Lesson 34 novel by A. s. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" History of creation. design and composition. "Onegin" stanza
Goals: give a general description of the novel, explain the concept of "Onegin" stanza; to acquaint with the opinions of critics about the novel.
During the classes
I. Work on the topic of the lesson.
1.Introduction by the teacher.
1)A novel, "... in which the century was reflected ...".
We have come to the pinnacle of Pushkin's poetic creation - the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin".
Did the Eugene Onegin genre surprise you? contemporaries habitually called it a poem. But for Pushkin "Onegin" is a novel! Can't guess why?
But what is "romance"? note: it is remarkable not so much for its volume, but for ... Maybe someone will continue?
Are there any origins of the novel ... in the lyrics? Novel - this is, first of all, the deepest and most comprehensive penetration into the "I" of the hero, into his character, the innermost secrets of the personality - what is called psychologism.
Poetry came close to the creation of the novel. We are accustomed to the prose novel, but it turns out that it was preceded by a poetic one. It turns out that prose is much more complicated!
2)The art of the stanza.
In a letter to P. A. Vyazemsky, the line of which opens Chapter I, Pushkin, having barely started Onegin, reported: “I am not writing a novel, but a novel in verse - a diabolical difference!” What does it mean? Is the novel difficult for the writer?.. Or for the reader? How did you feel about the upcoming reading? Were you afraid? Thought it would be boring, tiring? And in fact, throughout the story - eight chapters! - the same size. Define it. Yes, it's iambic 4-foot.
It would seem, what a monotony of rhythm, intonation. But in reality, the lines of the novel sound amazingly diverse, unlike. This is the mystery of Pushkin's poems! How are the chapters structured? They are written in stanzas. Is it easy to create such a lengthy (14 lines!) stanza, which received the name "Onegin"? So far, no poet has been able to repeat it. What is her secret? Why does it give such liveliness and flexibility, dynamics and expressiveness to poetic narration, and why does Pushkin's 4-foot iambic sound so diverse?
2.Reading the article "In the creative lab" in anthology, p. 242.
3.The study of the style of the novel.
1)Reading and analysis of the first chapter.
Let's read the first chapter again.
Reading the text by a teacher or a trained student with the words "Not thinking to amuse the proud light ...".
How would you title these lines? "Introduction"? "Prologue"? "Zachin"? to some extent, all this is true. But then what is this appeal: “I wish I you present / s pledge more worthy you…”: what does the pronoun of the 2nd person mean here? No, this is not an ordinary "prologue", not a "beginning", but dedication!
Have you met the works that the author dedicated to someone, and do you understand how he entered literature custom of initiation? Why did Pushkin dedicate Onegin to "someone"? yes, the poet explains this right away: “Loving the attention of friendship,” but how Pushkin knew how to be friends (maybe like no other!), It is well known. But the question is: who was awarded this honor - to be the "addressee" of Pushkin's novel? Delvig, Kuchelbecker, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky? The list of all Pushkin's friends would be very extensive. But here's what's interesting: the poet does not name the person to whom the novel is dedicated. Why? Perhaps, for Pushkin, initiation was a "guarantee of friendship" not related to a specific person?
What was the novel for Pushkin, how did he write (strive to write!) its chapters? And why did the “collection of motley chapters” in the “dedication” stretch over several lines?
Who did you feel, hear, discover in the first chapter? Is it only the hero of the novel? No, we feel and hear the Author, his presence in the novel. Often the poet's confession pushes the hero aside.
Do you agree with the great Russian critic V. G. Belinsky, perhaps the most insightful reader, who noted that “Eugene Onegin” is “Pushkin’s most sincere creation”, “the favorite child of his imagination”?
2)This "strange" Onegin.
– Why did the poet choose the hero’s monologue for stanza I?
- Imagine in Onegin's place one of his peers, Molchalin for example ... How would he feel on the way to his dying uncle?
- Onegin and his "environment": how did the poet capture them?
- How does Pushkin's narrative change in the lines about the attitude of "light" to Onegin?
- What is hidden in the keyword "pedant", and even with the conjunction "but"?
- Is the image of Onegin static in Chapter I, or does the hero of the novel change?
Yes, something strange is happening to him, but what? Why is the "dandy" Onegin, an impeccable secular youth, becoming ... unrecognizable?
