"Noble nest": history of creation, genre, meaning of the name. The novel "Noble Nest" by I.S.

This novel was read by me "out of hand", because the program, because it is necessary. However, the book made a good impression, even left an aftertaste that made you dig deeper into the history of its creation. I suggest you familiarize yourself. I laid it out with my cow tongue as best I could

History of creation

The novel was first published in 1859 in the Sovremennik magazine, but Turgenev planned to do this earlier, in 1856, when, in fact, he had the idea of ​​a "Noble Nest". The reasons for this delay remain unclear. In his letters, Turgenev himself points out either the illness or the incompleteness of some scenes. In the summer of 1858, the author presents the work to his literary friends in St. Petersburg. Only after that, after making some changes to the text (adding, for example, a chapter about nanny Agafya), the novel is published. The audience enthusiastically accepted the "Noble Nest". It received special marks from Saltykov-Shchedrin and Dostoevsky. Here is what Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote:

His works can be characterized by his own words, with which he concludes his novel: they can only be pointed out and passed by. I haven’t been so shocked for a long time, but by what exactly - I cannot give myself an account.

And here is what Dostoevsky writes in The Writer's Diary:

Turgenev's Noble Nest is an eternal work. Because here for the first time, with extraordinary comprehension and completeness, the prophetic dream of all our poets and all Russian people suffering from thought, wondering about the future, came true, a dream - the fusion of a detached Russian society with the soul and strength of the people. Even though it came true in literature ... The whole poetic idea of ​​this work is enclosed in the image of an innocent, strong in spirit and body, meek and quiet man, honest and chaste, in the next blood conflict with everything morally dirty, broken, fake, superficial, borrowed and torn off from the truth of the people.

By the way, according to all literary scholars there, the image of Lavretsky inspired Dostoevsky to create Alyosha Karamazov as he is in The Brothers Karamazov, and The Noble Nest "helped" Dostoevsky to create this novel.

In general, the interaction and mutual influence of writers is a very interesting topic. On this basis, Turgenev and Goncharov had such a serious conflict.

Conflict between Goncharov and Turgenev

Goncharov was a rather suspicious person, for a long time and constantly criticizing himself he worked on works, which, however, did not prevent him from sharing his sketches with friends. So it happened with the "Cliff", over which Goncharov pored for 20 years. In 1855, Goncharov shared his notes with Turgenev, and in 1858, at one of the St. Petersburg meetings, he heard "The Noble Nest". Then there was a court, which did not reveal plagiarism. However, Turgenev nevertheless made some edits to the text of the novel.

Topics, problems, my humble impression

Now I remember "The Break", and somehow I don’t find plagiarism either. Writers wrote about one thing, but in completely different ways. For the "Noble Nest" the central problem is the choice between duty and personal happiness, which has always occupied Turgenev. Everything else fades into the background. The author admits that there is no abstract "people", the people exist through existence every single person, it is necessary to look not at the "fate of the people" but at the fate of the people, this people constitutes. But what choice do the heroes of Turgenev make? Both Liza and Lavretsky sacrifice their personal happiness, choosing "duty" - that moral and moral ideal that exists within them. This self-sacrifice, self-punishment and self-denial lie at the heart of the author's intention. (Why else?) This attracts, and delights, and sometimes makes you wonder. Here it is, elusive, which clings. So it goes.

Turgenev conceived the novel "Noble Nest" back in 1855. However, the writer at that time had doubts about the strength of his talent, and the imprint of personal disorder in life was also imposed. Turgenev resumed work on the novel only in 1858, upon his arrival from Paris. The novel appeared in the January book "Contemporary" for 1859. The author himself later noted that the "Noble Nest" had the greatest success that ever fell to his lot.

Turgenev, who was distinguished by his ability to notice and depict the new, emerging, and in this novel reflected the modernity, the main moments of the life of the noble intelligentsia of that time. Lavretsky, Panshin, Liza are not abstract images created by the head route, but living people - representatives of generations of the 40s of the 19th century. In Turgenev's novel, not only poetry, but also a critical orientation. This work of the writer is a denunciation of autocratic serfdom in Russia, a waste song to the "noble nests".

The favorite place of action in Turgenev's works is "noble nests" with an atmosphere of sublime experiences reigning in them. Their fate worries Turgenev and one of his novels, which is called "The Noble's Nest", is imbued with a sense of anxiety for their fate.

This novel is imbued with the knowledge that the "nests of the nobility" are degenerating. Turgenev critically illuminates the noble genealogies of the Lavretskys and Kalitins, seeing in them a chronicle of feudal tyranny, a bizarre mixture of "savage lordship" and aristocratic admiration for Western Europe.

Let's consider the ideological content and the system of images of the "Noble Nest". Turgenev placed representatives of the noble class at the center of the novel. The chronological framework of the novel is the 40s. The action begins in 1842, and the epilogue tells about the events that took place 8 years later.

The writer decided to capture that period in the life of Russia, when the best representatives of the noble intelligentsia are growing anxiety for the fate of their own people and their people. Turgenev interestingly decided the plot and compositional plan of his work. He shows his characters at the most intense turning points in their lives.

After an eight-year stay abroad, Fyodor Lavretsky returns to his family estate. They experienced a great shock - the betrayal of his wife Varvara Pavlovna. Tired, but not broken by suffering, Fyodor Ivanovich came to the village to improve the life of his peasants. In a neighboring town, in the house of his cousin Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina, he meets her daughter, Lisa.

Lavretsky fell in love with her with pure love, Liza reciprocated.

In the novel "A Noble Nest" the author pays a lot of attention to the theme of love, because this feeling helps to highlight all the best qualities of the heroes, to see the main thing in their characters, to understand their soul. Love is depicted by Turgenev as the most beautiful, bright and pure feeling that awakens all the best in people. In this novel, like in no other novel by Turgenev, the most touching, romantic, sublime pages are devoted to the love of the heroes.

The love of Lavretsky and Liza Kalitina does not manifest itself immediately, she approaches them gradually, through many reflections and doubts, and then suddenly falls upon them with her irresistible force. Lavretsky, who experienced a lot in his lifetime: hobbies, disappointments, and the loss of all life goals, at first simply admires Liza, her innocence, purity, spontaneity, sincerity - all those qualities that Varvara Pavlovna, hypocritical, depraved Lavretsky's wife, who abandoned him. Liza is close to him in spirit: "It sometimes happens that two people who are already familiar, but not close to each other, suddenly and quickly draw close within a few moments, and the consciousness of this closeness is immediately expressed in their views, in their friendly and quiet smiles, in themselves their movements. This is exactly what happened to Lavretsky and Liza. " They talk a lot and understand that they have a lot in common. Lavretsky is serious about life, towards other people, towards Russia, Liza is also a deep and strong girl with her own ideals and beliefs. According to Lemma, Lisa's music teacher, she is "a fair, serious girl with high feelings." Liza is looked after by a young man, a capital official with a wonderful future. Lisa's mother would be happy to give her in marriage to him, she considers it a wonderful party for Lisa. But Liza cannot love him, she feels false in his attitude towards her, Panshin is a superficial person, he appreciates the external brilliance in people, and not the depth of feelings. Further events in the novel confirm this opinion about Panshin.

Only when Lavretsky receives news of the death of his wife in Paris does he begin to admit the thought of personal happiness.

They were close to happiness, Lavretsky showed Lisa a French magazine in which the death of his wife Varvara Pavlovna was reported.

