Alexander Pushkin - My uncle of the most honest rules: Verse. My uncle of the most honest rules

Hello dear.
We will continue to read "Eugene Onegin" together. Last time we stopped here:

No high passion
For the sounds of life do not spare,
He could not iambic from a chorea,
No matter how we fought, to distinguish.
Branil Homer, Theocritus;
But read Adam Smith
And there was a deep economy,
That is, he was able to judge
How does the state grow rich?
And what lives, and why
He doesn't need gold
When a simple product has.
Father could not understand him
And gave the land as a pledge.

The fact that Eugene could not distinguish an iambic from a chorea suggests that there were gaps in his education, and most importantly, he was alien to versification, and everything connected with it. Both iambic and trochee are poetic sizes. Yamb - the simplest size, which is widely and widely used. This is a two-syllable poetic foot with the stress on the second syllable. Here is an example of iambic pentameter:
You are a wolf! I despise you!
You are leaving me for Ptiburdukov!
In Chorea, the stress is on the first syllable. Example:
Clouds are melting in the sky
And, radiant in the heat,
In sparks the river rolls
Like a steel mirror

metric feet

Who is Homer, I think, it is not necessary to explain (His surname is not Simpson - I immediately say), but few are familiar with Theocritus, I think. Also a Greek, also a poet who became famous for his idylls. I learned more about him when I was on the beautiful Greek island of Kos, where this poet worked at the temple of Asclepius. And you know, got into it. The place is right there...

Theokritos on Kos

Adam Smith is actually a prophet and apostle of modern economic theory. If you had economics at the university, you read the works of this Scot. Well, at least the work "On the Wealth of Nations", which was extremely popular in those days. Eugene, read it (and naturally in French, because English was not in honor) - and began to consider himself a prominent expert and teach his father.

Adam Smith

By the way, apparently, Pushkin deliberately played the title of this book "could judge how the state is getting richer." A simple product is land, and these are the theories of French economists of that time. Here Pushkin apparently shows us a kind of conflict between a more erudite son and a more "patriarchal father. But in fact, there is no conflict, because the author is ironic, calling Eugene a "deep" expert. And could a young man who superficially picked up knowledge in the basics of economics help his father avoid ruin? No, of course, only in theory.
But let's quote the last part for today.

Everything that Eugene knew,
Retell me lack of time;
But in what he was a true genius,
What he knew more firmly than all sciences,
What was madness for him
And labor, and flour, and joy,
What took all day
His melancholy laziness, -
There was a science of tender passion,
Which Nazon sang,
Why did he end up a sufferer
Your age is brilliant and rebellious
In Moldova, in the wilderness of the steppes,
Far away from Italy.

Ovid.

In general, Onegin was not only a sybarite and a lazy white hand, but also an insidious seducer. Which we will see later. Not only an amateur, but also a real pro :-)
Not everyone knows who Nason is, but they certainly heard the name Ovid at least once. This is the same person. Full name Publius Ovid Naso. An ancient Roman poet and wit, one of the most famous and popular, who lived at the turn of the 1st century AD. If you haven't read his metamorphoses, I highly recommend it. And interesting, and they acted as a role model for a bunch of authors. The same Pushkin, as far as I know, loved and appreciated Ovid very much. He sang the science of tender passion, most likely, in his other well-known major work"The Science of Loving". Or maybe in love elegies.

I discovered this while reading "The Science of Love" in the book of the "Amber Skaz" Publishing House, Kaliningrad, 2002

Under Emperor Augustus, who knows why, an extremely popular poet was exiled to the Black Sea region in the city of Tomy (now Constanta). The fun is. That this is not Moldova, but Dobruja, and moreover, this city is on the seashore, and not in the steppes. Pushkin, who was in exile in Chisinau, knows this absolutely clearly. Why he made a deliberate mistake is unclear. Although, looking at his grades in geography at the Lyceum, maybe the mistake was unconscious :-)

To be continued…
Have a nice time of the day

“My uncle has the most honest rules” A.S. Pushkin.
analysis of 1 stanza "Eugene Onegin"

Again, “Not thinking proud light to amuse / Loving friendship attention”

And on the birthday of the poet
a gift to those who love him stanzas
and knows.

One of the most famous stanzas in the world is the beginning of "Eugene Onegin".
The first stanza of "Onegin" worried many literary critics. They say that S. Bondi could talk about her for several hours. Sparks of wit, greatness of mind, grandiosity of erudition - it is impossible for us to compete with all this.
But I'm a director by profession.
And to talk about this mysterious stanza, about which so many critical copies have been broken, I will take our directing, theatrical method - the method of effective analysis.
Is it permissible to judge literature by the methods of the theatre? But let's see.

First, let's find out what is understandable for us in stanza 1, and what, as they said in the days of the ASP, is shrouded in mystery.

My uncle of the most honest rules;
When I fell ill in earnest,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one.
His example is science to others;
But my god, what a bore
With the sick to sit day and night,
Without leaving a single step away! ...

So, the main character jumps somewhere, along the way washing the bones of his uncle, who made him hastily break away and rush to his estate.
It is interesting to know whether EO condemns the uncle or praises him?
"The most honest rules" - i.e. acts as it is customary, as it should be (a stable expression in Pushkin's times). Grinev is also a hero of “honest rules”, i.e. keeping his honor. Many authors cite famous phrase I. Krylova "The donkey was the most honest rules." But it is hardly related to the character: Uncle Onegin is not a donkey at all, but a direct object to follow (the opinion of Yevgeny himself).
“His example is a science to others”; “I couldn’t have thought of it better” - i.e. everyone should act like an uncle. (Let's take it as the truth.)
What did such an extraordinary uncle do? What is so highly appreciated by the representative of the younger generation?
He "forced himself to respect." This phrase is so vague that we stubbornly see in it only the beautiful verb "respect", not seeing a semantic connection with another verb - "forced". Forced! Here it is!
How can a freedom-loving, independent EO have a positive attitude towards the idea of ​​“forcing” someone?! Has he ever been forced to do anything in his life? Can the very fact of coercion exist in the system of his moral values?
Let's see, what did the uncle make of his nephew?
Just come to his village to say goodbye.
Is there a spiritual connection between them?
Does EO want to rush to his uncle?
Why does he do it?
The answer for the 19th century is obvious: because in case of disobedience they can be disinherited. The owners of the inheritance know how to do even the wrong tricks. I would refer to the well-known chapters from War and Peace, which tell about the death of the old Count Bezukhov, but in our time we know even more abrupt stories.
EO, who had recently lost his father - and the inheritance along with him - is forced to accept his uncle's conditions. He has no other source of life. Do not serve, really! This polished dandy, secular lion EO does not know how at all. Not brought up that way.
But EO also condemns the pressure his uncle puts on him. And, not experiencing any kindred feelings for him, EO thinks longingly about the boredom that lies in wait for him there, calling the forced sucking up to a dying rich relative "low deceit."
Whatever the EO, but low deceit is not peculiar to him in the least. Pushkin spares the hero. Arriving in the village, EO finds his uncle "on the table / As a tribute to the ready land." The licks are gone. You can not bend down and not be mean, but boldly enter into the inheritance of the estate ...

