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Helping a student. Essay on the relevance of the work a word about Igor's regiment Are dead souls relevant in our time

Poem "Dead Souls" is one of the most remarkable works of Russian literature. The great realist writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol showed all of modern Russia, satirically depicting landed nobility and provincial officials. But if you look closely, the disgusting and pitiful features of Gogol's characters have not been outlived to this day and are clearly manifested even today, at the turn of the new century.

Gogol's laughter also included a feeling of acute grief, born of pictures of spiritual extinction, the "death" of a person, his humiliation and suppression, the phenomena of social stagnation. No wonder the writer said that he had to look at life "through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears." And at the same time, Gogol's laughter does not cause disappointment, it awakens the energy of resistance and protest, the energy of action.

The title of Gogol's poem has at least two meanings. Under " dead souls"of course, both the dead peasants, who are bought by the landowner Chichikov, and the absolutely living heroes of the work - the landowners and officials of the city of NN.

The merit of the great writer, first of all, is that he skillfully portrayed in his work a multitude of the most diverse characters. The central place in the poem is occupied by chapters that tell about different types feudal landowners in what was then Russia. Pictures of the decline of the economy, complete spiritual impoverishment, degradation of the personality lead the reader to the idea that these "masters of life" are "dead souls".

Gogol gives a description of the landlords in certain order, and outlines, step by step, the degree of moral decline of the entire landowning class. The images of the landlords pass before us one after another, and with each new character, the loss of everything human by these people is more and more visible. That. what is only guessed in Manilov, in Plyushkin is already getting its real embodiment. "Dead Souls" is a poem about typical phenomena of Russian reality, contemporary Gogol, and in the images of feudal lords, the author satirically showed the destructive power of serfdom.

The gallery of landowners in the poem opens with the image of Manilov. At first glance, this owner does not seem like a "monster", a "dead soul" at all. On the contrary: "in his eyes he was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness ..." A little sugary, "sugar", a very kind and extremely pleasant man, especially against the background of the rest of the heroes of the poem. However, Gogol reveals all the emptiness and uselessness of Manilov. His household is ruined, the estate is desolated, "the whole household sleeps in an merciless way and hangs all the rest of the time." In the house itself, Manilov is struck by a certain feeling of the absence of the owner. Poor armchairs are next to the beautiful furniture, a book has been lying on the table for two years, bookmarked on the 14th page. And Manilov builds meaningless projects, does not take care of the estate. He can only smile pleasantly and lavish pleasantries. The only result of his "work" is "heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged not without diligence very beautiful rows"Out of a desire to show courtesy to Chichikov, who is barely known to him, Manilov not only gives him his dead peasants, but also bears the costs of processing the bill of sale. At first, Chichikov's strange request confuses the landowner, but Manilov is not able to think about the proposal and easily allows himself to be convinced. Thus, a kindly, amiable person appears before us as a "dead soul", which, however, has not lost any other human traits.

Korobochka, which the author calls "clubhead", is also a parody of a person. Against the backdrop of a strong economy, a dull, ignorant lady is shown. She is so stupid that she cannot even understand all the wildness of Chichikov's proposal. For her, the sale of the dead is as natural as the trade in products. The box is only afraid of "cheapening" when selling a new product. This is what the human passion for gain leads to.

Another image of the "living dead" personifies Nozdryov. His life is reckless fun, constant revelry. He is the weight of friends with whom he drinks and plays cards, losing and drinking away the fruits of the labor of his peasants in a few days. Nozdrev is rude and unceremonious. "Oh, Chichikov, well, what did you need to come. Really, you're a pig for this. A sort of cattle breeder ..." Gogol ironically calls Nozdryov " historical man", emphasizing its typicality. "The face of Nozdryov is already somewhat familiar to the reader." Only the kennel is in excellent condition. The image of Nozdryov clearly shows the corrupting nature of serfdom.

And here we have Sobakevich, the owner of a good estate. “It seemed that there was no soul in this body at all ...”, writes Gogol. Sobakevich is only interested in food and further enrichment. He calmly accepts Chichikov's offer and begins to bargain with him. Human feelings in him have long since died, and it is not for nothing that Gogol compares Sobakevich to a medium-sized bear. This misanthrope is a complete reactionary, a persecutor of science and enlightenment. The following description of the hero's living room is interesting: "Table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the most difficult and restless nature, - in a word, each chair seemed to say: "And I, too, Sobakevich!" A frank comparison of Sobakevich with inanimate objects already speaks of his immobility, But it is the soul that is the driving principle in man, it was not for nothing that the ancient people depicted it in the form of the wings of a bird.It is the soul that inspires a person to move, develop, and create.

