Gabriel garcía marquez one hundred years of solitude content. The story of one book

Excerpt from One Hundred Years of Solitude

“Don’t, Fields, take them,” Natasha said.
In the middle of the conversation in the couch, Dimmler entered the room and walked over to the harp in the corner. He took off the cloth, and the harp made a false sound.
- Eduard Karlich, please play my beloved Nocturiene Monsieur Field, - said the voice of the old countess from the living room.
Dimmler took a chord and, turning to Natasha, Nikolai and Sonya, said: - Youth, how quietly they sit!
- Yes, we are philosophizing, - said Natasha, looking around for a minute, and continued the conversation. The conversation was now about dreams.
Dimmler started playing. Natasha quietly, on tiptoe, went up to the table, took the candle, carried it out and, returning, quietly sat down in her place. It was dark in the room, especially on the sofa on which they were sitting, but through the large windows the silver light of a full moon fell on the floor.
- You know, I think, - Natasha said in a whisper, moving closer to Nikolai and Sonya, when Dimmler had already finished and was sitting, weakly playing the strings, apparently hesitating to leave, or to start something new, - that when you remember that, you remember, you remember everything , you remember so much that you remember what happened before I was in the world ...
“This is metampsikova,” said Sonya, who always studied well and remembered everything. - The Egyptians believed that our souls were in animals and will again go to animals.
“No, you know, I don’t believe it, so that we were in animals,” Natasha said in the same whisper, although the music ended, “but I know for certain that we were angels somewhere and here we were, and from this we remember everything ...
- May I join you? - said Dimmler, who quietly approached and sat down next to them.
- If we were angels, why did we get lower? - said Nikolay. - No, it can't be!
“Not lower, who told you that lower?… Why do I know what I was before,” Natasha objected with conviction. - After all, the soul is immortal ... therefore, if I live forever, this is how I lived before, lived for an eternity.
“Yes, but it's hard for us to imagine eternity,” said Dimmler, who approached the young people with a mild contemptuous smile, but now spoke as quietly and seriously as they did.
- Why is it difficult to imagine eternity? - said Natasha. - Today it will be, tomorrow it will be, it will always be, and it was yesterday and the day before it was ...
- Natasha! now it's your turn. Sing me something, - the countess's voice was heard. - That you sat down like conspirators.
- Mum! I don’t want to, ”Natasha said, but at the same time she got up.
All of them, even the middle-aged Dimmler, did not want to interrupt the conversation and leave the corner of the sofa, but Natasha got up, and Nikolai sat down at the clavichord. As always, standing in the middle of the hall and choosing the most advantageous place for the resonance, Natasha began to sing her mother's favorite piece.
She said that she did not want to sing, but she did not sing for a long time before, and for a long time after, as she sang that evening. Count Ilya Andreich from the office where he talked with Mitinka, heard her singing, and like a student in a hurry to go to play, finishing the lesson, he got confused in words, giving orders to the manager and finally fell silent, and Mitinka, also listening, silently with a smile, stood in front of graph. Nikolai did not take his eyes off his sister, and took his breath with her. Sonia, listening, thought about what a huge difference there was between her and her friend and how impossible it was for her to be in any way as charming as her cousin. The old countess sat with a happily sad smile and tears in her eyes, occasionally shaking her head. She thought about Natasha, and about her youth, and about how something unnatural and terrible is in this upcoming marriage of Natasha with Prince Andrey.
Dimmler sat down next to the Countess and closed his eyes, listening.
“No, Countess,” he said at last, “this is a European talent, she has nothing to learn, this softness, tenderness, strength ...
- Ah! how afraid I am for her, how afraid I am, ”said the Countess, not remembering who she was talking to. Her maternal instinct told her that something was too much in Natasha, and that she would not be happy about it. Natasha had not yet finished singing when an enthusiastic fourteen-year-old Petya ran into the room with the news that the mummers had arrived.
Natasha suddenly stopped.
- Fool! - She shouted at her brother, ran to the chair, fell on him and sobbed so that for a long time then she could not stop.
“Nothing, mamma, really nothing, so: Petya frightened me,” she said, trying to smile, but her tears kept flowing and sobs squeezed her throat.
Dressed up courtyards, bears, Turks, innkeepers, ladies, terrible and funny, bringing with them coldness and gaiety, at first shyly huddled in the hall; then, hiding one behind the other, they were forced out into the hall; and at first shyly, and then more and more merrily and more amicably songs, dances, choral and Christmas-time games began. The Countess, recognizing the faces and laughing at the dressed up, went into the living room. Count Ilya Andreevich was sitting in the hall with a beaming smile, approving of the players. The youth disappeared somewhere.
Half an hour later, in the hall between the other mummers, an old lady in tansas appeared - it was Nikolai. Petya was a Turkish woman. Payas - it was Dimmler, the hussar - Natasha and the Circassian - Sonya, with a painted cork mustache and eyebrows.
After condescending surprise, unrecognition and praise from those who were not dressed up, the young people found that the costumes were so good that they had to be shown to someone else.
Nikolai, who wanted to drive everyone along an excellent road in his troika, suggested taking with him ten dressed-up men from the courtyards to go to his uncle.
- No, why are you upsetting him, the old man! - said the countess, - and he has nowhere to turn. Already go, so to the Melyukovs.
Melyukova was a widow with children of various ages, also with governesses and governors, who lived four miles from the Rostovs.
- Here, ma chere, cleverly, - the old count, stirring up, picked up. - Let's dress up now and go with you. I'll stir up Pasheta.
But the countess did not agree to let the count go: his leg ached all these days. They decided that Ilya Andreevich was not allowed to go, and that if Louise Ivanovna (m me Schoss) went, then the young ladies could go to Melukova's. Sonya, always timid and shy, most urgently began to beg Louise Ivanovna not to refuse them.
