His books grab attention literally from the first lines. Moreover, it seems that the writer does not seem to pay attention to the reader at all. He draws him right into the thick of the events, and everything you read about happens directly to you. In simple words it touches the most remote corners of our heart and soul. It's about about the Russian writer Ivan Shmelev. In the article we will talk about his life and work.
Ivan Shmelev: biography
He was born on September 21, 1873 in Zamoskvorechye. His family was from the merchant class. My father had a carpenter's artel and bathhouses. The family lived very well, there was plenty of everything. Honored and respected at home religious traditions. The younger unquestioningly obeyed the elders, respected and loved each other. Ivan was taught to read and write by his mother. She introduced him to the best works of Russian classics: Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev. Later, he himself enjoyed reading their books.
At the age of ten, Ivan Shmelev entered the Moscow gymnasium. Tough discipline discouraged the desire to learn, despite the boy's great abilities. All your own free time he spent for books and textbooks. great influence on him creative growth provided by the work of Alexander Pushkin. Even in high school, he began to try to write. These were short stories, sketches from life and poems.
At the age of twenty-two, Ivan Shmelev married. His life partner was Olga Aleksandrovna Okhterloni. She was a very serious and well-read girl. The young people went on their honeymoon to the holy places of Valaam.
- Ivan Shmelev's favorite writers are Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Leskov, Vladimir Korolenko.
- In childhood most time spent in communication with working people. From them he learned to know the beauty and power of Russian speech.
- On writer's work Ivan Shmelev was blessed by the elder Barnabas of Gethsemane during their honeymoon trip to Valaam.
- He lived in Paris for 27 years, although he loved Russia with all his heart, but during the years of the civil war he was forced to leave it.
- The ashes of the writer were transported to his homeland and buried in Moscow (Donskoy Monastery).
The beginning of creativity
The first work of Ivan Shmelev was published in 1895. It was the story "At the Mill". What is this piece about? The miller and his wife ruined the landowner and dishonestly took possession of the mill that belonged to him. But in the end, unable to withstand their atrocities, they commit suicide. In his story, Ivan Shmelev showed that the evil committed does not allow a person to live in peace. Retribution will surely come.
Two years after the publication of the story, the first book of the writer "On the rocks of Valaam" was published. It was written under the impression of a trip to these places. It glorified the feat of the people inhabiting this holy land. But censorship forced Ivan Shmelev to greatly change the book, cutting out whole pieces from it. In their opinion, she carried seditious thoughts. Shmelev was very worried that because of the changes the book had lost its originality. Readers coolly accepted the corrected version, and Shmelev long years abandoned writing.
Change of activity
Having decided that it is not worth wasting his time and energy on studying literature, Ivan Shmelev enters Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. It was necessary to get a profession in order to support his family. Son Sergei was born. In the family, he was the only and dearly beloved child.
After graduating from university, Shmelev serves as a tax inspector. By the nature of his work, he has to communicate with a large number of people, later these meetings will be reflected in his books.
Ivan Shmelev: books
The revolution of 1917 changed the life of the writer, but despite this, he always showed interest in a person, in his spiritual life. Let's remember the best works of the writer:
- "Summer of the Lord" (Ivan Shmelev). One of the author's brightest books. Through the eyes of a child, the way of peasant and merchant life is shown. Shmelev masterfully recreates pictures of labor and life in Russia at the end of the 19th century. A special place in the book is occupied by the description of holidays.
- "sun of the dead"(Ivan Shmelev). The writer's personal impressions of the revolution and civil war. This is a tragic book about the "Red Terror". The book has been translated into many foreign languages and is considered one of the best creations of the author.
- "The Man from the Restaurant" The story shows the dramatic fate ordinary person. Waiter Yakov Skorokhodov suffers insults and humiliation from visitors every day. But it is he who can be called a Man with capital letter words, unlike other characters. Inner world the hero is revealed deeply and fully.
- "Ways of Heaven". This novel is the last major work Ivan Shmelev. He dedicated it to his beloved wife. In the image of the main character - engineer Weidenhammer - Olga Shmeleva's uncle is described. the main idea novel that the soul must necessarily go through the path of suffering in order to be reborn to a new life. Heroes pass hard way spiritual development.
Family tragedy. Emigration
The events of 1917 shook the soul of Ivan Shmelev. Although at first he spoke with pleasure at rallies and accepted the ideas of the socialists. When Ivan Shmelev saw that the revolution breaks a person and deals a strong blow to his morality, he leaves for the Crimea. Here, in the military commandant's office, his son Sergei serves with Wrangel. When the city was captured by the Bolsheviks, Sergei was arrested, and after a while he was shot. Parents grieved the death of their beloved child.
After some time, the difficult decision to emigrate was made. At first, Ivan Shmelev and his wife lived in Berlin, and then moved to Paris. The writer has to endure another tragic loss - the death of his wife. June 24, 1950 Ivan Shmelev died of a heart attack.
