Goncharov "Ordinary story": a summary and the history of creation

Decade. Is it a lot or a little? Ten years after Pushkin published his novel in poems "Eugene Onegin" Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov decided to make adjustments to the "hero of time." He understood with his intellect the trends of the era and understood that these thoughts and arguments had to be written down on paper ...

New time ... New characters

Life accelerated. The country was changing ... Pushkin pushed the writer to rethink the present, the death of Pushkin, who was the idol of his youth. He mourned his death "as the death of his own mother." The new book was conceived by the young Goncharov. "Ordinary story" - this is the name of the first novel by a novice author. The plan was grandiose, and it was difficult to underestimate. Objectively, a new novel of the great Russian literature of the XIX century, following after Pushkin and Lermontov, was in demand! Ivan Alexandrovich, working on the book, showed due insight, providing his creation with progressive problems, ideology, confrontation of views. The writer felt that Eugene Onegin, "an extra person" in his Homeland, could not continue to reflect the realities of development. He could not do it with Pechorin.

About the people of the new formation decided to write in the novel "Ordinary story" Goncharov. The history of the creation of the work is evolutionary. It should be noted that this was Goncharov's first novel. Before the publication, he read it in the Mikeov family. Then he introduced the edits proposed by Valerian Maikov. And only when the work enthusiastically approved Belinsky, Ivan Alexandrovich published his novel. Contemporaries, inspired by the Russian literary critic number 1 (Belinsky), willingly bought a new book with the inscription on the cover of "Goncharov" Ordinary story. "

The summary of the chapters that we outlined in this article is determined by the structure of the novel containing two parts and an epilogue.

Purpose

The author, as it were, decided to start his new book as early as in the "Pushkin world", ie, in the classical estate where the local noblemen dominated, but to finish in the already born "new world" -bourgeois: among the breeders and careerists. Goncharov managed to describe these two socio-cultural systems, two consecutive stages of development of Russian society. Let us note that, having realized his idea of the work, Goncharov made a huge contribution to the domestic literature. "Ordinary story" reviews caused a variety. However, all critics agree on one thing: a novel is timely, truthful, necessary. By the way, in the course of work on the conceived composition Ivan Goncharov formulated an interesting idea that all Russian realistic novels of the XIX century are rooted in Pushkin's novel.

From the estate of Rooks to St. Petersburg

Part of his first work with an ironic scene begins to narrate Ivan Goncharov. "Ordinary story" begins with the abandonment of one of the main characters, Alexander Fedorovich Aduev, the son of the poorly-owned local nobleman Anna Pavlovna Aduyeva, her family estate of Grachi. The estate is in a turmoil: a confused, loving mother collects her child ... This scene is both touching and ironic.

The reader at the same time has the opportunity to notice a typical picture of unreformed Russia: serfdom has transformed this landowning landholding (in the language of Goncharov's later novel) into a "dream realm". Even time here has "its own dimension": "before lunch" and "after dinner", and the seasons are determined by fieldwork.

Twenty-year-old Alexander leaves with the valet Yevsei, who was assigned to serve the young master Agrafena. In Rooks there was a mother, a sister, Sonechka in love with him. On the day of Alexander's departure, a friend of Pospelov rushed for sixty miles to kiss his friend in farewell.

According to the style of presentation, unlike the typical books of his time, Goncharov's novel is written. "Ordinary story", the characters of which are revealed in the ordinary narrative of an ordinary person, do not resemble a literary work (the novel contains no abstracts). The contents of the book are presented, as it were, not by the author, but by the contemplator, accomplice, contemporary of the events described.

On the motivation of Aduyev

In his ancestral estate, Alexander would certainly have taken place. If he remained in Rooks, his further life would, of course, be arranged. Its well-being, measured by the harvested crop, did not require effort. The young master was automatically provided with a comfortable life in these parts. However, this literary image - a young landlord - is clearly sympathetic to the author Goncharov. "Ordinary story", therefore, in its description contains a good irony ... What attracts him to Petersburg? He, composing poetry and trying himself in prose, dreams of glory. They are driven by dreams. In some ways, it resembles Lermontov's Lermontov: naive, overestimated self-esteem ...

What prompted him to take such a decisive step? First, read the French novels. The author mentions them in his narrative. This is Balzac's "Shagreen Skin," Soulier's "Memoirs of the Devil," as well as the popular "soap reading" that flooded Europe and Russia in the middle of the 19th century: Les sept péchés capitaux, Le manuscrit vert, L'âne mort.

The fact that Alexander Aduyev really absorbed the naive and kind views on life, taken from the novels, shows Ivan Goncharov. "The Ordinary Story" in the episodes of Alexander's word-explanations contains quotes from the novels "The Green Manuscript" (G. Druyno), "Atar-Gul" (E.Siu) ... With light sadness, the writer lists all those books that "had been ill" himself in his youth. Then the author will write about this his work, which he showed in him "himself and the same as he", who came to the cold, hard, competitive Petersburg (the place where "careers" are made) from "kind mothers".

