The essence of the phenomenon of satire is to expose human vices. Before Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian literature of the 19th century was undergoing a transformation of genres; there were such varieties of the novel as family, psychological, philosophical, and social. Already in “A Hero of Our Time” elements of moral, philosophical and psychological novel, later they appear in “Fathers and Sons”, “On the Eve”.

Shchedrin continues the line of development of the social novel, which, according to the classification of literary scholars, existed in three types: folk, about new people, and socio-political. are the development of novels of precisely the latter type, which also have the peculiarity that these were novels of the essay type (“Abroad”, “The Gentlemen of the Silent People”, “Pompadours and Pompadours”, “The History of a City”, “ Provincial essays", "Gentlemen of Tashkent"). The genre principles of these novels: 1) setting current problems modernity, special attention is paid to this in all works. 2) the absence of a plot as such, hence the fragmentation of the narrative, sketchiness and kaleidoscopicity. The novel’s unity in “The History of a City” lies in the fact that all the mayors are different, but their essence is the same, there are images of the people and the narrator. 3) features of the chronotope (artistic time and space) - conditional, approximate time and place of action. The exact time is indicated (from 1731 to 1826), but deliberate confusion is visible in the novel, there are anachronisms ( Railway, telegraph, watchmaker and organ maker from the 19th century moved to the 18th). In a traditional novel, time is clearly indicated (for example, Kirsanov is waiting for Arkady on May 20, 1859). The location of action in a satirical novel is conventional, comparable to Gogol - St. Petersburg, Pushkin - Moscow, and Saltykov-Shchedrin - Glupov, a provincial provincial town near Byzantium. 4) system of images: there is a problem in the traditional novel positive hero, here it is absent, but there are generalized mass images. The ideal of Saltykov-Shchedrin - an honest, decent official who thinks about the people, a strong-willed and active person - is shown “under the counter.” The originality of the narrator: four voices (archivist-chronicler, publisher, sometimes narrator), the narration is in the first person. From a social point of view, the narrator is far from the author's views; he is the object and instrument of satire. 5) dominance satirical techniques- hyperbole, grotesque, fantasy. 6) parody. 7) polemics - with historians Solovyov, Pypin, Pogodin, Karamzin, rejection of their historical concept. There is also a polemic with ideological opponents - liberals, populists, Slavophiles, Westerners; with literary opponents - for example, Tolstoy poeticizes the qualities of the people, and Saltykov-Shchedrin has rejection in this regard; the presence of inserted episodes (dreams - “Abroad”, an anecdote about Glinka and the Kukolnik - “Gentlemen of Tashkent”, a parable about creditors in “The History of a City”, the meaning of which is that the Foolovites are waiting until all creditors become reasonable.

Satirical novel-epic “A fresh memoir on the topic of the day.” Memoirs 1 and 2. The novel was published as part of the collected works of Sergei Likhachev, volume 2. The continuation of the novel (memoirs 3 and 4) is already in the publishing house. Subgenres: epic, political satire, absurd. Art direction: new Russian modern. Topic: authorities and people.

Philologists: you can defend your dissertation on this novel.

Official portrait of Comrade Bodryashkin, in kind

PREFACE

It was certainly not the desire to win Nobel laurels or royalties that made me sit down at the keyboard. Not a thirst for laurels, but a painful vision for my soul of the abyss into which Russian society threatens to fall if it does not immediately begin to strengthen its own foundation - the selfless love of the people for their superiors. While still a teenager and a desperate pioneer, I, Onfim Bodryashkin, like Malchish-Kibalchish, or, at worst, the street child Gavrosh, longed to carry out a personal mission in the historical destinies of my Fatherland. And all the subsequent fleeting table and protracted years of re-cutting were spent in the creative search for some perfect form in which to clothe this thirst of mine in order to bring practical benefit to the poor Russian society. The form has finally been found: from now on, I set myself to the trouble of writing an invigorating memoir, thus vividly recalling the events that have occurred and foreseeing the future, in order to ultimately promote the rapid flowering of the people’s devoted love for their superiors and, since it turns out to be possible, the birth of a reciprocal feeling of deep satisfaction . My food mind and steady hand, I am sure, will patriotically serve both the Motherland and you, my discerning reader.

Yes, being a memoirist is very interesting: a creative rethinking of life, a monument not made by hands, accusations of plagiarism, a trial...

Let me just note: acquired back in Suvorov School The need for regularity and order forces me to write these notes in a strict form. I will begin each memoir with a small essay, as if setting the next topic or introducing a new unforgettable hero, and fill it with texture, that is, the actual topic of the day. I am writing my memoir in a dynamic manner - in the pose of a contemporary, not a chronicler - albeit with imperfective verbs.

Also: since my work is patriotic, and in our case this means royalty-free, I will, in places, allow myself to neglect obsessive self-censorship and boldly indulge in painful digressions, so that you, my grateful reader, do not overlook the entire the breadth of the modest author’s nature emerging between the lines. By the way, I’m looking for a publisher with a correct state concept in his curly head rather than with a hefty fee at the box office. And its continuation will depend on the degree of furor that my opus will arouse in the reader.

And further. To preserve my honor in relation to you, my hopeful reader, and perhaps even to my own detriment, I will remind you of the first reading rule: first find out who the author is - then read. So, my preamble...