- What words would you convey the author's "sympathy" to Onegin in Chapter I? (“But was my Eugene happy? ..”)
- What is the lexical originality of Chapter I? What words does she use? (Homer, Theocritus, Juvenal, Adam Smith.)
Let's, together with the heroine of the novel, Tatyana, take the risk of going to Onegin's office (alas, in the absence of the owner).
Reading XIX, XXII stanzas of the seventh chapter.
- Compare the stanzas of chapters I and VII. Did the world of Onegin open up to you?
- Is Onegin alone in Pushkin's lines? Why does the Author appear next to him every now and then?
Imagine: in the novel there would be no stanzas that we call “lyrical”, it would be “easier” for us to follow Onegin’s feelings and activities, nothing would distract from the plot ... Would the novel win?
"Dedication" is a kind of key to the poetic world of the novel, its reading. We note the lyricism and irony of Chapter I, its dialogism, the author's casual conversation with the reader about the hero and about himself. And the reader becomes the poet’s unwitting “interlocutor”, understands that Onegin is a tragic character, feels the hero’s brokenness in the piercing psychological details (“languishing with spiritual emptiness ...”) and the discontinuity of the poetic narrative (“I read, read, but all to no avail ...”). We are amazed at the harmony, the ideality of Pushkin's "I", sounding in the ardor of confessions, the innocence of lyricism, the rhythmic-intonational and syntactic unity of the stanza ("Magic land. There in the old days ...", "Brilliant, half-air ...", "I remember the sea before a thunderstorm …”).
4.Working with textbook materials.
- compare the views of Belinsky and Pisarev on the novel (the controversy is connected with the image of Onegin). Whose position is closer and more understandable to you, and why does the author, being the lyrical hero of the novel, show his spiritual kinship with Onegin?
II. Summary of the lesson.
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The theme of the novel "Eugene Onegin" (1831) is an image of Russian life in the first quarter of the 19th century. V.G. Belinsky called this work “an encyclopedia of Russian life” (V.G. Belinsky “Works of A. Pushkin”, article 9), because Pushkin in his novel “knew how to touch on so much, hint about so much that belongs exclusively to to the world of Russian nature, to the world of Russian society" (ibid.). The idea of "Eugene Onegin" is to evaluate the type of a modern young man common in a noble society who cannot find a worthy application for his abilities in the life around him, since the life goals familiar to the noble circle do not suit him, they seem unworthy and petty. For this reason, such young people are "superfluous" in society.
The plot of the novel is based on the love story of Eugene Onegin and Tatyana Larina. Consequently, the plot will begin with their first meeting in the Larins' house, where Onegin ends up by chance: he wanted to look at Olga, Lensky's "love object". Moreover, the very scene of the first meeting of the main characters in the novel is not described: Onegin and Lensky talk about it, returning home from guests. From their conversation, it is clear the impression that Tatyana made on the title character. Of the two sisters, he singled out Tatyana, noting the unusualness of her appearance and the mediocrity of Olga:
Olga has no life in features.
Exactly the same as Vandy's Madonna.
She is round, red-faced... (3, V)
Tatyana fell in love with Onegin at first sight, which she admitted in her letter:
You just walked in, I instantly knew
All numb, blazed
And in her thoughts she said: here he is! (3, XXXI)
The first meeting of Onegin and Tatyana takes place in the third chapter. This means that the first two chapters of the novel are an exposition of the plot, where the author talks in detail about the two main characters: about their parents, relatives, educators, their favorite activities, characters, habits. The culmination of the plot is the explanation of Onegin and Tatyana in the garden, when the hero indifferently refuses the love of an extraordinary girl, and Tatyana loses all hope for happiness. Later, having gained rich experience in the "whirlwind" of social life, the heroine realized that Eugene treated her nobly, and appreciated this act:
But you
I don't blame; at that terrible hour
You have acted nobly
You were right in front of me. (8, XLIII)
The second climax is the explanation of the main characters in St. Petersburg a few years after the first. Now Tatyana, a brilliant society lady, continuing to love Onegin, refuses to answer his fiery passion and scandalous proposal, and now Onegin, in turn, is losing hope for happiness.
