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Each of us has a person in our lives who cares about us the most, worries us, tries to please us, feeds us with various goodies, and also gives wise advice. This person is a grandmother. And probably no one will deny that there are grandmothers in every family, and that they occupy a very important place in it. It is grandmothers, thanks to their wisdom, love, tenderness and understanding, who are often the secret of family well-being.
The role of the grandmother is very important, since it is the grandmother who is able to raise
spiritually developed person, to convey to him your life experience and your wisdom. Personally, I believe that grandmother is the spiritual basis of the modern family.
But how often teenagers underestimate their grandmothers and believe that their views are outdated and do not correspond to the modern rhythm of life. In the 21st century, grandmother is no longer an example for young people. Modern young people have completely different authorities, different heroes, often negative ones.
Relevance of the selected topic
The problem of relationships and spiritual values in youth environment, the reduction of the role of the family (and in particular the role of the grandmother) in raising children is common problem for everything Russian society. And therefore my research is quite relevant today.
I set myself the following target :
determine what the role of the grandmother is in the development and formation of personality, tracing this through the example of works of art and conversations with classmates.
In order to achieve this goal, you need to solve the following tasks:
Conduct a survey to identify the role of a grandmother in a person’s life.
Study the biography of writers and poets and find out what the role of grandmother is in their lives.
Study and analyze works of art
literature dedicated to my grandmother.
Explain that the role of a grandmother in a person’s life is very important.
Object of study :
the process of grandmothers’ influence on the formation of a child’s personality.
Subject of research:
biography of famous writers, works about grandmothers, interviews with classmates.
Research hypothesis :
prove that the role of the grandmother in shaping the personality of the younger generation is very great.
Research stages
Selection of scientific and fiction, its study and analysis.
Study Internet sites on this topic.
Conducting surveys, processing results.
Writing a project.
1.3.Methods and techniques of work
To achieve this goal we used the following methods:
method of collecting information (studying popular science and fiction literature, observation);
method of statistical analysis and diagnostics of the obtained data (calculations, diagrams);
descriptive method;
comparative method;
survey.
The results of the study can be used in literature lessons when studying the relevant topic, during class hours.
2. Main part
2.1. The concept of "grandmother"
I began my research by deciding to find out where the word “grandmother” came from? I looked into several explanatory dictionaries (“New explanatory dictionary. Explanatory and word-formative" T.N. Efremova, “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” by S.I. Ozhegova, “Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language” D.N. Ushakova) and here’s what I found out:
In all dictionaries, this word means "old woman" or "mother of a father or mother in relation to their child."
I wonder what can be said about the origin of this word in Russian. Etymological dictionary is silent about this. Some are of the opinion that when small child begins to speak, it is easiest for him to pronounce: “ma-ma”, “ba-ba”, “de-da”. Such an explanation cannot shed light on the etymology of the word. The question remains open. It turns out that in different countries The word "grandmother" is not only pronounced differently, but also takes a different social position in relation to grandchildren.
For example, American grandmothers do not live under the same roof with their grandchildren, they have their own lives. They come to visit and give gifts. In France Nobody considers grandmothers to be grandmothers; they are very active, like to dress smartly, organize meetings and evenings with friends. IN Spain Grandmothers do not babysit their children at all. Never! Woman everything free time devotes to himself. Therefore, it is mainly private nannies who work with little Spaniards. And only in Russia hard to imagine Russian family without grandma. The Russian grandmother takes an active part in the lives of her children and grandchildren. She takes part in all family activities, from breakfast to checking homework.
Yes, the word “grandmother” exists in all languages, but only in Russian it is filled with a special meaning. The most attentive Russian grandmothers: they teach us, bake delicious pies, they are the most beloved and kind teachers for kids. And it doesn’t matter whether this grandmother is modern or not. After all, grandmothers are a feeling of a happy childhood!
2.2. The image of grandmother in fairy tales
The image of the grandmother and her role in raising children has long been given great attention, because it is not for nothing that people made them the heroines of many literary works. From the very early childhood we hear, and then we read it ourselves, Russians folk tales: “Kolobok”, “Snow Maiden”, “Turnip”, “Masha and the Bear”, “Grandma, Granddaughter and Chicken”, “Grandma and the Bear” and many others, in which one of the characters is the grandmother. But it was not only in our country that tales about grandmothers were told. They were also mentioned by foreign storytellers: “Little Red Riding Hood” by C. Perrault, “Mistress Blizzard” by the Brothers Grimm, “ Snow Queen" and "Grandmother" by H.H. Andersen. In each fairy tale, the grandmother is different: sometimes she is old, wearing glasses and slippers, reading fairy tales to her grandchildren in the evenings; then this is an ugly, at first glance, stern, elderly woman; sometimes constantly doing something around the house, but all these grandmothers have one thing in common - boundless love for their grandchildren, wisdom, constant care for someone.
Rereading these fairy tales several times, we fall more and more in love with their characters - grandmothers. And every time we feel some kind of incomprehensible warmth emanating from them.
2.3 The image of a grandmother in works of art
When studying the image of my grandmother, I did not stop only at the study of fairy tales. Having become acquainted with V. Astafiev’s story “A Horse with pink mane”, in which one of the main characters was also a grandmother, I assumed that many writers turned to this image. Having become interested, I read two more stories by V. Astafiev: “Grandma’s Holiday” and “Photograph in which I am not.”
These stories are autobiographical. Astafiev’s image of a grandmother is the personification of childhood. You can admire her, you can learn a lot from her. Her severity, temper, constant grumbling sometimes frighten her grandson (and not only her grandson), even force her to hide and not catch her eye: “it was already dark when my grandmother found Sanka and me on the ridge, she whipped both of us with a rod,” “having searched for me in the dark, First of all, she gave me a slap on the wrist.” However, despite this, in all her actions there is an immense concern for her family and friends (especially her grandson): the grandmother treated the boy, rubbed his feet thoroughly with ammonia for a long time, until they were dry, then wrapped them in an old down shawl, as if she had covered them with warm sponge, yes She also threw on a sheepskin coat and wiped the tears from her grandson’s face with her palm, which was effervescent from alcohol; In the morning, the grandmother took the boy to the bathhouse - he could no longer walk on his own; she rubbed his feet for a long time with a steamed birch broom, warmed them over the steam from hot stones, hovered through the rag all over him, dipping the broom in bread kvass, and finally rubbed it with ammonia again.
