What is the originality of the composition of the hero of our time. Artistic features of the novel "A Hero of Our Time

The novel by Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov is a socio-psychological novel. Lermontov wanted to reveal in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" all the secrets of the human soul. The novel was written at a time when a person could not speak his mind without getting hurt. The novel is written and consists of many stories collected in one work.

The stories are written in a different chronological order, but this does not lose its meaning. Each of them can exist separately, because they describe different events that happened in the life of Pechorin. A person throughout the novel tries to find himself, but does not know what he really wants to be.

Mikhail Yuryevich took as a basis the disclosure of the character of the main character Pechorin. The sequence of chapters Lermontov changed more than once, he wanted to build the perfect order in his novel. Mikhail Yuryevich wanted to build a philosophical order so that the reader could understand what was at stake.

Lermontov's novel consists of five stories, but they are arranged in a chaotic order. First, the stories that end Pechorin's life are exhibited, and then the events that happened to the main character earlier. The Russian officer in each of the stories wants to find a place for himself in this world, but he just can't decide. He gets bored with girls very quickly and doesn't like anyone.

The novel begins with the fact that Pechorin is fond of the girl Bela and decides to steal her from her lover, but at that moment he does not know that she will quickly get bored with him. He sharpens the girl in the fortress where he himself is, but after a while Pechorin gets bored and he does not understand why he stole her because he could not love her. Pechorin wants freedom so much and does not like it when they try to fetter him in their actions. The officer is trying to escape from the fortress somewhere in the distance in order to find himself and his place. In the last final story, Pechorin nevertheless returns to the fortress from which he escaped.

In the first story "Bela" the reader gets acquainted with Pechorin from the words of his friend Maxim Maksimych. He describes that the officer is romantic and stole the girl because he fell in love with her. In another story, the name of which is "Maxim Maksimych", the image of Pechorin is revealed from the words of the narrator. It is in it that the appearance of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin is described and the myth and its romanticism are destroyed. In the remaining parts of the novel, the kind and bright image of Pechorin is destroyed stage by stage.

In the final part of the novel The Fatalist, Mikhail Yuryevich writes that Pechorin should draw conclusions about his life. Pechorin believes that not everything is so simple and he should think about how he behaved throughout the whole time. He made certain conclusions about his life and would very much like to correct some points. Grigory Alexandrovich is ready to fight fate, but the reader understands that this will lead to the quick death of Pechorin. Lermontov wanted to reveal the whole essence of the human soul, namely Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. Mikhail Yuryevich highlighted the realistic characterization of a Russian officer who was looking for himself in life and made many mistakes.

Sample 2

Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" was conceived as a psychological one, in which the author wanted to reveal the character of the heroes, the motives for their actions and behaviors. The idea was realized thanks to an unusual composition: Lermontov violated the chronology, because of which, when reading the novel, many questions arise about when and where this or that event took place.

"A Hero of Our Time" consists of two parts, including chapters. The plot chapters go in this order: the story about Bela, "Maxim Maksimych", the story about the smugglers, the story with Mary and the final one - "The Fatalist". However, if we disassemble the work completely, then we will come to the plot order: “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”, “Bela”, “Maxim Maksimych”.

Mikhail Yuryevich said that every line, every word in this work takes its place, they are all for a reason, from which we can conclude that the order also had its own meaning. Indeed, it gives us the opportunity to recognize Pechorin gradually, first from the stories of officer Maxim Maksimych, that is, through the eyes of another person, then through the eyes of the author, who met the protagonist, sad and unfriendly, after which the reader opens the most important subject in the study of human psychology - a diary . In it, Pechorin writes about his experiences, feelings and actions, he himself is trying to understand the motives of his behavior. This order invites the author to follow not the design and external events, but the inner world of the hero.

In addition, such a plot order in the work is needed in order to show Pechorin at moments of special intensity of his life problems and events, because it is in difficult life trials that a person’s character is revealed most fully. In the first part, he is in love with Bela, achieves her by all means, but then cools off towards her. Bela was killed because of the temporary desire of the hero. He also ruined the fate of the smugglers in Taman by interfering in their lives. He played with Mary's fate as well as with other fates. But the protagonist's diary is needed not for publication, but in order to understand himself, this is his importance. Due to the fact that Lermontov arranged the events in this way, at first we see Pechorin's selfish actions, and then his understanding of them, which softens the readers' attitude towards the hero.

So, the plot order of the work is needed in order to show the chaotic lifestyle of Pechorin, his life problems and for a better understanding of the inner feelings and thoughts of the hero.

Features of the composition of the novel A Hero of Our Time

Roman M.Yu. Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" was published in 1840. The work is written in five parts. Five separate stories are united by the main character - Pechorin Grigory Alexandrovich. The very construction of the novel (its composition) does not have a clear chronology. The arrangement of the stories in the existing order is intended to solve certain artistic problems.

The first part of the novel consists of two stories: "Bela" and "Maxim Maksimych". The narration comes from the name of Maxim Maksimovich. He tells about Pechorin to a third party, who in the following chapters will himself narrate on behalf of the author. Bela describes the tragedy of a young Circassian girl. The hero of the novel, languishing with boredom, steals the horse first, and then Bela. Disregard for the traditions of the highlanders leads to a terrible ending. The beautiful Bela and her father die at the hands of the robber Kazbich. Pechorin's associate - Azamat - is forced to leave his family forever.

Describing Pechorin in Maxim Maksimych, Lermontov gives a description of Maksimych himself. Showing two types of people, two different characters, the author opposes them to each other. The two heroes meet. But to tell them, in general, there is nothing. Maxim Maksimovich, no matter how hard he tried, failed to comprehend the inner world of Pechorin.

In "Taman" the hero of the novel is shown as bold and resolute. A chance encounter with smugglers could have led to his death. Comparisons with the smugglers of Grigory Pechorin are not in his favor. Reckless courage and cruelty are justified by the lifestyle they are forced to lead. Pechorin has no motivation for such actions.

