The best literary characters. Heroes of Russian Literature

Russian literature has given us a cavalcade of both positive and negative characters. We decided to recall the second group. Spoiler alert.

20. Alexey Molchalin (Alexander Griboyedov, "Woe from Wit")

Molchalin - the hero "about nothing", the secretary of Famusov. He is faithful to the behest of his father: "to please all people without exception - the owner, the boss, his servant, the janitor's dog."

In a conversation with Chatsky, he expounds his life principles, which are that "in my age you should not dare to have your own judgment."

Molchalin is sure that you need to think and act as is customary in the "Famus" society, otherwise they will gossip about you, and, as you know, "evil tongues are worse than pistols."

He despises Sophia, but is ready, for the sake of pleasing Famusov, to sit with her all night long, playing the role of a lover.

19. Grushnitsky (Mikhail Lermontov, "A Hero of Our Time")

Grushnitsky has no name in Lermontov's story. He is the "double" of the main character - Pechorin. According to Lermontov's description, Grushnitsky is “... one of those people who have ready-made pompous phrases for all occasions, who are simply not touched by the beautiful and who are importantly draped into extraordinary feelings, lofty passions and exceptional suffering. To produce an effect is their pleasure ... ”.

Grushnitsky is very fond of pathos. There is not an ounce of sincerity in him. Grushnitsky is in love with Princess Mary, and at first she answers him with special attention, but then falls in love with Pechorin.

The case ends in a duel. Grushnitsky is so low that he conspires with friends and they do not load Pechorin's pistol. The hero cannot forgive such blatant meanness. He reloads the pistol and kills Grushnitsky.

18. Afanasy Totsky (Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot)

Afanasy Totsky, having taken Nastya Barashkova, the daughter of a deceased neighbor, into the upbringing and maintenance, eventually "became close to her," developing a suicidal complex in the girl and indirectly becoming one of the culprits of her death.

Extremely greedy for the female sex, at the age of 55, Totsky decided to link his life with the daughter of General Epanchin Alexandra, deciding to marry Nastasya for Ganya Ivolgin. However, neither the one nor the other did not work out. As a result, Totsky "was captivated by one visiting French woman, a marquess and a Legitimist."

17. Alena Ivanovna (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment")

The old woman pawnbroker is a character who has become a household name. Even those who have not read Dostoevsky's novel have heard of her. Alena Ivanovna is not that old by today's standards, she is “60 years old”, but the author describes her as follows: “... a dry old woman with keen and evil eyes with a small pointed nose ... Her blond, slightly gray hair was greased with oil. On her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg, there was some kind of flannel rags… ”.

The old woman pawnbroker is engaged in usury and profits from the grief of the people. She takes valuable things at huge interest rates, treats her younger sister Lizaveta, beats her.

16. Arkady Svidrigailov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment")

Svidrigailov is one of Raskolnikov's doubles in Dostoevsky's novel, a widower, at one time he was ransomed by his wife from prison, he lived in the village for 7 years. A cynical and depraved person. He is responsible for the suicide of a servant, a 14-year-old girl, possibly the poisoning of his wife.

Due to the harassment of Svidrigailov, Raskolnikov's sister lost her job. Learning that Raskolnikov is a murderer, Luzhin blackmails Dunya. The girl shoots at Svidrigailov and misses.

Svidrigailov is an ideological scoundrel, he does not experience moral torment and experiences "world boredom", eternity seems to him "a bathhouse with spiders." As a result, he commits suicide with a shot from a revolver.

15. Kabanikha (Alexander Ostrovsky, "The Thunderstorm")

In the image of Kabanikha, one of the central characters in the play The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky reflected the departing patriarchal, strict archaism. Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna, - "a rich merchant's wife, widow", mother-in-law of Katerina, mother of Tikhon and Varvara.

The boar is very domineering and strong, she is religious, but more outwardly, since she does not believe in either forgiveness or mercy. She is as practical as possible and lives by earthly interests.

Kabanikha is sure that the family way of life can be maintained only on fear and orders: "After all, parents are strict with you from love, they scold you because of love, everyone thinks to teach good." She perceives the departure of the old order as a personal tragedy: “This is how the old man is withdrawn… What will happen, how the elders will die,… I don’t know”.

14. Lady (Ivan Turgenev, "Mumu")

We all know the sad story about the fact that Gerasim drowned Mumu, but not everyone remembers why he did it, and he did it because the tyrannical lady ordered him to do so.

The same landowner had previously betrayed the washerwoman Tatiana, in whom Gerasim was in love, for the drunkard shoemaker Kapiton, which ruined both of them.
The lady, at her discretion, decides the fate of her serfs, in no way taking into account their wishes, and sometimes even with common sense.

13. Lackey Yasha (Anton Chekhov, "The Cherry Orchard")

The lackey Yasha in Anton Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" is an unpleasant character. He openly adores everything foreign, while he is extremely ignorant, rude and even boorish. When his mother comes to him from the village and waits for him all day in the room, Yasha dismissively declares: "It is very necessary, she could come tomorrow as well."

Yasha tries to behave decently in public, tries to seem educated and well-mannered, but at the same time, alone with Firs, he says to the old man: “You are tired, grandfather. If only you would die as soon as possible.

Yasha is very proud to have lived abroad. With a foreign veneer, he wins the heart of the maid Dunyasha, but takes advantage of her location for his own benefit. After the sale of the estate, the footman persuades Ranevskaya to take him back to Paris with her. It is impossible for him to remain in Russia: "the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, moreover, boredom ...".

12. Pavel Smerdyakov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov)

Smerdyakov is a character with a speaking surname, according to rumors, the illegitimate son of Fyodor Karrmazov from the city fool Lizaveta the Smerdishchaya. The surname Smerdyakov was given to him by Fyodor Pavlovich in honor of his mother.

Smerdyakov serves as a cook in the house of Karamazov, while he cooks, apparently, well. However, this is a "man with foulbrood". At least Smerdyakov's reasoning about history testifies to this: “In the twelfth year there was a great invasion of the Emperor Napoleon of France the first, and it’s good, if we were then conquered by these very French, an intelligent nation would have conquered a very stupid one, sir and annexed it. There would even be completely different orders. "

Smerdyakov is the killer of Karamazov the father.

11. Pyotr Luzhin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment")

Luzhin is another of Rodion Raskolnikov's doubles, a 45-year-old business man, "with a cautious and grumpy face."

Having escaped "from rags to riches", Luzhin is proud of his pseudo-education, behaves arrogantly and primly. Having made an offer to Duna, he anticipates that she will be grateful to him all her life for the fact that he "brought her to the people."

