Olesya is the main topic. A.I

Introduction

1. The concept of natural personality

2. The originality of realism

3. The role of romantic beginning

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

The work analyzes the story of the Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870 - 1938) "Olesya" (1898).

In 1897 A. Kuprin served as the estate manager in the Rivne district of the Volyn province. The amazing nature and peculiarities of the life of the Polesie Territory, the dramatic destinies of its inhabitants inspired the writer to create a cycle of Polesie Stories, which included Olesya.

"Olesya" is one of Kuprin's first major works, and one of his favorites, about which he later spoke. This is a story about the nature and tragic love of "representatives of different worlds" - a young master Ivan Timofeevich, who came to Polesie from a big city for six months and a young girl Olesya with extraordinary abilities.

The goals and objectives of the work include:

consideration of the concept of "natural personality" in the story;

the originality of the realism of the writer's artistic style;

the role of the romantic component in the story.

1. The concept of natural personality

The concept of "natural personality", reflected in A. Kuprin's story "Olesya", is based on the ideas of the French writer and thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Rousseauism. The main provisions of this concept are as follows:

the opposition of bourgeois civilization to the simple life of people in the bosom of nature, far from cities in which selfishness and hypocrisy reign and in which true love is doomed;

civilization does not bring happiness to people;

the idea of ​​"natural man", man of nature, which consists in opposing man of nature to "a man created by a civilized society." In Kuprin's story, this conflict can be described as "dual world".

A. Kuprin, with his characteristic artistic expressiveness, sketches a portrait of the main heroine of the story, in which, in a bizarre way, both earthly and sublime principles are combined:

“My stranger, a tall brunette of about twenty or twenty-five, carried herself lightly and slenderly. A spacious white shirt loosely and beautifully wrapped around her young, healthy breasts. The original beauty of her face, once seen, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even getting used to it, to describe it. His charm lay in those large, shining, dark eyes, to which thin, broken eyebrows in the middle gave an elusive shade of cunning, imperiousness and naivety; in a dark-pink skin tone, in the willful curl of the lips, of which the lower, somewhat fuller, protruded forward with a decisive and capricious look.

It is likely that the initial feeling that arose in the protagonist of the story, the young master Ivan Timofeevich, was based on "vague" instinctive drives, but further communication with Olesya is reinforced by spiritual closeness. Kuprin brilliantly combines this transformation of the protagonist with descriptions of nature.

The main character Olesya is an ideal “child of nature”, far from civilized society. Nevertheless, she has a combination of rare qualities that are inaccessible to both the main character and ordinary residents.

She, in the words of Kuprin, “has access to those unconscious, instinctive, vague, obtained by chance experience, strange knowledge that, ahead of exact science for whole centuries, live, mixing with funny and wild beliefs, in a dark, closed mass of people, transmitted as the greatest a secret from generation to generation. "

First of all, the young master Ivan Timofeevich is attracted by the romantic "a certain halo of the mystery surrounding her, the superstitious reputation of a witch, life in the forest among the swamps, and in particular - this proud self-confidence, which shone through in the few words addressed to me."

In the image of Olesya, Kuprin embodied the ideal of a natural person, a free, original and whole person who lives in harmony with nature, “who grew up in the freedom of an old forest as slender and as powerful as young Christmas trees grow”.

Of course, Kuprin most vividly and fully reveals the characters of the main characters, representatives of radically different worlds - in love, in unselfish and honest love.

The birth of love coincides with the spring awakening of nature - the main characters are happy as long as they live one life with nature and obey its laws:

“For almost a month the naive, charming fairy tale of our love lasted, and to this day, together with the beautiful appearance of Olesya, these flaming evening dawns, these dewy, fragrant lilies of the valley and honey mornings, full of vigorous freshness and ringing bird din, live with unfading strength in my soul, these hot, languid lazy June days ... ".

Ivan Timofeevich, in moments of this uplift, at the peak of emotional closeness with Olesya, compares himself to a “pagan god” or “a young, strong animal”, enjoying “light, warmth, conscious joy of life and calm, healthy, sensual love:

"Not once, neither boredom, nor fatigue, nor the eternal passion for a wandering life has stirred in my soul during this time."

