Significant images in gentlemen Golovlev. Lord Golovlev analysis of the work

The great Russian writer M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was engaged in writing the novel "Lord Golovlevs" in the period from 1875 to 1880. According to literary critics, the work consists of several separate works, which over time were combined into one whole. Some of the short stories that later became the basis of the work were published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski. However, only in 1880 the novel was created by the writer in its entirety.

Like most of the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the novel “Lord Golovlev”, a brief summary of which we recall today, is riddled with a kind of melancholy and hopelessness. True, this does not prevent one from easily perceiving the confident and clear literary style of the writer.

difficult time

In part, such “sadness-longing” is attributed by critics to the fact that the described events of the novel do not occur at the best time for Russia. The brilliant age of strong emperors has already ended, the state is experiencing a certain decline. In addition, the abolition of serfdom is coming - an event with which neither the landlords nor the majority of the peasants know what to do. Both those and others do not really imagine the future way of life. Undoubtedly, this adds some wariness to society, which is reflected in the novel.

However, if you look at the events described from a slightly different angle, it becomes obvious that it is not a matter of a radical change in the historical era and the usual way of life. There are all signs of the usual decomposition of certain social strata (and this does not have to be precisely the noble caste). If you carefully study the literature of that time, you can clearly see: as soon as the primary accumulation of capital ended, subsequent generations of craft, trade and noble families squandered it uncontrollably. This is exactly the story that Saltykov-Shchedrin told in the novel “Lord Golovlevs”.

This phenomenon was associated with a more or less stable economic system, the absence of global wars, as well as the rule of rather liberal emperors. In other words, the efforts that were required from the ancestors in order to survive, earn capital and give birth to viable offspring were no longer required. Such trends were observed in the history of all the once powerful world empires, the existence of which was nearing decline.

nobles

Saltykov-Shchedrin in the novel “Lord Golovlevs” (a summary, of course, does not convey the true moods of the author), using the example of a single noble family, tries to describe precisely this order of things. The once powerful Golovlev noble family is experiencing the first signs of confusion and uncertainty about the future in connection with the impending abolition of serfdom.

But in spite of everything, the capital of the family and possessions are still multiplying. The main merit in this belongs to the hostess - Arina Petrovna Golovleva, a wayward and tough woman. With an iron fist, she rules over her many estates. However, not everything is in order in the family itself. Her husband is Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev, an extremely careless person. He practically does not engage in extensive farming, devoting himself all day to the dubious muse of the poet Barkov, running after yard girls and drunkenness (still secret and dimly expressed). This is how the older characters, the Golovlevs, are briefly characterized in the novel.

Arina Petrovna, tired of fighting the vices of her husband, devotes herself entirely to economic affairs. She does this so enthusiastically that she even forgets about her children, for the sake of which, in essence, wealth is increased.

Styopka-stupid

The Golovlevs have four children - three sons and a daughter. In the novel "Lord Golovlevs" chapters are devoted to describing the fate of noble descendants. The eldest son, Stepan Vladimirovich, was an exact copy of his father. He inherited from Vladimir Mikhailovich the same eccentric character, mischief and restlessness, for which he was nicknamed Styopka the Stupid in the family. From his mother, the eldest son inherited a rather interesting trait - the ability to find the weaknesses of human characters. Stepan used this gift exclusively for buffoonery and mocking people, for which he was often beaten by his mother.

Entering the university, Stepan showed an absolute unwillingness to study. Stepan devotes all his free time to revelry with richer students, who take him to their noisy companies exclusively as a jester. Considering that the mother sent a rather meager amount of support for his education, this way of spending time helped the eldest offspring of the Golovlevs to exist quite well in the capital. Having received a diploma, Stepan begins long ordeals in various departments, but he still does not find the desired job. The reason for these failures lies in the same unwillingness and inability to work.

The mother nevertheless decides to support the unlucky son and gives him a Moscow house as a possession. But it did not help. Soon Arina Petrovna learns that the house has been sold, and for very little money. Stepan partially mortgaged it, partially lost it, and now he humiliates himself to the point of begging for wealthy peasants who live in Moscow. Soon he realizes that there are no more prerequisites for his further stay in the capital. On reflection, Stepan returns to his native estate so as not to think about a piece of bread.

Runaway Anna

Happiness did not smile at Anna's daughter either. The Golovlevs (the analysis of their actions is quite simple - they talk about the desire to give the children a foundation for building their lives) sent her to study. Her mother hoped that after graduation, Anna would successfully replace her in household matters. But even here the Golovlevs made a mistake.

Unable to bear such betrayal, Anna Vladimirovna dies. Arina Petrovna is forced to give shelter to the two remaining orphans.

younger children

The middle son - Porfiry Vladimirovich - was the exact opposite of Stepan. From a young age, he was very meek and affectionate, helpful, but he liked to gossip, for which he received from Stepan the unpleasant nicknames Yudushka and Kropivushka. Arina Petrovna did not particularly trust Porfiry, treating him more with caution than with love, but she always gave him the best pieces during meals, appreciating devotion.