But the characters of the poem are not like that. The "crown" of this pyramid is Plyushkin, "a hole in humanity", a "dead soul". The spiritual death of a person is shown in it with great accusatory power. The image of Plyushkin is prepared by a description of a poor village, hungry peasants. The master's house seems to be a "decrepit invalid", the reader does not leave the feeling that he wandered into a cemetery. Against this background, a strange figure appears: either a man or a woman, in "an indefinite dress that looks like a woman's hood." However, it was not a beggar who stood before Chichikov, but the richest landowner in the district, in whom greed killed even an understanding of the value of things. Everything rots in Plyushkin's pantries, he spends all day collecting all sorts of rubbish in the village, stealing from his own peasants Things for him more expensive than people who "die like flies" or go on the run. "And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness!" exclaims Gogol. But before Plyushkin was only a prudent, thrifty owner Serfdom killed a man in him, turned him into a "living corpse", causing nothing but disgust.

There is also a completely new hero in the poem, who has not yet met in Russian literature. This is a representative of the emerging class of "purchasers". In the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Gogol brought to public view the features of the "knight of the penny."

At first glance, Chichikov gives the impression of a slippery, many-sided person. This is emphasized by his appearance: "The gentleman was sitting in the britzka, not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he was old, however, and not so that he was too young"

Like a chameleon, Chichikov is constantly changing. He is able to give his face the right expression to seem like a pleasant conversationalist. Speaking with officials, the hero of the poem "very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone." Therefore, he quickly gains the necessary reputation in the city. Mutual language Chichikov also finds with the landowners, from whom he buys dead peasants. With Manilov, he looks like a particularly amiable and courteous person, which charms the owner. At Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, Chichikov behaves in accordance with the situation and knows how to find an approach to everyone. Only he did not catch Nozdryov in his nets. But this was Chichikov's only failure.

To achieve a result, our hero uses all his ability to charm a person. And he has one goal - enrichment, and for this Pavel Ivanovich is ready to be hypocritical, practicing for hours at the mirror. The main thing for him is money. The hero of the poem needs them not by themselves, but as a means of further accumulation. Even as a child, Chichikov well learned his father's order to please the bosses, to be friends "with those who are richer" and to save "penny". Father's words sunk into the boy's soul: "You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny."

Possessing a great mind "from the practical side", Chichikov began to save money at school, cashing in on his comrades and being especially stingy. Already in those years, the soul of this "acquirer" manifested itself. By deceit, sycophancy, Chichikov made his way, stopping at nothing. He is cunning, robs the state, "cheats" his colleagues. Bribery becomes his element.

Gradually, Chichikov's scams gained more and more scope. From a humble clerk to a customs official, Gogol traces the path of his hero. By any means he seeks to increase the state. For the idea of buying " dead souls"He seized quickly. Chichikov's entrepreneurial talent is not consistent with moral standards. For him, there are no moral principles. Chichikov happily concludes: "But now the time is convenient, there was an epidemic recently, people died out, thank God, a lot." On human grief, he builds his well-being on the deaths of others.

Chichikov is the same product of time as Onegin or Pechorin. Belinsky wrote about this, noting that "Chichikov, as an acquirer, no less, if not more than Pechorin, is a hero of our time." We can say without exaggeration that Chichikov embodied the features of many modern entrepreneurs, for whom profit is above all. And sadly, but this is a "hero" of our time too.

The work of the great writer surprisingly closely touches the problems of our day. Gogol's images allow a clearer understanding of the activity of modern shameless businessmen, money-grubbers; also the inner image of people who replace the real public cause with empty schemes; and those who, with "inspiration" and at the same time, waste their own and other people's energy on useless pursuits.

Inertia, stagnation, conservatism evoke protest in the writer, because they give rise to fear of any changes in the world. Today we are seeing bursts of aggressive, militant conservatism in the Americas and Western Europe. Of course, in the era of the rapid development of science and technology, the face and practice of conservatism has changed significantly. But what the works of the great satirist remind us of has survived - the desire to crush the reasonable, the new for the sake of preserving the old, obsolete. Modern reactionaries are also characterized by the idea that life is completely subject only to them, that power and money decide everything.

In Gogol's poem, hoarding often takes on the appearance of the phenomenon that today is called materialism. Modern "things", of course, do not collect rubbish that no one needs, but acquire expensive prestigious things. However, the essence is the same; like Plyushkin, they find themselves under the indefatigable, unshakable power of things they have collected with great diligence. Not things serve their owners, but a person becomes their servant, consigning to oblivion much of what distinguishes the real human life.

Gogol reflected in the poem such a social evil as lack of spirituality. With great artistic power, he depicted people deprived of high aspirations, closed only on themselves, indifferent to everything that does not directly affect them. Lack of spirituality is a constant companion of all sorts of acquirers, accumulators, those who are absorbed in the pursuit of ranks, strive to achieve their goals by any means.

Loss moral criteria characterizes that self-satisfied everyday life depicted by Gogol, narcissistic vulgarity, which ironically relates to spiritual interests and "high matters".

The links between Gogol's work and modernity are broad and many-sided. The very awareness of these connections enriches our understanding of the achievements of Russian classical literature. The inexhaustible power of Gogol's figurative generalizations reveal the enduring significance of his artistic heritage.

One of my favorite works of Russian literature is the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". In it, the author talks about Chichikov, who goes to rich people and buys from them dead Souls.

In this poem, Gogol speaks of dead souls in a double sense. At first, the dead souls are just peasants working for the nobles. But throughout the poem, we notice that the dead souls are the landowners themselves.

