The main character of Turgenev's novel is a noble nest. The story is deeply personal and tragic, the main characters of the novel "Noble's Nest"

Having just published the novel "Rudin" in the January and February books of "Sovremennik" for 1856, Turgenev conceives a new novel. On the cover of the first autographed notebook of the "Noble Nest" it is written: "Noble Nest", a story by Ivan Turgenev, conceived at the beginning of 1856; for a long time he did not take up her for a long time, kept turning her around in his head; began to develop it in the summer of 1858 in Spassky. It ended on Monday, October 27, 1858 in Spasskoye. " The last corrections were made by the author in mid-December 1858, and in the January book of Sovremennik for 1959, The Noble Nest was published. In terms of its general mood, The Noble Nest seems to be very far from Turgenev's first novel. In the center of the work is a deeply personal and tragic story, the love story of Liza and Lavretsky. The heroes meet, they develop sympathy for each other, then love, they are afraid to admit this to themselves, because Lavretsky is bound by marriage. In a short time, Liza and Lavretsky experience both hope for happiness and despair - with the knowledge of its impossibility. The heroes of the novel are looking for answers, first of all, to the questions that their fate puts before them - about personal happiness, about duty to loved ones, about self-denial, about their place in life. In Turgenev's first novel, there was a spirit of discussion. The heroes of "Rudin" were solving philosophical questions, the truth was born in their dispute.
The heroes of The Noble Nest are reserved and laconic, Liza is one of the most silent Turgenev heroines. But the inner life of the heroes proceeds no less intensely, and the work of thought is carried on tirelessly in search of truth - only almost without words. They scrutinize, listen attentively, reflect on the life that surrounds them and their own, with a desire to understand it. Lavretsky in Vasilievsky "seemed to listen to the flow of quiet life that surrounded him." And at the decisive moment Lavretsky again and again "began to look into his life." Poetry of contemplation of life emanates from the "Noble nest". Undoubtedly, the tone of this Turgenev novel was influenced by the personal moods of Turgenev in 1856-1858. Turgenev's pondering of the novel coincided with the moment of a turning point in his life, with a mental crisis. Turgenev was then about forty years old. But it is known that the feeling of aging came to him very early, and now he is already saying that “not only the first and second - the third youth have passed”. He has a sad consciousness that life has not worked out, that it is too late to count on happiness for himself, that the “time of flowering” has passed. Far from his beloved woman - Pauline Viardot - there is no happiness, but existence near her family, in his words, “on the edge of someone else’s nest,” in a foreign land is painful. Turgenev's own tragic perception of love was also reflected in the Noble Nest. Added to this are reflections on the writer's fate. Turgenev reproaches himself for the unreasonable waste of time, lack of professionalism. Hence the author's irony in relation to Panshin's amateurism in the novel - this was preceded by a period of harsh condemnation of himself by Turgenev. The questions that worried Turgenev in 1856-1858 predetermined the range of problems posed in the novel, but there they manifest themselves, naturally, in a different angle. “I am now busy with another, great story, the main face of which is a girl, a religious being, I was brought to this face by observations of Russian life,” he wrote to EE Lambert on December 22, 1857 from Rome. In general, questions of religion were far from Turgenev. Neither mental crisis nor moral quest led him to faith, did not make him deeply religious, he comes to portraying a “religious being” in a different way, the urgent need to comprehend this phenomenon of Russian life is associated with solving a wider range of issues.
