The "ill-fated minnow" was not only the result of self-development and synthesis of habitual figurative associations. In the dramatic scene of the trial of the gudgeon Ivan Khvorov, the satirist depicted the massacre of the autocracy over the Narodnaya Volya revolutionaries after March 1, 1881. The political acuteness of the topic required a complex artistic disguise, the invention of a special form, which was suggested to the satirist by the associations he had previously used and enriched with some new achievements of creative fantasy, which gave the work a bright and unique originality.

This originality is expressed in the fact that people, observing the procedural rules, judge representatives of the animal world. Neither in fiction, nor in Russian folklore, nor in any other work of Shchedrin himself do we encounter such a phenomenon. "The Wise Minnow" appeared in Notes of the Fatherland in January 1884, that is, a year later than the "Unfortunate Minnow". The date of writing a fairy tale is usually either not given importance, or it is indicated erroneously.

Meanwhile, the clarification of the time of Shchedrin's work on the fairy tale "The Wise Gudgeon" is important for a more complete disclosure of the ideological concept of the satirist. The tale, as can be established from Shchedrin's letters, was written at the end of January 1883. Shchedrin, apparently, set to work on it immediately as soon as on January 21, 1883 he learned about the announcement " Domestic notes” the second warning for the January book, where the chapters of “Modern Idyll” were printed, which included “The Unfortunate Minnow”. Forced in connection with the warning to temporarily suspend " Modern idyll”, Shchedrin informed A.L. Borovikovsky in a letter dated January 31: “I wrote four fairy tales for the February book - it’s somehow shameful not to appear at all.” Among these tales was the "Wise Gudgeon". So for a quarter of a century one can observe in Shchedrin's works such elements of figurativeness that are ultimately synthesized in the fairy tale "The Wise Gudgeon".

The process of forming the ideological concept and the poetic form of this tale can serve to a certain extent as a prototype for the formation of many other satirist tales. This process can be represented as follows. The very tasks of satirical typification dictated the introduction into human images certain zoological nuances. Corresponding epithets and comparisons with animals appeared, separate episodes, scenes arose, and, finally, isolated tales in the form of an animal epic.

Shchedrin understood more and more clearly that the main reason for the defeat of the revolutionary fighters and the prolonged triumph of government and public reaction was the inconscience and disorganization of the masses, their ideological unpreparedness to fight for their rights.

The writer sought to reveal the main reason for the weakness of the liberation movement, so the problem of the people took a special place in Shchedrin's last works, so he now considered the "mood of the masses" to be the main theme. The image of the people is presented to some extent in almost all Shchedrin's fairy tales, and, above all, in such as "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals", " wild landlord”,“ Neighbors ”,“ Konyaga ”,“ Kissel ”,“ Idle Talk ”,“ Village Fire ”,“ Way-by-Road ”,“ Raven Petitioner ”. And in those fairy tales, the theme of which did not directly concern the peasant, the latter appears either in the collective image of “middle and small people who, because of a penny, fight all day in the rain and slush” (“Conscience Lost”), then in the episodic figure of Ivanushka , going “by way - to submit to the treasury by the road” (“Virtue and Vices”), or Ivan Poor, who lost his cow for unpaid taxes (“A Christmas Tale”).

And even Shchedrin's pictures of nature captured great sorrow for peasant Russia crushed by dirty bondage.

Against the dark background of the night, the author’s gaze catches, first of all, the “mourning points of the villages”, the “silent village”, the long-suffering army of people “gray, tortured by life and poverty, people with tormented hearts and drooping heads” (“Christ Night”). If we collect and group together numerous episodes and images of fairy tales related to the characteristics of the masses, then we will get a multifaceted, deep and dramatic picture of the life of post-reform Russia. It tells about the hopeless work, suffering, innermost thoughts of the people (“Konyaga”, “Village fire”, “Neighbors”, “By the way”), about his age-old humility (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “The Selfless Hare”), about his futile attempts to find truth and protection in the ruling elite (“Crow Petitioner”), about spontaneous explosions of his class indignation against the oppressors (“Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Poor Wolf”), etc.

All these sketches, amazing in conciseness and brightness, peasant life, combining the high artistry of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin with the merits of a scientific political and economic treatise, with inexorable logic reveal the causes of social disasters.

Shchedrin not only knew how to understand the need and explain the origin of national disasters; he perceived them with that deep "heartache that makes one identify with worldly need and bear the sins of this world." The source of constant and painful thoughts of the writer was the striking contrast between strong and weaknesses Russian peasantry. On the one hand, the peasantry represented a tremendous force, showed unparalleled heroism in labor and the ability to overcome any difficulties of life; on the other hand, it meekly, submissively endured its oppressors, too passively endured oppression, fatalistically hoping for some kind of external help, nourishing a naive faith in the coming of good leaders.

The spectacle of the passivity of the peasant masses dictated to Shchedrin pages full of either lyrical melancholy, now aching anguish, now mournful humor, now bitter indignation. This motif of truly suffering love for the people runs through many of Shchedrin's tales. With bitter irony, Shchedrin depicted the pliancy, the slavish obedience of the peasantry in The Tale of How One Peasant Feed Two Generals, presenting here a picture of a screaming contradiction between the enormous potential power and the class passivity of the peasantry.

"The biggest man", he is a master of all trades. He got apples from a tree, and got potatoes in the ground, and made a snare for catching hazel grouse from his own hair, and took out a fire, and baked various provisions to feed the gluttonous parasites, and gathered swan's down so that they could sleep softly. Yes, he is a strong man! Before the force of his protest, if he were capable of it, the generals would not have resisted. Meanwhile, he resignedly obeys the generals. He gave them ten apples each, and took “one, sour” for himself. He himself twisted the rope so that the generals would keep him tied up at night. Moreover, he was ready to “please the generals for the fact that they favored him, the gonery, and did not disdain peasant labor!” No matter how much the generals scolded the peasant "for his parasitism", but "the peasant rows and rows and feeds the generals with herrings."

It is hard to imagine a more vivid depiction of the strength and weakness of the Russian peasantry in the era of the autocracy! Bearing in mind the passivity and humility of the peasant, the satirist, with heartache, likened the Russian peasantry either to a hare, afraid to violate the wolf’s order (“Selfless Hare”), then to a crow - “a bird that bears fruit and agrees to everything” (“Eagle-philanthropist”), then to a vague jelly, allowing you to eat yourself unhindered ("Kisel"). The satirist liked to repeat that the Russian peasant is poor in all respects, and above all poor in the consciousness of his poverty. In this sense, the image of a peasant in "Toy People" is noteworthy. A peasant comes to a bribe-taker, he feels “guilty”, and all his guilt lies only in the fact that he is a peasant. To atone for this "guilt" of his, he allows the bribe-taker to rob him clean, and in addition, he receives a fair amount of cuffs. “The peasant was badly rumpled, but, apparently, he was not upset at all. He understood that he had fulfilled his duty, and only slowly shook himself.

To feel “guilty” before the authorities, to give away everything that one has obtained by one’s own labor, to receive only cuffs for it, and at the same time to be satisfied that one has “fulfilled one’s duty” - this is the real tragedy of peasant unconsciousness! Recreating the picture of peasant disasters in fairy tales, Shchedrin consistently promoted the idea of ​​the need to oppose the exploiters with the might of the people. He persistently inspired the oppressed masses that their oppressors were cruel, but not as powerful as it seemed to the frightened consciousness.

He sought to raise the consciousness of the masses to the level of their historical vocation, to equip them with courage and faith in their dormant forces, to awaken their enormous potential energy for collective self-defense and an active liberation struggle. In fairy tales, he repeatedly returned (of course, to the extent that it was possible in the legal press) to depict the process of maturing, revolutionary protest, sometimes spontaneous (“Poor Wolf”, “Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Crow-petitioner”), sometimes illuminated by the first glimpses of the awakening class consciousness (“The Way-Road”).

