An essay on the theme of a novel about the everyday life of ordinary people. Everyday in history He wrote about everyday life

Kipling P. The lights went out: Novel; Brave Navigators: Adventure. story; Stories; Minsk: Mast. lit., 1987 .-- 398 p. thelib. ru / books / samarin_r / redyard_kipling-read. html

For a Soviet person, Rudyard Kipling is the author of a number of stories, poems and, above all, fairy tales and "The Jungle Books", which any of us remembers well from impressions from childhood.

"Kipling is very talented," Gorky also wrote, noting that "the Indians cannot but recognize his preaching of imperialism as harmful." And Kuprin in his article talks about originality, about the "power of artistic means" by Kipling.

I. Bunin, who, like Kipling, was subject to the charm of the exoticism of the "Seven Seas", dropped a few very flattering words about him in his note "Kuprin" 5. If you put these statements together, you get a general conclusion: for all the negative features determined by the imperialist nature of his ideology, Kipling is a great talent, and this brought his works long and widespread success not only in England, but also in other countries of the world, and even in our country - the homeland of such demanding and sensitive readers, brought up in the traditions of humanism of the great Russian and great Soviet literature.

But his talent is a bundle of the most complex contradictions, in which the high and the human are intertwined with the low and inhuman.

Kipling was born in 1865 to an Englishman who served in India. Like many like him "native", that is, the British, who were born in the colonies and treated at home as second-class people, Rudyard was sent to receive education in the metropolis, from where he returned to India, where he spent his young years, mainly devoted to work in the colonial English press. His first literary experiments also appeared in it. Kipling developed as a writer in a hectic environment. It was also heating up in India itself - with the threat of large popular movements, wars and punitive expeditions; she was also restless because England feared a blow to her colonial system from the outside - from the side of tsarist Russia, which had long been preparing to jump to India and came close to the borders of Afghanistan. A rivalry developed with France, stopped by British colonists in Africa (the so-called Fashoda incident). A rivalry began with Kaiser's Germany, which was already developing the Berlin-Baghdad plan, the implementation of which would have brought this power to the junction with the British eastern colonies. The "heroes of the day" in England were Joseph Chamberlain and Cecil Rhodes - the builders of the British colonial empire, which was nearing its highest point of development.

This tense political situation created in England, as in other countries of the capitalist world, which had crept into the era of imperialism, an atmosphere unusually favorable for the emergence of militant colonialist literature. More and more writers came out with the propaganda of aggressive, expansionist slogans. Increasingly, the "historical mission" of the white man, who imposed his will on other races, was glorified in every way.

The image of a strong personality was cultivated. The humanistic morality of the 19th century writers was declared obsolete, but the amoralism of the "daredevils" who subjugated the millions of creatures of the "lower race" or "lower classes" was sang. The whole world heard the sermon of the English sociologist Herbert Spencer, who tried to transfer to social relations the theory of natural selection discovered by Darwin, but what was a great truth in the genius natural scientist turned out to be a grave error in the books of a bourgeois sociologist who covered up with his reasoning the monstrous social and racial building. Friedrich Nietzsche was already entering glory, and his "Zarathustra" marched from one European country to another, everywhere finding those who wanted to become "blond beasts", regardless of hair color and nationality.

But Spencer and Nietzsche, and many of their admirers and followers, were abstract, too scientific; this made them accessible only to a relatively narrow circle of the bourgeois elite.

Much clearer and clearer to the wider readership were the stories and poems of Kipling, a colonial correspondent who both melted under the bullets and rubbed himself among the soldiers, and did not disdain the society of the Indian colonial intelligentsia. Kipling knew how the restless colonial border lived, separating the kingdom of the British lion - then a formidable and full of strength - from the kingdom of the Russian bear, about which Kipling spoke in those years with hatred and shudder.

Kipling narrated about everyday life and work in the colonies, about the people of this world - British officials, soldiers and officers who are creating an empire a distance from their native farms and cities, lying under the blessed sky of Old England. He sang about this in his "Department Songs" (1886) and "Barracks Ballads" (1892), mocking the old-fashioned tastes of classical English poetry lovers, for whom highly poetic concepts like a song or a ballad did not fit in any way with the bureaucracy of departments or with the smell of the barracks; and Kipling was able to prove that in such songs and in such ballads, written in the jargon of a petty colonial bureaucratic bureaucracy and long-suffering soldiers, genuine poetry can live.

Along with the work on poems, in which everything was new - life material, a peculiar combination of heroism and rudeness and unusually free, bold handling of the rules of English prosody, which resulted in a unique Kiplingian version, sensitively conveying the author's thought and feeling, - Kipling acted as the author equally original stories, first connected with the tradition of newspaper or magazine narration, involuntarily compressed and full of interesting facts, and then already advanced as an independent Kipling genre, marked by a continuous closeness to the press. In 1888, a new collection of short stories by Kipling, "Simple Stories from the Mountains", appeared. Daring to argue with the fame of Dumas' musketeers, Kipling then prints a cycle of stories "Three Soldiers", creating vividly outlined images of three "empire builders", three privates of the colonial, so-called Anglo-Indian army - Mulveny, Orteris and Leroyd, in whose ingenuous chatter so much terrible and the funny interspersed, so much of the life experience of Tommy Atkins - and moreover, according to Kuprin's correct remark, "not a word about his cruelty to the vanquished."

Having found many of the characteristic features of his writing already at the end of the 1880s - the harsh accuracy of prose, bold rudeness and novelty of life material in poetry, Kipling showed amazing diligence in the 1890s. It was in this decade that almost all the books that made him famous were written. These were collections of stories about life in India and the talented novel The Lights Out (1891), these were both The Jungle Books (1894 and 1895) and the collection of poems The Seven Seas (1896), fanned by the cruel Kipling romance, glorifying exploits Anglo-Saxon race. In 1899, the novel "Stoke and Campaign" was published, which introduced the reader to the atmosphere of an English closed educational institution, where future officers and officials of the colonial empire were trained. During these years, Kipling lived for a long time in the United States, where he enthusiastically met the first glimpses of American imperialist ideology and became, along with President Theodore Roosevelt, one of her godfathers. Then he settled in England, where, together with the poets H. Newbolt and W.E. Henley, who had a strong influence on him, he headed the imperialist trend in English literature, which was called "neo-romantic" in the criticism of that time. In those years when the young H. Wells expressed his dissatisfaction with the imperfection of the British system, when the young B. Shaw criticized it, when W. Morrissey and his comrades - socialist writers predicted her imminent collapse, and even O. Wilde, far from politics, uttered a sonnet , which began with significant lines:

An empire on feet of clay is our island ... -

Kipling and writers close to him in a general direction glorified this "island" as a mighty citadel, crowning the majestic panorama of the empire, as a great Mother, never tired of sending new generations of her sons across distant seas. By the turn of the century, Kipling was one of the most popular English writers with a powerful influence on public opinion.

Children of his country - and not only of his country - read "The Jungle Books", young people listened to the emphatically masculine voice of his poems, sharply and directly teaching a difficult, dangerous life; the reader accustomed to finding a fascinating weekly story in “his” magazine or “his” newspaper would find it signed by Kipling. I could not help but like the unceremonious manner of Kipling's heroes in dealing with the authorities, the critical remarks thrown in the face of the administration and the rich, the witty mockery of the stupid bureaucrats and bad servants of England, the well-thought-out flattery of the "little man."

By the end of the century, Kipling had finally developed his own style of storytelling. Closely related to the essay, with the newspaper and magazine genre of "short story" characteristic of the English and American press, Kipling's artistic manner was at that time a complex mixture of descriptiveness, naturalism, sometimes replacing the essence of the depicted with details, and, at the same time, realistic tendencies. who forced Kipling to utter bitter truths, to admire the humiliated and insulted Indians without a grimace of contempt and without haughty European aloofness.

In the 1890s, Kipling's skill as a storyteller was also strengthened. He proved to be a connoisseur of the art of plot; Along with the material and situations gleaned really "from life", he turned to the genre of "scary story" full of mysteries and exotic horrors ("Rickshaw the ghost"), and to a fairy tale-parable, and to an unassuming sketch, and to a complex psychological study ("provincial comedy"). Under his pen, all this acquired "Kipling's" contours, carried away the reader.

But no matter what Kipling wrote about, the subject of his particular interest - which is most clearly seen in his poetry of those years - remained the armed forces of the British Empire. He sang them in puritanical biblical images, reminiscent of the fact that Cromwell's cuirassiers went on the attack with the singing of the psalms of David, in courageous, mocking rhythms, imitating a march, a dashing soldier's song. There was so much sincere admiration and pride in Kipling's poems about the English soldier that they sometimes rose above the level of official patriotism of the English bourgeoisie. None of the armies of the old world had a chance to find such a loyal and zealous praise as Kipling was for the English army. He wrote about sappers and marines, mountain artillery and the Irish guards, about Her Majesty's engineers and colonial troops - Sikhs and Gurkhas, who later proved their tragic loyalty to British Sahibs in the swamps of Flanders and the sands of El Alamein. Kipling expressed with particular completeness the beginning of a new world phenomenon - the beginning of that general cult of the military, which was established in the world along with the era of imperialism. It manifested itself in everything, starting with hordes of tin soldiers who won the souls of future participants in countless wars of the 20th century, and ending with the cult of the soldier, which was proclaimed in Germany by Nietzsche, in France by J. Psycari and P. Adam, in Italy - D "Annunzio and Marinetti. ”Earlier and more talented than all of them, this ominous tendency to militarize the philistine consciousness was expressed by Kipling.

The apogee of his life and creative path was the Anglo-Boer War (1899 - 1902), which shook the whole world and became a harbinger of terrible wars of the beginning of the century.

Kipling took the side of British imperialism. Together with the young war correspondent W. Churchill, he was indignant at the perpetrators of the defeats that fell on the British in the first year of the war, who stumbled upon the heroic resistance of an entire people. Kipling dedicated a number of poems to individual battles of this war, to units of the English army and even to the Boers, and "generously" recognized them as rivals equal to the British in spirit. In his autobiography, written later, he, not without complacency, declared the special role of a supporter of the war, which, in his opinion, he played in those years. During the Anglo-Boer War, the darkest period began in his work. In the novel "Kim" (1901) Kipling portrayed an English spy, a "native" boy who grew up among the Indians, skillfully imitating them and therefore invaluable for those who play the "big game" - for British military intelligence. With this, Kipling laid the foundation for the espionage genre of imperialist literature of the 20th century, creating a model unattainable for Fleming and similar masters of "espionage" literature. But the novel also shows the deepening of the writer's skill.

