Roman what to do characteristic. History of creation and publication

In modern society, we often hear slogans about class inequality, social injustice, and that a giant gap has formed between the poor and the rich. There were similar problems in the past. This is evidenced by the brightest work of Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky “What to do? From stories about new people.

Undoubtedly, it can be stated that the novel What Is To Be Done? is an ambiguous, complex and highly conspiratorial work, which is difficult to perceive, and even more so to expect ease of reading from it. First you need to study in more detail the ideas and worldview of the author, plunge into the atmosphere of that time. And this edition of Hobbibook will definitely help you.

N.G. Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) short biography

The future publicist was born in Saratov, in the family of a priest Gavrila Ivanovich Chernyshevsky. Initial education was given to him by his father at home, but this did not prevent Chernyshevsky from entering the Saratov Theological Seminary and, after graduating from it, continue his education at St. Petersburg University, at the Faculty of Philosophy.

He studied Slavic philology. Nikolai Gavrilovich was an incredibly well-read and erudite person. He knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, Polish and English.

As the writer's contemporaries write: “With the versatility of knowledge and the vastness of information on the Holy Scriptures, general civil history, philosophy, etc., he amazed us all. Our mentors considered it a pleasure to talk with him, as with a person already fully developed.
(A. I. Rozanov. Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky. - In the collection: N. G. Chernyshevsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries.)

During his student years, revolutionary socialist views were formed in Chernyshevsky, which influenced his future fate. His worldview was reinforced by the works of Hegel and Feuerbach. The acquaintance with Vvedensky also had a significant influence on the writer. *

For reference

*I.I. Vvedensky(1813-1855) - Russian translator and literary critic. He is considered the founder of Russian nihilism. Known as the author of translations of stories by Fenimore Cooper, Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens. .

Chernyshevsky outlined his thoughts already in 1850:

“Here is my way of thinking about Russia: an irresistible expectation of an imminent revolution and a thirst for it, although I know that for a long time, perhaps for a very long time, nothing good will come of this, that perhaps oppression will only increase for a long time, etc. .- what needs?<...>peaceful, quiet development is impossible"

After graduating from university, he becomes a teacher of literature at the Saratov gymnasium and immediately begins to share with his students his socialist convictions, which "smell of hard labor."

In parallel with his academic life, Nikolai Gavrilovich tried his hand at the literary and journalistic fields. His first small articles were published in the journal "Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti" and "Otechestvenny Zapiski". But the most prominent was his collaboration (1854-1862) with the Sovremennik magazine, which was led by the famous classic of Russian literature, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov.

The magazine openly criticized the current state regime in the country and supported the revolutionary democratic movement. The atmosphere between the editorial board of Sovremennik and the state apparatus escalated in 1861.

On February 19, 1861, Alexander II issues a manifesto “On the most merciful granting to serfs of the rights of the state of free rural inhabitants” and the Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom.

Understanding the predatory nature of this reform, Chernyshevsky boycotted the manifesto and accused the autocracy of robbing the peasants. The publication of revolutionary proclamations began. In June 1862, the Sovremennik magazine was temporarily closed, and Chernyshevsky was arrested a month later.

While in prison, Nikolai Gavrilovich wrote the novel of his life “What to do? From stories about new people. In it, he tries to offer a modern hero who responds to the challenges of society. Thus, Chernyshevsky continues the line of Turgenev in Fathers and Sons.

Chernyshevsky "What to do?" - summary

The development of the plot and, in general, the narrative itself in Chernyshevsky's novel is rather extraordinary. The beginning convinces us of this.
1856, an emergency happened in one of the hotels in St. Petersburg - a suicide note was found. There are also indirect traces of the man's suicide. Having established his identity, the tragic news is reported to his wife, Vera Pavlovna.

And here the author abruptly moves the reader four years ago, using the same artistic effect very similar to a flashback (he will resort to it more than once), in order to tell us what led the heroes of the story to such a sad ending.

In addition to the alternation of events, Chernyshevsky uses the voice of the narrator in the novel, commenting on what is happening. The author engages the reader in a confidential conversation, evaluating events, characters and their actions. It is the scenes-dialogues with the reader that account for the main semantic load.

So, 1852. Chernyshevsky places us in the society of an apartment building in which 16-year-old Vera Rozalskaya lives with her family. The girl is not bad-looking, modest, well-educated and prefers to have her own opinion in everything. Her hobby is sewing, she sews her family quite easily.

