Woe from the minds of all smart people. True patriotism in the work of A.S.
Fate, naughty minx,
I defined it this way:
To all stupid people - happiness comes from madness,
To all smart people - woe from the mind.
Epigraph to Griboedov's comedy
This was about six to eight months ago. I stood in front of a small bookcase, which made up the entire wealth of the newly founded “Library for Employees” at one of the countless St. Petersburg offices; I was invited to enroll in it, but I did not dare, seeing too small a selection of books.
For mercy's sake, you don't even have Turgenev and Goncharov, which I can find for the same fifty dollars a month in any library... What is your purpose in enrolling?
The young man, with a handwritten catalog in his hand, began to stir.
I reached out to the spine with an unclear inscription, and with amazement pulled out a lanky volume by Pisarev: I did not yet know about the publication of a new edition and looked with curiosity at the “First Volume, with a Biography and Portrait” of the smooth-minded critic. Seeing my attention, the official remarked:
We keep an eye on the books that come out and don’t miss an opportunity. The publication has just appeared, but for a long time it was impossible to get these works at any price...
I looked back at the librarian's face again; it was absolutely impossible to give him more than 21 years of age. “If it weren’t for here, in the office,” I thought, “I would have entered the volunteer force. There are now many thousands of them, even tens of thousands, not ripening in high schools...
Listen, I asked, you don’t mix Pisemsky with Pisarev?..
No, after all, Pisemsky, it seems, is with Novi and, if I’m not mistaken, a novelist? Why would Wolf need a critic for applications? We have a serial library.
I contributed fifty dollars and decided to become a member of the “serious” library.
So from the labor contribution
Temples of God are growing
Across the face of our native land...
Well, before, in stupid times, “temples of God” grew, but now, when the people, thanks to “primary education,” have become wiser, there is something better to grow.
And passers-by give and give...
Nick. Kareevs, Pavlenkovs, Evg. The Solovyovs collect the “mites” and put them in their pockets; sometimes, however, they also cheat, that is, in the noble, literary sense they cheat, “not following the direction”; So, in No. 337 of Novosti, dated December 1, 1895, I just read an announcement, which I quote here in its entirety:
"On sale now fifth edition
philosophical and psychological study
OK. Notovich "Love"
with the appendix of his own critical-philosophical sketch:
"Beauty"
with prefaces by famous representatives of the modern Italian philosophical school C. Lombroso and G. Ferrero, a review by Montegazza (author of “The Physiology of Love”) and “Letters to the Author from Olympus” by D.L. Mordovtseva.
Price of the book (an elegant volume of more than 20 sheets) 1 rub. 50 k. Subscribers to "News" pay only one ruble for the book. Requirements are addressed to the bookstore of the newspaper "Novosti", B. Morskaya, 33."
But just two months ago, the same “News” published the same announcement:
"O.K. Notovich. G.T. Buckle. History of civilization in England in a popular presentation. Tenth edition. St. Petersburg, 1895. C. 50 copies."
And in the Northern Bulletin for December 1895, I even read a review:
“Bockle’s interesting work is still very widely known in Russia. A popular presentation of this work by Mr. Notovich is already published in a very short time tenth edition. One might think that, thanks to Mr. Notovich’s book, Buckle began to penetrate the middle strata of the Russian reading public, and no matter how one looks at the scientific merits of this historical research, one cannot help but recognize the work that Mr. Notovich did as useful. The author's presentation is distinguished by the accuracy of scientific expressions. In literary terms, the book should be recognized as impeccable both in terms of style and in the sense of clarity in conveying Buckle’s main thoughts in a language accessible to those for whom the full edition of his work is not available. The author’s intention would have been crowned with even greater success if for the next 11th edition he had lowered the price of his little book to 20 kopecks per copy” (department II of the December book of the magazine, p. 87).
"On sale now 11-20 thousand copies newly published F. Pavlenkov:
"The History of Civilization in England by T. Buckle."
Translation by A. Buinitsky. With notes. Ts. 2 r. The same translation without notes - 1 rub. 50 k."
I don't know why I started talking about advertisements. I actually wanted to talk about the third book, “The Struggle with the West in Our Literature,” by my good and old friend, N.N. Strakhov, just published by the author; I thought I would help the “book” with a kind review. But too many “advertisements” caught my eye and I involuntarily “swayed my heart”...to other sorrows.
