Peter and Petrine reforms, starting from his youth and the first years of his reign, to the founding and construction of St. Petersburg, but only three parts were written. The novel ends with the episode of the capture of Narva. Many fateful milestones in Peter's path and his deeds remained outside the scope of the novel. But the written chapters also form a multifaceted narrative. The action of the novel takes place in the capital and beyond, in Russia and Europe. Numerous crowd scenes: on the streets of Moscow, during military campaigns, in the royal chambers and at the courts of European monarchs - vividly convey the unique flavor of the era. The author uses little-studied historical documents such as “torture records” of the early 18th century, ancient judicial acts, which made it possible to enhance authenticity and recreate a bright and expressive Russian language that corresponds to the era described and at the same time is not overcomplicated by archaisms and excessive stylization.
The breadth of the panorama is enhanced by the abundance of characters, both main and secondary (there are about five hundred of them in the novel). But even a character who appears in one episode is described so richly and colorfully that he is not forgotten. This is especially true for national characters, who embody the inexhaustible strength and creative spirit of the nation. This is the blacksmith Kondraty Vorobyov, who did not set his sights on the tsar’s promises of quick enrichment and remained in his home in Valdai, continuing to amaze everyone with the wonderful ringing of the bells he cast, the flexibility of swords and the strength of cart axles. This is the two-meter handsome Mishka Bludov, a soldier awarded for the capture of Marieburg: “He loves horses, and horses love him, there are no such cheerful horses as in the sixth squadron in the entire army.” This is the rebel Fedka Wash Yourself with Mud, and the gunsmith Ivan Demidov, and many others. This multi-population of the novel does not interfere with the clear presentation of its complex plot system. It distinguishes three plot and thematic lines: the theme of Peter renewing and strengthening the Russian State, the theme of colossal class and moral shifts in Russian society, the theme of people's Russia. A.N. Tolstoy follows the outline of history, recreating the main events of both Russian and European life at the turn of the 17th – 18th centuries (streltsy riots, the conquest of Azov, the construction of the Russian fleet, the war with the Swedes, the capture of Narva). But “Peter the Great” is not only a historical and artistic, but also a socio-psychological novel, in which the narrative easily moves from the specific to the general and from everyday scenes to battle.
The focus is on A.N. Tolstoy - the image of Peter 1 who, according to the writer himself, for a long time remained for him “a mystery in the historical fog.” The formation of the character of one of the most striking and controversial personalities of Russian history is shown, and the main attention is directed to the essence of the contradictions of his character. At the beginning of the novel, Peter is still a teenager interested in war games; “Monomakh’s hat,” figuratively speaking, is still too big for him. Gradually, the lanky and angular young man grows into a statesman, diplomat, commander, builder, and artisan who mastered fourteen crafts. The psychological instability of his character is also shown, manifested in extremes: from unbridled joy to unbridled anger. As the plot develops and the king grows up, experience, maturity, and confidence come to him. Peter's character is manifested not only in his public and state activities, but also in his personal life, where his behavior was also characterized by imbalance and eccentricity (relationships with his first wife, Tsarina Natalia, love affair with Anna Monet, rise of the housekeeper of his colleague Alexander Menshikov, Marta Skavronskaya – future Empress Catherine I). The novel ends with the scene of the capture of Narva, and in this scene Peter is a majestic monarch, inspired by a high state goal, stern but fair, stopping the looting in the defeated city.
Roman A.N. Tolstoy's "Peter the Great" had a huge influence on the development of historical prose in Russian literature both in the 30s of the 20th century and in subsequent periods.
Alexey Tolstoy in the novel “Peter the Great” paid tribute to the image of Peter the Great, creating novel of the same name. Having accepted the revolutionary events, Tolstoy chose for a better understanding of them the most accurate analogy in Russian history - with the era of Peter.
Works historical genre, especially large forms, are distinguished by the presence of a pronounced artistic means the author's idea of the laws of history, its driving forces and conflicts.
In contrast to the novels of the 1920-1930s, which depicted popular uprisings and their leaders (“Razin Stepan” and “Walking People” by A. Chapygin, “Salavat Yulaev”
S. Zlobina, “The Tale of Bolotnikov” by G. Storm, etc.). A. Tolstoy placed at the center of the work the figure of the king, a figure of historical significance. In Peter, the writer first of all showed his transformative genius, his understanding of the need for fundamental changes in the life of the country (“In Russia, everything needs to be broken - everything is new”).
