What does love mean in the life of the heroes of A.I. Kuprin’s works. To help a schoolchild What is love according to Kuprin’s stories
Love is one of the main themes in Kuprin's work. The heroes of his works, “illuminated” by this bright feeling, are more fully revealed. In the stories of this wonderful author, love is, as a rule, unselfish and selfless. Having read a large number of his works, one can understand that his life is always tragic, and it is obviously doomed to suffering.
The poetic and tragic story of a young girl in the story “Olesya” sounds in this vein. Olesya’s world is a world of spiritual harmony, a world of nature. He is alien to Ivan Timofeevich, a representative of a cruel, big city. Olesya attracts him with her “unusuality”, “there was nothing like the local girls in her”, the naturalness, simplicity and some kind of elusive inner freedom characteristic of her image attracted him to her like a magnet.
Olesya grew up in the forest. She could not read or write, but she had great spiritual wealth and a strong character. Ivan Timofeevich is educated, but not decisive, and his kindness is more like cowardice. These two completely different people fell in love with each other, but this love does not bring happiness to the heroes, its outcome is tragic.
Ivan Timofeevich feels that he has fallen in love with Olesya, he would even like to marry her, but he is stopped by doubt: “I didn’t even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn from the charming the framework of an old forest full of legends and mysterious powers." He realizes that Olesya will not be able to change, become different, and he himself does not want her to change. After all, to become different means to become like everyone else, and this is impossible.
Poetizing life not limited by modern social and cultural frameworks, Kuprin sought to show the clear advantages of a “natural” person, in whom he saw spiritual qualities lost in civilized society. The meaning of the story is to affirm the high standard of man. Kuprin is looking for people in real, everyday life who are obsessed with a high feeling of love, who are able to rise, at least in their dreams, above the prose of life. As always, he turns his gaze to the “little” man. This is how the story begins " Garnet bracelet”, which talks about sophisticated, all-encompassing love. This story is about hopeless and touching love. Kuprin himself understands love as a miracle, as a wonderful gift. The death of the official brought back to life a woman who did not believe in love, which means that love still conquers death.
In general, the story is dedicated to the inner awakening of Vera, her gradual awareness of the true role of love. To the sound of music, the heroine's soul is reborn. From cold contemplation to a hot, reverent feeling of oneself, a person in general, the world - such is the path of the heroine, who once came into contact with a rare guest of the earth - love.
For Kuprin, love is a hopeless platonic feeling, and also a tragic one. Moreover, there is something hysterical in the chastity of Kuprin’s heroes, and in their attitude towards their loved one, what is striking is that the man and woman seem to have swapped their roles. This is characteristic of the energetic, strong-willed “Polesie sorceress” Olesya in her relationship with the “kind, but only weak Ivan Timofeevich,” and the smart, calculating Shurochka with the “pure and kind Romashov” (“Duel”). Underestimation of oneself, disbelief in one’s right to own a woman, a convulsive desire to withdraw - these traits complete the picture of Kuprin’s hero with a fragile soul caught in cruel world.
Closed in itself, such love has creative creative power. “It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people,” Zheltkov writes before his death to the subject of his generation, “...for me, all life lies only in you.” . Zheltkov passes away without complaints, without reproaches, saying like a prayer: “Hallowed be your name».
Kuprin's works, despite the complexity of situations and often dramatic endings, are filled with optimism and love of life. You close the book, and a feeling of something bright remains in your soul for a long time.
“Is there such a thing as unhappy love?” (Ivan Bunin).
(Based on the works of Ivan Bunin and Alexander Kuprin).
All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared.