People's patience is not unlimited, the indignation of the masses is growing and must inevitably end in a spontaneous explosion: “We endure both cold and hunger, every year we all wait: maybe it will be better ... how long?” ("Way-road"); “How long will we endure? After all, if we ... ”(“ Raven-petitioner ”) Toptygin the 2nd, with his pogroms, brought the peasants out of patience:“ the peasants blew up, ”and they dealt with the oppressor, putting him on a spear (“Bear in the Voivodeship”). The fact that, on the one hand, the peasant democrat Shchedrin pinned his hopes primarily on the peasantry, and on the other hand, he was fully aware that it was not ready for a consciously organized struggle, this circumstance was the source of the satirist's deep tragic feelings. .

With particular force, these experiences were reflected in the fairy tale "Konyaga", where the peasant mass is presented as a huge creative force, but a politically dormant force. The fairy tale "Konyaga" is the strongest work of Shchedrin in the series of his depictions of the position of the Russian peasantry in Tsarist Russia. The pain of Saltykov-Shchedrin for the Russian peasant that never subsided, all the bitterness of the writer's thoughts about the fate of his people, his country, was concentrated in the narrow boundaries of one fairy tale and expressed itself in burning words, exciting images and pictures full of high poetry.

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“The story of how a man fed two generals” Saltykov-Shchedrin has common features plot construction fairy tale, but first of all, it carries a satirical orientation.

Social fairy tales, like fairy tales about animals, have the same composition as fairy tales, but everyday fairy tales are qualitatively different. Everyday fairy tale is firmly connected with reality. Here there is only one world - the earth. If a fairy tale has a more or less definite formula - its beginnings, endings, common places, then an everyday fairy tale can begin as you like, usually it immediately introduces the listener to the story of the events that form the basis of the plot - without a beginning, without a preface.

Each work has its own individual genre features. The main features of folk tales associated with the genre can be called:

1) an individual language in which a fairy tale is told;

2) a looped structure (The beginning and the ending build the fairy tale into the “chain” of others. For example: the beginning “Once upon a time ...”, the ending “Here the fairy tale ends ...”);

3) the repetition of actions three times (three iron staffs, three iron boots, etc.);

4) some details of the plot in the fairy tale are connected by special formulas “How long is short ...”;

5) heroes have special names (Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Wise, etc.)

Based on folk tradition, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin created in Russian literature special genre- a literary satirical fairy tale, in which traditional fairy tale fiction is combined with realistic, topical political satire. According to the unpretentious plot, these tales are close to folk tales. The writer uses techniques from the poetics of folklore beginnings:

“Once upon a time there was a minnow ..” (in the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”), “Two neighbors lived in a certain village ..” (in the fairy tale “Neighbours”), “In a certain kingdom, the Bogatyr was born ...” (“The Bogatyr”)

Tips:

"By pike command”,“ not in a fairy tale to say ”),

Three times repetition of a motive, episode, etc. (three Toptygins, three visits of guests to the Wild Landowner, etc.). In addition, attention should be paid to the construction of a line, characteristic of folk poetic works, with the transfer of an adjective or verb to the end

Transparent morality, which is easy to understand from the content.

At the same time, the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin differ significantly from folk tales. The satirist did not imitate folk tales, but on their basis he freely created his own, author's ones. Using familiar folklore images, the writer filled them with new ( socio-political) meaning, successfully came up with new, expressive images (the wise gudgeon, the idealist crucian carp, the dried roach). Folklore fairy tales (magic, everyday life, fairy tales about animals) usually express universal morality, show the struggle between good and evil forces, the obligatory victory of positive heroes due to their honesty, kindness, intelligence - Saltykov-Shchedrin writes political fairy tales filled with content that is relevant for his time.

Chapter 2 Conclusion

"Fairy tales for children fair age» M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin use folklore canons, but not completely and gradually develop into something else, expressed in the form of a satirical political fairy tale, otherwise, they are transformed under the influence of the cultural context of the era. It should also be noted that poetics is art system with a special worldview, the so-called "folklore consciousness", the roots of which go back to the archaic past of mankind, and the purpose of the functions of the poetics of folklore, one might say, is the expression of this consciousness.

Based on folk tradition, M. Saltykov-Shchedrin created a special genre in Russian literature - a literary satirical fairy tale, in which traditional fairy tale fantasy is combined with realistic, topical political satire.

Chapter 3

Many Russian writers recognized the serious significance of fairy tale fiction: fairy tales always tell about something incredible, impossible in real life. However, fantastic fiction includes “an ordinary and natural idea”, that is, there is truth in fiction. The great Russian scientist M. V. Lomonosov wrote that thanks to fantastic fiction, “an ordinary and natural idea”, that is, the truth of life, is expressed “stronger” than the story would have been without fiction.

IN AND. Dalya in the dictionary defines a fairy tale as "a fictional story, an unprecedented and even unrealizable story, a legend" and cites several proverbs and sayings associated with this folklore genre as an example. “Either do business, or tell fairy tales. The fairy tale is a fold, but the song is true. Fairy tale warehouse, the song is red in tune. Not in a fairy tale to say, not to describe with a pen. Before you finish reading the fairy tale, do not throw pointers. A fairy tale starts from the beginning, is read to the end, but is not interrupted in the middle. From these proverbs it is obvious: a fairy tale is a product of folk fantasy - "folding", bright, interesting work, which has a certain integrity and special meaning.27

When analyzing the features of folk spiritual life, one can come across such a concept as catholicity, which is also reflected in fairy tales. Sobornost represents the unity of deeds, thoughts, feelings; in fairy tales it opposes selfishness and greed. Labor acts not as a duty, but as a holiday. Almost all folk tales, personifying the joy of work, end with the same saying: “Here, in joy, they all started dancing together ...”, in the fairy tales “Konyaga”, “The story of how a peasant fed two generals” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin depicts the exploitation of peasant labor.

The folk tale reflects such moral values ​​of the people as: kindness, as pity for the weak, which triumphs over selfishness and manifests itself in the ability to give the last to another and give life for another; suffering as a motive for virtuous deeds and deeds; victory of spiritual strength over physical strength. By embodying these values ​​in the basis of the fairy tale, its meaning becomes deep, despite the naivety of its purpose. Art world fairy tales M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin absorbed these features of folk art.

The writer partly continues the romantic traditions (two worlds), built on the continuous play of the conventional world with the present. The allegorical nature of the text is destroyed with the help of abundant concrete realities, the Aesopian language begins to live its own life, independent of the tasks of the author. It should be noted that in fairy tales, in most cases, sarcasm only coexists with romantic irony, but in the fairy tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin dominates her.

In folklore, the writer took as a basis not only images familiar to the national consciousness, but also the distribution of ethical traits between characters, usual for folklore, is replaced by the creation psychological portrait(The forgetful ram with his “sudden thirst for formless aspirations” in the fairy tale “The forgetful ram”, the Petitioner Raven with his truly sick heart, even the simple-hearted Chizhik with his unpretentious dreams in the Petitioner Raven fairy tale).

M.E. Saltykov - Shchedrin fruitfully uses the folklore fairy-tale traditions. In a folk tale, each animal evoked its own series of impressions in people, and this was developed in versions of the tale by its different performers. For example: the nicknames of the frog were associated with the sounds it made in the water: “rumble on the water”, “squealing toad”, “quack frog”, “balagta on the water”. The bunny aroused visual impressions: “Ivanov’s son of a white hare”, “runaway bunny”, “stray bunny”.

The images of a bear and a wolf are often accompanied by such nicknames as: “at the den, a feltboard”, “forest oppression”, “you crush everyone”. Found the image of a fox estimated characteristics: “beautiful fox”, “sister fox”, etc.

It is impossible not to pay attention to the image of the bear: in almost all fairy tales, the bear is fooled and ridiculed. Such a tradition of depicting a bear is noticeable in many Russian folk tales: “The Bear and the Old Woman”, “The Cat and the Wild Animal”, “The Bear Learns to Carpentry”, “The Man, the Bear and the Fox” ... In fairy tales, perhaps only a wolf can turn out to be more stupid than a bear.