The author no longer doubts the historical prospects of reforms. The meaning of the Peter the Great era in A. Tolstoy’s novel is a breakthrough from the past to the future, from isolation and patriarchy to the number of the leading powers of the world, a time of sharp collision between the old and the new. In this Tolstoy saw a consonance between the “tragic and creative” era of Peter and the revolutionary history of Russia.
If the traditional historical novel is characterized by a focus on
depicting the past, A. Tolstoy sought to recreate the connection of times, to reveal the common features of critical historical eras. This approach has become a fundamentally new phenomenon for historical prose.
"Personality formation in historical era"- this is how A. Tolstoy defined it main principle Images. The author not only recreates the biography of Peter, he seeks to show, on the one hand, how the era influenced the formation of the hero’s personality, and on the other, what was the impact of Peter’s
transformations on the fate of the country.
All other problems of the novel are also connected with the solution of this main problem: the question of the objective necessity and significance of Peter’s transformations; depiction of an acute struggle between the new and the old; “identifying the driving forces of the era”, the role of the individual and the people in history.
The concept of the work determined the features of the composition and plot.
The work is distinguished by its epic scope in depicting the life of the country at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. The plot is based on real events of a short period, but rich in content, from 1682 to 1704.
The first book of the novel (1930) represents the background to Peter's reforms. This is the period of Peter’s childhood and youth, cruel life lessons, studying with foreigners, the beginning of the creation of a fleet, military “embarrassment,” the suppression of the Streltsy rebellion.
The second book (1934) includes a description of the initial period Northern War And
ends with the construction of St. Petersburg.
The apogee of the depiction of Peter's state activities was supposed to be the third book, but the novel remained unfinished. In the published chapters of the third book (1943-1944), in accordance with the spirit of wartime when it was created, the main motive was the glorious victories of Russian weapons (the capture of Narva). The novel recreates a living, dynamic, multifaceted picture of the era.
The first chapter is a historical exposition depicting the life of pre-Petrine Russia. The negative aspects of patriarchy are emphasized here. Russian life: “poverty, servility, lack of wealth,” lack of movement (“the sour twilight of a hundred years”).
The general dissatisfaction with life is emphasized by the author’s digressions (beginning of chapter 2; chapter 5, subchapter 12; beginning of chapter 7). They formulated a general conclusion: “What kind of Russia is this, a sworn country—when will you move?”
Creating an image of Russia awaiting change, the author uses the cinematic technique of changing camera angles. Action that started in peasant hut Ivashki Brovkin, transferred to the estate of Vasily Volkov,
from there to Moscow, will linger more than once on the roads of Russia, will lead to the royal chambers, where at the bedside of the dying Fyodor Alekseevich it is decided who will be king.
The scene of the action is a tavern on Varvarka, where opinions are expressed ordinary people, the room of Princess Sophia, the square where the archers riot, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Pereslavl, Arkhangelsk, Don, Voronezh, Germany and Holland, Narva.
The multifaceted composition gave the author the opportunity to depict the life of all classes and groups of Russian society: from royal family, boyars, foreigners to merchants and military people, peasants, schismatics, convicts, fugitives. Along with real facts Fictional events and characters play an important role in the story and characters in the novel.
In this regard, we can especially note the closely related Peter - history the Brovkin family, the example of which shows specific changes in the lives of Russian people.
Life, morals, customs, the very spirit of a bygone era are recreated in the novel based on documents, historical works and other sources. The most important of them was the book by Professor N. Novombergsky “The Word and Deed of the Sovereign,” which contains acts of the Secret Chancery and the Preobrazhensky Order. In these “torture recordings” she “told, moaned, lied, screamed in pain and fear folk Rus'"(XIII, pp. 567-568).
The simple and precise spoken language of the 17th century formed the basis of the language of A. Tolstoy’s novel. This made it possible to give the work a historical flavor, liveliness and imagery, while making it accessible to the modern reader.
The language of the work reflects the spirit of Peter’s reforms, it combines folk words and expressions, archaisms, foreign borrowings. Researchers are unanimous in their opinion about Tolstoy’s novel as the pinnacle of the artist’s verbal and visual skills.