Turgenev, in his favorite manner, does not describe the feelings of a person freed from shame and humiliation, he uses the technique of "secret psychology", depicting the experiences of his characters through movements, gestures, facial expressions. After Lavretsky read the news of his wife's death, he "got dressed, went out into the garden and walked up and down the same alley until morning." After a while, Lavretsky becomes convinced that he loves Lisa. He is not happy with this feeling, since he already experienced it, and it only brought him disappointment. He is trying to find confirmation of the news of his wife's death, he is tormented by uncertainty. And love for Liza is growing: "He did not love like a boy, it was not to his face to sigh and languish, and Liza herself did not excite this kind of feeling; but love for every age has its sufferings - and he experienced them fully." The author conveys the feelings of the heroes through descriptions of nature, which is especially beautiful before their explanation: "Each of them had a heart growing in their chest, and nothing was missing for them: the nightingale sang for them, and the stars burned, and the trees whispered quietly, lulled by sleep, and the bliss of summer, and warmth. " The scene of the declaration of love between Lavretsky and Lisa was written by Turgenev in a surprisingly poetic and touching way, the author finds the simplest and at the same time the most tender words to express the feelings of the heroes. Lavretsky wanders around Liza's house at night, looks at her window, in which a candle is burning: "Lavretsky thought nothing, did not expect anything; he was pleased to feel close to Liza, to sit in her garden on a bench where she had sat more than once ... . "At this time Liza goes out into the garden, as if sensing that Lavretsky was there:" In a white dress, with braids loose over her shoulders, she quietly walked to the table, bent over it, put a candle and looked for something; then, turning round facing the garden, she approached the open door and, all white, light, slender, stopped at the threshold. "

A declaration of love takes place, after which Lavretsky is overwhelmed with happiness: "Suddenly it seemed to him that some wondrous, triumphant sounds spilled over his head; he stopped: the sounds thundered even more magnificent; they flowed in a melodious, strong stream, - and in them, all his happiness seemed to speak and sing. " This was the music composed by Lemm, and it fully corresponded to Lavretsky's mood: “It has been a long time since Lavretsky had heard anything like it: a sweet, passionate melody from the first sound enveloped the heart; she touched everything that is dear, secret, holy on earth; she breathed immortal sadness and went to die in heaven. " Music foreshadows tragic events in the lives of the heroes: when happiness was already so close, the news of the death of Lavretsky's wife turns out to be false, from France Varvara Pavlovna returns to Lavretsky, since she was left without money.

Lavretsky stoically endures this event, he is submissive to fate, but he worries about what will happen to Liza, because he understands how it is for her, who fell in love for the first time, to experience such a thing. She is saved from terrible despair by a deep, selfless faith in God. Liza leaves for the monastery, wanting only one thing - that Lavretsky would forgive his wife. Lavretsky forgave, but his life was over, he loved Liza too much to start all over again with his wife. At the end of the novel, Lavretsky, far from being an old man, looks like an old man, and he feels himself to be a man who has outlived his time. But the love of the heroes did not end there. This is the feeling that they will carry throughout their lives. The last meeting between Lavretsky and Liza testifies to this. "They say that Lavretsky visited that remote monastery where Liza had disappeared," he saw her. Moving from kliros to kliros, she walked close by him, walked with the even, hastily-humble gait of a nun - and did not look at him; only the eyelashes of the eye turned to him they trembled a little, only she bent her emaciated face even lower - and the fingers of her clenched hands, intertwined with rosary beads, pressed even closer to each other. " She did not forget her love, did not stop loving Lavretsky, and her departure to the monastery confirms this. And Panshin, who so demonstrated his love for Liza, completely fell under the spell of Varvara Pavlovna and became her slave.

A love story in the novel by I.S. Turgenev's "Noble Nest" is very tragic and at the same time beautiful, beautiful because this feeling is not subject to either the time or the circumstances of life, it helps a person rise above the vulgarity and ordinariness that surrounds him, this feeling ennobles and makes a person a person.

Fyodor Lavretsky himself was a descendant of the gradually degenerated family of the Lavretsky, once strong, outstanding representatives of this surname - Andrei (Fyodor's great-grandfather), Peter, then Ivan.

The commonality of the first Lavretskys was in ignorance.

Turgenev very accurately shows the change of generations in the Lavretsk family, their connection with - different periods of historical development. A cruel and wild tyrant landowner, Lavretsky's great-grandfather ("what the master wanted, he did, he hung peasants by the ribs ... he did not know who was in charge"); his grandfather, who once "ruined the whole village", was a careless and hospitable "steppe master"; full of hatred for Voltaire and the "fanatic" Diderot, these are typical representatives of the Russian "wild nobility". They are replaced by claims of "Frenchness", now Anglomanism, who have joined the culture, which we see in the images of the frivolous old princess Kubenskaya, who at a very old age married a young Frenchman, and the hero's father Ivan Petrovich. Beginning with a passion for the Declaration of Human Rights and Diderot, he ended with prayer services and a bathhouse. "A free-thinker - began to go to church and order prayers; a European - began to steam and dine at two o'clock, go to bed at nine, fall asleep to the chatter of a butler; a statesman - burned all his plans, all correspondence, trembled in front of the governor and went to the police officer." Such was the history of one of the families of the Russian nobility.

In the papers of Peter Andreevich, the grandson found the only dilapidated book in which he entered either "Celebration in the city of St. Petersburg of the reconciliation concluded with the Turkish Empire by his Excellency Prince Alexander Andreevich Prozorovsky", then a recipe for breast decohta with a note; "This instruction was given to General Praskovya Fyodorovna Saltykova from Protopresbyter of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity Fyodor Avksentievich", etc .; except for calendars, a dream book, and a work by Abmodik, the old man had no books. And on this occasion, Turgenev ironically remarked: "It was not his part to read." As if in passing, Turgenev points to the luxury of the eminent nobility. So, the death of Princess Kubenskaya is conveyed in the following colors: the princess "reddened, smothered with ambergris a la Rishelieu, surrounded by arapies, thin-legged dogs and loud parrots, died on a silk crooked sofa from the times of Louis XV, with an enamel snuffbox made by Petito in her hands."

Adoring everything French, Kubenskaya instilled in Ivan Petrovich the same tastes, gave him a French upbringing. The writer does not exaggerate the significance of the war of 1812 for the nobles like the Lavretskys. They only temporarily "felt that Russian blood was flowing in their veins." "Peter Andreevich at his own expense put on a whole regiment of warriors." But only. Fyodor Ivanovich's ancestors, especially his father, loved foreign things more than Russian. The European educated Ivan Petrovich, returning from abroad, introduced a new livery to the courtyard, leaving everything as it was, about which Turgenev writes, not without irony: “Everything remains the same, only the quitrent has increased here and there, but the corvee has become heavier, yes the peasants were forbidden to speak directly to the master: the patriot really despised his fellow citizens very much. "

And Ivan Petrovich decided to bring up his son according to the foreign method. And this led to a separation from everything Russian, to a departure from the homeland. "An anglomaniac played an unkind joke with his son." Torn away from his native people from childhood, Fedor lost his support, a real cause. It was no accident that the writer led Ivan Petrovich to an inglorious death: the old man became an unbearable egoist, who, with his whims, prevented everyone around him from living, a pitiful blind man, suspicious. His death was a deliverance for Fyodor Ivanovich. Life suddenly opened before him. At 23, he did not hesitate to sit on a student bench with the firm intention of mastering knowledge in order to apply it in life, to benefit at least the peasants of his villages. Where does Fedor get his isolation and unsociability? These qualities were the result of "Spartan upbringing". Instead of introducing the young man into the thick of life, "they kept him in artificial seclusion," they protected him from life's upheavals.

The Lavretskys' pedigree is designed to help the reader trace the gradual departure of the landowners from the people, to explain how Fyodor Ivanovich "dislocated" from life; it is designed to prove that the social death of the nobility is inevitable. The ability to live at someone else's expense leads to the gradual degradation of a person.

An idea of ​​the Kalitin family is also given, where parents do not care about their children, as long as they are fed and dressed.

This whole picture is complemented by the figures of the gossip and jester of the old official Gedeonov, the dashing retired staff captain and the famous player - the father of Panigin, the lover of state money - the retired general Korobyin, the future father-in-law of Lavretsky, etc. a picture very far from the idyllic depiction of "noble nests". He shows a motley Russia, whose people are hitting all the hard from a full course to the west to literally dense vegetation on their estate.

And all the "nests" that for Turgenev were the mainstay of the country, the place where its power was concentrated and developed, are undergoing a process of decay and destruction. Describing Lavretsky's ancestors through the lips of the people (represented by the courtyard man Anton), the author shows that the history of the noble nests was washed by the tears of many of their victims.

One of them - Lavretsky's mother - is a simple serf girl who, unfortunately, turned out to be too beautiful, which attracts the attention of the barich, who, having married out of a desire to annoy his father, went to Petersburg, where he was carried away by another. And poor Malasha, unable to bear even the fact that her son was taken away from her for the purpose of education, "without a murmur, died out in a few days."