I. Bunin
Russian literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is represented by the brilliant names of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin and other great writers. Critical realists reflected in their works the crisis state of the world, the process of distortion of human nature, the loss of human traits by people. But, depicting the world in such colors, writers of the turn of the century see positive ideals in high love. Their concepts of this feeling are similar. You can compare the opinions of Bunin and Kuprin. Extraordinary strength and sincerity of feeling are characteristic of the heroes of their stories. Kuprin firmly believed in love. His work revives the high order of feelings that was inherent in the works of earlier writers who created inspired hymns of love. Bunin, too, always succeeded in telling stories about high feelings, because they came from the depths of his heart. Love captures all a person’s thoughts, all his strength. But something always goes wrong, and the lovers are forced to separate. Reading the works of these writers, one can assume that love is something that causes people nothing but suffering and misfortune. Indeed, the ending of Alexander Kuprin’s “Garnet Bracelet” is tragic: main character commits suicide. And in “Sunstroke” or “Dark Alleys” by Ivan Bunin there is no happy ending. All “lovers” of writers live in anticipation of love, search for it and, more often than not, scorched by it, die. But let’s still try to figure out whether the love of the main characters in the works of Bunin and Kuprin was unhappy.
To understand Kuprin’s attitude towards love, in my opinion, it is enough to understand whether love was happiness for the hero in the writer’s most powerful story, “The Garnet Bracelet.” This work, written in 1911, is based on real event- love of telegraph operator Zhelty P.P. to his wife important official, member of the State Council - Lyubimov. Lyubimova’s son, the author of famous memoirs, Lev Lyubimov, recalls this story. In life, everything ended differently than in A. Kuprin’s story - the official accepted the bracelet and stopped writing letters, nothing more is known about him. The Lyubimov family remembered this incident as strange and curious. Under the writer’s pen, it appears as a sad and tragic life story little man who was raised and destroyed by love. Yes, she ruined him, because this love was unrequited, but can we really say that she was unhappy for Zheltkov? I think it's impossible. Zheltkov died not with fear from the premonition of death, but with a pleasant feeling that this love was still in his life. This is evidenced by the expression on the face of the deceased: “Deep importance was in his closed eyes, and the lips smiled blissfully and serenely...” For the hero, love, although it was not mutual, was the only happiness. He writes about this in his last message to Vera Ivanovna: “I thank you from the depths of my soul for being my only joy in life, my only consolation, my only thought.” “But that means there was no reason for suicide if he was happy...” said some critics of that time. Perhaps that is why he committed this act so as not to cause inconvenience to his beloved. Zheltkov would have to stop writing to her and mentioning his existence. Vera Ivanovna herself asked him about this, but he was unable to bring himself to do it. AND lyrical hero I saw no other way out but to commit suicide. This means we can say that Zheltkov died not from unhappy love, but, on the contrary, because he loved passionately and passionately. According to Kuprin, true happy love cannot last forever. He was a realist, which is why there is no happy ending in this writer’s stories about love. Lovers must separate.
Now let's turn to the stories of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. His opinion about love is best expressed by a line from “Dark Alleys”: “All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared.” As we have already said, Alexander Kuprin shares this opinion. That is why I took this line as an epigraph. In the thirty-eight short stories of “Dark Alleys,” amazing female types appear before readers. Here is Nadezhda from the story “ Dark alleys" Throughout her life she carried her love for the master who had once seduced her. The lovers had not seen each other for thirty years and met by chance at an inn, where Nadezhda is the hostess, and Nikolai Alekseevich is a random traveler. He is not able to rise to her high feelings, to understand why Nadezhda did not marry “with such beauty that ... she had.” How can you love just one person all your life? Meanwhile, for Nadezhda Nikolenka remained the ideal, the one and only, for the rest of her life: “No matter how much time passed, she lived alone. I knew that you had been gone for a long time, that it was as if nothing had happened to you, but... It’s too late to reproach me now, but it’s true, you abandoned me very heartlessly.” Having changed horses, Nikolai Alekseevich leaves, and Nadezhda remains forever at the inn. For one it is a casual hobby of youth, for another it is love for life. Yes, perhaps Nadezhda is not happy now, many years later, but how strong that feeling was, how much joy and happiness it brought, that it is impossible to forget about it. That is, love for the main character is happiness.
