Novel on the eve of the main characters list. Eve (novel), novel writing history, plot

On one of the hottest days in 1853, two young people were lying on the banks of the Moskva River in the shade of a blossoming linden. Andrei Petrovich Bersenev, 23, had just emerged as the third candidate at Moscow University, with a career ahead of him. Pavel Yakovlevich Shubin was a promising sculptor. The dispute, quite peaceful, concerned nature and our place in it. Bersenev is struck by the completeness and self-sufficiency of nature, against the background of which our incompleteness is seen more clearly, which gives rise to anxiety, even sadness. Shubin proposes not to reflect, but to live. Stock up on a friend of the heart, and the longing will pass. We are driven by the thirst for love, happiness - and nothing else. "As if there is nothing higher than happiness?" - objects Bersenev. Isn't it a selfish, divisive word. Art, homeland, science, freedom can unite. And love, of course, but not love-pleasure, but love-sacrifice. However, Shubin does not agree to be number two. He wants to love for himself. No, his friend insists, putting yourself number two is the whole purpose of our life.

Young people on this stopped the feast of the mind and, after a pause, continued the conversation about the ordinary. Bersenev recently saw Insarov. We must introduce him to Shubin and the Stakhov family. Insarov? Is this the Serb or the Bulgarian that Andrei Petrovich has already talked about? Patriot? Was it he who inspired the thoughts just expressed in him? However, it's time to return to the dacha: you shouldn't be late for dinner. Anna Vasilievna Stakhova, Shubin's second cousin, will be unhappy, but Pavel Vasilievich owes her the very opportunity to do sculpture. She even gave money for a trip to Italy, but Pavel (Paul, as she called him) spent it on Little Russia. In general, the family is contemplative. And how could such parents have such an extraordinary daughter as Elena? Try to solve this riddle of nature.

The head of the family, Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov, the son of a retired captain, dreamed of a profitable marriage from a young age. At twenty-five, he made his dream come true - he married Anna Vasilyevna Shubina, but soon got bored, became friends with the widow Augustina Christianovna and was bored already in her company. "They stare at each other, it's so stupid ..." - says Shubin. However, sometimes Nikolai Artemyevich starts arguments with her: is it possible for a person to travel around the entire globe, or to know what is happening at the bottom of the sea, or to foresee the weather? And he always concluded that it was impossible.

Anna Vasilievna endures her husband's infidelity, and yet it hurts her that he gave a German woman a pair of gray horses from her, Anna Vasilievna, factory by deception.

Shubin has been living in this family for five years now, since the death of his mother, a smart, kind French woman (his father died several years earlier). He devoted himself entirely to his vocation, but although he works hard, but in fits and starts, he does not want to hear about the academy and the professors. In Moscow, he is known as a promising one, but at twenty-six he remains in the same capacity. He really likes the daughter of the Stakhovs, Elena Nikolaevna, but he does not miss the opportunity to drag along the plump seventeen-year-old Zoya, taken to the house as a companion for Elena, who has nothing to talk to her about. Pavel calls her inwardly a sweetish German girl. Alas, Elena does not understand in any way the "all naturalness of such contradictions" of the artist. The lack of character in a person always outraged her, stupidity made her angry, she did not forgive a lie. As soon as someone lost her respect, and he ceased to exist for her.

Elena Nikolaevna is an outstanding person. She has just turned twenty, she is attractive: tall, with large gray eyes and a dark blond braid. In all her appearance, however, there is something impetuous, nervous, which not everyone likes.

Nothing could ever satisfy her: she longed for active good. From childhood, beggars, hungry, sick people and animals disturbed and occupied her. When she was ten years old, the beggar girl Katya became the subject of her cares and even worship. Parents did not approve of this hobby very much. True, the girl died soon. However, the trace from this meeting in Elena's soul remained forever.

From the age of sixteen, she already lived her own life, but a lonely life. Nobody embarrassed her, but she was torn and yearned: "How to live without love, but there is no one to love!" Shubin was quickly dismissed due to his artistic inconstancy. Bersenyev, on the other hand, takes her as an intelligent, educated person, in his own way, real, deep. But why is he so persistent with his stories about Insarov? These stories aroused Elena's keenest interest in the personality of a Bulgarian, obsessed with the idea of ​​liberating his homeland. Any mention of this kindles a dull, inextinguishable fire in him. One can feel the concentrated deliberation of a single and long-standing passion. And his story is as follows.

He was still a child when his mother was kidnapped and killed by a Turkish aga. The father tried to take revenge, but was shot. Eight years old, left an orphan, Dmitry arrived in Russia, to his aunt, and after twelve he returned to Bulgaria and in two years walked her up and down. He was persecuted, he was in danger. Bersenyev himself saw a scar - a trace of a wound. No, Insarov did not take revenge on aha. Its purpose is broader.

