Artistic features and compositional originality of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” The genre uniqueness of the novel “What to do? Problems genre novel composition what to do

For the first time, Chernyshevsky’s most famous work, the novel “What is to be done?”, was published as a separate book. - published in 1867 in Geneva. The initiators of the book's publication were Russian emigrants; in Russia the novel was banned by censorship by that time. In 1863, the work was still published in the Sovremennik magazine, but those issues where its individual chapters were published were soon banned. Summary"What to do?" The youth of those years passed Chernyshevsky on to each other by word of mouth, and the novel itself in handwritten copies, so much so did the work make an indelible impression on them.

Is it possible to do something

The author wrote his sensational novel in the winter of 1862-1863, while in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The dates of writing are December 14-April 4. From January 1863, censors began working with individual chapters of the manuscript, but, seeing only love line, the novel is approved for publication. Soon the deep meaning of the work reaches the officials of Tsarist Russia, the censor is removed from office, but the job is done - a rare youth circle of those years did not discuss the summary of “What is to be done?” With his work, Chernyshevsky wanted not only to tell Russians about the “new people”, but also to arouse in them a desire to imitate them. And his bold call echoed in the hearts of many of the author’s contemporaries.

The youth of the late 19th century turned Chernyshevsky’s ideas into their own own life. Stories about the numerous noble deeds of those years began to appear so often that for some time they became almost commonplace in everyday life. Many suddenly realized that they were capable of Action.

Having a question and a clear answer to it

The main idea of ​​the work, and it is doubly revolutionary in its essence, is personal freedom, regardless of gender. That's why main character novel - a woman, since at that time the dominance of women did not extend beyond the confines of their own living room. Looking back at the life of her mother and close friends, Vera Pavlovna early realizes the absolute mistake of inaction, and decides that the basis of her life will be work: honest, useful, giving the opportunity to live with dignity. Hence morality - personal freedom comes from the freedom to perform actions that correspond to both thoughts and capabilities. This is what Chernyshevsky tried to express through the life of Vera Pavlovna. "What to do?" chapter by chapter paints readers a colorful picture of the phased construction " real life" Here Vera Pavlovna leaves her mother and decides to open her own business, so she realizes that only equality between all members of her artel will correspond to her ideals of freedom, so her absolute happiness with Kirsanov depends on Lopukhov’s personal happiness. interconnected with high moral principles- this is all Chernyshevsky.

Characteristics of the author's personality through his characters

Both writers and readers, as well as omniscient critics, have the opinion that the main characters of the work are a kind of literary copies of their creators. Even if not exact copies, they are very close in spirit to the author. The narration of the novel “What to do?” is told in the first person, and the author is acting character. He enters into conversation with other characters, even argues with them and, like a “voice-over,” explains to both the characters and the readers many points that are incomprehensible to them.

At the same time, the author conveys to the reader doubts about his writing abilities, says that “he doesn’t even speak the language well,” and he certainly doesn’t have a drop of “artistic talent.” But for the reader his doubts are unconvincing; this is also refuted by the novel that Chernyshevsky himself created, “What is to be done?” Vera Pavlovna and the rest of the characters are so accurately and versatilely drawn, endowed with such unique individual qualities that an author who does not have true talent would be unable to create.

New, but so different

Chernyshevsky’s heroes, these positive “new people”, according to the author’s conviction, from the category of unreal, non-existent, should one day by themselves firmly enter our lives. To enter, to dissolve in the crowd of ordinary people, to push them aside, to regenerate someone, to convince someone, to completely push the rest - those who are intractable - out of total mass, ridding society of them, like a field of weeds. The artistic utopia that Chernyshevsky himself was clearly aware of and tried to define through its name is “What to do?” A special person, in his deep conviction, is capable of radically changing the world around him, but how to do this, he must determine for himself.

Chernyshevsky created his novel as a counterweight to Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons”; his “new people” are not at all like the cynical nihilist Bazarov, who irritates with his peremptory attitude. The cardinality of these images is in the implementation of their main task: Turgenev’s hero wanted to “clear a place” around him from everything old that had outlived his own, that is, to destroy, while Chernyshevsky’s characters tried more to build something, to create, before destroying.

Formation of the “new man” in the middle of the 19th century

These two works of great Russian writers became the second half of the 19th century century as a kind of beacon - a ray of light in dark kingdom. Both Chernyshevsky and Turgenev loudly declared the existence of a “new man” and his need to create a special mood in society capable of bringing about fundamental changes in the country.

