The general idea of ​​"Dead Souls". Composition "The idea and history of the creation of Gogol's poem" Dead Souls

The title of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" reflects the main idea of ​​the work. If we take the title of the poem literally, then we can see that it contains the essence of Chichikov's scam: Chichikov bought the souls of dead peasants.

But in fact, the title contains a deeper meaning, reflecting the author's intention of the first volume of Dead Souls. There is an opinion that Gogol planned to create "Dead Souls" by analogy with Dante's "Divine Comedy", which consists of three parts: "Hell", "Purgatory", "Paradise". They had to correspond to the three volumes conceived by N.V. Gogol. In the first volume, N.V. Gogol wanted to show the terrible Russian reality, to recreate the "hell" of modern life, in the second and third volumes - the spiritual upsurge of Russia.

In himself, N.V. Gogol saw a writer-preacher who, painting a picture of the revival of Russia, brings it out of the crisis. When publishing Dead Souls, N.V. Gogol himself drew the title page. He drew a carriage, which symbolizes the movement of Russia forward, and around - skulls, which symbolize the dead souls of living people. It was very important for Gogol that the book should come out with this title page.

The world of "Dead Souls" is divided into two worlds: the real world, where the main character is Chichikov, and the ideal world of lyrical digressions, in which the main character is N.V. Gogol himself.

Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, the prosecutor - these are typical representatives of the real world. Throughout the poem, their character does not change: for example, "Nozdryov at thirty-five was the same as at eighteen and twenty." The author constantly emphasizes the callousness and heartlessness of his characters. Sobakevich “didn’t have a soul at all, or he did have one, but not at all where it should, but, like the immortal Koshchei, somewhere beyond the mountains and covered with such a thick shell that everything that didn’t toss and turn at the bottom did not produced absolutely no shock on the surface. All the officials in the city have the same frozen souls without the slightest development. N.V. Gogol describes officials with malicious irony.

At first we see that life in the city is in full swing, but in reality it is just a senseless fuss. In the real world of the poem, a dead soul is a common occurrence. For these people, the soul is just what distinguishes a living person from a dead one. After the prosecutor’s death, everyone guessed that he “had definitely a soul” only when “only a soulless body” remained of him.

The title of the poem is a symbol of the life of the county town N. and the county town K, in turn, symbolizes all of Russia. NV Gogol wants to show that Russia is in crisis, that people's souls have turned to stone and died.

In an ideal world, however, there is a living soul of the narrator, and therefore it is N.V. Gogol who can notice all the vileness of the life of a sunken city. In one of the lyrical digressions, the souls of the peasants come to life when Chichikov, reading the list of the dead, resurrects them in his imagination. N.V. Gogol contrasts these living souls of peasant heroes from the ideal world with real peasants, completely stupid and weak, such as, for example, Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay.

In the real world of "Dead Souls" there are only two heroes who have a truly living soul, these are Chichikov and Plyushkin.

The image of Plyushkin differs from the images of other residents of the city. In the poem, Gogol highlights the chapter with Plyushkin, it is located exactly in the middle. The chapter begins and ends with lyrical digressions, which has never happened when describing other landowners. This shows that the chapter is really important. It can be said that this chapter is completely out of the general plan. When Chichikov came to other officials to buy dead souls, everything was the same: Chichikov looked at the house, then bought the peasants, dined and left. But the chapter with Plyushkin, as it were, interrupts this monotonous chain. Only one resident of the city, Plyushkin, shows the story of his life, that is, before us is not just a person with a frozen soul, but we see how he reached such a state. Plyushkin's story is the tragedy of his life. Gradually, from each blow of fate, his soul hardened. But did his soul die to the end? At the mention of the name of his comrade, Plyushkin's face "slid some kind of warm ray, expressed not a feeling, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling." This means that something alive remained in Plyushkin, that his soul did not freeze, did not ossify at all. Plyushkin's eyes were also alive. The sixth chapter contains a detailed description of Plyushkin's garden, overgrown, neglected, but still alive. The garden is a kind of metaphor for Plyushkin's soul. Only Plyushkin has two churches on his estate. Of all the landowners, only Plyushkin delivers a diatribe monologue after Chichikov's departure. All this allows us to conclude that Plyushkin's soul has not completely turned to stone.

