Plan: The history of the creation of “Past and Thoughts. Herzen "The Past and Thoughts": analysis History of Russian literature

Alexander Ivanovich’s book “The Past and Thoughts,” a brief summary of which we will consider, was published in 1868. It begins with the stories of the author's nanny about how Herzen's family wandered around Moscow, occupied by the French in 1812. Alexander Ivanovich himself was then still a little boy. The work ends with the events of 1865-1868, Herzen’s impressions of his trip to Europe.

Actually, one cannot call “the past and thoughts” memories in the full sense of the word. The summary of the work does not give a complete idea of ​​the structure of the narrative, so we first note that only in the first five parts (there are 8 in total) we find a sequential presentation of events. Further, after the author moved to London in 1852, there follows a series of journalistic articles and essays, although arranged in chronological order. It must be said that some chapters of the work were first published as independent works (Robert Owen, Western Arabesques). Herzen compared his creation to a house that is constantly being completed, with a collection of outbuildings, superstructures and outbuildings.

First part

“The nursery and the university” is the name of the first part of the work “The Past and Thoughts”. Its summary is as follows. It tells about the time from 1812 to 1834. The first part of the work mainly describes Herzen’s life in his father’s house. He was a smart hypochondriac. He seems to his son (as, indeed, both his uncle and his father’s youth friends) as a typical product of the 18th century.

The events that occurred on December 14, 1825 had a great impact on the child’s imagination. In 1827, Herzen met N. Ogarev, his distant relative. This is the future poet, with whom Herzen will later run the Russian printing house in London. Both boys are interested in Schiller. They look at their friendship as an alliance of two political conspirators. One day on Sparrow Hills they swear to sacrifice their lives for freedom.

Herzen continues to preach radical views on politics even as he grows up, when he becomes a student at Moscow University (department of physics and mathematics).

Let us note that the author of the work “The Past and Thoughts” also talks about events after death. The summary (Part 1, Chapter 3) cannot go into detail on this. However, we note that, as the author writes, political persecution during the reign of Alexander was rare. However, Nicholas, who replaced him, was hated for his petty pedantry, cold cruelty, and rancor. Arrests began. The wives of those who were sent to hard labor were deprived of their civil rights. They had to give up all their acquired wealth and go to Eastern Siberia, under the supervision of the local police. All this is noted by Herzen in his work “The Past and Thoughts.” The summary (part 1, chapter 3 was just presented) continues with the events of the second part.

Second part

It is called "Prison and Exile" and describes the years from 1834 to 1838. Ogarev (his photo is presented below), Herzen and other members of the university circle are accused of lese his majesty. They are arrested and exiled on a fabricated case.

Life in prison is described in detail by the author of the work “The Past and Thoughts.” The summary (Chapter 3 of this part gives an idea of ​​prison life) continues with the fact that Herzen serves in Vyatka, in the office of the local provincial government. He is in charge of the statistical department. The chapters of the work contain many sad anecdotal cases on the topic of governing the province. In the same part, A.L. Vitberg is described. Herzen met him in exile. Herzen was transferred to Vladimir in 1838. In this city, further events of the work to which this summary is devoted take place. “The Past and Thoughts,” part 1 and part 2 of which we have already described, continues with the events of 1838-39. At this time, Herzen met his beloved. The next part is devoted to the development of relations with her.

The third part

“Vladimir-on-Klyazma” is the name of the third part of the work “The Past and Thoughts”. Its summary introduces us to the author's love story with Zakharyina Natalya Alexandrovna, who was the illegitimate daughter of his uncle and was brought up by an evil and half-insane aunt. But Herzen introduces us not only to her. For example, the chapter “In Moscow without me” in the work “The Past and Thoughts” (Chapter 4) refers to the events of 1834. We will not give a brief summary of it, since this time has already been described in the second part. Let's move on to the description of the author's relationship with Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina.

The lovers from the work “The Past and Thoughts” do not receive consent for marriage from relatives. The summary (Chapter 3 of this part is called “Separation”) ends with the departure from Vyatka. Herzen (his portrait is presented above) came to Moscow in 1838, although he was prohibited from entering there. He takes his bride away and marries her secretly. This concludes the third part of Herzen (“The Past and Thoughts”). A summary of further events next is presented below.

Fourth part

The period from 1840 to 1847 is described in the part “Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod”. It tells about the intellectual atmosphere of Moscow at that time. Ogarev and Herzen, who returned from exile, became close to the Hegelians - Stankevich’s circle. Bakunin and Belinsky become their friends. Herzen, in the chapter “Not Ours” (about Chaadaev, K. Aksakov, Kireevsky, Khomyakov) talks about what brought them together in the 40s. Further, he explains why Slavophilism should not be confused with official nationalism. Herzen also talks about socialism and the Russian community.

For ideological reasons, in 1846 Herzen and Ogarev moved away from many, primarily from Granovsky. A personal quarrel occurs between the author and Granovsky due to the fact that one did not recognize, and the other recognized, the immortality of the soul. After this, Herzen decides to leave the country. “The Past and Thoughts,” the brief content of which we describe, is a large work. Therefore, we can talk about it only in general terms.

Fifth part

It describes the years from 1847 to 1852. The author talks about the first years he spent in Europe. Herzen talks about the first day in the French capital, about his impressions of Paris. He talks about “Young Italy”, the Roman national liberation movement, the revolution in France in February 1848, etc.

Describing the brief content of the story “The Past and Thoughts,” we note that the sequential presentation of events already in this part is interrupted by articles and essays by Herzen. The author speaks in an interlude entitled “Western Arabesques” about the death of Western civilization, so dear to the Russian liberal or socialist. Europe is being destroyed by the philistinism, which has taken possession of everything and has a cult of material well-being. This theme can be called the leitmotif of the entire work. Herzen sees the only way out in building a social state.

The author, in the chapters dedicated to Proudhon, talks about the impressions of meeting him and notes the unexpected gentleness of this man in communication. He also talks about Proudhon’s book “On Justice in the Church and in the Revolution.” Herzen cannot agree with the author of this work, because he sacrifices the human personality to a just state. Herzen constantly argues with such models of the state, bringing such revolutionaries closer to Arakcheev (for example, in the sixth part, in the chapter “Robert Owen”).

Herzen also does not like Proudhon’s possessive attitude towards women. He believes that the author of the book judges such painful and complex things as jealousy and betrayal too primitively.

Drama in the life of Herzen

The fifth part ends with the history of the Herzen family, the last years of Natalya Alexandrovna’s life. The accession of Napoleon III, and then the serious illness of her daughter, greatly affected this woman, who was prone to depression. She enters into a close relationship with the famous German socialist and poet Herwegh. This man was Herzen's closest friend at that time. The woman was touched by Herweg’s complaints about loneliness, about the fact that no one understands him. Natalya continues to love her husband. She is tormented by the current situation and, finally understanding the need for a choice, the woman explains to Herzen. He is ready to get a divorce if Natalya Alexandrovna wants it. However, she breaks up with Herweg and remains with her husband.

After the reconciliation, the Herzens spend some time in Italy. The author's mother, as well as his little son Kolya, died in a shipwreck in 1851. Herwegh does not want to accept defeat. He pursues the family with complaints, threatens to kill the Herzens or commit suicide. In the end, he notifies mutual friends about what happened. Friends stand up for Herzen. Then there are unpleasant scenes with assault, recalling old debts, and publications in periodicals. Natalya Alexandrovna is unable to bear all this. After another birth, probably from consumption, she died in 1852.

The fifth part ends with essays about Russian emigrants, presented in the section “Russian Shadows”. Herzen communicated a lot with them at that time. His university friend N.I. Sazonov, who wandered around Europe, is the type of Russian person who wasted in vain the “abyss of strength” that was not in demand in his native country. Remembering his peers, the author here demands “justice” and “recognition” for these people who, because of their beliefs, sacrificed everything that traditional life could offer them. For Herzen, A. V. Engelson is a representative of the generation of Petrashevites with a “painful breakdown” characteristic of him, “immense pride”, which developed in him under the influence of “petty” and “trashy” people who made up the majority at that time.

Sixth part

It is called "England" and describes the years from 1852 to 1864. After the death of his wife, Herzen moved to England. Herwegh made his family drama public, and the author needed the court of European democracy to recognize that he was right. However, Herzen found peace not in this court, but in his work. He began writing “The Past and Thoughts”, and also began setting up a Russian printing house.

Herzen (his portrait is presented above) notes that the loneliness of London life had a beneficial effect on him. England at that time was filled with emigrants, who are mainly discussed in the sixth part. It was a motley audience: from the leaders of the national liberation and socialist movements of Europe, with whom the author was familiar, to spies and criminals who, under the guise of political exiles, beg for benefits.

Herzen, convinced that there is, devotes some essays to the emigration of various nationalities ("Germans in Emigration", "Polish Immigrants", etc.). The chapter "Germans in Emigration", in particular, gives an assessment of Marx and his supporters - the "sulphur gang". The author considers these people dishonest, ready to do anything to destroy their political rivals. Herzen is curious to observe how national characters manifest themselves in clashes with each other. For example, the chapter “Two Trials” gives a humorous description of the consideration of the case of French duelists in an English court.