The younger one, Pavel Vladimirovich, is presented in the novel as a lethargic and infantile man, not like the rest of the Golovlevs. An analysis of his character reveals a certain kindness, although, as emphasized later in the novel, he did not do good deeds. Pavel was rather intelligent, but he did not show his mind anywhere, living gloomy and unsociable in a world known to him alone.

The bitter fate of Stepan

So now we know who the Golovlevs are. We will continue to recall the summary of the novel from the moment when Stepan, having failed in the capital, returns to his native estate for a family court. It is the family that must decide the fate of the unlucky eldest son.

But the Golovlevs (Saltykov-Shchedrin quite vividly describes the discussions on this topic) almost withdrew themselves and did not develop a common opinion to solve the problem that had arisen. The first to rebel was the head of the family, Vladimir Mikhailovich. He showed extreme disrespect to his wife, calling her a "witch", and refused any discussion of Stepan's fate. The main motive for this reluctance is that it will still be the way Arina Petrovna wants. The younger brother Pavel also avoided solving this problem, saying that his opinion definitely does not interest anyone in this house.

Seeing complete indifference to the fate of his brother, Porfiry enters the game. He, allegedly pitying his brother, justifies him, says a lot of words about his unfortunate fate and begs his mother to leave his older brother under supervision in Golovlev (the name of the estate gave the surname to the noble family). But not just like that, but in exchange for Stepan's refusal of the inheritance. Arina Petrovna agrees, not seeing anything wrong in this.

This is how the Golovlevs changed Stepan's life. Roman Saltykov-Shchedrin continues with a description of the further existence of Stepan, saying that this is a living hell. He sits all day in a dirty little room, eats meager food and is often applied to alcohol. It seems that, being in his parents' house, Stepan should return to normal life, but the callousness of his relatives and the lack of basic amenities gradually drive him into gloomy melancholy, and then into depression. The absence of any desires, longing and hatred, with which memories of his unhappy life come, bring the eldest son to death.

After years

The work of "Lord Golovlev" continues ten years later. Much is changing in the leisurely life of a noble family. First of all, everything is turned upside down by the abolition of serfdom. Arina Petrovna is at a loss. She doesn't know how to keep housekeeping. What to do with the peasants? How to feed them? Or maybe you need to let them go on all four sides? But they themselves seem to be not yet ready for such freedom.

At this time, Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev quietly and peacefully passes away. Arina Petrovna, despite the fact that she clearly did not love her husband during her lifetime, falls into despondency. Porfiry took advantage of this state of hers. He persuades his mother to share the estate fairly. Arina Petrovna agrees, leaving herself only the capital. The younger gentlemen Golovlevs (Judushka and Pavel) divided the estate among themselves. An interesting fact is that Porfiry managed to bargain for himself the best part.

Wanderings of an old woman

The novel “Lord Golovlevs” tells how, continuing to follow her usual way of life, Arina Petrovna tried to further increase her filial estate. However, the mediocre leadership of Porfiry leaves her without money. Offended by the ungrateful and mercenary son, Arina Petrovna moves to the youngest. Pavel undertook to feed and water his mother along with his nieces in exchange for complete non-interference in the affairs of the estate. The aged Mrs. Golovleva agrees.

But the estate was run very badly because of Paul's penchant for alcohol. And while he "safely" quietly drank himself, finding consolation in intoxicating himself with vodka, the estate was plundered. Arina Petrovna could only silently observe this disastrous process. In the end, Pavel finally lost his health and died, without even having time to write off the remains of his mother's estate. And once again Porfiry took possession of the property.

Arina Petrovna did not wait for mercy from her son and, together with her granddaughters, went to a wretched village, once “abandoned” by her daughter Anna. Porfiry, it seems, did not drive them away, on the contrary, having learned about the departure, he wished good luck and invited them to visit him more often in a relative way, writes Saltykov. Gentlemen Golovlevs are not famous for affection for each other, but education obliges.

The grown-up granddaughters of Arina Petrovna Anninka and Lyubinka, having left for a remote village, very quickly cannot stand her monotonous life. After arguing a little with their grandmother, they rush to the city, looking for a better life, as it seems to them. After grieving alone, Arina Petrovna decides to return to Golovlevo.

Children of Porfiry

And how do the remaining gentlemen of the Golovlevs live? The summary of the description of how they while away their days is depressing. Once blooming, today the huge estate is deserted; there are almost no inhabitants left in it. Porfiry, having become a widow, got himself a consolation - the deacon's daughter Evprakseyushka.

Porfiry's sons also did not work out. The eldest, Vladimir, desperate to get part of the inheritance from his stingy father for food, committed suicide. The second son - Peter - serves as an officer, but dejected by the lack of money and complete indifference of his father, he loses government money in the capital. In the hope that now, finally, Porfiry will help him, he arrives in Golovlevo and throws himself at his feet, begging him to save him from dishonor. But the father is adamant. He is not at all interested in either the dishonor of his son or the requests of his own mother, writes Saltykov-Shchedrin. Messrs. Golovlevs, and Porfiry in particular, do not waste energy on relatives. Being in frank stupidity and idle talk, Judas reacts exclusively to the priest's daughter, with whom she is forbidden to amuse herself.