He is poor as a student, but proud, scrupulous and undemanding, amazingly efficient. On the very first day after moving to Bersenev's dacha, he got up at four in the morning, ran around the vicinity of Kuntsev, bathed and, having drunk a glass of cold milk, set to work. He studies Russian history, law, political economy, translates Bulgarian songs and chronicles, compiles Russian grammar for Bulgarians and Bulgarian for Russians: a Russian is ashamed not to know Slavic languages.

On his first visit, Dmitry Nikanorovich made less impression on Elena than she expected after Bersenev's stories. But the case confirmed the correctness of Bersenev's estimates.

Anna Vasilievna decided to somehow show her daughter and Zoya the beauty of Tsaritsyn. We went there in a big company. The ponds and ruins of the palace, the park - everything made an excellent impression. Zoya sang not badly as they sailed on a boat among the lush greenery of the picturesque coast. The company of the Germans who had played around even shouted an encore! They did not pay attention to them, but already on the shore, after a picnic, we met with them again. A man of huge stature with a bull's neck separated from the company and began to demand satisfaction in the form of a kiss for the fact that Zoe did not respond to their encore and applause. Shubin, floridly and with a pretense of irony, began to admonish the drunken impudent, which only provoked him. Here Insarov stepped forward and simply demanded that he walk away. The bull-like carcass leaned forward threateningly, but at the same moment it swayed, lifted off the ground, lifted into the air by Insarov, and, plumping into the pond, disappeared under the water. "He will drown!" - shouted Anna Vasilievna. "It will come up," Insarov threw in casually. Something unkind, dangerous appeared on his face.

An entry appeared in Elena's diary: “... Yes, you can't joke with him, and he knows how to intercede. But why this malice? .. Or is it impossible to be a man, a fighter, and remain meek and gentle? Life is tough, he said recently. " She immediately admitted to herself that she fell in love with him.

The news turns out to be a big blow for Elena: Insarov is leaving the dacha. So far, only Bersenyev understands what the matter is. A friend once admitted that if he fell in love, he would certainly leave: for a personal feeling, he will not betray his duty (“... I don’t need Russian love ...”). Having heard all this, Elena herself goes to Insarov.

He confirmed: yes, he must leave. Then Elena will have to be braver than him. He apparently wants to force her to confess her love first. Well, so she said it. Insarov embraced her: "So you will follow me everywhere?" Yes, it will, and neither the anger of her parents, nor the need to leave her homeland, nor danger will stop her. Then they are husband and wife, concludes the Bulgarian.

Meanwhile, a certain Kurnatovsky, chief secretary in the Senate, began to appear at the Stakhovs. Stakhov read his husband to Elena. And this is not the only danger for lovers. Letters from Bulgaria are becoming more and more alarming. We must go while it is still possible, and Dmitry begins to prepare for his departure. Once, having been busy all day, he was caught in a downpour, soaked to the bone. The next morning, despite the headache, he continued his chores. But by lunchtime there was a strong fever, and by evening he was completely down. For eight days Insarov is between life and death. Bersenyev has been caring for the patient all this time and informs Elena about his condition. Finally the crisis was over. However, it is far from real recovery, and Dmitry does not leave his home for a long time. Elena is impatient to see him, she asks Bersenev not to visit her friend one day and appears to Insarov in a light silk dress, fresh, young and happy. They talk for a long time and with ardor about their problems, about the golden heart of Elena Bersenev, who loves her, about the need to hurry up with leaving. On the same day, they no longer verbally become husband and wife. Their date does not remain a secret for the parents.

Nikolai Artemyevich demands his daughter to answer. Yes, she admits, Insarov is her husband, and next week they are leaving for Bulgaria. "To the Turks!" - Anna Vasilievna loses her feelings. Nikolai Artemyevich grabs his daughter by the hand, but at this time Shubin shouts: “Nikolai Artemyevich! Avgustina Christianovna has arrived and is calling you! "

A minute later, he was already talking with Uvar Ivanovich, a retired sixty-year-old cornet who lives with the Stakhovs, does nothing, eats often and a lot, is always calm and expresses himself something like this: “It should be ... somehow, that ...” This desperately helps himself with gestures. Shubin calls him a representative of the choral principle and black earth power.

Pavel Yakovlevich expresses his admiration for Elena to him. She is afraid of nothing and no one. He understands her. Who is she leaving here? Kurnatovskikhs, and Bersenevs, but such as he himself. And they are even better. We don't have people yet. Everything is either small fry, hamletics, or darkness and wilderness, or pouring from empty to empty. If there were good people among us, this sensitive soul would not have left us. "When will people be born here, Ivan Ivanovich?" - "Give time, they will," - he replies.

And here are the young ones in Venice. Behind the difficult journey and two months of illness in Vienna. From Venice, the way to Serbia and then to Bulgaria. It remains to wait for the old sea wolf Randych, who will ferry across the sea.