Revealing the character of Olesya, the writer puts his dream into her image - the dream of a Personality not influenced by the environment. However, the prejudices and conventions of the environment turn out to be stronger than all the feelings that overwhelm the protagonist, which determines the tragic outcome of this story.

2. The originality of realism

The peculiarity of A. Kuprin's realism lies in the combination of incongruous worlds, the so-called double world, that is, the division of the world into real and ideal, which are opposed to each other.

This is how the romantics initially contrasted the classicistic "imitation of nature" with the creative activity, imagination and originality of the artist with his right to transform the real world. In this regard, the movement of romanticism was originally designated as a "protest against God", against the original predestination. In other words, the romantic is not satisfied with the reality, and he creates, in opposition to it, parallel to it, or for the purpose of harmonization - his own reality, his world.

Based on this, "dual world" is a clear classic hallmark of traditional romanticism.

The initial pages of "Olesya" can be characterized stylistically as realism, since it describes the life of the Polesie peasants in sufficient detail. And only after Olesya appears in the story, romanticism is already inseparably adjacent to realism.

In other words, the work describes the love of a real person and a romantic ideal heroine. Ivan Timofeevich finds himself in the attractive and mysterious world of Olesya, unknown to him, and she - in his reality. Olesya's ideality, in addition to the listed properties, also lies in the fact that she is ready to sacrifice herself and accept the real world, with all its cruelties. Thus, the work traces the features of both realism and romanticism.

The first conflict of the story lies in the uniqueness of the Polissya traditions, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with pagan ones. Civilization and wildlife live according to completely different laws.

However, despite the extensive history of human development and evolution (changes in lifestyle, cultural and social changes, etc.) and all the specific moments of human civilization (the development of natural sciences, technology and social transformations), humans have retained the basic traditional ideas of good and evil, love and hate, about enemies and friends.

Initially, the main character thinks that he is in some kind of reserved world, in which time has stopped. This feeling is conveyed to the reader.

The world appears before us in two realities - real (where there is one form of time) and magical (where time and space flows according to different laws).

A detailed description of the Polesie space, which is divided into its own - pure, Christian - and pagan, in which evil forces live, is necessary in order to explain to the reader the reason for the negative attitude of the peasants to the "witch" Olesya.

Ivan Timofeevich, the hero on whose behalf the reader learns about all events, is a kind of "border" separating the real and ideal worlds. The real world is Petersburg and its “upper world”; the ideal world is the forest in which Olesya lives with her grandmother.

Ivan Timofeevich himself talks about Petersburg to Oles with undisguised disgust:

“So these are such tall buildings. And from top to bottom are packed with people. These people live in small kennels, like birds in cages, ten people in each, so that everyone lacks air. And others live below, under the very earth, in damp and cold; it happens that they don't see the sun in their room all year round. "

Olesya answers Ivan Timofeevich:

“Well, I would never trade my forest for your city. I'll come to the bazaar in Stepan too, it will become so disgusting to me. They push, make noise, scold ... And such melancholy will take me behind the forest - so I would have abandoned everything and ran without looking back ... God be with him, with your city, I would never have lived there. "

Another conflict follows from the opposition of these worlds. This conflict is social: people brought up in such different conditions simply cannot be together, and are doomed to part.

Therefore, Kuprin does not make romantic love serene and leads the heroes to difficult trials. Thus, the "forest tale" ends tragically. The point is not only in the circumstances of the finale, when Olesya is faced with the harshness and meanness of the world around her. Kuprin considers this issue on a larger scale, from a social point of view: as far as possible, that the ideal "child of nature" lived in an alien environment.

These worlds are clearly opposed to each other and as the protagonist correctly notes, they cannot be combined:

“I didn't even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, plucked from this charming frame of an old forest full of legends and mysterious powers”.

Thus, the story touches upon not only the theme of love, but also the theme of unattainable happiness.

