Presentation on the topic: “Tatyana Tolstaya Story “Blank Slate”. Tatiana Tolstaya “I am writing not about a small person, but about a normal person
Key words: evidence, author, motive, parody, technique, postmodern discourse. The title of T. Tolstoy’s story “A Blank Slate” is significant in many ways and evokes certain associations among the modern reader. In particular, it can be associated with the well-known Latin expression tabula rasa, both in its literal meaning - a blank slate where you can write anything you want, and in its figurative meaning - space, emptiness. Indeed, at the end of the story, the hero, who voluntarily changed his inner essence, asks for a “blank slate” in order to “provide a boarding school” for his own son, whom he calls a “bastard.” The reader understands that the “blank slate” in the context of the final episode is an important detail, a symbol of the beginning of a new life for the hero whose soul has disappeared, and in its place a void has formed. On the other hand, the popular expression tabula rasa is associated with the works of famous philosophers. Thus, Locke believed that only practice shapes a person, and his mind at birth is a tabula rasa. I. Kant and the American transcendentalists who were guided by him rejected Locke’s indicated thesis. From the point of view of R. Emerson and other transcendentalists, a person from birth has an understanding of truth and error, good and evil, and these ideas are transcendental, given to a person a priori, coming to him in addition to experience. Tatyana Tolstaya does not make direct allusions to these philosophical disputes, but in her work the motif of the soul plays an important role, which in the subtext of the story is perceived in the traditions of classical literature - as a battlefield between good and evil, between God and the devil. The story “Blank Slate” is divided into seven small fragments that are closely interconnected. Each fragment is based on episodes of the hero’s internal and external life. However, structurally, two parts can be distinguished in the text of the work - before the hero’s meeting with the mysterious doctor who “did not have eyes,” and after the meeting with him. The basis of this division is the opposition “living” - “dead”. In the first part of the story, the idea is emphasized that the “Living” tormented the hero: “And the Living cried subtly in his chest until the morning.” “Living” in the context of the work is a symbol of the soul. The word “soul” is never mentioned in the story, however, the leitmotif of its first part is the motif of melancholy, and melancholy, as V.I. Dal points out, is “languor of the soul, painful sadness, mental anxiety.” In the strange world in which one lives hero, melancholy follows him everywhere. One can even say that the author creates a personified image of the melancholy that “came” to the hero constantly, with which he was “amazed”: “Hand in hand, Ignatiev was silent with melancholy,” “Melancholy moved closer to him, waved her ghostly sleeve. ..”, “Toska waited, lay in a wide bed, moved closer, gave space to Ignatiev, hugged him, laid his head on his chest...”, etc. .Toska waves her sleeve like a woman, and these mysterious “waves” contribute to the appearance of strange visions in the hero’s mind. The author of the story gives a collage consisting of the thoughts and visions of the hero: “...locked in his chest, gardens, seas, cities were tossing and turning, their owner was Ignatiev, with him they were born, with him they were doomed to dissolve into oblivion.” The phrase “they were born with him” that we underlined recalls the statement of Kant and other philosophers that a person from birth is not a tabula rasa. The author “includes” the reader in the hero’s stream of consciousness, which makes it possible to significantly expand the context of the work. It is noteworthy that almost all the pictures that are drawn in the mind of the strange hero are of an apocalyptic nature. “Residents, paint the sky in twilight color, sit on the stone thresholds of abandoned houses, drop your hands, lower your heads...”. The mention of lepers, deserted alleys, abandoned hearths, cooled ashes, grassy market squares, gloomy landscapes - all this enhances the state of anxiety and melancholy in which the hero finds himself. As if playing with the reader, the author draws a low red moon in the inky sky, and against this background - a howling wolf... In the subtext of this fragment, the well-known phraseological unit “howl from melancholy” is “read”, and the author’s hint is guessed: “howls” from melancholy the hero of the story. The hero's melancholy is motivated in the story by life circumstances - the illness of a child for whom his wife quit her job, as well as internal duality associated with the fact that, in addition to his wife, he also has Anastasia. Ignatiev feels sorry for the sick Valerik, feels sorry for his wife, himself and Anastasia. Thus, the motive of melancholy at the beginning of the story is closely connected with the motive of pity, which intensifies in the further narrative, in particular in the first part, and in the second part disappears because the soul of the hero disappears, and with it the melancholy. A feature of the chronotope of the story is the connection of different time layers - past and present. In the present, Ignatiev has “little white Valerik - a frail, sickly sprout, pitiful to the point of spasm - rash, glands, dark circles under the eyes,” in the present there is a faithful wife, and next to her in his soul is “unsteady, evasive Anastasia.” The author immerses the reader in the inner world of the hero, which amazes with its gloominess. His “visions” replace each other like footage from a chronicle. They are united by common moods, are fragmentary and arise in the hero’s mind the way miracles appear in fairy tales - with the wave of a magic wand. However, in Tolstoy’s story there are other “waves” - not of the good sorceress, but of melancholy. In the second “vision” there is a string of ships, old sailing ships that “leave out of the harbor to God knows where” because the ropes have become untied. Human life is often compared in literature to a ship setting sail. It is no coincidence that this “vision” appears in the hero’s mind; it is no coincidence that he sees sick children sleeping in the cabins. The stream of his thoughts reflected Ignatiev’s anxiety for his small, sick son. The third picture is imbued with oriental and at the same time mystical motifs. Rocky desert, a camel stepping steadily... There is a lot of mystery here. For example, why does frost glisten on a cold rocky plain? Who is he, the mysterious horseman, whose mouth “yawns with a bottomless pit”, “and deep sorrowful furrows have been drawn on his cheeks by flowing tears for thousands of years”? The motives of the apocalypse are palpable in this fragment, and the mysterious horseman is perceived as a symbol of death. As the author of a work created in the style of postmodernism, Tatyana Tolstaya does not strive to create clear, defined paintings or images. Her descriptions are impressionistic, aimed at creating a certain impression. In the last, fourth “vision” that appeared in the hero’s mind, there are reminiscences and allusions from Gogol’s