Gentlemen Golovlev analysis of the work. Messrs. Golovlevs analysis of the work Characteristics of the main characters of the novel Messrs. Golovlevs

"Messrs. Golovlevs"- novel by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, written in 1875-1880. The work includes 5 chapters:

• "Family Court"
• "In a related way"
• "Family Summary"
• "Niece"
• "Escapee"

were originally published as a cycle of stories and were included in the satirical chronicle “Well-Intentioned Speeches,” published in the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” in 1875-1876; then the chronicle was published without these chapters. In 1876, Saltykov-Shchedrin decided to create a novel; he highlighted the already written chapters from “Well-Intentioned Speeches” and subsequently added two more:

• "Illegal Family Joys" (1876)
• "Reckoning" (1880)

The chapters published in the magazine were revised by the writer.

Publication history

• “Family Court”, first published in the journal “Domestic Notes” in 1875, No. 10, under the title “Well-Intentioned Speeches. XIII. Family Court."
• "In a kindred way." First published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, 1875, No. 12, under the title “Well-Intentioned Speeches. XVII. In a family way"
• "Family Results". First published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, 1876, No. 3, under the title “Well-Intentioned Speeches. XVIII. Family results"
• "Niece." First published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, 1876, No. 5, under the title “Well-Intentioned Speeches. Before being exhausted."
• "Illegal family joys." First published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, 1876, No. 12, under the title “Family Joys.” This chapter and subsequent ones were no longer included in the chronicle “Well-Intentioned Speeches.”
• "Descheat." First published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, 1876, No. 8
• "Calculation". First published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, 1880, No. 5, under the title “Decision (The last episode from Golovlev’s chronicle)”

Characters

Judushka_Golovlev. Cover of the book "Gentlemen Golovlevs" published by "Fiction". Moscow, 1980

• "The head of the family, Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev, from a young age was known for his careless and mischievous character, and for Arina Petrovna, who was always distinguished by her seriousness and efficiency, he never imagined anything attractive. He led an idle and idle life, most often locked himself in his office, imitated the singing of starlings, roosters, etc., and wrote so-called “free poetry.”<…>Arina Petrovna immediately did not fall in love with these poems of her husband, calling them foul play and clowning, and since Vladimir Mikhailovich actually got married in order to always have a listener at hand for his poems, it is clear that the disagreement did not take long to occur. Gradually growing and becoming bitter, these quarrels ended, on the wife’s side, with complete and contemptuous indifference to her buffoon husband, on the husband’s side - with sincere hatred for his wife, hatred, which, however, included a significant amount of cowardice” - M. E. Saltykov -Shchedrin “Gentlemen Golovlevs”.
• « Arina Petrovna- a woman of about sixty, but still vigorous and accustomed to living at her own discretion. She behaves menacingly; single-handedly and uncontrollably manages the vast Golovlev estate, lives solitary, prudently, almost stingily, does not make friends with neighbors, is kind to the local authorities, and demands from her children that they be in such obedience to her that with every action they ask themselves: something Will mommy tell you about this? In general, she has an independent, unyielding and somewhat obstinate character, which, however, is greatly facilitated by the fact that in the entire Golovlev family there is not a single person from whom she could encounter opposition.” - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Gentlemen Golovlevs.”
• « Stepan Vladimirovich, eldest son,<…>, was known in the family under the name Stepki-boobs and Styopka the mischievous one. He very early became one of the “hateful” and from childhood played in the house the role of either a pariah or a jester. Unfortunately, he was a gifted fellow who too readily and quickly accepted the impressions generated by the environment. From his father he inherited an inexhaustible prankishness, from his mother the ability to quickly guess people’s weaknesses. Thanks to the first quality, he soon became his father's favorite, which further strengthened his mother's dislike for him. Often, during Arina Petrovna’s absences to do housework, the father and teenage son retired to the office, decorated with a portrait of Barkov, read free poetry and gossiped, and the “witch”, that is, Arina Petrovna, especially got it. But the “witch” seemed to instinctively guess their activities; she silently drove up to the porch, tiptoed to the office door and overheard cheerful speeches. This was followed by an immediate and brutal beating of Styopka the dunce. But Styopka did not let up; he was insensitive to either beatings or admonitions, and after half an hour he began to play tricks again. Either he will cut the girl Anyutka’s scarf into pieces, then sleepy Vasyutka will put flies in his mouth, then he will climb into the kitchen and steal a pie there (Arina Petrovna, out of economy, kept the children from hand to mouth), which, however, she will immediately share with her brothers.” - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Gentlemen Golovlevs.”
• “After Stepan Vladimirovich, the eldest member of the Golovlev family was a daughter, Anna Vladimirovna, which Arina Petrovna also didn’t like to talk about. The fact is that Arina Petrovna had designs on Annushka, and Annushka not only did not live up to her hopes, but instead caused a scandal throughout the entire district. When her daughter left the institute, Arina Petrovna settled her in the village, hoping to make her a gifted home secretary and accountant, and instead, Annushka, one fine night, fled from Golovlev with the cornet Ulanov and got married to him. After two years, the young capital lived, and the cornet fled to God knows where, leaving Anna Vladimirovna with two twin daughters: Anninka and Lyubonka. Then Anna Vladimirovna herself died three months later, and Arina Petrovna, willy-nilly, had to shelter the orphans at home. Which she did, placing the little ones in the outbuilding and assigning the crooked old woman Palashka to them.” - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Gentlemen Golovlevs.”
• « Porfiry Vladimirovich was known in the family under three names: Judas, a blood drinker and an outspoken boy, which were nicknames given to him by Styopka the dunce as a child. From his infancy, he loved to cuddle up to his dear friend Mama, sneak a kiss on her shoulder, and sometimes even talk a little bit about her. He would silently open the door of his mother's room, silently sneak into the corner, sit down and, as if enchanted, do not take his eyes off his mother while she was writing or fiddling with accounts. But Arina Petrovna, even then, was somewhat suspicious of these filial ingratiations. And then this gaze fixed intently on her seemed mysterious to her, and then she could not determine for herself what exactly he was exuding from himself: poison or filial piety” - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Gentlemen Golovlevs.”
• “His brother was in complete contrast to Porfiry Vladimirovich, Pavel Vladimirovich. It was the complete personification of a person devoid of any actions. As a boy, he did not show the slightest inclination to study, or to play, or to be sociable, but he loved to live alone, alienated from people. He used to hide in a corner, pout and start fantasizing. It seems to him that he has eaten too much oatmeal, that this has made his legs thin, and he is not studying. Or - that he is not Pavel the noble son, but Davydka the shepherd, that a bologna has grown on his forehead, like Davydka’s, that he clicks the arapnik and does not study. Arina Petrovna would look and look at him, and her mother’s heart would boil.” - M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The Golovlevs.”

Film adaptations

• - “Judushka Golovlev” (dir. Alexander Ivanovsky).
• 2010 - “Gentlemen Golovlevs” (dir. Alexandra Erofeeva)

Links

Saltykov-Shchedrin is a great artist in creating the figurative system of the novel. Members of the Golovlev family, this ugly product of the serf era - but crazy in the full sense of the word, but damaged by the combined effect of physiological and social foundations. The inner life of these unfortunate, distorted people is depicted with such relief that both our and Western European literature rarely achieve.

Saltykov-Shchedrin, calling his novel “The Golovlev Gentlemen” and not “The Golovlev Family,” deliberately emphasizes the significance of the events taking place not in one noble family, but within the entire ruling class.

The Golovlevs are “small fry of the nobility,” “scattered across the face of the Russian land.” They are initially captured by the idea of ​​acquisition, material well-being and family prosperity. Property for them is the cornerstone of the universe. Property is even an object of self-sacrifice: “... they used to assemble a peasant cart, they would tie some kind of kibitchon to it, they would harness a couple of horses - and I trudged along... It used to be a pity for a cab driver, - for my own two from Rogozhskaya to Solyanka!”

Hoarding brings together the warring forces in the family. Even the outcast Styopka the dunce takes part in it, although he knows in advance that nothing will fall to him.

Money relations are the only real thread connecting fathers and children. “Judas knew that there was a person listed as his son in the documents, to whom he was obliged to send the agreed... salary within a certain time frame and from whom, in return, he had the right to demand respect and obedience.”

Only twice in the novel do true human relationships appear. In the first case - between strangers, in the second - between feral relatives. I remember the kind attitude towards Styopka the dunce of the serf “compassionate innkeeper Ivan Mikhailych”, who unselfishly, out of compassion, leads the beggar Styopka home. After this, spiritual closeness between people arises when Porfiry Vladimirych takes pity on the orphan Anninka.

In general, the measure of a person’s value in the novel is his ability to provide “for his family not only with what is necessary, but also with what is superfluous.” Otherwise, the person is an “extra mouth.”

The head of the family, Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev, at the beginning of the novel looks almost decent: “a nobleman by birth, belonged to the ancient Golovlev family,” “led an idle and idle life,” like many of the nobles, “was engaged in writing so-called “free poetry,” which was common among people of their circle. He got married “to<...>, in order to have a listener at hand for his poems,” on a young lady of merchant origin, Arina Petrovna. Such marriages were not uncommon among the nobility. However, Shchedrin does not talk about romantic relationships or the honeymoon, but, explaining the picture of the established relationship between the spouses, he reports some details from their family life after living together for some time.

