In the fairy tale "The Wise Squeaker" it is said that there was a squirrel in the world who was afraid of everything, but at the same time considered himself wise. Before his death, his father told him to behave carefully, and so he will remain alive. “Look, sonny,” said the old squeaker, dying, “if

If you want to chew on life, keep your eye on it! " Piskar obeyed him and began to think about his future life. He came up with a house such that no one else could get into it, and began to think about how to behave the rest of the time.

With this fairy tale, the author tried to show the life of officials who did nothing in their lives, but only sat in their "hole" and were afraid of the one who was higher in rank. They were afraid to harm themselves in some way if they went outside their "hole". That, perhaps, there will be some kind of force that can overnight deprive them of such a rank. That life is without luxury, for them it is the same as death, but at the same time

You have to stay in one place and everything will be fine.

It can be seen in the image of a squeaker. He appears in the tale throughout the entire story. If before the death of his father the life of a squeak was ordinary, then after his death he hid. He shivered every time someone swam or stopped near his hole. He didn’t finish eating, afraid to get out again. And from the semi-darkness that constantly reigned in his hole, the squeaker was half-blind.

Everyone considered the squirrel a fool, but he himself considered himself wise. The title of the tale "The Wise Squeaker" hides a clear irony. “Wise” means “very smart”, but in this tale the meaning of this word means something else - proud and stupid. Proud because he considers himself the smartest, since he found a way to protect his life from external threats. And he is stupid, because he did not understand the meaning of life. Although at the end of his life the squeaker thinks about how to live like everyone else, not hide in his hole, and as soon as he gathers the strength to swim out of the shelter, he again begins to tremble and again considers this undertaking stupid. "I'll get out of the hole and swim along the whole river with a gogol!" But as soon as he thought about it, he was again frightened. And he began, trembling, to die. Lived - trembled, and died - trembled ”.

To show more sarcastically the life of a squeaker, there is hyperbole in the fairy tale: “He does not receive a salary and does not keep servants, does not play cards, does not drink wine, does not smoke tobacco, does not chase red girls. “. Grotesque: “And the wise squeaker lived in this way for more than a hundred years. Everything was trembling, everything was trembling ”. Irony: “Most likely - he himself died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying squirrel, and besides, also a wise one? "

Talking animals dominate common folk tales. Since there is also a talking squeak in the fairy tale of M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin, his tale is similar to a folk tale.

Essays on topics:

1. Once upon a time there was an "enlightened, moderately liberal" gudgeon. Smart parents, dying, bequeathed him to live, looking both ways. Gudgeon realized that he was threatened from everywhere ...
2. “The Wise Squeaker” is an epic work, a fairy tale for adults. However, it is among the school program products quite justifiably, because ...
3. The theme of serfdom and the life of the peasantry played an important role in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The writer could not openly protest against the existing system. Merciless ...
4. The ideological and artistic features of Saltykov-Shchedrin's satire were most clearly manifested in the genre of a fairy tale. If Saltykov-Shchedrin had not written anything besides the "fairy tales" ...
5. Democratic literature of the second half of the 19th century sought to awaken a civil conscience in Russian society, influencing the poetic "word of denial" or the edge of the political ...
6. ME Saltykov-Shchedrin, a brilliant thinker and original critic, publicist, editor, entered the history of Russian literature as a satirist. Its genre variety ...
7. The tales of M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin, written mainly in the 80s of the XIX century (they are often called political), became a satire on those that existed in ...

Fairy tale "Wise gudgeon"

Many tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin are devoted to exposing the philistine. One of the most poignant is the Wise Gudgeon. The tale appeared in 1883 and has become, over the past hundred-odd years, one of the most famous, textbook satirist's tale.

In the center of the tale "The Wise Gudgeon" is the fate of a cowardly man in the street, a man devoid of public outlook, with philistine needs. The image of a small, helpless and cowardly fish characterizes this trembling man in the street in the best possible way. In the work, the writer raises important philosophical problems: what is the meaning of life and the purpose of a person.