Because they no longer see the meaning of life. They simply exist. Unfortunately, in our time, most officials are exactly the same. For them, only their money and wealth became the main thing, and everything else has long gone into the background. The author in this work makes fun of such people.

Also very important is the story of Captain Kopeikin. After all, it is in it that the author shows the whole essence of officials who are chasing fame and fortune. But in fact, they are a nonentity who appropriated the glory of other people, people who guarded our Motherland.

I am very sorry that this has always happened and is happening in our country. And if now the rich and influential people do not come to their senses, it will only get worse in the future.

Updated: 2017-06-19

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PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Philological Sciences / Philological Sciences Original article / Original Article UDC 82

The relevance of the poem by N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

Dagestan State Pedagogical University, Makhachkala, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

SUMMARY. Target. Substantiation of the relevance of the conceptual provisions of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" in our days. Methods. Description, generalization and analysis of the studied material. Results. The authors of the article refute the biased criticism of N.V. Gogol, prove the relevance of the conceptual provisions of the poem by analyzing the work. Conclusions. N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" today has great importance as a realistic work, the negative phenomena and images of which correspond to the realities of the current Russian public life.

Key words: relevance, influence, modern realities.

Citation format: Abdullaev A. A., Ramazanova D. A. The relevance of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" // Bulletin of the Dagestan State Pedagogical University. Social and human sciences. 2017. ^ 11. No. 2. S. 18-22.

The Topicality of the "Dead Souls" Poem by N. V. Gogol

Dagestan State Pedagogical University, Makhachkala, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT. aim. The relevance of concepts of the "Dead Souls" poem by N. V. Gogol in our days. methods. Description, generalization and analysis of the material studied. results. The authors of the article refute the biased criticism of N. V. Gogol, prove the topicality of the poem concepts through the analysis of the work. Conclusions. The Poem "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol in our days is of great importance as a realistic work, the negative phenomena and images of which correspond with the current Russian social life. Keywords: relevance, influence, contemporary realities.

For citation: Abdullaev A. A., Ramazanova D. A. The Topicality of the "Dead Souls" Poem by N. V. Gogol. Dagestan State Pedagogical University. Journal. Social and Humanitarian Sciences. 2017 Vol. 11. No. 2.Pp. 18-22. (In Russian)

Introduction

V. V. Vinogradov, G. A. Gukovsky, Yu. V. Mann, M. S. Gus, I. Mandelstam, etc. I will revise the negative assessments of Gogol for the fact that he brought out positive images in Dead Souls.

In addition, the relevance of a number of conceptual provisions of the poem in the post-Soviet era is not noted in modern literature.

The purpose of the study was to substantiate the relevance of the conceptual provisions of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" in our days. Relevance is proved by

a look at modern corruption, the life and work of officials.

Results and discussion

It is quite fair that G. A. Gukovsky’s opinion is that N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is a work that had “a powerful, most fruitful and lasting impact on Russian society, Russian culture and literature".

The poem "Dead Souls" continues to have and will continue to have such an impact. The one who rereads it again encounters in it something interesting, as well as useful in terms of knowledge, which did not attract attention at the first reading. He finds in it a lot of topical: the image of representatives of different social strata from the point of view of the moral level interpersonal relationships, the nature of the relationship between a simple citizen and those in power. The reader is convinced that greed and the moral degeneration of bureaucracy associated with it lead to the depreciation of the moral and ethical principles of the formation of the spiritual sphere of society.

And today, the fair and reasonable opinion of V. G. Belinsky that “Dead Souls” requires study has not lost its relevance.

One of the specific features of "Dead Souls" is the expressiveness of the language, due in part to the use of words and expressions from folklore in the text. colloquial speech. Concerned about the enrichment and improvement of the Russian literary language, N.V. Gogol introduced into his poem the names of various realities of peasant economic life, as well as figurative means borrowed from folk speech, which, due to the specific context of Dead Souls, acquired the status of literature. Apparently, bearing in mind such a feature of the language of Gogol's poem, Acad. V. V. Vinogradov wrote: “The free and wide inclusion in the fabric of the narrative of words, expressions, phrases snatched from the speech of the most reproducible social environment is often demonstrated by the author himself through stylistic references or indications.

ny, sometimes precise, sometimes more indefinite, - on the circle of their everyday use. For example, in "Dead Souls": "When the carriage drove into the yard, the gentleman was met by a tavern servant, or sexual, as they are called in Russian taverns."

Gogol was attracted by dialectal and colloquial words missing in the literary language. He did his best to use them in his narrative in a context in which they did not look like some kind of alien lexemes. Showing interest in folk speech, Gogol recorded in his notebook what he noticed in the communication of commoners rare words from vernacular, dialect, or jargon. From it notebook the poem "Dead Souls" included a lot of interesting things. The writer used such words mainly for the speech individualization of his characters, representatives of different social or class groups. The fact that the names of various realities and figurative and expressive means from folk colloquial speech, used by Gogol in the poem "Dead Souls", organically entered the Russian literary language, entrenched in it, became its property, testifies to how carefully he selected words and how to use them appropriately. Highly appreciating Gogol's contribution to the enrichment of the Russian literary language, to increasing its expressiveness, V. V. Vinogradov wrote: “Gogol even more and even further than Pushkin pushed the boundaries of the Russian national literary language and tried to show the full breadth of space in the language of fiction » .

