M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”: description, characters, analysis of the work. Description of the city of Foolov in the history of one city of Saltykov-Shchedrin Literary direction and genre

Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel “The History of a City” was written during 1869-1870, but the writer worked not only on it, so the novel was written intermittently. The first chapters were published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski No. 1, where Saltykov-Shchedrin was the editor-in-chief. But until the end of the year, work on the novel stopped, as Saltykov-Shchedrin took up writing fairy tales, completed several unfinished works and continued to write literary criticism.

The continuation of “The History of a City” was published in 5 issues of “Notes of the Fatherland” for 1870. In the same year, the book was published as a separate edition.

Literary direction and genre

Saltykov-Shchedrin is a writer of a realistic direction. Immediately after the book was published, critics defined the genre variety of the novel as a historical satire, and treated the novel differently.

From an objective point of view, Saltykov-Shchedrin is as great a historian as he is a wonderful satirist. His novel is a parody of chronicle sources, primarily “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

Saltykov-Shchedrin offers his own version of history, which differs from the versions of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s contemporaries (mentioned by the first chronicler Kostomarov, Solovyov, Pypin).

In the chapter “From the Publisher,” Mr. M. Shchedrin himself notes the fantastic nature of some episodes (the mayor with music, the mayor flying through the air, the mayor’s feet facing backwards). At the same time, he stipulates that “the fantastic nature of the stories does not in the least eliminate their administrative and educational significance.” This satirical phrase means that “The History of a City” cannot be considered as a fantastic text, but as a mythological one that explains the mentality of the people.

The fantastic nature of the novel is associated with the grotesque, which allows one to depict the typical through extreme exaggeration and deformation of the image.

Some researchers find dystopian features in “The History of a City.”

Topics and problems

The theme of the novel is the hundred-year history of the city of Foolov - an allegory of the Russian state. The history of the city is the biographies of mayors and descriptions of their great deeds: collection of arrears, imposition of tribute, campaigns against ordinary people, construction and destruction of pavements, fast travel on postal roads...

Thus, Saltykov-Shchedrin raises the problem of the essence of history, which is beneficial for the state to consider as the history of power, and not the history of compatriots.

Contemporaries accused the writer of revealing the supposedly false essence of reformism, which led to the deterioration and complication of the people's life.

The democrat Saltykov-Shchedrin was concerned about the problem of the relationship between man and the state. Mayors, for example, Borodavkin, believe that the meaning of life for “ordinary people” living in the state (not on earth!) is in pensions (that is, in state benefits). Saltykov-Shchedrin understands that the state and ordinary people live on their own. The writer knew this first-hand, having himself for some time played the role of “mayor” (he was vice-governor in Ryazan and Tver).

One of the problems that worried the writer was the study of the mentality of his compatriots, their national character traits that influence their position in life and cause “insecurity in life, arbitrariness, improvidence, and lack of faith in the future.”

Plot and composition

The composition of the novel from the moment of its first publication in the magazine was changed by the author himself, for example, the chapter “On the root of the origin of the Foolovites” was placed third, following the introductory chapters, which corresponded to the logic of the ancient Russian chronicle, starting with mythology. And the supporting documents (the writings of the three mayors) were moved to the end, as historical documents are often placed in relation to the author’s text.

The last chapter, appendix “Letter to the Editor,” is Shchedrin’s indignant response to a review in which he was accused of “mockery of the people.” In this letter, the author explains the idea of ​​his work, in particular, that his satire is directed against “those features of Russian life that make it not entirely comfortable.”

“Address to the Reader” was written by the last of the four chroniclers, archivist Pavlushka Masloboinikov. Here Saltykov-Shchedrin imitates real chronicles that had several authors.

The chapter “On the Roots of the Origin of the Foolovites” talks about the myths and prehistoric era of the Foolovites. The reader learns about tribes warring among themselves, about the renaming of blockheads into Foolovites, about the search for a ruler and the enslavement of the Foolovites, who found for themselves a prince who was not only stupid, but also cruel, the principle of whose rule was embodied in the word “I’ll screw up,” which begins the historical period of Foolov. The historical period considered in the novel occupies a whole century, from 1731 to 1825.

“Inventory to the mayors” is a brief description of 22 mayors, which emphasizes the absurdity of history by the concentration of the described madmen, of whom the least, “having done nothing,... was removed for ignorance.”

The next 10 chapters are devoted to describing the most prominent mayors in chronological order.

Heroes and images

“The Most Remarkable Mayors” deserved closer attention from the publisher.

Dementiy Varlamovich Brudasty is “more than strange.” He is silent and gloomy, also cruel (the first thing he did was flog all the coachmen), and is prone to fits of rage. Brudasty also has a positive quality - he is managerial, puts in order the arrears left behind by his predecessors. True, he does this in one way - officials catch citizens, flog them and flog them, and seize their property.

The Foolovites are horrified by such rule. They are saved by the breakdown of the mechanism that is located in Brudasty’s head. This is an organ that repeats only two phrases: “I will ruin” and “I will not tolerate.” The appearance of the second Brudasty with a new head relieves the Foolovites from a couple of organs, declared impostors.

Many of the characters are satires on real rulers. For example, the six mayors are empresses of the 18th century. Their internecine warfare lasted 6 days, and on the seventh day Dvoekurov arrived in the city.

Dvoekurov is a “man of the forefront,” an innovator who was engaged in fruitful activities in Glupov: he paved two streets, opened brewing and mead making, forced everyone to use mustard and bay leaves, and flogged the disobedient, but “with consideration,” that is, for the cause.

Three whole chapters are dedicated to Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko, the foreman. Ferdyshchenko is Prince Potemkin’s former orderly, a simple man, “good-natured and somewhat lazy.” The Foolovites consider the mayor stupid, a fool, they laugh at his tongue-tiedness, and call him a rogue old man.

During the 6 years of Ferdyshchenko's reign, the Foolovites forgot about the oppression, but in the seventh year Ferdyshchenko went berserk and took away his husband's wife Alyonka, after which a drought began. The Foolovites, in a fit of rage, threw Alyonka from the bell tower, but Ferdyshchenko was inflamed with love for the archer Domashka. For this, the Foolovites suffered a terrible fire.

Ferdyshchenko repented before the people on his knees, but his tears were hypocritical. At the end of his life, Ferdyshchenko traveled around the pasture, where he died of gluttony.

Vasilisk Semyonovich Wartkin (satire on Peter 1) is a brilliant city ruler, under him Foolov experiences a golden age. Wartkin was small in stature and not stately in appearance, but he was loud. He was a writer and a brave utopian, a political dreamer. Before conquering Byzantium, Wartkin conquers the Foolovites with “wars for enlightenment”: he reintroduces mustard, forgotten after Dvoekurov, into use (for which he undertakes an entire military campaign with sacrifices), demands to build houses on a stone foundation, plant Persian chamomile and establish an academy in Foolov. The obstinacy of the Foolovites was defeated along with contentment. The French Revolution showed that the education instilled by Wartkin was harmful.

Onufriy Ivanovich Negodyaev, a captain and former stoker, began the era of retirement from wars. The mayor tests the Foolovites for their toughness. As a result of the tests, the Foolovites became wild: they grew hair and sucked their paws, because there was no food or clothing.

Ksaviry Georgievich Mikaladze is a descendant of Queen Tamara, who has a seductive appearance. He shook hands with his subordinates, smiled affectionately, and won hearts “solely through graceful manners.” Mikaladze stops education and executions and does not issue laws.

Mikaladze's reign was peaceful, punishments were mild. The mayor's only drawback is his love for women. He doubled the population of Foolov, but died of exhaustion.

Feofilakt Irinarkhovich Benevolinsky - state councilor, assistant to Speransky. This is a satire on Speransky himself. Benevolinsky loved to engage in lawmaking. The laws he came up with are as meaningless as the “Charter on the Respectable Baking of Pies.” The mayor's laws are so stupid that they do not interfere with the prosperity of the Foolovites, so they become fatter than ever. Benevolinsky was exiled for his connection with Napoleon and called a scoundrel.

Ivan Panteleevich Pryshch does not make laws and governs simply, in the spirit of “limitless liberalism.” He rests himself and persuades the Foolovites to do so. Both the townspeople and the mayor are getting richer.

The leader of the nobility finally realizes that Pimple has a stuffed head, and eats it without a trace.

Mayor Nikodim Osipovich Ivanov is also stupid, because his height does not allow him to “accommodate anything extensive,” but this quality of the mayor benefits the Foolovites. Ivanov either died of fright, having received a “too extensive” decree, or was fired due to his brain drying out from their inaction and became the founder of microcephaly.

Erast Andreevich Grustilov is a satire on Alexander 1, a sensitive person. The subtlety of Grustilov's feelings is deceptive. He is voluptuous, in the past he hid government money, he is debauched, “in a hurry to live and enjoy,” so that he inclines the Foolovites towards paganism. Grustilov is arrested and dies of melancholy. During his reign, the Foolovites lost the habit of working.

Gloomy-Burcheev is a satire on Arakcheev. He is a scoundrel, a terrible person, “the purest type of idiot.” This mayor exhausts, scolds and destroys the Foolovites, for which he is nicknamed Satan. He has a wooden face, his gaze is free from thought and shameless. Gloomy-Burcheev is impassive, limited, but full of determination. He is like the force of nature, going ahead in a straight line, not recognizing reason.

Gloomy-Burcheev destroys the city and builds Nepreklonsk in a new place, but he fails to control the river. It seems that nature itself is ridding the Foolovites of him, carrying him away in a tornado.

The arrival of Gloomy-Burcheev, as well as the phenomenon that follows him, called “it”, is a picture of an apocalypse that ceases the existence of history.

Artistic originality

Saltykov-Shchedrin skillfully changes the speech of different narrators in the novel. The publisher M.E. Saltykov stipulates that he corrected only the “heavy and outdated style” of the Chronicler. In the address to the reader of the last archivist chronicler, whose work was published 45 years after it was written, there are outdated words of high style: if, this, such. But the publisher allegedly did not correct this particular appeal to readers.

The entire address of the last chronicler is written in the best traditions of the oratory art of antiquity, contains a series of rhetorical questions, and is replete with metaphors and comparisons, mainly from the ancient world. At the end of the introduction, the chronicler, following the biblical tradition widespread in Rus', humiliates himself, calling him a “meager vessel,” and compares Foolov with Rome, and Foolov benefits from the comparison.