story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”. There is the same fragmented perception here as in previous episodes. Anastasia, as a symbol of the devil’s temptation, and “will-o’-the-wisps over the swamp bog” stand nearby and are mentioned in the same sentence. “Hot flower”, “red flower”, which “floats”, “blinks”, “flashes”, is associated with the fern flower in Gogol’s story, which promises the hero the fulfillment of his desires. The intertextual connections between the fragment under consideration and Gogol’s work are obvious; they are emphasized by the author with the help of clear reminiscences and allusions. Gogol has “marsh swamps”; T. Tolstoy - “swamp bog”, “springy brown hummocks”, fog (“white clouds”), moss. In Gogol, “hundreds of shaggy hands reach out to a flower,” and “ugly monsters” are mentioned. T. Tolstoy has “shaggy heads standing in moss.” The fragment under consideration also combines with Gogol’s text the motive of selling the soul (in Gogol - to the devil, in T. Tolstoy - to Satan). In general, Ignatiev’s “vision” or dream performs the function of artistic anticipation in the text of the story. After all, the hero of Gogol's story Petrus Bezrodny must sacrifice the blood of a baby - the innocent Ivas. This is the demand of evil spirits. Ignatiev in Tolstoy’s story “A Blank Slate” will also make a sacrifice - he will give up the most precious thing he had, including his own son. So, in the first part of the story his exposition is given. The leading motive of this part is the motive of melancholy that haunts Ignatiev, who is, in fact, a marginal hero. He is lonely, tired of life. His financial problems are not emphasized in the story. However, some details eloquently indicate that they were, for example, the mention that “his wife sleeps under a torn blanket,” that the hero wears a “tea-colored” shirt that his dad wore, “he got married in it, and met Valerik from the maternity hospital”, went on dates with Anastasia... The motives stated at the beginning of the work are developed in the further narrative. Ignatiev continues to be haunted by melancholy (“her flat, stupid head popped up here and there”), he still feels sorry for his wife, telling his friend that “she is a saint,” and still thinks about Anastasia. The mention of the famous fairy tale “The Turnip” is not accidental in the story, and it is no coincidence that in the hero’s monologue it is adjacent to the name of his mistress: “And it’s all a lie, if the turnip is stuck, you can’t get it out. I know. Anastasia... You call and call - she’s not at home.” The situation in which Ignatiev finds himself is clearly and definitely outlined. He is faced with a dilemma: either a faithful but exhausted wife, or a beautiful but evasive Anastasia. It is difficult for the hero to make a choice; he does not want and, obviously, cannot refuse either his wife or his mistress. The reader can only guess that he is weak, that he has a job, but has no interest in it, no favorite activity, since it is not talked about. And therefore his melancholy is not accidental. Ignatiev realizes that he is a failure. One can blame the author for the fact that the character of the main character is not clearly outlined. However, it seems that T. Tolstaya did not strive for such clarity. She creates a conventional text, draws a conventional world in which everything obeys the laws of aesthetic play. The hero of the story plays with life. He makes plans, mentally works out possible options for a future happy life: “I’ll forget Anastasia, I’ll earn a lot of money, I’ll take Valera to the south... I’ll renovate the apartment...”. However, he understands that when all this is achieved, the melancholy will not go away from him, that the “living” will continue to torment him. In the image of Ignatiev, T. Tolstaya creates a parody of a romantic hero - lonely, suffering, misunderstood, focused on his inner worldview. However, the hero of the story lives in a different era than the heroes of romantic works. It was Lermontov’s Pechorin who could come to the sad conclusion that his “soul is spoiled by light,” which apparently had a high destiny for him, but he did not guess this destiny. In the context of the romantic era, such a hero was perceived as a tragic figure. Unlike the romantic sufferers, the heroes of T. Tolstoy’s story, in particular Ignatiev and his friend, do not mention the soul. This word is not in their vocabulary. The motive of suffering is given in a reduced, parodic way. The hero does not even think about a high destiny. Reflecting on his character, you involuntarily recall the question of Pushkin’s Tatiana: “Isn’t he a parody?” The reader understands that Ignatiev’s melancholy and suffering are due to the fact that he does not see a way out of the situation that he himself created. From the point of view of Ignatiev’s friend, he is just a “woman”: “Just think, a world sufferer!”; “You revel in your imaginary torments.” It is noteworthy that the phrase “world sufferer” sounds in an ironic context. And although the hero’s nameless friend is a bearer of ordinary average consciousness, his statements confirm the assumption that Ignatiev’s image is a parody of the romantic hero. He cannot change the current situation (he lacks either the will or determination to do this), and therefore it turns out to be easier for him to change himself. But Ignatiev does not choose the path of moral self-improvement, which was close, for example, to many Tolstoy’s heroes. No, it’s easier for him to get rid of the “living”, that is, the soul. “I’ll have an operation..., I’ll buy a car...” The author makes it possible to understand that material wealth will not save a person from suffering. In the third part of the story, it is no coincidence that Ignatiev witnesses how a dark, short “little man” called “his Anastasia,” whose name was Raisa, as he promised her a heavenly life, from his point of view. “You will live like cheese in butter,” “Yes, my entire living space is covered in carpets!!!” - he said, and then left the phone booth with tear-stained eyes and an angry face. But this incident did not stop the hero. He made a decision, although not immediately. A meeting with a classmate of his friend, who had “cut out” or “torn out” “her” (the reader had long ago guessed that we were talking about the soul) as something unnecessary, dead, served as an impetus for acceptance solutions. The hero was not alarmed by the fact that “a tear-stained woman came out of N.’s office,” because his and his friend’s attention was focused on something else - on gold fountain pens and expensive cognac, on the luxury that they saw there. The motive of wealth is strengthened in this part of the work. The author makes it clear that this motive in the minds of an ordinary, average person is closely connected with the image of a successful man. In a distorted world, heroes like N. are associated with real men. T. Tolstaya in this case represents another example of a parodic worldview. But the ideal of a real man, familiar to Ignatiev’s circle, is instilled in him both by his friend and by Anastasia, who drinks “red wine” with others and on whom the “red dress” glows with a “love flower.” The symbolism of color and the mention of a “love flower” are not accidental here. All