Saltykov-Shchedrin puts in the title of the tale a speaking, unequivocally evaluative epithet: "The wise gudgeon." What does the epithet "wise" mean? Synonyms for him are the words "smart", "judicious". At first, the reader retains the belief that it was not in vain that the satirist characterized his hero in this way, but gradually, in the course of events and gudgeoning conclusions, it becomes clear that the meaning that the author puts into the word "wise" is undoubtedly ironic. The gudgeon considered himself wise, the author called his fairy tale that. The irony in this heading reveals all the worthlessness and uselessness of the layman, trembling for his life.

"Once upon a time there was a gudgeon," and he was "enlightened, moderately liberal." Clever parents lived in the river "Aridian eyelids" "Aridian eyelids lived in the river ..." - the expression "Aridian (or Aredian) eyelids" means extraordinary longevity. It goes back to the biblical character named Jared, who lived, as stated in the Bible, 962 (Genesis, V, 20). and, dying, bequeathed him to live, looking at both. The gudgeon realizes that trouble threatens him from everywhere: from large fish, from neighbors-minnows, from a person (his own father was once almost cooked in the ear). The gudgeon builds a hole for himself, where no one but him can fit, swims out at night for food, and during the day “shivers” in the hole, lacks sleep, malnourishes, but does his best to save his life. Crayfish, pikes lie in wait for him, but he avoids death. The gudgeon does not have a family: "he would have to live by himself." “And the wise gudgeon lived like that for more than a hundred years. Everything was trembling, everything was trembling. He had no friends or relatives; neither he to anyone, nor who to him. " Only once in his life the gudgeon decides to crawl out of the hole, and “to swim with a gogol along the whole river!”, But is frightened. Even when dying, the gudgeon trembles. No one cares about him, no one asks his advice on how to live a hundred years, no one calls him wise, but rather a "dunce" and "hateful." In the end, the gudgeon disappears into no one knows where: after all, he is not needed even by pikes, sick and dying.

The tale is based on the satirist's favorite techniques - grotesque and hyperbole. Using the grotesque, Saltykov-Shchedrin brings to the point of absurdity the idea of ​​the squalor of a lonely, selfish existence and of the fear for his life that suppresses all other feelings. And by means of exaggeration, the satirist emphasizes the negative qualities of the gudgeon: cowardice, stupidity, narrow-mindedness and self-conceit that is unreasonable for a small fish (“Not a single one will think of:“ Let me ask the wise gudgeon how he managed to live for more than a hundred years, and neither the pike swallowed it, nor did it break the cancer with its claws, nor did the angler catch it with a whip? "

The fairy tale has a slender composition. In a small volume, the author manages to describe the hero's entire life from birth to death. Gradually, tracing the course of the miner's life, the author evokes in the reader a variety of feelings: mockery, irony, turning into a feeling of disgust, and in the end, compassion for the everyday philosophy of a quiet, wordless, but useless and worthless creature.

In this tale, as in all other tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, a limited circle of characters acts: the gudgeon himself and his father, whose behests the son regularly fulfilled. People and other inhabitants of the river (pikes, perches, crayfish and other minnows) are only named by the author.

In the fairy tale, the author denounces cowardice, mental limitation, and the inadequacy of the philistine. The allegory (allegory) and the method of zoological assimilation help the satirist to deceive the tsarist censorship and create a sharply negative, repulsive image. Zoological comparisons serve the main purpose of satire - to show negative phenomena and people in a low and funny way. Comparison of social vices with the animal world is one of the witty methods of Saltykov-Shchedrin's satire, he uses it both in individual episodes and in whole fairy tales. Attributing human properties to fish, the satirist at the same time shows that “fish” traits are inherent in humans, and “gudgeon” is a definition of a person, an artistic metaphor that aptly characterizes the inhabitants. The meaning of this allegory is revealed in the words of the author: “Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in a hole and tremble, are wrongly believed. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. "

In this tale, as in many of his other works, the writer combines fantasy with a realistic depiction of everyday life. Before us is a gudgeon - a small fish that is afraid of everything in the world. But we learn that this fish "does not receive a salary", "does not keep servants", "does not play cards, does not drink wine, does not smoke tobacco, does not chase after red girls." This unusual combination achieves a sense of the reality of what is happening. The fate of a law-abiding official is also guessed in the fate of the gudgeon.