The idea for the book was formed by Saltykov-Shchedrin gradually, over several years. In 1867, the writer composed and presented to the public a new fairy-tale-fiction “The Story of the Governor with a Stuffed Head” (it forms the basis of the chapter known to us called “The Organ”). In 1868, the author began work on a full-length novel. This process took a little over a year (1869-1870). The work was originally entitled “Foolish Chronicler.” The title “The History of a City,” which became the final version, appeared later. The literary work was published in parts in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski.

Due to inexperience, some people consider Saltykov-Shchedrin’s book to be a story or a fairy tale, but this is not so. Such voluminous literature cannot claim the title of short prose. The genre of the work “The History of a City” is larger and is called a “satirical novel.” It represents a kind of chronological review of the fictional town of Foolov. His fate is recorded in chronicles, which the author finds and publishes, accompanying them with his own comments.

Also, terms such as “political pamphlet” and “satirical chronicle” can be applied to this book, but it only absorbed some features of these genres, and is not their “purebred” literary embodiment.

What is the work about?

The writer allegorically conveyed the history of Russia, which he assessed critically. He called the inhabitants of the Russian Empire “Foolovites.” They are residents of the city of the same name, whose life is described in the Foolov Chronicle. This ethnic group originated from an ancient people called “bunglers”. For their ignorance they were renamed accordingly.

The Headbangers were at enmity with neighboring tribes, as well as with each other. And so, tired of quarrels and unrest, they decided to find themselves a ruler who would establish order. After three years they found a suitable prince who agreed to rule over them. Together with the acquired power, people founded the city of Foolov. This is how the writer outlined the formation of Ancient Rus' and Rurik’s calling to reign.

At first, the ruler sent them a governor, but he stole, and then he arrived in person and imposed strict order. This is how Saltykov-Shchedrin imagined the period of feudal fragmentation in medieval Russia.

Next, the writer interrupts the narrative and lists the biographies of famous mayors, each of which is a separate and complete story. The first was Dementy Varlamovich Brudasty, in whose head there was an organ that played only two compositions: “I won’t tolerate it!” and “I’ll ruin you!” Then his head broke, and anarchy set in - the turmoil that came after the death of Ivan the Terrible. It was his author who portrayed him in the image of Brudasty. Next, identical twin impostors appeared, but they were soon removed - this is the appearance of False Dmitry and his followers.

Anarchy reigned for a week, during which six mayors replaced each other. This is the era of palace coups, when the Russian Empire was ruled only by women and intrigue.

Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov, who established mead making and brewing, is most likely a prototype of Peter the Great, although this assumption runs counter to historical chronology. But the reformist activities and iron hand of the ruler are very similar to the characteristics of the emperor.

The bosses changed, their conceit grew in proportion to the degree of absurdity in the work. Frankly insane reforms or hopeless stagnation were ruining the country, the people were sliding into poverty and ignorance, and the elite either feasted, then fought, or hunted for the female sex. The alternation of continuous mistakes and defeats led to horrific consequences, satirically described by the author. In the end, the last ruler of the Gloomy-Burcheev dies, and after his death the narrative ends, and because of the open ending, there is a glimmer of hope for changes for the better.

Nestor also described the history of the emergence of Rus' in The Tale of Bygone Years. The author draws this parallel specifically to hint who he means by the Foolovites, and who are all these mayors: a flight of fantasy or real Russian rulers? The writer makes it clear that he is not describing the entire human race, but rather Russia and its depravity, reshaping its fate in his own way.

The composition is arranged in chronological sequence, the work has a classic linear narrative, but each chapter is a container for a full-fledged plot, which has its own heroes, events and results.

Description of the city

Foolov is in a distant province, we learn about this when Brudasty’s head deteriorates on the road. This is a small settlement, a county, because they come to take away two impostors from the province, that is, the town is only a small part of it. It doesn’t even have an academy, but thanks to the efforts of Dvoekurov, mead making and brewing are thriving. It is divided into “settlements”: “Pushkarskaya settlement, followed by the settlements Bolotnaya and Negodnitsa.” Agriculture is developed there, since the drought, which occurred due to the sins of the next boss, greatly affects the interests of the residents, they are even ready to rebel. With Pimple, harvests increase, which pleases the Foolovites immensely. “The History of a City” is replete with dramatic events, the cause of which is the agrarian crisis.

Gloomy-Burcheev fought with the river, from which we conclude that the district is located on the shore, in a hilly area, since the mayor is leading the people in search of a plain. The main place in this region is the bell tower: unwanted citizens are thrown from it.

Main characters

1. The prince is a foreign ruler who agreed to take power over the Foolovites. He is cruel and narrow-minded, because he sent thieving and worthless governors, and then led with only one phrase: “I’ll screw it up.” The history of one city and the characteristics of the heroes began with it.
2. Dementy Varlamovich Brudasty is a withdrawn, gloomy, silent owner of a head with an organ that plays two phrases: “I won’t tolerate it!” and “I’ll ruin you!” His apparatus for making decisions became damp on the road, they could not repair it, so they sent for a new one to St. Petersburg, but the working head was delayed and never arrived. Prototype of Ivan the Terrible.
3. Iraida Lukinichna Paleologova is the wife of the mayor, who ruled the city for a day. An allusion to Sophia Paleolog, the second wife of Ivan IIII, grandmother of Ivan the Terrible.
4. Clémentine de Bourbon is the mother of the mayor, she also happened to rule for one day.
5. Amalia Karlovna Shtokfish is a pompadour who also wanted to stay in power. German names and surnames of women - the author’s humorous look at the era of German favoritism, as well as a number of crowned persons of foreign origin: Anna Ioanovna, Catherine the Second, etc.
6. Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov is a reformer and educator: “He introduced mead making and brewing and made it mandatory to use mustard and bay leaves. He also wanted to open the Academy of Sciences, but did not have time to complete the reforms he had begun.
7. Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko (a parody of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov) is a cowardly, weak-willed, loving politician, under whom there was order in Foolov for 6 years, but then he fell in love with a married woman Alena and exiled her husband to Siberia so that she would succumb to his onslaught. The woman succumbed, but fate struck a drought on the people, and people began to die of hunger. There was a riot (referring to the salt riot of 1648), as a result of which the ruler’s mistress died and was thrown from the bell tower. Then the mayor complained to the capital, and they sent him soldiers. The uprising was suppressed, and he found himself a new passion, because of which disasters occurred again - fires. But they also dealt with them, and he, having gone on a trip to Foolov, died from overeating. It is obvious that the hero did not know how to restrain his desires and fell into their weak-willed victim.
8. Vasilisk Semenovich Wartkin, an imitator of Dvoekurov, imposed reforms with fire and sword. Decisive, likes to plan and organize. Unlike my colleagues, I studied the history of Foolov. However, he himself was not far off: he instituted a military campaign against his own people, in the darkness “friends fought with their own.” Then he carried out an unsuccessful transformation in the army, replacing the soldiers with tin copies. With his battles he brought the city to complete exhaustion. After him, Negodyaev completed the plunder and destruction.
9. Cherkeshenin Mikeladze, a passionate hunter of the female sex, was only concerned with arranging his rich personal life at the expense of his official position.
10. Feofilakt Irinarkhovich Benevolensky (a parody of Alexander the First) is a university friend of Speransky (the famous reformer), who composed laws at night and scattered them around the city. He loved to be clever and show off, but did nothing useful. Dismissed for high treason (relations with Napoleon).
11. Lieutenant Colonel Pimple is the owner of a head stuffed with truffles, which the leader of the nobility ate in a hungry fit. Under him, agriculture flourished, since he did not interfere in the lives of his charges and did not interfere with their work.
12. State Councilor Ivanov is an official who arrived from St. Petersburg, who “turned out to be so small in stature that he could not contain anything spacious” and burst from the strain of comprehending the next thought.
13. The emigrant Viscount de Chariot is a foreigner who, instead of working, just had fun and threw balls. Soon he was sent abroad for idleness and embezzlement. It was later discovered that he was female.
14. Erast Andreevich Grustilov is a lover of carousing at public expense. Under him, the population stopped working in the fields and became interested in paganism. But the wife of the pharmacist Pfeiffer came to the mayor and imposed new religious views on him, he began to organize readings and confessional gatherings instead of feasts, and, having learned about this, the higher authorities deprived him of his post.
15. Gloomy-Burcheev (a parody of Arakcheev, a military official) is a martinet who planned to give the whole city a barracks-like appearance and order. He despised education and culture, but wanted all citizens to have the same homes and families on the same streets. The official destroyed the entire Foolov, moved it to a lowland, but then a natural disaster occurred, and the official was carried away by a storm.

This is where the list of heroes ends. The mayors in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel are people who, by adequate standards, are in no way capable of managing any populated area and being the personification of power. All their actions are completely fantastic, meaningless and often contradict one another. One ruler builds, the other destroys everything. One comes to replace the other, but nothing changes in people's life. There are no significant changes or improvements. The politicians in “The Story of a City” have common features - tyranny, pronounced depravity, bribery, greed, stupidity and despotism. Outwardly, the characters retain an ordinary human appearance, while the inner content of the personality is fraught with a thirst for suppression and oppression of the people for the purpose of profit.

Themes

• Power. This is the main theme of the work “The History of a City,” which is revealed in a new way in each chapter. Mainly, it is seen through the prism of a satirical image of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s contemporary political structure in Russia. The satire here is aimed at two aspects of life - to show how destructive autocracy is and to reveal the passivity of the masses. In relation to autocracy, it is a complete and merciless denial, but in relation to ordinary people, its goal was to correct morals and enlighten minds.
• War. The author focused on the destructiveness of bloodshed, which only ruins the city and kills people.
• Religion and fanaticism. The writer is ironic about the readiness of the people to believe in any impostor and in any idols, just to shift responsibility for their lives onto them.
• Ignorance. The people are not educated and not developed, so the rulers manipulate them as they want. Foolov's life is not getting better not only due to the fault of political figures, but also because of the reluctance of people to develop and learn to master new skills. For example, none of Dvoekurov’s reforms took root, although many of them had a positive result for enriching the city.
• Servility. The Foolovites are ready to endure any arbitrariness, as long as there is no hunger.