The apotheosis of the plot of the novel is "Princess Mary". Here the hero finds himself in his usual environment - in the society of aristocrats. For these people, farce and intrigue, meanness and lies, gossip and hypocrisy coexist quite well behind the external gloss. Pechorin is an inseparable part of this little world. The lack of a moral principle does not give him a chance to be happy in love. Going to a duel with Grushnitsky, Grigory Alexandrovich thought about the meaning of his own life. But didn't find it.

Concludes the novel "The Fatalist". Talking about the past, Pechorin believes that “fatum” is to blame for all the misadventures. The idea that a person himself chooses between Good and Evil does not come to his mind.

The plot of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is based on the main themes that unite the entire work: the themes of the homeland, the human soul, love, society, fate, history, war. In each of the stories of the novel, these themes are intertwined in one way or another.

The main component of the plot of the stories and the whole novel is the scene of action, the social and national environment, and the historical setting. The conflicts of the stories are born in close connection with the reality of the created artistic world. So, a love conflict - the love story of Pechorin and Bela, no matter how highly and abstractly we talk about it, is depicted in all historical and national concreteness, psychologically correct, with attention to the social nuances of the characters' relationship. The story "Taman" presents an accurate artistic picture of the mores of a seaside town, the cruelty and deceit of the underworld, the sleepy stupidity of garrison employees. In the story "Princess Mary", in addition to the subtle depiction of the theme of love and friendship, Lermontov's remarkable find was the choice of the social environment and the place where events unfold. The conflict between Pechorin and the "water society" turned out to be the intersection point of many plot motifs of the story - social, moral, spiritual and moral. The theme of "The Fatalist" and the hero's temporary stay at the forefront of hostilities, in a remote province, where he so sharply and clearly feels his loneliness and restlessness, correlate very accurately.

The composition of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is particularly complex. First of all, it must be said that the novel consists of autonomous parts - stories, which nevertheless represent an artistic whole. The stories are united by a common hero, but a well-known difficulty in understanding the integrity of the novel is the question: why does the author choose these, and not some other events in Pechorin's life, and why does he arrange them in that order?

The idea of ​​the novel is presented through the disclosure of the image of Pechorin. The leading constructive technique in this regard is the depiction of the hero from two main angles: in the first two stories and the preface, the story about the hero is conducted from the outside, at first we learn about him from Maxim Maksimych. Then we read Pechorin's notes about his adventures in the Caucasus in Pechorin's Journal, that is, using Belinsky's words, we meet on the pages of the magazine with the "inner man". The story "Taman", the first in Pechorin's Journal, combines two perspectives of the hero's image - "from the outside" and "from himself", it is important that the hero is never named by name in it.

The next feature of the composition is that the chronology of events in the life of the hero does not coincide with the chronology of the story about them. So, Pechorin's path outside the novel sequence is as follows: arrival in the Caucasus ("Taman"), vacation after hostilities ("Princess Mary"), a two-week military mission while serving in the fortress ("Fatalist"), the love story of Pechorin and Bela during service in the fortress ("Bela"), meeting with Pechorin four years later ("Maxim Maksimych"), Pechorin's death (preface to Pechorin's Journal). These events are arranged in a different order in the novel: "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", the preface to "Pechorin's Journal", "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist". This principle of constructing the novel is called "double chronology". There are many explanations for the "double chronology". Two main ones can be distinguished. From the point of view of the plot, such a sequence can be explained by the fact that the wandering writer, publishing a novel about Pechorin, compiled a book in the sequence in which he himself learned about the life of her hero. From the point of view of the meaning of the composition, the fact that the stories before being combined into a novel were scattered episodes from the life of an individual, after the unification they began to represent the stages of his life destiny and spiritual development.

The principle of “reverse chronology” is becoming important, which manifests itself in the fact that the earlier events of Pechorin’s life are assigned to the second half of the novel - in the “Pechorin Journal”, and they are preceded in the narrative by later events. With this technique, the author seeks to avoid the prejudiced attitude towards the hero that occurs when we learn about a person "from the outside". The author pursues the same goal by successively changing narrators-narrators who represent the hero from different angles. The wandering writer, later the publisher of a book about Pechorin, acts as an observer, Maxim Maksimych is a direct witness and participant in the events, Pechorin experiences them in his life.

The image of Pechorin becomes clearer, more real and deeper as the story develops. The logic of the sequence of stories is such that in each of them a question arises, the answer to which is expected in the next one. So, in "Bel" we learn about Pechorin from the story of Maxim Maksimych, but we do not see him with our own eyes.

At the end of the story, interest in the personality of the hero awakens in the question: who is he? And in "Maxim Maksimych" we seem to get an answer to it. Pechorin appears in the story physically, it even provides a detailed portrait of the hero with elements of psychologization. However, Pechorin's unusual behavior raises the following question: why is he like that? "Pechorin's Journal" is intended to explain the state of the hero, but the events of "Taman" cause us another bewilderment: what does he need? From the story "Princess Mary" we get a clear explanation: Pechorin needs love and friendship, but at the end of the story a disaster occurs. Pechorin loses everything that binds a person to life, then the problem of choice naturally arises: what should the hero do, should he not give up further struggle in life? The story "The Fatalist" ends with Pechorin's positive choice in favor of life, it ends optimistically: "The officers congratulated me - and for sure, there was something!" It is in this that the ring composition of the novel plays its decisive role: Pechorin returns to the fortress to Maxim Maksimych, and the novel seems to begin again - Pechorin will kidnap Bela, everything will repeat itself, but the meaning of events will be different, new.

The motive of wandering connects the whole work, its characters are constantly on the road, outside the home. Such is Pechorin, such is the lonely staff captain Maxim Maksimych, who has neither a family nor a permanent home, such is the wandering writer.

Finally, another compositional device of the novel plays the deepest ideological role: the hero dies in the middle of the work and immediately "resurrects" in Pechorin's Journal. This effect makes it possible to show the eternal moral rebirth of man.