Venice was the best way to help forget the hardships of travel and the excitement of politics. All that this unique city could give, lovers took in full. Only in the theater, listening to La Traviata, are they embarrassed by the scene of farewell to Violetta and Alfreda, dying of consumption, by her prayer: “Let me live ... die so young!” The feeling of happiness leaves Elena: "Is it really impossible to beg, turn away, save. I was happy ... And why right? .. And if this is not given for free?"

The next day Insarov gets worse. Fever rose, he fell into oblivion. Exhausted, Elena falls asleep and has a dream: a boat on the Tsaritsyn pond, then found herself in a restless sea, but a snow storm flies, and she is no longer in a boat, but in a cart. Near Katya. Suddenly the cart flies into the snowy abyss, Katya laughs and calls her from the abyss: "Elena!" She raises her head and sees the pale Insarov: "Elena, I'm dying!" Randitch no longer finds him alive. Elena begged the stern sailor to take the coffin with the body of her husband and herself to his homeland.

Three weeks later Anna Vasilievna received a letter from Venice. The daughter goes to Bulgaria. There is no other homeland for her now. “I was looking for happiness - and perhaps I will find death. Apparently ... there was wine. "

Reliably the further fate of Elena remained unclear. Some said that they later saw her in Herzegovina as a sister of mercy in the army in the same black outfit. Then her trace was lost.

Shubin, occasionally corresponding with Uvar Ivanovich, reminded him of the old question: "So what, will we have people?" Uvar Ivanovich played with his fingers and fixed his mysterious gaze into the distance.

Retold

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev wrote his novel "On the Eve" in 1859. A year later, the work was published. Despite the remoteness of the events described in it, the novel remains in demand today. How does he attract the modern reader? Let's try to understand this issue.

History of creation

In the 1850s, Turgenev, who supported the views of the liberal democrats, began to think about the possibility of creating such a hero whose positions would be quite revolutionary, but at the same time would not conflict with his own. The embodiment of this idea would allow him to avoid the ridicule of his more radical colleagues at Sovremennik. His understanding of the inevitability of a generational change in progressive Russian circles was already clearly expressed in the epilogue to The Noble Nest and was reflected in the work Rudin.

In 1856, the landowner Vasily Karateev, a neighbor of the great writer in the Mtsensk district, left notes for Turgenev, which served as a manuscript of an autobiographical story. It was a story about the author's unhappy love for a girl who left him for a Bulgarian student from Moscow University.

A little later, scientists from several countries conducted research, as a result of which the identity of this character was established. Nikolay Katranov turned out to be Bulgarian. He came to Russia in 1848, enrolling here at Moscow University. The girl fell in love with the Bulgarian, and together they went to his homeland in the town of Svishtov. However, all the plans of the lovers were canceled out by a fleeting illness. The Bulgarian contracted consumption and soon died. However, the girl, despite the fact that she was left alone, never returned to Karateev.

The author of the manuscript went to Crimea to serve as an officer of the noble militia. He left his work to Turgenev and offered to revise it. Already 5 years later, the writer began to create his novel "On the Eve". The manuscript left by Karateev, who had already died by this time, served as the basis for this work.

Shubin and Bersenev

The plot of the novel "On the Eve" by Turgenev begins with a dispute. It is led by two young men - sculptor Pavel Shubin and scientist Andrei Bersenev. The topic of the controversy concerns nature and the place of man in it.

I. S. Turgenev introduces his heroes to the reader. One of them is Andrei Pavlovich Bersenev. This young man is 23 years old. He has just graduated from Moscow University and is dreaming of starting an academic career. The second young man, Pavel Yakovlevich Shubin, is waiting for art. The young man is a budding sculptor.

Their dispute about the nature and place of man in it did not arise by accident. Bersenev is struck by her completeness and self-sufficiency. He is sure that nature outshines people. And these thoughts cause sadness and anxiety in him. According to Shubin, it is necessary to live life to the fullest and not to reflect on this. He recommends that his friend get distracted from sad thoughts by making a friend of his heart.

After that, the conversation of young people turns into an ordinary course. Bersenev reports that he recently saw Insarov and wishes him to meet Shubin and the Stakhov family. They are in a hurry to return to the dacha. You can't be late for dinner. Pavel's aunt, Anna Vasilievna Stakhova, will be extremely unhappy with this. But it was thanks to this woman that Shubin had the opportunity to do his favorite thing - sculpting.

Stakhov Nikolay Artemievich

What does the summary of "On the Eve" given in the article tell us about? Turgenev introduces his reader to a new character. Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov is the head of the family, who from a young age dreamed of a profitable marriage. At 25, his plans came true. He married Anna Vasilievna Shubina. But soon Stakhov got a mistress - Augustina Christianovna. Both the one and the other women have already bored Nikolai Artemyevich. But he does not break his vicious circle. The wife tolerates his infidelity, despite the mental pain.