these details echo the motives of temptation, with the episode from Gogol’s story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” discussed above. “Love flower” is associated with “love potion,” which is a symbol of magical influence on a person’s feelings and actions. Anastasia became the “love flower” for Ignatiev, who says “demonic words” and smiles “a demonic smile.” She tempts like a demon. The ideals of the crowd become ideals for Ignatiev. And in order to fulfill his dream - to get rid of contradictions, “tame the elusive Anastasia”, save Valerik, Ignatiev needs to “become rich, with fountain pens.” In this clarification - “with fountain pens” - the author’s irony shines through. Ignatiev’s internal monologue also evokes an ironic smile: “Who is this coming, slender as a cedar, strong as steel, with springy steps that know no shameful doubts? This is Ignatiev coming. His path is straight, his earnings are high, his gaze is confident, women look after him.” In the stream of thoughts of the hero, his wife is constantly associated with something dead. So, Ignatiev wanted to “caress the parchment strands of hair, but his hand met only the cold of the sarcophagus.” As a symbol of cold and death, the story several times mentions “rocky frost, the clanking of a lonely camel’s harness, a lake frozen to the bottom,” and “a stiff rider.” The same function is served by the mention that “Osiris is silent.” Note that in Egyptian mythology, Osiris, the god of the productive forces of nature, dies every year and is reborn to a new life. Oriental motifs are also present in the hero’s dreams of how he - “wise, whole, perfect - will ride on a white ceremonial elephant, in a carpet arbor with flower fans.” Yes, when depicting the hero’s inner world, the author does not spare irony. After all, he desires a miracle, an instant transformation that would bring him recognition, fame, and wealth without any effort. A “miracle” happens, the hero changes, but only becomes different from what he imagined himself to be in his dreams. However, he no longer notices or understands this. The instant removal of the “Living” - his soul - made him what he should have become, taking into account his desires and thoughts. The author of the story freely plays with images of world culture, inviting the reader to solve them. The work is based on the widespread motif in world literature of selling the soul to the Devil, Satan, Antichrist, evil spirits, as well as the related motif of metamorphosis. It is known that, like Christ performing a miracle, the Antichrist imitates the miracles of Christ. Thus, Satan, under the guise of an Assyrian, the “Doctor of Doctors,” imitates the actions of a doctor. After all, a real doctor treats both body and soul. The Assyrian “extracts,” that is, removes the soul. Ignatiev is struck by the fact that “he didn’t have eyes, but he had a look”, “an abyss looked out of his eye sockets”, and since there were no eyes - “the mirror of the soul”, then there was no soul. The hero is amazed by the blue beard of the Assyrian and his cap in the form of a ziggurat. “What kind of Ivanov is he...” - Ignatiev was horrified.” But it was already too late. His “belated doubts” disappeared, and with them, “his devoted friend - melancholy.” The hero finds himself in the kingdom of the Antichrist - the kingdom of moral evil. Here “people will be selfish, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, slanderous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unmerciful, untrue to their word..., insolent, pompous, loving pleasure more than God.” According to medieval expression, the Antichrist is the monkey of Christ, his false double. The doctor in Tolstoy's story "Clean Slate" is a false double of the doctor. He puts on gloves not for the sake of sterility, but “so as not to get his hands dirty.” He is rude to his patient when he sarcastically remarks about his soul: “Do you think it’s big?” The author of the story uses a well-known mythological plot, significantly modernizing it. T. Tolstoy’s story “A Blank Slate” is a vivid example of postmodernist discourse with many of its inherent features. After all, in the hero’s inner world there is something terrible and unusual; the hero feels internal disharmony. T. Tolstaya emphasizes the conventionality of the depicted world, playing with the reader. The motives of the aesthetic game play a structure-forming role in its story. The game with the reader has different forms of manifestation in the work, which is reflected in the depiction of events on the verge of the real and the surreal. The author “plays” with spatial and temporal images, giving the opportunity to freely move from one time to another, to update information of various kinds, which opens up wide scope for the reader’s imagination. The game is reflected in the use of intertext, mythologies, irony, and the combination of different styles. Thus, the colloquial, reduced, vulgar vocabulary of the degraded hero at the end of the work is a complete contrast to the vocabulary that is found in his stream of consciousness at the beginning of the story. The hero plays with life, and the author’s aesthetic play with the reader allows him not only to recreate well-known plot motifs and images, but also turns the hero’s tragedy into a farce. The title of the story “A Blank Slate” actualizes the old philosophical debate about what the mind and soul of a person are from birth: tabula rasa or not tabula rasa? Yes, a lot of things are inherent in a person from birth, but his soul continues to remain a battlefield between God and the Devil, Christ and Antichrist. In the case of Ignatiev, the Antichrist won in T. Tolstoy’s story. LITERATURE Gogol N. V. Collected works: in 7 volumes / N. V. Gogol. - Evenings on a farm near Dikanka / comment. A. Chicherina, N. Stepanova. - M.: Artist. lit., 1984. - T. 1. - 319 pp. Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Modern version. / V. I. Dal. - M.: EKSMO-Press, 2000. - 736 pp. Myths of the peoples of the world: encyclopedia: in 2 volumes. - M.: Sov. encyclopedia, 1991. - T. 1. - 671 pp. Tolstaya T. Blank slate / T. Tolstaya // Love it or not: stories / T. Tolstaya. - M.: Onyx: OLMA-PRESS, 1997. - pp. 154 -175. VALENTINA MATSAPURA FEATURES OF THE POETICS OF TATIANA TOLSTOY’S STORY “A BLANK SHEET” The article analyzes the features of the poetics of T. Tolstoy’s story “A Blank Slate”. In particular, the author focuses on the poetics of the title of the work, the features of its artistic structure, the role of symbolism, intertexual motifs, and the principles of aesthetic play. The story is considered as an example of postmodern discourse. Key words: story, author, motive, parody, play technique, postmodern discourse. VALENTYNA MATSAPURAPOETICS PECULIARITIES OF T. TOLSTAYA "S STORY "BLANK PAPER" Poetics Peculiarities of T. Tolstaya "s Story "Blank Paper" » are under consideration in the article. In particular, the author focuses her attention on the poetics of the story"s title, peculiarities of its artistic structure, the role of the symbolic and intertextual motives, the principles of aesthetic game. The story “Blank Paper" is viewed as a sample of postmodern discourse.Key words: narrative, author, motive, caricature, game technique, postmodern discourse.
