"What to do?"- a novel by the Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, written in December 1862 - April 1863, while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. The novel was written partly in response to Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
History of creation and publication
Chernyshevsky wrote the novel while in the solitary confinement of the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863. Since January 1863, the manuscript has been handed over in parts to the commission of inquiry on the Chernyshevsky case (the last part was handed over on April 6). The commission, and after it the censors, saw only a love line in the novel and gave permission for publication. The oversight of censorship was soon noticed, the responsible censor Beketov was removed from his post. However, the novel had already been published in the journal Sovremennik (1863, Nos. 3-5). Despite the fact that the issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel What Is to Be Done? were published, were banned, the text of the novel in handwritten copies was distributed throughout the country and caused a lot of imitation.
“Chernyshevsky’s novel was not talked about in a whisper, not quietly, but at the top of his lungs in the halls, at the entrances, at the table of Mrs. Milbret and in the basement pub of the Shtenbokov passage. They shouted: “disgusting”, “charm”, “abomination”, etc. - all in different tones.
P. A. Kropotkin:
“For the Russian youth of that time, it [the book“ What is to be done? ”] was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner.”
In 1867, the novel was published as a separate book in Geneva (in Russian) by Russian emigrants, then it was translated into Polish, Serbian, Hungarian, French, English, German, Italian, Swedish, Dutch.
The ban on the publication of the novel What Is to Be Done? was removed only in 1905. In 1906, the novel was first published in Russia as a separate edition.
Plot
The central character of the novel is Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya. To avoid marriage, imposed by a selfish mother, the girl enters into a fictitious marriage with medical student Dmitry Lopukhov (teacher of Fedya's younger brother). Marriage allows her to leave her parental home and manage her life on her own. Vera studies, tries to find her place in life, and finally opens a “new type” sewing workshop - this is a commune where there are no hired workers and owners, and all the girls are equally interested in the well-being of the joint venture.
The family life of the Lopukhovs is also unusual for its time, its main principles are mutual respect, equality and personal freedom. Gradually, a real feeling arises between Vera and Dmitry, based on trust and affection. However, it happens that Vera Pavlovna falls in love with her husband's best friend, doctor Alexander Kirsanov, with whom she has much more in common than with her husband. This love is mutual. Vera and Kirsanov begin to avoid each other, hoping to hide their feelings, primarily from each other. However, Lopukhov guesses everything and forces them to confess.
To give his wife freedom, Lopukhov fakes suicide (the novel begins with an episode of imaginary suicide), he himself leaves for America in order to study industrial production in practice. After some time, Lopukhov, under the name of Charles Beaumont, returns to Russia. He is an agent of an English firm and arrived on her behalf to purchase a stearin plant from the industrialist Polozov. Delving into the affairs of the plant, Lopukhov visits Polozov's house, where he meets his daughter Ekaterina. Young people fall in love with each other and soon get married, after which Lopukhov-Beumont announces his return to the Kirsanovs. A close friendship is established between families, they settle in the same house, and a society of “new people” is expanding around them - those who want to arrange their own and social life “in a new way”.
One of the most significant heroes of the novel is the revolutionary Rakhmetov, a friend of Kirsanov and Lopukhov, whom they once introduced to the teachings of the utopian socialists. A short digression is devoted to Rakhmetov in chapter 29 (“A Special Person”). This is a hero of the second plan, only episodically connected with the main storyline of the novel (brings Vera Pavlovna a letter from Dmitry Lopukhov explaining the circumstances of his imaginary suicide). However, Rakhmetov plays a special role in the ideological outline of the novel. What it consists of, Chernyshevsky explains in detail in the XXXI part of chapter 3 (“Conversation with an insightful reader and his expulsion”):
Artistic originality
“The novel“ What is to be done? ”I was just deeply plowed. This is a thing that gives a charge for a lifetime.” (Lenin)The emphatically entertaining, adventurous, melodramatic beginning of the novel was supposed not only to confuse censorship, but also to attract the broad masses of readers. The external plot of the novel is a love story, but it reflects the new economic, philosophical and social ideas of the time. The novel is riddled with allusions to the coming revolution.
L. Yu. Brik recalled Mayakovsky: “One of the books closest to him was Chernyshevsky's What to Do? He kept coming back to her. The life described in it echoed ours. Mayakovsky, as it were, consulted with Chernyshevsky about his personal affairs, found support in him. What to Do? was the last book he read before he died.”