Folk mockery of the beast, perhaps, is caused by the loss of the totem cult. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Eastern Slavs"bear fun" was widespread. It is a dramatized entertainment, a grotesque mockery of the rites of the past, as you know, Tsar Ivan the Terrible also liked this fun. For example, in 1571, on his orders, a certain Subota Sturgeon arrived in Novgorod, who collected funny people- buffoons - and bears and drove them to Moscow on several carts. The king himself, without fairy tales and fables, could not even fall asleep.

In the works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the image of a bear is found in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, which reveals the problems of the foundations of the monarchical system. Toptygins from this tale are sent by a lion to the province. Their dementia prevents them from doing more or less decent deeds towards their subjects. The goal of their reign was to commit as much "bloodshed" as possible.

Popular anger decided their fate: the Toptygins were killed by the rebels, but the idea of ​​a revolutionary reorganization of the state did not attract the writer much, because he believed that violence only breeds violence. The main thought of this tale is that even the most meek patience comes to an end, and the tyranny of the rulers, who are not “burdened” with intelligence and insight, one way or another will one day work against them, which happened.

Saltykov-Shchedrin also quite often depicts representatives of the "fish" world. On the one hand, fish images refer us to a direct allegory: the silence of the inhabitants of quiet backwaters is the irresponsibility, alienation of the people. But on the other hand, the problems of these works are much more complicated.

So, for example, if the fairy tale "The Wise Gudgeon" is based on a description of the hero's whole life, then the fairy tale "Karas the Idealist" goes back to a philosophical dialogue. We can say that we have before us a kind of fairy tale-dispute, where a harmonious combination of two opposite principles is found. And the fairy tale "Dried vobla" reminds of its artistic features philosophical political pamphlet. It reflects the atmosphere in Russia after the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, the panicked state of society, “there are superfluous thoughts, superfluous conscience, superfluous feelings.”28

If we compare the "Tales" of Saltykov-Shchedrin with Russian folk tales, then it should be noted that Saltykov's characters are special, sharply different from the heroes of Russian folk tales: in folk tales, the hero often changes for the better (Ivan the Fool turns into Ivan Tsarevich), and with Saltykov-Shchedrin everything remains unchanged. In Shchedrin's tales there is no triumph of good over evil, as in Russian folk tales. Rather, vice triumphs in them, but in "Tales for children of a fair age" there is always a moral that makes them related to fables.

In the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, reality is not perceived in the context of the usual meanings and values. Reality is presented as absurd, as something incredible, but it is she who becomes the terrible reality that surrounds the writer.

"Terrible laughter", or "laughter of fear" is one of the main author's devices in the fairy tales of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. This laughter, as it is often called, senseless and destructive, exposes stereotypes and illusory ideas about life. In folk tales, laughter primarily bears the self-ironic character of generally accepted ideals.

Summing up the observations, it should be noted that the artistic and poetic world of fairy tales consists of structural forms of mythopoetic thinking. M. E. Saltykov - Shchedrin uses a system of binary oppositions, which, as you know, go back to the poetics of myth (dream/reality, life/death, truth/falsehood, up/down, rich/poor, etc.). A special role in the formation of deep semantics, which goes back to mythopoetics, belongs to such images - symbols as horses, fields, consciences, etc., that is, symbols of different semantic layers: from mythological to modern figurative everyday life.

The artistic world of fairy tales by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin interprets the poetics of the folklore genre depending on the author's goals. The transformation of the people's worldview will be considered in the next section.

3.1 Transformation of the people's worldview in the fairy tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.

In almost every Russian fairy tale there is a "fool" who stands out from the rest of the characters. The strength of the fool in Russian folk tales is in his kindness and responsiveness, in his readiness to help those in trouble, in the absence of greed, M.E. also addresses this hero. Saltykova-Shchedrin. Only his hero falls into a society in which high human dignity are recognized as abnormal, dangerous and subjected to severe persecution. The finale of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tale is not like the finale of a folk tale: a miracle does not happen.

The artistic world of the fairy tale "Bogatyr" contradicts the folk tradition: the image of a hero-warrior, a "brave husband" turns into an anti-ideal. Breaking folk traditions, the hero is the son of the "Baba Yaga" and acts as an evil idol, a representative of the pagan world. The sound sleep of a hero is tantamount to death. The motive of death in Shchedrin is caused by a feeling of the exhaustion of the generic ideal image.

The work "A Christmas Tale" reveals the role of truth through the prism of religious sermons. In this tale, truth is taken, but in a distorted public vision. It should be noted that in the fairy tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin - two truths: one is the "real" truth, which has already "set the teeth on edge", the truth of the surrounding world. There is another truth - the truth is a dream, which is inaccessible to a mere mortal. The truth of the hero of fairy tales is not yet stable, because “no one can really determine where and why he is going ...”29 (in the fairy tale “The Petitioner Raven”).

In fairy tales, truth-seeking is inextricably linked with the theme of conscience, in folk performances conscience is a mirror that reflects how strongly kindness, honesty, and responsibility have been established in human consciousness. In the fairy tales of the satirist, the understanding of conscience is reduced or perverted, for example, in the work “Conscience Lost”, conscience abruptly disappears among the people and unexpectedly falls to Samuil Davidovich, who nevertheless finds a way out of this situation. The hero "fitted" his conscience to his ordinary life- "everything in the world is bought and sold." Thus, through external sacrifice, external, and not internal repentance, he “bought his conscience” in order to continue to lead a normal life, now according to his own conscience, but outside of a conscientious spiritual being. At the end of the work, there is still a ray of hope, the writer draws the image of a child in whom the conscience is still buried: “And the little child will be a man, and there will be a great conscience in him. And then all unrighteousness, deceit and violence will disappear.

Folk tales especially sharply show the aspirations of the people, their dreams, desires and hopes. In fairy tales one can meet both a daring dream of a different, bright and just life, and a desire to surrender to the charm of bright fiction, forgetting for a moment an unsettled life, and a desire, at least in fantasy, with undisguised pleasure to punish a gentleman, a priest, a merchant. In fantastic fiction, the fairy tale embodies everything that disturbed the heart and mind of the people. A distinctive feature of such fiction is a deep nationality.

In the tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the people's world outlook is transformed: society is vicious, and the truth is reflected as if in a distorted mirror.

In the fairy tales "Fool", "Conscience Lost", "Christ's Night", "Christmas Tale" the morality of the ruling classes is denied, where the conscience turns into a "useless rag" that needs to be got rid of, and the presence of "vile" thoughts is necessary. for a successful adaptation to life, and each person is forced, as a result, "to choose between tomfoolery and meanness."

3.2 The satirical function in folk tales and fairy tales M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

The main function of the fairy tales of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, according to the writer himself, is a satirical orientation, which is also characteristic of folk tales and can be expressed in the use of the folk language - vernacular and colloquial speech, as well as phraseological structures, including proverbs and sayings, traditional fabulous tricks. All this does not obscure the meaning of fairy tales, but creates a comic effect. The fantasy of fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is based on reality and carries a generalized content, which is expressed, for example, in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”.

The inclusion of images of the animal world in nicknames (Toptygin, donkey, wild beast) is a common technique in satirical and joking folk speech. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin uses the forms of satirical works for a fairy tale.

Language in literature is the main means for the artistic depiction of life. Words in the language of a literary work are used for figurative disclosure ideological content works and author's assessment. Saltykov-Shchedrin, in addition to allegory, Aesopian language and similitude, will use folk wit - colloquial speech or vernacular, he seeks to clearly convey to the reader the artistic idea of ​​the work. “Colloquialism - words, expressions, turns, forms of inflection that are not included in the norm of literary speech; often allowed in literary works and colloquial speech to create a certain color. The great satirist often drew synonyms from folk speech and enriched his works with this. As you know, a phraseological unit is a stable combination of words that is used to show individual objects, signs, actions. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin often used them to give expressiveness, figurativeness and careless satirical style to fairy tales. For example, “And he began to live and live…”; “Well, let yourself stand like this for the time being!”; “The devil brought some kind of hard one!”; "... they are teeming with swarms", "... with a bag around the world ..."; “and he’s already right there ...”, “... as if it were a sin ...”, “... on his own two ...”, “... said and done”. In a special group, it is necessary to single out the tautological phrases popular with the author, which are characteristic of folk speech: “And he began to live and live ...”, “... in the bushes, snakes and reptiles teemed with all sorts of swarms”, “... loitered from corner to corner, shrouded in the darkness of times "," ... and Toptygin is already here, as it were, "" suddenly a whole theory of dysfunctional well-being arose."30

It is also necessary to note the phraseological combinations of a fabulous folk aesthetic character: “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state”, “And he began to live and live”.