Seventh part

This part of the work is dedicated to Russian emigration. In particular, individual essays are presented about V. Pecherin and M. Bakunin, about the history of the Bell and the free Russian printing house. The author begins by describing how he received an unexpected visit from a colonel. Apparently, he was an ignorant man and not at all liberal. However, he considered it his duty to come to Herzen as his superior. The first chapter, "Apogee and Perigee", describes the enormous influence and popularity of the Bell in Russia following the Moscow fires. It is also said that the author decided to support the Poles in print in 1862, during their uprising.

Eighth part

The summary of the work “The Past and Thoughts” moves on to the description of the 8th part. It represents the period from 1865 to 1868. It has no title and no general theme. It is no coincidence that the first chapter of this part is called “Without Communication.” Herzen describes the impressions that various European countries made on him in the late 60s. At the same time, the author still sees Europe as the kingdom of the dead. He speaks about this, in particular, in the chapter on Venice and the “prophets” denouncing imperial France. The chapter “From the Other World” of the 6th part is dedicated to old people who were once famous and successful people. Herzen believes that the only place in all of Europe suitable for living is Switzerland.

"Old Letters"

"Old Letters" completes the work "The Past and Thoughts", a summary of the chapters of which is described in this article. These are the texts of letters to the author from Belinsky, N. Polevoy, Chaadaev, Granovsky, Carlyle, Proudhon. Herzen, in the preface to them, contrasts them with the book. The past in letters does not oppress with all its force, which cannot be said about the book. Their easy ease, their random content, and the everyday concerns of letters bring us closer to the authors.

Of course, it is impossible to describe in detail the work “Past and Thoughts” within the framework of one article. A very brief summary is only suitable for the first acquaintance with it. This work is worth studying as it gives a clear picture of the era. “The Past and Thoughts,” the summary of chapter 1 of which begins in 1812, and the memoirs end in 1868, covers a time rich in historical events.

o 1. “Children’s room and university” (1812-1834) - life in the father’s house,

o 3. “Vladimir-on-Klyazma” (1838-1839) - the love story of Herzen and Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina

o 4. “Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod” (1840-1847) - about Westernism and Slavophilism

o 5. “Paris - Italy - Paris (1847-1852): Before the revolution and after it” - the first years spent by Herzen in Europe

o 6. “England (1852-1864)” - the period of the writer’s life in London after the death of his wife

o 7. “Russian emigration” - essays about M. Bakunin and V. Pecherin

o 8. (1865-1868) - A. Herzen’s impressions of a trip to Europe

o 9. “Old letters” - letters from Belinsky, Chaadaev, Granovsky, etc.

Since 1852, Herzen has been working on the main work of his life - the huge memoir epic “The Past and Thoughts”. In total, work on the book took more than a decade and a half: the last parts were written in the late 1860s and were published after the writer’s death in 1870. “The Past and Thoughts” is difficult to attribute to any specific genre. "Memoir epic" is a modern name that characterizes only two genre features of Herzen’s book: definitely memoir-like in nature , i.e., the reproduction in it of very specific historical facts, events and real historical persons participating in them, and secondly, the grandiose the scope of what is depicted both in time (from 1812 to the second half of the 1860s) and in space ( Russian life and European life - French, English, Swiss, Italian and, indirectly, other European countries). At the same time, the unity of the book is created due to unity of consciously subjective author's intonation. Hence the abundance of intimately lyrical confessions and journalistically acute discussions on political, philosophical and other topics that seem to intersect the main narrative. Herzen in one of the prefaces wrote that “The Past and Thoughts” “not a historical monograph, but a reflection of history in a person, accidentally caught on her way."

The immersion of the autobiographical hero Herzen in History, his connection with it are clearly visible already in first part the book "Children's and University (1812–1834)", which is appropriate to compare with two other classic autobiographical narratives about childhood, adolescence and youth - the trilogy of L. N. Tolstoy and the story of S. T. Aksakov "The Childhood Years of Bagrov's Grandson". All 3 stories depict the childhood of a noble boy, refined, sensitive, preoccupied with moral issues, and acutely sensitive to lies and injustice. However, the world of feelings and experiences of the little heroes of Tolstoy and Aksakov is a chamber, closed world, limited by family and close people, a world that seems isolated from History, in which historical whirlwinds do not rage. In contrast, Herzen’s hero is cramped in the family world, which from early childhood he feels overwhelming, if not despotic, and from which he tries to find salvation on the side, outside of it - where History is made, exploding the established, established way of life and calling for its radical reform and transformation. If the heroes of Tolstoy and Aksakov are contemplative boys, just interestedly observing what is happening to them and around them, then Herzen’s hero is a little rebel, always ready to stand in rebellious opposition to the existing.

The following three parts of “Past and Thoughts” are devoted to Russian life in the times of Nicholas: The second part -"Prison and exile (1834–1838)", the third part -“Vladimir-on-Klyazma (1838–1839)” and the fourth part -"Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod (1840–1847)". The very names of the parts show from what angle Herzen is inclined to view his life of these decades: Vladimir and Novgorod - the cities to which he was forcibly, by order of the government, expelled from Moscow, the city of his “exile.” The image of a hero - a “rebel”, an independent-minded individual challenging the authoritarian-bureaucratic power machine - is the central image of these parts of the book. At the same time, Herzen gives them a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries: V.V. Passek and T.N. Granovsky, P.Ya. Chaadaev, N.V. Stankevich, V.G. Belinsky and V.P. Botkin; Slavophiles A.S. Khomyakov, K.S. Aksakov, brothers I.V. and P.V. Kireevsky and many, many others.

Herzen is an unsurpassed master of the “literary portrait” of a real historical figure. The characteristics that he gives to the person depicted: from physiognomic and behavioral to internal ones, revealing the “secret of the soul”, are always detailed, precise and accurate, and at the same time capacious and wide in the sense that sometimes two or three strokes are enough for a writer to create before the reader the image of a living person who has not only an individual soul, but also a special, “atmospheric” connection with his era, with the historical time in which he was born and raised and formed as a person.

All representatives of Russian culture of the 1830s-1840s depicted in the book end up in Herzen victims of their time - the gloomy Nicholas era, forcing them either to involuntary adaptation to the dominant official tastes of state ideology, or - since open resistance is impossible - to passive, internal opposition to it. capable of internal resistance Herzen in the fourth part names "ours" meaning first of all the circle Westerners, to which at that time he himself belonged and among the best representatives of which he considered: Chaadaev and Orlov, Granovsky and Belinsky. Besides, who submitted to the era, Herzen lists the traditional opponents of Westerners as Slavophiles and figures of that time close to them in their patriotic mood, such as the poet and philologist S. P. Shevyrev, historian M. P. Pogodin, naming them all collectively "not ours." Still not accepting their “iconographic ideals” and not sharing their “exaggerated... sense of nationality,” he is nevertheless ready to admit that the Slavophiles already then, in the 1840s, They saw much of what was almost completely hidden from the eyes of the Westerners who were at war with them. If there was some strength and truth in the Slavophil teaching, Herzen proclaims, then it lay not in the idea of ​​​​subordination to the “servile Byzantine church,” but “in those elements of Russian life that they (Slavophiles - S.T.) discovered under the fertilizers of artificial civilization.” It is characteristic that in the epigraph to the chapter “Not Ours,” where the Slavophiles are discussed, Herzen takes his own words from the obituary of K. S. Aksakov published in 1861 in “Kolokol”: “... we are like Janus or like a double-headed eagle, looked in different directions while the heart was beating alone.”

Fifth part The book “Paris - Italy - Paris (18471852)” consists of two sections: “Before the Revolution and After It” and “A Story about a Family Drama.” The first section is devoted to Herzen’s stay abroad during the revolutionary events of 1848–1849. in France and the first years after the revolution - until the political coup carried out in 1851 by the popularly elected President Louis Napoleon, who declared himself in 1852 the new Emperor Napoleon III. The second section is devoted to Herzen's family drama - his wife Natalie G. Herwegh's passion for love, the author's painful feelings about what happened, his desperate attempts to sort things out with Herwegh, as well as tragic events: the death of Herzen's little son and his mother during a shipwreck and the death that followed soon after. Natalie's death. Herzen directly connects his disappointment in the French Revolution, which led first to the “republic of conservatives”, and then to the state, imperial despotism of Napoleon III, with his personal tragedy and, true to the concept of historical determinism, tries in everything that happened to him in his private life , discover echoes of powerful historical shifts taking place throughout Europe. Thus, Herwegh, despite his revolutionary ideals, is declared by Herzen to be a vulgar and narcissistic “romantic” - an egocentric, a man of beautiful, spectacular gestures, behind whom there is nothing but an infantile desire to satisfy his whims, regardless of the interests of other people, and his wife Emma, ​​in awe of the greatness of her husband - a “revolutionary” - is a spiritually flat creature, a bourgeois, unable to distinguish truly human and truly revolutionary greatness from their pitiful likenesses. Both of them, according to Herzen, belong to the “old world,” the moribund world of old Europe, which mistakenly takes its “vulgar” revolutionary inspiration for the dawn of true renewal, while itself and its wife Natalie, whose image, with all its psychological authenticity, is consciously and emphatically idealized, the writer refers to people in whom the sprouts of new freedom, new, truly harmonious human relations have already awakened.