The second hero of the real world who has a living soul is Chichikov. His name is Paul, and this is the name of the apostle who experienced a spiritual upheaval. So Chichikov in the second volume was supposed to become an apostle, to revive the souls of people, to guide them on the true path. And already in the first volume there is a hint of this. Gogol trusts Chichikov to tell about the former heroes and by this, as it were, resurrect the peasants.

The ideal world of "Dead Souls", which appears before readers in lyrical digressions, is the exact opposite of the real world. In an ideal world, there are not and cannot be dead souls, since there are no manilovs, dogs, prosecutors. For the world of lyrical digressions, the soul is immortal, since it is the embodiment of the divine principle of man.

Thus, in the first volume of "Dead Souls" N.V. Gogol depicts all the negative aspects of Russian reality. The writer reveals to people that their souls have become dead, and, pointing out the vices of people, thereby returns their souls to life.

The title of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is ambiguous. Undoubtedly, the influence on the poem of the Divine Comedy by Dante. The name "Dead Souls" ideologically echoes the name of the first part of Dante's poem - "Hell".

The very plot of the work is connected with the “dead souls”: Chichikov buys up the “souls” of the dead peasants in order, having issued a bill of sale, to pledge the purchased peasants already as living ones to the board of trustees and receive a tidy sum for them.

The concept of "dead soul" is associated with the social orientation of the work. Chichikov's idea is ordinary and fantastic at the same time. It is common because the purchase of peasants was an everyday affair, but fantastic, because those who, according to Chichikov, "left one sound that is not tangible by the senses, are sold and bought." No one is outraged by this deal, the most incredulous are only mildly surprised. “Never before has it happened to sell ... the dead. I would have given up the living ones, here in the third year to the archpriest of two girls, one hundred rubles each, ”says Korobochka. In reality, a person becomes a commodity, where paper replaces people.

Gradually, the content of the concept of "dead soul" also changes. Abakum Dyrov, Stepan Probka, Mikhey the carriage maker and other deceased peasants bought by Chichikov are not perceived as "dead souls": they are shown as bright, original, talented people. This cannot be attributed to their owners, who turn out to be "dead souls" in the true sense of the word.

But "dead souls" are not only landowners and officials: they are "irrequitedly dead inhabitants", terrible "by the motionless cold of their souls and the barren desert of their hearts." Any person can turn into Manilov and Sobakevich if "an insignificant passion for something small" grows in him, forcing him to "forget great and holy duties and see the great and holy in insignificant trinkets." “Nozdryov will not be out of the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only walks in a different caftan. It is no coincidence that the portrait of each landowner is accompanied by a psychological commentary that reveals its universal meaning. In the eleventh chapter, Gogol invites the reader not only to laugh at Chichikov and other characters, but “to deepen this heavy inquiry into his own soul: “Isn’t there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Thus, the title of the poem is very capacious and multifaceted.

For the "ideal" world, the soul is immortal, for it is the embodiment of the divine principle in man.

The idea of ​​"Dead Souls" did not immediately appear before Gogol in its entirety, but it underwent various changes.
In 1836, while in Switzerland, he rebuilds the general plan of the work: “I redid everything I started again, thought over the whole plan and now I’m keeping it calmly like a chronicle,” Gogol reported in a letter to V. A. Zhukovsky.
Gogol conceived a three-volume poem based on Homer's epic poems and Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy.
Dante's poem contains three parts: "Hell" (inhabited by sinners), "Purgatory" (those who could cleanse their souls from sins were placed there), "Paradise" (inhabited by pure, immaculate souls). Gogol wanted to show the vices of the Russian people in the first volume of his poem, then the heroes had to rise from Hell to Purgatory, cleanse their souls with suffering and repentance. Then, in Paradise, the best qualities of the heroes were to come to life and reveal to the world all the best that is in the soul of a Russian person.
Two heroes - Chichikov and Plyushkin - had to go through all the circles and at the end of the poem reveal the ideal of a person. "Dead Souls" should have been a poem about the restoration of the human spirit.
Gogol wrote: “If I complete this creation in the way it needs to be completed, then ... what a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Russia will appear in it!”