I was born in the Sorvigolovsk maternity hospital, fifty years ago. The city lies - in a straight line and in figuratively- in the cold Neproymenskaya side and, due to the presence of a secret plant, at that time it was still closed to foreign spies... Death to spies! Sorry, it came out involuntarily. I was born, almost sure, late in the morning, so as not to annoy the doctor-midwife, nurses and nannies on duty early in the morning. I haven’t known my mommy-daddy and other supposed relatives since that same late March morning, but I grew up and developed on a budget, that is, solely thanks to the care of my native authorities. I immediately declare once and to the last line of the memoir: everything bad is biased by me from the media and from non-normative people, everything good was brought into me by my superiors - especially the Soviet ones. It more than provided me with the Darwinian natural right to survive in unfavorable conditions. environment: and even then - I never perished in the abyss of the Daredevil incubator, despite the most favorable preconditions, but later I thoroughly ate at the headquarters of the Nth part of the Soviet army, received a high army, and later humanitarian, education with all the attendant scholarships and benefits, I was honored to easily and without any, mind you, cronyism, defend a dissertation for a candidate’s degree in mental sciences - my square head turned out to be no hindrance for this! - received government housing, and three times throughout my life they gave me allowances - money, furniture and other things quite suitable for running a household and personal life property and all sorts of belongings. And even in small things, the Soviet authorities never forgot me: I always received from the treasury and funds all kinds of free trips, travel allowances, bonuses, coupons, gifts, personal accessories, sensitive food rations, clothing allowances, vehicles... I’m also leaving out random income! I was awarded the high military rank of major. And major - who has forgotten Latin - means chief! True, due to routine confusion in documents, personnel officers from the Ministry of Defense have not been able to figure it out for fifteen years now: am I a second major in the reserve or have I been promoted to the most important prime minister major - read: lieutenant colonel? Therefore, when I communicate with acquaintances and with people pleasant in all respects, I introduce myself, out of innate modesty, for a second, and when I show off my mark in front of strangers or enemies - well, hang in there: here I am a real prime minister! I’m single, that is, I understand a lot about ladies... I’m very strict with priests of all faiths and mimicry. Priests (with emphasis on the “s”) will not work in Russia! I am the author of the sensational capital monograph “Eros in the everyday life of the authorities” - well, this is a separate serious conversation... I also have not so voluminous, but impressive on an emotional level, printed works: “In a crisis, morality must be economical”, “Fundamentals of the theory of fair theft”, “ How to reorganize the Russian Orthodox Church into a History Museum Orthodox culture", "How to bloodlessly get rid of pseudo-neo-liberals" and dere. In the Russian winter I titanically feed the tits - here I simply have no equal in Neproymensk. My titmice are not some kind of helicopter birds that jump and hop and chirp and chirp, but specific, fat, merry little birds - a delight to look at! Like every Russian person, I am strong in good intentions, but also - take my word for it! - I am often very zealous in business. And most importantly, I am a brutal patriot: I serve my superiors with a smile, walk to the line and keep my tail in check! Me and, in a way, the "official" special assignments", as they used to say in the nineteenth, my beloved, literary age. Nowadays I serve as a leading vaccinator at the Institute of Burning Problems: I instill in the non-Promensky people the socially necessary vaccine of love for their superiors. I consider myself a learned writer, an expert on politics, society, women and in general. Awarded the rare medal “For the Efficiency of the Country.” I have not yet received the other many times promised rewards, however, I am not complaining. For me, as a faithful son of Russia, everything is still ahead forever!

My credo: cheer up!

The novel is not for sale in paper form.―cost the author too much (publishing layout and printing house― 1423 rubles/copy), so only 150 copies were printed. ― exclusively for giving to friends, students of my School and for sending to competitions. And in in electronic format I’m selling the novel for 250 rubles, regular price similar works in online stores. Please submit your application (“I want to buy your novel...”) to: [email protected], I will send you the number of your Sberbank card and upon receipt of the money I will immediately send you the file with the novel.

Read, write a review to the specified address! Come to my remote School of Writing and Poetry to learn how to write novels and poetry. It will be exciting and interesting!

Sergey Likhachev against the backdrop of the Volga and the Zhigulevsky brewery in Samara

The novel is large in volume literary work with a complex and branched plot. French word roman - “novel” arose in the 12th–13th centuries. Initially, it was used as an adjective definition in the combination conte roman “Roman story” (from the Latin Romanice - literally “in Romanian”; romanus - “Roman”). This was the name given to stories written in one of the Romance languages ​​(French, Italian, Portuguese, etc.), which at that time were perceived as common folk. The name conte roman distinguished novels from works that in the Middle Ages were usually written in classical Latin, the language of science. Since the 16th century. the adjective roman began to be perceived as a noun denoting a work large shape epic or narrative literature.

Here I will consider the subgenres of the novel according to certain criteria. In fact, there may be a great variety of criteria, but I consider the selected three criteria to be the main ones for the purposes of teaching aspiring writers. The names of the subgenres within each criterion are arranged in alphabetical order.

I. Subgenres of the novel according to thematic criterion

(this is the main criterion for systematizing the subgenres of a novel)

1. Absurdist novel(F. Kafka"Lock"; R. Domal"The Great Binge"; Yan Lianke"Kisses of Lenin")

2. Biographical novel, Autobiographical novel (Yu.Tynyanov"Death of Wazir-Mukhtar"; Irving Stone"Lust for Life")

3. War novel (K. Simonov"The Living and the Dead"; E.M. Remarque"On Western Front no change")

4. Gothic novel(as a thematic complex) (Bram Stoker"Dracula"; E.T.Hoffman"Elixirs of Satan"; W. Golding"Spire")

5. Detective novel (A.Christie"Murder on the Orient Express"; "Ten Little Indians"; F.D. James"Nightingale's Mystery", "Tricks and Desires")

6. Ideological novel (F. Dostoevsky"The Brothers Karamazov", "Idiot"; T. Mann"Magic Mountain")

7. Historical novel (A.N. Tolstoy"Peter the First"; W.Scott"Rob Roy", "Quentin Dorward")

8. Romance novel(novels Barbara Cartland And Cecelia Ahern; G. Shcherbakova"Women in a game without rules")

9. Magical romance (G.G. Marquez"One Hundred Years of Solitude"; S. Rushdie"Midnight's Children")

10. Sea romance (G. Melville"Moby Dick"; D.F. Cooper"Pilot", "Red Corsair"; D. London"Sea Wolf")

11. Science fiction novel (S. Lem"Magellan Cloud"; A. Belyaev"Amphibian Man")

12. Political novel (L.White"Rafferty" Yu.Dubov"Big Soldering")

13. Adventure novel (F. Cooper"The Last of the Mohicans"; V. Bogomolov"In August forty-four")

14. Industrial romance (A.Haley"Airport", "Wheels"; G. Nikolaeva"Battle on the Way")

15. Psychological novel (socio-psychological) (B. Constant"Adolf"; G. Flaubert"Education of feelings")

16. Religious and moral novel(G. Green"The crux of the matter"; P. Coelho"The Alchemist", "Veronica Decides to Die", "The Devil and Senorita Prim")

