"HERO OF OUR TIMES - SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVEL Many writers different eras and peoples sought to capture their contemporary, through him conveying to us their time, their ideas, their ideals. What is he like, a young man from different eras? Pushkin in the novel "Eugene Onegin captured young man 20s: smart, dissatisfied with the existing reality, whose life was spent without any benefit.
Following them, a whole gallery of heroes of their time appears in literature: Turgenev's Bazarov, a nature completely opposite to Onegin and Pechorin, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov - the best representatives of the progressive nobility from L. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". Why is it that debates about Onegin and Pechorin are still very topical, although the way of life is currently completely different. Everything is different: ideals, goals, thoughts, dreams.
In my opinion, the answer to this question is very simple: the meaning human existence worries everyone, no matter what time we live in, what we think and dream about. Especially in-depth psychological analysis characterized by the central part of the novel - "Pechorin's Diary".
For the first time in Russian literature such a merciless exposure of the hero’s personality appears. The hero’s experiences are analyzed by him with “the rigor of a judge and a citizen.”
Pechorin says: “I’m still trying to explain to myself what kind of feelings are boiling in my chest.” The habit of self-analysis is complemented by the skills of constant observation of others.
In essence, all of Pechorin’s relationships with people are a kind of psychological experiments that interest the hero with their complexity and temporarily entertain him with luck. This is the story with Bela, the story of the victory over Mary. A similar psychological game was played by Grushnitsky, whom Pechorin fools, declaring that Mary is not indifferent to him, in order to later prove his deplorable mistake. Pechorin argues that “ambition is nothing more than a thirst for power, and happiness is just pompous pride.” .
If A. S. Pushkin is considered to be the creator of the first realistic poetic novel about modernity, then, in my opinion, he is the author of the first socio-psychological novel in prose. His novel is distinguished by its depth of analysis of the psychological perception of the world.
Depicting his era, Lermontov subjects it to deep critical analysis without succumbing to any illusions or seductions. Lermontov shows all the most weak sides of his generation: coldness of hearts, selfishness, fruitlessness of activity.
The realism of "A Hero of Our Time" is in many ways different from the realism of Pushkin's novel. Pushing aside everyday elements and the life history of the heroes, Lermontov focuses on their inner world, revealing in detail the motives that prompted this or that hero to take any actions. The author depicts all sorts of overflows of feelings with such depth, penetration and detail that the literature of his time had not yet known.
Many considered Lermontov to be the predecessor of Leo Tolstoy. And I absolutely agree with this, because it was from Lermontov that Tolstoy learned techniques for revealing the inner world of characters, portraiture and speech style.
From creative experience Lermontov was also inspired by Dostoevsky, but Lermontov’s thoughts about the role of suffering in the spiritual life of man, about the splitting of consciousness, about the collapse of the individualism of a strong personality turned into Dostoevsky’s depiction of painful tension and painful suffering of the heroes of his works. Rebellious refuses joys and peace of mind. This hero is always "asking for a storm." His nature is too rich in passions and thoughts, too free to be content with little and not demand great feelings, events, and sensations from the world.
Self-analysis is necessary for a modern person in order to correctly correlate his destiny and purpose with real life to understand your place in this world. Lack of convictions is a real tragedy for the hero and his generation. Pechorin's Journal reveals a living, complex, rich, analytical work of the mind. This proves to us not only that main character- a typical figure, but also that in Russia there are young people who are tragically lonely. Pechorin considers himself among the pitiful descendants who wander the earth without convictions.
He says: “We are no longer capable of making great sacrifices, either for the good of humanity, or even for our own happiness.” The same thought is repeated by Lermontov in the poem “Duma”: We are rich, barely out of the cradle, from the mistakes of our fathers and their late minds, And life already torments us, like a smooth path without a goal, Like a feast at someone else’s holiday. Every truly Russian person feels uneasy at the thought that M. Yu. Lermontov passed away early. Deciding moral problem goals of life, the main character of his work, Grigory Pechorin, could not find use for his abilities.