If you re-read and translate the summary of “What to do?” Chernyshevsky in the plane of revolutionary ideas that deeply affected the minds of a certain part of the population of those years, then many of the allegorical features of the work will become easily explainable. The image of the “bride of her grooms”, seen by Vera Pavlovna in her second dream, is nothing more than “Revolution” - this is precisely the conclusion drawn by writers who lived in different years, who studied and analyzed the novel from all sides. The rest of the images that are narrated in the novel are also marked with allegory, regardless of whether they are animated or not.

A little about the theory of reasonable egoism

The desire for change not only for oneself, not only for one’s loved ones, but also for everyone else runs like a red thread through the entire novel. This is completely different from the theory of calculating one’s own benefit, which Turgenev reveals in Fathers and Sons. In many ways, Chernyshevsky agrees with his fellow writer, believing that any person not only can, but should also reasonably calculate and determine his individual path to his own happiness. But at the same time, he says that you can only enjoy it surrounded by the same happy people. This is the fundamental difference between the plots of the two novels: in Chernyshevsky, the heroes forge well-being for everyone, in Turgenev, Bazarov creates his own happiness without regard to those around him. Chernyshevsky is all the closer to us through his novel.

“What to do?”, the analysis of which we give in our review, is ultimately much closer to the reader of Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.”

Briefly about the plot

As the reader who has never picked up Chernyshevsky’s novel has already been able to determine, the main character of the work is Vera Pavlovna. Through her life, the formation of her personality, her relationships with others, including men, the author reveals main idea of your novel. Summary “What to do?” Chernyshevsky's list of characteristics of the main characters and details of their lives can be conveyed in a few sentences.

Vera Rozalskaya (aka Vera Pavlovna) lives in a fairly wealthy family, but everything in her home disgusts her: her mother with her dubious activities, and her acquaintances, who think one thing, but say and do something completely different. Having decided to leave her parents, our heroine tries to find a job, but only with Dmitry Lopukhov, who is close to her in spirit, gives the girl the freedom and lifestyle that she dreams of. Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop with all seamstresses having equal rights to its income - a rather progressive idea for that time. Even her suddenly flared up love for her husband’s close friend Alexander Kirsanov, which she became convinced of while caring for the sick Lopukhov with Kirsanov, does not deprive her of sanity and nobility: she does not leave her husband, she does not leave the workshop. Seeing the mutual love of his wife and close friend, Lopukhov, staging suicide, frees Vera Pavlovna from all obligations to him. Vera Pavlovna and Kirsanov get married and are quite happy about it, and a few years later Lopukhov appears in their lives again. But only under a different name and with a new wife. Both families settle in the neighborhood, spend quite a lot of time together and are quite satisfied with the current situation. in a similar way circumstances.

Does being determine consciousness?

The formation of Vera Pavlovna’s personality is far from the pattern of character traits of those of her peers who grew up and were brought up in conditions similar to her. Despite her youth, lack of experience and connections, the heroine clearly knows what she wants in life. Getting married successfully and becoming an ordinary mother of a family is not for her, especially since by the age of 14 the girl knew and understood a lot. She sewed beautifully and provided the whole family with clothes; at the age of 16 she began earning money by giving private piano lessons. Her mother's desire to get her married is met with a firm refusal and she creates her own business - a sewing workshop. The work “What to do?” is about broken stereotypes, about courageous actions of a strong character. Chernyshevsky, in his own way, gives an explanation for the well-established statement that consciousness determines the existence in which a person finds himself. He defines, but only in the way he decides for himself - either following a path not chosen by him, or finding his own. Vera Pavlovna left the path prepared for her by her mother and the environment in which she lived and created her own path.

Between the realms of dreams and reality

Determining your path does not mean finding it and following it. There is a huge gap between dreams and their implementation in reality. Someone does not dare to jump over it, but someone gathers all their will into a fist and takes a decisive step. This is how Chernyshevsky responds to the problem raised in his novel “What is to be done?” The analysis of the stages of formation of Vera Pavlovna’s personality is carried out by the author himself instead of the reader. He guides him through the heroine's embodiment of her dreams of her own freedom in reality thanks to active work. It may be a difficult path, but it is a straight and completely passable path. And according to it, Chernyshevsky not only guides his heroine, but also allows her to achieve what she wants, letting the reader understand that only through activity can the cherished goal be achieved. Unfortunately, the author emphasizes that not everyone chooses this path. Not everyone.

