Early creativity of the Gorky direction. Early work of A. M. Gorky. Romanticism and Nietzschean motifs in Gorky. Drama of Gorky. The main conflict of the play “At the Bottom. The play "At the Bottom". Analysis

Composition

1. General characteristics early creativity.
2. The main themes of the period.
3. The theme of human freedom using the example of M. Gorky’s stories “Makar Chudra” and “Old Woman Izergil”.
4. Two principles in the worldview of M. Gorky.
5. “People of the bottom” in the writer’s work.
6. Landscape as a way of displaying harsh reality.

I came into the world to disagree.
V. G. Korolenko

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the name of M. Gorky became popular not only in our country, in Russia, but also abroad. His fame was equal to such literary geniuses, like A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Tolstoy, V.G. Korolenko. The writer tried to draw the attention of readers, writers, critics and public figures to the philosophical and aesthetic problems of life. It was these views of M. Gorky that were reflected in his early works.

The beginning of M. Gorky’s creative career coincided with that period of time when man himself, in essence, completely devalued, was constantly humiliated, and simply became a “slave of things.” This situation and understanding of man forced the writer in all his works to constantly and persistently search for those forces that could liberate the people.) For the first time, the reader saw M. Gorky’s story “Makar Chudra” in 1892, which was published in the newspaper “Caucasus”. Then his works began to appear in other printed publications: the Kazan newspaper “Volzhsky Vestnik”, the Nizhny Novgorod newspaper “Volgar”. In 1895, M. Gorky wrote such famous works as “Chelkash”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “Song of the Falcon”. In 1897, the writer already collaborated with the capital’s newspapers “Russian Thought”, “Novoe Slovo”, “Severny Vestnik”.

In the early poems of M. Gorky, their artistic imperfection is immediately noticeable, but from the very beginning of his literary activity the writer showed himself as an innovator, as a person striving to “interfere in life.” In the poem “Beat!”, which was written in 1892 and published only in 1963, the writer calls for a fight against darkness, for militant activity.

Let hell burn in my blood
And the heart cries angrily [in it!]
Empty! Still live

And if your hands can, strike!
Beat the darkness that shackles everything around.

The writer addresses a new reader from a people “inquisitive and greedy for life.” He belongs to those people who are dissatisfied with their contemporary reality, existing injustice and are trying in every possible way to change their lives. Thus, the main themes of M. Gorky’s early work become the theme of the relationship between good and evil, strength and weakness, freedom and necessity.

The leading theme of the writer is the theme of resistance to reality. It is revealed through the images of many heroes who oppose reality and do not obey general rules, strive to find the truth and gain freedom. These were the heroes of M. Gorky’s brilliant works “Makar Chudra” and “Old Woman Izergil”.

In the story “Makar Chudra,” the hero, an old gypsy, denies the foundations of that life that dooms a person to a slave existence. This hero is a brave man, striving for freedom and a change in life in better side.

In “Old Woman Izergil” this same theme of freedom becomes more complex. There are already two paths to freedom shown here. Danko gives himself completely to people, he strives to make them free. The hero dies having warmed others with his heart; it is this great love for people that can work miracles. Such a manifestation strong personality in the writer’s work is visible in many of his heroes, for example, Falcon (“Song of the Falcon”, 1895), Burevestnik (“Song of the Burevestnik”, 1901).

But if the path to gaining freedom is chosen incorrectly, then this can lead to completely the opposite result. In the image of Larra the half-man (the son of an eagle and an earthly woman), M. Gorky shows the highest degree of human pride and love of freedom. He “wanted to have everything and keep himself whole” by committing a crime - the murder of a girl, for which he was expelled from society. It would seem that Larra has acquired the long-awaited freedom, but freedom at the cost of other people’s misfortune brings only loneliness, melancholy and emptiness: “At first the young man laughed after the people... he laughed, remaining alone, free, like his father. But his father was not a man. And this one was a man.” And in the end there is nothing left of Lara, only melancholy. The sage was right when he said that “the punishment is in himself.”

M. Gorky’s worldview itself can be divided into two principles, which develop in the individual himself. The first is the desire to understand the truth of life, although sometimes it is cruel and unfair. The second principle is the desire to escape from this truth and escape from it into some romantic, saving dreams. For the writer, these two positions are expressed in the clash of the different characters of the heroes, and they are absolutely opposite in relation to each other. Such contrasting heroes include Lara and Danko, Snake and Falcon, Gavril and Chelkash. It is in the dialogue between two such different heroes that the inconsistency of the world itself is revealed. The search for truth is complicated by the fact that, on the one hand, the heroes always strive to be truthful, both to themselves and to life itself. But on the other hand, they see how difficult it is for many people to hear and perceive the truth. So in the play “At the Bottom” there is not one hero who would proclaim the truth. Here she is born from the many voices of heroes: Luke, Mite, Satin, Ash.

Important place The theme of “former people” occupies the work of M. Gorky. These are people who belong to the very bottom of society, and at the same time they have truly high aesthetic qualities. This is Chelkash in the story of the same name from 1895. This character is distinguished by his humanity, open soul and independence. According to M. Gorky, tramps are for him “ extraordinary people" The writer saw that they live much worse than “ordinary people”, but at the same time they feel much better than them, since they are not greedy, do not strangle each other and are not engaged only in accumulating money.