He also wooes Duna by calculation, believing that she will be useful to him for his career. Luzhin hates Raskolnikov because he opposes their union with Dunya. Luzhin puts a hundred rubles in Sonya Marmeladova's pocket at her father's funeral, accusing her of stealing.

10. Kirila Troekurov (Alexander Pushkin, "Dubrovsky")

Troekurov is an example of a Russian master spoiled by his power and environment. He spends time in idleness, drunkenness, voluptuousness. Troekurov sincerely believes in his impunity and unlimited possibilities (“This is the power to take away property without any right”).

The master loves his daughter Masha, but passes her off as an old man she does not love. The serfs of Troyekurov are similar to their master - the Troyekurov hound is insolent to Dubrovsky the elder - and thus quarrels old friends.

9. Sergei Talberg (Mikhail Bulgakov, "White Guard")

Sergei Talberg is Elena Turbina's husband, a traitor and a timeserver. He easily changes his principles, beliefs, without much effort and remorse. Thalberg is always where it is easier to live, so he runs abroad. He leaves his family, friends. Even Talberg's eyes (which, as you know, are the “mirror of the soul”) are “two-story”, he is the complete opposite of Turbin.

Thalberg was the first to put on a red armband at a military school in March 1917 and, as a member of the military committee, arrested the famous General Petrov.

8. Alexey Shvabrin (Alexander Pushkin, "The Captain's Daughter")

Shvabrin is the opposite of the protagonist of Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter" by Pyotr Grinev. He was exiled to the Belogorsk fortress for murder in a duel. Shvabrin is undoubtedly smart, but at the same time cunning, impudent, cynical, and mocking. Having received a refusal from Masha Mironova, he spreads dirty rumors about her, in a duel with Grinev he wounds him in the back, goes over to the side of Pugachev, and when captured by the government troops, spreads rumors that Grinev is a traitor. In general, he is a trash person.

7. Vasilisa Kostyleva (Maxim Gorky, "On the Bottom")

In Gorky's play At the Bottom, everything is sad and sad. This atmosphere is diligently maintained by the owners of the hostel where the action takes place - the Kostylevs. The husband is a disgusting cowardly and greedy old man, Vasilisa's wife is a calculating, resourceful adaptation, forcing her lover Vaska Ash to steal for her sake. When she finds out that he himself is in love with her sister, he promises to give her up in exchange for the murder of her husband.

6. Mazepa (Alexander Pushkin, "Poltava")

Mazepa is a historical character, but if in history the role of Mazepa is ambiguous, then in Pushkin's poem Mazepa is an unambiguously negative character. Mazepa appears in the poem as an absolutely immoral, dishonest, vindictive, spiteful person, as a treacherous hypocrite for whom there is nothing sacred (he “does not know what is holy”, “does not remember benevolence”), a person who is accustomed to achieving his goal at any cost.

The seducer of his young goddaughter Maria, he betrays her father Kochubei to public execution and, already sentenced to death, subjects him to cruel torture in order to find out where he hid his treasures. Without equivocation, Pushkin denounces the political activity of Mazepa, which is determined only by the lust for power and the thirst for revenge on Peter.

5. Foma Opiskin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants")

Foma Opiskin is an extremely negative character. Acquaintance, hypocrite, liar. He painstakingly portrays piety and education, tells everyone about his supposedly ascetic experience and sparkles with quotes from books ...

When he gets his hands on power, he shows his true essence. “The low soul, coming out of oppression, itself oppresses. Thomas was oppressed - and he immediately felt the need to oppress himself; they broke over him - and he himself began to break over others. He was a jester and immediately felt the need to turn on his jesters. He boasted to the point of absurdity, broke down to the point of impossibility, demanded bird milk, tyrannized without measure, and it got to the point that good people, having not yet witnessed all these tricks, and listening only to tales, considered it all a miracle, an obsession, were baptized and spat ... ".

4. Victor Komarovsky (Boris Pasternak, "Doctor Zhivago")

Advocate Komarovsky is a negative character in Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago. In the fates of the main characters - Zhivago and Lara, Komarovsky is an "evil genius" and a "gray eminence". He is guilty of the ruin of the Zhivago family and the death of the protagonist's father; he cohabitates with Lara's mother and with Lara herself. Finally, Komarovsky tricked Zhivago away from his wife. Komarovsky is smart, calculating, greedy, cynical. All in all, a bad person. He himself understands this, but it suits him perfectly.

3. Judas Golovlev (Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, "Lord Golovlevs")

Porfiry Vladimirovich Golovlev, nicknamed Judushka and Blood Drinker, is "the last representative of the extinct family." He is hypocritical, greedy, cowardly, calculating. He spends his life in endless slander and litigation, brings his son to suicide, while imitating extreme religiosity, reading prayers "without the participation of the heart."

Towards the end of his dark life, Golovlev gets drunk and runs wild, goes into a March blizzard. In the morning they find his numb corpse.

2. Andriy (Nikolay Gogol, "Taras Bulba")

Andriy is the youngest son of Taras Bulba, the hero of the story of the same name by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Andriy, as Gogol writes, from an early youth began to feel "the need for love." This need brings him down. He falls in love with panochka, betrays his homeland, friends, and father. Andriy confesses: “Who said that my motherland is Ukraine? Who gave it to me in my homeland? The Fatherland is what our soul is looking for, what is dearer to it than everything. You are my fatherland! ... and I will sell everything that is, I will give it away, I will ruin it for such a fatherland! "
Andrii is a traitor. His own father kills him.

1. Fyodor Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov")

He is voluptuous, greedy, envious, stupid. By the time he reached maturity, he began to drink a lot, opened several taverns, made many of his fellow countrymen debtors ... He began to compete with his eldest son Dmitry for the heart of Grushenka Svetlova, which paved the way for the crime - Karamazov was killed by his illegitimate son Peter Smerdyakov.

Men are attracted mainly by male characters, while women are interested in both male and female characters.

In the Year of Literature, the Reading Section of the RLA held an Internet action "Monument to a Literary Hero", inviting readers of different generations to talk about literary traditions and literary preferences.

From January 15 to March 30, 2015, a questionnaire was published on the RBA website with the possibility of reprinting it. Colleagues from many libraries, regional centers for books and reading, educational institutions, the media supported the action by posting a questionnaire on their resources.

More than four and a half thousand people from 63 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, aged from 5 to 81, took part in the action. In the sample as a whole, women accounted for 65%, men - 35%. Answering the question “A monument to what literary hero would you like to see in the area where you live?”, Respondents named 510 heroes out of 368 works created by 226 authors. Adults over 18 named 395 heroes. Children and adolescents 17 and under - 254 heroes. Adult women named 344 heroes. Men - 145 heroes.