Here “beauty” comes, here “love” helps. I want to say that you and I have old friend who have neither beauty nor, in this special sense, “love”, books will lie on store shelves, unasked for by anyone, absolutely not needed by anyone. They will lie as motionless as the books of our dead friends, yours - Ap. Grigoriev, published in 1876, and mine - K. Leontiev, published in 1885-1886, still not sold out; how the opera omnia of two unforgettable professors of Moscow University, T.N. Granovsky, so “noisily” celebrated in the press and silently not read, and his student - Kudryavtsev; how the “Rural School” of Mr. Rachinsky “lies” calmly, published in 1892 and not requiring a new edition. Everything smart and noble “lies” in Rus' and everything shameless and stupid “goes forward” noisily...
For some reason I think I'm saying about itself, about itself important fact modern literature- more significant and capable of provoking reflection than as if “War and Peace” had appeared, also “Fathers and Sons”... For, in essence, it predetermines all the others... He shows that that literature, on which they think that a few old idealists are working, a few gray wigs stale from the past - that this literature... No at all: she does not exist in that spiritual, ideal, sweet, dear sense that we historically associate with her name and, out of naivety and misunderstanding, continue to preserve to this day.
This is a lost field - the field of literature; the field of civilization, culture, spirit - it is lost. It is now, precisely in our days, when, apparently, everything is shunned before them, when all doors are open for them, their name is welcomed everywhere - in the very greetings, in the very openness of all entrances and exits before her, in the most victorious cries - death knell is heard...
She won and died.
It looks like a charge in the muzzle of a torn, broken gun. Let the gunpowder ignite, let the wad smolder, and those standing around will only laugh...
Let the word of the new prophet be heard; Dante's terzas will still sound - "society" will sleepily reach for the fifth edition of "Love and Beauty", the ninth edition of the abridged Buckle, the nineteenth thousand of the complete "History of Civilization in England" ...
On this lost field, my good and old friend, your book will lie like an extra bone... What is the point that it will lie next to the “noble bones”; This is a field that is not only lost, but, in essence, forgotten. New Time - i.e. not only "New Time" by A.S. Suvorin, but in general the new time, to which Suvorin’s only dances, passes by him, holding his nose “from carrion” - to other pleasures, to other joys - the very same ones that appear in the “ads” I cited.
Dear friend, I think all we can do is die. Russia, which we defended, which we love, for which we “fought with the West,” all that remains for it is to die.
The Russia we are going to live in - we will not love this Russia.
These poor villages
This dull nature...
Will not understand or appreciate
Proud look of a foreigner,
What shines through and secretly shines
In your humble beauty...
These “poor villages” take on a new, very lively, but also very unexpected appearance:
One foot touching the floor,
The other - slowly circling,
And suddenly - a jump, and suddenly - flying,
Flies like feathers from the lips of Aeolus...
We cannot wish her any good in this new “flight”; We wish her every harm.
Dejected by the burden of the godmother,
All of you, dear land,
In slave form, the King of Heaven
Came out blessing...
I want to cry; however, why not laugh:
Flies like feathers from the lips of Aeolus,
Either the camp will sow, then it will develop
And with a quick foot he hits the leg.
Oh, how we hate you, makers of sad change; you and even those great ones, on whom, pressing like a small weight on the end of a long lever, you made a revolution: all of them, from Kantemir, still naive, and to the evil Shchedrin, not excluding, however, those in between.
“Woe comes from the mind,” said the great; “There’s no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked,” they reassured. And thousands of monkey faces, pointing at the verbal “mirror”, burst into Homeric laughter; thousands of fools, taking a tragic pose, said that they were suffocating “in their homeland”, that they were “stuffy”, that “invisible tears” were burning their hearts “through the laughter visible to the world”...
Old crosses swayed, old graves moved aside.
A new time has come, a new era has come, at which we do not know how to laugh, at which we still no forms of laughter have been invented. There is "Love" and "Beauty".
Not very important “beauty” - not Aphrodite of Medicine, and not very rare love - on Bolshaya Morskaya, house 33, costs only one ruble. But still...
Maybe, however, the doctor will have to pay three rubles later?..