17. Novel of education (I.Goethe"The Years of Wilhelm Meister's Study"; I. Bunin"The Life of Arsenyev")

18. Roman test (by type of construction, according to M. Bakhtin) (all novels F.Dostoevsky; W. Golding"Lord of the Flies")

19. Self-improvement novel(S. Sharma“The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”; Lee Carroll"Journey Home")

20. Romance-fate (R. Rolland"Jean-Christophe"; M. Gorky"The Life of Klim Samgin")

21. Utopian novel (O. Huxley"Island"; I. Efremov"Andromeda's nebula")

22. Epic novel (L. Tolstoy"War and Peace"; M. Sholokhov"Quiet Don")

23. Knightly romance (as a subgenre historical novel ) (W. Scott"Ivanhoe"; A. Conan Doyle"Sir Nigel", "White Squad")

24. Satirical novel (D. Swift"Gulliver's Travels"; M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin"The Story of a City")

25. Family romance, family saga (N. Leskov“Old years in the village of Plodomasovo”; J. Galsworthy"The Forsyte Saga"; T. Mann"Buddenbrooks"; R.M.du Gard"The Thibault Family")

26. Social and everyday novel (L. Tolstoy"Anna Karenina" G. Flaubert"Madame Bovary")

27. Social-ideological novel (N.G. Chernyshevsky"What to do?"; A.I. Herzen"Who is guilty?")

28. Social novel (L. Tolstoy"Resurrection"; T. Dreiser"The Financier", "Sister Carrie")

29. Philological novel(Yu.Tynyanov"Pushkin"; V.Nabokov"Gift"; A. Terts “Walking with Pushkin”;Yu. Karabchievsky "Resurrection of Mayakovsky";Vl.Novikov "A Romance with Language, or Sentimental Discourse"

30. Philosophical novel(Voltaire"Candide"; Diderot"Ramo's Nephew"; Rousseau"The New Eloise"; V. Odoevsky"Russian Nights")

31. Futuristic novel (N. Stevenson"Diamond Age"; V. Sorokin"Telluria")

32. Fantasy novel (J. Tolkien"Lord of the Rings"; M. Semyonova"Wolfhound")

33. Existential novel (J.-P. Sartre"Nausea"; I.A. Goncharov"Break"; A. Camus"Plague")

34. Experimental novel (L. Stern"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"; E. Zola"Career of the Rougons"; J.Fowles"The Magus", "The French Lieutenant's Woman")

II. Novel subgenres by target reader

1. Ladies' romance(novels Cecelia Ahern; G. Shcherbakova"Women in a game without rules")

2. Children's novel (Ian Larry « Extraordinary Adventures Karika and Vali"; F.E. Burnett"The Secret Garden")

3. Youth novel (S. Mayer"Twilight"; L.Oliver"Delirium")

4. A novel for teenagers (J. Verne"The Children of Captain Grant"; L. Boussenard"Captain Rip-off"; I. Frolov"What is what")

III. Subgenres of the novel according to time criteria, or according to belonging to different stages of developmentliterature

1. Ancient novel (Chariton the Aphrodisian“The Tale of the Love of Chaerea and Callirhoe” - the world’s first novel, beginning of the 2nd century. AD); Long"Daphnis and Chloe"; Petronius"Satyricon")

2. Gothic novel(in the period between sentimentalism and early romanticism ) (Anna Radcliffe"Udolf's Secrets"; M.Lewis"Monk"; Ch.Maturin"Melmoth the Wanderer")

3. Decadent romance(including Novel of the Silver Age (O. Wilde"The Picture of Dorian Grey"; V.Bryusov"Silver Angel")

4. Classic realistic novel(Novel of "critical realism") I. Turgenev"Fathers and Sons"; Charles Dickens"Bleak House", "David Copperfield")

5. Postmodern novel (M. Pavic"Khazar Dictionary"; J.Barnes"The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters")

6. Novel of the modernist period(M. Proust"In Search of Lost Time"; D.Joyce"Ulysses", "Finnegans Wake"; F. Kafka"Castle", "Process"; A. Bely"Petersburg")

7. Novel of the Romantic period (F.R. Chateaubriand"Rene", "Atala"; novels V. Hugo; M.Zagoskin"Roslavlev or the Russians in 1812")

8. A novel of socialist realism(M. Sholokhov"Virgin Soil Upturned"; M. Gorky"Mother"; F. Gladkov"Cement"; A. Serafimovich"Iron Stream")

9. RomanBaroque era: 1) picaresquenovel(G.Y.K. von Grimmelshausen"Simplicissimus";L.V. de Guevara"The Lame Demon"; 2) pastoral romance(O.d'Urfe"Astraea")

10. Romance of erasand Renaissance (F. Rabelais"Gargantua and Pantagruel";J. Sannazzaro"Arcadia")

11. Sentimental novel (J.-J. Rousseau"Julia, or New Heloise"; S.Richardson"Pamela")

12. Medieval novel(the main body of the Medieval Romance consists of Romance or Courtly romance ) (Chrétien de Troyes“Erec and Enida”, “The Tale of the Grail, or Perceval”, “The Knight of the Cart, or Lancelot”; Montalvo"Amadis Gali"; Eilhart von Oberg"Tristan and Isolde")

Some explanations regarding decadence

As a literary movement, Decadence is a transitional stage between Romanticism and Modernism. Decadence (French decadent - decadent) - decline, cultural regression; originally used as a historical term to refer to cultural phenomena of the Roman Empire in the 2nd-4th centuries. This term also means modernist movement in the visual arts, music, literature and architecture, in creative thought, self-expression as such - late XIX- the beginning of the 20th centuries, characterized by perverted aestheticism, individualism, immoralism. Its founders acted primarily as opponents of old art movements, mainly academicism. The principles they proclaimed were initially of a purely formal nature: the decadents demanded the creation of new forms in art, more flexible and more consistent with the complex worldview of modern man.