Introduction

Composition is one of the most important means by which the writer invents the phenomena of life that interest him in the way he understands them, and characterizes the characters in the work.

The ideological task of the author also determined the peculiar construction of the novel. Its peculiarity is the violation of the chronological sequence of events, which is described in the novel. The novel consists of five parts, five stories, each with its own genre, its own plot and its own title.

"Maxim Maksimych"

"Taman"

"Princess Mary"

"Fatalist"

The hero who unites all these stories into something whole, into a single novel, is Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin. If you arrange the story of his life, invented in the novel, in a certain sequence, you get the following.

A former guards officer, transferred to the Caucasus for some reason, Pechorin goes to the place of his punishment. On the way, he calls in Taman. Here an adventure happened to him, which is told in the story "Taman".

From here he comes to Pyatigorsk ("Princess Mary"). For a duel with Grushnitsky, he was exiled to serve in the fortress. During his service in the fortress, the events told in the stories "Bela" and "The Fatalist" take place. Several years pass. Pechorin, retired, leaves for Persia. On the way there, he meets for the last time with Maxim Maksimych ("Maxim Maksimych").

The layout of the parts of the novel should be like this:

"Taman"

"Princess Mary"

"Fatalist"

"Maxim Maksimych"

And I wanted to figure out why M.Yu. Lermontov built his novel in a completely different way, why he arranged the chapters in a completely different order, what goals the author set for himself, what is the idea of ​​the novel.

Compositional and artistic originality of the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

In 1839, Mikhail Lermontov's story Bela was published in the third issue of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. Then, in the eleventh issue, the story "The Fatalist" appeared, and in the second book of the magazine for 1840 - "Taman". In the same 1840, three short stories already known to the reader, telling about various episodes in the life of a certain Pechorin, were published as chapters of the novel A Hero of Our Time. Criticism greeted the new work ambiguously: a sharp controversy ensued. Along with the stormy enthusiasm of the "frantic Vissarion" - Belinsky, who called Lermontov's novel a work representing a "completely new world of art", who saw in it "deep knowledge of the human heart and modern society", "richness of content and originality", voices of critics sounded in the press, absolutely not accepted the novel. The image of Pechorin seemed to them a slanderous caricature, an imitation of Western models. Lermontov's opponents liked only the "truly Russian" Maxim Maksimych. It is indicative that Emperor Nicholas I also appreciated the "Hero ..." in exactly the same way. He himself explained that, having started reading the novel, he was delighted, deciding that it was Maksim Maksimych who was the "hero of our time." However, later discovering his mistake, he was very indignant at the author. The reaction of critics forced Lermontov to supplement the novel with an author's preface and a preface to Pechorin's Journal during the reprint. Both of these prefaces play an important, defining role in the work: they reveal the author's position as voluminously as possible and give the key to unraveling Lermontov's method of cognizing reality. The compositional complexity of the novel is inextricably linked with the psychological complexity of the image of the protagonist.

The ambiguity of Pechorin's character, the inconsistency of this image was revealed not only in the study of his spiritual world itself, but also in the correlation of the hero with other characters. The author forces the reader to constantly compare the main character with those around him. Thus, a compositional solution of the novel was found, according to which the reader gradually approaches the hero.

Having first published three short stories, which in the final version of the novel were not even the chapters of one part, Lermontov “made an application” for a work that was related in genre to Eugene Onegin. In "Dedication" Pushkin called his novel "a collection of motley chapters." This emphasized the dominance of the author's will in the presentation of events: the narrative is subject not only and not so much to the sequence of what is happening, but to its significance; episodes are chosen not according to the sharpness of the plot collisions, but according to the psychological richness. Conceived by Lermontov as a "long chain of stories," the novel assumed the same artistic task as Pushkin's. And at the same time, "A Hero of Our Time" creates in Russian literature a special, completely new type of novel, easily and organically combining the features of traditional novel genres (moral, adventurous, personal) and features of "small genres" that are widespread in Russian literature in 1930s: travel essay, bivouac story, secular story, Caucasian short story. As B. Eikhenbaum noted, "A Hero of Our Time was a way out of these small genres on the way to the genre of the novel that unites them."

The composition of the novel is subject to the logic of revealing the image of the protagonist. V. Nabokov in his "Preface to" A Hero of Our Time "wrote about the location of the short stories: "In the first two - "Bela" and "Maxim Maksimych" - the author, or, more precisely, the hero-narrator, an inquisitive traveler, describes his trip to the Caucasus along the Georgian Military Highway in 1837 or so. This is Narrator 1. Having left Tiflis in a northern direction, he meets an old warrior named Maxim Maksimych on the way. For some time they travel together, and Maxim Maksimych informs Narrator 1 about a certain Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin, who, five years old, while serving in the military in Chechnya, north of Dagestan, once kidnapped a Circassian woman. Maxim Maksimych is Narrator 2, and his story is called "Bela". On their next road trip ("Maxim Maksimych") Narrator 1 and Narrator 2 meet Pechorin himself. The latter becomes Narrator 3 - after all, three more stories will be taken from Pechorin's journal, which Narrator 1 will publish posthumously. The attentive reader will note that the whole trick of such a composition is to bring Pechorin closer to us over and over again, until, finally, he himself speaks to us, but by that time he will no longer be alive. In the first story, Pechorin is at a "second cousin" distance from the reader, since we learn about him from the words of Maxim Maksimych, and even in the transmission of Narrator 1. In the second story, Narrator 2, as it were, withdraws himself, and Narrator 1 gets the opportunity to see Pechorin with his own eyes. With what touching impatience Maxim Maksimych hurried to present his hero in kind. And here we have the last three stories; now that Narrator 1 and Narrator 2 have stepped aside, we find ourselves face to face with Pechorin.