born on May 3, 1951 in Leningrad, in the family of physics professor Nikita Alekseevich Tolstoy with rich literary traditions. Tatyana grew up in a large family where she had seven brothers and sisters. The maternal grandfather of the future writer is Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky, literary translator, poet. On her father's side, she is the granddaughter of the writer Alexei Tolstoy and the poetess Natalia Krandievskaya.
After graduating from school, Tolstaya entered Leningrad University, the department of classical philology (with the study of Latin and Greek), which she graduated in 1974. In the same year, she got married and, following her husband, moved to Moscow, where she got a job as a proofreader in the “Main Editorial Office of Oriental Literature” at the Nauka publishing house. Having worked at the publishing house until 1983, Tatyana Tolstaya published her first literary works in the same year and made her debut as a literary critic with the article “Glue and Scissors...” (“Voprosy Literatury”, 1983, No. 9).
By her own admission, what made her start writing was the fact that she had undergone eye surgery. “Now after laser correction, the bandage is removed in a couple of days, but then I had to lie with the bandage for a whole month. And since it was impossible to read, the plots of the first stories began to appear in my head,” said Tolstaya.
In 1983, she wrote her first story entitled “They Sat on the Golden Porch...”, published in Aurora magazine in the same year. The story was noted by both the public and critics and was recognized as one of the best literary debuts of the 1980s. The work of art was “a kaleidoscope of children’s impressions of simple events and ordinary people, who appear to children as various mysterious and fairy-tale characters.” Subsequently, Tolstaya published about twenty more stories in periodicals. Her works are published in Novy Mir and other major magazines. “Date with a Bird” (1983), “Sonya” (1984), “Clean Slate” (1984), “If you love it, you don’t love it” (1984), “Okkervil River” (1985), “Mammoth Hunt” ( 1985), “Peters” (1986), “Sleep well, son” (1986), “Fire and Dust” (1986), “The Most Beloved” (1986), “Poet and Muse” (1986), “Seraphim” ( 1986), “The Moon Came Out of the Fog” (1987), “Night” (1987), “Flame of Heaven” (1987), “Somnambulist in the Fog” (1988). In 1987, the writer’s first collection of stories was published, entitled similarly to her first story - “They were sitting on the golden porch...”. The collection includes both previously known and unpublished works: “Dear Shura” (1985), “Fakir” (1986), “Circle” (1987). After the publication of the collection, Tatyana Tolstaya was accepted as a member of the USSR Writers' Union.
Soviet criticism was wary of Tolstoy's literary works. She was reproached for the “density” of her writing, for the fact that “you can’t read a lot in one sitting.” Other critics greeted the writer’s prose with delight, but noted that all her works were written according to the same well-built template. In intellectual circles, Tolstaya gains a reputation as an original, independent author. At that time, the main characters of the writer’s works were “urban madmen” (old-regime old women, “brilliant” poets, feeble-minded invalids from childhood...), “living and dying in a cruel and stupid bourgeois environment.” Since 1989 he has been a permanent member of the Russian PEN Center.
In 1990, the writer left for the USA, where she taught. Tolstaya taught Russian literature and creative writing at Skidmore College, located in Saratoga Springs and Princeton, collaborated with the New York review of books, The New Yorker, TLS and other magazines, and lectured at other universities. Subsequently, throughout the 1990s, the writer spent several months a year in America. According to her, living abroad initially had a strong influence on her in terms of language. She complained about how the emigrant Russian language was changing under the influence of the environment. In her short essay of the time, “Hope and Support,” Tolstaya gave examples of ordinary conversation in a Russian store on Brighton Beach: “where words like “Swissloufet cottage cheese”, “slice”, “half pound cheese” and “ lightly salted salmon." After four months in America, Tatyana Nikitichna noted that “her brain turns into minced meat or salad, where languages are mixed and some innuendos appear that are absent in both English and Russian.”
In 1991 he began his journalistic activities. He writes his own column “Own Bell Tower” in the weekly newspaper “Moscow News”, collaborates with the magazine “Stolitsa”, where he is a member of the editorial board. Essays, essays and articles by Tolstoy also appear in the Russian Telegraph magazine. In parallel with her journalistic activities, she continues to publish books. In the 1990s, such works as “If you love - you don’t love” (1997), “Sisters” (co-authored with sister Natalia Tolstoy) (1998), “Okkervil River” (1999) were published. Translations of her stories appear into English, German, French, Swedish and other languages of the world. In 1998, she became a member of the editorial board of the American magazine Counterpoint. In 1999, Tatyana Tolstaya returned to Russia, where she continued to engage in literary, journalistic and teaching activities.