Astafiev associates grandmother with wisdom: after returning from the city, she nevertheless gave her grandson the treasured horse with a pink mane, so that the child would remember this story of deception properly, and of course, after this the boy is unlikely to deceive not only his grandmother, but also someone else.
In all his stories, she has so much knowledge, which she unobtrusively passes on to her grandchildren: “at home, my grandmother gave me a spoonful of nasty vodka infused with gristle to warm my insides, and pickled lingonberries, after all this she gave me milk boiled with poppy seeds”; “In the upper room, between the frames, the grandmother put cotton wool with a roller and threw three or four rowan rosettes with leaves on top of the white - and that’s all. In the middle and in the kuti, the grandmother placed moss mixed with lingonberries between the frames. A few birch coals on the moss, a heap of rowan between the coals - and already without leaves. Grandmother explained this quirk this way: “Moss sucks up dampness.” Coal prevents glass from freezing, and rowan prevents frost. There’s a stove here, damn it.”
The image of a grandmother is the image of a wonderful housewife: her room is always clean, and the linen is washed, and the food is cooked, “the grandmother with great diligence “knitted rolls, cut nuts”,” and she began to prepare for the arrival of her relatives for the holiday six months in advance : collected eggs, fattened a bull or heifer for meat, churned butter. She herself went to the other side of the river to the city to sell berries and buy food with the proceeds. I didn’t “spend” my money anywhere, I didn’t lend much so that they could pay it back.
And if guests gathered in the house, then the grandmother was the best singer, “...and in the song she makes sure that the children have a good time...and the song would awaken the indelible memory of home, about the nest from which they flew out, but which is not and will not be better"
The image of the grandmother is complemented by peculiar folk sayings. Her speech is expressive in all stories. For example, the sayings “he looks at the forest - the forest withers”, “the navel is a knot, the legs are round”, “husband and wife are one Satan.” Distorted common, dialect words, folk expressions enrich the image of the grandmother: “rematizm” (rheumatism), “prettier” (better), “tutoka” (here, here), “andela” (angels), “don’t get cold” (don’t get cold) , “robenok” (child), “baushka” (grandmother), ek twisted him with a hook,” “eroplan” (airplane), “want” (want), “headquarters” (so that), “teperecha” (now).
This grandmother, the main character of V. Astafiev’s stories, became our common Russian grandmother, who collected in herself, in a rare living completeness, everything that still remained in native land strong, hereditary, primordially dear, which we recognize within ourselves by some kind of extra-verbal instinct as our own, as if it was shining for all of us and given in advance and forever.
2.4. The role of grandmothers in raising famous writers
Grandmother is an important person in everyone's life. This becomes especially relevant when the grandmother has to replace someone important person in a child's life. Let us remember Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, the grandmother of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.
Elizaveta Stolypina was born into a wealthy and very famous noble family in Rus'. She was eldest daughter Alexey Emelyanovich Stolypin is an economical and wealthy man. Elizabeth, who inherited from her parents all the most best features, grew up as a sensible and businesslike woman, with an uncompromising and strong character. But her fate was destined for a traditional female role- mothers and wives. Having lost her daughter early, she was left in her arms with a little grandson - Misha, the future poet Mikhail Lermontov. Elizaveta Alekseevna gave everything to raising her grandson: she took the weak Misha to resorts, hired him the best teachers, did not refuse him anything and saved for his future life, and in his adult life more than once, taking advantage of her influential position, saved him from arrest and hard labor. And having learned about the death of Mikhail in 1841, his health finally weakened, he ceased to see the meaning and purpose later life and dies in 1845.
Fig.2 E.A. Arsenyev
Fig.1 M.Yu. Lermontov
Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, who was left early without his mother (drowned) and father (arrested), also remains in the care of his grandmother Ekaterina Petrovna Potylitsyna. As the author later said, the years spent with his grandmother were the best in his life. And he owes many of his moral qualities to his grandmother, who raised in him love, respect, patience,
Fig.3 V.P.Astafiev
kindness, honesty, responsiveness, which taught him to preserve traditions, honor elders, and experience the joy of working for the benefit of himself and others. It is to his grandmother that the grateful grandson-writer dedicates a series of his stories. "Grandmother! Grandmother! Guilty before you, I’m trying to resurrect you in my memory, tell people about you.”
Fig.4. E.P. Potylitsyna
Another famous writer Maxim Gorky (Alyosha Peshkov) in his biographical story talks about his grandmother. If Gorky owes his genius to any of his ancestors, it is only to his grandmother Akulina Ivanovna Kashirina. Living for a long time body and soul in the closest
Fig.5 M. Gorky
touching his grandmother Akulina, Gorky absorbed the juices of her folk genius, which formed the basis of his brilliant work.
Fig.6 A.I. Kashirina
In the life of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin there were two grandmothers who raised him. Maternal grandmother - Maria Alekseevna Hannibal. She surrounded her beloved grandson with maternal attention and was his first teacher in the Russian language (in the house spoken language was French). Pushkin listened to her stories about the blackamoor of Peter the Great, her grandfather, Rzhevsky, to
Fig.7 A.S. Pushkin
to whom Tsar Peter traveled, about recent antiquity...” For A.S. She was the closest person to Pushkin. From her the future great poet heard family legends, which were subsequently reflected in his work: the unfinished novel “Arap of Peter the Great”, “Plans for the Tale of the Archer”, in the poem “Yezersky”, in “My Pedigree”.