TO BE CONTINUED.

When I fell ill in earnest,

He forced himself to respect

And I couldn't think of a better one.

His example to others is science;

Thus begins the novel "Eugene Onegin", written by Pushkin. Pushkin borrowed the phrase for the first line from Krylov's fable "The Donkey and the Man". The fable was published in 1819, and was still well known to readers. The phrase "the most honest rules" was expressed with obvious overtones. Uncle served conscientiously, fulfilled his duties, but, hiding behind " fair rules”During the service, he did not forget about his beloved. He knew how to steal imperceptibly, and made a decent fortune, which he now got. This ability to make a fortune is another science.

Pushkin, through the mouth of Onegin, is ironic about his uncle and his life. What remains after it? What did he do for the country? What mark did he leave with his deeds? Acquired a small estate and made others respect him. But this respect was not always sincere. In our blessed state, ranks and merits were not always earned by righteous labors. The ability to present oneself in a favorable light in front of superiors, the ability to make profitable acquaintances, both then, in the time of Pushkin and now, in our days, work flawlessly.

Onegin goes to his uncle and imagines that he will now have to portray a loving nephew in front of him, be a little hypocritical, and in his heart think about when the devil will take the patient away.

But Onegin was unspeakably lucky in this respect. When he entered the village, his uncle was already lying on the table, rested and tidied up.

Analyzing Pushkin's poems, literary critics are still arguing over the meaning of each line. Opinions are expressed that "I forced myself to respect" means - I died. This statement does not withstand any criticism, since, according to Onegin, the uncle is still alive. We must not forget that the letter from the manager rode horses for more than one week. And the road itself from Onegin took no less time. And so it happened that Onegin got "from the ship to the funeral."

My uncle of the most honest rules,

When I fell ill in earnest,

He forced himself to respect

And I couldn't think of a better one.

His example to others is science;

But my god, what a bore

Very subjective notes

IN THE FIRST STRAPHES OF MY LETTER...

The first line of "Eugene Onegin" has always aroused great interest among critics, literary critics and literary historians. Although, in fact, it is not the first: two epigraphs and a dedication are placed in front of it - Pushkin dedicated the novel to P. Pletnev, his friend, rector of St. Petersburg University.

The first stanza begins with the thoughts of the hero of the novel, Eugene Onegin:

"My uncle has the most honest rules,
When I fell ill in earnest,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one;
His example to others is science:
But my god, what a bore
Sit with the sick both day and night,
Not leaving a single step away!
What low deceit
Amuse the half-dead
Fix his pillows
Sad to give medicine
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!"

Both the first line and the entire stanza as a whole have caused and still cause numerous interpretations.

NOBLE, RAZNOCHINTS AND ACADEMICS

N. Brodsky, the author of the commentary on the EO, believes that the hero ironically applied to his uncle verses from Krylov's fable "The Donkey and the Man" (1819): "The donkey had the most honest rules," and thus expressed his attitude towards the relative: "Pushkin in the thoughts of the "young rake" about the heavy need "for the sake of money" to be ready "for sighs, boredom and deceit" (LII stanza) revealed the true meaning of family ties, covered with hypocrisy, showed what the principle of kinship turned into in that reality, where, in Belinsky's words, "inwardly, out of conviction, no one ... recognizes him, but out of habit, out of unconsciousness and out of hypocrisy, everyone recognizes him."

It was a typically Soviet approach to interpreting the exposé passage. birthmarks tsarism and the lack of spirituality and duplicity of the nobility, although hypocrisy in family ties is characteristic of absolutely all segments of the population, and even in Soviet time it has not disappeared from life at all, since, with rare exceptions, it can be considered an immanent property of human nature in general. In Chapter IV, EO Pushkin writes about his relatives:

Hm! um! noble reader,
Are all your relatives healthy?
Let me: maybe you want
Now learn from me
What does native mean.
The native people are:
We have to caress them
love, sincerely respect
And, according to the custom of the people,
About Christmas to visit them
Or mail congratulations
So that the rest of the year
They didn't care about us...
So, God grant them long days!

Brodsky's commentary was first published in 1932, then repeatedly reprinted in Soviet times, this is a fundamental and solid work of a well-known scientist.

But even in the 19th century, critics by no means ignored the first lines of the novel - the verses served as the basis for accusing both Pushkin himself and his hero of immorality. Oddly enough, a raznochinets, democrat V.G. Belinsky, stood up to defend the nobleman Onegin.
“We remember,” the remarkable critic wrote in 1844, “how ardently many readers expressed their indignation at the fact that Onegin rejoices at his uncle’s illness and is horrified at the need to pose as a saddened relative,”

Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!

A lot of people are still very unhappy with it."

Belinsky analyzes the first stanza in detail and finds every reason to justify Onegin, emphasizing not only the lack of hypocrisy in the hero of the novel, but also his mind, natural behavior, ability to introspection and a host of other positive qualities.

"Let's turn to Onegin. His uncle was a stranger to him in every respect. And what can be common between Onegin, who already yawned equally

Among fashionable and ancient halls,

And between a respectable landowner who, in the wilderness of his village

He looked out the window and crushed flies.

They will say: he is his benefactor. What benefactor, if Onegin was the legal heir to his estate? Here the benefactor is not an uncle, but the law, the right of inheritance.* What is the position of a person who is obliged to play the role of a grieved, compassionate and tender relative on the deathbed of a completely alien and outsider to him? They will say: who obliged him to play such a low role? Like who? Feeling of delicacy, humanity. If, for whatever reason, you cannot help but accept a person whose acquaintance is both difficult and boring for you, are you not obliged to be polite and even amiable to him, although inwardly you send him to hell? That some kind of mocking lightness peeps through Onegin's words - only intelligence and naturalness are visible in this, because the absence of strained heavy solemnity in the expression of ordinary everyday relations is a sign of intelligence. For secular people, this is not even always a mind, but more often a manner, and one cannot but agree that this is a very smart manner.

At Belinsky, if you wish, you can find anything you want.
Praising Onegin for numerous virtues, Belinsky, however, for some reason completely loses sight of the fact that the hero is going to look after his uncle not only and not so much out of a sense of “delicacy” and “compassion”, but for the sake of money and future inheritance, which clearly hints at the manifestation of bourgeois tendencies in the mentality of the hero and directly indicates that, in addition to other virtues, he was by no means deprived of common sense and practical acumen.

Thus, we are convinced that the habit of analyzing the frivolous reflections of the young dandy cited by Pushkin was introduced into fashion by Belinsky. He was followed by N. Brodsky, Yu. Lotman, V. Nabokov, V. Nepomniachtchi. And also Etkind, Volpert, Greenbaum ... Surely someone else who eluded our close attention. But unanimity of opinion has not yet been achieved.