Traditional art criticism considers decadence as a general definition of the crisis phenomena of European culture of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, marked by moods of despondency, pessimism, morbidity, hopelessness, rejection of life, extreme subjectivism (with similar, close to tendentious, shocking formulas and cliches - stylistic devices, plastic, compositional structures, accentuations, etc.). This complex and contradictory phenomenon in creativity in general has its source in a crisis of social consciousness, the confusion of many artists in the face of sharp social contrasts - loneliness, soullessness and antagonisms of reality. Decadent artists considered art’s refusal of political and civil themes to be a manifestation and an indispensable condition for creative freedom. Constant themes are the motives of non-existence and death, the denial of historically established spiritual ideals and values.

The main issue of marking boundaries decadence becomes the division of it with symbolism. There are quite a few answers, but there are two dominant ones: the first speaks of the difference between these movements in art, a great adherent and inventor of which was J. Moreas, the second - about the impossibility of their separation or the lack of need for it.

K. Balmont in the article “Elementary words about symbolic poetry” talks about the trinity of decadence, symbolism and impressionism, calling them “psychological lyricism,” which changes “in its component parts, but is always united in its essence. In fact, these three currents sometimes run parallel, sometimes diverge, sometimes merge into one stream, but, in any case, they tend in the same direction, and between them there is not the difference that exists between the waters of a river and the waters of the ocean.” He characterizes the decadent as a refined artist, “perishing due to his sophistication,” existing in the succession of two periods, “one completed, the other not yet born.” That’s why decadents debunk everything old and outdated, look for new forms, new meanings, but cannot find them, since they grew up on old soil.

F. Sologub calls decadence method for distinguishing a symbol, an artistic form for symbolist content, “worldview”: “decadence is the best, perhaps the only, weapon of conscious symbolism.”

Russian symbolists of the second wave (young symbolists) defined the difference between decadence and symbolism ideologically: decadence is subjective, and symbolism overcomes the individualistic isolation of aesthetics with the super-personal truth of conciliarity. Andrey Bely in the book “The Beginning” he describes it this way: “symbolists” are those who, decaying in the conditions of the old culture along with the entire culture, try to overcome their decline within themselves, realizing it, and, emerging from it, are renewed; in the “decadent” his decline is the final disintegration; in the “symbolist” decadentism is only a stage; so we believed: there are decadents, there are “decadents and symbolists” (that is, in whom decline fights revival), there are “symbolists”, but not “decadents”; and this is how we willed to make ourselves.”

According to B. Mikhailovsky(Literary Encyclopedia 1929-1939), “symbolism” as a term is broader than the term “decadence,” which is essentially one of the varieties of symbolism. The term "symbolism" - an art historical category - successfully designates one of the most important signs of style, arising from the psyche of decadence. But it is possible to distinguish other styles that arise on the same basis (for example, impressionism). And at the same time, “symbolism” can free itself from decadence (for example, the fight against decadence in Russian symbolism).

However Mikhailovsky contradicts F. P. Schiller(“History of Western European Literature of Modern Times”): “The very names of groups and movements changed: starting with the novel “On the contrary” (1884) Huysmans, the most popular of them was “decadent” (a magazine was published under the same title), then later the name “symbolist” was widely used. And here the difference is not only in the names alone. If, for example, all the Symbolists were decadents, then it cannot be said that all the decadents of the “end of the century” were also Symbolists in the narrow sense of the word. Decadence - more broad concept than symbolism (if we ignore the small group of poets who united around the Decadent magazine).”

What is called the “style of decadence,” wrote Gautier, “is nothing other than art that has arrived at that degree of extreme maturity that aging civilizations evoke with their slanting sun.” Omri Ronen generally takes decadence beyond the framework of trends in art and even art itself: “decadence found artistic embodiment of its themes in different styles: in symbolism, in the poetics of the Parnassians, in late romanticism - “Victorian” in England, “Biedermeier” in Central Europe, and in late realism - naturalism. Decadence, therefore, was not a style or even a literary movement, but mood And topic, which equally colored art, scientific, philosophical, religious and social thought of its time."

Symbolist novel Andrey Bely I put “Petersburg” in the subgenre “Novel of the Modernist Period”. But this novel, extraordinary in style, has the right to be included in the subgenres of both decadence and silver age, and symbolism. But symbolism was included in a broader movement - modernism.

There is considerable discrepancy in the definition of the subgenre “Chivalrous Romance”. But more on that another time.

Remember this at the right time!

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SATIRICAL NOVEL - see Satire and Romance.

Meanings in other dictionaries

Satire

SATIRE is a type of comic (see Aesthetics), distinguished from other types (humor, irony) by the harshness of its exposure. At its inception, sung was a specific lyrical genre. It was a poem, often significant in volume, the content of which contained ridicule of certain persons or events. S. as a genre originated in Roman literature. The very word “S.” comes from la...

Satyricon

"SATYRIKON" is a weekly "subtle" magazine of satire and humor. Published in St. Petersburg from 1908 to 1914 (No. 16 - the last) by M. Kornfeld. The first 8 numbers "S." published under the editorship of A.A. Radakova, after which A.G. Averchenko became the permanent editor. "WITH." - the most popular satirical magazine of its time. He united around himself a cadre of talented writers and humorous artists. In addition to A.G. Averchenko, print...

Saturnian verse

SATURNIA VERSE - original poetic meter among the ancient Romans; its antiquity is indicated by its name from the ancient Italian god Saturn. Rhythmic structure of S.s. is still not completely clear. It is based on iambic and trochaic (trochaic) rhythm, which is close to prosaic speech. The most common form of S.s.:---U --U || -UU U-UCesura is a mandatory element...

If “The Golovlevs” are the highest achievement in the genre of social and everyday psychological novel in Shchedrin’s work, then “Modern Idyll”, along with “The History of a City,” can serve as an example of a satirical political novel, the purpose of which this time was to expose not so much directly administrative principles monarchism, how many mass manifestations of political and social reaction it generates.