“Without risk, there is no pleasure,” as my friend Mr. Arsenyev would note fragmentarily.
But there is absolutely no risk; about this Mr. N. Mikhailovsky, when he wrote “literature and life”, and also “literature and life” and again then “literature and life”, warned his young readers, blooming with strength and health, saying that “it will come out soon, in a very good, albeit old translation of Buinitsky, an English thinker, compared to whom our native Yasnaya Polyana sage is much poorer.” And Mr. Skabichevsky confirms this - he, in his old age, took refuge under the same fig tree, on Bolshaya Morskaya, no. 33, where Buckle comes from and where they practice “love” and “beauty.”
How mixed up you are, the worms; and you can’t tell where someone starts and where they end. Mikhailovsky recommends Buckle; Notovich him popularizes and publishes in nine editions; V same time he composes "beauty" in an original way and "Love"; he has the “critic of the 60s”, Mr. Skabichevsky, dear to the heart of N. Mikhailovsky, collaborates; Pavlenkov publishes the same Boklya, and Evg. Solovyov writes a “preface” to it. Everyone is apparently "sympathetic to each other."
“This beauty is expensive,” old Marmeladov said about his daughter: she needs fondant, and this and that; without cleanliness - in this situation it is impossible.”
In 1891, Mr. N. Mikhailovsky asked me, in response to the article “Why are we abandoning the inheritance of the 60s and 70s?” - "why are you doing this unfounded refuse without decisively none fact." He wrote then:
"In his article, Mr. Rozanov develops the idea that we, older generation, understood such a complex creature as man, - poor, flat, rough. He does not support his idea with a single factual evidence, not a single quote, not even a single anecdote. It is very easy to write like this, but it is difficult to convince someone of anything with such writing. Even now, perhaps, I can write about some, for example, London art gallery, which I have never seen, that the art presented there is poor, flat, and crude. I can do the same with Danish literature, with Spanish industry, in a word - with any group of phenomena that is little known to me or not known at all. And I am inclined to think that Mr. Rozanov knows very little about the inheritance that he so solemnly renounces. Unsubstantiated I can counter Mr. Rozanov’s opinion with something equally unfounded. Never in our history has man been understood so sublimely and subtly as in those memorable 60s. There were, of course, hobbies and mistakes...", etc. (Russian Vedomosti, 1891, No. 202).
Now, having thrown this ball of worms in his face, where he himself “with Buckle” is fussing about “love” and “beauty” - I can answer, although late, but definitively about the motives for “refusing” the inheritance in the 80s 60-70s":
Gentlemen, they forgot the fudge - they didn’t keep it clean: it smells very bad.
And I can add, looking at all Russian literature, from the archaic Cantemir and... to the “third book” of “The Fight with the West” * of my good and old friend - a book that will probably have to lie on the shelves of bookstores.
______________________
* By the way, in one place it is mentioned that “one of the glorious flock,” Mr. N. Mikhailovsky, announced its author, i.e. Mr. N. Strakhov, “a complete nonentity”; he probably looked for “love” in her and found a doctor’s prescription. I myself remember how I read somewhere in his “Literature and Life” mockery of the fact that “Zarya,” the magazine in which Ap. Grigoriev, N.Ya. Danilevsky and N. Strakhov - “did not know any subscribers at all,” and the editors “tried to hide this from the public” in order to lure at least someone to subscribe to New Year... He even advertisements I didn’t forget about subscribing to a hostile magazine; He even reproached them, a body of literature already dying from the indifference of society, where, however, the best, most serious works on criticism and history, now recognized by all, were published. “You were exhausted,” says a generous critic of the 70s, “you were exhausted - and you dared to pretend that your lungs were full of air”...
______________________
Who needs "woe from mind" - in real life! And “who,” on the contrary, “lives well in Rus'”? And whose, finally, little-human face is reflected in the “non-distorting mirror” of the great and sad satirist?..
Who is it specific, By name And patronymic called, about whom all this was impersonally written in our literature? To whom exactly
Free, fun
Lives in Rus'?
And who is that “invisibly shedding” tears in her, about whom great artist I wrote it in my “poem” and forgot subscribe Name?..