Reflection of reality through dreams

In a rather unusual form he wrote his novel “What is to be done?” Chernyshevsky. Vera's dreams - there are four of them in the novel - reveal the depth and originality of those thoughts that real events evoke in her. In her first dream, she sees herself freed from the basement. This is a certain symbolism of leaving her own home, where she was destined for an unacceptable fate. Through the idea of ​​liberating girls like her, Vera Pavlovna creates her own workshop, in which each seamstress receives an equal share of her total income.

The second and third dreams explain to the reader through real and fantastic dirt, reading Verochka’s diary (which, by the way, she never kept) what thoughts about the existence of different people possess the heroine at different periods of her life, what she thinks about her second marriage and the very necessity of this marriage. Explanation through dreams is a convenient form of presentation of the work that Chernyshevsky chose. "What to do?" - content of the novel , reflected through dreams, characters of the main characters in dreams is a worthy example of Chernyshevsky’s use of this new form.

Ideals of a bright future, or Vera Pavlovna’s Fourth Dream

If the heroine’s first three dreams reflected her attitude towards accomplished facts, then her fourth dream reflected dreams about the future. It is enough to remember it in more detail. So, Vera Pavlovna dreams of a completely different world, implausible and beautiful. She sees many happy people living in a wonderful house: luxurious, spacious, surrounded by amazing views, decorated with flowing fountains. In it no one feels disadvantaged, there is one common joy for everyone, one common well-being, everyone is equal in it.

These are the dreams of Vera Pavlovna, this is how Chernyshevsky would like to see reality (“What to do?”). Dreams, and they, as we remember, about the relationship between reality and the world of dreams, reveal not so much spiritual world heroine, as much as the author of the novel. And his full awareness of the impossibility of creating such a reality, a utopia that will not come true, but for which it is still necessary to live and work. And this is also what Vera Pavlovna’s fourth dream is about.

Utopia and its predictable ending

As everyone knows, his main work is the novel “What is to be done?” - Nikolai Chernyshevsky wrote while in prison. Deprived of family, society, freedom, seeing reality in the dungeons in a completely new way, dreaming of a different reality, the writer put it on paper, without believing in its implementation. Chernyshevsky had no doubt that “new people” are capable of changing the world. But the fact is that not everyone will withstand the power of circumstances, and not everyone will be worthy better life- he understood this too.

How does the novel end? The idyllic coexistence of two families close in spirit: the Kirsanovs and the Lopukhovs-Beaumonts. A small world created by active people full of nobility of thoughts and actions. Are there many similar happy communities around? No! Isn't this the answer to Chernyshevsky's dreams about the future? Whoever wants to create his own prosperous and happy world will create it; whoever doesn’t want to will go with the flow.

The plot and compositional side of the novel “What is to be done?” has long attracted researchers with its magnificent and complex architecture. This complexity has been sought to be explained from different perspectives. Attention was paid to the “internal structure” of the work (according to four zones: vulgar people, new people, higher people and dreams), “double plot” (family-psychological and “secret”, “Aesopian”), “multi-stage” and “cyclicality” a series of closed plots (stories, chapters), “a set of stories”, united by the author’s analysis of the social ideal and ethics of new people.

The genesis of the plot lines of the novel has been clarified, which in many ways represent a contamination of several plots traditional for Russian literature of the mid-century, carried out in the creative practice of I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov, A. V. Druzhinin and other authors (oppression of a girl in her own family, alien to her in spirit, and a meeting with a man of high aspirations; married woman and family conflict, known as the “triangle”; the plot of a biographical story).

All these interesting observations help to comprehend the process of formation of Chernyshevsky’s novel along the paths of cyclization of stories and tales, and to genetically restore the typological pedigree of a number of its plot points. Without them, the literary innovation of Chernyshevsky the novelist will look unconvincing.

However, the genetic approach sometimes relegated to the background the clarification of the nature of qualitatively new plot situations of “What is to be done?”, and the excessive “anatomization” of the work into a number of “closed”, “inserted” plots hardly helped to reveal its plot-compositional integrity and monolithicity.

Apparently, it is more expedient to talk not about “closed” plots and “double” centers, but about new and interconnected plot situations integrated into the unified artistic structure of the novel.

It contains a cross-cutting story, running through the entire work, of the formation of the young generation of builders of a new life, capturing its social, ethical-philosophical and moral-psychological aspects.

The narrative about the life of Vera Pavlovna naturally and logically (sometimes even contrary to traditional ideas about the main, secondary and “insert” characters) includes stories about Dmitry Lopukhov and Alexander Kirsanov, Katya Polozova and Nastya Kryukova, Rakhmetov and the young widow he saved, “the lady in mourning" and "a man of about thirty" who appeared in the chapter "Change of scenery".