Sonya's outfit was the best. Her mustache and eyebrows went extraordinarily towards her. Everyone told her that she was very good, and she was in a lively energetic mood unusual for her. Some inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be decided, and in her man's dress she seemed a completely different person. Louise Ivanovna agreed, and half an hour later four troikas with bells and bells, screeching and whistling undercuts through the frosty snow, drove up to the porch.
Natasha was the first to give the tone of Christmas gaiety, and this gaiety, reflecting from one to another, intensified more and more and reached the highest degree at the time when everyone went out into the cold, and, talking, calling, laughing and shouting, sat down in the sleigh.
Two triplets were accelerating, the third was an old count's troika with an Oryol trotter at the root; Nicholas' fourth own with his short, black, shaggy root. Nicholas, in his old lady's attire, on which he put on a hussar, belted cloak, stood in the middle of his sleigh, picking up the reins.
It was so bright that he saw the plaques gleaming in the monthly light and the eyes of the horses, looking fearfully at the riders rustling under the dark canopy of the entrance.
Natasha, Sonya, m me Schoss and two girls sat in Nikolay's sleigh. In the sleigh of the old count sat Dimmler with his wife and Petya; the rest were filled with dressed-up courtyards.
- Let's go ahead, Zakhar! - Nikolay shouted to the coachman of his father, in order to have a chance to overtake him on the road.
The three of the old count, in which Dimmler and other mummers sat, screeching with runners, as if freezing to the snow, and jingling with a thick bell, moved forward. The guards huddled on the shafts and got stuck, turning hard and shiny snow like sugar.
Nikolai started after the first three; the others rustled and screamed from behind. At first we rode at a small trot along a narrow road. As we drove past the garden, shadows from bare trees often lay across the road and hid the bright light of the moon, but as soon as we drove beyond the fence, a diamond-shining, with a bluish reflection, a snowy plain, all bathed in monthly radiance and motionless, opened on all sides. Once, once, he pushed a bump in the front sleigh; the next sleigh pushed in the same way, and the next, and, boldly breaking the chained silence, one after another the sleigh began to stretch out.
- Trail of a hare, many tracks! - Natasha's voice sounded in the frosty, constrained air.
- Apparently, Nicolas! - said the voice of Sonya. - Nikolay looked back at Sonya and bent down to take a closer look at her face. Something completely new, sweet, face, with black eyebrows and mustache, in the moonlight, near and far, peeked out of the sables.
“That was Sonya before,” thought Nikolai. He looked at her closer and smiled.
- What are you, Nicolas?
“Nothing,” he said, and turned back to the horses.
Having driven out onto the torny, high road, oiled with runners and all cut by the traces of thorns visible in the light of the month, the horses began to pull the reins of their own accord and add speed. The left attachment, bending her head, twitched its strings in leaps and bounds. Root swayed, waving his ears, as if asking: "Should I start or is it too early?" - Ahead, already far apart and ringing a receding thick bell, Zakhar's black troika was clearly visible on the white snow. From his sleigh could be heard shouting and laughter and the voices of the dressed up.
- Well, you, dear ones, - Nikolay shouted, tugging on the reins on one side and withdrawing his hand with the whip. And only by the wind, which seemed to intensify in a head-on, and by the twitching of the fasteners, which were tightening and adding all the speed, it was noticeable how quickly the troika flew. Nikolai looked back. With shouts and squeals, waving whips and forcing the indigenous people to gallop, the other troikas kept up. The root staunchly swayed under the arc, not thinking to knock down and promising to add more and more when necessary.
Nikolai caught up with the top three. They drove down some mountain, drove onto a wide-traveled road through a meadow near the river.
"Where are we going?" thought Nikolay. - “There should be a slanting meadow. But no, this is something new that I have never seen. This is not a slanting meadow or Demkina Mountain, but God knows what it is! This is something new and magical. Well, whatever it is! " And he, shouting to the horses, began to go around the first three.
Zakhar restrained the horses and wrapped his face, which was already frosty to the eyebrows.
Nikolai let his horses go; Zakhar, stretching out his hands, smacked his lips and let his own people go.
“Well hold on, sir,” he said. - Threes flew nearby even faster, and the legs of galloping horses quickly changed. Nikolay began to pick up ahead. Zakhar, without changing the position of outstretched arms, raised one hand with the reins.
“You're lying, sir,” he shouted to Nikolai. Nikolay put all the horses into gallop and overtook Zakhar. The horses covered the faces of the riders with fine, dry snow, next to them there were frequent busting and fast-moving legs confused, and the shadows of the overtaken troika. The whistle of runners in the snow and women's screams were heard from different directions.
Stopping the horses again, Nikolai looked around him. All around was the same magical plain soaked through with moonlight with stars scattered over it.
“Zakhar shouts that I should take to the left; why left? thought Nikolai. Are we going to the Melyukovs, is this Melyukovka? We God knows where we are going, and God knows what is happening to us - and it is very strange and good what is happening to us. " He looked back at the sleigh.
“Look, he has both mustache and eyelashes, everything is white,” said one of the strange, pretty and strangers sitting there with thin mustaches and eyebrows.
“This one, it seems, was Natasha, Nikolay thought, and this one is m me Schoss; or maybe not, and this is a Circassian with a mustache, I don’t know who, but I love her. ”
- Aren't you cold? - he asked. They didn't answer and laughed. Dimmler was shouting something from the back of the sleigh, probably funny, but you couldn't hear what he was shouting.
- Yes, yes, - the voices answered laughing.
- However, here is some kind of magical forest with iridescent black shadows and sparkles of diamonds and with some kind of enfilade of marble steps, and some kind of silver roofs of magical buildings, and the piercing squeal of some kind of animals. “And if it really is Melyukovka, then it is even stranger that we went, God knows where, and arrived at Melukovka,” Nikolai thought.
Indeed, it was Melyukovka, and girls and footmen ran into the entrance with candles and joyful faces.
- Who it? - asked from the entrance.
- Counts dressed up, I see the horses, - answered the voices.