The last three parts of the book: sixth– “England (18521864)”, seventh -“Free Russian Printing House and “Bell””, and final eighth part -“Excerpts (1865-1868)” tell the story of Herzen’s English emigration, his organization of the Free Russian Printing House in London and his activities in publishing the newspaper “Bell,” as well as life in Switzerland and trips to Italy and France in the late 1860s. The last parts differ from the previous ones in the almost complete absence of a personal, autobiographical element in them. In 1857, Herzen married N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva, the ex-wife of his friend Ogarev, with his tacit consent and without breaking off relations with him, but this fact was not reflected in any way in the memoir epic. Essentially, the last parts are a series of rather arbitrarily interconnected essays, sketches and “portraits” of people whom Herzen met in exile. The greatest attention, for obvious reasons, is paid to the figures of the liberation movement, European supporters of the new freedom, exiled revolutionaries, like Herzen himself, who fled in London from persecution by the governments of their countries. Such are the Italians D. Garibaldi and D. Mazzini, the Pole S. Worzel, the Hungarian L. Kossuth, whom Herzen speaks of with constant admiration, considering them perhaps the last worthy servants of the ideal of truly revolutionary freedom in modern “philistine-bourgeois” Europe.

More critical is Herzen’s attitude towards Bakunin, a detailed “portrait” of whom is placed in the chapter “M. Bakunin and the Polish affair" of the seventh part. Amazement at the scale of Bakunin’s personality, his phenomenal organizational abilities and fanatical devotion to his chosen idea is combined in Herzen with doubts about the effectiveness and justification of the vigorous, but in fact chaotic and disorderly activity of the great anarchist.

As a direct victim of the soulless and oppressive Nicholas era, the person presented in the chapter “ Pater V. Petcherine(Father V. Pecherin)” of the seventh part, a Russian emigrant of the 1830s, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, a talented philologist V. S. Pecherin, who became a monk of one of the Catholic orders abroad, and later was ordained as a Catholic priest. This chapter presents correspondence between Pecherin and Herzen from the mid-1850s, in which both participants, at first trying to ideologically influence each other, ultimately each remained with their own symbol of faith: Pecherin – religious, Herzen – revolutionary-progressive.

“The Past and Thoughts” is an extremely remarkable work also in stylistic terms. All sections of the book are characterized by strikingly accurate and vivid metaphorical comparisons, the “building material” of which turns out to be a variety of areas of human culture: mythology, religion, history, philosophy, science, the constant inclusion of foreign words in the text; paradoxical combinations of Church Slavonic stylistic archaism with European barbarisms and living Russian colloquial style.

6. General characteristics of Herzen’s creativity and ideological evolution (Herzen as an ideologist, publicist and literary critic) // Social and philosophical issues of Herzen’s story “Doctor Krupov” and the story “The Thieving Magpie”.

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870) entered the history of Russian social thought as a unique and talented publicist, philosopher and sociologist, literary critic and journalist; in the history of Russian literature - as one of the most significant participants in the new literary movement and the initial stage of its development - the “natural school” of the 1840s.

The heyday of Herzen's artistic creativity dates back to the 40s. From the abstract romance of stories and poems of the 30s, he moved to realistic prose. The novel “Who is to Blame?” and with the stories adjacent to it, he writes a kind of page in Russian literature of the new period of its development. Herzen's ideological development began very early with an outbreak of romantic sentiments in connection with the defeat of the Decembrists. As a fourteen-year-old boy, he was already able to pose the most important question to himself: whose side was he on - the side of the executed or the executioners. He immediately and firmly decided on it and for the rest of his life became an implacable enemy of landowner and royal despotism.

Together with his friend N.P. Ogarev, from the end of the 1820s, Herzen, like Lermontov, went into this “inner work”, which led to their intense attention to their own spiritual, mental and moral life. From here came the characteristic feature of ideological reflection, which affected the entire structure of their thinking and creativity. But it was not only external conditions that hindered the development of Herzen’s artistic creativity in the 30s. Creative imagination was not his element at all. By the very nature of his mind, he was more of a publicist and philosopher than an artist, and he himself was aware of this. Nevertheless, Herzen’s romantic work of the 30s is an important stage in his ideological development, without understanding which not everything can be clear in his realistic works.

“Before the peasant reform of 1861, Herzen continued in his work ideological tradition of noble revolutionism. But he continued it in new conditions and was aware of it. “After the Decembrists,” he wrote, all attempts to found societies did not really succeed; the poverty of forces, the lack of clarity of goals indicated the need for other work – preliminary, internal.”

In 1841, he became acquainted with L. Feuerbach’s book “The Essence of Christianity,” in which he found convincing evidence of the necessity, legality and naturalness of an atheistic view of the world. Feuerbach made Herzen doubt not only the idea of ​​God and the immortality of the soul, but also the idea of ​​divine Providence governing the destinies of people and nations. Now Herzen believes that no one from the outside guarantees a person the possibility of finding a happy, spiritually fulfilled existence someday in the future - the Kingdom of God, neither in heaven nor on earth. Man must humbly admit that he is part of the blind, chaotically senseless material processes occurring in nature, and be grateful to science for the fact that, having discovered his tragic position in the world, it brings him face to face with this sad truth, exposing any attempts to escape from her. Herzen concludes that, deprived of the supreme divine Meaning, man can and must now bring his own human meaning into the chaotic “fermentation” of natural elements, transforming and organizing them in accordance with the goal facing him. Consequently, the highest purpose of a person is an active, energetic action aimed at transforming imperfect reality. Unable to overcome death, a person can at least improve and perfect the existing social order, with which he, possessing strength and intelligence equal to what the gods possessed in his mind, has no right to reconcile with.

Herzen, who developed as a writer mainly under influenced by the ideas of Decembrism and Gogol’s artistic method, acted in the 40s as the largest representative the very left wing of the “natural school”. Showing a keen interest in the intellectual and psychological portrayal of his characters, he also outlined the main route for the subsequent development of critical realism: overcoming the weaknesses of the “natural school” - tendencies of descriptiveness, factuality and sociology. Herzen's creative evolution consisted of an increasingly consistent subordination of artistic creativity to the tasks of the revolutionary struggle.

Herzen's literary activity began in the 1830s. The first article signed by a pseudonym Iskander, was published in the Telescope for 1836. In Vladimir it is written: “Notes of a young man.” From 1842 to 1847, he published articles in Otechestvennye zapiski and Sovremennik: “Amateurism in Science,” “Romantic Amateurs,” “Buddhism in Science,” “Letters on the Study of Nature.” Here Herzen rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In “Letters on the Study of Nature” Herzen solves questions about the relationship of thinking to being and about the method of scientific thinking. In this work, he defends the idea that social life is based on the struggle of the new with the old, and this new, progressive must win. At the same time, Herzen wrote: “A few notes on the historical development of honor”, ​​“From the notes of Doctor Krupov”, “Who is to blame?”, “The Thieving Magpie”, “Moscow and St. Petersburg”, “Novgorod and Vladimir”, “Edrovo Station”, "Interrupted conversations."

Of all these works, the story “The Thief Magpie”, which depicts the terrible situation of the “serf intelligentsia”, the tragic image of a woman, a talented serf actress, and the novel “Who is to blame?”, dedicated to the issue of freedom of feeling, family relationships, and the position of women, especially stand out married. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis of family happiness and feelings, alien to the interests of social and universal humanity, cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and in their lives it will always depend on chance. In the story “Doctor Krupov” Herzen depicted disgusting pictures of feudal reality, which was further developed in “The Thieving Magpie”. In these works, the arbitrariness of the autocratic-serf system is exposed with all its sharpness and expressiveness.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, the following are especially important: letters from “Avenue Marigny” (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: “Letters from France and Italy”, edition of 1855), representing a remarkable description and analysis of events and the moods that worried Europe in 1847-1852. Here we encounter a completely negative attitude towards the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author’s ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. A particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe was made by Herzen’s essay “From the Other Shore,” in which Herzen expresses complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization - the result of the mental revolution that determined Herzen’s worldview in 1848-1851.

In his works, Herzen showed that it is necessary to critically use Hegel's philosophy. They contributed to the development of materialistic ideas in Russia. Pisarev, in his article “In Memory of Herzen,” highly appreciated Herzen’s work: “In serf Russia in the 40s of the 19th century, he managed to rise to such a height that he stood on a level with the greatest thinkers of his time. He mastered Hegel's dialectic. He realized that it was the “algebra of revolution.”

"The Thieving Magpie"- story of 1848. The work is dedicated to Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin. The name is given in honor of the historical melodrama of 1815 by Quenier and d'Aubigny, in which the main character of the story played.

The story begins with a conversation between three men who are not named. They are trying to find an answer to the question: “Why are there no great actresses in Russia?” Having not come to a common opinion, they ask the interlocutor who appears, a famous artist, to judge them. But the artist, instead of answering their question, claims that he knew the great actress and tells the story of their meeting.

Once upon a time, at the dawn of his artistic career, the artist decided to improve his financial situation and get a job at the theater of Prince Skalinsky. For this purpose, he arrived at the prince’s estate. The structure and wealth of the theater made the best impression on him. But the acting, and these were the prince’s serfs, did not impress him until he saw the play “The Thieving Magpie.” The actress who played the main role, Annette, struck him to the very core with her performance. At the end of the performance, the actor rushed backstage to express all his admiration, but the prince’s lackeys did not let him through. After making a lot of effort, the narrator was still able to meet with the actress. She told the actor her story. Previously, she belonged to another landowner, he was a kind and simple man, he respected her, was involved in her education, and in his serf theater she became an actress. But the owner died suddenly, and the entire troupe was sold to Skalinsky. The prince had completely different rules; he was strict and demanded submission and servility from his actors. The old prince took a liking to the young talented actress, and he began to clearly court her and demand her attention. She rejected him, causing anger and resentment. She began to be oppressed and insulted. In revenge on the count, she started an affair and became pregnant. Having heard this story, the actor changed his mind about joining Skalinsky’s troupe, packed his things and left. Constant persecution undermined Annette's health, and soon after the narrator's departure she died.