“Why did I live? For what purpose was I born... But, it’s true, I had a high purpose, since I feel immense powers in my soul,” he writes. This dissatisfaction with oneself lies the origins of Pechorin’s attitude towards the people around him. He is indifferent to their experiences, so he, without hesitation, distorts other people's destinies.
Pushkin wrote about such young people: “There are millions of two-legged creatures, for them there is only one name.” Using Pushkin’s words, one can say about Pechorin that his views on life “reflected the century, and modern man is depicted quite correctly, with his immoral soul, selfish and dry."
This is how Lermontov saw his generation.
“Hero of Our Time” is a work born in the post-Cabrist era. The heroic attempt of the advanced nobles to change social order in Russia turned into a tragedy for them. The years that followed this event were a difficult period in Russian history: brutal reaction, political oppression. But, in spite of everything, thought worked hard during this period. All the energy that had accumulated in Russian society and was potentially capable of turning into action was transferred to the sphere of intellectual life. The educated part of people sought to develop a broad view of the world, to comprehend the world in all its complexity.
In "Hero of Our Time" Lermontov deliberately violates chronological sequence, thereby forcing the reader to shift his attention from the plot to the inner world of the characters, to their intellectual life. For this reason, the work is considered the first “analytical novel” in Russia (B. Eikhenbaum), the first Russian socio-psychological novel.
The main goal set by the author was to deeply reveal the complex nature of his contemporary, to show the problem of the fate of a strong-willed and gifted individual in an era of timelessness. It is no coincidence that V. G. Belinsky called Lermontov’s work “a sad thought about our time.” B. Eikhenbaum noted that “the subject of Lermontov’s artistic study... is a personality endowed with heroic traits and entering into a struggle with his age.” And this is true: Lermontov’s hero is initially unusual, “strange,” and all the events in which he participates are just as surprising and extraordinary. The author is not interested in the ordinary hero to whom the reader is accustomed, but in a powerful and titanic personality - the “hero of the century.”
However, the author was no less occupied with another problem - defining the features of “our century”. Lermontov characterizes it as an era in which smart, educated people are doomed to a fruitless and worthless life, since historical reality cannot give vent to their passions and impulses. These are “superfluous people” who are ahead of the era in which they are destined to live. Because of this, they, not understood by their contemporaries, are unable to find with them mutual language, condemned to loneliness.
The hero of the time, the representative of his era in the novel is Pechorin - a strong and strong-willed personality. The young man soon becomes convinced that in this society a person cannot achieve either happiness or fame. Life became devalued in his eyes, he was overcome by melancholy and boredom - faithful companions of disappointment. Pechorin is suffocating in the stuffy atmosphere of the Nicholas regime, he says: “The soul in me is spoiled by the light.” Pechorin is always looking for people who could resist him in some way, understand him. The hero tries to put people on an equal footing with himself, but as a result he is only once again convinced that he is in many ways superior to them. There is no opponent worthy of Pechorin - this makes him bored. In addition, testing people, the hero sees all their baseness, pettiness, inability to noble deeds. This depresses him even more. Pechorin's rebellious soul refuses joy and peace. The hero is too full of passions and thoughts, too free to be content with little and not demand big events and sensations from the world. He is a man who has not found for himself high goal. Precisely high, because such individuals are not attracted to the ordinary joys of life.
Gifted by nature, endowed with a deep mind, the ability to analyze, with strong character and a steely will, he has some, according to the author, strangeness: his eyes “did not laugh when he laughed.” This “strangeness” is another proof of how deeply Pechorin has lost faith in all the seductions of the world, how hopeless he sees his life prospects.
Striving for the fullness of life, dreaming of an ideal, Pechorin meanwhile spends his life fruitlessly. The hero is bitterly forced to state: “My colorless youth passed in a struggle with myself and the light; Fearing ridicule, I buried my best feelings in the depths of my heart: they died there.”