In his early works, to reveal the general color, emotional tension and strong-willed characters of the characters, the writer uses the technique of describing the landscape. Almost every work of M. Gorky contains: the splash of waves, the sound of the wind, the rustling of bushes and trees, the rustling of leaves. Such epithets help the reader understand all the diversity of our world, all its colors. In the early work of a writer, it is difficult to draw the line between reality and fiction. M. Gorky on the pages of his books creates a certain artistic world that is unique to him. The reader is constantly faced with images of the elements (a raging sea, steep cliffs, a dormant forest), then with animals personifying man (Falcon, Petrel), and most importantly with heroic people acting at the call of the heart (Danko). All this was the innovation of M. Gorky - the creation of a new, strong and strong-willed personality.

Gorky's early work amazes, first of all, with its artistic diversity, unusual for a young writer, and the bold confidence with which he creates works of different colors and poetic intonation. The enormous talent of the artist of the rising class - the proletariat, drawing powerful strength from the “movement of the masses themselves”, was revealed already in the early stages of Maxim Gorky’s literary work.
By acting as a herald of the coming storm, Gorky fell in line with the public mood. In 1920, he wrote: “I began my work as a stirrer of revolutionary sentiment with glory to the madness of the brave.” Exam questions and answers. Literature. 9th and 11th grades. Tutorial. - M.: AST-PRESS, 2000. - P.214. This applies, first of all, to Gorky’s early romantic works. In the 1890s. he wrote the stories “Makar Chudra”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “Khan and His Son”, “Mute”, “Return of the Normans from England”, “Blindness of Love”, fairy tales “The Girl and Death”, “About the Little Fairy and the Young Shepherd” ”, “Song of the Falcon”, “Song of the Petrel”, “Legend of Marco”, etc. All of them are distinguished by one feature, which can be defined in the words of L. Andreev: “the taste of freedom, something free, broad, bold.” Gorky M. Prose. Dramaturgy. Journalism. - M.: Olimp; LLC "AST Publishing House", 1999. - P.614. In all of them there is a motif of rejection of reality, confrontation with fate, and a daring challenge to the elements. In the center of these works is the figure of a strong, proud, courageous man, not submitting to anyone, unbending. And all these works, like living gems, shimmer with unprecedented colors, spreading a romantic glow around.

The story “Makar Chudra” is a statement of the ideal of personal freedom
The early works of Maxim Gorky center on exceptional characters, strong-willed and proud people who, in the author’s words, have “the sun in their blood.” This metaphor gives rise to a number of images close to it, associated with the motif of fire, sparks, flame, and torch. These heroes have burning hearts. This feature is characteristic not only of Danko, but also of the characters in Gorky’s first story, “Makar Chudra.” Rogover E.S. Russian literature of the twentieth century. To help school graduates and applicants: Study guide. - St. Petersburg: “Paritet”, 2002. - P.131.
The old gypsy Makar Chudra begins his story to the brooding melody of the splashing of the oncoming waves. From the very first lines, the reader is overwhelmed by a feeling of the unusual: the boundless steppe on the left and the endless sea on the right, the old gypsy lying in a beautiful strong pose, the rustling of coastal bushes - all this sets the mood for a conversation about something intimate, the most important. Makar Chudra slowly talks about man’s calling and his role on earth. “A person is a slave as soon as he is born, a slave all his life and that’s it,” argues Makar. Gorky M. Prose. Dramaturgy. Journalism. - M.: Olimp; LLC "AST Publishing House", 1999. - P.18. And he contrasts this with his own: “A man will be born to know what freedom is, the expanse of the steppe, to hear the voice of the sea wave”; “If you live, then you become kings over the whole earth.”
This idea is illustrated by the legend of the love of Loiko Zobar and Rada, who did not become slaves to their feelings. Their images are exceptional and romanticized. Loiko Zobar has “eyes like clear stars, and a smile like the whole sun.” Ibid., p.21. When he sits on a horse, it seems as if he was forged from one piece of iron along with the horse. Zobar's strength and beauty are not inferior to his kindness. “You need his heart, he himself would tear it out of his chest and give it to you, if only it would make you feel good.” Ibid., p.20. The beautiful Rada matches. Makar Chudra calls her an eagle. “You can’t say anything about her in words. Perhaps its beauty could be played on a violin, and even those who know this violin like their soul.”
The proud Rada for a long time rejected the feelings of Loiko Zobar, because will was more valuable to her than love. When she decided to become his wife, she set a condition that Loiko could not fulfill without humiliating himself. An insoluble conflict leads to a tragic ending: the heroes die, but remain free, love and even life are sacrificed to the will. In this story, for the first time, a romantic image of a loving human heart appears: Loiko Zobar, who could tear the heart out of his chest for the happiness of his neighbor, checks whether his beloved has a strong heart and plunges a knife into it. And the same knife, but in the hands of soldier Danila, strikes Zobar’s heart. Love and the thirst for freedom turn out to be evil demons that destroy people's happiness. Together with Makar Chudra, the narrator admires the strength of character of the heroes. And together with him, he cannot answer the question that runs like a leitmotif through the entire story: how to make people happy and what happiness is.
The story “Makar Chudra” formulates two different understandings of happiness. The first is in the words of the “strict man”: “Submit to God, and he will give you everything you ask.” Ibid., p.18. This thesis is immediately debunked: it turns out that God did not even give the “strict man” clothes to cover his naked body. The second thesis is proven by the fate of Loiko Zobar and the Rada: will more valuable than life, happiness is in freedom. The romantic worldview of the young Gorky goes back to the famous Pushkin words: “There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and will...”

