What was Russia in the middle of the XIX century? Summary of "Hunter's Notes"

I will begin my story about the outstanding Master of the Word, born of the Russian Land, from one remarkable episode. The case, which he himself often remembered with warmth and gratitude. Two young craftsmen came to Ivan Turgenev at a small railway station and inquired whether the author of The Hunter's Notes was really in front of them. Hearing the affirmative answer, they both bowed to him in the belt, saying that it was to him - a bow from the entire Russian people (in the middle - at the end of the XVIII century to know the brief content of the "Hunter's Notes" was a sign of good tone). Believe, dear readers, that this was not the impulsive act of young people. It was a profound demonstration of the writer's personal role in abolishing serfdom.

Let's move on to the characterization of the book. In the beginning, we note: at this master level, only two people could write poetry in prose: Gogol and Turgenev. Expanding the brief content of "Hunter's Notes", one should start with the poetic and subtle Turgenev story "The Chorus and Kalinych." His main idea is the inter-caste friendship of two people - a landlord and serf, possible, perhaps, only in Russia. Quiet, measured logic of the landowner Khori is harmoniously complemented by Kalinich's emotionality.

The protagonist of Turgenev, holding together the composition of "Notes ..." - in love with his small homeland enlightened landlord Orel province. On behalf of this traveler through his native black earth and sets out Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter". The content of the stories is plentiful: the hunter will overhear the conversations of the boys who took the horses to the night (Bezhin Meadow), then they will tremblingly tell about the folk song taking the soul (the "Singers"), then they will tell the secret - about the enlightened person, who can be called the conscience of the native land , About God's wanderer Kasyan with the Beautiful Swords.

Turgenev created so artistically perfect, and therefore beautiful, real images of peasants, philistines, raznochintsev that he fell in love with an attentive reader, but at the same time, "Notes of a Hunter" are a true and lyrical book about the Russian people of the mid-19th century. Landlord land tenure was then the main form of farming. However, the landowners who were modern to Ivan Sergeevich were, in their own way and power charisma, far from Catherine's nobles ("Raspberry Water"). Formulating a brief summary of the "Notes of the Hunter", we can say that serfdom in the XIX century completely exhausted itself. There was not that scope, domestic landlords to manage their slaves were practiced nagging, as well as punishment.

The serfs, in turn, are powerless. They can easily be offended, made unhappy, they can not properly dispose of themselves and their lives. It is not surprising that a deformed society that turned people into slaves deprived many serfs of social activity. A hopeless life often inclined laborers to drunkenness, lies, laziness. Often, the whole household was on the shoulders of women, while men were drinking. And when life became quite unbearable, dull and violent bloody riots erupted. The original name "Knocks!" Gave the writer one of his works. The idea of having a risk of escalating violence in society is a summary of the story. "Notes of a hunter" are, as it were, ideologically generalized by an allegorical later narrative, "Mumu": a mighty dumb people blindly submits to a small, petty lady.

Turgenev's cycle of short stories (finally published in 1852) played a prominent role in the liberation of the peasantry. Let us clarify the last thought (after all, we already know the brief content of the "Hunter's Notes"). Being a deep lyricist, Ivan Sergeevich, undoubtedly, was aware of his duty to society. Although Turgenev was not a fan of whipping, tough vocabulary, denouncing petty tycoon landowners, but still cruelty, short-sightedness, moral bankruptcy of the landowners Zverkov, Stegunov, Penochkin displayed it fully. He used a more powerful weapon - pinching, for the soul taking the truth. The above cycle of stories, as the chronicles testify, made a deep impression on the Russian emperor Alexander II who read him many times. As you know, the people themselves with gratitude called this king, abolished serfdom, Liberator.