The mental world of Kim, who is more and more getting used to the everyday life and attitude of his Indian friends, the complex psychological collision of a person in which the traditions of European civilization are fighting, depicted very skeptically, and the deeply philosophical Eastern concept of reality, sophisticated by centuries of social and cultural life, are revealed in its complex content ... The psychological aspect of the novel cannot be forgotten in the general assessment of this work. Kipling's collection of poems "Five Nations" (1903), glorifying the old imperialist England and the new nations it spawned - the United States, South Africans, Canada, Australia, is replete with praises in honor of cruisers-fighters, destroyers. Then to these poems, in which there was still a strong feeling of love for the navy and army and for those who serve their heavy service in them, without thinking about the question of who needs this service, later verses in honor of D. Chamberlain, S. Rhodes, G. Kitchener, F. Roberts and other leaders of British imperialist policy. That's when he really became the bard of British imperialism - when he praised politicians, bankers, demagogues, patented murderers and executioners with smooth, no longer "Kipling" poetry, the very top of English society, about which many of the heroes of his earlier works spoke with contempt and condemnation , which in no small measure contributed to the success of Kipling in the 1880-1890s. Yes, in those years when H. Wells, T. Hardy, even D. Galsworthy, who was far from politics, condemned the policy of the British imperialists in one way or another, Kipling found himself on the other side.

However, the culmination point of his creative development has already been passed. All the best has already been written. Ahead were only the adventurous novel "Courageous Captains" (1908), a cycle of stories from the history of the English people, united in one work of the era of his past ("Pack from the Hills of Pak", 1906). Against this background, Fairy Tales (1902) stand out vividly.

Kipling lived for a long time. He survived the war of 1914-1918, to which he responded with official and pale verses, strikingly different from his temperamental style of early years. He greeted the October Revolution with dismay, seeing in it the fall of one of the great kingdoms of the old world. Kipling anxiously asked the question - who is now the turn, which of the great states of Europe will collapse after Russia under the onslaught of the revolution? He predicted the collapse of British democracy, threatened her with the judgment of her descendants. Kipling grew decrepit along with the British lion, fell into decay along with the growing decline of the empire, whose golden days he glorified and whose decline he had no time to mourn ...

He died in 1936.

Yes, but Gorky, Lunacharsky, Bunin, Kuprin ... And the court of readers - Soviet readers - confirms that Kipling was a writer of great talent.

What kind of talent was it?

Of course, there was talent in the way Kipling portrayed many situations and characters that were disgusting for us. His praises in honor of British soldiers and officers are often original in both style and manner of creating living images. In the warmth with which he speaks about a simple "little" person who is tormented, dying, but "building an empire" on his own and others' foundations, there is a deeply human sympathy, unnaturally coexisting with insensitivity towards the victims of these people. Of course, Kipling's activity as a bold reformer of English verse, who opened up completely new possibilities, is talented. Of course, Kipling is talented as a tireless and strikingly varied storyteller and as a deeply original artist.

But it is not these traits of Kipling's talent that make him attractive to our readers.

And even less what was described above as Kipling's naturalism and what was rather a deviation, a perversion of his talent. The talent of a real, albeit deeply contradictory, artist primarily lies in a greater or lesser degree of truthfulness. Although Kipling hid much from the terrible truth that he saw, although he hid from the blatant truth behind dry, businesslike descriptions, in a number of cases - and very important ones - he spoke this truth, although sometimes he did not finish it. In any case, he made her feel.

He told the truth about the terrible epidemics of hunger and cholera that became the lot of colonial India (the story "Hunger", the story "Without the blessing of the church"), about the rude and uncouth conquerors who imagined themselves masters over the ancient peoples who once possessed a great civilization. The secrets of the ancient East, bursting so many times into Kipling's stories and poems, standing up like an insurmountable wall between the civilized white of the late 19th century and the illiterate fakir, is a forced recognition of the powerlessness that strikes a white man in the face of an ancient and incomprehensible culture for him, because he came to her as an enemy and a thief, because she closed herself off from him in the soul of her creator - an enslaved but not surrendered people ("Beyond the Line"). And in the feeling of anxiety that more than once seizes the white conqueror, the hero of Kipling, in the face of the East, does not the foresight of defeat, the presentiment of inevitable historical retribution that will fall on the descendants of the "three soldiers", on the Tommy Atkins and others speak? It will take decades for the people of a new generation to overcome these premonitions and fears. In Graham Greene's The Quiet American, an old English journalist secretly assists the struggling Vietnamese people in their war of liberation and thus becomes human again; in A. Sillito's novel "The Key to the Door" a young soldier from the British occupation troops fighting in Malaya feels an acute desire to get away from this "dirty work", spares the partisan who has fallen into his hands - and also becomes a man, acquires maturity. This is how the issues that once unconsciously tormented Kipling and his heroes are resolved.

When it comes to Kipling, it is customary to remember his poems:

The West is the West, and the East is the East, and they will not leave their places until Heaven and Earth appear for the terrible judgment of the Lord ...

Usually the quote ends there. But Kipling's poems go further:

But there is no East, and there is no West, which is a tribe, homeland, clan, if a strong person stands face to face at the edge of the earth.

Translated by E. Polonskaya

Yes, in life the strong converge with the strong. And not only in this poem, but also in many other works of Kipling, where the strength of a colored person is demonstrated as the same innate quality as the strength of a white man. "Strong" Indians are often heroes of Kipling, and this is also an important part of the truth that he showed in his works. No matter how jingoist Kipling may be, his Indians are a great people with a great soul, and with such a characteristic he appeared in the literature of the late 19th century precisely in Kipling, depicted not in the prime of his statehood and power, not under Ashak, Kalidas or Aurangzeb. but crushed to dust, trampled by the colonialists - and yet impenetrably strong, invincible, only temporarily bearing his slavery. Too old not to outlive these gentlemen. The truth of Kipling's best pages lies in the sense of the temporality of the domination conquered by the bayonet and cannon, by the blood of Tommy Atkins. This sense of the doom of the great colonial powers is revealed in the poem "The Burden of the Whites", written back in 1890 and dedicated to the capture of the Philippines by America.

Of course, this is a tragic hymn to the imperialist forces. In Kipling's work, the mastery of conquerors and rapists is portrayed as the mission of culture-traders:

Carry the burden of whites - manage to endure everything, even manage to overcome pride and shame; give the hardness of a stone to all the words spoken, give them everything that would serve you with benefit.

Translated by M. Frohman

But Kipling warns - the colonialists will not wait for gratitude from those to whom they imposed their civilization. They will not make their friends out of enslaved peoples. Colonial peoples feel like slaves in the ephemeral empires created by the whites, and at the first opportunity they will rush to break out of them. This poem tells the truth about many tragic illusions inherent in those who, like the young Kipling, once believed in the civilizing mission of imperialism, in the educational nature of the activities of the English colonial system, which dragged the "savages" from their drowsy state to "culture" in the British manner.

With great force, a premonition of the doom of a seemingly mighty world of rapists and predators was expressed in the poem "Mary Gloucester", to some extent raising the theme of generations in relation to the English social situation at the end of the century. Old Anthony Gloucester, millionaire and baronet, dies. And he suffers indescribably before death - there is no one to leave the accumulated wealth: his son Dick is a miserable devil of British decadence, a refined esthete, an art lover. The old creators leave, leaving what they have created without a patron, leaving their property for unreliable heirs, for a miserable generation that will ruin the good name of the robber dynasty of Gloucesters ... Sometimes the cruel truth of great art broke through where the poet talks about himself: it sounds in a poem "Galley slave". The hero sighs about his old bench, about his old oar - he was a galley slave, but how beautiful this galley was, with which he was connected by the convict's chain!

Let the chains rubbed our legs, let it be difficult for us to breathe, but there is no other such galley to be found in all seas!

Friends, we were a gang of desperate people, we were servants of the merry, but the lords of the seas, we led our galley straight through the storms and darkness, warrior, maiden, god or devil - well, who were we afraid of?

Translated by M. Frohman

The excitement of the accomplices of the "big game" - the one that so amused the boy Kim - bitterly intoxicated Kipling, as this poem clearly says, written by him as if at the moment of sobering up. Yes, and he, an omnipotent, proud white man, incessantly repeating about his freedom and power, was only a galler, chained to the bench of the ship of pirates and merchants. But such is his share; and, sighing for her, he consoles himself with the thought that whatever this galley may be, it was his galley, nobody else's. Throughout all European poetry - from Alcaeus to the present day - there is the image of a ship-state in distress, relying only on those who can serve it at this hour; Kipling's galley is one of the most powerful characters in this long-standing poetic tradition.

The bitter truth of life, breaking through in the best poems and stories of Kipling, sounded with the greatest force in the novel "The Light went out". This is a sad story about Dick Heldar, an English martial artist who gave all the strength of his talent to people who did not appreciate him and quickly forgot about him.

In the novel, there is a lot of debate about art. Dick - and after him Kipling - is an opponent of the new art that emerged in Europe at the end of the century. Dick's quarrel with the girl he truly loves is largely due to the fact that she is a supporter of French Impressionism, and Dick is his opponent. Dick is an adherent of laconic art that accurately reproduces reality. But this is not naturalism. "I'm not a fan of Vereshchagin," his friend, journalist Thorpenhow, says to Dick after seeing his sketch of those killed on the battlefield. And a lot is hidden in this judgment. The harsh truth of life is what Dick Heldar is striving for, for this he is fighting. Neither the refined girl nor the dim-witted Thorpenhowe likes her. But she is liked by those for whom Heldar paints his pictures - the English soldiers. In the midst of yet another dispute about art, Dick and the girl find themselves in front of the window of an art store, where his painting is displayed, depicting the departure of a battery to firing positions. Soldiers-gunners crowd in front of the window. They praise the artist for showing their hard work as it really is. For Dick, this is a genuine recognition, far more significant than the articles of critics from modernist magazines. And this, of course, is the dream of Kipling himself - to achieve recognition from Tommy Atkins!

But the writer showed not only the sweet moment of recognition, but also the bitter fate of a poor artist, forgotten by everyone and deprived of the opportunity to live that soldier's marching life, which seemed to him integral to his art. Therefore, it is impossible without excitement to read that page of the novel where the blind Heldar hears on the street how a military unit passes by him: he revels in the clatter of soldiers' boots, the creak of ammunition, the smell of leather and cloth, the song that healthy young throats roar - and here Kipling too tells the truth about his hero's feeling of blood connection with the soldiers, with the mass of ordinary people, deceived, like him, sacrificing themselves, as he will do in a few months somewhere in the sands beyond Suez.