In the story “The Thieving Magpie” Herzen, as a typical Westerner-liberal, exposes the imperfection of Russian society, seeing one of its main evils in serfdom . But the problems of the story, as always with Herzen, are broader than a straightforward denunciation. Victim serf servitude the work reveals a talented Russian actress - a person with a pronounced sense of self-esteem, incredible self-control and the highest, European-style internal culture, which is not typical for an ordinary peasant woman. The image of the heroine, Aneta, in terms of strength of character and a certain idealization, even more than the image of Lyubonka Kruciferskaya, resembles the heroines of George Sand and is a living illustration of the Saint-Simonian idea of ​​​​the urgent need for the emancipation of women, whose virtues and talents are underestimated and suppressed by modern society.

In the story “Doctor Krupov,” written in the form of a doctor’s diary, where he sets out his thoughts about strange mental abnormalities in the minds of people who are sincerely convinced of their sanity, Herzen continues the theme of “madness” that permeates the entire society living by traditional ideas, and gives it has a broad philosophical interpretation. At the same time, the breadth of view of Herzen the philosopher, again, as in the finale of “Who is to blame?”, has a hidden pessimistic overtones. Doctor Krupov, a physician and sociologist rolled into one, puts it frankly an unsatisfactory diagnosis for a society which, in his opinion, is afflicted by many different ills. He considers the most terrible of them romanticism - “spiritual scrofula”, unnaturally irritating the human body and exhausting it with “imaginary passions,” and aristocracy is “the chronic gout of the moral world.” If, according to the doctor’s definition, “every person... from an early age, with the assistance of parents and family, little by little becomes involved in the epidemic madness of the environment,” then where is the guarantee that this process will ever be put to an end? True, along with the pessimistic-sounding statement that all human history is “nothing more than a coherent story of generic chronic madness,” the hero expresses the judgment that at the same time a “slow healing” of the human race is taking place, allowing us to hope that “in a thousand years there will be two or three less madness.” Behind this judgment, of course, stands the hope of the author himself, his faith in science and the progress of human knowledge, however, the specific recommendations offered by the hero at the end of the story for curing people suffering from “epidemic madness”, namely, to influence them with “champagne” or “ Burgonian" - are too naive to take them seriously and behind Krupov’s simple-minded scientific optimism one cannot see Herzen’s secret doubts regarding the discovery, whether in the present or in the future, of genuine methods of healing that could radically change imperfect human nature for the better.

HISTORY OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE

(2nd 3rdXIXcentury)

Practical lesson plans 

Practical lesson 1.“The Past and Thoughts” by A. I. Herzen

Plan:

The history of the creation of "Past and Thoughts". Wide coverage of reality in “The Past and Thoughts” by A. I. Herzen: Russian progressive people of the 40s; peasants and courtyards; tsarist bureaucrats and landowners; Patriotic War of 1812

Literature:

Herzen A.I. Past and Thoughts. (Any publication). Belinsky V. G. A look at Russian literature of 1847 // Complete. collection Op. T. 10. P. 279 – 359. Berlin I. Herzen and Bakunin on personal freedom // Isaiah Berlin. History of freedom. Russia. M., 2001. pp. 85 – 127. Ginzburg L. Ya. “The Past and Thoughts” of Herzen. (Any publication). Zenkovsky V.V. Russian thinkers and Europe. Criticism of European culture among Russian thinkers // V. V. Zenkovsky. Russian thinkers and Europe. M., 1997. pp. 52 – 62. Zenkovsky V. V. A. I. Herzen // Vasily Zenkovsky. History of Russian philosophy. M., 2001. pp. 264 – 290. Kantor V.K. Revolution or evolution? A. I. Herzen: Russia and the West, revolution and literature // Russian classics, or the Genesis of Russia. M., 2005. S. 349 – 389.

Practical lesson 2.LyricsF.I.Tyutcheva

Plan:

The place of Tyutchev's lyrics in the history of Russian poetry. Philosophical lyrics of Tyutchev. Motifs of loneliness (“Silentium!”, “Fountain”, “My Soul - Elysium of Shadows”). The poet's pantheism (“Not what you think, nature”, “Vision”, “Twilight”). The theme of chaos in nature (“Dream at sea”, “What are you howling about, the night wind”, “Day and night”). Theme of love and death (“Oh, how murderously we love,” “Twins”). Tyutchev has Slavophile motifs (“These poor villages”, “Russia cannot be understood with the mind”). The originality of the interpretation of nature in the poet’s lyrics (“Spring thunderstorm”, “Spring waters”, “Autumn evening”, “There is in the original autumn...”, “Summer evening”). The originality of melody and rhythm in Tyutchev’s poetry.

Literature:

Tyutchev F.I. Complete collection of poems. L., 1987. Berkovsky N. F. I. Tyutchev // F. I. Tyutchev. Full collection poems. L., 1987. P. 5 – 42. Kantor V.K. How to understand Russia? // Russian classics, or the Genesis of Russia. M., 2005. pp. 19 – 27. Kozhinov V.V. A book about Russian lyric poetry of the 19th century: Development of style and genre. M., 1978. Pigarev Kirill. F.I. Tyutchev and his time. M., 1978. Soloviev Vl. S. F. I. Tyutchev // Vladimir Solovyov. Poems. Aesthetics. Literary criticism. M., 1990. pp. 283 – 297. Chagin G. V. Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev (185 years since birth). M., 1988.

Practical lesson 3.Poetry of A. A. Fet

Plan:

Features of Fet's lyrics, its main motives. Fet as an innovative poet. The place of beauty and eternal values ​​in the poet's lyrics (“From the thin lines of the ideal”, “The night was shining, the garden was full of moonlight”, “Swallows”, “Only in the world is ..."). Impressionistic elements (“On a haystack at night in the south...”), fixation of vague feelings, transitional states of the soul. Preaching of pure art; discord with the generation, political conservatism of the poet (“To the monument to Pushkin on May 26, 1880”, “Pseudo-poet”, “Here is our patent for nobility”, “March 1, 1881”). The rhythm and melody of Fet’s verse. The influence of Fet’s poetry on the work of Russians Symbolists (Annensky, Blok, etc.). Fet as a translator.

Exercise:

Analyze 2 - 3 of Fet’s poems below: “People are not at all guilty of anything before me...”, “Irresistible Image”, “Sonnet”, “Impossible”, “Transformations”, “Answer to Turgenev”, “Turgenev”, “ Butterfly”, “Muse”, “Willows and Birches”, “By the Fireplace”.

Literature:

Fet A. A. Poems. Poems. Translations. M., 1985. Blagoy D. D. The world as beauty // A. A. Fet. Evening lights. M., 1971. P. 760 – 785. Bukhshtab B. Ya. A. A. Fet. Essay on life and creativity. M., 1974. Soloviev Vl. S. About lyric poetry. Regarding the latest poems by Fet and Polonsky // Vladimir Solovyov. Poems. Aesthetics. Literary criticism. M., 1990. pp. 208 – 245. Eikhenbaum B. M. Fet // B. M. Eikhenbaum. About poetry. L., 1969.

Practical lesson 4.Problematics and poetics of novels

I. S. Turgeneva

Plan

The place of I. S. Turgenev in the history of literature, determined by the latest concept of dividing critical realism into sociological and psychological movements, and your attitude to this concept. Poetics of Turgenev's novels:

Literature

Novels by I. S. Turgenev, indicated in the list of texts for reading. Batyuto A.I. Turgenev-novelist. L., 1972. P. 6, 7, 86 – 88, 125 – 128, 149 – 165, 200 – 212, 218 – 220, 240. Vinnikova A. Turgenev and Russia. M., 1977. pp. 149 – 163. Kantor V.K. European lessons. Ivan Turgenev: Russia through the “magic crystal” of Germany // Russian classics, or the Genesis of Russia. M., 2005. P. 243 – 278. Markovich V. M. Man in the novels of I. S. Turgenev. L., 1975. Merezhkovsky D. S. Turgenev // D. Merezhkovsky. L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Eternal companions. M., 1995. P. 475 – 479. Nedzvetsky V. A., Pustovoit P. G., Poltavets E. Yu. I. S. Turgenev. M., 1998. Pustovoit P. G. Roman I. S. Turgenev “fathers and sons”: Commentary. M., 1991. Toporov V.N. Strange Turgenev: Four chapters. M., 1992. Chicherin A.V. Turgenev, his style // Mastery of Russian classics. M., 1969. Chernyshevsky N.G. Russian person at rendez-vous // Complete. collection Op. T.5. P. 156 – 174. Chicherin A.V. The power of the poetic word. M., 1985. pp. 19 – 26. Etkind E. G. “The Inner Man” in the light of psychopoetics // E. G. Etkind. "Inner man" and external speech. Essays on the psychopoetics of Russian literature of the 18th – 19th centuries. M., 1999. Ch. V. P. 167 – 214.