And this happened because the story of formation and fate new woman absorbed not only the intimate and love experiences of the heroine, but also the entire process of introducing her to the great cause of restructuring the social, family-legal and moral-ethical foundations of society. The dream of personal happiness naturally grew into the socialist dream of the happiness of all people.

Structural unity “What to do?” is carried out primarily in the subjective form of manifestation author's position when the image of the author-narrator is introduced into the novel.

The wide range of intonational and stylistic means of the narrator, including good nature and frankness, mystification and audacity, irony and mockery, sarcasm and contempt, gives grounds to talk about Chernyshevsky’s intention to create in this image the impression of a literary mask, designed to carry out the author’s influence on the heterogeneous readers of the book: “noble “the reader (friend), the “insightful” reader (enemy) and that “kind” reading “public”, still “unintelligible and slow-witted”, which the novelist has to win over to his side.

The “scissors” that seem at first glance between the real author and the narrator, who has “not a shadow of artistic talent” (third section of the “Preface”), become less noticeable in the course of the further narration. It is noteworthy that such a polysemantic stylistic manner, in which the serious was interspersed with jokes and irony, was generally characteristic of Chernyshevsky, who loved to mystify his interlocutor even in everyday situations.

Chernyshevsky, in other works written in the Peter and Paul Fortress, strives to create the impression of objectivity in the narrative by introducing into it a narrator with a liberal orientation (“Alferyev”) or even several narrators (“Tales within a Tale”).

This manner will also be characteristic of some works about “new people” by other authors (I. Kushchevsky, “Nikolai Negorev, or the Prosperous Russian”; A. Osipovich-Novodvorsky, “An Episode from the Life of Neither a Peahen nor a Crow,” 1877). However, in “What to do?” functions of a conservative interlocutor

but transferred to the “insightful reader”, personifying the reactionary principle in political, moral, ethical, and aesthetic terms. In relation to him, the narrator acts as an antagonist and an irreconcilable polemicist. Compositionally, they are tightly “attached to each other.”

The call to devote oneself to the revolution, the glorification of the revolutionary - the “engine of engines” of social progress, the socio-economic justification of the behavior and character of people, the propaganda of materialism and socialism, the struggle for women’s equality, the establishment of new moral and ethical standards of human behavior - this is far from a complete complex of social political, philosophical and moral problems that worried the author-narrator in conversations with the reader, who still has so much “confusion and nonsense in his head.”

Designed in lyrical digressions, conversations and polemics with the “insightful reader”, the author’s “intervention” becomes a structural and organizing factor in the narrative. And here the author-storyteller himself substantiates the “main requirements of artistry,” new principles of plotting, “without any tricks,” “mystery,” “effectiveness,” and “embellishment.”

It opens up to the readers creative laboratory novelist, when in the narrator’s digressions he becomes acquainted with the new principles of materialist aesthetics that underlie the novel, with reflections on the relationship between artistic fiction and vital material, about different concepts of plot and composition, about outdated definitions of the main and minor characters etc.

Thus, in the presence of the reader, a new poetics, original artistic structure social and philosophical novel.

Let us consider how other forms of genre structural unity are realized in the novel “What is to be done?”

From the plot-compositional side, all the heroine’s meetings with other characters (including Rakhmetov and the “lady in mourning”) are interconnected and are part of a cross-cutting event plot, in which the “personal” and the ideological are in an indissoluble artistic unity.

To be convinced of this, it is necessary to abandon the outdated and deviating habit of considering Vera Pavlovna’s “dreams” as extra-plot “inserts” and “episodes”, necessary only to disguise dangerous revolutionary and socialist ideas.

"Dreams" by Vera Pavlovna represent an unusually bold artistic interpretation of the event plot at the key points, turning points spiritual life of the heroine and are carried out in two varieties.

In one case, these are artistic and symbolic paintings that affirm the typological unity and interrelation of the personal liberation of the heroine and the liberation in general of all the girls from the “basement” (“Verochka’s First Dream”), female emancipation and social renewal of all humanity (“Vera Pavlovna’s Fourth Dream”); in the other, a retrospective and extremely “compressed” presentation of events that influenced the heroine’s worldview and psychology and predetermined new plot twists.

It is through “The Second Dream of Vera Pavlovna” that the reader learns about the disputes in the Lopukhov circle about the natural science works of the German chemist Liebig (about different conditions for the growth of a wheat ear, about the importance of drainage work), philosophical discussions about the real and fantastic desires of people, about the laws of historical progress and civil war in America.