“The Modern Idyll,” despite the diversity of its content, which reflects the fluid political material of our time, and also despite the fact that more than four years have passed between the time of the appearance of the first eleven chapters (1877-1878) and the subsequent ones (1882-1883), has harmonious composition, not inferior in this regard to “The Golovlev Gentlemen”, and with the same tone of the satirical narrative.

The composition of the novel is characterized by the presence of chapters that include different genre forms- fairy tale, feuilleton, dramatic scene.

However, this is not a departure from main idea and from the main plot, but a unique and highly original development of the main theme: moreover: such, for example, “inserted” episodes as “The Tale of the Zealous Chief” or dramatic scene“The Ill-fated Minnow” are the focal points of the ideas developed in the novel.

In the composition of “Modern Idyll”, Shchedrin’s inherent “free attitude to form”, the art of creating an organic alloy of contrasting genre elements, which give the story multicoloredness and expose the subject of satire in relief and witty lighting.

The liberal critic K. K. Arsenyev spoke in Vestnik Evropy with a review of “Modern Idyll” under the title “New Shchedrinsky Collection.” In this regard, Shchedrin wrote to the magazine’s employee A.N. Pypin in a letter dated November 1, 1883: ““Modern Idyll” is called “Collection,” but I don’t understand why. This is a completely coherent thing, imbued from beginning to end with one thought, which is carried out by the same “heroes.”<...>If we take the point of view of “Bulletin of Europe”, then “Notes” Pickwick Club“, and “Don Quixote”, “Dead Souls” will have to be called “collections”.

And indeed, with the works listed by Shchedrin, “The Modern Idyll” is related primarily by the genre of the satirical review novel, in which a variety of scenes and persons, widely covering the life of the society of its time, are compositionally cemented into a single picture by the motif of “traveling” heroes. At the same time, Shchedrin’s novel, unlike its genre predecessors, is entirely immersed directly in the atmosphere of political life.

The heroes of “A Modern Idyll” rush around in space, being pushed out of their homes by the raging political reaction, which forced them to flee in panic, spy, inform, exterminate each other, and get involved in criminal and political adventures.

In “A Modern Idyll,” the satirist most vividly realized his idea of ​​such a novel, the “drama” of which goes from the domestic framework to the street, unfolds in the public political arena and is resolved in a wide variety of, almost unexpected, ways.

The action of “A Modern Idyll” begins in a private apartment, from here it moves to a police station, a lawyer’s office, a merchant’s house, and gradually takes over more and more wide circle persons and phenomena, then is transferred from the capital to the cities and villages of the province and finally returns again to the capital. This whole motley stream of persons and events in the work is caused by the invasion " domestic policy"in the destinies of people.

The main theme of the novel is the exposure of political and social reaction, cowardice and renegade behavior of those layers of the liberal intelligentsia who, during the years of reaction, reached the limit of ideological, moral and political decline.

The central characters of "A Modern Idyll" are two moderate liberals - Glumov and the narrator. Suspected by the authorities that they are “dissolving the revolution” by sitting in their apartments, Glumov and the narrator outline a program, the implementation of which would restore their reputation as well-intentioned.

Initially following the advice of their friend Alexei Stepanych Molchalin, who recommended that they “moderate their ardor” and “wait,” they stop reasoning and indulge exclusively in physical pleasures and bodily exercises. However, this evidence of reliability is not enough. Having once taken the path of good intentions for selfish self-preservation, the heroes of the novel rapidly fall lower and lower.

Movement along an inclined plane towards reaction turns them into active participants in that very “buffoonish tragedy” from which they initially tried to stay away. They make acquaintance with the police officials of the quarterly station, the detective, various kinds notorious scoundrels, get involved in a dirty story with imaginary bigamy, in fraud with counterfeit bills, etc.

In a word, they “become participants in crimes in the hope that the general criminal code will protect them from the claims of the criminal-political code.” And indeed, having been put on trial, they come out whitewashed and, as people who have proven their good intentions, are given the honor of working as employees in the newspaper “Verbal Fertilizer,” published by the manufacturer Kubyshkin.

Shchedrin never recognized the importance of the liberal intelligentsia as a leading liberation force in the social struggle; moreover, he saw and understood the danger of the conciliatory policy of liberalism. But for all his enormous and well-founded skepticism, Shchedrin did not abandon the thought of the possibility of singling out from the ranks of the liberal intelligentsia its best elements capable of promoting the liberation movement. This was also evident in “Modern Idyll”. The epic of the reactionary adventures of two liberal intellectuals ends in the novel with the awakening of a sense of shame in them.

Fear of the reaction forced them to undertake a humiliating “feat” of self-preservation. But, seeking a reputation as politically well-intentioned people, they were aware that they were doing meanness and vulgarity, and not anything else, and internally remained opposed to the reaction. Discord between immoral behavior and critical direction thoughts were ultimately resolved by “the melancholy of awakened shame.”

Shchedrin considered it possible and suggested such an outcome for a certain part of the cultured and critically thinking, but disgraced liberal intelligentsia. And there is nothing unrealistic about this. When the old socio-political system, which has outlived its historical period, disintegrates, then their most conscious and honest representatives still begin to move away from the ruling classes.

For all that, introducing the motif of awakened shame into “The Modern Idyll,” Shchedrin was not at all inclined to associate any far-reaching hopes in the sense of social transformation with the shame factor. “They say that Shame cleanses people, and I readily believe this.

But when they tell me that the action of Shame reaches far, that Shame educates and conquers, I look around, remember those isolated calls of Shame that, from time to time, broke through among the masses of Shamelessness, and then nevertheless sank into eternity.. . and avoid answering.”

These are the last words of “A Modern Idyll.” Objectively, they are polemical in relation to all kinds of moralistic concepts of the transformation of society and, in particular, in relation to the moral teaching of Leo Tolstoy, which was becoming popular at that time. And although Shchedrin avoided a final answer, his thoughts are still relatively public role shame is clear enough.

Shame helps correct people, cleanse individual representatives of the ruling part of society from the heavy burden of class inheritance, shame serves as a prerequisite for social liberation struggle, but the effect of shame does not go far and does not cancel the need for active mass struggle.