So, returning to Brodsky, we state: the literary critic believed that the words “my uncle of the most honest rules” correlate with a line from Krylov’s fable and hint at the paucity of Uncle Yevgeny’s mental abilities, which, in fact, is by no means refuted by the subsequent characterization given to uncle in II chapter of the novel:

He settled in that peace,
Where is the village old-timer
For forty years I quarreled with the housekeeper,
He looked out the window and crushed flies.

Yu.M. Lotman categorically disagreed with this version: “The statement found in the comments on the EO that the expression “the most honest rules ...” is a quote from Krylov’s fable “The Donkey and the Man” (“The donkey was the most honest rules ... ”) is not convincing. Krylov does not use any rare speech, but a living phraseological unit of oral speech of that time (cf .: "... he ruled the pious .." in the fable "The Cat and the Cook"). Krylov could be for Pushkin in this case only an example of an appeal to oral, living speech. Contemporaries hardly perceived this as a literary quotation.

* The question of the right of inheritance in relation to Onegin requires comment professional lawyer or legal historian.

KRYLOV AND ANNA KERN

It is difficult to say how Pushkin's contemporaries perceived this line, but the fact that the poet himself knew the fable is reliably known from the memoirs of A. Kern, who very expressively described the reading of it by the author himself at one of the secular receptions:

“At one of the evenings at the Olenins, I met Pushkin and did not notice him: my attention was absorbed by the charades that were then played out and in which Krylov, Pleshcheev and others participated. I don’t remember, for some phantom Krylov was forced to read one of his fables. He sat down on a chair in the middle of the hall; we all crowded around him and I will never forget how good he was reading his Donkey! And now I still hear his voice and see his reasonable face and the comical expression with which he said: "The donkey had the most honest rules!"
In the midst of such charm, it was surprising to see anyone but the culprit of poetic pleasure, and that is why I did not notice Pushkin.

Judging by these reminiscences, even if A. Kern’s “child of charm” is attributed more to her coquetry than sincerity, Krylov’s fable was well known in Pushkin’s circle. In our time, if they heard about her, then first of all in connection with the novel "Eugene Onegin". But it is impossible not to reckon with the fact that in 1819, in the Olenins' salon, with a confluence of society and in the presence of Pushkin, Krylov read the fable "The Donkey and the Man". Why did the choice of the writer fall on her? Fresh fable, recently written? Quite possible. Why not present a new work to a demanding and at the same time benevolent public? At first glance, the fable is quite simple:

Donkey and man

Man for the summer in the garden
Having hired the Donkey, he assigned
Ravens and sparrows drive a sassy kind.
The donkey had the most honest rules:
Unfamiliar with rapacity or theft:
He did not profit from the master's leaf,
And the birds, it's a sin to say that he gave a prank;
But the profit from the garden was bad for the Muzhik.
Donkey, chasing birds, from all donkey legs,
Along all the ridges and along and across,
Raised such a leap
That in the garden he crushed and trampled everything.
Seeing here that his work was gone,
Peasant on the back of a donkey
He avenged the loss with a club.
"And nothing!" everyone is shouting: “Cattle deserve it!
With his mind
Take on this business?"
And I will say, not in order to intercede for the Donkey;
He, for sure, is to blame (a calculation has been made with him),
But it seems that he is not right,
Who instructed the Donkey to guard his garden.

The peasant instructed the donkey to guard the garden, and the zealous but stupid donkey, chasing the birds that eat the crop, trampled all the beds, for which he was punished. But Krylov blames not so much a donkey as a peasant who hired a diligent fool.
But what was the reason for writing this simple fable? After all, on the topic of an obliging fool, who is “more dangerous than an enemy,” Krylov wrote quite a lot back in 1807. popular work"The Hermit and the Bear".

LITERATURE AND POLITICS

It is known that Krylov liked to respond to current political events both international and domestic. So, according to Baron M.A. Korf, the reason for creating the Quartet fable was the transformation of the State Council, the departments of which were headed by Count P.V. Zavadovsky, Prince P.V. Lopukhin, Count A.A. Arakcheev and Count N.S. Mordvinov: "It is known that we owe the witty fable of Krylov's Quartet to a lengthy debate about how to seat them and even several successive transplants.
It is believed that Krylov meant Mordvinov under the Monkey, Zavadovsky under the Donkey, Lopukhin under the Goat, Arakcheev under the Bear.

Was not the fable “The Donkey and the Man” a similar response to everything is good notable events? For example, such an event, to which the attention of the whole society was drawn, can be considered the introduction of military settlements in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century.
In 1817, military settlements began to be organized in Russia. The idea of ​​the formation of such settlements belonged to Emperor Alexander I, and he was going to entrust this undertaking to Arakcheev, who, oddly enough, was actually an opponent of their creation, but obeyed the will of the Sovereign. He put all his energy into fulfilling the order (it is well known that Arakcheev was an excellent organizer), but did not take into account some features of the psychology of the peasants and authorized the use of extreme forms of coercion when creating settlements, which led to unrest and even uprisings. Noble Society negative attitude towards military settlements.

Did not Krylov depict under the guise of a too executive donkey, a tsar's boobie, but not heavenly, but quite earthly - the all-powerful minister Arakcheev, and the tsar himself under a short-sighted peasant, who so unsuccessfully chose an honest donkey for the execution of an important business (Arakcheev was known for his conscientiousness and incorruptibility ), but overly diligent and zealous? It is possible that, portraying a near donkey, Krylov (despite outward good nature, the famous fabulist was a sharp-tongued man, sometimes even poisonous) aimed at the Sovereign himself, who borrowed the idea of ​​​​military settlements from different sources, but he was going to introduce the system mechanically, not taking into account either the spirit of the Russian people or the practical details of the implementation of such a responsible project.

The meeting between A. Kern and Pushkin at the Olenins took place at the end of the winter of 1819, and already in the summer a strong unrest broke out in one of the settlements, ending with the cruel punishment of the dissatisfied, which by no means added popularity either to the idea of ​​such settlements or to Arakcheev himself. If the fable was a response to the introduction of military settlements, then it is no wonder that it was well known among the Decembrists and nobles, who were distinguished by freethinking.

PHRASEOLOGISM OR GALLICISM?

As for the “living phraseological unit of oral speech of that time” as a model of addressing oral, living expression, this remark does not seem so impeccably true. Firstly, in the same line of the fable "The Cat and the Cook", which Yu.M. colloquial word"trizna", and the lines themselves represent the speech of the author, an educated person who knows how to apply literary turnover. And this literary turn is most appropriate here for the reason that the lines sound ironic and parody the statement of one of the characters in the fable - the Cook, a person who is very prone to the art of rhetoric:

Some Chef, literate,
He ran from the kitchen
In a tavern (he was pious rules
And on this day, according to the godfather, the triznu ruled),
And at home, guard food from mice
Left the cat.