Fyodor Lavretsky was brought up in conditions of abuse of the human person. He saw how his mother, a former serf Malanya, was in an ambiguous position: on the one hand, she was officially considered the wife of Ivan Petrovich, transferred to half of the owners, on the other hand, they treated her with disdain, especially her sister-in-law Glafira Petrovna. Petr Andreevich called Malanya "raw-hammered noblewoman". Fedya himself in childhood felt his special position, the feeling of humiliation oppressed him. Glafira reigned supreme over him, his mother was not allowed to see him. When Fedya was eight years old, his mother died. “The memory of her,” writes Turgenev, “of her quiet and pale face, of her sad looks and timid caresses, is forever imprinted in his heart.”

The theme of the "irresponsibility" of the serf peasantry accompanies the entire story of Turgenev about the past of the Lavretsky family. The image of Lavretsky's evil and domineering aunt, Glafira Petrovna, is complemented by the images of a decrepit lackey Anton and old woman Aprakseya who have aged in the lordly service. These images are inseparable from "noble nests".

In childhood, Fedya had to think about the situation of the people, about serfdom. However, his educators did everything possible to distance him from life. His will was suppressed by Glafira, but "... at times a wild stubbornness found him." Fedya was raised by the father himself. He decided to make him a Spartan. "The system of" Ivan Petrovich "confused the boy, settled confusion in his head, squeezed it." Fedya was presented with exact sciences and "heraldry to maintain knightly feelings." The father wanted to shape the young man's soul on a foreign model, to instill in him a love for everything English. It was under the influence of such upbringing that Fedor turned out to be a man cut off from life, from the people. The writer emphasizes the richness of the spiritual interests of his hero. Fyodor is a passionate admirer of Mochalov's play ("did not miss a single performance"), he deeply feels the music, the beauty of nature, in a word, everything is aesthetically beautiful. Lavretsky cannot be denied diligence. He studied very diligently at the university. Even after his marriage, which interrupted his studies for almost two years, Fyodor Ivanovich returned to independent studies. "It was strange to see," writes Turgenev, "his mighty, broad-shouldered figure, always bent over the writing table. He spent every morning at work." And after the betrayal of his wife, Fedor pulled himself together and "could study, work," although skepticism, prepared by the experiences of life, education, finally got into his soul. He became very indifferent to everything. This was the result of his isolation from the people, from his native soil. After all, Varvara Pavlovna tore him not only from his studies, his work, but also from his homeland, forcing him to wander around Western countries and forget about his duty to his peasants, to the people. True, from childhood he was not accustomed to systematic work, so at times he was in a state of inaction.

Lavretsky is very different from the heroes created by Turgenev before the "Noble Nest". The positive traits of Rudin (his elevation, romantic aspiration) and Lezhnev (sobriety of views on things, practicality) passed to him. He has a firm view of his role in life - to improve the life of the peasants, he does not confine himself to the framework of personal interests. Dobrolyubov wrote about Lavretsky: "... the drama of his position is no longer in the struggle with his own impotence, but in the collision with such concepts and morals, with which the struggle should really frighten even an energetic and courageous person." And further the critic noted that the writer "knew how to put Lavretsky in such a way that it is embarrassing to be ironic over him."

With great poetic feeling, Turgenev described the emergence of love in Lavretsky. Realizing that he was deeply in love, Fyodor Ivanovich repeated Mikhalevich's meaningful words:

And I burned everything that I worshiped;

I bowed down to everything that I burned ...

Love for Liza is the moment of his spiritual rebirth, which came upon his return to Russia. Liza is the opposite of Varvara Pavlovna. She could have helped to develop Lavretsky's abilities, she would not have prevented him from being a hard worker. Fyodor Ivanovich himself thought about it: "... she would not distract me from my studies; she herself would inspire me to honest, strict work, and we would both go forward, towards a wonderful goal." In the dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin, his boundless patriotism and faith in the bright future of his people are revealed. Fyodor Ivanovich "stood up for new people, for their beliefs and desires."

Having lost his personal happiness for the second time, Lavretsky decides to fulfill his social duty (as he understands it) - to improve the life of his peasants. "Lavretsky had the right to be content," writes Turgenev, "he became a really good owner, really learned to plow the land and did not work for himself." However, it was half, it did not fill his whole life. Arriving at the Kalitins' house, he thinks about the "business" of his life and admits that it was useless.

The writer condemns Lavretsky for the sad outcome of his life. For all his nice, positive qualities, the protagonist of the "Noble Nest" did not find his calling, did not benefit his people and did not even achieve personal happiness.

At the age of 45, Lavretsky feels old, incapable of spiritual activity, the "nest" of the Lavretskys has virtually ceased to exist.

In the epilogue of the novel, the hero appears older. Lavretsky is not ashamed of the past, he does not expect anything from the future. "Hello, lonely old age! Burn out, useless life!" he says.

"Nest" is a house, a symbol of the family, where the connection between generations is not interrupted. In the novel Noble Nest "this connection is broken, which symbolizes the destruction, withering away of the ancestral estates under the influence of serfdom. The result of this we can see, for example, in the poem by NA Nekrasov" Forgotten Village ". Turgenev serf publication of the novel

But Turgenev hopes that all is not lost, and in the novel, saying goodbye to the past, turns to a new generation in which he sees the future of Russia.

One of the most famous Russian love novels, which opposed idealism to satire and reinforced the archetype of the Turgenev girl in culture.

comments: Kirill Zubkov

What is this book about?

The "Noble Nest", like many of Turgenev's novels, is built around unhappy love - the two main characters, who survived an unsuccessful marriage, Fyodor Lavretsky and young Liza Kalitina, meet, have strong feelings for each other, but are forced to leave: it turns out that Lavretsky's wife Varvara Pavlovna is not died. Shocked by her return, Liza leaves for a monastery, while Lavretsky does not want to live with his wife and for the rest of his life is engaged in farming on his estate. At the same time, the novel organically includes a narration about the life of the Russian nobility, which has evolved over the past several hundred years, a description of relations between different estates, between Russia and the West, disputes about the ways of possible reforms in Russia, philosophical discourses on the nature of duty, self-denial and moral responsibility.

Ivan Turgenev. Daguerreotype O. Bisson. Paris, 1847-1850

When was it written?

Turgenev conceived a new "story" (the writer did not always consistently distinguish between stories and novels) shortly after finishing work on "Rudin", his first novel, published in 1856. The idea was not implemented immediately: Turgenev, contrary to his custom, worked on a new large work for several years. The main work was done in 1858, and already at the beginning of 1859 "The Noble Nest" was published in the Nekrasovsky "Contemporary" ⁠ .

The title page of the manuscript of the novel "Noble Nest". 1858 year

How is it written?

Now Turgenev's prose may not seem as effective as the works of many of his contemporaries. This effect is caused by the special place of Turgenev's novel in literature. For example, drawing attention to the most detailed internal monologues of Tolstoy's characters or to the uniqueness of Tolstoy's composition, which is characterized by many central characters, the reader proceeds from the idea of ​​some "normal" novel, where there is a central character who is often shown "from the outside", and not from the inside. It is Turgenev's novel that now acts as such a "starting point", very convenient for evaluating the literature of the 19th century.

- Here you are, returned to Russia - what do you intend to do?
- To plow the land, - answered Lavretsky, - and try to plow it as best as possible

Ivan Turgenev

Contemporaries, however, perceived Turgenev's novel as a very peculiar step in the development of Russian prose, which stood out sharply against the background of typical fiction of its time. Turgenev's prose seemed to be a brilliant example of literary "idealism": it was contrasted with the satirical essay tradition, which dates back to Saltykov-Shchedrin and painted in dark colors how serfdom, bureaucratic corruption and social conditions in general destroy the lives of people and cripple the psyche of the oppressed and oppressors alike. Turgenev does not try to get away from these topics, but he presents them in a completely different spirit: the writer is primarily interested not in the formation of a person under the influence of circumstances, but rather in his understanding of these circumstances and the reaction to them.

At the same time, even Shchedrin himself - far from a gentle critic and not prone to idealism - in a letter to Annenkov ⁠ admired Turgenev's lyricism and recognized its social benefits:

Now I have read The Noble Nest, dear Pavel Vasilyevich, and I would like to tell you my opinion about this thing. But I definitely can't.<…>And what can be said about all the works of Turgenev in general? Is it that after reading them it is easy to breathe, it is easy to believe, you feel warmth? What do you clearly feel, how the moral level rises in you, that you mentally bless and love the author? But after all, these will only be general passages, and this, this very impression is left behind by these transparent, as if woven from the air, images, this is the beginning of love and light, in every line beating with a living key and, however, still disappearing in empty space ... But in order to express these generalities decently, one must be a poet himself and fall into lyricism.