But her life does not please her at all, on the one hand, the father, who manages this house, behaves like a “rag”, on the other, her mother, Marya Alekseevna, is a despot and tyrant. The educational technique of the parent consists of daily abuse and assault. The matter is even more aggravated when Marya Alekseevna decides to profitably marry her daughter to the son of the mistress of the house.

It would seem that fate is sealed - the unloved man and the house, as a locked cage. But Vera's life changes dramatically with the appearance in the house of a student of the medical academy, Dmitry Lopukhov. Mutual feelings arise between them, and the girl leaves her parents' house to build her life at her own discretion.

It is in such a simple plot that Chernyshevsky weaves his revolutionary work.

Let us note that the manuscript of the novel was transferred from the Peter and Paul Fortress in parts and was published in separate chapters in the Sovremennik magazine. This turned out to be a very wise decision by Chernyshevsky, because it is one thing to look at individual passages, and another to look at the novel as a whole.

IN AND. Lenin noted that Chernyshevsky " he knew how to influence all the political events of his era in a revolutionary spirit, passing through the obstacles and slingshots of censorship the idea of ​​a peasant revolution, the idea of ​​the struggle of the masses to overthrow all the old authorities"(Lenin V.I. Complete. collected works. T. 20. S. 175)

After the release of the last part of What Is to Be Done?, the commission of inquiry and the censors put all the components together and were horrified, the novel was banned by the censors and republished only in 1905. What ideas did the state try to silence? And why did contemporaries speak of the novel with such admiration?

“He plowed me deep”, - said Vladimir Ilyich (V. I. Lenin on literature and art. M., 1986. P. 454). "For the Russian youth of that time, - the famous revolutionary, anarchist Peter Kropotkin wrote about this book, - she was a kind of revelation and turned into a program».

Analysis and heroes of Chernyshevsky's novel "What is to be done?"

1. Women's issue

First of all, you need to understand that one of the key characters of the novel is Vera Pavlovna. After all, her main goal in life is independence and complete equality in society. For women of that time, a new and daring motivation.

Now we are used to the fact that a woman easily occupies leading positions and is not at all ready to devote herself to domestic seclusion. And at that time, the maximum that a woman could afford was to become an actress, a governess or an ordinary seamstress in a factory. And then because of the shortage of labor during the period of industrialization. There was no talk of state care during her illness or pregnancy.

Add to this marriages under duress. And we get an approximate picture of the social status of women in the XIX century. The character of Vera Pavlovna mercilessly destroys all these established stereotypes. She is a person of a new formation, a person of the future.

Dreams of Vera Pavlovna in the novel "What to do?"

Not without reason, Vera Pavlovna's utopian dreams occupy a central place in the novel. They create images of the future.

The first dream reflects the freedom of a woman, the second is rather abstract and shows the main character an alternative present, the third one carries a new philosophy of love, and the last, fourth dream shows the reader a new society that lives on the principle of social justice.

Of course, the novel produced the effect of a bombshell, most women took Vera Pavlovna as an example of the struggle for freedom and equality, spiritual liberation.

2. Theory of egoism and socialism

Dmitry Lopukhov and his buddy Alexander Kirsanov, people of strong character and unwavering honesty. Both followers of the theory of selfishness. In their understanding, any act of a person is interpreted by his inner conviction and benefit. These characters clearly demonstrate new trends in matters of personal relationships, statements of new norms of morality and love.

Even now, many of the beliefs of the heroes have not lost their relevance. For example, here is Dmitry Lopukhov's opinion on family relationships:

“... alterations of characters are good only when directed against some bad side; and those parts that she and I would have had to remake in ourselves had nothing wrong. In what way is sociability worse or better than inclination to solitude, or vice versa? But the alteration of character is, in any case, rape, breaking; and in breaking a lot is lost, a lot freezes from rape. The result that she and I might (but only might, not probably) achieve was not worth the loss. Both of us would have somewhat discolored ourselves, more or less blotted out the freshness of life in ourselves. For what? Just to keep famous places in famous rooms. It's different if we had children; then it would be necessary to think a lot about how their fate will change from our separation: if for the worse, then preventing this is worth the greatest effort, and the result is the joy that you did what was necessary to preserve the best fate for those you love.

The revolutionary stands out as a separate character-symbol Rakhmetov. The author dedicates a separate chapter “A Special Person” to him. This is a person who understands that the struggle for the reorganization of society will be waged not for life, but for death, and therefore carefully prepares himself for this. He renounces his personal interests for the sake of some one common goal. The image of Rakhmetov shows the characteristic features of revolutionaries emerging in Russia, who have an unbending will to fight for moral ideals, nobility and devotion to the common people and to their homeland.