Shubin and Stakhovs

What else becomes known to us from the summary of "On the Eve"? Turgenev tells his reader that Shubin has been living with the Stakhov family for almost five years. He moved here after the death of his mother, a kind and intelligent French woman. Paul's father died before her.

Shubin does his job with great zeal, but in fits and starts. At the same time, he does not even want to hear about the academy and the professors. And despite the fact that in Moscow they believe that the young man shows great promise, he still could not do anything outstanding.

Here I.S.Turgenev introduces us to the main character of his novel - Elena Nikolaevna. This is Stakhov's daughter. She really likes Shubin, but the young man does not miss the opportunity to flirt with the 17-year-old plump Zoya, who is Elena's companion. Stakhov's daughter is not able to understand such a contradictory personality. She is outraged by the lack of character in any person and is angry at stupidity. In addition, the girl never forgives a lie. Anyone who has lost respect simply ceases to exist for her.

The image of Elena Nikolaevna

The review of Turgenev's novel "On the Eve" speaks of this girl as an extraordinary nature. She is only twenty years old. She is stately and attractive. The girl has gray eyes and a dark blond braid. However, there is something impetuous and nervous in her appearance that not everyone likes.

Elena Nikolaevna's soul strives for virtue, but nothing can satisfy her. Since childhood, the girl was interested in animals, as well as sick, poor and hungry people. Their situation disturbed her soul. At the age of 10, Elena met a beggar girl named Katya and began to take care of her, making her a kind of object of her worship. Parents did not approve of this hobby. But Katya died, leaving an indelible mark on Elena's soul.

From the age of 16, the girl considered herself lonely. She lived an independent life, not constrained by anyone, believing that she had no one to love. In the role of her husband, she could not imagine Shubin in any way. After all, this young man was distinguished by inconstancy.

Bersenyev attracted Elena. She saw in him an intelligent, educated and deep person. But Andrei constantly and persistently told her about Insarov, a young man obsessed with the idea of ​​liberating his homeland. This aroused Elena's interest in the personality of the Bulgarian.

Dmitry Insarov

We can also find out the story of this hero from the summary of "On the Eve". Turgenev told his reader that the boy's mother had been kidnapped and then killed by a Turkish aga. Dmitry was still a child then. The boy's father decided to avenge his wife, for which he was shot. At the age of eight, Insarov was left an orphan, and his aunt, who lived in Russia, took him to her.

At the age of 20, he returned to his homeland and in two years traveled the country far and wide, having studied it well. Dmitry was in danger more than once. During his travels he was persecuted. Bersenyev said that he himself saw a scar on the body of a friend, which remained at the site of the wound. However, the author of the novel indicates that Dmitry does not at all want to take revenge on the age. The goal pursued by the young man is more extensive.

Insarov, like all students, is poor. At the same time, he is proud, scrupulous and undemanding. He is distinguished by his enormous capacity for work. The hero studies law, Russian history and political economy. He is engaged in the translation of Bulgarian chronicles and songs, compiling the grammar of the native language for Russians, and Russian for his people.

Elena's love for Insarov

Dmitry, already during his first visit to the Stakhovs, made a strong impression on the girl. The courageous character traits of the young man were confirmed by an incident that happened soon. We can learn about him from the summary of Turgenev's "On the Eve".

Once Anna Vasilyevna came up with the idea to show her daughter and Zoya the beauty of Tsaritsyn. They went there in a large company. The ponds, the park, the ruins of the palace - all this made a great impression on Elena. During the walk, a man of impressive height approached them. He began to demand a kiss from Zoe, which would serve as compensation for the fact that the girl did not respond to applause during her beautiful singing. Shubin tried to protect her. However, he did it in an ornate manner, trying to admonish a drunken impudent person. His words only angered the man. And here Insarov stepped forward. He in a demanding manner invited the drunk to leave. The man did not listen and leaned forward. Then Insarov lifted him up and threw him into the pond.

Further, Turgenev's novel tells us about Elena's feeling. The girl admitted to herself that she loves Insarov. That is why the news that Dmitry was leaving the Stakhovs was a shock for her. Only Bersenyev understands the reason for such a sudden departure. After all, once his friend admitted that he would leave if he fell in love. Personal feelings should not be an obstacle to his duty.

Declaration of love

After her confession, Insarov clarified whether Elena was ready to follow him and accompany him everywhere? To this the girl answered him in the affirmative. And then the Bulgarian invited her to become his wife.

First difficulties

The beginning of the joint journey of the main characters of Turgenev "On the Eve" was not cloudless. Nikolai Artemyevich chose the chief secretary of the Senate Kurnatovsky as a husband for his daughter. But this obstacle was not the only one for the happiness of lovers. Disturbing letters began to arrive from Bulgaria. Dmitry was going to go home. However, he suddenly caught a cold and was dying for eight days.