Saltykov-Shchedrin in the fairy tale "The Wise Gudgeon" adds modern concepts to the fairy tale speech, thereby connecting the folklore beginning of the tale with reality. So, Shchedrin uses the usual fabulous beginning ("there once was a gudgeon"), widespread fabulous phrases ("neither tell in a fairy tale, nor describe with a pen", "began to live and live", "bread and salt"), folk expressions ("mind chamber "," out of nowhere "), vernacular (" spreading life "," ruin "," golubit ") and much more. And next to these words are the words of a completely different style, belonging to real time: “chew life”, “did exercise at night”, “recommend”, “life process ends”.

This combination of folk motives and fantasy with real, topical reality is one of the main features of Shchedrin's satire and his new genre of political fairy tale. It was this special form of narration that helped Saltykov-Shchedrin to increase the scale of artistic depiction, to give satire to the petty layman on a huge scale, to create a real symbol of a cowardly person.

In the fairy tale "The Wise Gudgeon" Saltykov-Shchedrin traditionally interweaves comic elements with tragic ones. With humor, the satirist conveys to the reader the fish's opinion about a person: “What about a person? - what kind of snide creature is this! what tricks he had invented, so that he, the gudgeon, wasted death in vain! And the seine, and the nets, and the trap, and the noreta, and finally ... I'm off! ", Describes the flattering speeches of the pikes:" Well, if everyone lived like this, it would be quiet in the river! " They only said it on purpose; they thought that he would recommend him for praise - here, they say, I am! here it and clap! But he did not succumb to this thing, and once again, with his wisdom, defeated the intrigues of the enemies. ”And the author himself constantly laughs at the gudgeon, his fears and imaginary victories over predators.

However, the death of the gudgeon, his slow fading away and dying thoughts Saltykov-Shchedrin, being an ardent opponent of such a cowardly and meaningless existence, already describes with bitterness and even some pity: “In his hole it is dark, cramped, there is nowhere to turn, not a sunbeam will look there , does not smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, haggard, useless to anyone ... ”. The lonely and imperceptible death of the gudgeon is truly tragic, despite his entire previous worthless life.

How much Saltykov-Shchedrin despises such a humiliating life for a person! He reduces the entire biography of the gudgeon to a short formula: “Lived - trembled, and died - trembled”. This expression has become an aphorism. The author claims that one cannot live with the only joy in life: "Glory to you, Lord, I live!" It is this philosophy of life-fear that is ridiculed by the author. Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the reader a terrible isolation in himself, philistine alienation.

Before dying, the gudgeon asks himself rhetorical questions: “What were his joys? Whom did he comfort? Whom did you give good advice to? To whom did you say a kind word? Whom did he shelter, warm, protect? " There is one answer to all these questions - no one, no one, no one. These questions are introduced into the tale for the reader, so that he asks himself and thinks about the meaning of his life. After all, even the gudgeon's dreams are associated with his empty uterine existence: "He supposedly won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself." This, of course, would be so if dreams became reality, for nothing else was put into the soul of the average man.

Saltykov-Shchedrin tries to convey to the reader the idea that one cannot live just to preserve one's life. The history of the wise minnow in an exaggerated form teaches the need to set high goals and go towards them. It is necessary to remember about human dignity, about courage and honor.

The writer "makes" the gudgeon die ingloriously. In the final rhetorical question, a destructive, sarcastic sentence is heard: "Most likely, he himself died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and besides, a wise one?"

fairy tale artistic political satirist

The essay was prepared by Leonid Zusmanov

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was born in January 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province. By his father he belonged to an old and wealthy noble family, by his mother - to the merchant class. After successfully graduating from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Saltykov became an official of the military department, but his service was of little interest to him.