Fig.8 M.A. Hannibal
grandmother - Yakovleva Arina Rodionovna - nanny A.S. Pushkin. It was from her that Pushkin first heard about the hut on chicken legs and the tale of dead princess and seven heroes, and it was to her that he dedicated his poems.
“Literary” grandmothers had a great influence on the upbringing of their grandchildren, and, I think, played a role in their development as decent, kind people. And we, the readers, together with the main characters, admire the grandmothers, learn from them wisdom, patience, and love.
Fig.9 A. R. Yakovleva
Conducting a survey
Sociological research
While researching this topic, I decided to find out the opinions of my classmates about the role of grandmothers in education. I asked them the following questions:
How often do you see your grandmother?
What do you like to do with your grandma in your free time?
What did your grandmother teach you?
What should a grandmother be like?
What is your grandmother like: kind or strict?
What works have you read that talk about grandmothers?
In the lives of which famous writers and poets did their grandmothers play a huge role? Name writers and grandmothers.
Survey results
It turned out to be very interesting information for me. An analysis of the results of a survey conducted in our class showed that
that almost 50% of children see their grandmothers on weekends, 20% see her only on vacation, because their grandmothers live far from them. And 30% see their grandmother every day.
In addition, answers were received to the following questions:
2. What do you like to do with your grandmother in your free time? It turns out that you can do whatever you want with your grandmother! Drink tea, chat, walk, play, visit, read, go shopping. You can also embroider, knit, and study the planets! And much more 3. What did your grandmother teach you? There were many different and interesting answers to this question. Grandmother taught some to read, some to do homework, some to sing, and to sew. And someone digs potatoes in the garden and picks berries with their grandmother. And that's great! 4. What should a grandmother be like? To this only the most kind words, such as: wise, beautiful, kind and affectionate, cheerful, mysterious, modern and unpredictable.
5. What is your grandmother like: kind or strict?
Almost everyone answered this question that they have the kindest grandmother in the world!
What works have you read that talk about grandmothers?
80% of students answered this question - V. Astafiev “Horse with a pink mane”
50% remembered K. Paustovsky’s fairy tale “Warm Bread” and the same number of students named Andersen’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen”
40% named the fairy tale by Charles Perrault “Little Red Riding Hood”
And almost all the students named Russian folk tales, such as “Turnip”, “Snow Maiden” and others.
In the lives of which famous writers and poets did their grandmothers play a huge role? Name writers and grandmothers.
It turned out that all the students in our class remember nanny A.S. Pushkina, telling him bedtime stories and raising him, but only 60% remember that her name was Arina Rodionovna.
70% remembered grandmother M.Yu. Lermontov, but only 40% were able to say her name
50% named V.P. Astafiev, who wrote biographical stories about his grandmother; Only 10% could remember her name.
During the sociological research, I found out that for every student in our class, grandmother is one of the most beloved family members; she plays a huge role in the life of her grandchildren: she takes care of them, educates them, and teaches them a lot. Our grandmothers are the most beautiful, wise, generous, affectionate and we have a lot of fun with them. Sixth-graders know famous writers and poets, whose grandmothers played a large role in their development. They read and know works about grandmothers, really evaluate their actions and, together with the characters, draw important conclusions for themselves.
Conclusion
During my research, I found out that the word “grandmother” exists in all languages, but only in Russian it is filled with a special meaning. Only Russian grandmothers are the most attentive, kind and wise.
I learned that the formation of many famous writers and poets like creative personalities, their grandmothers had a huge influence; that it is to them that they dedicate some of their stories, fairy tales, poems, by reading which we also have the opportunity to receive some kind of moral lessons.
I became convinced that the role of the grandmother in shaping the personality of the younger generation is very great. Grandmothers take care of us while our parents are at work, look after us during illnesses, sit with us when our parents go to visit in the evenings, thereby to some extent making their work easier for parents, helping them relieve stress and overload. Grandmothers expand the social horizons of the child, who, thanks to them, leaves the close family confines and gains direct experience of communicating with older people. Many teenagers think that a grandmother is an elderly person who does not understand anything, but in fact, a grandmother always understands all the tastes of her baby , whom she has known since the cradle. Grandmother always knows how to help and what is the right advice to give to her grandson, because during her long and perhaps mysterious life for some, she has seen a lot.
And therefore, we, children, and adults too, must take care of our grandmothers, because this is a piece of our soul...our present and past. After all, grandmothers are a feeling of a happy childhood! Grandma's love gives you self-confidence for life!
Used literature and Internet sources
Astafiev V.P. "Grandma's Holiday"
Astafiev V.P. "Horse with a pink mane"
Astafiev V.P. "Photo where I'm not in"
Efremova T.N. “New explanatory dictionary. Explanatory and word-formative"
Ozhegov S.I. “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language”
Savkina I. “We will never have these grandmothers again”? Literary today // Questions of literature, 2011. - No. 2
Ushakov D.N. "Large Explanatory Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language"
Tsyavlovsky M.A. Chronicle of the life and work of A.S. Pushkin. 1799-1826. L. 1991.
http://shkolazhizni.ru/family/articles/44089/
https://yandex.ru/images/search?text
Appendix 1.
Photo 1. Grave of A.I. Kashirina.
Zoya KOZHEVNIKOVA
Zoya Aleksandrovna KOZHEVNIKOVA (1961) - teacher of Russian language and literature in Kraichikowskaya high school Kolosovsky district, Omsk region.
With love about the good and eternal...
Story by V.P. Astafiev "Horse with a pink mane"
Lesson equipment: reproduction of a painting by V.M. Sidorov “The Time of Cloudless Sky” (1969), drawings by students, clay toy “White Horse with a Pink Mane.”
Lesson progress
I. At the beginning of the lesson I ask questions so that the children remember the content of the story.
Which of the characters in the story “in their hearts or in mockery” called their grandmother a general? (Grandfather.)
What berries did Vitya pick in order to “earn gingerbread with his labor”? (Strawberry.)
Why did everyone feel sorry for Vitya and he was surrounded by rare attention? (Orphan.)