Issues

• Of course, the author touches on issues related to government. The main problem in the novel is the imperfection of power and its political techniques. In Foolov, rulers, also known as mayors, are replaced one after another. But at the same time, they do not bring anything new into the life of the people and into the structure of the city. Their responsibilities include caring only about their well-being; the mayors do not care about the interests of the residents of the county.
• Personnel issue. There is no one to appoint to the position of manager: all candidates are vicious and not fit for selfless service in the name of an idea, and not for the sake of profit. Responsibility and the desire to eliminate pressing problems are completely alien to them. This happens because society is initially unfairly divided into castes, and none of the ordinary people can occupy an important position. The ruling elite, feeling the lack of competition, lives in idleness of mind and body and does not work conscientiously, but simply squeezes out of the rank everything that it can give.
• Ignorance. Politicians do not understand the problems of mere mortals, and even if they want to help, they cannot do it right. There are no people in power; there is a blank wall between classes, so even the most humane officials are powerless. “The History of a City” is only a reflection of the real problems of the Russian Empire, where there were talented rulers, but due to their isolation from their subjects, they were unable to improve their lives.
• Inequality. The people are defenseless against the arbitrariness of managers. For example, the mayor sends Alena’s husband into exile without guilt, abusing his position. And the woman gives up because she doesn’t even expect justice.
• Responsibility. Officials are not punished for their destructive acts, and their successors feel safe: no matter what you do, nothing serious will happen for it. They will only remove you from office, and then only as a last resort.
• Reverence. The people are a great power; there is no point in it if they agree to blindly obey their superiors in everything. He does not defend his rights, does not protect his people, in fact, he turns into an inert mass and, by his own will, deprives himself and his children of a happy and fair future.
• Fanaticism. In the novel, the author focuses on the theme of excessive religious zeal, which does not enlighten, but blinds people, dooming them to idle talk.
• Embezzlement. All the prince’s governors turned out to be thieves, that is, the system is so rotten that it allows its elements to carry out any fraud with impunity.

the main idea

The author's intention is to depict a political system in which society comes to terms with its eternally oppressed position and believes that this is in the order of things. The society in the story is represented by the people (the Foolovites), while the “oppressor” is the mayors, who replace each other at an enviable speed, while managing to ruin and destroy their possessions. Saltykov-Shchedrin ironically notes that the residents are driven by the force of “love of authority,” and without a ruler they immediately fall into anarchy. Thus, the idea of ​​the work “The History of a City” is the desire to show the history of Russian society from the outside, how people for many years transferred all responsibility for organizing their well-being onto the shoulders of the revered monarch and were invariably deceived, because one person cannot change the whole country. Change cannot come from outside as long as the people are ruled by the consciousness that autocracy is the highest order. People must realize their personal responsibility to their homeland and forge their own happiness, but tyranny does not allow them to express themselves, and they ardently support it, because as long as it exists, nothing needs to be done.

Despite the satirical and ironic basis of the story, it contains a very important essence. The point of the work “The History of a City” is to show that only if there is a free and critical vision of power and its imperfections, changes for the better are possible. If a society lives by the rules of blind obedience, then oppression is inevitable. The author does not call for uprisings and revolution, there are no ardent rebellious lamentations in the text, but the essence is the same - without popular awareness of their role and responsibility, there is no path to change.

The writer not only criticizes the monarchical system, he offers an alternative, speaking out against censorship and risking his public office, because the publication of “History ...” could lead to not only his resignation, but also imprisonment. He not only speaks, but through his actions calls on society not to be afraid of the authorities and to speak openly to them about painful issues. The main idea of ​​Saltykov-Shchedrin is to instill in people freedom of thought and speech, so that they can improve their lives themselves, without waiting for the mercy of mayors. It fosters an active citizenship in the reader.

Artistic media

What makes the story special is the peculiar interweaving of the world of the fantastic and the real, where fantastic grotesquery and journalistic intensity of current and real problems coexist. Unusual and incredible incidents and events emphasize the absurdity of the depicted reality. The author skillfully uses such artistic techniques as grotesque and hyperbole. In the life of the Foolovites, everything is incredible, exaggerated, funny. For example, the vices of city governors have grown to colossal proportions; they are deliberately taken beyond the scope of reality. The writer exaggerates in order to eradicate real-life problems through ridicule and public disgrace. Irony is also one of the means of expressing the author's position and his attitude to what is happening in the country. People love to laugh, and it is better to present serious topics in a humorous style, otherwise the work will not find its reader. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel “The History of a City” is, first of all, funny, which is why it was and is popular. At the same time, he is ruthlessly truthful, he hits hard on topical issues, but the reader has already taken the bait in the form of humor and cannot tear himself away from the book.

What does the book teach?

The Foolovites, who personify the people, are in a state of unconscious worship of power. They unquestioningly obey the whims of the autocracy, the absurd orders and tyranny of the ruler. At the same time, they experience fear and reverence for the patron. The authorities, represented by the mayors, use their instrument of suppression to the fullest extent, regardless of the opinions and interests of the townspeople. Therefore, Saltykov-Shchedrin points out that the common people and their leader are worth each other, because until society “grows up” to higher standards and learns to defend its rights, the state will not change: it will respond to primitive demand with a cruel and unfair supply.

The symbolic ending of “The Story of a City,” in which the despotic mayor Gloomy-Burcheev dies, is intended to leave a message that the Russian autocracy has no future. But there is also no certainty or constancy in matters of power. All that remains is the tart taste of tyranny, which may be followed by something new.

The image of the Foolovites is a symbol of that immature, infantile worldview that the Russian people have. The author very subtly ironizes Foolov’s “love of authority.” The image of the people depicted in the novel by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is very peculiar, original, incredibly ignorant and surprisingly tenacious.

How did the Foolovites appear?

In ancient times, this was a tribe of very strange people who were called blockheads. They skillfully competed in the skill of knocking their heads on something and they had no equal in this. But the time came when the bunglers began to think about order in their ranks; they spent many days looking for a prince who could agree to rule over them. The bunglers themselves were so narrow-minded that they could not manage their people. They propped up the sky with sticks, did outright stupid things, did nothing practical, the bunglers had no skills. One of the princes whom the people persuaded to take under their rule, surprised at the stupidity of these people, called them Foolovites, in accordance with the affairs of the inhabitants of the tribe.

Characteristics of the Foolovites from “The History of a City”

The author's allusion to the Russian people is too transparent not to notice the outrageous similarity of the Foolovites with the original Russian character. These people, like small children without an adult, cannot live even a day without a mayor. “The news about the abolition of the mayor's head spread throughout the city in a few minutes. Many of the ordinary people cried because they felt like orphans.” The Foolovites consider the most important qualities for those who rule the city to be the ability to speak smoothly and make jokes. The people are sincerely happy when the head of the city is friendly, smiling, and in a good mood. The Foolovites accept each new representative of power unconditionally, they are happy in advance, even consider rogues to be deliverers and saviors.

Personal qualities, education, and competence of the person in power are not important for Foolovites. They are not at all interested in what the next boss will be: the people joyfully hand over the “reins of government” with faith in a better future. Laziness, stupidity, tyranny - nothing prevents Foolovites from considering every ruler who comes to power to be the best, and from holding him responsible for their destinies, for the future of the city.

They get what they deserve

Residents of the city suffer many troubles, misfortunes, and wars. The main reason for their sorrows is the fact that these people absolutely do not want to think, analyze, draw conclusions, or learn from their mistakes. Like blind kittens, Foolovites fail again and again, suffer, die from disease and hunger. They do not understand that they themselves are the cause of their troubles. Accustomed to misfortunes, Foolovites steadfastly survive any event. Their spirit cannot be broken, they are surprisingly tenacious: “In general, in the entire history of Foolov, one fact is striking: today they will squander the Foolovites and destroy every single one of them, and tomorrow, look, the Foolovites will appear again...”

The author focuses on the fact that in the life of this strange people there are many secrets and miracles, and many events may seem fantastic. The stupidity of the townspeople seems unimaginable, almost unreal: they live frivolously, simply, guided by some animal instincts. An image emerges of civic immaturity, lack of interest in one’s own good, and an irresponsible attitude towards one’s future.

The article examines the main features of the Foolovites in “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. This material will be useful in preparing for a literature lesson and writing creative works on the topic.

Work test

In 1870, after a series of publications of individual chapters, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin’s work “The History of a City” was published. This event received a wide public response - the writer was accused of ridiculing the Russian people and denigrating the facts of Russian history. The genre of the work is a satirical story, exposing morals, relationships between government and people in an autocratic society.

The story “The History of a City” is full of such techniques as irony, grotesque, Aesopian language, and allegory. All this allows the author, in some episodes bringing what is described to the point of absurdity, to vividly depict the absolute submission of the people to any arbitrary rule of power. The vices of the author’s contemporary society have not been eliminated even today. After reading “The History of a City” in a chapter-by-chapter summary, you will become familiar with the most important moments of the work, which clearly demonstrate the satirical nature of the story.

Main characters

The main characters of the story are the mayors, each of whom managed to be remembered for something in the history of the city of Foolov. Since the story describes many portraits of mayors, it is worth dwelling on the most significant characters.

Busty- shocked the residents with his categoricalness, with his exclamations on any occasion, “I’ll ruin it!” and “I won’t tolerate it!”

Dvoekurov with his “great” reforms regarding bay leaves and mustard, seems completely harmless compared to subsequent mayors.

Wartkin– fought with his own people “for enlightenment.”

Ferdyshchenko– his greed and lust almost destroyed the townspeople.

Acne- the people were not ready for a ruler like him - people lived too well under him, who did not interfere in any matters.

Gloomy-Burcheev- with all his idiocy, he managed not only to become the mayor, but also to destroy the entire city, trying to bring his crazy idea to life.

Other characters

If the main characters are the mayors, the secondary ones are the people with whom they interact. The common people are shown as a collective image. The author generally portrays him as obedient to his ruler, ready to endure all oppression and various oddities of his power. Shown by the author as a faceless mass that rebels only when there is a massive death toll from hunger or fires around them.

From the publisher

“The History of a City” tells about the city of Foolov and its history. The chapter “From the Publisher,” in the author’s voice, assures the reader that “The Chronicler” is genuine. He invites the reader to “catch the face of the city and follow how its history reflected the various changes that were simultaneously taking place in the highest spheres.” The author emphasizes that the plot of the story is monotonous, “almost exclusively limited to biographies of mayors.”

Appeal to the reader from the last archivist-chronicler

In this chapter, the author sets himself the task of conveying the “touching correspondence” of the city authorities, “to the extent of daring” to the people, “to the extent of giving thanks.” The archivist says that he will present to the reader the history of the reign of mayors in the city of Foolov, one after another succeeding in the highest post. The narrators, four local chroniclers, set out one by one the “true” events that took place in the city from 1731 to 1825.