The peculiarity of Kuprin's realism also lies in the fact that this fairy-tale world, into which the main character fell, is devoid of idealism - the villagers appear vicious and limited. Olesya, knowing their mentality and experiencing their rejection on herself, tries to shield herself and defend herself from them:

“Are we really touching someone! We don't need people either. Once a year, I just go to a little place to buy soap and salt ... But here's another tea for my grandmother - she loves tea with me. And then at least not to see anyone at all. "

Possessing intuitive knowledge, nobility and a number of other human qualities, Olesya wins in comparison with her lover - Ivan Timofeevich, who appears before us as a typical representative of the intelligentsia, a man with a "lazy heart", a sincere, sympathetic, but indecisive and somewhat selfish person. He could not feel the danger that threatened Olesya and, thanks to his susceptibility to the conventions and prejudices of the civilized world, unwittingly, brought misfortune to his beloved.

Olesya feels and understands this from the start, telling her beloved:

“What happened to you is this: although you are a kind person, you are only weak ... Your kindness is not good, not cordial. You are not master of your word. You like to take the upper hand over people, and although you yourself do not want to, you obey. You will not love anyone with your heart, because your heart is cold, lazy, and to those who love you, you will bring a lot of grief. "

Olesya, possessing an inexplicable from Ivan's point of view, the gift of providence, feels the inevitability of a tragic end. She knows that Ivan Timofeevich is not able to renounce his world, but, nevertheless, she goes to self-denial, tries to try on her way of life with the world that is alien to her.

When Olesya invites Ivan to simply follow him, without any marriage, the protagonist has a suspicion that her refusal is due to the fear of the church. However, Olesya says that for the sake of love for him, she is ready to overcome this too.

Ivan Timofeevich himself, on whose behalf the narration is being conducted, does not justify himself and does not deny that for all his love for Olesya, he depends on the conventions of the civilized world. In fact, it is these conventions that determine the tragedy of the finale, and the presentiments of imminent misfortune and close parting now visit the main character:

"I gazed closely at her pale, thrown back face, into her large black eyes with bright moon reflections shining in them, and a vague presentiment of imminent disaster suddenly crawled into my soul with a sudden cold."

3. The role of romantic beginning

The romantic beginning of "Olesya" is guessed at the very beginning of the story, when a realistic, unhurried description of the life and customs of Polesie peasants is supplied with stories of Ivan Timofeevich's servant - Ermola about "witches" and about a witch living nearby.

However, the romantic beginning appears in its entirety only with the appearance of Olesya, the daughter of the forests. The romantic image of Olesya lies not only in her ideality - isolation from people limited by her malice and lack of base interests in fame, wealth, power, etc. Emotions are the main motives for her actions. In addition to this, Olesya is familiar with the secrets of the human subconscious, for which the locals call her a "witch".

Olesya, who does not know all the subtleties, tricks and conventions of the civilized world, thanks to her openness makes Ivan Timofeevich, at least for a while, forget about all the prejudices of her environment.

At the same time, it should be noted that Olesya is not characterized by naivety and defenselessness - she knows what human malice and rejection are, she knows that any dissimilarity in the human community is punishable, but, nevertheless, she is capable of "acting", unlike beloved.

Olesya's love is the greatest gift to the protagonist, which combines sacrifice and courage, but at the same time Kuprin puts a number of conflicts and contradictions into this gift.

Thus, A. Kuprin sees the true meaning of love in the desire to disinterestedly give his chosen one all the fullness of his feelings.

Conclusion

The concept of "natural personality" in A. Kuprin's story is represented by the following points:

the opposition of two worlds - the real world, which personifies the protagonist and the ideal world, which is personified by the village girl Olesya;

the doom of true love in the civilized world;

the idea of ​​a "natural man", a man of nature, that is, the opposition to man of nature "a man created by a civilized society" on the example of the image of Olesya.

Revealing the character of Olesya, the writer puts his dream into her image - the dream of a Personality not influenced by the environment.

This concept is also the originality of A. Kuprin's realism - in a combination of incompatible worlds, the so-called double world, that is, the division of the world into real and ideal, which are opposed to each other.

The first conflict of the story lies in the uniqueness of the Polissya traditions, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with pagan ones.

The second conflict follows from the confrontation between the real and the ideal worlds: beloved ones brought up in such different conditions simply cannot be together, and are doomed to part.