What a tragedy, what an unspeakable tragedy is our life, our history, if it is in front of this suffering, exhausted, crying face, holding up the mirror of satire, that our literature wheezes impudently and drunkenly:
No point in blaming the mirror
- if the face is crooked
And bursts into uncontrollable laughter, more wild and bestial than any better days of their triumph, the gentlemen “one fatter” and “others thinner” laughed at the memorable governor’s ball.
Departed shadows and you, living righteous people, scattered throughout the bearish corners of Russia - I call you as witnesses: is this so?
Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov (1856-1919) - Russian religious philosopher, literary critic and publicist, one of the most controversial Russian philosophers of the 20th century.
Answer from Anatoly Roset[guru]
Literary scholars consider the author of these lines to be A.I. Polezhaev.
The “epigraph” to “Woe from Wit” was unreasonably attributed to Griboedov:
Fate is a prankster, minx
I defined it this way:
To all stupid people happiness comes from madness,
And for the smart - woe from the mind.
(Variant of the second verse: “She arranged the world this way”). This epigraph, available in the lists of 1824, was introduced about 20 times by the comedy in publications of 1860 - 1912. However, this epigraph is not in any of the authorized lists, nor are there any other indications that it belonged to Griboyedov. In some lists, its author is named A.I. Polezhaev.
IN ANY CASE, THE AUTHOR OF THESE LINES IS NOT A MUSHROOM-EATER!
(for Natalie: and NOT VYAZEMSKY!)
Source:
Reply from CJ Stratos[expert]
maybe Griboyedov...
Reply from Natalia Askerova[guru]
“Fate is a prankish minx, she distributed everything herself: To all the stupid - happiness from madness, to all the smart - woe from the mind” - This is the epigraph “awarded” by Vyazemsky immortal comedy Griboedova.
Reply from Oleg Kozlov[newbie]
I agree with the last point:
I haven't seen any happy smart people.
But about the madmen of happiness
I would say twice more.
Reply from Alexander Kulikov[newbie]
These lines belong to Nikolai Dorizo
Reply from Anatoly Rybakov[newbie]
very similar to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
Reply from 3 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Who is the author: Fate is a prankish minx, she distributed everything herself: To all the stupid - happiness from madness, to all the smart - woe from the mind?
Interactive exhibition of one book for the birthday of A. S. Griboedov.
Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov - a famous Russian writer, poet, playwright, brilliant diplomat, state councilor, author of the legendary play in verse "Woe from Wit", was a descendant of the ancient noble family. Born in Moscow on January 15 (January 4, O.S.), 1795, with early years proved himself to be an extremely developed, and versatile, child. Wealthy parents tried to give him an excellent home education, and in 1803 Alexander became a pupil of the Moscow University Noble Boarding School. At the age of eleven he was already a student at Moscow University (literature department). Having become a candidate of literary sciences in 1808, Griboyedov graduated from two more departments - moral-political and physical-mathematical. Alexander Sergeevich became one of the most educated people among his contemporaries, knew about a dozen foreign languages, and was very gifted musically.
With the beginning Patriotic War 1812 Griboyedov joined the ranks of volunteers, but he did not have to directly participate in hostilities. In 1815, with the rank of cornet, Griboyedov served in a cavalry regiment that was in reserve. The first literary experiments date back to this time - the comedy “The Young Spouses”, which was a translation of a French play, the article “On Cavalry Reserves”, “Letter from Brest-Litovsk to the Publisher”.
At the beginning of 1816, A. Griboyedov retired and came to live in St. Petersburg. While working at the College of Foreign Affairs, he continues his studies in a new field of writing, makes translations, and joins theatrical and literary circles. It was in this city that fate gave him the acquaintance of A. Pushkin. In 1817, A. Griboyedov tried his hand at drama, writing the comedies “My Family” and “Student”.
In 1818, Griboyedov was appointed to the position of secretary of the tsar's attorney, who headed the Russian mission in Tehran, and this radically changed his further biography. The deportation of Alexander Sergeevich to a foreign land was regarded as punishment for the fact that he acted as a second in a scandalous duel with a fatal outcome. The stay in Iranian Tabriz (Tavriz) was indeed painful for the aspiring writer.