In 2000, the writer published her first novel “Kys”. The book received a lot of response and became very popular. Based on the novel, many theaters staged performances, and in 2001, a literary series project was carried out on the air of the state radio station Radio Russia, under the leadership of Olga Khmeleva. In the same year, three more books were published: “Day”, “Night” and “Two”. Noting the commercial success of the writer, Andrei Ashkerov wrote in the magazine “Russian Life” that the total circulation of the books was about 200 thousand copies and Tatyana Nikitichna’s works became available to the general public. Tolstaya receives the prize of the XIV Moscow International Book Fair in the “Prose” category. In 2002, Tatyana Tolstaya headed the editorial board of the Konservator newspaper.
In 2002, the writer also appeared on television for the first time, in the television program “Basic Instinct.” In the same year, she became a co-host (together with Avdotya Smirnova) of the TV show “School of Scandal,” aired on the Culture TV channel. The program receives recognition from television critics and in 2003 Tatyana Tolstaya and Avdotya Smirnova received the TEFI award in the category “Best Talk Show.”
In 2010, in collaboration with her niece Olga Prokhorova, she published her first children's book. Entitled “The Same ABC of Pinocchio,” the book is interconnected with the work of the writer’s grandfather, the book “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio.” Tolstaya said: “The idea for the book was born 30 years ago. Not without the help of my older sister... She always felt sorry that Pinocchio sold his ABC so quickly and that nothing was known about its contents. What bright pictures were there? What is it even about? Years passed, I switched to stories, during which time my niece grew up and gave birth to two children. And finally, I found time for the book. The half-forgotten project was picked up by my niece, Olga Prokhorova.” In the ranking of the best books of the XXIII Moscow International Book Fair, the book took second place in the “Children’s Literature” section.
In 2011, she was included in the rating of “The One Hundred Most Influential Women of Russia” compiled by the radio station “Echo of Moscow”, information agencies RIA Novosti, “Interfax” and Ogonyok magazine. Tolstoy is referred to as a “new wave” in literature, called one of the bright names of “artistic prose”, which has its roots in the “game prose” of Bulgakov and Olesha, which brought with it parody, buffoonery, celebration, and the eccentricity of the author’s “I.”
Talks about himself: “I am interested in people “from the margins,” that is, to whom we, as a rule, are deaf, whom we perceive as ridiculous, unable to hear their speeches, unable to discern their pain. They leave life, having understood little, often without receiving something important, and when they leave, they are perplexed like children: the holiday is over, but where are the gifts? And life was a gift, and they themselves were a gift, but no one explained this to them.”
Tatyana Tolstaya lived and worked in Princeton (USA), taught Russian literature at universities.
Now lives in Moscow.
THE CONCEPT OF “LIVING” IN T. TOLSTOY’S STORY “A CLEAN SHEET”
O. V. NARBEKOVA
The article examines the concept of “living” in T. Tolstoy’s story “Blank Slate”. All aspects of this concept in the story are revealed, it is proved that the “living” should form the basis of the life of a Russian person, the “extraction” of the “living” leads to moral degradation, spiritual emptiness.
The author successfully puts emphasis on the linguistic features of the article: he notes, in particular, the change in the meaning of the word “pure”: through “free” - free from conscience, obligations, it becomes synonymous with the word “empty”, which, in turn, absorbs everything that associated with promiscuity and cynicism. The article is interesting for studying the poetic and artistic system of T. Tolstoy.
Key words: concept, living, life, person.
Modern man... What is he like? What does he live on? What does he want? What is it striving for? What awaits him? These questions invariably arise when reading T. Tolstoy’s story “A Blank Slate.” Following the classics, the writer tries to comprehend Russian reality and predict its possible future. The harsh present and the future imagined by T. Tolstoy are quite gloomy, because fundamentally the modern world is a world of confident, strong, but soulless, arrogant, going ahead and this, according to the writer, is a world of cold emptiness, a world of Darkness. This Darkness, growing, gradually covers more and more people. Why is this happening? The Living One leaves life. That Living thing that makes you suffer and co-suffer, worry and co-experience, see and feel the beauty of the world, that Living thing, whose name is Soul. And although Tolstaya never mentions this word, it is obvious.
How does this happen? The author reflects on this, imagining the fate of his hero, Ignatiev. Reflection, characteristic of a Russian person, does not allow Ignatiev to live in peace. He has a small child who is seriously ill, for whom he worries and for whom, alas, he cannot do anything; a tired, exhausted, but infinitely dear wife, who is completely immersed in caring for the child; he himself is absolutely helpless in the cruel world of the soulless. People like him - conscientious, sensitive, responsible - in modern society are considered “sick” who need to be “treated” in order to get rid of “sterile” and “idiotic” doubts and
enter into a state of “body harmony and... brain" - become strong. The worst thing is that they already consider themselves like that. The hero’s “illness” described in the story is nothing more than melancholy. Melancholy comes to him every night, melancholy has become a part of him. This state weighs him down, torments him, he wants to break out of this vicious circle in order to “absorb” life, but he cannot: “... Locked in his chest, gardens, seas, cities were tossing and turning, their owner was Ignatiev, with him they were born , with him were doomed to dissolve into oblivion." According to Tolstoy, joy leaves people’s lives, they lose the feeling of the fullness of life, but this is actually why they are called into this world. Silent melancholy, like leprosy, comes to the cities, discoloring and immobilizing everything around, making life meaningless and devaluing. It is no coincidence that Ignatiev’s child is sick, life is fading away in him. The exhausted wife is compared to a mummy. A woman, called to be the keeper of the home, is not able to be one. Stating this, the writer uses mythological allusions: the image of the Egyptian god Osiris appears, a god reborn to a new life, a god into whom a loving wife breathed life. But ". Osiris is silent, his dry limbs are tightly swaddled in narrow strips of linen...” There is a family and there is no family. Disunion (even breakfast was held as a “silent ceremony”), separation in the family one way or another lead to the death of the family, to degeneration.