(1 ratings, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Other writings:

1. Light in their mood, works alternate in a cycle with stories that are distinguished by severe coloring; stories, marked by the predominance of lyrics and everyday life, are interspersed with works saturated with fantasy. Next to the sunny, humor-filled “Sorochinsky Fair” we see “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” with its poignant Read More ......
2. The theme of living and dead souls is the main one in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". We can already judge this by the title of the poem, which not only contains a hint at the essence of Chichikov's scam, but also contains a deeper meaning, reflecting the author's intention of the first Read More ......
3. Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work "in which all of Russia would appear." It was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. The poem "Dead Souls", written in 1842, became such a work. Gogol's idea was grandiose: like Read More ......
4. The title of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" reflects the main idea of ​​the work. If we take the title of the poem literally, then we can see that it contains the essence of Chichikov's scam: Chichikov bought the souls of dead peasants. But in fact, the title contains more Read More ......
5. Gogol's creative life in the 1840s was dramatic and complex. At this time, signs of a deep spiritual drama of the great writer are revealed - and the further, the more - the essence and causes of which are still not sufficiently clarified. Its role in the evolution of the worldview Read More ......
6. All the best in Russian society - exalted souls like Lensky, smart people like Onegin, Tatyana, true to her duty and her heart - suffers one tragic fate. And Pushkin tells about it as a phenomenon of the Russian life of his time, be it Read More ......
7. Plyushkin puzzled Chichikov to such an extent with his appearance and unfriendly meeting that he could not immediately think of where to start the conversation. In order to win over the gloomy old man and get some benefit for himself, Chichikov decides to try to influence him Read More ......
8. The theme of the road is one of the most important, key in the poem "Dead Souls". The action of the poem takes place in the provincial town and estates, and the road is a link in the artistic space. Under the road, we mean the path of Chichikov, his progress towards the successful completion of Read More ......

Nikolai Vasilievich spent a long time thinking about what the meaning of the novel would be. As a result, I came to the conclusion that it is necessary to show the whole of Russia, the people with all the shortcomings, negative traits, and contradictory characters. Gogol wanted to hurt a person, to show him what is happening in the world, what is worth fearing. He wanted the readers, having familiarized themselves with his creation, to reflect on the problems posed in the work.

Nikolai Vasilyevich revealed the hidden corners of the human soul, manifestations of character in different situations, certain shortcomings that prevent a happy life. He wrote his creation not only for specific people living at a certain time, but for all generations. He was worried about the future, in which a repetition of what is depicted in the novel is possible. He showed by all means how "dead" the souls of people can be, and how difficult it is to awaken this soul, to get through to it. Gogol tried to expose Russia, to reveal the negative qualities of the people, for which, apparently, many readers are not taken for such treatment of characters.

But there is no need to blame Gogol. He did what many failed to do: the writer managed to find the strength to convey the truth to a person! The writer managed to display in his work what he planned.

The idea and composition of "Dead Souls"

Many contemporaries did not accept the great writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, but all because they did not understand the whole meaning inherent in this or that work. Speaking of Gogol, it is impossible to ignore his magnificent novel Dead Souls, on which the writer worked for 17 years. It is worth considering that the creative career of Nikolai Vasilyevich was 23 years. Therefore, it is clear that Dead Souls occupied a special place in Gogol's life.

Faithful and reliable comrade A.S. Pushkin suggested the plot for this creation. It is noteworthy that the initial three chapters were created by Gogol in Russia, and the subsequent ones abroad. The work was hard, because Nikolai Vasilyevich thought through every detail, focused on any word. Even the surnames in the novel became speaking, because by this action the writer wanted to clearly expose the essence of wealthy people, show the nature of the homeland, identify shortcomings and reveal the negative sides of people. Perhaps in connection with such an act, “Dead Souls” often succumbed to negative criticism, attacks were made on Gogol, because the truth that was told by the writer did not want to be accepted by the people, they were not ready for it.

Nikolai Vasilievich, creating a novel, did not want to miss anything. He dreamed of embodying in him everything that so disturbs and excites the soul. Therefore, the creator tied up many events related to different mindsets by people, one hero Chichikov. Gogol depicted the everyday life of the landowners. The character that travels to each active person reveals their shortcomings, which are inherent in any person. On the pages of the novel, readers can notice Manilov, who only does what he paints a paradise life, imagines something unattainable, instead of stopping indulging himself with desires, but getting down to business. It is noticeable that Manilov has a wrong understanding of life, because daydreaming envelops so much that it is rather difficult to get out of its maelstrom.

