In world literature in general, and in Russian literature especially, the problem of the relationship between man and the world around him occupies great place. Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russians thought about this writers XIX century. The fruits of these reflections were reflected in many stable verbal formulas. Interest in this topic intensified noticeably at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, during a turning point for Russia. In the spirit of humanistic traditions inherited from the past, such realist writers as I. Bunin, A. Kuprin, V. Korolenko consider this issue, using all artistic media, which became a turn-of-the-century achievement. The problem of man and the surrounding world can be considered using the example of the works of A. Kuprin.
The work of this writer was for a long time, as it were, in the shadows, overshadowed by the bright representatives of his contemporary prose. Today, the works of A. Kuprin are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity, and democracy in the noblest sense of the word. The world of A. Kuprin’s heroes is motley and diverse. He himself lived a bright life, filled with rich impressions - he was a military man, a clerk, a land surveyor, and an actor in a traveling circus troupe. A. Kuprin said many times that he does not understand writers who do not find anything more interesting than themselves in nature and people. The writer is very interested in human destinies, while the heroes of his works are often not happy, successful people, satisfied with themselves and life, but rather the opposite. But A. Kuprin treats his outwardly unsightly and unlucky heroes with that warmth of humanity that has always distinguished Russian writers. In the characters of the stories “White Poodle”, “Taper”, “Gambrinus” and many others, the traits of “ little man“However, the writer does not simply reproduce this image, but reinterprets it anew. This line is typical for famous story Kuprin “Garnet Bracelet”, written in 1911. The plot is based on a real event - the love of telegraph official Zheltkov for the wife of an important rank, member of the State Council Lyubimov. Lyubimova’s son, the author of famous memoirs Lev Lyubimov, recalls this story. In life, everything ended differently than in A. Kuprin’s story - the official stopped writing letters, nothing is known about him. The Lyubimov family recalled this incident as strange and curious. Under the writer's pen he appears as a sad and tragic story the life of a little man who was elevated and destroyed by love.
The story itself unusual love, the story of the garnet bracelet is told in such a way that we see it through her eyes different people. Unlike Zheltkov, who is depicted in a dotted manner, the main character of “The Duel” is revealed in psychological detail and convincingly. One can argue about who Lieutenant Romashov is - this image is ambiguous. The features of a small person can be discerned in him - he is unprepossessing in appearance, sometimes even funny. At the beginning of the story, he lives a dream, but his dream itself is somewhat wretched - he sees himself as “a learned officer of the General Staff, showing enormous promise,” imagines himself either as a brilliant military man who successfully suppresses a workers’ revolt, or as a military spy in Germany, then a hero who leads an entire army (here one can guess the parodicly reimagined pages of the dreams of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky from “War and Peace” - dreams of “his Toulon”).
However, life makes its own adjustments to his dreams: an error during the examination made them unrealistic, but it also played a huge and beneficial role - the hero’s moral cleansing through suffering, his inner insight, occurs. He becomes able to sympathize with his neighbor, to feel someone else’s grief as if it were his own. Having met the unfortunate, downtrodden soldier Khlebnikov, he addresses him with biblical words: “My brother.” In Romashov, the features of “ extra person", his moral sense comes into conflict with the life around him. This is especially clearly manifested in the sphere of personal feelings, in his love for Shurochka Nikolaeva. Romashov's love, pure and touching, confronts him with the cruelty and inhumanity of people. The image of Shurochka Nikolaeva, a woman who condemns the man she loves to death for the sake of her husband’s career, can be called A. Kuprin’s discovery, his prophecy. Romashov agrees to a duel, the result of which is almost clear to him, decided not only through the ability to love-admiration, selfless and sacrificial love, like Zheltkov, but also through the consciousness of his own uselessness and hopelessness.