Arina Petrovna, completely despairing, curses her son, but even this did not make any impression on Porfiry, however, like the subsequent death of his mother.

Porfiry diligently counts the remaining crumbs of money bequeathed to him by his mother, and again he thinks of nothing and no one except Evprakseyushka. The arrival of Anninka's niece slightly melted his stony heart. However, she, having lived for some time with a crazy uncle, decides that the life of a provincial actress is still better than rotting alive in Golovlev. And pretty quickly leaves the estate.

The worthlessness of existence

The remaining gentlemen of the Golovlevs dispersed to different places. The problems of Porfiry, whose life is again going on as usual, now concern his mistress Eupraxia. The future is seen by her as completely bleak next to such a stingy and angry person. The situation is aggravated by Evpraksia's pregnancy. Having given birth to a son, she is completely convinced that her fears were not groundless: Porfiry gives the baby to an orphanage. Evpraksia, on the other hand, hated Golovlev with a fierce hatred.

Without thinking twice, she declares a real war of nit-picking and disobedience to the evil and unbalanced master. What is most interesting, Porfiry really suffers from such tactics, not knowing how to spend time without his former mistress. Golovlev finally withdraws into himself, spending time in his office, hatching some terrible and known only to him plans for revenge on the whole world.

Without heirs

The pessimistic picture is complemented by the suddenly returned niece Anna. Completely exhausted by a beggarly existence and endless drinking with officers and merchants, she falls ill with an incurable disease. The fatal point in her life is the suicide of her sister Lubinka. After that, she no longer thinks of anything but death.

But before her death, Anninka set a goal for herself: to bring to the attention of her uncle all the meanness and filthiness of his essence. Drinking with him all night long in an empty estate, the girl drove Porfiry crazy with endless accusations and reproaches. Judas, in the end, realizes how worthless he lived his life, hoarding, humiliating and offending everyone around him. In an alcoholic frenzy, the simple truth begins to reach him that people like him simply have no place on this earth.

Porfiry decides to ask for forgiveness at his mother's grave. He is going on the road and goes into the bitter cold to the cemetery. The next day he was found frozen on the side of the road. Everything is bad with Anna. A woman is unable to fight a deadly disease that takes her strength every day. Soon she falls into a fever and loses consciousness, which no longer returns to her. And so a horse courier was sent to the neighboring village, where the second cousin of the Golovlyovs lived, who vigilantly followed the latest events on the estate. The Golovlevs no longer had direct heirs.

I turned to family, to property,
to the state and made it clear
that none of this is available.
M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

History of creation

"The extraordinary vitality of lies and darkness" extremely worried and depressed M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Back in the late 50s, on the eve of the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, he conceived the "Book of the Dying" - those who, as he hoped, should soon leave the historical stage. It was primarily about the landowners-serfs, to whom Saltykov himself belonged by origin.

The future satirist grew up in his father's family estate in the Tver province. From childhood, he knew the landowner's life well and hated it. “Very vile was the environment in which I spent most of my life ...” - said in one of his letters. Almost three decades after the reform, Saltykov-Shchedrin had to watch how the landowners tried to regain power over the peasants.

In his last major works, the novel The Golovlevs (1875–1880) and the chronicle Poshekhonskaya Starina, the writer turned to the past and created deep and terrible images of feudal landowners.

The novel The Golovlevs (1875–1880) was based on several stories about the Golovlev family from the Well-Intentioned Speeches cycle.

The first chapter of the novel "Family Court" was the fifteenth essay of "Well-intentioned speeches", published in "Notes of the Fatherland" in 1875. "Family Court" was warmly welcomed by Goncharov, Nekrasov, A.M. Zhemchuzhnikov and especially Turgenev.

Instead of essays, the author is "a major novel with a grouping of characters and events, with a guiding thought and a broad execution," and one after another are the chapters "In a Kindred Way", "Family Books", "Niece", "Escheat", "Unlawful Family Joys" (1875–1876).

And only the chapter "Decision" ("Calculation") comes out much later - in 1880: the artist's thoughts on the finale of the novel - on the end of Judas, which was supposed to be deeply artistic and psychologically motivated, pushed back work on it for several years.

"Family Thought" in the novel

The 80s of the 19th century was the time when the feudal landowners left the historical scene. “The great chain,” as N.A. called serfdom. Nekrasov, for centuries crushed not only the peasants, but also gradually crippled the souls and human nature of the bar itself. And although in the novel "Lord Golovlev" there are many references to the tragic fate of serfs, the main drama is played out in the family of their owners, gentlemen.

To trace the decay of the landlord family, Saltykov-Shchedrin chose the genre of the family chronicle. The author focuses on the noble family, the fate of three generations of the noble family.

Question

What is the difference between the novel by Saltykov-Shchedrin and other works of Russian literature in which the theme of the family is raised?