The romantic component can be traced at the very beginning of "Olesya", when a realistic description of the life of the peasants is supplied with the stories of the master's servant about the "witches" and the witch living nearby.

However, only after Olesya appears in the story, romanticism is inseparably adjacent to realism. The main character, having got into this fabulous ideal world, for a while forgets about all the conventions of modern traditional society and for some time unites with nature. However, Kuprin remains a realist, and the forest tale ends tragically, which Olesya herself intuitively guesses even at the first stages of her acquaintance with Ivan Timofeevich.

Kuprin personality romantic realism

Literature

1. Kuprin A.I. Selected works - Moscow: "Khudozhestvennaya literatura", 1985. - 655 p.

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Composition

"Olesya"

In 1897, Kuprin served as an estate manager in the Ro-Vienna district of the Volyn province. The amazing nature of the Polesie region and the dramatic destinies of its inhabitants were revealed to the writer. On the basis of what he saw, he created a cycle of "Polesie Stories", which included "Olesya" - a story about nature and love.

The story begins with a description of a picturesque corner where the hero spent six months. He talks about the uncommunicativeness of the Polissya peasants, about traces of Polish rule, about customs and superstitions. In the world on the threshold of the 20th century with its rapid development of natural sciences, technology and social transformations, traditional ideas about good and evil, about love and hatred, about enemies and friends have been preserved. Sometimes the hero thinks that he is in some kind of reserved world, in which time has stopped. Here people believe not only in God, but also in devils, devil, water. The space is divided into its own - clean, Christian - and pagan: evil forces that can bring grief and illness live in it. All these sketches are necessary in order to introduce the reader to the atmosphere of Polissya places and explain the reason for the negative attitude of the peasants to the hero's novel with the "witch".

Nature, with its beauty and charm, with its enlightening effect on the human soul, determines the whole flavor of the story. The winter forest landscape contributes to a special state of mind, the solemn silence emphasizes the detachment from the world. The hero meets Olesya in winter and spring, when the renewed nature and the revived forest awaken feelings in the souls of two people. In the beauty of Olesya, in the proud strength emanating from her, the strength and beauty of the world around her are embodied. A beautiful heroine is inseparable from the greatness of the pristine nature of this land, whose name seems to echo the words "forest" and "Polesie".

Kuprin sketches a portrait in which earthly and sublime beginnings are fancifully combined: “My stranger, a tall brunette about twenty or twenty-five years old, kept herself light and slender. A spacious white shirt loosely and beautifully wrapped around her young, healthy breasts. The original beauty of her face, once seeing it, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even getting used to it, to describe it. His charm lay in those large, shiny, dark eyes, to which thin, broken eyebrows in the middle gave an imperceptible shade of cunning, imperiousness and naivety; in the dark-pink rut of skin, in the willful bend of the lips, of which the lower one, somewhat fuller, protruded forward with a resolute and capricious look.

Kuprin managed to vividly embody the ideal of a natural person, free, original and whole, living in harmony and harmony with nature, "who grew up in the freedom of the old pine forest as slender and as powerful as young Christmas trees grow", which is close to Tolstoy's traditions.

The heroine's chosen one, Ivan Timofeevich, is humane and kind in his own way, educated and intelligent, endowed with a "lazy" heart. Fortune-telling to her betrothed, Olesya says: “Your kindness is not good, not cordial. You are not master of your word. You love to take the upper hand over people, and although you yourself do not want to, you obey. "

And so different people fell in love with each other: "A month rose, and its radiance strangely colorful and mysteriously blossomed the forest ... And we walked, embracing, among this smiling living legend, without a single word, suppressed by our happiness and the terrible silence of the forest." The magnificent nature with its overflow of colors echoes the heroes, as if bewitched by the beauty of youth. But the forest tale ends tragically. And not only because cruelty and meanness of the surrounding world bursts into the light world of Olesya. The writer poses the question on a larger scale: could this girl, a child of nature, free from all conventions, live in a different environment? The theme of shared love is replaced in the story by another, constantly sounding in the work of Kuprin - the theme of unattainable happiness.