Bersenyev courted his friend and constantly talked about his condition to Elena, who was simply in despair. But the threat passed, after which the girl visited Dmitry. The young people decided to hurry up with the departure. On the same day they became husband and wife.

Elena's father, learning about the date, called his daughter to account. And here Elena told her parents that Insarov had become her husband, and that they would soon leave for Bulgaria.

The journey of the young

Further in the novel by Turgenev, the reader is told that Elena and Dmitry arrived in Venice. Behind them were not only a difficult journey, but also two months of illness, which Insarov spent in Vienna. After Venice, the young went to Serbia, then to move to Bulgaria. To do this, you need to wait for Randych.

This old "sea wolf" will transport them to Dmitry's homeland. However, the young man is suddenly crushed by consumption. Elena looks after him.

Dream

Elena, exhausted from caring for the patient, fell asleep. She had a dream in which she was in a boat, first on a pond in Tsaritsyno, and then in the sea. After she is covered with a snow whirlwind, and the girl finds herself in a cart near Katya. The horses carry them straight into the snowy abyss. Elena's companion laughs and calls her into the abyss. The girl wakes up, and at this moment Insarov says that he is dying. Randich, who arrived to take the young people to Bulgaria, no longer finds Dmitry alive. Elena asks him to take the coffin with the body of his beloved and goes with him.

The further fate of the heroine

After the death of her husband, Elena sent a letter to her parents that she was going to Bulgaria. She wrote to them that there was no other homeland for her besides this country. Nobody knows what happened to her later. They said that someone accidentally met a girl in Herzegovina. Elena got a job as a sister of mercy and worked with the Bulgarian army. After that, no one saw her.

Analysis of the work

The theme of Turgenev's work "On the Eve" touches on the artistic interpretation of the issue of the active principle in a person. And the main idea of ​​the novel is the need for active natures for the progress and movement of society.

The image of Elena Stakhova in Turgenev's novel "On the Eve" is what readers have long been expecting. After all, he shows us a strong-willed woman who has chosen an active and decisive man for herself. This was also noted by critics of Turgenev's novel "On the Eve". Reviews of literary critics confirmed that the completely Russian, lively and complete image of Elena became a real gem of the work. Such a strong female character before Turgenev was not shown by any Russian work. The main feature of the girl is her self-sacrifice. Elena's ideal is active goodness, which is associated with the understanding of happiness.

As for Insarov, he, of course, rises above all the characters in the novel. The only exception is Elena, who is on the same step with him. The protagonist of Turgenev lives with the thought of a heroic deed. And the most attractive feature of this image is love for the homeland. The soul of the young man is filled with compassion for his people, who are in Turkish bondage.

The entire work of the Russian writer is imbued with the idea of ​​the greatness and holiness of the idea of ​​liberating the motherland. At the same time, Insarov is the real ideal of self-denial.

According to critics, Turgenev's genius is most clearly reflected in this novel. The writer was able to consider the topical problems of his time and reflect them in such a way that the work remains relevant for the modern reader. After all, purposeful, courageous and strong personalities are always needed by Russia.

Rejecting the ideas of revolutionary-minded commoners, he began to think about the possibility of creating a hero whose positions would not conflict with his own, more moderate, aspirations, but who would be revolutionary enough so as not to cause ridicule from more radical colleagues in Sovremennik ". The understanding of the inevitable change of generations in progressive Russian circles, clearly visible in the epilogue of The Noble Nest, came to Turgenev back in the days when he was working on Rudin:

I was going to write "Rudin", but the task that I later tried to accomplish in "On the Day" occasionally appeared in front of me. The figure of the main character, Elena, then still a new type in Russian life, was quite clearly outlined in my imagination; but there was a lack of a hero, such a person to whom Elena, with her still vague though strong desire for freedom, could surrender.

I. S. Turgenev

Karateev, who had a presentiment of his death when he handed the manuscript to Turgenev, did not return from the war, having died of typhus in the Crimea. Turgenev's attempt to publish an artistically weak work of Karateev was not crowned with success, and until 1859 the manuscript was forgotten, although, according to the recollections of the writer himself, having read it for the first time, he was so impressed that he exclaimed: “Here is the hero I was looking for! " Before Turgenev returned to Karateev's notebook, he managed to finish Rudin and work on The Noble Nest.

Plot

The novel begins with a dispute about nature and the place of man in it between two young people - the scientist Andrei Bersenev and the sculptor Pavel Shubin. In the future, the reader gets to know the family in which Shubin lives. The spouse of his second aunt Anna Vasilievna Stakhova, Nikolai Artemyevich, once married her for money, does not love her and makes acquaintance with the German widow Augustina Christianovna, who is robbing him. Shubin has been living in this family for five years, since the death of his mother, and is engaged in his art, however, he is subject to bouts of laziness, works in fits and starts and does not intend to learn the skill. He is in love with the daughter of the Stakhovs Elena, although he does not lose sight of her seventeen-year-old companion Zoya.