As a characterological feature of Gogol's individual style, Mandelstam noted the writer's priority in reflecting Russian national self-consciousness, "for he introduced folk speech into literature, surpassing even Pushkin in this respect."

Rapprochement of a literary text with colloquial speech and the inclusion of its elements in fiction prominent Russians writers of the 19th V. has become a tradition feature Russian fiction at all. In this regard, the influence of the example of the poem "Dead Souls" was natural and inevitable. For example, P. I. Melnikov-Pecher-

in the books "In the Forests" and "On the Mountains" used a lot language tools taken from colloquial speech when describing the life of the Russian Old Believers. Widely implemented in artistic text common speech means, effectively used for stylistic purposes, can be regarded as one of the reasons for the special expressiveness and specific coloring of the language of the works of P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, this original expert on the Russian language and outstanding writer, a great master of Russian artistic word, whose contribution to the development of the Russian literary language, in our opinion, has not yet received an adequate assessment.

The reader's interest in the poem "Dead Souls" was unusually high. For example, the second part of "Dead Souls" went through the hands of readers long before it appeared in print.

Considering the poem "Dead Souls" as brilliant, M. Gus states the fact that Gogol depicted the life of the Russian people in general and in detail, but the forms of life generalized in the work contradict the "substantial principle of the Russian people".

A very significant reason that Gogol's poem caused a high reader's assessment and an ambiguous characterization of critics (rave reviews of some, sharp negative assessments of others) was the fact that N.V. Gogol set out to cover all of Russia with his image, to illuminate the life of the Russian people from all sides . In a letter to V. A. Zhukovsky dated November 12, 1836 from Paris regarding Dead Souls, he wrote: “If I make this creation the way it needs to be done, then what a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Rus' will appear in it! This will be my first decent thing - a thing that will bear my name.

The poem "Dead Souls" fully justified the prophecy and all sorts of its author: it was not only accepted with enthusiasm by Gogol's contemporary readers, but to this day is recognized as a masterpiece of Russian literature, unsurpassed in its artistic and aesthetic qualities and originality of language and style. The image of the life of the Russian people in the poem "Dead Souls" at one time

made an indescribable impression on readers and listeners of Gogol (he read individual chapters of the poem in the manuscript in a friendly circle, and often to one listener). When Gogol read individual chapters from Dead Souls to Pushkin, Pushkin became gloomy. “When the reading was over, he said in a voice of anguish: “God, how sad our Russia is!” .

The image of the troika bird created by Gogol in Dead Souls attracted particular attention of critics: some spoke approvingly of him, others attributed unfounded boasting to the writer.

The inconsistency of the arguments of the critics, who saw in the image of the Troika an expression of Gogol's boasting, becomes apparent when reading the reasoning of the writer himself, who spoke out against empty pride and boasting, against the desire of compatriots to present themselves to foreigners as the best.

The image of the Troika, we believe, was created by Gogol not without reason. It is possible that in the second volume of the poem that has not survived, realities or situations were mentioned as the basis for metaphorizing the rapid movement of Russia.

It seems interesting to us to turn to some cases of critical evaluation of Gogol's Troika. Thus, in the second volume of the novel The Brothers Karamazov, prosecutor Ippolit Kirillovich, in his speech at the court session in the case of Dimitri Karamazov, severely criticizes the Gogol Troika, which rushes furiously, not knowing where, and in front of it "respectfully avoid all peoples." The prosecutor comes to the logical conclusion that in the society of the Sobakeviches, the Nozdrevs, and the Chichikovs, the idea of Russia's rapid advance could not have been born. In his opinion, peoples can stop shunning and stop "the crazy leap of our unbridledness" in the name of saving civilization.

D. I. Pisarev in harsh terms expresses his opinion to the Gogol Troika. He considers it illogical to portray the extreme poverty of Russia and at the same time state that it is rushing like a mad troika. The critic believes that such praise is the result of the writer's ignorance.

It seems reasonable to assume that Gogol, as a brilliant writer, obviously noticed in his life certain prerequisites for a breakthrough in Russia's development, for example, in the evolutionary movement of the economy and spiritual culture. Perhaps he had in mind the genius of Pushkin, who appeared not as something grafted or emerged from scratch, but born on Russian soil, and also recreated in his works of genius phenomenal art world.