The reflection of complete lies and lies, hypocrisy is shown in the character of Nozdrev, which Chichikov also visits. One can also see the kulaks, Sobakevich's aggressive attitude towards people. One way or another, each character has his own trait, which is revealed by Chichikov. Paying attention to the negative sides of the characters, Gogol warns us that everyone should think about their lives, change their views, understand that with such similar feelings as those of the characters, one cannot calmly walk the Earth. And throughout the entire poem, Nikolai Vasilievich poses an important compositional problem: the abyss between the ruling class and the common people. No wonder the image of the road appears in the composition of "Dead Souls". This writer makes a hint that Russia should deliberately move only forward, without swerving or delaying. Gogol has a very tender love for his homeland, he does not want it to fall or go into oblivion. The writer worries about Russia, that's why he devoted many years to writing "Dead Soul"!

Option 3

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol argued for a long time what the idea of ​​​​the work would be. The writer was in deep thought. After a while, he decides that it is necessary to show the people of Russia as it really is. No exaggeration or lies. He wanted to convey to mankind that problems need to be solved, people have lied, they are plundering the country. The whole idea of ​​the poem is swindlers and their deeds. One of the swindlers is Chichikov, from the work we know that he bought up the souls of dead workers. And the landlords were happy to sell, because they also wanted to profit. The writer showed Russia, both from the good side and from the bad side. Not every writer of that time decided on this.

It is a pity that only the first volume of the poem reached the reader. The second author personally destroyed it, he burned it, but, thank God, drafts reached people, and Gogol never began to write the third volume.

Nikolai Vasilyevich turned the souls of the heroes inside out in front of the reader. He showed how the characters behave in different situations and how their character is manifested in this case. When this poem was created, the author expected to convey it not only to the people who lived at that time. The writer wanted to make a work that would be read in a hundred years. He wanted no matter what people repeated the mistakes of the past. Gogol showed how strong the "dead" souls of living people can be when it comes to money, and how difficult it is to get to the good soul that is always present in a person, even the most evil. The poem is very difficult for the reader, perhaps because Gogol brings dishonest people out, and people find it unpleasant to read this.

Gogol, the only writer in Russia who was able to convey to the people the truth of that time. He wrote the truth as it is, did not hide anything.

He very clearly expresses patriotic feelings for Russia. The writer compares the territory of the state with the boundless spiritual wealth of his beloved people. He hopes for a bright future for his nation. Years and a millennium will pass, people will read the poem and will not repeat the mistakes of their ancestors, such is the hope of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. But is it so in our time? One more poem could be written about this. But the writer believes in his people that sooner or later they will change for the better, become wiser.

Some interesting essays

• The image and characteristics of Antonina in the novel Doctor Zhivago Pasternak essay

  One of the female characters of the work, telling about the events of the early twentieth century, is Antonina Alexandrovna Gromeko, who is the first wife of the protagonist of the novel Zhivago Yuri Andreevich.

• Dramaturgy of Chekhov and its features

  Chekhov turns to dramaturgy already being a famous and beloved writer. The public expected comedies from him, similar to his satirical stories. But instead, she received serious dramas in which burning questions were raised.

• The image and characteristics of Anna Andreevna in the comedy Gogol's Inspector General essay

  In Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector", Anna Andreevna is the wife of the mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky. Anna Andreevna is not a very smart woman and she doesn’t care how the revision goes

• Civil motives in Pushkin's lyrics essay

  The poet and writer Pushkin is one of the most famous writers in our entire history of literature. His works have always been very rich and interesting.

• Analysis of the story Living relics of Turgenev

  I.S. Turgenev showed an example of endless patience, suffering and acceptance of God's will in his story “Living Powers”. In the image of the main character Lukerya, the author reflected the character, fortitude and attitude to the life of the Russian people.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

Lesson 2 Poem N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls. The idea, the history of creation, the features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls.

Goals: To acquaint students with the idea, history of creation, features of the genre and composition,the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"; to form the ability to build an answer to a question about a work of art based on theoretical and literary knowledge; improve the skills of analytical work with a prose text; analytic skills;promote the aesthetic and moral education of students; foster a culture of readership.

Equipment : textbook, text of the poem "Dead Souls", portraits of the writer by F.A. Moller (1840,1841), A.A. Ivanov (1841), exhibition of books, illustrative material on the topic of the lesson.

Lesson type: lesson - analysis artwork

Predicted results: students know theoretical and literary definitions of the genre features of the poem, about the idea, the history of creation, the features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the name of the poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls., participate in a conversation, develop their own point of view on a work of art in accordance with the author's position and historical era.