However, as strange as it may seem, the state of melancholy for the hero is life itself. What is noteworthy is that he understands this, he is sure that, having gotten rid of such a “disease”, he will be able to
O. V. NARBEKOVA
become strong. It must be said that the glorification of strength, and Nietzsche’s glorification, found a peculiar refraction in the works of Russian thinkers of the beginning of the last century, who foresaw the spread of this idea and predicted the consequences of such an “evolution” (L. Andreev, Vl. Solovyov, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, etc. .). And, indeed, gradually this thought began to take over the minds and hearts of ordinary people. For Ignatiev, becoming strong means “taking revenge for the humiliation of the indifferent”, and also - rising and establishing himself in the eyes of his mistress - a narrow-minded, limited person, but free, passionate, attractive. “Only the weak regret futile sacrifices,” the hero argues. The first victim is his father's shirt, which was very dear to Ignatiev, but which Anastasia, his mistress, did not like, and which he burned as old and unnecessary. The shirt here personifies the connection of generations, the connection of times. The hero consciously destroys this connection, because this is necessary in order to become one of the others, others who are “not torn apart by contradictions.” A red flower, beautiful and alluring, with which Anastasia is associated - a destructive, consuming fire. And Ignatiev is ready to burn, hoping to emerge from this fire renewed: confident, strong, not knowing “shameful doubts,” not deprived of the attention of women to whom he can disdainfully say: “Get out!” But... something still gets in the way. This is something - Living. What should I do? It turns out that there is already a way to solve this “problem”: Living things can simply be removed.
Amazingly, such operations - the removal of the Living - have become the norm. A living thing is amputated as a diseased organ, like an appendix, “extracted” as burdensome ballast - “clean, hygienic,” but, of course, not free: the doctor must definitely “give it a go.” The power of money, the power of gold is another sign of the times, and the owner of these riches deserves only respect and veneration.
It should be noted, however, that “reverse” operations to transplant a living person are also done occasionally, but they are done. Curiosity for something unknown, incomprehensible, unexperienced before (lack of thrill?) forces some to go for it. But such operations, firstly, are rare, since there are practically no donors; secondly, they usually end unsuccessfully: those operated on do not survive and die. What does it mean? The heart cannot withstand the load: The living begins to ache, overwhelm with feelings - makes you look at life differently.
Ignatiev decides to undergo an operation to remove the Living One. The author shows how painful it is for Ignatiev to make this decision. At first, after the operation, he sees himself only as strong-willed, successful, rich and self-satisfied. But gradually the hero begins to realize that the consequences of this operation are also death. Only different. A sudden insight covers him, he suddenly understands the horror, the irreversibility of his act, but not for long: in false hope, the hero thinks to save his “poor”, “quivering” heart, to go only through the cleansing fire of transformation, to get rid of torment and not to be a witness to inevitable old age, death, ruin - to be above them: “The shackles will fall, the dry paper cocoon will burst, and amazed at the novelty of the blue, golden, purest world, the lightest carved butterfly will flutter, preening itself.” . Nevertheless, horror seizes his Living One, beating like a king-bell in his chest. And this is the alarm. This is a premonition of disaster. The darkness, its messengers - a lone numb horseman with a gaping hole instead of a mouth (appearing more than once throughout the story) and a surgeon with empty black eye sockets - draw in, and the hero feels the afterlife breath more and more clearly.
In a curious way, the writer creates the image of a doctor: a dark face, an Assyrian beard, empty eye sockets. This is no coincidence. These are not Russian eyes - open, bottomless, deep. For a Russian person, the eyes are the mirror of the soul, and if it is not there, then there are no eyes, only eye sockets, and in them there is cold, “sea of darkness,” the abyss, death. In vain Ignatiev tried to find a “saving human point” in them; there was nothing in them: no smile, no greeting, no disgust, no disgust. The doctor had a Russian surname, of which there are thousands in Russia - Ivanov, but Ignatiev, seeing him, was surprised: “What kind of Ivanov is he?” .
Russians have always been distinguished by a special character, internal structure, and sympathetic attitude towards people. And only initially a completely different person is capable of cold-bloodedly depriving him of something that he himself is naturally deprived of - the Living One, he doesn’t care, he was never given the opportunity to understand what it is, he will never have such a desire, that’s why he performs the operation with gloves , just so as not to “get your hands dirty”, completely not understanding that it is impossible to get your hands dirty about the Living, about purity - and this is natural purity. What happens? By entrusting himself entirely to “outsiders,” “strangers,” a Russian person loses his originality, his selfhood—his Russianness.
Ignatiev suppressed his last doubts, and the operation was performed. He was immediately swallowed up by “blooming oblivion.” A devoted friend said goodbye to him, sobbing - longing, the torn out, abandoned Living gasped behind her. For a moment he saw himself as a little boy, standing next to his mother on the dacha platform, then it seemed to him that he saw his son, Valerik. They shouted something, but he no longer heard them - the connection with everything that was dear was severed, and the chain was opened with everyone who was dear. A “new” person was “born”: an arrogant, boorish “master” of his own life, who began life from scratch, from an empty slate. Ignatiev completely forgot what was in the solar plexus - now he only pleasantly felt a dull spot there. Doubts disappeared, problems were solved on their own, the vocabulary changed - together with the words “sha”, “finally”, “no bullshit”, witticisms appeared in speech, women became “women”, and their own son “bastard”. Now Ignatiev has become truly “free” - from conscience, from any obligations. Extreme cynicism and promiscuity are now his distinctive qualities. Cynicism and licentiousness are an integral manifestation of moral emptiness. Note that “clean - free - empty” is not just an emerging contextual synonymy - the words acquire a special lexical content. It should also be noted that in the constantly present in the story -
Due to the binary opposition of the concepts “living - dead”, “living” and “dead” are transformed: the hero is reborn to another life, to life in a new quality, but only through moral and spiritual death - he becomes a living dead. The death of the soul, the death of the spirit, not only makes physical life meaningless, it crosses it out.