Answer

The Golovlevs are written "on the principle of nepotism", which is so popular in Russian literature. However, the author opposed the idealization of "noble nests". They do not evoke in him that sympathetic attitude that Aksakov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Goncharov and others had.

And in concept, and in tone, and in conclusion, this is a work of a completely different plan: in Shchedrin's "noble nest" there are no poetic arbors, no luxurious linden alleys, no secluded benches in the depths of shady parks - everything that disposes the heroes of family chronicles other writers to "high speeches" and happy love confessions.

Question

What makes a family united?

Answer

Love, mutual respect, mutual assistance, common interests, etc.

Question

How are these moral categories refracted in the Golovlev family?

Answer

Love in the Golovlyovs turns into hatred; mutual respect - in humiliation; mutual assistance - in fear of each other. Common interests come down to only one thing: how to leave the other without a “piece”.

Question

What is the meaning of life for the representatives of the Golovlev family?

Answer

The whole meaning of the life of the Golovlevs consisted in the acquisition, accumulation of wealth, the struggle for this wealth. Mutual hatred, suspicion, soulless cruelty, hypocrisy reign in the family.

Alcoholism is a family disease of the Golovlevs, which leads to complete moral decay of the individual, and then physical death occurs.

Question

What is the climactic scene in the first chapter?

Answer

The culmination of the first chapter is the trial of Stepan. This scene defines the conflict, the theme and the idea of ​​the whole novel.

Exercise

Please comment on this scene.

Answer

There is a "conference" of members of the Golovlev family about the future fate of Stepan, the eldest son, who squandered the share of the inheritance allocated to him. This is a contradiction between verbal statements about the holiness and strength of the family, religion and state - and the internal rottenness of the Golovlevs.

The words "family", "kindred", "brother" sound constantly, but there is no real content or even a sign of sincere feeling behind them. The same Arina Petrovna does not find other definitions for her eldest son, except as "stupid", "villain". In the end, she dooms him to a half-starved existence and "forgets" about him.

Brother Pavel listens to Stepan's sentence with complete indifference and immediately forgets about him. Porfiry persuades "dear friend mother" not to allocate Stepan's father's share of the inheritance. Arina Petrovna looks at her youngest son and thinks: “Is he really such a blood drinker that he will drive his own brother out into the street?” This is how the theme of the entire novel is defined: the destruction and death of the Golovlev family.

Question

Why are the Golovlevs doomed to die?

Answer

The composition of the novel is subordinated to the main intention of the author - to show the death of the serf-owners. That is why the action follows the line of the gradual death of the Golovlev family, the reduction in the number of actors and the concentration of all wealth in the hands of Porfiry.

The father is dying, a man empty, frivolous, depraved; sister dies; Stepan himself dies. They die painfully and shamefully. The same death awaits other family members.

Literature

Andrey Turkov. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin // Encyclopedia for children "Avanta +". Volume 9. Russian literature. Part one. M., 1999. S. 594–603

K.I. Tyunkin. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in life and work. M.: Russian Word, 2001

Chapter 1

In the literature of the 19th century, one of the varieties of narrative prose was designated - the estate story. According to V.G. Shchukin, N.M. stood at its origins. Karamzin as the author of The Knight of Our Time, but only the era of romanticism gave it its final form. An integral part of the estate story was included in "Eugene Onegin" (chapters from the second to sixth). The coryphaeus, of course, should be considered Turgenev, who turned to this genre in the forties (“The Diary of a Superfluous Man”, “Three Portraits”) and achieved, using proven poetic techniques, clichés and templates, a high level of artistic perfection in “Rudin”, "Nest of the Nobles", "On the Eve" and "First Love". 1

The estate was the keeper of deep meanings and spiritual values. Its essential feature was the constant memory of the past, the living presence of tradition, which was reminiscent of portraits and graves of ancestors, family donations. All this taught me to think retrospectively and sentimentally. The real historical chronotope of the estate favored the emergence of an emotional lyrical atmosphere of "noble nests".

The hero of the manor story is a man who is experiencing; he thinks, but his ideas are not gained through suffering. Perhaps only spiritual dramas disturb him, and all actions do not go beyond the code of conduct of a nobleman, the main elements of which are love, friendship

Shchukin V.G. Poetry of estate prose // From the history of Russian culture.V.5. (19th century). M., 1996.p. 577.

rivalry, secret rendezvous and timid kisses in the moonlight, internal monologues… “The poetics of the manor story is the poetics of remembrance,” V.G. proves to us. Schukin. 1

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, in a number of his novels, is also a writer of noble estate life, but the term “estate story” with its characteristics is completely unsuitable for this author. Harmonious and bright world of estate life in the works of I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharova, L.N. Tolstoy is replaced by the "escheated" existence of the estates of the Golovlev family.