During the classes

I. Organizational stage

II. Updating of basic knowledge

Conversation "Remembering what was learned"

What can you say about the work of N.V. Gogol, based on those works with which you are familiar?

What was the name of the beekeeper on whose behalf the story is being told in Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka?

In which theater was the comedy "The Inspector General" first staged?

Who owns the words said after the first performance of the "Inspector": "Well, a play! Everyone got it, but I got it the most!”

III. Motivation for learning activities

Not a single work of Russian literature has given rise to such contradictory interpretations as Dead Souls. And in the whirlwind of conjectures, bewilderment, ridicule and outright mockery that arose immediately after the publication of the book (1842) and resulted in a series of fierce discussions in the pages of the Russian press, in secular drawing rooms and literary salons, perhaps the ill-fated the word "poem".

Informing Gogol in the autumn of 1842 about the impression Dead Souls made on Moscow society, K. S. Aksakov wrote: “Some say that Dead Souls is a poem, that they understand the meaning of this title; others see this as a mockery, completely in the spirit of Gogol: here you go, squabble over this word. “Great is the dignity of a work of art when it can elude any one-sided view,” Herzen wrote about Dead Souls.

It must be admitted that clarity on this issue has not been achieved to this day. This work is a feasible contribution to the discussion of the artistic nature of Gogol's work. The word "poem", with which its title begins, partly clarifies the angle from which this work will be considered here, but the book was written, of course, not with the aim of proving that "Dead Souls" is a poem, and not something something else. For this, first of all, the range of those meanings that the word

Gogol consciously built his work on the basis of a long "peer" into it and only a gradual comprehension. “... the book was written for a long time: it is necessary that they give the labor to peer into it for a long time,” he declared in 1843 (XII, 144). And in 1845, he argued that the subject of "Dead Souls" "is still a mystery", about which "not a single soul from the readers guessed" (XII, 504). Therefore, taking on Dead Souls, you need to know how to read them. School, head-on, so to speak, reading ignores Gogol's warning, it deals only with what is said in "open text", and therefore the whole depth of the poetic originality of the book is not fully disclosed. On the other hand, the approach to "Dead Souls" as a "book with a secret" opens the way to subjectivism, sometimes leading to anecdotal results. Even such a brilliant study as Andrei Bely's book The Mastery of Gogol, published in 1934 and not free from vulgar sociological simplifications, sins with subjectivism. However, it contains a thesis that seems to be key for the student of Dead Souls:

“To analyze the plot of Dead Souls means: bypassing the fiction of the plot, to feel the little things that have absorbed both the plot and the plot<...>There is no plot without details in Dead Souls: it must be squeezed out of them; it is necessary to study the counterpoint of all the strokes that make up the picture of the first volume. In other words: the main thing in the content of the poem does not coincide with what looks like the main thing in the plot. The latter serves only as an excuse to say something immeasurably more important. But this important thing must be able to recognize in the figurative fabric of the work, where it is hidden under the guise of "trifles".

Let's try to understand the uniqueness of Gogol's creative individuality, let's try to touch one of the most original monuments of Russian and world literature.

IV . Work on the topic of the lesson

Practical work with portraits of N.V. Gogol (placed on the board)

Teacher: Let's pay attention to the portraits of N.V. Gogol. What special things did you notice about what properties of the human soul can be said by looking at these portraits? Compare your impressions with the memories of contemporaries about the appearance of N.V. Gogol. (Handout)

Gogol's outward appearance was then completely different and unfavorable for him: a crest on his head, smoothly trimmed temples, shaved mustaches and chin, large and heavily starched collars gave a completely different physiognomy to his face: it seemed to us that there was something Khokhlatsky and roguish in him . In Gogol's dress, there was a noticeable pretension to panache. I remember that he was wearing a motley light waistcoat with a large chain. (S.T. Aksakov. The story of my acquaintance with Gogol)

2. Listening to messages about the idea, history of creation, features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls." (Students write theses)

a) The idea, the history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls".

Each artist has a creation, which he considers the main work of his life, in which he has invested his most cherished, innermost thoughts, all his heart.

For Gogol, “Dead Souls” became such a matter of life. His writing biography lasted 23 years, 17 of them were devoted to work on the poem. Gogol's development proceeded unusually quickly and intensively: only 3-4 years passed between the first cycle of his stories "Evenings on a Farm..." and "Dead Souls".

