The history of the creation of the novel "A Hero of Our Time", probably, like all other works of any author, went through three stages. The first stage was the idea of the novel. The very idea of creating a future masterpiece came to Lermontov in 1836. And he even made some sketches. Following Pushkin's idea that he created his contemporary in the image of Onegin, Lermontov wanted to create his own hero of his time, so it was decided to depict officer Pechorin in the midst of Moscow life.
History of creation Hero of our time Lermontov
It seems that there is an idea, the author has decided on the main character, but then events take place that influenced the idea of the novel. After Pushkin's death, he dedicated a poem to him, for which he was exiled to the Caucasus. At this time, Lermontov stopped working on the work, and at the end of the exile, he no longer wanted to write what he had begun, because now he saw the novel in a different light. During the exile, Lermontov saw a lot of things, got a lot of impressions, there were mountains, there were Cossack villages, the Black Sea coast, smugglers, Decembrists. All these meetings turned the author's mind upside down and he decided to create living images of his contemporaries in his novel. So the characters and the plot of the novel were determined. Thus, the second stage of the creation of his novel was completed.
The third stage in the history of the creation of Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" consisted directly in the writing itself. It is believed that the author worked on the novel from 1837 to 1840. The novel consists of a "long chain of stories" that were combined into one novel. United also individual works common heroes Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych. The sequence of writing the stories itself has not been established, but there are suggestions that Taman was written first, then the Fatalist saw the world, followed by Bela and Maxim Maksimych. Lermontov published each of the stories separately, and seeing their success, it was decided in 1840 to combine them in one novel, A Hero of Our Time.
Many literary scholars argue about who was the prototype of Pechorin. One of the assumptions is the idea that Pechorin is Lermontov himself. But be that as it may, no matter what disputes flared up, the novel became a classic. This is a novel that introduces us to the life of people of the century before last.
The history of the creation of Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" can be described in three main stages. These stages are distinguished in the works of literary critics, we will consider these stages in sequence.
First stage. The idea of the novel. Determination of its structure and ideological content
The first stage of literary criticism is attributed to 1836, when the young poet Lermontov, seeking to establish himself in prose, decided to create monumental work, which from all sides would show the life of his contemporary - young man from the nobility. At the same time, the main character (according to the creator of the novel) had to bear in his soul all the contradictions of a man of his time.
In 1836 A.S. was still alive. Pushkin, whose work (and primarily a novel in verse about the fate of Eugene Onegin) inspired the young Lermontov.
The story of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" also, according to the author's intention, was based on the story of a young nobleman, whose surname should be consonant with Onegin's surname. As a result, Lermontov named the protagonist of the novel "Pechorin", and, as you know, in our country there are two similar friend on the friend of the river - Onega and Pechora.
In 1837, an epoch-making event took place in Lermontov's life: his idol, the Russian genius A.S., died in a duel. Pushkin. Young Lermontov wrote the poem “The Death of a Poet”, full of bitterness and pain, which immediately sold thousands of copies in the lists. This poem became the reason for Lermontov's exile to the Caucasus.
After leaving St. Petersburg, Lermontov (in fact, like Pushkin decades earlier) continued to work on the concept of his future work, which he had dreamed of writing all his life.
Second stage of work. Determining the circle of actors, creating a plot
Traveling around the Caucasus, visiting Taman, visiting the villages of the highlanders, Lermontov finally decided on the plot of his work. His hero was supposed to appear before readers in the form of not a bored nobleman, without much work (as Onegin once did), but in the form of a young officer who, by the nature of his activity, serves the Motherland, but in fact suffers from his internal vices and disappointments.
Lermontov also decided on the circle actors: he conceived the image of a proud Russian princess who fell in love with Pechorin (the image is somewhat consonant Pushkin's Tatyana Larina), a Circassian beauty who will love the protagonist with all her heart (also the image of the heroine of Pushkin’s poem “ Prisoner of the Caucasus"). The author decided that the characters of his novel would be mountaineers, with their wild but fair customs, smugglers leading a risky but exciting lifestyle, secular society that time (officers, nobles, etc.).
The writer sought to create a work that would help readers to see people close and familiar to them in the characters of the novel. Two centuries later, we can state that Lermontov succeeded.
The third stage of the novel. Writing text. Publication of the work
The history of the creation of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" includes the third milestone writing the text of the work.
According to literary critics, the writer worked on the creation of the text during 1838-1841. Until now, there are disputes in science as to what was the sequence of writing parts of the work. It is believed that at first the author wrote "Taman", then "Fatalist", followed by parts of "Maxim Maksimych" and "Bela".