The story “Old Woman Izergil” - awareness of a person’s personality
On the seashore near Akkerman in Bessarabia, the author of the old woman’s legend, Izergil, listens. Everything here is full of atmospheric love: the men are “bronze, with lush black mustaches and thick shoulder-length curls,” the women are “cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze.” The author's imagination and the night make them irresistibly beautiful. Nature harmonizes with the author’s romantic mood: the foliage sighs and whispers, the wind plays with the silky hair of women.
The old woman Izergil is depicted in contrast: time has bent her in half, a bony body, dull eyes, a creaky voice. Ruthless time takes away beauty and with it love. The old woman Izergil talks about her life, about her lovers: “Her voice crunched, as if the old woman was speaking with bones.” Gorky leads the reader to the idea that love is not eternal, just as man is not eternal. What remains in life for centuries? Gorky put two legends into the mouth of the old woman Izergil: about the eagle’s son Lara, who considered himself the first on earth and wanted happiness only for himself, and about Danko, who gave his heart to people.
The images of Lara and Danko are sharply contrasting, although both of them are brave, strong and proud people. Lara lives according to the laws of the strong, to whom “everything is permitted.” He kills the girl because she did not submit to his will, and steps on her chest with his foot. Lara's cruelty is based on a sense of superiority of a strong individual over the crowd. Gorky debunks popular theories at the end of the 19th century. ideas of the German philosopher Nietzsche. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche argued that people are divided into strong (eagles) and weak (lambs) who are destined to be slaves. Nietzsche's apology for inequality, the idea of ​​the aristocratic superiority of the chosen over all others were subsequently used in the ideology and practice of fascism. Spiridonova L.A. “I came into the world to disagree.”
In the legend of Lara, Gorky shows that a Nietzschean who professes the morality “everything is permitted to the strong” awaits loneliness, which is worse than death. “His punishment is in himself,” says the wisest of people after Lara commits a crime. And Lara, doomed to eternal life and eternal wandering, turns into a black shadow, dried up by the sun and winds. Condemning an egoist who only takes from people without giving anything in return, the old woman Izergil says: “For everything that a person takes, he pays with himself, with his mind and strength, sometimes with his life.”
Danko pays with his life, performing a feat in the name of people's happiness. The blue sparks that flare up at night in the steppe are the sparks of his burning heart, which illuminated the path to freedom. An impenetrable forest, where giant trees stood like a stone wall, the greedy mouth of a swamp, strong and evil enemies gave birth to fear in people. Then Danko appeared: “What will I do for people,” Danko shouted louder than thunder. And suddenly he tore his chest with his hands and tore his heart out of it and raised it high above his head. It burned as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun, and the whole forest fell silent, illuminated by this torch of great love for people, and the darkness scattered from its light...”
As we have seen, the poetic metaphor of “giving your heart to your loved one” arose both in the story “Makar Chudra” and in the fairy tale about the little fairy. But here it turns into an expanded poetic image, interpreted literally. Gorky puts a new, high meaning into the erased banal phrase that has accompanied declarations of love for centuries: “to give your hand and heart.” Danko's living human heart became a torch illuminating the path to a new life for humanity. And although the “cautious man” nevertheless stepped on him, the blue sparks in the steppe always remind people of Danko’s feat.
The meaning of the story “Old Woman Izergil” is determined by the phrase “In life there is always a place for exploits.” The daredevil Danko, who “burned his heart for people and died without asking them for anything as a reward for himself,” expresses Gorky’s innermost thought: the happiness and will of one person are unthinkable without the happiness and liberation of the people.