The beginning of work on the poem dates back to the middle of 1835. On October 7, 1835, the writer informed Pushkin (Gogol owes the idea of ​​the poem to Pushkin, who had long persuaded him to write a great epic work) that 3 chapters had already been written. But the thing did not capture Gogol at that time.

He took up Dead Souls for real after The Inspector General, abroad, in Italy. He rewrites chapters anew, endlessly reworks pages.

The poem was conceived as a work consisting of 3 parts (similar to Dante's Divine Comedy). Heroes, therefore, had to go through hell, purgatory, paradise. These three hypostases corresponded to the three parts of Dead Souls.

The first volume seemed to Gogol "a porch to a palace of unparalleled beauty." The whole meaning of his work is in the words from the 2nd volume: “Where is the one who, in the native language of the Russian soul of our soul, would be able to tell us this almighty word: forward ?., who ... could direct us to a high life ? "With one magical wave" to destroy the terrible obsession, to help Russia "wake up" - these words are often found in Gogol's letters.

He was inspired by the desire to overcome the evil that filled modern life, to transform his heroes, to give readers the path of ascent to good. He hoped that it was possible to raise Russia without bloody upheavals, without breaking the social order, only by the moral perfection of man.

That is why he sought to evoke disgust for vulgarity and worthlessness in Volume 1, and then to show living virtuous people so that they become role models. Then a miracle will happen. But the miracle didn't happen.The second volume did not work out, Gogol never approached the third.

Having started work on the poem, he was convinced that it should play some special role in the fate of Russia and thereby glorify the author. In June 1836, he wrote to Zhukovsky: “If I make this creation the way it needs to be done, then ... what a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Russia will appear in it! This will be my first decent thing that will bear my name.

Gogol is so carried away by the new composition that everything written earlier seems to him a trifle. (And these are “Evenings on a Farm ...”, “Mirgorod”, “Petersburg Tales” and “Inspector”.)

b) About the genre of Dead Souls.

The vast artistic experience gained in the process of working on "Evenings ...", "Mirgorod", "Petersburg Tales" and "The Government Inspector", gave him the opportunity to create a brilliant poem.

In a letter to Pushkin from abroad, Gogol said that "the plot stretched out into a long novel." At the same time, another word slips through - “poem”, already in November 1836 he tells Zhukovsky: “Every morning ... I wrote 3 pages into my poem.” In another letter: "The thing ... does not look like a story or a novel, long, long, in several volumes, its name is DEAD SOULS - that's all you need to know about it for the time being." Later, Gogol more and more confidently says that this is a POEM, but not in the traditional sense of the word.

It is known that Gogol developed the theory of new genres in the Educational Book of Literature for Russian Youth. In it, in addition to the epic and the novel as the most important types of narrative literature, he singled out the "smaller kind of epic" (the middle between the novel and the epic).

The main signs of this SMALL EPIC are the depiction of the spiritual world of a private person, the story of his adventures, which make it possible to reveal a picture of the mores of the time, the writer's ability to draw a "statistically grasped picture of the shortcomings, abuses, vices" of the era. This phrase emphasizes the most important feature of the "lesser kind of epic" - accusatory orientation. Subsequently, Gogol insisted that his work was a POEM.

The words of Leo Tolstoy are known: “... every great artist must create his own forms. If the content of a work of art can be infinitely varied, so can their form. And about the “form” of Dead Souls, Tolstoy said: “What is this? Not a novel, not a short story. Something completely original."

Indeed, "Dead Souls" formed a kind of genre structure, previously unknown either in Russian or in world literature.

By December 1841, volume 1 of the book was ready for publication and submitted to the Moscow Censorship Committee, where it met with a hostile attitude. Gogol took the book and sent it to St. Petersburg, where, thanks to the efforts of friends, after long delays, demands for an amendment to 36 places and The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, in addition to changing the title, censorship allowed the book to be printed.

The name "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls" was proposed. On May 21, 1842, the poem went out of print.

c) About the history of the 2nd volume.

Why did Gogol burn volume 2? And he did it twice: in 1845 and 1852. It is probably impossible to give an exact answer to this question. One thing is clear - this was not the decision of a madman. A convincing and comprehensive, prophetic word did not work out, as Gogol believed, positive heroes were not given to him because of personal imperfection.

Therefore, he refused not only to continue working, but also from life (he refused to take food, medicine).

d) about the plot.