On the bank of which river was the village where the boy lived? (Yenisei.)
What was the name of Vitya’s grandmother? (Katerina.)
About which of the characters in the story did Vitya say: “He loved the sea, and I loved it”? (Levonty.)
What gingerbread did grandma promise to buy if the boy picked strawberries? (“Gingerbread horse” - horse.)
II. Teacher's word. Story by V.P. Astafiev’s “A Horse with a Pink Mane” is the writer’s story about his own childhood, in which there really were trips for strawberries, and swimming in a wayward Siberian river, and his friend Sanka from large family uncle Levontius, and grandparents, about whom the author writes with special warmth and love.
III. I would like to draw the children’s attention to a reproduction of a painting by V.M. Sidorov “Time for a cloudless sky.” The guys look at the reproduction, compare it with the text of the story, and read passages that correspond to the content of the picture.
“It was a clear summer day. It was hot from above... The birch leaves glittered...”
About Levontius’s house: “It stood by itself, in the open, and nothing stopped him from looking at the white light...”
The children conclude that the world really turned towards Vita with a kind, “cloudless” side, because the boy himself was wide open to him.
I again draw the children’s attention to the text, asking them to think about the meaning of the phrase: “Look, how good it was to live. Walk, run, play and don't think about anything. Now what?”
The guys talk about the deception that Sanka pushed Vitya into, about the boy’s experiences because he let his grandmother down.
I continue the story. “It was a very difficult time. The first years after the Civil War. The country is ruined. People live very poorly. All the burdens of everyday worries fell on the shoulders of grandmother Katerina Petrovna.”
IV. I am creating a problematic situation. I draw the children’s attention to the statements about grandmother written on the board.
“God forbid... you contradict your grandmother, do something not at her discretion.”
“I’m trying to tell people about my grandmother, so that they can find her in their grandparents, close and beloved people, and my grandmother’s life would be limitless and eternal, just as human kindness itself is eternal.”
Who owns these words?
We find out that these are the words of a child, Vitya, and an adult, the writer V.P. Astafieva. We write down the writer's words in a notebook.
What was most important in the grandmother’s character - severity or kindness? Or maybe both?
V. Let's solve the problem.
Which artistic techniques does the author use to create the character of the grandmother?
We turn to the students' drawings that they prepared at home. I usually suggest looking at the most successful works of guys from different years.
We conclude that despite all the external differences in the portraits of the grandmother, both severity and kindness are visible in her facial features.
The guys express the same idea when they are working on speech characteristics heroines. Colloquialisms, dialectisms (“he always cheated his own people,” “they’re cheating,” “What will become of him later,” “small,” “made it,” “you’ll deceive your grandmother,” “God help you,” etc.) emphasize a bright individuality and, together with the nationality of character. The grandmother seems, although strict, but “her own, homely.” In the character of the grandmother, severity is combined with kindness.
And now I propose to turn to the analysis of Vitya’s actions. Astafiev is a wonderful psychologist who knows how to subtly describe a child’s experiences. Although the boy does bad things (cheating, stealing rolls), he remembers what his grandmother taught him.
The guys analyze Vitya’s behavior and make notes in their notebooks along the way:
Nothing in life comes for free. Gingerbread must be “earned through your own labor.”
Do everything carefully and diligently. Vitya takes the berry carefully.
Be honest and truthful. Vitya is tormented by shame. Grandma won't understand the deception. Vitya’s action is a shame for her.
We gradually come to the conclusion: the more the boy suffers, the more wonderful and happy the ending of this story. “A white horse with a pink mane galloped along the scraped kitchen table, as if across a vast land with arable fields, meadows and roads, on pink hooves.”
I show the children the clay toy “White Horse with a Pink Mane.” (The toy was made during an arts and crafts class by one of the students.)
If you have cherished dream, then you will understand the boy who has never seen anything better in his life. Why did the grandmother still buy gingerbread (“horse gingerbread”) for her grandson?
The guys answer: I believed that the boy repented. According to the author, goodness is always more effective than other means. “How many years have passed since then! How many events have passed! My grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”
VI. I inform students that about the last meeting with grandmother V.P. Astafiev writes in another of his stories - “The Last Bow”. After the war, he returns with the Order of the Red Star, and she, already quite old, meets him.
A pre-prepared student reads an excerpt from a story. Photocopies of the text on each desk.
“How small grandma’s hands have become! Their skin is yellow and shiny like onion skins. Every bone is visible through the worked skin. And bruises.
Layers of bruises, like caked leaves of late autumn. The body, the powerful grandmother’s body, could no longer cope with its work; it did not have enough strength to drown out and dissolve with blood bruises, even light ones. Grandma's cheeks sank deeply...
Why are you looking like that? Have you become good? - Grandma tried to smile with worn out, sunken lips.
I... grabbed my grandmother while she was pregnant.
I remained alive, grandma, alive!
“I prayed, I prayed for you,” my grandmother hurriedly whispered and poked me in the chest like a bird. She kissed where the heart was and kept repeating: “I prayed, I prayed...”
We pay attention to the lexical structure of the language - epithets, comparisons that reveal the feelings of the hero. This is great love and pity for the one who once gave him all her love and affection.
And one more feature is revealed in the grandmother’s character. The Orthodox faith has always been a support in her life.
The following excerpt from the story “The Last Bow” is read by the teacher himself.
“Soon my grandmother died. They sent me a telegram to the Urals calling me to the funeral.
But I was not released from production. The head of the HR department... said:
Not allowed. Mother or father is another matter, but grandparents and godfathers...
How could he know that my grandmother was my father and mother - everything that is dear to me in this world...
I had not yet realized the enormity of the loss that had befallen me. If this happened now, I would crawl to the Urals and to Siberia to pay my last respects to her.”
Then we again turn to the words of V.P. Astafiev, written on the board.
Yes, the writer really wants readers to see their grandparents in his grandmother and give them all their love now, before it’s too late, while they are alive.