Pelageya Danilovna Melukova, a broad, energetic woman, with glasses and a swing-open hood, was sitting in the living room, surrounded by her daughters, whom she tried not to let get bored. They quietly poured wax and looked at the shadows of the figures emerging, when footsteps and voices of visitors rustled in the hall.
Hussars, ladies, witches, payas, bears, clearing their throats and wiping their frosty faces in the hallway, entered the hall, where they hastily lit candles. The clown - Dimmler with the lady - Nikolai opened the dance. Surrounded by screaming children, the mummers, covering their faces and changing their voices, bowed to the hostess and were placed around the room.
- Oh, you can't find out! But Natasha! Look what she looks like! Really, it reminds someone. Eduard then Karlych is so good! I didn't know. Yes, how she dances! Oh, priests, and some kind of Circassian; right, as it goes for Sonyushka. Who is this? Well, they consoled me! Take the tables, Nikita, Vanya. And we sat so quietly!
- Ha ha ha! ... Hussar then, hussar! Like a boy, and legs! ... I can't see ... - voices were heard.
Natasha, the favorite of the young Melyukovs, disappeared with them into the back rooms, where a cork was required and various robes and men's dresses, which through the open door received naked girls' hands from the footman. Ten minutes later, all the youth of the Melukov family joined the mummers.
Pelageya Danilovna, having ordered the cleaning of the place for guests and treats for gentlemen and courtyards, without taking off her glasses, with a restrained smile, walked between the mummers, looking closely into their faces and not recognizing anyone. She did not recognize not only the Rostovs and Dimmler, but also could not recognize either her daughters or those husband's robes and uniforms that were on them.
- Whose is this? - she said, turning to her governess and looking into the face of her daughter, who represented the Kazan Tatar. - It seems that someone is from the Rostovs. Well, you, mister hussar, in which regiment do you serve? She asked Natasha. “Give the Turk, give the Turk some marshmallows,” she said to the bartender who was carrying it, “this is not prohibited by their law.
Sometimes, looking at the strange but funny steps that the dancers performed, who decided once and for all that they were dressed up, that no one would recognize them, and therefore were not embarrassed, Pelageya Danilovna covered herself with a handkerchief, and her whole fat body shook with irrepressible kind, old woman laughter ... - Sashinet then mine, Sashinet that! She said.
After Russian dances and round dances, Pelageya Danilovna united all the servants and gentlemen together, in one big circle; they brought a ring, a string and a ruble, and the general games were arranged.
An hour later, all the suits were crumpled and upset. Cork mustache and eyebrows were smeared over sweaty, flushed, and cheerful faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the mummers, admired how well the costumes were made, how they went especially to the young ladies, and thanked everyone for making her so amused. The guests were invited to have supper in the drawing-room, and the courtyard's food was ordered in the hall.
- No, guessing in the bathhouse, that's scary! - the old girl who lived with the Melyukovs said at supper.
- From what? - asked the eldest daughter of the Melyukovs.
- Don't go, you need courage ...
“I'll go,” said Sonya.
- Tell us how it was with the young lady? - said the second Melukova.
- Yes, just like that, one young lady went, - said the old girl, - she took a rooster, two instruments - she sat down properly. She sat there, only hears, suddenly she is going ... a sleigh drove up with bells, bells; hears, goes. She enters completely in the form of a human, as an officer is, came and sat down with her at the device.
- A! Ah! ... - Natasha shouted, rolling her eyes in horror.
- Why, he says so?
- Yes, as a man, everything is as it should be, and began, and began to persuade, and she should have kept him talking until the cocks; and she grew stiff; - just grew stiff and covered herself with her hands. He picked her up. It's good that the girls came running here ...
- Well, why scare them! - said Pelageya Danilovna.
- Mother, you yourself wondered ... - said the daughter.
- And how is it in the barn guessing? - asked Sonya.
- Yes, if only now, they will go to the barn, and they will listen. What you will hear: hammering, knocking - bad, and pouring bread - this is good; otherwise it happens ...
- Mom, tell us what happened to you in the barn?
Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
- Yes, I already forgot ... - she said. “You’re not coming, are you?”
- No, I'll go; Pepageya Danilovna, let me go, I'll go, ”said Sonya.
- Well, if you're not afraid.
- Louise Ivanovna, can I? - asked Sonya.
Whether they played with a ring, a string or a ruble, whether they talked, as now, Nikolai did not leave Sonya and looked at her with completely new eyes. It seemed to him that today only for the first time, thanks to those cork mustache, he fully recognized her. Sonya really was cheerful, lively and good that evening, such as Nikolai had never seen her before.
"So this is what she is, but I'm a fool!" he thought, looking at her sparkling eyes and a happy, enthusiastic smile that dimpled her cheeks from under her mustache, which he had not seen before.
“I'm not afraid of anything,” said Sonya. - Can I now? - She got up. Sonya was told where the barn was, how to stand and listen in silence, and they gave her a fur coat. She threw it over her head and looked at Nikolai.
"What a lovely girl this is!" he thought. "And what have I been thinking up to now!"
Sonya went out into the corridor to go to the barn. Nikolai hurriedly went to the front porch, saying that he was hot. Indeed, the house was stuffy from the crowded people.
The yard was the same motionless cold, the same month, only it was even brighter. The light was so strong and there were so many stars in the snow that I did not want to look at the sky, and the real stars were invisible. The sky was black and boring, the earth was fun.
"I am a fool, a fool! What have you been waiting for so far? " thought Nikolai, and, running to the porch, he walked around the corner of the house along the path that led to the back porch. He knew that Sonya would go here. In the middle of the road there were stacked fathoms of firewood, there was snow on them, a shadow was falling from them; through them and from their sides, intertwining, the shadows of old bare lindens fell on the snow and the path. The path led to the barn. The chopped wall of the barn and the roof, covered with snow, as if carved from some kind of precious stone, glittered in the monthly light. A tree cracked in the garden, and again everything was completely quiet. The chest, it seemed, did not breathe air, but some kind of eternally youthful strength and joy.
From the girl's porch, feet knocked on the steps, there was a loud sound on the last one, on which snow was applied, and the voice of the old girl said:
- Straight, straight, along the path, young lady. Just don't look back.
- I'm not afraid, - Sonya's voice answered, and along the path, towards Nikolai, Sonya's legs squealed, whistled in thin shoes.
Sonya walked wrapped in a fur coat. She was already two steps away when she saw him; she saw him, too, not the way she knew and which she had always been a little afraid of. He was in a woman's dress with matted hair and a smile that was happy and new for Sonya. Sonya quickly ran up to him.
"Quite different, and still the same," thought Nikolai, looking at her face, all lit by the moonlight. He put his hands under the fur coat that covered her head, hugged her, pressed her to him and kissed her lips, over which there was a mustache and which smelled of burnt cork. Sonya kissed him in the very middle of her lips and, straightening her small hands, took him by the cheeks on both sides.
“Sonya!… Nicolas!…” They just said. They ran to the barn and each came back from their own porch.