The young wife “immediately did not fall in love with her husband’s poems, calling them foul play and clowning.” On this basis, a quarrel arose, which soon ended “on the part of the wife with a complete and contemptuous attitude towards her jester husband; on the part of the husband - sincere hatred of his wife, which, however, included a significant amount of cowardice.”

After some time, the relationship was finally determined: “the husband called his wife “witch” and “devil”, the wife called her husband “windmill” and “stringless balalaika”.

However, summarizing these unnatural relations between husband and wife, the writer still notes that “being in such a relationship, they enjoyed life together for more than forty years, and it never occurred to either of them that such a life would include there is something unnatural in yourself.”

The contemptuous attitude of the spouses towards each other, the author notes, did not cause protest from either side or the other, as evidenced by the presence of four children.

Introducing us into the marital relationship of the Golovlev couple at a later stage of their married life, Saltykov-Shchedrin again does not show the onset of balance and wisdom in them, but, on the contrary, speaks of a further worsening of family discord. The head of the family, Vladimir Mikhailovich, continued to show himself as a “careless” person, “frivolous and drunk”, leading an “idle and idle life”, locking himself in his office, where he imitated birdsong and was engaged in writing, showing absolutely no interest in the family. However, by the age of 60, Arina Petrovna “placed herself in such a way” that no one in the family “dared to contradict her,” calling herself “neither a widow nor her husband’s wife,” although the word “family” did not “come out of her mouth.”

There are no moral principles in the Golovlev family. In the opinion of critic A.A. Zhuk, the “spiritual principle” of each of its members is “repressed and distorted,” and if it makes attempts to break through, it is “in the tendency to fly crazy fantasies” or in the desire for “eccentricity and buffoonery.” ", or "in the need of communication (at least to eat and play cards)" Zhuk A.A. Afterword to the novel by Lord Golovlev. M., 1986. P.280..

The “porfish scoundrel” very subtly felt his mother’s weak point - her love for herself, and, constantly influencing him, not only achieved his own benefit, but also contributed to the further corruption of Arina Petrovna’s soul.

In the “noble nest” of the Golovlevs, the concepts of true relationships are replaced by false ones. The lack of spirituality in Vladimir Mikhailovich and Arina Petrovna, her passion for property entails the degradation of the entire Golovlev offspring.

Drawing the image of the mother, wife, mistress of the village of Golovleva, Shchedrin shows Arina Petrovna as a victim of objective relationships, endowing her image with tragic content. “She,” Pokusaev believes, “is deceived that acquisition is not an end in itself for her, but only a heavy cross.” Pokusaev E.I. “Gentlemen Golovlevs” M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. P.65..

Saltykov-Shchedrin, characterizing Arina Petrovna from the point of view of motherhood, writes: “... In her eyes, children were one of those fatalistic life situations, against the totality of which she did not consider herself to have the right to protest, but which nevertheless did not affect any one string of her inner being..." Arina Petrovna’s lack of maternal tender feelings and loveless attitude towards children were indicated in Golovlev’s heirs by a certain deficiency in their spiritual development. It is this unnatural process that Shchedrin considers one of the main reasons for the appearance of degraded individuals in the family and the breakdown of family relationships.

Arina Petrovna, the satirist notes, had her own techniques and methods of raising children, which she developed herself: children were divided into “favorites” and “hateful ones.” She herself divided the children into categories: “she didn’t even like to talk about her eldest son and daughter; she was more or less indifferent to her youngest son and only the middle one, Porfish, was not so much loved, but rather feared.” Nevertheless, Porfiry was a favorite. But, speaking about Arina Petrovna as a mother, the writer, as if in passing, clarifies: “She had too independent<...>single nature, so that she could see in children something other than an unnecessary burden.<...>She only breathed freely when she was alone with her accounts and business enterprises.” Arina Petrovna's maternal feelings were supplanted by the desire to accumulate capital, and this, as Shchedrin shows, did not upset Vladimir Mikhailovich.

The eldest son, Stepan Vladimirovich, “early became one of the “hateful” for his mother, but was known as his father’s favorite, to whom he came at the moments of his mother’s departure and read poetry with his father, and also “got the witch” - the father did not embarrass himself in the presence of his son in an indelicate attitude towards his wife and son’s mother, in which Stepan supported him. The writer, depicting the personal relationships of the married couple, writes that Arina Petrovna in such cases “instantly guessed their activities; silently drove up to the porch and<...>I overheard funny speeches. This was followed by an immediate and brutal beating of Styopka the dunce.

“We need to kill you! -<...>Arina Petrovna kept telling him, “I’ll kill you and I won’t answer!” And the king will not punish me for this.”

Saltykov-Shchedrin never spoke about Arina Petrovna’s emotional experiences about the children. He seems to see some expediency in replacing the word “soul” with the word “heart” when he talks about Arina Petrovna, and most often when talking about the actions of Porfisha’s favorite.

With caustic irony, he notes: despite the fact that the mother’s heart foresaw something was wrong, suspected insincerity in her favorite, but still “... no matter how strongly the confidence spoke in her that Porfishka was a scoundrel only fawning with his tail, but with his eyes he was still a noose.” throws it on, but in view of such selflessness, her heart could not stand it. And involuntarily her hand searched for the best piece on the platter” in order to hand it over to her affectionate son, despite the fact that the mere sight of this son raised vague alarm: “... Arina Petrovna would look and look at him, and she would boil over mother's heart … ».

Distorted ideas about good and evil disfigured the soul of the mother, the keeper of the family home, and became evident in the fact that Arina Petrovna’s happiness and pride began to consist not of the successes and joys of her children, but of the tenfold fortune she had collected over the course of forty years. And the more intensively the condition grew, which after death she would like to “take to the next world, but it’s impossible,” the more power-hungry and tougher she became, the further she moved away from the children, from her God-given destiny as a woman and wife. Practicality, oblivion of spiritual values, connections and relationships based on utilitarian material interest become the main laws of existence of the Golovlev family, in which Arina Petrovna plays a leading role.

Arina Petrovna herself displaced from herself the most valuable thing that was considered such among people of all times and peoples - maternal feelings. “In the Golovlev house, only she has the privilege of acting,” she deprived all other family members of this opportunity. All her children are passive and apathetic; the desire for creative activity was not inherent in them from childhood, since this was “mama’s prerogative” Turkov A.M. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. M., 1965. P. 222. . Arina Petrovna’s activities were determined by a one-sided direction, in which she “single-handedly and uncontrollably managed the vast Golovlevsky estate, lived alone, almost stingily, and did not make friends with her neighbors...”.

Arina Petrovna selflessly directs her life energy to increasing her capital and seems to be achieving success: the power of the Golovlev family is undeniable (“what a colossus she has built” - she herself proudly realizes). However, the abolition of serfdom - a “catastrophe” - undermined the autocratic system, the noble-landowner economy, and also pulled the rug out from under Arina Petrovna’s feet.

The reform of 1861 presented by Shchedrin in the novel, in the perception of land owners, looks like a natural disaster similar to an earthquake. Arina Petrovna is anxiously awaiting the coming “catastrophe.” “The first blow to Arina Petrovna’s power was dealt not by the abolition of serfdom itself, but by the preparations that preceded this abolition,” explains the satirist, “Arina Petrovna somehow suddenly let go of the reins of power and for two years did nothing but exclaim : “At least one thing - master or disappeared! and then: the first call! Second call! Not a candle for God, not a poker for the devil!” Shchedrin calls the state of waiting for the next push “preparations” that will subsequently destroy the usual way of life.

In this state, Arina Petrovna’s imagination paints gloomy pictures. “...Then she’ll imagine herself walking around an empty house, and little people have climbed into the people’s room and are eating! If you get tired of eating, they throw it under the table! It will seem that she looked into the cellar, and there Yulka and Feshka are killing her by both cheeks, they are killing her! She wanted to give them a reprimand - and she choked...” Arina Petrovna is oppressed by little things, trifles , which she invents for herself: her range of interests does not go beyond hoarding.

Shchedrin shows Arina Petrovna “not as a doer,” but only as a master of “calculating profitable combinations,” and in general, Arina Petrovna is not a creator by nature, but rather a destroyer. The writer portrays her as a predator, looking out for prey, which, during the preparation of the reform, itself falls into her hands. And although the abolition of serfdom in the minds of the Golovlevs is a tragedy, Arina Petrovna, even in these troubled times, knows how to benefit for herself.

Even in new circumstances, Arina Petrovna sees her plans for existence in trifles, wanting to grow “cabbage” and “potatoes” next to “daddy’s grave.” Even after being widowed, she does not strive to become closer to her children, she does not even remember them, she is indifferent to the affairs and concerns that her sons and daughter will live with in different living conditions. Even at critical moments in life, the best maternal qualities do not awaken in Arina Petrovna. The death of father and husband did not unite the Golovlev family. The fate of children and grandchildren, which people in old age usually live with, did not affect the widowed heart of Arina Petrovna.

Telling the story of Anna Vladimirovna, the daughter of Arina Petrovna, who, wanting to start a family, “one fine night fled from Golovlev with the cornet Ulanov and got married to him, the author pays more attention to the reaction that followed from the mother to the fact of marriage. Arina Petrovna was violently indignant about this: “So without parental blessing, like dogs, they got married! It’s good that hubby circled the analogue! Someone else would have used it - and he was! Look for him later, and fuck him!”