Output
The works of Ivan Shmelev must be read and re-read, so as not to stale the soul. His books are like a sip cold water on a hot day. How are his books different? Love for Russia, its history, way of life, faith in the triumph of goodness and justice, humanism, beauty of spiritual values. The contribution of this remarkable Russian writer to the history of world literature has yet to be assessed.
Books on the table: "Summer of the Lord" (the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin wrote about it: "This is the very spiritual fabric of believing Russia") - so light and joyful that it takes your breath away; and nearby - "The Sun of the Dead", from which the throat tightens with convulsions ("I read it ... choking," one of the contemporaries will respond). Such different books came out from the pen of one author - Ivan Shmelev (1873-1950). On his birthday - October 4 (September 21, O.S.) - and in the year of the 65th anniversary of his death, let us remember the difficult fate of the writer.
Medium height, thin, lean, large gray eyes... These eyes dominate the whole face... prone to an affectionate smile, but more often deeply serious and sad. His face is furrowed with deep folds-hollows from contemplation and compassion ... the Russian face - the face of past centuries, perhaps - the face of an Old Believer, a sufferer ...
Yu.A. Kutyrin. Ivan Shmelev (Paris, 1960)
Undispelled extract of Russianness
When a child is born, the world seems to open its arms to him. The baby still has a long way to go. Parents, relatives are full of joy and hope. The birth of a child is always a miracle that fills everything around with happiness.
Meanwhile, there are cultures in which the opposite is true: people rejoice in death as a transition to best condition and mourn the birth. After all, no one knows what awaits a newly born person.
“In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
If the parents of little Ivan, who was born back in 1873, on September 21, knew how his life would turn out, they would probably cry bitterly. He had a long and hard life ahead of him. A fate so similar to the fate of the Motherland.
But, by the grace of God, it is not given to us to foresee the future.
Ivan Sergeevich was born in Moscow, in Zamoskvorechye. The world of white stone ancient capital at forty forty, until the end of his life, he fed the writer with strength and inspiration.
“What beats in me like that, floats in my eyes like a fog? This is mine, I know. And walls, and towers, and cathedrals ... and smoky clouds behind them, and this my river, and black polynyas, in crows, and horses, and beyond the river, the distance of the settlements ... - have always been in me. And I know everything. There, behind the walls, there is a little church under the mound - I know. And the cracks in the walls - I know. I looked from behind the walls ... when? .. And the smoke of fires, and screams, and the alarm ... I remember everything! Riots, and axes, and chopping blocks, and prayers ... - everything seems to be a reality ... - as if in a forgotten dream.
(Ivan Shmelev. Summer of the Lord)
“It is no coincidence that Shmelev was born and raised in Moscow… That’s where he got this national soil from”
In his work “On Darkness and Enlightenment”, the great Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, speaking about the work of Ivan Shmelev, noted: “It is no coincidence that Shmelev was born and raised in Moscow, imbued from his youth with all the natural, historical and religious flavors of this marvelous city ... This is where Shmelev got this national soil, this undispelled, unspent, initially strong extract of Russianness. He writes as if from the underground layers of Moscow, as if from its age-old cellars, where ancient reeds and primitive coins are dug up. He knows how the primitive Russian man lived and was built. And while reading it, you sometimes feel as if time has turned back, as if primordial Rus' lives and breathes before your eyes, its wounded by history and long-suffering, but earnest and true to itself, melodious and inexhaustible soul.
The writer's mother, Evlampia Gavrilovna Savinova, came from merchant family. She graduated from one of the Moscow Institutes of Noble Maidens and was more educated than her husband. She was strict in raising her children. Ivan did not feel close to his mother. Shmelev recalled: when he was flogged, the broom turned into small pieces. Ivan Sergeevich practically does not write about his mother, but endlessly about his father, Sergei Ivanovich Shmelev. With admiration, love and tenderness. Sergey Ivanovich generally knew how to win over people: he was open and hospitable and possessed inexhaustible energy. Piety was inextricably linked with everyday life and work. Thanks to these qualities, having received from his father (who died when Sergei Ivanovich was 16 years old) 3 thousand rubles in cash, a house on Kaluzhskaya Street in Zamoskvorechye (the merchant side of Moscow) and a debt of 100 thousand rubles, he managed to establish business and save his family from poverty and ruin.
Sergei Ivanovich owned a large carpentry artel, which employed more than 300 workers, and bathhouses, and also took contracts. The workers of the Shmelevs were even presented to Tsar Alexander II for a job well done - platforms and scaffolding of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Last thing S.I. Shmelev was the work of making seats for the public at the opening of the monument to A.S. Pushkin. A few days before the opening of the monument, Sergei Ivanovich tragically passed away: he crashed on a horse and never managed to recover. Ivan was then 7 years old.
Undoubtedly, the death of his father was a heavy blow for the boy. Many years later, he would describe these events in great detail in the novel The Summer of the Lord. And no matter how much you re-read these pages, the heart shrinks again and again from compassion for the boy who faced death for the first time.