The catastrophe of the dream occurs, and not only from the consciousness of its impossibility, but also from the understanding of its pettiness and vanity. The story ends with the death of the main character. But there is no hopelessness in the author’s view of life - the very possibility of inspiration, insight, moral purification leaves a feeling of enlightenment in the reader’s soul. The psychological authenticity of Romashov’s image and the whole picture of Russian life at the beginning of the 20th century make the work consonant with the modern reader. The story presents only one of the options for the tragic collision of an individual with the world around him, his insight and death, but not a meaningless death, but one that contains an element of purification and high meaning.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is an outstanding Russian writer, included in classical literature with your own theme. His unique voice cannot be confused with any other. Kuprin loves life in all its manifestations, he admires a person’s ability to love....
The theme of the army and the lawlessness reigning in it brings together artists of such different scales of talent and views as Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Their works “After the Ball” and “The Duel” were written almost simultaneously: in 1903 and 1905...
And the heart burns and loves again - because it cannot help but love. A. S. Pushkin The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is closely connected with the traditions of Russian realism. In his work, the writer relied on the achievements of his three idols: Pushkin, Lev...
“The love of a poor girl from a vineyard and a great king will never pass or be forgotten, because love is strong as death, because every woman who loves is a queen, because love is beautiful.” A.I. Kuprin Humanist and truth-seeker,...
Kuprin always loved Russia passionately and tenderly. This feeling is reflected in his work. The main themes of the realist writer’s work are ordinary working people, Balaklava fishermen who are magnificent in work and revelry, philosophizing lieutenants and tortured privates, the magnificent nature of Russia with its inhabitants, the circus and children, as well as a number of works in which there is a place for the mystical and even fantastic .
Experiences and accumulated life experience Kuprin conveys the knowledge he received in military educational institutions and in the service in his works through the image of a “little” man oppressed by an environment that is offensively alien and hostile to him. Subject oppression and insult of the “little” person transmitted
in the story “The Duel” (1905), the story “Inquiry” (1894), as well as in early work Kuprin - the story “At the Turning Point” (“Cadets”, 1900). In the story “At the Turning Point” “ Kuprin captured in detail the morals crippling a child’s soul, the inertia of the authorities, the “universal cult of the fist”, which gave the weaker to be torn to pieces by the stronger, and finally, the desperate longing for family
and home". This same deep sympathy for to the common man Kuprin’s early stories from army life are imbued (“Inquiry”
and “Army Warrant Officer”), as well as stories exposing bribe-taking officials and scoundrels (“The Secret Audit” and “The Petitioner”).
Work at the factories of the Donetsk basin in 1896 served as material for a series of essays on the situation of workers, which were later transformed into Kuprin’s first major work - the story “Molochov”. The theme of these stories and stories was ordinary working people.
Kuprin continues to develop the theme of ordinary, ordinary people, workers different professions
. One more famous group works dedicated to ordinary people, - essays “Listrigons”. The essays develop the theme of the lives of Balaklava fishermen, glorify their hard work,
as well as healthy and courageous people living a harsh, but rich in feelings life. This theme began to develop in the essays “The Lord’s Fish”, “Silence” and “Mackerel” (published under the general title “Balaklava” in 1908), as well as in subsequent essays: “Theft”
and "Beluga", released under common name"Listrigons". Among the works written far from the homeland, Kuprin’s story “Svetlana” (1934) should be noted.
In his story “The Pit” Kuprin opens a very unusual theme for the literature of that time, the theme women who find themselves at the bottom of their lives. Kuprin describes images of prostitutes, creating lively and beautiful characters. The author treats his characters with deep sympathy, causing regret and deep compassion. Unfortunately, the story “The Pit” did not become an outstanding phenomenon in Russian literature. It's related
with the fact that " the naturalistic descriptiveness that arose in “The Pit” was in conflict with those aesthetic principles, which were embodied in a number of his previous works, - with faith in man,
with the glorification of beauty, hatred of social forces that destroy beauty". Kuprin’s intentions were not to admire the “bottom,” however, when reading the story, one gets the feeling that the author sometimes admires the paintings he creates. In his story, Kuprin showed a man already mutilated by society, who had sunk to the bottom of bourgeois society, and not the process of mutilation human personality. Such a controversial work for the author himself, however, did not deviate from his main theme, the theme of the “little” man, while adding the theme of bourgeois society.