In the story " Sunstroke“love is something instantaneous, a flash that flashes through, leaving a deep mark in the soul. Again, the lovers break up, which causes suffering to the main character. Life itself without a beloved is suffering. He finds no place for himself either in the apartment or on the street, remembering those happy moments spent with her. Reading short story after short story, you begin to realize that in order to be convinced of the sincerity of feelings, according to Bunin, a tragedy is absolutely necessary. But despite all their tragedy, bright feeling embraces the reader when the last page of the collection is turned: extraordinary light power and sincerity of feelings are characteristic of the heroes of these stories.
Bunin's love does not last long - in the family, in marriage, in everyday life. A short, dazzling flash, which illuminates the souls of lovers to the bottom, leads them to a tragic end - death, suicide, non-existence. In Kuprin’s work, each of the heroes has similar features: spiritual purity, dreaminess, ardent imagination, combined with impracticality and lack of will. And they reveal themselves most clearly in love. They all treat women with filial purity and reverence. Willingness to die for the sake of a beloved woman, romantic worship, knightly service to her and at the same time underestimating oneself, disbelief. All Kuprin's heroes with fragile souls find themselves in a cruel world. The theme of pure and beautiful feeling runs through the entire work of these two Russian writers. “All love is great happiness, even if it is not shared” - these words from the story “Dark Alleys” by Bunin could be repeated by all the heroes.
A.I. Kuprin traveled a lot around Russia, tried many professions, and reflected all his life experiences in wonderful works. Kuprin's work is loved by readers. His works received truly national recognition: “Moloch”, “Olesya”, “At the Circus”, “Duel”, “Garnet Bracelet”, “Gambrinus”, “Junker” and others.
The story “The Garnet Bracelet” tells about hopeless and touching love. Writer in real life looking for people possessed by this high feeling. For Kuprin himself, love is a miracle, it is a wonderful gift. The death of an official brought back to life a woman who did not believe in love. To the sound of music, the heroine's soul is reborn.
- Where is the love? Is love unselfish, selfless, not waiting for reward? The one about whom it is said “strong as death”? You see, the kind of love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to suffer torment is not work at all, but pure joy.
- Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her.
- From the letter: “It’s not my fault, Vera Nikolaevna, that God was pleased to send me, as great happiness, love for you. It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life lies only in you.
I am eternally grateful to you just for the fact that you exist. I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something...
I don't know how to finish the letter. From the depths of my soul, I thank you for being my only joy in life, my only consolation, my only thought. May God grant you happiness and may nothing temporary or everyday disturb your beautiful soul. I kiss your hands. G.S.Zh.”
- Well, tell me, my dear, in all honesty, doesn’t every woman, in the depths of her heart, dream of such love - one all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless?
- Finally he dies, but before his death he bequeaths to give Vera two telegraph buttons and a perfume bottle filled with his tears...
- Every woman who loves is a queen.
- Almost every woman is capable of the highest heroism in love. For her, if she loves, love contains the whole meaning of life - the entire universe!
- You cannot leave a good impression of yourself by coming to a woman empty-handed.
- Individuality is not expressed in strength, not in dexterity, not in intelligence, not in talent, not in creativity. But in love!
- The Russian language in skillful hands and experienced lips is beautiful, melodious, expressive, flexible, obedient, dexterous and capacious.
- Language is the history of a people. Language is the path of civilization and culture. That is why studying and preserving the Russian language is not an idle activity because there is nothing to do, but an urgent necessity.
And the heart burns and loves again - because
That it cannot help but love.
A. S. Pushkin
The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is closely connected with the traditions of Russian realism.
The themes of this writer's works are extremely diverse. But Kuprin has one cherished theme. He touches her chastely and reverently. This is the theme of love.
For Kuprin, the true strength of man, capable of resisting the vulgarizing effects of false civilization, has always been selfless and pure love.
In the story “Shulamith,” the writer brilliantly glorifies the spiritual unity of lovers, which is so great that each is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of the other. Therefore, the wise Solomon, who knew everything, and the young shepherdess Shulamith are equally great. They, capable of such a rare and harmonious feeling, are given the opportunity for moral elevation.