As a result of joint actions, all the main characters create a small socialist society inside one, separately taken clothing factory. Chernyshevsky describes in the most subtle details the process of the formation of a new labor society. And in this context "What to do?" can be seen as a program for action, clearly answering the questions posed: what should be; what does work mean in a person's life; philosophy of love and friendship; the place of women in modern society and so on.

Of course, the concept of "What to do?" many tried to challenge and prove their groundlessness. They were mainly the authors of so-called anti-nihilistic novels. But this no longer matters, since Chernyshevsky's prophecy was destined to come true.

Despite its popularity among the masses, the state did not treat the revolutionary writer so kindly. He was deprived of all the rights of the estate and sentenced to 14 years of hard labor, followed by a settlement in Siberia (1864). Later, Emperor Alexander II reduced the term of hard labor to 7 years. In 1889, Chernyshevsky received permission to return to his native city of Saratov, but soon died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Eventually

Thus, seemingly ordinary fiction carries elements of scientific and journalistic work, which includes philosophy, psychology, revolutionary views, and social utopia. All this forms a very complex alloy. The writer thus creates a new morality that changes people's behavior - frees them from a sense of duty to anyone and teaches them to educate their "I". Therefore, Chernyshevsky's novel "What to do?" naturally ranked as one of the varieties of the so-called "intellectual prose".

The novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” created by him in the chamber of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the period from 14/12/1862 to 4/04/1863. for three and a half months. From January to April 1863, parts of the manuscript were submitted to the commission on the writer's case for censorship. The censorship did not find anything reprehensible and allowed the publication. The oversight was soon discovered and the censor Beketov was removed from his post, but the novel had already been published in the journal Sovremennik (1863, No 3-5). The bans on the issues of the magazine did not lead to anything, and the book was distributed throughout the country in "samizdat".

In 1905, under Emperor Nicholas II, the ban on publication was lifted, and in 1906 the book was published in a separate edition. The reaction of readers to the novel is interesting, and their opinions were divided into two camps. Some supported the author, others considered the novel devoid of artistry.

Analysis of the work

1. Socio-political renewal of society through revolution. In the book, the author, due to censorship, could not expand on this topic in more detail. It is given in semi-hints in the description of Rakhmetov's life and in the 6th chapter of the novel.

2. Moral and psychological. That a person, by the power of his mind, is able to create in himself new predetermined moral qualities. The author describes the whole process from a small one (the struggle against despotism in the family) to a large-scale one, that is, a revolution.

3. Women's emancipation, family morality. This topic is revealed in the history of Vera's family, in the relationship of three young people before the alleged suicide of Lopukhov, in the first 3 dreams of Vera.

4. Future socialist society. This is a dream of a beautiful and bright life, which the author unfolds in the 4th dream of Vera Pavlovna. Here is the vision of lighter labor with the help of technical means, i.e., the technogenic development of production.

(Chernyshevsky in the cell of the Peter and Paul Fortress writes a novel)

The pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of ​​transforming the world through revolution, the preparation of minds and the expectation of it. Moreover, the desire to actively participate in it. The main goal of the work is the development and implementation of a new method of revolutionary education, the creation of a textbook on the formation of a new worldview for every thinking person.

Story line

In the novel, it actually covers the main idea of ​​the work. No wonder, at first, even the censors considered the novel nothing more than a love story. The beginning of the work, deliberately entertaining, in the spirit of French novels, aimed to confuse censorship and, along the way, attract the attention of the majority of the reading public. The plot is based on an uncomplicated love story, behind which the social, philosophical and economic problems of that time are hidden. Aesop's narrative language is permeated through and through with the ideas of the coming revolution.

The plot is this. There is an ordinary girl, Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya, whom her mercenary mother tries in every possible way to pass off as a rich man. Trying to avoid this fate, the girl resorts to the help of her friend Dmitry Lopukhov and enters into a fictitious marriage with him. Thus, she gains freedom and leaves her parents' house. In search of a job, Vera opens a sewing workshop. This is no ordinary workshop. There is no hired labor here, the workers have their share in the profits, therefore they are interested in the prosperity of the enterprise.

Vera and Alexander Kirsanov are mutually in love. In order to free his imaginary wife from remorse, Lopukhov fakes suicide (it is from the description of it that the whole action begins) and leaves for America. There he acquires the new name Charles Beaumont, becomes an agent of an English company and, fulfilling her task, comes to Russia to purchase a stearin plant from the industrialist Polozov. Lopukhov meets his daughter Katya at Polozov's house. They fall in love with each other, the case ends with a wedding. Now Dmitry appears in front of the Kirsanov family. Friendship begins with families, they settle in the same house. A circle of “new people” is formed around them, who want to arrange their own and social life in a new way. Ekaterina Vasilievna, Lopukhov-Beaumont's wife, also joins the cause, setting up a new sewing workshop. This is the happy ending.