Image of Peter the Great.
The peculiarity of the portrayal of the hero is that the writer shows Peter not as an already established statesman, but traces the process of personality formation under the influence of historical circumstances.
The depicted events in the life of the country become milestones in Peter’s personal biography, stages of his growing up. Tolstoy does young hero witness
massacres of the Streltsy with his loved ones, and this memory will be echoed in the future by an irreconcilable conflict with his sister Sophia and the boyars in the struggle for power and brutal reprisals against the Streltsy.
A visit to the German settlement awakens Peter's interest in the European way of life. A trip to Arkhangelsk and the sight of foreign ships strengthens in Peter’s mind the idea of the need for transformation.
The author repeatedly uses the technique of paired episodes, showing rapid changes in the character of the hero (for example, two meetings of the Boyar Duma - before
Azov campaign (book 1, chapter 5, subchapter 20.) and after it (book 1, chapter 7, subchapter 1) - they emphasize: Peter is now “... a different person: angry, stubborn, businesslike.”
These contrasts reveal the energy and determination of the protagonist, his willingness to learn from the most different people, learning lessons from defeats, his sincere pain for the poverty and backwardness of the country, simplicity and lack of arrogance.
Alexei Tolstoy shows Peter as a complex and contradictory personality (for example, scenes of the procession in the Assumption Cathedral - book 1, chapter 4, subchapter 2; the end of book 1 - the suppression of the Streltsy rebellion; Peter at the Elector - book 1, chapter 7 , subch. 8; in the forge of Zhemov, chapter 10; book 2, chapter 3; Peter In the dugout - book 3, chapter 2, subch.
He, using Pushkin’s definition, “raised Russia on its hind legs with an iron hand.” Transformations are carried out through brutal exploitation, at the cost of thousands of lives; the country is breaking out of backwardness through mass executions, torture, and the forcible introduction of elements of European culture.
But the author balances the acute drama of the situation with attention to the image
the results of Peter’s case (you can compare the description of the life of peasants on Volkov’s estate during the reign of Sophia (book 1, chapter 4, subchapter 1) and on the Buinosov estate during the reign of Peter (book 2, chapter 1, subchapter 3) ; follow the changes in the life of Ivashka Brovkin).
Peter is shown through the eyes of different people: his mother, Sophia, boyars, comrades-in-arms: Menshikov, Brovkin, the German Lefort, ordinary people - the blacksmith Zhemov, the artist Golikov, peasants, builders, soldiers. This allows us to convey a polyphony of opinions about the main content of the image - the case of Peter.
The writer captured a phenomenon unique to the era depicted: a change in traditional social trajectories, the promotion of people not according to the nobility of their family, but according to their intelligence, efficiency, commitment to the new (Menshikov, Alyoshka Brovkin and his sister Sanka, Demidov, etc.).
Defining the relationship between the characters, the writer places them between two poles: supporters and opponents of Peter’s reforms. In relation to all characters, even minor ones, the principle of versatility of the image applies (for example, the image of the boyar Buinosov).
In revealing the psychology of the hero, Tolstoy widely uses the “internal gesture” technique. We are talking about the transfer of internal state through external manifestation. through movement, gesture. The writer was convinced that “you cannot paint a portrait of a hero on ten whole pages”, “the portrait of a hero must appear from the very movement, struggle, in clashes, in behavior”) (XIII, p. 499)3. That is why movement and its expression - the verb - are the basis for creating an image.
The people in the novel Peter the Great.
Peter In the novel by A.N. Tolstoy appears as the brightest embodiment of the Russian national character. Having placed the tsar-reformer at the center of the work, the writer devoted Special attention depicting the active role of the people in Peter's transformations. In the work one can constantly hear the people’s assessment of what is happening, and for the author this is the most important criterion historical justice of Peter's case. In crowd scenes, people are depicted not statically, but in a clash of contradictory moods. Tolstoy masterfully uses polylogue and identifies individual figures in the generalized image of the people.
In the second and third books, the author shows the growth of popular discontent, evidenced by the frequent mention of the name of the rebellious Stepan Razin. The schismatic movement is also interpreted by Tolstoy as one of the forms of protest against increased oppression in the era of Peter the Great.