At her home youth “university,” Vera Pavlovna, having internalized the idea that “life has labor as its main element,” decided to organize a labor partnership of a new type.

Both varieties are artistically convincing and original because they use the psychological impressions of people in a dream state (reflection real events, conversations and impressions in fantastic grotesque images or in pictures layered on top of each other, bizarrely shifting the temporal and spatial boundaries of real “primary sources”).

The heroines look natural in the dream complex symbolic images“Brides of Their Grooms,” which first appeared as a bold artistic allegory of the revolution in Lopukhov’s conversation with Vera Pavlovna during a quadrille (IV section of the first chapter), and her younger sister, “Bright Beauty,” personifying Love-Equality (“Vera Pavlovna’s Third Dream” , the first part of her “Fourth Dream”).

It is noteworthy that it was precisely in these apex plot moments that the structural unity of the novel, the relationship between the personal and the public, love and revolutionary activity, was especially clearly manifested.

Thus, the story about Vera Pavlovna’s first and second marriages, about the love and happiness of a young woman goes in sync with the story of her spiritual development, culminating in the organization of the labor commune and its leadership and recognition of the sanctity of the revolutionary feat. “Forget what I told you, Sasha, listen to her!” — she whispers excitedly to her husband, shocked by the fate of the “lady in mourning” and her fiery appeals:

My darling, be brave

Trust yourself to fate!

And even earlier, Rakhmetov would give her a lesson in humanity, moral fortitude and fidelity to social ideals, which became unexpected for the reader from that memorable visit to her, but natural for the author and his heroine central character novel.

This is how Chernyshevsky’s book about love, socialism and revolution was created.

Involving traditional plot situations, contaminating and rethinking them, the author of “What is to be done?” in his artistic decisions, he essentially laid the foundations for a new plot and compositional structure, which would later be used in other works about “new people.”

This includes a fundamentally new version of the solution to the hero’s situation on a “rendez-vous”, which Chernyshevsky’s predecessors (for example, Turgenev) interpreted as an unrealizable opportunity for a thoughtful and seeking girl to find her happiness through a meeting with a person of lofty aspirations.

Chernyshevsky was optimistic about the possibility of a woman’s ideological “conversion” under the influence of a person with concepts and views that were unusual for people in her circle.

Even women from privileged circles of society found themselves in the sphere of such spiritual revival (Katerina Vasilievna Polozova, a young widow saved by Rakhmetov). But the author undoubtedly saw the main reserve in replenishing the ranks of “new people” in the women’s democratic environment, even providing for the possibility of a moral revival of the so-called “fallen woman” (Nastya Kryukova).

The description of the relationship between Lopukhov and Verochka Rozalskaya translated the traditional “rendez-vous” plot situation into a new plot version of “conversion.” The ideological, moral and ethical influence on the heroine’s consciousness was carried out through Lopukhov’s educational conversations, reading books recommended by him, and social and philosophical discussions taking place in the “society of pure people.”

The plot-organizing factors in the story of Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov, in its, so to speak, internal justification were the new moral and ethical views of the heroes (the theory of “reasonable egoism”), and in the external, event-based manifestation - a fictitious marriage, which later became real.

The “selfishness” of the heroes of “What is to be done?”, their “theory of calculation of benefits” “reveals the true motives of life.” He is reasonable because he is subordinate to their natural desire for happiness and goodness. A person’s personal benefit must correspond to the universal human interest, which Chernyshevsky identified with the interest of the working people.

There is no solitary happiness, the happiness of one person depends on the happiness of other people, on the general well-being of society. That is why Lopukhov frees Verochka from domestic oppression and forced marriage, and Kirsanov cures Katya Polozova and helps her free herself from the illusion of “happiness” with Zhan Solovtsov, a contender for her huge inheritance.

A new moral and ethical teaching, regulating personal and social relationships between people in a new way, thus underlies plot situations unusual for mid-century literature. This teaching also determines the optimistic denouement of the tangled “triangle” (the love of a married woman for her husband’s friend), the resolution of which literature has struggled so unsuccessfully.

Convinced that Vera Pavlovna loves Kirsanov, Lopukhov “leaves the stage.” Subsequently, regarding his action, he will write: “What a great pleasure it is to feel like you are acting like a noble man...”.

The plot situation of the “new convert” absorbed a whole complex of the novelist’s plans, including the process of forming a new person - a socialist, and the implementation of the idea of ​​​​the emancipation of women, and the formation of a morally healthy family.