“Song of the Falcon” - a hymn to action in the name of freedom and light
“The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life,” Gorky states in “Song of the Falcon.” The main technique by which this thesis is affirmed is a dialogue between two different “truths”, two worldviews, two contrasting images - the Falcon and the Snake. The writer used the same technique in other stories. The free shepherd is the antipode of the blind Mole, the egoist Lara is opposed to the altruist Danko. In “The Song of the Falcon,” a hero and a tradesman appear before the reader. Smug Already convinced of the inviolability of the old order. He feels great in the dark gorge: “warm and damp.” The sky for him is an empty place, and the Falcon, dreaming of flying into the sky, is a real madman. With poisonous irony, Already claims that the beauty of flying is in the fall.
In the soul of the Falcon lives an insane thirst for freedom and light. By his death, he confirms the rightness of the feat in the name of freedom.
The death of the Falcon is at the same time a complete debunking of the “wise” Snake. In “Song of the Falcon” there is a direct echo with the legend of Danko: blue sparks of a burning heart flash in the darkness of the night, forever reminding people of Danko. The death of the Falcon also brings him immortality: “And drops of your hot blood, like sparks, will flare up in the darkness of life and will ignite many brave hearts with an insane thirst for freedom and light!”
From work to work in Gorky’s early work, the theme of heroism grows and crystallizes. Loiko Zobar, Rada, the little fairy commit crazy things in the name of love. Their actions are extraordinary, but this is not yet a feat. The girl, who comes into conflict with the king, boldly defeats Fear, Fate and Death (“The Girl and Death”). Her courage is also the madness of the brave, although it is aimed at protecting personal happiness. Lara's courage and audacity lead to a crime, for he, like Pushkin's Aleko, “only wants freedom for himself.” And only Danko and Sokol, by their death, affirm the immortality of the feat. So the problem of the will and happiness of an individual person fades into the background, replaced by the problem of happiness for all humanity. “The Madness of the Brave” brings moral satisfaction to the daredevils themselves: “I go to burn as brightly as possible and to illuminate the darkness of life more deeply. And death for me is my reward! - declares Gorky's Man. Spiridonova L.A. “I came into the world to disagree.” Gorky's early romantic works awakened the consciousness of the inferiority of life, unfair and ugly, and gave birth to the dream of heroes rebelling against the orders established over centuries.
The revolutionary romantic idea also determined the artistic originality of Gorky's works: a pathetic sublime style, a romantic plot, the genre of fairy tales, legends, songs, allegories, and a conventionally symbolic background of action. In Gorky's stories it is easy to detect the exceptional character, setting, and language characteristic of romanticism. But at the same time, they contain features characteristic only of Gorky: a contrasting comparison of the hero and the tradesman, the Man and the slave. The action of the work, as a rule, is organized around a dialogue of ideas; the romantic frame of the story creates a background against which the author’s thought appears prominently. Sometimes such a frame is a landscape - a romantic description of the sea, steppe, thunderstorm. Sometimes - a harmonious harmony of the sounds of a song. The importance of sound images in Gorky’s romantic works is difficult to overestimate: the melody of the violin sounds in the story of the love of Loiko Zobar and Rada, the whistle of the free wind and the breath of a thunderstorm - in the tale of the little fairy, “wonderful music of revelation” - in the “Song of the Falcon”, a menacing roar storms - in “Song of the Petrel”. The harmony of sounds complements the harmony of allegorical images. The image of an eagle as a symbol of a strong personality arises when characterizing heroes who have Nietzschean traits: the eagle Rada, free as an eagle, the shepherd, the son of the eagle Lara. The image of the Falcon is associated with the idea of ​​an altruistic hero. Makar Chudra calls a falcon a storyteller who dreams of making all people happy. Finally, the Petrel symbolizes the movement of the masses themselves, the image of future retribution.
Gorky generously uses folklore motifs and images, adapts Moldavian, Wallachian, and Hutsul legends that he overheard while wandering around Rus'. The language of Gorky's romantic works is flowery and patterned, melodiously sonorous.

Conclusion
The early work of Maxim Gorky is notable for its different styles, noted by L. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov and V.G. Korolenko. The work of young Gorky was influenced by many writers: A.S. Pushkin, Pomyalovsky, G. Uspensky, N.S. Leskova, M.Yu. Lermontov, Byron, Schiller.
The writer turned to both the realistic and romantic movements of art, which in some cases existed independently, but were often whimsically mixed. However, at first, Gorky’s works were dominated by the romantic style, standing out sharply for their brightness.
Indeed, features of romanticism predominate in Gorky's early stories. First of all, because they depict a romantic situation of confrontation between a strong man (Danko, Lara, Sokol) and the world around him, as well as the problem of man as an individual in general. The action of the stories and legends is transferred to fantastic conditions (“He stood between the boundless steppe and the endless sea”). The world of the works is sharply divided into light and darkness, and these differences are important when assessing the characters: after Lara there remains a shadow, after Danko - sparks.
The gap between the heroic past and the pitiful, colorless life in the present, between the “should” and the “existent”, between the great “dream” and the “gray era” was the soil on which the romanticism of early Gorky was born.
All the heroes of Gorky's early works are morally emotional and experience mental trauma, choosing between love and freedom, but they still choose the latter, bypassing love and preferring only freedom.
People of this type, as the writer foresaw, can turn out to be great in extreme situations, in days of disasters, wars, revolutions, but they are most often unviable in the normal course of human life. Today, the problems posed by the writer M. Gorky in his early work are perceived as relevant and pressing for solving the issues of our time.
Gorky, who openly declared at the end of the 19th century his faith in man, in his mind, in his creative, transformative capabilities, continues to arouse interest among readers to this day.

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Slide captions:

Alexey Maksimovich Gorky (Peshkov) Early creativity using the example of the story “Old Woman Izergil”

Gorky's creative path began in September 1892 with the publication of the story "Makar Chudra". (at the same time his pseudonym appears) 1895. The story “Old Woman Izergil” was published. The early stories are romantic in nature.

Romanticism Displaying and reproducing life outside of the real concrete connections of a person with the surrounding reality, the depiction of an exceptional personality, often lonely and dissatisfied with the present, striving for a distant ideal and therefore in sharp conflict with society, with people.