When everyone drove back from Pelageya Danilovna, Natasha, who always saw and noticed everything, arranged the accommodation so that Louise Ivanovna and she sat in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya sat with Nikolai and the girls.
Nicholas, no longer overtaking, rode smoothly on his way back, and all the while peering into this strange moonlight at Sonya, in this all-changing light, from under his eyebrows and mustache his old and present Sonya, with whom he had never decided part. He peered, and when he recognized the same and the other and recalled, hearing this smell of cork, mixed with the feeling of a kiss, he breathed in the frosty air deeply and, looking at the leaving earth and the brilliant sky, he felt again in a magical kingdom.
- Sonya, are you okay? He asked occasionally.
- Yes, - Sonya answered. - And you?
In the middle of the road Nikolai let the coachman hold the horses, ran to Natasha's sleigh for a moment and stood on the bend.
“Natasha,” he said to her in a whisper in French, “you know, I’ve made up my mind about Sonya.
- Did you tell her? - asked Natasha, all suddenly beaming with joy.
- Oh, how strange you are with that mustache and eyebrows, Natasha! Are you happy?
- I'm so glad, so glad! I was really angry with you. I didn't tell you, but you did wrong to her. This is such a heart, Nicolas. I am so glad! I can be nasty, but I was ashamed to be alone happy without Sonya, - Natasha continued. - Now I'm so glad, well, run to her.
- No, wait, oh, how funny you are! - said Nikolai, still peering at her, and in his sister, too, finding something new, unusual and charmingly tender, which he had not seen in her before. - Natasha, something magical. A?
“Yes,” she replied, “you did a great job.
"If I had seen her as she is now," thought Nikolai, "I would have long ago asked what to do and would have done everything, no matter what she ordered, and everything would be fine."
- So you're glad and I did well?
- Oh, so good! I recently had a fight with my mother about it. Mom said she was catching you. How can you say this? I almost scolded my mother. And I will never allow anyone to say or think anything bad about her, because there is one good thing in her.
- So good? - said Nikolay, once again looking out for the expression on his sister's face to find out if this was true, and, hiding with his boots, he jumped off the bend and ran to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with a mustache and shining eyes, looking out from under a sable hood, was sitting there, and this Circassian was Sonya, and this Sonya was probably his future, happy and loving wife.
Arriving home and telling their mother about how they spent time with the Melyukovs, the young ladies went to their place. Having undressed, but not erasing their cork mustache, they sat for a long time, talking about their happiness. They talked about how they would be married, how their husbands would be friendly and how happy they would be.
On Natasha's table there were mirrors prepared by Dunyasha since the evening. - Only when will all this be? I'm afraid that never ... That would be too good! - said Natasha getting up and going to the mirrors.
“Sit down, Natasha, maybe you’ll see him,” said Sonya. Natasha lit candles and sat down. “I see someone with a mustache,” said Natasha, who had seen her face.
“Don't laugh, young lady,” said Dunyasha.
Natasha, with the help of Sonya and the maid, found a position for the mirror; her face assumed a serious expression, and she fell silent. For a long time she sat, looking at the row of outgoing candles in the mirrors, assuming (considering the stories she had heard) that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrew, in this last, merging, vague square. But no matter how ready she was to take the slightest stain for the image of a person or a coffin, she did not see anything. She blinked frequently and moved away from the mirror.
- Why do others see, but I do not see anything? - she said. - Well, sit down, Sonya; today you absolutely must, ”she said. - Only for me ... I'm so scared today!
Sonya sat down at the mirror, arranged a position, and began to look.
“They will certainly see Sofya Alexandrovna,” said Dunyasha in a whisper; - and you are all laughing.
Sonya heard these words, and heard Natasha say in a whisper:
- And I know what she will see; she saw last year.
For three minutes everyone was silent. "Certainly!" whispered Natasha and did not finish ... Suddenly Sonya pushed aside the mirror she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
- Ah, Natasha! - she said.
- Did you? Have you seen? What did you see? - Natasha screamed, supporting the mirror.
Sonya did not see anything, she just wanted to blink her eyes and get up when she heard Natasha's voice, who said "certainly" ... She did not want to deceive either Dunyasha or Natasha, and it was hard to sit. She herself did not know how and as a result of which a cry escaped from her when she closed her eyes with her hand.
- Did you see him? Natasha asked, grabbing her hand.
- Yes. Wait ... I ... saw him, - Sonya involuntarily said, not yet knowing who Natasha meant by his word: him - Nikolai or him - Andrey.
“But why shouldn't I say what I saw? After all, others see! And who can convict me of what I saw or did not see? " flashed in Sonya's head.
“Yes, I saw him,” she said.
- How? How is it? Is it standing or lying?
- No, I saw ... That was nothing, suddenly I see that he is lying.
- Is Andrey lying? He is sick? - Natasha asked with frightened fixed eyes looking at her friend.
“No, on the contrary,” on the contrary, a cheerful face, and he turned to me, “and the minute she spoke, it seemed to her herself that she saw what she was saying.
- Well, then, Sonya? ...
- Here I did not consider that something blue and red ...
- Sonya! when will he return? When I see him! My God, how I am afraid for him and for myself, and for everything I am afraid ... - Natasha spoke, and without answering a word to Sonya's consolations, she went to bed and for a long time after they had extinguished the candle, with open eyes, lay motionless on bed and looked at the frosty moonlight through the frozen windows.