Creating the image of the Troika, Gogol, quite possibly, took into account the special love of the Russian people for fast driving. This is particularly evidenced by the words from the novel by A. S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" (Chapter 7, stanza XXXV):

Automedons are our strikers, Our troikas are indefatigable, And versts, amusing the idle gaze, Flash in the eyes like a fence. The fact that a fast ride on a crazy troika is inherent in a Russian person, we read in N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Troika”: You can’t catch up with a mad troika: The horses are strong, and full, and lively, - And the driver is drunk, and rushes to the other like a whirlwind of a young cornet ... One of the notable features of Gogol's poem can be considered the creation positive image landowner Costanjoglo. Apparently, Gogol, as a brilliant writer, noticed in the society of the Chichikovs and Plyushkins, unusual landowners and persons belonging to different social categories, who were successful in their activities, with progressive aspirations, appeared in Russia. These are the landowner Kostanzhoglo, the millionaire Murazov, and the governor-general depicted in Dead Souls. Regarding these images, M. B. Khrapchenko wrote with extreme sharpness: “Both the image of the “ideal” landowner and the image of the “ideal” merchant leave the impression of deep falsehood.

Literary critic S. M. Mashinsky, in the preface to Gogol's poem "Dead Souls", states that "Promised at the end of the first volume of Dead Souls, a certain husband," gifted with divine valor, "appears in the second volume in the form of Konstantin

Fedorovich Kostanzhoglo, the “ideal” landowner, who cares not only for the valor, but also for the welfare of his peasants.

According to S. M. Mashinsky, the creation of the image of a successful landowner Kostan-zhoglo is a failure of the writer, his defeat. The positive images of the millionaire peasant Murazov and the governor general are recognized by the literary critic as false.

At the present time, when the canons turned out to be untenable socialist realism, the thinking reader quite naturally and naturally asks the question: why did critics consider Gogol's great achievement to create images of the landowners Sobakevich, Manilov, Plyushkin and others, so far from reality, and the images of goodies - a failure?

For example, Plyushkin has nothing in common even with the worst of the real landowners of the Gogol era. He cannot be considered a typical landowner, even if all the vices of the feudal landowners of Russia are collected together and embodied in an imaginary person.

The image of Plyushkin was born in the fantasy of a writer prone to humor, while the image of the young landowner Costanjoglo, presumably, was taken from real life. The landowner Khlobuev, who was ruined due to his own laziness and idleness, who did not even sow, Kostanjoglo convinces of the need to work.

Costanjoglo knows and preaches the importance of labor in a person's life, and nothing false can be seen in his image. For example, he tells Chichikov that the peasant is inspired by the idea that the desire to work should be a natural need of a sane person. Kostan-Zhoglo is ready to help his serf, give him a cow, a horse, in order to create conditions for him to be materially interested in work. Costanjoglo is well aware that the labor of a slave is unproductive, that deprived of any material wealth and, consequently, the prospects for providing for a family of raising children, the serf is not interested in his work benefiting the landowner, and the materially secure peasant will work simultaneously for himself and for the master .

Gogol's accusations of creating a positive image of Costanjoglo were appropriate in Soviet time when every piece of art had to meet the requirements of the method of socialist realism. Today, such criticism looks like a tribute to the indisputable canons of this method, which was demanded in the past.

1. Belinsky V. G. Articles, reviews, letters. M., 1949.

2. Vinogradov VV Gogol's language and its significance in the history of the Russian language // Materials and research on the history of the Russian literary language. T. 3. M., 1953.

3. Gogol N. V. Comments on materials for the biography of A. S. Pushkin. M., 1985.

4. Gogol N.V. complete collection compositions. T. 8. M., 1962.

5. G. A. Gukovsky, Gogol's Realism. M.-L., 1959.

6. Gus M. S. Living Russia and Dead Souls. M., 1981.

1. Belinsky V. G. Stat "i, retsenzii, pis" ma. Moscow, 1949.

2. Vinogradov V. V. Yazyk Gogolya i ego znachenie v istorii russkogo yazyka. Materialy i is-sledovaniya po istorii russkogo literaturnogo yazyka. Vol. 3. Moscow, 1953.

3. Gogol N. V. Kommentarii k materialam dlya biografii A. S. Pushkina. Moscow, 1985.

4. Gogol N. V. Polnoe sobraniye sochinenii. Vol. 8. M., 1962.

5. Gukovsky G. A. Realism Gogolya. Moscow-Leningrad, 1959.

6. Gus M. S. Zhivaya Rossiya i "Mertvye dushi". Moscow, 1981.

Abdullaev Alilgadzhi Abdullaevich, Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department theoretical foundations and Theories of Primary Language Education, Dagestan State Pedagogical University (DSPU), Makhachkala, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

Ramazanova Javgarat Asadulaevna, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Theoretical Foundations and Theory of Primary Language Education, DSPU, Makhachkala, Russia; email: [email protected]

Conclusion

So, N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is of great importance today as a realistic work, the negative phenomena and images of which correspond to analogies in the current Russian public life.

7. Mann Yu. V. In search of a living soul. "Dead Souls". Writer - critic - reader. M., 1987.

8. Mandelstam I. About the nature of Gogol's style. Chapter from the history of the Russian literary language. Helsingfors, 1902.