Kuprin looked for his ideal of love in contemporary life, but the writer never saw triumphant love, “strong as death.” Even Olesya from the story of the same name, who sacrificed herself in the name of her feelings for Ivan Timofeevich, could not awaken a high spiritual principle in him. And the power of love for Kuprin himself consisted precisely in the transformation of the soul. Olesya’s tragedy is that she fell in love with a “kind, but only weak” man.
You cannot hide anything from love: either it highlights the true nobility of the human soul, or vices and base desires. The writer seems to be testing his characters, sending them a feeling of love. In the words of one of the characters, Kuprin expresses his point of view: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life’s conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern it.” For a writer, she is a gift from God, not available to everyone. Love has its peaks, which only a few in a million can overcome. A specific example is Zheltkov from the story “The Garnet Bracelet”. The image of Zheltkov is revealed at the highest point of internal ascent. However, this state was preceded by internal development: first there were letters with an insistent desire for dates, the search for Vera Sheina’s gaze at balls and in the theater, and then silent “admiration,” but also the confidence that “seven years of hopeless polite love give the right” at least once in year to remind yourself. Zheltkov could not give his love to Vera Nikolaevna every day, every hour and every minute, so he gave her a garnet bracelet, the most expensive thing he had, in order to somehow connect himself with Vera. He was incredibly happy just because the hands of his goddess would touch his gift.
The hero dies, but the greatness of his feeling lies in the fact that even after Zheltkov’s death it awakens the inner strength of Vera. Only during the farewell to Zheltkova’s ashes did Vera Nikolaevna “realize that the love that every woman dreams of had passed her by.” The reciprocal feeling took place, albeit “for one moment, but forever.”
Love as a force capable of transforming the world has always attracted Kuprin. But he was also very sensitive to the terrible processes of crushing, distortion, and death of this innate gift. Such a tragedy is shown in the story "The Pit". The author did not obscure the terrible truth, because he wanted to warn young people against moral decline, to awaken in their souls hatred of vice and the desire to resist it. Kuprin shows that the soul of the brothel dwellers is alive, and it is undoubtedly purer than that of those who come here.
The theme of love in the works of A.I. Kuprin.
Love... Someday this feeling comes to everyone. There is probably no such person who would never love. He did not love his mother or father, woman or man, his child or friend. Love has the ability to resurrect, make people kinder, more soulful and humane. Without love there would be no life, for life itself is love. It was this all-consuming feeling that inspired A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Blok, and in general, all the great writers and poets.
A slight wave of the quill pen and such wonderful poems and works as “I loved you...”, “Anna Karenina”, “They loved each other so long and tenderly...” appeared on the sheets of paper.
The 20th century gave us A.I. Kuprin, a writer in whose work the theme of love occupied one of the most important places. I especially admire this man - open, courageous, straightforward, noble. Most of Kuprin's stories are a hymn to pure, ideal, sublime love, which he wrote about throughout his life.
The writer keenly felt the need for “heroic plots”, for selfless, self-critical heroes. As a result, under the pen of Alexander Ivanovich, the most wonderful works were born: “Garnet Bracelet”, “Olesya”, “Shulamith” and many others.
The story “Olesya” was written in 1898 and was included in the cycle of Polesie works. In addition to the theme of love, A.I. Kuprin touches on no less than important topic interaction between the civilized and natural worlds.
From the very first pages of the work we find ourselves in a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. It was here that fate brought Ivan Timofeevich, a literate, intelligent person. From his lips we learn about the wild customs of the Perbrod peasants. These people are illiterate, uncouth, and uncommunicative. It is clear from everything that they have not yet completely gotten rid of the habits of Polish serfdom.
Ivan Timofeevich is terribly bored in this place, where there is no one to talk to, where there is absolutely nothing to do. That is why Yarmola’s story about the old witch excited him so much. The young man is hungry for adventure, he wants to escape from the daily routine of village life, at least for a while.
During his next hunt, Ivan Timofeevich unexpectedly stumbles upon an old hut, where his first meeting takes place with Olesya, the granddaughter of the local witch Manuilikha. Olesya fascinates with her beauty. Not the beauty of a society lady, but the beauty of a wild fallow deer living in the lap of nature.