Other compositions on this work

There are works that not only can, but also need to be read and comprehended, analyzed, passed through themselves. One of them is the story "Olesya", written back in 1898. For your attention - the analysis of "Olesya" Kuprin. It should be noted right away that abstruse terms like "life-giving pathos inherent in art" and "artistic vigilance" should probably be left to professional literary critics.

Analysis of "Olesya" Kuprin from the perspective of an interested reader

The story takes place in Polissya, and luxurious nature becomes the background of this tragic love story. The main characters of the work are a simple girl Olesya, who lives in the forest with her grandmother, and the educated master Ivan Timofeevich, who happened to be in this area in order to gain new impressions that he needed for creativity.

These people, so dissimilar, seem to be attracted to each other by a magnet. At the same time, Ivan Timofeevich, in fact, finds entertainment for himself, which helps to brighten up the melancholy in a remote village. Of course, it is possible, after analyzing Kuprin's "Olesya", to decide that the master had certain feelings for Olesya. But it was unlikely that it was Passion, love, enthusiasm for the beauty and uniqueness of the girl - yes, but no more. This can be understood from the fact that Ivan Timofeevich had the idea to tell Olesya that a woman is simply obliged to believe in God. It turns out that he did not understand the girl herself at all and did not realize the power of her love. It was not given to this person to understand that Olesya, who believed that she belonged to the devil, in fact, most likely, was much closer to God than those enthusiastic fools who devoted time to gossip, envy and intrigue, and then feigned sincere prayers in the church.

Even not the most in-depth analysis of Kuprin's "Olesya" allows us to note that the writer showed in the image of a forest sorceress his ideal of a woman, which was extremely rare in his time. And in our era, things are no better!

Therefore, the main thing to pay attention to is Olesya's feelings, her desire to correspond to the ideals of a loved one, her foresight, ability to be disinterested. Indeed, the girl rejoices in fleeting happiness, realizing that she and Ivan are not a couple. And, having become his wife, she will be the object of ridicule. Ostrakism, again, will be subjected in this case, and her beloved. Olesya does not want to allow this, so she prefers to leave, keeping her love in her heart and leaving Ivan memories that will bring much more good than her consent to marry him.

The story "Olesya" (Kuprin): analysis from the point of view of usefulness

Everyone who has read this book will have their own opinion about it. But it was not for nothing that Kuprin called the story "Olesya" one of the works most dear to his heart! And it is quite justified that this masterpiece is included in the school curriculum. Perhaps, after reading a book that grows in the world of cynicism and material values, he will think about it. After all, the opinion of others is not the most important thing in the world. But honor, dignity and the ability to love in spite of everything is the most valuable thing that can be!

History of creation

A. Kuprin's story "Olesya" was first published in 1898 in the newspaper "Kievlyanin" and was accompanied by a subtitle. "From memories of Volyn". It is curious that the writer first sent the manuscript to the journal "Russkoe bogatstvo", since before that Kuprin's story "Forest Wilderness", also dedicated to Polesie, had already been published in this magazine. Thus, the author counted on creating a continuation effect. However, for some reason Russkoe Bogatstvo refused to publish Olesya (perhaps the publishers were not satisfied with the size of the story, because by that time it was the author's largest work), and the cycle planned by the author did not work out. But later, in 1905, "Olesya" came out in an independent edition, accompanied by an introduction from the author, which told the story of the creation of the work. Later, a full-fledged "Polessky cycle" was released, the peak and decoration of which was "Olesya".

The author's introduction has survived only in the archives. In it, Kuprin said that when he was visiting Polesie with a friend of the landowner Poroshin, he heard from him many legends and tales associated with local beliefs. Among other things, Poroshin said that he himself was in love with a local sorceress. Kuprin would later tell this story in the story, at the same time including in it all the mysticism of local legends, the mysterious mystical atmosphere and the piercing realism of the environment that surrounded him, the difficult fates of Polesie residents.

Analysis of the work

The plot of the story

Compositionally "Olesya" is a retrospective story, that is, the author-narrator returns in his memoirs to the events that took place in his life many years ago.