“We sit in the dark, clinging to each other, and weep silently, pressed down, into the shaggy upholstery. I try to think that papa will not die completely, until some time only ... he will be there, somewhere, waiting for us ... And now papa is being escorted to long way, will read the waste. And we will all go there when the time comes ... "
(Ivan Shmelev. Summer of the Lord)
Actually, with the funeral of his father, Shmelev will end his own famous work- "Summer of the Lord." With the departure of his father, childhood ended. A completely different life began - an adult.
"Exalted with your talent"
After graduating from the 6th Moscow gymnasium, Ivan Sergeevich entered the law faculty of Moscow University.
In the spring of 1891, Shmelev met Olga Alexandrovna Okhterloni; He was 18 then and she was 16. The marriage took place on July 14, 1894. Together they will live 41 years. On January 6, 1896, their only son Sergei was born. At the request of the young wife, they go to a somewhat unusual Honeymoon- on the island of Valaam. Before leaving, they go to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, beloved by Shmelev since childhood. As a boy, he went there on foot on a pilgrimage and received a blessing from Father Barnabas.
“And it seems to me that light shines from his eyes. I see his little gray beard, his pointed hat - a skullcap, his bright, kind face, his cassock dripped thickly with wax. I feel good from kindness, my eyes fill with tears, and I, not remembering myself, touch the wax with my finger, scratch the cassock with my fingernail.
(Ivan Shmelev. Summer of the Lord)
And now, after so many years, he again came for a blessing, although, as he himself admitted, he did it more by inertia than by the dictates of his heart. But the meeting with the elder again awakened the soul of the writer.
AT looking at the young man, the old man put his hand on his head and thoughtfully said: “You will exalt yourself with your talent.”
Even during the life of the elder, “contemporaries found a spiritual relationship between Hieromonk Barnabas and the Monk.” In Shmelev, pilgrims see the elder in the radiance of light, his words and smile illuminate, illuminate the soul, "like the sun of the Lord."
Looking at the young man, the old man put his hand on his head and thoughtfully said: “You will exalt yourself with your talent.” The prediction came true.
“And the book was written, the way was opened. Father Barnabas blessed "on the way." He gave a cross and blessed. The cross is both suffering and joy. I believe so, ”Shmelev concludes his essay about his father Varnava. Thus began the way of the cross of Ivan Sergeevich.
Shmelev, seeing a lot of injustice and untruth in surrounding reality, hoped for the cleansing power of the February Revolution. He was inspired by the "idea of wonderful socialism" and even went to Siberia to meet political prisoners. However, Shmelev did not accept "Red October" - disappointment followed, so familiar to many of his contemporaries. Bolshevik coup led to significant changes in the worldview of the writer.
One fatal letter
In June 1918, together with his wife and son, poisoned by gases on the fronts of the First World War, he left for Alushta. Already from there, the beloved son Serezha was mobilized into the army. During the retreat of the White Army, the Shmelevs were forced to stay: Sergei developed tuberculosis.
He was shot without trial in January 1921, after a three-month stay in prison cellars.
AT memo dated May 25, 1921, the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin wrote to the People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky: “He was shot, because in the acute moments of the revolution, among the counter-revolutionaries and sympathizers often fall under the knife of the revolution. What seems so simple and clear to us will never be understood by Shmelev.”
Ivan Sergeevich did not know about the fate of his son for a long time.
“Without my son, the only one, I will perish. I can't, I don't want to live... They took my heart. I can only cry helplessly. Help or I'll die. I beg you, I scream with my cry - help return my son. He is pure, direct, he is my only one, he is not guilty of anything.
(From letters to A.V. Lunacharsky)
Needless to say about the magnitude of the grief of the father, who learned about the death of his only son ...
“Neither the Motherland nor Russia knew those who go to kill”
These events in history were called the "Red Terror in the Crimea" and became the most massacres in the entire time of the civil war. To this day total number casualties are unknown. Contemporaries of the events were so impressed by the scope of the terror that they spoke of an absolutely incredible number of victims - up to 120 thousand. Later, researchers called different data - from 20 to 56 thousand victims. But one thing is certain: the horror of arbitrariness and the realization of one's own helplessness penetrated into the heart of everyone who was at that time on the peninsula.
“I don’t know how many are killed in the Chicago massacres. Here the matter was simpler: they killed and buried. And even quite simply: filled up ravines. And even quite simply, simply: thrown into the sea. By the will of the people who discovered the secret: to make humanity happy. To do this, we must begin - with human slaughterhouses.
…tens of thousands were dumped into the cellars of Crimea human lives and waited to be killed. And above them those who go to kill drank and slept. And on the tables there were bundles of sheets, on which they put a red letter by nightfall ... one fatal letter. Two dear words are written with this letter: Motherland and Russia. “Expense” and “Shooting” also begin with this letter. Neither the Motherland nor Russia knew those who go to kill».
(Ivan Shmelev. Sun of the Dead
On the seven winds
In 1922, Ivan Sergeevich and his wife Olga Alexandrovna left Soviet Russia and went first to Berlin and then to Paris, where they lived until the end of their lives.