Kipling had a talent for finding in the events of ordinary and even outwardly boring life something exciting, significant, to capture in an ordinary person that great and high that makes him a representative of humanity and that is inherent in everyone at the same time. This peculiar poetry of the prose of life was especially widely revealed in the stories of Kipling, in that area of ​​his work where he is truly inexhaustible as a master. Among them is the story "Conference of Powers", which expresses important features of the general poetry of Kipling the artist.

The companion of the author, the writer Cleaver - "the architect of style and painter of the word," according to Kipling's malicious characterization, accidentally fell into the company of young officers who had gathered in a London apartment near the person on whose behalf the story is being told. Cleaver, living in a world of abstract ideas about the life and people of the British Empire, is shocked by the harsh truth of life, which is revealed to him in a conversation with young officers. There is such a gap between him and these three youths, who have already gone through the difficult school of war in the colonies that they speak completely different languages: Cleaver does not understand their military jargon, in which English words are mixed with Indian and Burmese and which is increasingly moving away from that the sophisticated style that Cleaver adheres to. He listens with amazement to the conversation of the young officers; he thought he knew them, but everything about them and their stories is news to him; however, in fact, Cleaver treats them with offensive indifference, and Kipling emphasizes this, scoffing at the manner of expression characteristic of the writer: the true way of life of the military, whose hard work allowed him to lead a calm life, full of various interesting activities. " Confronting Cleaver with three young builders and defenders of the empire, Kipling seeks to counter idleness - labor, the harsh truth about a life full of danger, the truth about those at whose expense and blood the Cleavers lead their graceful lives. This motive of opposing lies about life and the truth about it runs through many of Kipling's stories, and the writer always finds himself on the side of the harsh truth. It is a different matter whether he himself succeeds in achieving it, but he declares - and, probably, sincerely - about his desire for it. He writes differently from Cleaver and not what Cleaver writes about. His focus is on real life situations, his language is the one spoken by the common people, not the mannered admirers of the English decadents.

Kipling's Tales is an encyclopedia of storytelling experiences of remarkable 19th century English and American storytellers. Among them we will find "scary" stories of mysterious content, all the more exciting because they are played out in an ordinary setting ("Ghost Rickshaw") - and, reading them, we recall Edgar Poe; short stories-anecdotes, attractive not only for their shades of humor, but also for the clarity of images ("Cupid's Arrows", "False Dawn"), original portrait stories in the tradition of an old English sketch ("Rhesley from the Department of Foreign Affairs"), psychological love stories ( "Beyond the line"). However, speaking about following certain traditions, one must not forget that Kipling acted as an innovative storyteller, not only fluent in the art of storytelling, but also opening up new possibilities in it, introducing new layers of life into the use of English literature. This is especially felt in dozens of stories about life in India, about that "damned Anglo-Indian life" ("The Thrown"), which he knew better than the life of the metropolis, and to which he treated the same as one of his favorite heroes - a soldier Mulvaney, who returned to India after he lived in England, where he left, having received an honestly honored resignation ("The Team Walking"). The stories "In the House of Sudhu", "Beyond the Line", "Lispet" and many others testify to the deep interest with which Kipling studied the life of the people of India, sought to capture the originality of their characters.

The portrayal of Gurkhas, Afghans, Bengalis, Tamils ​​and other peoples in Kipling's stories is not just a tribute to the exotic; Kipling has recreated a living variety of traditions, beliefs, characters. He caught and showed in his stories both the disastrous caste strife and social differences between the Indian nobility, serving the metropolis, and the oppressed ordinary people of Indian villages and cities, languishing with hunger and backbreaking work. If Kipling often speaks of the peoples of India and Afghanistan in the words of English soldiers, rough and cruel, then on behalf of the same characters he pays tribute to the courage and irreconcilable hatred of the invaders ("The Lost Legion", "On the Guard"). Kipling boldly touched upon the taboo topics of love that binds a white man to an Indian woman, a feeling that breaks down racial barriers ("Without the blessing of the church").

Kipling's innovation is most fully revealed in his stories of the colonial war in India. In The Lost Legion, Kipling sets out a characteristic "borderline" story - we can talk about a whole cycle of borderline stories of the writer, where East and West not only meet in constant battles and compete in courage, but also carry out relationships in a more peaceful way, exchanging not only blows , horses, weapons and booty, but also views: this is a story about a dead regiment of rebellious sepoys, destroyed by Afghans in the border area, taken on faith not only by the highlanders, but also by Anglo-Indian soldiers, and it unites both sides in an outburst of a kind of soldier's superstition. The story "The Forbidden" is a psychological study, interesting not only as an analysis of the events that led a young man who fell ill with colonial nostalgia to commit suicide, but also revealing the views of his comrades.

The stories from the "Three Soldiers" cycle are especially rich and varied. It must be remembered that by the time Kipling chose three simple English soldiers as his heroes and tried to tell about life in India, in English literature, and in general in all world literature, except for Russian, in terms of their perception, no one dared to write about an ordinary person in a soldier's uniform. Kipling did it. Moreover, he showed that his privates Mulveny, Orteris and Lirod, despite their completely democratic origins, deserve no less interest than the vaunted Musketeers of Dumas. Yes, these are just ordinary soldiers, rude, full of national and religious prejudices, drinkers, sometimes cruel; their hands are covered in blood, they have more than one human life on their conscience. But behind the dirt imposed on these souls by barracks and poverty, behind everything terrible and bloody that the colonial war brought into them, real human dignity lives. Kipling's soldiers are loyal friends who will not leave a comrade in trouble. They are good soldiers, not because they are self-righteous artisans of war, but because in battle you have to help out a comrade, and not yawn yourself. War is labor for them, with the help of which they are forced to earn their bread. Sometimes they rise to the point of calling their existence a "cursed soldier's life" ("The Madness of Private Orteris"), realizing that they are "drunken drunken tommy" sent to die far from their homeland for the interests of others, despised by them people - those who profiting from soldiers' blood and suffering. Orteris is not capable of more than a drunken rebellion, and his escape, in which he was ready to help and the author, who feels like Orteris's friend, did not take place. But even those pages where Orteris's seizure is depicted, arousing the author's sympathy and presented in such a way that it looks like an explosion of a long-accumulating protest against humiliation and resentment, sounded unusually bold and defiant against the general background of English literature of that time.

Sometimes the characters of Kipling, especially in the cycle "Three Soldiers", as is the case in the works of truly talented artists, seem to break free from the authority of the author and begin to live their own lives, say words that the reader will not hear from their creator: for example , Mulveny, in his story about the massacre at Silver's Theater ("On the Watch"), speaks with disgust of himself and of his comrades - British soldiers, intoxicated by a terrible massacre - as butchers.

In the aspect in which the life of the colonies is shown in this series of stories, it is the soldiers and few of the officers who can step over the barrier that separates them from the privates (like the old captain nicknamed Hook), who turn out to be real people. The numerous society of careerists, officials and businessmen, which is guarded by bayonets from the rage of the enslaved population, is depicted through the perception of the ordinary as a crowd of arrogant and useless creatures, busy with their incomprehensible and, from a soldier's point of view, unnecessary deeds, causing contempt and ridicule in the soldier. There are exceptions - Strickland, the "empire builder", the ideal character of Kipling ("Sais Miss Yol"), but he too is pale next to the full-blooded images of soldiers. To the masters of the country - the peoples of India - the soldiers treat them fiercely if they encounter them on the battlefield - however, they are ready to speak with respect about the bravery of Indian and Afghan soldiers and with full respect - about Indian soldiers and officers serving alongside the "red coats" "- by soldiers from the English units. The labor of a peasant or a coolie, struggling to build bridges, railways and other benefits of civilization introduced into Indian life, evokes sympathy and understanding in them - after all, they were once people of labor. Kipling does not hide the racial prejudices of his characters - that's why they are simple, semi-literate guys. He speaks about them not without irony, emphasizing to what extent the soldiers repeat in such cases other people's words and opinions that they do not always understand, to what extent they are alien barbarians who do not understand the complex world of Asia that surrounds them. The repeated praises spoken by Kipling's heroes for the courage of the Indian peoples defending their independence bring to mind some of Kipling's poems, in particular his poems about the courage of Sudanese freedom fighters, written in the same soldier's slang as the three soldiers.

And next to stories about the hard life of a soldier, we find subtle and poetic examples of an animal story ("Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), attracting a description of the life of the Indian fauna, or stories about old and new machines and their role in people's lives - "007" , an ode to the steam locomotive, in which there was a place for warm words about those who lead them; they are like three soldiers in their habits, and in the manner of expression. And how miserable and insignificant it looks next to their life, full of labor and danger, the life of British officials, officers of the highest rank, the rich, the nobles, the details of which are depicted in the stories "The Arrows of Cupid", "On the edge of the abyss." The world of Kipling's stories is complex and rich, and in them his talent as an artist who knows life and loves to write only about what he knows well shines especially brightly.

A special place in Kipling's stories is occupied by the problem of the narrator - the "I" on whose behalf the speech is being spoken. Sometimes this "I" is elusive, it is overshadowed by another narrator, who is given the floor by the author, who uttered only a certain opening, a preface. Most often it is Kipling himself, a participant in everyday events taking place in British settlements and military posts, his own man in the officers' assembly and in the company of ordinary soldiers who value him for his cordiality and ease of handling. Only occasionally is it not Kipling's double, but someone else, but this is necessarily a seasoned person with a skeptical and at the same time stoic worldview, proud of his objectivity (in fact, she is far from perfect), his vigilant observation, his willingness to help and , if necessary, even help the desertion of Private Orteris, who could no longer bear the red uniform.

One could find many more examples of the veracity of Kipling's talent, breaking through his characteristic manner of laconic naturalistic writing.

Another side of Kipling's talent is his deep originality, the ability to make remarkable artistic discoveries. Of course, this ability to discover new things was already reflected in the fact that ordinary soldiers and officials became Kipling's heroes, in whom no one had seen heroes before. But the real discovery was the life of the East, of which Kipling became the poet. Who, before Kipling, among the writers of the West, felt and told about the colors, smells, sounds of life in the ancient cities of India, their bazaars, their palaces, about the fate of a starving and yet proud Indian, about his beliefs and customs, about the nature of his country? All this was narrated by one of those who considered themselves "bearing the burden of a white man," but the intonation of superiority often gave way to the intonation of admiration and respect. Without this, such gems of Kipling's poetry as Mandalay and many others would not have been written. Without this artistic discovery of the East, there would be no wonderful "Jungle Books".