Its various variants were artistically tested by Chernyshevsky in the story “Alferyev” (the hero’s relationship with Serafima Antonovna Chekmazova is a negative version; with Liza Dyatlova - an example of comradely norms in relations between a man and a woman, incomprehensible and suspicious for the older generation), in “Tales within a Tale” (the story of Lizaveta Sergeevna Krylova), in the “Prologue” (Nivelzin and Lydia Vasilievna Savelova, Levitsky and Anyuta, Levitsky and Mary), in “The Story of One Girl” (Liza Svilina).

History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.

Let us immediately note that to determine the genre nature of “What is to be done?” not so easy. To begin with, in new Russian literature in general, according to the fair remark of Academician D.S. Likhachev, “every work is new genre. The genre is determined by the material works, - form grows out of content. The genre form as something rigid, externally imposed on the work... ceases to exist.” True for all new Russian literature, this observation is doubly true for Chernyshevsky’s novels - the most important formative factor, the “building material” that ultimately determines the special genre specificity of “What is to be done?” The author of this book cared little about the “purity of the genre” and, by mixing heterogeneous stylistic and compositional elements, achieved the desired effect.

Researchers point out that the novel, with its free composition, detective tricks for the “reader in general,” and the lofty idea of ​​overcoming individualism that unites the entire narrative, is a work of fiction, philosophy, and journalism at the same time. To determine the genre “What to do?” V different times different names were proposed: socio-philosophical, socio-political, socio-psychological novel; a novel-treatise, a novel-confession, a novel-program, a novel-experiment, a social-utopian novel... Despite the apparent kaleidoscopic nature, each of these definitions characterizes one side of the book. Its author, drawing on the diverse experience of his predecessors, made structural changes to the traditional genres of a love-psychological story, a family novel with a love conflict at the center. Marietta Shaginyan even called it the first “industrial novel” in Russian literature, since it tells about a sewing workshop organized on a cooperative basis, and provides a detailed digital calculation of the financial part of this workshop...

Before us is a political and social-utopian novel, imbued with a spirit of polemics. The novel “What to do?” - an unusual phenomenon for Russian literature of the 19th century century. The work, which has a frankly didactic purpose, in a form as close as possible to the consciousness of the average Russian man in the street, talked about the most complex problems of philosophy, economics, and ethics. The novel introduced the reader to the fundamentals of Feuerbach’s materialist teaching, showed how new, socialist relations between people were emerging in the country, substantiated the ideals of Russian revolutionary democracy, gave practical advice on organizing cooperative enterprises, etc.

"What to do?" became an outright challenge to traditional fiction: the narrative in it is organized by the ideological premise of the author, who considers the novel form to be only a necessary “finishing” of his work. However, it is precisely form , which has a number of undoubted advantages, provided the work with access to a wide readership.

The composition of the work is quite complex. It is characterized by such features as biplane (the first plan is external, family and everyday life, the second is hidden, socio-political), concentricity (with a common ideological and problematic center, the novel is built concentrically: vulgar people, new people, superior people, dreams), cyclicality (creating a picture of the development of action in a spiral), dynamism (the composition is unfolded in time - past, present and future), etc. The author introduces into the text the image of a narrator who actively intervenes in the narrative, talks with the characters, an “insightful reader,” and comments on the characters’ actions. The author's digressions - lyrical ones - are introduced into the text of the novel. Journalistic, philosophical. The narrative begins unusually, with a denouement; the author uses the technique fragmentation storyline, a moment of “mystery” in its development.

System artistic images it is structured in such a way that the reader is presented with two worlds with two centers: one world - noble and bourgeois, the images of its heroes are located around Maria Alekseevna; the other is the world of the common intelligentsia, the so-called “new people”, they are grouped around Vera Pavlovna.

Oct 20 2010

The novel “What to do?” has a very clear and rationally thought out compositional structure. According to the observation of A.V. Lunacharsky, the composition of the novel is organized by the dialectically developing author’s thought, moving “across four zones: vulgar people, new people, higher people and dreams.” With the help of such a composition, Chernyshevsky shows his reflections on it, his thinking about it in dynamics, in development, in forward movement from the past through the present to the future. Attention to the process of life itself - characteristic feature artistic thinking of the 60s, typical of the work of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov.

Unlike the nobles, Rozalskaya is active and enterprising, although her work takes on perverted forms: everything in it is subordinated to the interests of personal gain, selfish calculation is seen in everything. Even to her daughter, who runs away to Lopukhov against her mother’s will, Marya Aleksevna shouts after her: “She stole!” And yet Chernyshevsky sympathizes with her and introduces her into the chapter “A word of praise to Marya Aleksevna.” Why?