- In the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” aluminum is mentioned. In the "naive utopia" of Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream, it is called the metal of the future. And this great future to date (ser. XX - XXI century) aluminum has already reached.
- The "lady in mourning" that appears at the end of the work is Olga Sokratovna Chernyshevskaya, the writer's wife. At the end of the novel, we are talking about the release of Chernyshevsky from the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was at the time of writing the novel. He did not wait for release: on February 7, 1864, he was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor, followed by a settlement in Siberia.
- The main characters with the surname Kirsanov are also found in Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons.
Screen adaptations
- "What to do? "- a three-part teleplay (directors: Nadezhda Marusalova, Pavel Reznikov), 1971.
The novel "What to do?" written by one of the most famous writers and literary critics. Being included in the school curriculum, this great work is read by many. And in Soviet times, when Chernyshevsky was given the status of a great democratic revolutionary, the novel What Is To Be Done? was one of the most famous Of course, today the name of Chernyshevsky has lost its former greatness and glory, but interest in the novel has not weakened. The history of the creation of the novel "What is to be done?" is noteworthy.
Nikolai Gavrilovich wrote his masterpiece, being imprisoned in the solitary confinement of the Alekseevsky ravelin, located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The novel was written for almost a year, and then, having passed through the investigative commission that dealt with the Chernyshevsky case, it was handed over to writers in parts. Of course, the censors and the commission considered only a love story in the novel, so they allowed it to be published in the Sovremennik magazine. Later, when the novel "What to do?" was published, the error, of course, was discovered, and everyone who had anything to do with the publication of the novel was removed from office. All issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel was published, were banned. The history of the creation of the novel What Is to Be Done?, as you can see, is not at all simple. And if we also take into account the fact that the novel was lost on the way from the Peter and Paul Fortress to the editorial office of Sovremennik and picked up by some peasant on the street, it becomes clear how miraculously it has survived to this day.
At first glance, it seems that "What to do?" love story. However, the novel reflects philosophical, aesthetic, economic, social allusions to the future. In essence, this is the first utopian novel in Russian literature. And the history of the creation of the novel "What to do?" was dictated by the needs of the times. But, at the same time, Chernyshevsky was able to predict the revolution, to which the tsar's reforms were quietly leading, as well as some details, for example, aluminum in the novel is called a metal that will be used in the future. In addition, some of the characters in What Is to Be Done? autobiographical. So, the Lady in mourning from the last chapter is the writer's wife, Olga Chernyshevskaya, who personifies virtue and love.
The main character of the novel is Vera Rozalskaya, who is not like her surroundings and family. She suffers greatly from this until her brother's teacher, Dmitry Lopukhov, comes up with a plan to save her. It consists in the fact that the girl concluded with him, which will allow her to get rid of parental oppression and become an independent person. She begins to study, opens her own sewing shop, which became a new word in the then economy, because the profit was divided equally between all workers. At the end of the novel, Vera becomes the first female physician.
The novel "What to do?" It also has a love story, unusual for that time. After several years of marriage, Dmitry and Vera begin to love each other for real. And after a while, the love of two turns into a triangle. The third is Alexander Kirsanov, who loves Vera. Further, the plot develops in an unpredictable way, and how exactly, you can find out by reading the novel.
Chernyshevsky also brings into the novel a special person named Rakhmetov. In the work, he does not play a big role, but his biography and actions make it possible to single him out as a special type of person. Which? Find out if you read the novel. In addition to Rakhmetov, the rest of the main characters also make up the type of new people (but not special), who live and think outside the box, and act in a new way, going against the established traditions.
How does the novel end? This is what readers of the brilliant work of Nikolai Chernyshevsky will have to find out. It is not for nothing that many generations of interesting and great people have grown up in his works.
1863, "Contemporary"
1867 (Geneva), 1906 (Russia)
"What to do?"- a novel by the Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, written in December - April, while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. The novel was written partly in response to Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
History of creation and publication
Chernyshevsky wrote the novel while in solitary confinement of the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863. Since January 1863, the manuscript has been handed over in parts to the commission of inquiry on the Chernyshevsky case (the last part was handed over on April 6). The commission, and after it the censors, saw only a love line in the novel and gave permission for publication. The oversight of censorship was soon noticed, the responsible censor Beketov was removed from his post. However, the novel had already been published in The Contemporary (1863, No. 3-5). Despite the fact that the issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel What Is to Be Done? were published, were banned, the text of the novel in handwritten copies was distributed throughout the country and caused a lot of imitation.