Such a sharp change in the aesthetic assessments of estate life was not a whim of the great satirist. Saltykov caught the emergence of the most important socio-economic symptom in the life of post-reform Russia, which determined the subsequent fate of the "noble nests". Having lost the fundamental opportunity to live at the expense of the exploitation of serfs, the noble estate, having let in the mercantile spirit of the new capitalized time, began to die quietly, which was told to us at the end of the century in the artistically perfect works of A.P. Chekhov ("The Cherry Orchard") and I.A. Bunin ("Sukhodol", "Antonov apples", "The Life of Arseniev"). And the beginning of this process was noticed by literature in the middle of the 19th century, when social motives invaded the idyllic world of the Russian estate, recreated on the pages of many writers, and the tone of the narration changed.

1 Shchukin V.G. Poetry of the estate and prose of the slum // From the history of Russian culture. T. 5. (19th century). M., 1996.p.580

The change of "milestones" can be detected even earlier, since the time of "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol, in whose work an ironic attitude to the estate is developed, with its façade, "unnecessary" embellishment, and the writer sees the economic estate as the ideal of the new estate. 1

The old residences that go into the past, described by Gogol, are inhabited by some kind of ghosts, terrible and grotesque - ugly, which will come to life again in the works of the author we are studying.

In a review of I. Mikhailov’s novel Clogged Roads, Saltykov, ironically over the established traditions in reproducing the estate world, wrote: “Since I.S. Turgenev endowed us with masterful paintings of “noble nests”, describing these nests “according to Turgenev” is almost worthless. First of all, you need to portray a landowner suffering from shortness of breath, a slightly bruised and rushing from corner to corner hostess - a landowner, and next to them a young passionate creature, suffocating in the tightness of everyday squabbles. Then jam, jam, jam, cream, cream, cream, and at night let in the nightingale ”(IX; 266).

Starting from the 60s of the XIX century, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin does not at all recognize novels built on a love story, he is especially not satisfied with the “Onegin” conflict: “Even severe moralists - they understood how great the life feat that was coming in this case for a woman was, and therefore they called victory over adultery - triumph of virtue"(XI; 275). "We<…>to the best of our ability, we protest against the intention of the author to assure the public that every landowner's estate is an arena for falling in love

1 Elsberg Y. Saltykov - Shchedrin. Life and art. M., 1953.p.575.

and that under every bush of the landowner's garden sits a woman of "striking beauty" (IX; 379).

Saltykov's two novels, The Golovlevs and Poshekhonskaya Antiquity, depict the disintegration of noble families and speak of the proximity of an obsolete order. 1 The most abundant material of truthful pictures of the mores of the province, the life of noblemen - landowners in the estate is presented by the author in the first novel - an epic canvas of landlord life. The Golovlevites will have to look with sober eyes into the estate bowl, pot, which until now someone has filled, and will be convinced that other times have come. “We didn’t grieve about what was happening there, in the depths of the pot, we knew that Ivanushki lived there, and Ivanushki were run by the guards ...” (III; 492).

Saltykov - Shchedrin describes in detail how the complete "bowl" Golovlyov: "<…>“Stocks for the winter flocked from everywhere, carts were brought from all the estates<…>natural duty.<…>All this was measured, accepted and added to the reserves of previous years ”(XIII; 44).

"Pot", on the creation of which Arina Petrovna spent so much time and effort, gave a disastrous crack at the first serious collision with real social and political reality.

Shchedrin, who thoroughly and comprehensively studied the life and life of the noble estate of this period, draws in his work the wrong side of Russian local culture. The local relations, the house, the landscape of the serf and the post-reform village are presented by the harsh pen of the critic.

1 Kirpotin V.L. M.E. Saltykov - Shchedrin. Life and art. M., 1995.

He approaches the description of local life from the side of its "terrible lining".

The manor estate in the image of the author of "Lord Golovlev" is not the "Noble Nest" of I.S. Turgenev and not the estates of the Rostovs from "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. There is a manor here, but without linden alleys and shady arbors, this is a family nest where people come to die. 1 The satirist is interested in the real family drama, its origins and soil, the very process of decay and death of a whole family, various forms of corruption of the human personality.

In the Golovlevskaya, Dubrovinsky and Pogorelkovskaya estates, Saltykov saw, first of all, rooms in which “It was deserted, unpleasant, smelled of alienation, escheat”, dirty black mezzanines, a smelly courtyard - places where not only the economic exploitation of serfs was directly carried out, but also complete destruction family principle. Mocking the epigones of the noble tradition, the satirist recalls that in the name of the main passion, the passion for acquiring, golovlevism, as a composite image of a terrible, obsolete oppressive system, spreads death.

Shchedrin gave a satirical picture of the estate of a small landowner for the first time in "Lords of Tashkent". “In the old days, poor landowners, when choosing a settled estate, were guided by the following considerations: firstly, so that the church was in front of their eyes, and secondly, so that the peasant was always at hand.