Literature
1. Tolstaya T.N. Whether you love or not: Stories. M., 1997.
CONCEPT “ALIVE” FROM STORY “CLEAN LEAF” BY T. TOLSTAYA
In the article, the concept “alive” from story “Clean leaf” by Tolstaya is considered. All the aspects of this concept in the story are revealed. It is proven that “alive” must be the base of Russian-man living, loss of “alive” leading to moral degradation and feeling of being wasted.
The author successfully puts stresses on linguistic features of the article, highlighting particularly a transformation of the meaning of the word “clean” into “free” - free from conscience and duties; it becomes a synonym of “empty” that in turn includes all of what is concerned with cynicism and dissipation. The article is interesting for researchers of T. Tolstaya's poetic-artistic system.
Key words: concept, alive, living, man.
“Clean Water” - Search for solutions in the field of providing the population with clean water. Water is supplied in standard 5-6 liter bottles. Works in automatic mode. Water purification technology. Service card. The water purification system is based on membrane technology. Water is supplied in standard bottles of 5-19 liters.
“External structure of a leaf” - Questions for review. Leaf venation. Explain the difference between sessile and petiolate leaves. What venation is characteristic of dicotyledonous plants? Modified leaves. What venation is typical for monocotyledonous plants? Name the main parts of the sheet. In monocotyledonous plants, the root system is _______, leaf venation is ___________, ____________.
"Ferenz Liszt" - Liszt is considered a seminal figure in the history of music. Hungarian pianist and composer (1811–1886). And in 1847 F. Liszt undertook a farewell concert tour. In 1844 Liszt became bandmaster at the ducal court in Weimar. Most of the composer's piano heritage is transcriptions and paraphrases of music by other authors.
“Möbius Strip” - Möbius is one of the founders of modern topology. Art and technology. The Mobius strip is a symbol of mathematics, Which serves as the crown of the highest wisdom... An incredible project of a new library in Astana, Kazakhstan. This sculpture is made up of many tin cans. Director of the Leipzig Astronomical Observatory, A. Möbius was a versatile scientist.
“Essay on Leaves” - My Autumn. I. Turgenev. Linden Poplar Rowan Maple Lilac Oak. Movement of leaves. What colors are the leaves? Bunches of rowan. I. Bunin. Bronze Herbal Brown Light Green Malachite Scarlet. Essay topics. What are the leaves whispering about? Which trees have lost their leaves? Autumn sounds. But the pond has already frozen... Red. Yellow Orange Red Green Lemon Orange.
“Pure water lesson” - Discussion on the topic of the lesson. Leonardo da Vinci. Clean water lesson. Tasks: Cinquain on the topic “Clean Water”. Organizational moment. Discussion of measures to improve the ecological water environment of the region. Lesson summary: compiling a syncwine. Water Rain, spring Flows, freezes, evaporates Source of life Liquid.
Tatiana Tolstaya
Stories
That's why, at sunset
Leaving into the darkness of the night,
From the white Senate Square
I bow to him quietly.
And for a long time I will be so kind to the people...
Let’s say, at the very moment when Dantes’s white index finger is already on the trigger, some ordinary, unpoetic bird of God, frightened from the spruce branches by fussing and trampling in the bluish snow, poops on the hand of the villain. Clack!
The hand, naturally, twitches involuntarily; shot, Pushkin falls. Such a pain! Through the fog clouding his eyes, he takes aim, shoots back; Dantes also falls; “Nice shot,” the poet laughs. The seconds take him away, semi-conscious; in his delirium, he keeps mumbling, as if he wants to ask something.
Rumors of the duel spread quickly: Dantes was killed, Pushkin was wounded in the chest. Natalya Nikolaevna is hysterical, Nikolai is furious; Russian society is quickly divided into the party of the killed and the party of the wounded; There is something to brighten up the winter, something to chat about between the mazurka and the polka. Ladies defiantly weave mourning ribbons into lace. The young ladies are curious and imagine a star-shaped wound; however, the word “breast” seems indecent to them. Meanwhile, Pushkin is in oblivion, Pushkin is in the heat, rushing about and delirious; Dal carries and carries pickled cloudberries into the house, trying to push the bitter berries through the clenched teeth of the sufferer, Vasily Andreevich hangs mournful sheets on the door for the crowd that has gathered and does not disperse; the lung is shot, the bone is rotting, the smell is terrible (carbolic acid, sublimate, alcohol, ether, cauterization, bloodletting?), the pain is unbearable, and old good friends, veterans of the twelfth year, say that it is like fire and incessant shooting in the body, like ruptures thousands of cores, and they advise you to drink punch and more punch: it’s distracting.