Main characters

The central character of the novel is Vera Rozalskaya. A sociable person, she belongs to the type of "honest girls" who are not ready to compromise for the sake of a profitable marriage without love. The girl is romantic, but, despite this, quite modern, with good administrative inclinations, as they would say today. Therefore, she was able to interest the girls and organize a sewing production and more.

Another character in the novel is Lopukhov Dmitry Sergeevich, a student at the Medical Academy. Somewhat closed, prefers loneliness. He is honest, decent and noble. It was these qualities that inspired him to help Vera in her difficult situation. For her sake, he quits his studies in his last year and begins to engage in private practice. Considered the official husband of Vera Pavlovna, he behaves towards her in the highest degree decent and noble. The apogee of his nobility is his decision to stage his own death in order to give Kirsanov and Vera, who love each other, to unite their destinies. Just like Vera, he refers to the formation of new people. Smart, enterprising. This can be judged, if only because the English company entrusted him with a very serious matter.

Kirsanov Alexander husband of Vera Pavlovna, best friend of Lopukhov. His attitude towards his wife is very impressive. He not only loves her dearly, but also looks for an occupation for her in which she could fulfill herself. The author feels deep sympathy for him and speaks of him as a brave man who knows how to carry out the work he has undertaken to the end. At the same time, the man is honest, deeply decent and noble. Not knowing about the true relationship between Vera and Lopukhov, having fallen in love with Vera Pavlovna, he disappears from their house for a long time, so as not to disturb the peace of the people he loves. Only Lopukhov's illness forces him to appear for the treatment of a friend. The fictitious husband, understanding the state of the lovers, imitates his death and makes room for Kirsanov next to Vera. Thus, lovers find happiness in family life.

(In the photo, the artist Karnovich-Valois in the role of Rakhmetov, the play "New People")

A close friend of Dmitry and Alexander, the revolutionary Rakhmetov, is the most significant character in the novel, although he is given little space in the novel. In the ideological outline of the story, he had a special role and is devoted to a separate digression in chapter 29. The man is extraordinary in every way. At the age of 16 he left the university for three years and wandered around Russia in search of adventure and education of character. This is a person with already formed principles in all spheres of life, in the material, physical and spiritual. At the same time, possessing an ebullient nature. He sees his future life in serving people and prepares for this by tempering his spirit and body. He even refused his beloved woman, because love can limit his actions. He would like to live like most people, but he cannot afford it.

In Russian literature, Rakhmetov became the first practical revolutionary. Opinions about him were completely opposite, from indignation to admiration. This is the ideal image of a revolutionary hero. But today, from the standpoint of knowledge of history, such a person could only evoke sympathy, since we know how accurately history proved the correctness of the words of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France: “Revolutions are conceived by heroes, fools carry out, and scoundrels use its fruits.” Perhaps the voiced opinion does not quite fit into the framework of the image and characteristics of Rakhmetov formed over decades, but this is indeed so. The foregoing does not in the least detract from the qualities of Rakhmetov, because he is a hero of his time.

According to Chernyshevsky, using the example of Vera, Lopukhov and Kirsanov, he wanted to show ordinary people of the new generation, of which there are thousands. But without the image of Rakhmetov, the reader could have a misleading opinion about the main characters of the novel. According to the writer, all people should be like these three heroes, but the highest ideal that all people should strive for is the image of Rakhmetov. And with this I fully agree.

Nikolay Chernyshevsky's novel “What is to be done?” contemporaries perceived ambiguously. Some considered it "an abomination", others - "charm". This is due to a complex composition, attempts to hide the main idea behind the dreams of the main character and a love triangle, and, finally, with the peculiarities of the language design. Nevertheless, the novel had a serious impact on Russian society in the 19th century. Schoolchildren study it in the 10th grade. We offer a brief analysis of the work “What to do?”, Which will help you prepare well for the lessons and for the exam.

Brief analysis

History of creation- N. Chernyshevsky created the novel when he was in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The writer was arrested for radical ideas. The work was conceived as a response to Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons", so there is a certain similarity between the images of Yevgeny Bazarov and Rakhmetov.

Subject- Two main themes can be distinguished in the work - love and life in a new society built on the basis of the laws of labor and equality.