Life began "on seven winds, at seventy-seven roads." This is the title of one of Shmelev's articles.
In March-September 1923, in Paris and Grasse, visiting Ivan Sergeevich, he wrote "The Sun of the Dead". An epic about the horrors of the Bolshevik terror. Chronicle of the collapse of the world and man. “Read if you have the courage,” wrote Nobel Laureate in literature by Thomas Mann.
With biblical simplicity, the book tells about apocalyptic events not only - and maybe not so much - Russian history, how much is the history of the world, universal. The researchers compare the rhythm of the almost documentary epic with the rhythm and melodiousness of the psalms of King David.
“What is the book of I.S. Shmelev?
About the death of a Russian person and the Russian land.
About the death of Russian herbs and animals, Russian gardens and the Russian sky.
About the death of the Russian sun.
About the death of the whole universe - when Russia died - about the dead sun of the dead ... ”(Ivan Lukash).
The entire old world order, which has evolved over the centuries, is collapsing.
The new masters of the world - "those who go to kill" - Shmelev depicts more like animals than people:
“Their backs are wide, like a slab, their necks are bovine thick; eyes heavy, like lead, covered in a film of blood and oil, full; flippers can kill flat. But there are other things: their backs are narrow, fish backs, their necks are a cartilaginous tourniquet, their eyes are pointed, with a gimlet, their hands are tacky, with a biting vein, they press with ticks ...
Now people are talking about a breakdown, looking unsteadily into their eyes. Others start yelling...
…here they take away salt, turn to the walls, catch cats in traps, fester and shoot them in basements, surround houses with barbed wire and create “human slaughterhouses”! What light is this in? ... animals walk in iron, here people devour their children, and animals comprehend horror! .. "
(Ivan Shmelev. sun of the dead)
“The Sun of the Dead” is a warning: do not flirt with slogans! don't be part of the crowd!
Real literature is always not only and not so much about the past as about the future. Prophecy or warning. "The Sun of the Dead" is a warning to a well-fed and calmed humanity. Do not flirt with slogans! Don't be part of the crowd! Even if she stubbornly talks about the future happiness of millions. Because the life of one is no less valuable than the life of dozens and hundreds of people. Because the Lord suffered for everyone...
There is a lot of sunshine in the book. It's on almost every page! For lovers of statistics, we note: the sun is mentioned in the work more than 100 times. That's a lot for such a small book. But this sun does not give life. Bringing a new day, it brings only torment and death.
Later, in the work of Ivan Sergeevich, the sun of life will shine again, the sun of memory - "the sun of the living." Will be written "Praying" and "Summer of the Lord", so fond of among Russian emigrants and loved by today's Russia. These works are full sunlight, joy and love. Love for the Motherland and for the people who inhabited it.
“Close your eyes and inhale - such a joy! Such freshness, pouring in subtly, such a fragrant sweetness-fortress - with all the smells of a warmed garden, crushed grass, disturbed warm blackcurrant bushes. The sun is already not hot and the gentle blue sky is shining in the branches, on the apples ...
And now, not in home country when you meet an invisible apple that smells like a pear, you squeeze it in your palms, close your eyes - and in a sweetish and juicy spirit you will remember as a living one, - small garden, which once seemed huge, the best of all the gardens in the world, now disappeared without a trace ... with birches and mountain ash, with apple trees, with raspberry bushes, black, white and red currants, grape gooseberries, with lush burdocks and nettles , a distant garden ... - to the bent nails of the fence, to a crack in the cherry with streaks of mica sheen, with droplets of amber-raspberry glue, - everything, to the last apple of the top behind a golden leaf, burning like a golden glass! .. And you will see the yard, with a great puddle, already dried up, with dry ruts, with dirty bricks, with boards stuck in before the rains, with a support bogged down forever ... and gray sheds, with a silk gloss of time, with the smell of tar and tar, and a mountain of pot-bellied sacks raised up to the barn roof, with oats and salt, caked in stone, with tenacious pigeons clinging, with streams of golden sheep ... and high stacks of boards, crying with resin in the sun, and crackling bundles of shreds, and logs, and shavings ... "
(Ivan Shmelev. Summer of the Lord)
There will be "Ways of Heaven", and essays, novels, articles ... But still, "The Sun of the Dead" is a hundred and t apart from everything creative heritage Ivan Sergeevich. This work is undeservedly forgotten today. But for a generation that grew up in relative comfort and peace, it is so important to know about those events of a century ago. To know, in order to be able to recognize the "Baba Yaga with an iron broom" even at the distant approaches. Remember not to repeat.
Testament fulfilled
“I want to die in Moscow and be buried in Donskoy cemetery, keep in mind. On the Don!
June 24, 1950 Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev moved to the monastery of the Intercession Holy Mother of God in Bussy-en-Haute, 140 kilometers from Paris. On the same day, a heart attack ended his life.
Ivan Sergeevich wrote:
He was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in Paris.