The writer, giving special drama to this event, depicts the indifference and cruelty of the mother, who, despite the unfavorable circumstances of her only daughter’s marriage, “took” and “threw away a piece” to the newlyweds in the form of a village, calling it a “parental blessing.” But she has no idea about moral support, maternal guidance, or what close people say to each other in such situations. Arina Petrovna sees parental blessing only in cutting off a certain part of her enormous fortune, and, moreover, not the best, but the worst.

Having become a grandmother, Arina Petrovna does not experience natural tender feelings, she does not feel the eventfulness in this phenomenon, which becomes clear after her words about her granddaughters, whom she venomously calls “puppies.”

The novel shows the immediate enterprise of Arina Petrovna’s active nature, who managed to extract material benefit for herself from this tragic situation. Trying to squeeze as much as possible out of a small estate, she put aside “the squeezed out for the board of trustees”, taking care of increasing her capital, although she herself said in this regard that she was incurring large material costs for the maintenance and upbringing of orphans.

Arina Petrovna created the power of the Golovlev family. But at the same time, she has some kind of feeling of disappointed hopes caused by the children, their “disrespect,” and inability to “please” their parents. Arina Petrovna’s entire rich life is poor in joys.

And in the end, what oppresses her in Pogorelka is not the shortcomings, but the “feeling of emptiness.”

Real life in the Golovlevs’ house acts as an arena of serious conflicts, the first victim of which is the Golovlevs’ eldest son, Stepan. The writer bitterly notes that having no means and therefore unable, due to his lack of money, to support himself, Stepan is forced to become a parasite and hanger-on with rich university students. Until the age of forty, he led a careless lifestyle, did not marry, did not start a family, squandered his house in Moscow, did not play any role in the militia, where he had enlisted, begged for a long time from the rich merchant men who belonged to his mother and, having sunk to the very extreme points of human existence, returned to Golovlevo.

Shchedrin does not blame Stepan, who is a lost soul in an empty and imaginary reality. The writer states that the high motives in Stepan simply had nowhere to come from, because for him, who grew up within the Golovlev walls, there was no experience of survival.

Lies, games, unnatural behavior of parents did their dark work in shaping the destinies of their children. Already in the first scenes of the novel, the author talks about how unnatural and false Arina Petrovna was seen by her children: “... she loved to play the role of a respectable and dejected mother in the eyes of the children, and in these cases she dragged her feet with difficulty and demanded that she be supported by the arms of the girl . And Styopka the dunce called such ceremonial receptions the bishop’s service, his mother called the bishop’s service, and the girls Polka and Yulka were the bishop’s baton-bearers.” The children saw unnatural actions in their mother’s behavior and exposed their essence. Stepan did not skimp on his caustic assessments of his mother’s behavior. Even during his life in Golovlevo, when he was young, he called his mother either the archbishop, the minister, or the witch.

Shchedrin’s comparison of Stepan Vladimirovich with the Gospel’s prodigal son, whom his father met with joy and jubilation on the threshold of his home, sounds like dark irony. Here, instead of a merciful father meeting his lost son, Stepan Vladimirovich is met by an “evil old woman”, numb in the “apathy of authority”, from whom Stepan does not expect any good.

This mirroring of the Gospel parable performs the same function as the epigraph in Anna Karenina: in both cases, Holy Scripture becomes that “plane of symmetry” through which the Grace of the highest truth is refracted as the gracelessness of earthly existence. This plot will play out in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel again, when Porfiry Vladimirovich will meet his son.

The terrible, depressing atmosphere that exists around a family, in which a person ceases to think and realize himself, is depicted by Shchedrin in the Golovlevs’ manorial estate. This is exactly what happens to Stepan, which is why he does not try to think and realize what is happening, “the signs of moral sobering that appeared in those hours while he was approaching Golovlev along the country road again disappeared somewhere. Frivolity again came into its own, and at the same time came reconciliation with the “mother’s position.” Now, in this atmosphere, one thought occupied his head most of all: “And where is she putting such a ton of money!” - he was surprised<...>, - I know he doesn’t send much to his brothers, she lives stingily, she feeds her father with salty strips... To the pawnshop! There’s nowhere else to put it but in a pawn shop.”

Then Stepan’s same thought would receive some development, and since he was hungry from morning to evening and only thought about how to eat something and “by what means could he soften his mother’s heart so that she would dote on him,” he began discuss this idea with the zemstvo. On the advice of the zemstvo, it was necessary to find such a “word” for the mother, and this word exists, only for this you need “... or impose a curse on yourself,<...>or sell your soul to the devil. As a result, there was nothing else left to do but live in the “mother’s position.”

And this “mother’s position” continued to turn Stepan into a creature descending to the most extreme, lowest level of life. The writer sympathizes with Stepan, noting that only his animal organization remains in him. Arina Petrovna’s eldest son does not experience mental suffering or prayers to God in captivity; he, like the simplest animal, has retained only the grasping reflex in order to survive.

“Yesterday’s soup, soup and lamb - this, brother, is hateful! - he said to the cook, - I guess they won’t give me any pie either!

It’s as mother pleases, sir.

Ehma! There was a time when I ate great snipes too! ate, brother!<...>

And now would you eat again?

Will not give<...>. It will rot, but it won’t give!”

The writer shows through Stepan’s memories when moments of “moral sobering” happened to him and the fates of his predecessors were resurrected in his memory, the pattern of his position in his own family: “Here is uncle Mikhail Petrovich, who also belonged to the number of “hateful”, and whom grandfather Peter Ivanovich imprisoned to his daughter in Golovlevo, where he lived in the common room and ate from the same cup with Trezorka. Here is Aunt Vera Mikhailovna, who out of mercy lived in the Golovlevskaya estate with her brother Vladimir Mikhailovich, who died of “moderation” because Arina Petrovna reproached her with every piece eaten at dinner, and with every log of firewood used to heat her room...”

Stepan, realizing his hopelessness and doom, runs away from the bathhouse that is boring him. This can hardly be called a conscious protest. But even at a critical moment in the life of her son, who escaped from his mother’s prison, we do not see feelings of compassion and repentance in Arina Petrovna; Shchedrin shows only her cold calculation and enterprise.

The string of “prodigal children” returning to Golovlevo was discovered by Stepan Vladimirovich. Children return to their native corner only to die.

Ten years later, the Dubrovinsky gentleman Pavel Vladimirovich Golovlev, a familyless, drinking and sick man, also returned from St. Petersburg to die on the Golovlev estate.

Shchedrin, introducing us to the world of Pavel Vladimirovich, with heartache, depicts the oblivion into which he constantly disappears. The world of illusions created by Pavel takes away his strength, devastates and exhausts him, turning him into a kind of mannequin mechanism, devoid of any feelings, including related ones: no respect for his mother, no sympathy for his nieces - orphans, whom he robbed together with Arina Petrovna Judas, Paul did not experience this in this world. Only the housekeeper Ulitushka, who once cohabited with Judushka, could enter his mezzanine, where she brought him food and vodka. Even in the face of his death, Paul does not think about possible repentance, about internal self-purification, he has no desire to turn to God, he does not want to see either his mother or his nieces.

Indifference to the dying Paul reigns throughout the house. It is no coincidence that Pavel Vladimirovich’s house seems filled with shadows: “Loneliness, helplessness, dead silence - and in the middle of this there are shadows, a whole swarm of shadows. It seemed to him that these shadows were walking, walking, walking...” Together with these “shadows,” Shchedrin brings his brother Porfiry Vladimirovich to Pavel Vladimirovich, but not to ease the last moments of the dying man, as Konstantin Levin does for his brother Nikolai, but all for the same reason of taking possession of the inheritance. Shchedrin paints a terrible scene in which Judas, emerging from a swarm of shadows like a vampire, takes the last remnants of life from his unprotected and helpless brother.

The entire scene of Porfiry’s visit to brother Pavel is constructed by the writer in such a way that the state of Pavel, who is suffocating and writhing with impotent rage, is almost physically palpable.

With the death of the village owner Pavel Dubrovin, the writer repeats almost the entire ritual of Stepan’s funeral. This repetition in Shchedrin creates a feeling of doom and lack of forward movement. The author, increasing the tension in the novel, turns his attention to the ever-increasing emptiness that, after the death of Pavel, filled the space of the Golovlev estate.

For Shchedrin, Judas now becomes the focus of close attention, because from the moment of Pavel’s funeral, he is one of the second generation of Golovlevs and is the main owner of the estate. The next victim for him, who does not let up even at his brother’s wake, is Arina Petrovna herself, who raised him with her special “heartfelt passion.” And Judushka, having chosen a “decent plot”, immediately, without delay, begins to tyranny Arina Petrovna with scraps of funeral idle talk, “hopeless gimmick” about this and that, empty theological disputes.

The meaning of the nickname “Judas” has been discussed more than once in Shchedrin studies. According to E. Pokusaev, the diminutive suffix “immediately grounds the hero, as if in everyday life, takes him out of the sphere of significant socio-moral actions and transfers him to another area, to the area of ​​everyday relationships and affairs, ordinary existence” Pokusaev E.I. “Gentlemen Golovlevs” M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. P.87.. Judas is Judas, “somewhere here, nearby, at the side of his family, committing daily betrayal.” For D.P. Nikolaev, the hero’s nickname is another hint of his hypocrisy: “The very word “Judas” seems to contaminate two concepts - “Judas” and “darling”, of which the second means who the hero pretends to be, and the first - who he really is” Nikolaev D.P. Saltykov - Shchedrin and realistic grotesque. M., 1977. P. 65..