The first ten heroes whose monuments the participants of the action would like to see are as follows:

1st place: Ostap Bender - named 135 times (taking into account the joint monument with Kisa Vorobyaninov), 179 references;

2nd place: Sherlock Holmes - 96 times (including a joint monument with Dr. Watson), 108 mentions;

3rd place: Tom Sawyer - 68 times (including the joint monument to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn), 108 mentions;

4th place: Margarita - 63 (taking into account the joint monument with the Master) is 104 mentions;

5th place: Eugene Onegin - 58 (taking into account the joint monument with Tatyana) makes 95 mentions;

6-7 places were shared by Vasily Turkin and Faust - 91 times;

8th place: Romeo and Juliet - 86;

9th place: Anna Karenina - 77;

10th place: Stirlitz - 71.

Considering male and female preferences, we can say that men are attracted mainly by male images, while women are interested in both male and female characters. The first ten male preferences are as follows (we consider it by analogy with the data for the entire array, taking into account joint monuments): 1) Ostap Bender; 2) Stirlitz; 3) Musketeers; 4-5) Sherlock Holmes and Don Quixote; 6) Margarita; 7) Fedor Eikhmanis; 8) Balls; 9) Artyom Goryainov; 10-11) shepherd Santiago; Robinson Crusoe. So, in the top ten there is only one female image - Margarita. It should be added that Galina is very rarely present with Artyom Goryainov. Women's preferences look different: 1) Ostap Bender; 2) Tatiana Larina; 3) Anna Karenina; 4-5) Romeo and Juliet; Arseny-Laurus; 6) Sherlock Holmes; 7-8) Cat Behemoth; Margarita; 9-10) Strange kids; Angie Malone; 11) Mary Poppins.

The survey data strongly suggest intergenerational reading preferences. The top ten preferences of girls aged 17 and under include (in descending order): Assol, Romeo and Juliet, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, Snow Maiden, Little Red Riding Hood, Gerda, Mary Poppins, Harry Porter, Alice.

Thus, the majority are female images. At the same time, girls' orientation towards female images is not as pronounced as the preference for male images among boys.

Top ten preferences of boys aged 17 and under: Tom Sawyer, Vasily Turkin, Robinson Crusoe, D'Artanyan and the Musketeers, Dunno, Sherlock Holmes, Andrei Sokolov, Mowgli, Faust, Hottabych.

Boys, like men, vividly demonstrate the preference and need for male heroes. Boys in the top 20 heroes have no female characters at all. The first of them appear only in the third ten of the rating, and even then in a company with male heroes: Master and Margarita; Harry, Hermione, Ron; Romeo and Juliet.

According to the poll, Ostap Bender is the absolute leader in terms of the number of preferred monuments.

Comparison of lists of preferences according to different parameters shows that the image of Ostap Bender is the undisputed leader, but he is nevertheless closer to men.

Why is this image of an adventurer hero so attractive to our contemporaries? Analyzing the most numerous and well-known monuments to favorite literary heroes that have arisen in the post-Soviet era (Ostap Bender, Munchausen, Vasily Tyorkin, Koroviev and Begemot), M. Lipovetsky notes something in common that unites them: “Apparently, the fact that they are all in to one degree or another, but always quite clearly represent the cultural archetype of the trickster.

Looking back at Soviet culture in its various manifestations, it is easy to see that most of the characters who have gained massive popularity in Soviet culture are different versions of this ancient archetype. "

Moreover, the author proves that the significance of such images is preserved in the post-Soviet culture as well. Both men and women are also interested in the image of Sherlock Holmes, which, according to M. Lipovetsky, also belongs to the trickster archetype.

Traditionally, in the structure of women's preferences, the share of domestic and foreign classics, as well as melodrama, is higher. Men, especially young men, have a clear interest in the heroes of adventure literature.

The survey also clearly showed other preferences related to the age and gender of readers. Each new generation wants to see their heroes, corresponding to their time, acting in the books created at the present time. Thus, R. Riggs' House of Peculiar Children is of interest mainly to 20-year-olds and mostly girls. Also predominantly 20-year-olds are interested in "Street Cat Called Bob" by J. Bowen.

According to online retailers, both books are in high demand. Their high rating among the youth is also noted by various readers' Internet communities. And the image of Katerina from V. Chernykh's story for the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" attracts a female audience aged 40-50 and is not found among those under 30 and over 60 years old.

The undisputed hero of the older generation is Stirlitz. Among 20-year-olds, he is not mentioned even once, among 30-year-olds - 1 time, 40-year-olds - 7 times, 50-year-olds - 26 times, 60-year-olds - the absolute leader in men, occurs in women and in general in the older age group. The Yulian Semyonov Cultural Foundation has already conducted an Internet voting “Monument to Stirlitz. What should he be? "

However, a monument to one of the most iconic heroes of Soviet literature and cinema never appeared.

In the results of the FOM study "Idols of Youth", conducted in 2008, it was noted: of all respondents) admitted that they can still call their idol the one who was to them in their youth. " Probably, this can partly explain the attitude of older people towards Stirlitz.

According to the survey, readers would like to erect monuments to the heroes of completely different books: including the heroes of Homer and Sophocles, Aristophanes, J. Boccaccio, as well as L.N. Tolstoy, A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgeneva, N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, I.A. Goncharova, M.Yu. Lermontov, A.P. Chekhov. Among the foreign literature of the XX century were named the heroes of the books of G. Hesse, G. García Márquez, R. Bach; among domestic - heroes of the books of K. Paustovsky, V. Astafiev, B. Mozhaev, V. Zakrutkin, V. Konetsky, V. Shukshin and many others.

If we talk about the works of the latest literature, the survey participants showed considerable interest in the heroes of the trilogy by D. Rubina "Russian Canary" and the heroes of the novel "Abode" by Z. Prilepin.

It should be noted that one more work of modern fiction that has earned a fairly high reader's assessment is the novel by E. Vodolazkin "Laurel", which received the "Big Book" award in 2013. There is one main character, Arseny-Laurus, to whom we would like to stage monument.

Among the works, the heroes of which would like to erect a monument, thus, clear leaders are noted:

The diversity of the presented literature attracts attention. The top ten books include Russian and foreign classical literature, classics of world adventure literature, the best Russian literature created during the Soviet period, modern bestsellers.

When asked what already existing monuments to literary heroes like and where they are located, 690 people answered, which is 16.2% of the number of participants. In total, 355 monuments dedicated to 194 heroes were named. These heroes act in 136 works created by 82 authors.