Soon after Christmastide, Nikolai announced to his mother his love for Sonya and his firm decision to marry her. The Countess, who had noticed for a long time what was happening between Sonya and Nikolai, and was expecting this explanation, silently listened to his words and told her son that he could marry whoever he wanted; but that neither she nor his father would give him the blessing for such a marriage. For the first time, Nikolai felt that his mother was unhappy with him, that despite all her love for him, she would not yield to him. She, coldly and not looking at her son, sent for her husband; and when he arrived, the countess wanted to briefly and coldly tell him what the matter was in the presence of Nicholas, but could not resist: she wept with tears of annoyance and left the room. The old count began to hesitantly advise Nicholas and ask him to abandon his intention. Nikolai replied that he could not change his word, and the father, sighing and obviously embarrassed, very soon interrupted his speech and went to the countess. In all the clashes with his son, the count did not leave the consciousness of his guilt in front of him for the upsetting of affairs, and therefore he could not be angry with his son for refusing to marry a rich bride and for choosing a dowry Sonya - he only remembered more vividly on this occasion that, if things were not upset, it was impossible for Nikolai to wish for a better wife than Sonya; and that he is the only one guilty of upsetting affairs with his Mitenka and with his irresistible habits.
The father and mother no longer talked about this matter with their son; but a few days after that, the countess called Sonya to her, and with a cruelty that neither one nor the other expected, the countess reproached her niece for enticing her son and for being ungrateful. Sonya, silently with lowered eyes, listened to the countess's cruel words and did not understand what was demanded of her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. The thought of self-sacrifice was her favorite thought; but in this case she could not understand to whom and what she should sacrifice. She could not help but love the Countess and the entire Rostov family, but she could not help but love Nikolai and not know that his happiness depended on this love. She was silent and sad, and did not answer. Nikolai, as it seemed to him, could not bear more than this situation and went to explain himself to his mother. Nikolay either begged his mother to forgive him and Sonya and agree to their marriage, then he threatened his mother that if Sonya were persecuted, he would immediately marry her in secret.
The countess, with a coldness that her son had never seen, answered him that he was an adult, that Prince Andrew would marry without the consent of his father, and that he could do the same, but that she would never recognize this intriguer as her daughter.
Blown up by the word intriguant, Nikolai, raising his voice, told his mother that he never thought that she would force him to sell his feelings, and that if this was so, then he was speaking for the last time ... But he did not have time to say that decisive word, which, judging according to the expression on his face, his mother was waiting with horror and which, perhaps, would forever remain a cruel memory between them. He did not have time to finish, because Natasha, with a pale and serious face, entered the room from the door at which she was eavesdropping.
- Nikolinka, you are talking nonsense, shut up, shut up! I tell you, shut up! .. - she almost shouted to drown out his voice.
“Mom, darling, this is not at all because ... my darling, poor,” she turned to her mother, who, feeling herself on the verge of a break, looked at her son with horror, but, due to stubbornness and enthusiasm for the struggle, did not want and could not give up.
“Nikolinka, I’ll explain it to you, you go away - you listen, my dear mother,” she said to her mother.
Her words were meaningless; but they achieved the result she was aiming for.
The countess hid her face heavily on her daughter's chest, and Nikolai got up, grabbed his head and left the room.
Natasha took up the matter of reconciliation and brought him to the point that Nikolai received a promise from his mother that Sonya would not be oppressed, and he himself made a promise that he would not do anything secretly from his parents.
With the firm intention, having arranged his own affairs in the regiment, retire, come and marry Sonya, Nikolai, sad and serious, at odds with his family, but, as it seemed to him, passionately in love, left for the regiment in early January.
After Nikolai's departure, the Rostovs' house became sadder than ever. The Countess became ill from mental disorder.
Sonya was sad both from the separation from Nikolai and even more from that hostile tone with which the Countess could not help treating her. The count was more than ever concerned about the bad state of affairs, which required some sort of decisive action. It was necessary to sell a Moscow house and a house near Moscow, and to sell a house it was necessary to go to Moscow. But the countess's health forced her to postpone her departure from day to day.