The landowner will fence off a more spacious place in a row with peasant huts<… >and build a house there<… >in general, something that is covered with snow in winter, and in summer you can barely see it from behind the tyna. Then he will spread the front garden in front, in which<… >they will turn nowhere, and behind and on the sides will build up human, and table, and barns, and cubicles, and this awkward rabble built to blacken and dilapidate will go,<… >let them be filled with dirt, dung and stench. No garden, no water, not even just given before my eyes. Only the appearance that the church, forlornly standing in the middle of the square, and to the right and left a row of rickety peasant huts, separated by a street on which there is no passage from manure and dirt, but the master knows what is done in which hut, what is said, what kind of peasant really due to illness, he does not go to corvée, which one only shirks, whose cow calved, what brought, etc. "(X; 133).

Drawing the estate world, Shchedrin is interested in the state of life in it. Obviously, starting from his early sketch of the estate (“Lords of Tashkent”), in the novel “Lords of the Golovlevs”, the artist draws a detailed picturesque picture of the estates and their inhabitants.

In the center of the novel are “toponymic characters”, 1 carrying a huge generalizing function, covering all the characters, all the events of the work. These are landowners' estates, more similar not to family nests, but to grave crypts.

1 Pavlova I.B. Artistic originality of Shchedrin's novels of the 60-70s

Godov (“History of a City”, “Diaries of a Provincial in St. Petersburg”, “Lord Golovlevs”): Abstract of the thesis. dis... cand. philol. Sciences. M., Institute of World Literature. Gorky, 1980. p.25.

On Stepan Vladimirovich, returning home, the view of the manor's estate, “has had the effect of Medusa's head. There he wondered coffin"(XIII; 30). The Golovlev estates are shown, as V.Sh. Krivonos, “the focus of chaos and destruction. Both estates and manor houses are constantly connected in the novel with the idea of ​​death and escheat, of the disastrous impact of an evil force that is beyond human control and threatens life. 1

A place where events unfold, separate from the rest of the world: in

it is all decay and meaninglessness. The mustiness and impenetrability, the emptiness of the Golovlevs' little world gave rise to the symbol of the "coffin" that permeates the entire work. The estate, with its destruction and lifeless solitude, fully corresponds to the concept of a coffin. 2

According to V.G. Shchukin, “the estate type of dwelling was designed to provide its inhabitants with complete<…>isolation, fenced off artificially created paradise in the bosom of nature from the hardships of the outside world” 2 . In Shchedrin's novel, such isolation is ensured for the estate: even its location, its remoteness from other settlements, is not shown. But the order created in it can hardly be compared with paradise.

1 Krivonos V.Sh. Roman M.E. Saltykov - Shchedrin "Lord Golovlevs" and folk symbols // Literature of Nekrasov magazines. Interuniversity collection of scientific papers. Ivanovo. 1987.p.114.

2 See Dal V.I. Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language: In 4 vols. M., 1989 v. 1.p.396. The word "coffin", in addition to the meaning "death", "death", has an allegorical, figurative meaning: "locality, occupation, harmful, deadly."

Anninka, an inhabitant of Golovlevo, characterizes her native monastery with striking accuracy: “Golovlevo is death, vicious, hollow; it is death, always waiting for a new victim.<… >And how strange and cruel all this happened! One cannot even imagine that some future is possible, that there is a door through which one can go somewhere, that at least something can happen. (XIII; 250) But this aloof - emasculated little world is not the only one, the village of Pogorelka and the Dubrovinsky estate are also Golovlevo in miniature. “Pogorelka was a sad estate. She stood, as they say, on a poke, without a garden, without a shadow, without any signs of any kind of comfort.<… >House<… >, as if pressed down and all blackened<… >; were located behind<… >services, which also fell into disrepair; and all around were fields, fields without end; even the forest on the horizon was not visible” (XIII; 96).

Shchedrin introduces symbolic details into the image of the Dubrovin estate. “On the Dubrovinsky manor, it’s like everything died out. <… >Even the trees stand downcast and not moving, exactly tortured. <… >And the bar house<… >And<… >front garden<… >, and birch grove,<… >and a peasant village, and a rye field<… >- everything is drowning in the luminous haze. All smells, from the fragrances of blossoming lindens to the miasma of the barnyard, are in a thick mass in the air. Not a sound(XIII; 54, 55).. The "thick" vapors of a hot July day are depressing, the dull and motionless trees are "as if tortured", but the silence kills even more. “Not a sound”, not a rustle, nothing but the seal of death, a symbol of decay.

In Saltykov's novel, the concept of "estate" and "house" completely coincide, since any estate is unthinkable without its center - the house, which is one of the earliest archetypes 1 . The Golovlevsky estates do not have its archetypal features.

From time immemorial, in the human mind, the house “protected a person from the hardships of the outside world, created an atmosphere of security, certainty<… >» 2 . It was he who, like the biblical ark, was called upon to save people who had taken refuge in it from hostile elements - first natural, then social. In such a house, a person not only lives, but saves the soul, strengthening it with prayer.

In Shchedrin's novel, the place where Golovlev's gentleman lives is connected with the inhuman, the dead: "There was something escheated in this house and in this man, something that inspires involuntary and superstitious fear" (XII; 141) .