Due to such a spiral composition, the time sequence appears to be blurred, as it were. The stories float, unfold before us, then everything is in full view, then as if in a haze, and then suddenly, retreating, they will reappear in a different perspective or lighting, just as a traveler sees from the gorge a view of the five peaks of the Caucasus Range. This traveler is Lermontov, not Pechorin. The five stories are arranged one after the other in the order in which events come to Narrator 1, but their chronology is different; in general it looks like this:

Around 1830, officer Pechorin, following official duty from St. Petersburg to the Caucasus to the active detachment, stops in the seaside town of Taman (a port separated from the northeastern tip of the Crimean peninsula by a narrow strait). The story that happened to him there is the plot of "Taman", the third story in the novel.

In the active detachment, Pechorin takes part in skirmishes with mountain tribes and after some time, on May 10, 1832, he comes to rest on the waters, in Pyatigorsk. In Pyatigorsk, as well as in Kislovodsk, a nearby resort, he becomes a participant in the dramatic events that lead to the fact that on June 17 he kills an officer in a duel. He tells about all this in the fourth story - "Princess Mary".

On June 19, by order of the military command, Pechorin is transferred to a fortress located in the Chechen Territory, in the northeastern part of the Caucasus, where he arrives only in the fall (the reasons for the delay are not explained). There he meets staff captain Maxim Maksimych. Narrator 1 learns this from Narrator 2 in "Bel", which begins the novel.

In December of the same year (1832), Pechorin left the fortress for two weeks for a Cossack village north of the Terek, where the story he described in the fifth and last story, "The Fatalist", happened.

In the spring of 1833, he kidnaps a Circassian girl, who, four and a half months later, is killed by the robber Kazbich. In December of the same year, Pechorin leaves for Georgia and soon returns to St. Petersburg. We will find out about this in "Bel".

About four years pass, and in the fall of 1837, Narrator 1 and Narrator 2, on their way north, make a stop in Vladikavkaz and there they meet Pechorin, who is already back in the Caucasus, on his way to Persia. Narrator 1 tells about this in "Maxim Maksimych", the second story in the cycle.

In 1838 or 1839, returning from Persia, Pechorin dies under circumstances that may have confirmed the prediction that he would die as a result of an unhappy marriage.

Narrator 1 posthumously publishes his journal, received from Narrator 2. Narrator 1 mentions the death of the hero in his preface (1841) to Pechorin's Journal, which contains Taman, Princess Mary, and Fatalist. Thus, the chronological sequence of five stories, if we talk about their connection with Pechorin's biography, is as follows: "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist", "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych". It is unlikely that in the process of working on "Bela" Lermontov already had an established plan for "Princess Mary". The details of Pechorin's arrival at the Kamenny Brod fortress, reported by Maxim Maksimych in "Bel", do not quite coincide with the details mentioned by Pechorin himself in "Princess Mary" In the first part, we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych. This person is sincerely attached to Pechorin, but spiritually deep alien to him. They are separated not only by the difference in social status and age. They are people of fundamentally different types of consciousness and children of different eras. For the staff captain, an old Caucasian who began his service under General Yermolov and who forever preserved the "Yermolovsky" outlook on life, his young a friend is an alien phenomenon, strange and inexplicable. Therefore, in the story of Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin appears as a mysterious, enigmatic person: "After all, there are, really, such people whose family is written that various unusual things must happen to them! "What can explain this maxim to the reader? Nothing, except that Maxim Maksimych Pechorin does not understand and does not particularly strive to understand, loving him osto as "nice little".

Maxim Maksimych was not chosen by chance as the first narrator. His image is one of the most important in the novel, because this human type is very characteristic of Russia in the first half of the last century. Under the conditions of the Caucasian war, a new type of "Russian Caucasian" was formed - most often these were people like Yermolov, who put the law of strength and power above all else, and their subordinates - kind, sincere and non-judgmental warriors. This type is embodied in the image of Maxim Maksimych. We must not forget that the Caucasus was called "warm Siberia", and objectionable people were exiled there to the active army - in particular, many Decembrists. Young people also traveled to the Caucasus in a thirst to visit the "real business", they aspired to go there as to an exotic wonderland, to the land of freedom ...

All these features of the Caucasus are present in Lermontov's novel: we see everyday scenes as well as exotic ones; before us flash images of "fabulous" highlanders and ordinary, familiar to all habitues of secular living rooms. One way or another, they are all akin to Pechorin: there is something of a Circassian in him (remember his crazy horseback ride through the mountains without a road after the first meeting with Vera!); he is natural in the circle of Princess Ligovskaya. The only person with whom Pechorin has nothing in common is Maxim Maksimych. People of different generations, different eras and different types of consciousness; the staff captain and Pechorin are absolutely alien to each other. That is why Maxim Maksimych remembered his long-time subordinate, because he could not understand, unravel him. In the story of Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin appears as a romantic hero, meeting with whom became one of the brightest events in his life; while for Pechorin both the staff captain himself and the story with Bela are just an episode among others. Even at a chance meeting, when Maxim Maksimych is ready to throw himself into his arms, Pechorin has nothing to talk about with him: remembering Bela is painful, there is nothing to tell an old friend ... "I have to go, Maxim Maksimych." So, from the short story "Bela" (by the way, written later than others), we learn about the existence of a certain Pechorin - the hero of a romantic story with a Circassian woman. Why did Pechorin need Bela; why, having barely won her love, he is bored and languishing; why he rushed to beat her off Kazbich (after all, he fell out of love!); what tormented him at the bedside of the dying Bela, and why did he laugh when the kindest Maxim Maksimych tried to console him? All these questions remain unanswered; in Pechorin - everything is a mystery, the reader is free to explain the behavior of the hero to the best of his own imagination. In the chapter "Maxim Maksimych" the veil of secrecy begins to lift.