Since ancient times, fables and satirical tales have actively used images of the animal kingdom. Turning to these images, the people acquired some freedom and the ability to speak in an intelligible, funny, witty manner about serious things. M. E. Saltykov - Shchedrin used the form of artistic narration beloved by the people in his work. The writer masterfully embodied the denounced social types in the images of animals, achieving a vivid satirical effect. By the very fact of likening the representatives of the ruling classes and the ruling caste of the autocracy to predatory beasts, the satirist declared his deepest contempt for them. It should be noted that M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin often accompanies his allegorical images with direct allusions to their hidden meaning.

The peculiarity of the poetics and the irresistible artistic persuasiveness of the writer's tales lies in the fact that no matter how the satirist "humanizes" his images of animals, no matter what difficult roles he entrusts to the "tailed" heroes, the latter always retain their basic natural properties and qualities.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in fairy tales combines the real with the fantastic, authentic with fiction. The fantasy of fairy tales is based on a reality that is inextricably linked with a specific political reality. For example, in the fairy tales “The Eagle-Patron”, “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the satirist describes the activities of the heroes, making it clear that this is not at all about bird and bear deeds and deeds. (“Toptygin wrote a report and is waiting ..”, “I would have recruited a servant and would have lived in clover ..”)31

In the images of predators, the satirist emphasizes their main features, while using such techniques as the grotesque. The opposition between magical themes and the pronounced real political meaning of Saltykov-Shchedrin is emphasized in such fairy tales as "The Vigilant Eye" and "Bogatyr", and thereby more strongly exposes the political essence of any type or circumstance.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin gradually adds elements of reality to the plot of fairy tales, for example: hares learn “statistical tables published under the Ministry of the Interior ...”32, write correspondence to newspapers, and articles about them are published in newspapers; bears go on business trips and receive running money; the birds talk about the railroad capitalist Guboshlepov; fish talk about the constitution, debate about socialism; a landowner living "in a certain kingdom, in a certain state" reads the real newspaper "Vest".

The peculiarity of the artistic time of the fairy tale is expressed in the grotesque-parodic form of the alternation of the present and the past. Basically, the heroes of fairy tales live with pleasant memories of blessed times, when “there was plenty of food”, “every animal in the forest”, and “fish swarmed in the water”, “it would be nice to live like the landowners lived in the old days”. Transitions from the past to the present, from the present to the past in fairy tales occur suddenly, as evidenced by the use of the word "suddenly", which belongs to the category of chance, therefore, leads to the exposure and rejection of the hero from life. For example, in the fairy tale "Conscience Lost", the conscience disappears "suddenly", "almost instantly". However, the consequences of the loss of conscience do not fit within the boundaries of "today", representing the extended processes taking place in a shameless world. All the episodes in the fairy tale (the awakening of the conscience of a drunkard, a tavern keeper, a quartermaster, an entrepreneur) return to the starting point of moral unconsciousness.

The peculiarity of the artistic space of the satirist's works is presented in the contrast of the ideal and reality, evil and good, that is, the artistic space is formed within the framework of the opposition of "closed" and "open" space.

As you know, laughter is one of the main weapons of satire. “This weapon is very powerful,” wrote Saltykov-Shchedrin, “for nothing so discourages vice as the consciousness that it has been guessed and that laughter has already been heard about it.” According to the writer, the main purpose of laughter is to arouse feelings of indignation and active protest against social inequality and political despotism.

Depending on the ideological concepts and objects of the image, different shades of laughter can be distinguished in the works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Fairy tales, which depict all social strata of society, can serve as a shining example humor of the satirist in all the richness of his artistic manifestation. Here is contemptuous sarcasm, stigmatizing kings and royal nobles (“Eagle-philanthropist”, “Bear in the Voivodeship”), and a cheerful mockery of the noble class (“The Tale of How One Man Feed Two Generals”, “Wild Landowner”), and a scornful mockery of the shameful cowardice of the liberal intelligentsia (“The Wise Gudgeon”, “Liberal”).

The tales "The Sane Hare" and "The Selfless Hare" should be analyzed together as soon as together they represent an exhaustive satirical description of the "hare" psychology in both its practical and theoretical manifestation in the writer's work. As already noted, the image of a hare in folk tales is very different. IN

“The Selfless Hare” reveals the psychology of an irresponsible slave, and “The Sane Hare” tells about a perverted consciousness that has developed a servile tactic of adapting to a regime of violence.

The tale of the selfless hare is a vivid example of the devastating irony of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, denouncing, on the one hand, the wolf habits of the enslavers, and on the other, the blind obedience of their victims.

The tale begins its narrative with the fact that a hare was running not far from the wolf's lair, the wolf, seeing him, shouted: “Hare! Stop, honey!" And the hare only added more pace. The wolf got angry, caught him, and said: “I sentence you to deprivation of the stomach by tearing it to pieces. And since now I am full, and my wolf is full ... then you sit here under this bush and wait in line. Or maybe… ha ha… I’ll have mercy on you!” What is a hare? He wanted to run away, but as soon as he looked at the wolf's lair, "a hare's heart began to pound." The hare sat under a bush and lamented that he had so much left to live and his hare dreams would not come true: ! The bride's brother rode up to him one night and began to persuade him to run away to the sick hare. More than ever, the hare began to lament about his life: “For what? How did he deserve his bitter fate? He lived openly; But no, the hare cannot even move from its place: “I can’t, the wolf didn’t order!”. And then a wolf and a she-wolf came out of the lair. The hares began to make excuses, convinced the wolf, moved the she-wolf to pity, and the predators allowed the hare to say goodbye to the bride, and leave her brother with the amanat.

Released, the hare “like an arrow from a bow” hurried to the bride, ran, went to the bathhouse, spent a bit with the bride and ran back to the lair - to return by the specified date. The way back was hard for the hare: “He runs in the evening, runs in the middle of the night; his legs are cut with stones, his hair hangs in clumps from thorny branches on his sides, his eyes are clouded, bloody foam oozes from his mouth ... ". He after all "word, you see, gave, and the hare to the word - the master". At first glance, it may seem that the hare is extremely noble and thinks only about how not to let the bride's brother down, but fear and obedience to the wolf stems from slavish obedience. Moreover, he is aware that the wolf can eat him, but at the same time he stubbornly hopes that “maybe the wolf will… ha ha… and have mercy on me!”34. This kind of slave psychology overpowers the instinct of self-preservation and is elevated to the level of nobility and virtue.

The title of the tale surprisingly accurately expresses the idea of ​​the conflict of the narrative, thanks to the oxymoron used by the satirist - the combination of opposite concepts. The word hare is very common in figurative meaning is synonymous with cowardice. And the word selfless combined with this synonym gives an unexpected comic effect: the selfless cowardice that characterizes main conflict fairy tales. Saltykov-Shchedrin demonstrates to the reader the perversity of human qualities in a society based on violence. The wolf praised the selfless hare, who remained true to his word, and delivered a mocking sentence to him: “... sit, for the time being ..., and later I will ... ha ha ... have mercy on you!”.

Despite the fact that the wolf and the hare symbolize the hunter and the victim with all their accompanying characteristics (the wolf is bloodthirsty, strong, despotic, angry, and the hare is cowardly, cowardly and weak), these images are also filled with topical social content. The image of the wolf represents the exploitative regime, and the hare - the layman, who believes that a peaceful agreement with the autocracy is possible. The wolf enjoys the position of the ruler, the despot, the whole wolf family lives according to the "wolf" laws: both the cubs play with the victim, and the wolf, ready to devour the hare, pities him in her own way ...