Practical lesson 5.Creativity of I. A. Goncharov

Plan:

Goncharov's early work (“Happy Mistake”, “Dashing Sickness”, “Ivan Savich Podzhabrin”). Features of Goncharov’s concept of realism (the theory of historical distance as an indispensable condition for realistic depiction, understanding of the categories “type”, “typical”). Novel "Break". The history of the creation of the novel. Combination of different historical layers. The image of Raisky. Revolt of Faith against the precepts of antiquity; the place of the images of Vera and Marfinka among the heroines of Russian literature of the 60s. Image of Mark Volokhov. Tushin and his place in the system of characters in the novel and in the gallery of “active heroes” of Russian literature. Artistic features of Goncharov's novels. Features of Goncharov's style. Objectivity of narration. The role of detail in the relationship between the real-everyday and the symbolic in Goncharov’s novels. The significance of Goncharov in the history of Russian literature.

Literature:

Goncharov I. A. Collected works. (Any publication). Belinsky V. G. A look at Russian literature of 1847 // Complete. collection Op. T. 10. P. 279 –– 359. Dobrolyubov N. A. What is Oblomovism? // Collection Op. T. 4. P. 307 -– 343. Kantor V.K. Long habit of sleep (novel by I.A. Goncharov “Oblomov”) // Russian classics, or Genesis of Russia. M., 2005. pp. 312 – 348 Merezhkovsky D. S. Goncharov // D. Merezhkovsky. L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Eternal companions. M., 1995. P. 464 – 474. Nedzvetsky V. A. I. A. Goncharov - novelist and artist. M., 1992. Pisarev D.I. Pisemsky, Turgenev and Goncharov. Female types in the novels and stories of Pisemsky, Turgenev and Goncharov // Op. T. 1. P. 192 – 273. Etkind E. G. “The Inner Man” in the light of psychopoetics // E. G. Etkind. "Inner man" and external speech. Essays on the psychopoetics of Russian literature of the 18th – 19th centuries. M., 1999. Ch. IV. pp. 115 – 166.

Practical lesson 6.A. N. Ostrovsky - creator of Russian realistic theater

Plan:

Ostrovsky's place in the context of social and literary trends of the era. Ostrovsky and Gogol. The young editors of the magazine “Moskvityanin” and the reflection of its ideas in the plays of the first half of the 50s. (“Don’t sit in your own sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”). Criticism of the bureaucratic system in "Profitable Place". Ostrovsky after 1861. Historical dramas (“Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Voevoda”). Dramas and comedies by Ostrovsky 60 - 80. The main themes, images and motifs of the plays: “Simplicity is enough for every wise man”, “Warm Heart”, “Mad Money”, “Forest”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Dowry”. "Snow Maiden". Folklore and mythological basis of the drama. The problem of genre. The problem of art and the images of actors in Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy (“Talents and Admirers”, “Guilty Without Guilt”). Ostrovsky as the creator of an original national drama, the genre system and dramatic principles of Ostrovsky. The language of the playwright's works. Ostrovsky as a translator of masterpieces of world drama (Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goldoni, Gozzi, etc.).

Literature:

Ostrovsky N. A. Complete works in twelve volumes. M., 1976. (Or another edition). Dobrolyubov N. A. Dark Kingdom // Collection. Op. T. 5. P. 7 – 139. Dobrolyubov N. A. A ray of light in the dark kingdom // Collection. Op. T. 6. P. 289 – 363. Grigoriev A. A. After Ostrovsky’s “Thunderstorm” // Literary criticism. M., 1967. Zhuravleva A. I. A. N. Ostrovsky-comediographer. M., 1981. Lakshin V. Ya. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. M., 1982. Lobanov M. P. A. N. Ostrovsky. M., 1989. Pisarev D. I. Motives of Russian drama // Collection. cit.: In 4 vols. T. 2. P. 356 – 395.

Practical lesson 7.Artistic world of works

N. A. Nekrasova

Plan:

Nekrasov’s first poetic experiments (“Dreams and Sounds”). Development of Nekrasov’s satire (“Moral Man”, “Lullaby”). Satirical sketches of landowner life (“Hound Hunt”, “Excerpts from the Travel Notes of Count Garansky”). Nekrasov and the “natural school”. Peasant-democratic ideals of the poet. Poems “Peddlers”, “Frost, Red Nose”. The breadth of the depiction of Russian life in “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Images of the heroes of the poem. Labor and capital in Nekrasov’s poetry (“The Cry of Children,” “On the Volga,” “Railway,” “Song of Free Speech”). Problematics and artistic originality of the unfinished satirical poem “Contemporaries”. The originality of versification in the poet’s works. Genre composition of Nekrasov's poetry. Nekrasov's poetry style. Update of the poetic dictionary. Changing the melody of a verse. Features of Nekrasov's verse. Fairytale verse.

Exercise:

Analyze in writing one of the poems by N. A. Nekrasov.

Literature:

Nekrasov N. A. Collected works. (Any publication). Accounting staff B. Ya. N. A. Nekrasov: Problems of creativity. L., 1989. Evgeniev-Maksimov V. E. Life and work of N. A. Nekrasov: In 3 vols. M.; L., 1950 – 1952. T. 2, 3. Korman B. O. Lyrics by N. A. Nekrasova. – 2nd ed. – Izhevsk, 1978. Skatov N. N. Nekrasov: Contemporaries and successors. M., 1986. Chukovsky K. I. Mastery of N. A. Nekrasov. – M., 1971.

Practical lesson 8. Early works of F. M. Dostoevsky

Plan:

The problem of periodization of Dostoevsky's creativity. The connection of the young Dostoevsky with the Petrashevsky circle and the “natural school”. The novel “Poor People” and its assessment by Belinsky. The expression in “Poor People” of the contradictory unity of the plebeian pride of the “downtrodden people” and their individualistic reflection. Further deepening into the stories and novels of the 50s - early 60s. these contradictions (“The Mistress”, “Weak Heart”, Netochka Nezvanova”, “The Village of Stepanchikovo and its Inhabitants”, “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Notes from the Underground”). Poetics of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground.

Literature:

Dostoevsky F. M. Complete works in 30 volumes. L., 1971 – 1990. T. 1 – 5. Bakhtin M. M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. M., 1979. Belinsky V. G. A look at Russian literature of 1846 // Complete. collection Op. T.10. P.279 – 359. Bem A. L. Research. Letters about literature. M., 2001. Berdyaev N. A. Worldview of Dostoevsky. Spirits of the Russian Revolution // Berdyaev N. A. About Russian classics. M., 1993. Dobrolyubov N.A. Downtrodden people // Collected works. T.7. P.225 – 275. Dolinin A.S. Dostoevsky and others: Articles and research. L., 1989. Zakharov V. N. Dostoevsky’s system of genres. L., 1985. Mochulsky K. Gogol. Soloviev. Dostoevsky. M., 1995. Nazirov R. G. Creative principles of Dostoevsky. Saratov, 1982. Shchennikov G.K. The integrity of Dostoevsky. Ekaterinburg, 2001

Practical lesson 9.Satirical works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

Plan:

The early period of Saltykov-Shchedrin's creativity. The stories “Contradictions” and “Entangled Affair”. Approval of realism in “Provincial Sketches”. Transition from humor to sarcasm. Strengthening Shchedrin's satire in the 60s. “Pompadours and pompadours”: a variety of types of bureaucrats. “The History of a City” as a satire on the autocratic regime and the experience of national myth-making. History and modernity in “The History of a City.” The problem of people and power. The meaning of the ending. The nature of the grotesque in Shchedrin's satire. Shchedrin's Aesopian style. A variety of satirical genres. Realistic fiction and satirical hyperbole. The richness and originality of Shchedrin's style.

Exercise:

Analyze in writing the development of plot and conflict, the style of narration in one of Shchedrin’s works.

Literature:

Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collection. Op. in ten volumes. M., 1988. (Or another collection of works). Bushmin A. S. The evolution of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s satire. L., 1984. Makashin S. A. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Recent years. 1875 – 1889. M., 1989. Nikolaev D. P. Shchedrin’s satire and realistic grotesque. M., 1977. Tyunkin K.I. Saltykov-Shchedrin. M., 1989. (ZhZL series). Turkov A. M. Your stern friend. The Tale of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. M., 1998.

Independent work of students

CPC topics

Literary and philosophical creativity of the Slavophiles (A. Khomyakov, I. and K. Aksakov, I. and P. Kireevsky). Early works of Turgenev, Goncharov, Nekrasov, Saltykov, Ostrovsky, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy. "Natural School" “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, “Petersburg collection”. The peasant problem in the works of A. Herzen, N. Nekrasov, I. Turgenev, D. Grigorovich, V. Dahl, A. Pisemsky. The problem of the “little man” and the depiction of the life of the urban poor in the works of the “natural school”. Works by N. P. Ogarev. The works of N. Uspensky, Pomyalovsky, Levitov, Sleptsov, Reshetnikov. Russian poetry 1850 – 1860 (A. Maikov, Y. Polonsky, A. Grigoriev, etc.). Turgenev's stories of the 50s. (“Diary of an Extra Man”, “Faust”, “Asya”), the originality of their conflicts, poetics. “Poems in prose”, fantastic stories by Turgenev. Turgenev's connections with J. Sand, Flaubert, Zola, and the Goncourt brothers. The artistic world of Goncharov's novels. “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky and its place in literary and social debates. Articles by Dobrolyubov, Pisarev, Grigoriev about “The Thunderstorm”. Nekrasov’s influence on poetry of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Poets of the Nekrasov school (A. Grigoriev, A. Pleshcheev, V. Kurochkin, D. Minaev, N. Loman, V. Bogdanov, M. Mikhailov, I. Golts-Miller, N. A. Dobrolyubov, I. S. Nikitin) . N. G. Chernyshevsky and his novel “What is to be done?” Writers of the democratic movement. “Essays on folk life” by N. Uspensky. N. G. Pomyalovsky-novelist (“Pittish Happiness”, “Molotov”). “Essays on the Bursa” by Pomyalovsky. “Podlipovtsy” by F. M. Reshetnikov. Stories and novellas by V. A. Sleptsov (“Vladimirka and Klyazma”, “Nurse”, “Letters about Ostashkov”, etc.). Novel "Hard Time". A. I. Levitov. "Woe to villages, roads and cities." Features of Levitov's realism. Works by A.F. Pisemsky (“Mattress”, “Sketches of Peasant Life”, “Russian Liars”, “A Thousand Souls”, “People of the Forties”, “The Turbulent Sea”, etc.).