Elena Nikolaevna, a twenty-year-old beauty, from an early age was distinguished by a kind and dreamy soul. She is attracted by the opportunity to help the sick and hungry - both people and animals. At the same time, she has long been showing independence and lives by her own mind, but has not yet found a companion for herself. Shubin does not attract her because of his volatility and inconstancy, and Bersenyev is interesting to her for his intelligence and modesty. But then Bersenev introduces her to his friend, the Bulgarian Dmitry Nikanorovich Insarov. Insarov lives with the idea of ​​liberating his homeland from Turkish rule and attracts Elena's keen interest.

After the first meeting, Insarov did not manage to please Elena, but everything turns upside down after the incident in Tsaritsyn, when Insarov protects Elena from the harassment of a drunkard of enormous stature, throwing him into a pond. After that, Elena admits to herself in her diary that she fell in love with the Bulgarian, but it soon turns out that he intends to leave. At one time, Insarov told Bersenev that he would leave if he fell in love, since he did not intend to give up duty for the sake of personal feelings, which Elena Nikolaevna later learned about from Andrei. Elena goes to Dmitry and confesses her love to him. When asked if she will follow him everywhere, the answer is yes.

After that, Elena and Dmitry for some time contact through Bersenev, but in the meantime, more and more disturbing letters come from Insarov's homeland, and he is already seriously preparing to leave. One day Elena goes to him herself. After a long and heated conversation, they decide to get married. This news becomes a blow for Elena's parents and friends, but she still leaves with her husband.

Having reached Venice, Dmitry and Elena are waiting for the arrival of the old sailor Randich, who is supposed to ferry them to Serbia, from where their path lies to Bulgaria. However, Insarov is ill, he begins to develop a fever. Exhausted Elena has a nightmare, and, waking up, she realizes that Dmitry is dying. Randich no longer finds him alive, but at Elena's request he helps her deliver her husband's body to his homeland.

Three weeks later, Anna Stakhova receives a letter from her daughter: she is sent to Bulgaria, which will become her new homeland, and will never return home. Further traces of Elena are lost; rumored to have been seen with the troops as a sister of mercy.

Motives of the novel

The ideas and motives of the novel were analyzed in detail from a progressive standpoint by N. A. Dobrolyubov in the journal Sovremennik in January 1860 (article "When will the present day come?"). Dobrolyubov notes Turgenev's sensitivity as a writer to pressing social issues and dwells on how the author reveals some of these topics in his new novel.

Dobrolyubov paid special attention to the issue of choosing the main character. Dobrolyubov sees in Elena Stakhova an allegory of young Russia on the eve of social upheavals - an interpretation with which Turgenev himself did not agree (see):

Elena drew from the Russian people the dream of the truth, which must be sought in distant lands, and the readiness to sacrifice herself for the sake of others. An artist, a scientist, a successful official and a revolutionary claim to love Elena, and in the end she chooses not a pure mind, not art and not a civil service, but a civil feat. Dobrolyubov emphasizes that of all the candidates, the only worthy one is Insarov, who cannot imagine his own happiness without the happiness of his homeland, who is all subordinate to a higher goal and whose word does not differ from deed.

Another theme running through the novel is the theme of the conflict between egoistic and altruistic aspirations in the human soul. For the first time, this question is raised in the scene of the dispute between Bersenev and Shubin about happiness: is not the desire for happiness an egoistic feeling, which is higher - “love-pleasure” separating people or “love-sacrifice” uniting people. At first it seems to Elena and Insarov that this contradiction does not exist, but then they become convinced that this is not so, and Elena is torn between Insarov and her family and homeland, and later Insarov himself asks her whether his illness was sent as a punishment for their love. Turgenev emphasizes this inevitable tragedy of human existence on Earth, when at the end of the book Insarov dies, and Elena disappears and her trace is lost. But this ending even more emphasizes the beauty of the emancipatory impulse, giving the idea of ​​the search for social perfection a timeless, universal character.

Criticism

Turgenev, who dreamed of an alliance of anti-serfdom forces and the reconciliation of liberals with radical democrats for the sake of fighting for a common national idea, did not accept the position of Dobrolyubov, who denied the viability of noble liberalism and opposed the Russian Insarovs to the "internal Turks", among which he included not only obscurantist reactionaries, but also dear to the heart of the author of the liberals. He tried to persuade Nekrasov to refuse to publish Dobrolyubov's article in Sovremennik, and when he did not heed his arguments, he finally broke with the editorial board of the magazine. For their part, the commoners of Sovremennik also embarked on a course of confrontation, and soon a devastating review of Rudin, already written by Chernyshevsky, appeared in the magazine.