Alexander Druzhinin. 1856 year. Photo by Sergei Levitsky. Druzhinin is a friend of Turgenev and his colleague in the Sovremennik magazine

Pavel Annenkov. 1887 year. Engraving by Yuri Baranovsky from a photograph by Sergei Levitsky. Annenkov was friends with Turgenev, and was also the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin's work

"The Noble Nest" was the last great work of Turgenev, published in "Contemporary" Literary magazine (1836-1866) founded by Pushkin. Since 1847, Sovremennik was directed by Nekrasov and Panaev, later Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov joined the editorial board. In the 60s, an ideological split took place in Sovremennik: the editorial board came to understand the need for a peasant revolution, while many of the magazine's authors (Turgenev, Tolstoy, Goncharov, Druzhinin) advocated slower and gradual reforms. Five years after the abolition of serfdom, Sovremennik was closed on the personal order of Alexander II. ⁠ ... Unlike many novels of this time, it fit entirely in one issue - the readers did not have to wait for the continuation. Turgenev's next novel, "On the Eve", will be published in the magazine Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (1818-1887) - publisher and editor of the literary magazine "Russian Bulletin" and the newspaper "Moskovskie vedomosti". In his youth, Katkov is known as a liberal and Westernizer, he is friends with Belinsky. With the beginning of the reforms of Alexander II, Katkov's views became noticeably more conservative. In the 1880s, he actively supported the counter-reforms of Alexander III, led a campaign against ministers of non-titular nationality and generally became an influential political figure - and the emperor himself reads his newspaper. ⁠ "Russian Bulletin" Literary and political magazine (1856-1906), founded by Mikhail Katkov. At the end of the 50s, the editorial board took a moderately liberal position; from the beginning of the 60s, Russkiy Vestnik became more and more conservative and even reactionary. In different years, the magazine published the central works of Russian classics: "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky, "On the Eve" and "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev, "Cathedrals" Leskov. ⁠ , which economically was a competitor of "Sovremennik", and politically and literary - a principled enemy.

Turgenev's break with Sovremennik and his fundamental conflict with his old friend Nekrasov (who, incidentally, many biographers of both writers tend to overly dramatize) are connected, apparently, with Turgenev's unwillingness to have anything in common with the “nihilists” Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky, who were published on the pages of Sovremennik. Although both radical critics never spoke badly about The Noble Nest, the reasons for the gap are generally clear from the text of Turgenev's novel. Turgenev generally believed that it was aesthetic qualities that made literature a means of social education, while his opponents more likely saw in art an instrument of direct propaganda, which could just as well be carried out directly, without resorting to any artistic methods. In addition, Chernyshevsky hardly liked the fact that Turgenev again turned to the image of a noble hero, disappointed in life. In the article “Russian man on rendez-vous” dedicated to the story “Asya”, Chernyshevsky has already explained that he considers the social and cultural role of such heroes to be completely exhausted, and they themselves deserve only condescending pity.

First edition of The Noble Nest. Publishing house of the bookseller A.I. Glazunov, 1859

The magazine "Sovremennik" for 1859, where the novel "Noble Nest" was first published

What influenced her?

It is generally accepted that, first of all, Turgenev was influenced by the works of Pushkin. The plot of the "Noble Nest" was repeatedly compared with history. In both works, a Europeanized nobleman who came to the provinces encounters an original and independent girl, whose upbringing was influenced by both noble and common people culture (by the way, both Pushkin's Tatiana and Turgenev's Liza encounter peasant culture through communication with a nanny). In both, love feelings arise between the heroes, however, due to a coincidence of circumstances, they are not destined to stay together.

It is easier to understand the meaning of these parallels in a literary context. Critics of the 1850s tended to contrast the "Gogol" and "Pushkin" trends in Russian literature. The legacy of Pushkin and Gogol became especially relevant in this era, given that in the mid-1850s, thanks to the softened censorship, it became possible to publish fairly complete editions of the works of both authors, which included many previously unknown works of contemporaries. On the side of Gogol in this confrontation was, among others, Chernyshevsky, who saw in the author, first of all, a satirist who exposed social vices, and in Belinsky - the best interpreter of his work. Accordingly, such writers as Saltykov-Shchedrin and his many imitators were counted among the "Gogol" direction. Supporters of the "Pushkin" direction were much closer to Turgenev: it is no coincidence that the collected works of Pushkin published Annenkov Pavel Vasilievich Annenkov (1813-1887) - literary critic and publicist, the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin, the founder of Pushkin studies. He made friends with Belinsky, in the presence of Annenkov Belinsky wrote his actual testament - "Letter to Gogol", under Gogol's dictation, Annenkov rewrote "Dead Souls". Author of memoirs about the literary and political life of the 1840s and its heroes: Herzen, Stankevich, Bakunin. One of Turgenev's close friends - the writer sent all his last works to Annenkov before publication. ⁠ , a friend of Turgenev, and the most famous review of this edition was written by Alexander Druzhinin Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin (1824-1864) - critic, writer, translator. Since 1847 he published stories, novels, feuilletons, translations in Sovremennik; his debut was the story “Polinka Sachs”. From 1856 to 1860 Druzhinin was the editor of the Library for Reading. In 1859 he organized the Society to provide benefits to needy writers and scientists. Druzhinin criticized the ideological approach to art and advocated "pure art", free from any didacticism. ⁠ Is another author who left Sovremennik, who was on good terms with Turgenev. During this period, Turgenev clearly orients his prose precisely towards the "Pushkin" principle, as the criticism of that time understood it: literature should not directly address socio-political problems, but gradually influence the public, which is formed and brought up under the influence of aesthetic impressions and ultimately becomes capable of responsible and dignified actions in various spheres, including social and political. The business of literature is to promote, as Schiller would say, "aesthetic education."

"Noble Nest". Directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. 1969 year

How was she received?

Most writers and critics were delighted with Turgenev's novel, which combined poetic principles and social relevance. Annenkov began his review of the novel as follows: “It is difficult to say, starting the analysis of Mr. Turgenev's new work, which deserves attention more: whether it is itself with all its merits, or the extraordinary success that met him in all strata of our society. In any case, it is worth seriously thinking about the reasons for that sole sympathy and approval, that delight and enthusiasm that were caused by the appearance of the "Noble Nest". On the author's new novel, people from opposite parties came together in one common verdict; representatives of dissimilar systems and views shook hands and expressed the same opinion. " The reaction of the poet and critic was especially effective. Apollo Grigoriev ⁠ , who devoted a series of articles to Turgenev's novel and admired the writer's striving in the person of the protagonist to portray "attachment to the soil" and "humility before the people's truth."

However, some contemporaries had different opinions. For example, according to the memoirs of the writer Nikolai Luzhenovsky, Alexander Ostrovsky remarked: "The noble nest", for example [immer], is a very good thing, but Liza is unbearable for me: this girl definitely suffers from scrofula driven inside. "

Apollon Grigoriev. Second half of the 19th century. Grigoriev devoted a whole cycle of complimentary articles to Turgenev's novel

Alexander Ostrovsky. Around 1870. Ostrovsky praised the "Noble Nest", but found the heroine Liza "unbearable"

In an interesting way, Turgenev's novel rather quickly ceased to be perceived as a topical and topical work and was then often regarded as an example of “pure art”. Perhaps this was influenced by those that caused a much greater resonance, thanks to which the image of a "nihilist" entered Russian literature, which for several decades became the subject of heated disputes and various literary interpretations. Nevertheless, the novel was a success: already in 1861 an authorized French translation was published, in 1862 - in German, in 1869 - in English. Thanks to this, Turgenev's novel until the end of the 19th century was one of the most discussed works of Russian literature abroad. Researchers write about its influence, for example, on Henry James and Joseph Conrad.

Why was "Noble's Nest" such a topical novel?

The time of publication of the "Noble Nest" was an exceptional period for imperial Russia, which Fyodor Tyutchev (long before Khrushchev's times) called the "thaw". The first years of the reign of Alexander II, who ascended the throne at the end of 1855, were accompanied by the growth of "glasnost" (another expression that is now associated with a completely different era) that amazed his contemporaries. The defeat in the Crimean War was perceived both among government officials and in educated society as a symptom of the deepest crisis that gripped the country. The definitions of the Russian people and empire, adopted in the Nikolayev years, based on the well-known doctrine of "official nationality", seemed completely inadequate. In a new era, it was necessary to re-interpret the nation and the state.