Literary texts

N. A. Nekrasov. On the road. Troika. Gardener. Lullaby. When out of the darkness of delusion. Homeland. I'm driving down a dark street at night. Moral person. Yesterday at about six o'clock. I don't like your irony. You and I are stupid people. On the street. Blessed is the gentle poet. The Last Elegies. Uncompressed strip. A celebration of life - the years of youth. V.G. Belinsky. “I am unknown. I didn’t gain any glory.” Forgotten village. Poet and citizen. Listening to the horrors of war. Reflections at the front entrance. On the Volga. Children crying. Green noise. The village suffering is in full swing. Knight for an hour. Song to Eremushka. Orina, soldier's mother. Railway. I'll die soon. A pathetic legacy... In memory of Dobrolyubov. N.G. Chernyshevsky. Elegy (“Let fickle fashion speak to us”). To the sowers. Peddlers. Jack Frost. Russian women. Who lives well in Rus'? A. I. Herzen. Past and thoughts. A. N. Ostrovsky. Our people - we will be numbered. Plum. Simplicity is enough for every wise man. Wolves and sheep. Storm. Dowryless. Forest. Talents and fans. Guilty without guilt. Snow Maiden. I. A. Goncharov. An ordinary story. Oblomov. Break. F. I. Tyutchev. Prophecy. These poor villages. Mal'aria. Not what you think, nature. Day and night. The holy night has risen into the sky. Spring thunderstorm. There is in the initial autumn. Spring waters. Insomnia. The gray shadows mixed. January 29, 1937. Columbus. Gus at the stake. Cicero. There is silence in the stuffy air. The East is whiter. The earth still looks sad. A glimpse. O my prophetic soul. The last cataclysm. Our century. You can't understand Russia with your mind. You did not serve God and not Russia. There are two forces - two fatal forces. I love your eyes, my friend. I remember the golden time. I met you - and everything was the same. Oh, how murderously we love. Predestination. Don’t say: he loves me as before. A. A. Fet. Blizzard. Abduction from the harem. I love him hot: he's a tiger in battle. Diana. Bacchante. To Morpheus. Venus de Milo. A wonderful picture. I came to you with greetings. The willow is already fluffy. Whisper, timid breathing. This morning, this joy. Only in the world is there anything shady. Lonely oak. On a haystack at night in the south. You see the mowers behind them. Pseudo-poet. To the Pushkin monument. Muse. How difficult it is to replicate living beauty. Spring in the south. "I was waiting. The queen bride." The depths of heaven are clear again. The evening is so golden and clear. At dawn. Nonentity. Of death. The fallen leaf trembles from our movement. How rich I am in crazy verses. Her. You suffered, I still suffer. Old letters. Alter ago. For a long time I dreamed of your screams and sobs. “No, I haven’t changed. Until old age." A.K. Tolstoy. Prince Silver. Message to Logvinov about Darwinism. Ballad. Stream Bogatyr. Popov's dream. History of the Russian state from Rostomysl to Temashev. Against the stream. Greek poem. I.S. Aksakov. It is in vain, artist, that you imagine that you are the creator of your creations. Lord, preparing me for battle. The heart flares up more strongly from year to year. There are days when an evil spirit disturbs me. For a long time I searched for accusations in my conscience. That was early spring. You know the land where everything breathes abundantly. The singing of a lark is louder. You are my land, my dear land. Me, in the darkness and dust. Don't trust me, friend, when there is an excess of grief. The sea sways: wave after wave. My bells. A birch tree was wounded by a sharp axe. If only I knew, if only I knew. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The story of one city. Well-meaning speeches. Abroad. A modern idyll. Poshekhonskaya antiquity. Mr. Golovlev. Fairy tales. I. S. Turgenev. Poems. Parasha. Talk. Freeloader. A month in the village. Notes of a hunter. Rudin. Noble Nest. The day before. Asya. First love. Spring waters. Faust. Fathers and Sons. Poems in prose. Smoke. New. F. M. Dostoevsky. Poor people. Double. A novel in nine letters. Mr. Prokharchin. Mistress. Weak heart. Netochka Nezvanova. The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants. Humiliated and insulted. Notes from the Underground.

Types of control activities and forms of discipline certification

Questions for the exam for the course “History of Russian Literature”

Thematic diversity and artistic innovation of N.A.’s lyrics Nekrasov (using the example of his poems). Reflections by N.A. Nekrasov about the role of poetry and the purpose of the poet (a holistic analysis of several poems). The originality of N.A.’s intimate lyrics Nekrasov (using the example of analysis of poems of choice). Artistic reflection of N.A.’s personality Nekrasov in “repentant” lyrics (analysis of poems of choice). Reflections by N.A. Nekrasov about the destinies of people in the poems “Peddlers” or “Frost, Red Nose” (your choice). Artistic features of the work. Social and philosophical issues and poetics of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Railway". Works about Nekrasov. The civic pathos of N.A.'s poems Nekrasova: “Grandfather”, “Russian Women”. Realism and romantic tendencies. Religious motives. Genre originality, features of the poetics of the poem by N.A. Nekrasov “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” Comedy A.N. Ostrovsky "Our people - we will be numbered." Ideological and artistic analysis. “Slavophile” period in the works of A.N. Ostrovsky. Analysis of the play “Poverty is not a vice.” Play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm": features of the problem, conflict. System of images. ON THE. Dobrolyubov about the play, about the character of Catherine. Satirical comedy by A.N. Ostrovsky “Profitable Place” (genre, issues, system of images). “Dowry A.N. Ostrovsky as a socio-psychological drama. Spring fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” (features of the genre, connection with folklore, style). Early work of I.A. Goncharova. The novel “An Ordinary Story” is the beginning of Goncharov’s trilogy: theme, idea, features of images, poetics. Roman I.A. Goncharov "Oblomov". Socio-psychological collisions. The image of Ilya Oblomov in the system of images of the novel. Philosophical and psychological romanticism of F.I. Tyutcheva. Lyrics of nature. The problem of man and his consciousness in the lyrics of F.I. Tyutcheva. Analysis of the poems “Silentium!”, “Fountain”, “There is melodiousness in the sea waves...” and others. Love lyrics by F.I. Tyutcheva. “Denisevsky cycle” (plot content, tragic beginning, psychologism). A.A. Fet as a poet of “pure art” (aesthetic principles, psychologism, impressionism, musicality). Analysis of one of the poems. The main themes of A.K.’s lyrics Tolstoy. Analysis of the poem “Among the noisy ball.” General characteristics of satirical creativity. Historical trilogy by A.K. Tolstoy. Analysis of the tragedy “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich”. “Provincial Sketches” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (theme, features of composition, techniques of satirical typification). Satirical “Fairy Tales” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Main themes. Poetics. The originality of M.E.’s satire Saltykov-Shchedrin (“The History of a City”, “The Golovlevs” - optional). Early work of I.S. Turgenev. “Notes of a Hunter” as an artistic cycle. Typology of peasant characters. V.G. Belinsky about the cycle. Roman I.S. Turgenev "Rudin". Rudin as a hero of the 30s (“an extra person”) and a type of Russian intellectual. Peculiarities of Turgenev's psychologism. The problem of happiness and debt in the novel by I.S. Turgenev "The Noble Nest". Poetics. Roman I.S. Turgenev “On the Eve” (problematics, system of images). Tragic in the novel. ON THE. Dobrolyubov about the novel. Problems of the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". Specific historical and universal. The skill of Turgenev the novelist. The image of Bazarov in the system of images of the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". Techniques for creating character. The dispute about Bazarov in Russian criticism and modern literary criticism (D.I. Pisarev, M. Antonovich, N. Strakhov, Yu. Lebedev, V. Markovich). “Smoke” I.S. Turgenev as a socio-political novel. System of images. Poetics. Roman I.S. Turgenev "Nove". Problematics and poetics. The tragedy of Nezhdanov. The concept of love in the works of I.S. Turgenev. The story "Asya". N.G. Chernyshevsky about the story. Stories by I.S. Turgenev about first love. Writer concept. Analysis of the stories “First Love”, “Spring Waters”. Subject matter, genre originality, features of the poetics of the cycle by I.S. Turgenev "Poems in prose".

Sample exam tickets

TICKET No. 1

Subject matter, genre originality, features of the poetics of I. S. Turgenev’s cycle “Poems in Prose”.