The exposure of liberal renegadeism in A Modern Idyll grew into a broad satirical picture of political and social reaction. In this regard, “Modern Idyll”, being neither Shchedrin’s first nor last blow to the reaction, retains the significance of a work that is most striking in its strength, mercilessness and skill in satirically exposing and exposing both government reaction and its destructive influence on broad layers Russian society.

Most of the novel was written at a time when the autocracy during the reign of Alexandra III revealed all its reaction potential. Having dealt with the Narodnaya Volya, it demanded more and more victims.

Terror, espionage, and an epidemic of suspicion were raging in the country, and in connection with this, panic, mass betrayal on the part of the liberal intelligentsia, and servile opportunism spread in society. The government's call for assistance in the fight against revolution and socialism was responded primarily by various human rabble; according to the sarcastic expression of the author of “The Modern Idyll,” the scoundrel became “the ruler of the thoughts of our time.”

All this found its relief reflection in the satirical mirror of “Modern Idyll”. Shchedrin caustically ridiculed the bosses, distraught in their reactionary zeal, completing the exposure with the famous “Tale of the Zealous Boss.” He branded the morally corrupt “heroes” of reaction with contempt, giving them a generalized portrait in the feuilleton about the scoundrel “Lord of Thoughts.”

The reality of the era of ferocious government reaction is presented in “The Modern Idyll” as a tragedy in the life of an entire society, a tragedy that stretched into countless sudden acts, captured a huge mass of people in a vice and, moreover, was complicated by buffoonery.

The heroes of cruel buffoonery are police officials and spies (Ivan Timofeich, Prudentov, Kshepshitsyulsky, a lot of police officers and “pea coats”), bureaucratic dignitaries (Perekusikhins), conquering adventurers (Rededya), capitalists (Paramonov, Vzdoshnikov, Oshmyansky), those who have lost their minds princes-landowners (Rukosui-Poshekhonsky), notorious scoundrels (Vipers-Cleansed, Balalaikin, etc.), “ideally well-intentioned brutes” from among the liberals (Glumov and the narrator) - all these comedians of the old, rotten, bankrupt order are exhibited in “Modern idylls" to public shame and ridicule.

Humor of contempt, evil and merciless humor - this is the main weapon that the author of “The Modern Idyll” brought down on the types and phenomena that personify the autocratic police state of landowners and capitalists. The desire to reveal the cruel comedy of reality, to tear off the “decent” veils from the enemy and present him in a funny and disgusting form - all the bright, multi-colored poetics of the tragicomic novel, sparkling with wit and merciless exposures, is subordinated to this.

Busy in “Modern Idyll” mainly with exposing the “buffoonish” aspect of social tragedy, Shchedrin also touched upon tragic collisions directly. The tragic side of reactionary buffoonery is the suffering and death of a mass of people of honest thought and honest work. Representatives of the advanced Russian intelligentsia, fighters who became victims of police terror (“The Trial of the Ill-fated Minnow”) are experiencing a truly human tragedy.

The most bitter “habitual” tragedy hung over the impoverished, oppressed village, robbed by the kulaks and the authorities (statistical description of the village of Blagoveshchenskoye in Chapter XXVI), over the village where “there was not an inch of land that did not hide a word of reproof in its depths.”

The tragedy of village life is aggravated by the fact that, along with material poverty, there was spiritual poverty of the peasant masses, their political backwardness, which helped the forces of reaction to use the people as their obedient tools.

The police power and the rural bourgeoisie, frightening with the specter of revolution and corrupting with the promise of monetary rewards, incited the peasants to “catch the Sicilists.” With bitter irony and harsh truthfulness, Shchedrin notes that there were many who wanted to hunt for the “Sicilists.” Spring is in full swing, the men say, but they haven’t even started to sow.

“What is it?

“We’re still catching the Sicilists.” The other day, the entire community spent the night in the forest for two days, looking for him, but he, a convict, ran away before everyone’s eyes!”

The village in "Modern Idyll" is a village from the early 1980s. She is still in the grip of age-old prejudices, she is intimidated by the authorities, corrupted by reaction, her ideas about the revolution are wild and perverse. At the same time, this village is only two decades separated from the one that joined the mass uprising during the years of the first Russian revolution. The penetration of new ideas into the peasant masses and the signs of fermentation that began under their influence in the traditional consciousness of the masses were reflected in the “Modern Idyll.”

Shchedrin did not have the opportunity to talk about this directly. He limited himself to isolated, but fairly transparent hints. The word “Sicilists,” we read in the novel, “acquired the right of citizenship in the village and was repeated in a wide variety of meanings.” Some - and, of course, there were a majority - identified socialists with traitors and convicts; others, although vaguely, following a purely peasant model, began to listen and ponder the meaning of revolutionary propaganda. A representative of the latter is the soldier mentioned in the novel, who came to the village on leave. He told his fellow villagers that soon “land, water, and air - everything will be state property, and the treasury will distribute it to everyone from itself.”

"A Modern Idyll" gives a vivid insight into Shchedrin's satirical skill. The satirist’s visual arsenal is demonstrated in “Modern Idyll” more widely and fully than in any other individual work by Shchedrin. No wonder in connection with “ A modern idyll“Turgenev wrote to Shchedrin: “The strength of your talent has now reached the point of “agility,” as the late Pisemsky put it.”

The speed of development of the plot, the organic inclusion in the narrative of a fairy tale, feuilleton, dramatic scene, parody, pamphlet, transparent allusions to specific political phenomena, polemical arrows aimed at political and literary opponents, a variety of Aesopian figures of allegory, the interweaving of the real and the fantastic, witty satirical exaggeration persons and events using hyperbole and grotesque, laconic portrait sketches, masterful dialogues, an abundance of striking satirical formulas, for the first time here the brilliantly used method of statistical exposure (biography of the merchant Paramonov in numbers, statistical description of the village of Blagoveshchensky), etc., etc. etc. - all this multi-colored combination of visual techniques and means of depiction creates a complex satirical symphony of the “Modern Idyll”, forms its original, inimitable poetics.

In “Modern Idyll,” Shchedrin masterfully uses the technique he has already tried more than once of recounting literary predecessors. Here we find quotes, reminiscences and images from Derzhavin, Krylov, Sukhovo-Kobylin, Hugo.