In 1847. his first literary works appeared in print - "Contradictions" and "Confused Affairs". But they started talking seriously about Saltykov as a writer only in 1856, when he began publishing "Provincial Essays".

He directed his extraordinary talent to open his eyes, to show those who still do not see the lawlessness happening in the country, the flourishing ignorance and stupidity, the triumph of bureaucracy.

But today I would like to dwell on the writer's fabulous cycle, which began in 1869. Fairy tales were a kind of result, a synthesis of the ideological and creative quests of the satirist. At that time, due to the existence of strict censorship, the author could not fully expose the vices of society, show the entire inconsistency of the Russian administrative apparatus. And yet, with the help of fairy tales "for children of fair age," Shchedrin was able to convey to people a sharp criticism of the existing order.

In 1883, the famous "The Wise Gudgeon" appeared, which has become Shchedrin's textbook fairy tale over the past hundred-odd years. The plot of this tale is known to everyone: once upon a time there was a gudgeon who at first was no different from their own kind. But, a coward by nature, he decided to live his whole life, not sticking out, in his hole, flinching from every rustle, from every shadow that flashed next to his hole. So life passed by - no family, no children. And so he disappeared - either himself, or some pike swallowed. Just before dying, the gudgeon thinks about the life he has lived: “Whom did he help? Whom did he regret that he did any good in his life? - Lived - trembled and died - trembled. Only before death does the man in the street realize that no one needs him, no one knows him and will not remember him.

But this is the plot, the outer side of the tale, what is on the surface. And the subtext of the caricatured image by Shchedrin in this fairy tale of the customs of modern bourgeois Russia was well explained by the artist A. Kanevsky, who made illustrations for the fairy tale “The Wise Gudgeon”: “... everyone understands that Shchedrin is not talking about fish. Gudgeon is a cowardly philistine, trembling for his own skin. He is a man, but he is also a gudgeon; the writer has donned this form, and I, an artist, must preserve it. My task is to combine the image of a frightened man in the street and a gudgeon, to combine fish and human properties. It is very difficult to "comprehend" the fish, to give it a pose, movement, gesture. How to display on a fish's "face" forever frozen fear? The figurine of the official minnow gave me a lot of trouble…. ”.

A terrible philistine alienation, isolation in himself is shown by the writer in The Wise Gudgeon. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is bitter and painful for the Russian man. Reading Saltykov-Shchedrin is quite difficult. Therefore, perhaps, many did not understand the meaning of his tales. But the majority of "children of fair age" appreciated the work of the great satirist according to their merits.

In conclusion, I would like to add that the thoughts expressed by the writer in fairy tales are still modern today. Shchedrin's satire is time-tested and it sounds especially poignant during a period of social turmoil similar to those that Russia is experiencing today.

Writing

A special place in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin is occupied by fairy tales with their allegorical images, in which the author was able to say more about Russian society in the sixties and eighties of the nineteenth century than the historians of those years. Chernyshevsky asserted: "None of the writers who preceded Shchedrin painted the pictures of our life with more gloomy colors. Nobody punished our own ulcers with more mercilessness."

Saltykov-Shchedrin writes "fairy tales" "for children of fair age," that is, for an adult reader who needs to open his eyes to life. By the simplicity of its form, the tale is accessible to anyone, even an inexperienced reader, and therefore is especially dangerous for the "top". It was not for nothing that the censor Lebedev reported: "Mr. S.'s intention to publish some of his tales in separate brochures is more than strange. What Mr. S. calls tales does not at all correspond to its name; his tales are the same satire, and caustic, tendentious satire. more or less directed against our social and political system. "

The main problem of fairy tales is the relationship between the exploiters and the exploited. In fairy tales, a satire is given on tsarist Russia: on bureaucracy, on bureaucrats, on landowners. Images of the rulers of Russia ("The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Eagle-Patron"), the exploiters and the exploited ("The Wild Landowner", "How One Man Fed Two Generals"), the townsfolk ("The Wise Gudgeon", "Dried Vobla" other).