However, the hare also lives according to the laws of the wolf: the hare is not just cowardly and helpless, but cowardly. He goes to the wolf's mouth and makes it easier for him to solve the "food problem", believing that the wolf has the right to take his life. He doesn't even try to resist. The hare justifies all his actions and behavior with the words: “I can’t, the wolf didn’t order!”. He is accustomed to obey, he is a slave to obedience. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin deeply despises the psychology of a slave: the author's irony gradually turns into caustic sarcasm.

The hare from Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Sane Hare” is described in the work as follows: “although it was an ordinary hare, it was a clever one. And he reasoned so sensibly that it was just right for a donkey.

Usually this hare sat under a bush and talked to himself, reasoned on various topics: “Everyone, he says, is given his own life to the beast. A wolf is a wolf, a lion is a lion, a hare is a hare. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your life, no one asks you: live, that's all, ”or“ They eat us, eat, and we, hares, that year, we multiply more ”, or“ These vile people, these wolves - this is the truth say. All they have is robbery on their minds!” But one day he decided to show off his common sense in front of the hare. “The hare was talking and talking,” and at that time the fox crawled up to him and begins to play with him, stretching out in the sun, the fox told the hare to “sit closer and chat”, and she herself “plays comedies in front of him.” The fox is clearly mocking the “sensible” hare in order to eventually eat it. And the most terrible thing is that both of them understand this very well. The fox is not even very hungry to eat a hare, but "where is it seen that the foxes themselves let go of their dinner," one has to obey the law willy-nilly. All the smart, justifying theories of the hare, the idea that he has completely mastered the regulation of wolf appetites, are smashed to smithereens. cruel truth life. It turns out that hares were created to be eaten, and not to create new laws. Convinced that wolves will not stop eating hares, the “sensible” hare creates a project for a more rational eating of hares - so that not all at once, but one by one.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in the tale ridicules pathetic attempts at theoretical justification of slavish "hare" obedience and liberal ideas about adapting to a regime of violence. Both tales clearly express the political views of the writer.

In the fairy tales "Karas the Idealist", "The Wise Gudgeon" end in a bloody denouement, which is not typical for the writer. With the death of the main characters of the fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes the tragedy of ignorance of the true ways of fighting evil, with a clear understanding of the need for such a struggle. In addition, these tales were influenced by the political situation in the country at that time - the ferocious government terror, the defeat of populism, the police persecution of the intelligentsia.

Researcher M. S. Goryakina rightly notes that the presence of a folklore element in the basis of the narration of both fairy tales is obvious; the colloquial speech of the characters is consonant with the folk language.

Saltykov-Shchedrin uses elements of living, folk speech that have already become classic. The satirist emphasizes the connection of these tales with folklore with the help of: numerals with non-numerical meanings, (“ Far Far Away kingdom”, “because of distant lands”), typical sayings and sayings (“the trail is cold”, “runs, the earth trembles”, “neither in a fairy tale can be said, nor described with a pen”, “soon a fairy tale is affecting ...”, “fingers in don’t put your mouth”, “neither a stake, nor a yard”), numerous constant epithets and vernacular (“satisfied”, “slanderous fox”, “goofing up”, “come back”, “oh you, Goryun, Goryun!”, “hare life”, “to heal”, “tidbit”, “bitter tears”, “great troubles”, etc.)

It should be noted that the plots of both fairy tales are based on elements of reality. So in the fairy tale “The Sane Hare”, the hero every day learns “statistical tables published at the Ministry of Internal Affairs ...”, and they write about him in the newspaper: “Here in the Moskovskie Vedomosti they write that hares do not have a soul, but steam - but there he is… how he flies away!”37. The sensible hare also tells the fox a little about real human life - about peasant labor, about market entertainment, about recruiting. The fairy tale about the “selfless” hare mentions events invented by the author, unreliable, but essentially real: “In one place it rained, so that the river, which the hare swam jokingly a day earlier, swelled and overflowed ten miles. In another place, King Andron declared war on King Nikita, and on the hare's very path the battle was in full swing. In the third place, cholera manifested itself - it was necessary to go around a whole quarantine chain of a hundred miles ... ".

It should be noted that in these tales the language is concise and deeply folk. It is known that the very first image of a hare that has come down to us can be considered a white marble statue dating back to the 6th century BC. e., now this statue is in the Louvre under the name "Hera of Samos" or

"Goddess with a hare." In Russian folk tales, the hare is usually small, pitiful, stupid, cowardly, as in the fairy tale "The Hare and the Fox", where many heroes came to his aid, and the rooster eventually drove the fox out of the hare's house, and the hare himself only cried and did not tried neither to fight the fox, nor to outwit it. True, sometimes there are some exceptions in the behavior of this character.

Thus, we can conclude that M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, using folk images, creates new ones that reflect the spirit of his era, reveals the attitude of the people around him. In literary criticism there is a term "laughter through tears", it is also applicable to the work of a satirist. The images-symbols of the writer are still relevant today.

Chapter 3 Conclusion

In the tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the people's world outlook is transformed: society is vicious, and the truth is reflected, as if in a distorted mirror. As already noted, the folk tale is a prime literary genre, and that is why there is such an abundance of folklore motifs in the author's tales. The artistic world of fairy tales by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin interprets the poetics of the folklore genre depending on the writer's intention and thereby expands the boundaries of the fairy tale genre and fills it with new meaning. The satirist draws pictures of all social strata of society, using the traditional canon of folk art. The main feature of the poetics of fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is the use of the fantasy form to depict the reality of an entire era.

Conclusion

The folklore tale has a long history, it is epic work, predominantly of a fantastic nature, the purpose of which is moralizing or entertainment. Many years of experience in the artistic processing of oral poetic fairy tale plots and motifs preceded the emergence of a literary fairy tale in Russian culture. Studying genre features fairy tales has led researchers to ambiguous conclusions: there are two points of view on defining the boundaries of the fairy tale genre.

On the one hand, they single out a fairy tale as a single genre that has several genre varieties, on the other hand, a fairy tale as a generic concept that combines several genres. In our work, we adhere to the second point of view.

The question of comparing the classification of folk tales and tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin has not been fully studied. The divergence in views on the definition of a folk tale is associated with what is regarded as the main thing in it: an orientation towards fiction or the desire to reflect reality through allegory and fiction.

With a problem-thematic approach, one can single out fairy tales dedicated to animals, fairy tales about unusual and supernatural events, social and everyday ones. All the features of folk tales, thematic and genre-forming, appeared in the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin and influenced them. poetic features. The study used the classification of the functions of poetics, developed by V. Ya Propp, in the analysis of a literary fairy tale.

The work of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is inseparable from his life path and personal qualities, the cycle of fairy tales by Saltykov-Shchedrin is considered the result of his satirical work. The writer's appeal to the fairy-tale genre is due to the socio-political situation in the state. The peculiarity of the author's fairy tale lies in the fact that in a small work the writer was able to combine lyrical, epic and satirical beginnings and extremely sharply express his point of view on the vices of the class of those in power and on the most important problem of the era - the problem of the fate of the Russian people, using the traditional folk genre folk tale.

In the course of the work, we studied the transformation of the people's worldview in the fairy tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, which resulted in the following conclusions:

1. Traditional genre folk tale is modified in the writer's work and turns into something else, expressed in the form of a satirical political tale.

2. Traditional folklore images of M. E. Saltykov - Shchedrin are filled with a new, socio-political meaning.

– The comic effect is created by using the folk language of vernacular and colloquial speech, as well as phraseological constructions, including proverbs and sayings, traditional fairy-tale techniques.

In "Tales for Children of a Fair Age" Saltykov-Shchedrin shows how spiritually meager and vicious human life is, having lost its highest purpose, raises not only concrete historical problems of the last two decades of the nineteenth century, but also universal, timeless problems of people's worldview.