Early romantic works “Makar Chudra”, “The Girl and Death”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “Chelkash”, “Song of the Falcon”, “Song of the Petrel”, etc. At the center of the story is a romantic hero - a proud, strong, freedom-loving, lonely man, a destroyer of the bitter vegetation of the majority. The action takes place in an unusual, often exotic setting: in a gypsy camp, in communication with the elements, with the natural world. Actions are often transferred to legendary times.

“Old Woman Izergil” The heroes appear in a romantic landscape. Give examples to prove this. At what time of day do the events in the story take place? Why? What natural images could you highlight? What artistic means did the author use to depict nature? Why is the landscape shown in this way in the story? What is the compositional solution of the story?

Analysis of the legend of Larra Who are the main characters of the first legend? Is the story of a young man’s birth important for understanding his character? How does the hero relate to other people? A romantic work is characterized by a conflict between the crowd and the hero. What lies at the heart of the conflict between Larra and people? What is the difference between pride and arrogance. Distinguish between these words. Prove that it is pride, and not pride, that is characteristic of Larra.

What does the hero's extreme individualism lead to? What punishment did Larra suffer for his pride? Why do you think such punishment is worse than death? What is the author’s attitude to the psychology of individualism?

Analysis of the legend about Danko What are the main features of Danko? What is the basis of his actions? What act did the hero do for the sake of love for people? How is the relationship between Danko and the crowd?

CONCLUSION We see that Larra is a romantic anti-ideal, so the conflict between the hero and the crowd is inevitable. Danko is a romantic ideal, but the relationship between the hero and the crowd is also based on conflict. This is one of the features of a romantic work. ? Why do you think the story ends with the legend of Danko?

Independent work Comparison of the images of Danko and Larra. Criteria. Danko Larra 1. Attitude to the crowd 2. The crowd is the hero 3. Distinctive feature character 4. Attitude to life 5. Legend and modernity 6. Actions performed by the heroes 7. The writer’s attitude towards the heroes

Homework: Reading the play “At the Bottom”; Consider the history of the play, the genre of the work, the conflict.

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

Literature lesson in 11th grade "Early works of M. Gorky"

The material presents the development of a meta-subject lesson based on Gorky's story "Old Woman Izergil", the concept of "pride" is considered on the material of the story, the concept of "pride" is introduced; samosa offered...

Life and work of Maxim Gorky. Early Romantic Stories. Problems and features of the story composition.

Purpose of the lesson: to introduce students to the milestones of Gorky’s biography and creativity; show the features of Gorky's romanticism. To trace how the writer's intention is revealed in the composition of stories. Method...