There is no doubt, and in many places in the Jungle Books the ideology of Kipling breaks through - it is enough to recall his song "Law of the Jungle", which sounds more like a scout anthem than a chorus of free voices of the jungle population, and the kind bear Baloo sometimes speaks completely in the spirit of those mentors , who trained future officers of Her Majesty from the cadets of the military school where Stoki and Company studied. But, overlapping these notes and tendencies, another voice sounds imperiously in The Jungle Books, the voice of Indian folklore and, more broadly, the folklore of the ancient East, the melodies of a folk tale, picked up and interpreted by Kipling in its own way.

Without this powerful influence of the Indian, Eastern elements on the English writer, there could be no "Jungle Books", and without them there would be no world fame of Kipling. We essentially have to assess what Kipling owes to the country where he was born. The Jungle Books is another reminder of the inextricable link between the cultures of the West and the East, which has always enriched both interacting sides. Where does Kipling's laconicism, naturalistic descriptiveness go? In these books - especially in the first one - everything shines with colors and sounds of great poetry, in which the folk basis, combined with the talent of the master, created a unique artistic effect. That is why the poetic prose of these books is inextricably linked with those poetic passages that so organically complement the individual chapters of the "Jungle Books".

Everything changes in The Jungle Books. Their hero is not the predator Sher Khan, hated by the whole world of animals and birds, but the boy Mowgli, wise by the experience of a large wolf family and his good friends - the bear and the wise serpent Kaa. The fight with Sher Khan and his defeat - the defeat of the Strong and Lonely, seemingly beloved hero Kipling - becomes the center of the composition of the first "Jungle Book". The brave little mongoose Rikki, the protector of the House of the Big Man and his family, triumphs over the mighty cobra. The wisdom of the folk tale forces Kipling to accept the law of the victory of good over force, if this force is evil. No matter how close the Jungle Books to the views of Kipling the imperialist, they diverge from these views more often than they express them. And this is also a manifestation of the artist's talent - to be able to obey the highest law of artistry, embodied in the folk fairytale tradition, if you become its follower and disciple, as Kipling, the author of The Jungle Books, became him for a time.

In "The Jungle" Kipling began to develop that amazing manner of speaking with children, the masterpiece of which was his later "Fairy Tales". A conversation about Kipling's talent would be incomplete if he was not mentioned as a wonderful children's writer who knows how to speak to his audience in a confident tone of a storyteller who respects his listeners and knows what leads them towards interests and exciting events.

Rudyard Kipling died over thirty years ago6. He did not live to see the collapse of the colonial British Empire, although he had a premonition of this as early as the 1890s. Newspapers more and more often mention the states in which the old Union Jack, the British royal flag, is descended; more and more often shots and photos flicker, which depict how Tommy Atkins forever leave foreign territories; the equestrian monuments of old British warriors, who once flooded these countries with blood, are increasingly being overthrown on the squares of the now free states of Asia and Africa. Figuratively speaking, the Kipling monument was also overthrown. But Kipling's talent is alive. And it is reflected not only in the works of D. Konrad, R. L. Stevenson, D. London, E. Hemingway, S. Maugham, but also in the works of some Soviet writers.

Soviet schoolchildren in the 1920s learned by heart the poem of the young N. Tikhonov "Themselves", in which one can feel the influence of Kipling's vocabulary and metrics, a poem that predicted the worldwide triumph of Lenin's ideas. N. Tikhonov's stories about India contain a kind of polemic with Kipling. The poem "The Commandment" in the translation of M. Lozinsky is widely known, glorifying the courage and valor of a person and often performed by readers from the stage.

Who has not remembered Kipling when reading "Twelve Ballads" by N. Tikhonov, and not because the poet could be reproached for imitating the rhythmic features of Kipling's poems. There was something different, much more complicated. And won't some of the best poems of K. Simonov, who, by the way, perfectly translated Kipling's poem "Vampire", remind of Kipling? There is something that allows us to say that our poets did not pass by the great creative experience inherent in the volumes of his poems. This desire to be a poet of our time, a keen sense of time, a sense of the romance of the present day, which is stronger than that of other Western European poets at the turn of the century, was expressed in Kipling's poem "The Queen".

This poem (translated by A. Onoshkovich-Yatsyn) expresses a kind of poetic credo of Kipling. The Queen is Romance; poets of all times complain that she left with yesterday - with a flint arrow, and then with knightly armor, and then - with the last sailing ship and the last carriage. “We saw her yesterday,” the romantic poet repeats, turning away from modernity.

Meanwhile, romance, Kipling says, drives the next train, and drives it right on schedule, and this is the new romance of the car and space that man has possessed: one aspect of modern romance. The poet did not manage to add to this poem words about the romance of an airplane, about the romance of astronautics, about all the romance that our modern poetry breathes. But our romance is obedient to other feelings, to which it is impossible for Kipling to rise, for he was a genuine and talented singer of the outgoing old world, who only vaguely caught the rumble of the approaching great events, in which his empire collapsed and in which the whole world of violence and lies, called the capitalist society.

R. Samarin

1. Kuprin A. I. Sobr. cit .: In 6 volumes.M .: 1958.Vol. VI. S. 609

2. Gorky M. Sobr. cit .: In 30 volumes.M .: 1953.Vol. 24.P. 66.

3. Lunacharsky A. History of Western European literature in its most important moments. M .: Gosizdat. 1924. Part II. P. 224.

4. Gorky M. Decree op .: p. 155.

5. See Bunin IA Sobr. cit .: In 9 volumes. M .: Art. lit. 1967.Vol. 9, p. 394.

6. The article was written in the late 60s.

Assignment number 22. Consider the drawings and imagine that you have come to the museum, to the hall where the clothes are exhibited. The museum staff have not yet had time to place signs near the exhibits with the names of the era and indicating the time to which these exhibits belong. Place the signs yourself; compose a text for the guide, which would reflect the reasons for the change in fashion

Fashion in the early 19th century was influenced by the French Revolution. The Rococo era passed with the French monarchy. Women's outfits of simple cut from light light fabrics and a minimum of jewelry are in fashion. Men have a "military style" in their clothing, but the costume still has 18th century features. With the end of the Napoleonic era, fashion seems to remember the forgotten. Lush women's dresses with crinolines and deep neckline are returning. But the men's suit becomes more practical and finally passes to a tailcoat and an indispensable headdress - a top hat. Further, under the influence of changes in everyday life, women's clothing is narrowed, but, as before, corsets and crinolines are widely used. Men's clothing remains virtually unchanged. At the beginning of the 20th century, women's clothing begins to get rid of corsets and crinolines, but the dress is extremely narrowed. The men's suit finally turns into a classic "three"

Task number 23. Russian physicist A. G. Stoletov wrote: "Never since the time of Galileo did the world see so many amazing and varied discoveries that emerged from one head, and will hardly soon see another Faraday ..."

What discoveries did Stoletov have in mind? List them

1. Discovery of the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction

2. Discovery of liquefaction of gases

3. Establishment of the laws of electrolysis

4. Creation of the theory of polarization of dielectrics

What do you think caused the high assessment of Pasteur's activities given by the Russian scientist K.A.Timiryazev?

"The coming generations, of course, will complement Pasteur's work, but ... no matter how far they go forward, they will follow the path laid out for them, and even a genius cannot do that in science." Write down your point of view

Pasteur is the founder of microbiology, one of the foundations of modern medicine. Pasteur discovered methods of sterilization and pasteurization, without which it is impossible to imagine not only modern medicine, but also the food industry. Pasteur formulated the foundations of vaccination and is one of the founders of immunology

The English physicist A. Schuster (1851-1934) wrote: "My laboratory was flooded with doctors who brought patients who suspected that they had needles in different parts of the body."

What do you think, what discovery in the field of physics made it possible to detect foreign objects in the human body? Who is the author of this discovery? Write down the answer

Discovery of the rays, named after him by the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. Based on this discovery, an X-ray machine was created.

The Robert Koch Medal was established by the European Academy of Natural Sciences. What do you think Koch's discovery made his name immortal?

Discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis, named after the scientist "Koch's wand". In addition, the German bacteriologist developed drugs and preventive measures against tuberculosis, which was of great importance, because at that time this disease was one of the main causes of death.

The American philosopher and educator J. Dewey said: “A truly thinking person draws no less knowledge from his mistakes than from his successes”; "Every great success of science has its source in the great audacity of the imagination."

Comment on the statements of J. Dewey

The first statement is consonant with the statement that a negative result is also a result. Most of the discoveries and inventions were made through repeated experiments, most of them unsuccessful, but giving researchers knowledge, which ultimately led to success.

The philosopher calls the "great audacity of the imagination" the ability to imagine the impossible, to see what goes beyond the ordinary idea of ​​the world around.

Task number 24. Vivid images of romantic heroes are embodied in the literature of the early 19th century. Read excerpts from the works of romantics (remember the works of that time, familiar to you from literature lessons). Try to find something in common in the description of such different characters (appearance, character traits, behavior)

Excerpt from J. Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Excerpt from J. Byron "Corsair"

Excerpts from V. Hugo "Notre Dame Cathedral"

What do you think, what reasons can explain the fact that these literary heroes personified the era? Write down your reasoning

All these heroes are united by a rich inner world, hidden from others. The heroes seem to withdraw into themselves, are guided more by heart than by reason, and they have no place among ordinary people with their "base" interests. They seem to be above society. These are typical features of romanticism that arose after the collapse of the ideas of the Enlightenment. In a society very far from justice, romanticism portrayed a beautiful dream, despising the world of wealthy shopkeepers

Here are illustrations for literary works created by romantics. Do you recognize the heroes? What helped you? Sign under each drawing the name of the author and the title of the literary work to which the illustration is made. Come up with a name for each

Task number 25. In the story of O. Balzac "Gobsek" (written in 1830, final edition - 1835), the hero, an incredibly rich usurer, expresses his view of life:

“What inspires delight in Europe is punished in Asia. What is considered a vice in Paris is recognized as a necessity for the Azores. There is nothing lasting on earth, there are only conventions, and in every climate they are different. For one who willy-nilly applied to all social standards, all your moral rules and beliefs are empty words... Only one single feeling is unshakable, embedded in us by nature itself: the instinct of self-preservation ... of all earthly blessings, there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a person to chase after him... Is this gold. All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold ... As for morals, man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. So it's better to push yourself than to let others push you»

Underline in the text the sentences that, in your opinion, most clearly characterize Gobsek's personality

A person deprived of sympathy, the concepts of good, alien to compassion in his striving for enrichment, is called a "swallower". It’s hard to imagine what exactly could have made him that way. A hint, perhaps in the words of Gobsek himself, that the best teacher of a person is misfortune, only it helps a person know the value of people and money. The hardships, misfortunes of his own life and the society surrounding Gobsek, where gold was considered the main measure of everything and the greatest good, made Gobsek a "swallower"

Based on your conclusions, write a short story - the story of Gobsek's life (childhood and adolescence, travel, meeting people, historical events, sources of his wealth, etc.), told by himself

I was born into the family of a poor artisan in Paris and lost my parents very early. Once on the street, I wanted one thing - to survive. Everything boiled in my soul when I saw the magnificent outfits of aristocrats, gilded carriages rushing along the pavements and forcing you to press against the wall so as not to be crushed. Why is the world so unfair? Then ... the revolution, the ideas of freedom and equality, which turned everyone's head. Needless to say, I joined the Jacobins. And with what delight I received Napoleon! He made the nation proud of himself. Then there was a restoration and everything that had been fought against for so long returned. And again the world was ruled by gold. Freedom and equality were no longer remembered and I left for the south, to Marseille ... After many years of hardship, wandering, and dangers, I managed to get rich and learned the main principle of today's life - it is better to press yourself than to be crushed by others. And here I am in Paris, and those from whose carriages once had to shy away from me come to ask for money. Do you think I'm glad? Not at all, this further confirmed me in the opinion that the main thing in life is gold, only it gives power over people

Task number 26. Here are reproductions of two paintings. Both artists wrote works mainly on everyday topics. Review the illustrations, noting the timing of their creation. Compare both works. Is there something in common in the portrayal of heroes, the attitude of the authors towards them? Maybe you were able to notice something different? Write down the results of your observations in a notebook.