“Chernyshevsky’s novel was not talked about in a whisper, not quietly, but at the top of his lungs in the halls, at the entrances, at the table of Mrs. Milbret and in the basement pub of the Shtenbokov passage. They shouted: “disgusting”, “charm”, “abomination”, etc. - all in different tones.
“For the Russian youth of that time, it [the book“ What is to be done? ”] was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner.”
The emphatically entertaining, adventurous, melodramatic beginning of the novel was supposed not only to confuse censorship, but also to attract the broad masses of readers. The external plot of the novel is a love story, but it reflects the new economic, philosophical and social ideas of the time. The novel is riddled with allusions to the coming revolution.
- In the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” aluminum is mentioned. In the "naive utopia" of Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream, it is called the metal of the future. And this great future to date (ser. XX - XXI century) aluminum has already reached.
- The "lady in mourning" that appears at the end of the work is Olga Sokratovna Chernyshevskaya, the writer's wife. At the end of the novel, we are talking about the release of Chernyshevsky from the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was at the time of writing the novel. He did not wait for release: on February 7, 1864, he was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor, followed by a settlement in Siberia.
- The main characters with the surname Kirsanov are also found in Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons.
Literature
- Nikolaev P. Revolutionary novel // Chernyshevsky N. G. What to do? M., 1985
Screen adaptations
- 1971: Three-part teleplay (directors: Nadezhda Marusalova, Pavel Reznikov)
Notes
see also
Links
Categories:
- Literary works alphabetically
- Nikolay Chernyshevsky
- political novels
- Novels of 1863
- Novels in Russian
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See what is "What to do? (novel)" in other dictionaries:
- "What to do?" the philosophical question of various thinkers, religious figures, prophets, as well as literary works with this title: "What to do?" novel by Nikolai Chernyshevsky, his main work. "What to do?" book ... ... Wikipedia
The name of the famous socio-political novel (1863) by Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828 1889). The main question, which in the 60 70s. 19th century was discussed in youth circles, was, as the revolutionary P. N. Tkachev writes, “the question of what ... ... Dictionary of winged words and expressions
Date of birth: June 16, 1965 Place of birth: Makeevka, Ukrainian SSR, USSR ... Wikipedia
History of creation
Chernyshevsky himself called these people a type that "has recently come into being and is rapidly growing", is a product and a sign of the times.
These heroes have a special revolutionary morality, which is based on the enlightenment theory of the 18th century, the so-called "theory of rational egoism." This theory is that a person can be happy if his personal interests coincide with the public.
Vera Pavlovna is the main character of the novel. Her prototypes are Chernyshevsky's wife Olga Sokratovna and Marya Alexandrovna Bokova-Sechenova, who fictitiously married her teacher, and then became the wife of the physiologist Sechenov.
Vera Pavlovna managed to escape from the circumstances that had surrounded her since childhood. Her character was tempered in a family where her father was indifferent to her, and for her mother she was just a profitable commodity.
Vera is as enterprising as her mother, thanks to which she manages to create sewing workshops that give a good profit. Vera Pavlovna is smart and educated, balanced and kind to both her husband and girls. She is not a prude, not hypocritical and smart. Chernyshevsky admires Vera Pavlovna's desire to break outdated moral principles.
Chernyshevsky emphasizes the similarities between Lopukhov and Kirsanov. Both doctors, engaged in science, both from poor families and have achieved everything with hard work. For the sake of helping an unfamiliar girl, Lopukhov abandons his scientific career. He is more rational than Kirsanov. This is evidenced by the intention of imaginary suicide. But Kirsanov is capable of any sacrifice for the sake of friendship and love, avoids communication with a friend and lover in order to forget her. Kirsanov is more sensitive and charismatic. Rakhmetov believes him, embarking on the path of improvement.
But the protagonist of the novel (not according to the plot, but according to the idea) is not just a "new person", but a "special person" revolutionary Rakhmetov. He generally refuses egoism as such, from happiness for himself. A revolutionary must sacrifice himself, give his life for those he loves, live like the rest of the people.