About the roots of the origin of the Foolovites

This chapter tells about prehistoric times, about how the ancient tribe of bunglers won a victory over the neighboring tribes of bow-eaters, thick-eaters, walrus-eaters, frogs, scythe-bellies, etc. After the victory, the bunglers began to think about how to restore order in their new society, since things were not going well for them: either “they kneaded the Volga with oatmeal,” or “they dragged a calf to the bathhouse.” They decided that they needed a ruler. To this end, the bunglers went to look for a prince who would rule them. However, all the princes to whom they turned with this request refused, since no one wanted to rule stupid people. The princes, having “taught” with the rod, released the bunglers in peace and with “honor.” Desperate, they turned to the innovative thief, who managed to help find the prince. The prince agreed to manage them, but did not live with the bunglers - he sent an innovative thief as his governor.

Golovoyapov renamed it “Foolovtsy”, and the city, accordingly, began to be called “Foolov”.
It was not at all difficult for the novotoro to manage the Foolovites - these people were distinguished by their obedience and unquestioning execution of the orders of the authorities. However, their ruler was not happy about this; the novotor wanted riots that could be pacified. The end of his reign was very sad: the innovative thief stole so much that the prince could not stand it and sent him a noose. But Novotor managed to get out of this situation - without waiting for the noose, he “stabbed himself to death with a cucumber.”

Then other rulers, sent by the prince, began to appear in Foolov one by one. All of them - Odoevets, Orlovets, Kalyazinians - turned out to be unscrupulous thieves, even worse than the innovator. The prince was tired of such events and personally came to the city shouting: “I’ll screw it up!” With this cry the countdown of “historical time” began.

Inventory of the mayors appointed at different times to the city of Foolov by the higher authorities (1731 - 1826)

This chapter lists Foolov's mayors by name and briefly mentions their “achievements.” It speaks of twenty-two rulers. So, for example, about one of the city governors the document says: “22) Intercept-Zalikhvatsky, Arkhistrateg Stratilatovich, major. I won’t say anything about this. He rode into Foolov on a white horse, burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences.” (the meaning of the chapter is unclear)

Organ

The year 1762 was marked by the beginning of the reign of mayor Dementy Varlamovich Brudasty. The Foolovites were surprised that their new ruler was gloomy and did not say anything except two phrases: “I will not tolerate it!” and “I’ll ruin you!” They didn’t know what to think until Brudasty’s secret was revealed: his head was completely empty. The clerk accidentally saw a terrible thing: the mayor’s body, as usual, was sitting at the table, but his head was lying separately on the table. And there was nothing in it at all. The townspeople did not know what to do now. They remembered Baibakov, a master of watchmaking and organ making, who had recently come to Brudasty. After questioning Baibakov, the Foolovites found out that the mayor’s head was equipped with a musical organ that played only two pieces: “I won’t tolerate it!” and “I’ll ruin you!” The organ failed, having become damp on the road. The master was unable to fix it on his own, so he ordered a new head in St. Petersburg, but the order was delayed for some reason.

Anarchy set in, ending with the unexpected appearance of two absolutely identical impostor rulers at the same time. They saw each other, “measured each other with their eyes,” and the residents who watched this scene silently and slowly dispersed. A messenger who arrived from the province took both “mayors” with him, and anarchy began in Foolov, which lasted a whole week.

The Tale of the Six Mayors (Picture of Foolov's civil strife)

This time was very eventful in the sphere of city government - the city experienced as many as six mayors. Residents watched the struggle of Iraida Lukinichna Paleologova, Klemantinka de Bourbon, Amalia Karlovna Shtokfish. The first insisted that she was worthy of being a mayor because her husband was engaged in mayoral activities for some time, the second’s father was engaged in mayor’s work, the third was once a mayor herself. In addition to those named, Nelka Lyadokhovskaya, Dunka the Thick-Footed and Matryonka the Nostril also laid claim to power. The latter had no grounds at all to claim the role of mayors. Serious battles broke out in the city. The Foolovites drowned and threw their fellow citizens from the bell tower. The city is tired of anarchy. And then finally a new mayor appeared - Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov.

News about Dvoekurov

The newly-minted ruler Dvoekurov ruled Foolov for eight years. He is noted as a man of progressive views. Dvoekurov developed activities that became beneficial for the city. Under him, they began to engage in honey and beer brewing, and he ordered that mustard and bay leaves be consumed in food. His intentions included the establishment of the Foolov Academy.

Hungry City

The reign of Dvoekurov was replaced by Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko. The city lived for six years in prosperity and prosperity. But in the seventh year, the city governor fell in love with Alena Osipova, the wife of the coachman Mitka. However, Alenka did not share Pyotr Petrovich’s feelings. Ferdyshchenko took all sorts of actions to make Alenka fall in love with him, even sent Mitka to Siberia. Alenka became receptive to the mayor’s advances.

A drought began in Foolov, and after it hunger and human deaths began. The Foolovites lost patience and sent an envoy to Ferdyshchenko, but the walker did not return. The submitted petition also did not find an answer. Then the residents rebelled and threw Alenka from the bell tower. A company of soldiers came to the city to suppress the riot.

Straw City

Pyotr Petrovich’s next love interest was the archer Domashka, whom he recaptured from the “optists.” Along with new love, fires caused by drought came to the city. Pushkarskaya Sloboda burned down, then Bolotnaya and Negodnitsa. The Foolovites accused Ferdyshchenko of a new misfortune.

Fantastic traveler

Ferdyshchenko’s new stupidity hardly brought a new misfortune to the townspeople: he went on a journey through the city pasture, forcing the residents to give themselves food supplies. The journey ended three days later with the death of Ferdyshchenko from gluttony. The Foolovites were afraid that they would be accused of deliberately “fostering the foreman.” However, a week later, the fears of the townspeople dissipated - a new city governor arrived from the province. The decisive and active Wartkin marked the beginning of the “golden age of Foolov.” People began to live in complete abundance.

Wars for enlightenment

Vasilisk Semyonovich Borodavkin, the new mayor of Foolov, studied the history of the city and decided that the only previous ruler worth emulating was Dvoyekurov, and what struck him was not even the fact that his predecessor paved the streets of the city and collected arrears, but the fact that they sowed under him mustard. Unfortunately, people have already forgotten it and even stopped sowing this crop. Wartkin decided to remember the old days, resume sowing mustard and eating it. But the residents stubbornly did not want to return to the past. The Foolovites rebelled on their knees. They were afraid that if they obeyed Wartkin, in the future he would force them “to eat any more abomination.” The mayor undertook a military campaign against Streletskaya Sloboda, “the source of all evil,” to suppress the rebellion. The campaign lasted nine days and it is difficult to call it completely successful. In absolute darkness, they fought with their own. The mayor suffered betrayal from his supporters: one morning he discovered that more soldiers had been fired and replaced by tin soldiers, citing a certain resolution. However, the city governor managed to survive, organizing a reserve of tin soldiers. He reached the settlement, but found no one there. Wartkin began to dismantle houses log by log, which forced the settlement to surrender.
The future brought three more wars, which were also fought for “enlightenment.” The first of three subsequent wars was fought to educate the city residents about the benefits of stone foundations for houses, the second was due to the residents’ refusal to grow Persian chamomile, and the third was against the establishment of an academy in the city.
The result of Wartkin's reign was the impoverishment of the city. The mayor died at the moment when he once again decided to burn the city.

The era of retirement from wars

In short, subsequent events look like this: the city finally became impoverished under the next ruler, Captain Negodyaev, who replaced Wartkin. The scoundrels were very soon fired for disagreeing with the imposition of the constitution. However, the chronicler considered this reason to be formal. The real reason was the fact that the mayor at one time served as a stoker, which to a certain extent was regarded as belonging to the democratic principle. And wars for and against enlightenment were not needed by the battle-weary city. After the dismissal of Negodyaev, “Circassian” Mikeladze took the reins of government into his own hands. However, his reign did not in any way affect the situation in the city: the mayor was not concerned with Foolov at all, since all his thoughts were connected exclusively with the fair sex.

Benevolensky Feofilakt Irinarkhovich became Mikeladze's successor. Speransky was a friend from the seminary of the new city governor, and from him, obviously, Benevolensky passed on his love for legislation. He wrote the following laws: “Let every man have a contrite heart,” “Let every soul tremble,” and “Let every cricket know the pole corresponding to its rank.” However, Benevolensky did not have the right to write laws; he was forced to publish them secretly, and scatter his works around the city at night. This did not last long - he was suspected of having connections with Napoleon and was fired.

Lieutenant Colonel Pyshch was appointed next. What was surprising was that under him the city lived in abundance, huge harvests were harvested, despite the fact that the mayor was not at all concerned with his direct responsibilities. The townspeople again suspected something. And they were right in their suspicions: the leader of the nobility noticed that the mayor’s head exuded the smell of truffles. He attacked Pimple and ate the ruler's stuffed head.

Worship of Mammon and repentance

In Foolov, a successor to the eaten Pimple appeared - State Councilor Ivanov. However, he soon died, since “he turned out to be so small in stature that he could not contain anything spacious.”

He was succeeded by the Viscount de Chariot. This ruler did not know how to do anything except have fun all the time and organize masquerades. He “didn’t do business and didn’t interfere in the administration. This last circumstance promised to prolong the well-being of the Foolovites endlessly...” But the emigrant, who allowed the residents to convert to paganism, was ordered to be sent abroad. Interestingly, he turned out to be a special female.

The next to appear in Foolov was State Councilor Erast Andreevich Grustilov. By the time of his appearance, the inhabitants of the city had already become absolute idolaters. They forgot God, plunging into debauchery and laziness. They stopped working, sowing fields, hoping for some kind of happiness, and as a result, famine came to the city. Grustilov cared very little about this situation, since he was busy with balls. However, changes soon occurred. The wife of the pharmacist Pfeier influenced Grustilov, showing the true path of good. And the main people in the city became the wretched and holy fools, who, in the era of idolatry, found themselves on the sidelines of life.

The residents of Foolov repented of their sins, but that was the end of the matter - the Foolovites never started working. At night, the city elite gathered to read the works of Mr. Strakhov. This soon became known to the higher authorities and Grustilov had to say goodbye to the position of mayor.