(1868–1936) By the beginning of the century, Gorky had knowledge in many areas of culture and showed great erudition. The idea that Gorky was primarily a publicist, and not an artist, was picked up in the 1980s and 1990s by modern criticism, which “in the bustle of changing ideas” lost the objectivity of assessments.. For some, he was a “singer of tramping” and a Nietzschean, for for others - a “talented nugget from the people”, for others - a “petrel of the revolution”. After the publication of the novel "Mother" Symbolist criticism declared final fall Gorky's talent, the “end” of him as an artist. In the 1930s, Gorky - founder of the literature of socialist realism. First literary experiences Maxim Gorky(Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) date back to the 80s. Peshkov's first acquaintance with populists and Marxists dates back to this time. The writer's name appeared in print in 1892; his story was published in the Tiflis newspaper "Caucasus" "Makar Chudra". A struggle between various ideological and artistic movements flared up around Gorky’s work. In 1889, Gorky brought Korolenko the poem “ Song of the Old Oak" The poem was unsuccessful, weak. After Korolenko’s criticism, Gorky destroyed it, but in his memory a line was preserved that expressed the main idea of ​​the poem: “I came into the world to disagree.” The pathos of “disagreement” and “denial” will permeate his work of the 90s. N the aspiring writer called for active “disagreement” with existing reality. In the early period of his creativity, Gorky wrote several works in which the traditions of the revolutionary-democratic satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin are even palpable (“Conversation from the heart”, 1893; “The Wise Radish”; stories about the “masters of life”). Exposing the “leaden abominations” of life, the artist contrasted them with his ideal of moral and social relations between people. In the mind of a young writer literature should be a “scourge” and a “noble bell” calling for action. The pathos of protest and the desire to awaken in the reader an active attitude towards life and influence his social psychology were expressed primarily in Gorky’s heroic-romantic works, built on a legendary-fantastic plot basis. This was clearly expressed in the legends about Danko and Larra, included in the story "Old Isergil" (1895). The Legend of Larra directed against the false heroics of individualism, which was poeticized by the symbolists, the legend of Danko contrasted the heroism of collectivism with individualistic ethics. Gorky’s faith in the ability of the human spirit to create the beauty of the world determined the social and moral optimism of his works. In Gorky’s early work, the writer’s thought about the hero of life was not yet based on the established worldview and was filled with many contradictions. Later, when he finally frees himself from the influence of populist ideology and begins to reflect on the ideals of socialism, as a social and moral teaching close to him, he will refute Nietzsche. An original understanding of the traditions of Russian literature is also revealed by Gorky’s stories, dedicated to the peasant theme. The Russian village at the end of the century as depicted by Gorky is full of internal contradictions. Gorky destroys the populists’ illusions about the harmony of the village “world” (“Conclusion”, 1895; “Shabry”, 1896). The pictures of rural life in these works are reminiscent of sketches of rural life in the works of writers of the sixties. But the pathos of Gorky's stories was different. Gorky wrote primarily about the spiritual health of the Russian peasant, about his social and moral quests, while hidden, but real creative forces. A unique programmatic work on this topic was the story “ Kirilka" ( 1899). Gorky talks about awakening public consciousness Russian peasant, predicting the inevitability of an explosion of contradictions in Russian life. Gorky's heroes are not people of average dignity, but they have extraordinary natures; they are united by the rarest qualities of character and unusual actions. Gorky strives to put his heroes in extremely acute situations, to show a person in turning points his fate, self-determination in the difficult turns of life. Gorky's landscape usually had a general meaning, philosophical content. Landscape symbolism expressed the author's forebodings of a social storm, a social explosion. Such is the scene of the approaching thunderstorm in « Former people"(1897), pictures of the storm in “Song of the Petrel” (1901), thunderstorms in "Chelkashe" (1895). In stories "For their sake" « Bell", "Obsession", Gorky painted a gallery of entrepreneurs - from small pioneers to the latest type of bourgeois. In these stories, for the first time in the writer’s work, the theme of generations appears: the very successes of the “masters of the modern situation” push them to death: the more they “triumph”, the faster it will come. Gorky tried to show Russian life in its historical movement . (“Foma Gordeev", 1899; " Three", 1900) and dramaturgy (" Bourgeois", 1901; " At the bottom", 1902; " Summer residents", 1904).In the novel “Foma Gordeev”, published in 1899 in the magazine “Life”, a theme was set that would resound in full force in Gorky’s work in subsequent years - the internal decay of the bourgeois class, the historical doom of the existing world order . "Foma Gordeev" became the writer's first novel about the fate of generations. Gorky himself defined work on the novel as “a transition to new form literary existence." In the novel, the reader passes a line of pioneers who have become “masters of life.” But it is not these people who are brought to the fore, but the bourgeoisie of the new formation, who inherited their fathers’ money and adopted new methods of handling capital. The central character of this circle is Yakov Mayakin, an “ideologist” and leader of the new merchant class, not only interested in the fate of the altyn that was put into circulation, but also striving for power and social influence. He glorifies bourgeois progress, the merchant class, which he views as the only life-giving force of Russian economic and cultural life. Therefore, Mayakin demands “space in life” for the merchants, a share in the government of the country. Gorky wrote that he gave Mayakin the features of Nietzscheanism. As for the attitude of the writer himself to the hero, Gorky’s polemic with the philosophy of Nietzsche is already heard here, which the writer considered the philosophy of the “masters”, justifying their power over people. The tragedy of Thomas is that he cannot oppose anything to the immoral power of this world. He rebels, but his rebellion is doomed, it is the rebellion of a weak loner. In the early 1900s, Gorky turned to drama, seeing in the theater a platform from which he could directly address the mass democratic reader. The first work of Gorky the playwright was the play "Bourgeois" ( Scenes in the Bessemenovs' house) (1901) The main conflict of Gorky's play is the collision of the world of the philistine owners with the opposing Nile camp, bourgeois ideology and ethics with new views on the world and man, emerging among the advanced democratic intelligentsia. The play is based on ideological disputes, clashes of different ideological platforms. At one pole are Nile and Polya, democratically minded intellectuals are drawn to them, at the other are the Bessemenovs (both older and younger generations). The play “Philistines” is usually compared with “Three Sisters.” The theme of philistinism and tense anticipation of the future is at the center of both plays. But if in Chekhov’s play philistinism is attacking, then in Gorky’s play a different situation arises: it is actively attacking the entire way