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Tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin are written in a real folk language - simple, concise and expressive.

The satirist overheard the words and images for his wonderful tales in folk tales and legends, in proverbs and sayings, in the picturesque speech of the crowd, in all the poetic elements of the living folk language. The connection of Shchedrin's fairy tales with folklore was also manifested in:

Traditional beginnings using the form of the past tense (“Once upon a time there were”; “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state”; “Once upon a time there was a newspaperman, and there once was a reader”);

The frequent appeal of the satirist to folk sayings - proverbs, sayings and sayings (“neither to describe with a pen, nor to tell in a fairy tale”, “at the command of a pike”, “a fairy tale soon tells”, “how long, how short”);

The use of numerals with a non-numerical meaning ("far away kingdom", "because of distant lands");

The use of constant epithets and ordinary folklore inversions (“full honey”, “ardent millet”, “rolling snores”, “fierce animals”);

Borrowing proper names from folklore (Militris Kirbityevna, Ivanushka the Fool, Tsar Pea, Mikhailo Ivanovich);

Use of peculiar folk poetry synonymous combinations (“by the way”, “judged, rowed”) and phraseological units dating back to folklore (“to breed on beans”, “you can’t lead with your ear”, “grandmother said in two”).

The proximity of the satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin and works of folklore can also be traced in the use of colloquial folk speech or vernacular.

Vernacular - words, expressions, turns, forms of inflection that are not included in the norm of literary speech; are often allowed in literary works and colloquial speech to create a certain color.

The vernacular made the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin more intelligible and understandable for the people, helped the satirist express his attitude towards him or his oppressors. The speech of the heroes of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, personifying the working people, is simple, natural, intelligent and colorful. It is unusually individualized and draws a specific social type.

However, there is no dialogue as such, and even more so, there is no noticeable confrontation between characters in fairy tales. In fact, this is one common peasant, nationwide speech, divided into replicas distributed to two heroes. They do not argue, they think aloud, correcting and supplementing each other, looking for more convincing explanations for incomprehensible, confusing issues, and come to a common ending.

And yet, despite the abundance of folklore elements, Shchedrin's tale, taken as a whole, does not resemble folk tales. It does not repeat traditional folklore schemes either in composition or in plot. The satirist not only freely created on the basis and in the spirit of folklore samples, revealing and developing their deep meaning, but also brought something new, his own. For example, in the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the image of the author appears, helping the satirist to express his personal attitude to the characters and the events taking place.

Relying on the rich imagery of a satirical folk tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin interpreted complex social phenomena with the help of unsurpassed examples of brevity. Every word, epithet, metaphor, comparison, every artistic image in his fairy tales it has a high ideological and artistic value, concentrates in itself a huge satirical power. In this regard, those tales in which representatives of the animal world act are especially noteworthy.

Images of the animal kingdom have long been inherent in the fable and satirical tale about animals. Under the guise of a story about animals, the people acquired some freedom to attack their oppressors and the opportunity to speak in an intelligible, funny, witty manner about serious things. This form of artistic narration, beloved by the people, found wide application in Shchedrin's fairy tales.

The "menagerie", presented in Shchedrin's fairy tales, testifies to the great skill of the satirist in the field of allegory and artistic allegory. The choice of representatives of the animal kingdom for allegories in Shchedrin's fairy tales is always subtly motivated and is based on the folklore and fairy tale and literary fable tradition.

For his socio-political allegories, depicting the enmity of classes and the despotism of the authorities, Saltykov-Shchedrin used images fixed by fairy-tale and fable tradition (lion, bear, donkey, wolf, fox, hare, pike, eagle, etc.), as well as , starting from this tradition, he extremely successfully created other images (carp, gudgeon, roach, hyena, etc.).

The hidden meaning of the fabulous allegory of Saltykov-Shchedrin is easily comprehended by the reader from the figurative pictures of folk tales and fables themselves and, due to the fact that the satirist often accompanies his allegorical images with direct allusions to the hidden meaning.

The special poetic charm and irresistible artistic persuasiveness of Shchedrin's fairy tales lies in the fact that, no matter how the satirist "humanizes" his zoological paintings, whatever complex roles he did not entrust the "tailed" heroes, the latter always retain their basic natural properties.

Another typical trick for Saltykov-Shchedrin in fairy tales is the interweaving of the real with the fantastic, the authentic with fiction. The fantasy of Shchedrin's fairy tales is fundamentally real, inextricably linked with concrete political reality, and carries an extremely deep revolutionary content in encrypted form. Shchedrin's political tales "The Eagle-Maecenas", "The Bear in the Voivodeship" can serve as an example of this. The satirist, describing the activities of the heroes of these tales, makes it clear that this is not at all about bird and bear deeds and deeds.

In the images of these predators, the satirist emphasizes their main, leading features. The beginnings and endings of fairy tales, the fairy-tale images taken by Saltykov-Shchedrin from folklore, in no way detract from the comic effect in describing reality. With the help of the discrepancy between the magical setting and the pronounced real political content Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes the meaning of such fairy tales as "The Sleepless Eye" and "Bogatyr" and further exposes the political essence of any type or circumstance.

Also, Saltykov-Shchedrin, in the course of the story, adds some more elements of reality to the tales: hares study “statistical tables published under the Ministry of Internal Affairs ...”, write correspondence to newspapers, and articles about them are published in newspapers; bears go on business trips and receive running money; the birds talk about the railroad capitalist Guboshlepov; fish talk about the constitution, debate about socialism; a landowner living "in a certain kingdom, in a certain state" reads the real newspaper "Vest" and much more.

The bright originality of Shchedrin as a satirical writer also lies in the power of his humor, because laughter is the main weapon of satire. “This weapon is very powerful,” said Saltykov-Shchedrin, “for nothing discourages vice so much as the consciousness that it has been guessed and that laughter has already been heard about it” XIII, 270. Shchedrin’s laughter is incriminating and scourging, ennobling and educating, causes hatred and confusion among enemies and joy among the champions of truth, goodness and justice. Saltykov-Shchedrin believed that the main purpose of laughter was to arouse feelings of indignation and active protest against social inequality and political despotism.

In Shchedrin's laughter, mostly formidable and indignant, other emotional tones and shades are not excluded, due to the variety of ideological ideas and objects of the image. "Fairy tales", which paint pictures of all social strata of society, can also serve as a reader of samples of Shchedrin's humor in all the richness of its artistic manifestation. Here is contemptuous sarcasm, stigmatizing kings and royal nobles (“The Eagle-Patron”, “The Bear in the Voivodeship”), and a cheerful mockery of the nobility (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “Wild Landowner”), and a scornful mockery of the shameful cowardice of the liberal intelligentsia ("The Wise Gudgeon", "Liberal").

In "Fairy Tales" Shchedrin's irony shines with all colors. The satirist admires the clever hares, together with the generals he is indignant at the behavior of the male parasite, as if he agrees with the need for a taming bear to come to the forest slum.

All the techniques that Saltykov-Shchedrin used in his fairy tales, as well as the genre of political fairy tale itself, serve to express the political views and ideas of the author. It was in fairy tales that Saltykov-Shchedrin's ardent love for the people, hatred and contempt for their oppressors, received particularly vivid expression.

The whole cycle of fairy tales "for children of a fair age" is built on sharp social contrasts. It is not just evil and good people, the struggle between good and evil. Fairy tales reveals the class struggle in Russia second half of XIX V. they recreate a picture of a society torn apart by internal contradictions, full of social drama, and depict a direct and sharp clash between representatives of antagonistic classes. Along with the deep drama of the life of the working people, Saltykov-Shchedrin showed the most shameful comedy of the life of the noble-bourgeois strata of society. Hence the constant intertwining of the tragic and the comic in Shchedrin's fairy tales, the continuous change from feelings of sympathy to feelings of anger, the sharpness of conflicts and the sharpness of ideological polemics.

In fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin embodied his many years of observation of the life of the enslaved Russian peasantry, his bitter reflections on the fate of the oppressed masses, his deep sympathy for the working people and his bright hopes for the strength of the people.

Tales Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote mainly from 1880 to 1886, at the final stage of his work. The form of a fairy tale was chosen by the writer not only because this genre provided an opportunity to hide the true meaning of the work from censorship, but also because it allowed for a simple and accessible interpretation the toughest problems politics and morality. In the form most accessible to the masses, he, as it were, poured all the ideological and thematic richness of his satire.

Shchedrin's tales are truly encyclopedic. They reflected the entire Russian society of the post-reform era, all the public and social forces of Russia.

The main themes of the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin were: denunciation of the autocracy (“The Bear in the Voivodeship”), the ruling class (“The Wild Landowner”), liberalism (“ wise scribbler”, “Liberal”, “Karas-idealist”), and also touched upon the problem of the people (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”).

Folklore traditions are clearly traced in Shchedrin's fairy tales. The connection with folklore is established with the help of the traditional “once upon a time”, which is the beginning in a fairy tale. The writer also uses proverbs (“At the pike's command, at my will ...”), refers to folk sayings given in a socio-political interpretation.

The plot of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin is also folklore, since here good opposes evil, good opposes bad. However, the usual boundaries between these two concepts are blurred, and even positive characters are endowed with negative features, which are then ridiculed by the author himself.

Saltykov-Shchedrin had to constantly improve his allegorical manner in order to make his work accessible to the reader, therefore, proximity to folklore is also manifested in the figurative structure, which gives him the opportunity to directly use epithets, and when choosing animals for allegory, also rely on the fable tradition. The writer uses roles that are familiar to both fables and fairy tales. For example, in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the Bear Governor is a major, the Donkey is an adviser, the Parrots are buffoons, and the Nightingale is a singer.

The allegory of Shchedrin's fairy tales is always as transparent as in Krylov's fables, where, according to Belinsky, there are no animals, but people, "and, moreover, Russian people." It is no coincidence that the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin were called fables in prose, since they clearly traced the tradition of depiction corresponding to this genre. human vices in the form of animals. In addition, the Shchedrin tale, like the fable of Krylov or Aesop, always carries a lesson, morality, being a spontaneous educator and mentor of the masses.

In his fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin continues the Russian satirical literary tradition. For example, Gogol's motifs and polemics with Gogol can be traced in a number of fairy tales. In general, Gogol's satire largely determined the nature of the writer's further literary activity. For example, both in Gogol's "The Overcoat" and in "The Wise Scribbler" by Saltykov-Shchedrin, the psychology of the intimidated average person is shown. Shchedrin's innovation consisted in the fact that he introduced political satire into fairy tales, which has both a topical and universal sound. This writer turned the very idea of ​​​​satire, going beyond Gogol's psychological method, pushed the boundaries of the possibilities of satirical generalization and ridicule. From now on, the subject of satire was not individual, often random events and incidents, and not private individuals involved in them, but the whole life of the state from top to bottom, from the essence of the tsarist autocracy to the dumb slave people, whose tragedy was the inability to protest against cruel forms of life. Thus, the main idea of ​​the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodship” is that the causes of national disasters are not only in the abuse of power, but also in the very nature of the autocratic system. And this means that the salvation of the people lies in the overthrow of tsarism.

Shchedrin's satire thus acquires a stable political coloring.

The satirist struggles not with specific phenomena, but with the social system that generates and nourishes these phenomena. Saltykov-Shchedrin considers everyone individual person as a product of the social environment that gave birth to it, deprives the artistic image of all human traits and replaces individual psychology with manifestations of class instinct. Every act of the hero is comprehended by Shchedrin as socially necessary and inevitable.

In all the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, two planes are organically combined: real and fantastic, life and fiction, and fantasy is always based on real events.

The depiction of the “illusion” of political reality required an appropriate form, which, having brought the phenomenon to the point of absurdity, to the point of ugliness, would reveal its true ugliness. Such a form could only be the grotesque (connection of the incompatible), which is an important source of comic effect in fairy tales. Thus, the grotesque distorted and exaggerated reality, but fantasy gave the most unusual life phenomena the character of familiarity and everyday life, and the thought of the daily and regularity of what was happening only strengthened the impression. The excessive cruelty of the political regime and the complete lack of rights of the people really bordered on magic, on fantasy. So, for example, in the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" Shchedrin, in an ugly comic form, showed the apogee of both the moral and external "neglect" of a person. The landowner “has become overgrown with hair, his nails have become like iron”, he began to walk on all fours, “has even lost the ability to articulate sounds”, “but he has not yet acquired a tail.” And in “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals,” the generals find a number of “Moskovskie Vedomosti” on a desert island.

Shchedrin uses hyperbole very actively. Both the dexterity of the peasant and the ignorance of the generals are extremely exaggerated. A skillful peasant cooked soup in a handful, stupid generals do not know that they bake flour rolls, and one even swallows the order of his friend.

Sometimes - although not as often and clearly as other means of artistic representation - Saltykov-Shchedrin uses antithesis (opposition). This can be seen in the example of "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals." The generals “raked in so much money - it can’t be said in a fairy tale or described with a pen”, and the peasant received “a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver”.

Important in understanding the tale is the author's irony, thanks to which the author's position is revealed. Irony can be traced in all the images present in fairy tales. For example, in “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals,” the calligraphy teacher cannot distinguish between cardinal directions.

The language of all the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin is distinguished by a special aphorism. The writer not only actively uses the elements of folklore (proverbs, sayings) already established in the language, but also introduces new expressions into it, for example: “Accept the assurances of my perfect respect and devotion”, “actually he was not angry, but so, cattle ".

So, the active use of artistic techniques allowed the writer to reveal more deeply the essence of the autocratic apparatus. In addition, the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin had a great influence on the further development of Russian literature and especially the genre of satire.

The plots of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tales are based on a grotesque situation, but real social relations are always guessed behind it, reality is shown under the guise of a fairy tale. The grotesque-hyperbolic images of the heroes are, in fact, metaphors for the actual socio-psychological types of contemporary Russia.

In fairy tales there are real people, newspaper names, references to topical socio-political topics. Along with this, there are also stylized situations that parody reality. In particular, ideological clichés and their typical linguistic forms are parodied.

Animals in fairy tales often act in a typical fable function, and not in a fairy tale one. Saltykov-Shchedrin uses “ready-made” roles assigned to some animals; traditional symbolism is found in his fairy tales.

Saltykov-Shchedrin demonstrates his adherence to the fable tradition, in particular, he includes morality in some fairy tales, a typical fable device, for example, "let this serve as a lesson to us."

The grotesque, as a favorite means of satire by Saltykov-Shchedrin, is already expressed in the very fact that animals act as people in specific situations, most often associated with

ideological disputes, socio-political issues relevant to Russia in the 1880s. In the depiction of these incredible, fantastic events, the originality of Shchedrin's realism is manifested, noticing the essence of social conflicts and relations, character traits which are hyperbolized.

Evil, angry ridicule of slave psychology is one of the main tasks of Shchedrin's fairy tales. He not only states these features of the Russian people - their long-suffering, unresponsiveness, not only anxiously seeks their origins and limits.

Saltykov-Shchedrin makes extensive use of allegory in his works. Including in fairy tales. He also masterfully uses the vernacular.

In conclusion, I would like to add that the thoughts expressed by the writer in fairy tales are modern today. Shchedrin's satire has stood the test of time and is especially poignant in a period of social turmoil such as Russia is experiencing today.

"The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals."

The plot of the tale is as follows: two generals suddenly found themselves in an unthinkable way on a desert island in a completely helpless state. This is the first of the features of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tales - a combination of the real and the fantastic. The second feature is irony. The image of these generals is filled with it, their appearance is ridiculous. They are in nightgowns, barefoot, but with an order around their necks. Thus, in the description by Saltykov-Shchedrin, the order depreciates, loses its meaning, since they received it not for work, but for "long sitting in the department." Ironically, the author also speaks of the general's abilities: he cannot remember them, except perhaps the calligraphic handwriting.