Pechorin is always searching. He searches everywhere for the ideal of nobility, purity, and spiritual beauty. And he is mistaken and disappointed, initially believing that this ideal is Bela. It turns out that this girl is not able to rise above her reckless love for Pechorin, and this quickly cools the hero’s feelings. Pechorin is an egoist, one cannot but agree with this, but “our time” made him that way, which is not able to satisfy his seeking, deeply feeling nature.
Pechorin’s relationship with Maxim Maksimych does not work out either: the heroes are too different from each other. These two people in the novel represent two sides, two layers of Russian life: popular, uneducated Russia and noble Russia. That's why they don't understand each other, that's why they can't make friends. There is not and cannot be a real feeling of affection between them: the limitations of one and the sophistication of the other exclude such a relationship. The richness of Pechorin’s nature and the strength of his character are revealed even more clearly against the backdrop of the scoundrel and scoundrel Grushnitsky.
All the events that happen to Pechorin clearly demonstrate the fatal course of life, and their disjointed nature only emphasizes the power of circumstances that do not depend on the hero’s personal will. All situations confirm certain general laws life. All of Pechorin’s encounters with people are accidental, but each case convinces him of the regularity of those concepts about life that his previous experience gave him.
The novel fully reveals psychological picture Pechorin and reflects the socio-political conditions that shape the “hero of the time”. This Lermontov work anticipated the psychological novels of Dostoevsky, and Pechorin continued the series of “superfluous people” in Russian literature. Despite the ambivalence of my attitude towards Pechorin (both selfish and noble), one cannot help but pay tribute to the skill of Lermontov, who was able to portray a contradictory personality with such psychological subtlety.
17.3.Why is the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's “Hero of Our Time” is called socio-psychological in criticism? (based on the novel “A Hero of Our Time”)
“A Hero of Our Time” is the first socio-psychological novel in Russian literature. It's also saturated genre originality. So, in the main character, Pechorin, traits appear romantic hero, although it is generally accepted literary direction"A Hero of Our Time" - realism.
The novel combines multiple features of realism, such as the conscious separation of oneself from the hero, the desire for maximum objectivity in the narrative, with a rich description of the hero’s inner world, which is characteristic of romanticism. However, many literary critics emphasized that Lermontov and Pushkin and Gogol differed from the romantics in that for them inner world personality serves for research, not for authorial self-expression.
In the preface to the novel, Lermontov compares himself to a doctor who makes a diagnosis modern society. He considers Pechorin as an example. The main character is a typical representative of his time. He is endowed with the traits of a man of his era and his social circle. He is characterized by coldness, rebellion, passion of nature and opposition to society.
What else allows us to call the novel socio-psychological? Definitely a feature of the composition. Its specificity is manifested in the fact that the chapters are not located in chronological order. Thus, the author wanted to gradually reveal to us the character and essence of the main character. First, Pechorin is shown to us through the prism of other heroes (“Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”). According to Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin was “a nice fellow... just a little strange.” Then the narrator finds “Pechorin’s journal,” where the character’s personality is revealed from his side. In these notes the author finds many interesting situations, which the main character managed to visit. With each story we dive deeper into the “essence of the soul” of Pechorin. In each chapter we see many actions of Grigory Alexandrovich, which he tries to analyze on his own. And as a result, we find a reasonable explanation for them. Yes, oddly enough, all his actions, no matter how terrible and inhumane they may be, are logically justified. To test Pechorin, Lermontov pits him against “ordinary” people. It would seem that only Pechorin stands out for his cruelty in the novel. But no, everyone around him is also cruel: Bela, who did not notice the affection of the staff captain, Mary, who rejected Grushnitsky, who was in love with her, the smugglers who abandoned the poor, blind boy to his fate. This is exactly how Lermontov wanted to portray the cruel generation of people, one of the brightest representatives of which is Pechorin.