In the "Noble nest" Turgenev is interested in topical issues of modern life, here he comes right upstream of the river to its sources. Therefore, the heroes of the novel are shown with their “roots”, with the soil on which they grew up. Chapter thirty-five begins with Lisa's upbringing. The girl had no spiritual closeness either with her parents or with the French governess; she was brought up, like Pushkin's Tatyana, under the influence of her nanny, Agafya. The story of Agafya, twice in her life marked by lordly attention, twice endured disgrace and resigned to fate, could make up a whole story. The author introduced Agafya's story on the advice of the critic Annenkov - otherwise, in the latter's opinion, the end of the novel, Liza's departure to the monastery, was incomprehensible. Turgenev showed how, under the influence of Agafya's severe asceticism and the peculiar poetry of her speeches, Liza's strict mental world was formed. Agafya's religious humility brought up in Liza the beginning of forgiveness, obedience to fate and self-denial of happiness.
In the image of Lisa, freedom of view, the breadth of perception of life, the veracity of her image were manifested. To the author himself, by nature, nothing was more alien than religious self-denial, the rejection of human joys. Turgenev had an inherent ability to enjoy life in its most diverse manifestations. He subtly feels the beauty, feels joy from the natural beauty of nature, and from the exquisite creations of art. But most of all he was able to feel and convey the beauty of the human person, albeit not close to him, but whole and perfect. And that's why the image of Liza is fanned with such tenderness. Like Pushkin's Tatyana, Liza is one of those heroines of Russian literature who find it easier to give up happiness than to inflict suffering on another person. Lavretsky is a man with roots dating back to the past. No wonder his genealogy was told from the beginning - from the 15th century. But Lavretsky is not only a hereditary nobleman, he is also the son of a peasant woman. He never forgets this, he feels "peasant" features in himself, and those around him are surprised at his extraordinary physical strength. Marfa Timofeevna, Liza's aunt, admired his heroism, and Liza's mother, Marya Dmitrievna, blamed the lack of sophisticated manners in Lavretsky. The hero is close to the people both by origin and personal qualities. But at the same time, Voltaire, his father's Anglomancy, and Russian university education also influenced the formation of his personality. Even Lavretsky's physical strength is not only natural, but also the fruit of the upbringing of a Swiss tutor.
In this expanded prehistory of Lavretsky, the author is interested not only in the hero's ancestors, the story of several generations of the Lavretskys reflects the complexity of Russian life, the Russian historical process. The dispute between Panshin and Lavretsky is profoundly significant. It appears in the evening, at the hours preceding the explanation of Liza and Lavretsky. And it is not for nothing that this dispute is woven into the most lyrical pages of the novel. For Turgenev, personal destinies, the moral quest of his heroes and their organic closeness to the people, their attitude towards them on an “equal” basis are merged here.
Lavretsky proved to Panshin the impossibility of leaps and haughty alterations from the heights of bureaucratic self-consciousness - alterations that were not justified either by knowledge of their native land, or indeed by faith in an ideal, even a negative one; cited his own upbringing as an example, demanded, first of all, the recognition of "the people's truth and humility before it ...". And he is looking for this popular truth. He does not accept with his soul the religious self-denial of Liza, does not turn to faith as a consolation, but is experiencing a moral turning point. Lavretsky's meeting with his university friend Mihalevich, who reproached him for selfishness and laziness, was not in vain for Lavretsky either. Renunciation still occurs, although not religious, - Lavretsky "really stopped thinking about his own happiness, about selfish goals." His introduction to the truth of the people is accomplished through the rejection of selfish desires and tireless work, giving the peace of the fulfilled duty.
The novel brought Turgenev popularity in the widest circles of readers. According to Annenkov, “young writers starting their careers, one after another, came to him, brought their works and awaited his verdict ...”. Turgenev himself recalled twenty years after the novel: "The Noble Nest" had the greatest success that ever fell to my lot. Since the appearance of this novel, I began to be considered among the writers who deserve the attention of the public ”