The answer to this question is given in Vera Pavlovna’s second dream. She dreams of a field divided into two sections: on one there are fresh, healthy ears of corn, on the other - stunted seedlings. “Are you interested in knowing,” says Lopukhov, “why wheat so white, pure and tender will be born from one mud, but not from another mud?” It turns out that the first dirt is “real”, because on this piece of field there is movement of water, and any movement is labor. In the second section there is “fantastic” mud, because it is swampy and the water in it has stagnated. The miracle of the birth of new ears of corn is performed by the sun: by illuminating and warming “real” dirt with its rays, it brings to life strong shoots. But the sun is not omnipotent - nothing will be born from the soil of “fantastic” dirt even with it. “Until recently, they did not know how to restore health to such clearings, but now a remedy has been discovered; this is drainage: excess water runs down the ditches, there remains as much water as needed, and it moves, and the clearing receives reality.” Then Serge appears. “Don't confess, Serge! - says Alexey Petrovich, - we know your story; worries about the unnecessary, thoughts about the unnecessary - this is the soil on which you grew up; this soil is fantastic. Therefore, look at yourself: you are by nature not stupid, and very good, perhaps no worse and no more stupid than us, but what are you good for, what are you useful for?” Vera Pavlovna's dream resembles an extended parable.

Thinking in parables is a characteristic feature of spiritual literature. Let us recall, for example, the Gospel parable about the sower and the seeds, very beloved by Nekrasov. Its echoes are also felt in Chernyshevsky. Here “What to do?” focuses on culture, on the thoughts of democratic readers who have been familiar with spirituality since childhood. Let's decipher its meaning. It is clear that by “real” dirt we mean the bourgeois-philistine strata of society leading a working lifestyle close to the natural needs of human nature. That is why more and more new people are coming out of this class - Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna. The dirt is “fantastic” - a noble world, where there is no labor, where the normal needs of human nature are perverted. Before this dirt, the sun is powerless, but “drainage” is omnipotent, that is, revolution is such a radical reorganization of society that will force the noble class to work.

Lesson 95 NOVEL “WHAT TO DO?” PROBLEMS, GENRE, COMPOSITION. “THE OLD WORLD” IN THE IMAGE OF CHERNYSHEVSKY

Lesson 95
The novel “What to do?” Problems
genre, composition. "Old World"
in the image of Chernyshevsky

Goals : introduce students to creative history the novel “What is to be done?”, talk about the prototypes of the novel’s heroes; give an idea of ​​the subject matter, genre and composition of the work; find out what the attractive power of Chernyshevsky’s book was for his contemporaries, how the novel “What is to be done?” on Russian literature; name the heroes of the novel, convey the content of the most important episodes, dwell on the writer’s depiction of the “old world”.

Lesson progress

I. Conversation on the issue m:

1. Briefly describe the main stages of the life and work of N. G. Chernyshevsky.

2. Can the life and work of a writer be called a feat?

3. What is the significance of Chernyshevsky’s dissertation for his time? What is relevant in it for our days?

II. Story by a teacher (or a trained student).

The creative history of the novel “What is to be done?”
Prototypes of the novel

Chernyshevsky’s most famous novel “What is to be done?” was written in the solitary confinement cell of the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the shortest possible time: started on December 14, 1862 and completed on April 4, 1863. The novel's manuscript was double censored. First of all, members of the investigative commission, and then the censor of Sovremennik, became acquainted with Chernyshevsky’s work. To say that the censors completely “overlooked” the novel is not entirely true. Censor O. A. Przhetslavsky directly pointed out that “this work... turned out to be an apology for the way of thinking and actions of that category of the modern young generation, which is understood under the name “nihilists and materialists” and who call themselves “new people”. Another censor, V.N. Beketov, seeing the commission’s seal on the manuscript, was “imbued with awe” and let it pass without reading, for which he was fired.

The novel “What to do? From stories about new people” (this is the full title of Chernyshevsky’s work) caused a mixed reaction from readers. Progressive youth spoke with admiration about “What is to be done?” Fierce opponents of Chernyshevsky were forced to admit the “extraordinary power” of the novel’s impact on young people: “Young people followed Lopukhov and Kirsanov in a crowd, young girls became infected with the example of Vera Pavlovna... The minority found their ideal... in Rakhmetov.” Chernyshevsky's enemies, seeing the unprecedented success of the novel, demanded cruel reprisals against the author.