Confirmation of repentance. Conclusion

The last mayor of Foolov was Ugryum-Burcheev. This man was a complete idiot - “the purest type of idiot,” as the author writes. For himself, he set the only goal - to make the city of Nepreklonsk from the city of Glupov, “eternally worthy of the memory of the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich.” Nepreklonsk should have looked like this: city streets should be identically straight, houses and buildings should also be identical to each other, people too. Each house should become a “settled unit”, which will be watched by him, Ugryum-Burcheev, a spy. The townspeople called him “Satan” and felt a vague fear of their ruler. As it turned out, this was not unfounded: the mayor developed a detailed plan and began to implement it. He destroyed the city, leaving no stone unturned. Now came the task of building the city of his dreams. But the river disrupted these plans, it got in the way. Gloomy-Burcheev started a real war with her, using all the garbage that was left as a result of the destruction of the city. However, the river did not give up, washing away all the dams and dams being built. Gloomy-Burcheev turned around and, leading the people behind him, walked away from the river. He chose a new place to build the city - a flat lowland, and began to build the city of his dreams. However, something went wrong. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out what exactly prevented the construction, since records with the details of this story have not been preserved. The denouement became known: “...time stopped running. Finally the earth shook, the sun darkened... the Foolovites fell on their faces. An inscrutable horror appeared on all faces and gripped all hearts. It has arrived...” What exactly came remains unknown to the reader. However, the fate of Ugryum-Burcheev is as follows: “the scoundrel instantly disappeared, as if he had disappeared into thin air. History has stopped flowing."

Supporting documents

At the end of the story, “Exculpatory Documents” are published, which are the works of Wartkin, Mikeladze and Benevolensky, written for the edification of other mayors.

Conclusion

A brief retelling of “The Story of a City” clearly demonstrates not only the satirical direction of the story, but also ambiguously indicates historical parallels. The images of the mayors are copied from historical figures; many events also refer to palace coups. The full version of the story will certainly provide an opportunity to become familiar with the content of the work in detail.

Story test

Retelling rating

Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 4199.

A chronicle of the history of a conventional Russian city, in which the funny is mixed with the scary. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes a satire on contemporary Russia under the guise of a satire on Russian history - and creates a satire on Russian eternity.

comments: Lev Oborin

What is this book about?

The chronicle of the history of the conventional Russian city of Foolov and the chronicle of the reign of grotesque, disgusting and terrifying mayors. Foolov is looking for a prince, suffers from mechanical cries of “I will not tolerate” and “I will ruin”, bakes pies according to the rules, goes through a period of idolatry, turns into a barracks, burns, starves and drowns. “The History of a City” is often seen as a fantastic satire on the history of Russia, but behind this meaning lies another one: Shchedrin’s book is about the “Russian inescapable”, about the ahistorical, fatal features of the national mentality. Starting as a farce, by the end “The Story of a City” reaches the scale of an eschatological dystopia.

When was it written?

Shchedrin had ideas related to “The History of a City” back in the late 1850s. The “Provincial Sketches”, approaches to the dark satire of “History,” also date back to this time. Shchedrin worked directly on “History” in 1869-1870, in parallel with “Pompadours and Pompadours.” The plan of the book changed even when publication had already begun: for example, in the first edition of the “Inventory to the City Governors” there is no Ugryum-Burcheev, the most prominent figure in the final version of “The History of a City.”

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. 1870s

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How is it written?

“The History of a City” is a historical chronicle that is consistently written by several chroniclers. The style of narration also changes in accordance with the eras described. Saltykov-Shchedrin resorts to the entire arsenal of satirical techniques: “The History of a City” is full of allusions to real events, ironic references to officially recognized historians, deliberate anachronisms, grotesque details, telling names and inserted documents that brilliantly parody bureaucratic absurdity. Saltykov-Shchedrin hides under the guise of an archive publisher, but does not try to disguise his interference with the “material.” Already during his lifetime, Shchedrin was often compared to Gogol. “The History of a City” confirms the validity of these comparisons - not only because Shchedrin ridiculed the world of bureaucracy, but also because he described disasters poetically and truly horribly.

What influenced her?

In the case of “The History of a City,” it is more appropriate to talk not about influence, but about repulsion - primarily from official historiography, which presents the history of the country as the history of rulers, and from the official style of orders, instructions and memos, with which Shchedrin became acquainted during the years his vice-government in the Ryazan and Tver provinces. The description of morals in “The History of a City” and “Pompadours and Pompadours”, and before that in “Provincial Sketches” inherits the “physiological” essay tradition natural school. The literary movement of the 1840s, the initial stage of the development of critical realism, is characterized by social pathos, everyday life, and interest in the lower strata of society. Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Goncharov are considered to be among the natural school; the formation of the school was significantly influenced by the work of Gogol. The almanac “Physiology of St. Petersburg” (1845) can be considered a manifesto of the movement. Reviewing this collection, Thaddeus Bulgarin used the term “natural school” for the first time, and in a disparaging sense. But Belinsky liked the definition and subsequently stuck. ⁠ Russian humor and satire of the 1860s are also important for Shchedrin’s book - the texts of Kozma Prutkov, the publications of Iskra and Whistle.

“The History of a City” was directly influenced by Gogol’s style, and not only satirical (one can recall the infernal description of the fire in Foolov). The plan was probably influenced by Pushkin’s “History of the Village of Goryukhin”. The great European satirists indirectly influenced Shchedrin: Francois Rabelais, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire. Possibly important pretext The source text that influenced the creation of the work or served as the background for its creation. ⁠ “Stories of a City” - Christoph Wieland’s novel “The History of the Abderites” (1774) is a satire on the German province, hidden behind a description of the inhabitants of the Thracian city of Abdera, who since Antiquity had a reputation as fools and simpletons, European Foolovites. However, there is no evidence that Shchedrin was familiar with Wieland’s novel; From the well-known satirical chronicles, he definitely caught the eye of Edouard Laboulaye’s pamphlet “The Little Dog Prince,” published in Otechestvennye zapiski. Ultimately, “The History of a City” is deeply original - Turgenev, who knew European literature very well, called Shchedrin’s book “strange and amazing.”

In the magazine "Domestic Notes" in 1869-1870. This magazine, whose editorial board included Shchedrin, was the only publication in Russia where such a poignant work could be published.

The first book edition of “The History of a City” was published in 1870 and was significantly different from the magazine version: Shchedrin removed from the final version many digressions and arguments - very witty, but “slowing down” the text. Subsequently, he returned to the text twice more and revised it for new publications - the last lifetime edition was published in 1883. The first scientifically verified edition appeared in 1926 in the first volume of Shchedrin's collected works; Konstantin Khalabayev and Boris Eikhenbaum were responsible for its preparation. Another scientific publication was published by Academia in 1935. Today we are reading “The History of a City” based on the text of the last lifetime edition, taking into account the work of Soviet literary scholars.

The magazine "Domestic Notes", in which "History" was published. March 1869

The first book edition of “The History of a City.” St. Petersburg, printing house of Andrei Kraevsky, 1870

How was she received?

In the criticism of most contemporaries, “The History of a City” “did not find proper assessment and general recognition" 1 Nikolaev D. P. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Author's abstract. dis... cand. Philol. Sci. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1975. P. 2. ⁠ : the work was considered only as a “historical satire”, an excursion into the past. Turgenev gave this assessment of the book: “...Too true, alas! picture of Russian history." Aleksey Suvorin, the author of the review that offended Shchedrin in Vestnik Evropy, spoke in the same spirit. Suvorin saw in “The History of a City” “mockery of the Foolovites,” Shchedrin (who read it as “mockery of the people”) vehemently objected and even published criticism in response. Other contemporaries understood that Foolov was a satire not only on the past, but rather on Russian life in general, including its provincialism. In this context, Dostoevsky’s “The Possessed” refers not too sympathetically to “The History of a City”; It is noteworthy that in “The History of a City” there is a mayor with the surname of one of the characters in “The Idiot” - Ferdyshchenko, and post-Soviet researchers have found many parallels between these two works, mainly in terms of criticism of socialist utopianism.

Writers of subsequent generations emphasized the inescapable relevance of “The Story of a City”: “When I became an adult, a terrible truth was revealed to me. The good atamans, the dissolute Klemantinki, the rukosui and bast workers, Major Pyshch and the former scoundrel Ugryum-Burcheev outlived Saltykov-Shchedrin. Then my view of the surroundings became mournful,” wrote Mikhail Bulgakov 2 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. SPb.: RKhGA, 2016. P. 78. ⁠ . Shchedrin's style influenced the best Soviet satirists - such as Ilf and Petrov and Yuri Olesha, the works of Bulgakov and Platonov 3 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. pp. 407-417. ⁠ . At the same time, Soviet propaganda assigned Saltykov-Shchedrin a place in the pantheon of revolutionary democrats, roughly corresponding to Gogol's position in the previous era; in 1952, Stalin said the phrase “We need Gogoli. We need Shchedrins,” and for a short time “Gogols and Shchedrins” became part of the cultural agenda. The inertia of ideology persisted in Shchedrin studies even after Stalin, but gradually “The History of a City” began to be considered in the context of the world satires 4 Nikolaev D.P. Shchedrin’s satire and realistic grotesque. M.: Khud. lit., 1977. ⁠ and - not without reason - to see in the last chapters skepticism towards the “revolutionary democracy" 5 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991; Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. ⁠ . In 1989, director Sergei Ovcharov made the film “It” based on “The History of a City”: this film adaptation draws clear parallels with the history of not only Tsarist Russia, but also the USSR.

The genre of satirical chronicle (including chronicle of the future), replete with anachronisms, is reflected in such new works as “Rosewood” by Sasha Sokolova 6 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. pp. 61-72. ⁠ and novels by Victor Pelevin of the 2010s. Finally, in the 1990s, the modern writer Vyacheslav Pietsukh published two direct continuations of “The History of a City” - the story “The History of the City of Foolov in New and Contemporary Times” and “The City of Foolov in the Last Ten Years.”

The film “It”, based on “The Story of a Town”. Director Sergei Ovcharov. 1989

“The History of a City” - a parody of traditional historiography?