General: Depicts everyday scenes from the life of the third estate. We see the disposition of artists towards their characters and their knowledge of the subject.

Various: Chardin depicted in his paintings calm soulful scenes full of love, light and peace. In Mülle, we see endless fatigue, hopelessness and resignation to a difficult fate.

Task number 27. Read fragments of a literary portrait of the famous writer of the 19th century. (essay author - K. Paustovsky). In the text, the name of the writer is replaced by the letter N.
What writer did K. Paustovsky talk about? For the answer, you can use the text of § 6 of the textbook, which contains literary portraits of writers.

Underline phrases in the text that, from your point of view, allow you to accurately determine the name of the writer

The stories and poems of N, the colonial correspondent, who himself stood under the bullets, and communicated with the soldiers, and did not disdain the society of the colonial intelligentsia, were understandable and graphic for wide literary circles.

About everyday life and work in the colonies, about the people of this world - British officials, soldiers and officers who are creating an empire far away N. narrated from the native farms and cities lying under the blessed sky of old England. He and the writers close to him in the general direction glorified the empire as a great Mother, never tired of sending new and new generations of her sons across distant seas.

Children from different countries read the Jungle Books by this writer... His talent was inexhaustible, his language was precise and rich, his invention was full of plausibility. All these properties are enough to be a genius, belong to humanity.

About Joseph Rudyard Kipling

Task number 28. French artist E. Delacroix traveled extensively across the countries of the East. He was fascinated by the opportunity to portray vivid exotic scenes that thrilled the imagination.

Come up with a few "oriental" subjects that, as you think, might interest the artist. Write down the stories or their titles

The death of the Persian king Darius, Shahsey-Vakhsey among the Shiites with self-torture to blood, bride kidnapping, horse racing among nomadic peoples, falconry, hunting with cheetahs, armed Bedouins riding camels.

Name the paintings by Delacroix depicted on p. 29-30

Try to find albums with reproductions of works by this artist. Compare the names you have given with the genuine ones. List the names of other Delacroix paintings of the East that interest you

1. "Algerian women in their chambers", 1834

2. "Lion Hunt in Morocco", 1854

3. "Moroccan saddling a horse", 1855

Other paintings: "Cleopatra and the Peasant", 1834, "The Massacre on Chios", 1824, "Death of Sardanapalus" in 1827, "The Duel of Giaur with the Pasha", 1827, "Clash of Arabian Horses", 1860 ., "Fanatics of Tangier" 1837-1838

Task number 29. Contemporaries rightly considered Daumier's cartoons as illustrations for the works of Balzac

Consider a few such works: "The Little Clerk", "Robert Macker the Stock Gambler", "Legislative Womb", "Moonlight Action", "Representatives of Justice", "Lawyer"

Make captions under the paintings (use quotes from Balzac's text for this). Write the names of the characters and the titles of Balzac's works, which could be illustrated by Daumier's works

1. "Little clerk" - "There are people who look like zeros: they always need to have numbers in front of them."

2. "Robert Macker - a stock player" - "The nature of our era, when money is everything: laws, politics, customs"

3. "Legislative womb" - "Impudent hypocrisy inspires respect for people who are used to serving"

4. "Moonlight Action" - "People rarely flaunt flaws - most try to cover them up with an attractive shell."

5. "Lawyers" - "The friendship of two saints does more evil than an open enmity of ten scoundrels."

6. "Representatives of Justice" - "If you talk alone all the time, you will always be right"

They can serve as illustrations for the following works: "Officials", "Guardianship Case", "Dark Affair", "Nusingen Banking House", "Lost Illusions", etc.

Task number 30. Artists from different eras sometimes referred to the same subject, but interpreted it in different ways

Consider in the 7th grade textbook reproductions of David's famous Enlightenment Oath painting by David. What do you think, could this plot interest a romantic artist who lived in the 1930s and 1940s? XIX century? What would the piece look like? Describe it

The plot could interest romantics. They sought to portray heroes at moments of the highest tension of spiritual and physical forces, when the inner spiritual world of a person is exposed, showing his essence. The piece could have looked the same. You can replace costumes, bringing them closer to modernity.

Task number 31. In the late 60s. XIX century. the Impressionists burst into the artistic life of Europe, advocating new views on art

In the book JI. Volynsky's "The Green Tree of Life" is a short story about how once K. Monet, as always in the open air, painted a picture. For a moment, the sun hid behind a cloud, and the artist stopped working. At that moment G. Courbet found him, interested in why he was not working. “I'm waiting for the sun,” Monet replied. “You could paint the background landscape for now,” Courbet shrugged.

What do you think the impressionist Monet answered him? Write down the possible answers

1. Monet's paintings are permeated with light, they are bright, sparkling, joyful - “light is needed for space”

2. Probably waiting for inspiration - "I don't have enough light"

Here are two portraits of women. Considering them, pay attention to the composition of the work, details, features of the image. Place under the illustrations the dates of creation of the works: 1779 or 1871.

What features of the portraits you noticed made it possible to correctly complete this task?

By dress and manner of writing. "Portrait of the Duchess de Beaufort" Gainsborough - 1779 "Portrait of Jeanne Samary" by Renoir - 1871 Portraits of Gainsborough were made mainly to order. Coldly aloof aristocrats were portrayed in a sophisticated manner. Renoir also portrayed ordinary French women, young, cheerful and spontaneous, full of life and charm. The painting technique also differs.

Task number 32. The discoveries of the Impressionists paved the way for the post-impressionists - painters who strove to dream of their own unique vision of the world with maximum expressiveness

Paul Gauguin's canvas "Tahitian Pastorals" was created by the artist in 1893 during his stay in Polynesia. Try to compose a story about the content of the painting (what happens on the canvas, how Gauguin relates to the world captured on the canvas)

Considering civilization a disease, Gauguin gravitated towards exotic places, sought to merge with nature. This was reflected in his paintings, which depicted the life of the Polynesians, simple and measured. Emphasized the simplicity and manner of writing. Plane canvases depicted compositions that were static and contrasting in color, deeply emotional and at the same time decorative.

Consider and compare the two still lifes. Each piece tells about the time when it was created. Do these works have something in common?

The still lifes depict simple everyday things and unpretentious fruits. Both still lifes are distinguished by simplicity and laconic composition.

Have you noticed a difference in the depiction of objects? What is it?

Klas reproduces objects in detail, strictly maintains perspective and chiaroscuro, uses soft colors. Cezanne presents us with a picture from different points of view, uses a clear outline to emphasize the volume of the subject, and bright saturated colors. The crumpled tablecloth does not look as soft as Klas's, but rather acts as a background and sharpens the composition.

Imagine and record an imaginary conversation between the Dutch artist P. Claes and the French painter P. Cezanne, in which they would talk about their still lifes. What would they praise each other for? What would these two still life masters criticize?

К .: "I used light, air and a single tone to express the unity of the objective world and the environment."

S .: “My method is hatred of the fantastic image. I write only the truth and I want to hit Paris with the help of carrots and apples "

К .: "It seems to me that you are not sufficiently detailed and depict objects incorrectly."

S .: “An artist should not be too scrupulous, or too sincere, or too dependent on nature; the artist is, to a greater or lesser extent, the master of his model, and mainly of his means of expression "

K.K .: "But I like your work with color, I also consider it the most important element of painting."

S .: "Color is the point where our brain comes into contact with the universe."

Task 25. In the story of O. Balzac "Gobsek" (written in 1830, final edition - 1835), the hero, an incredibly wealthy usurer, expresses his view of life:

“What inspires delight in Europe is punished in Asia. What is considered a vice in Paris is recognized as a necessity for the Azores. There is nothing lasting on earth, there are only conventions, and in every climate they are different. For one who willy-nilly applied to all social standards, all your moral rules and beliefs are empty words. Only one single feeling is unshakable, embedded in us by nature itself: the instinct of self-preservation ... of all earthly blessings, there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a man to chase after him. Is this gold... All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold ... As for morals, man is the same everywhere: everywhere there is a struggle between the poor and the rich, everywhere. And it is inevitable. So it's better to push yourself than to let others push you ".
Underline in the text the sentences that, in your opinion, most clearly characterize Gobsek's personality.
Why do you think the author gives his hero the name Gobsek, which means "swallower"? What, from your point of view, could have made it this way? Write down the main findings.

A person deprived of sympathy, the concepts of good, alien to compassion in his striving for enrichment, is called a "swallower". It’s hard to imagine what exactly could have made him that way. A hint, perhaps in the words of Gobsek himself, that the best teacher of a person is misfortune, only it helps a person know the value of people and money. The hardships, misfortunes of his own life and the society around Gobsek, where gold was considered the main measure of everything and the greatest good, made Gobsek a "swallower."