The rating of heroes whose monuments are well known and liked is headed by: The Little Mermaid; Ostap Bender; Pinocchio; White Bim Black Ear; Chizhik-Pyzhik; Baron Munchausen; Mu Mu; Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson; The Bremen Town Musicians…

The overall rating of monuments is headed by: The Little Mermaid from Copenhagen; White Bim Black Ear from Voronezh; Samara Buratino; Petersburg Chizhik-Pyzhik, Ostap Bender, Mumu; Baron Munchausen from Kaliningrad; Moscow Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; Bremen Town Musicians from Bremen; a monument to the Cat Behemoth and Koroviev from Moscow.

The named monuments are located in 155 cities, including 86 domestic cities (55.5%) and 69 foreign (44.5%). Among foreign cities the leaders are: Copenhagen, Odessa, London, Kiev, Bremen, Kharkov, New York, Osh, Nikolaev. Among domestic ones: Moscow, Petersburg, Voronezh, Samara, Kaliningrad, Ramenskoye, Tobolsk, Tomsk. It should be said that the top of the list in terms of the number of references to monuments is actually two cities of the country: the monuments of Moscow were named 174 times, and the monuments of St. Petersburg - 170 times. Copenhagen is in third place with the only monument to the Little Mermaid - 138 times, in fourth place is Voronezh - 80 times.

In the course of the survey, the protesters also named their region of residence. Comparison of the region of residence of the survey participant with the hero to whom they would like to erect a monument (and it was just about the monument for their place of residence), as well as those existing monuments that they like, showed that respondents from less than half of the regions named real or desired monuments where the hero, the author of the work or the place of action were associated with the place of residence of the participant.

In modern Russia, a tradition has been formed to put street sculptures on literary heroes, and small-scale architecture is developing. Literary heroes may well be and are becoming local cultural symbols.

The social demand for this kind of symbols is quite large. Literary monuments create comfortable conditions for the pastime of townspeople, are aimed at a reciprocal emotional response, and form the unity of local self-awareness.

A series of events develops around them, that is, they are included in traditional commemorative or everyday practices, and they get used to the urban environment.

The appearance of objects of decorative urban sculpture, monuments to literary heroes, monuments dedicated to books and reading, can contribute not only to the aesthetic education of the population, but also to the formation of a personal perception of their small homeland, new traditions.

Sculptures, especially street sculptures, close to a person, play and entertain townspeople, form unofficial practices of handling such an object and a personal attitude towards it.

Filling public spaces with such symbols undoubtedly carries a positive emotional load, contributes to the humanization of the public environment.

I continue the series "Literary Heroes" that I once started ...

Heroes of Russian Literature

Almost every literary character has his own prototype - a real person. Sometimes it is the author himself (Ostrovsky and Pavka Korchagin, Bulgakov and the Master), sometimes a historical figure, sometimes an acquaintance or a relative of the author.
This story is about the prototypes of Chatsky and Taras Bulba, Ostap Bender, Timur and other heroes of books ...

1.Chatsky "Woe from Wit"

The main character of the comedy Griboyedov - Chatsky- most often associated with a name Chaadaeva(in the first version of the comedy Griboyedov wrote "Chadsky"), although the image of Chatsky is in many ways a social type of the era, a "hero of the time."
Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev(1796-1856) - a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, was on a trip abroad. In 1814 he joined the Masonic lodge, and in 1821 he agreed to join a secret society.

From 1823 to 1826, Chaadaev traveled around Europe, comprehending the latest philosophical teachings. After returning to Russia in 1828-1830, he wrote and published a historical and philosophical treatise: "Philosophical Letters". The views, ideas, judgments of the thirty-six-year-old philosopher turned out to be so unacceptable for Nikolayev's Russia that the author of "Philosophical Letters" suffered an unprecedented punishment: he was declared insane by the highest decree. It so happened that the literary character did not repeat the fate of his prototype, but predicted it ...

2.Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba is written so organically and vividly that the reader does not leave the feeling of his reality.
But there was a man whose fate is similar to the fate of the hero Gogol. And this man also bore a surname Gogol!
Ostap Gogol was born at the beginning of the 17th century. On the eve of 1648, he was a captain of the "panzer" Cossacks in the Polish army stationed in Uman under the command of S. Kalinovsky. With the beginning of the uprising, Gogol, along with his heavy cavalry, went over to the side of the Cossacks.

In October 1657, Hetman Vyhovsky with the general foreman, of which Ostap Gogol was a member, concluded the Treaty of Korsun between Ukraine and Sweden.

In the summer of 1660, Ostap's regiment took part in the Chudniv campaign, after which the Slobodischensky treaty was signed. Gogol took the side of autonomy within the Commonwealth, he was made a nobleman.
In 1664, an uprising broke out in the Right-Bank Ukraine against the Poles and the hetman Teteri. Gogol first supported the rebels. However, he again went over to the side of the enemy. The reason for this was his sons, whom Hetman Pototsky held hostage in Lviv. When Doroshenko became hetman, Gogol went under his mace and helped him a lot. When he fought with the Turks near Ochakov, Doroshenko in the Rada proposed to recognize the supremacy of the Turkish Sultan, and it was accepted.
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At the end of 1671, crown hetman Sobieski took Mogilev, Gogol's residence. During the defense of the fortress, one of Ostap's sons died. The colonel himself fled to Moldova and from there sent Sobesky a letter of his desire to obey.
As a reward for this, Ostap received the village of Vilhovets.. The estate's salary letter served as the grandfather of the writer Nikolai Gogol as evidence of his nobility.
Colonel Gogol became hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine on behalf of King Jan III Sobieski... He died in 1679 at his residence in Dymer, and was buried in the Kiev-Mezhigorsk monastery not far from Kiev.
Analogy with a story is obvious: both heroes are Zaporozhye colonels, both had sons, one of whom died at the hands of the Poles, the other went over to the side of the enemy. Thus, a distant ancestor of the writer and was the prototype of Taras Bulba.

3.Plyushkin
Oryol landowner Spiridon Matsnev was extremely stingy, wore a greasy dressing gown and dirty clothes, so that few could identify him as a rich master.
The landowner had 8000 souls of peasants, but he starved not only them, but himself.

This stingy landowner NV Gogol and brought in "Dead Souls" in the image of Plyushkin. “If Chichikov had met him, so dressed up, somewhere at the church doors, he would probably have given him a copper penny” ...
"This landowner had more than a thousand souls, and anyone else would try to find so much bread in grain, flour, and simply in hoards, who would have pantries, barns and dryers cluttered with so many canvases, cloths, dressed and rawhide sheepskins ..." ...
The image of Plyushkin has become a household name.