Formally, “The History of a City” is the documents of the “Foolish Chronicler” published by Shchedrin. This is the name of the collection of historical information that Foolov’s archivists recorded (there are four of them - an obvious ironic reference to the evangelists; two of them bear Gogol’s surname Tryapichkin). Shchedrin imitates “church-book floridity” syllable" 7 Ishchenko I. T. Parodies of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mn.: Publishing house BSU named after. V. I. Lenina, 1974. P. 51. ⁠ , but at the same time - contemporary historiography: books by Nikolai Kostomarov, the “state” history of Boris Chicherin and Vladimir Solovyov. It goes to less serious “feuilletonists-historians” (Mikhail Semevsky, Pyotr Bartenev, Sergei Shubinsky) and fiction writers writing on historical topics, with mention of names. According to Dmitry Likhachev, the writer “parodies not so much the chronicle as the public school historians who used the features of the chronicle depiction of the historical process to substantiate their provisions" 8 Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. L.: Hood. lit., 1967. P. 344. ⁠ . Likhachev adds that “the chronicle style of depiction provided unlimited opportunities for satirical depiction reality" 9 Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. L.: Hood. lit., 1967. P. 337. ⁠ : Thus, the reference to “things of bygone days” is a cover for deeper generalizations.

If you feel that the law places an obstacle on you, then remove it from the table and place it under you.

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

The very structure of “The History of a City” is a parody of the traditional approach to the history of a people as the history of rulers. The Russian reader has encountered this kind of presentation of history since childhood - for example, in “The History of Russia in Stories for Children” by Alexandra Ishimova. Almost all elements of the myth about the emergence of Russian statehood, in particular the Norman theory about the calling of the Varangians, are cruelly parodied by Shchedrin. Even the number of Foolov’s mayors “clearly hints at the number of Russians” kings" 10 Nikolaev D. P. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Author's abstract. dis... cand. Philol. Sci. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1975. P. 16. ⁠ . The events and terms of “big history” are projected onto the private history of provincial Foolov: high politics and military campaigns (from Benevolensky’s relations with Napoleon to the siege of the “bedbug factory” in the chapter about the six mayors). This creates a comic effect of a rather ancient nature: one can recall the ancient Greek “War of the Mice and Frogs” and “The Battle of the Books” by Jonathan Swift.

It is worth mentioning another parody of official historiography, written almost simultaneously with “The History of a City”: a poem by Alexei K. Tolstoy, the leitmotif of which is the same lack of order in Russia noted in “The Tale of Bygone Years”. The poem was not published during Tolstoy’s lifetime and was circulated in lists. According to Shchedrin scholar Dmitry Nikolaev, “The History of a City” avoided such a fate thanks to its grotesque, semi-fantastic features that confused censorship 11 Nikolaev D. P. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Author's abstract. dis... cand. Philol. Sci. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1975. P. 22. ⁠ .

Semyon Remezov. Brief Siberian Chronicle. Fragment. The end of the 17th century - 1703. Shchedrin writes “The History of a City” in a chronicle style. According to Dmitry Likhachev, the writer “parodies not so much the chronicle as the historians of the state school, who used the features of the chronicle depiction of the historical process to substantiate their positions”

Wikimedia Commons

What else does Saltykov-Shchedrin parody?

In “The History of a City”, parodies of the bureaucratic style of documents of the 18th-19th centuries are very important - “Verifying Documents”, collected in the appendix to the “History of a City”. Here there are “Thoughts on mayoral unanimity” written by mayor Borodavkin and “Charter on respectable baking of pies” created by mayor Benevolensky, which regulates the completely natural course of things - not without benefit for the legislator: “Upon removal from the oven, let everyone take a knife in his hand and, having cut out from the middle part, let him bring it as a gift.” Entire passages from the Code of Laws of the Russian Federation are used in the “Body Documents” empire" 12 Ishchenko I. T. Parodies of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mn.: Publishing house BSU named after. V.I. Lenina, 1974. P. 58. ⁠ . This was a matter that Shchedrin, at one time a major official himself, understood very well. In addition, before his eyes he had an example of such a parody: “Project: on the introduction of unanimity in Russia” by Kozma Prutkov.

The essay tradition of the 1860s, to which “The History of a City” adjoins, is characterized by ironic references to the Bible and other religious texts. As researcher Tatyana Golovina points out, “associations with the Old and New Testaments permeate all chapters and all levels of the text” of the book Shchedrin 13 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. P. 6. ⁠ . The most obvious example is the chapter “Confirmation of Repentance. Conclusion,” which ends with Foolov’s apocalyptic catastrophe. But there are many other allusions in the book: “the beheading of Major Pimple” (a reference to John the Baptist); construction by the Foolovites of a tower to the sky (similar to the Babylonian one); likening the depraved Ferdyshchenko and his mistress Alyonka to the Old Testament Ahab and Jezebel; a boss spits in a subordinate's eyes and heals him of blindness (similar to Christ) 14 Mk. 8:23. ⁠ and so on. According to Golovina, Shchedrin develops Karamzin’s idea of ​​history as a “sacred book of nations” and consistently compares episode after episode of Foolov’s history with biblical stories 15 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. pp. 8-13. ⁠ . City governors, like kings, are not content with this: they need to “establish themselves in their role.” God" 16 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. P. 13. ⁠ or feel like his authorized governors (Shchedrin calls them “installed from the highest authorities” - as G. Ivanov points out, the word “high” in the 19th century was used almost exclusively in relation to God) 17 Ivanov G.V. Comments. “The history of one city” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M.: Khud. lit., 1969. P. 558 ⁠ . This trend reaches its apogee during the reign of Ugryum-Burcheev, which is followed by Foolov’s end of the world.

Sergey Alimov. Illustration for “The History of a City”

Did Saltykov-Shchedrin hint at any specific rulers and specific historical events?

Yes, everywhere. Even the names of the tribes, among which were the proto-Foolish bunglers, are taken from Ivan Sakharov’s “Tales of the Russian People” and parody the enumeration of tribes in “The Tale of Bygone Years”; from there is a story about the search for a prince, clearly hinting at the calling of the Varangians. Often in the mayors of Foolov one can recognize several historical figures at once: for example, in Gloomy-Burcheev one sees a portrait not only and not so much of the terrible Minister of War Arakcheev, but of Nicholas I, who was proud of his terrifying glance 18 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 237. ⁠ . There are attempts to compare Ugryum-Burcheev even with Peter I 19 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 779-786.; Alyakrinskaya M.A. On the problem of historical consciousness of M.E. Saltykova-Shchedrina // History and culture. 2009. No. 7. P. 181-189. ⁠ .

The sentimental Dvoekurov and the mysticism-prone Grustilov resemble Alexander I, and the German Pfeiffer resembles Peter III. “Speransky’s fellow seminary student” Benevolensky is a caricature of Speransky himself, as evidenced by his typical student A student of a theological seminary, in common parlance - a bursa. ⁠ a Latin surname, and Viscount Du Chariot, “on examination turned out to be a maiden,” is a reference to the adventurer Charles d’Eon de Beaumont, the French ambassador to Russia, who had a penchant for dressing up in women’s clothing. The mayors of the 18th century come “from the dirt” - they are former barbers, stokers, cooks; all this is hints at the career of favorites and dignitaries under the Russian empresses. The chapter “The Tale of the Six Mayors” describes in caricature form the era of palace coups: in the mayor Iraidka one recognizes Anna Ioannovna, in Amalia Karlovna - Catherine II. Governor Ferdyshchenko’s journey through his possessions is a reminiscence of Catherine’s trip to Taurida and numerous ostentatious voyages of Russian governors. When in 1761 a storm breaks out over Foolov, breaking the mayor Baklan in half, this is an allusion to “that political storm that agitated Russia in 1762, suddenly ending the life of the feeble-minded Peter III and enthroning his ambitious spouse" 20 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 220 ⁠ . Such examples can be multiplied and multiplied.

Prototypes

Emperor Alexander I. Engraving by Pierre Tardieu from a painting by Gerhard von Kügelgen. 1801

Empress Anna Ioannovna. Unknown artist. XVIII century. State Hermitage Museum

Count Mikhail Speransky. Painting by Ivan Reimers. 1839 State Hermitage Museum

Empress Catherine II. Painting by Ivan Sablukov. 1770 Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum

Emperor Nicholas I. Engraving by Konstantin Afanasyev. 1852 State Hermitage Museum

Emperor Peter III. Painting by Balthasar Denner. 1740 National Museum of Sweden

Minister of War Alexey Arakcheev. Painting by George Dow. 1824 State Hermitage Museum

Who are mayors?

The word “mayor” in the official language meant the head of a city, “separated from the province into an independent administrative unit due to its special significance or geographical provisions" 21 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. P. 19 ⁠ . The mayor should not be confused with the mayor - the head of the police in the district city (Gogol's mayor from The Government Inspector is the actual owner of the city, but his position is not analogous to the modern mayor or governor). The mayors were appointed personally by the emperor. This does not really correspond either to Foolov’s lack of staff or to the dubious qualities of all his rulers.

Why is Shchedrin talking specifically about mayors? Probably in order to enhance the satirical effect and give additional “unsteadiness”, vagueness to the status of Foolov - a “prefabricated city” representing all of Russia. Some of Shchedrin’s mayors demonstrate quite provincial, or even tsarist, habits. And others go even further: Mayor Wartkin secretly writes a statute “On the freedom of city governors from laws,” the only clause of which reads: “If you feel that the law poses an obstacle for you, then remove it from the table and put it under you.” G. Ivanov, commenting on this place, points to the following story by Vladimir Odoevsky: “Governor Hoven was present in the provincial government (during it), and when, in a dispute, they showed him the Code, he took it and sat on it, saying: well, where is yours now law?" 22 Ivanov G.V. Comments. “The history of one city” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M.: Khud. lit., 1969. P. 572. ⁠

The building of the boarding school of the Ryazan provincial gymnasium. From the album “Ryazan in photographs of the 19th - first third of the 20th centuries.” 1868–1869. In 1858–1860, Shchedrin served as vice-governor of the Ryazan province

Why didn’t Shchedrin describe in detail all of Foolov’s mayors?

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the fragmentation and lack of integrity of the chronicle is an element of parody of the archival chronicle, which may not have been preserved in its entirety, or of the publishing strategy of “feuilleton historians”, who chose mainly anecdotes for their writings. Secondly, parodically following these “feuilletonists”, Shchedrin exhausts the “Foolov plot”: the text describes in detail the most remarkable, the most typical, the most odious and “catastrophic” mayors; the rest of the boards are more like finishing touches to the picture. Finally, in “The History of a City” there is a direct explanation why some mayors were remembered by the Foolovites, while others were not:

“There were truly wise mayors, those who were not alien even to the thought of establishing an academy in Foolov (such, for example, as civilian adviser Dvoekurov, listed in the “inventory” as No. 9), but since they did not call the Foolovites “brothers,” neither “timid”, then their names remained in oblivion. On the contrary, there were others, although not that they were very stupid - there were no such things - but those who did average things, that is, flogged and collected arrears, but since they always said something kind, their names were not only written down on tablets, but even served as the subject of a wide variety of oral legends.”