S. Telegin’s remark seems more accurate: “Judas betrayed Christ at the instigation of Satan himself, who entered into him. [...] But Porfisha is too petty for such a great tragedy, and therefore he is only Judas, and not Judas, a petty demon, but he is also terrible with this pettiness.” Telegin S.M. “The devil is not as terrible as his little ones”: [analysis of the novel by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Lord Golovlevs”] // Rus. literature. - M., 1997. - No. 5. P. 120..

In literary criticism, the phenomenon of Judas's hypocrisy and idle talk has been repeatedly examined (the precedent was created by the writer himself, who spoke in detail about the differences between Judas and Tartuffe). The image of Porfiry is clearly built on the contrast of two images: the one Judas is, and the one he introduces himself and tries to be known as. But what went unnoticed was the fact that both of these images are equally mythologized and equally based on biblical images. The same act, the same word is interpreted differently by Judushka and the narrator, but the basis for interpretation is the same.

During the “family trial” of his brother Stepan, “Porfiry Vladimirych was ready to tear his vestments, but he was afraid that there would probably be no one in the village to repair them.” To tear the vestments means, from the point of view of a true believer (Jew), to witness blasphemy. And in fact, the act of his brother, who threw his mother’s “labor money” into the trash heap, should seem blasphemous to Judas (no matter what Porfiry really thinks).

Judas fancies himself a righteous man (in a letter to his nieces, he “called himself a Christian, and they called them ungrateful”) and, probably, even a messenger from heaven. Who he really is has already been indicated many times in literary criticism: Judushka is “Satan”, “spider”, “serpent”, “blood drinker”, etc. S. Telegiin finds in the image of Judushka the features of a basilisk Ibid. P. 121.. Two planes - “sacred” and “infernal” - collide within the boundaries of a paragraph and even a sentence. “His face was pale, but breathed with spiritual enlightenment; a blissful smile played on his lips; his eyes looked kindly, as if all-forgiving [...] Ulitushka, however, from the first glance at Judushka’s face, realized that in the depths of his soul, betrayal was decided.”

Porfiry Golovlev is one of those universal human types like Iago, Tartuffe, Harpagon, who for many centuries have served as common nouns to represent the most extreme distortion of human nature. The personalities surrounding Porfiry Golovlev are funny, insignificant, disgusting in their own way, but they arouse deep, sorrowful pity in you when you see them in the hands of this Judas and noose-thrower. Even the patriarch of the Golovlev family, Arina Petrovna, who was depicted so menacingly before us in the “Family Court”, in her pre-reform greatness, appears in the last essay suppressed by the new orders, knocked down from her pedestal, robbed by her son, the same Judas. How she humiliates herself before him, ingratiates herself, how some remnants of human feelings in her are indignant and groan before the unshakable inhumanity of Judas, which has crossed all possible limits of hypocritical callousness. How she desperately grabs the last attribute of her trampled patriarchal power - her parental curse, of course, in order to experience the failure of this last straw. The spectacle of what a terrible distortion of human nature Saltykov-Shchedrin painted before us, that he could make even the old woman Golovleva, this, in turn, a ruin of humanity, be horrified by this spectacle.

A distinctive feature of Judas - idle talk - is very clearly depicted by the author in the text, for example in this quote from the tea party in Golovlevka:

“The cups are filled with tea one by one, and the samovar begins to subside. And the snowstorm gets worse and worse; either it will hit the glass windows in a shower of snow, or it will roll along the stove hog with some kind of inexpressible cry. “The blizzard, apparently, has really started,” notes Arina Petrovna: “it’s squealing and squealing!” - Well, let him squeal. She squeals, and we are here drinking tea - that’s how it is, my friend, mummy! - Porfiry Vladimirovich responds. - Oh, it’s not good to be in the field now, if such wrath of God catches you! - Some people don’t feel well, but grief isn’t enough for us. For some it’s dark and cold, but for us it’s light and warm. We sit and drink tea, with sugar, and cream, and lemon. And if we want it with rum, we’ll drink with rum... - Yes, if now... - Allow me, mamma. I say: it’s very bad in the field now. No roads, no paths - everything was covered in snow. Wolves again. But here it’s bright and cozy, and we’re not afraid of anything. Let's sit here and sit in peace and quiet. I wanted to play cards - let's play cards; I wanted to drink tea - we’ll drink tea, we won’t drink beyond what we need, but we’ll drink as much as we need. Why is this so? Because, dear friend, mama, God’s mercy does not leave us. If it weren’t for Him, the Heavenly King, maybe we would now be lost in the field, and it would be dark and cold for us... In some zipunishka, a poor sash, little shoes... - Something, really little shoes! Tea, were you also born into the nobility? No matter what we have, we still wear boots! - Do you know, mama, why we were born into the rank of nobility? All because God’s mercy was upon us. If it weren’t for her, we would now be sitting in the hut, and not a candle would be burning, but a torch, and let alone tea and coffee, we wouldn’t even dare to think about it now! If we were sitting there, I’d be picking at the little bast shoes, you’d be collecting some empty chicks there for dinner, Evprakseyushka would be weaving red... And maybe, as luck would have it, the foreman would have driven him out with a cart... - Well, the tenth at this time with will not dress you up with a submarine! - Who knows, dear friend, mummy! And suddenly the shelves are moving! Maybe there is a war or indignation - so that the regiments are in place on time! Just the other day, the policeman told me, Napoleon III died - believe me, now the French will start playing tricks! Naturally, ours are ahead now - well, go ahead; man, eyeliner. It’s a shame, it’s a blizzard, it’s bad roads - they won’t look at anything: go, little man, if your boss tells you to! But for now they will take care of you and me and won’t drive us out with the cart! - That's what I can say! God’s mercy is great for us,” etc., etc.

What is important here is not the hypocritical religious form in which Judas puts his cynical boasting, but the very abomination of this boasting, practiced in various forms, no less cynical, across the entire surface of the globe. And here is another scene showing how Judushka, having robbed her mother, taking away from her the estate of her deceased brother Paul, as far as possible, escorts her to a run-down estate almost to hunger and cold.

“Everyone stood up and prayed; then Arina Petrovna kissed everyone, blessed everyone... like a family, and, stepping heavily with her feet, headed towards the door. Porfiry Vladimirovich, at the head of all the household, escorted her to the porch, but then, at the sight of the tarantass, he was embarrassed by the demon of philosophy... “And the tarantass, after all, is brothers!” - flashed in his head. - So see you, good friend, mummy! - he said, lifting his mother up and looking sideways at the tarantass. - If God orders... why not see each other! - Oh, mummy, mummy! you're a prankster, really! Tell the tarantass to be put aside, and with God go back to its old nest... really! - Judas fawned. Arina Petrovna did not answer; She had already completely sat down and even made the sign of the cross, but the orphans hesitated for some reason. And Judas, meanwhile, glanced and glanced at the tarantass. “So the tarantass, mama, how will you deliver it yourself, or will you order someone to send for it?” he finally couldn’t stand it. Arina Petrovna even began to shake all over with indignation. - My Tarantas! - she screamed with such a painful cry that everyone felt embarrassed and ashamed. - My! my! my tarantass! I have it... I have proof... there are witnesses! And you... and you... well, I’ll wait... I’ll see what happens next from you! Children! how long? - Have mercy, mummy! I have no complaints... even if the tarantass were Dubrovinsky... - My tarantass, mine! Not Dubrovin's, but mine! do you hear! - I’m listening, mummy... So, my dear, don’t forget us... simply, you know, without any fuss! We come to you, you come to us... like family! - They sat down, or what? Touch it! - Arina Petrovna shouted, barely restraining herself. The Tarantass trembled and rolled off at a small trot along the road. Judas stood on the porch, waved his handkerchief and, until the carriage was completely out of sight, shouted after him: - Like a relative! We come to you, you come to us... like family!”

Judas’s idle talk leads to the fact that not only for him, but also for those around him, the line between the two worlds is erased. In Shchedrin's ethical system, this is one of the greatest sins. Petenka talks about his father’s intention to deprive his children of their inheritance: “It was not for nothing that he was talking to the priest the other day: what, he says, father, if you were to build a Tower of Babel, would it take a lot of money? [...] he has some kind of project. Not for the Tower of Babel, but he will donate to Mount Athos, but he won’t give it to us!” S. Telegin rightly asserts that Porfiry’s intention to build “the most godless and satanic invention of humanity, which desired to reach heaven and sit in the place of God,” is by no means accidental. The Foolovites intended to accomplish a similar “feat.” But the main thing in this episode is not the satanic pride of Judas, but his complete indifference to what exactly to use the money for: the construction of the Tower of Babel or the Athos Monastery.

The natural next step is to blur the boundaries between the sacred and the infernal. Judas “prayed not because he loved God and hoped through prayer to enter into communion with him, but because he was afraid of the devil and hoped that God would deliver him from the evil one.” Compare: “Judas spits and looks at the image, as if seeking its protection from the evil one.” In the drafts, Porfiry “according to routine, appealed to the deity: hurry up! - but if the deity hesitated, then he did not hesitate to resort to another mysterious force, which, according to experienced people, sometimes even more successfully assists in everyday affairs.” Judas, despite her piety, realizes “that if mamma begins to trust in God, this means that there is some flaw in her existence.” So, trust in God is a sign of disorder in the Golovlev system of life. It’s not for nothing that Shchedrin calls Judas “an idolater.” Almost the only case when Porfiry Golovlev imagines an angry God is also associated with a ritual - a ritual of a possible maternal curse.