In conclusion, one of the students reads Yashin’s poem “Hurry to do good deeds” by heart.
This is how the lesson ends. But our conversation is not over. I invite the children to write an essay about their grandparents and people close to them. And I recommend reading other stories by Astafiev: “A Far and Near Fairy Tale”, “The Smell of Hay”, “Guardian Angel” - to choose from.
Many of us remember the works of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev from school curriculum. These are stories about the war, and stories about the hard life in the village of a Russian peasant, and reflections on the events taking place in the country before and after the war. Truly national writer there was Viktor Petrovich Astafiev! His biography - shining example suffering and miserable existence common man during the era of Stalinism. In his works, the Russian people do not appear in the image of an all-powerful national hero who can handle any hardships and losses, as was commonly portrayed at that time. The author showed how heavy the burden of war and the totalitarian regime that dominated the country at that time was for the ordinary Russian peasant.
Victor Astafiev: biography
The author was born on May 1, 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka, Sovetsky district. The writer also spent his childhood here. The boy's father, Pyotr Pavlovich Astafiev, and mother, Lydia Ilyinichna Potylitsyna, were peasants and had a strong farm. But during collectivization the family was dispossessed. The two eldest daughters of Pyotr Pavlovich and Lydia Ilyinichna died in infancy. Victor was left without parents early.
His father was sent to prison for “sabotage.” And his mother drowned in the Yenisei when the boy was 7 years old. It was an accident. The boat on which Lydia Ilyinichna, among others, was crossing the river to meet her husband in the prison, capsized. Having fallen into the water, the woman caught her scythe on the boom and drowned. After the death of his parents, the boy was raised in the family of his grandparents. The child’s urge to write arose early. Later, having become a writer, Astafiev recalled how his grandmother Katerina called him a “liar” for his irrepressible imagination. Life among the old people seemed like a fairy tale to the boy. She became his only bright memory of his childhood. After the incident at school, Victor was sent to a boarding school in the village of Igarka. Life was hard for him there. The boy was often a homeless child. The boarding school teacher Ignatius Rozhdestvensky noticed a craving for reading in his pupil. He tried to develop it. The boy’s essay about his favorite lake will later be called his immortal work “Vasyutkino Lake” when he becomes After graduating from the sixth grade of high school, Victor enters the FZO railway school. He will finish it in 1942.
Adult life
After this, the young man works for some time at a station near the city of Krasnoyarsk. The war made its own adjustments to his life. In the autumn of the same year, 1942, he volunteered for the front. Here he was an artillery reconnaissance officer, a driver, and a signalman. Viktor Astafiev took part in the battles for Poland and Ukraine, and fought during the battles. He was seriously wounded and shell-shocked. His military exploits were marked with medals “For Courage”, “For the Liberation of Poland”, “For Victory over Germany” and After demobilization in 1945, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev settled in the city of Chusovoy in the Urals. His biography takes a new turn here. Another one begins peaceful life. He also brings his wife here, who later became famous as a writer - M. S. Koryakina. They were completely different people. Women always hovered around Victor. He was very interesting person. It is known that he has two illegitimate daughters. His wife Maria was jealous of him. She dreamed that her husband would be faithful to the family. Here, in Chusovoy, Victor takes on any job to feed his children. In his marriage he had three children. Maria and Victor lost their eldest girl. She was only a few months old when she died in hospital from severe dyspepsia. This happened in 1947. And in 1948, the Astafievs had a second daughter, who was named Ira. After 2 years, a son, Andrei, appeared in the family.
The children of Viktor Petrovich Astafiev grew up in difficult conditions. Due to his state of health, undermined by the war, the future writer did not have the opportunity to return to his specialty, acquired at the FZO. In Chusovoy, he managed to work as a mechanic, a loader, a foundry worker at a local factory, a carcass washer at a sausage factory, and a carpenter at a carriage depot.
The beginning of a creative journey
Writing still attracts the future master of words. Here, in Chusovoy, he visits literary circle. This is how Viktor Petrovich Astafiev himself recalls it. His biography is little known, so any little details related to his life or work are important for his readers. “I developed a passion for writing early. I remember very well how, while I was attending a literary circle, one of the students read a story he had just written. The work struck me with its artificiality and unnaturalness. I took it and wrote a story. This was my first creation. In it I talked about my friend at the front,” the author said about his debut. The title of this first work is “ Civilian" In 1951 it was published in the Chusovoy Rabochiy newspaper. The story was a success. For the next four years, the writer is a literary employee of this printed edition. In 1953, his first collection of stories entitled “Until Next Spring” was published in the city of Perm. And in 1958, Astafiev wrote the novel “The Snow is Melting,” in which he highlighted the problems of rural collective farm life. Soon a second collection of stories entitled “Ogonki” was released by Viktor Astafiev. “Stories for children” - this is how he described his creation.
The story "Starodub". A turning point in the writer's work
Viktor Astafiev is considered self-taught. He did not receive any education as such, but he always tried to improve his professionalism. For this purpose, the writer studied at the Higher Literary Courses in Moscow in 1959-1961. Viktor Petrovich Astafiev periodically publishes his works in Ural magazines, whose biography is presented here.
In them he raises acute problems formation human personality, growing up in difficult conditions of the 30s, 40s. These are stories such as “Theft”, “The Last Bow”, “War is Thundering Somewhere” and others. It is worth noting that many of them are autobiographical in nature. Here are scenes of orphanage life, presented in all its cruelty, and the dispossession of peasants, and much more. The turning point in Astafiev’s work was his story “Starodub,” written in 1959. The action takes place in an ancient Siberian settlement. The ideas and traditions of the Old Believers did not evoke sympathy in Victor. Taiga laws and “natural faith,” according to the author, do not at all save a person from loneliness and solving pressing problems. The culmination of the work is the death of the main character. In the hands of the deceased, instead of a candle, there is an old oak flower.