And secondly, in such a phraseological unit there is little oral live speech - the phrase would sound much more natural in the mouth of a Russian person - fair man. A man of honest rules is clearly a book education, it appears in literature in the middle of the 18th century and, perhaps, is a tracing paper with French. A similar turn, perhaps, was used in letters of recommendation, and it can rather be attributed to written business speech.

“It is significant that, although Gallicisms, especially as a model for the formation of phraseological units of the Russian language, actively influenced Russian language processes, both Shishkovists and Karamzinists preferred to blame each other for their use,” Lotman writes in comments to EO, confirming that the very idea that it was often Gallicisms that were the source of the formation of Russian phraseological units.

In Fonvizin's play "The Choice of a Governor", Seum recommends the nobleman Nelstetsov to the prince as a mentor: ". These days I made the acquaintance of Mr. Nelstetsov, a staff officer who recently bought a small village in our district. We became friends on our first acquaintance, and I found in him a man of intelligence, honest rules, and well-deserved. The phrase "honest rules" sounds, as we see, in an almost official recommendation for the position of educator.

Famusov recalls Madame Rozier, Sophia's first governess: "The temper is quiet, of rare rules."
Famusov is a middle-class gentleman, an official, a person who is not very educated, funny mixes colloquial vocabulary and official business turns in his speech. So Madame Rosier, as a characteristic, got a conglomerate of colloquial speech and clericalism.

In I.A. Krylov’s play “A Lesson to Daughters”, he uses a similar turnover in his speech, equipped with book expressions (and I must say, often these book turns are tracing papers from French, despite the fact that the hero is fighting in every possible way against the use of French in household use ), an educated nobleman Velkarov: “Who will assure me that in the city, in your charming societies, there were no marquises of the same cut, from whom you gain both mind and rules.”

In the works of Pushkin, one of the meanings of the word "rules" is the principles of morality, behavior. The Pushkin's Dictionary of Language provides numerous examples of the use by the poet of phraseologism (gallicism?) with the word "rule" and the usual phrase "honest person".

But the firmness with which she was able to endure poverty does honor to her rules. (Byron, 1835).

He is a man of noble rules and will not resurrect the times of words and deeds (Letter to Bestuzhev, 1823).

Pious, humble soul
Punishment of pure muses, saving Bantysh,
And the noble Magnitsky helped him,
Husband firm in the rules, excellent soul
(Second letter to the censor, 1824).

My soul Paul
Stick to my rules
Love something, something
Don't do that.
(To the album to Pavel Vyazemsky, 1826-27)

What will Alexei think if he recognizes his Akulina in the well-bred young lady? What opinion would he have of her behavior and rules, of her prudence? (Young lady-peasant, 1930).

Along with the book circulation of “noble rules”, we also find colloquial “honest fellow” in Pushkin’s texts:
. "My second?" Eugene said:
"Here he is: my friend, monsier Guillot.
I foresee no objection
For my presentation:
Although he is an unknown person,
But certainly an honest fellow. "(EO)

Ivan Petrovich Belkin was born from honest and noble parents in 1798 in the village of Goryukhino. (History of the village of Goryukhin, 1830).

HOPE FOR YOUR UNCLE, AND DON'T BAD YOURSELF

The first line is interesting not only from the point of view of linguistic analysis, but also in terms of establishing archetypal connections in the novel.

The archetype of the uncle-nephew relationship has been reflected in literature since the time of mythological legends and in its embodiment gives several options: uncle and nephew are at enmity or oppose each other, most often not sharing the power or love of a beauty (Horus and Set, Jason and Pelius, Hamlet and Claudius , Ramo's nephew); uncle patronizes his nephew and is on friendly terms with him (epics, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Madosh" by Alfred Musset, later "My Uncle Benjamin" by C. Tillier, " ordinary story» I. Goncharova, «Philip and others» by Says Noteboom).

Within the framework of this paradigm, one can also distinguish transitional models characterized by varying degrees certainty of relationships between relatives, including an ironic or completely neutral attitude towards the uncle. An example of an ironic and at the same time respectful attitude towards an uncle is the behavior of Tristram Shandy, and the relationship between Tristan and King Mark (Tristan and Isolde), which repeatedly change throughout the story, can serve as a transitional model.

Examples can be multiplied almost endlessly: in almost every literary work there is his own, even if he is lying, uncle - a reasoner, guardian, comedian, oppressor, benefactor, opponent, patron, enemy, oppressor, tyrant and so on.

Numerous reflections of this archetype are widely known not only in literature, but also directly in life, it is enough to recall A. Pogorelsky (A.A. writer A.K. Tolstoy; I.I. Dmitriev, a famous writer of the early 19th century, a fabulist, and his nephew M.A. Dmitriev, literary critic and a memoirist who left memoirs in which many interesting information is drawn from the life of literary Moscow at the beginning of the nineteenth century and from the life of V.L. Pushkin; uncle and nephew of the Pisarevs, Anton Pavlovich and Mikhail Alexandrovich Chekhov; N. Gumilyov and Sverchkov, etc.
Oscar Wilde was the great-nephew of the very famous Irish writer Maturin, whose novel Melmoth the Wanderer, which had a noticeable influence on the development of European literature in general and on Pushkin in particular, began with the hero, a young student, going to his dying uncle.

First of all, of course, we should talk about Alexander Sergeevich himself and his uncle Vasily Lvovich. Autobiographical motifs in the opening lines of EO have been noted by many researchers. L.I. Volpert in the book "Pushkin and French literature"Writes:" It is also important that in Pushkin's time direct speech was not distinguished by quotation marks: the first stanza did not have them (we note, by the way, that even now few people keep them in memory). The reader who has met the familiar "I" (in the form possessive pronoun), was full of confidence that we are talking about the author and his uncle. However, the last line (“When will the devil take you!”) plunged me into amazement. And only after reading the beginning of the second stanza - "So the young rake thought" - the reader could come to his senses and breathe a sigh of relief.

I can’t say exactly how things stand with the publication of individual chapters, but in the famous edition of 1937, which repeats the lifetime edition of 1833, there are quotation marks. Some of the writers complained about the youth and innocence of the Russian public, but still not to the same extent she was ingenuous, so as not to understand - EO is still not an autobiography of a poet, but a work of art. But, nevertheless, some game, allusiveness, of course, is present.

L.I. Volpert makes a completely charming and accurate observation: “The author somehow mysteriously managed to “crawl” into the stanza (into the hero’s internal monologue) and express an ironic attitude towards the hero, the reader and himself. The hero sneers at his uncle, the "well-read" reader and at himself.