Saltykov followed the path of deepening one definition of a psychological trait in a multifaceted disclosure, in various life situations. In each specific case, the episode reveals a new side, some new shades of Judas’s hypocritical nature. Passion for idle words is not Porfiry’s individual attribute. The satirist elevated it to the general and social category. Conscious hypocrisy, the satirist said, causes “indignation and fear,” and unconscious hypocrisy, lying and idle talk causes boredom and disgust.

In modern Russia, the satirist noted the spread of various forms of hypocrisy. He placed this historical fact in direct dependence on the processes of decline and disintegration that occurred in the landowner class after the abolition of serfdom. This was specifically written about in the “Calculation” chapter. On the one hand, from noble families whole broods of dexterous and nimble people are pushed into life, who are sensitive to new trends, adapt to them, putting on, as necessary, either a new or an old “skin”, and soon become, as the satirist ironically says, true “workers of this age.”

On the other hand, the ill-fated landowners' nests are thrown away into life, and the closer to the inglorious end, the more often, entire collections of losers, idlers, skinny "little creatures." Saltykov writes about the Golovlevs: “For several generations, three characteristic traits ran through the history of this family: idleness, unsuitability for any business and hard drinking. The first two led to idle talk, idle thinking and emptiness, the last was, as it were, a mandatory conclusion to the general turmoil of life.”

In Shchedrin’s characterization, Judushka seemed to have concentrated in himself the features of Golovlevsky, that is, landowner, degeneration and decay. In idle talk, in hypocrisy, the satirist saw a special form of social and spiritual decay of a class that has historically outlived its usefulness, poisoning the atmosphere with a miasma of rot. Auto-comments, like the entire artistic history of the Golovlev family, give reason to assert that Saltykov himself understood the type of Judas in such an expansive manner.

A dirty trickster, a hypocrite and an empty talker, Judas is an artistic type on a global scale.

That is why, of the many possible options for the end of the novel, he chose the most complex and difficult psychologically. Saltykov showed how in the disgusting personality of Judas, mired in the vulgarity of meanness, reaching the extreme limits of moral decline, something “human” awakens, something similar to remorse.

The author made Judas, at the end of her life, look into her devastated soul and shudder. At the same time, of course, there can be no talk of any sympathy or pity for the “blood drinker.” The author's position has remained unchanged: the endless string of crimes of Judas, his predatory habits, his callousness and cruelty, sophisticated methods of oppression, his cynicism and hypocrisy - all this in the soul of the author, a humanist and revolutionary democrat, evokes a natural feeling of disgust and indignation. He shows Judas as a hypocrite and a “bloodsucker” whom he hated, who all his life only tormented, tyrannized, tormented both his own and others, not sparing anyone who got in his way. And yet, despite this, at the end of the novel a tragic intonation appears. The final pages of “The Golovlevs” are written in such a way that there is no doubt about the awakening in Judushka of something similar to remorse, or, as the author says, “a wild conscience.” His decision to say goodbye to his mother’s grave was made after a long, painful thought. Judas's behavior changes dramatically. At the end of his life's journey, he seemed to be transformed, became different, and suffering traits appeared in him.

The author could have ended the novel with the natural death of his hero. But this decision did not satisfy Saltykov. It was necessary to come up with a more terrible end for Judas. A sense of justice demanded that Judas, before passing away, experience the moral torment and torment that he inflicted on others, so that he, to some extent, realized his guilt, the enormity of the crimes he committed, all the worthlessness, meaninglessness, gloomy emptiness of his miserable existence. Saltykov, even in the last pages of the novel, is merciless towards the hypocrite and “bloodsucker”.

Judas’s “wild conscience” awakened only when he found himself on the edge of the grave, when he became weak, decrepit and could no longer commit new atrocities.

A variety of gestures and intonation shades of speech characterize Judushka. At the same time, one should distinguish between scenes where the author fixes the reader’s attention on the pretense and hypocrisy of Judas, and those cases when Judas does not play the role and some glimmer of human emotions appears, albeit weakly, albeit vaguely.

Judas is a complex psychological type. He is endowed not only with features that characterize him as a predator, but as a representative of the degenerating nobility, he is also a bearer of universal human vices.

As we have already noted, the Golovlev family has three generations, and the third is the grandchildren of Arina Petrovna and Vladimir Mikhailovich. As you know, Porfiry had a family in St. Petersburg, but his wife died, leaving two sons in the care of Judas: Petenka, who “like any prodigal son of a nobleman,” “who has not given himself any account of his life goals, is somehow instinctively drawn to his place,” and Volodenka, who, like all the Golovlevs, was unable to do anything and support himself and his family on his own; in addition, her granddaughters Anninka and Lyubinka also lived with Arina Petrovna.

In a moment of despair, Petenka arrives in Golovlevo, as if it were his last “place,” where he could only come with such a burden inside: having lost government money at cards and waiting for prison.

The writer, distancing himself from the events taking place, asks a question about this appearance in Golovlev of Arina Petrovna’s grandson and Porfiry Vladimirovich’s son: what does he hope for? what is he looking for? “Will there be anything from this trip? will a miracle happen that will turn a stone into bread, or will it not happen?

Trying to answer and clarify the situation, Shchedrin emphasizes the senseless appearance of Golovlev’s son on the estate: “Of course, Petenka may not have understood his father, but in any case he did not know a single feeling behind him, not a single weak string that he had the opportunity to grab onto.” and, by exploiting which, something could be achieved,” “he felt only one thing: that in the presence of his father he was face to face with something inexplicable, elusive.” Shchedrin portrays the father's reaction to the unexpected arrival of his son almost as Arina Petrovna met her first son. Judushka’s spiritual emptiness, alarmingly felt by Petenka, makes her father and grandmother related. With Petenka’s arrival, Arina Petrovna recalls her own shocks associated with the return of her son “the dunce.” “And it seems to her that she is hearing the same familiar story, which began a long time ago, and she can’t remember when. This story was completely closed, but now again, no, no, it will take it and open on the same page.” Arina Petrovna's premonition came true. The ending of the stories also coincided: “not a single muscle moved on Porfiry Vladimirovich’s wooden face, not a single note in his voice sounded anything like a call to the prodigal son.”

The son’s humble request, his hysterical plea for help, and finally, angry accusations of cruelty come up against a blank wall made of affectionate questions and touching rantings. Shchedrin, remembering the folk wisdom that said: “An apple does not roll far from an apple tree” or “what goes around comes around,” exposes Porfiry Vladimirovich, who, just like Arina Petrovna in her time, dooms his own son to death, thereby breaks the connecting chain of times, without thinking about the continuation of the Golovlev family.

A terrible death sentence for his son reveals the meaning of his father’s parting words, who, as always, said in a gentle voice: “Leave, brother! Hey, who's there? tell the young master to lay the wagon. Yes, fried chicken, and caviar, and even something... testicles, or something... wrap it in a piece of paper... At the station, brother, and you can have a snack while the horses are fed. With God blessing!".

Two sons of Porfiry Vladimirovich die not without his participation (“...for Shchedrin,” as N.K. Mikhailovsky wrote, “both of these endings take place behind the scenes.” Mikhailovsky N.K. Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in Russian criticism . M., 1959. P. 443.), and Judushka, by the end of her life, will see the light and realize her terrible crimes, as is happening with Arina Petrovna now. Right there. P. 444.

“Life turned to the darkest and most uncomfortable side for Arina Petrovna’s granddaughters Anninka and Lyubinka,” writes Shchedrin; creating realistic pictures of their lives, he paints them gloomily and harshly.

Without material support, without parental blessing, Anninka and Lyubinka set off in search of happiness in a world that seemed better to them than their home situation.

Shchedrin, defending Arina Petrovna’s granddaughter, notes that Anninka, who did not receive a full education, had no idea about the significance in her fate of the unity of two life principles - spirit and flesh, about the destructive power of evil that could enter into her and destroy her, since “the situation of the Russian actresses are very close to the position of a public woman.”

In this situation, the author shares Tolstoy’s position on the “unity of spirit and flesh.” The slippery slope that the granddaughters of the Golovlevs stepped on, earning a living on their own, ends in tragedy for both. Shchedrin shows the beginning of Anninka’s “creative activity” as a delusion, which at first seemed cheerful and rosy to her. Having an idea only of the external side of the actress’s profession, Anninka made her life something like a “moving-in house”, at the gate of which “everyone who recognized himself as cheerful, young, rich could knock.” The life of an actress excited her. Lonely, “without leadership preparation, without a created goal, with only a temperament craving noise, brilliance and praise,” she did not immediately see and realize herself, “circling in some kind of chaos, in which an infinite number of people were crowded, without any connection replacing one another." This is where the dark drama lurked.

Shchedrin speaks directly and openly about Anninka’s artistic activity, revealing the cruel essence of what is happening. “Holy art,” he claims, “led her to the cesspool, but her head immediately became so dizzy that she could not discern it.”

Comparing Anninka’s life with a carousel rushing along its given trajectory, confusing her in a den of pleasures from rational human existence, the writer does not give the heroine time to look around, listen to public opinion, stop... And he stops her only at the very edge of the abyss.

Shchedrin’s “depressing monotony” becomes a kind of strange doom, an “ominous fate”, with which illness appears in all members of the family, the departure one after another from the lives of Golovlev’s offspring.