The criticism of the novel from more conservative circles was also distressing for Turgenev. So, Countess Lambert denied Elena Stakhova such qualities as femininity or charm, calling her immoral and shameless. The same position was taken by the critic MI Daragan, who called the main character "an empty, vulgar, cold girl who violates the decorum of the world, the law of female modesty" and even "Don Quixote in a skirt", and Insarov - dry and schematic. In secular circles, they joked about the novel: "This is 'On the Eve', which will never have its tomorrow." Finding himself under the crossfire of progressive and conservative critics who ignored Insarov's call for national reconciliation, Turgenev, in his own words, began to feel a desire to "resign from literature." The grave condition of the writer was aggravated by hints from the outside

"Nakanune"- a novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, published in 1860.

The history of the writing of the novel

In the second half of the 1850s, Turgenev, according to the views of a liberal-democrat who rejected the ideas of revolutionary-minded raznochinets, began to think about the possibility of creating a hero whose positions would not conflict with his own, more moderate, aspirations, but who, at the same time, would revolutionary enough not to provoke ridicule from more radical colleagues at Sovremennik. The understanding of the inevitable change of generations in progressive Russian circles, clearly visible in the epilogue of The Noble Nest, came to Turgenev back in the days when he was working on Rudin:

In 1855, Turgenev's neighbor in the Mtsensk district, the landowner Vasily Karateev, who was sent to the Crimea as an officer of the noble militia, left the writer a manuscript of an autobiographical story, allowing him to dispose of it at his own discretion. The story told about the author's love for a girl who preferred him a Bulgarian, a student at Moscow University. Later, scientists from several countries identified the identity of the prototype of this character. This man was Nikolai Katranov. He came to Russia in 1848 and entered Moscow University. After the Russian-Turkish war broke out in 1853, and the revolutionary spirit revived among the Bulgarian youth, Katranov and his Russian wife Larisa returned to their hometown of Svishtov. His plans, however, were thwarted by an outbreak of transient consumption, and he died during treatment in Venice in May of that year.

Karateev, who had a presentiment of his death when he handed the manuscript to Turgenev, did not return from the war, having died of typhus in the Crimea. Turgenev's attempt to publish an artistically weak work of Karateev was not crowned with success, and until 1859 the manuscript was forgotten, although, according to the recollections of the writer himself, having read it for the first time, he was so impressed that he exclaimed: “Here is the hero I was looking for! " Before Turgenev returned to Karateev's notebook, he managed to finish Rudin and work on The Noble Nest.

Returning home to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo in the winter of 1858-1859, Turgenev returned to the ideas that had occupied him in the year of his acquaintance with Karateev, and remembered the manuscript. Taking as a basis the plot suggested by the deceased neighbor, he took up its artistic processing. Only one scene from the original work, the description of the trip to Tsaritsyno, according to Turgenev himself, was preserved in general terms in the final text of the novel. In his work on the factual material, he was assisted by his friend, writer and traveler E.P. Kovalevsky, who was well acquainted with the details of the Bulgarian liberation movement and himself published essays about his trip to the Balkans at the height of this movement in 1853. Work on the novel "On the Eve" continued both in Spassky-Lutovinovo and abroad, in London and Vichy, until the fall of 1859, when the author took the manuscript to Moscow, to the editorial office of the Russian Bulletin.

Plot

The novel begins with a dispute about nature and the place of man in it between two young people, the scientist Andrei Bersenev and the sculptor Pavel Shubin. In the future, the reader gets to know the family in which Shubin lives. The spouse of his second aunt Anna Vasilievna Stakhova, Nikolai Artemyevich, once married her for money, does not love her and makes acquaintance with the German widow Augustina Christianovna, who is robbing him. Shubin has been living in this family for five years, since the death of his mother, and is engaged in his art, however, he is prone to bouts of laziness, works in fits and starts and does not intend to learn the skill. He is in love with the daughter of the Stakhovs Elena, although he does not lose sight of her seventeen-year-old companion Zoya.

Communication-report on the work of I.S. Turgenev "On the Eve"

Plan

1. Summary of the novel

2. The protagonist of the novel and the idea that he expresses.

3. Checking the hero for genius and "nature". Does he stand the test.

4. Why the test of love occupies a special place in Turgenev's novel.

5. The meaning of the ending of the novel

1. The novel begins in the summer of 1853 in the dacha Kuntsevo near Moscow. Two young people are in love with Elena, the twenty-year-old daughter of the nobleman Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov and Anna Vasilievna Stakhova, a native of Shubina, 26-year-old Pavel Yakovlevich Shubin, a sculptor, and 23-year-old Andrei Petrovich Bersenev, an aspiring philosopher, the third candidate of Moscow University. Elena is more sympathetic to Bersenev, which annoys Shubin and jealousy, but this does not in any way affect his friendship with Bersenev. Friends are completely different: if Shubin, as befits an artist, sees everything sharply and vividly, wants to be “number one” and longs for love-pleasure, then Bersenyev is more restrained, considers the purpose of his life - to put himself “number two” and love for him first of all - sacrifice. Elena adheres to a similar point of view. She tries to help and protect everyone, patronizes the oppressed animals, birds, insects she meets, provides charity and gives alms.