In the winter of 1822, Tiflis became Griboyedov’s new place of service, and General A.P. became the new chief. Ermolov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Tehran, commander of Russian troops in the Caucasus, under whom Griboyedov was secretary for diplomatic affairs. It was in Georgia that he wrote the first and second acts of the comedy “Woe from Wit.” The third and fourth acts were already composed in Russia: in the spring of 1823, Griboyedov left the Caucasus on vacation to his homeland. In 1824, in St. Petersburg, the last point was put in the work, the path to fame of which turned out to be thorny. The comedy could not be published due to censorship and was sold in handwritten copies. Only small fragments “slipped” into print: in 1825 they were included in the issue of the almanac “Russian Waist”. Griboyedov’s brainchild was highly appreciated by A.S. Pushkin.
Griboyedov planned to take a trip to Europe, but in May 1825 he had to urgently return to service in Tiflis. In January 1826, in connection with the Decembrist case, he was arrested, kept in a fortress, and then taken to St. Petersburg: the writer’s name came up several times during interrogations, and handwritten copies of his comedy were found during searches. Nevertheless, due to lack of evidence, the investigation had to release Griboyedov, and in September 1826 he returned to his official duties.
In 1828, the Turkmanchay Peace Treaty was signed, which corresponded to the interests of Russia. He played a certain role in the biography of the writer: Griboedov took part in its conclusion and delivered the text of the agreement to St. Petersburg. For his services, the talented diplomat was awarded new position- Plenipotentiary Minister (Ambassador) of Russia in Persia. Alexander Sergeevich saw his appointment as a “political exile”; plans for the implementation of numerous creative ideas collapsed. With a heavy heart, in June 1828, Griboedov left St. Petersburg.
Getting to his place of duty, he lived for several months in Tiflis, where in August his wedding took place with 16-year-old Nina Chavchavadze. He left for Persia with his young wife. There were forces in the country and beyond its borders that were not satisfied with the growing influence of Russia, which cultivated hostility towards its representatives in the minds of the local population. On January 30, 1829, the Russian embassy in Tehran was brutally attacked by a brutal crowd, and one of its victims was A.S. Griboyedov, who was disfigured to such an extent that he was later identified only by a characteristic scar on his hand. The body was taken to Tiflis, where its last resting place was the grotto at the Church of St. David.
To all stupid people - happiness comes from madness,
To all smart people - woe from the mind.
Word patriotism comes from the word “patris”, which translates as “homeland”, fathers, love for the homeland, affection for native land, language, culture, traditions.
Even as a child, my parents instilled in me a love for my Motherland, a love for its people. Even despite how many difficult periods our Russia has gone through, people have always fought for it, given their lives in war, worked in its fields - this patriotism of the people was able to elevate the country to an honorable world pedestal, despite all attempts to distort this truth.
The vast expanses of Russia stretch over 17 thousand square kilometers. Here are all the beauties of the Earth: deep forests, wide fields, highest mountains, fast rivers, bright flower meadows, raging seas and oceans. Many encroached on these territories, but the Russian people never wanted to give up their native and beloved lands to someone else. Therefore, there was always a struggle for life. And now, we live in a huge country, under a bright blue peaceful sky, we have everything for a comfortable life.
Russia is proud not only of its size and natural resources, but also of the great ones, who have made a huge contribution to the development of the Russian language and the “true Russian word.”
And I, as a representative of the younger generation, sincerely wish to contribute to this section. The first material was dedicated, and I, in turn, would like to talk about A.S. Griboyedov and discuss the true and false in this author’s great work “Woe from Wit.”
Biographical information
Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov was born on January 4 (15), 1795 into a wealthy, well-born family. As a child, Alexander was very focused and unusually developed. At the age of 6 he was fluent in three foreign languages, in his youth already six, in particular fluent in English, French, German and Italian. He understood Latin and ancient Greek very well.
In 1803 he was sent to the Moscow University Noble Boarding School; three years later, Griboyedov entered the university at the verbal department of Moscow University.
In 1808 he received the title of candidate of literary sciences, but did not leave his studies, but entered the moral and political department, and then the physics and mathematics department.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, when the enemy appeared on Russian territory, he joined the Moscow Hussar Regiment (a volunteer irregular unit) of Count Pyotr Ivanovich Saltykov, who received permission to form it. Arriving at his duty station, he found himself in the company “young cornets from the best noble families”- Prince Golitsyn, Count Efimovsky, Count Tolstoy, Alyabyev, Sheremetev, Lansky, the Shatilov brothers. Griboyedov was related to some of them. Until 1815, Griboedov served in the rank of cornet under the command of a cavalry general.