Subject bourgeois society, or rather, Kuprin’s criticism of the bourgeois intelligentsia is presented in the stories “Murderer”, “Resentment”, “Delusion” and the fairy tale “Mechanical Justice”. These works are connected by a common idea of protest against violence against humans.
Acting Kuprina contributed to the writing of works about the circus, about simple and noble people– wrestlers, clowns, trainers, acrobats. Several short stories are devoted to this topic.
and Kuprin’s stories: “Olga Sur” (1929), “Bad Pun” (1929), “Blondel” (1933), “White Poodle”.
One of the common themes in the works of A. I. Kuprin is nature theme, love and respect for the world around us. Kuprin, as a realist writer, quite fully and colorfully describes the landscapes of his beloved homeland
and other places. In the descriptions of nature one can feel deep sympathy and love for these places, as well as respect for its inhabitants. Environment theme
in Kuprin’s work is present in many of his works: somewhere it is shown in usual descriptions locality, somewhere helps to understand the plot of the work and state of mind heroes, and somewhere is the key theme of the work. Among Kuprin's stories there are several about the world around us, where the heroes are the most ordinary animals, which turn into heroes on the pages of the work. In Kuprin’s works, among the stories telling about animals, the stories “White Poodle”, “Barbos and Zhulka”, “Emerald”, “Ralph”, “Yu-Yu”, “Elephant” stood out. These stories were written by the author in different years, however, they are united by a common idea - to show readers the capabilities and abilities of animals, their advantages
and quality, as well as to convince future writers to pay attention to the natural world and its representatives.
Speaking about the theme of nature, we should not forget that in his works Kuprin wrote a lot about children and for children. Kuprin loved children very much.
He treated them in a friendly manner and believed that they should not be treated frivolously, in a buffoonish manner. Kuprin wrote many works for children,
These include works of the legend-fairy tale genre (“Blue Star”), as well as several works about animals.
The theme became no less important in Kuprin’s work love
and romantic feelings. This theme is filled with lines such
famous works, like the story “Olesya”, “Garnet Bracelet”
and the story “The Wheel of Time,” written in Marseille, as well as the early story “A Strange Case” and many other works.
The story “Olesya” touches on the topic ordinary working people,
topic aspirations for nature, and also in the plot of the story there is mysticism. The theme of love in the story “Olesya” is conveyed through the romance of love
and dramatic feeling.
« Love to the point of self-denial and even self-destruction, readiness to die in the name of the woman you love..."- exactly like this
understanding reveals the theme of love in early story Kuprina
"A Strange Case" (1895), and later in " Garnet bracelet" K. Paustovsky wrote about the theme of love in the story “Garnet Bracelet”:
“... love exists as an unexpected gift - poetic,
illuminating life, among everyday life, among sober reality
and established life” .
Subject wars is most fully represented in Kuprin's works
in the story "Cantaloupes". In a story, simple and “plotless”,
The author, through the character of the hero, exposes the hypocrite, “ ... ominously colors the figures of bourgeois money-grubbers, for whom the people's grief is a source of new profits» .
In his works, Kuprin considered theme of war not only
from the side of oppression and profit-making by bourgeois money-grubbers.
In his works about the war, the writer talks about the life of ordinary Russian people, who had the responsibility to fulfill their duty to their homeland. When creating images of heroes, Kuprin endows them with warmth and good-natured humor. A military pilot became such a hero
in the story "Sashka and Yashka".
During the years of exile, Kuprin yearns for his homeland, which he writes about in his essay “Motherland”. The theme of longing for Russia is clearly expressed in Kuprin’s major work - the story “Zhaneta”. In his autobiography “Junker,” Kuprin additionally opens up the theme of Moscow, Moscow “ forty forty» .
In addition to his usual, already established topics, Kuprin tries himself
in such genres as fantasy novella, legend-fairy tale, religious legend and others. However, creating a certain fiction, changing images
and the surrounding world of the heroes of the works, Kuprin remains true to his principles of realism.