Many contemporaries were convinced that literature could help in this, in fact, contributing to the reforms initiated by the government. It is no coincidence that during these years the government offered writers, for example, to participate in the compilation of the repertoire of state theaters or to compile a statistical and ethnographic description of the Volga region. Although the action of The Noble's Nest takes place in the 1840s, the novel reflects the actual problems of the era of its creation. For example, in the dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin, the protagonist of the novel proves "the impossibility of leaps and haughty alterations from the height of bureaucratic consciousness - alterations that are not justified either by knowledge of their native land, or by real faith in an ideal, even a negative one," - obviously, these words refer to plans government reforms. Preparations for the abolition of serfdom made the topic of relations between estates very relevant, which largely determines the prehistory of Lavretsky and Lisa: Turgenev is trying to present to the public a novel about how a person can comprehend and experience his place in Russian society and history. As in his other works, “the story has penetrated into the character and works from within. Its properties are generated by a given historical situation, and outside of this they do not have meaning " 1 Ginzburg L. Ya. On psychological prose. Ed. 2nd. L., 1976.S. 295. ⁠ .

"Noble Nest". Directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. 1969 year. Leonid Kulagin as Lavretsky

Piano by Konrad Graf. Austria, circa 1838. The piano in the "Noble Nest" is an important symbol: near it, acquaintances are made, disputes are waged, love is born, a long-awaited masterpiece is created. Musicality, attitude to music is an important feature of Turgenev's heroes

Who and why accused Turgenev of plagiarism?

At the end of work on the novel, Turgenev read it to some of his friends and took advantage of their comments, finalizing his work for Sovremennik, and he especially valued the opinion of Annenkov (who, according to the recollections of Ivan Goncharov, who was present at this reading, recommended Turgenev to include in the narrative the prehistory of the main character Lisa Kalitina, explaining the origins of her religious beliefs. Researchers did find that the corresponding chapter was written into the manuscript later).

Ivan Goncharov was not delighted with Turgenev's novel. Several years earlier, he had told the author of The Noble Nest about the idea of ​​his own work dedicated to an amateur artist who found himself in the Russian outback. Hearing "The Noble Nest" in the author's reading, Goncharov was enraged: Turgenev's Panshin (among other things, an amateur artist), as it seemed to him, was "borrowed" from the "program" of his future novel "The Break", moreover, his image was distorted ; the chapter about the ancestors of the protagonist also seemed to him the result of literary theft, as well as the image of the strict old lady Marfa Timofeevna. After these accusations, Turgenev made some changes to the manuscript, in particular, changing the dialogue between Marfa Timofeevna and Lisa, which takes place after a night meeting between Lisa and Lavretsky. Goncharov, it seemed, was satisfied, but in the next big work of Turgenev - the novel "On the Eve" - ​​he again discovered the image of an amateur artist. The conflict between Goncharov and Turgenev led to a big scandal in literary circles. Collected for his permission "Areopagus" The authority in Ancient Athens, which consisted of representatives of the tribal aristocracy. In a figurative sense, a meeting of authorities to resolve an important issue. ⁠ from authoritative writers and critics, he acquitted Turgenev, but Goncharov, for several decades, suspected the author of The Noble Nest of plagiarism. "The Break" came out only in 1869 and did not enjoy the same success as the first novels of Goncharov, who blamed Turgenev for this. Gradually, Goncharov's conviction of Turgenev's dishonesty turned into a real mania: the writer, for example, was sure that Turgenev's agents were copying his drafts and passing them on to Gustave Flaubert, who made a name for himself thanks to Goncharov's works.

Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, Turgenev's family estate. Engraving by M. Rashevsky based on a photograph by William Carrick. Originally published in the magazine "Niva" for 1883

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

What do the heroes of Turgenev's novels and stories have in common?

Famous philologist Lev Pumpyansky Lev Vasilievich Pumpyansky (1891-1940) - literary critic, musicologist. After the revolution he lived in Nevel, together with Mikhail Bakhtin and Matvey Kagan he formed the Nevel Philosophical Circle. In the 1920s he taught at the Tenishevsky School, was a member of the Free Philosophical Association. He taught Russian literature at the Leningrad University. Author of classic works about Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Turgenev. ⁠ wrote that the first four Turgenev novels ("Rudin", "The Noble Nest", "On the Eve" and) are an example of a "novel of trial": their plot is built around a historically established type of hero who is being tested for compliance with the role of a historical figure. To test the hero are not only, for example, ideological disputes with opponents or social activities, but also love relationships. Pumpyansky, according to modern researchers, largely exaggerated, but on the whole his definition is apparently correct. Indeed, the main character is in the center of the novel, and the events taking place with this character allow us to decide whether he can be called a worthy person. In The Noble Nest, this is expressed literally: Marfa Timofeevna demands from Lavretsky to confirm that he is an “honest man,” out of fear for the fate of Liza - and Lavretsky proves that he is incapable of doing anything dishonorable.

She felt bitter in her soul; she did not deserve such humiliation. Love did not affect her with joy: for the second time she cried since yesterday evening

Ivan Turgenev

The themes of happiness, self-denial and love, perceived as the most important qualities of a person, Turgenev raised already in his stories of the 1850s. For example, in the story "Faust" (1856), the main character is literally killed by the awakening of a love feeling, which she herself interprets as a sin. The interpretation of love as an irrational, incomprehensible, almost supernatural force that often threatens human dignity, or at least the ability to follow one's convictions, is typical, for example, for the stories "Correspondence" (1856) and "First Love" (1860). In The Noble Nest, the relationship of almost all the heroes, except for Liza and Lavretsky, is characterized in exactly this way - it is enough to recall the characteristics of the connection between Panshin and Lavretsky's wife: “Varvara Pavlovna enslaved him, precisely enslaved him: no other word can express her unlimited, irrevocable, unrequited power over him. "

Finally, the prehistory of Lavretsky, the son of a nobleman and a peasant woman, recalls the main character of the story "Asya" (1858). Within the framework of the novel genre, Turgenev was able to combine these themes with socio-historical problems.

"Noble Nest". Directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. 1969 year

Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel "Noble Nest". 1988 year

Where are the references to Cervantes in The Noble Nest?

One of the important Turgenev types in the "Noble Nest" is represented by the hero Mikhalevich - "an enthusiast and a poet" who "still adhered to the phraseology of the thirties." This hero in the novel is presented with a fair amount of irony; Suffice it to recall the description of his endless nocturnal dispute with Lavretsky, when Mikhalevich tries to define his friend and every hour rejects his own formulations: “you are not a skeptic, not disappointed, not a Volterian, you are bobak Steppe marmot. In a figurative sense - a clumsy, lazy person. ⁠ , and you are a hard-core boobak, a bobak with consciousness, not a naive bobak. " In the dispute between Lavretsky and Mikhalevich, topical issues are especially manifested: the novel was written in a period that contemporaries assessed as a transitional era in history.

And when, where did people take it into their heads? He shouted at four o'clock in the morning, but in a somewhat hoarse voice. - We have! now! in Russia! when each individual person has a duty, great responsibility before God, before the people, before himself! We sleep and time is running out; we are sleeping…

The comic is that Lavretsky considers the main goal of a modern nobleman to be a completely practical matter - to learn how to "plow the land", while Mikhalevich, who reproaches him for laziness, could not find any business on his own.

You joke with me in vain; my great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather was a man himself

Ivan Turgenev

This type, a representative of the generation of idealists of the 1830s-40s, a man whose greatest talent was the ability to understand current philosophical and social ideas, sincerely sympathize with them and pass them on to others, was deduced by Turgenev in his novel Rudin. Like Rudin, Mikhalevich is an eternal wanderer, clearly resembling a “knight of a sad image”: “Even sitting in a tarantass, where they carried his flat, yellow, oddly light suitcase, he still spoke; wrapped in some kind of Spanish cloak with a reddish collar and lion's paws instead of fasteners, he still developed his views on the fate of Russia and ran his swarthy hand through the air, as if scattering the seeds of future prosperity. " For the author, Mikhalevich is the beautiful-hearted and naive Don Quixote (Turgenev's famous speech "Hamlet and Don Quixote" was written shortly after the "Noble Nest"). Mikhalevich “fell in love without counting and wrote poems to all his beloved; he especially fervently sang a mysterious black-haired "panna" who, apparently, was a woman of easy virtue. The analogy with Don Quixote's passion for the peasant woman Dulcinea is obvious: the hero of Cervantes is equally incapable of understanding that his beloved does not correspond to his ideal. However, at the center of the novel this time is placed not a naive idealist, but a completely different hero.