Pushkin dreams of lights, shooting, screams, the Battle of Poltava, the gorges of the Caucasus, overgrown with small and tough bushes, one in the heights, the clatter of copper hooves, a dwarf in a red cap, the Griboyedov cart, he imagines the coolness of the Pyatigorsk murmuring waters - someone put a cooling hand on feverish forehead - Dahl? - Dahl. The distance is clouded with smoke, someone falls, shot, on the lawn, among Caucasian bushes, medlars and capers; it was he himself who was killed - why now sobs, empty praises, an unnecessary chorus? - the Scottish moon sheds a sad light on the sad meadows overgrown with spreading cranberries and mighty cloudberries reaching to the skies; A beautiful Kalmyk woman, furiously coughing like tuberculosis - is she a trembling creature or does she have the right? - breaks a green stick over his head - civil execution; What are you sewing, Kalmyk girl? - Trouser. - To whom? - Myself. Are you still dozing, dear friend? Don't sleep, wake up, curly! A senseless and merciless peasant, bending down, does something with iron, and the candle, in which Pushkin, trembling and cursing, reads with disgust his life full of deceit, sways in the wind. The dogs are tearing the baby apart, and the boys are bloody in their eyes. Shoot,” he says quietly and with conviction, “for I stopped hearing the music, the Romanian orchestra and the songs of sad Georgia, and an anchar is thrown on my shoulders, but I am not a wolf by blood: I managed to stick it in my throat and turn it twice. He got up, killed his wife, and hacked to death his sleepy little ones. The noise died down, I went out onto the stage, I went out early, before the star, I was there, and all of them came out, a man came out of the house with a club and a sack. Pushkin leaves the house barefoot, boots under his arm, diaries in his boots. This is how souls look from above at the body they have thrown down. Writer's Diary. Diary of a Madman. Notes from the House of the Dead. Scientific notes of the Geographical Society. I will pass through the souls of the people with a blue flame, I will pass through the cities with a red flame. The fish are swimming in your pocket, the path ahead is unclear. What are you building there, for whom? This, sir, is a government building, Aleksandrovsky Central. And music, music, music is woven into my singing. And every tongue that is in it will call me. If I’m driving down a dark street at night, sometimes in a wagon, sometimes in a carriage, sometimes in an oyster car, shsr yeukiu, this is not the same city, and the midnight is not the same. Many robbers have shed the blood of honest Christians! Horse, my dear, listen to me... R, O, S, - no, I don’t distinguish the letters... And suddenly I realized that I was in hell.
“Broken dishes live for two centuries!” – Vasily Andreevich groans, helping to drag the crumpled sheets from under the convalescent. He strives to do everything himself, fusses, gets under the feet of the servants - he loves. "Here's some broth!" The devil is in it, in the broth, but here is the trouble for the royal favor, but here is the most merciful forgiveness for an unauthorized duel, but intrigue, slyness, feigned court sighs, all-submissive notes and an endless ride back and forth in a cab, “and report, brother ..."Master!
Vasily Andreevich beams: he finally got the winning student a link to Mikhailovskoye - just, just! Pine air, open spaces, short walks, and your shot chest will heal - and you can swim in the river! And - “be quiet, be quiet, my dear, the doctors don’t tell you to talk, everything will happen later! Everything will work out. Everything will work out.”
Of course, of course, the howling of wolves and the striking of clocks, long winter evenings by candlelight, Natalya Nikolaevna’s tearful boredom - first, frightened cries at the sick bed, then despondency, reproaches, whining, wandering from room to room, yawning, beating children and servants, whims, hysterics, loss of a glass-sized waist, the first gray hair in an unkempt lock of hair, and what is it like, gentlemen, in the morning, coughing up and spitting out the phlegm that comes in, looking out the window as a dear friend in cut-off felt boots, with a twig in his hand, is chasing a goat through the freshly fallen snow , eating the dry stems of dried flowers sticking out here and there since last summer! Blue dead flies are lying between the glass - tell them to remove them.
No money left. Children are idiots. When will the roads be fixed for us?.. - Never. I bet ten cellars of brut champagne - never. And don't wait, it won't. “Pushkin has written himself off,” the ladies chirp, growing old and sagging. However, the new writers, it seems, also have unique views on literature - unbearably applied. The melancholic lieutenant Lermontov showed some hope, but died in a stupid fight. Young Tyutchev is not bad, although a little cold. Who else writes poetry? Nobody. Pushkin writes outrageous poems, but does not flood Russia with them, but burns them on a candle, because, gentlemen, there is 24-hour supervision. He also writes prose that no one wants to read, because it is dry and precise, and the era requires pitifulness and vulgarity (I thought that this word would hardly be honored among us, but I was wrong, how wrong I was!), and now the blood-spitting neurotic Vissarion and the ugly virshes-player Nekrasov - so it seems? - they race along the morning streets to the epileptic commoner (what a word!): “Do you understand yourself that you wrote this?”... However, all this is vague and vain, and barely passes on the edge of consciousness. Yes, old acquaintances have returned from the depths of the Siberian ores, from chains and shackles: they are unrecognizable, and it’s not in the white beards, but in the conversations: unclear, as if from under water, as if drowned people, in green algae, were knocking under the window and at the gate. Yes, they freed the peasant, and now, as he passes by, he looks impudently and hints at something robber. Young people are terrible and insulting: “Boots are taller than Pushkin!” - “Good!” The girls cut off their hair, look like street boys and talk about rights: ysht Vshug! Gogol died after going crazy. Count Tolstoy published excellent stories, but did not answer the letter. Puppy! My memory is weakening... The surveillance was lifted a long time ago, but I don’t want to go anywhere. In the mornings I have a persistent cough. There is still no money. And it is necessary, groaning, to finally finish - how long can one drag on - the story of Pugachev, a work that has been loved since time immemorial, but still does not let go, everything pulls towards itself - previously forbidden archives are opened, and there, in the archives, a bewitching novelty, like It was not the past that opened up, but the future, something vaguely glimmering and appearing in unclear outlines in the feverish brain - back then, a long time ago, when I was lying, shot right through by this, what do you call it? - forgot; because of which? - forgot. It was as if uncertainty had opened up in the darkness.