The monument-bust to the writer was solemnly opened on May 29, 2000 in the old metropolitan area of Zamoskvorechye, where he spent his childhood.
And the next day, May 30, 2000, in his native Moscow at the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery, the ashes of Ivan Sergeevich were buried next to the grave of his father. Before the burial of the remains of Ivan Shmelev and his wife Olga Alexandrovna, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' served a memorial service.
The testament was fulfilled: the ashes found peace under the sun of the Motherland.
Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev (September 21 (October 3), 1873, Moscow - June 24, 1950, Bussy-en-Ote near Paris). Russian writer, publicist, Orthodox thinker from the Moscow merchant family of the Shmelevs, a representative of the conservative Christian direction of Russian literature.
Born September 21 (October 3), 1873 in the Donskoy Sloboda of Moscow. His grandfather was a state peasant, originally from the Guslitsky region of the Bogorodsky district of the Moscow province, who settled in the Zamoskvoretsky district of Moscow after the fire of 1812 arranged by the French.
Father, Sergei Ivanovich, already belonged to the merchant class, but was not engaged in trade, but owned a large carpentry artel, which employed more than 300 workers, and bathhouses, and also took contracts.
He identified a devout old man, a former carpenter Mikhail Pankratovich Gorkin, as the tutor (uncle) of his son, under whose influence Shmelev developed an interest in religion.
In childhood, a significant part of Shmelev's environment were artisans, whose environment also greatly influenced the formation of his worldview.
Primary education Ivan Shmelev received a home under the guidance of his mother, who paid special attention to literature and, in particular, the study of Russian classics. Then he entered the sixth Moscow gymnasium, after graduating from which he became a student in 1894. Faculty of Law Moscow University.
Graduated in 1898 educational institution, served in the army for a year, then received a position as an official in special assignments Vladimirskaya Treasury Chamber Ministry of Internal Affairs, in which he was for eight years and during this time he repeatedly visited various remote places of the Vladimir province on duty; his family then lived in Vladimir on Tsaritsynskaya street (now Gagarin street).
February Revolution the writer initially accepted and even went to Siberia to meet political prisoners, but soon became disillusioned with her ideas.
October revolution did not accept from the very beginning, her events led to significant changes in his worldview. Soon after the revolution in June 1918, he and his family left for Alushta, where he first lived in the Villa Rose boarding house, owned by the Tikhomirovs, and then acquired a land plot with a house.
In the autumn of 1920, when Crimean peninsula was occupied by the Red Army, was arrested by the Bolsheviks. Despite Shmelev's petitions, his son Sergei, an officer tsarist army who was then 25 years old. This event and the lack of food, which was strongly felt at that time on the peninsula, further intensified Shmelev's severe spiritual depression. Based on what he experienced in those years, in 1924, having already left the USSR, he wrote an epic "Sun of the Dead" which soon brought him European fame.
From the Crimea, Shmelev, when such an opportunity arose, moved to Moscow, but even then he seriously thought about emigration - largely under the influence of the writer's promise to help the writer's family at first.
In 1922, Shmelev left Soviet Russia and went first to Berlin and then to Paris, living in this city until the end of his life. In Paris, his works were published in many Russian-language emigrant publications, such as " Last news”,“ Revival ”,“ Illustrated Russia ”,“ Today ”,“ Modern notes”, “Russian Thought” and others. There he began his friendship with the Russian émigré philosopher and a lengthy correspondence with him (233 letters from Ilyin and 385 letters from Shmelev).
Shmelev spent the years of World War II in Nazi-occupied Paris. He often published in the pro-German emigre newspaper "Paris Vestnik". His old age was overshadowed serious illness and poverty.
Shmelev died in 1950 from a heart attack, was buried in the Parisian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
In 2000, his ashes, along with the ashes of his wife, were transported, according to his dying will, to his homeland, where he was buried next to the graves of his family members in the necropolis of the Moscow Donskoy Monastery.
Ways of Heaven by Ivan Shmelev
Creativity of Ivan Shmelev
First literary experiments Shmelev dates back to the time of studying at the Moscow gymnasium. His first published work was the sketch "At the Mill" in 1895 in the magazine " Russian review».
In 1897, a collection of essays appeared in print. "On the rocks of Valaam" soon banned by the tsarist censorship.
In 1907, Shmelev, at that time an official in the Vladimir province, was in active correspondence with and sent him his story "Under the Mountains" for review. After a positive assessment of the latter, Shmelev completed the story "To the sun", begun back in 1905, was followed by Citizen Ukleykin (1907), In the Hole (1909), Under the Sky (1910), Treacle (1911). The works of the writer of this period are characterized by a realistic manner and the theme of the "little man".
In 1909, Shmelev joined the Sreda literary circle. In 1911, his story appeared in print. "The Man from the Restaurant". Since 1912, Shmelev has been collaborating with Bunin, becoming one of the founders of the "Book Publishing House of Writers in Moscow", with which his subsequent work was associated for many years.