However, the sequence of publication different parts future unified novel did not coincide with their creation. The first part, in 1839, was published under the title Bela. Then she had such a name "From the notes of an officer in the Caucasus." The well-known critic V.S. immediately turned his attention to this short story. Belinsky, stating that the author created new genre prose about the Caucasus, which opposes styles and genre originality notes of Marlinsky (exiled to the Caucasus in the army of the Decembrist A.A. Bestuzhev).
The story The Fatalist (1839) was published next. Contemporaries liked this work very much. Later, Lermontov's biographers expressed two main versions of the origin of the plot: according to the first of them, the episode with the officer who shot himself on a bet, missed, but died that evening from the checkers of a drunken Cossack, occurred in front of Lermontov himself and his friend Stolypin in one of Cossack villages; according to the second version, the uncle of the writer was a witness of what happened, who later told his nephew this terrible and mysterious story.
The next was published "Taman". It happened already in 1840. The writer's biographers believe that Lermontov described in this part an event that happened to him. In 1838, he himself was on business in Taman, and there the young officer was mistaken for a policeman who tracks down smugglers.
Pleased with the success of his stories, Lermontov in 1840 decided to publish them in one novel. By adding the last part of "Maxim Maksimovich" he made the plot more coherent and understandable to readers. At the same time, the image of the protagonist of the work is not immediately revealed to readers: first we meet Pechorin in the first part (“Bela”). Here he is described by the kindest servant Maxim Maksimovich. Readers evaluate the personality of Pechorin in different ways, who stole a young Circassian woman, but failed to bring her happiness and save her life. In the second part of "Maxim Maksimovich" we see a description of the portrait of the protagonist and we see his Personal diary. Here, readers already fully understand who the hero of the novel is. This part includes two major episode him literary biography: a story about Pechorin's adventure on Taman and about his love collision with Princess Mary Ligovskaya. The novel ends with "The Fatalist", which sums up the story of the sad fate of Pechorin.
The history of writing "A Hero of Our Time" includes numerous contemporaries' disputes about who is the prototype of the protagonist of this work. Literary critics call many different names, starting from the personality of the famous handsome man, dandy and duelist A.P. Shuvalov and ending with the image of Lermontov himself.
One way or another, this novel today is a classic of Russian literature, a brilliant work that shows us a whole layer of Russian life, life and culture of the beginning of the century before last.
Artwork test
"A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov is, in fact, a socio-psychological picture that reveals an entire era. All this the writer skillfully managed to combine and conclude in the person of one hero - Pechorin, an extraordinary and tragic personality.
The events that Lermontov describes took place in the 30s of the XIX century. The history of writing this novel can be divided into three main periods, which are clearly distinguished by literary critics.
The first period: the definition of the idea of the novel, its structure and ideas.
Lermontov in 1836, while still a young poet, sought to stand out among other great poets and decided to write a grandiose work that could include all aspects of the life of his contemporaries. In addition, Mikhail Yuryevich saw the main character of his novel as a young nobleman, sharply different from other people and suffering from spiritual contradictions. Inspiration young writer drew from the works of A. S. Pushkin, in particular, from his "Eugene Onegin".
In 1837, the irreparable happened: A. S. Pushkin, the idol of the writer, a genius, the one he was guided by, died. This was a big blow for Lermontov. He wrote a poem - a response to the death of Pushkin, and was sent into exile in the Caucasus, where he continued to work on the idea of his great novel.
The second period was the creation of the plot and characters.
Lermontov began his journey through the Caucasus: he visited Taman, visited the settlements of the highlanders. This determined the plot of his work. The writer already clearly imagined the image of the future protagonist - this is a young officer serving the Motherland, but in fact he does not see his vocation in this, and therefore suffers from his internal contradictions frustrated in life. To reveal the image of Pechorin, M. Yu. Lermontov invented a meek Circassian beauty who fell in love with the hero with all her heart, and a proud princess who first tried to play with Pechorin's feelings, and then fell in love with him.
The author was also able to determine that around acting heroes the novel will become highlanders, with their strange, but fair customs; people involved in smuggling and every day risking their reputation and life; representatives high society. Lermontov wanted the reader to be able to find in his work a hero who is equal in spirit, close and familiar.
The third period is the writing of the text, its publishing house.
Literary critics believe that M. Yu. Lermontov created the text in the period from 1838-1841. Until now, the sequence of writing the chapters of the work by the author is not known.