The tale "The Wild Landowner" is directed against the entire social system based on exploitation and anti-people in its essence. Preserving the spirit and style of a folk tale, the satirist talks about real events in his contemporary life. Although the action takes place in "a certain kingdom, a certain state," the pages of the tale depict a very specific image of the Russian landowner. The whole raison d'être of his existence boils down to "soak his white, loose, crumbly body." He lives off

his peasants, but he hates them, is afraid, cannot stand their "servile spirit." He considers himself a true representative of the Russian state, his support, is proud that he is a hereditary Russian nobleman, Prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev. He rejoices when some kind of chaff whirlwind carried away all the peasants who knew where, and the air in his domain became pure and pure. But the peasants disappeared, and there was such a famine that in the city "... at the bazaar, you cannot buy a piece of meat or a pound of bread." And the landowner himself went completely wild: "All of him, from head to toe, was overgrown with hair ... and his legs became like iron ones. He stopped blowing his nose for a long time, but he walked more and more on all fours. He even lost the ability to pronounce articulate sounds .. . ". In order not to starve to death, when the last gingerbread was eaten, the Russian nobleman began to hunt: he will notice a hare - "like an arrow will jump from a tree, cling to its prey, tear it apart with nails, and so with all the insides, even with the skin, will eat it."

The wildness of the landowner testifies to the fact that he cannot live without the help of the "muzhik". After all, it was not for nothing that as soon as the "swarm of peasants" was caught and put in place, "there was a smell of chaff and sheepskin in that district; flour and meat, and all kinds of livestock appeared in the bazaar, and so many taxes were received in one day that the treasurer, seeing such a heap of money , just threw up his hands in surprise ... "

If we compare the well-known folk tales about the gentleman and the peasant with the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, for example, with The Wild Landowner, we will see that the image of the landowner in Shchedrin's tales is very close to folk tales. But the Shchedrin peasants are different from the fabulous ones. In folk tales, a man is quick-witted, dexterous, resourceful, and defeats a stupid master. And in "The Wild Landowner" there appears a collective image of toilers, breadwinners of the country and at the same time martyrs-sufferers, their "tearful prayer of an orphan" sounds: "Lord, it is easier for us to perish with small children than to languish like this all our lives!" Thus, modifying a folk tale, the writer condemns the long-suffering of the people, and his fairy tales sound like a call to rise up to fight, to abandon the slavish worldview.

Many tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are devoted to exposing the philistine. One of the most poignant is the Wise Gudgeon. Gudgeon was "moderate and liberal." Papa taught him the "wisdom of life": not to interfere in anything, take care of yourself. Now he sits in his hole all his life and trembles, as if not to hit the ear or be in the mouth of a pike. He lived like this for over a hundred years and kept trembling, and when the time came to die, then dying - he trembled. And it turned out that he had not done anything good in his life, and no one remembers him and does not know.

The political orientation of Saltykov-Shchedrin's satire demanded new art forms. To get around the censorship obstacles, the satirist had to turn to allegories, hints, to the "Aesopian language." So, in the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner", telling about the events "in a certain kingdom, in a certain state," the author calls the newspaper "Vest", mentions the actor Sadovsky, and the reader immediately recognizes Russia in the middle of the 19th century. And in "The Wise Gudgeon" the image of a small, pitiful fish, helpless and cowardly, is displayed. She perfectly characterizes the trembling man in the street. Shchedrin ascribes human properties to fish and at the same time shows that a person can also have “fishy” traits. The meaning of this allegory is revealed in the words of the author: "Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in a hole and tremble, are wrongly believed. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows." ...

Saltykov-Shchedrin until the end of his life remained faithful to the ideas of his friends in spirit: Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Nekrasov. The significance of M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin's work is all the more great because during the years of the most difficult reaction he continued the progressive ideological traditions of the sixties almost alone.