In 1912-14, several of his novels and stories were published: Grapes, The Wall, Fearful Silence, Wolf's Roll, Rosstan, dedicated to describing the life of the merchants, the peasantry, and the emerging bourgeoisie. Subsequently, two collections of prose were published, The Hidden Face and Carousel, as well as a collection of essays Harsh Days (1916). They were followed by the story "How It Was" (1919), which tells about the events of the Civil War, and the story "Alien Blood" (1918-23).
new period in the writer's work begins after his emigration from Russia in 1922.
In 1923 one of the most famous novels Shmeleva - "Sun of the Dead".
"This is so true that you can’t even call it art. In Russian literature, the first real evidence of Bolshevism in time. Who else so conveyed the despair and general death of the first Soviet years, war communism?", - said about the novel.
"Read this if you have the courage", - said Thomas Mann about the "Sun of the Dead".
The work of the first years of emigration is represented mainly by pamphlet stories: Stone Age"(1924), "Two Ivans" (1924), "On stumps" (1925), "About one old woman" (1925). These works are characterized by motifs of criticism of "lack of spirituality" Western civilization and pain for the fate that befell the writer's homeland after the Civil War.
In works written a few years later: “Russian Song” (1926), “Napoleon. The story of my friend "(1928)," Dinner for different "- pictures of the" old life "in Russia in general and Moscow in particular come to the fore. They are characterized by colorful descriptions of religious festivities and rituals, glorification of Russian traditions.
A book was published in 1929 "Entry to Paris. Stories about Russia abroad» dedicated to hard fates representatives of the Russian emigration.
Most famous novels brought to Shmelev "Pilgrimage"(1931) and "Summer of the Lord"(1933-1948), giving a broad picture of the life of the old, "patriarchal" Russia, Moscow and Zamoskvorechie, beloved by the writer. These works were very popular among the Russian diaspora.
For last period Shmelev's life is characterized by homesickness and craving for monastic solitude. In 1935, his autobiographical essay appeared in print. "Old Valaam" about his long-standing trip to the island of Valaam, a year later the novel Nanny from Moscow (1936), built on the "tale", was published, written on behalf of an elderly Russian woman, Daria Stepanovna Sinitsina.
In a 1948 post-war novel "Ways of Heaven" about destinies real people, engineer V. A. Weidenhammer, a religious skeptic, and novice of the Passion Monastery Darya Koroleva, reflected the “theme of the reality of God’s providence in the Earthly World.” The novel remained unfinished: death did not allow the writer to complete his third volume, so only the first two were published.
In 1931 and 1932 he was nominated for Nobel Prize on literature.
In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, when characterizing Shmelev's pre-revolutionary work, his good knowledge city life and vernacular, "attention to the tale" was noted. All the writer's work after emigration was considered exclusively as anti-Soviet, with a characteristic nostalgia "for the pre-revolutionary past."
Bibliography of Ivan Shmelev
On the rocks of Valaam, M., 1897
On urgent business, 1906
Warmaster, 1906
Decay, 1906
Ivan Kuzmich, 1907
AT new life. M., 1907
Citizen Ukleykin, 1907
In a hole, 1909
Under the sky, 1910
They and we. M., 1910
Molasses, 1911
Restaurant Man, 1911
Wolf rolling, 1913
On the sea coast. M., 1913
In the village. Pg.-M., 1915
Inexhaustible cup, 1918
Carousel, M., 1918
Fearful silence. M., 1918
Harsh days, 1916
Hidden face, M., 1917
Steppe miracle, fairy tales, 1921
Inexhaustible bowl. Paris, 1921
Sun of the Dead, 1923
How we flew, 1923
To the bright color. M.-Pg., 1923
Let's catch up with the sun. M., 1923
It was. Berlin, 1923
Grape. M.-Pg., 1924
Stone Age, 1924
On stumps, 1925
About an old woman, Paris, 1927
Entry into Paris, 1925
Light of Reason, 1926
Russian song, 1926
Love story, 1927
Funny adventure. M.-L., GIZ, 1927
Napoleon. My friend's story, 1928
To the sun. M.-L., GIZ, 1929
Soldiers, 1930
Bogomolje, Belgrade, 1935
Summer of the Lord, New York, 1944
Old Valaam, 1935
Native, 1935
Nanny from Moscow, Paris, 1936
Christmas in Moscow, Story business man, 1942-1945
Ways of heaven, 1948
Kulikovo field. Old Valaam. Paris, 1958
Foreigner, 1938
Correspondence
My mars
Representative of the conservative-Christian direction of Russian literature.
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Shmelev's first literary experiments date back to the time of his studies at the Moscow Gymnasium. His first published work was the 1895 sketch "At the Mill" in the Russkoe Obozreniye magazine; in 1897, a collection of essays “On the Rocks of Valaam” appeared in print, which was soon banned by the tsarist censorship.