Based on your conclusions, write a short story - the life story of Gobsek (childhood and adolescence, travel, meeting people, historical events, sources of his wealth, etc.), told by himself.
I was born into the family of a poor artisan in Paris and lost my parents very early. Once on the street, I wanted one thing - to survive. Everything boiled in my soul when I saw the magnificent outfits of aristocrats, gilded carriages rushing along the pavements and forcing you to press against the wall so as not to be crushed. Why is the world so unfair? Then ... the revolution, the ideas of freedom and equality, which turned everyone's head. Needless to say, I joined the Jacobins. And with what delight I received Napoleon! He made the nation proud of himself. Then there was a restoration and everything that had been fought against for so long returned. And again the world was ruled by gold. Freedom and equality were no longer remembered and I left for the south, to Marseille ... After many years of hardship, wandering, and dangers, I managed to get rich and learned the main principle of today's life - it is better to press yourself than to be crushed by others. And here I am in Paris, and those from whose carriages once had to shy away from me come to ask for money. Do you think I'm glad? Not at all, this further confirmed me in the opinion that the main thing in life is gold, only it gives power over people.

Task 26. Here are reproductions of two paintings. Both artists wrote works mainly on everyday topics. Review the illustrations, noting the timing of their creation. Compare both works. Is there something in common in the portrayal of heroes, the attitude of the authors towards them? Maybe you were able to notice something different? Write the results of your observations in a notebook.

General: Everyday scenes from the life of the third estate are depicted. We see the disposition of artists towards their characters and their knowledge of the subject.
Miscellaneous: Chardin depicted in his paintings calm soulful scenes full of love, light and peace. In Mülle, we see endless fatigue, hopelessness and resignation to a difficult fate.

Task 27. Read excerpts from a literary portrait of the famous 19th-century writer. (essay author - K. Paustovsky). In the text, the name of the writer is replaced by the letter N.
What writer did K. Paustovsky talk about? For the answer, you can use the text of § 6 of the textbook, which contains literary portraits of writers. Underline phrases in the text that, from your point of view, allow you to accurately determine the name of the writer.

The stories and poems of N, the colonial correspondent, who himself stood under the bullets, and communicated with the soldiers, and did not disdain the society of the colonial intelligentsia, were understandable and graphic for wide literary circles.
About everyday life and work in the colonies, about the people of this world - British officials, soldiers and officers who are creating an empire far away N. narrated from the native farms and cities lying under the blessed sky of old England. He and the writers close to him in the general direction glorified the empire as a great Mother, never tired of sending new and new generations of her sons across distant seas.
Children from different countries read the Jungle Books by this writer... His talent was inexhaustible, his language was precise and rich, his invention was full of plausibility. All these properties are enough to be a genius, to belong to humanity.

About Joseph Rudyard Kipling.

Task 28. The French artist E. Delacroix traveled extensively across the countries of the East. He was fascinated by the opportunity to portray vivid exotic scenes that thrilled the imagination.
Come up with a few "oriental" subjects that, as you think, might interest the artist. Write down the stories or their titles.

The death of the Persian king Darius, Shahsey-Vakhsey among the Shiites with self-torture to blood, bride kidnapping, horse racing among nomadic peoples, falconry, hunting with cheetahs, armed Bedouins riding camels.

Name the paintings by Delacroix depicted on p. 29-30.
1. "Algerian women in their chambers", 1834;
2. "Lion Hunt in Morocco", 1854;
3. "Moroccan saddling a horse", 1855

Try to find albums with reproductions of works by this artist. Compare the names you have given with the genuine ones. Write down the names of other Delacroix paintings of the Orient that interest you.
Cleopatra and the Peasant, 1834, The Massacre on Chios, 1824, The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827, The Duel of Giaur and Pasha, 1827, The Clash of Arab Horses, 1860, Fanatics of Tangier "1837-1838.

Task 29. Contemporaries rightly considered Daumier's cartoons to be illustrations for the works of Balzac.

Consider a few such works: "Little Clerk", "Robert Macker - Stock Gambler", "Legislative Womb", "Moonlight Action", "Representatives of Justice", "Lawyer".
Make captions under the paintings (use quotes from Balzac's text for this). Write the names of the characters and the titles of Balzac's works, which could be illustrated by Daumier's works.

Task 30. Artists from different eras sometimes referred to the same subject, but interpreted it in different ways.

Consider in the 7th grade textbook reproductions of David's famous Enlightenment Oath painting by David. What do you think, could this plot interest a romantic artist who lived in the 30s and 40s? XIX century? What would the piece look like? Describe it.
The plot could interest romantics. They sought to portray heroes at moments of the highest tension of spiritual and physical forces, when the inner spiritual world of a person is exposed, showing his essence. The piece could have looked the same. You can replace costumes, bringing them closer to modernity.

Task 31. In the late 60s. XIX century. the Impressionists burst into the artistic life of Europe, defending new views on art.

In L. Volynsky's book "The Green Tree of Life" there is a short story about how once K. Monet, as always in the open air, painted a picture. For a moment, the sun hid behind a cloud, and the artist stopped working. At that moment G. Courbet found him, interested in why he was not working. “I'm waiting for the sun,” Monet replied. “You could paint the background landscape for now,” Courbet shrugged.
What do you think the impressionist Monet answered him? Write down the possible answers.
1. Monet's paintings are permeated with light, they are bright, sparkling, joyful - “light is needed for space”.
2. Probably waiting for inspiration - "I do not have enough light."

Here are two portraits of women. Considering them, pay attention to the composition of the work, details, features of the image. Place under the illustrations the dates of creation of the works: 1779 or 1871.

What features of the portraits you noticed made it possible to correctly complete this task?
By dress and manner of writing. "Portrait of the Duchess de Beaufort" Gainsborough - 1779 "Portrait of Jeanne Samary" by Renoir - 1871 Portraits of Gainsborough were made mainly to order. Coldly aloof aristocrats were portrayed in a sophisticated manner. Renoir also portrayed ordinary French women, young, cheerful and spontaneous, full of life and charm. The painting technique also differs.

Task 32. The discoveries of the Impressionists paved the way for the Post-Impressionists - painters who strove to dream of their own unique vision of the world with maximum expressiveness.

Paul Gauguin's canvas "Tahitian Pastorals" was created by the artist in 1893 during his stay in Polynesia. Try to compose a story about the content of the painting (what happens on the canvas, how Gauguin relates to the world captured on the canvas).
Considering civilization a disease, Gauguin gravitated towards exotic places, sought to merge with nature. This was reflected in his paintings, which depicted the life of the Polynesians, simple and measured. Emphasized the simplicity and manner of writing. Plane canvases depicted compositions that were static and contrasting in color, deeply emotional and at the same time decorative.

Consider and compare the two still lifes. Each piece tells about the time when it was created. Do these works have something in common?
The still lifes depict simple everyday things and unpretentious fruits. Both still lifes are distinguished by simplicity and laconic composition.

Have you noticed a difference in the depiction of objects? What is it?
Klas reproduces objects in detail, strictly maintains perspective and chiaroscuro, uses soft colors. Cezanne presents us with a picture from different points of view, uses a clear outline to emphasize the volume of the subject, and bright saturated colors. The crumpled tablecloth does not look as soft as Klas's, but rather acts as a background and sharpens the composition.

Imagine and record an imaginary conversation between the Dutch artist P. Claes and the French painter P. Cezanne, in which they would talk about their still lifes. What would they praise each other for? What would these two still life masters criticize?
К .: "I used light, air and a single tone to express the unity of the objective world and the environment."
S .: “My method is hatred of the fantastic image. I write only the truth and want to hit Paris with carrots and apples. "
K.K .: "It seems to me that you are not sufficiently detailed and depict objects incorrectly."
S .: “An artist should not be too scrupulous, or too sincere, or too dependent on nature; the artist is, to a greater or lesser extent, the master of his model, and mainly of his means of expression. "
K.K .: “But I like your work with color, I also consider it the most important element of painting.”
S .: "Color is the point where our brain comes into contact with the universe."
*note. In drawing up the dialogue, quotations by Cezanne were used.

Napoleon Bonaparte is the most controversial and interesting figure in French history. The French adore and adore him as a national hero.

It doesn't matter that he lost the Patriotic War of 1812 in Russia, the main thing is that he is Napoleon Bonaparte!

For me personally, he is a favorite figure in French history. I have always had respect for his talent as a commander - the capture of Toulon in 1793, victories in the battles of Arcole or Rivoli.

That is why today I will talk about the daily life of the French during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte.

You will say that it was possible to follow the chronological path and gradually reveal this topic, starting from time immemorial. And I’ll say that it’s boring, and my blog will turn into a textbook on the history of France, and then you will stop reading it. Therefore, I will talk, first of all, about the most interesting and out of order. It's so much more interesting! Truth?

So how did people live in the days of Napoleon Bonaparte? Let's find out about it together ...

About Sevres porcelain.

In terms of French industry, the leading industries were glass, pottery and porcelain.

The world-wide fame was gained by the porcelain products of the factory in Sevres near Paris ( famous sevres porcelain). This manufactory was transferred from the castle in Vincennes in 1756.

When Napoleon became emperor, classicism tendencies began to prevail in porcelain. Sevres porcelain began to be decorated with exquisite ornaments, which were most often combined with a colored background.

After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit (1807), a few months later, Napoleon presented the Russian Emperor Alexander I with a magnificent Olympic service (pictured). Napoleon also used Sèvres porcelain on Saint Helena.

About the workers.

Gradually, industry in France moved onto the rails of machine production. The metric system of measures was introduced. And in 1807, the Commercial Code was created and promulgated.

But, nevertheless, France did not become a leader in the world market, but the wages of workers gradually increased, and mass unemployment was avoided.

In Paris, a worker earned 3-4 francs a day, in the provinces - 1.2-2 francs a day. French workers are more likely to eat meat and dress better.

About money.

We all know that currency is now used in France. euro €. But we most often forget about the past currencies, maybe we only remember about franc and a strange word Ecu.

Let's fix that and be curious about the old French currency, so to speak.

So livres, francs, napoleondors - what nice names, right?

Livre was the currency of France until the introduction of the franc in 1799. Did you know that the members of the Egyptian expedition, which began in 1798, received a salary? Yes, and this is so, only then it was called a salary. So the famous scientists received 500 livres a month, and the rank and file - 50.

And in 1834, coins denominated in livres were withdrawn from circulation.

Franc was originally silver and weighed only 5 grams. This so-called germinal franc put into circulation in March 1803, and it remained stable until 1914! (pictured on the right)

And here napoleon was a gold coin that was equal to 20 francs and contained 5.8 grams of pure gold. These coins have been minted since 1803.

And the origin of the name is very simple, because on the coin there were images of Napoleon I, and later Napoleon III. This gold coin is not at all simple, because it could be minted in different variations - double Napoleon (40 francs), 1/2 Napoleon (10 francs) and 1/4 (5 francs).

You ask, how louis and ecu?

These coins went out of circulation faster. For example, the louis (French gold coin) was first minted under Louis XIII, and ended its "life" in 1795.