9. Mashinsky S. M. O great poem Gogol. Preface to Dead Souls. Arkhangelsk, 1969.

10. Pisarev D.I. Literary criticism: in 3 volumes. L., 1981.

11. Khrapchenko M. B. “Dead Souls” by N. V. Gogol. M., 1952.

7. Man Yu. V. V poiskakh zhivoy dushi. Dead souls. Pisatel"-kritik-chitatel" . Moscow, 1987.

8. Mandelshtam I. O kharakteregogolevskogo sti-lya. Glava iz istorii russkogo literaturnogo yazyka. Gelsingfors, 1902.

9. Mashinsky S. M. O velikoy poeme Gogolya. Predislovie k "Mertvym dusham" . Arkhangelsk, 1969.

10. Pisarev D. I. Literaturnaya kritika: v 3-kh tomakh. Leningrad, 1981.

11. Khrapchenko M. B. "Mertvye dushi" N. V. Gogolya. Moscow, 1952.

THE AUTHORS INFORMATION Affiliations

Alilgadzhi A. Abdullaev, Doctor of Philology, professor, the chair of Theoretical Bases and Theory of Primary Linguisitc Education, Dagestan State Pedagogical University (DSPU), Makhachkala, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

Dzhavgarat A. Ramazanova, Ph. D. (Pedagogy), assistant professor, the chair of Theoretical Bases and Theory of Primary Linguisitc Education, Dagestan State Pedagogical University (DSPU), Makhachkala, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

The poem "Dead Souls" is one of the most remarkable works of Russian literature. The great realist writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol showed the whole of modern Russia, satirically depicting the local nobility and provincial bureaucracy. But if you look closely, the disgusting and pitiful features of Gogol's characters have not been outlived to this day and are clearly manifested even today, at the turn of the new century.

The title of Gogol's poem has at least two meanings. By "dead souls" we mean the dead peasants, who are bought by the landowner Chichikov, and the absolutely living heroes of the work - the landowners and officials of the city of NN.

The merit of the great writer, first of all, is that he skillfully portrayed in his work a multitude of the most diverse characters. The central place in the poem is occupied by chapters that tell about different types of landowners-serfs in Russia of that time. Pictures of the decline of the economy, complete spiritual impoverishment, degradation of the individual lead the reader to the idea that these "masters of life" are "dead souls".

Gogol gives a description of the landowners in a certain order, and step by step outlines the degree of moral decline of the entire landowner class. The images of the landlords pass before us one after another, and with each new character, the loss of everything human by these people is more and more visible. That. what is only guessed in Manilov, in Plyushkin is already getting its real embodiment. "Dead Souls" is a poem about typical phenomena of Russian reality, contemporary to Gogol, and in the images of feudal lords, the author satirically showed the destructive power of serfdom.

The gallery of landowners in the poem opens with the image of Manilov. At first glance, this owner does not at all seem like a "monster", a "dead soul". On the contrary: “in his eyes he was a prominent person; his facial features were not devoid of pleasantness ... ”A slightly sugary,“ sugary ”, very kind and extremely pleasant man, especially against the background of the rest of the heroes of the poem. However, Gogol reveals all the emptiness and uselessness of Manilov. His household is ruined, the estate is desolated, "the whole household sleeps in an merciless way and hangs all the rest of the time." In the house itself, Manilov is struck by a certain feeling of the absence of the owner. Poor armchairs are next to the beautiful furniture, a book has been lying on the table for two years, bookmarked on the 14th page. And Manilov builds meaningless projects, does not take care of the estate. He can only smile pleasantly and lavish pleasantries. The only result of his “work” is “heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows.” Out of a desire to show courtesy to Chichikov, who was barely known to him, Manilov not only gives him his dead peasants, but also bears the cost of formalizing the bill of sale. At first, Chichikov's strange request confuses the landowner, but Manilov is not able to think about the proposal and easily allows himself to be convinced. Thus, a kindly, amiable person appears before us as a "dead soul", which, however, has not lost any other human traits.

Korobochka is also a parody of a person, which the author calls "club-headed". Against the backdrop of a strong economy, a dull, ignorant lady is shown. She is so stupid that she cannot even understand all the wildness of Chichikov's proposal. For her, the sale of the dead is as natural as the trade in products. The box is only afraid of "cheapening" when selling a new product. This is what the human passion for gain leads to.

Another image of the "living dead" personifies Nozdryov. His life is reckless fun, constant revelry. He is the weight of friends with whom he drinks and plays cards, losing and drinking away the fruits of the labor of his peasants in a few days. Nozdrev is rude and unceremonious. “Oh, Chichikov, why should you come. You're right, you're a pig for this. Such a cattle breeder…” Gogol ironically calls Nozdryov a “historical man”, emphasizing his typicality. In excellent condition, he only has a kennel. The image of Nozdryov clearly shows the corrupting nature of serfdom.

And here we have Sobakevich, the owner of a good estate. “It seemed that there was no soul in this body at all ...,” writes Gogol. Sobakevich is only interested in food and further enrichment. He calmly accepts Chichikov's offer and begins to bargain with him. Human feelings in him have long since died, and it is not for nothing that Gogol compares Sobakevich to a medium-sized bear. This misanthrope is a complete reactionary, a persecutor of science and enlightenment. The following description of the hero's living room is interesting: “Table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the most difficult and restless nature, - in a word, each chair seemed to say:“ And I, too, Sobakevich! ”The frank comparison of Sobakevich with inanimate objects already speaks of his immobility, heartlessness. But it is the soul that is the driving principle in a person; it was not without reason that ancient people depicted it in the form of bird wings. It is the soul that inspires a person to move, develop, and create.