The final embodiment of death and doom under the pen of Shchedrin is acquired by the Golovlev estate, which will become the realm of “silent anxiety”, where everything will breathe death: “December is in the yard at half; the surroundings, seized by a boundless snow shroud, quietly numb<… >. And there is almost no trace of Golovlev's estate.<… > The courtyard is deserted and quiet; not the slightest movement neither at the human, nor near the barnyard; even peasant settlement calmed down as if dead » (XII; 228).

1. Schukin V.G. Saving shelter On some mythopoetic sources of the Slavic concept of the House. // From the history of Russian culture T.5 (19th century). M., 1996 p. 589-609

2. Ibid., p. 589.

The manor (master's house) has always been built by the owners for centuries. It was planned that, remaining the property of one family, it would be inherited. The house is a point of intersection not only of administrative and economic interests, but also of family relations. In the dictionary of V.I Dal we find the meaning of the word house - “family”, “a group of people connected by blood ties” 1 .

1 Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: In 4 volumes M., 1998 v.1.S.446

"Gentlemen Golovlevs" - a novel by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The first separate edition - St. Petersburg, 1880. The idea of ​​the novel was formed in the bowels of the essays "Well-meaning Speeches". The history of the publication of the work is connected with the same cycle.

The history of the publication of the novel "Lord Golovlevs"

The beginning of the family chronicle was the essay "Family Court" - the 15th in a row (with the erroneous numbering XIII) in the above-mentioned cycle ("Notes of the Fatherland", 1875, No. 10). Then, in the same cycle, the following essays were published in Otechestvennye Zapiski: “According to Kindred” (1875, No. 12), “Family Results” (1876, No. 3), “Before Extortion” (1876, No. 5), in a separate edition the chapter "Niece", "Scrambled" (1876, No. 8) - this essay appeared outside the numbering of the cycle "Well-meaning Speeches". Shchedrin's intention to remove the book from the Well-intentioned Speeches cycle is evidenced by the announcement in Nos. 9-12 of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine for 1876 about the preparation for publication of an essay entitled "Episodes from the Life of a Family" - the original title of "Gentlemen Golovlyov." The book was replenished with two more essays: "Unlawful Family Joys" (1876, No. 12) and after a long break with the essay "Decision" (1880, No. 5), in a separate edition this is the chapter "Calculation". When the work was completed, the magazine placed an announcement (1880, No. 6) about the sale of the book "Lord Golovlev". A separate edition, which appeared in the same year, consisted of the above-named essays, subjected to significant revision, mainly to coordinate the episodes and eliminate the original connection with the Well-meaning Speeches. The composition of modern publications sometimes includes the still unfinished essay "At the Pier", with which the writer intended to complete the "Lord Golovlyov".

Analysis of the novel by Saltykov-Shchedrin "Lord Golovlevs"

The history of the Golovlyovs is an artistic analysis of the reasons for the disintegration of family ties and the extinction of the family, choked in lack of spirituality, idle talk, and idle thought. The destinies of Arina Petrovna and her son Stepan Vladimirovich (Stepka the Stooge) Golovlyov are milestones on this path. A complex and rich nature was the first to be ruined by a way of life, the dominant of which is tradition, which has lost its living connection with reality and turned even maternal feelings into hypocrisy. The way of life of Styopka the Stooge becomes idleness and unsuitability for practical activities.

Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel "Golovlevs" is devoid of the poeticization of a noble estate, traditional for Russian literature. The researchers find a psychological explanation for this in Saltykov's everyday impressions of his own family, relations with which differed, according to the memoirs of contemporaries and the writer himself, by brutal cruelty and were alien to any kindred warmth. Relations in the writer's family are reflected in his autobiographical book "Poshekhonskaya antiquity". In The Golovlevs, the prototypes for the characters of the work were members of the Saltykov family: mother Olga Mikhailovna Saltykova - Arina Petrovna Golovleva; brother Nikolai Evgrafovich - Styopka the dunce. When creating the image of Judas, Shchedrin relied on the characteristic features of his other brother, Dmitry Evgrafovich.

The artistic discovery of the novel is the image of Porfiry Vladimirovich Golovlev (Judas) - a new psychological type in literature. He is characterized by hypocrisy, betrayal, cruelty, which made the image a chord word in the richest social and moral typology of the satirist.

Cyclization (essays, chronicles, reviews) is the fundamental point of Shchedrin's creative manner. Its basis is, as a rule, the sequence associated with the strategic intent of the author. This feature should also be taken into account when describing the genre of The Golovlevs, in relation to which the term "novel" is used with the proviso that this work grew out of a cycle of essays.

Another feature of the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin is his commitment to satire. The most important technique of this type of literature is the grotesque, which has many varieties in the history of culture (the work of D. Swift, E.T.A. Hoffmann, N.V. Gogol, etc.). Shchedrin’s creative manner is distinguished by the fact that he does not distort the natural proportions of the considered phenomena, but detects and accentuates its abnormal, affected areas and explores the prospect of their influence on the body as a whole. Shchedrin's creative system took shape during the era of reforms in Russia in the second half of the 19th century.