Composition- The structure of the work has features. The through lines of the novel are the life of Vera Pavlovna, the fate of Lopukhov and Kirsanov. The main role in these storylines is played by love vicissitudes. The dreams of Vera Pavlovna are closely intertwined with reality. With the help of them, the author encrypted socio-political motives.

Genre- A novel in which one can notice the features of several genre varieties - a utopian novel, socio-political, love and philosophical novels.

Direction- Realism.

History of creation

The writer worked on the analyzed work for several months: from December 1862 to April 1863. At that time he was under arrest in the Peter and Paul Fortress. They imprisoned him for his radical views. The novel was conceived as a response to Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons", so there is a certain similarity between the images of Yevgeny Bazarov and Rakhmetov.

While working on the novel, N. Chernyshevsky understood that censorship would not allow it to be published if it noticed a sharp political subtext. In order to deceive the regulatory authorities, the writer resorted to artistic techniques: he framed social motives with a love context, introduced dreams into the plot. He managed to publish his work in Sovremennik, but soon the authorities forbade not only to distribute the novel, but even to imitate it. Permission was granted to publish the work of Chernyshevsky “What is to be done?” only in 1905

Subject

The novel displayed motifs characteristic of Russian literature of the 19th century. The writer realized them in an extraordinary, intricate plot. He gave situations that should push the reader to independent conclusions.

N. Chernyshevsky revealed multiple topics, among which the following stand out: love, which feeds on common interests, mutual respect; dreams of a new life. These topics are closely intertwined and define Problems“What to do?”: marriage without love, friendship, equality of men and women, the role of labor in human life.

A significant part of the novel is devoted to the life of Vera Pavlovna. The mother of the heroine wanted to marry her to a rich man. She considered the master's son to be a profitable party. The mother did not even think that this was a womanizer, with whom her daughter would not find happiness. From an unsuccessful marriage, Verochka was saved by medical student Dmitry Lopukhov. A tender feeling arose between the young people, and they got married. Vera became the owner of a sewing workshop. However, she did not use hired labor. The heroine made the girls who worked for her co-owners, they shared the income equally. In the story about the workshop of Vera Pavlovna, the author embodied the idea of ​​equal work.

The marriage with Lopukhov soon fell apart: Verochka fell in love with her husband's friend, Kirsanov. To untie the love knot, Lopukhov decided to shoot himself. It turns out that he left the note that was discussed at the beginning of the novel. In the message, he stated that no one was to blame for his death, and Vera Pavlovna calmly married Kirsanov.

The married couple lived happily ever after. Vera Pavlovna was passionate about her favorite business - sewing workshops, began to study medicine, and her husband helped her in every possible way. In the descriptions of the family life of these people, the idea of ​​equality between men and women is manifested. At the end of the novel, we learn that Lopukhov is alive. Now he took the name of Beaumont and married Ekaterina Vasilievna Polozova. The Kirsanov and Beumont families begin to make friends and spread the ideas of a “new” life.

Composition

In "What to do?" the analysis should be supplemented with a characterization of the composition. The peculiarities of the formal and semantic organization of the text allow the author to reveal several topics, to disguise forbidden motives. At first glance, love vicissitudes play a major role in the novel. In fact, they are a mask that hides socio-political problems. To reveal the latter, the author used the description of Vera Pavlovna's dreams.

The components of the plot are placed inconsistently: the author presents an event from the development of actions before the exposition, and only then the plot elements line up in a logical chain. Both at the beginning and at the end of the novel, the image of Lopukhov appears. So, a kind of frame is created.

Main characters

Genre

The genre of the work is a novel, as it has several storylines, and the central problem remains open. The work is characterized by genre syncretism: the features of love, philosophical, socio-political novels and utopia are intertwined in it. The direction of the work is realism.

Artwork test

Analysis Rating

Average rating: 4.1. Total ratings received: 72.

"What to do?"- a novel by the Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, written in December 1862 - April 1863, while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. The novel was written partly in response to Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.

History of creation and publication

Chernyshevsky wrote the novel while in the solitary confinement of the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863. Since January 1863, the manuscript has been handed over in parts to the commission of inquiry on the Chernyshevsky case (the last part was handed over on April 6). The commission, and after it the censors, saw only a love line in the novel and gave permission for publication. The oversight of censorship was soon noticed, the responsible censor Beketov was removed from his post. However, the novel had already been published in the journal Sovremennik (1863, Nos. 3-5). Despite the fact that the issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel What Is to Be Done? were published, were banned, the text of the novel in handwritten copies was distributed throughout the country and caused a lot of imitation.