Sections: Literature

Lesson objectives:

1.Educational:

a) Knowledge:

• Repetition and systematization of previously acquired knowledge about the work of the writer; composition of the work; using various artistic means.
• Deepening knowledge about sarcasm as a kind of irony;
• Acquaintance with the concept of grotesque.

b) Skills:

• Finding the trail being studied.
• Consolidation of the ability to analyze a work of art in the unity of form and content.

2. Developing:

a). Memory development (setting to reproduce material at the end of the lesson);

b). Development of thinking (logical, figurative when working with text);

v). The development of oral speech of students (monologue, dialogical speech).

3. Educational:

a). Fostering an active life position.

b) Fostering interest in literature.

c) Fostering a respectful attitude towards culture and art.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was born in January 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province. By his father he belonged to an old and wealthy noble family, by his mother - to the merchant class. After successfully graduating from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Saltykov became an official of the military department, but his service was of little interest to him.

In 1847. his first literary works appeared in print - "Contradictions" and "Confused Affairs". But they started talking seriously about Saltykov as a writer only in 1856, when he began publishing "Provincial Essays".

He directed his literary talent to open his eyes, to show those who still do not see the lawlessness happening in the country, the flourishing ignorance and stupidity, the triumph of bureaucracy. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is a great Russian satirist, revolutionary democrat, associate of Chernyshevsky and Nekrasov. He chose satire as his weapon against social evil and social injustice, continuing and developing the traditions of Fonvizin and Gogol in new historical conditions. Chernyshevsky asserted: "None of the writers who preceded Shchedrin painted the pictures of our life with more gloomy colors. Nobody punished our own ulcers with more mercilessness." (slide No. 2 in Appendix 1)

But today I would like to dwell on the writer's fabulous cycle, which began in 1869. Fairy tales were a kind of result, a synthesis of the ideological and creative quests of the satirist. At that time, due to the existence of strict censorship, the author could not fully expose the vices of society, show the entire inconsistency of the Russian administrative apparatus. And yet, with the help of fairy tales “for children of fair age,” Shchedrin was able to convey to people a sharp criticism of the existing order.

To write fairy tales, the author used grotesque, hyperbole and antithesis. The Aesopian language was also important for the author. Trying to hide the true meaning of what was written from censorship, we had to use this technique as well. By the simplicity of its form, the tale is accessible to anyone, even an inexperienced reader, and therefore is especially dangerous for the "top". It was not for nothing that the censor Lebedev reported: "Mr. S.'s intention to publish some of his tales in separate brochures is more than strange. What Mr. S. calls tales does not at all correspond to its name; his tales are the same satire, and caustic, tendentious satire. more or less directed against our social and political system. "

The thoughts expressed by the writer in fairy tales are still modern today. Shchedrin's satire is time-tested and it sounds especially poignant during a period of social turmoil, such as those that Russia is experiencing today. That is why the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin have been reprinted many times in our time. (Slide number 3 in Appendix 1)

Before we proceed to the analysis of the fairy tale "The Wise Squeaker", let us consider the necessary terms: sarcasm, irony, grotesque, hyperbole. (Slide number 4 in Appendix 1)

SARKAZM is a caustic, caustic mockery, with an openly accusatory, satirical meaning. Sarcasm is a kind of irony.

IRONY - a negative assessment of an object or phenomenon through its ridicule. The comic effect is achieved by masking the true meaning of the event.

GROTESK is a depiction of reality in an exaggerated, ugly comic form, an interweaving of the real and the fantastic.

HYPERBALL is a deliberate exaggeration.

IV. Work on the text of the tale.

The tale "The Wise Gudgeon" (1883) has become a textbook.

one). Work on the image of the main character (slide number 5 in Appendix 1)

How did the minnow's parents live? What did his father bequeathed to him before he died?

How did the wise minnow decide to live?