4. Silvio
"Shot" by A.S. Pushkin

Silvio's prototype is Ivan Petrovich Liprandi.
A friend of Pushkin, a prototype of Silvio in "Shot".
Author of the best memories of Pushkin's southern exile.
The son of a Russianized Spanish grandee. Member of the Napoleonic Wars since 1807 (from 17 years old). A colleague and friend of the Decembrist Raevsky, a member of the Union of Welfare. Arrested in the case of the Decembrists in January 1826, he was in a cell with Griboyedov.

“... His personality was of undoubted interest in terms of his talents, destiny and original way of life. He was gloomy and sullen, but he liked to gather officers at his place and to entertain them widely. The sources of his income were shrouded in secrecy. A clerk and a book lover, he was famous for his cracking, and a rare duel took place without his participation. "
Pushkin "Shot"

At the same time, Liprandi turned out to be a member of the military intelligence and secret police.
Since 1813, the head of the secret political police in the army of Vorontsov in France. Communicated closely with the famous Vidok. Together with the French gendarmerie, he participated in the disclosure of the anti-government "Society of Pins". Since 1820, the chief military intelligence officer at the headquarters of the Russian troops in Bessarabia. At the same time, he became the main theorist and practitioner of military and political espionage.
Since 1828 - head of the Higher Secret Foreign Police. Since 1820 - under the direct subordination of Benckendorff. Organizer of the provocation in the Butashevich-Petrashevsky circle. Organizer of the arrest of Ogarev in 1850. The author of the project on the establishment of a school of spies at universities ...

5.Andrey Bolkonsky

Prototypes Andrey Bolkonsky there were several. His tragic death was "written off" by Leo Tolstoy from the biography of the real prince Dmitry Golitsyn.
Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was enrolled in the service in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Justice. Soon, Emperor Alexander I granted him the rank of chamberlain, and then the actual chamberlain, which was equated to the rank of general.

In 1805, Prince Golitsyn entered military service and, together with the army, carried out the campaigns of 1805-1807.
In 1812 he filed a report with a request to enlist him in the army, became an Akhtyr hussar, Denis Davydov served in the same regiment. Golitsin took part in border battles as part of the 2nd Russian army of General Bagration, fought on the Shevardinsky redoubt, and then ended up on the left flank of the Russian order in the Borodino field.
In one of the skirmishes, Major Golitsyn was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment, he was carried from the battlefield. After the operation in the field hospital, it was decided to take the wounded farther to the east.
"Bolkonsky House" in Vladimir.


They made a stop in Vladimir, Major Golitsyn was placed in one of the merchant houses on a steep hill on the Klyazma. But, almost a month after the Battle of Borodino, Dmitry Golitsyn died in Vladimir ...
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Soviet literature

6. Assol
The gentle dreamer Assol had more than one prototype.
First prototype - Maria Sergeevna Alonkina, secretary of the House of Arts, almost everyone living and visiting this House was in love with her.
Once, climbing the stairs to his office, Green saw a short, dark-skinned girl talking to Korney Chukovsky.
There was something unearthly in her appearance: flying gait, radiant gaze, sonorous happy laughter... It seemed to him that she looked like Assol from the story "Scarlet Sails", on which he was working at that time.
The image of 17-year-old Masha Alonkina occupied Green's imagination and was reflected in the fairy tale.


“I don’t know how many years will pass, only in Kaperna one fairy tale will blossom, which will be remembered for a long time. You will be big, Assol. One morning in the sea, a scarlet sail will sparkle under the sun. The shining bulk of the crimson sails of the white ship will move, cutting through the waves, straight to you ... "

And in 1921, Green meets with Nina Nikolaevna Mironova, who worked in the newspaper "Petrogradskoe Echo". He, gloomy, lonely, was easy with her, he was amused by her coquetry, he admired her love of life. They were soon married.

The door is closed, the lamp is on.
In the evening she will come to me
No more aimless, dull days
I sit and think about her ...

On this day she will give her hand to me,
I trust quietly and completely.
A scary world is raging around
Come, lovely, dear friend.

Come, I have been waiting for you for a long time.
It was so dull and dark
But the winter spring has come
Light knock ... my wife came.

To her, his "winter spring", Green dedicated the extravaganza "Scarlet Sails" and the novel "The Shining World".
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7. Ostap Bender and the Children of Lieutenant Schmidt

The person who became the prototype of Ostap Bender is known.
It - Osip (Ostap) Veniaminovich Shor(1899 -1979). Shor was born in Odessa, was an employee of the UGRO, a football player, a traveler…. Was a buddy E. Bagritsky, Yu. Olesha, Ilf and Petrov. His brother was the poet-futurist Natan Fioletov.

The appearance, character and speech of Ostap Bender are taken from Osip Shor.
Almost all the famous "Bender" phrases - "The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!", "I will command the parade!"
In 1917, Shor entered the first year of the Petrograd Technological Institute, and in 1919 he left for his homeland. He got home almost two years old, with many adventures, about which he told the authors of The Twelve Chairs.
The stories he told about how he, unable to draw, got a job as an artist on an agitation steamer, or about how he gave a simultaneous game in some remote town, presenting himself as an international grandmaster, were reflected in the “12 chairs” practically unchanged.
By the way, the famous leader of the Odessa bandits, Bear-Jap, with which the employee of UGRO Shor fought, became a prototype Benny Creek, from " Odessa stories ”I. Babel.

And here is the episode that gave rise to the creation of the image "children of Lieutenant Schmidt".
In August 1925, a man with an oriental appearance, decently dressed, wearing American glasses, appeared at the Gomel Provincial Executive Committee and introduced himself Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Uzbek SSR Faizuloi Khodzhaev. The chairman of the executive committee, Yegorov, was told that he was going from Crimea to Moscow, but money and documents were stolen from him on the train. Instead of a passport, he presented a certificate that he was really Khodzhaev, signed by the chairman of the CEC of the Crimean Republic, Ibragimov.
He was warmly received, they gave him money, they began to take him to theaters and to banquets. But one of the police chiefs decided to compare the identity of the Uzbek with the portraits of the CEC chairmen, which he found in an old magazine. This is how the false Khojayev was exposed, who turned out to be a native of Kokand, coming from Tbilisi, where he was serving time ...
In the same way, posing as a high-ranking official, the former convict had fun in Yalta, Simferopol, Novorossiysk, Kharkov, Poltava, Minsk ...
It was a fun time - the time of the NEP and such desperate people, adventurers as Shor and pseudohojays.
Later I will write separately about Bender ...
………

8 Timur
TIMUR is the hero of the film script and story by A. Gaidar "Timur and his team". One of the most famous and popular heroes of Soviet children's literature of the 30s - 40s.
Under the influence of the story by A.P. Gaidar "Timur and his team" in the USSR arose among pioneers and schoolchildren at the beginning. 1940s "Timurov movement". Timurovtsy provided assistance to the families of military personnel, the elderly ...
It is believed that the "prototype" of the Timurov team for A. Gaidar was a group of scouts that operated back in the 10s in a summer cottage suburb of St. Petersburg. The Timurovites really have a lot in common with the scouts (especially in the ideology and practice of the “chivalrous” care of children for the people around them, the idea of ​​doing good deeds “in secret”).
The story told by Gaidar turned out to be surprisingly in tune with the mood of a whole generation of children: the struggle for justice, an underground headquarters, specific signaling, the ability to quickly assemble "along a chain", etc.