The idea of the novel: world outlook conflict

However, let us return again to the novel ... Secondly, Alexander brought to the city on the Neva an example of his uncle, Pyotr Aduyev, seventeen years ago who came from the provinces to Petersburg and "found his way." It is about the resolved worldview conflict of the above characters and wrote the novel Goncharov. "Ordinary story" is not just a different view of the life of two people, it is the trend of time.

The summary of this book, therefore, consists in contrasting the two worlds. One - dreamy, lordly, spoiled laziness and another - practical, filled with awareness of the need for work, "real". It should be recognized that writer Ivan Goncharov managed to notice and expose to the reading public one of the main conflicts of the 40s of the XIX century: between the patriarchal corvee and the incipient business life. They show the characteristic features of the new society: respect for work, rationalism, professionalism, responsibility for the result of their work, honoring success, rationality, discipline.

Arrival of the nephew

How did the St. Petersburg uncle react to the arrival of his nephew? For him it was like snow on my head. He's annoyed. After all, on his shoulders, aside from the usual worries, a letter from the daughter-in-law of Anna Pavlovna (Alexander's mother) is naively entrusted to care for the infantile and inordinately ardent and enthusiastic son. Of the many similar of this ironic scenes Goncharov creates a novel. "Ordinary story," a brief summary of which we cite in the article, continues reading the message written by Aduyev's mother without punctuation marks and sent along with a "kadochka honey" and a bag of "dried raspberries." It contains a mother's request not to spoil her son and to look after him. Anna Pavlovna also informed her that she will provide money for herself. In addition, the letter contains more than a dozen requests from neighbors who knew him twenty years before leaving for St. Petersburg: from asking for help in the ship's litigation to romantic memories of an old acquaintance of the once-yellow flowers that she had torn off. Uncle, having read the letter and not feeding cordial affection to his nephew, decided to lend him complicity, guided by the "laws of justice and reason."

Help Aduyev-senior

Pyotr Ivanovich, successfully combining state service with economic activity (he is also a breeder), unlike his nephew lives in a completely different, business, "dry" world. He understands the futility in terms of career views on the world of his nephew, which shows in his book Goncharov ("Ordinary story"). The brief content of this worldview collision will not be described, but only say that it consists in the victory of the material world.

Pyotr Ivanovich dryly and busily undertakes the nephew's training in urban life. He equips a young man with housing, helps to rent an apartment in the house where he lives. Aduyev senior tells Alexander how to organize his life, where to eat better. Uncle can not be reproached with carelessness. He looks for a nephew's job, corresponding to his inclinations: translations of articles on the topic of agriculture.

Social adaptation of Alexander

Petersburg business life is gradually dragging out the young man. After two years, he already occupies a prominent place in the publishing house: he not only translates articles, but also chooses them, is engaged in proofreading other people's articles, writes himself on the topic of agriculture. On how the social orientation of Aduyev, Jr., narrates in the novel Goncharov. "Ordinary story," a brief summary of which we are considering, tells us about the changes that have taken place with the young man: the adoption of a bureaucratic bureaucratic paradigm.

Disappointments in love and in a friend

Alexander has a new love, Nadenka Lyubetskaya. Sonechka from Rooks has already been thrown out of the heart. Alexander is heartily in love with Nadenka, he dreams of it ... A calculating girl prefers him Count Novinsky. Young Aduyev completely loses his head from passion, he wants to summon the Count to a duel. With such a volcano of passions, even an uncle can not cope. At this stage of the novel, Ivan Goncharov makes a significant nuance. "Ordinary story" tells that romanticism from a dangerous crisis (possibly, threatening suicide) is saved by another romanticist: Peter Ivanovich's wife, Aunt Alexandra, Lizaveta Alexandrovna. The young man is no longer mad, a dream came to him, but he is indifferent to the environment. However, further it is waited by a new blow of destiny.

Accidentally in St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt he sees a friend of Pospelov's childhood. Alexander is delighted: Well, at last there appeared someone who can always find support in whom the blood has not cooled ... However, the friend turns out to be only externally: his character has undergone significant changes, he has become unpleasantly mercantile and calculating.

How did my uncle convince my nephew

Alexander is completely suppressed morally, as the novel "Ordinary story" testifies. Goncharov, however, further narrates how the young Aduyev, who lost faith in people, brings his uncle to life. He pragmatically and rigidly returns the nephew to the realities of life, first accusing him of heartlessness. Alexander agrees with Pyotr Ivanovich's words that more should be appreciated by those who love and care for him in the real world (mother, uncle, aunt) and less to live in the fictitious world. Aduyev Sr. consistently brings his nephew to pragmatism. For that, he constantly, step by step (the stone water sharpens) logically analyzes each wish and phrase of Aduyev, Jr. from the point of view of the experience of other people.