“Chernyshevsky’s novel was not talked about in a whisper, not quietly, but at the top of his lungs in the halls, at the entrances, at the table of Mrs. Milbret and in the basement pub of the Shtenbokov passage. They shouted: “disgusting”, “charm”, “abomination”, etc. - all in different tones.

P. A. Kropotkin:

“For the Russian youth of that time, it [the book“ What is to be done? ”] was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner.”

In 1867, the novel was published as a separate book in Geneva (in Russian) by Russian emigrants, then it was translated into Polish, Serbian, Hungarian, French, English, German, Italian, Swedish, Dutch.

The ban on the publication of the novel What Is to Be Done? was removed only in 1905. In 1906, the novel was first published in Russia as a separate edition.

Plot

The central character of the novel is Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya. To avoid marriage, imposed by a selfish mother, the girl enters into a fictitious marriage with medical student Dmitry Lopukhov (teacher of Fedya's younger brother). Marriage allows her to leave her parental home and manage her life on her own. Vera studies, tries to find her place in life, and finally opens a “new type” sewing workshop - this is a commune where there are no hired workers and owners, and all the girls are equally interested in the well-being of the joint venture.

The family life of the Lopukhovs is also unusual for its time, its main principles are mutual respect, equality and personal freedom. Gradually, a real feeling arises between Vera and Dmitry, based on trust and affection. However, it happens that Vera Pavlovna falls in love with her husband's best friend, doctor Alexander Kirsanov, with whom she has much more in common than with her husband. This love is mutual. Vera and Kirsanov begin to avoid each other, hoping to hide their feelings, primarily from each other. However, Lopukhov guesses everything and forces them to confess.

To give his wife freedom, Lopukhov fakes suicide (the novel begins with an episode of imaginary suicide), he himself leaves for America in order to study industrial production in practice. After some time, Lopukhov, under the name of Charles Beaumont, returns to Russia. He is an agent of an English firm and arrived on her behalf to purchase a stearin plant from the industrialist Polozov. Delving into the affairs of the plant, Lopukhov visits Polozov's house, where he meets his daughter Ekaterina. Young people fall in love with each other and soon get married, after which Lopukhov-Beumont announces his return to the Kirsanovs. A close friendship is established between families, they settle in the same house, and a society of “new people” is expanding around them - those who want to arrange their own and social life “in a new way”.

One of the most significant heroes of the novel is the revolutionary Rakhmetov, a friend of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, whom they once introduced to the teachings of the utopian socialists. A short digression is devoted to Rakhmetov in chapter 29 (“A Special Person”). This is a hero of the second plan, only episodically connected with the main storyline of the novel (brings Vera Pavlovna a letter from Dmitry Lopukhov explaining the circumstances of his imaginary suicide). However, Rakhmetov plays a special role in the ideological outline of the novel. What it consists of, Chernyshevsky explains in detail in the XXXI part of chapter 3 (“Conversation with an insightful reader and his expulsion”):

Artistic originality

“The novel“ What is to be done? ”I was just deeply plowed. This is a thing that gives a charge for a lifetime.” (Lenin)

The emphatically entertaining, adventurous, melodramatic beginning of the novel was supposed not only to confuse censorship, but also to attract the broad masses of readers. The external plot of the novel is a love story, but it reflects the new economic, philosophical and social ideas of the time. The novel is riddled with allusions to the coming revolution.

L. Yu. Brik recalled Mayakovsky: “One of the books closest to him was Chernyshevsky's What to Do? He kept coming back to her. The life described in it echoed ours. Mayakovsky, as it were, consulted with Chernyshevsky about his personal affairs, found support in him. What to Do? was the last book he read before he died.”

• In the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” aluminum is mentioned. In the "naive utopia" of Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream, it is called the metal of the future. And this great future to date (ser. XX - XXI century) aluminum has already reached.
• The "lady in mourning" that appears at the end of the work is Olga Sokratovna Chernyshevskaya, the writer's wife. At the end of the novel, we are talking about the release of Chernyshevsky from the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was at the time of writing the novel. He did not wait for release: on February 7, 1864, he was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor, followed by a settlement in Siberia.
• The main characters with the surname Kirsanov are also found in Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons.

Screen adaptations

• "What to do? "- a three-part teleplay (directors: Nadezhda Marusalova, Pavel Reznikov), 1971.