The story teaches how people's lives are reflected in the life of their home, city, how important it is to properly direct their energy.

"100 Years of Solitude" tells, to a greater extent, about the history of one, say, settlement. During these hundred years it was founded, developed, experienced periods of prosperity and decline, it becomes either a city or a village ... people change, buildings are built and destroyed, companies are created and bankrupt. This town of Macondo is inextricably linked with the family of its founders - Buendía.

Their love (Ursula and Jose) gave impetus to creativity. The problem is that the young people were distant relatives, so those around them predicted that because of the mixing of their blood, they would have children, if not completely ugly, then definitely with pig tails. Because of these "prejudices", lovers, even after getting married, still avoided intimacy. Years passed, and people began to laugh at Jose that he was not fulfilling his marital duty. Furious, Jose stabbed one of the offenders and forced Ursula to become his woman. Because of this murder, the young had to move, although the ghost still pursued them.

Jose did not immediately conceive of founding a city; he tried now one thing, then another, where he could direct his irrepressible energy. However, in the end he gathered a community, built roads, houses ... Only the cemetery was not needed, because in the settlement, to everyone's surprise, no one dies. Their life is a little darkened with the appearance of Rebecca, the adopted daughter of Jose and Ursula, people begin to have insomnia, and also an "epidemic" of forgetfulness. Jose is going to heal everyone with the help of the "memory machine", but the gypsy saves everyone with a potion, and Jose promotes the idea of ​​capturing God himself! As a result of unsuccessful attempts, Jose goes mad. By the way, this Rebecca is a very strange girl, she even had a habit of eating earth and lime from the walls.

His son, named after him, is growing, but his energy is directed to women, so he spends his life, spends it on endless adventures. However, he is doomed to a "quiet" family life, which ends with a bullet from his wife.
The second son Jose, on the contrary, is very lethargic, but he becomes a jeweler. At the end of his life, in solitude, he creates fish, literally, gold.

The grown-up children of Jose and Ursula are going through a war that is devastating the "strengthened" town. Buendin's grandson becomes a tyrant in this town, he is greedy and angry. The city is gradually turning into a big hangout. But he too was destroyed by prophecy.

The story teaches that light feelings push towards creation, and dark ones - towards destruction.

Picture or drawing Marquez Gabriel - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

• Summary of the Seven Against Thebes Aeschylus

  King Ethiocles speaks to his subjects in the square. He talks about the danger that threatens his state. The king hopes that the gods will protect Thebes from the enemy. The women are crying. Etiokles encourages men to fight for freedom, and sends women home.

• Summary Mechanic Salerno Zhitkova

  The steamer was heading to America. Already 7 days he was on the road and the same amount he had to sail on the ocean. And on the eighth day at night, the stoker, who turned off the watch and went barefoot to bed, found that the deck was incredibly hot

• Summary of Postoiko Mamin-Sibiryak

  On this day, our dog jumped out to meet his thoroughbred friend. All their meetings ended in a fight. At the same time, they were not inferior to each other, and after such meetings, wounds remained.

• Abramov

  Abramov Fedor Aleksandrovich, an excellent writer, author of many children's books, which not only fell in love with the people, but were also included in the school system of children.

• Summary Panteleev Honest

  One summer a man walked into the garden, and after reading it, did not notice how evening came. He hurried out before the garden was closed, and he heard a noise. Listening, he realized that somewhere in the bushes a child was crying.

The founders of the Buendía clan, José Arcadio and Ursula, were cousins ​​and cousins. The relatives were afraid that they would give birth to a child with a pigtail. Ursula knows about the danger of incestuous marriage, and José Arcadio does not want to take such nonsense into account. Over the course of a year and a half of marriage, Ursula manages to maintain her innocence, the nights of the newlyweds are filled with a painful and fierce struggle, replacing love joys. During cockfighting, the rooster Jose Arcadio defeats the rooster Prudencio Aguilar, and he, annoyed, mocks his rival, questioning his manhood, since Ursula is still a virgin. Angered, José Arcadio goes home for a spear and kills Prudencio, and then, shaking the same spear, forces Ursula to fulfill her marital duties. But from now on there is no rest for them from the bloodied ghost of Aguilar. Deciding to move to a new place of residence, Jose Arcadio, as if sacrificing, kills all his roosters, buries a spear in the courtyard and leaves the village with his wife and villagers. Twenty-two brave men overcome an impregnable mountain range in search of the sea, and after two years of fruitless wanderings, they found the village of Macondo on the banks of the river - that was a prophetic instruction for Jose Arcadio in his dream. And now, in a large clearing, two dozen huts of clay and bamboo grow.