Why is Lavretsky so sympathetic to the peasant?

The father of the protagonist of the novel is a Europeanized gentleman who raised his son according to his own "system", apparently borrowed from the writings of Rousseau; his mother is a simple peasant woman. The result is quite unusual. The reader is faced with an educated Russian nobleman who knows how to behave decently and with dignity in society (Marya Dmitrievna constantly evaluates Lavretsky's manners badly, but the author constantly hints that she herself does not know how to behave in a really good society). He reads magazines in different languages, but at the same time he is closely connected with Russian life, especially common people. In this regard, two of his love interests are remarkable: the Parisian "lioness" Varvara Pavlovna and the deeply religious Liza Kalitina, brought up by a simple Russian nanny. Turgenev's hero delighted Apollo Grigoriev Apollon Alexandrovich Grigoriev (1822-1864) - poet, literary critic, translator. In 1845 he began to study literature: he published a book of poetry, translated Shakespeare and Byron, wrote literary reviews for Otechestvennye zapiski. Since the late 1950s, Grigoriev wrote for Moskvityanin and headed the circle of its young authors. After the magazine was closed, he worked at the Library for Reading, Russkoye Slovo, and Vremya. Due to alcohol addiction, Grigoriev gradually lost his influence and practically stopped publishing. ⁠ , one of the creators soil cultivation Social and philosophical trends in Russia in the 1860s. The basic principles of soil cultivation were formulated by the staff of the magazines "Time" and "Epoch": Apollo Grigoriev, Nikolai Strakhov and the Dostoevsky brothers. The soil workers occupied a certain middle position between the camps of the Westernizers and the Slavophiles. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in the "Announcement of a subscription to the Vremya magazine for 1861", which is considered a manifesto of the soil, wrote: ; that, perhaps, everything hostile in these ideas will find its reconciliation and further development in the Russian nationality. " ⁠ : Lavretsky is really capable of sincerely sympathizing with the peasant who has lost his son, and when he himself fails all his hopes, he consoles himself with the fact that the ordinary people around him suffer no less. In general, Lavretsky's connection with the "common people" and the old, not Europeanized lordship is constantly emphasized in the novel. Learning that his wife, who lives according to the latest French fashions, is cheating on him, he experiences no secular rage: “he felt that at that moment he was able to torture her, beat her half to death, like a peasant, strangle her with his own hands”. In a conversation with his wife, he indignantly says: “You joked with me in vain; my great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather was a man himself. " Unlike the previous central characters of Turgenev's prose, Lavretsky has a "healthy nature", he is a good boss, a man who literally was written to live at home and take care of his family and household.

Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1845 Private collection

What is the meaning of the political dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin?

The protagonist's beliefs are consistent with his origins. In a conflict with the capital's official Panshin, Lavretsky opposes the reform project, according to which European public "institutions" (in modern language - "institutions") are able to transform the life of the people itself. Lavretsky “demanded, first of all, the recognition of the people's truth and humility before it — that humility without which courage against lies is impossible; Finally, he did not deviate from the deserved, in his opinion, accusation of frivolous waste of time and energy. " The author of the novel clearly sympathizes with Lavretsky: Turgenev himself, of course, had a high opinion of Western "institutions", but, judging by the "Noble Nest", he did not appreciate the domestic officials who tried to introduce these "institutions" so well.

"Noble Nest". Directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. 1969 year

Coach. 1838 The carriage is one of the attributes of secular European life, which Varvara Pavlovna enjoys with pleasure.

The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

How does the family history of the heroes affect their fate?

Of all Turgenev's heroes, Lavretsky has the most detailed pedigree: the reader learns not only about his parents, but also about the whole Lavretsky family, starting with his great-grandfather. Of course, this digression is intended to show the hero's rootedness in history, his living connection with the past. At the same time, Turgenev's “past” turns out to be very dark and cruel - in fact, this is the history of Russia and the nobility. Literally the entire history of the Lavretsky family is built on violence. The wife of his great-grandfather Andrei is directly compared with a bird of prey (for Turgenev this is always a significant comparison - just remember the ending of the story "Spring Waters"), and the reader literally does not know anything about their relationship, except that the spouses were at war with each other all the time. friend: "Goggle-eyed, with a hawk nose, with a round yellow face, a gypsy by birth, hot-tempered and vindictive, she was in no way inferior to her husband, who almost killed her and whom she did not survive, although she always fought with him." The wife of their son Pyotr Andreevich, a “humble woman,” was subordinate to her husband: “She loved to ride on trotters, she was ready to play cards from morning to evening and always, it happened, covered her penny winnings with her hand when her husband approached the gambling house. table; and all her dowry, all the money she gave to him in an unrequited order. " Lavretsky's father Ivan fell in love with the serf Malanya, a "shy girl" who obeyed her husband and his relatives in everything and was completely removed from raising her son, which led to her death:

Ivan Petrovich's poor wife did not endure this blow, did not endure the second parting: meekly, in a few days, she died out. Throughout her life, she did not know how to resist anything, and she did not fight the disease. She could no longer speak, the shadows of the grave were already falling on her face, but her features still expressed patient bewilderment and constant meekness of humility.

Pyotr Andreevich, who learned about his son's love affair, is also compared with a bird of prey: "He attacked his son like a hawk, reproached him for immorality, for godlessness, for pretense ..." the power of his wife. Firstly, Lavretsky is a product of a specific parental upbringing, because of which he - by nature not stupid, far from naive person - got married completely without understanding what kind of person his wife was. Secondly, the very theme of family inequality connects the Turgenev hero and his ancestors. The hero got married because his family past would not let him go - in the future, his wife will become a part of this past, which will return at a fateful moment and ruin his relationship with Lisa. The fate of Lavretsky, who was not destined to find a home, is connected with the curse of his aunt Glafira, expelled by the will of Lavretsky's wife: “I know who is driving me out of here, from my ancestral nest. Only you remember my word, nephew: you cannot build nests anywhere, you will wander forever. " In the novel's finale, Lavretsky thinks of himself that he is "a lonely, homeless wanderer." In the everyday sense, this is inaccurate: we are faced with the thoughts of a wealthy landowner - however, inner loneliness and the inability to find happiness in life turn out to be a logical conclusion from the history of the Lavretsky family.

The head is all gray, and what he opens his mouth, he will lie or gossip. And also a state councilor!

Ivan Turgenev

Parallels with Lisa's background are interesting here. Her father was also a cruel, "predatory" person who subjugated her mother. There is also a direct influence of folk ethics in its past. At the same time, Liza feels more acutely than Lavretsky that she is responsible for the past. Lizin's readiness for humility and suffering is connected not with some kind of inner weakness or sacrifice, but with a conscious, deliberate desire to atone for sins, and not only their own, but also those of others: “Happiness did not come to me; even when I had hopes of happiness, my heart ached. I know everything, and my sins, and those of others, and how papa amassed our wealth; I know everything. All this must be ground, it is necessary to grind. "

Pages from the collection "Symbols and Emblems", published in Amsterdam in 1705 and in St. Petersburg in 1719

The collection consisted of 840 engravings with symbols and allegories. This mysterious book was the only reading of the impressionable and pale child Fedya Lavretsky. The Lavretskys had one of the re-editions of the early 19th century revised by Nestor Maksimovich-Ambodik: Turgenev himself read this book as a child

What is a noble nest?

Turgenev himself wrote in an elegiac tone about the “noble nests” in the story “My neighbor Radilov”: “Our great-grandfathers, when choosing a place to live, certainly beat off tithes of two good land for an orchard with linden alleys. Fifty years later, many seventy years later, these estates, "noble nests", little by little disappeared from the face of the earth, houses rotted or sold for sale, stone services turned into heaps of ruins, apple trees died out and went for firewood, fences and wattle fences were exterminated. Some linden trees still grew to their glory and now, surrounded by plowed fields, they tell our windy tribe about "the formerly departed fathers and brothers." It is not difficult to notice the parallels with the "Noble Nest": on the one hand, in front of the reader is not Oblomovka, but the image of a cultural, Europeanized estate, where alleys are planted and music is listened to; on the other hand, this estate is doomed to gradual destruction and oblivion. In the "Noble Nest", apparently, just such a fate awaits the estate of the Lavretskys, whose family will be interrupted by the main character (his daughter, judging by the epilogue of the novel, will not live long).