But it’s not just this girl’s appearance that attracts Ivan Timofeevich. The young man is admired by the self-confidence, pride, and audacity with which Olesya carries herself. That is why he decides to visit Manuilikha again. Olesya herself is also interested in the unexpected guest. Growing up in the forest, she had little contact with people and was accustomed to treating them with great caution. But Ivan Timofeevich captivates the girl with his ease, kindness, and intelligence. Olesya is very happy when the young guest comes to visit her again. It is she who, reading her hand, characterizes the main character as a person “although kind, but only weak,” and admits that his kindness is “not heartfelt.” His heart is “cold, lazy,” and to those who “will love him,” he will bring, albeit unwittingly, “a lot of evil.” Thus, in the words of the young fortune teller, the young man appears before us as an egoist, incapable of deep emotional experiences. But despite everything, Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich fall in love with each other and completely surrender to this feeling.
Olesya's love makes clear her sensitive delicacy, her special innate intelligence, observation and tact, her instinctive knowledge of the secrets of life. In addition, her love reveals the enormous power of passion and selflessness, and reveals in her the great human talent of understanding and generosity. Olesya is ready to give up her feelings, endure suffering and torment for the sake of her beloved and only one. Against the backdrop of all the people surrounding main character, her figure looks sublime and makes those around her look faded. The images of Polesie peasants become dull, spiritually enslaved, evil, and recklessly cruel. They have neither breadth of mind nor generosity of heart. And Olesya is ready to do anything for the sake of her love: go to church, endure the mockery of local residents, find the strength to leave, leaving behind only a string of cheap red beads as a symbol eternal love and devotion. For Kuprin, the image of Olesya is the ideal of a sublime, exceptional personality. This girl is an open, selfless, deep nature, the meaning of her life is love. She raises her above the level of ordinary people, she gives her happiness, but she also makes Olesya defenseless and leads to death.
The figure of Ivan Timofeevich also loses from its proximity to Olesya. His love is ordinary, sometimes even similar to infatuation. The young man, deep down in his soul, understands that his beloved will never be able to live outside of nature. He does not imagine Olesya in secular dress and yet offers her his hand and heart, implying that she will live with him in the city. Ivan Timofeevich does not even allow the thought of giving up his position in society for the sake of his love and remaining to live with Olesya in the forest. He completely comes to terms with what happened and is not going to fight for his love, challenge the current situation. I believe that if Ivan Timofeevich truly loved Olesya, he would definitely find her and try to change his life, but he Unfortunately, he never understood what kind of love passed him by.
The theme of mutual and happy love is touched upon by A.I. Kuprin in the story “Shulamith”. The love of King Solomon and the poor girl Shulamith from the vineyard is strong as death, and those who love themselves are higher than kings and queens.
But the writer kills the girl, leaving Solomon alone, because, according to Kuprin, love is a moment that illuminates the spiritual value of the human personality and awakens the best in it.
In one of famous works writer “Garnet Bracelet” sounds the theme of unrequited love as a great gift that transforms human soul. Princess Vera Sheina was a strict, independent, kind and “royally calm” woman who loved her husband. But the idyll in the house was destroyed after the appearance of a gift with a letter from “G.S.Zh”. Along with the message, selfless, selfless love, not expecting a reward, entered the house of the Shein princes: love is a mystery, love is a tragedy. The whole meaning of the life of Zheltkov, the sender of the message, was to love Vera Nikolaevna, without demanding anything in return, to praise his beloved from the bottom of his heart, uttering the words: “Hallowed be thy name.” The vague anxiety of Princess Vera after receiving a gift from Zheltkov grew into the bitterness of the loss of something lofty and beautiful at the last meeting with the already dead admirer: “At that second she understood that the love that every woman dreams of passed her by.” And Vera Nikolaevna cried, listening to Beethoven’s Second Sonata, knowing that she loved. Loved just for a moment, but forever.
In his stories A.I. Kuprin showed us sincere, devoted, selfless love. The love that every person dreams of. Love, for the sake of which you can sacrifice anything, even your life. Love that will survive millennia, overcome evil, make the world beautiful, and people kind and happy.