In his works of the fantastic genre, he only reveals his ability to combine the fantastic with the concrete in life. This skill is revealed in the fantastic story “The Star of Solomon.”
Kuprin’s works in the genre of legend-fairy tales are very interesting and entertaining. A little humorous, life-like and instructive, they found their readers among both children and adults. Especially witty and a cautionary tale became “Blue Star”, which in its motif resembles a fairy tale Andersen « Ugly duckling" The works “Four Beggars” and “Hero, Leander and the Shepherd” belong to this genre.
To genre religious legends Kuprin turns to the war years.
The works “Two Saints” and “The Garden of the Blessed Virgin” (1915) express deep respect and sympathy for to the common people, oppressed
and humiliated.
Kuprin is known in literature not only as writer, but also how journalist, publicist and even editor.
While still a young writer, in 1894 Kuprin submitted a petition
about his resignation and moves to Kyiv. The writer works in newspapers, writes stories, essays, notes. The result of this half-writing, half-reporting work were two collections: essays “Kyiv Types” (1896) and stories “Miniatures” (1897).
After 1902, Kuprin participated in the publication of the magazine “World of God” as an editor, and also published several of his works in it: “In the Circus”, “Swamp” (1902), “Measles” (1904), “From the Street” (1904 ), however, he soon lost interest in the editorial work that interfered with his creativity.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a very bright and original writer late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. In his talent, his contemporaries saw the primordial power of the Russian people, something powerful and strong. So are his best works- they reflected the life of various classes and estates of Russian society.
In his work, Kuprin continued the democratic and humanistic traditions of Russian literature, especially L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. He always tried to touch on current events of his time.
Kuprin began studying literature while still studying in the cadet corps. Then he wrote poetry. In 1889, a student of the cadet school Kuprin published his first short story in the magazine “Russian satirical leaflet”, which is called “The Last Debut”. For this act he was arrested and put in a guardhouse. In 1841, Kuprin retired, settled in Kyiv and began writing for newspapers.
Kuprin wrote a lot of stories, they are all beautiful, unusual, uplifting current problems moral responsibility of the intelligentsia for suffering and bad life people. I would like to dwell on two works by A.I. Kuprin - “Moloch” and “Gambrinus”.
“Moloch” was written after Kuprin visited Donetsk and saw the life of the workers. It must be said that life for the steel mill workers was terrible. And Kuprin very colorfully and reliably reproduces it in his story. In it, Kuprin shows the contradictions between the rich and the poor, between those who work and those who profit from their work. We see the everyday life of a large capitalist factory, the wretched life of the workers, their poverty, as well as the reluctance to live like this, which results in riots and robberies. Main character The story is about engineer Bobrov, who sees all this and thinks about what is happening. He reacts very sharply and painfully to injustice, to suffering and pain. The writer compares the capitalist order with the evil and terrible god Moloch, who demands human sacrifice. In the story, the servant of this Moloch is the owner of the plant, Kvashnin. He makes money from everything, but he also wants to be the leader of his bourgeois party: “The future belongs to us,” he says. At the plant they are afraid of Kvashnin and do everything to please him and not anger him. They even give it to him best girl- Bobrov's fiancee Nina Zinenko.
Nevertheless, Kuprin connects the future with the uprising of the people - the story ends with a revolt of the workers. They nevertheless set the plant on fire, Kvashnin ran away, and punitive forces were sent from Moscow to pacify the rebels. Thus, the writer showed that only the people themselves can change life and existing foundations.
I also really like the wonderful story “Gambrinus”, which was written in 1907. Here again the theme of revolution arises - very hot topic for that time. Only there are no revolutionaries or conspiracies here. "Gambrinus" is a story about a little man who dared to challenge the authorities. This is a story about how everyone should have their own position and defend it. The main character of the work is the Jewish musician Sashka, whom everyone loves. He has the talent of a violinist, and he brings everyone together with his music. ordinary people. He plays different melodies, but most of all everyone likes “La Marseillaise” - revolutionary music. This music is necessary because there is a revolution going on. However, a reaction soon came, and Sashka refused to play the anthem as ordered by the police. Then they beat him, break his fingers so that he will not behave again in the future.