The first mention of the novel "Noble Nest" found in the letter of I.S.Turgenev to the publisher I.I.Panaev in October 1856. Ivan Sergeevich planned to finish the work by the end of the year, but did not realize his plan. Throughout the winter, the writer was seriously ill, and then destroyed the first sketches and began to come up with a new plot. Perhaps the final text of the novel differs significantly from the initial one. In December 1858, the author made the last edits to the manuscript. The Noble Nest was first published in the January issue of the Sovremennik magazine in 1859.

The novel made a huge impression on Russian society. He immediately became so popular that not reading "The Noble's Nest" was considered almost bad form. Even Turgenev admitted that the work was a very big success.

The novel is based on the writer's reflections on the fate of the best representatives of the Russian nobility. The author himself belonged to this class and understood perfectly well that "Noble nests" with their atmosphere of sublime experiences gradually degenerate. It is no coincidence that Turgenev cites the genealogies of the main characters in the novel. Using their example, the writer shows that in different historical periods there were significant changes in the noble psychology: from "Wild nobility" to admiration for all alien. The great-grandfather of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky is a cruel tyrant, his grandfather is a careless and hospitable hater of Voltaire, his father is an Anglomaniac.

Nest like homeland symbol, abandoned by its inhabitants. The writer's contemporaries prefer to spend time abroad, speak French, and thoughtlessly adopt other people's traditions. Lavretsky's aged aunt, obsessed with the style of Louis XV, looks tragic and caricatured. The fate of Fyodor himself is unhappy, whose childhood was mutilated by a foreign "Education system"... The generally accepted practice of entrusting children to nannies, governesses, or even giving them to someone else's family, breaks the link between generations, deprives them of their roots. Those who manage to settle in the old ancestral "Nest", most often lead a sleepy existence filled with gossip, playing music and cards.

Such a different attitude of the mothers of Liza and Lavretsky to their children is not accidental. Marya Dmitrievna is indifferent to raising her daughters. Liza is closer to the nanny Agafya and the music teacher. It is these people who influence the formation of the girl's personality. And here is the peasant Malasha (mother of Fedor) "Quietly fades away" after she is deprived of the opportunity to raise her son.

Compositionally the novel "A Noble Nest" is built in a straightforward manner. Its basis is the story of the unhappy love of Fedor and Liza. The collapse of their hopes, the impossibility of personal happiness echoes the social collapse of the nobility as a whole.

The main character novel Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky has many similarities with Turgenev himself. He is honest, sincerely loves his homeland, looking for a rational use of his abilities. Raised by a power-hungry and cruel aunt, and then by a peculiar "Spartan system" father, he acquired good health and a stern look, but a kind and shy character. Lavretsky finds it difficult to communicate. He himself feels the gaps in his upbringing and education, therefore he seeks to correct them.

The calculating Varvara sees in Lavretsky only a stupid bump, whose wealth is easy to take possession of. The sincerity and purity of the hero's first real feelings are broken against the betrayal of his wife. As a result, Fedor ceases to trust people, despises women, considers himself unworthy of true love. Having met Lisa Kalitina, he does not immediately dare to believe in the purity and nobility of the girl. But, having recognized her soul, he believed and fell in love for the rest of his life.

Lisa's character was formed under the influence of a nanny from the Old Believers. A girl from childhood was anxious about religion, "The image of the omnipresent, all-knowing God with some sweet power was pressed into her soul"... However, Lisa behaves too independently and openly for her time. In the nineteenth century, girls who sought to successfully marry were much more agreeable than Turgenev's heroine.

Before meeting Lavretsky, Liza did not often think about her fate. The official groom Panshin did not cause much rejection from the girl. After all, the main thing, in her opinion, is to honestly fulfill her duty to her family and society. This is the happiness of every person.

The culmination of the novel is the dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin about the people and the subsequent scene of Liza's explanation with Fyodor. In a male conflict, Panshin expresses the opinion of an official with pro-Western views, and Lavretsky speaks from positions close to Slavophilism. It is during this dispute that Lisa realizes how consonant her thoughts and judgments are with Lavretsky's views, realizes her love for him.

Among the "Turgenev girls" the image of Lisa Kalitina- one of the brightest and most poetic. Her decision to become a nun is based not only on religiosity. Lisa cannot live contrary to her moral principles. In this situation, for a woman of her circle and spiritual development, there was simply no other way out. Lisa sacrifices personal happiness and the happiness of a loved one, because she cannot act "not right".

In addition to the main characters, Turgenev created in the novel a gallery of vivid images that reflect the noble environment in all its diversity. There is a lover of state money, a retired general Korobyin, an old gossip Gedeonovsky, a clever dandy Panshin and many other heroes of provincial society.