But the generals' stupidity is visible, their ignorance of life is obvious. They do not know how to do anything, they are used to living at the expense of others, they think that rolls grow on trees. Here we use the third pictorial technique Hyperbole, that is, exaggeration. Of course, there could not have been such stupid generals, but those receiving salaries beyond their merits - as many as you like. With the help of hyperbole, the author ridicules, depersonalizes this phenomenon. To emphasize the worthlessness of the generals, the author uses the fourth feature - contrast. The generals are not alone: ​​miraculously, a peasant appeared on the island. Handyman of all trades, he fed the insatiable generals. Able to create everything: even cook soup in a handful. Saltykov-Shchedrin is ironic not only over the generals, but also over the peasant. In particular, over his obedience to stupid, defenseless generals. They forced him to twist a rope for himself - the generals wanted to tie him up so that he would not run away. The situation is fabulous, but the author used it to laugh evilly at his contemporary life, namely, at mediocre newspapers. After futile attempts to get food, the generals find one of these newspapers on the island and read it out of boredom. Saltykov-Shchedrin invites the reader to make fun of its content, stupid articles. The fairy tale ends with the peasant returning the generals to St. Petersburg, and in gratitude they give a glass of vodka and yes copper nickel. Saltykov-Shchedrin uses a phrase from a folk tale: “It flowed down his mustache, but it didn’t get into his mouth.” But here it is used in the same ironic way - the peasant did not receive anything. The gentlemen live by the labor of the peasants, and the latter are ungrateful, while the savior people have nothing from their labor.

Saltykov-Shchedrin said: "I love Russia to the point of pain in my heart." It was love and the desire for change that guided him when, using various visual means, he painted a real-fiction story about two worthless generals and a clever peasant.

"Karas is an idealist."

This tale by Saltykov-Shchedrin, like all his tales, has a telling title. By the title, we can already say that this tale describes a crucian who had idealistic views on life. The crucian carp is the object of satyrs, and in his image are people who, like him, hope for a class idyll.

He is pure in soul, and says that evil has never been a driving force, it devastates our life and puts pressure on it. And good is driving force, it is the future.

But immersed in his ideological thoughts, he completely forgot that he lives in a world where there was, is and will be a place for evil. But Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules not idealistic views, but the methods by which he wanted to achieve an idyll. In his fairy tales, the author uses three repetitions. Three times the crucian went to a dispute with a pike. Seeing her for the first time, he was not shy, she seemed to him an ordinary fish, like everyone else, only mouth to ear. He also told her about happy life where all the fish will be united, that even she listened to him, but the methods seemed ridiculous to her. Karas proposed to issue laws prohibiting, for example, pike from eating crucian carp. Yes, the fact is that these laws did not exist and probably never will. So the pike had three disputes with crucian carp, but accidentally swallowed it with water.

There is irony in this tale, because crucian carp is secretly mocked, saying that it is smart.

The images of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tales have become part of our everyday life, and now you can see people promoting their ideology, but not being able to implement it.

"Sane Bunny"

The sensible hare is the hero of the fairy tale of the same name, "he reasoned so sensibly that it fit the donkey." He believed that “every animal has its own life” and that, although “everyone eats” hares, he is “not picky” and “agrees to live in every possible way.” In the heat of this philosophizing, he was caught by the Fox, who, bored with his speeches, ate him.

Fairy tale characters are standard for most fairy tales. One can recall not a single fairy tale where the main characters are a fox and a hare, and throughout the whole work their confrontation is considered. In fact, this is an exciting and quite interesting story. That is why Saltykov-Shchedrin, in one of his fairy tales, stopped precisely on these characters.

The main theme of the tale is that by depicting animals, the author wanted each reader to transfer the content to himself, i.e. a fairy tale is like a fable and has a hidden meaning.

In my opinion, if we apply a fairy tale to modern world, then its main idea is that for the most part there are much more stupid people and therefore those who are more literate and educated face many problems and non-recognition of themselves in society. Also, the mind of a hare is intertwined with a share of boasting and talkativeness, which ultimately leads to a deplorable end.

Each of the characters has their own point of view and expresses their thoughts. For excessive talkativeness, the hare was eaten by a fox, although his reasoning cannot be called meaningless and irrelevant.

"Wild Landlord"

The theme of serfdom and the life of the peasantry played an important role in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The writer could not openly protest the existing system. Saltykov-Shchedrin hides his merciless criticism of the autocracy behind fairy-tale motives. He wrote his political fairy tales from 1883 to 1886. In them, the writer truthfully reflected the life of Russia, in which despotic and all-powerful landowners destroy hard-working peasants.

In this tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin reflects on the unlimited power of the landowners, who in every way torment the peasants, imagining themselves almost as gods. The writer also speaks of the landowner's stupidity and lack of education: "that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper" Vest "and his body was soft, white and crumbly." Shchedrin also reflects the disenfranchised position of the peasantry in tsarist Russia in this tale: "There was no need to light a torch for a peasant in the light, there was no more rod to sweep the hut with." The main idea of ​​the fairy tale was that the landowner cannot and does not know how to live without a peasant, and the work of the landowner only dreamed of in nightmares. So in this tale, the landowner, who had no idea about labor, becomes a dirty and wild beast. After he was abandoned by all the peasants, the landowner never even washed his face: “Yes, I’ve been walking unwashed for many days!”.

The writer caustically ridicules all this negligence of the master class. The life of a landowner without a peasant is far from reminiscent of a normal human life.

The master became so wild that "from head to toe he was overgrown with hair, his nails became like iron, he even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds. But he has not yet acquired a tail." Life without peasants was also disrupted in the district itself: "no one pays taxes, no one drinks wine in taverns." "Normal" life begins in the county only when the peasants return to it. In the image. This one landowner Saltykov-Shchedrin showed the life of all the gentlemen in Russia. And the final words of the tale are addressed to each landowner: "He lays out grand solitaire, yearns for his former life in the forests, washes only under duress, and at times mumbles."

This fairy tale is full of folk motives, close to Russian folklore. There are no tricky words in it, but there are simple Russian words: "it's said and done", "muzhiks' trousers", etc. Saltykov-Shchedrin sympathizes with the people. He believes that the torment of the peasants is not endless, and freedom will prevail.

"Konyaga"

In the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the image of the Russian people, which was embodied in the image of a horse, is very well revealed. Konyaga - ordinary people, peasants who work for the benefit of the entire state, who with their labor are able to feed all the inhabitants of Russia. The image of Konyaga is saturated with pain and fatigue, which gives him a hard job.

If Saltykov-Shchedrin described the life of various social strata verbatim, then his works would not be allowed to print due to censorship, and thanks to the Aesopian language, he achieved a very touching and natural description of the estates. What is Aesopian language? This is a special kind of secret writing, censored allegory, which was often used by fiction, deprived of freedom of expression under conditions of censorship. In Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tale "Konyaga" this technique is widely used, which makes it possible to expose reality and serves as a means of combating the infringement of the rights of the lower strata of society by political figures. This work shows the difficult, even ugly, life of the Russian people. Saltykov-Shchedrin himself sympathizes with the peasants, but he still shows this terrible picture of a beggarly way of life.

The field on which the peasant and horse work is boundless, just as their work and significance for the state are boundless. And, apparently, all the upper strata of the population are enclosed in the images of Pustoplyasov: gentlemen, officials - who only watch the work of the horse, because their life is easy and cloudless. They are beautiful and well-fed, they are given the food that the horse provides with his hard work and he himself lives from hand to mouth.

Saltykov-Shchedrin urges to think about the fact that such a hard work of the Russian people for the good of the state does not give them freedom from serfdom and does not save them from humiliation before officials and gentlemen who live easily, who can afford a lot.

The problem of the people and the bureaucracy is very relevant in our time, because for modern readers it will be interesting and curious. Also, thanks to the use of such an artistic means as Aesopian language, the problem of the fairy tale "Konyaga" is still acute to this day.