Why did Shchedrin change the plan for “The History of a City” so much?

This often happens with large works that are published in parts: for example, the beginning of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” was published under the title “1805,” and as work on the sequel progressed, the plan was radically revised. Saltykov-Shchedrin also deepened the concept of “The History of a City” and returned to this work until the end of his life. The two most noticeable changes are the appearance of Foolov's last chapter, Ugryum-Burcheev, who is not in the first published version of the Inventory of City Governors. According to researcher Vladimir Svirsky, Shchedrin decided to introduce Ugryum-Burcheev and entrust him with the actions of Intercept-Zalikhvatsky, who remained only in the “Inventory”, after solving the “Nechaev case” at the end of 1869 of the year 23 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. pp. 26-28. ⁠ . Another example of a sharp change in plan is a complete reworking of the chapter about the mayor Brudast: from the “Unheard of Sausage” he becomes a mechanical “Organchik”, and the edible stuffed head goes to another mayor - Pimple. As a result, the bosses' gallery is enriched. Different types of rulers arise—brainlessly protective and brainless liberal 24 Nikolaev D.P. Shchedrin’s satire and realistic grotesque. M.: Khud. lit., 1977. C. 144-164. ⁠ .

Konstantin Gorbatov. Evening in the Russian province. 1931 Historical, Architectural and Art Museum “New Jerusalem”, Istra

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Province of the 1830s. 1907 State Russian Museum

What is Shchedrin actually making fun of: history or modernity?

“The History of a City” is not only a satire on the past of Russia from 1731 to 1825 (dates from the advance notice). Shchedrin's satire is essentially timeless. Shchedrin himself, responding in a private letter to Suvorin’s review, stated: “I don’t care about history: I only mean the present. The historical form of the story was convenient for me because it allowed me to more freely address known phenomena of life.” Further, already in print, Shchedrin again clarified his intentions: “I did not mean “historical,” but completely ordinary satire, satire directed against those characteristic features of Russian life that make it not entirely comfortable.”

Vigilant contemporaries felt this very well. A censor who read “The History of a City” spoke of Wartkin’s project to establish an educational institute for city governors as “the application of the author’s satire to the present state of affairs, and not to the past.” time" 25 Evgeniev-Maksimov V. E. In the grip of reaction. M., L.: 1926. P. 33. ⁠ . This is how Soviet commentators read “The History of a City” (turning a blind eye to the similarities between the gloomy-burcheevsky Foolov and the totalitarian social system of his time).

“If the Foolovites endured the most terrible disasters with firmness... then they owed this only to the fact that in general any disaster seemed to them as something completely independent of them, and therefore inevitable.”

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

To reinforce the feeling of “completely ordinary satire,” Shchedrin uses anachronisms throughout that hint at the very recent past. Not all such references are easy to read: “The History of a City” is magazine prose, perceived by the reader against the backdrop of the topical context of periodicals and largely built on the play on topical issues recognizable to the reader allusions" 26 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar’s curls and lordly arrogance: from comments to “The History of a City” // Shchedrinsky collection. Vol. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. P. 175. ⁠ . A real commentary will help the reader here. Thus, the primary source of the ideas of Foolov’s mayors about the connection between education and executions is the real official memos of governors 1860s 27 Elsberg Ya. Shchedrin and Glupov // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. L.: Academia, 1934. pp. IX-X. ⁠ . The “secret intrigue” of Lords Krzepszycyulski and Przekszycyulski reflects the mood of the patriotic press of the late 1860s, which maniacally attributed all the troubles of Russia to “ Polish The Kingdom of Poland was part of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1915. In 1830 and 1863, the Poles rebelled, in both cases it ended in failure. The uprisings are strengthening anti-Polish sentiments in Russia - many problems in the country are attributed to the political machinations of the Poles. After the assassination attempt, Alexander II first asked Karakozov, who shot him: “Are you a Pole?” ⁠ intrigue" 28 Ivanov G.V. (Comments. “The History of a City”) // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M.: Khud. lit., 1969. P. 564. ⁠ . The Foolovites, who decided to worship Perun, sing contemporary “Slavophile” poems by Averkiev and Boborykin to Shchedrin, and then save themselves with the critic’s articles Nikolai Strakhov Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov (1828-1896) - ideologist of pochvennichestvo, a close friend of Tolstoy and the first biographer of Dostoevsky. Strakhov wrote the most important critical articles about Tolstoy’s work; we still talk about “War and Peace,” largely relying on them. Strakhov actively criticized nihilism and Western rationalism, which he contemptuously called “enlightenment.” Strakhov's ideas about man as the “central node of the universe” influenced the development of Russian religious philosophy. ⁠ . The holy fool Paramon pronounces the mysterious spell “Without pracy there will be no bendy kołaczy” (distorted Polish “Bez pracy nie będzie kołaczy”, “Without labor there will be no kalachi”) - the signature phrase of the famous holy fool Ivan Koreysha, who died in 1861. His figure marked the extreme spread of foolishness in Russia; the numerous religious crazes of the Foolovites are a response to this phenomenon. The portrait of the Greek governor Lamvrokakis is related to the educational reform, after which the ancient Greek language returned to gymnasiums as compulsory subject 29 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar’s curls and lordly arrogance: from comments to “The History of a City” // Shchedrinsky collection. Vol. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. pp. 178-179. ⁠ . Finally, the chapter “Hungry City” reflects the real famine that struck Russia in 1868. Similar examples can be called and called.

But Shchedrin’s “present” is still not the calendar year 1869, but a historical narrative. Although Shchedrin calls it just a formal device, it is indeed full of references to Russian history. The conclusion suggests itself that history and modernity in “The History of a City” are not differentiated, but merged together: Foolov is eternal Russia.

Sergey Alimov. Illustration for “The History of a City”

What cities is Foolov like?

The city of Foolov appears in Shchedrin’s essays even before “The History of a City” - it was a typical provincial Russian city, a suitable environment for satirical exercises. Fulov’s “Stories of a City” is a much more complex place: “The city has become somehow strange, mobile, changeable,” notes Dmitry Nikolaev 30 Nikolaev D. P. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Author's abstract. dis... cand. Philol. Sci. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1975. P. 9. ⁠ . Foolov turns into a testing ground for experiments in concentrated Russian history, into some kind of “enchanted place”; in this respect it does not claim to be similar to any real Russian city. It turns out to be “either a provincial unknown town, or a state, empire", 31 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 458. ⁠ a huge territory bordering Byzantium. In some ways it also resembles Russian capitals: “it is built on a swamp through which a river flows - like St. Petersburg, and at the same time it is located on seven hills and has three rivers - like Moscow" 32 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. SPb.: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. P. 21. ⁠ . Philologist Igor Sukhikh brings Foolov closer to the concept of a “prefabricated city,” as Gogol called the scene of action "The Inspector General" 33 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 458. ⁠ .

At the same time, one real prototype of Foolov can be easily and accurately established. The self-name of the Foolovites - blockheads, according to I.P. Sakharov's "Tales of the Russian People", referred to the Yegoryevites, however, in Foolov's description much clearly refers to Vyatka (modern Kirov), where Saltykov-Shchedrin lived in exile in 1848-1855. The name “Foolish” is reminiscent of “Khlynov” (that was the name of Vyatka from 1457 to 1780); in the chapter “War of Enlightenment” Saltykov-Shchedrin refers to the legendary massacre between the Vyatichi and Ustyugans, the memory of which was celebrated with a local folk festival - Svistoplyaska. Krutogorsk from Shchedrin’s earlier work, “Provincial Sketches,” is clearly copied from Vyatka.

Tver station. From Joseph Goffert's album “Views of the Nikolaev Railway”. 1864 From 1860 to 1862 Shchedrin served as vice-governor of Tver

DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

Who is the population of Foolov?

The population of Foolov is quite homogeneous (Foolovites often do something all as one - either graze cattle, or rebel against mustard, or destroy the city) - and at the same time changeable in its composition: “then suddenly they have “favorite” citizens and a club where Boston is played; then they have intellectuals and priests, then again the differences fade away”; “classes in Foolov are a very ghostly" 34 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. P. 34. ⁠ . Foolov’s “revolt on his knees” is more reminiscent of literary descriptions of the morals of the Russian peasantry, but the unsuccessful “debut of Foolov’s liberalism” (the fate of Ionka Kozyr) is an ironic reference to the Russian perception of Voltairianism. The Foolovites are a model of a society that acts as a single mass, subject to external factors. Within itself it may be heterogeneous, but it is always opposed to power and fate. This passive opposition helps her survive: “If the Foolovites endured the most terrible disasters with firmness... then they owed this only to the fact that in general any disaster seemed to them as something completely independent of them, and therefore inevitable.” Attempts at self-organization turn into chaos: for example, during the reign of six mayors, the crowd tries to conduct a dialogue with the world, cracking down on its random representatives.

Sergey Alimov. Illustrations for “The History of a City”

Was Saltykov-Shchedrin himself a good official?

Civil service for Shchedrin was a predetermined matter: since he studied at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum at state expense, he had to spend six years in the service. years 35 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. pp. 8-9. ⁠ . In 1844 he entered the office of the War Ministry. His career was soon interrupted: the young Shchedrin was a member of the circle of Mikhail Butashevich-Petrashevsky (the same one in which Dostoevsky almost paid with his life), and after leaving it, he wrote the satirical story “A Confused Affair,” in which he brought out the radicals-Petrashevsky. The Nikolaev censorship, frightened by the revolutionary events in Europe in 1848, mistook Shchedrin’s satire for genuine propaganda - and the writer went into exile in Vyatka (the features of this city are recognizable in Foolov). There, governor Akim Sereda brought him closer to him: the exiled Shchedrin received the position of adviser to the Vyatka provincial government and, in particular, “regularly testified to the trustworthiness of the myself" 36 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. P. 11. ⁠ . “The Vyatka experience of government activity was painful and paradoxical,” writes researcher Elena Gracheva. - On the one hand, Saltykov the official, in the fight against lawlessness, rushed to restore order and used all his strength to bring life in accordance with the Law. On the other hand, every single day he was convinced that Order in its Russian version is violence no less than lawlessness.” This belief is presented in an exaggerated form in “The History of a City.”