The basis of the plot and the leading theme of the story is the love between the city nobleman (panych) Ivan Timofeevich and a young resident of Polesie, Olesya. Love is light, but tragic, since its death is inevitable due to a number of circumstances - social inequality, the gap between the heroes.

According to the plot, the hero of the story, Ivan Timofeevich, spends several months in a remote village, on the edge of Volyn Polesye (the territory called Little Russia in tsarist times, today is the west of the Pripyat lowland, in northern Ukraine). A city dweller, he first tries to instill culture in local peasants, heals them, teaches them to read, but the classes are unsuccessful, since people are overcome by worries and they are not interested in either enlightenment or development. Ivan Timofeevich increasingly goes hunting in the forest, admires the local landscapes, sometimes listens to the stories of his servant Yarmola, who talks about witches and sorcerers.

Lost one day while hunting, Ivan finds himself in a forest hut - the same witch from Yarmola's stories - Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya - live here.

The second time the hero comes to the inhabitants of the hut in the spring. Olesya guesses to him, predicting a quick unhappy love and hardships, up to a suicide attempt. The girl also shows mystical abilities - she can influence a person, inspiring her will or fear, and stop the blood. Panych falls in love with Olesya, but she herself remains emphatically cold with him. She is especially angry that the panych stands up for her and her grandmother before the local police officer, who threatened to disperse the inhabitants of the forest hut for their alleged divination and harm to people.

Ivan falls ill and does not appear in the forest hut for a week, but when he comes, it is noticeable that Olesya is happy to see him, and the feelings of both flare up. A month of secret dates and quiet, bright happiness passes. Despite Ivan's obvious and realized inequality of lovers, he proposes to Olesya. She refuses, arguing that she, the servant of the devil, cannot enter the church, therefore, and get married, entering into a marriage union. Nevertheless, the girl decides to go to church in order to make a pleasant panychu. Local residents, however, did not appreciate Olesya's impulse and attacked her, severely beating her.

Ivan hurries to the forest house, where the beaten, defeated and morally crushed Olesya tells him that her fears about the impossibility of their union were confirmed - they cannot be together, so she and her grandmother will leave her house. Now the village is even more hostile to Olesya and Ivan - any whim of nature will be associated with its sabotage and sooner or later will be killed.

Before leaving for the city, Ivan again goes to the forest, but in the hut he finds only red olesin beads.

Heroes of the story

Olesya

The main character of the story is the forest witch Olesya (her real name is Alena, according to her grandmother Manuilikha, and Olesya is the local version of the name). A beautiful, tall brunette with intelligent dark eyes immediately attracts Ivan's attention. Natural beauty in a girl is combined with a natural mind - despite the fact that a girl does not even know how to read, there is perhaps more tact and depth in her than in a city one.

Olesya is sure that she is “not like everyone else” and soberly understands that for this dissimilarity she can suffer from the people. Ivan does not really believe in Olesya's unusual abilities, believing that there is more of centuries-old superstition here. However, he cannot deny the mystical nature of the image of Olesya.

Olesya is well aware of the impossibility of her happiness with Ivan, even if he makes a strong-willed decision and marries her, so it is she who boldly and simply manages their relationship: firstly, she takes self-control, trying not to impose a panic, and secondly, she decides to part seeing that they are not a couple. Social life would be unacceptable for Olesya, her husband would inevitably become burdened by her after the absence of common interests would be revealed. Olesya does not want to be a burden, to bind Ivan hand and foot and leaves by herself - this is the heroism and strength of the girl.

Ivan Timofeevich

Ivan is a poor, educated nobleman. Urban boredom leads him to Polesie, where at first he tries to do some business, but in the end, only hunting remains from his studies. He treats the legends about witches like fairy tales - a healthy skepticism is justified by his education.