Interestingly, in the early edition of the story was called "Duncan and His Crew" or "Duncan hurries to the rescue" - the hero of the story was - Vovka Duncan... The influence of the work is obvious Jules Verne: yacht "Duncan"On the first alarm signal went to help Captain Grant.

In the spring of 1940, while working on a film based on an unfinished story, the name "Duncan" was rejected. The Committee on Cinematography expressed bewilderment: "A good Soviet boy. A pioneer. He came up with such a useful game and suddenly -" Duncan ". We consulted here with friends - you need to change your name."
And then Gaidar gave the hero the name of his own son, whom in his life he called “the little commander”. According to another version - Timur- the name of the neighbor's boy. Here comes the girl Zhenya received the name from Gaidar's adopted daughter from her second marriage.
The image of Timur embodies the ideal type of a teenage leader with his desire for noble deeds, secrets, and pure ideals.
Concept "Timurovets" firmly entered into everyday life. Until the end of the 1980s, children who provided disinterested assistance to those in need were called Timurovites.
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9. Captain Vrungel
From the story Andrey Nekrasov "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel".
The book is about the incredible sea adventures of the resourceful and cheerful captain Vrungel, his senior mate Lom and the sailor Fuchs.

Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel- the main character and narrator, on whose behalf the narration is conducted. An old experienced sailor, with a solid and reasonable character, not devoid of ingenuity.
The first part of the surname uses the word "liar". Vrungel, whose name has become a household name - the sea analogue of Baron Munchausen, telling tales of his sailing adventures.
According to the stories of Nekrasov himself, the prototype of Vrungel was his acquaintance with the surname Vronsky, lover of telling maritime stories-fables with his participation. His surname was so suitable for the protagonist that initially the book was supposed to be called " The Adventures of Captain Vronsky", however, for fear of offending a friend, the author chose a different surname for the main character.
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In world literature, there are many images of women heroines who have sunk into the soul of the reader, fell in love with them, they began to be quoted.Some works of world literature are filmed and the viewer believes that the picture is successful if the plot of the bookis fully revealed in the film, and the actors correspond to their favorite literary hero.
The woman is given a very important and extraordinary role in literature: she is an object of admiration,a source of inspiration, a longed-for dream and the personification of the most sublime in the world.
Undoubtedly, beautiful women of world literature have different destinies: someone is an eternal ideal, like Juliet,someone is a fighter and just a beautiful woman, like Scarlett O Hara, and someone is forgotten.How long the heroine of a literary work will linger in the reader's memory is directly related to her appearance,character and actions. A literary heroine, as in life, must be self-sufficient, pretty,patient, purposeful, with a sense of humor and certainly wise.
Our website decided to make Rating of the most beautiful literary heroines... In some photos, famous actresses or models who did not star in the roles of the presented literary heroines, but, in our opinion, are very suitable for these roles. Descriptions of the appearance of the heroines are taken from the books of the authors of world literature in England, France, Australia, America, Turkey and Russia. Some of the books we love have not yet been filmed.but we sincerely believe that this time will not be long in coming.

15. TO Arla Saarnen ("Shantaram", Gregory David Roberts)

The main character meets Karla in the first days of his time in Bombay.It begins with the entry of the protagonist into the circles of the Mafia. Karla Saaranen is characterized bythe main character as a wise and mysterious beautiful woman. Karla is a brunette with green eyes and oriental roots.A lot of philosophical considerations and sayings in the book belong to her.

14. Tess Durbeyfield ("Tess of the D" Airberville ", Thomas Hardy)

She was a beautiful girl, perhaps no more beautiful than some of the others, but her mobile scarlet mouth and large innocent eyes emphasized her prettiness. She adorned her hair with a red ribbon and among the women dressed in white, she was the only one who could boast such a bright decoration. There was still something childish in her face. And today, despite her bright femininity, her cheeks sometimes reminded of a twelve-year-old girl, shining eyes - of a nine-year-old, and the curve of her mouth - of a five-year-old baby.
The color of her face can be guessed by the dark brown strand of hair that has come out from under the cap ... Her face is the oval face of a beautiful young woman, deep dark eyes and long heavy braids that seem to cling imploringly to everything they touch.

13. Helen Kuragina (Bezukhova) ("War and Peace", L. Tolstoy)

Helen Kuragina (Bezukhova) is an outwardly ideal of female beauty, the opposite of Natasha Rostova.Despite the external beauty, all the vices inherent in secular society are concentrated in Helene: arrogance, flattery, vanity.

12. Rebecca Sharp ("Vanity Fair" by William Thackeray)

"Rebecca was small, fragile, pale, with reddish hair; her green eyes were usually down, but when she raised them, they seemed unusually large, mysterious and alluring ...".

11. Maggie Cleary ("The Thorn Birds" by Colin McCullough)

Maggie's hair, like the true Cleary's, glowed like a beacon: all the children in the family, except for Frank, got this punishment for everyone, red whirlwinds, only of different shades.Maggie's eyes were like "molten pearls", silvery gray.Maggie Cleary had ... Hair of such a color that it is beyond words - not copper - red, and not gold, some rare alloy of both ... Silvery - gray eyes, amazingly clear, shining, like melted pearls.... Maggie's gray eyes ... They shine with all shades of blue, violet, and deep blue, the color of the sky on a clear sunny day, velvety green of moss and even slightly noticeable - dark yellow. And they glow softly like matte gems, framed by long, curled eyelashes, as shiny as if they had been washed in gold.

10. Tatiana Larina ("Eugene Onegin", A. Pushkin)

The heroine from the first acquaintance captivates the reader with her spiritual beauty, lack of pretense.