Data embodies the conflict close-up images of Ovdokim, piebald Ivan and Fedka Wash yourself with Mud. The ending of the second book of the novel sounds symbolically: a gloomy, branded, shackled man “Fedka washed himself with Mud, throwing his hair on his sore wet forehead, beat and hit the piles with an oak sledgehammer...”. Here the bloody efforts to create a passage from Ladoga to the open sea are emphasized, and the threat posed by construction is emphasized new capital empires.
Talking about the life of a Russian person, A. Tolstoy emphasizes his hard work and talent (images of Kuzma Zhemov, Kondrat Vorobyov (book 2, chapter 5, subchapter 3); Palekh painter Andrei Golikov (book 2, chapter 5, subchapter 3; book 2, chapter 2, subch.
In the battles that Peter wages, such qualities of the Russian people as heroism and courage are clearly manifested. Thanks to the interaction of the images of Peter and the people, the author was able to show the turbulent, contradictory historical movement of Russia and reveal the fate of the nation at a turning point that determined the course of its history for many centuries.
The novel “Peter the Great” is Tolstoy’s pinnacle work, which has received recognition both in Russia and in the Russian diaspora. If not everyone accepted the historical concept of Peter the Great's era, then the highest mastery of depiction, living language, and inexhaustible humor made the novel classic work Russian literature.
War as a test of Russian character “During the days of the war, Alexei Tolstoy found himself at his post. His words encouraged, amused, and excited the fighters. Tolstoy did not go into silence, did not wait, did not refer to the alienation of the muses from the music of battle. Tolstoy spoke in October 1941, and Russia will not forget this,” wrote Ilya Ehrenburg.
The leading theme of Tolstoy’s work—the Russian character in its historical development—acquired particular relevance during the Great Patriotic War. As in the historical theme, the central image in the works of the war years became the image of the native land, watered with the blood of their ancestors, protected by “smart, clean, leisurely” Russian people, “protecting their dignity.” Characteristic for public consciousness and culture of the period of the Great Patriotic War is the appeal to heroic images national history and culture, the exploits of fathers and grandfathers contributed to the strengthening of national identity. The writer saw the task of literature as being “the voice of the heroic soul
people."
Analysis of the novel "Peter the Great"
5 (100%) 1 vote“To understand the secret of the Russian people,” wrote L.N. Tolstoy, “you need to know its past well and deeply: our history, its fundamental nodes...”
From here it becomes clear why it was the era of Peter the Great, a time of stormy and decisive transformations and changes in Russia, that could attract the creative attention of A.N. Tolstoy for so long. As is known, Alexey Tolstoy worked on the historical novel “Peter the Great” and on the preparation of its individual volumes for about two decades.
In the first book of the novel (1930), Peter as a transformer is shown to be closely connected with his time and environment. The writer reveals in him the bright talent of a great statesman, sees in his bold thought, perseverance and perseverance a reflection of the best features of the Russian national character. At the same time, the author truthfully shows what an unbearable burden the costs of reforms fell on the shoulders of the common people. The Tsar-Reformer appears to the reader as an unprepared, already established personality. The writer depicts his hero in dynamics, in development, in the process of his complex formation.
The first volume covers the Tsar's earliest childhood. For the first time, the reader sees Peter as a frightened child in Monomakh’s hat slid to one side, when, at the request of the rebellious archers, the queen shows him from the porch to the people. Here he is - a twelve-year-old teenager, “a boy with a muffled voice and unblinking owl eyes”, whom Aleksashka Menshikov, his future favorite, teaches the “trick” of threading a needle through his cheek... Then this is Peter, already spreading his wings, giving the first rebuff to his claims elder sister Sophia: during a solemn religious procession in the cathedral, he enters into an argument with her, a sharp dispute over the right to carry the icon.
Next, this is an awkward, lanky young man, with a barely visible mustache on his tanned face, who awkwardly and shyly tries to dance an overseas dance with Ankhen Mons on fun party at Lefort's in the German settlement. Then there is the young king, returning from a trip to Europe. With indomitable fury, he dealt with the rebellious archers in October 1698, participating in brutal executions himself.