By origin he is an aristocrat, but he broke with the past. Rakhmetov earned as a simple carpenter, barge hauler. He had the nickname "Nikitushka Lomov", like a barge haul hero. Rakhmetov invested all his funds in the cause of the revolution. He led the most ascetic life. If new people are called by Chernyshevsky the salt of the earth, then revolutionaries like Rakhmetov are “the color of the best people, the engines of engines, the salt of the salt of the earth.” The image of Rakhmetov is covered with a halo of mystery and innuendo, since Chernyshevsky could not say everything directly.
Rakhmetov had several prototypes. One of them is the landowner Bakhmetev, who transferred almost all of his fortune to Herzen in London for the cause of Russian propaganda. The image of Rakhmetov is collective.
The image of Rakhmetov is far from ideal. Chernyshevsky warns readers against admiring such heroes, because their service is unrequited.
Stylistic features
Chernyshevsky widely uses two means of artistic expression - allegory and silence. Vera Pavlovna's dreams are full of allegories. The dark basement in the first dream is an allegory of women's lack of freedom. Lopukhov's bride is a great love for people, real and fantastic dirt from the second dream - the circumstances in which the poor and the rich live. The huge glass house in the last dream is an allegory of the communist happy future, which, according to Chernyshevsky, will definitely come and bring joy to everyone without exception. Silence is associated with censorship prohibitions. But some mystery of images or storylines does not spoil the pleasure of reading: "I know more about Rakhmetov than I say." The meaning of the finale of the novel, which is interpreted in different ways, the image of a lady in mourning, remains vague. All songs and toasts of a cheerful picnic are allegorical.
In the last tiny chapter, Change of Scenery, the lady is no longer in mourning, but in smart clothes. In a young man of about 30, the released Rakhmetov is guessed. This chapter depicts the future, albeit not far off.
The novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do?” created by him in the chamber of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the period from 14/12/1862 to 4/04/1863. for three and a half months. From January to April 1863, parts of the manuscript were submitted to the commission on the writer's case for censorship. The censorship did not find anything reprehensible and allowed the publication. The oversight was soon discovered and the censor Beketov was removed from his post, but the novel had already been published in the journal Sovremennik (1863, No 3-5). The bans on the issues of the magazine did not lead to anything, and the book was distributed throughout the country in "samizdat".
In 1905, under Emperor Nicholas II, the ban on publication was lifted, and in 1906 the book was published in a separate edition. The reaction of readers to the novel is interesting, and their opinions were divided into two camps. Some supported the author, others considered the novel devoid of artistry.
Analysis of the work
1. Socio-political renewal of society through revolution. In the book, the author, due to censorship, could not expand on this topic in more detail. It is given in semi-hints in the description of Rakhmetov's life and in the 6th chapter of the novel.
2. Moral and psychological. That a person, by the power of his mind, is able to create in himself new predetermined moral qualities. The author describes the whole process from a small one (the struggle against despotism in the family) to a large-scale one, that is, a revolution.
3. Women's emancipation, family morality. This topic is revealed in the history of Vera's family, in the relationship of three young people before the alleged suicide of Lopukhov, in the first 3 dreams of Vera.
4. Future socialist society. This is a dream of a beautiful and bright life, which the author unfolds in the 4th dream of Vera Pavlovna. Here is the vision of lighter labor with the help of technical means, i.e., the technogenic development of production.
(Chernyshevsky in the cell of the Peter and Paul Fortress writes a novel)
The pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of transforming the world through revolution, the preparation of minds and the expectation of it. Moreover, the desire to actively participate in it. The main goal of the work is the development and implementation of a new method of revolutionary education, the creation of a textbook on the formation of a new worldview for every thinking person.
Story line
In the novel, it actually covers the main idea of the work. No wonder, at first, even the censors considered the novel nothing more than a love story. The beginning of the work, deliberately entertaining, in the spirit of French novels, aimed to confuse censorship and, along the way, attract the attention of the majority of the reading public. The plot is based on an uncomplicated love story, behind which the social, philosophical and economic problems of that time are hidden. Aesop's narrative language is permeated through and through with the ideas of the coming revolution.
The plot is this. There is an ordinary girl, Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya, whom her mercenary mother tries in every possible way to pass off as a rich man. Trying to avoid this fate, the girl resorts to the help of her friend Dmitry Lopukhov and enters into a fictitious marriage with him. Thus, she gains freedom and leaves her parents' house. In search of a job, Vera opens a sewing workshop. This is no ordinary workshop. There is no hired labor here, the workers have their share in the profits, therefore they are interested in the prosperity of the enterprise.