But these are not the characters of the poem “The crown” of this pyramid is Plyushkin, “a hole in humanity”, “a dead soul”. The spiritual death of a person is shown in it with great accusatory power. The image of Plyushkin is prepared by a description of a poor village, hungry peasants. The master's house seems to be a "decrepit invalid", the reader does not leave the feeling that he wandered into a cemetery. Against this background, a strange figure appears: either a man or a woman, in "an indefinite dress that looks like a woman's hood." However, it was not a beggar who stood before Chichikov, but the richest landowner in the district, in whom greed killed even an understanding of the value of things. Everything rots in Plyushkin's pantries, he spends all day collecting all sorts of rubbish in the village, stealing from his own peasants. Things are dearer to him than people who "die like flies" or hit the run. “And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness!” exclaims Gogol. But earlier Plyushkin was only a prudent, thrifty owner. Serfdom killed a man in him, turned him into a “living corpse”, causing nothing but disgust.

There is also a completely new hero in the poem, who has not yet met in Russian literature. This is a representative of the emerging class of "acquirers". In the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Gogol brought to public view the features of the "knight of the penny."

At first glance, Chichikov gives the impression of a slippery, many-sided person. This is emphasized by his appearance: “The gentleman was sitting in the britzka, not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he was old, however, and not so that he was too young.”

Like a chameleon, Chichikov is constantly changing. He is able to give his face the right expression to seem like a pleasant conversationalist. Speaking with officials, the hero of the poem "very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone." Therefore, he quickly gains the necessary reputation in the city. Chichikov also finds a common language with the landowners, from whom he buys dead peasants. With Manilov, he looks like a particularly amiable and courteous person, which charms the owner. At Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, Chichikov behaves in accordance with the situation and knows how to find an approach to everyone. Only he did not catch Nozdryov in his nets. But this was Chichikov's only failure.

To achieve a result, our hero uses all his ability to charm a person. And he has one goal - enrichment, and for this Pavel Ivanovich is ready to be hypocritical, practicing for hours at the mirror. The main thing for him is money. The hero of the poem needs them not by themselves, but as a means of further accumulation. As a child, Chichikov learned well his father's order to please the bosses, to be friends "with those who are richer" and to save the "penny". Father's words sunk into the boy's soul: "You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny."

Possessing a great "practical" mind, Chichikov began to save money at school, cashing in on his comrades and being particularly stingy. Already in those years, the soul of this “acquirer” manifested itself. By deceit, sycophancy, Chichikov made his way without stopping at anything. He is cunning, robs the state, “cheats” his colleagues. Bribery becomes his element.

Gradually, Chichikov's scams gained more and more scope. From a humble clerk to a customs official, Gogol traces the path of his hero. By any means he seeks to increase the state. He seized on the idea of buying "dead souls" quickly. Chichikov's entrepreneurial talent is not consistent with moral standards. For him, there are no moral principles. Chichikov happily concludes: “But now the time is convenient, there was an epidemic recently, people died out, thank God, a lot.” On human grief, on other people's deaths, he builds his well-being.

Chichikov is the same product of time as Onegin or Pechorin. Belinsky wrote about this, noting that “Chichikov, as an acquirer, no less, if not more than Pechorin, is a hero of our time.” We can say without exaggeration that Chichikov embodied the features of many modern entrepreneurs, for whom profit is above all. And sadly, but this is a “hero” of our time too.

The work of the great writer surprisingly closely touches the problems of our day. Gogol's images make it possible to more clearly understand the activity of today's shameless businessmen, money-grubbers; also the inner image of people who replace the real public cause with empty schemes; and those who, with "inspiration" and at the same time, waste their own and other people's energy on useless pursuits.

Inertia, stagnation, conservatism evoke protest in the writer, because they give rise to fear of any changes in the world. Today we are seeing bursts of aggressive, militant conservatism in the countries of America and Western Europe. Of course, in the era of the rapid development of science and technology, the face and practice of conservatism has changed significantly. But what the works of the great satirist remind us of has survived - the desire to crush the reasonable, the new for the sake of preserving the old, obsolete. Modern reactionaries are also characterized by the idea that life is completely subject only to them, that power and money decide everything.

In Gogol's poem, hoarding often takes on the appearance of the phenomenon that today is called materialism. Modern “thingsmen”, of course, do not collect rubbish that no one needs, but acquire expensive prestigious things. However, the essence is the same; like Plyushkin, they find themselves under the indefatigable, unshakable power of things they have collected with great diligence. Not things serve their owners, but a person becomes their servant, forgetting much of what distinguishes real human life.

The loss of moral criteria also characterizes the self-satisfied everyday life depicted by Gogol, narcissistic vulgarity, which ironically relates to spiritual interests and “high matters”.