Disputes on literary themes, judgments sparkling with acuteness of thought about the novel and tragedy, satirical remarks about the pedantry of Pushkin bibliographers and the theatrical repertoire, parodies of a love story and pseudo-folk collectors of folklore, etc.

In the novel, such a characteristic feature of the satirist’s creative method as the typological connection of this work with previous work also found vivid expression. Already previously known from a number of other works, the images of Glumov, the narrator, and Balalaikin in “Modern Idyll” act as the main characters, and here their image is brought to completion.

“Modern Idyll” refers to those works by Shchedrin where the satirist’s wit breaks through in a stormy stream, where his humor shines with all colors and manifests itself in all gradations.

Playful, sparkling with jokes in the scenes depicting Balalaikin’s fictitious marriage to the merchant’s wife Fainushka, caustic, saturated with poisonous irony on the pages depicting the heroes behind the development of the “Charter of Decency”, it turns into loud laughter when Shchedrin tells “The Tale of the Zealous Boss”, and in the feuilleton about the scoundrel “Lord of Thoughts” is expressed in contemptuous sarcasm.

The humorous element permeates all elements of the plot and poetics of the novel. It even captures the landscape, which in Russian literature is almost a property of Shchedrin alone. It is in “Modern Idyll” that we find wonderful examples of Shchedrin’s satirical landscape, which unexpectedly and wittily brings together the phenomena of political reality with the phenomena of the natural world.

Here, for example, in the morning: “... as soon as the golden-fingered Aurora splashed the first sheaves of flame in the far east, the local policeman was already fulfilling his duty.” Here is the onset of autumn: “The leaves are still firmly attached to the branches of the trees and are only just beginning to turn brown; dahlias, stockroses, mignonette, sweet peas - all of this has turned slightly pale under the influence of the mornings, but is still in full bloom; and everywhere there are myriads of bees buzzing, which, like officials before the reform, are in a hurry to get the last bribes.”

"Modern Idyll" produced strong impression on Turgenev with a flight of “crazy humorous fantasy.” He wrote to Shchedrin in 1882: “...the vis comica innate to you has never manifested itself with greater brilliance.” In turn, Goncharov, characterizing the impression made by Shchedrin’s humor, recalled: “... the reader laughs evilly with the author at some “modern idyll.”

Shchedrin’s laughter in “A Modern Idyll” is a laughter that puts to shame the “heroes” of political and social reaction and arouses the energy of public indignation towards them.

“The Modern Idyll,” despite its fantastic flavor, is based—even in many details—on facts reality. Overall, the novel is a damning pamphlet on the era of reaction. In it, Shchedrin made many caustic attacks against official government officials, titled and untitled ideologists and slaves of the reaction.

The novel venomously parodies the Code of Laws (“Charter on Decency”) and the court spy-terrorist organization “Sacred Squad” (“Club of Excited Loafers”), ridicules the tsarist bureaucracy and the court, the official and semi-official press, exposes the entire police system of the autocracy, etc. d.

The acute political content of the novel, published in a legal magazine during the years of fierce censorship persecution, obliged the satirist to resort to a complex system of Aesopian conspiracy. In terms of the skill of Aesopian allegory, only “The History of a City” and “Fairy Tales” can be placed next to “Modern Idyll”.

But if in “The History of a City” the satirist was helped primarily by the historical form of storytelling, and in “Fairy Tales” by folk fiction, then in “A Modern Idyll,” which was aimed directly at the political topic of the day. Shedrin needed more a complex system artistic disguise.

The art of Aesopian allegory is brought in “Modern Idyll” to the level of extreme virtuosity and represents a high example of the intellectual victory of a leading artist of words over the reactionary censorship policy of the autocracy. Let us touch only on some of the most characteristic features of the allegorical poetics of “The Modern Idyll.”

First of all, attention is drawn to the low rank of the representatives of the tsarist bureaucracy acting in the novel. These are, firstly, officials of the capital’s district district and, secondly, county officials.

But at the same time, representatives of the quarterly administration are clearly not acting according to their rank. The quarterly clerk Prudentov drafts the “Charter on the decent behavior of ordinary people in their lives,” that is, he composes laws, which in reality was the prerogative of the highest government bureaucracy. There is no doubt that ridicule of this latter is the hidden purpose of describing Prudentov’s legislative activity.

As Shchedrin himself explained in a letter to A.N. Pypin dated November 1, 1883, the “Charter on Decency” refers to the exposure of the XIV volume of the Code of Laws. Story about future fate figures of the quarterly administration, surviving each other from service by denunciations, transparently hints at leapfrog in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was successively headed in the 80s. M. T. Loris-Melikov, N. P. Ignatiev, D. A. Tolstoy.

Thus, with “Modern Idyll,” in the part that concerns bureaucracy, Shchedrin aimed at the highest government spheres, prudently disguising his intentions with the apparently modest task of describing the eccentric spotlights of a quarterly area.

At the same time, as is usually the case with Shchedrin, the characterized Aesopian technique also performed a directly satirical function. The image of a naive chronicler in “The History of a City” served the satirist not only as a protective mask, but also made it possible to expose the denounced object in all its immediate, crude essence. Similarly, to further disgrace the Code of Laws, Shchedrin took advantage of the naive frankness of the clerk Prudentov. “We have one circumstance in mind: so that there is as little anxiety as possible for the authorities - that’s what we are trying to achieve,” is how Prudentov formulates the main idea of ​​the “Charter on Decency” he is writing.

It should, however, be noted that in “The Modern Idyll” there are high-ranking representatives of the bureaucracy, shown without lowering their “face value”. Such, for example, are “two venerable dignitaries” - Privy Councilors Perekusikhin 1st and Perekusikhin 2nd and Colonel Rededya. The satirist gave them the most destructive characterization, prudently - in order to avoid censorship quibbles - presenting them as unofficial persons “dismissed from service.”

“Modern Idyll” is characterized by a dense fantastic coloring. The fiction of the novel appears in various functions. It serves to express the “magic” of real reality, which is in the grip of panic and arbitrariness, and humorous painting, and Aesopian allegory.