Thus, the novel can reasonably be classified as a socio-psychological novel, because in it the author examines the inner world of a person, analyzes his actions and gives them an explanation.
Updated: 2018-03-02
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Pre-romanticism and “high” romanticism: what is the meaning of the difference.
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Pre-romanticism, pre-romanticism, a complex of ideological and stylistic trends in Western European literature 2nd half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. And fine arts late 18th - early 19th centuries; genetically anticipating romanticism, Pre-romanticism preserves the continuity of some motifs and ideas of literature sentimentalism(appeal to “feeling”, apology for “natural” existence, poeticization of “peaceful” nature, etc.), however, these are ideologically different trends: within the framework of sentimentalism, criticism of the rationalism of the Enlightenment is carried out, while Pre-romanticism- the beginning of its complete and uncompromising denial. "Unsteady", transitional nature Pre-romanticism finds confirmation in the creative destinies of the “pre-romanticists,” often attributed either to romanticism (W. Blake) or to sentimentalism (J. A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre). Associated with the promotion of the third estate, Pre-romanticism imbued with the pathos of self-determination and assertion of personality (“The Devil in Love” by J. Cazotte; to a certain extent, the works of the Marquis de Sade). In the pre-revolutionary years, French Pre-romanticism takes on a civic anti-feudal tone.
In Russia Pre-romanticism did not receive a complete expression; syncretism of Russian literature of the late 18th century. (the simultaneous presence of various ideological and artistic trends) reduced it to individual motifs in the poetry of G. R. Derzhavin, N. I. Gnedich, V. A. Zhukovsky.
"GNV" is the pinnacle of creativity. An example of a limited combination of two artistic methods (romance and realism). From this novel grew the theme “ extra person"in different plans. Pechorin - Alter ego (second self) of Lermontov. In a noble position The content both in terms of reproachful martyrdom and in an ironic negative interpretation..
"GNV" is Russia's first social psychologist and philosophical novel.
Pechorin is certainly a more analytical hero than Onegin. It contains more internal self-criticism, painful thoughts, experiences of discord with society, and the tragedy of one’s position in society. Pechorin is a kind of demon, fully manifested in the conditions of ordinary life. He is superfluous by right of his exclusivity, and this is not a mockery, but a lot chosen by himself. Pechorin, like Lermontov himself, also struggles with himself, with the contradictions of his own “I”.
Pechorin's true drama is in the realm of the spirit: between what vulgar reality has endowed him with and the highest spiritual, merciless analysis.
Collision with ordinary people. In terms of composition, the plot and plot do not coincide; in terms of plot, the novel is very rich
The style of "A Hero of Our Time", the construction of each of the five chapters that make up the novel - in highest degree"Byronic". Both “Taman”, and “Bela”, and “Fatalist” are built on sharpening points, on climaxes - everywhere there is death or the danger of death. Each chapter is a complete whole. And the plot sequence of events is disrupted: the episodes are shuffled in order to give greater mystery to the main character, and it is no coincidence that “The Fatalist” is placed at the end.
The history of “A Hero of Our Time” begins in 1839, when the story “Bela” appeared in “Notes of the Fatherland” with the subtitle “From the Notes of an Officer from the Caucasus.” At the end of the same year, the last part of the future novel, “Fatalist,” was published in the same magazine. In 1840, Taman was published there. Following this, a separate edition of the novel in its entirety was published.
“A Hero of Our Time” is not just a psychological, but primarily a socio-psychological novel– both by the nature of the psychologism in the disclosure of the main character, and by the breadth and diversity of the social reality reflected in him, represented by vividly drawn images of the characters, each of which, in turn, is a certain socio-psychological type. However, the psychologism of the novel is not only social, but at the same time deeply philosophical. The relationship of man with man, the individual with society and nature, with the world, human aspirations, possibilities and reality, free will and necessity - all these, in essence, philosophical problems staged in "A Hero of Our Time". And this makes it not only a socio-psychological novel, but also a philosophical one.