(Ivan and Olesya)

Ivan Timofeevich is a sincere and kind person, he is able to feel the beauty of nature, and therefore Olesya at first interests him not as a beautiful girl, but as an interesting person. He wonders how it happened that she was brought up by nature itself, and she came out so gentle and delicate, unlike the rude, uncouth peasants. How did it happen that they, religious, albeit superstitious, are cruder and tougher than Olesya, although she should be the embodiment of evil. For Ivan, a meeting with Olesya is not a lordly fun and a difficult summer love adventure, although he also understands that they are not a couple - society in any case will be stronger than their love, destroying their happiness. The personification of society in this case does not matter - whether it is a blind and stupid peasant force, whether it is city dwellers, Ivan's colleagues. When he thinks of Olesa as his future wife, in a city dress, trying to keep up small talk with his colleagues, he just gets stumped. The loss of Olesya for Ivan is the same tragedy as finding her as a wife. This remains beyond the scope of the narrative, but most likely Olesya's prediction came true in full - after her departure he felt bad, right down to thoughts of intentionally leaving this life.

Final conclusion

The culmination of events in the story falls on a great holiday - Trinity. This is not an accidental coincidence, it emphasizes and intensifies the tragedy with which Olesya's bright fairy tale is trampled by people who hate her. There is a sarcastic paradox in this: the servant of the devil, Olesya, the witch, turns out to be more open to love than a crowd of people whose religion fits into the thesis "God is Love".

The author's conclusions sound tragic - it is impossible for two people to be happy together, when the happiness for each of them separately is different. For Ivan, happiness is impossible apart from civilization. For Olesya - out of touch with nature. But at the same time, the author claims, civilization is cruel, society can poison relations between people, morally and physically destroy them, but nature is not.

The tragedy of two hearts at the edge of the forest

"Olesya" is one of the first major works of the author and, in his own words, one of the most beloved. It is logical to start the analysis of the story from the background. In 1897, Alexander Kuprin served as an estate manager in the Rivne district of the Volyn province. The young man was impressed by the beauty of Polissya and the difficult fates of the inhabitants of this region. On the basis of what he saw, a cycle of "Polesie stories" was written, the decoration of which was the story "Olesya".

Despite the fact that the work was created by a young author, it attracts literary critics with its complex problems, the depth of the characters of the main characters, and amazing landscape sketches. The composition of the story "Olesya" is a retrospective. The narration comes from the person of the narrator, who recalls the events of days gone by.

The intellectual Ivan Timofeevich comes from a big city to stay in the remote village of Perebrod in Volyn. This reserved land seems to him very strange. On the threshold of the twentieth century, technical and natural sciences are rapidly developing, and tremendous social transformations are taking place in the world. And here, it seems that time has stopped. And people in this land believe not only in God, but also in goblin, devils, water and other otherworldly characters. Christian traditions are closely intertwined with pagan traditions in Polissya. This is the first conflict in the story: civilization and wildlife live according to completely different laws.

Another conflict follows from their confrontation: people brought up in such different conditions cannot be together. Therefore, Ivan Timofeevich, who personifies the world of civilization, and the witch Olesya, who lives according to the laws of the wild, are doomed to part.

The closeness of Ivan and Olesya is the culmination of the story. Despite the mutual sincerity of feelings, the characters' understanding of love and duty differ significantly. Olesya in a difficult situation behaves much more responsible. She is not afraid of further events, it is only important that she is loved. Ivan Timofeevich, on the other hand, is weak and indecisive. In principle, he is ready to marry Olesya and take her with him to the city, but he really has no idea how this is possible. Ivan in love is not capable of an act, since he is used to going with the flow in life.

But one in the field is not a warrior. Therefore, even the sacrifice of a young witch, when she decides to go to church for the sake of her chosen one, does not save the situation. A beautiful but short tale of mutual love ends tragically. Olesya and her mother are forced to flee their home, fleeing the wrath of superstitious peasants. Only a thread of red coral remains in her memory.

The story of the tragic love of an intellectual and a witch inspired the film adaptation of the work of the Soviet director Boris Ivchenko. The main roles in his film "Olesya" (1971) were played by Gennady Voropaev and Lyudmila Chursina. And fifteen years earlier, the French director Andre Michel based on Kuprin's story made the film "The Witch" with Marina Vlady.

See also:

• The image of Ivan Timofeevich in Kuprin's story "Olesya"
• "Garnet Bracelet", story analysis
• "Lilac bush", analysis of Kuprin's story