Shchedrin translates everyday sketches from the lives of the sisters into a psychological plane. And now other pictures appear before their eyes, pictures of the carbon monoxide past, in which it was exposed in their memory in “iron vitality”, quickly floated out and, despite the desire and spiritual efforts to forget everything, mercilessly poisoned the heart: stinking hotels, rooms, -officers, chief officers, chief officers; then other memories began: the inn, drunken and pugnacious nights, passing landowners, strong merchants, encouraging the actors almost with a whip in their hands. And the next morning - headache, nausea and melancholy, endless melancholy. It turned out to be impossible to get back on their feet and start a measured life after the nativity scene; the carousel threw them into a terrible dead end in life, where there was nothing but shame and poverty.”

Anninka and Lyubinka, says literary critic M.S. Goryachkina Goryachkina M.S. Satire by Saltykov-Shchedrin. M., 1965. From 109., at the beginning of the novel, “in their main character traits they are typical heroines of noble writers” Ibid. P. 110.., therefore Shchedrin provides the opportunity for Anninka, as was customary in the novels of that time, to go to her small homeland, look around, realize and begin to live in a new way.

However, after visiting Pogorelka, to which she went with some secret hope of calm, Anninka realizes that it is the same there as everywhere else, only covered up with kindred good intentions.

However, Anninka did not find the strength to do as her sister Lyubinka decided - “to die of herself,” but “came to die” in Golovlevo.

As we see, the writer creates pictures of reality close to a person, everyday life, mastering it here not as a deliberately “low prose”, but as a place of serious conflicts.

In addition to the characters, the system of images of the novel also includes the image of the Golovlevo estate itself as the center of the world. We see that it gradually ceases to depend on the outside world and, on the contrary, begins to dictate its own laws to it. Therefore, everything that is outside Golovlev turns out to be its continuation. Not only the Golovlevs, but also the surrounding landowners “could not clearly distinguish the angelic region from the angelic region and throughout their lives they were confused in understanding the question of what it was appropriate to ask from God and what from the devil.” The conclusion regarding Judas, however, was made by his neighbors that was absolutely correct: “a man who never had the divine leave his tongue was so entangled in his own aphorisms that, without noticing it, he found himself at the bottom of devilry.”

And not only in the vicinity of the Golovlev estate, but throughout the whole country, according to Arina Petrovna, what is happening is “not a candle to God, not a devil’s poker!” Moreover: if Golovlevo seemed to Stepan as a “coffin,” then in the eyes of Judushka “the whole world [...] is a coffin that can only serve as an excuse for endless idle talk.” Judushka’s delusional activity in the world of his dreams is only a special case or, perhaps, the most complete embodiment of the practice prevailing in the outside world: “[...] the world of business idleness,” the author notes, “is so mobile that there is not the slightest difficulty in transferring it anywhere, in any area.”

If we compare the novel and “The History of a City,” it should be noted that although both Golovlevo and Glupov are located in the “center of the world,” the difference between them is significant. After all, Foolov is not only the center of the world of “The History of a City,” but, in fact, the only real geographical object (all others, including St. Petersburg, are clearly mythological or imaginary). Not so in “The Golovlev Gentlemen.” The world cannot be reduced to the family estate and surrounding villages. All cities and towns mentioned are St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sergiev Posad, etc. - exist on their own, without turning into metaphors. But Golovlevo and Golovlev exclude themselves from the world, from life; If at the beginning of the novel this is not yet so noticeable, then in the last chapters it becomes obvious. “All contact with the outside world was completely severed. He received neither books, nor newspapers, nor even letters,” says the author about the life of Judas, if it can be called life.

A. Zhuk drew attention to the fact that the action of the novel leaves the boundaries of Golovlev only once - to be transported to the imaginary, untrue, theatrical world of bohemia in the literal sense of the word. Zhuk A.A. Afterword to the novel by Lord Golovlev. M., 1986. P.278. Capitals are the past of heroes; Sergiev Posad is the subject of Arina Petrovna’s fantasies, the place where she is supposedly going to leave before her death; As usual with Shchedrin, these dreams are accompanied by a restrained and caustic commentary from the author about their impracticability. Subsequently, Judas will express the same intention in the same expressions.

Golovlevo can be called the center of the universe that Shchedrin describes, the determining factor in all events. The very image of the estate is a materialized metaphor of family fate. “There are families over which a kind of obligatory predestination weighs down. [...] In the life of these pitiful families, both success and failure - everything is somehow blind, not guessed, not thought out. [...] It was precisely this ill-fated fate that weighed on the Golovlev family.”

However, Golovlevo is not only a faceless fate, but also an active figure. It simultaneously has limits and does not have them. Stepan, having crossed the boundary post and finding himself on the “hateful” native land, sees “endless Golovlev fields.” “The endlessly stretching distance” opens up to the eye in another Golovlev estate, Pogorelka. But if the Pogorel fields awaken “remnants of feelings” in Arina Petrovna, then the Golovlev fields can only lead to despair. This is no longer a space, a place where heaven and earth merge and disappear: “the gray, ever-tearing sky of autumn oppressed him [Stepan]. It seemed as if it was hanging directly above his head and threatening to drown him in the open abysses of the earth.” The last words are a deliberate contrast with the expected idiom “heavenly abyss” - another sign of the “inversion” of Golovlev’s world. Even the picture of the “spring revival” in Golovlev is permeated with images of darkness, rot, and slime.

The estate, thus, not only dominates the lives of its owners, but also organizes the space-time of their existence. Analysis of the text allows us to identify four planes in which (more precisely, between which) the life of the Golovlevs flows.

The first plan is the so-called “reality”. So-called because it is precisely this that turns out to be the most shaky. Judas, ultimately, is one of the “shadows,” a product of the darkness that “moved so mysteriously” before the dying Paul. Golovlevo is a kind of metaphysical dead end that destroys space and time (it is characteristic of Shchedrin’s poetics that all events in Golovlevo’s timelessness can be accurately dated).

“Today Golovleva” is “a series of sluggish, ugly days, one after another drowning in the gray, yawning abyss of time.” Even the “meager sense of the present” gradually disappears. “Twilight” covers not only the present, but also the past (in Arina Petrovna’s memoirs, “it’s all some kind of twilight”), and the future (“The twilight that already enveloped Judas was destined to thicken more and more every day”). There was “only a minute left to live.”

In literary criticism, attention has already been paid to the fact that the writer likens the Golovlev estate to the kingdom of death. Telegin S.M. “The devil is not as terrible as his little ones”: [analysis of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel “The Golovlev Lords”] // Rus. literature. - M., 1997. - No. 5. More precisely, the writer allows some of the characters in the novel to see and understand this. In fact, “Golovlevo is death itself, evil, empty; it is death, always waiting for a new victim.” The sight of the manor’s estate produced on Stepan “the effect of Medusa’s head. He imagined a coffin there. Coffin! coffin! coffin! - he repeated unconsciously to himself.” As we have seen, the whole world becomes a coffin for Judas. But Judas himself becomes a coffin. He “did not understand that [his mother’s] grave, which opened before his eyes, was taking away his last connection with the living world, the last living being with whom he could share the ashes that filled him. And that from now on this dust, not finding a source, will accumulate in him until it finally strangles him” (an allusion to the hanging of Judas). Further, it is directly said about Judushka: “a coffin filled with ashes” - this is how Evprakseyushka sees him. The logical result: for Porfiry, with the departure of his niece, “all connections with the world of the living were severed.” Moreover, Judushka is convinced that the unnatural existence of man is the most natural for him: “But man has arranged everything for himself in such a way that he has nothing natural, and therefore he needs a lot of intelligence.”

To create the image of Golovlev as the kingdom of death, one of Porfiry’s conversations with his niece is important. Anninka complains to her uncle: “What are you supposed to do! Get up in the morning - go drink tea, think while drinking tea: they'll serve breakfast! at breakfast - they'll be serving dinner! at lunch - will there be tea again soon? And then have dinner and sleep... you’ll die with you!” “And everyone, my friend, does this,” Judas says the honest truth. Everyone does this - that is, they die.

From the point of view of the Golovlevs, the dead are “ordinary, generally accepted facts, for the assessment of which there was a generally accepted situation, conditioned from time immemorial.” Thus, death is, as it were, forced out of consciousness. “During his long empty womb life, Judas never even thought that the process of death was taking place right there, side by side with his existence.” Precisely because it is still impossible to forget about death, the Golovlevs - Arina Petrovna can serve as an example - experience a constant “desire for life. Or, better said, not so much the desire for life as the desire to enjoy, coupled with a complete absence of the idea of ​​death.” Judas notes with some gloating that his dying brother “wants to live! want very much! want very much!". He himself, apparently, is not afraid of death (he is not afraid even in the finale, although for completely different reasons): “If the Lord God wants to call me to himself, I’m ready now!” Arina Petrovna’s response does not cause surprise: “Okay, as for God, but what if you please Satan?”

Golovlevo is also endowed with the features of an “unclean place”, a dwelling of evil spirits. Stepan Golovlev is looking for a way out of a hopeless situation - and does not find it: “Everything - either I had to put a curse on myself, or I had to sell my soul to the devil. As a result, there was nothing else left to do but to live in the “mother’s position.” So Golovlevo - albeit indirectly - is equated to a “cursed (enchanted) place” from which the heroes cannot escape. “One thought fills his [Stepan’s] entire being to the brim: another three or four hours - and there’s nowhere to go further. He remembers his old Golovlev life, and it seems to him that the doors of the damp basement are dissolving before him, that as soon as he steps over the threshold of these doors, they will now slam shut - and then it’s all over.” And further: “There is no one to say a word to, nowhere to run - she [Arina] is everywhere, imperious, numb, despising.” Even those who manage to leave the geographical boundaries of Golovlev either die (the sons of Judushka, Lyubinka) or return (Anninka).