What was the life position of the gudgeon? What is the name of a person with such a position in life? (slide No. 8 in Annex 1)

So, we see that the gudgeon at first was no different from their own kind. But, a coward by nature, he decided to live his whole life, not sticking out, in his hole, flinching from every rustle, from every shadow that flashed next to his hole. So life passed by - no family, no children. And so he disappeared - either himself, or some pike swallowed. Just before dying, the gudgeon thinks about the life he has lived: “Whom did he help? Whom did he regret that he did any good in his life? - Lived - trembled and died - trembled. Only before death does the man in the street realize that no one needs him, no one knows him and will not remember him.

But this is the plot, the outer side of the tale, what is on the surface. And the subtext of the caricature image of Shchedrin in this fairy tale of the customs of modern bourgeois Russia was well explained by the artist A. Kanevsky, who made illustrations for the fairy tale “The Wise Gudgeon”: “... everyone understands that Shchedrin is not talking about fish. Gudgeon is a cowardly philistine, trembling for his own skin. He is a man, but he is also a gudgeon; the writer has donned this form, and I, an artist, must preserve it. My task is to combine the image of a frightened man in the street and a gudgeon, to combine fish and human properties ... ”.

A terrible philistine alienation, isolation in himself is shown by the writer in The Wise Gudgeon. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is bitter and painful for the Russian man.

2) Work on the composition of the work, by artistic means.

What is the composition of the piece? (The composition is restrained and strict. In a small work, the author traces the life of the protagonist from birth to the inglorious death. The circle of characters is extremely narrow: the gudgeon himself and his father, whose orders he carries out.)

What traditional fairy-tale motives does the author use? (The traditional fabulous beginning is used "once upon a time there was a squeak", the widespread phrases "neither say in a fairy tale, nor describe with a pen", "began to live and live", folk expressions "mind chamber", "out of nowhere", vernacular "spread life" , "Destroy".)

What allows us to talk about mixing fantasy and reality in a work? (Along with folklore, in the tale there are expressions used by the author and his contemporaries "exercise", "recommend".)

Find examples of the use of grotesque, hyperbole in the text.

The political orientation of Saltykov-Shchedrin's satire demanded new art forms. To get around the censorship obstacles, the satirist had to turn to allegories, hints, to the "Aesopian language." The combination of fantasy and reality, the use of grotesque, hyperbole, allowed the writer to create a new original genre of political fairy tale. This form of storytelling helps push the boundaries of artistic depiction. Satire on the petty layman acquires a huge scale, a symbol of a cowardly person is created. His whole biography is reduced to the formula: “Lived - trembled, and died - trembled”.

The Wise Piskar depicts the image of a small, pitiful fish, helpless and cowardly. Shchedrin ascribes human properties to fish and at the same time shows that a person can also have “fishy” traits. The meaning of this allegory is revealed in the words of the author: "Those who think that only those piscari can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in a hole and tremble, are wrongly believed. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless piscari" ...

3) Work on the title and idea of ​​the work (slide number 10 in Appendix 1)

How do you understand the title of the work? What technique does the author use in the title? (The gudgeon considered himself wise. And the author calls this a fairy tale. But behind this heading there is an irony that reveals the worthlessness and uselessness of the layman, trembling for his life.)

What rhetorical questions does the gudgeon ask himself before dying? Why are they included in the text of the work? ("What were his joys? Whom did he console? Whom to whom did he give good advice? To whom did he say a good word? Whom did he shelter, protect him?" , so that he asked them for himself and thought about the meaning of his life.)

What is the idea behind the piece? (You cannot live just to save your life. You must set high goals for yourself and go to them. You must remember about human dignity, about courage and honor.)

We saw that in the fairy tale the author denounces cowardice, mental limitation, and the inadequacy of the philistine in life. The writer poses important philosophical problems: what is the meaning of life and the purpose of a person. These problems will always confront a person and society as a whole. The writer does not seek to entertain the reader; he teaches him a moral lesson. The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin will invariably be relevant, and the characters will be recognizable.

Composition-miniature "What is better - to live a hundred years without bringing any harm or benefit, or to live making mistakes and learning from them?"

Note

The presentation used footage from the cartoon "The Wise Gudgeon" directed by Valentin Karataev.