GOOD UNCLE

The uncle of Alexander Sergeevich, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, a poet, wit and dandy, for all that was a good-natured, sociable person, in some ways even naive and childishly simple-minded. In Moscow, he knew everyone and enjoyed great success in secular living rooms. Almost all prominent people were among his friends. Russian writers late 18th - early 19th century. Yes, and he himself was a fairly well-known writer: Vasily Lvovich wrote messages, fables, fairy tales, elegies, romances, songs, epigrams, madrigals. An educated man who knew several languages, he successfully engaged in translation activities. Vasily Lvovich's poem "Dangerous Neighbor", extremely popular due to its spicy plot, humor and lively, free language, was widely diverged in the lists. Vasily Lvovich played a significant role in the fate of his nephew - he took care of him in every possible way and arranged for him to study at the Lyceum. A.S. Pushkin answered him with sincere love and respect.

To you, O Nestor Arzamas,
In battles, a trained poet, -
Dangerous neighbor for singers
At the terrible height of Parnassus,
Defender of taste, formidable Here!
To you, my uncle, in the new year
The fun of the old desire
And weak hearts translation -
In verse and prose I have a message.

In your letter you called me brother; but I did not dare to call you by this name, too flattering for me.

I haven't lost my mind yet
From the rhymes of bakhiche - staggering on Pegasus -
I have not forgotten myself, although I am glad, although I am not glad.
No, no - you are not my brother at all:
You are my uncle and on Parnassus.

Under the playful and free form of addressing the uncle, sympathy and good relations, slightly, however, diluted with irony and mockery.
Pushkin did not manage to avoid (and perhaps it was done deliberately) a certain ambiguity: reading the last lines, one involuntarily recalls famous expression- the devil himself is not his brother. And although the letter was written in 1816, and the poems were published in 1821, nevertheless, you involuntarily correlate them with the lines of EO - when the devil takes you. You correlate, of course, without any conclusions, let alone organizational conclusions, but some kind of devilry creeps between the lines.

In the message to Vyazemsky, Pushkin again recalls his uncle, whom in this short poem he flattered very cleverly, calling him a writer "gentle, subtle, sharp":

Satirist and love poet,
Our Aristipus and Asmodeus],
You are not Anna Lvovna's nephew,
My late aunt.
The writer is gentle, subtle, sharp,
My uncle is not your uncle
But, darling, the muses are our sisters,
So, you are still my brother.

This, however, did not prevent him from making fun of a kind relative, and sometimes writing a parody, though not so much offensive as witty.

In 1827, in "Materials for" Excerpts from Letters, Thoughts and Comments ", Pushkin writes, but does not publish (published only in 1922), a parody of uncle's aphorisms, which begins with the words: "My uncle once fell ill." The construction of the name with its literalness involuntarily makes you remember the first lines of the EO.

“My uncle once fell ill. A friend visited him. “I’m bored,” my uncle said, “I would like to write, but I don’t know what.” political, satirical portraits, etc. It is very easy: this is how Seneca and Montagne wrote. "The friend left, and his uncle followed his advice. In the morning they made bad coffee for him, and this made him angry, now he philosophically reasoned that he was upset by a trifle, and wrote: sometimes sheer trifles upset us. At that moment a magazine was brought to him, he looked into it and saw an article on dramatic art written by a knight of romanticism. Uncle, a radical classic, thought and wrote: I prefer Racine and Molière to Shakespeare and Calderon - despite to the cries of the latest critics.- Uncle wrote two dozen more similar thoughts and lay down in bed. The next day he sent them to a journalist who politely thanked him, and my uncle had the pleasure of re-reading his printed thoughts.

It is easy to compare the parody with the original text - the maxims of Vasily Lvovich: "Many of us are ready for advice, rare for services.
Tartuffe and Misanthrope are more excellent than all the present Trilogies. Without fear of the wrath of fashionable romantics, and despite the strict criticism of Schlegel, I will say sincerely that I prefer Molière to Goethe, and Racine to Schiller. The French adopted from the Greeks, and themselves became models in the Dramatic Art.

And to draw a simple conclusion, quite obvious: Pushkin's parody is a kind of tracing paper that makes fun of uncle's truisms. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea. Talk to smart, polite people; their conversation is always pleasant, and you are not a burden to them. The second statement, as you might guess, belongs to the pen of Vasily Lvovich. Although, it must be admitted, some of his maxims are very fair, but at the same time they were still too banal and suffered from sentimentality, reaching sentimentality.

However, you can see for yourself:
Love is the charm of life; friendship is the consolation of the heart. Much is said about them, but few know them.
Atheism is utter madness. Look at the sun, at the moon and stars, at the structure of the universe, at yourself, and say with tenderness: there is God!

Interestingly, both Vasily Lvovich's text and Pushkin's parody echo an excerpt from L. Stern's novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Vol. 1, Ch. 21):

Tell me what the man was called - I write so hastily that I
no time to rummage in memory or in books - for the first time made the observation "that our weather and climate are extremely fickle"? Whoever he is, his observation is absolutely correct. - But the conclusion from it, namely "that we are indebted to this circumstance for such a variety of strange and wonderful characters," does not belong to him; - it was made by another person, at least a hundred and fifty years later ... Further, that this rich storehouse of original material is the true and natural reason for the enormous superiority of our comedies over French ones and all in general that were or could be written on the continent - this discovery was made only in the middle of the reign of King William - when the great Dryden (if I am not mistaken)
happily attacked him in one of his long prefaces. It is true that at the end of the reign of Queen Anne the great Addison took him under his protection and interpreted him more fully to the public in two or three numbers of his Spectator; but the discovery itself did not belong to him. - Then, fourthly and lastly, the observation that the above-noted strange disorder of our climate, which gives rise to such a strange disorder of our characters, - in some way rewards us, giving us material for cheerful entertainment when the weather does not allow to leave the house - this observation is my own, and was made by me in rainy weather today, March 26, 1759, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning.

Uncle Toby's characterization is also close to Onegin's statement about his uncle:

My uncle, Toby Shandy, madam, was a gentleman who, in addition to the virtues usually characteristic of a man of impeccable directness and honesty, also possessed, and, moreover, in the highest degree, one rarely, if not at all, placed on the list of virtues: it was extreme, unparalleled natural modesty ...

Both of them were uncles of the most honest rules. Of course, everyone had their own rules.

UNCLE NOT MY DREAMS

So, what do we learn about Uncle Eugene Onegin? Not very many lines were dedicated by Pushkin to this off-stage character, this simulacrum, no longer a man, but a periphrastic "tribute to the ready earth." This is a homunculus, made up of an English inhabitant of a Gothic castle and a Russian lover of a downy sofa and apple tinctures.

The venerable castle was built,
How castles should be built:
Superbly durable and calm
In the taste of smart antiquity.
Everywhere high chambers,
In the living room damask wallpaper,
Kings portraits on the walls,
And stoves in colorful tiles.
All this is now dilapidated,
I don't know why;
Yes, but my friend
There was very little need
Then that he yawned equally
Among fashionable and ancient halls.