In addition to the main storyline - the love story of Onegin and Tatyana - Pushkin unfolds a side storyline - the story of friendship between Onegin and Lensky. There is a plot here: two young educated nobles, finding themselves in the wilderness of the village, quickly get to know each other, since Lensky
With Onegin I wished cordially
Acquaintance shorter to reduce.
They agreed. (2, XIII)
The plot scheme of the story of friendship can be built as follows: the climax is Onegin's behavior at Tatyana's name day (his coquetry with Olga), the denouement is the duel of friends and the death of Lensky. The last event is at the same time the climax, as it made Onegin, it seems for the first time in his life, "shudder" (6, XXXV).
There is another side storyline in the novel - the love story of Lensky and Olga. In it, the author omits the string, only mentions in passing that a tender feeling was born in the hearts of young people a long time ago:
A little lad, captivated by Olga,
I don't know the pain of the heart yet
He was a touching witness
Her baby fun... (2, XXXI)
The climax in this love story is a ball at Tatyana's name day, when Olga's character is fully revealed: a vain, proud and empty coquette, she does not understand that her behavior offends the groom. Lensky's death unleashes not only a friendship storyline, but also the story of his brief love.
From all that has been said above, it is clear that both the main and secondary storylines are built quite simply, but the composition of the novel itself is extremely complex.
Analyzing the main storyline, several features should be noted. The first of them is a rather lengthy exposition: it consists of two chapters out of eight. Why does Pushkin describe in such detail the formation of the characters of the main characters - Onegin and Tatyana? It can be assumed that the actions of both characters were understandable to readers, in order to most fully express the idea of the novel - the image of an intelligent, but useless person who lives his life in vain.
The second feature is that the main storyline has no denouement. Indeed, after the final stormy explanation with Onegin, Tatyana leaves her room, and the hero remains in place, shocked by her words. So
Spurs a sudden ringing rang out,
And Tatyana's husband showed up... (8, ХLVIII)
Thus, the action ends in mid-sentence: the husband finds Onegin at an odd hour in his wife's room. What can he think? How will the story turn next? Pushkin does not explain anything, but declares:
And here is my hero
In a minute, evil for him,
Reader, we will now leave,
For a long time... forever. (8, XLVIII)
For such an ending, contemporaries often reproached the author and considered the lack of a definite denouement to be a disadvantage. Pushkin responded to this criticism in a playful passage, “In My Autumn Leisures...” (1835):
You speak right
Which is strange, even rude
The novel does not stop interrupting,
Having sent it to print,
What owes his hero
Anyway, marry
At least numb...
From the above lines it follows that Pushkin's decision to interrupt the novel was quite conscious. What gives such an unusual ending to comprehend the content of the work?
Husband, relative and friend of Onegin, seeing the hero in his wife's room, can challenge him to a duel, and Onegin already had a duel that turned his whole life upside down. In other words, Onegin literally finds himself in a vicious circle of events; not only the story of his love is built on the principle of "mirror reflection" (G.A. Gukovsky), but also his relationship with friends. The novel has no end, that is, it is built on a circular composition: the action begins and ends in St. Petersburg, in the spring, the hero never finds love, once again neglects friendship (takes care of his friend's wife). Such a compositional construction successfully corresponds to the main idea of the novel: to show the hopeless, worthless life of the title character, who himself suffers from his uselessness, but cannot get out of the vicious circle of an empty life, find a serious occupation for himself. With such a horse of the novel, V.G. Belinsky completely agreed, who asks the question: “What happened to Onegin later?”. And he himself answers: “We don’t know, and what are we to know when we know that the forces of this rich nature were left without application, life without meaning, and the romance without end?” (V. G. Belinsky "Works of A. Pushkin", article 8).
The third feature of the composition is the presence of several storylines in the novel. The love story of Lensky and Olga allows the author to compare the main characters with the secondary ones. Tatyana knows how to love "not jokingly" (3, XXV), and Olga quickly consoled herself after Lensky's death and married a lancer. The disappointed Onegin is depicted next to the dreamy, in love Lensky, who has not yet cooled off to life.
All three storylines are successfully intertwined: the culmination-denouement in the history of friendship (duel) becomes at the same time the denouement in the love story of the young poet and Olga. Thus, in the three storylines, there are only two beginnings (in the main and in the friendship story), three climaxes (two in the main and one (ball) for two side stories) and one denouement (coincides in the side storylines).