of life new power– new people whose dream of the future is based on real foundations in the present. The main conflict of "The Bourgeois" is clearly expressed in the ideological struggle. Gorky's second play "At the bottom", written during the winter and summer of 1902, brought him worldwide fame. It was the writer’s response to the most pressing social, philosophical and moral problems of the time. The ideological topicality immediately attracted the attention of the Russian public to the play. Unfolded around her intense struggle various ideological movements. Critics of the reactionary-monarchist trend saw in it a revolutionary sermon that undermined social foundations. Liberal criticism presented the writer as a preacher of Christian morality. Narodnik critics questioned the realistic content of Gorky's work, and regarded his humanism as a proud contempt for little man. The history of the struggle around the play emphasized its ideological relevance. Thematically, the play completed the cycle of Gorky’s works about “tramps.” It reflects the facts and events of our time that actually took place. In this sense, it was a verdict on the social system, which threw many people endowed with intelligence, feeling, and talent to the “bottom” of life, leading them to tragic death. Gorky argued that a society that has distorted the humanity in a person cannot exist. The heroes of the play - Actor, Ash, Nastya, Natasha, Kleshch - strive to break free from the “bottom” of life, but they feel their own powerlessness in front of this “prison”. They have a feeling of hopelessness of their fate and a craving for a dream, an illusion that gives at least some hope for the future. When the illusory nature of their hopes becomes obvious, these people die. The loss of hope caused the death of his soul, Gorky said about the fate of the Actor. Klesch works hard and passionately wants to return to working life. Luke appears as the bearer of the idea of ​​consoling deception in the play. The principle of his attitude towards man is the idea of ​​compassion. Throughout the course of the play, Gorky shows the inhumanity of passive, compassionate humanism. Subjectively, Luka, the bearer of the idea of ​​such humanism, is honest, arouses the sympathy of even the gloomy Tick; he wants to help people by instilling in them, albeit illusory, hope for the future. For Luke, a person is weak and insignificant before the circumstances of life, which, in his opinion, cannot be changed. And if so, it is necessary to reconcile the person with life by instilling a comforting “truth” that is convenient for him. And there are as many such truths as there are those who are eager to find it: truth and the truth of life become relative concepts. And it turns out that even in this world, where compassion would be a natural expression of a humane attitude towards a person, a comforting lie leads to a tragic outcome. And it comes in the fourth act of the play. The illusions have dissipated. The Actor dies, Nastya rushes about. The shelter is a picture of complete destruction. The so-called “heroless” composition dramas. If in the play “At the Lower Depths” Gorky summed up the theme of the “tramp” in his work, then in other plays a new stage in the development of the theme of the intelligentsia was marked. In 1904–1905. Gorky writes plays “Summer Residents” (1904), “Children of the Sun” (1905), “Barbarians” (1905). The central problem of the plays is the intelligentsia and the people, the intelligentsia and the revolution. The cycle of these plays opened “ Summer residents" Gorky himself determined the main theme of the play in a letter to the director. : “I wanted to portray that part of the Russian intelligentsia that came out of the democratic strata and, having reached a certain height of social position, lost contact with the people - their blood relatives, forgot about their interests and the need to expand life for them...” This Gorky judgment reveals the meaning of the images of Ryumin and Kaleria. These intellectuals, presenting themselves as the antipodes of the philistines, are in fact people of the same life and ideological direction, a product of the same environment as the Basovs and Suslovs, who, without hiding their life credo, declare the “right to rest” after the unrest social movement. All these people have isolated themselves from life and its demands. Gorky tears off the philistine's mask of spiritual sophistication and complexity. Here again the writer’s thought about decadence as a spiritual mask of the bourgeois sounds. Gorky contrasts the renegade intellectuals, the “dacha residents,” with the democratic intelligentsia. This is doctor Marya Lvovna, Vlas, Sonya. Marya Lvovna's monologue about the purpose of the intelligentsia in modern Russian life, as Gorky himself pointed out, was the “key” to the play. “We all must be different, gentlemen! Children of laundresses, cooks, Children of healthy working people - we must be different! After all, there has never been in our country educated people, connected with the mass of the people by blood kinship... This blood kinship should feed us with an ardent desire to expand, rebuild, illuminate the lives of our dear people, who all their days only work, suffocating in darkness and dirt... They sent us ahead of them, so that we can find a way for them to a better life.”“Summer Residents” is Gorky’s most “Chekhovian” play. But the conflict of the play acquired a socio-ideological character in Gorky. The problem of relations between the intelligentsia and the people, the intelligentsia and the revolution became the leading one in another play by Gorky in this cycle - "Children of the Sun". The stratum of the Russian intelligentsia is depicted - these are people of science and art, sincerely devoted to their work and sincerely mistaken in the social issues of life. Therefore, the theme of the intelligentsia sounds in this play in a different key. The central character of the play, Protasov, a scientist, dreams of man's victory over death, he is filled with faith in man, in the possibilities of his creative thought, and stands on the threshold of some great scientific discovery. Protasov's monologue about Man directly echoes the thoughts expressed by Gorky in the poem "Human". In the summer of the same 1905, Gorky wrote the third play of this cycle - "Barbarians" in which the playwright, using new material, developed the theme outlined in “Foma Gordeev” - the theme of the contradictions of bourgeois progress and civilization. Gorky contrasted the existing social world order, its ideology and ethics in the play “ Enemies" and the novel “Mother” a world of new human relationships, new people with a new social psychology emerging in the revolutionary struggle. The idea of ​​writing a play about the labor movement arose from Gorky in the early 1900s, but the plan was realized only after 1905. The plot is based on – real revolutionary events in Russia in the 1900s. This is a plot of a new type, it is determined by the clash of classes and political trends. “Enemies” is the first work in Russian drama that shows an open political clash of social camps, political views, moral concepts. The play seemed to sum up the creative quest of Gorky the playwright and marked a new stage in the development of his dramatic style. Previously, in Gorky's dramas, conflicts were expressed primarily in the clash of ideological views and philosophical concepts. This also determined the type of their plot movement. The ideological and ethical ideals of the heroes collided with reality and were tested by it. In "Enemies" the basis of all conflicts is the unfolding political struggle. Socio-political circumstances test everything: political and ethical views, and a person’s attitude towards art.