In 1907, Shmelev, at that time an official in the Vladimir province, carried on an active correspondence with Maxim Gorky and sent him his story Under the Mountains for review. After a positive assessment of the latter, Shmelev completed the story "To the Sun", begun back in 1905, followed by "Citizen Ukleykin" (1907), "In the Hole" (1909), "Under the Sky" (1910), "Treacle" ( 1911). The works of the writer of this period are characterized by a realistic manner and the theme of the "little man".
In 1909, Shmelev joined the Sreda literary circle. In 1911, his story "The Man from the Restaurant" appeared in print. Since 1912, Shmelev has been collaborating with Bunin, becoming one of the founders of the "Book publishing house writers in Moscow", with which his subsequent work was associated for many years.
In 1912-14, several of his novels and stories were published: Grapes, The Wall, Fearful Silence, Wolf's Roll, Rosstan, dedicated to describing the life of the merchants, the peasantry, and the emerging bourgeoisie. Subsequently, two collections of prose were published, The Hidden Face and Carousel, as well as a collection of essays Harsh Days (1916); they were followed by the story "How It Was" (1919), which tells about the events of the Civil War, and the story "Alien Blood" (1918-23).
Creativity 1920-1930
A new period in the writer's work begins after his emigration from Russia in 1922.
"Sun of the Dead" (1923).
The work of the first years of emigration is represented mainly by pamphlet stories: "The Stone Age" (1924), "Two Ivans" (1924), "On Stumps" (1925), "About an Old Woman" (1925); these works are characterized by motifs of criticism of the "lack of spirituality" of Western civilization and pain for the fate that befell the writer's homeland after the Civil War.
In works written a few years later: “Russian Song” (1926), “Napoleon. The story of my friend "(1928)," Dinner for different "- pictures of the" old life "in Russia in general and Moscow in particular come to the fore. They are characterized by colorful descriptions of religious festivities and rituals, glorification of Russian traditions. In 1929, the book “Entry to Paris. Stories about Russia abroad”, dedicated to the hard fate of representatives of the Russian emigration. In 1930, Shmelev's lubok novel "Soldiers" was published, the plot for which was the events of the First World War.
The novels Praying Man (1931) and The Summer of the Lord (1933-1948) brought Shmelev the greatest fame, giving a broad picture of the life of the old, “patriarchal” Russia, Moscow and Zamoskvorechye, beloved by the writer. These works were very popular among Russians abroad.
The last period of creativity
The last period of Shmelev's life is characterized by homesickness and a craving for monastic solitude. In 1935, his autobiographical essay “Old Valaam” appeared in print about his long trip to the island of Valaam, a year later the novel “The Nanny from Moscow” (1936) built on the “tale” was published, written on behalf of an elderly Russian woman Daria Stepanovna Sinitsina.
In the post-war novel of 1948 "The Ways of Heaven" about the fate of real people, engineer V. A. Weidenhammer, a religious skeptic, and a novice of the Passion Monastery Daria Koroleva, reflected "the theme of the reality of God's providence in the Earthly World." The novel remained unfinished: death did not allow the writer to complete his third volume, so only the first two were published.
In 1931 and 1932 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Productions and film adaptations
- Dumb soviet film Yakov Protazanov "The Man from the Restaurant" (1927).
- The Man from the Restaurant was staged in 2000 by director Marina Glukhovskaya at the Omsk State Chamber Theatre, Fifth Theatre.
- The cartoon "My Love" based on the novel "Love Story" was created in 2006 by Alexander Petrov from Yaroslavl.
- The Man from the Restaurant was staged in 2015 by director Yegor Peregudov at the Satyricon Theatre.
(1873-1950) Russian writer
The future writer was born into a patriarchal merchant family, brought up in an atmosphere of reverence for antiquity and pure religiosity. At the same time, Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev was influenced by the "street" - the working people of different provinces, who flocked to the courtyard of their father - a contractor in Zamoskvorechye - and brought with them spontaneous rebellion, rich language, folklore. This determined the social acuity the best works Shmelev, on the one hand; on the other hand, attention to the “tale”, proximity to literary traditions coming from Nikolai Semenovich Leskov and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. All this contributed to the fact that Shmelev became great master Russian literary language, a prominent representative of critical realism.
After graduating from the Faculty of Law of the University (1898) and a year military service for 8 years he was an official in the remote corners of the Moscow and Vladimir provinces.
During these years, Ivan Shmelev for the first time lives close to nature. He vividly feels and understands it. The impressions of these years suggest to him the pages devoted to nature, starting with the story "Under the sky" (1910) and ending with later works.
The first printed experience of Ivan Shmelev - a sketch from folk life"At the Mill" (1895). More serious were the essays “On the Rocks of Valaam” published in Moscow in 1897.
The works of Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev, written under the influence of the revolution of 1905-1907, became widely known (the stories “Disintegration”, 1907, “Citizen Ukleykin”, 1908; the stories “Sergeant Major”, 1906, “Ivan Kuzmich”, 1907). Maxim Gorky supported Shmelev in completing work on a significant work - the story "The Man from the Restaurant" (1911).