As is often the case with Shchedrin, important characteristics and assessments are presented as if by chance; established linguistic metaphors, curses, jokes return to their direct meaning. In metaphysical terms, Porfiry Golovlev is in fact a “Judas”, a “Satan” (“God forgive me, Satan,” as Arina Petrovna says), a “Pharisee”, at best a “brownie”; according to his neighbors, he “found himself at the bottom of the devil,” and besides, “he had some kind of devilish nose for the dead.”

It’s not for nothing that her husband calls Arina Petrovna a “witch”; Stepan Golovlev is sure that his mother will “eat him,” Vladimir Mikhailych says directly: “She will eat him!” eat it! will eat!”, and Pavel mockingly advises “tear into pieces... pound in a mortar...”. The image of the witch has been created.

Of course, all Golovlevs readily notice the devil in others, but not in themselves. Judas considers his fornication a “demonic temptation,” that is, something external, “although he allowed adultery to the extent of strict necessity.” Judas does not want to admit his sins: “Only here we still need to prove that we are definitely not acting in God’s way.” The devil, of course, does not sit in him, but in the Snail: “You are an ulcer, you are an ulcer! - he said, - the devil is in you, damn... ugh! Ugh! Ugh!".

All such comparisons and metaphors become reality in the novel. “When Judas entered, the priest hastily blessed him and even more hastily withdrew his hand, as if he was afraid that the bloodsucker would bite it.” This is, of course, not about the fact that Judas could actually bite the priest, but about the “materialization” of the nickname “bloodsucker.” Also, before his death, Judas’s brother Paul “felt that he was laid alive in a coffin, that he lay as if shackled, in a lethargic sleep, could not move a single member and listened to the bloodsucker swearing over his body.” Another author’s “disclaimer” directly indicates that Golovlevo is the swamp that gives birth to devils: “At night, Arina Petrovna was afraid; she was afraid of thieves, ghosts, devils, in a word, everything that was a product of her upbringing and life.” Evil spirits are a natural “product” of Golovlev’s life, and it, in turn, gives rise to a whole “cycle of legends” “about the Golovlevsky ruler.” It is not for nothing that Judas’s “anger (not even anger, but rather moral ossification), covered with hypocrisy, always inspires some kind of superstitious fear”; and in the depopulated estate there is “a dead silence, filling the being with a superstitious, saddening melancholy.”

Here we again observe a combination of opposites: many heroes see Golovlevo not as a cursed place, but as something like the Promised Land. Petenka - because he has nowhere else to go. To Pavel - out of envy: “Clouds are going around - Is Golovlevo far away? The bloodsucker had a heavy day yesterday! - but we have no and no! Arina Petrovna - for nostalgic reasons: she “every minute was reminded of Golovlevo, and, as these recollections proceeded, it became something like a luminous point in which a good life was concentrated.” Judas, in a fit of idle talk, describes the harvests of past years in such a way that his mother is forced to remark: “I haven’t heard that in our side... You may have read about the land of Canaan - there, they say, this really happened.” So, Golovlevo (even if only in Judushka’s speech) is Canaan, a land endowed with “God’s blessing,” but at the same time, if we recall the biblical context, a pagan country, which must be transformed into the Promised Land by the effort of faith and will.

The Golovlev surname itself combines opposite or, at least, not entirely compatible meanings. V.V. Prozorov Prozorov D.P. Works by M.E. Saltykova - Shchedrin in school study. L., 1979. P. 116. I copied similar sounding words from Dahl’s dictionary: “head” - to be the head, to manage, to command (let’s not forget about the “imperial” connotations of the name “Porfiry”); “golovnichestvo” is a crime and a penalty for it; “to go hungry” - to become poor, to become gradually poor, etc. Of course, these meanings are relevant for the novel; but no less important is that they are all combined in one word that Shchedrin created: another example of combining mutually exclusive meanings.

The work “Lord Golovlevs” occupies a large place. The central character of the novel, Porfiry Golovlev (Judushka), has become an example of a liar and idle talker, whose highest pleasure lies in hypocrisy and endless mockery of others.

2. History of creation. The idea of ​​writing a large work about the life of landowners arose from Saltykov-Shchedrin in the late 50s. XIX century. The novel is based on individual stories about the Golovlev family, included in the “Well-Intentioned Speeches” cycle. During 1875-1876 chapters of the work are published one after another. The end of the writer’s work dates back to 1880.

3. The meaning of the name. "Messrs. Golovlevs" are three generations of the landowner family described in the novel. The title itself contains the subtle irony of the author, who hated the lifestyle of provincial landowners. "Gentlemen" are depicted as a dying class that does not bring any benefit. Idle talk or binge drinking leads them to gradual, inevitable “death.”

4. Genre. Socio-psychological novel

5. Theme. The central theme of the novel is the doom of the landowner class. Living at the expense of peasants who are in slavery cannot develop anything good in a person. A gradual degeneration begins, most clearly manifested in the image of Porfiry Golovlev.

In the third generation, a craving for some other life is still noticeable. The sons of Porfiry, the orphans Lyubinka and Anninka, strive to leave the family estate at any cost. But “Golovlevsky pus” follows them everywhere. The main culprit in the death of young people turns out to be Judas, who, like a spider, throws his nooses over everyone.

6. Issues. The main problem of the novel is that all its characters are doomed to suffer from birth. There is no love or respect between members of the same family. In Porfiry, these feelings are replaced by an innate desire to acquire and accumulate wealth, which is hidden behind the most vile hypocrisy.

Arina Petrovna spent her whole life on “rounding up” her household, but in the end she ended up with nothing. Even in the relationship between Lyubinka and Anninka, who passionately love each other, there comes a period when they stop communicating. The stumbling block, again, is the money of wealthy fans. In the Golovlev family, family feelings are remembered only in cases of serious danger and imminent death. But this glimpse of humanity always comes too late.

Another nationwide problem described in the novel is binge drinking. Family members are led to it by an idle lifestyle and the absence of any clear goals. The most terrible fall occurs with Anninka and Lyubinka, who dreamed of high art, but also slipped into drunkenness and debauchery.

7. Heroes. Arina Petrovna, Porfiry, Stepan, Pavel, Anninka and Lyubinka, Petenka and Volodenka.

8. Plot and composition. The novel begins at a fairly favorable time for the Golovlev family. Arina Petrovna is a rich and intelligent landowner who profitably manages the family's economic affairs. She is upset only by her son - Styopka the dunce. Arina Petrovna has some concerns about Porfiry. She already notices that his flattering speeches represent outright hypocrisy.

Stepan's death becomes the beginning of a chain of disasters befalling the family. The Golovlevs die one after another. Against this background, the only satisfied person remains Judas, who even tries to benefit from the death of loved ones. He could well have saved his sons, but greed outweighed all kindred feelings in his soul. Left alone, Porfiry gradually begins to go crazy. He also plunges into binge drinking, but not from alcohol, but from fruitless fantasies.

The arrival of the terminally ill Anninka at some point awakens kindred feelings in the uncle and niece. But it’s too late: the last Golovlevs plunge headlong into binge drinking. In the soul of Judas, just before his death, a desire appears to visit his mother’s grave. Prompted by this impulse, he dies on the road. Anninka is also doomed, being in a severe fever. The novel ends with a return to the theme of insatiable greed. The Golovlevs’ closest relative, “sister” N.I. Galkina, is extremely interested in the “killing” of the whole family...

9. What does the author teach? Saltykov-Shchedrin shows that the death of the provincial nobility is inevitable. Their useless life in “dust” and “pus” is of no use to anyone. The landowners themselves contribute to their own destruction, trying to snatch the last piece from the hands of their dying relatives.

The socio-psychological novel “The Golovlevs” by Saltykov-Shchedrin is dedicated to three generations of a landowner family. Initially, the author did not plan to write a novel: for several years he published short stories, which later formed the basis for it. The novel was published as a separate book in 1880.

For better preparation for the literature lesson, as well as for the reading diary, we recommend reading online a summary of “The Golovlev Family” chapter by chapter.

Main characters

Arina Petrovna Golovleva- a rich landowner, a hardworking, powerful and determined woman.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev- the head of the family, a soft and careless person.

Stepan- the eldest son of the Golovlevs, an irresponsible joker, not adapted to life.

Anna– a daughter who disgraced her family by marrying without parental consent. Mother of two twin girls - Anninka and Lyubinka.

Porfiry- the son of Arina Petrovna, a vile and two-faced person who thinks only about his own benefit.

Paul- the youngest son, a reserved, unsociable person.

Other characters

Anninka and Lyubinka- granddaughters of Arina Petrovna, orphans.

Petenka and Volodenka- sons of Porfiry Vladimirovich, who died early.

Evprakseyushka- a young housekeeper in the house of Porfiry Vladimirovich.

Chapter 1. Family Court

The manager of one of Arina Petrovna Golovleva’s estates comes to the lady with a report. Having transferred all the affairs, he reluctantly tells her important news - her son, Stepan Vladimirovich Golovlev, sold his Moscow house for debts. Arina Petrovna was depressed by what she heard - “this news, apparently, took away her consciousness.”