The fourth feature of the composition is the presence of inserted episodes that are not directly related to the development of the plot: Tatyana's dream, Lensky's poems, the girls' song and, of course, numerous lyrical digressions. These episodes further complicate the composition, but do not drag out the action of the novel too much. It should be especially noted that lyrical digressions are the most important component of the work, because it is thanks to them that the broadest picture of Russian life of the specified historical period is created in the novel and the image of the author, the third protagonist of the novel, is formed.
Summing up, we note that the novel "Eugene Onegin" in the history of Russian literature was innovative both in terms of describing life (a realistic depiction of reality) and in terms of creating the character of the title character (the image of Pushkin's contemporary, "an extra person"). The deep ideological content was expressed in an original form: Pushkin used a circular composition, "mirror reflection" - a repetition of the main plot episodes, and omitted the final denouement. In other words, it turned out to be a “free novel” (8, L), in which several storylines are skillfully intertwined and there are digressions of various types (inserted episodes more or less closely related to the plot; the author’s humorous and serious reasoning about everything in the world).
The construction of "Eugene Onegin" cannot be called logically flawless. This concerns not only the absence of a formal denouement in the novel. Strictly speaking, between the events described in the seventh and eighth chapters, several years must pass before Tatyana turns from a provincial young lady into a secular lady. Pushkin originally decided to fill these few years with Onegin's travels in Russia (chapter "Onegin's Journey"), but later placed them in an appendix to the novel, as a result of which the logic of the plot was violated. Both friends and critics pointed out this formal flaw to the author, but Pushkin neglected these remarks:
There are a lot of contradictions
But I don't want to fix them. (1, LX)
The author very accurately called his work “a collection of motley chapters” (introduction): it reflected real life, arranged not according to the strict laws of logic, but rather, according to the theory of probability. However, the novel, following real life, has not lost any dynamism, or artistic integrity, or completeness.
Consideration of the composition of the novel deserves special attention.
Fate and Pushkin prepared a meeting of two heroes. Moreover, for Tatyana it immediately became clear that Onegin is exactly the desired and the only one. It is impossible not to notice that some episodes in the novel are repeated twice, but as if in a "mirror image". On the one hand, there is a storyline connected with the hero - Onegin, and on the other hand - with the heroine - Tatyana.
Let's watch together:
| "First turn" - Onegin | "Second turn" - Tatyana |
| acquaintance of the reader with Onegin: the origin and childhood of the hero, upbringing, education, lifestyle; | departure of Onegin from the village; |
| description of Onegin's office in St. Petersburg; | a description of Onegin's study in his country house, which Tatyana visits; |
| moving to the village, which is connected with two reasons (illness and death of the uncle, the hero's spleen, his dissatisfaction with the way of life that he leads in St. Petersburg); | Tatyana's illness and the departure of the Larin family to Moscow; |
| "reformist" activities in the countryside; | Tatyana's marriage; |
| acquaintance and friendship with Lensky, meeting with Tatyana; | the meeting of Onegin and Tatyana in a secular salon; |
| Tatyana's letter to Onegin; | Onegin's letter to Tatyana; |
| explanation in the garden between Onegin and Tatyana (rebuke, sermon, confession?); | explanation of Onegin and Tatyana in her house (rebuke, sermon, confession?). |
| dream of Tatyana; | |
| name day of Tatyana; | |
| duel between Onegin and Lensky. This episode ends the first round in the development of events in the novel. Further, the events seem to be repeated, but at a different level (see "Second round"). | Please note that some episodes are completely repetitive. This is no coincidence. This technique allows the author to show his characters in the same situation, but only different, changed. |
Two letters
| Let's note that: . both letters are written under the influence of a strong feeling of the characters. . each hero, opening his feelings, hopes for understanding from his beloved, therefore every word in the letter is sincere. |
|
| Let's compare the text of letters: | |
| Tatiana's letter | Onegin's letter |
| Now I know in your will Punish me with contempt. |
What bitter contempt Your proud look depicted. |
| When I had hope Rarely, at least once a week To see you in our village Just to hear your words You say a word, and then All think, think of one And day and night until a new meeting. |
No, every minute to see you, Follow you everywhere The smile of the mouth, the movement of the eyes Catch with loving eyes Listen to you for a long time, understand Soul all your perfection, Freeze before you in agony, To turn pale and go out ... that's bliss! |
| Imagine I'm here alone Nobody understands me, My mind is failing And I must die silently. |
Alien to everyone, not bound by anything, I thought: liberty and peace replacement for happiness. My God! How wrong I was, how punished! |
| But so be it! my fate From now on, I give you I shed tears in front of you I beg your protection... |
But so be it: I'm on my own Can't resist anymore; Everything is decided: I am your will And surrender to my destiny. |
Chronology:
First, Tatyana writes a letter of recognition to Onegin, then follows the scene of the explanation in the garden, where the hero rebukes the girl.