South Ural State University

Department of Russian Language and History of Literature

Discipline "History of Russian Literature"

TICKET No. 2

The originality of the intimate lyrics of N. A. Nekrasov (on the example of the analysis of poems of choice). The concept of love in the works of I. S. Turgenev. The story "Asya". N. G. Chernyshevsky about the story.

 Practical lesson plans are drawn up on the basis of the program of the discipline “History of Russian Literature” (according to the standard curriculum for state universities). Under general ed.. prof. V. I. Kuleshova. M., 1995.

“The Past and Thoughts” is a work of artistic-memoir genre. In the “Preface” the author calls his book a confession. Herzen openly talks about his difficult life, about his thoughts and feelings, without hiding or embellishing anything. The author's personality is revealed widely and multifaceted. Reading “The Past and Thoughts,” you involuntarily recall the words of Belinsky: “The spectacle of the life of a great man is always a beautiful spectacle: it elevates the soul, stimulates activity...” Herzen is great in everything: in the painful search for the meaning of life and scientific truth, in deep respect for to the suffering people and holy hatred of their enemies, in friendship and love.

For people like Herzen, personal happiness is inseparable from the happiness of the people, and personal fate is inseparable from the fate of the fatherland. Therefore, “Past and Thoughts” go beyond the scope of a biographical story. Speaking about himself, the author at the same time talks about the life of society, about historical events in Russia and Western Europe.

Herzen had something to tell his contemporaries and descendants. He always found himself on the main highway of history, at the center of the political, scientific, literary and cultural life of his time. He witnessed the bloody events in Russia in December 1825, experienced the full brunt of the political oppression of the 30s, his best years were spent in exile, under the strictest police surveillance; in adulthood he became a political émigré and took an active part in the ideological struggle that unfolded in Europe in the mid-19th century, observing the 1848 revolution in France. All these and many other historical events are described in “Past and Thoughts.”
It was not for nothing that he warned readers that “The Past and Thoughts” was not a historical monograph, but “a reflection of history in a person who accidentally fell on its path.” Herzen not only sets out events, but also evaluates them. Many assessments are harsh and merciless. After all, the author is a fighter, a revolutionary. He hates the stupid, narrow-minded people who rule his native country. He writes indignantly about figures of science, literature and culture who have forgotten about the duty of a citizen and serve the reaction for selfish purposes. In Past and Thoughts, “with hatred of despotism, love for the people is visible through every line” (Herzen).

Whatever is said in “The Past and Thoughts”, everything is warmed by a living feeling, everything is illuminated by deep thought, everything remains imprinted with the author’s personality. “All this was written in tears, in blood; it burns and burns... He was one of the Russians who knew how to write,” said Turgenev, after reading the first chapters of Herzen’s book. The past in memoirs comes to life in everyday scenes and paintings, in descriptions of the most important historical events, in portrait sketches of prominent people whom the author met.

In the first part of the book, Herzen introduces readers to the way of life of the Russian feudal nobility in the first decades of the 19th century. Sometimes with a touch of light humor, sometimes the life and customs of noble families are described satirically. Herzen witnessed many tragic scenes.

Serf Tolochanov learned the art of paramedic, mastered foreign languages, but the “rope of serfdom” did not give him peace. The paramedic offered the landowner a fair amount of money to purchase a vacation pay, but received a decisive refusal. Then Tolochanov “took a glass of arsenic” and died in terrible agony. Herzen heard “his groan and his suffering voice, repeating: “It burns! It burns! Fire!”

Herzen the memoirist is characterized by a combination of artistic and journalistic writing techniques. He sketches portraits of people, skillfully introduces dialogue, and then wittily comments on the scenes described and makes broad generalizations. Thus, having talked about the tyranny of the landowners, Herzen writes with bitterness that “in the anterooms and maidens, in villages and police dungeons” terrible atrocities are committed. Landowners and officials suck “the blood of the people with thousands of mouths.”

In subsequent parts of “Past and Thoughts” the circle of the author’s observations expands. His attention is primarily drawn to the Decembrists, who set an example of revolutionary heroism. Herzen perceives the participants in the uprising on December 14, 1825 as “heroes, forged from pure steel from head to toe.”

Warmly, lyrically excited, Herzen writes about people of the 20s who were ideologically aligned with the Decembrists, for example, about Chaadaev. Chaadaev’s “gray-blue eyes” “were sad and at the same time had something kind, his thin lips, on the contrary, smiled ironically.” In his smile, the author of the “Philosophical Letter” hid deep sadness and contempt for the order that was imposed by the gendarmes led by the tsar. The image of Chaadaev, proud in his loneliness and at the same time sad, reminds Herzen of “young heroes who arrogantly walked forward...”.

Herzen saw the struggle between two historical forces - tsarism and the revolutionary movement. Therefore, in Past and Thoughts, along with the images of the Decembrists, images of officials of the autocratic government are widely represented, starting with the ordinary gendarme and ending with the crowned gendarme Nicholas I. The higher the official rises through the ranks, the more handsome his appearance, but the blacker his soul. One involuntarily recalls Gogol, who was one of the first to draw the attention of readers to the discrepancy between the external decency and apparent decency of officials and their internal, spiritual make-up. Chichikov, like no one else, was scrupulous in his clothes and demeanor and at the same time very unscrupulous in his means of enrichment. In his depiction of officials, Herzen follows the path paved by Gogol. Dubelt, head of the office of the III (gendarmerie) department, is “always courteous.” But if you look closely at the face, you can notice “the subtle intelligence of predatory animals, together with evasiveness and arrogance.” The chief of gendarmes, Benckendorff, “had a deceptively kind look.” This “man of angelic kindness” sent thousands of innocent people to prison and hard labor.

Herzen views officials of all ranks not only as his personal enemies who persecute him with stupid cruelty, but also as enemies of the entire Russian people. The author of “Past and Thoughts” proudly writes that centuries of autocratic-serfdom oppression did not kill the living soul of the Russian people, their progressive culture and revolutionary thought. He depicts the leading representatives of the Russian intelligentsia of the 40s, the successors of the ideas of Decembrism and the founders of revolutionary democratic thought, the first place among which is occupied by the image of the “furious Vissarion” - Belinsky. Herzen considered Belinsky an outstanding person, one of “the most remarkable persons of the Nicholas period”; He valued both his friend and like-minded person's deep intelligence, revolutionary conviction, and crystal honesty.

A significant place in Past and Thoughts is given to N.P. Ogarev, poet and revolutionary, friend and ally of Herzen. No less interesting are the pages dedicated to the historian Granovsky, the artist Ipatov, and the artist Shchepkin. The author of the memoirs considers the talent of these figures of science and art as a reflection of the talent of the Russian people, who, under incredibly difficult conditions, created an outstanding culture.

Herzen's significance as a writer in the development of Russian social and artistic thought is very great. He was the predecessor of the revolutionary democratic writers of the 60s. Like Pushkin, Herzen was concerned about the fate of the thinking noble intelligentsia, which was in conflict with the environment that gave birth to it; this problem is posed in the novel “Who is to Blame?” and in the memoirs “The Past and Thoughts.” Herzen called on readers to actively intervene in life, to fight the dominant foundations of landowner Russia. The revolutionary orientation of his work had a positive influence on the revolutionary-democratic literature of the 60s, in particular on the work of Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin, and Chernyshevsky.

Following Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol and Belinsky, the author of Past and Thought contributed to the enrichment and improvement of the Russian literary language. Poetic speech in Herzen's works, conveying the subtlest human experiences, is interspersed with the language of science, capable of revealing and explaining the most abstract concepts. Belinsky noted that Herzen “somehow wonderfully knew how to bring the mind to poetry, to turn thoughts into living faces.” Great writers, excellent stylists and deep experts in native speech admired his language. According to L. Tolstoy, in terms of language, “Herzen is not inferior to Pushkin.” Turgenev, in letters to him, repeatedly admired the style: “ease, speed” of his speech.

Herzen's book begins with the stories of his nanny about the ordeals of the Herzen family in Moscow in 1812, occupied by the French (A.I. himself was then a small child); ends with European impressions 1865 - 1868. Actually, “The Past and Thoughts” cannot be called memoirs in the exact sense of the word: we find a consistent narrative, it seems, only in the first five parts out of eight (before moving to London in 1852); further - a series of essays, journalistic articles, arranged, however, in chronological order. Some chapters of Past and Thought were originally published as independent works (“Western Arabesques”, “Robert Owen”). Herzen himself compared “The Past and Thoughts” with a house that is constantly being completed: with “a set of extensions, superstructures, outbuildings.”

Part one- “Children’s room and university (1812 - 1834)” - describes mainly life in the house of his father - an intelligent hypochondriac, who seems to his son (like his uncle, like his father’s youth friends - for example, O. A. Zherebtsov) a typical product of the 18th century .

The events of December 14, 1825 had an extraordinary impact on the boy's imagination. In 1827, Herzen met his distant relative N. Ogarev, a future poet, very beloved by Russian readers in the 1840s - 1860s; with him, Herzen would later run a Russian printing house in London. Both boys love Schiller very much; among other things, this quickly brings them together; the boys look at their friendship as an alliance of political conspirators, and one evening on Vorobyovy Gory, “hugging each other, they swore an oath, in view of all Moscow, to sacrifice their lives for their chosen struggle.” Herzen continued to preach his radical political views even as an adult - a student in the physics and mathematics department of Moscow University.