There are also representatives of the people in the novel. Unlike masters, serfs and poor people are portrayed by Turgenev with sympathy and sympathy. The ruined fates of Malasha and Agafya, Lemma's talent, which was never revealed due to poverty, and many other victims of the master's tyranny prove that history "Noble nests" far from perfect. And the main reason for the ongoing social decay, the writer considers serfdom, which corrupts some and reduces others to the level of a wordless creature, but cripples everyone.

The state of the heroes is very subtly conveyed through pictures of nature, speech intonations, glances, pauses in conversations. By these means, Turgenev achieves amazing grace in describing emotional experiences, soft and exciting lyricism. “I was shocked ... by the light poetry, poured in every sound of this novel,” Saltykov-Shchedrin said about the “Noble Nest”.

Artistic skill and philosophical depth provided Turgenev's first major work with outstanding success for all time.

The main character of the novel is Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, a nobleman who has many of the features of Turgenev himself. Raised far from his father's home, the son of an Anglophile father and a mother who died in his early childhood, Lavretsky is brought up on a family country estate by a cruel aunt. Often, critics looked for the basis for this part of the plot in the childhood of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev himself, who was raised by his mother, known for her cruelty.

Lavretsky continues his education in Moscow, and while visiting the opera, he notices a beautiful girl in one of the boxes. Her name is Varvara Pavlovna, and now Fyodor Lavretsky declares his love to her and asks for her hand in marriage. The couple marries and the newlyweds move to Paris. There Varvara Pavlovna becomes a very popular owner of the salon and starts an affair with one of her regular guests. Lavretsky learns about his wife's romance with another only at the moment when he accidentally reads a note written from his lover to Varvara Pavlovna. Shocked by the betrayal of a loved one, he breaks off all contacts with her and returns to his family estate, where he was raised.

Upon returning home to Russia, Lavretsky visits his cousin, Maria Dmitrievna Kalitina, who lives with her two daughters, Liza and Lenochka. Lavretsky immediately becomes interested in Liza, whose serious nature and sincere devotion to the Orthodox faith give her great moral superiority, strikingly different from the flirtatious behavior of Varvara Pavlovna, to which Lavretsky is so accustomed. Gradually, Lavretsky realizes that he is deeply in love with Lisa and, having read a message in a foreign magazine that Varvara Pavlovna has died, declares his love to Lisa. He learns that his feelings are not unrequited - Lisa also loves him.

Learning about the sudden appearance of the living Varvara Pavlovna, Liza decides to go to a remote monastery and lives the rest of her days in monasticism. The novel ends with an epilogue, which takes place eight years later, from which it also becomes known that Lavretsky is returning to Lisa's house, where her grown-up sister Elena has settled. There, after the past years, despite many changes in the house, he sees the living room, where he often met his girlfriend, sees the piano and the garden in front of the house, which he remembered so much because of his communication with Lisa. Lavretsky lives with his memories and sees a certain meaning and even beauty in his personal tragedy. After his thoughts, the hero goes back to his home.

Later, Lavretsky visits Liza in the monastery, seeing her in those short moments when she appears for moments between services.

"Noble nest" - "story" by I.S. Turgenev. This work had, according to the author, "the greatest success that ever fell to his lot."

History of creation

The idea of ​​the "Noble Nest" arose at the beginning of 1856, but the real work on the work began in mid-June 1858 in Spassky, the writer's family estate, and continued until the end of October of the same year. In mid-December, Turgenev made the last amendments to the text of the "story" before its publication. For the first time "A noble nest" was published in the "Sovremennik" magazine for 1859 (No. 1). The last lifetime (authorized) edition, considered as a canonical text, was published in 1880 in St. Petersburg by the heirs of the Salaev brothers.