The place of the narrator is taken by the staff captain's former listener, a traveling officer. And the mysterious hero of the "Caucasian short story" is given some living features, his airy and mysterious image begins to take on flesh and blood. The wandering officer does not just describe Pechorin, he gives a psychological portrait. He is a man of the same generation and probably close circle. If Maxim Maksimych was horrified when he heard from Pechorin about the boredom that tormented him: "... my life becomes emptyer day by day ...", then his listener accepted these words without horror, as quite natural: "I answered that there are many people who say the same thing; that there are probably those who tell the truth ... "And therefore, for the officer-narrator, Pechorin is much closer and more understandable; he can explain a lot in the hero: both "spiritual storms", and "some secrecy", and "nervous weakness". So the mysterious, unlike anyone, Pechorin becomes a more or less typical person of his time, general patterns are found in his appearance and behavior. And yet the riddle does not disappear, the "oddities" remain. The narrator will note Pechorin's eyes: "they did not laugh when he laughed!" In them, the narrator will try to guess "a sign - either of an evil right, or of deep permanent sadness"; and will be amazed at their brilliance: "it was a brilliance like the brilliance of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold ... That is why the traveler is so happy when he gets Pechorin's notes:" I grabbed the papers and quickly took them away, fearing that the captain would not repent. The preface to Pechorin's Journal, written on behalf of the narrator, explains his interest in this person.

He speaks of the infinite importance of studying the "history of the human soul", of the need to understand the true reasons for the motives, actions, character of a person: "... and maybe they will find justification for the actions that they have been accused of so far ..." All this is a preface confirms the spiritual closeness of the narrator and the hero, their belonging to the same generation and the same human type: remember, for example, the narrator’s reasoning about the “artful insincerity of a true friend”, which turns into “inexplicable hatred, which, lurking under the guise of friendship, awaits only the death or misfortune of a beloved subject to burst over his head with a hail of reproaches, advice, ridicule and regrets. How close these words are to the bitter thoughts of Pechorin himself about friendship, how they explain his conviction "I am not capable of friendship"!

The narrator's opinion about Pechorin is expressed unambiguously: "My answer is the title of this book." This is also the explanation of his intense interest in the hero: before us is not only a peculiar person, typical of his era. The hero of time is a personality formed by a given age, and in no other era such a person could have appeared. All the features, all the advantages and disadvantages of his time are concentrated in him. In the preface to the novel, Lermontov polemically states: "The hero of our time, my gracious sirs, is like a portrait, but not of one person: it is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development." But he does not create his novel of "caustic truths" in order to castigate vices: he brings a mirror to society so that people see themselves, look into their own faces, try to understand themselves. This is the main task of Lermontov's novel. No matter how close Pechorin is to the narrator, he cannot fully understand him. For a complete, deep understanding, Pechorin must speak about himself. And two-thirds of the novel is his confession.

It is important that Pechorin, in no way being Lermontov's self-portrait ("An old and ridiculous joke!" - the preface says about such an interpretation), is often infinitely close to the author in his assessments, emotions, reasoning. This creates a special sense of the common fate of the people of the Lermontov generation. As in the "Duma", the poet, feeling himself within the generation, sharing his guilt and fate, with his understanding of the common tragedy, furious indignation and all the bitterness of reflections, goes out of the general mass, rises above it - to unattainable heights of the spirit.

The composition of Pechorin's Journal is very peculiar. It's like a novel within a novel.

The first short story "Taman" is a single story about the incident that happened to the hero. It outlines the main motives of the entire "journal": Pechorin's desire for active action; "curiosity", pushing him to put "experiments" on himself and others, to interfere in matters that do not concern him; his reckless courage and romantic attitude. And - the main thing! - the desire to understand what drives people, to identify the motives of their actions, to comprehend their psychology. We still do not understand why he needs this, but his behavior in the story with Bela is already becoming clearer to us.

"Princess Mary" is built from diary entries - this is an almost daily chronicle of Pechorin's life. He describes the events of the day. But not only and not so much of them. Please note: Pechorin is not at all interested in "general questions". We learn little about Pyatigorsk, about the public, about the events in the country, in the town itself, about the course of hostilities (and newcomers probably arrive every day - and tell!). Pechorin writes about his thoughts, feelings, his behavior and actions. If Grushnitsky had not been his former acquaintance, Pechorin would not have paid attention to him, but, forced to renew his acquaintance, he bursts out in the journal with a caustic epigram on Grushnitsky himself and those like him. But Dr. Werner Pechorin is interesting: this is a special human type, in some ways close to him, in many ways alien. At the sight of the charming Princess Mary, Pechorin begins to talk about legs and teeth, and the appearance of Vera, with her deep, tragic love, makes him suffer. See the pattern? Pechorin is not interested in playing the role of "disappointed", through and through imitative Grushnitsky, and at first the usual Moscow young lady Mary Ligovskaya is not interested either. He is looking for original, natural and deep natures, exploring, analyzing them, just as he explores his own soul. For Pechorin, like the officer-narrator, like the author of the novel himself, believes that "the history of the human soul ... is almost more curious and more useful than the history of a whole people ..."

But it’s not enough for Pechorin just to observe the characters: life in its everyday, unhurried flow provides not enough food for thought. Was the naive Maksim Maksimych right, who considered Pechorin to be a "sort of" person, who "has written in his family that various unusual things should happen to him"? Of course no. The point is not that Pechorin is destined for various adventures - he creates them for himself, constantly actively interfering in his own destiny and in the lives of those around him, changing the course of things in such a way that it leads to an explosion, to a collision. So it was in "Bel", when he abruptly changed the fate of the girl, Aroma, their father, Kazbich, weaving their paths into an unthinkable ball. So it was in "Taman", where he intervened in the life of "honest smugglers", in "Princess Mary" ...