The core of the plot of "Dead Souls" is Chichikov's adventure. It only seemed incredible, in fact it was reliable in every smallest detail. Reality itself created the conditions for such adventures. Dead peasants, for whom the landowner had to pay tax to the treasury, were a burden for him. Naturally, the landowners dreamed of getting rid of the dead souls. If some of these "souls" were a burden, then others, with the help of fraudulent transactions, sought to benefit. Pledge them to the Board of Trustees at interest. In this way, it was possible to get a cash loan to buy land and become a landowner. This scam was not invented by Gogol, but taken from life.

e) Composition.

The composition of the poem is unusual. The narrative is built as a story of Chichikov's adventures. This made it possible to travel with the hero "all the corners and nooks and crannies of the Russian province." Chichikov is at the center of the plot and all events. The images of the landlords are almost not related to each other compositionally: they do not communicate with each other, each is revealed mainly in his relationship with Chichikov. Nevertheless, the poem cannot be considered as a cycle of short stories. It is enough to put any chapter in the wrong place, and the composition is loosened.

We get to know the city officials more thoroughly after the chapters devoted to the landowners. And this process of personality degradation is completed by Chichikov - dexterous, cunning, dodgy; he seemed to Gogol the most terrible. Here is the meaning of the composition of "Dead Souls" in brief.

But "Dead Souls" is not a novel, but a poem or a novel-poem. This is determined by both the composition and the emotional, lyrical tone of the work. There are no main and secondary characters in the usual sense of these words. The character who speaks a few words plays an equally important role in the structure of the work. In Dead Souls, almost every character is an indispensable hero.

For example, in Chapter 1 we meet two men who begin to talk about whether the wheel of the Chichikov britzka will reach Moscow or Kazan. They don't care about the visitor. He won’t reach Kazan, one argues, but he’ll probably reach Moscow, the other answers.

So, the provincial city is not far from Moscow! But most importantly, the crew of our hero has just entered the city, and the shrewd men are talking about how far they will go from here. The text is filled with such scenes and characters, and this creates a certain emotional atmosphere.

Let the reader not expect adventurous adventures from the heroes, the stories told will be everyday and ordinary.

Already at the beginning of the poem, we feel Gogol's ironic mustache to the reader, who is waiting for a romantic, mysterious beginning.

The narrative begins without the exposition traditional for Russian prose of the 30s and 40s of the 19th century - businesslike and energetic: we don’t know how Chichikov came to the idea of ​​buying dead souls, we don’t know his past life either (about all this in the last, 11th chapter).

Such a narrative was important for Gogol - most of the characters in the poem are static, which means that it was necessary to strengthen the internal dynamics of the plot. (This is an explanation of why the main character's story is given at the end of volume 1.)

f) The meaning of the title of the poem

The title of the work "Dead Souls" is ambiguous. Gogol, as you know, conceived a three-part work by analogy with Dante's Divine Comedy. The first volume is Hell, that is, the abode of dead souls.

Secondly, the plot of the work is connected with this. In the 19th century, dead peasants were called "dead souls". In the poem, Chichikov buys documents for dead peasants, and then sells them to the Board of Trustees. Dead souls in the documents were listed as alive, and Chichikov received a considerable amount for this.

Thirdly, the title emphasizes an acute social problem. The fact is that at that time there were a great many sellers and buyers of dead souls, this was not controlled and not punished by the authorities. The treasury was empty, and enterprising swindlers were making a fortune. The censorship urged Gogol to change the title of the poem to "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls", shifting the focus on Chichikov's personality, and not on an acute social problem.

Perhaps Chichikov's idea will seem strange to some, but it all comes down to the fact that there is no difference between the dead and the living. Both are on sale. Both dead peasants and landowners who agreed to sell documents for a certain fee. A person completely loses his human shape and becomes a commodity, and his whole essence is reduced to a piece of paper, which indicates whether you are alive or not. It turns out that the soul is mortal, which contradicts the main postulate of Christianity. The world becomes soulless, devoid of religion and any moral and ethical guidelines. Such a world is described epic. The lyrical component lies in the description of nature and the spiritual world.

3. Conversation to identify the primary perception of the read work.

Which pages of Dead Souls made you laugh, and which ones made you bitter?

Which of the heroes of "Dead Souls" seems harmless to you and who is the most terrible?

Whom did you sympathize with while reading the poem? What questions do you have while reading?