The creation of the "Noble Nest" was preceded by a difficult stage in Turgenev's personal life, and in public - a period of preparation for profound social changes in Russia. In August 1856, the writer left his homeland and lived abroad for almost two years. Then there was an actual rupture of his long-term relationship with Pauline Viardot. The writer tragically experienced loneliness and restlessness; I was acutely aware of my inability to start a family and firmly gain a foothold in life. To this agonizing state were added physical ailments, and then a feeling of creative impotence, exhausting spiritual emptiness. In the life of Turgenev, a sharp age change occurred, which he experienced as the onset of old age; such a dear past was crumbling, and there seemed to be no hope ahead.

Russian public life was also in a crisis stage. The death of Nicholas I, defeat in the Crimean War shocked Russia. It became clear that it was no longer possible to live in the old way. The government of Alexander II faced the need to reform many aspects of life and, first of all, the need to abolish serfdom. Inevitably, the question of the role of the noble intelligentsia in the life of the country came to the fore with all the acuteness. This and other topical problems were discussed by Turgenev in his overseas stay in conversations with V. Botkin, P. Annenkov, A.I. Herzen - contemporaries who personified the thought and spirit of the century. A double crisis: personal and social, was expressed in the problems and collisions of The Noble Nest, although formally the action of the work is attributed to another era - the spring and summer of 1842, and the prehistory of the protagonist Fyodor Lavretsky - even to the 1830s. The work on the work was for Turgenev the process of eliminating personal drama, parting with the past and gaining new values.

Genre "Nest of Nobility"

On the title page of the autograph of the work, Turgenev designated the genre of the work: a story. In fact, "Noble Nest" is one of the first socio-philosophical novels in the writer's work, in which the fate of an individual is closely intertwined with national and social life. However, the formation of a large epic form took place in Turgenev's artistic system precisely through the story. "The Noble Nest" is surrounded by such stories as "Correspondence" (1854), "Faust" (1856), "Trains in Polesie" (1857), "Asya" (1858), in which defined the type of hero characteristic of the writer: an intellectual nobleman who values ​​the rights of his personality and, at the same time, is not alien to the consciousness of duty to society. Such kind of heroes, writes V.A. Nedzvetsky, - are obsessed with a longing for absolute values, a thirst for life in unity with the universal and universal. They do not so much stay in relations with real contemporaries as face to face such eternal and endless elements of life, such as nature, beauty, art, youth, death, and above all, love. They strive to find in their concrete life the fullness of endless love, which predetermines their tragic fate. Passing through the test of life and love, the hero of the stories comprehends the law of the tragic consequences of high human aspirations and is convinced that for a person there is only one way out - a sacrificial renunciation of his best hopes.

This philosophical and psychological level of conflict, developed in the genre of the story, is an essential component in the structure of Turgenev's novel, complemented by a conflict of a socio-historical nature. In the genre of the novel, the writer eliminates the direct lyrical way of narration (most of his stories are written in the first person), sets the task of creating a generalized picture of objective existence in its many components, and places the hero with a traditional complex of individual and personal problems in the wide world of social and national life.

The meaning of the name "Noble nest"

The title of the novel uses one of the symbolic leitmotifs of Turgenev's work. The image of the nest is deeply connected with the problems of the work, the main character of which is focused on personal happiness, love, family. In Lavretsky, the "instinct of happiness" is so strong that even having experienced the first blow of fate, he finds strength for a second attempt. But happiness is not given to the hero, the prophetic words of his aunt come true: "... You can't build nests anywhere, you wander forever." Liza Kalitina seems to know in advance that happiness is impossible. In her decision to leave the world, the "secret sacrifice for all", love for God, repentance for her "illegal" heart drives and a kind of search for such a "nest" in which she will not be a toy of the dark forces of being, are difficult to intertwine. The motive of the "nest", being the starting point in the development of the plot, expands its content to a universal generalization of the noble culture as a whole, merging in its best possibilities with the national culture. For Turgenev, the personality of a person is as artistically comprehensible as it can be inscribed in the image of a particular culture (this is the basis for the distribution of the heroes of the novel into different groups and clans). The work contains the living world of a noble estate with its characteristic everyday and natural way of life, habitual activities and established traditions. However, Turgenev sensitively senses the discontinuity of Russian history, the absence in it of an organic "connection of times" as a feature of the national spirit. The meaning, once acquired, is not retained and is not transmitted from generation to generation. At each stage, you need to look for your goal anew, as if for the first time. The energy of this eternal spiritual anxiety is realized primarily in the musicality of the novel's language. The elegy novel, "The Noble Nest" is perceived as Turgenev's farewell to the old noble Russia on the eve of the impending new historical stage - the 60s.