Everywhere, Pechorin not only changes and complicates the lives of those around him. He introduces into their fates his trouble, his thoughtlessness and craving for the destruction of the House - a symbol of peaceful life, non-participation in the common fate, shelter from the winds of the era. Deprives Bela of her home - her love does not allow her to return to her father; makes him run away from home, fearing parental anger, Aroma; makes "honest smugglers" abandon their shelter and sail into the unknown; destroys the possible homes of Grushnitsky and Mary ... Spiritual restlessness, eternal search, a thirst for true life and true activity lead Pechorin on and on, do not allow him to stop, close in the circle of family and loved ones, doom him to thoughtlessness and eternal wandering. The motive for the destruction of the House is one of the main ones in the novel: the appearance of a "hero of time", a person who embodied all the features of the era, creates an "explosion situation" - makes people feel all the tragedy of the century, because in the face of the general laws of time, a person is defenseless. Pechorin tests these laws on himself and on those around him. Pushing people against each other and with their destinies, he makes their souls manifest themselves in full, absolutely open up: love, hate, suffer - live, and not run away from life. And in these people, in their souls and destinies, Pechorin seeks to unravel their true destiny.

The story "The Fatalist", which concludes Pechorin's Journal, concentrates the main philosophical problems of the novel: the role of fate in a person's life and the opposition of individual human will to it. But "the main task of the chapter is not a philosophical discussion in itself, but the determination of Pechorin's character in the course of this discussion"

In conclusion, I would like to quote the words of V. G. Belinsky from the article “A Hero of Our Time”

I have placed in this book only what related to Pechorin's stay in the Caucasus; I still have a thick notebook in my hands, where he tells his whole life. Someday she will appear at the judgment of the world; but now I dare not assume this responsibility for many important reasons.

We thank the author for the pleasant promise, but we doubt that he will fulfill it: we are firmly convinced that he parted with his Pechorin forever. This conviction is confirmed by the confession of Goethe, who says in his notes that, having written "Werther", which was the fruit of a difficult state of his spirit, he freed himself from it and was so far from the hero of his novel that it was ridiculous for him to see how he left his ardent youth is crazy ... such is the noble nature of the poet, with his own strength he breaks out of every moment of limitation and flies to new, living phenomena of the world, into the full glory of creation ... objecting his own suffering, he is freed from it; translating the dissonances of his spirit into poetic sounds, he again enters his native sphere of eternal harmony ... if Mr. Lermontov fulfills his promise, then we are sure that he will introduce Pechorin, who is no longer old and familiar to us, about whom there is still a lot to say. Perhaps he will show it to us reformed, recognizing the laws of morality, but, surely, no longer as a consolation, but to the greater chagrin of moralists; maybe he will force him to recognize the rationality and bliss of life, but in order to make sure that this is not for him, that he has lost a lot of strength in the terrible struggle, has become hardened in it and cannot make this rationality and bliss his property ... And it may be that: he will make him a participant in the joys of life, a triumphant winner over the evil genius of life ... But one or the other, and, in any case, redemption will be completely through one of those women whose existence Pechorin so stubbornly did not want to believe, based not on his inner contemplation, but on the poor experiences of his life ... This is what Pushkin did with his Onegin: the woman he rejected resurrected him from mortal sleep for a wonderful life, but not in order to give him happiness, but in order to to punish him for not believing in the mystery of love and life and in the dignity of a woman.

List of used literature

1. Belinsky V.G. "A Hero of Our Time": M. Lermontov's Works. Belinsky V.G. Articles about Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol - M. 1983

2. Gerstein E. The fate of Lermontov M.1986

3. Korovin V.I. The creative path of Lermontov M 1973

4. Manuilov V.A. Roman M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time": Commentary. 2nd ed. add. - L., 1975.

5. Mikhailova E. Lermontov's prose. - M., 1975

6. Udodova V.T. Roman M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time". - M., 1989.

M. Yu. Lermontov wrote that in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" he wanted to explore "the history of the human soul", which is "almost more curious and more useful than the history of an entire people." The entire plot-compositional structure of the work is subordinated to this goal.

"A Hero of Our Time" includes five stories, each of which tells about some extraordinary story in the life of Pechorin. Moreover, in the arrangement according to the news (“Bela”, “Maxim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”) Lermontov violates the life chronology of the episodes of the novel. In reality, the events took place in the following order: Pechorin's meeting with smugglers in Taman ("Taman"); the hero's life in Pyatigorsk, his romance with Princess Mary, the duel with Grushnitsky ("Princess Mary"); the stay of Grigory Alexandrovich in fortress N (at the same time the story of Bela takes place) (“Bela”); Pechorin's two-week trip to the Cossack village, a dispute with Vulich about predestination, and then returning to the fortress again ("Fatalist"); meeting with Maxim Maksimych on the way to Persia (“Maxim Maksimych”); Pechorin's death (Preface to Pechorin's Journal).

Thus, Lermontov ends the novel not with the death of the hero, but with the episode where Pechorin, being in mortal danger, nevertheless escaped death. Moreover, in the story "The Fatalist" the hero questions the existence of predestination, fate, giving priority to his own strengths and intellect. Thus, the writer does not relieve Pechorin of responsibility for all his actions, including those that he committed after his stay in the Cossack village. However, Lermontov speaks about this at the end of the novel, when readers already know the story of Bela, when they read about the hero's meeting with the staff captain. How to explain such a discrepancy?

The fact is that the character of Pechorin is static, the novel does not represent the evolution of the hero, his spiritual growth, we do not see the internal changes taking place with him. Lermontov only varies life situations and guides his hero through them.

Thanks to the specific composition, Lermontov depicts the hero in a “triple perception”: first through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, then the publisher, then Pechorin himself talks about himself in his diary. A similar technique was used by A. S. Pushkin in the short story "The Shot". The meaning of such a composition is the gradual disclosure of the character of the hero (from external to internal), when the author first intrigues the reader with the unusual situations, actions of the hero, and then reveals the motives of his behavior.

First, we learn about Pechorin from a conversation between the publisher and Maxim Maksimych. The publisher is traveling "by courier from Tiflis." In the story "Bela" he describes his travel impressions, the beauty of nature. The staff captain, who has long served in the Caucasus, becomes his companion. Maksim Maksimych tells his fellow traveler the story of Bela. Thus, "an adventurous short story turns out to be included in the 'journey', and vice versa - the 'journey' enters the short story as an element that hinders its exposition."