M. Gorky was formed as a person and as a writer at the end of the 19th century, simultaneously with the beginning of a new period of the liberation movement in Russia, which left a certain imprint on the entire work of the writer, especially on his early works - “Makar Chudra”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “ Chelkash", "Song of the Falcon" and others.

The main thing that characterizes Gorky's early work is a huge, sincere, burning interest in man, an ardent response to human suffering and a unique, melodic Gorky literary language. And at the same time, the writer speaks not only about the suffering of man, he believes in his creative powers, strives to find for everyone a path to happiness and freedom. It is precisely by faith in the strength of Russia, the strength of the Russian people, and the spirit of patriotism that Gorky’s romantic works are very close to the romantic lyrics of A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, N.V. Gogol.

In the early period of creativity of A.M. On the pages of his works, Gorky introduced the reader to people wandering across the expanses of Rus'. They either confided the story of their lives to the writer, or told legends stored in popular memory. The search for the meaning of life, freedom, truth - these are the cornerstones of the author’s early works.

The central link in Gorky’s romantic works is the image of a heroic person, ready for a selfless feat. “There is always a place for exploits in life,” says the hero of the writer’s early work, the old woman Izergil. The main meaning of the author’s story of the same name lies in the old aphorism that Gorky loved to repeat: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, why should I?..”

main character story, the old women, Izergil, very emotionally and colorfully tells the reader two legends in which two images are contrasted - the image of Danko and the image of Larra. Both of them are strong-willed people, but Larra has all his strength only for him, and he has no high goal for which it would be worth living. And the end of his life is inglorious and pitiful. The writer contrasts this egoism with the beautiful and pure idea of ​​​​a person who devotes all his strength to serving a high and noble goal and, above all, to serving the people. Danko becomes such a person. To bring his people to happiness, Danko sacrifices himself. With his heart, burning like the sun, Danko illuminated the entire forest, showed his fellow tribesmen the way to a happy and free life

Throughout the entire story, we observe the life of the old woman Izergil. The fate of the old woman clearly confirms that in a person’s life there is always a place for the struggle of two principles: good and evil, meanness and nobility, arrogance and philanthropy, Larra and Danko. In Izergil’s soul there is a lot of the strength that led to Danko’s feat. But life did not give her a glorious goal, and she wasted her strength only for herself, like Lara - why did he, what was the meaning of his life?

Gorky based the idea of ​​heroism, elevating and ennobling, as the basis for his famous “Song of the Falcon.” The call for absolute freedom is also a call for exploits in the name of the future happiness of mankind. And this call could not be louder in this work of the writer, glorifying the image of the Falcon, eager for the “happiness of battle,” free and brave, and condemning the cowardly and pathetic Snake.

Already, without dreaming of anything, he defines the meaning of his life with the following words: “Fly or crawl, the end is known: everyone will fall into the ground, everything will be dust.” Something completely different attracts Falcon. The proud Falcon dies, and the Already, quite satisfied with his carefree existence, remains to live. In “The Song of the Falcon,” M. Gorky praises the “madness of the brave,” but this is not the intoxication of battle for the sake of battle, not a crazy and aimless waste of energy and time. In “The Song of the Falcon,” the author continues the same idea that was sung by him in the legend of Danko with his burning heart.

Drawing images of heroes in his early works, M. Gorky turned to the motives folk art. The traditional image of a falcon, an eagle is the basis of the “Song of the Falcon”, the image of Danko goes back to the folk myth about Prometheus - the giver of fire. When creating his short stories, the author uses genres characteristic only of folk art - a song, a legend, a fairy tale, and imparts a rhythmic character. All this clearly confirms Gorky’s inextricable connection with the Russian people; the people’s dream of a hero – the liberators – was reflected in the early work of the writer.

58. Boris Zaitsev.

Biography of Boris Konstantinovich Zaitsev

Boris Zaitsev was born in 1881 in Orel, but spent his childhood in Kaluga. There he graduated from a real school and went to St. Petersburg to study at the Mining Institute. Then there was also admission to the Faculty of Law of Moscow University (did not graduate).

Zaitsev began writing at the age of 17, and soon, in 1990, he met A.P. Chekhov, and a year later entered into correspondence with V.G. Korolenko. In the same 1901, he met L.N. Andreev, who invited him to the literary circle “Sreda”, and in 1902 - with I.A. Bunin, who became his friend for many years. His literary debut took place in 1901 with the story “On the Road,” published in the Courier publication.

The writer lived in Moscow, often visiting St. Petersburg. He led an active literary and social life: was a member of the Literary and Artistic Circle, participated in the publication of the magazine “Zori” (published for several months in 1906), was a full member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature and a member of the Society for the Activities of Periodicals and Literature.

In August 1917, due to pneumonia, he went on vacation to Pritykino, where his family lived, and remained there until 1921, sometimes coming to Moscow. In 1922 he was elected chairman of the Moscow branch of the All-Russian Writers' Union. But that same year he fell ill with typhoid fever and received permission to travel abroad. By 1924, Boris Konstantinovich and his family settled in Paris, having previously lived for some time in Germany and Italy.

While living abroad, Zaitsev collaborated with the largest emigrant publications: “Modern Notes”, “Renaissance”, “Russian Thought”, “New Journal” and others. He stood at the origins of the Icon society (1927, Paris). For many years he headed the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists and took part in the work on translating the books of the New Testament into Russian.

Died in 1972, buried in the cemetery. Buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.