But Sashka does not lose heart - he returned to the tavern and continued playing cheerful and lively music. So Kuprin wanted to show that the power of art and the spirit of freedom are invincible. This theme will continue in other stories of the writer.
The story “Gambrinus” teaches us not to betray our ideals and not to lose heart under any circumstances.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a very bright and original writer of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. In his talent, his contemporaries saw the primordial power of the Russian people, something powerful and strong. These are his best works - they reflected the life of various classes and estates of Russian society.
In his work, Kuprin continued the democratic and humanistic traditions of Russian literature, especially L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. He always tried to touch on current events of his time.
Kuprin began studying literature while still studying in the cadet corps. Then he wrote poetry. In 1889, a student at the cadet school, Kuprin, published his first short story in the magazine “Russian Satirical Leaflet,” called “The Last Debut.” For this act he was arrested and put in a guardhouse. In 1841, Kuprin retired, settled in Kyiv and began writing for newspapers.
Kuprin wrote a lot of stories, all of them are beautiful, unusual, and raise current issues of the moral responsibility of the intelligentsia for the suffering and bad life of the people. I would like to dwell on two works by A.I. Kuprin - “Moloch” and “Gambrinus”.
“Moloch” was written after Kuprin visited Donetsk and saw the life of the workers. It must be said that life for the steel mill workers was terrible. And Kuprin very colorfully and reliably reproduces it in his story. In it, Kuprin shows the contradictions between the rich and the poor, between those who work and those who profit from their work. We see the everyday life of a large capitalist factory, the wretched life of the workers, their poverty, as well as the reluctance to live like this, which results in riots and robberies. The main character of the story is engineer Bobrov, who sees all this and thinks about what is happening. He reacts very sharply and painfully to injustice, to suffering and pain. The writer compares the capitalist order with the evil and terrible god Moloch, who demands human sacrifice. In the story, the servant of this Moloch is the owner of the plant, Kvashnin. He makes money from everything, but he also wants to be the leader of his bourgeois party: “The future belongs to us,” he says. At the plant they are afraid of Kvashnin and do everything to please him and not anger him. They even give him the best girl - Bobrov's fiancée Nina Zinenko.
This causes a protest in Bobrov, and he wants to blow up the factory warehouses, destroying this monster. However, things do not go further than thought. Here Kuprin shows that the intelligentsia of that time was not yet ready for decisive action. And this is her tragedy.
Nevertheless, Kuprin connects the future with the uprising of the people - the story ends with a revolt of the workers. They nevertheless set the plant on fire, Kvashnin ran away, and punitive forces were sent from Moscow to pacify the rebels. Thus, the writer showed that only the people themselves can change life and existing foundations.
I also really like the wonderful story “Gambrinus”, which was written in 1907. Here again the theme of revolution arises - a very relevant topic for that time. Only there are no revolutionaries or conspiracies here. "Gambrinus" is a story about a little man who dared to challenge the authorities. This is a story about how everyone should have their own position and defend it. The main character of the work is the Jewish musician Sashka, whom everyone loves. He has the talent of a violinist, and with his music he gathers all ordinary people. He plays different melodies, but most of all everyone likes “La Marseillaise” - revolutionary music. This music is necessary because there is a revolution going on. However, a reaction soon came, and Sashka refused to play the anthem as ordered by the police. Then they beat him, break his fingers so that he will not behave again in the future.
But Sashka does not lose heart - he returned to the tavern and continued playing cheerful and lively music. So Kuprin wanted to show that the power of art and the spirit of freedom are invincible. This theme will continue in other stories of the writer.
The story “Gambrinus” teaches us not to betray our ideals and not to lose heart under any circumstances.
I. Bunin and A. Kuprin lived and worked in difficult times for Russia. Maybe that’s why their views on life are so unique. Let's try to figure out where writers see the bitterness and sweetness of human life. "I want to talk about sadness" -...