Astafiev about in the story “Soldier and Mother”
When did the author’s series of works about the “Russian” begin? national character"? According to the majority literary critics, from Astafiev’s story “Soldier and Mother”. The main character of the creation has no name. She personifies all Russian women through whose hearts the “heavy iron wheel of war” passed. Here the writer creates such human types, which amaze with their reality, authenticity, “truth of character.”
It is also surprising how the master boldly exposes painful problems of social development in his creations. The main source from which Astafiev Viktor Petrovich draws inspiration is biography. A short version of it is unlikely to awaken a reciprocal feeling in the reader’s heart. That is why the difficult life of the writer is examined here in such detail.
The theme of war in the works of writers
In 1954 it was published favorite child" by the author. We are talking about the story “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess”. In just 3 days, the master wrote a draft of 120 pages. Later he only polished the text. They didn’t want to publish the story; they constantly cut out entire fragments from it that censorship did not allow. Only 15 years later the author was able to release it in its original version. At the center of the story is the story of a young platoon commander, Boris Kostyaev, who experiences all the horrors of war, but still dies from wounds and exhaustion on a train taking him to the rear. A woman's love does not save the protagonist. In the story, the author paints before the reader a terrible picture of war and the death it brings. It’s not so difficult to guess why they didn’t want to publish the work. The people who fought and won this war were usually portrayed as mighty, strong, and unbending. According to the master’s stories, it is not only bendable, but also destroyed. Moreover, people suffer death and hardship not only due to the fault of the fascist invaders who came to their land, but also due to the will of the totalitarian system that dominates the country. The work of Viktor Astafiev was replenished with other striking works, such as “Sashka Lebedev”, “Anxious Dream”, “Hands of the Wife”, “India”, “Blue Twilight”, “Russian Diamond”, “Is It a Clear Day” and others.
The story “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden” is a hymn to peasant hard work
In 1972, Viktor Petrovich Astafiev released his next work. Biography, short version which is presented here is very interesting. The writer grew up in the village. He saw the underside of it. He is no stranger to the suffering and hardships of people engaged in back-breaking labor, which he has known since childhood. The story “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden” is a work that is a kind of hymn to peasant labor. The writer E. Nosov said about it: “It is not told, but sung...” For a simple village boy, a vegetable garden is not just a place where you can “fill your belly,” but a whole world full of mysteries and secrets. This is both a school of life and an academy for him fine arts. When reading the “Ode,” one cannot leave the feeling of sadness for the lost harmony of agricultural labor, which allows a person to feel a life-giving connection with Mother Nature.
The story “The Last Bow” about life in the village
The writer Viktor Astafiev develops the peasant theme in his other works. One of them is a cycle of stories called “The Last Bow.”
The narration is told in the first person. At the center of this author’s work are the fates of village children, whose childhood was in the 1930s, when collectivization began in the country, and whose youth was in the “fiery” 40s. It is worth noting that this series of stories was created over two decades (from 1958 to 1978). The first stories are distinguished by their somewhat lyrical presentation and subtle humor. And in the final stories one can clearly see the author’s readiness to harshly denounce the system that is destroying the national foundations of life. They sound bitter and openly mocking.
The story “The King Fish” - a journey to his native places
In his works, the writer develops the theme of conservation national traditions. His story entitled “The Fish King,” published in 1976, is close in spirit to the cycle of stories about village life. In 2004, a monument was erected in Krasnoyarsk in honor of the writer’s 80th birthday. Now it is one of the symbols of the city.
By the time the book was published, Viktor Astafiev had already become a recognizable and popular author. His photos are on the front pages of literary magazines. What can you say about the book? Interesting way of presenting material this work. The author paints pictures of virgin nature, untouched by civilization, folk life in the Siberian outback. People whose moral standards have been lost, in whose ranks drunkenness, poaching, theft, and courage flourish, are a pitiful sight.
Novel about the war “Cursed and Killed” - criticism of Stalinism
In 1980, Viktor Astafiev moved to his homeland - Krasnoyarsk. His biography does not change here better side. A few years after the move, the writer’s daughter Irina suddenly dies. Viktor Petrovich and Maria Semenovna take her children, their grandchildren Polina and Vitya. On the other hand, it is here, in his homeland, that the master experiences creative growth. He writes such works as “Zaberega”, “Pestrukha”, “Premonition of an Ice Drift”, “Death”, last chapters“Last bow” and others. It was here that he created his general ledger about the war - the novel “Cursed and Killed.” This writer’s creation is distinguished by sharpness, categoricalness, and passion. For writing the novel, Astafiev was awarded the State Prize of Russia.
The year 2001 became fatal for the author of immortal stories. He spends a lot of time in the hospital. Two strokes left no hope for recovery. His friends petitioned the Krasnoyarsk Regional Council of Deputies to allocate funds for the writer’s treatment abroad. Consideration of this issue turned into a trial of the author. No money was allocated. The doctors, throwing up their hands, sent the patient home to die. On November 29, 2001, Viktor Astafiev died. Films based on his works are still very interesting to viewers today.
It is generally accepted that the work of Viktor Astafiev is autobiographical. There is certainly a reason for this. Any work, in essence, is unthinkable outside the circumstances and events of the life of its author, even if it is dedicated historical theme. But it would be more than strange to consider the image of Bagrov’s grandson or Vitya Potylitsyn an exact copy of one character - the writer himself who created them. And the stories in which these heroes act are different from one another, and the heroes themselves, who embody different author’s goals, are different and if they are similar in any way, then perhaps in their lyricism.
Astafiev's heroes are overwhelmingly his contemporaries. Their spiritual growth, their experiences and shocks naturally corresponded life experience their creator, but were never limited to this experience, did not exhaust it, since these heroes entered literature at different stages of our history and in different periods writer's life
The manners of Russian literature are to write characters and circumstances of life, and not to force shocking, “postmodernist” plots out of nothing, out of much reflected light, in literary salons.