Many wonderful works were written by the famous Russian writer I. S. Turgenev, "The Noble Nest" is one of the best.

In the novel "Noble Nest" Turgenev describes the customs and customs of the life of the Russian nobility, their interests and hobbies.

The main character of the work, the nobleman Lavretsky Fyodor Ivanovich, was brought up in the family of his aunt Glafira. Fedor's mother, a former maid, died when the boy was very young. My father lived abroad. When Fyodor was twelve years old, the father returns home and himself is engaged in raising his son.

The novel "Noble Nest", a summary of the work give us the opportunity to find out what kind of home education and upbringing children received in noble families. Fedor was taught many sciences. His upbringing was harsh: early in the morning he was woken up, fed once a day, taught to ride a horse and shoot. When his father died, Lavretsky went to study in Moscow. He was then 23 years old.

The novel "Noble Nest", a summary of this work will allow us to learn about the hobbies and passions of the young noblemen of Russia. During one of his visits to the theater, Fedor saw a beautiful girl in the box - Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina. A friend introduces him to the beauty's family. Varenka was smart, sweet, educated.

Studying at the university was abandoned due to Fedor's marriage to Varvara. The young spouses move to St. Petersburg. There their son is born and soon dies. On the advice of a doctor, the Lavretskys went to live in Paris. Soon, the enterprising Varvara becomes the owner of a popular salon and has an affair with one of her visitors. Learning about accidentally reading the love note of her chosen one, Lavretsky breaks off all relations with her and returns to his estate.

Once he visited his cousin, Kalitina Maria Dmitrievna, who lives with her two daughters, Liza and Lena. The eldest - pious Liza - interested Fedor, and soon he realized that his feelings for this girl were serious. Liza had an admirer, a certain Panshin, whom she did not love, but on the advice of her mother did not repulse.

In one of the French magazines, Lavretsky read that his wife had died. Fedor declares his love to Lisa and finds out that his love is mutual.

The happiness of the young man knew no bounds. Finally, he met the girl of his dreams: gentle, charming and also serious. But when he returned home, Barbara, alive and unharmed, was waiting for him in the foyer. She tearfully begged her husband to forgive her at least for the sake of their daughter Ada. Scandalously famous in Paris, the beauty Varenka was in great need of money, since her salon no longer gave her the income necessary for a luxurious life.

Lavretsky appoints her an annual allowance and allows her to settle on his estate, but refuses to live with her. The clever and resourceful Varvara talked with Liza and convinced the devout and meek girl to abandon Fyodor. Lisa convinces Lavretsky not to leave her family. He settles the family on his estate, and he himself leaves for Moscow.

Deeply disappointed in her unfulfilled hopes, Lisa breaks off all relations with the secular world and goes to a monastery to find there the meaning of life in suffering and prayer. Lavretsky visits her in the monastery, but the girl does not even look at him. Her feelings were betrayed only by trembling eyelashes.

And Varenka went to Petersburg again, and then to Paris to continue her cheerful and carefree life there. "The Noble's Nest", a summary of the novel reminds us how much place in a person's soul is occupied by his feelings, especially love.

Eight years later, Lavretsky visits the house where he once met Lisa. Fyodor again plunged into the atmosphere of the past - the same garden outside the window, the same piano in the living room. After returning home, he lived for a long time with sad memories of his failed love.

"Noble Nest", a summary of the work allowed us to touch some of the peculiarities of the lifestyle and customs of the Russian nobility of the 19th century.