On July 11, 1856, a note left by a strange guest is found in the room of one of the large St. Petersburg hotels. The note says that its author will soon be heard on the Liteiny Bridge and that no one should be suspected. The circumstances are clarified very soon: at night, a man is shooting at Liteiny Bridge. His shot cap is fished out of the water.

On the same morning, a young lady sits and sews in a dacha on Kamenny Island, singing a lively and bold French song about working people who will be set free by knowledge. Her name is Vera Pavlovna. The maid brings her a letter, after reading which Vera Pavlovna sobs, covering her face with her hands. The young man who entered tries to calm her down, but Vera Pavlovna is inconsolable. She pushes the young man away with the words: “You are in the blood! You have his blood on you! It’s not your fault - I’m alone ... ”The letter received by Vera Pavlovna says that the person who writes it leaves the stage because he loves“ both of you ”too much ...

The tragic denouement is preceded by the life story of Vera Pavlovna. She spent her childhood in St. Petersburg, in a multi-storey building on Gorokhovaya, between Sadovaya and Semyonovsky bridges. Her father, Pavel Konstantinovich Rozalsky, is the manager of the house, her mother gives money on bail. The only concern of the mother, Marya Alekseevna, in relation to Verochka: to marry her as soon as possible to a rich man. A narrow-minded and evil woman does everything possible for this: she invites a music teacher to her daughter, dresses her up and even takes her to the theater. Soon the beautiful swarthy girl is noticed by the master's son, officer Storeshnikov, and immediately decides to seduce her. Hoping to force Storeshnikov to marry, Marya Alekseevna demands that her daughter be favorable to him, while Verochka refuses this in every possible way, understanding the true intentions of the womanizer. She manages to somehow deceive her mother, pretending that she is luring her boyfriend, but this cannot last long. Vera's position in the house becomes completely unbearable. It is resolved in an unexpected way.

A teacher, a graduate medical student, Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, was invited to Verochka's brother Fedya. At first, young people are wary of each other, but then they begin to talk about books, about music, about a fair way of thinking, and soon they feel affection for each other. Having learned about the plight of the girl, Lopukhov tries to help her. He is looking for a governess position for her, which would give Verochka the opportunity to live separately from her parents. But the search turns out to be unsuccessful: no one wants to take responsibility for the fate of the girl if she runs away from home. Then the student in love finds another way out: shortly before the end of the course, in order to have enough money, he leaves his studies and, taking up private lessons and translating a geography textbook, makes an offer to Verochka. At this time, Verochka has her first dream: she sees herself released from a damp and dark basement and talking with an amazing beauty who calls herself love for people. Verochka promises the beauty that she will always let other girls out of the cellars, locked up just like she was locked up.

Young people rent an apartment, and their life is going well. True, their relationship seems strange to the landlady: "cute" and "cute" sleep in different rooms, enter each other only after knocking, do not show each other undressed, etc. Verochka hardly manages to explain to the hostess that they should be a relationship between spouses if they do not want to annoy each other.

Vera Pavlovna reads books, gives private lessons, and runs the household. Soon she starts her own enterprise - a sewing workshop. The girls work in the workshop self-employed, but are its co-owners and receive their share of the income, like Vera Pavlovna. They not only work together, but spend their free time together: go on picnics, talk. In her second dream, Vera Pavlovna sees a field on which ears of corn grow. She also sees dirt on this field - or rather, two dirt: fantastic and real. The real dirt is taking care of the most necessary things (such that Vera Pavlovna's mother was always burdened), and ears of corn can grow out of it. Fantastic dirt - caring for the superfluous and unnecessary; nothing worthwhile grows out of it.

The Lopukhov spouses often have Dmitry Sergeevich's best friend, his former classmate and spiritually close person to him - Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov. Both of them "chest, without connections, without acquaintances, made their way." Kirsanov is a strong-willed, courageous person, capable of both a decisive act and a subtle feeling. He brightens up the loneliness of Vera Pavlovna with conversations, when Lopukhov is busy, he takes her to the Opera, which they both love. However, soon, without explaining the reasons, Kirsanov ceases to visit his friend, which greatly offends both him and Vera Pavlovna. They do not know the true reason for his "cooling": Kirsanov is in love with his friend's wife. He reappears in the house only when Lopukhov falls ill: Kirsanov is a doctor, he treats Lopukhov and helps Vera Pavlovna take care of him. Vera Pavlovna is in complete turmoil: she feels that she is in love with her husband's friend. She has a third dream. In this dream, Vera Pavlovna, with the help of some unknown woman, reads the pages of her own diary, which says that she feels gratitude for her husband, and not that quiet, tender feeling, the need for which is so great in her.