The merit of the great writer, first of all, is that he skillfully portrayed in his work a multitude of the most diverse characters. The central place in the poem is occupied by chapters that tell about different types of landowners-serfs in Russia of that time. Pictures of the decline of the economy, complete spiritual impoverishment, degradation of the individual lead the reader to the idea that it is these "masters of life" that are the "dead souls".

The gallery of landowners in the poem opens with the image of Manilov. At first glance, this owner does not seem like a "monster", a "dead soul" at all. On the contrary: "in his eyes he was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness ..." A little sugary, "sugar", a very kind and extremely pleasant man, especially against the background of the rest of the heroes of the poem. However, Gogol reveals all the emptiness and uselessness of Manilov. His household is ruined, the estate is desolated, "the whole household sleeps in an merciless way and hangs all the rest of the time." In the house itself, Manilov is struck by a certain feeling of the absence of the owner. Poor armchairs are next to the beautiful furniture, a book has been lying on the table for two years, bookmarked on the 14th page. And Manilov builds meaningless projects, does not take care of the estate. He can only smile pleasantly and lavish pleasantries. The only result of his "work" is "heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, placed, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows." Out of a desire to show courtesy to Chichikov, who was barely known to him, Manilov not only gives him his dead peasants, but also bears the cost of formalizing the bill of sale. At first, Chichikov's strange request confuses the landowner, but Manilov is not able to think about the proposal and easily allows himself to be convinced. Thus, a kindly, amiable person appears before us as a "dead soul", which, however, has not lost any other human traits.

Another image of the "living dead" personifies Nozdryov. His life is reckless fun, constant revelry. He is the weight of friends with whom he drinks and plays cards, losing and drinking away the fruits of the labor of his peasants in a few days. Nozdrev is rude and unceremonious. "Oh, Chichikov, why should you come. Really, you're a pig for this. Such a cattle breeder ..." Gogol ironically calls Nozdryov a "historical man", emphasizing his typicality. "Nozdryov's face is already familiar to the reader." In excellent condition, he only has a kennel. The image of Nozdryov clearly shows the corrupting nature of serfdom.

But the characters of the poem are not like that. The "crown" of this pyramid is Plyushkin, "a hole in humanity", a "dead soul". The spiritual death of a person is shown in it with great accusatory power. The image of Plyushkin is prepared by a description of a poor village, hungry peasants. The master's house seems to be a "decrepit invalid", the reader does not leave the feeling that he wandered into a cemetery. Against this background, a strange figure appears: either a man or a woman, in "an indefinite dress that looks like a woman's hood." However, it was not a beggar who stood before Chichikov, but the richest landowner in the district, in whom greed killed even an understanding of the value of things. Everything rots in Plyushkin's pantries, he spends all day collecting all sorts of rubbish in the village, stealing from his own peasants. Things are dearer to him than people who "die like flies" or hit the run. "And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness!" exclaims Gogol. But earlier Plyushkin was only a prudent, thrifty owner. Serfdom killed a man in him, turned him into a "living corpse", causing nothing but disgust.

Like a chameleon, Chichikov is constantly changing. He is able to give his face the right expression to seem like a pleasant conversationalist. Speaking with officials, the hero of the poem "very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone." Therefore, he quickly gains the necessary reputation in the city. Chichikov also finds a common language with the landowners, from whom he buys dead peasants. With Manilov, he looks like a particularly amiable and courteous person, which charms the owner. At Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, Chichikov behaves in accordance with the situation and knows how to find an approach to everyone. Only he did not catch Nozdryov in his nets. But this was Chichikov's only failure.

Gradually, Chichikov's scams gained more and more scope. From a humble clerk to a customs official, Gogol traces the path of his hero. By any means he seeks to increase the state. For the idea of buying "dead souls" he seized quickly. Chichikov's entrepreneurial talent is not consistent with moral standards. For him, there are no moral principles. Chichikov happily concludes: "But now the time is convenient, there was an epidemic recently, the people died out, thank God, a lot." On human grief, on other people's deaths, he builds his well-being.

Inertia, stagnation, conservatism evoke protest in the writer, because they give rise to fear of any changes in the world. Today we are seeing bursts of aggressive, militant conservatism in the countries of America and Western Europe. Of course, in the era of the rapid development of science and technology, the face and practice of conservatism has changed significantly. But what the works of the great satirist remind us of has survived - the desire to crush the reasonable, the new for the sake of preserving the old, obsolete. Modern reactionaries are also characterized by the idea that life is completely subject only to them, that power and money decide everything.

In Gogol's poem, hoarding often takes on the appearance of the phenomenon that today is called materialism. Modern "things", of course, do not collect rubbish that no one needs, but acquire expensive prestigious things. However, the essence is the same; like Plyushkin, they find themselves under the indefatigable, unshakable power of things they have collected with great diligence. Not things serve their owners, but a person becomes their servant, forgetting much of what distinguishes real human life.

The loss of moral criteria also characterizes the self-satisfied everyday life depicted by Gogol, narcissistic vulgarity, which ironically relates to spiritual interests and "high matters".

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