A ecu existed since the 13th century, at first they were gold, then silver, and in the middle of the 19th century they were withdrawn from circulation. But the name "ecu" was preserved for the five-franc coin.

Still, lovers of fiction often met this name on the pages of books by French writers.

About food.

If earlier the main food of the French were bread, wine and cheese, then in the 19th century it became widespread potato imported from America. Thanks to this, the population is growing, because potatoes are actively planted throughout France, and they bring a large harvest.

Colorfully describes the benefits of potatoes J.J. Menure, a resident of the department of Isère (fr. Isère) in the south-east of France:

“This culture, freely located, groomed, prosperous in my domain, has brought me many benefits; the potatoes turned out to be very profitable, they found application for themselves on the table of owners, workers and servants, they went to eat chickens, turkeys, pigs; it was enough for both local residents and for sale, etc. What an abundance, what a pleasure! "

Yes, and Napoleon himself preferred to all dishes - fried potatoes with onions.

So it comes as no surprise that simple potatoes have become the favorite dish of all French people. Contemporaries write that they attended a dinner party at which all dishes were prepared exclusively from potatoes. Like this!

About art.

What do the people demand? Right - "Meal'n'Real!"

They talked about their daily bread, or rather potatoes, which took a firm place in the life of the French. Now we will learn about spectacles - about spiritual food.

In general, I must say that Napoleon Bonaparte actively supported the theater, actors and playwrights. Fashion, art and architecture of that time are strongly influenced by style. "Empire"... Napoleon likes drama theater.

He talked about it to the poet Goethe:

“Tragedy should be a school for kings and peoples; this is the highest step that a poet can reach. "

The patronage of the theater smoothly spread to specific actresses who became mistresses of the first persons of the state: Teresa Bourguin, Minister of the Interior Chaptal, and Mademoiselle Georges, Napoleon himself.

Nevertheless, development of the theater during the Empire is in full swing, dominates there Talma... A talented family member of a dentist. He received an excellent education and even continued his father's work for some time, playing during his leisure time on small stages.

At one point, Talma decided to change his life and graduated from the Royal School of Recitation and Singing in Paris. AND in 1787 successfully debuted on the stage of the theater "Comedie Francaise" in Voltaire's play "Mahomet". Soon he was accepted as a shareholder of the theater.

Talma broke the ridiculous centuries-old tradition of the theater, according to which the actors represented the heroes of different eras in the costumes of their time - in wigs and velvet!

AND theatrical "revolutionary" gradually introduced into the everyday life of the theater antique, medieval, oriental and Renaissance costumes! ( Francois-Joseph Talma depicted as Nero in the painting by E. Delacroix).

Talma actively advocated the truthfulness of speech in everything, including diction. His views were formed under the influence of French and English enlighteners. And from the first days of the Great Revolution, he strove to embody her ideas on stage. This actor took over a troupe of revolutionary-minded actors who left the Comedie Francaise in 1791. And they founded the Theater of Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood, which later became the Theater of the Republic on Rue Richelieu.

The "old" theater or the Theater of the Nation staged plays that were displeasing to the authorities. And the revolutionary government closed it down, the actors were thrown into jail. But they escaped execution because a public safety official destroyed their papers.

After the fall of Robespierre, the remnants of the troupes of both theaters united, and Talma had to make excuses to the public, speaking out against the revolutionary terror.

Such vivid changes took place in the theater thanks to talented, caring people.

And it is worth noting that the French watched not only tragedies! N.M. Karamzin wrote in his "Letters of a Russian Traveler" about five theaters - the Bolshoi Opera, the French Theater, the Italian Theater, the Theater of the Count of Provence and the Variety.

In conclusion, I will add a couple of interesting facts :

- The first experiments in the field of Photo.

- And, of course, the glory of the national perfumery is huge, and if a Frenchman starts doing this in another country, he will definitely be successful!

France still occupies a prominent place among the world's perfumers. What is it worth Perfume House "Fragonard" in the southern city of Grasse. By the way, anyone can visit the historical museum of the factory and see with their own eyes the ancient equipment of perfumers.

P.S. On this wonderful note, I will end my story about the everyday life of the French during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. And for those who want to know even more details on this topic, I can recommend Andrei Ivanov's fascinating book "The Everyday Life of the French under Napoleon."

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The problem of a person's everyday life originated in antiquity - in fact, when a person made the first attempts to realize himself and his place in the world around him.

However, ideas about everyday life during antiquity and the Middle Ages were predominantly mythological and religious.

Thus, the everyday life of ancient man is saturated with mythology, and mythology, in turn, is endowed with many features of the daily life of people. The gods are improved people who live the same passions, only endowed with great abilities and capabilities. Gods easily come into contact with people, and people, if necessary, turn to the gods. Good deeds are rewarded right there on earth, and bad deeds are immediately punished. Belief in retribution and fear of punishment form the mysticism of consciousness and, accordingly, the everyday existence of a person, manifested both in elementary rituals and in the specifics of perception and understanding of the surrounding world.

It can be argued that the everyday life of an ancient person is two-fold: it is thinkable and empirically comprehensible, that is, there is a division of being into a sensory-empirical world and an ideal world - the world of ideas. The predominance of one or another ideological setting had a significant impact on the way of life of a person in antiquity. Everyday life is just beginning to be viewed as an area of ​​manifestation of human abilities and capabilities.

It is conceived as an existence focused on self-improvement of the individual, implying the harmonious development of physical, intellectual and spiritual capabilities. In this case, the material side of life is given a secondary place. One of the highest values ​​of the era of antiquity is moderation, which manifests itself in a rather modest way of life.

At the same time, the daily life of an individual is not thought of outside of society and is almost completely determined by it. Knowing and fulfilling one's civic duties is of paramount importance for a policy citizen.

The mystical nature of the everyday life of an ancient man, coupled with a person's understanding of his unity with the surrounding world, nature and the Cosmos, makes the everyday life of an ancient person sufficiently orderly, giving him a sense of security and confidence.

In the Middle Ages, the world is seen through the prism of God, and religiosity becomes the dominant moment of life, manifested in all spheres of human life. This determines the formation of a kind of worldview, in which everyday life appears as a chain of a person's religious experience, while religious rituals, commandments, and canons are woven into the lifestyle of the individual. The entire spectrum of human emotions and feelings has a religious connotation (faith in God, love for God, hope for salvation, fear of God's wrath, hatred of the devil-tempter, etc.).

Earthly life is saturated with spiritual content, due to which there is a fusion of spiritual and sensory-empirical being. Life provokes a person to commit sinful acts, "throwing" all kinds of temptations to him, but it also gives him the opportunity to atone for his sins by moral deeds.

In the Renaissance, ideas about the purpose of a person, about his way of life, undergo significant changes. During this period, both a person and his daily life appear in a new light. Man is presented as a creative person, a co-creator of God, who is able to change himself and his life, who has become less dependent on external circumstances, and much more - on his own potential.

The term “everyday life” itself appears in the epoch of modern times thanks to M. Montaigne, who by him means ordinary, standard, convenient moments of existence for a person, repeated at every moment of an everyday performance. As he rightly pointed out, everyday troubles are never small. The will to live is the foundation of wisdom. Life is given to us as something that does not depend on us. To dwell on its negative aspects (death, sorrow, disease) means suppressing and denying life. The sage should strive to suppress and reject any arguments against life and should say an unconditional "yes" to life and to everything that is life - sorrow, sickness and death.

In the XIX century. from an attempt to rationalize everyday life, they move on to considering its irrational component: fears, hopes, deep-seated human needs. The suffering of a person, according to S. Kierkegaard, is rooted in constant fear that haunts him at every moment of his life. The one who is mired in sin is afraid of possible punishment, the one who is freed from sin is gnawed by the fear of a new fall. Nevertheless, a person chooses his own being.

A gloomy, pessimistic view of human life is presented in the works of A. Schopenhauer. The essence of human existence is will, a blind onslaught that arouses and reveals the universe. The person is driven by an insatiable thirst, accompanied by constant anxiety, need and suffering. According to Schopenhauer, out of seven days of the week, six we suffer and lust, and on the seventh we die of boredom. In addition, a person is characterized by the narrowness of his perception of the world around him. He notes that it is human nature to penetrate beyond the boundaries of the universe.

In the XX century. the main object of scientific knowledge is the man himself in his uniqueness and originality. V. Dilthey, M. Heidegger, N.A. Berdyaev and others point to the contradictoriness and ambiguity of human nature.

During this period, the “ontological” problem of human life is brought to the fore, and the phenomenological method becomes a special “prism” with the help of which vision, comprehension and cognition of reality, including social reality, is carried out.

The philosophy of life (A. Bergson, V. Dilthey, G. Simmel) focuses on the irrational structures of consciousness in the life of a person, takes into account his nature, instincts, that is, a person regains his right to spontaneity and naturalness. Thus, A. Bergson writes that of all things we are most confident and best of all know our own existence.

In the works of G. Simmel, there is a negative assessment of everyday life. For him, the routine of everyday life is opposed to adventure as a period of the highest tension of strength and acuteness of experience, the moment of adventure exists, as it were, independently of everyday life, it is a separate fragment of space - time, where other laws and evaluation criteria operate.

The appeal to everyday life as an independent problem was carried out by E. Husserl within the framework of phenomenology. For him, the vital, everyday world becomes a universe of meanings. The everyday world has an internal orderliness, a kind of cognitive meaning is inherent in it. Thanks to E. Husserl, everyday life acquired in the eyes of philosophers the status of an independent reality of fundamental importance. E. Husserl's everyday life is distinguished by the simplicity of understanding what is "visible" to him. All people proceed from a natural attitude that unites objects and phenomena, things and living beings, factors of a socio-historical nature. Based on the natural attitude, a person perceives the world as the only true reality. All people's daily life is based on a natural attitude. The life-world is the data itself. This is the area that everyone knows. The life world always refers to the subject. This is his own everyday world. It is subjective and presented in the form of practical goals, life practice.

M. Heidegger made a great contribution to the study of the problems of everyday life. He already categorically separates scientific life from everyday life. Everyday life is a non-scientific space of one's own existence. The daily life of a person is filled with troubles about reproducing himself in the world as a living being, not a thinking one. The world of everyday life requires relentless repetition of necessary concerns (M. Heidegger called this an unworthy level of existence), which suppress the creative impulses of the individual. Heidegger's everyday life is presented in the form of the following modes: "chatter", "ambiguity", "curiosity", "preoccupied arrangement", etc. So, for example, "chatter" is presented in the form of empty, groundless speech. These modes are far from the genuine human, and therefore everyday life is somewhat negative, and the everyday world as a whole appears as a world of inauthenticity, groundlessness, loss and publicity. Heidegger notes that a person is constantly accompanied by a preoccupation with the present, which turns human life into fearful chores, into the vegetation of everyday life. This concern is aimed at the objects at hand, at the transformation of the world. According to M. Heidegger, a person is trying to give up his freedom, to become like everyone else, which leads to an averaging of individuality. Man no longer belongs to himself, others have taken away being from him. However, despite these negative aspects of everyday life, a person constantly strives to stay in cash, to avoid death. He refuses to see death in his daily life, blocking himself from it by life itself.