The plot of the novel emphasizes that Peter's youth and youth were full of sharp, dramatic clashes and intense struggles for power. Peter gradually gains strength, accumulates experience, experiences the inevitable stage of first failures and defeats, and only then comes close to implementing the transformations he has planned.
In the second volume (1934), the reader sees Peter in the heat of his government endeavors - in the preparation of new laws and regulations, in measures to rearm the Russian army, in the construction of the fleet. Tolstoy shows him in an atmosphere of exciting work at the Voronezh shipyard, in the forge, where Peter himself participates in forging the anchor for the new forty-gun ship “Fortress”:
Near Narva we see Peter loading a cannon with calm efficiency; He shoots accurately, successfully hitting the wall of the Swedes' fortress tower.
By showing all this, A. Tolstoy completely avoided the idealization of the “carpenter king.” Already one meeting of Peter near Azov with the boyar Streshnev, whom the tsar cruelly “teaches” for his negligence in supplying the troops with food - one such scene excludes the possibility of reproach for the idealizing make-up of Peter.
From chapter to chapter, from one part to another, more and more new touches are revealed in the image of Peter. It is as if before our eyes he is turning into a mature statesman, carrying out his difficult political program with calm prudence.
In the third book (1945), when A. Tolstoy depicts Peter’s arrival in newly rebuilt St. Petersburg, or when Peter is shown in the context of the victorious assault on Narva, in the scene of the official surrender of the Swedes, he seems to grow on his head; it emphasizes the majestic posture, imperious calm, self-confidence of the ruler of one of the strongest European countries... The figure of Peter is given special relief and volume by the fact that next to him, or rather, around him, the writer gives a whole series of portraits of his contemporaries - the rulers of neighboring states, Peter's political enemies or his closest associates.
A. Tolstoy's novel is densely populated by people, each of whom has not only his own appearance, but also his own destiny. But they are all united by a progressive and steady movement forward and up the ladder of life. Tolstoy admires how Alexander Menshikov, who came from a humble background, became the first dignitary, right hand sovereign; how the village girl Sanka Brovkina turns into the noble noblewoman Volkova, and the indentured servant Ivashka Brovkin grows into a major merchant; how a modest icon painter from Palekh, Andryushka Golikov, goes to Italy itself to learn his craft.
A. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great” remained unfinished. The worsening illness and death of the writer (1945) interrupted the work. The last thing he managed to write was the sixth chapter of the third volume.
In the novel, the writer depicts a wide stream of historical life, a whole panorama of the country, the fate of not only individual heroes, a narrow circle of people, but also the entire people in their great movement. This determines a number of such essential aspects of the artistic structure of the entire work, such as the wide scale of the drawing; highlighting historical rather than fictional heroes; the presence of chronicle elements in the development of the plot; versatility of the composition, etc.
The content of the third book is the success of the transformations, the first tangible fruits of Peter's reforms. The strength of Peter's army is shown, the growing military power of Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, and at the same time the cultural upsurge in Russian society, the imperious penetration of a new, secular principle into the ascetic medieval way of old Russia is depicted. The third book of Peter the Great, created during the Great Patriotic War, especially vividly develops the theme of the glory of Russian weapons, the theme of heroism and exploits of Russian soldiers.
Behind all this there is one thing - the tsar’s cherished dream to make Russia a rich power and the Russian people happy. In the affirmation of this humanistic idea, Tolstoy found a solution to his doubts regarding the veracity of both the past and the present of his Motherland. Any, the most serious, bleeding problems, he believed, must retreat before the highest truth: “The goal of all efforts is man, the highest created and creative form of nature.”
Roman A.N. Tolstoy "Peter the First" - central work in revealing Petrovsky themes in the writer’s work. However, the object of the image in it becomes not only the personality of the famous Russian Tsar, but also an entire era of reforms and upheavals, a time when peasant Russia, which had hitherto followed its own special path, suddenly came into contact with the attributes European civilization. And this contact was both progressive and painful, for attempts to plant European image life sometimes came into deep contradictions with national traditions, did not take root well on Russian soil and, of course, gave rise to resistance.
The novel consists of three books. The narration is told on behalf of the author. In the work they act as fictional characters, and real historical figures. A huge role in organizing the development of the plot is played by crowd scenes, dialogues, descriptions of home, life and portraits of heroes.