Then Tatyana's name day, the duel with Lensky, and Onegin's departure. Tatyana is very worried about everything that happened, goes to Onegin's estate, wants there, among things and books, to find the answer to the question of who he is - the hero of her novel. Her health is getting worse and worse. The worried mother takes Tatyana to Moscow, where she marries her.
Returning from a trip, Onegin accidentally meets Tatyana at a ball and, not yet knowing that it is her, is "smitten" by her grandeur and beauty. Now it is his turn to suffer, not to sleep at night, and eventually to write a letter of confession, followed by an explanation of the heroes, and now Tatiana rebuffs Onegin.
Two explanations
The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" - "the fruit of the mind of cold observations and the heart of sad remarks" - by the outstanding Russian classic Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin does not resemble a blitzkrieg. The work was created by the poet in an evolutionary way, marking his formation on the path of realism. The novel in verse as an event in art was a unique phenomenon. Before that, only one analogue was written in the same genre in world literature - the romantic work of George Gordon Byron "Don Juan".
The author decides to brainstorm
Pushkin went further than the great Englishman - to realism. This time, the poet set himself the most important task - to show a person who can serve as a catalyst for the further development of Russia. Alexander Sergeevich, sharing the ideas of the Decembrists, understood that a huge country should be moved, like a locomotive, from a dead end path that led the whole society to a systemic crisis.
The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" is determined by the titanic poetic work in the period from May 1823 to September 1830, the creative rethinking of Russian reality in the first quarter of the 19th century. The novel in verse was created during four stages of Alexander Sergeevich's work: southern exile (1820 - 1824), stay "without the right to arbitrarily leave the Mikhailovskoye estate" (1824 - 1826), the period after exile (1826 - 1830), Boldinskaya autumn (1830)
A.S. Pushkin, "Eugene Onegin": the history of creation
Young Pushkin, a graduate in the words of Emperor Alexander I, “who flooded Russia with the most outrageous verses,” began writing his novel while in exile in Chisinau (thanks to the intercession of friends, transfer to Siberia was avoided). By this time he was already the idol of Russian educated youth.
The poet sought to create the image of a hero of his time. In the work, he painfully searched for an answer to the question of what should be the bearer of new ideas, the creator of the new Russia.
Socio-economic situation in the country
Consider the social environment in which the novel was created. Russia won the War of 1812. This gave a tangible impetus to public aspirations for liberation from feudal fetters. First of all, the people thirsted for. Such his release inevitably entailed the restriction of the powers of the monarch. The communities of guards officers that formed immediately after the war in 1816 in St. Petersburg form the Decembrist Union of Salvation. In 1818, the "Union of Welfare" was organized in Moscow. These Decembrist organizations actively contributed to the formation of liberal public opinion and waited for an opportune moment for a coup d'état. There were many friends of Pushkin among the Decembrists. He shared their views.
Russia by that time had already become a recognized European power with a population of about 40 million people, within it the sprouts of state capitalism were ripening. However, its economic life was still determined by the rudiments of feudalism, the nobility and the merchant class. These social groups, gradually losing their social weight, were still powerful and enjoyed influence on the life of the state, prolonging feudal relations in the country. They were champions of a society built according to the obsolete Catherine's noble principles, inherent in Russia in the 18th century.