A.I. Kuprin, in his best works, reflected the atmosphere of the revolutionary events brewing in the country. His bright, original prose reflected the existence of various classes and estates of Russian society at the end XIX beginning XX century.- Continuing democratic...
In world literature in general, and in Russian literature especially, the problem of the relationship between man and the world around him occupies a large place. Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russian writers of the 19th century thought about this. The fruits of these thoughts...
“The love of a poor girl from a vineyard and a great king will never pass or be forgotten, because love is strong as death, because every woman who loves is a queen, because love is beautiful.” A.I. Kuprin Humanist and truth-seeker,...
Question No. 1 The main themes and motifs in Bunin’s work
Love captures all thoughts, all spiritual and physical potentials of a person - but this state cannot last long. So that love does not fizzle out, does not exhaust itself, it is necessary to part - and forever. If the heroes themselves do not do this, then rock, fate intervenes in their lives: one of the lovers dies. The story "Mitya's Love" ends with the hero's suicide. Death here is interpreted as the only possibility of liberation from love. References
The main themes in the works of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - eternal themes: nature, love, death Bunin belongs to the last generation of writers from a noble estate, which is closely connected with the nature of central Russia. “Few people can know and love nature like Ivan Bunin can,” wrote Alexander Blok in 1907. No wonder Pushkin Prize in 1903 it was awarded to Bunin for the collection of poems "Falling Leaves", glorifying the Russian rural nature. In his poems, the poet connected the sadness of the Russian landscape with Russian life into one inseparable whole. “Against the background of a golden iconostasis, in the fire of falling leaves, gilded by sunset, stands an abandoned estate.” Autumn - the “quiet widow” - is in unusual harmony with empty estates and abandoned farmsteads. “The native silence torments me, the nests of my native desolation torment me.” Bunin’s stories, which are similar to poetry, are also imbued with this sad poetry of withering, dying, desolation. This is the beginning of it famous story"Antonov apples": "I remember early, fresh, quiet morning. I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinning garden, I remember maple alleys, delicate aroma fallen leaves and - the smell of Antonov apples, the smell of honey and autumn freshness." And this smell of Antonov apples accompanies him in all his wanderings and in the capitals of the world as a memory of his Motherland: "But in the evenings,” writes Bunin, “I read old poets, relatives to me from everyday life and from many of my moods, and finally, simply from the area, - middle lane Russia. And my desk drawers are full Antonov apples, and the healthy autumn aroma transports me to the village, to manorial estates". Along with the degeneration of noble nests, the village is also degenerating. In the story "The Village" he describes the courtyard of a rich peasant family and sees "darkness and dirt" - both in the physical, and in the mental, and in moral life". Bunin writes: "The old man is lying there, dying. He is still alive - and already in Sentsy the coffin has been prepared, pies are already being baked for the funeral. And suddenly the old man gets better. Where was the coffin to go? How to justify spending? Lukyan was then cursed for five years for them, lived with reproaches from the world, starved to death." And here is how Bunin describes the level of political consciousness of the peasants: - Don’t you know why the court came? - To judge a deputy. They say he wanted to poison the river. - Deputy? Fool , but are the deputies doing this? - But the plague knows them. Bunin’s point of view on the people is polemically pointed against those lovers of the people who idealized the people and flattered them. The dying Russian village is framed by a dull Russian landscape: “White grain rushed askance, falling on the black, poor one. a village, on bumpy, muddy roads, on horse manure, ice and water; the twilight fog hid the endless fields, this whole great desert with its snow, forests, villages and cities - the kingdom of hunger and death." The theme of death will receive a variety of coverage in Bunin's work. This is the death of Russia, and the death of an individual person. Death is not only the resolver of all contradictions, but also the source of absolute, cleansing power (“Transfiguration”, “Mitya’s Love”) Alexander Tvardovsky understood Bunin’s story “The Gentleman from San Francisco” more deeply than anyone else: “In the face of love and death, according to Bunin, they are erased by themselves. social, class, property lines that separate people - everyone is equal before them.