Part two- “Prison and exile” (1834 - 1838) “: on a trumped-up case of insulting His Majesty, Herzen, Ogarev and others from their university circle were arrested and exiled; Herzen in Vyatka serves in the office of the provincial government, responsible for the statistical department; in the corresponding chapters of “Past and Thoughts” a whole collection of sad anecdotal cases from the history of government of the province is collected.

It also very expressively describes A.L. Vitberg, whom Herzen met in exile, and his talented and fantastic project for a temple in memory of 1812 on the Sparrow Hills.

In 1838 Herzen was transferred to Vladimir.

Part three- “Vladimir-on-Klyazma” (1838 - 1839) “is a romantic love story between Herzen and Natalya Aleksandrovna Zakharyina, the illegitimate daughter of Uncle Herzen, who was raised by a half-crazed and evil aunt. Relatives do not consent to their marriage; in 1838 Herzen comes to Moscow, where he is prohibited from entering, takes his bride away and gets married secretly.

In part four- “Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod” (1840 - 1847) “describes the Moscow intellectual atmosphere of the era. Herzen and Ogarev, who returned from exile, became close to the young Hegelians - the Stankevich circle (primarily Belinsky and Bakunin). In the chapter “Not Ours” (about Khomyakov, Kireevsky, K. Aksakov, Chaadaev), Herzen speaks first of all about what brought Westerners and Slavophiles together in the 40s. (followed by explanations of why Slavophilism cannot be confused with official nationalism, and discussions about the Russian community and socialism).

In 1846, for ideological reasons, Ogarev and Herzen moved away from many, primarily from Granovsky (a personal quarrel between Granovsky and Herzen due to the fact that one believed and the other did not believe in the immortality of the soul is a very characteristic feature of the era) ; After this, Herzen decides to leave Russia.

Part five(“Paris - Italy - Paris (1847 - 1852): Before the revolution and after it”) tells about the first years spent by Herzen in Europe: about the first day of the Russian, who finally found himself in Paris, the city where much of what he at home I read with such greed: “So, I’m really in Paris, not in a dream, but in reality: after all, this is the Vendôme Column and rue de la Paix”; about the national liberation movement in Rome, about “Young Italy”, about the February revolution of 1848 in France (all this is described quite briefly: Herzen refers the reader to his “Letters from France and Italy”), about emigration in Paris - mainly Polish , with its mystical messianic, Catholic pathos (by the way, about Mickiewicz), about the June Days, about his flight to Switzerland, and so on.

Already in the fifth part, the sequential presentation of events is interrupted by independent essays and articles. In the interlude “Western Arabesques,” Herzen - clearly impressed by the regime of Napoleon III - speaks with despair about the death of Western civilization, so dear to every Russian socialist or liberal. Europe is being destroyed by the philistinism that has taken over everything with its cult of material well-being: the soul is declining. (This theme becomes the leitmotif of “Past and Thoughts”: see, for example: chapter “John Stuart Mill and his book “On Liberty” in the sixth part.) Herzen sees the only way out in the idea of ​​a social state.

In the chapters about Proudhon, Herzen writes about the impressions of his acquaintance (Proudhon’s unexpected gentleness in personal communication) and about his book “On Justice in the Church and in the Revolution.” Herzen does not agree with Proudhon, who sacrifices the human personality to the “inhuman god” of a just state; Herzen constantly argues with such models of a social state - among the ideologists of the 1891 revolution like Ba-boeuf or among the Russian sixties, bringing such revolutionaries closer to Arakcheev (see, for example, chapter “Robert Owen” in part six).

Particularly unacceptable for Herzen is Proudhon's attitude towards women - the possessive attitude of the French peasant; Proudhon judges such complex and painful things as betrayal and jealousy too primitively. It is clear from Herzen’s tone that this topic is close and painful to him.

The fifth part concludes with the dramatic history of the Herzen family in the last years of Natalya Alexandrovna’s life: this part of “Past and Thoughts” was published many years after the death of the persons described in it.

The events of June 1848 in Paris (the bloody defeat of the uprising and the accession of Napoleon III), and then the serious illness of her little daughter had a fatal effect on the impressionable Natalya Alexandrovna, who was generally prone to bouts of depression. Her nerves are tense, and she, as can be understood from Herzen’s restrained story, enters into too close a relationship with Herwegh (the famous German poet and socialist, Herzen’s closest friend at that time), touched by complaints about the loneliness of his misunderstood soul. Natalya Alexandrovna continues to love her husband, the current state of affairs torments her, and she, finally realizing the need for a choice, explains to her husband; Herzen expresses her readiness to divorce if that is her will; but Natalya Alexandrovna remains with her husband and breaks up with Herweg. (Here Herzen paints in satirical colors the family life of Herwegh, his wife Emma - the daughter of a banker, who was married for her money, an enthusiastic German woman who obsessively takes care of her husband, who is brilliant, in her opinion. Emma allegedly demanded that Herzen sacrifice his family happiness for the sake of Herwegh's peace of mind.)

After reconciliation, the Herzens spend several happy months in Italy. In 1851, Herzen’s mother and little son Kolya died in a shipwreck. Meanwhile, Herwegh, not wanting to come to terms with his defeat, pursues the Herzens with complaints, threatens to kill them or commit suicide, and finally notifies mutual acquaintances about what happened. Friends stand up for Herzen; Unpleasant scenes follow with the recollection of old monetary debts, assault, publications in periodicals, and so on. Natalya Alexandrovna cannot bear all this and dies in 1852 after another birth (apparently from consumption).

The fifth part ends with the section “Russian Shadows” - essays about Russian emigrants with whom Herzen communicated a lot then. N.I. Sazonov, Herzen’s friend at the university, wandered a lot and somewhat senselessly around Europe, was carried away by political projects to the point that he didn’t think much of Belinsky’s “literary” activities, for example, for Herzen this Sazonov is the type of Russian person of that time, in vain ruined the “abyss of forces” not claimed by Russia. And here, remembering his peers, Herzen, in the face of the arrogant new generation - the “sixties” - “demands recognition and justice” for these people who “sacrificed everything that traditional life offered them, because of their convictions. Such people cannot simply be handed over to the archive..." A.V. Engelson for Herzen is a man of the generation of Petrashevites with his characteristic “painful breakdown”, “immense pride”, which developed under the influence of “trashy and petty” people who then made up the majority, with “a passion for introspection, self-research, self-accusation” - and moreover, with deplorable sterility and inability to work hard, irritability and even cruelty.

Part six. After the death of his wife, Herzen moved to England: after Herwegh made Herzen’s family drama public, Herzen needed the arbitration court of European democracy to sort out his relationship with Herwegh and recognize Herzen as right. But Herzen found peace not in such a “trial” (it never happened), but in work: he “set to work on Past and Thoughts and on the organization of the Russian printing house.”

The author writes about the beneficial loneliness in his London life at that time (“wandering alone through London, along its stone clearings, sometimes not seeing a single step ahead from the continuous opal fog and jostling with some running shadows, I lived a lot”); it was loneliness among the crowd: England, proud of its “right of asylum,” was then filled with emigrants; Part six (“England (1852 - 1864)”) mainly talks about them.

From the leaders of the European socialist and national liberation movement, with whom Herzen was familiar, some were close (chapter “Mountain Peaks” - about Mazzini, Ledru-Rollin, Kossuth, etc.; chapter “Camicia rossa” about how England hosted Garibaldi - about the national delight and intrigues of the government, which did not want to quarrel with France) - to spies, criminals begging for benefits under the guise of political exiles (chapter “London Freemen of the Fifties”). Convinced of the existence of a national character, Herzen devotes separate essays to the emigration of different nationalities (“Polish immigrants”, “Germans in emigration” (here see, in particular, the description of Marx and the “Marxids” - the “sulfur gang”; Herzen considered them very dishonest people capable of doing anything to destroy a political rival; Marx paid Herzen in kind). Two processes").

Part seven is dedicated to Russian emigration itself (see, for example, separate essays about M. Bakunin and V. Pecherin), the history of free Russian printing and the “Bell” (1858 - 1862). The author begins by describing an unexpected visit to him by some colonel, a man, apparently, ignorant and completely illiberal, but who considered it his duty to appear before Herzen as his superior: “I immediately felt like a general.” First chapter - “Apogee and Perigee”: the enormous popularity and influence of “The Bell” in Russia comes after the famous Moscow fires and especially after Herzen dared to support the Poles in print during their uprising in 1862.

Part Eight(1865 - 1868) has no title and no general theme (it’s not for nothing that its first chapter is “Without Communication”); This describes the impressions made on the author in the late 60s. different countries of Europe, and Herzen still sees Europe as the kingdom of the dead (see the chapter on Venice and the “prophets” - “Daniels”, denouncing imperial France, by the way, about P. Leroux); It is not for nothing that an entire chapter - “From the Other World” - is dedicated to old people, once successful and famous people. Switzerland seems to Herzen to be the only place in Europe where one can still live.

“The Past and Thoughts” concludes with “Old Letters” (texts of letters to Herzen from N. Polevoy, Belinsky, Granovsky, Chaadaev, Proudhon, Carlyle). In the preface to them, Herzen contrasts letters with a “book”: in letters the past “does not press with all its might, as it does in a book. The random content of the letters, their easy ease, their everyday concerns bring us closer to the writer.” So understood, the letters are similar to the entire book of Herzen’s memoirs, where, along with judgments about European civilization, he tried to preserve the very “random” and “everyday”. As stated in Chapter XXIV. the fifth part, “What, in general, are letters, if not notes about a short time?”

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