The village of Shablykino, where Turgenev often hunted. Lithograph by Rudolf Zhukovsky after his own drawing. 1840 State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of I. S. Turgenev "Spasskoye-Lutovinovo"

Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images

Does Liza Kalitina look like the stereotype of the "Turgenev girl"?

Liza Kalitina is probably now one of the most famous Turgenev images. The unusualness of this heroine was repeatedly tried to explain by the existence of some special prototype - here they also pointed to the countess Elizabeth Lambert Elizaveta Yegorovna Lambert (née Kankrina; 1821-1883) - maid of honor of the imperial court. Daughter of the Minister of Finance, Count Yegor Kankrin. In 1843 she married Count Joseph Lambert. She was friends with Tyutchev, was in a long correspondence with Turgenev. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was deeply religious. From a letter from Turgenev to Lambert of April 29, 1867: "Of all the doors into which I am a bad Christian, but following the Gospel rule, I pushed, your doors opened easier and more often than others." ⁠ , a secular acquaintance of Turgenev and the addressee of his numerous letters filled with philosophical discourses, and on Varvara Sokovnin Varvara Mikhailovna Sokovnina (in the monasticism of Seraphim; 1779-1845) - nun. Sokovnina was born into a wealthy noble family, at the age of 20 she left home for the Sevsky Trinity Monastery, took monastic vows, and then schema (the highest monastic level, requiring severe asceticism). She lived in seclusion for 22 years. In 1821 she was elevated to the rank of abbess of the Oryol nunnery, and ruled it until her death. In 1837, Abbess Seraphima was visited by Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Nicholas I. ⁠ (in the monasticism of Seraphim), whose fate is very similar to that of Lisa.

Probably, first of all, a stereotypical image of the "Turgenev girl" is being built around Lisa, which is customary to write about in popular publications and which is often taken apart at school. At the same time, this stereotype is hardly consistent with Turgenev's text. Liza can hardly be called a particularly refined nature or a sublime idealist. She is shown as a person of extremely strong will, decisive, independent and internally independent. In this sense, her image was rather influenced not by Turgenev's desire to create the image of an ideal young lady, but by the writer's ideas about the need for emancipation and the desire to show an internally free girl so that this inner freedom would not deprive her of poetry. A night meeting with Lavretsky in the garden for a girl of that time was completely obscene behavior - the fact that Liza decided on it reveals her complete inner independence from the opinions of others. The "poetic" effect of her image is given by a very peculiar manner of description. The narrator usually informs about Liza's feelings with rhythmic prose, very metaphorical, sometimes even using sound repetitions: “No one knows, no one has seen and will never see how, from bath to life and prosperity, it is poured and see no zer but in the bosom ze mli ". The analogy between love growing in the heroine's heart and a natural process is not intended to explain any psychological properties of the heroine, but rather to hint at something that is beyond the capabilities of ordinary language. It is no coincidence that Liza herself says that she “has no words of her own” - in the same way, for example, in the finale of the novel, the narrator refuses to talk about the experiences of her and Lavretsky: “What did they think, what did both of them feel? Who will know? Who's to say? There are such moments in life, such feelings ... You can only point to them - and pass by. "

"Noble Nest". Directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. 1969 year

Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel "Noble Nest". 1988 year

Why do Turgenev's heroes suffer all the time?

Violence and aggression permeate Turgenev's entire life; a living being, it seems, cannot but suffer. In Turgenev's story "Diary of an Extra Man" (1850), the hero was opposed to nature, because he was endowed with self-awareness and acutely felt the approaching death. In The Noble Nest, however, the desire for destruction and self-destruction is shown as characteristic not only of people, but of all nature. Marfa Timofeevna tells Lavretsky that no happiness is possible for a living being in principle: “Why, I used to envy the flies: here, I thought, who is good in the world to live; Yes, once at night I heard a fly whine in a spider's paws - no, I think they have a thunderstorm. " At his simpler level, Lavretsky's old servant Anton, who knew his aunt Glafira who had cursed him, speaks of self-destruction: “He told Lavretsky how Glafira Petrovna bit herself by the hand before her death, - and after a pause, said with a sigh:“ Every man, master-father, he is devoted to himself to be devoured. " Turgenev's heroes live in a terrible and indifferent world, and here, in contrast to historical circumstances, it will probably not be possible to fix anything.

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) - German philosopher. According to his main work "The World as Will and Representation", the world is perceived by the mind, therefore it is a subjective representation. Will is the objective reality and organizing principle in man. But this will is blind and irrational, therefore it turns life into a series of suffering, and the world in which we live - into "the worst of the worlds."⁠ - and the researchers paid attention to some parallels between the novel and the main book of the German thinker "The World as Will and Representation". Indeed, both natural and historical life in Turgenev's novel is full of violence and destruction, while the art world turns out to be much more ambivalent: music carries both the power of passion and a kind of liberation from the power of the real world.

Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1839 Private collection

Why does Turgenev talk so much about happiness and duty?

The key disputes between Liza and Lavretsky are about the human right to happiness and the need for humility and renunciation. For the heroes of the novel, the theme of religion is of exceptional importance: the unbeliever Lavretsky refuses to agree with Liza. Turgenev does not try to decide which of them is right, but he shows that duty and humility are necessary not only for a religious person - duty is also significant for public life, especially for people with such a historical background as the heroes of Turgenev: the Russian nobility is not depicted in the novel only as a bearer of high culture, but also as an estate, whose representatives for centuries oppressed both each other and the people around them. Conclusions from the controversy, however, are mixed. On the one hand, the new generation, free from the heavy burden of the past, easily achieves happiness - perhaps, however, it succeeds due to a more fortunate coincidence of historical circumstances. At the end of the novel, Lavretsky turns to the younger generation a mental monologue: “Play, have fun, grow, young forces ... your life is ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you, like us, will not have to find your way, fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we fussed about how to survive - and how many of us did not survive! - and you need to do business, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you. " On the other hand, Lavretsky himself refuses to claim happiness and largely agrees with Liza. Considering that tragedy, according to Turgenev, is generally inherent in human life, the fun and joy of the “new people” are in many ways a sign of their naivety, and the experience of misfortune through which Lavretsky went through may be no less valuable for the reader.

bibliography

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• Grigoriev A. A. I. S. Turgenev and his activities. Regarding the novel "Noble Nest" ("Contemporary", 1859, no. 1). Letters to G. G. A. K. B. // Grigoriev A. A. Literary criticism. M .: Hood. lit., 1967. S. 240–366.
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A bright spring day was approaching evening, small pink clouds stood high in the clear sky and, it seemed, did not float past, but went into the very depths of the azure.

In front of the open window of a beautiful house, in one of the extreme streets of the provincial town of O ... (it happened in 1842), two women were sitting: one of about fifty, the other is already an old woman, seventy years old.

The first of them was called Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina. Her husband, a former provincial prosecutor, a well-known businessman in his time - a lively and decisive person, acrimonious and stubborn, - died ten years ago. He received a fair education, studied at the university, but, born into a poor class, he understood early on the need to pave his way and fill up money. Marya Dmitrievna married him for love: he was not bad-looking, clever and, when he wanted, very amiable. Marya Dmitrievna (in Pestova's maidens) lost her parents as a child, spent several years in Moscow, at the institute, and, returning from there, lived fifty miles from O ..., in her ancestral village of Pokrovskoye, with her aunt and with her older brother. This brother soon moved to St. Petersburg for the service and kept both his sister and aunt in a black body until sudden death put the limit of his field. Marya Dmitrievna inherited Pokrovskoe, but did not live in it for long; in the second year after her wedding with Kalitin, who in a few days managed to win her heart, Pokrovskoye was exchanged for another estate, much more profitable, but ugly and without a manor, and at the same time Kalitin acquired a house in the city of O ..., where and settled with his wife for permanent residence. The house had a large garden; on one side, he went straight into the field, outside the city. “So, - decided Kalitin, a great reluctance to rural silence, - there is no need to drag into the village”. Marya Dmitrievna more than once in her heart regretted her pretty Pokrovskoe with a merry river, wide meadows and green groves; but she did not contradict her husband in anything and was in awe of his mind and knowledge of the world. When, after a fifteen-year marriage, he died, leaving a son and two daughters, Marya Dmitrievna was already so used to her home and city life that she herself did not want to leave O ...