The fantastic element, coloring the entire narrative in “A Modern Idyll,” forms entire fantastic plots in separate chapters, included in the overall composition of the work in the form of fairy tales. In addition to the famous “Tale of a Zealous Chief,” the novel contains another tale, the title of which is not highlighted, “The Tale of a State Councilor” or “The Fruits of Subordinate Debauchery.”

The dramatic scene “The Ill-fated Minnow” is also close to the fairy tale genre. It is quite obvious that this fairy-tale fiction was intended to veil highly political subjects that were dangerous in terms of censorship.

But the fairy-tale form of fantasy in “Modern Idyll” is determined not only by the desire for artistic conspiracy. Fantasy was the medium where satirical and allegorical functions found the most harmonious artistic combination. Therefore, the fairy-tale form, which had long been evident in the work of the satirist, acquired special significance in the reactionary years. Following “Modern Idyll,” Shchedrin began to work intensively on a cycle of fairy tales.

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

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”

I. The history of the creation and publication of the novel. "Fool" cycle of the early 1860s. early 1860s (essays “Literary Philistines”, “Slander”, “Our Foolov Affairs”, “Fools and Foolovites”, “Foolov’s Debauchery”, “Our Provincial Day”). The city of Foolov as a toponymic generalization.

II. The thousand-year history of Russia as an object of satirical interpretation in “The History of a City.”

1. Genre and compositional uniqueness of the book:

a) Analyze the features of the construction of “The History of a City”. Pay attention to the narrative (narrative) specificity of the work. Explain why the writer introduces two narrative plans - the chronicler-archivist and the publisher (give examples). Is the author's voice heard in the book?

b) Which genre definition“Stories of a City” seems to you the most accurate: novel, chronicle, satire? (suggest your options).

2. Parodying in the text the chronicle legend about the calling of the Varangians and historical concepts about the origin of Russian statehood (S.M. Solovyova, N.I. Kostomarova, M.P. Pogodina). Provide relevant passages.

3. The history of Russia as the real basis of Shchedrin’s grotesque:

a) Why did Saltykov claim that he wrote “not historical,” but “completely ordinary” satire? (see: “Letter to the Editor”)

b) “Grotesque” chronotope as a way of satirical depiction of modernity:

– time deformation in the novel: the principle of “historical combinations and projections” (S.A. Makashin) in the use of realities and names (give examples);

– deformation of space in the novel: local blurring of the boundaries of the city of Foolov (confirm with text).

III. A grotesque interpretation in “The History of a City” of the problem of “people and power” (“Life under the yoke of madness”).

1. Study in the book of the mechanisms of power, artistic realization ideas of "madness". “I won’t tolerate it!” and “I’ll ruin you!” as leitmotif formulas of power:

a) Indirect expression of the idea of ​​“madness” in the images of mayors indulging in “bodily exercises” (Mikaladze ... - continue the list). What is remarkable about the reign of each of them?

b) The implementation of the “headless” metaphor in the images of such mayors as Organchik... (continue the series). Wartkin as a harbinger of Gloomy-Burcheev (give reasons). “Idiot” Gloomy-Burcheev is the ultimate embodiment of the idea of ​​“madness” of power (confirm with text).

2. Study in the book of mechanisms of subordination: “historical people” in Saltykov’s novel:

a) Collective portrait of the Foolovites. What is the social composition of the Foolov population. Name character traits their psychology and behavior (love of bosses... - continue). Prove that the behavior of the Foolovites is shown as a manifestation of popular “madness.” What is a "kneeling riot"? (give examples).

b) How does the tone of the narrative change in the chapters “Hungry City” and “City of Straw”? (quote relevant passages). Were the reproaches against Saltykov for “mockery of the people” fair? (see article by A.S. Suvorin and Saltykov’s response to it).

3. The logic of the development of the conflict “people and power”. The ring principle of composition: from the dreams of bunglers about a “strong hand” (give examples) – to the “delirium” of Ugryum-Burcheev. Can we apply the thesis that every people is worthy of its rulers to the ideological concept of the novel?

IV. The artistic embodiment in the novel of the philosophical and historical views of Saltykov-Shchedrin.

1. The writer’s idea of ​​the people as “the embodiment of the idea of ​​democracy” (“Letter to the Editor”). Periods of Foolov’s prosperity and its reasons (chapter “The era of dismissal from wars”). Why is Gloopov called an “ill-fated municipality”? (chapter “Confirmation of repentance. Conclusion”). What, from your point of view, is the author’s ideal of government?

2. Evolutionary concept of the historical process. The Decembrist and Petrashevist movements as real material for artistic generalizations (“martyrology of Foolov’s liberalism”). The dystopian pathos of the book: exposing the totalitarian basis of “communist leveling” (chapters “Worship of Mammon and repentance”, “Confirmation of repentance. Conclusion”).

3. Biblical reminiscences in the novel and their function. The eschatological meaning of the ending, its anticipation at different stages of the development of the conflict. Find fragments in the text that express the idea of ​​the cyclical development of history. What is the significance of the image of the river in the novel?

Literature

Mandatory

1. Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. The history of one city // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: In 20 volumes. M., 1969. T.8. We also recommend that you refer to the comments of B.M. Eikhenbaum in the edition: Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. The story of one city. M.: Children's literature, 1970.

2. Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Letter to the editor of “Bulletin of Europe” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: In 20 volumes. M., 1969. T.8.

3. “Historical satire?” (Article by A.S. Suvorin and response to it by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin) // Russian Literature. 1995. No. 4.

4. Nikolaev D.“The History of a City” by M.E. Saltykova-Shchedrin // Three masterpieces of Russian classics. M., 1971.

Additional

1. Elizarova L.V. Narration in “The History of a City” // Satire M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. 1826–1976. Kalinin, 1977.

2. Stroganov M.V. About the ending of "History". On the problem of “Shchedrin and the Decembrists” // “The Sixties” in the works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Kalinin, 1985.

3. Golovina T.N.“The History of One City”: to be continued // Shchedrinsky collection. Vol. 2. Tver, 2003.