Vera and Alexander Kirsanov are mutually in love. In order to free his imaginary wife from remorse, Lopukhov fakes suicide (it is from the description of it that the whole action begins) and leaves for America. There he acquires the new name Charles Beaumont, becomes an agent of an English company and, fulfilling her task, comes to Russia to purchase a stearin plant from the industrialist Polozov. Lopukhov meets his daughter Katya at Polozov's house. They fall in love with each other, the case ends with a wedding. Now Dmitry appears in front of the Kirsanov family. Friendship begins with families, they settle in the same house. A circle of “new people” is formed around them, who want to arrange their own and social life in a new way. Ekaterina Vasilievna, Lopukhov-Beaumont's wife, also joins the cause, setting up a new sewing workshop. This is the happy ending.
Main characters
The central character of the novel is Vera Rozalskaya. A sociable person, she belongs to the type of "honest girls" who are not ready to compromise for the sake of a profitable marriage without love. The girl is romantic, but, despite this, quite modern, with good administrative inclinations, as they would say today. Therefore, she was able to interest the girls and organize a sewing production and more.
Another character in the novel is Lopukhov Dmitry Sergeevich, a student at the Medical Academy. Somewhat closed, prefers loneliness. He is honest, decent and noble. It was these qualities that inspired him to help Vera in her difficult situation. For her sake, he quits his studies in his last year and begins to engage in private practice. Considered the official husband of Vera Pavlovna, he behaves towards her in the highest degree decent and noble. The apogee of his nobility is his decision to stage his own death in order to give Kirsanov and Vera, who love each other, to unite their destinies. Just like Vera, he refers to the formation of new people. Smart, enterprising. This can be judged, if only because the English company entrusted him with a very serious matter.
Kirsanov Alexander husband of Vera Pavlovna, best friend of Lopukhov. His attitude towards his wife is very impressive. He not only loves her dearly, but also looks for an occupation for her in which she could fulfill herself. The author feels deep sympathy for him and speaks of him as a brave man who knows how to carry out the work he has undertaken to the end. At the same time, the man is honest, deeply decent and noble. Not knowing about the true relationship between Vera and Lopukhov, having fallen in love with Vera Pavlovna, he disappears from their house for a long time, so as not to disturb the peace of the people he loves. Only Lopukhov's illness forces him to appear for the treatment of a friend. The fictitious husband, understanding the state of the lovers, imitates his death and makes room for Kirsanov next to Vera. Thus, lovers find happiness in family life.
(In the photo, the artist Karnovich-Valois in the role of Rakhmetov, the play "New People")
A close friend of Dmitry and Alexander, the revolutionary Rakhmetov, is the most significant character in the novel, although he is given little space in the novel. In the ideological outline of the story, he had a special role and is devoted to a separate digression in chapter 29. The man is extraordinary in every way. At the age of 16 he left the university for three years and wandered around Russia in search of adventure and education of character. This is a person with already formed principles in all spheres of life, in the material, physical and spiritual. At the same time, possessing an ebullient nature. He sees his future life in serving people and prepares for this by tempering his spirit and body. He even refused his beloved woman, because love can limit his actions. He would like to live like most people, but he cannot afford it.
In Russian literature, Rakhmetov became the first practical revolutionary. Opinions about him were completely opposite, from indignation to admiration. This is the ideal image of a revolutionary hero. But today, from the standpoint of knowledge of history, such a person could only evoke sympathy, since we know how accurately history proved the correctness of the words of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France: “Revolutions are conceived by heroes, fools carry out, and scoundrels use its fruits.” Perhaps the voiced opinion does not quite fit into the framework of the image and characteristics of Rakhmetov formed over decades, but this is indeed so. The foregoing does not in the least detract from the qualities of Rakhmetov, because he is a hero of his time.
According to Chernyshevsky, using the example of Vera, Lopukhov and Kirsanov, he wanted to show ordinary people of the new generation, of which there are thousands. But without the image of Rakhmetov, the reader could have a misleading opinion about the main characters of the novel. According to the writer, all people should be like these three heroes, but the highest ideal that all people should strive for is the image of Rakhmetov. And with this I fully agree.