So, she was called Tatiana.

Not her sister's beauty
Nor the freshness of her ruddy
She would not have attracted the eyes.
Dick, sad, silent,
As a forest doe is fearful,
She is in her family
She seemed like a stranger to a girl.

9. Lara (Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak)

She was a little over sixteen, but she was quite an established girl. She was given eighteen years or more. She had a clear mind and easy character. She was very pretty.She moved silently and smoothly, and everything in her imperceptible speed of movement, height, voice, gray eyes and blond hair color matched each other.

8. Christina Dae ("The Phantom of the Opera", Gaston Leroux)

Christina Dae had blue eyes and golden curls.

7. Esmeralda (Notre Dame Cathedral, Victor Hugo)

Esmeralda is a beautiful young girl who makes money by dancing and performing with the trained goat Jalli.She is the embodiment of chastity and naivety, not at all like the rest.Even the fact that she has to dance for a living does not corrupt her. She has a good heart.

“She was short, but she seemed tall - so slender was her slender stature. She was dark, but it was not difficultguess that during the day her skin had a wonderful golden hue inherent in the Andalusians and Romans. Smallthe foot was also the foot of the Andalusian, - so easily she stepped in her narrow elegant shoe. The girl danced, fluttered,spun on an old Persian rug casually thrown at her feet, and whenever her beaming faceappeared in front of you, the look of her large black eyes dazzled you like lightning. The eyes of the crowd were fixed on herall mouths are open. She danced to the rumble of a tambourine, which her rounded virgin hands poured high overhead. Thin, fragile, with bare shoulders and slender legs occasionally flashing from under her skirt,black-haired, fast as a wasp, in a golden, tight-fittingher waist in a corsage, in a colorful bloated dress, shining with her eyes, she seemed a truly unearthly creature ... "

6. Mercedes ("The Count of Monte Cristo", A. Dumas)

"A beautiful young girl, with jet-black hair, with velvety eyes, like a gazelle ...".

5. Carmen ("Carmen", Prosper Merimee)

She had a large bouquet of jasmine in her hair. She was dressed simply, perhaps even poorly, in all black ... She dropped the mantilla that covered her head over her shoulders, I saw that she was short, young, well-built and that she had huge eyes ... Her skin, really , immaculately smooth, closely resembling copper in color. Her eyes were slanted, but wonderfully carved; the lips were slightly full, but beautifully outlined, behind them were teeth, whiter than peeled tonsils. Her hair, perhaps a little coarse, was black, with a blue tint like a raven wing, long and shiny ... She wore a very short red skirt, allowing you to see white silk stockings and pretty red morocco shoes tied with ribbons of fire color.

4. Irene Forsyth ("The Forsyte Saga", John Galsworthy)

The gods gave Irene dark brown eyes and golden hair - a peculiar combination of shades that attracts the eyes of men and is said to indicate a weakness of character. And the even, soft whiteness of the neck and shoulders, framed by a golden dress, gave her some extraordinary charm.The golden-haired, dark-eyed Irene looks like a pagan goddess, she is full of charm, distinguished by the sophistication of taste and manners.

3. Scarlett O "Hara (" Gone With the Wind "by Margaret Mitchell)

Scarlett O "Harana was a beauty, but men were unlikely to realize this if they, like the Tarleton twins, fell prey to her charm. She had a very bizarre combination of the refined features of her mother - a local aristocrat of French origin - and large, expressive features her father, a healthy Irishman. ”Scarlett’s broad-cheeked, chiselled face involuntarily caught her gaze, especially her eyes - slightly slanted, light green, transparent, framed with dark eyelashes. On a white, like a magnolia petal, forehead - oh, this white skin , which the women of the American South are so proud of, carefully guarding her with hats, veils and mitts from the hot Georgia sun! - two impeccably clear eyebrow lines soared obliquely upwards - from the bridge of the nose to the temples. " Hergreen eyes - restless, bright (how much willfulness and fire were in them!) - entered into an argument with a courteous secular restraint of manners, betraying the true essence of this nature ...

2. Feride ( "Kinglet is a songbird", Reshad Nuri Gyuntekin)

Legendary Turkish actress Aydan Shener starred in the role of Feride (biography, photo)

Feride was short, but with an early figure. In her youth, her cheerful, carefree eyes ...

Light blue ... It seemed to consist of golden dust dancing in transparent light.When these eyes are not laughing, they seem large and deep, like living suffering. But as soon as they sparkle with laughter,they shrink, the light ceases to be contained in them, it seems that small diamonds are scattering down the cheeks.What beautiful, what delicate features! In pictures, such faces are moved to tears. Even in his flaws ...I saw some kind of charm ... Eyebrows ... They start out beautifully - beautifully, subtly, subtly, but then go astray ...Curved arrows stretched to the very temples. The upper lip was slightly short and barely exposed a row of teeth.Therefore, it seemed that Feride always smiled a little. ... The creature is young, fresh as an April rose,strewn with dewdrops, with a face as clear as morning light.

1. Angelica ("Angelica", Anne and Serge Gollon)

French actress Michel Mercier starred as Angelica (biography, photo)

A series of fictional literary works tells about Angelica, a fictional beauty-adventurer of the 17th century. In the novel, the emphasis is on her golden hair and unusually mesmerizing green eyes.Angelica is wise, adventurous, impressionable, always striving for love and happiness.

The BBC recently aired a series on Tolstoy's War and Peace. In the West, everything is like ours - there, too, the release of film (television) adaptation dramatically increases interest in the literary source. And now Lev Nikolaevich's masterpiece suddenly became one of the bestsellers, and along with it readers became interested in all Russian literature. On this wave, the popular literary site Literary Hub published the article "The 10 Russian Literary Heroines You Should Know". It seemed to me that this is an interesting side view of our classics and I translated the article for my blog. I spread it here too. Illustrations are taken from the original article.

Attention! There are spoilers in the text.

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We know that all happy heroines are equally happy, and every unhappy woman is unhappy in her own way. But the fact is that there are few happy characters in Russian literature. Russian heroines tend to complicate their lives. This is as it should be, because their beauty as literary characters largely stems from their ability to suffer, from their tragic destinies, from their "Russianness".

The most important thing to understand about Russian female characters: their fates are not stories of overcoming obstacles in order to achieve "and they lived happily ever after." Guardians of primordial Russian values, they know that there is more to life than happiness.