He settled in that peace,
Where is the village old-timer
For forty years I quarreled with the housekeeper,
He looked out the window and crushed flies.
Everything was simple: the floor is oak,
Two wardrobes, a table, a downy sofa,
Not a speck of ink anywhere.
Onegin opened the cupboards:
In one I found an expense notebook,
In another liquor a whole system,
Jugs of apple water
And the calendar of the eighth year;
An old man with a lot to do
Haven't looked at other books.

Uncle's house is called a "venerable castle" - we have before us a solid and solid building, created "in the taste of smart antiquity." In these lines it is impossible not to feel a respectful attitude towards the past century and love for the old times, which for Pushkin had a special attractive force. “Ancient” for the poet is a word of magical charm, it is always “magic” and is associated with the stories of eyewitnesses of the past and fascinating novels in which simplicity was combined with cordiality:

Then romance in the old way
Will take my cheerful sunset.
Do not torment secret villainy
I will portray menacingly in it,
But I'll just tell you
Traditions of the Russian family,
Love captivating dreams
Yes, the customs of our antiquity.

I will retell simple speeches
Father or UNCLE old man ...

Onegin's uncle settled in the village about forty years ago - Pushkin writes in the second chapter of the novel. Based on Lotman's assumption that the action of the chapter takes place in 1820, then the uncle settled in the village in the eighties of the eighteenth century for some reasons unknown to the reader (maybe a punishment for a duel? Or disgrace? - it is unlikely that the young man would have gone to live in the village of his own free will - and he obviously did not go there for poetic inspiration).

At first he equipped his castle with last word fashion and comfort - damask wallpaper (damask is a woven silk fabric used for wall upholstery, a very expensive pleasure), soft sofas, colorful tiles (a tiled stove was a luxury and prestige item) - most likely, metropolitan habits were still strong. Then, apparently succumbing to the laziness of the ordinary course of life, or perhaps to the stinginess developed by the village view of things, he stopped monitoring the improvement of the house, which was gradually dilapidated, not supported by constant worries.

Uncle Onegin's lifestyle was not distinguished by a variety of entertainment - sitting at the window, squabbling with the housekeeper and playing cards with her on Sundays, killing innocent flies - that, perhaps, is all his fun and entertainment. In fact, the uncle himself is the same fly: his whole life fits into a series of fly phraseological units: like a sleepy fly, what kind of fly has bitten, flies die, white flies, flies eat you, under a fly, as if swallowed a fly, they die like flies, - among which the one given by Pushkin has several meanings, and each characterizes the uncle's philistine existence - to be bored, drink and destroy flies ( last value- direct) - this is a simple algorithm of his life.

There are no mental interests in the uncle's life - no traces of ink were found in his house, he only keeps a notebook of calculations, and reads one book - "the calendar of the eighth year." What kind of calendar, Pushkin did not specify - it could be the Court calendar, Monthly calendar for the summer from R. Khr. 1808 (Brodsky and Lotman) or Bryusov calendar (Nabokov). The Bryusov calendar is a unique reference book for many occasions, containing extensive sections with advice and predictions, which were considered the most accurate in Russia for more than two centuries. The calendar published planting dates and views of the harvest, predicted the weather and natural actions, victories in wars and the state of Russian economy. Reading is entertaining and useful.

The uncle's ghost appears in the seventh chapter - the housekeeper Anisya recalls him when she shows Tatiana the manor house.

Anisya immediately appeared to her,
And the door opened before them,
And Tanya enters an empty house,
Where did our hero live recently?
She looks: forgotten in the hall
The cue was resting on billiards,
On a crumpled couch lay
Manezhny whip. Tanya is far away;
The old woman told her: “But the fireplace;
Here the gentleman sat alone.

Here I dined with him in the winter
The late Lensky, our neighbor.
Come here, follow me.
Here is the master's office;
Here he rested, ate coffee,
Listened to the clerk's reports
And I read a book in the morning ...
And the old gentleman lived here;
With me, it happened on Sunday,
Here under the window, wearing glasses,
I deigned to play fools.
God bless his soul,
And his bones rest
In the grave, in the damp mother earth!

Here, perhaps, is all that we learn about Uncle Onegin.

The appearance of the uncle in the novel resembles real person- Lord William Byron, to whom the great English poet was a great-nephew and sole heir. In the article "Byron" (1835), Pushkin describes this colorful personality as follows:

"Lord Wilhelm, brother of Admiral Byron, his grandfather, was
a strange and miserable person. Once in a duel he stabbed
his relative and neighbor Mr. Chaworth. They fought without
witnesses, in a tavern by candlelight. This case made a lot of noise, and the Chamber of Pens found the murderer guilty. He was however
released from punishment, [and] has since lived in Newsteed, where his quirks, avarice and gloomy character made him the subject of gossip and slander.<…>
He tried to ruin his possessions out of hatred for his
heirs. [His] only interlocutors were an old servant and
the housekeeper, who also occupied another place with him. Moreover, the house was
full of crickets, which Lord Wilhelm fed and raised.<…>

Lord Wilhelm never entered into relations with his young
heir, whose name was none other than the boy who lives in Aberdeen.

The miserly and suspicious old lord with his housekeeper, crickets and unwillingness to communicate with the heir is surprisingly similar to Onegin's relative, with one exception. Apparently, the well-bred English crickets were better trained than the unceremonious and importunate Russian flies.

And Uncle Onegin's castle, and "a huge neglected garden, a shelter for pensive dryads", and a werewolf housekeeper, and tinctures - all this was reflected, as in a crooked magic mirror, in " Dead souls» N.V. Gogol. Plyushkin's house has become an image of a real castle from Gothic novels, smoothly moved into the space of postmodernist absurdity: some kind of exorbitantly long, for some reason, multi-storey, with staggering belvederes sticking out on the roof, it looks like a man who watches the approaching traveler with blind eyes-windows. The garden also reminds enchanted place, in which the birch is rounded in a slender column, and the chapyzhnik looks with the face of the owner. The housekeeper who met Chichikov quickly turns into Plyushkin, and the liquor and inkwells are full of dead insects and flies - aren't they the ones that crushed Uncle Onegin?

The provincial landowner-uncle with the housekeeper Anisya also appears in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Tolstoy's uncle became noticeably ennobled, the housekeeper turned into a housekeeper, gained beauty, a second youth and patronymic, she was called Anisya Fedorovna. The heroes of Griboedov, Pushkin and Gogol, migrating to Tolstoy, are transformed and acquire humanity, beauty and other positive qualities.

And another funny coincidence.

One of the features of Plyushkin's appearance was an exorbitantly protruding chin: "His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old people, one chin only protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time, so as not to spit ... - this is how Gogol describes his hero.

F.F. Vigel, memoirist, author of the well-known and popular in the 19th century "Notes", familiar with many figures of Russian culture, represents V.L. Pushkin as follows: “He himself is very ugly: a loose, thickening body on thin legs, a slanting belly, a crooked nose, a triangle face, a mouth and chin, like a la Charles-Quint **, and most of all, thinning hair is not more than thirty years it was old-fashioned. In addition, toothlessness softened his conversation, and his friends listened to him, although with pleasure, but at some distance from him.