There were characteristic signs of the social and the whole society. There were many educated people living in the country who understood that the interests of development required great changes and reforms. The history of the creation of "Eugene Onegin" began with the poet's personal rejection of the environment, in the words of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, the "dark kingdom"
Rising after a powerful acceleration, set and dynamism during the reign of Empress Catherine II, Russia at the beginning of the 19th century slowed down the pace of development. At the time of Pushkin's famous novel, there were no railroads in the country, no steamboats sailed along its rivers, thousands and thousands of its hardworking and talented citizens were bound hand and foot by the bonds of serfdom.
The history of "Eugene Onegin" is inextricably linked with the history of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.
Onegin stanza
Alexander Sergeevich, “the Russian Mozart of poetry”, treated his work with special attention. He developed a new line of poetry specifically for writing a novel in verse.
The words of the poet do not flow in a free stream, but in a structured way. Every fourteen lines are combined into a specific Onegin stanza. At the same time, rhyming is unchanged throughout the novel and has the following form: CCddEffEgg (where uppercase letters denote female endings, and lowercase letters denote male endings).
Undoubtedly, the history of the creation of the novel "Eugene Onegin" is the history of the creation of the Onegin stanza. It is with the help of varying stanzas that the author succeeds in creating an analogue of prose sections and chapters in his work: moving from one topic to another, changing the style of presentation from reflection to the dynamic development of the plot. Thus, the author creates the impression of a casual conversation with his reader.
Roman - "collection of motley chapters"
What makes people write works about their generation and their native land? Why, at the same time, do they devote themselves to this work completely, working as if they were possessed?
The history of the creation of the novel "Eugene Onegin" initially obeyed the author's intention: to create a novel in verse, consisting of 9 separate chapters. Experts on the work of Alexander Sergeevich call it “open in time” due to the fact that each of its chapters is independent, and can, according to its internal logic, complete the work, although it finds its continuation in the next chapter. His contemporary, professor of Russian literature Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin, gave a classic description of "Eugene Onegin" not as a work with a rigid logical structure, but rather as a kind of poetic notebook filled with direct iridescent overflows of bright talent.
About the chapters of the novel
The chapters of "Eugene Onegin" were published from 1825 to 1832. as they were written and published in literary almanacs and magazines. They were expected, each of them became a real event in the cultural life of Russia.
However, one of them, dedicated to the journey of the protagonist to the area of the Odessa pier, containing critical judgments, the disgraced author preferred to withdraw in order to avoid reprisals against himself, and then destroyed its only manuscript.
In the same way, fully devoting himself to work, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak later worked on his Doctor Zhivago, Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov also wrote about his generation. Pushkin himself called his more than seven years of work on this novel in verse a feat.
Main character
The description of Eugene Onegin, according to literary critics, resembles the personality of Pyotr Yakovlevich Chaadaev, the author of the Philosophical Letters. This is a character with powerful energy, around which the plot of the novel unfolds and other characters manifest themselves. Pushkin wrote about him as a "good friend." Eugene received a classical noble education, completely devoid of "Russianness". And although a sharp but cold mind burns in him, he is a man of light, following certain opinions and prejudices. The life of Eugene Onegin is poor. On the one hand, the morals of the world are alien to him, he sharply criticizes them; and on the other hand, he is subject to its influence. The hero cannot be called active; rather, he is an intelligent observer.
Features of the image of Onegin
His image is tragic. First, he failed the test of love. Eugene listened to reason, but not to his heart. At the same time, he acted nobly, respectfully treating Tatiana, letting her know that he was not able to love.
Second, he failed the test of friendship. Having challenged his friend, the 18-year-old romantic youth Lensky, to a duel, he blindly follows the concepts of light. It seems to him more decent not to provoke the slander of the old note duelist Zaretsky than to stop a completely stupid quarrel with Vladimir. By the way, Pushkin scientists consider the young Kuchelbecker to be the prototype of Lensky.
Tatyana Larina
The use of the name Tatyana in the novel Eugene Onegin was a know-how from Pushkin. Indeed, at the beginning of the 19th century, this name was considered common and irrelevant. Moreover, dark-haired and not ruddy, thoughtful, uncommunicative, she did not correspond to the ideals of the beauty of the world. Tatyana (like the author of the novel) loved folk tales, which her nanny generously told her. However, her particular passion was reading books.