The meaning of the novel "Lord Golovlev"

Essays on the Golovlevs, already as they appeared in print, received high praise from Shchedrin's fellow writers - I.S. Turgenev, N.A. Nekrasov, P.V. Annenkova, I.A. Goncharova and others. The Golovlevs quickly became one of the most widely read works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, were translated into German (1886) and French (1889), published in England (1916) and America (1917). .).

Other outlets to the cultural space of the novel were its dramatizations and film adaptations. The novel quite often attracted the attention of the theater: 1880, Pushkin Theater A.A. Brenko (Moscow; Porfiry - V.N. Andreev-Burlak, Anninka - A.Ya. Glama-Meshcherskaya); 1910, Moscow and the provinces, version of the actor Chargonin (A. Aleksandrovich); 1931, Moscow Art Theater II, play by P.S. Sukhotin "Shadow of the Liberator" based on the works of "Lord Golovlev", "Provincial Essays", "Tales", "Pompadours and Pompadourses", directed by B.M. Sushkevich, Iudushka - I.N. Bersenev. In the staging of the Moscow Art Theater (1987), carried out by L. Dodin, the role of Judas was played by I.M. Smoktunovsky.

A large place is occupied by the work of "Lord Golovlev". The central character of the novel, Porfiry Golovlev (Judas), became a model of a liar and idle talk, whose highest pleasure lies in hypocrisy and endless mockery of others.

2. History of creation. The idea to write a large work about the life of landowners arose from Saltykov-Shchedrin in the late 50s. XIX century. The novel is based on individual stories about the Golovlev family, which are included in the cycle "Well-meaning Speeches". During 1875-1876. chapters of the work are published one after another. The end of the writer's work dates back to 1880.

3. The meaning of the name. "Lord Golovlevs" are three generations of a landowner's family described in the novel. The title itself contains a subtle irony of the author, who hated the way of life of the provincial landowners. "Lords" are depicted as a dying class that does not bring any benefit. To the gradual inevitable "mortification" of them leads to idle talk or hard drinking.

4. Genre. Social psychological novel

5. Theme. The central theme of the novel is the doom of the landlord class. Life at the expense of peasants who are in slavish dependence cannot develop anything good in a person. A gradual degeneration begins, most clearly manifested in the image of Porfiry Golovlev.

In the third generation, the craving for some other life is still noticeable. The sons of Porfiry, the orphans Lyubinka and Anninka, are striving to leave the family estate at all costs. But "Golovlev pus" follows them everywhere. The main culprit in the death of young people is Judas, who, like a spider, throws his nooses on everyone.

6. Issues. The main problem of the novel is that all its characters are doomed to suffering from birth. There is no love and respect between members of the same family. In Porfiry, these feelings are replaced by an innate craving for the acquisition and accumulation of wealth, which is hidden behind the most vile hypocrisy.

Arina Petrovna spent her whole life on "rounding off" her household, but in the end she ended up with nothing. Even in the relationship of Lubinka and Anninka, who love each other passionately, there comes a period when they stop communicating. The stumbling block is again the money of wealthy fans. In the Golovlev family, kindred feelings are remembered only in case of serious danger and imminent death. But this glimpse of humanity always comes too late.

Another all-Russian problem described in the novel is hard drinking. To him, family members are led by an idle lifestyle and the absence of any clear goals. The most terrible fall occurs with Anninka and Lubinka, who dreamed of high art, but also sank into drunkenness and debauchery.

7. Heroes. Arina Petrovna, Porfiry, Stepan, Pavel, Anninka and Lyubinka, Petenka and Volodenka.

8. Plot and composition. The novel begins with a rather favorable time for the Golovlev family. Arina Petrovna is a wealthy and intelligent landowner who profitably manages the family's economic affairs. She is upset only by her son - Styopka the Stupid. Arina Petrovna has some misgivings about Porfiry. She already notices that his flattering speeches are outright hypocrisy.

Stepan's death becomes the beginning of a chain of disasters that befall the family. The Golovlevs are dying one by one. Against this background, the only satisfied person is Judas, who even tries to benefit from the death of loved ones. He could well save his sons, but greed outweighed all kindred feelings in his soul. Left alone, Porfiry gradually begins to go crazy. He, too, plunges into a binge, but not from alcohol, but from fruitless fantasies.

The arrival of the mortally ill Anninka at some point awakens kindred feelings in the uncle and niece. But it's too late: the last Golovlevs plunge headlong into hard drinking. In the soul of Judas, just before death, there is a desire to visit the grave of his mother. Driven by this impulse, he dies on the road. Anninka is also doomed, being in the strongest fever. The novel ends with a return to the theme of insatiable greed. The closest relative of the Golovlevs, the "sister" of N. I. Galkina, is extremely interested in the "killing" of the whole family ...

9. What does the author teach? Saltykov-Shchedrin shows that the death of the provincial nobility is inevitable. Nobody needs their useless life in "ashes" and "pus". The landlords themselves contribute to their destruction, trying to wrest the last piece from the hands of dying relatives.