Jose Arcadio burns a passion for knowledge of the world - more than anything else he is attracted by various wonderful things that gypsies who appear once a year bring to the village: bars of a magnet, a magnifying glass, navigation devices; from their leader Melquiades, he learns the secrets of alchemy, torments himself with long vigils and feverish work of an inflamed imagination. Having lost interest in another extravagant undertaking, he returns to a measured working life, together with his neighbors he equips the village, delimits the land, lays roads. Life in Macondo is patriarchal, respectable, happy, there is not even a cemetery here, since no one dies. Ursula starts a lucrative production of animals and birds from candy. But with the appearance in the house of Buendía, who came from nowhere, Rebeca, who becomes his adopted daughter, an epidemic of insomnia begins in Macondo. The inhabitants of the village diligently redo all their affairs and begin to toil with painful idleness. And then another attack falls on Macondo - an epidemic of forgetfulness. Everyone lives in a reality that is constantly eluding them, forgetting the names of objects. They decide to hang signs on them, but they fear that after the lapse of time they will not be able to remember the purpose of the objects.

Jose Arcadio intends to build a memory machine, but the wandering gypsy, the wizarding scientist Melquiades with his healing potion is rescued. According to his prophecy, Macondo will disappear from the face of the earth, and in its place will grow a sparkling city with large houses made of transparent glass, but there will be no trace of the Buendia family in it. José Arcadio does not want to believe this: there will always be Buendías. Melquiades introduces Jose Arcadio to yet another wonderful invention, which is destined to play a fatal role in his fate.

First generation

Jose Arcadio Buendía

The founder of the Buendía family is strong-willed, stubborn and unshakable. Founder of the city of Macondo. He had a deep interest in the structure of the world, sciences, technical innovations and alchemy. José Arcadio Buendía went crazy looking for the Philosopher's Stone and eventually forgot his native language, starting to speak Latin. He was tied to a chestnut tree in the courtyard, where he met his old age in the company of the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, whom he had killed in his youth. Shortly before his death, his wife Ursula removes the ropes from him and frees her husband.

Ursula Iguaran

The wife of José Arcadio Buendía and the mother of the family, who raised most of the members of the clan, right up to the great-great-grandchildren. Firmly and strictly managed the family, earned a large sum of money making candy and rebuilt the house. At the end of her life, Ursula gradually goes blind and dies at the age of about 120 years. But besides the fact that she raised everyone and earned money, including baking bread, Ursula was almost the only family member who had a sound mind, business acumen, the ability to survive in any situation, rallying everyone and boundless kindness. If not for her, who was the core of the whole family, it is not known how and where the life of the family would turn.

Second generation

Jose Arcadio

Jose Arcadio is the eldest son of Jose Arcadio Buendía and Ursula, who inherited his stubbornness and impulsiveness from his father. When the gypsies come to Macondo, a woman from the camp who sees the naked body of Jose Arcadio exclaims that she has never seen such a large male penis like Jose's. The friend of the family, Pilar Turner, becomes the mistress of Jose Arcadio, who becomes pregnant with him. Ultimately, he leaves the family and goes after the gypsies. José Arcadio returns after many years, during which he was a sailor and made several round-the-world voyages. Jose Arcadio has become a strong and sullen man, whose body is covered with tattoos from head to toe. Upon his return, he immediately marries a distant relative, Rebeca (who was brought up in his parents' house, and had time to grow up while he sailed the oceans), but for this he is expelled from the Buendía house. He lives on the outskirts of the city near the cemetery, and, thanks to the machinations of his son - Arcadio, is the owner of all the land in Macondo. During the seizure of the city by the conservatives, Jose Arcadio saves his brother, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, from being shot, but soon he himself mysteriously dies.

Colombian Civil War soldiers

Colonel Aureliano Buendía

Second son of José Arcadio Buendía and Ursula. Aureliano often cried in the womb and was born with open eyes. From childhood, his predisposition to intuition manifested itself, he accurately felt the approach of danger and important events. Aureliano inherited thoughtfulness and a philosophical nature from his father, studied jewelry. He married the young daughter of the Mayor of Macondo - Remedios, but she died before reaching the age of majority. After the outbreak of the civil war, the colonel joined the Liberal Party and rose to the post of commander-in-chief of the revolutionary forces of the Atlantic coast, but refused to accept the rank of general until the overthrow of the Conservative party. Over the course of two decades, he raised 32 armed uprisings and lost all of them. Having lost all interest in the war, in the year he signed the Neerlandic Peace Treaty and shot himself in the chest, but miraculously survived. After that, the Colonel returns to his home in Macondo. From his brother's mistress, Pilar Ternera, he had a son, Aureliano José, and from 17 other women who were brought to him during military campaigns, 17 sons. In his old age, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was involved in the mindless manufacture of goldfish and died while urinating by the tree under which his father José Arcadio Buendía had been bound for many years.

Amaranta

Third child of José Arcadio Buendía and Ursula. Amaranta grows up with her second cousin Rebeca, they simultaneously fall in love with Italian Pietro Crespi, who reciprocates Rebeca, and since then she has become Amaranta's worst enemy. In moments of hatred, Amaranth even tries to poison her rival. After Rebeca marries Jose Arcadio, she loses all interest in the Italian. Later, Amaranta also rejects Colonel Gerineldo Márquez, remaining in the end an old maid. The nephew of Aureliano José and the great-nephew of José Arcadio were in love with her and dreamed of having sex with her. But Amaranta dies a virgin at a ripe old age, exactly as the gypsy predicted to her - after she finished embroidering the burial shroud.