This approach is aggravated and developed by pragmatists (Charles Pierce, W. James), in whose opinion consciousness is the experience of a person's stay in the world. Most of the practical affairs of people are aimed at obtaining personal benefit. According to W. James, everyday life is expressed in the elements of the vital pragmatics of the individual.

In D. Dewey's instrumentalism, the concept of experience, nature and existence is far from idyllic. The world is unstable, and existence is risky and unstable. The actions of living beings are unpredictable, and therefore from any person maximum responsibility and exertion of spiritual and intellectual forces is required.

Psychoanalysis also pays sufficient attention to the problems of everyday life. So, Z. Freud writes about the neuroses of everyday life, that is, the factors that cause them. Sexuality and aggression, suppressed by social norms, lead a person to neuroses, which in everyday life are manifested in the form of obsessive actions, rituals, slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, and dreams that are understandable only to the person himself. Z. Freud called it "the psychopathology of everyday life." The more a person is forced to suppress his desires, the more methods of protection he uses in everyday life. Freud refers to repression, projection, substitution, rationalization, reactive formation, regression, sublimation, denial as the means by which nervous tension can be extinguished. Culture, according to Freud, gave a lot to a person, but took away the most important thing from him - the ability to satisfy his needs.

According to A. Adler, life cannot be imagined without continuous movement in the direction of growth and development. A person's life style includes a unique combination of traits, modes of behavior, habits, which, taken together, define a unique picture of a person's existence. From Adler's point of view, the lifestyle is firmly established at the age of four to five years and subsequently almost does not lend itself to total changes. This style becomes the main pivot of behavior in the future. It depends on him which aspects of life we ​​will pay attention to and which we will ignore. Ultimately, only the person himself is responsible for his own lifestyle.

Within the framework of postmodernism, it was shown that the life of a modern person has not become more stable and reliable. During this period, it became especially noticeable that human activity is carried out not so much on the basis of the principle of expediency as on the chance of expedient reactions in the context of specific changes. Within the framework of postmodernism (J.-F. Lyotard, J. Baudrillard, J. Bataille), the opinion is defended about the legitimacy of considering everyday life from any position in order to obtain a complete picture. Everyday life is not the subject of a philosophical analysis of this direction, capturing only individual moments of a person's life. The mosaic nature of the picture of everyday life in postmodernism testifies to the equivalence of the most diverse phenomena of human existence. Human behavior is largely determined by the consumption function. In this case, it is not the needs of a person that are the basis for the production of goods, but, on the contrary, the machine of production and consumption produces needs. Outside the system of exchange and consumption, there is no subject or objects. The language of things classifies the world even before it is presented in everyday language, the paradigmatization of objects sets the paradigm of communication, interaction in the market serves as the basic matrix of language interaction. Individual needs and desires do not exist; desires are produced. All accessibility and permissiveness dull sensations, and a person can only reproduce ideals, values, etc., pretending that this has not happened yet.

However, there are positive aspects as well. A person of post-modernism is focused on communication and goal-setting aspiration, that is, the main task of a postmodern person who is in a chaotic, inexpedient, sometimes dangerous world is the need to reveal himself at all costs.

Existentialists believe that problems arise in the course of the daily life of each individual. Everyday life is not only a "rolled" existence repeating stereotypical rituals, but also shocks, disappointments, passions. They exist precisely in the everyday world. Death, shame, fear, love, the search for meaning, being the most important existential problems, are also problems of the existence of a personality. Among existentialists, the most common is a pessimistic view of everyday life.

So, J.P. Sartre put forward the idea of ​​absolute freedom and absolute loneliness of man among other people. He believes that it is the person who is responsible for the fundamental design of his life. Any failure and failure is a consequence of a freely chosen path, and it is futile to look for the guilty ones. Even if a person ended up in a war, this war is his, since he could completely avoid it through suicide or desertion.

A. Camus endows everyday life with the following characteristics: absurdity, meaninglessness, disbelief in God and individual immortality, while placing a colossal responsibility on the person himself for his life.

A more optimistic point of view was held by E. Fromm, who endowed human life with an unconditional meaning, A. Schweitzer and H. Ortega y Gasset, who wrote that life is cosmic altruism, it exists as a constant movement from the vital self to the Other. These philosophers preached admiration for life and love for it, altruism as a life principle, emphasizing the brightest sides of human nature. Also E. Fromm speaks about two main ways of human existence - possession and being. The principle of possession is an attitude towards mastery of material objects, people, self, ideas and habits. Being is opposed to possession and means genuine participation in the existing and the embodiment in reality of all one's abilities.

The realization of the principles of being and possession is observed in the examples of everyday life: conversation, memory, power, faith, love, etc. Signs of possession are inertia, stereotypicality, superficiality. Fromm refers to the signs of being activity, creativity, interest. The possessive mindset is more characteristic of the modern world. This is due to the existence of private property. Existence is not thought of outside of struggle and suffering, and a person never realizes himself in a perfect way.

GG Gadamer, a leading representative of hermeneutics, pays great attention to the life experience of a person. He believes that the natural desire of parents is the desire to pass on their experience to children in the hope of saving them from their own mistakes. However, life experience is the experience that a person must acquire on their own. We constantly come to new experiences by refuting old experiences, because it is primarily a painful and unpleasant experience that goes against our expectations. Nevertheless, genuine experience prepares a person to realize his own limitations, that is, the limits of human existence. The conviction that everything can be remade, that there is time for everything, and that everything repeats itself in one way or another is just an appearance. Rather, on the contrary: a living and acting person is constantly convinced of history from his own experience that nothing is repeated. All the expectations and plans of finite beings are themselves finite and limited. Genuine experience is thus the experience of its own historicity.

Historical and philosophical analysis of everyday life allows us to draw the following conclusions regarding the development of problems of everyday life. First, the problem of everyday life is posed quite clearly, but the huge number of definitions does not give a holistic idea of ​​the essence of this phenomenon.

Secondly, most philosophers emphasize the negative aspects of everyday life. Thirdly, within the framework of modern science and in the mainstream of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, etc., the conducted studies of everyday life concern primarily its applied aspects, while its essential content remains outside the field of vision of most researchers.

It is the socio-philosophical approach that makes it possible to systematize the historical analysis of everyday life, to determine its essence, systemic-structural content and integrity. We note right away that all the basic concepts that reveal everyday life, its basic foundations, one way or another, in one way or another, are present in historical analysis in scattered versions, in various terms. We have only tried in the historical part to consider the essential, meaningful and integral being of everyday life. Without going deep into the analysis of such a complex formation as the concept of life, we emphasize that referring to it as the source is dictated not only by philosophical trends such as pragmatism, philosophy of life, fundamental ontology, but also the semantics of the words of everyday life: for all days of life with its eternal and temporary characteristics.

The main spheres of a person's life can be distinguished: his professional work, activities within the framework of everyday life and the sphere of recreation (unfortunately, often understood only as inactivity). It is obvious that the essence of life is movement, activity. It is all the features of social and individual activity in dialectical interconnection that determine the essence of everyday life. But it is clear that the pace and nature of activity, its effectiveness, success or failure are determined by the inclinations, skills and, mainly, abilities (the everyday life of an artist, poet, scientist, musician, etc., differs significantly).

If activity is viewed as a fundamental attribute of being from the point of view of self-movement of reality, then in each specific case we will be dealing with a relatively independent system, functioning on the basis of self-regulation and self-government. But this, naturally, presupposes not only the presence of modes of activity (abilities), but also the need for sources of movement and activity. These sources are most often (and mainly) determined by the contradictions between the subject and the object of activity. The subject can also act as an object of a particular activity. This contradiction boils down to the fact that the subject seeks to master the object or part of it, which he needs. These contradictions are defined as needs: the need of an individual, a group of people or society as a whole. It is the needs in various changed, transformed forms (interests, motives, goals, etc.) that bring the subject into action. Self-organization and self-management of the activity of the system presupposes as a necessary a sufficiently developed understanding, awareness, adequate knowledge (that is, the presence of consciousness and self-awareness) of the activity itself, and abilities, and needs, and awareness of consciousness and self-awareness itself. All this is transformed into adequate and definite goals, organizes the necessary means and gives the subject the opportunity to foresee the corresponding results.

So, all this allows us to consider everyday life from these four positions (activity, need, consciousness, ability): the defining sphere of everyday life - professional activity; human activity in everyday life; rest as a kind of sphere of activity, in which these four elements move freely, spontaneously, intuitively outside of purely practical interests, playfully (on the basis of game activity).

Some conclusion can be made. From the previous analysis it follows that everyday life must be defined, starting from the concept of life, the essence of which (including everyday life) is hidden in activity, and the content of everyday life (for all days!) Is revealed in a detailed analysis of the specifics of the social and individual characteristics of the four selected elements. The integrity of everyday life is hidden in the harmonization, on the one hand, of all its spheres (professional activity, activities in everyday life and leisure), and on the other, within each of the spheres based on the originality of the four designated elements. And, finally, we note that all these four elements have been identified, highlighted and are already present in the historical, social and philosophical analysis. The category of life is present among the representatives of the philosophy of life (M. Montaigne, A. Schopenhauer, V. Dilthey, E. Husserl); the concept of "activity" is present in the currents of pragmatism, instrumentalism (by Charles Pierce, W. James, D. Dewey); the concept of "need" dominates in K. Marx, Z. Freud, postmodernists, etc .; W. Dilthey, G. Simmel, K. Marx and others turn to the concept of "ability", and, finally, we find consciousness as a synthesizing organ in K. Marx, E. Husserl, representatives of pragmatism and existentialism.

Thus, it is this approach that allows us to define the phenomenon of everyday life as a socio-philosophical category, to reveal the essence, content and integrity of this phenomenon.

Simmel G. Selected Works. - M., 2006.

Sartre, J.P. Existentialism is humanism // Twilight of the Gods / ed. A. A. Yakovleva. - M., 1990.

Camus, A. Rebel man / A. Camus // Rebel man. Philosophy. Politics. Art. - M., 1990.