In the spring of 1816, the aspiring writer left military service, and in the summer he published the article “On the analysis of the free translation of the Burger ballad “Lenora” - a response to the critical remarks of N. I. Gnedich about the ballad “Olga” by P. A. Katenin. At the same time, Griboyedov’s name appears on the lists of active members Masonic lodge"Les Amis Reunis" ("United Friends").
In 1818 he was appointed secretary of the Russian mission in Tehran. Since 1822, he was in Tbilisi secretary for diplomatic affairs under the commander of Russian troops in the Caucasus, A.P. Ermolov. Here Griboedov began writing the comedy “Woe from Wit.” Like the Decembrists, Griboyedov hated the autocratic serfdom system, but was skeptical about the possibility of success of a purely military conspiracy.
“Woe from Wit” is the main work of Alexander Griboyedov. It reflected an entire historical era. The idea of “Woe from Wit” and the content of the comedy are connected with the ideas of the Decembrists. The dramatic conflict of the comedy was an expression of the struggle between two social camps: the feudal-serf reaction and the progressive youth, from whose midst the Decembrists emerged. In the comedy it is also given, in the words of Pushkin, “...a sharp picture of morals” lordly Moscow.
Sent in April 1828 as the plenipotentiary resident minister (ambassador) to Iran, Griboyedov treated this appointment as a political exile. On his way to Iran, Griboyedov again spent several months in Georgia; in Tbilisi he married Nina Chavchavadze, the daughter of his friend, the Georgian poet A. Chavchavadze.
As an ambassador, Griboyedov pursued a firm policy. “...Respect for Russia and its demands - that’s what I need”, he said. Fearing the strengthening of Russian influence in Iran, agents of British diplomacy and reactionary Tehran circles, dissatisfied with the peace with Russia, set a fanatical crowd against the Russian mission. During the defeat of the mission, Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov was killed, his entire body was disfigured. He was buried in Tbilisi on Mount David.
True and false patriotism in the comedy “Woe from Wit”.
“Woe from Wit” is a unique comedy by a brilliant writer, but it was not fully published during Griboyedov’s lifetime. The idea of the comedy is to combine secular comedy with the comedy of manners. There are two plot conflicts in this work: social and love.
The main character is Chatsky. Throughout the comedy, we observe that this hero demonstrates mental health, cheerfulness, love of life, honesty, and most importantly - "enlightening mind".
His antagonist Famusov values only rank and money. He is deceitful and two-faced. He rejects books, saying: “I would like to take all the books and burn them.”
“I would be glad to serve
It’s sickening to be served..."- says A.A. Chatsky. A true patriot does everything for his benefit. Chatsky’s whole tragedy was that he advocated for society to reach a new stage of development. So that the “past century” can be replaced by the “present century”. He was a defender of individual freedom and ridiculed those who blindly imitate foreign fashion. Alexander Andreevich calls the people “kind and smart”; he suffers from the fate of this very people. The vices and flaws of Famus society especially make one suffer. He worries about the landowners' bullying of the peasants.
He spent all his mental strength to bring noble ideas into the “Famus society,” but under the influence of the prevailing force he failed.
“That’s it, you are all proud!
Would you ask what the fathers did?
We should learn from our elders”- words from the monologue of P.A. Famusova. He condemns progressive youth and calls on them to listen to the older generation. Pavel Afanasyevich does not advocate the development of society; he is accustomed to one that has existed for a long time. In the “Famus” society, everything is based on connections, and this model of life seems ideal to members of Moscow society; they consider it the only correct one and do not want any changes.
So what conclusions can we draw?
The image of Chatsky is the image of a citizen in the high sense of the word. He is a true patriot who always stands for the development of society, rejects all wrong positions, and has a sense of justice and equality.
The false patriot sits still and thinks this is right. His patriotism is only in words. He doesn’t want anything better for his country, citing the fact that he already has a good life and doesn’t need anything. Such pseudo-patriots are also called “leavened”.
