Biography of VM Garshin - master of psychological story

The works of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin can be safely put on a par with the works of the greatest masters of Russian psychological prose - Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov. Alas, the writer was not allowed to live a long life, the biography of V.M. Garshin ends with a figure of 33. The writer was born in February 1855, and died in March 1888. His death was as fatal and tragic as the whole attitude, expressed in short And piercing stories. Sharply sensing the inescapability of evil in the world, the writer created works amazing in depth of the psychological picture, survived by their heart and mind and could not protect themselves from the monstrous disharmony that reigns in the social and moral life of people. Heredity, a special character store, a drama experienced in childhood, an acute sense of personal guilt and responsibility for the injustices that are really being created, all led to insanity, the point in which VM Garshin himself put himself in a flight of stairs.

Brief biography of the writer. Children's impressions

He was born in Ukraine, in Ekaterinoslav province, in the estate with the nice name Pleasant Valley. The father of the future writer was an officer, participant in the Crimean War. Mom differed in progressive views, she spoke several languages, read a lot and, undoubtedly, managed to inspire her son with the nihilistic moods typical of the sixties of the 19th century. The woman boldly broke with the family, passionately carried away by the revolutionary Zavadsky, who lived in the family as the educator of older children. Undoubtedly, this event was pierced by the small heart of the five-year-old Vsevolod. Partly because of this, the biography of VM Garshin is not devoid of gloomy colors. Mother, who was in conflict with her father for the right to raise her son, took him to St. Petersburg and identified him in the gymnasium. Ten years later, Garshin entered the Mining Institute, but did not receive a diploma, as his studies were interrupted by the Russian-Turkish war of 1877.

The experience of war

The student on the first day volunteered to join the fight and in one of the first battles he bravely rushed into the attack, receiving a minor wound in the leg. Garshin received the rank of officer, but did not return to the battlefield. Impressive youth shook the picture of the war, he could not accept the fact that people blindly and ruthlessly exterminate each other. He did not return to the institute, where he began to study mining: the young man was powerfully attracted to literature. For some time he attended a lecturer at the Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg University, and then began writing stories. The anti-war sentiments and the shock experienced resulted in works that instantly made the novice writer famous and desired in many editions of the time.

Suicide

The writer's mental illness developed in parallel to his creativity and social activities. He was treated in a psychiatric clinic. But soon after this (the biography of VM Garshin mentions this light event) his life was illuminated by love. Marriage with a budding physician Nadezhda Zolotilova was regarded by the writer as the best years of his life. By 1887, the writer's illness was aggravated by the fact that he had to leave the service. In March 1888, Garshin was going to the Caucasus. The things were packed and the time was fixed. After a night of insomnia, Vsevolod Mikhailovich suddenly went out on to the landing, descended one span below and, from a height of four floors, rushed down. Literary images of suicide, which burned the soul in his novels, incarnated terribly and irreparably. The writer was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and six days later he passed away. The report about VM Garshin, about his tragic death, produced great public unrest.

To bid farewell to the writer on the "Literary Bridges" of Volkovsky Cemetery in St. Petersburg (now here is the necropolis museum) people of different backgrounds and classes gathered. The poet Pleshcheyev wrote a lyrical obituary in which he expressed a sharp pain that Garshina, a man of a great pure soul, is no longer among the living. The literary heritage of the prose writer still disturbs the soul of readers and is the subject of research by philologists.

Creativity VM Garshin. Anti-militarist theme

Lively interest in the inner world of a person surrounded by unmerciful reality is the central theme in Garshin's writings. This charisma of sincerity and empathy in the author's prose undoubtedly feeds on the source of great Russian literature, which since the book "The Life of the Protopope Avvakum" demonstrates a deep interest in the "dialectics of the soul".

Garshin-narrator first appeared before the reading public with the work "Four Days". So many soldiers lay with their legs broken on the battlefield, until they found brother-soldiers. The story is from the first person and reminds a stream of consciousness of the person, exhausted by a pain, hunger, fear and loneliness. He hears moans, but with horror understands that he is groaning himself. Near him, the corpse of the enemy killed by him disintegrates. Looking at this picture, the hero is horrified by the face on which the skin has burst, the bared skull was strangely bared, - the face of war! Similar stories are inspired by anti-war pathos: "Coward", "Batman and Officer", "From the Memoirs of Private Ivanov."

Thirst for harmony

With the utmost frankness, the heroine of the story "Incident" appears before the reader, earning her living with her body. The narrative is built in the same manner of confession, merciless introspection inherent in Garshin. A woman who met her "support," a man who involuntarily put her on the path of choice between "brash soused cocotte" and "legal wife and ... noble parent", is trying to change her destiny. This understanding of the topic of the harlot in the n literature of the 19th century is probably for the first time. In the story "Artists" Garshin with new power embodied the idea of Gogol, who firmly believed that the emotional shock produced by art can change people for the better. In the novel "Meeting" the author shows how cynical conviction that for the sake of well-being all means are good, takes possession of the minds of seemingly best representatives of the generation.

Happiness is in a sacrificial act

The story "Red Flower" - a special event, which marked the creative biography of VM Garshin. He tells of a madman who is sure that the "bloody" flower in the hospital garden has contained all the untruth and cruelty of the world, and the mission of the hero is to destroy it. Having performed an act, the hero dies, and his dead, brightened face expresses "proud happiness". According to the writer, a person is not able to defeat the world's evil, but a high honor to those people who can not tolerate this and are ready to defeat him, to sacrifice their lives.

All the works of Vsevolod Garshin - essays and short stories - were typed into one volume only, but the shock that his prose produced in the hearts of thoughtful readers is incredibly great.