The problem of personality is central to the novel. The personality in its relation to society, in its conditioning by socio-historical circumstances and at the same time counteracting them - this is Lermontov’s special, two-sided approach to the problem. Man and destiny, man and his purpose, purpose and meaning human life, its possibilities and reality - all these questions receive multifaceted figurative embodiment in the novel.
The novel organically combines socio-psychological and moral-philosophical issues, a sharp plot and the hero’s merciless self-analysis, the outline of individual descriptions and the novelistic swiftness of turns in the development of events, philosophical reflections and unusual experiments of the hero; his love, social and other adventures turn into the tragedy of the fate of an extraordinary person that did not fully materialize. Thus, the novel, despite its extraordinary conciseness, is distinguished by its exceptional richness of content, diversity of issues, organic unity of the main artistic idea, which develops in the main character - Pechorin. It is the hero who is the basis of the work. The revelation of the hero is the goal of the entire system of stories; it also determines the construction of the plot.
“A Hero of Our Time” is the first novel in Russian literature, the center of which is not the biography of a person, but rather the personality of a person - his spiritual and mental life as a process. It is no coincidence that the work is a cycle of stories concentrated around one hero. The chronology of the hero’s life is disrupted, but the chronology of the narrative is clearly built: the reader gradually comprehends the world of the novel’s main character, Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin, from the initial characterization given by Maxim Maksimych, through author's description to confession in Pechorin's Journal. Minor characters are also needed primarily in order to more fully reveal Pechorin’s character. So, the main task M. Yu. Lermontov in the novel “Hero of Our Time” - to tell the “story of the human soul”, seeing in it the signs of the era. In the preface to “Pechorin’s Journal,” the author emphasized that in the image of the hero a portrait is given of not just one person, but artistic type, which absorbed the features of a whole generation of young people at the beginning of the century.
Pechorin Grigory Alexandrovich- the main character of the novel. His character was formed in the environment high society, which makes him similar to the hero of the novel “Eugene Onegin”. But the vanity and immorality of society with the “decorum of pulled masks” bored the hero. Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but does not earn favors, does not study music, does not study philosophy or military affairs, that is, he does not strive to impress with the means available to him. ordinary people. M. Yu. Lermontov hints at the political nature of Pechorin’s exile to the Caucasus; some remarks in the text suggest his closeness to the ideology of Decembrism. Thus, in the novel, the theme of personal heroism arises in the tragic interpretation that it receives in the 30s of the 19th century. The problem of morality is connected with the image of Pechorin in the novel. In all the short stories that Lermontov combines in the novel, Pechorin appears before us as a destroyer of the lives and destinies of other people: because of him, the Circassian Bela loses her home and dies, Maxim Maksimych is disappointed in his friendship with him, Mary and Vera suffer, and die by his hand Grushnitsky, forced to leave native home“honest smugglers,” the young officer Vulich dies. The hero of the novel himself realizes: “Like an instrument of execution, I fell on the heads of doomed victims, often without malice, always without regret...” His whole life is a constant experiment, a game with fate, and Pechorin allows himself to risk not only his life, but and the lives of those who were nearby. He is characterized by unbelief and individualism. Pechorin, in fact, considers himself a superman who managed to rise above ordinary morality. However, he does not want either good or evil, but only wants to understand what it is. All this cannot but repel the reader. And Lermontov does not idealize his hero. However, the title of the novel, in my opinion, contains “evil irony” not over the word “hero”, but over the words “our time”.