The story of the staff captain, thus, is interspersed with his remarks, replicas of the listener, landscapes, descriptions of the difficulties of the path of the heroes. The writer undertakes such a “slowdown” of the plot of the “main story” in order to intrigue the reader even more, so that the middle and the end of the story are in sharp contrast.

Pechorin's "Caucasian History" is given in the perception of Maxim Maksimych, who has known Pechorin for a long time, loves him, but does not understand his behavior at all. The staff captain is simple-minded, his spiritual needs are small - Pechorin's inner world is incomprehensible to him. Hence the strangeness, the mystery of Pechorin, the improbability of his actions. Hence the special poetry of the story. As Belinsky notes, the staff captain “told it in his own way, in his own language; but from this she not only lost nothing, but gained infinitely much. Good Maksim Maksimych, without knowing it himself, became a poet, so that in his every word, in every expression lies the endless world of poetry.

In "Bel" we see the world of highlanders - strong, fearless people, with wild morals, customs, but holistic characters and feelings. Against their background, the inconsistency of the hero's consciousness, the painful splitting of his nature, becomes noticeable. But here the cruelty of Pechorin becomes especially noticeable. Circassians in "Bel" are also cruel. But for them, such behavior is the "norm": it corresponds to their customs, temperament. Even Maxim Maksimych recognizes the justice of the actions of the mountaineers. Pechorin is an educated, educated young man with a deep, analytical mind. In this sense, such behavior is unnatural for him.

However, the staff captain never criticizes Pechorin, although in his heart he often condemns him. Maxim Maksimych embodies here the morality of common sense, “which forgives evil wherever it sees its necessity or the impossibility of its destruction” (Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”). However, for Lermontov, such behavior is the spiritual limitations of the staff captain. Behind the arguments of the "publisher", amazed by the flexibility of the mind and the common sense of a Russian person, one can guess the author's own thought about the need to fight evil, regardless of any extraneous conditions.

The story "Bela" is a kind of exposition in the disclosure of the image of Pechorin. Here we first learn about the hero and his life circumstances, his upbringing, lifestyle.

Further, the “publisher”, a passing officer and writer, tells about the hero. In the perception of the "publisher", Pechorin's meeting with Maxim Maksimych and a detailed psychological portrait of the hero are given (the story "Maxim Maksimych"),

Almost nothing happens in this story - there is not that plot dynamism that is present in "Bel" and "Taman". However, it is here that the psychology of the hero begins to unfold. It seems that this story can be considered a plot in revealing the image of Pechorin.

"Taman" is the story of Pechorin's relationship with "honest smugglers". As in "Bel", Lermontov again places the hero in an environment alien to him - the world of simple, rude people, smugglers. However, the romantic motive here (the love of a civilized hero and the "savage woman") is almost parodied: Lermontov very quickly reveals the true nature of the relationship between Pechorin and the "undine". As B. M. Eikhenbaum notes, “in Taman, a touch of naive “Russoism” is removed, which the reader may perceive in Bel.”

An undine beauty from a wild, free, romantic world turns out to be an assistant to smugglers. She is masculinely determined and insidious: Pechorin miraculously manages to avoid death in a fight with her. Thus, the world of nature and civilization again prove to be incompatible with Lermontov. However, in a certain sense, the story restores the semantic balance in the novel. If in “Bel” Pechorin rudely intrudes into the measured course of life of the highlanders and destroys it, “offending” nature itself in their person, then in “Taman” the “natural world” does not want to endure any more interference from outside and almost takes Pechorin’s life.

As in "Bel", in "Taman" the hero is compared with the surrounding characters. Courage and prowess coexist in the characters of smugglers with heartlessness and cruelty. Having removed from their permanent place, they leave a blind boy, an unfortunate old woman, to the mercy of fate. Human life in their eyes has no value: the undine could easily drown Pechorin if he did not resist. But these features in the characters are psychologically motivated and justified by their "wild, homeless life", belonging to the "underworld", the constant threat of danger, the constant struggle for survival.

But, noting the courage and heartlessness in the character of Pechorin, we do not find such motivations in his life. For smugglers (as well as for the highlanders in Bela), such behavior is the “norm”. For Pechorin, it is unnatural.

The next part of the story, "Princess Mary", reminds us of a society story and a psychological novel at the same time. Pechorin is depicted here surrounded by people of his circle - the secular aristocracy, gathered on the waters. As B. M. Eikhenbaum notes, after the fiasco of Pechorin, which he suffered in Taman, he “leaves the world of savages” and returns to the much more familiar and safe world of “noble ladies and ladies”.

The hero has much in common with this society, although he does not want to admit it. So, Pechorin is well versed in the world of intrigue, gossip, slander and farce. He not only exposes the conspiracy against himself, but also punishes its initiator - he kills Grushnitsky in a duel. Out of boredom, Pechorin begins to court Princess Mary, but, having achieved her love, he frankly admits to her his own indifference. Vera appears in Kislovodsk, the only woman whom Pechorin "could never deceive," but he cannot give her happiness either.

Failure in love is perhaps the most striking and significant characteristic of a character in Russian literature, which is a prerequisite for the failure of the hero's life position. Pechorin is morally untenable, and in the story "Princess Mary" he thinks about this, analyzes his own character, his thoughts and feelings. The story is the climax in understanding the image of Pechorin. It is here that he reveals his psychology, his life attitudes.

Before the duel with Grushnitsky, he reflects on the meaning of his own life and does not find it: “Why did I live? for what purpose was I born?.. But it is true, it existed, and it was true that I had a high purpose, because I feel immense powers in my soul, but I did not guess this purpose, I was carried away by the lures of empty and ungrateful passions; I came out of their crucible as hard and cold as iron, but I have lost forever the ardor of noble aspirations, the best color of life ... ".

"Princess Mary" in a certain sense is also the denouement in Pechorin's storyline: here he brings to its logical conclusion the human connections that are especially important for him: he kills Grushnitsky, openly explains with Mary, breaks with Werner, breaks up with Vera.