Having come to her senses, the lady is indignant, because just two years ago she paid “twelve thousand, like one penny” for this house, and now the police sold it for much less.

Arina Petrovna has the reputation of a formidable, decisive woman, accustomed to living according to her will. She “single-handedly and uncontrollably manages the vast Golovlev estate,” and even demands unquestioning obedience and submission from her own children.

Arina Petrovna’s husband, Vladimir Mikhailovich Golovlev, is “a frivolous and drunken man.” Unlike his serious and businesslike wife, from a young age he was distinguished by a careless character.

Arina Petrovna “had four children: three sons and a daughter.” She didn’t even want to talk about her daughter and eldest son. The eldest son, Stepka, had the reputation of being the family jester due to his overly mischievous character. He is completely unsuited to life: he can lose to smithereens at cards and get into exorbitant debts.

Daughter Annushka not only did not live up to Arina Petrovna’s hopes, but also “caused a scandal throughout the entire district” - she ran away from the family and, without parental blessing, married a young cornet. Deciding to get rid of her headstrong daughter, Arina Petrovna allocated her the most run-down village and five thousand rubles. Two years later, Annushka’s husband ran away, leaving her alone “with two twin daughters: Anninka and Lyubinka.” Three months later, Annushka herself died, and Arina Petrovna, against her will, was forced to shelter two orphans.

The third child of the Golovlev couple, “Porfiry Vladimirych was known in the family under three names: Judas, blood drinker and frank boy.” From an early age, he fawned over his mother and often told her off. Arina Petrovna, being an intelligent woman, saw all his tricks, and the very sight of her son “raised in her heart a vague alarm of something mysterious, unkind.”

The complete opposite of Porfiry was the youngest child in the family, Pavlusha. From an early age, he showed no interest in anything, avoided everyone, “loved to live alone, alienated from people.” Over time, Pavel Vladimirovich developed into an “apathetic and mysteriously gloomy personality”, completely devoid of the desire for any action.

Arina Petrovna understands that the eldest son, after selling his Moscow house for next to nothing, plans to return to his parents’ estate. However, she is haunted by the inevitable gossip of people, and she decides to “convene a family council to decide the dunce’s fate.”

Upon the arrival of her sons, at first she “kept complaining and was touched by herself,” but then she got down to business. Pavel did not condemn his brother, while Porfiry suggested that his mother allow him to live in Golovlev, but not allocate anything else to him.

According to the decision made at the family council, Stepan settles on his parents’ estate, but not in the house itself, but in a separate office. He dines not at the common table, but with the servants, eating leftovers from the master's kitchen. A gray and dull life leads to Stepan finally becoming an alcoholic and falling into a gloomy, painful state. Some time later, Stepan dies, and the mother, with hypocritical sadness, reports to her sons about his rich and magnificent burial.

Chapter 2. In a related way

After ten years, Arina Petrovna became “a modest hanger-on in the house of her youngest son.” Having had a hard time with her husband and, especially, the abolition of serfdom, she lost her former firmness and determination. The old lady divided the estate between two brothers, while “Porfiry Vladimirych was allocated the best part, and Pavel Vladimirych the worse.”

At first, Arina Petrovna lived with Porfiry in the Golovlevo estate that he inherited as a manager. But, unable to withstand her son’s exorbitant greed, she moved to Pavel in Dubrovino.

Pavel Vladimirovich accepted his mother and orphan nieces, but only on the condition that they would not interfere either in his life or in the management of his household.

Pavel Vladimirovich's addiction to drinking becomes the cause of a fatal illness. After examining the patient, the doctor declares that he has no more than two days to live. Arina Petrovna hopes that Pavel will sign a will for the benefit of the orphans, but the doctor says that he is in such a state that “he cannot sign his last name.” The woman is in despair - after Pavel’s death, all his property will legally pass to the scoundrel Porfiry.

Judas comes to Dubrovino with his sons Petenka and Volodenka. He is interested in his brother’s health, expressing hypocritical concern with his whole appearance. The boys tell their grandmother about the terrible character of their extremely stingy father.

With the death of Pavel Vladimirovich, all his property passes to Judushka. Arina Petrovna and her granddaughters are forced to move to the poor village of Pogorelka, which she once gave to her daughter Anna.

Chapter 3. Family results

In Pogorelka, Arina Petrovna is trying to take care of the household with the same zeal, but the “infirmities of old age” noticeably reduce her ardor. Hateful autumn evenings in the village increasingly make the sisters think - “at all costs, leave the hateful Pogorelka.” They go to Kharkov and become actresses.

With the departure of the girls, “the Pogorelkovsky house plunged into a kind of hopeless silence.” The old lady, in order to save money, dismisses almost all the servants. Arina Petrovna’s permanent companions are “helpless loneliness and sad idleness.”

A fatal mistake - the separation of her sons and complete trust in Judas - leads to the fact that Arina Petrovna, a once strong and powerful woman, is ready to resign herself to the pitiful fate of a hanger-on.

She begins to visit Golovlevo more and more often, and Porfiry, although not happy with these visits, does not dare refuse his mother, fearing her curse. It is this fear that stops him from “many dirty tricks of which he was a great master.”

With age, Porfiry Petrovich's bad inclinations worsen even more. He refuses to help his son Peter when he, having squandered government money, finds himself under the threat of Siberian exile. In despair, Peter reminds his father of Volodya, who was driven to suicide by his father’s greed. Arina Petrovna, witnessing this conversation, curses Judushka.

Chapter 4. Niece

Despite all expectations, Porfiry Vladimirovich “endured his mother’s curse quite calmly” and did not help Peter in any way. The day after her grandson’s departure, “Arina Petrovna left for Pogorelka and never returned to Golovlevo.” The old lady quickly fades away and dies alone. All her capital goes to the complete disposal of Judas.

Peter tries for the last time to ask his father for money, but is refused and advised to humbly endure a fair punishment. Soon Porfiry Vladimirovich receives news of his son's death.

Anninka unexpectedly arrives in Golovlevo - a beautiful young woman who involuntarily admires even Porfiry Vladimirovich with her appearance.

At her grandmother’s grave, Anninka is overcome by the desire to live a little in the quiet, God-forsaken Pogorelka. Her dissolute life as an actress flashes before her eyes, and the girl wants to live a little in silence, away from the vulgarity that surrounds her.

But, remembering the terrible melancholy from which she and her sister once fled, Anninka changes her mind and intends to return to Moscow. The uncle persuades the girl to stay with him, but this prospect frightens her. The housekeeper shares with Anninka that when the owner looks at her, his “shameless eyes just run around.” The girl leaves Golovlevo with great relief and promises her uncle that she will never return here again.

Chapter 5. Illegal family joys

Shortly before the sad story with Peter, Arina Petrovna notices that his housekeeper Evprakseyushka is in an interesting position. She asks the young woman in detail about her health and gives practical advice.

The lady tries to talk to her son about such a sensitive topic, but he avoids the conversation in every possible way. Judushka is very glad that “he is not disturbed and that Arina Petrovna took an ardent part in the difficult circumstances for him.”

However, Judushka’s hopes were not destined to come true due to the death of her mother. Fearing gossip, he stops all communication with Eupraxia. After the birth of his son Vladimir, he spends several days thinking about what to do so that everything “goes well.”

While “the young mother was tossing about in the heat and delirium,” Judushka gave the order to send her newborn son to a Moscow orphanage.

Chapter 6

Porfiry understands that he was left completely alone - “some died, others left.” The only person connecting him with the outside world is Evprakseyushka. But after the vile removal of her child, her attitude towards the owner changed.

For the first time she realized that her youth was disappearing irrevocably in the company of a boring old man. Evpraksinya began to hang out with young guys and ignore her responsibilities around the house. In her “hatred appeared, a desire to annoy, to ruin the life, to ruin” the master.

Lately, Porfiry Vladimirovich has become completely wild, and wanted only one thing - not to be disturbed in his last refuge - in his office. Only here could he enthusiastically indulge in his fantasies - “mentally torture, ruin, dispossess, suck blood.”

Chapter 7. Calculation

Anninka unexpectedly appears in Golovlev. But not a trace remained of its former beauty and freshness - it was “some kind of weak, frail creature with a sunken chest, sunken cheeks, and an unhealthy blush.” After the suicide of her sister, who could not stand the humiliating life of a cheap courtesan, Anninka decides to return to her uncle. She is very sick and has very little time left to live.

Immensely degraded, pitiful, sick, she walks around her uncle’s house, remembering her past life. Passionately wanting to forget, she soon begins to drink, and after a while her uncle joins her.

At the end of Judas’ life’s journey, “his conscience awoke, but fruitlessly.” He realized how much harm he had caused to his loved ones, but there was no one to ask for forgiveness. Porfiry Vladimirovich died on the way to his mother’s grave. Anninka, who was caught in a fever, did not survive him for long.

Nadezhda Ivanovna, their distant relative and only legal heir, keeps a vigilant eye on all the tragedies in the Golovlev family.

Conclusion

In his work, Saltykov-Shchedrin reveals many important topics, including the lack of love and mutual understanding in the family, stinginess, meanness and betrayal towards those closest to them, drunkenness and idleness. Taken together, all these vices lead to the complete destruction of the once large and prosperous family.

After a brief retelling of “Lord Golovlevs,” we recommend reading Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel in its entirety.

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