VF Khodasevich, who wrote about the Pushkins, apparently used Vigel's memoirs:
“Sergey Lvovich had an older brother, Vasily Lvovich. They were similar in appearance, only Sergey Lvovich seemed a little better. Both had loose pot-bellied bodies on thin legs, sparse hair, thin and crooked noses; sharp chins protruded forward, and the lips were folded in a tube.

**
Charles V (1500 - 1558), Holy Roman Emperor. The Habsburg brothers Charles V and Ferdinand I had pronounced family noses and chins. From the book by Dorothy Gies McGuigan "Habsburgs" (translated by I. Vlasova): "Maximilian's eldest grandson, Karl, a serious boy, outwardly not very attractive, grew up with his three sisters in Mechelen in the Netherlands. Blond hair, smoothly combed like a page, only slightly softened the narrow, sharply carved face, with a long, sharp nose and an angular, protruding lower jaw - the famous Habsburg chin in its most pronounced form.

UNCLE Vasya and cousin

In 1811, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin wrote the comic poem The Dangerous Neighbor. A funny, although not entirely decent plot (a visit to a matchmaker and a fight started there), a light and lively language, a colorful protagonist (the famous F. Tolstoy - an American served as the prototype), witty attacks against literary enemies - all this brought the poem well-deserved fame. It could not be printed due to censorship obstacles, but it was widely dispersed in the lists. Main character of the poem Buyanov is the narrator's neighbor. This is a man of a violent temper, energetic and cheerful, a careless drunkard who squandered his estate in taverns and entertainment with gypsies. It doesn't look very presentable.

Buyanov, my neighbor<…>
Came to me yesterday with an unshaven mustache
Disheveled, in fluff, in a cap with a visor,
He came - and carried everywhere a tavern.

This hero A.S. Pushkin calls him his cousin (Buyanov is the creation of his uncle) and introduces him into his novel as a guest at Tatiana's name day, without changing his appearance at all:

My cousin, Buyanov,
In down, in a cap with a visor
(As you, of course, know him)

In EO, he behaves as freely as in "Dangerous Neighbor".
In the draft version, during the ball, he has fun with all his heart and dances so that the floors crack under his heel:

... Buyanov's heel
So it breaks the floor around

In the white version, he dances one of the ladies:

Buyanov rushed off to Pustyakova,
And everyone poured out into the hall,
And the ball shines in all its glory.

But in the mazurka he played a peculiar role of fate, bringing Tatyana and Olga to Onegin in one of the figures of the dance. Later, the arrogant Buyanov even tried to woo Tatyana, but was completely refused - how could this direct cap-maker compare with the elegant dandy Onegin?

Pushkin is worried about the fate of Buyanov himself. In a letter to Vyazemsky, he writes: “Something will happen to him in the offspring? I am extremely afraid that my cousin will not be considered my son. How long until sin? However, most likely, in this case, Pushkin simply did not miss the opportunity to play with words. In the EO, he accurately determined the degree of his relationship with Buyanov, and brought out his own uncle in the eighth chapter in a very flattering way, giving a generalized image of a secular man of a past era:

There he was in fragrant gray hair
The old man, joking in the old way:
Superbly subtle and smart
Which is kind of funny these days.

Vasily Lvovich, indeed, joked "excellently subtly and cleverly." He could kill opponents with one verse:

Two guests hefty laughed, reasoned
And Stern the New was marvelously called.
Direct talent will find defenders everywhere!

The snake bit Markel.
He died? - No, the snake, on the contrary, died.

As for the “scented gray hairs”, one involuntarily recalls the story of P.A. Vyazemsky from the “Autobiographical Introduction”:

“On my return from the boarding house, I found Dmitriev, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, the young man Zhukovsky and other writers with us. Pushkin, who even before his departure had already given a report on his travel impressions with Dmitriev’s pen, had just returned from Paris. "He was dressed from head to toe in Parisian splendor. Hair: la Titus, angled, anointed with ancient oil, huile antique. In simple-hearted self-praise he let the ladies sniff his head. I can't tell whether I looked at him with reverence and envy or with a touch of derision.<...>He was a pleasant, not at all ordinary poet. He was kind to infinity, to the ridiculous; but this laughter does not reproach him. Dmitriev correctly portrayed him in his playful poem, saying for him: I really am kind, ready to heartily embrace the whole world.

UNCLE'S SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

The joke poem is "Journey of N.N. to Paris and London, written three days before the trip”, created by I.I. Dmitriev in 1803. M. A. Dmitriev, his nephew, tells the story of the creation of this short poem in his memoirs “Trifles from the stock of my memory”: “A few days before his (Vasily Lvovich’s) departure to foreign lands, my uncle, who was briefly acquainted with him guards service, described in joking verses his journey, which, with the consent of Vasily Lvovich and with the permission of the censor, was printed in Beketov's printing house, under the title: Journey N. N. to Paris and London, written three days before the trip. A vignette was attached to this edition, on which Vasily Lvovich himself is depicted in an extremely similar way. He is presented listening to Talma, who gives him a lesson in recitation. I have this book: it was not for sale and is the greatest bibliographic rarity.

The joke was really a success, it was appreciated by A.S. Pushkin, who wrote about the poem in a short note “The Journey of V.L.P.”: “The Journey is a cheerful, gentle joke on one of the author’s friends; the late V.L. Pushkin went to Paris, and his infantile enthusiasm gave rise to the composition of a small poem in which the whole of Vasily Lvovich is depicted with amazing accuracy. “This is an example of playful lightness and jokes, lively and gentle.”

The Journey was also highly rated by P.A. Vyazemsky: "And although the verses are comic, they belong to the best treasures of our poetry, and it is a pity to keep them under wraps."

From the first part
Friends! sisters! I am in Paris!
I began to live, not breathe!
Sit closer to each other
My small magazine read:
I was in the Lyceum, in the Pantheon,
Bonaparte bows;
Stood close to him
Not believing my luck.

I know all the paths of the boulevard,
All new fashion stores;
In the theater every day
In Tivoli and Frascati, in the field.

From the second part

Against the window in the sixth housing,
Where are the signs, carriages,
Everything, everything, and in the best lorgnettes
From morning to evening in the mist
Your friend is sitting still uncombed
And on the table where the coffee is,
"Mercure" and "Moniter" scattered,
There is a whole bunch of posters:
Your friend writes to his homeland;
And Zhuravlev will not hear!
Breath of the heart! get to him!
And you, friends, forgive me for that
Something to my liking;
I'm ready when you want
Confess my weaknesses;
For example, I love, of course,
Read my couplets forever
At least listen, at least don't listen to them;
I love and strange outfit,
If only he would be in fashion, flaunt;
But with a word, a thought, even a glance
Who do I want to offend?
I'm really good! and with all my heart
Ready to hug, love the whole world!..
I hear a knock! .. is it possible for me?