The first published chapter was "From the notes of an officer in the Caucasus" in 1839, later the chapter was called "Bela". V. Belinsky, who was famous critic of that time, said that the chapter was written in a completely new genre.
A little later, the chapter "The Fatalist" was published. Her contemporaries greeted her with rave reviews. Now researchers of Lermontov's biography claim that the writer himself witnessed these events and only wrote his memoirs, turning them into a chapter of the novel.
History of writing, prototypes of heroes
Some interesting essays
- Essay composition Work of the soul Grade 7
The work of the soul is an unusual concept in itself. How can the soul work? Although the poet said that the soul must work both day and night. (I don’t remember who exactly said, since we didn’t go through this program yet.)
The novel "A Hero of Our Time" was conceived by Lermontov at the end of 1837. The main work on it began in 1838 and was completed in 1839. In the journal " Domestic notes” appeared the story “Bela” (1838) with the subtitle “From the notes of an officer from the Caucasus”, at the end of 1839 the story “Fatalist” was published, and then “Taman”. Lermontov first named his novel “One of the Heroes of the Beginning of the Century”. standalone edition novel already under the title "A Hero of Our Time" was published in 1840.
The 1830-1840s in the history of Russia are the dark years of the Nikolaev reaction, the brutal police regime. The plight of the people was unbearable, the fate of the advanced thinking people. Feelings of sadness in Lermontov caused the fact that "the future generation has no future." Passivity, disbelief, indecision, loss of purpose in life and interest in it are the main features of the writer's contemporaries.
Lermontov in his work wanted to show what the Nikolaev reaction doomed the younger generation to. The very title of the novel, A Hero of Our Time, is evidence of its importance.
In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov gave an expressive realistic and psychological picture “modern man as he understands him and, unfortunately, met him too often ”(A. I. Herzen).
Pechorin is nature, richly gifted. The hero does not overestimate himself when he says: "I feel immense strength in my soul." With his novel, Lermontov answers why energetic and smart people do not find use for their remarkable abilities and “wither without a fight” at the very beginning life path. The author's attention is drawn to the disclosure of the complex and contradictory nature of the hero.
Lermontov, in the preface to Pechorin’s Journal, writes: “The history of the human soul, even the smallest soul, is almost more curious and not more useful than history whole people…”
genre features. “Hero of Our Time” is the first Russian psychological novel.
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This work is a socio-psychological portrait whole era, presented in the person of the protagonist, a tragic and outstanding personality. The events taking place in the novel affect the 30s of the XIX century. The history of the creation of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" by M.Yu. Lermontov is divided into several main periods, which can be clearly seen in the essays of famous literary critics.
I stage. Starting a novel
In 1836, Lermontov, inspired by Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin", decided to write a future work, where the life of his contemporary would be shown in full glory in the light of capital events. Main character by design should reflect in the soul the spirit of the contradictions of that time. He even tried to choose a surname for him consonant with Onegin, taking as a basis the names of two rivers, Onega and Pechora. And so it turned out Pechorin.
The year 1837 was a milestone in the life of Mikhail Yurievich. His friend A.S. Pushkin dies in a duel. Shocked by death, Lermontov wrote the poem "The Death of a Poet" for which he was subsequently exiled to exile in the Caucasus. He will take up the manuscript a little later.
II stage. The basis of the plot. Determination of the circle of other heroes of the novel
Traveling around the Caucasus, Lermontov finds himself in a whirlpool of adventure events. New people, emotions, impressions inspired him to take up writing the novel again. So, in addition to Pechorin, Princess Mary, Bela, smugglers, highlanders with their wild customs and traditions, the secular society of that time.Lermontov sought to make the characters of the novel as similar as possible to ordinary people with their inherent vices, desires, feelings. So that every reader can see himself in them. Try on the image you like and imagine yourself in its place. He succeeded.
III stage. final
The sequence of writing parts of the novel is still debated. It is known that the writer worked on it from 1838-1841. Presumably the first part was "Taman". After that, "Fatalist", "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych" appeared. At first, a series of notes was planned, like travel notes. Then the author's intention changed. He decided to pour individual stories in one.Bela was published first (1839). In the same year, The Fatalist was published. "Taman" was published in 1840. In this part of the novel, Lermontov described the events that happened to him personally. The last part of the novel was Maxim Maksimych. His finishing touch. Now the romance is a holistic work understandable and accessible to the reader.
Throughout the novel, the image of Pechorin is revealed gradually, exposing his true essence.