1. Tatiana Larina (A. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin")

In the beginning there was Tatiana. This is a kind of Eve of Russian literature. And not only because it is chronologically the first, but also because Pushkin occupies a special place in Russian hearts. Almost any Russian is able to recite the poetry of the father of Russian literature by heart (and after a few shots of vodka, many will do it). Pushkin's masterpiece, the poem "Eugene Onegin", is the story of not only Onegin, but also Tatiana, a young innocent girl from the provinces who falls in love with the main character. Unlike Onegin, who is shown as a cynical bon vivant spoiled by fashionable European values, Tatiana embodies the essence and purity of the mysterious Russian soul. Including a tendency towards self-sacrifice and a disregard for happiness, as shown by her famous rejection of the person she loves.

2. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina")

Unlike Pushkin's Tatyana, who resists the temptation to get along with Onegin, Anna Tolstoy abandons both her husband and son to flee with Vronsky. As a true dramatic heroine, Anna voluntarily makes the wrong choice, a choice she will have to pay for. Anna's sin and the source of her tragic fate is not that she left the child, but that selfishly indulging her sexual and romantic desires, she forgot the lesson of Tatiana's selflessness. If you see a light at the end of the tunnel, don't flatter yourself, it could be a train.

3. Sonya Marmeladova (FM Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment")

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonya appears as the antipode of Raskolnikov. A whore and a saint at the same time, Sonya accepts her existence as a path of martyrdom. Having learned about Raskolnikov's crime, she does not repulse him, on the contrary, she attracts him to herself in order to save his soul. The famous scene is characteristic here when they read the biblical story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Sonya is able to forgive Raskolnikov, since she believes that everyone is equal before God, and God forgives. For a repentant murderer, this is a godsend.

4. Natalia Rostova (Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace")

Natalia is everyone's dream: smart, cheerful, sincere. But if Pushkin's Tatyana is too good to be true, Natalia seems alive, real. Partly because Tolstoy added other qualities to her image: she is capricious, naive, flirtatious and, for the mores of the early 19th century, a little cocky. In War and Peace, Natalia begins as a charming teenager, exuding joy and vitality. Throughout the novel, she grows older, learns the lessons of life, tames her changeable heart, becomes wiser, her character acquires integrity. And this woman, which is generally uncharacteristic for Russian heroines, is still smiling after more than a thousand pages.

5. Irina Prozorova (A.P. Chekhov "Three Sisters")

At the beginning of Chekhov's play Three Sisters, Irina is the youngest and full of hope. Her older brother and sisters are whiny and capricious, they are tired of life in the provinces, and Irina's naive soul is filled with optimism. She dreams of returning to Moscow, where, in her opinion, she will find her true love and be happy. But, as the chance to move to Moscow evaporates, she increasingly realizes that she is stuck in the village and is losing her spark. Through Irina and her sisters, Chekhov shows us that life is just a series of sad moments, only occasionally interspersed with short bursts of joy. Like Irina, we waste our time on trifles, dreaming of a better future, but gradually we realize the insignificance of our existence.

6. Liza Kalitina (I. Turgenev "The Noble Nest")

In the novel "A Noble Nest" Turgenev created a model of the Russian heroine. Liza is young, naive, pure in heart. She is torn between two boyfriends: a young, handsome, cheerful officer and an old, sad, married man. Guess who she chose? Lisa's choice says a lot about the mysterious Russian soul. She is clearly going towards suffering. Lisa's choice shows that the pursuit of sadness and melancholy is no worse than any other option. At the end of the story, Lisa is disappointed in love and goes to a monastery, choosing the path of sacrifice and hardship. “Happiness is not for me,” she explains her act. "Even when I hoped for happiness, my heart was always heavy."

7. Margarita (M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita")

Chronologically, the last on the list, Bulgakov's Margarita, is an extremely strange heroine. At the beginning of the novel, this is a woman unhappy in marriage, then she becomes the mistress and muse of the Master, in order to then turn into a witch flying on a broomstick. For the Master, Margarita is not only a source of inspiration. She becomes, like Sonya for Raskolnikov, his healer, lover, savior. When the Master is in trouble, Margarita turns to none other than Satan himself for help. Having concluded, like Faust, a contract with the Devil, she nevertheless reunites with her beloved, albeit not quite in this world.

8. Olga Semyonova (A.P. Chekhov "Darling")

In "Darling" Chekhov tells the story of Olga Semyonova, a loving and tender soul, a simple person who, as they say, lives with love. Olga becomes a widow early. Twice. When there is no one around whom she could love, she closes herself in the company of the cat. In a review of Darling, Tolstoy wrote that intending to ridicule a dim woman, Chekhov accidentally created a character that was very endearing to himself. Tolstoy went even further, he condemned Chekhov for an excessively harsh attitude towards Olga, urging her to judge her soul, not her intellect. According to Tolstoy, Olga embodies the ability of Russian women to love unconditionally, a virtue unknown to men.

9. Anna Sergeevna Odintsova (I. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons")

In the novel "Fathers and Sons" (often incorrectly translated "Fathers and Sons") Mrs. Odintsova is a lonely woman of mature age, and the sound of her surname in Russian also hints at loneliness. Odintsova is an atypical heroine who has become a kind of pioneer among female literary characters. Unlike other women in the novel, who follow the obligations imposed on them by society, Mrs. Odintsova is childless, she has no mother or husband (she is a widow). She stubbornly defends her independence, like Pushkin's Tatyana, refusing the only chance to find true love.

10. Nastasya Filippovna (FM Dostoevsky "The Idiot")

The heroine of The Idiot, Nastasya Filippovna, gives an idea of ​​how complex Dostoevsky is. Beauty makes her a victim. Orphaned in childhood, Nastasya becomes a kept woman and the mistress of an elderly man who picked her up. But every time she tries to break free from the clutches of her position and build her own destiny, she continues to feel humiliated. Feelings of guilt cast a fateful shadow over all of her decisions. By tradition, like many other Russian heroines, Nastasya has several options for fate, mainly associated with men. And in full accordance with tradition, she is not able to make the right choice. Surrendering to fate instead of fighting, the heroine drifts towards her tragic end.

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The author of this text is the writer and diplomat Guillermo Erades. He worked for some time in Russia, knows Russian literature well, is an admirer of Chekhov and the author of the book Back to Moscow. So this glance is not entirely an outsider. On the other hand, how to write about Russian literary heroines without knowing the Russian classics?

Guillermo doesn't explain his choice of characters. In my opinion, the absence of Princess Mary or “poor Liza” (which, by the way, was written earlier than Pushkin’s Tatyana) and Katerina Kabanova (from “The Groza” by Ostroskiy) is surprising. It seems to me that these Russian literary heroines are better known in our country than Liza Kalitina or Olga Semyonova. However, this is my subjective opinion. Who would you add to this list?