From the third

I'm in London, friends, and to you
I'm already stretching out my arms -
How I wish to see you all!
Today I will give to the ship
Everything, all my acquisitions
In two famous countries!
I'm beside myself with admiration!
In what boots will I come to you!
What coats! trousers!
All the latest styles!
What a wonderful selection of books!
Consider - I'll tell you in a moment:
Buffon, Rousseau, Mably, Cornelius,
Homer, Plutarch, Tacitus, Virgil,
All Shakespeare, all Pop and Gum;
Magazines Addison, Style...
And all Didot, Baskerville!

The light, lively narration excellently conveyed the good-natured character of Vasily Lvovich and his enthusiastic attitude to everything he saw abroad.
It is easy to see the influence of this work on EO.

SAY, UNCLE...

A.S. Pushkin knew I. Dmitriev from childhood - he met him at his uncle's house, with whom the poet was friendly, read Dmitriev's works - they were part of the study program at the Lyceum. Makarov Mikhail Nikolaevich (1789-1847) - a Karamzinist writer, left memories of a funny meeting between Dmitriev and the boy Pushkin: He was an adult, but in childhood his hair was so curly and so gracefully curled by African nature that one day I. I. Dmitriev said to me: “Look, this is a real Arab.” The child laughed and, turning to us, said very quickly and boldly: "At least I will distinguish myself in this and will not be a hazel grouse." The hazel grouse and the arabic remained with us all evening on our teeth.

Dmitriev rather favorably treated the poems of the young poet, the nephew of his friend. A black cat ran between them after the publication of Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. Contrary to expectations, Dmitriev reacted to the poem very unkindly and did not hide it. A.F. Voeikov added fuel to the fire by quoting Dmitriev’s oral private statement in his critical analysis of the poem: “I don’t see any thoughts or feelings here: I see only sensuality.”

Under the influence of Karamzin and Arzamas, Dmitriev tries to soften his harshness and writes to Turgenev: “Pushkin was a poet even before the poem. Although I am an invalid, I have not yet lost my flair for elegance. How can I want to humiliate his talent?" This seems like a kind of justification.

However, in a letter to Vyazemsky, Dmitriev again balances between compliments through his teeth and caustic irony:
"What can you say about our "Ruslan", about which they shouted so much? It seems to me that this is a premature baby of a handsome father and a beautiful mother (muse). I find in him a lot of brilliant poetry, lightness in the story: but it's a pity that he often falls into into burlesque, and it is even more a pity that I did not put in the epigraph the well-known verse with a slight change: "La mХre en dИfendra la lecture a sa fille"<"Мать запретит читать ее своей дочери". Без этой предосторожности поэма его с четвертой страницы выпадает из рук доброй матери".

Pushkin was offended and remembered the offense for a long time - sometimes he was very vindictive. Vyazemsky wrote in his memoirs: “Pushkin, for this, of course, is about him, did not like Dmitriev as a poet, that is, it would be more correct to say, he often did not like him. Frankly, he was, or used to be, angry with him. At least that's my opinion. Dmitriev, a classicist - however, Krylov was a classic in his literary concepts, and also French - did not very kindly welcome Pushkin's first experiments, and especially his poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". He even spoke of her caustically and unfairly. Probably, this opinion reached the young poet, and it was all the more sensitive to him that the Sentence came from a judge who towered over a number of ordinary judges and whom, in the depths of his soul and his talent, Pushkin could not help but respect. Pushkin in everyday life, in everyday life, in everyday relationships, was exorbitantly kind-hearted and simple-hearted. But in his mind, under certain circumstances, he was vindictive, not only in relation to ill-wishers, but also to strangers and even to his friends. He, so to speak, strictly kept in his memory a book of accounts, in which he entered the names of his debtors and the debts that he considered to be due to them. To help his memory, he even essentially and materially wrote down the names of these debtors on scraps of paper, which I myself saw from him. This comforted him. Sooner or later, sometimes quite by accident, he collected a debt, and he collected it with a vengeance.

Having recovered with interest, Pushkin changed his anger to mercy, and in the thirties his relationship with Dmitriev again became sincere and benevolent. In 1829, Pushkin sent I.I. Dmitriev the newly published Poltava. Dmitriev responds with a letter of appreciation: “I thank you with all my heart, dear sovereign Alexander Sergeevich, for your priceless gift to me. This very hour I begin to read, confident that when I meet in person I will thank you even more. Dmitriev, who is devoted to you, is hugging you.”

Vyazemsky believes that it was Dmitriev who was brought out by Pushkin in the seventh chapter of the EO in the form of an old man straightening his wig:

Meeting a boring aunt Tanya,
Somehow Vyazemsky got hooked on her
And he managed to occupy her soul.
And, noticing her near him,
About her, adjusting her wig,
The old man is informed.

The characterization is quite neutral - not warmed by special sincerity, but also not destroying with murderous sarcasm or cold irony.

The same chapter is preceded by an epigraph from I. Dmitriev's poem "The Liberation of Moscow":

Moscow, Russia's beloved daughter,
Where can you find your equal?

But all this was later, and while writing the first chapter of the EO, Pushkin is still offended, and who knows if, when writing the first lines of the EO, he remembered Uncle I.I. Dmitriev and his nephew M.A. Dmitriev, who in his critical articles acted as a "classic", was an opponent of new, romantic, trends in literature. His attitude to Pushkin's poetry invariably remained restrained and critical, and he always bowed before his uncle's authority. The memoirs of Mikhail Aleksandrovich are simply full of the words "my uncle", to which one would just like to add "the most honest rules." And already in the second stanza of EO Pushkin mentions the friends of "Lyudmila and Ruslan". But the ill-wishers remain unnamed, but implied.

By the way, I.I. Dmitriev enjoyed the reputation of an honest, exceptionally decent and noble person, and this was well deserved.

IN CONCLUSION A LITTLE MYSTICITY

An excerpt from the memoirs of Alexander Sergeevich's nephew
Pushkin - Lev Nikolaevich Pavlishchev:

Meanwhile, Sergei Lvovich received privately from Moscow news of the sudden illness of his brother and also a sincere friend, Vasily Lvovich.

Upon his return from Mikhailovsky, Alexander Sergeevich stayed in St. Petersburg for a very short time. He went to Boldino and visited Moscow on his way, where he witnessed the death of the poet Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, who dearly loved his uncle...

Alexander Sergeevich found his uncle on his deathbed, on the eve of his death. The sufferer lay in oblivion, but, as his uncle reported in a letter to Pletnev dated September 9 of the same year, “he recognized him, grieved, then, after a pause, said:“ how boring Katenin’s articles are ”" and not a word more.

At the words of the dying man, says in his memoirs a witness of the last days of Vasily Lvovich, who then arrived from St. Petersburg, Prince Vyazemsky, Alexander Sergeevich left the room to “let his uncle die historically; very touched by all this spectacle and all the time he behaved as decently as possible.