The main, innovative thing in the story "The Man from the Restaurant" was that the author managed to completely transform into his hero, to see the world through the eyes of a waiter.
A giant cabinet of curiosities unfolds to music in front of an old waiter. And among the visitors he sees one lackey. Characters the stories form a single social pyramid, the base of which is occupied by Skorokhodov with restaurant servants. Closer to the top, servility is already done “not for fifty dollars, but from higher considerations”: for example, an important gentleman in orders throws himself under the table in order to pick up the handkerchief dropped by the minister before the waiter. And the closer to the top of this pyramid, the lower the reasons for servility.
The lackey's trial turns out to be cruel. With all this, Ivan Shmelev does not lose his feelings artistic tact: after all, Skorokhodov is an ordinary waiter, whose ultimate dream is his own house with sweet peas, sunflowers and thoroughbred chickens, he is by no means a conscious accuser. His distrust of the masters, the distrust of a commoner, is blind. It turns into dislike educated people at all.
In The Man from the Restaurant, however, the feeling of mistrust of the "educated" does not turn into prejudice. A dark, religious man, Skorokhodov highlights the revolutionaries who oppose the self-serving world.
The story was a resounding success.
During the years 1912-1914, Ivan Shmelev's stories and novels "The Wall", "Shy Silence", "Wolf's Roll", "Rostani", "Grapes" were published, strengthening his position in literature as a major realist writer.
The first thing you notice is the thematic variety of his works. Here is the breakdown noble estate("Shy silence", "Wall"); and the quiet life of the servants ("Grapes"); and episodes from the life of the aristocratic intelligentsia ("Wolf Roll"); and the last days wealthy contractor who came to die in native village("Rostani").
In the story "Rostani" (which means last date with the departing, farewell to him and seeing him off), the merchant Danila, having returned to die in his native village of Klyucheva, in fact, returns to his true, unfulfilled self, discovers in himself that person whom he had long forgotten. Only now, when there is a small handful of life left, collected from the bottom of the barrel - for the last pancake, Danila Stepanovich gets the opportunity to do good, help the poor and the orphans.
Close attention to national specifics, the "root" of Russian life, increasingly characteristic of Shmelev's works, did not bring the writer to the brink of chauvinistic patriotism, which gripped most of the writers during the First World War. Shmelev's mood of these years is perfectly characterized by the collections of his prose - "Carousel" (1916), "Hard Days" and "Hidden Face" (1916).
October Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev did not accept. The writer's departure social activities, his confusion, rejection of what is happening - all this affected his work in 1918-1922.
In 1918, Ivan Shmelev wrote the story "The Inexhaustible Chalice". He branded in it “wild nobility, without feeling, without law,” but the very appeal to the past looked like an anachronism at the time when the Civil War was going on.
The writer's departure in 1922 was not the result of only ideological disagreements with the new government. The writer loved the only son of Sergei more life. In 1920, an officer of the Volunteer Army, Sergei Shmelev, who did not want to leave with the Wrangelites for a foreign land, was taken from the infirmary and shot without trial. The writer leaves first for Berlin and then for Paris.
Succumbing to the grief of loss, he transfers the feelings of an orphaned father to his social views and creates tendentious stories and pamphlets-tales - "The Stone Age" (1924), "On the Stumps" (1925), "About an Old Woman" (1925). Nevertheless, Shmelev did not become embittered against the Russian man, although he cursed a lot in his new life. He retained his intransigence even during the Second World War, humiliating himself to participate in pro-Nazi newspapers.
From a foreign and "luxurious" country, Ivan Shmelev sees with unusual sharpness and distinctness old Russia. From the hidden bins of memory came the impressions of childhood, which made up the books "Native", "Praying" (1935), "Summer of the Lord" (1933).
Until the end of his days, Ivan Shmelev felt a stinging pain from memories of Russia, its nature, people. In the last books - the strongest infusion of original Russian words, landscapes-moods that amaze with their high lyrics, the very face of the Motherland - in its meekness and poetry.
For all that, the books "Native", "Praying", "Summer of the Lord" are artistic pinnacle Shmelev's creativity, in general, the works of the emigre period are marked by extreme, conspicuous inequality. This was also noted in emigrant criticism. Along with the poetic story "Love Story" (1927), the writer creates a popular popular novel "Soldiers" (1930) based on the material of the First World War; after lyrical essays of an autobiographical nature (“Native”, “Old Valaam”), a two-volume novel “The Ways of Heaven” (1936-1948) appears - a stretched and sometimes clumsy story about the “Russian soul”. The novel “Nanny from Moscow” is built entirely on the tale, where the events are conveyed through the mouth of an old Russian woman, Daria Stepanovna Sinitsyna.
Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev spends the last years of his life alone, having lost his wife, experiencing severe physical suffering. He decides to live as a "real Christian" and for this purpose, on June 24, 1950, he goes to the monastery of the Intercession of the Mother of God, 140 kilometers from Paris. On the same day, a heart attack ends his life.