The appeal to the work of V. P. Astafiev is due to the extraordinary personality of the writer himself, as well as the increased interest in lately to his works, which teach us wisdom, mutual understanding and forgiveness.
Chapter 1. Grandmother - an artistic and convincing type of Russian life
In the narratives of Russian writers about childhood, V. P. Astafiev’s book “The Last Bow” occupies a worthy place. Organically absorbing the achievements of Russian prose from Aksakov to Shmelev, it at the same time represents a special, unique poetic world. In “The Last Bow,” Tolstoy’s dialectic of the soul, the “purity of moral feeling,” Gorky’s “cruel” realism, Bunin’s subtle lyricism, and Shmelev’s spirituality of objects and everyday details are perceptible. But the plot and compositional structure of the book, the breadth and depth of coverage of life material indicate an original artistic phenomenon.
In returning to childhood, in touching the child’s soul, responsive, trusting and open to the world, perceiving him as something extraordinary, fabulous, Astafiev sees the best and, perhaps, the only opportunity to become human.
The most charming, most significant, convincing and captivating image that runs through the entire story “The Last Bow” is, of course, the image of grandmother Ekaterina Petrovna. It is extremely multifaceted in V. Astafiev’s depiction, three-dimensional and plastic.
Ekaterina Petrovna, as her grandson once discovered, “is a very respected person in the village.” Noisy, brawling, and in her own way a unique village socialite, Ekaterina Petrovna, cool when necessary, stern and decisive, but invariably full of kindness and inexhaustible optimism.
In the story “The Horse with a Pink Mane”, having dishonored his grandmother by deceit (the strawberry incident), Vitka awaits fair punishment. And indeed, Ekaterina Petrovna, justifying the nickname “general,” desperately scolds Vitka. The shamed and offended grandson feels remorse.
But what a startling surprise the wonderful fairytale picture: “Across the scraped kitchen table, as if across a vast land, with arable lands, meadows, and roads, a white horse with a pink mane galloped on pink hooves.”
The dream gingerbread promised by grandma in exchange for strawberries, which Vitka, for obvious reasons, has already said goodbye to. If we translate the grandmother’s behavior (she still gives the gingerbread) into the language of “unofficial pedagogy,” as A. Lanshchikov does, then the grandmother punishes her grandson with kindness. Indeed, Vitka learns a lesson in “high ethics.” And it’s not just about understanding that you can’t deceive or betray loved ones, but about realizing the need to forgive. And grandmother forgives Vitya both out of her natural kindness and pity, and out of her ability to sensitively and subtly understand the orphan soul of the child. That’s why: “How many years have passed! How many events have passed? My grandfather is no longer alive, my grandmother is no longer alive, and my life is coming to an end, but I still can’t forget my grandmother’s gingerbread - that marvelous horse with a pink mane.”
In order to better understand the awareness of students at our school on the issue of associations associated with the word “grandmother,” we conducted a survey. As a result, a generalized portrait was created. So, grandmother - kindness, care, old age, neatness, wisdom, knowledge of medicinal herbs, wrinkles, in a scarf, pies, affectionate, fair, with glasses, prayer, gray hair, kind wrinkled, hard-working hands, fairy tales, a lullaby, mittens, felt boots, woolen socks.
Let's correlate the associations with a specific image of the heroine ( external portrait, internal qualities, author's attitude).
Grandma Astafieva Ekaterina Petrovna combines many of these qualities and appears in the stories “Grandma’s Holiday”, “The Photograph in which I am not”, “The Horse with a Pink Mane” as the keeper of folk wisdom. Let us remember how she treated the boy, how she steamed him in the bathhouse (the “caring” association). Grandmother knew many remedies for various diseases (the association “wisdom”). “At home, my grandmother gave me a spoonful of nasty vodka infused with borax to warm my insides, and pickled lingonberries.”
Note that the grandmother, having returned from the city, nevertheless gave the boy the treasured horse with a pink mane (the association “wisdom”). Let’s remember how she accommodated guests (the “care” association), how the grandmother with great diligence “knitted rolls, cut nuts” (the “pies” association).
Everything about his grandmother is dear to Viktor Petrovich, which is why he “builds” her image so diligently, so carefully, bit by bit.
V. Astafiev can suddenly concentrate in one small episode all the simple and majestic beauty of Ekaterina Petrovna’s “big heart” - in an episode that organically echoes the chapter - the introduction, which openly talks about the purpose of art and the sanctity of a great feeling for the homeland. Here - in the chapter “Grandma’s Holiday” - about the same thing, but passed through the grandmother’s soul:
“The song about the river is drawn-out, majestic. Grandmother takes her out more and more confidently, making it more convenient for her to be picked up. And in the song she makes sure that the children feel good, that everything fits them well, and that the song awakens an indelible memory of their home, of the nest from which they flew, but which is not and will not be better.
The writer's skill in identifying the hidden springs of the actions and deeds of the numerous characters of the story is revealed in all its internal completed episodes, but most fully, perhaps, where we are talking about the songs that were performed at the holiday.
The songs perceived by the boy are so physically tangible that they cannot but be transmitted to us, and his poetic mode itself speaks of both the emotionality of the boy and the true place of song art in the peasant environment:
“For some reason, my back immediately began to ache, and a chill ran through my whole body like a scattering of thorns from the enthusiasm that arose around me. The closer my grandmother brought the song to a common voice, the more intense her voice became and the paler her face, the thicker the needles pierced me, it seemed as if the blood thickened and stopped in my veins.”
We also noticed one feature: the author very sweetly describes grandma’s flower pots. Ekaterina Petrovna loves beauty, flowers bring her joy: “Flowers sprinkled the windows, the bulb folded dark gramophones, dropped dried petals on the window, waited in the wings to please people.”