Rebeca

Rebeca is an orphan who was adopted by José Arcadio Buendía and Ursula. Rebeca came to the Buendía family at the age of about 10 with a sack containing the bones of her parents, who were first cousins ​​of Ursula. At first, the girl was extremely timid, hardly spoke and had the habit of eating dirt and lime from the walls of the house, as well as sucking her thumb. As Rebeca grows up, her beauty captivates the Italian Pietro Crespi, but their wedding is constantly postponed due to many mourning. As a result, this love makes her and Amaranta, who is also in love with the Italian, bitter enemies. After José Arcadio's return, Rebeca defies Ursula's wishes to marry him. For this, a couple in love is expelled from the house. After the death of Jose Arcadio, Rebeca, embittered by the whole world, locks herself in a house alone under the care of her maid. Later, 17 sons of Colonel Aureliano try to renovate Rebeca's house, but they only manage to renew the facade, they do not open the front door. Rebeca dies at a ripe old age, with her finger in her mouth.

Third generation

Arcadio

Arcadio is the illegitimate son of José Arcadio and Pilar Turner. He is a school teacher, but takes over the leadership of Macondo at the request of Colonel Aureliano when he leaves the city. Becomes an oppressive dictator. Arcadio is trying to uproot the church, and persecution of the conservatives living in the city begins (in particular, Don Apolinar Moscote). When he tries to execute Apolinar for a malicious remark, Ursula whips him and seizes power in the city. Having received information that the forces of the Conservatives are returning, Arcadio decides to fight them with the forces that are in the city. After the defeat of the liberal forces, he was executed by the conservatives.

Aureliano Jose

The illegitimate son of Colonel Aureliano and Pilar Ternera. Unlike his cousin Arcadio, he knew the secret of his origin and communicated with his mother. He was raised by his aunt, Amaranta, with whom he was in love, but could not achieve it. At one time he accompanied his father on his campaigns, participated in hostilities. Returning to Macondo, he was killed as a result of disobedience to the authorities.

Other sons of Colonel Aureliano

Colonel Aureliano had 17 sons from 17 different women, who were sent to him during his campaigns "to improve the breed." All of them bore the name of their father (but had different nicknames), were baptized by their grandmother, Ursula, but were brought up by their mothers. For the first time, they all gathered together in Macondo, having learned about the anniversary of Colonel Aureliano. Subsequently, four of them - Aureliano Sad, Aureliano Rzhanoy, and two others - lived and worked in Macondo. 16 sons were killed in one night as a result of government intrigues against Colonel Aureliano. The only brother who managed to escape is Aureliano Lovers. He hid for a long time, in extreme old age he asked for asylum from one of the last representatives of the Buendia family - Jose Arcadio and Aureliano - but they refused him, because they did not find out. After that, he was killed too. All the brothers were shot at the ashen crosses on their foreheads, which Padre Antonio Isabel had painted for them, and which they could not wash off until the end of their lives.

One of the world classics that we studied in school is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez, a Colombian writer who created his works in the style of the Roman was released in 1967. In order to publish it, the writer had to collect money, as they say, from the whole world. The novel meets reality and fiction. The author raises the issue of human relationships, the topic of incest and deep loneliness. So, a summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Marquez.

The novel in brief

Summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude": almost all the events described in the novel take place in a town called Macondo (fictional city). But for all the unreality of the city, the whole story is filled with very real events that took place in Colombia. The town was founded by Buendía José Arcadio, who was a determined, impulsive and strong-willed man, a leader by nature. He was very interested in the secrets of the universe, which were revealed to him by visiting gypsies, among whom Melquiades stands out. Over time, the city begins to grow, and the Colombian government shows interest in the settlement and sends in a new mayor. Buendía José Arcadio lures the sent alcados to his side, thus leaving the management of the city to himself.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude": a summary and further development of events

The country is struck by a civil war, in which the population of Macondo is drawn. Jose Arcadio's son, Colonel Buendia Aureliano, gathers volunteers in the city and leaves with them to fight the conservative regime prevailing in the country. While the colonel takes an active part in the war, his nephew (also Arcadio, like the founder of the city) takes the reins into his own hands. But at the same time, he becomes a rather cruel dictator. So cruel that eight months later, when the city was taken over by the Conservatives, it would be shot without any doubts or regrets.

Summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude". War and after it

The war drags on for several decades, dying down and flaring up again. The colonel, who is tired of the eternal state of war, decides to conclude with the opponents. After signing the "world", he returns to where at the same time arrives and a banana company with a large number of foreigners and migrants. The city finally begins to flourish, and the new ruler, Aureliano Segundo, begins to rapidly grow rich, raising livestock. The cattle simply rapidly, even magically multiplies, as the author hints, thanks to the connection between the ruler and his mistress. Some time later, a workers' strike takes place, the army shoots the strikers and, having loaded the bodies into wagons, dumps them into the abyss of the sea. This event was called the banana massacre.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez. Ending

novel

After the strike, a prolonged rain begins over the city, which lasted for almost five years. During this time, the penultimate representative of the Buendia family, Aureliano Babylonia, was born. At the end of the rain, at the age of one hundred and twenty years, the wife of the founder of the city, Ursula, dies. After that, the city becomes abandoned. Livestock will not be born, buildings are destroyed and simply overgrown.

Babylonia is left alone, studying the parchments left by Melquiades, but then abandons them for a while because of an affair with her aunt. During childbirth, she dies, and a son born with a pig's tail is eaten by ants. Aureliano deciphers the parchments, and a tornado has come to the city. When the decryption ends, the city disappears from the face of the earth.

Finally

This is it, a summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude." In fact, each character in the novel remains lonely for the rest of his life, not receiving satisfaction and positive results from his actions, and cruelty, greed and connections with a touch of incest only exacerbate the already not very healthy emotional and moral character of people.