Women's images the works clarify the contradictory mental world of the main character; reveal the hidden motives of Pechorin’s actions and motives. Despite its relatively small volume, Lermontov’s novel, like no other in Russian literature, is saturated with female characters and is distinguished by an abundance of love conflicts involving the same actor. Diversity female types allows us to reveal the various aspects of Pechorin’s nature. In Taman, an attempt to unravel the girl’s secret almost led to the hero’s death. Pechorin's love for Bela allows the author to portray a soul driven by sincere motives and satiety. Relations with Princess Mary are built in accordance with the well-known romantic literature the plot of love rivalry, developing in verbal duels, half-hints, reticence, sophisticated psychological tactics. The insincerity of the feeling is emphasized by the background against which it develops. The setting for emotional and rhetorical competitions is a “watery” society, false morality, hypocritical conversations and actions of others.
The chapter “Fatalist” differs from the previous ones at the level of involvement of habitual intrigues and active conflict couples. There are no female images in it; Only the daughter of the owner of the house where Pechorin stayed is mentioned. However, it is in this part of the novel that the author creates a situation of symbolic culmination of the feminine principle, expressed in the fact that the hero is opposed not to a specific set of circumstances, not to private accidents, the initiator of which was largely himself. An antinomy “hero - fate”, grandiose in its philosophical content, is being erected, taking the conflict from the sphere of everyday life into the space of symbolic generalization. However, here too Pechorin turns out to be true to the paradoxical nature of his own thinking: “I always move forward more boldly when I don’t know what awaits me.” This confession cannot be a code explaining the character’s inner world. The hero's confession is dramatized by the realization that he is an ax in the hands of fate, destroying the lives of everyone with whom chance brings him together.
The scene of the night pursuit of elusive happiness is symbolic. The dramatic climax is accompanied by images of dark skies and lonely stars. This landscape is familiar to the reader from the poem “I go out alone on the road...”, but the tragic pathos of the novel episode removes any possibility of peace. Pechorin’s confession contains a contrast between ideal impulses and a world that excludes any manifestations of purity of thoughts. The theme of internal fragmentation is also evident in the structure of the novel. Pechorin's diary opens with the chapter "Taman", embodying the idea of a free personality, capable of entering into a fight with forces much greater than himself. own capabilities. “Fatalist” contains the idea of man’s complete dependence on fate, his predetermination tragic ending. It is the struggle between two principles - freedom and lack of freedom - that is the source of the character’s moral illness, his constant struggle with himself.
The author does not furnish the death of Pechorin with the elegiac settings familiar from romantic novels. The hero dies on the road, unknown and unnecessary to anyone. This, according to Lermontov, contains the tragic pathos of modernity, indifferent to a person born, perhaps, for great deeds. Pechorin became a kind of symbol of Russian culture, personifying one of the most controversial moments of the movement of individual and public self-awareness.
The genius of M. Yu. Lermontov was expressed primarily in the fact that he created immortal image a hero who embodied all the contradictions of his era. It is no coincidence that V. G. Belinsky saw in Pechorin’s character “a transitional state of spirit, in which for a person everything old is destroyed, but nothing new is yet there, and in which a person is only the possibility of something real in the future and a perfect ghost in the present.”
All women representative images different worlds. Bela. She exudes spiritual purity and kindness. But she is proud and has a sense of self. Ven. He loves Pechorin so passionately and deeply that her love seems frivolous to him. Such pure love P. is not enough for a sincere reciprocal feeling! Mary– smart, well-read, morally pure, romantic by nature, naive. She is interested in what is mysterious and inaccessible. P. quickly realized this. Without knowing why, he fell in love with Mary. Lermontov showed with assistant. Mary's passion is to rule over people, exc. feelings, bringing suffering. Faith- unity wives image, cat comparison with P. He is an unclear image. But Faith is one. a person who understood the essence of P., loving him with his advantages and disadvantages. This loyalty is insightful. P. himself could not help but appreciate it. In the image of Vera: humility, sacrifice, no bright expression. personal feelings Ven. Lermontov with assistant Vera was shown by P.'s selfishness, his fear of losing ch. in his life - freedom.