Here is V. Kurbatov’s opinion in relation to the image of Ekaterina Petrovna: “ Main character“Bow” - Vitka’s grandmother Ekaterina
This is precisely why Petrovna will become our common Russian grandmother, because she will gather in herself, in a rare living completeness, everything that is still left in her native land of the strong, hereditary, primordial native, which we recognize within ourselves, by some extra-word instinct, as our own, as if we all shining and given in advance and forever. He will not embellish anything in it, he will leave behind his storm of character, his grumpiness, and his indispensable desire to be the first to point out everything and to give orders to everyone in the village (one word – General). And she fights and suffers for her grandchildren,
10 bursts into anger and tears, and begins to talk about life, and now, it turns out, there are no hardships in it for grandma.”
Behind the ethical sketches, so innocently charming, deep philosophy emerges. The material world (a marvelous gingerbread or new tights pants), like poetic pictures of nature, are not valuable in themselves for the author. They act as some kind of intermediaries of warm human communication, spiritual contact between people, introducing the child to true values being. And, becoming spiritualized in this process, the thing already acquires a certain moral meaning, lingering in the memory for a long time.
Chapter 2. Folk sayings as artistic and expressive means that make up the image of the grandmother in the stories “Grandma’s Holiday”, “Photograph in which I am not”, “Horse with a Pink Mane”
The homeland is dear to the heart not for its local beauty, not for its clear sky, not for its pleasant climate, but for its captivating memories surrounding, so to speak, the morning and the cradle of humanity.
N. Karamzin
It is known that sometimes works of art provide more material, factors for thought, for understanding historical period than other scientific research. “The Last Bow” belongs to such books. This is a kind of encyclopedia Siberian village thirties of this century. Almost the entire range of problems that the Siberian peasant had to face in those years is covered.
There is a bright face in our soul that always attracts, is always infinitely dear. For the writer, this light was the grandmother. He considers her his main educator. The image of Ekaterina Petrovna runs through the entire book and is its core. Everything about this woman is touching: rare hard work, a gentle disposition, boundless kindness, high justice, tears of tenderness and hope for reward in the next world, for earthly torment. And most importantly - ineradicable active love for the orphan - grandson. Almost everything in the book is about the native Ovsyanka, its people, the land of the writer’s fathers and grandfathers. He visibly and recognizably transferred much of what he saw and heard from his fellow countrymen into “The Last Bow.”
Perhaps it would not be worth dwelling in such detail on the meaning of folk sayings if they were not so organically connected with the general image of the grandmother in the stories of V.P. Astafiev.
The ethical completeness and completeness of the stories “rests” on the beauty of the grandmother’s character - this is indisputable, but also on the charm of the narrator himself, who is present everywhere, participates in events or acutely experiences them. The narrator's memory and eye for detail are captivating.
Ten years after the appearance of the story “Grandma’s Holiday,” the author returned to it in print—no, he didn’t rewrite it, but edited it, thereby achieving great expressiveness. Nothing changed significantly, but something was removed or added, and the picture became different in lighting, in tempo, in unity with everything else previously found.
The heroes of the story more often than before began to speak with proverbs, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms, or decorated their speech with fancy verbal figures.
It was not in vain that the demanding artist returned to the text of ten years ago: an edit, inconspicuous at first glance, enriched the story, made it more perfect in form and deeper.
The grandmother's speech is expressive in all the stories. For example, the sayings “he looks at the forest - the forest withers”, “the navel is a knot, the legs are round, the spirit of bread is a plowman, a plowman!”, “A husband and wife are one Satan” (“Grandma’s Holiday”). Distorted commonly used, dialect words, peculiar folk expressions, signs, sayings: “rematism” (rheumatism), “pretty” (better), “tutoka” (here, here), “andelas”
(angels), “don’t get cold” (don’t get cold), “molchi” (be silent), “robenok” (child), “baushka” (grandmother); “it was twisted with a hook”, “the moss sucks up the dampness”, “the ember does not allow the glass to freeze” (“Photograph in which I am not”); “eroplan” (airplane), “hot” (want), “headquarters” (so that), “kulturnay” (cultural), “now” (now) (“Horse with a pink mane”).
Having gone to the festival “Astafievskaya Spring - 2008, 2009, 2010”, we interviewed the workers of the library - museum of V.P. Astafiev in Ovsyanka, residents of the village itself about the role of folk sayings as artistic and expressive means that make up the image of the grandmother in the stories “Grandma’s Holiday” , “Photograph in which I am not”, “Horse with a pink mane.” They are all unanimous in their opinion that the image of the grandmother is the leading image in the stories “Grandma’s Holiday”, “The Photograph in which I am not”, “The Horse with a Pink Mane”. Having visited the house-museum of grandmother Ekaterina Petrovna and talked with cousin writer Krasnobrovkina G.N., we seemed to feel the presence of the mistress of the house with her orders, covenants, we so wanted to see our grandmothers with their jokes, teachings, which we sometimes take offense at for no reason. It’s a pity that my grandmother is no longer here, but when reading the stories of V.P. Astafiev, I imagine her eyes, the little laughs in the corners of her mouth when reading fairy tales to me before bed.
Conclusion
Having studied the material on the work of V. P. Astafiev, it should be noted that:
In the writer’s works “Grandma’s Holiday”, “Photograph in which I am not present”, “Horse with a Pink Mane”, the image of the grandmother is one of the leading images;
The grandmother’s peculiar language, filled with proverbs, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms or fancy verbal figures that decorate her speech, reveals to us, the readers, the beauty and unique language of Siberia.
Viktor Petrovich Astafiev presented his grandmother in his works as one of the main characters of his stories. It seems that the memory itself, which so pampered him, so tenacious and capacious, awoke precisely after the death of his mother, when he was already called “Vitka Katerinin” in Ovsyanka.
The image of the grandmother, which runs like a red line through the prose of V.P. Astafiev, does not leave anyone indifferent, and in the minds of the readers a sweet image of the grandmother of their childhood appears. Thus, the writer’s stories have a practical orientation, awakening in the heart of every reader feelings of deep respect and admiration for herself. main woman- to a grandmother who is able to forgive any sins, scold for disobedience and immediately caress and warm with a kind word.