4. Collective work on the compilation of the table “Composition of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

“The composition of the poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls

V . Reflection. Summing up the lesson

Generalizing word of the teacher

The vast artistic experience gained in the process of working on "Evenings ...", "Mirgorod", "Petersburg Tales" and "The Government Inspector" made it possible for N.V. Gogol to create a brilliant poem. In a letter to Pushkin because of the

VI . Homework.

2. Prepare citation material for the images of Manilov and Korobochka.

In May 1842, a new work by Gogol appeared in the bookstores of both capitals. Let's try to figure out what the idea of ​​the poem "Dead Souls" is. The cover of the book was extremely intricate, looking at it, readers did not know that it was made according to the sketch of the author himself. The drawing placed on the cover was obviously important for Gogol, as it was repeated in the second lifetime edition of the poem in 1846.

Let's get acquainted with the history of the idea of ​​"Dead Souls" and its implementation, see how it changed, how the idea of ​​​​creating a monumental epic canvas that would embrace all the diversity of Russian life gradually crystallized. The embodiment of such a grandiose idea presupposed the use of appropriate artistic means, an adequate genre, and a special, symbolic name.

Based on the already established cultural tradition, Gogol puts the hero's journey at the heart of the plot, but we have a special journey: it is not only and not so much the movement of a person in time and space, this is the journey of the human soul.

Let's try to clarify our thought. Instead of famously twisted intrigue and stories about Chichikov's "adventures," the reader's gaze was presented to one of the Russian provincial cities. The hero's journey was reduced to a detour of five landowners who lived nearby, and the author told about the main character and his true intentions a little before he parted with him. As the story progresses, the author seems to forget about the plot and talks about events that seem to be not even connected with intrigue. But this is not negligence, but the conscious attitude of the writer.

The fact is that, when creating the idea of ​​the poem "Dead Souls", Gogol followed another cultural tradition. He intended to write a work that consists of three parts, modeled on Dante's Divine Comedy. In the poem of the great Italian, the journey of a person, or rather, of his soul, is presented as an ascent from vice to perfection, to the realization of the true destiny of a person and world harmony. Thus, Dante's "Hell" turned out to be comparable with the first volume of the poem: like the lyrical hero of the poem, making a pilgrimage to the depths of the earth, Gogol's Chichikov gradually plunges into the abyss of vice, the reader is presented with characters "one more vulgar than the other." And in the finale, the anthem of Russia suddenly sounds, the “bird-troika”. Where? Why? “This is still a mystery,” Gogol wrote at the end of work on the first volume, “which should have been suddenly, to the amazement of everyone ...”.

In many ways, the realization of the plan remained a mystery, inaccessible to the reader, but the surviving chapters of the second volume, the statements of contemporaries allow us to say that the next two volumes should be correlated with Purgatory and Paradise.

So, before us is the journey of the soul, but what kind of soul? Dead? But the soul is immortal. This was pointed out to the author in the Moscow censorship committee, when the censor Golokhvastov literally screamed, seeing only the title of the manuscript: “No, I will never allow this: the soul is immortal ...” and did not give permission to print. On the advice of friends, Gogol goes to St. Petersburg to show the manuscript to the local censorship and have the book printed there. However, history is somewhat repeating itself. Although the censor Nikitenko gave permission to print, he demanded that the text be amended: the title should be changed and The Tale of Captain Kopeikin should be removed. Reluctantly, Gogol made concessions, reworking The Tale... and slightly changing the title. Now it sounded different: "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls." But on the cover of the first edition, it was the old name that immediately caught the eye. At the insistence of the author, it was highlighted in a particularly large font, not only because it was connected with the plot: "dead souls" turned out to be a commodity, around the purchase and sale of which Chichikov's scam revolved. However, in official documents, the dead peasants, who were listed as alive according to the revision tales, were called "decrepit". This was pointed out to the writer by his contemporary M. P. Pogodin: "... there are no "dead souls" in the Russian language. It is hard to believe that Gogol did not know this, but he still put the word "dead" into the mouths of the heroes of the poem in relation to the souls acquired by Chichikov. (Let us note in parenthesis that, in making a deal with Plyushkin, Chichikov buys not only the dead, but also the fugitive, that is, the "distressed" peasants, classifying them as "dead".)

Thus, using the word "dead", Gogol wanted to give a special meaning to the whole work. This word helps to reveal the general idea of ​​"Dead Soul".