A. Tolstoy emphasizes the natural riches of the Russian land: centuries-old pine trees, expanses of deep rivers, fluffy-tailed squirrels, caravans of birds. “The earth spread out before our eyes; there was no edge to it.”
In the traditions of I. Shmelev, A. Tolstoy in the novel depicts, first of all, Orthodox Rus'. This is evidenced in the very first scene of the work by the portrait of the episodic heroine: “The mother’s wrinkled face was illuminated by fire. Most terribly, the tear-stained eyes flashed from under the torn cloth,
Like an icon." This laconic description of a simple Russian woman, in fact, reveals the difficult fate of a person in the pre-Petrine era: constant material deprivation, the habit of everyday work and at the same time perseverance, spiritual depth, honed in torment and suffering.
From the description of the peasant way of life in the house of Ivan Brovkin A.N. Tolstoy moves on to the story of the nobleman Vasily Volkov, who also barely makes ends meet: he has to pay huge taxes to the monastery and quitrents and tribute to the royal treasury. In a conversation with neighbor Mikhaila Tyrtov, Volkov exclaims with pain: “All peoples live in wealth, in contentment, we are the only beggars.” Vasily remembers how he went to Moscow to Ku-kui-Sloboda, where the Germans live. Everything there is clean and tidy, people are friendly. And they live richer than all of Moscow.
The reasons for the miserable existence of Russia A.N. Tolstoy sees in mismanagement, sometimes reaching the point of elementary greed, and in theft, and in riots on the roads, when the prince's son maintains a gang of robbers who rob merchants on the road. The Russian mentality seemed especially absurd to foreigners. They were surprised that at the royal court there were no balls and gallant fun, no subtle entertainment with music. Russian people work little. There is almost no time left for this: they defended it three times a day church services, ate four hearty meals, and also slept during the day for health. However, A.N. Tolstoy shows that European manners are increasingly entering the lives of representatives of the royal court. The house of Prince Golitsyn is guarded by the Swiss. He himself shaves his beard, wears a French suit, and reads Latin books. The house has French and Italian exquisite furniture. Golitsyn is thinking about liberating the peasantry and creating academies. However, even his interlocutor, Mr. de Neuville, does not believe that this entire utopian program can be implemented in Russia. In a conversation with Sophia, the idea is heard that the clergy who support patriarchal traditions will not be happy with European manners.
Notable in the novel is the image of medieval Moscow with its ancient toponymy (Iverskaya, St. Basil the Blessed, Spassky Gate, Varvarka, All Saints Bridge). In the Kalashny row of Gostiny Dvor they sell hot pies and sbiten with honey. In Moscow, like nowhere else in Russia, the property gap between the highest nobility and the people is acutely felt: the brocade fur coat of Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn can buy half of Moscow.
A.N. writes with a high degree of detail. Tolstoy about the fierce struggle for the royal throne waged by Sophia and her brother Peter. But a woman, even in political affairs, remains a woman: for one wrinkle on the face of her beloved Prince Golitsyn, Sophia is ready to burn half of Moscow. In an indomitable desire to wrest power from Peter’s hands at any cost, she is ready to destroy him. In the scene when Sofya and Natalya Kirillovna listen to the advice of Patriarch Jokim on how to pacify the archers, A.N. Tolstoy compares Sophia to a snake.
By the will of fate, Peter came to the Russian throne ahead of schedule. He was still a boy. The first description of Peter in the novel eloquently testifies to this: “Monomakh’s hat slid down over his ear, revealing his black cropped hair. Round-cheeked and blunt-nosed, he craned his neck. The eyes are round, like those of a mouse. The small mouth is clenched in fear.” This is how the cruel and powerful Russian Tsar Peter first appeared before his subjects. He remembered the Streltsy riots for the rest of his life.
Growing up, Tsar Peter increasingly visited the Kukuevskaya settlement: he became interested in the life of the Germans, gradually adopting their manners. A.N. Tolstoy tells in detail how the tsar puts on a European costume for the first time, how he dances with Frau Schimelpfe-nigg and Anchen kontrdans. Then Peter invites German teachers to study mathematics and fortification.
The young Tsar falls in love with a pretty German woman. But even the monarch in Russia cannot step over the established foundations. Peter must marry the one his mother chose for him.