Heroes of the novel
In addition to the aforementioned plot-forming main characters, secondary ones pass before the reader. These images of the novel "Eugene Onegin" do not form the plot, but complement it. This is Tatyana's sister Olga, an empty secular young lady with whom Vladimir Lensky was in love. The image of Tatyana's nanny, a connoisseur of folk tales, has a clear prototype - the nanny of Alexander Sergeevich himself, Arina Rodionovna. Another nameless hero of the novel is Tatyana Larina's newfound husband after a quarrel with Eugene Onegin - an "important general".
The host of landlords seems to be imported into Pushkin's novel from other Russian classical works. These are the Skotinins (“Undergrowth” by Fonvizin), and Buyanov (“Dangerous Neighbor” by V. L. Pushkin).
Folk work
The highest praise for Alexander Sergeevich was the assessment given to the first chapter of "Eugene Onegin" by the man whom the poet considered his teacher - Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The opinion was extremely laconic: “You are the first in Russian Parnassus ...”
The novel encyclopedically correctly reflected the Russian reality of the beginning of the 19th century in verse, showed the way of life, characteristic features, the social role of various strata of society: the St. Petersburg high society, the nobility of Moscow, landowners, peasants. Perhaps that is why, and also because of the all-encompassing and subtle display by Pushkin in his work of the values, customs, attitudes, fashion of that time, the literary critic gave him such an exhaustive description: “a work of the highest degree folk” and “an encyclopedia of Russian life”.
Pushkin wanted to change the plot
The final idea of the work was formed by the author only in 1830. He was clumsy and worn out. In order to give a traditional solid look to his creation, Alexander Sergeevich decided to either send Eugene Onegin to fight in the Caucasus, or turn him into a Decembrist. But Eugene Onegin - the hero of the novel in verse - was created by Pushkin on one inspiration, as a "collection of motley chapters", and this is his charm.
Conclusion
The work "Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic novel in verse in Russian history. It is emblematic of the 19th century. The novel was recognized by society as deeply folk. The encyclopedic description of Russian life is side by side with high artistry.
However, according to critics, the main character of this novel is not Onegin at all, but the author of the work. This character has no specific appearance. This is a kind of blind spot for the reader.
Alexander Sergeevich, in the text of the work, hints at his exile, saying that the North is “harmful” to him, etc. Pushkin is invisibly present in all actions, summarizes, makes the reader laugh, enlivens the plot. His quotes hit not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.
By the will of fate, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin reviewed the second complete edition of his novel in verse in 1937 (the first was in 1833), being already mortally wounded on the Black River near the Komendantskaya dacha. A circulation of 5,000 copies was planned to be sold throughout the year. However, readers bought it out in a week. In the future, the classics of Russian literature, each for its time, continued the creative search for Alexander Sergeevich. They all tried to create a hero of their time. And Mikhail Lermontov in the image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin ("A Hero of Our Time"), and Ivan Goncharov in the image of Ilya Oblomov ...
According to the genre, "Eugene Onegin" is a novel in verse, that is, a lyrical-epic work, where the lyrical and epic are equal, where the author freely moves from narration to lyrical digressions. Thus, the genre of "free novel" largely determined the composition of "Eugene Onegin".
The novel has two storylines:
1. Onegin - Tatyana:
Acquaintance - evening at the Larins:
The time has come, she fell in love ...
A conversation with nobody, a letter to Onegin.
Two days later, an explanation in the garden.
Dream of Tatyana. Name day.
Tatyana comes to Onegin's house.
Departure to Moscow.
Meeting at a ball in St. Petersburg two years later.
Evening at Tatiana's.
No doubt, alas! Eugene
In love with Tatyana like a child ...
Letter to Tatyana. Explanation.
2. Onegin - Lensky:
Dating in the village:
First, mutual differences
They were boring to each other:
Then they liked it; Then
Riding every day
And soon they became inseparable.
Conversation after the evening at the Larins:
Are you in love with a smaller one?
I would choose another
When I was like you, a poet.
Tatyana's name day:
He swore to infuriate Lensky
And to take revenge.
Two bullets - nothing more -
Suddenly, his fate will be resolved.
Composition:
Chapter 1 is an expanded exposition.
Chapter 2 - the plot of the II storyline (Onegin's acquaintance with Lensky).