And finally, in his struggle against romanticism, nephew Peter Ivanovich strikes a decisive blow. He decides to show Alexander the real power of his writing talent. To this end, Aduyev Sr. even goes to certain material sacrifices. He offers his nephew as an experiment to publish his story in his own name. The publisher's answer was crushing for a novice ambitious writer ... It was, figuratively speaking, a shot that finally killed the romance in it.

One good turn deserves another

Now both the nephew and the uncle speak one business, dry language, not bothering themselves with sentiment. Nobility is obsolete from Alexander's soul ... He agrees to help his uncle in one rather unscrupulous affair. Uncle's problem: his partner, Surkov, ceases to be a reliable partner under the influence of passion. He falls in love with the widow of Tafaeva Julia Pavlovna. Aduyev Sr. asks a nephew to beat off a young woman from Surkov, falling in love with her, that Alexander manages to do. However, on this his relationship with Tafayeva does not end, but grow into a mutual passion. Romantic Julia Pavlovna brings down on the young Aduya such a stream of emotions that Alexander does not stand the test of love.

Psychological breakdown of Aduyev, Jr.

Peter Ivanovich manages to dissuade Tafaeva. However, Alexander takes complete apathy. He converges with Kostikov, whom he recommended to him. This is an official, devoid of any spiritual world and imagination. His destiny is relaxation: "to play checkers or fish," to live without "emotional unrest." One day my aunt, Lizaveta Alexandrovna, trying to stir up Alexander, indifferent to everything, asks him to escort him to the concert.

Under the influence of music, the violinist-romance Alexander decides to abandon everything and return to his native land, in Rook. He comes to his native estate with a faithful servant Evsei.

Short-term self-discovery

It is noteworthy that the returning "Petersburger" Aduyev, Jr. is already in a different way, he sees the way of the landlord economy in a youthful idyllic way. He notices the heavy and regular peasant labor, the tireless care of her mother. Alexander begins to re-think creatively that much of what he has translated into agrotechnics in the publishing house is far from practicing, and he takes up reading the special literature.

Anna Pavlovna is sad that the soul of her son has lost her former zeal, and he has grown bald, has grown stout that he was swallowed up by the whirlpool of Petersburg life. Mom hopes that staying in the house will return the lost son, but does not wait - he dies. To the protagonist of the novel, whose soul is purified by suffering, comes an understanding of true values, true faith. However, on this spiritual level he is not destined to remain at all for long. Alexander returns to St. Petersburg.

What is the "regularity" of history?

From the epilogue we learn that for four years Aduyev Jr. becomes a collegiate adviser, he has a rather big income, and he is going to marry favorably (he is expected to give the bride's three hundred thousand rubles and the estate to five hundred serfs).

In the same uncle's family, there were opposite changes. Aduyev-senior comes to an obvious dead end, where his business world inevitably pushes him. After all, his whole life is entirely subordinated to a career, entrepreneurship, service. Because of the money interests, he completely abandoned his individuality, turned himself into a part of a single machine.

Elizaveta Alexandrovna lost her romanticism, becoming a calm lady. She at the end of the novel turned into a "home device for comfort", not bothering the spouse with emotions, worries and questions. Goncharov clearly shows that the new bourgeois society, just like the patriarchal-feudal society, is capable of destroying the personality of the woman. This metamorphosis suddenly disturbed Peter Ivanovich, who wants to quit his career as an outside counselor and leave with his wife from the capital. He in the epilogue of the book revolts against the society whose conductor of interests was throughout the whole novel.

To the note: do not miss these scenes of the novel

• There is an episode in which Goncharov's special attitude to Pushkin is viewed. Just recently arrived in St. Petersburg, Alexander Aduyev goes to the Bronze Horseman (one of Alexander's favorite places).
• The picture of summer Petersburg, the Neva, the author's description of the white nights created by Goncharov is very romantic. These fragments of the novel are highly artistic. They should even be re-read periodically. Goncharov is a maestro!

Conclusion

Typical for his time, the trend displayed in the novel Goncharov. "Ordinary history" analyzes historical authenticity and shows that in the 40s of the XIX century, the influx of poor noblemen and raznochintsy to St. Petersburg, who wanted to make a career and to take place professionally, began in the 60s. At the same time, the most important, you will agree, was the moral aspect. Because of what was the young man driving: to serve the Fatherland or simply to make a career at any cost?

However, in addition to the problem component, Goncharova's novel has undoubted artistic value. It marks the beginning of the creation by Russian novelists novel of a detailed picture of their reality surrounding them. In his article "Better late than never", Ivan Goncharov suggested to readers (which, unfortunately, neither Dobrolyubov nor Belinsky did) that his three novels, the first of which was "Ordinary History", in fact, are a single trilogy about The era of sleep and the awakening of a huge country. Thus, it can be said that the whole literary cycle consisting of three novels was created by Goncharov (Oblomov, Obryv, Ordinary History) about his time.