Question No. 2 Main themes and results in Kuprin’s work
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin can confidently be called one of the best Russian writers of the early 20th century!? If we talk about the place of A.S. Pushkin, L.N. Tolstoy, A.M. Gorky in Russian literature, then everything is clear here, this is no longer discussed. But speaking about Kuprin, his contemporaries, critics and literary scholars constantly clarify his place in Russian literature. So A.V. Vorontsov in his article “130 years since his birth” writes: “...It is unlikely that anyone will confidently call Kuprin a figure equal to both his great contemporaries - Chekhov and Bunin, and of a lower rank - Gorky and A. Tolstoy. Why exactly? Are his works outdated, forgotten...? Nothing happened. Children read" White Poodle", "Barbosa and Zhulka", adults - "Olesya", "Duel", "The Pit", "Garnet Bracelet". ...So what's the matter? Where did Kuprin fall short of joining the ranks of the "greats" or being first among the “outstanding” ones?” But really, why? According to the same Vorontsov, he, “a talented writer, never outlived the journalist in him.”
And Yu. Druzhinin, in the article “Kuprin in Tar and Molasses,” speaks with regret about the unnoticed anniversaries of such a great writer as A. Kuprin. Why did this happen? But because the date “marked something that I didn’t want to remember, so they pretended that they didn’t remember.” In Soviet literary criticism during the times of “perestroika,” a lot of things were revised. Certain writers who were previously banned in their homeland began to move from the black list to the white list. Kuprin was resolved long ago, only the truth about him remained half-hearted and hidden. Apparently, this is why his work has not yet been sufficiently studied, like the work of those to whom fate was more favorable. Soviet criticism did not ignore his life and work, but at different stages of his life it was viewed differently. It was constantly being clarified: “ours” or “not ours”?
S. Chuprinin also speaks with regret about the forgotten Kuprin in the introductory article “Rereading Kuprin” to one of the editions of the author’s works: “Kuprin is rarely remembered now. They re-publish it, write dissertations, but don’t argue.”
It was a shame when I opened the book “100 best writers 20th century,” you won’t find Kuprin there, although few of his contemporaries wrote like him. He had the gift of getting used to every image he created. It was not for nothing that he once said words that one of the heroes of “The Pit” would later repeat: “By God, I would like to become a horse, a plant or a fish for a few days, or be a woman and experience childbirth; I would like to live inner life and see the world through the eyes of every person I meet.” In addition, Kuprin was the first to touch upon the problems of the army (“Duel”), and opened the world of corrupt love (“The Pit”).
Considering the topics and problems already studied in the works of A. I. Kuprin, we will try to arrange them in a gradational sequence: from the most studied to the least studied.
One of the most studied themes in the works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is the theme of love. Love has always been there main theme his large works and miniatures, this was the opinion of all researchers of his work. And, perhaps, Kuprin’s most poetic thing, according to most critics, was the “Garnet Bracelet” - wonderful story about undivided great love, love, “which is repeated only once in a thousand years.”
But V. N. Afanasyev in his article “A. I. Kuprin writes that “having made his “little man” capable only of selfless... love and at the same time denying him any other interests, Kuprin unwittingly impoverished and limited the image of the hero. Fenced off by love from life with all its worries and anxieties... Zheltkov thereby impoverishes love itself... this quiet, submissive adoration... without fighting for a loved one... dries up the soul, makes it timid and powerless.” But A. A. Volkov in his work “The Work of A. I. Kuprin” speaks specifically about unrequited love in the writer’s works, which “opens up the opportunity to convey the high intensity of human experiences, to show how destructive the moral foundations of bourgeois society are for a person.” In “The Duel,” Nazansky, speaking about love, speaks specifically about unrequited love: “And love has its peaks, accessible only to a few out of millions... Do you understand how much varied happiness and charming torment lies in unrequited, hopeless love.” Volkov, discussing the happiness of unrequited love, comes to the conclusion that “the feeling of unrequited love never dulls, because this love is hopeless, it is not satisfied by a reciprocal feeling.” It is unrequited love that Kuprin’s heroes consider real.