The situation in which three smart and decent "new people" have fallen into seems insoluble. Finally, Lopukhov finds a way out - a shot on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day this news was received, an old acquaintance of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, Rakhmetov, "a special person" comes to Vera Pavlovna. The “higher nature” was awakened in him at one time by Kirsanov, who introduced the student Rakhmetov to books “that need to be read.” Coming from a wealthy family, Rakhmetov sold the estate, distributed money to his fellows and now leads a harsh lifestyle: partly because he considers it impossible for himself to have what a simple person does not have, partly out of a desire to educate his character. So, one day he decides to sleep on nails to test his physical abilities. He doesn't drink wine, he doesn't touch women. Rakhmetov is often called Nikitushka Lomov - for the fact that he walked along the Volga with barge haulers in order to get closer to the people and gain the love and respect of ordinary people. Rakhmetov's life is shrouded in a veil of mystery of a clearly revolutionary persuasion. He has a lot to do, but none of it is his personal business. He travels around Europe, intending to return to Russia in three years, when he "needs" to be there. This "specimen of a very rare breed" differs from just "honest and kind people" in that it is "the engine of engines, the salt of the salt of the earth."

Rakhmetov brings Vera Pavlovna a note from Lopukhov, after reading which she becomes calm and even cheerful. In addition, Rakhmetov explains to Vera Pavlovna that the dissimilarity of her character with the character of Lopukhov was too great, which is why she reached out to Kirsanov. Having calmed down after a conversation with Rakhmetov, Vera Pavlovna leaves for Novgorod, where she marries Kirsanov a few weeks later.

The dissimilarity between the characters of Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna is also mentioned in a letter that she soon receives from Berlin. he had a penchant for solitude, which was in no way possible during his life with the sociable Vera Pavlovna. Thus, love affairs are arranged to the general pleasure. The Kirsanov family has approximately the same lifestyle as the Lopukhov family before. Alexander Matveyevich works hard, Vera Pavlovna eats cream, takes baths and is engaged in sewing workshops: she now has two of them. Similarly, there are neutral and non-neutral rooms in the house, and spouses can enter non-neutral rooms only after knocking. But Vera Pavlovna notices that Kirsanov not only allows her to lead the lifestyle that she likes, and is not only ready to lend a shoulder to her in difficult times, but is also keenly interested in her life. He understands her desire to engage in some business, "which cannot be postponed." With the help of Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna begins to study medicine.

Soon she has a fourth dream. Nature in this dream "pours aroma and song, love and bliss into the chest." The poet, whose forehead and thought are illuminated by inspiration, sings a song about the meaning of history. Before Vera Pavlovna are pictures of the life of women in different millennia. First, the slave woman obeys her master among the tents of the nomads, then the Athenians worship the woman, still not recognizing her as their equal. Then the image of a beautiful lady arises, for the sake of which a knight fights in a tournament. But he loves her only until she becomes his wife, that is, a slave. Then Vera Pavlovna sees her own face instead of the face of the goddess. Its features are far from perfect, but it is illuminated by the radiance of love. The great woman, familiar to her from her first dream, explains to Vera Pavlovna what is the meaning of women's equality and freedom. This woman also shows Vera Pavlovna pictures of the future: the citizens of New Russia live in a beautiful house made of cast iron, crystal and aluminum. In the morning they work, in the evening they have fun, and "whoever has not worked out enough, he has not prepared the nerve to feel the fullness of fun." The guidebook explains to Vera Pavlovna that this future should be loved, that one should work for it and transfer from it to the present everything that can be transferred.

The Kirsanovs have a lot of young people, like-minded people: “This type has recently appeared and is quickly spreading.” All these people are decent, hardworking, having unshakable life principles and possessing "cold-blooded practicality." The Beaumont family soon appears among them. Ekaterina Vasilievna Beaumont, nee Polozova, was one of the richest brides in St. Petersburg. Kirsanov once helped her with smart advice: with his help, Polozova figured out that the person she was in love with was not worthy of her. Then Ekaterina Vasilievna marries a man who calls himself an agent of an English firm, Charles Beaumont. He speaks excellent Russian - because he allegedly lived in Russia until the age of twenty. His romance with Polozova develops calmly: both of them are people who "do not rage for no reason." When Beaumont meets Kirsanov, it becomes clear that this person is Lopukhov. The Kirsanov and Beaumont families feel such a spiritual closeness that they soon settle in the same house, receive guests together. Ekaterina Vasilievna also arranges a sewing workshop, and the circle of “new people” is thus becoming wider and wider.

retold