Bersenev invites his university friend, the Bulgarian Insarov, to Kuntsevo. Dmitry Nikanorovich Insarov is a man of iron spirit, a patriot of his homeland. He came to be educated in Russia with one single purpose - to then apply the knowledge gained in the liberation of his native Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. Bersenev introduces Insarov to Elena. Light, real, mutual, disinterested, sensual love flares up between Insarov and Elena. Bersenyev, remaining true to his principles, steps aside. Passionately in love, Insarov, faithfully serving his main purpose, tries to stifle love with his departure, in order to protect his chosen one ahead of time, awaiting her terrible trials. However, Elena at the last minute is the first to open up to Insarov and admits that she does not see her further life without him. Insarov surrenders to the power of feelings, but he cannot forget about the purpose of his life and prepares to leave for Bulgaria. Elena does not know for herself another way, how to follow the person so beloved by her. In search of a solution to the difficulties of the problem of leaving Russia, Insarov catches a cold and becomes seriously ill. Bersenev and Elena are nursing him. Insarov is recovering a little and is secretly married to Elena. Thanks to the "well-wishers" this secret is revealed and serves as a frank blow for Elena's parents, who see her future in marriage with collegiate adviser Yegor Andreevich Kurnatovsky. However, thanks to Anna Andreevna's love for her daughter, Elena and Insarov's marriage is still blessed and financially supported. In November, Elena and Insarov leave Russia. Insarov has no direct route to Bulgaria. His illness is progressing and he has to undergo treatment in Vienna for two months. In March Elena and Insarov come to Venice, Italy. From here Insarov intends to reach Bulgaria by sea. Elena constantly looks after Insarov and even, feeling the approach of something terrible and irreparable, does not at all regret her actions. Her feelings for Insarov only deepen. Elena blooms from this love. Insarov, worn out by the illness, is fading away and rests only on love for Elena and the desire to return to his homeland. On the day of the arrival of the ship, Insarov dies rapidly. Before his death, he says goodbye to his wife and homeland. Elena decides to bury her husband in Bulgaria and sets out on the arrived for the Insarov ship across the dangerous Adriatic Sea. On the way, the ship falls into a terrible storm and the further fate of Elena is not known. In her last letter home, Elena says goodbye to her family and writes that she does not repent of anything and sees her happiness in fidelity to the memory and work of the whole life of her chosen one.

2. The main character of the novel is the Bulgarian Dmitry Insarov, who personifies a new generation of people of civil exploit, whose word does not differ from deed. Insarov speaks exclusively the truth, he certainly fulfills his promise, does not change his decisions, and his whole life is subordinated to one supreme goal for him - the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. Insarov's ideological core is the belief in the alliance of all anti-serfdom forces, the alliance of all parties and political trends in the struggle against the forces of enslavement and humiliation of man.

3. Drawing the image of Insarov, Turgenev endows his hero not only with a rare mind (not everyone, however, like now, manages to enter Moscow University), but also excellent physical strength and dexterity, vividly describing the scene of protection at the Tsaritsyn pond by Insarov Zoya, a companion Helena from the encroachments of a drunken hulk German.

4. Love in the novel is constantly opposed to the common cause. It is much easier for Elena here than for Insarov. She completely surrenders to the power of love and thinks exclusively with her heart. Love inspires her, and under the influence of this great power, Elena blooms. Insarov is much more difficult. He has to split between his chosen one and the main goal of his life. Sometimes, love and a common cause are not quite compatible, and Insarov repeatedly tries to escape from love. However, he does not succeed, and even at the moment of his death Insarov utters two characteristic words: "reseda" - the subtle smell of Elena's perfume and "Randich" - Insarov's compatriot and like-minded person in the fight against the Turkish enslavers. With this opposition, Turgenev is probably trying to convey to the reader that as long as there is injustice in the world, pure love will always have a worthy competitor. And only people themselves can help love to reign supreme over the world, if all of them, in one impulse, stretch out their hands to each other.

5. The ending of the novel is frankly sad and uncertain about its main character. However, tragic colors, if we consider the novel, exclusively as a very beautiful love story, even more vividly outline the great power that is true love. If, while reading the novel, you feel a symbolic subtext in it and see in Elena the personification of young Russia, which is "on the eve" of great changes, then the sad result of the work can be regarded as a warning to the author about the vulnerability and weakness of a single person, even one such as Insarov, and great strength people united by one idea.