The scene of the king's wedding is notable in the novel. In this whole ceremony, it is only important to observe the ritual. The fact that young people have no feelings for each other does not bother anyone. The hay girls dress the bride for a long time with songs. The jewelry was choking Evdokia’s throat, pulling her ears back, and her hair was tied so tightly that the bride could not blink her eyes.” All these details emphasize the pompous unnaturalness of this situation. The groom's gifts, presented to the bride according to custom, are symbolic and personal: sweets, jewelry, a chest with handicrafts and a rod. It was assumed that after the wedding the wife became completely dependent on her husband, and for disobedience she could be beaten with a whip.
During the wedding itself, everyone behaves unnaturally: they are afraid of making a mistake. Evdokia's ribs are trembling with fear. The bride's relatives are afraid to even eat, so as not to show that they are hungry, so as not to ruin themselves in the eyes of the king. During the wedding, Peter only thinks about the fact that he could not say goodbye to Ankhen.
Peter submitted to his mother's will, but this was one of the last concessions to ancient customs. When the newlyweds were escorted to the bedchamber, Peter turned sharply to the guests. “They lost their laughter when they saw his eyes and backed away...” writes A.N. Tolstoy, showing with this scene the depth of the sovereign’s anger, who does not want to make a mockery of his life.
The further plot of the novel paints an image of the active Peter. He builds ships, studies new technologies. Sitting on the throne, shouting, stamping your feet - this is not how Peter imagines his life. Having matured, he managed to get a real state power in the country. A.N. Tolstoy shows how the Russian Tsar “spits on royal greatness for the sake of curiosity about trade and science...”. Peter understands well that Russia needs sea trade routes. For their sake, he, relying on the Cossacks, takes Azov by siege at the cost of enormous human sacrifices after unsuccessful assaults.
In parallel with the artistic biography of Peter A.N. Tolstoy tells in the novel about the fate of his devoted assistants - Aleksashka Menshikov and Aleshka Brovkin. For the first time, the reader sees them on the pages of the novel as boys with difficult, but typical destinies for people of that time. Gradually, these heroes begin to fight for their own happiness and dignity and become Peter’s closest associates.
Seeing the contempt of European captains for their homemade fleet, the tsar resorted to “Asian cunning,” as A.N. writes. Tolstoy, all the time emphasizing that Peter’s work
This is Russia's path from Asia to Europe. The Russian Tsar asks foreigners to help Russia overcome squalor.
The author of the novel openly writes about the difficulties that await Peter in his difficult task. Huge distances and the lack of high-speed communications mean that while the tsar is traveling around Europe, he does not have reliable information about what is happening in Russia. There are also all sorts of ridiculous rumors about him.
Russian economic ruin in the novel is contrasted with German neatness. Remembering Moscow in Germany, Peter, out of frustration, wants to burn it down. He is planning to build new town- a true paradise.
Peter’s first assistant in bringing Russia closer to Europe is Franz Lefort, who understands his wishes perfectly. This hero in the novel has an extraordinary mind, European polish, hard work, a good-natured and cheerful disposition. “We thought with one mind,” Peter will say about Lefort, saying goodbye to his dead friend. However, not everyone was happy about Peter’s friendship and cooperation with Lefort. Some called him a "damned foreigner."
The image of ignorant Russia is created by dozens of scenes and episodes of the novel, describing torture, witchcraft, untidiness, and cruel executions. The Russian Tsar suppresses any resistance with barbaric cruelty. A.N. Tolstoy eloquently shows this in the scene of the massacre of Tsykler, in the description of the Streltsy execution.
Changes in Russian life A.N. Tolstoy describes, using the example of the family of Roman Borisovich Buinosov, as well as the fate of Sanka Brovkina, who suddenly turned from a peasant girl into a noble lady, even at the same time learning to read. Peter shaved the boyars' beards, forced the Russian nobility to wear German clothes and drink coffee in the morning. But all these external changes did not give a qualitatively new level of economic management in the country. True, Ivan Brovkin created a linen factory, which gives a good profit, and Vasily Volkov is under the tsar, building the Russian fleet.
The main idea of the novel is the desire to show the progressive nature of Peter's reforms. The author believes in the bright future of his country and wishes it great power and economic prosperity.