Marya Dmitrievna in her youth enjoyed the reputation of a pretty blonde; and at fifty her features were not devoid of pleasantness, although they were a little swollen and melted. She was more sensitive than kind, and until her mature years she retained her institute habits; she pampered herself, was easily irritated and even cried when her habits were broken; but she was very affectionate and amiable when all her wishes were fulfilled and no one contradicted her. Her house was one of the nicest in town. Her condition was very good, not so much hereditary as acquired by her husband. Both daughters lived with her; the son was brought up in one of the best state institutions in St. Petersburg.

The old woman who was sitting with Marya Dmitrievna under the window was the same aunt, her father's sister, with whom she once spent several secluded years in Pokrovskoye. Her name was Martha Timofeevna Pestova. She was reputed to be an eccentric, had an independent disposition, told everyone the truth in the face and with the most meager means behaved as if thousands were following her. She could not stand the late Kalitin, and as soon as her niece married him, she retired to her village, where she lived for ten whole years with a peasant in a chicken hut. Marya Dmitrievna was afraid of her. Black-haired and quick-eyed even in old age, small, sharp-nosed, Marfa Timofeevna walked briskly, kept upright and spoke quickly and clearly, in a thin and sonorous voice. She constantly wore a white cap and a white blouse.

- What are you talking about? She suddenly asked Marya Dmitrievna. - What are you sighing for, my mother?

“So,” she said. - What wonderful clouds!

- So you feel sorry for them, or what?

Marya Dmitrievna did not answer.

- What is Gedeonovsky not finding? - said Marfa Timofeevna, nimbly moving the knitting needles (she was knitting a large woolen scarf). - He would have sighed with you, otherwise he would have lied something.

- How you always speak strictly about him! Sergei Petrovich is a respectable person.

- Honorable! The old woman repeated reproachfully.

- And how he was devoted to his late husband! - said Marya Dmitrievna, - until now she cannot recall him indifferently.

- Still would! he pulled him out of the mud by the ears, ”grumbled Marfa Timofeevna, and the knitting needles went even faster in her hands.

“He looks so humble,” she began, again. And also a state councilor! Well, and then say: priest!

- Who is without sin, auntie? There is this weakness in him, of course. Sergei Petrovich, of course, did not receive upbringing, he does not speak French; but he, you will, is a pleasant person.

- Yes, he licks your hands. He does not speak French - what a disaster! I myself am not strong in the French dialechte. It would be better if he did not speak in any way: he would not lie. But here he is, by the way, light in sight, ”added Marfa Timofeevna, glancing out into the street. “There he is walking, your pleasant man. How long, like a stork!

Marya Dmitrievna straightened her curls. Marfa Timofeevna looked at her with a grin.

- What do you have, no gray hair, my mother? You scold your Stick. What is she looking at?

“Oh, you, auntie, always ...” Marya Dmitrievna muttered with annoyance and tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair.

- Sergei Petrovich Gedeonovsky! - squeaked a red-cheeked Cossack, jumping out from behind the door.

A tall man entered, in a neat frock coat, short trousers, gray suede gloves and two ties - one black on top, the other white on the bottom. Everything in him breathed decency and decency, from a fine face and smoothly combed temples to boots without heels and without a creak. He bowed first to the hostess of the house, then to Marfa Timofeevna, and slowly taking off his gloves, went up to Marya Dmitrievna's hand. Having kissed her respectfully and twice in a row, he sat down slowly in an armchair and with a smile, rubbing the very tips of his fingers, said:

- Is Elizaveta Mikhailovna healthy?

- Yes, - answered Marya Dmitrievna, - she is in the garden.

- And Elena Mikhailovna?

- Helen is in the garden too. Is there anything new?

"How not to be, sir, how not to be, sir," objected the guest, blinking slowly and stretching his lips. - Hm! .. but please, there is news, and surprising: Lavretsky Fyodor Ivanovich has arrived.

- Fedya! - exclaimed Marfa Timofeevna. - Yes, you, completely, do not you compose, my father?

- No, sir, I saw them myself.

“Well, that’s not yet proof.

“We've become very healthy,” Gedeonovsky continued, pretending to have not heard Marfa Timofeevna’s remarks. “They have become even wider in their shoulders, and a flush in the cheek.

“He’s happy,” said Marya Dmitrievna with a constellation, “it seems, why would he be healthy?

“Yes, sir,” objected Gedeonovsky, “someone else in his place would have been ashamed to appear in the world.

- Why is that? - interrupted Marfa Timofeevna, - what is this nonsense? The man returned to his homeland - where do you order him to go? And the blessing he was to blame for!

- The husband is always to blame, madam, I dare to report to you when the wife is behaving badly.

“It’s you, father, that’s why you say that you yourself haven’t been married.”

Gedeonovsky smiled forcedly.

“Let me be curious,” he asked after a short silence, “who is this cute scarf assigned to?

Marfa Timofeevna glanced quickly at him.

“And that one is appointed,” she objected, “who never gossip, do not cheat and do not compose, if only there is such a person in the world. I know Fedya well; he is only to blame for spoiling his wife. Well, yes, he married for love, and nothing worthwhile comes out of these love weddings, ”added the old woman, indirectly glancing at Marya Dmitrievna and getting up. - And now, my father, you have teeth on anyone you like, even on me; I will leave, I will not interfere. - And Marfa Timofeevna withdrew.

The post was inspired by reading the novel by I.S. "Noble Nest".

reference

Full name: "Noble Nest"
Genre: novel
Original language: Russian
Years of writing: 1856-1858
Publication year: 1859
Number of pages (A4): 112

A summary of the novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev "Noble nest"
The protagonist of Turgenev's novel "Noble Nest" is a young nobleman Lavretsky Fyodor Ivanovich. His pedigree and fate were extremely difficult: his paternal ancestors were severe and cruel landowners, while his mother was a peasant woman. Fedor Ivanovich himself was brought up by an aunt who had a tough character.

Fyodor Ivanovich grew up educated, but far from the world, he had few friends, he did not find interest in the army or government service. Being inexperienced in matters of the heart, he fell in love with the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina and soon after that he married her. He spent several years in serene happiness, until he found out that his wife was cheating on him. Shocked by this news, he leaves Paris, where they lived, and returns to Russia, to his estate. In Russia, he visits the house of his relative Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina, a wealthy widow who is raising two daughters.

Fyodor Ivanovich draws attention to the eldest daughter of Marya Dmitrievna Lisa. She interested him with her purity and seriousness. He falls in love with her, and she feels benevolent indifference to him. Fyodor Ivanovich accidentally learns from a French magazine that his wife is dead. He becomes free and confesses his love to Lisa, she makes a return confession. The happiness of the young people did not last long: Varvara Pavlovna returned from abroad alive and unharmed. She returned with the goal of being forgiven and settling in Russia.

Fyodor Ivanovich understands that everything is over and that he and Lisa cannot have a joint future. He gives his wife permission to live on his estate, which, nevertheless, will soon leave for St. Petersburg, and then again for Paris. Liza, despite the persuasion, goes to the monastery, and Fyodor Ivanovich lives with memories.

In the epilogue of the novel "A Noble Nest" Fyodor Ivanovich visits the Kalitins' house, where after 8 years practically nothing reminds of the past. Fyodor Ivanovich lets go of the past and realizes that life goes on.

"During these eight years, finally, a turning point in his life took place, that turning point that many do not experience, but without which it is impossible to remain a decent person to the end; he really stopped thinking about his own happiness, about selfish goals. why hide the truth? - aged not only in face and body, aged in soul; to keep the heart young until old age, as others say, is difficult and almost ridiculous; he can already be satisfied who has not lost faith in goodness, constancy of will, desire for activity Lavretsky had the right to be satisfied: he became a really good owner, really learned to plow the land and did not work for himself alone; he, as best he could, provided and strengthened the life of his peasants. "

Meaning
The novel "Noble Nest" describes the fate of the Russian nobleman Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky. His life is an unobvious choice between the old and the new forms of economic organization, between real patriotism and careerism, between the European and Slavic path of development. Fyodor Ivanovich is a collection of features of everything, and the most difficult thing for him is to decide who he is, what he wants and what he will do.

Output
I read Turgenev's novel "A Noble Nest" while still in school, but I remembered practically nothing. Rereading it, I got great pleasure. I recommend reading!