In The Garnet Bracelet, General Anosov states that true love- this is always the greatest tragedy. According to Volkov, true “love can arise where a person is close to nature, where social contrasts and the destructive influence of Moloch are not so felt” (“Olesya”). Forest fairy tale ends tragically. Volkov believes that the environment in which the heroes were brought up is to blame: a girl, “raised among nature and free from any conventions of bourgeois society, and a man, “weak” in front of these conventions, could not be together. But regarding “Sulamith” one can find completely opposite points of view. This work by Kuprin, one of the few, is about mutual feelings ruined by jealousy. According to Sergei Chuprinin, Gorky “classified Shulamith as immoral literature,” and in Volkov we read: “I. Koretskaya, in her comments to “Sulamith,” makes the following verdict: “The oversaturation of exoticism, stylization, and spicy eroticism brought the story closer to modernist art.” P. N. Berkov, not so unconditionally, but also condemns the author for “Shulamith”. But both Volkov and Chuprinin call the story talented, since the author poeticized the tender passion of lovers in it. In this work, a new thought appears about love, which is “strong as death.”
Another well-researched topic in Kuprin’s work is the problems of the army. Many critics and literary scholars called Kuprin the Columbus of the “army continent.” Who, if not him, knows for certain the laws that reign in the army; he experienced all the military drills himself. When “The Duel” was released, it was immediately enthusiastically received by leading critics. M. Chunosov was the first to respond with the article “The Monster of Militarism”, which he saw in “Duel” army life in all its terrible and tragic ugliness." V. Lvov also wrote about the indictment of soldiers in his article “Priests and Victims.” Afanasyev believed that, while depicting the tsarist army, Kuprin “managed to touch upon... a number of issues that deeply worried everyone Russian society and especially acute ones on the eve and during the first Russian revolution.” But the most important thing was the concept, which made it possible, according to Plotkin, “to discover in particular phenomena... the evils of military life... as an expression of the general incurable illness of the monarchical system.” A. Volkov believed that in “The Duel” the author sought to show “to what a terrifying state senseless drilling and cane discipline brought the already downtrodden, ignorant mass of soldiers.” But Volkov did not see the revolutionary trends in the army described by Kuprin. And Paustovsky in the book “The Stream of Life” called the “Duel” “the hardest slap in the face.” political system tsarist Russia”, “a document about the dull and rotten officer caste, about an army that was supported only by the fear and humiliation of soldiers, about an army, as if deliberately created for the inevitable and shameful defeat in the very first battles.” Reactionary criticism attacked Kuprin with accusations of slandering the army (A. Basargin “Literary attack against the military”). And Lvov, and Volkov, and Afanasyev, and many other critics and literary scholars spoke about the talent of Kuprin, a satirist who managed to expose the army life of tsarist times. Kuprin will return to the painfully familiar problems of the army more than once in his stories. Indeed, the relationship between officers and soldiers, the bureaucratic machine of the state, which requires compulsory service even for those who are not physically or psychologically capable, service in the provinces that corrupts young officers - Kuprin was the first to discover all these problems in literature.
Another topic is Kuprin the psychologist. According to Volkov, “Kuprin displays a great ability for artistic transformation, “entering” into an image, which allowed him to create living characters and convey with deep truthfulness the complex train of thoughts and experiences of his heroes. The strength of Kuprin the artist was revealed in revealing the psychology of people placed in various life circumstances, especially those in which nobility and fortitude are manifested. However, sometimes he is inclined to delve into the jungle of the pathological psyche, to study the complex bends of a sick soul. It is good when an artist, penetrating into the essence of the pathological psyche, clarifies its social genesis. The error begins when the properties of a sick psyche are passed off as the eternal beginning of the human soul, which cannot be controlled by the mind. We see similar psychological experiments in the stories “Yas” and “Madness”. Unfortunately, even in these stories mystical motives make themselves felt, indicating the influence of decadence.”