I saw how listeners doubled over with laughter when reading some of Saltykov’s essays. There was something almost scary in this laughter, because the audience, while laughing, at the same time felt like a scourge was lashing itself.

Ivan Turgenev

In 1855, Shchedrin received a pardon from the new Emperor Alexander II, returned to St. Petersburg and entered service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Soon he began to publish “Provincial Sketches,” in which he summarized his administrative experience. The essays became very popular - and, according to legend, Alexander II, having read them, said: “Let him go to serve, let him do as he writes.” So Shchedrin became the vice-governor of the Ryazan province - it was a high, but unostentatious position, which forced him to enter into the private circumstances of the residents and audit the work of local departments. His further career was connected with the Ministry of Finance, he worked in Penza and Tula. Gracheva characterizes Shchedrin the official as follows: “Saltykov... eradicated abuses everywhere day and night, redid all poorly drawn up papers with his own hands, audited the negligent and inspired awe and admiration in his subordinates. He was an excellent official: smart, honest and competent, but at the same time a monstrous boss and subordinate: rude, constantly irritated and swearing like a cab driver, regardless of their faces.<…>Having spat with all the authorities as possible, in 1868 Saltykov entered into final and irrevocable retirement. When M.I. Semevsky talks with Saltykov on February 6, 1882, Saltykov will tell him: “I try to forget about the time of my service. And don't print anything about her. I'm a writer, that's my thing vocation" 37 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “A complete image of historical progress with continuously moving reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. The history of one city. SPb.: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. P. 16. ⁠ . Soviet literary critic Yakov Elsberg, an odious personality in the history of Russian philology, writes that “Shchedrin’s most acute hatred of Foolov is ... hatred of such elements of ideology, politics and everyday life that, in one form or another, existed in the past of himself Saltykov" 38 Elsberg Ya. Shchedrin and Glupov // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. L.: Academia, 1934. P. XIV. ⁠ .

Vyatka. Cathedral and ecclesiastical consistory. End of the 19th century. In 1848, Shchedrin was exiled to Vyatka (modern Kirov), where he spent seven years. The features of this city are recognizable in Foolov

Paul Fearn/Alamy/TASS

What techniques is “The History of a City” based on? Can we call it grotesque?

The grotesque, strictly speaking, is not necessary for satire, but is often present in it. He is characterized by attention to the ugly and the fantastic at the same time - and “The History of a City,” especially its first chapters, is entirely built on this combination. From Brusty's mechanized head we move on to Pimple's stuffed (and disgustingly devoured) head. One mayor’s brains were shriveled “from unnecessary use,” another’s “legs were turned with their feet back.” The tin soldiers fill with blood, come to life and destroy the huts. Popular anger manifests itself in large-scale and unmotivated killings. And so on and so forth. Such events do not turn “The History of a City” into a deliberate fairy tale: like the fantastic realists of the 20th century, they amaze, but are built into the logic of the work, into the atmosphere of the place.

Another technique that provides grotesqueness is the literalization of metaphor. For example, Elena Gracheva points out that “Organchik” Brudasty “was generated rather by circulation speech" 39 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar’s curls and lordly arrogance: from comments to “The History of a City” // Shchedrinsky collection. Vol. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. P. 45. ⁠ : Saltykov’s correspondence includes “fools with music and just fools”; “with music” - that is, those who repeat the same thing over and over again. In late Soviet uncensored literature, this technique was actively used by conceptualists, especially Vladimir Sorokin. His “Norma” is full of literalized language clichés: a literal understanding of banal and vulgar metaphors from Soviet official poetry creates a grotesque effect. Both Sorokin and Saltykov-Shchedrin pay special attention to language, which is ideologized in one way or another, providing a social atmosphere.

In the story of Gloomy-Burcheev, a timeless plot is played out again. Thus, in his desire to “calm the river,” whose flow is not subject to his geometric ideals, echoes of ancient history are felt (the Babylonian king Cyrus punishes the Gind River by shallowing it with the help of completely straight channels; his grandson Xerxes orders to carve out the sea in which his soldiers drowned) . A hundred years after Shchedrin, Alexander Galich’s retired Stalinist investigator wants to send him to the Black Sea stage: “Oh, you are the sea, sea, sea, Black Sea, / It’s a pity that it’s not under investigation, it’s not a prisoner! / I would bring you to Intu for the cause, / You would turn from black to white!”

“God, how sad our Russia is!” - said, according to Gogol, Pushkin, after listening to the first chapters of Dead Souls. “God, how funny and scary she is,” one might add after reading “The Story of a City”

Igor Sukhikh

Historical legends are not the only source of gloomy-burcheevsky plot. The barracks city of Ugryum-Burcheev is a mirror reflection of the socialist utopias of Tommaso Campanella, Charles Fourier and Henri Saint-Simon, in which freedom and rationalism turn into their own opposites 40 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: literary parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. pp. 40-55; Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. P. 46. ⁠ . If these utopians' bosses live on a hill in the center of the city, then in Shchedrin's grotesque the mayors literally soar above the city. According to Vladimir Svirsky, the absurd cruelty of Glupov’s gloomy-burcheevsky is Shchedrin’s reaction “to the idea of ​​barracks communism of Nechaev’s sense" 41 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. ⁠ . (Soviet interpreters preferred not to notice this; for example, Evgraf Pokusaev writes that Shchedrin’s criticism of communism and socialism is a hidden accusation of imperial power: “...The very bestial regime that you attribute to socialism is your regime, there is your order, it is precisely this way of life follows from the principles of despotic monarchism, tsarist autocracy, from the principles of any other anti-people state Illustration for “The City of the Sun,” the utopian work of Tommaso Campanella in 1602. The basis of this utopia is the abolition of private property and the institution of the family.The birth and education of solariums, residents of the City of the Sun, controlled by the state in accordance with biological and astrological indications.Shchedrinsky barracks city is a mirror reflection of such a socialist utopia.

The phalanster, in the teachings of the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, is a special building in which a commune of 1600-1800 people lives and works. In “The History of a City,” the chronicler notes: “In general, it is clear that Wartkin was a utopian and that if he had lived longer, he would probably have ended up either being exiled to Siberia for freethinking, or building a phalanstery in Foolov.”

What is “it”?

The idiotic will of Gloomy-Burcheev, as in modern dystopias about zombies, infects all the inhabitants of Foolov: they demolish their city, and then seem to see the light and begin to rebel - but there is no citizenship here, but, according to commentator G.V. Ivanov, only "natural protection life" 44 Ivanov G.V. (Comments. “The History of a City”) // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M.: Khud. lit., 1969. P. 584. ⁠ . After this, Foolov experiences his apocalypse (many details here refer to the plot of the last biblical book).

If you believe the “Inventory of City Governors”, after Gloomy-Burcheev, Archangel Stratilatovich Intercept-Zalikhvatsky rides into the city on a white (again, apocalyptic) horse (archangel is the name of the archangels, in ancient Greek this word meant a military leader). He carries out his judgment on Foolov, which is expressed quite ordinaryly by Foolov’s standards: “he burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences.” But in the finale of the last chapter there is no Intercept-Zalikhvatsky.

Knowing that Shchedrin changed the outlines of the concept of “The History of a City” as it was written and published, we can assume that Zalikhvatsky was ultimately rejected by him. Gloomy-Burcheev - this inflexible idiot - prophesies in an unexpectedly clear voice: “Someone is coming after me, who will be even more terrible than me” - and at the very end, before disappearing with a crash: “It will come...” And indeed, a certain catastrophe is coming, which Shchedrin calls the word “it” familiar to viewers of modern horror:

“The north became dark and covered with clouds; From these clouds something was rushing towards the city: either a downpour, or a tornado. Full of anger, it rushed, drilling the ground, roaring, humming and groaning, and from time to time spewing out some dull, croaking sounds. Although it was not yet close, the air in the city began to vibrate, the bells began to hum on their own, the trees were ruffled, the animals went crazy and rushed across the field, not finding the way to the city. It was getting closer, and as it got closer, time stopped running. Finally the earth shook, the sun darkened... the Foolovites fell on their faces. An inscrutable horror appeared on all faces and gripped all hearts.

It has arrived...

History has stopped flowing."

In Soviet literary criticism 45 Kirpotin V. Ya. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. M.: Soviet writer, 1955. P. 12; Pokusaev E.I. Revolutionary satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin. M.: GIHL, 1963. P. 115-120; Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 248. ⁠ the prevailing interpretation of “it” as a revolutionary storm, after which “a new existence began for the people who took power into their own hands" 46 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. P. 97. ⁠ . But with the same success one can imagine “it” as a counter-revolutionary storm, a terrible revenge on the rebels, the like of which has never been seen in Foolov. There are attempts to present “it” as the reign of Nicholas I, which eclipsed the Arakcheev reaction. However, the eschatological intensity of the previous pages is such that the political interpretation seems too weak. Most likely, we are once again facing a transhistorical phenomenon. Foolov, having gone through a full cycle, perhaps having exhausted his demonstration resource within the work, ceases to exist; something similar will happen in the 20th century with the city of Macondo under Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The researcher is left with only an archive that allows him to reconstruct the chronicles of the movement towards disaster and draw conclusions from them.

In the 1862 essay “Fools and Foolovites,” which is not included in “The History of a City,” Shchedrin writes: “Foolov has no history.” Researcher Vladimir Svirsky believes that the timeless Foolov turns out to be a “failure” in the history of world civilization,” a model of Russia isolated from world civilization in the understanding Chaadaeva 47 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Guide for Democratic Self-Education of Teachers. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991 C. 108-109. ⁠ . In this case, the end of Foolov is a kind of physical revenge of history, which does not tolerate “nowhere places.” It is indicative in this sense to compare with “The Story of a City” Alfred Kubin’s novel “The Other Side” (1909), in which another “city of nowhere”, conceived as a utopia, perishes. The catastrophic “it” (options: “she”, “IT”, etc.) is anticipated and destroys cities in the works of Russian followers of Shchedrin: Vasily Aksenov, Alexander Zinoviev, Boris Khazanov, Dmitry Lipskerova 48 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. art., comm. S.F. Dmitrenko. Book 2. SPb.: RKhGA, 2016. P. 644-645. ⁠ .

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