Chapter 3 - the beginning of the first storyline (Onegin's acquaintance with Tatyana).
Chapter 6 - duel (climax and denouement of the II line).
Chapter 8 - interchange of the I line.
Openness of the novel is an important compositional feature.
Unusual denouement - lack of certainty - two ways of Lensky:
Maybe it's for the good of the world
Or at least for glory was born ...
Or maybe even that; poet
Ordinary was waiting for fate ...
Line I interchange:
And here is my hero
In a minute, evil for him,
Reader, we will now leave,
For a long time... forever.
Basic the principle of organizing the novel are symmetry (mirroring) and parallelism. Symmetry expressed in the repetition of one plot situation in the third and eighth chapters; meeting - letter - explanation.
At the same time, Onegin and Tatiana seem to change roles, not only in the external scheme, but also in its transfer by Pushkin; in the first case, the author is with Tatyana, in the second - with Onegin. “Today is my turn,” says Tatyana, comparing two love stories. The integrity of Tatiana is opposed to the nature of Onegin.
Onegin says exactly the opposite things at the first explanation with Tatyana and in a letter:
But I'm not made for bliss
My soul is alien to him.
In vain are your perfections;
I don't deserve them...
Freeze before you in agony
To turn pale and go out ... that's bliss!
But Tatyana remains true to herself;
I love you (why lie?) ...
Two letters, the composition of which, in turn, is parallel - the expectation of an answer - the reaction of the addressee - two explanations.
Petersburg plays a framing role (appears in the 1st and 8th chapters).
The axis of symmetry is Tatyana's dream (Chapter 5).
Antithesis of parts of the novel, associated mainly with the disclosure of a particular image:
Chapter 1 - Petersburg - the life of Onegin.
Chapter 2 - village - Tatyana's life.
The main compositional unit of the novel- head. Each new chapter is a new stage in the development of the plot. A stanza is a smaller, but also a complete unit, which always marks a new stage in the development of thought.
The compositional role of lyrical digressions:
1. Usually lyrical digressions are associated with the plot of the novel. Tatyana Pushkin contrasts secular beauties:
I knew inaccessible beauties,
Cold, pure as winter
Relentless, incorruptible,
Incomprehensible to the mind ...
2. Different size of lyrical digressions - from one line (“Like Delvig drunk at a feast”) to several stanzas (Chapter I, LVII-LX).
3. Often digressions end or begin a chapter.
Beginning of chapter eight:
In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum
I blossomed serenely...
End of chapter one:
Go to the Neva shores
newborn creation,
And earn me glory tribute;
Crooked talk, noise and abuse!
4. Lyrical digressions are used to move from “one narrative plane to another.
We now have something wrong in the subject;
We'd better hurry to the ball
Where headlong in a pit carriage
My Onegin has already galloped.
5. Lyrical digressions appear before the climaxes of the action:
Before the explanation with Onegin;
Before Tatyana's sleep;
before the duel.
All this meant, friends;
I'm shooting with a friend.
The compositional role of the landscape. Shows the passage of time in the novel. Characterizes the spiritual world of heroes; often accompanies the image of Tatyana.
The role of insert elements:
1. The letters are not written in the Onegin stanza, which emphasizes their independent role in the novel and correlates with each other.
2. Tatyana's dream is the axis of symmetry of the novel, a parody of the guests. It portends future events and in a sense is you of the author's position.
3. Folklore elements accompany the image of Tatyana. They are given before turning points in her life:
Song of the Girls - before the explanation with Onegin;
Sleep - before the name day and the duel of Onegin with Lensky.
The compositional role of the inner time of the novel. Roman time does not always correlate with the real course of time, although certain milestones (for example, the change of seasons) also indicate real time in Eugene Onegin.
In the countryside, time stands almost still; half a year passes between the explanation of Tatiana and Onegin and the duel.
The compositional role of a subject-household detail: new things mark a new stage in the life of the hero and, accordingly, in the organization of the novel.
Author's attitude to the composition. Despite the clarity of the composition, it seems that the author treats it lightly and casually - the poet skips events in the lives of the characters, lines, stanzas, omits an entire chapter ("Onegin's Journey" leaves the denouement open. All this corresponds to the principles of the lyrics. Pushkin claims the author's the right to arbitrarily construct a free novel.