In addition, it is worth noting the similarity of the plot situations of the three stories - "Bela", "Taman" and "Princess Mary". In each of them, a love triangle arises: he - she - a rival. Thus, in an effort to avoid boredom, Pechorin finds himself in similar life situations.

The last story, which concludes the novel, is called "The Fatalist". In revealing the image of Pechorin, she plays the role of an epilogue. Lermontov raises here the philosophical problem of fate, fate, fate.

Vulich dies in the story, as Pechorin predicted, and this suggests that predestination exists. But here Pechorin himself decided to try his luck and remained alive, the hero’s thoughts are already more optimistic: “... how often do we take a deceit of feelings or a mistake of reason for conviction! ... I like to doubt everything: this disposition of the mind does not interfere with the decisiveness of character - on the contrary As far as I am concerned, I always go forward more boldly when I do not know what awaits me.

Thus, the completion of the "Hero of Our Time" with a philosophical story is significant. Pechorin often does evil, well aware of the true meaning of his actions. However, the "ideology" of the hero allows him such behavior. Pechorin himself is inclined to explain his vices by evil fate or fate, life circumstances, etc. no one could die or fall into despair. I was like a necessary person in the fifth act: involuntarily I played the pitiful role of an executioner or a traitor. Lermontov, however, does not relieve Pechorin of responsibility for his actions, recognizing the autonomy of the hero's free will, his ability to choose between good and evil.

Thus, the novel is imbued with unity of thought. As Belinsky noted, “the line of the circle returns to the point from which it left”1. The main idea of ​​the novel is the question of the inner man, his actions and inclinations, thoughts and feelings, and the causes that gave rise to them.

Before you is an essay on the topic “Compositional features of the novel by M. Lermontov“ A Hero of Our Time ”. Let's, before starting to write an essay, recall and name the compositional features of the novel "A Hero of Our Time".

Remembered? Fine! Let's start writing an essay.

Composition COMPOSITIONAL FEATURES OF THE NOVEL "HERO OF OUR TIME".

"Desires? What is the use of wanting in vain and forever?

And the years pass - all the best years.

M. Yu. Lermontov

A Hero of Our Time is one of the first attempts to create a psychological realistic novel in Russian literature. Purpose, intention of M.Yu. Lermontov - to show a contemporary person, his psychology, as the author himself notes, " a portrait composed of the vices of our generation, in their full development".

In order to realize his plan, to reveal the character of the hero most fully, objectively, the writer uses an unusual compositional structure of the novel: the chronological sequence of events is violated here. Not only the composition of the novel is unusual. This work is a unique genre fusion - a combination of various genres already mastered by Russian prose: travel notes, a secular story, and a diary-confession, beloved by romantics, are used here.

Roman Lermontov - socio-psychological and moral-philosophical. " At the heart of the novel lies the important contemporary question of the inner man. Belinsky writes. The author's desire to achieve maximum objectivity and versatility in the depiction of the main character forces him to resort to a non-standard narrative structure: the author, as it were, entrusts the story about his hero to either a wandering officer, or Maxim Maksimych, or Pechorin himself.

If we want to restore the chronology of the events described in the novel, then we should start with the incident in Taman, through which the hero's path to the Caucasus passes. Pechorin will stay in Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk for about a month (“Princess Mary”), from where he will be exiled for a duel with Grushnitsky to the fortress. From the fortress, Pechorin leaves for the Cossack village (“Fatalist”). Upon his return to the fortress, the story of the abduction of Bela is played out. Then there is the last meeting of the reader with Pechorin, no longer a military man, but a secular man who is leaving for Persia (“Maxim Maksimych”). And from the foreword of the officer-narrator, we learn about the death of the hero. These are the events of the life of Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin in their chronological sequence. But Lermontov determined the order of the parts that follow one after another outside the chronology of real events, because each of the stories played its own special significant role in the system of the whole work.

Reading the story "Maxim Maksimych", we get acquainted with the portrait of Pechorin, so psychologically subtly and deeply written by an educated officer-narrator familiar with writing. He notices the whiteness of Pechorin's skin, and the unlaughing eyes full of sadness, and the "noble forehead", and the "pedigreed" beauty, and the coldness of Pechorin. All this attracts and repels the reader at the same time. A direct look at the portrait of the hero makes him incomparably closer to the reader than the system of narrators through which we get to know Pechorin in the chapter "Bela". Maxim Maksimych tells the story to the traveler-officer, he keeps travel notes, and the reader will learn about everything from them.

Then the author opens before us the confessional pages of the Pechorin Journal. We see the hero again in a new perspective - the way he was alone with himself, the way he could appear only in his diary, but would never open up to people. This is also confirmed by the words from the preface to Pechorin's Journal, from which it is clear that it was not intended for someone else's eyes, and even more so for printing. It was "the consequence of the observation of the mature mind upon itself" and was written "without a vain desire to excite, sympathize, or wonder." So Lermontov, using a similar “arrangement” of the chapters of his novel, brings the main character as close as possible to the reader, allows you to look into the very depths of his inner world.

Carefully turning over the pages of "Taman", "Princess Mary" and "The Fatalist", we finally comprehend the character of Pechorin in his inevitable duality. And, learning the causes of this "illness", we delve into the "history of the human soul" and think about the nature of time. The novel ends with a "fatalist", this story plays the role of an epilogue. And it's so wonderful that Lermontov built his novel just like that! It ends on an optimistic note. The reader learns about Pechorin's death in the middle of the novel and by the end manages to get rid of the painful feeling of death or the end. Such a feature in the composition of the novel made it possible for the author to end the work with a “major intonation”: “the novel ends with a perspective into the future - the hero’s exit from the tragic state of inactive doom. Instead of a funeral march, congratulations are heard on the victory over death.”

Creating the novel "A Hero of Our Time", M. Yu. Lermontov found new artistic means that literature did not know and that delight us to this day by combining a free and wide depiction of faces and characters with the ability to show them objectively, revealing one hero through the perception of another.