D. I. Pisarev, V. S. Kurochkin and their magazines (“Russian Word”, “Iskra”) and others spoke in defense of the novel.

About prototypes. Literary scholars believe that the plotline is based on the life story of the Chernyshevsky family doctor, Pyotr Ivanovich Bokov. Bokov was the teacher of Maria Obrucheva, then, in order to free her from the oppression of her parents, he married her, but a few years later M. Obrucheva fell in love with another person - the scientist-physiologist I.M. Sechenov. Thus, the prototypes of Lopukhov were Bokov, Vera Pavlovna - Obruchev, Kirsanov - Sechenov.

In the image of Rakhmetov, features of Bakhmetyev, a Saratov landowner, who transferred part of his fortune to Herzen for the publication of a magazine and revolutionary work, are seen. (There is an episode in the novel when Rakhmetov, while abroad, transfers money to Feuerbach for the publication of his works). In the image of Rakhmetov one can also see those character traits that were inherent in Chernyshevsky himself, as well as Dobrolyubov and Nekrasov.

The novel “What to do?” Chernyshevsky dedicated to his wife Olga Sokratovna. In her memoirs, she wrote: “Verochka (Vera Pavlovna) - I, Lopukhov was taken from Bokov.”

The image of Vera Pavlovna captures the character traits of Olga Sokratovna Chernyshevskaya and Maria Obrucheva.

III. Teacher lecture(summary).

Problems of the novel

In "What to do?" the author proposed the theme of a new public figure (mainly from commoners), discovered by Turgenev in “Fathers and Sons,” who replaced the type of “superfluous person.” E. Bazarov’s “nihilism” is opposed by the views of “new people”, his loneliness and tragic death– their cohesion and resilience. “New people” are the main characters of the novel.

Problems of the novel: the emergence of “new people”; people of the “old world” and their social and moral vices; love and emancipation, love and family, love and revolution (D.N. Murin).

About the composition of the novel. Chernyshevsky's novel is structured in such a way that life, reality, appears in it in three time dimensions: in the past, present and future. Past - old world, existing, but already becoming obsolete; the present is the emerging positive principles of life, the activities of “new people”, the existence of new human relationships. The future is an approaching dream (“Vera Pavlovna’s Fourth Dream”). The composition of the novel conveys movement from past to present and future. The author not only dreams of a revolution in Russia, he sincerely believes in its implementation.

About the genre. There is no unanimous opinion on this issue. Yu. M. Prozorov considers “What to do?” Chernyshevsky - socio-ideological novel, Yu. V. Lebedev - philosophical-utopian a novel created according to the laws typical of this genre. The compilers of the bio-bibliographic dictionary “Russian Writers” consider “What to do?” artistic and journalistic novel.

(There is an opinion that Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” is family, detective, journalistic, intellectual, etc.)

IV. Conversation with students on the content of the novel.

Questions :

1. Name the leading characters, convey the content of memorable episodes.

2. How does Chernyshevsky depict the old world?

3. Why did the prudent mother spend a lot of money on her daughter’s education? Were her expectations met?

4. What allows Verochka Rozalskaya to free herself from the oppressive influence of her family and become a “new person”?

6. Show how Aesop’s speech is combined in the depiction of the “old world” with an open expression of the author’s attitude towards what is depicted?

Chernyshevsky showed two social spheres of old life: noble and bourgeois.

Representatives of the nobility - the homeowner and playmaker Storeshnikov, his mother Anna Petrovna, friends and acquaintances of Storeshnikov with names on French manner- Jean, Serge, Julie. These are people who are not capable of work - egoists, “fans and slaves of their own well-being.”

The bourgeois world is represented by the images of Vera Pavlovna’s parents. Marya Alekseevna Rozalskaya is an energetic and enterprising woman. But she looks at her daughter and husband “from the angle of the income that can be extracted from them” (Yu. M. Prozorov).

The writer condemns Marya Alekseevna for greed, selfishness, callousness and narrow-mindedness, but at the same time sympathizes with her, believing that life circumstances made her like this. Chernyshevsky introduces the chapter “A word of praise to Marya Alekseevna” into the novel.

Homework.

1. Read the novel to the end.

2. Messages from students about the main characters: Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna, Rakhmetov.

3. Individual messages (or report) on topics:

1) What is “beautiful” in the life depicted by Chernyshevsky in “The Fourth Dream”?

2) Reflections on aphorisms (“The future is bright and beautiful”).

3) Vera Pavlovna and her workshops.