K. Paustovsky called this story a “fragrant” work about love, and researchers compared it with a Beethoven sonata. It's about about the "Garnet Bracelet" by A. Kuprin. Pupils get acquainted with him in the 11th grade. The story captivates the reader with an exciting plot, deep images and original interpretation. eternal theme love. We offer an analysis of the work, which will be a good assistant in preparing for the lesson and the exam. For convenience, the article contains a brief and full parsing according to plan.
Brief analysis
Year of writing - 1910
History of creation- A. I. Kuprin was inspired to write a work by a story heard in a family of acquaintances.
Theme- The story reveals traditional themes unrequited love, a sincere feeling that all women dream of.
Composition- The semantic and formal organization of the story has its own peculiarities. The work begins with an epigraph addressed to Beethoven's Sonata No. 2. The same musical masterpiece acts as a character in the final part. The author wove small love stories told by Vasily Lvovich into the outline of the main plot. The story consists of 13 parts.
Genre- The story. The writer himself considered his work a story.
Direction- Realism.
History of creation
The history of the creation of the story is connected with real events. A. Kuprin was a friend of the family of Governor Lyubimov. While watching the family album, the Lyubimovs told Alexander Ivanovich an interesting love story. A telegraph official was in love with the governor's wife. The woman collected his letters and made sketches for them. Once she received a gift from her admirer: a gold-plated chain and a pendant in the shape of an Easter egg.
Work on the work began in September 1910, as evidenced by the author's letters addressed to colleagues in the pen. At first, Alexander Ivanovich was going to write a story. But he was so inspired by the artistic transformation of the story he heard that the work turned out to be much larger than it was intended. Created Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet" for about 3 months. He wrote to Batyushkov about the progress of the work. In one of the letters, the writer admitted that he had difficulties associated with his "ignorance in music." Nevertheless, Alexander Ivanovich valued the "Garnet Bracelet" very much, so he did not want to "crumple" it.
For the first time the work saw the world on the pages of the magazine "Earth" in 1911. In the criticism of the work, emphasis was placed on his ideas and expressive "psychological situations".
Theme
In order to catch the ideological sound of the story "The Garnet Bracelet", its analysis should begin with a description of the main problem.
Motif of love has always been common in the literature. The masters of the pen revealed different facets of this feeling, trying to understand how it affects a person. In the work of A. Kuprin, this motive takes pride of place. main topic "Garnet Bracelet" - unrequited love. The problematics of the work is dictated by the specified theme.
The events of the story unfold at the Sheins' dacha. The author begins the work with landscape sketches. The end of summer did not please with good weather, but in early September, nature compensated for the gloomy August with sunny days. Reading the work further, it is easy to guess that landscapes not only help to immerse yourself in the countryside atmosphere, but also symbolize changes in life. main character Vera Nikolaevna Sheina: her life with her husband was gray and boring until the woman received an unusual gift.
At the beginning of the work, the reader observes only two heroes - the Shein spouses. The author focuses on the fact that the love between these people has faded away, or rather, “turned into a feeling of lasting, true, true friendship.” The system of images is supplemented in an episode reproducing the celebration of the princess's name day.
The holiday is remembered by the stories of Prince Vasily Lvovich about the telegraph operator's unrequited love for his wife. On the same day, Vera Nikolaevna received as a gift Garnet bracelet and a letter signed with initials. The woman told about a strange gift to her husband, father's friend and brother. They decided to find the author of the letter.
It turned out that the gift was presented by the official Zheltkov, who was madly in love with the princess. The brother of Vera Nikolaevna returned the bracelet to the man. After an explanation with the Sheins, Zheltkov committed suicide. He left a note to his beloved, in which he asked to play a Beethoven sonata if Vera remembered him. In the evening, the woman fulfilled the request of the deceased and finally felt that the man had forgiven her.
"Garnet Bracelet" is filled with reflections of love that escape from the lips of the characters. These thoughts are like keys to the door, behind which are hidden answers about the essence of a tender, but sometimes ruthless feeling. However, the author does not try to impose his point of view. The reader must draw his own conclusions. To understand what the writer teaches, you need to analyze the actions of the characters, their characters and destinies.
The work of A. Kuprin is filled with symbols. main role plays a garnet bracelet, hence the title of the story. Decoration symbolizes true love. The bracelet contains five gems. In one of the parables of King Solomon, they meant love, passion and anger. The interpretation of the meaning of the title of the story will be incomplete without taking into account the symbolic component. Also, Beethoven's sonata attracts special attention, which in this context can be interpreted as a symbol of unhappy, but eternal love.
The work develops idea that true love does not disappear from the heart without a trace. The basic idea- sincere love exists, you just need to be able to notice and accept it.
Composition
Features of the composition of the work are manifested both at the formal and at the semantic level. First, A. Kuprin refers the reader to Beethoven's sonnet by means of an epigraph. In the finale, it turns out that the musical masterpiece plays the role of a symbol. With this symbolic image a frame is created that enhances the ideological sound.
The order of the plot elements is not violated. Exposure - landscape sketches, acquaintance with the Shein family, a story about the upcoming holiday. The plot - Vera Nikolaevna receiving a gift. The development of events - a story about name days, the search for a gift addressee, a meeting with Zheltkov. The climax is Zheltkov's confession that only death will kill his feelings. The denouement is the death of Zheltkov and the story of how Vera listens to the sonata.
main characters
Genre
The genre of "Garnet Bracelet" is a story. The work reveals several storylines, the system of images is quite branched. In terms of volume, it also approaches the story. A. Kuprin was a representative of realism, and the analyzed story is written in this direction. It is based on real events, in addition, the author expressively conveyed the atmosphere of his era.
In literature in general, and in Russian literature in particular, the problem of the relationship of a person with the world around him occupies a significant place. Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russians thought about this 19th writers century. The fruits of these reflections were reflected in many stable formulations, for example, in famous phrase"Wednesday for-eat." There has been a marked increase in interest in this topic in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, in an era that was a turning point for Russia. In the spirit of humanistic traditions inherited from the past, Alexander Kuprin considers this issue, using all the artistic means that became the achievement of the turn of the century.
The work of this writer was long time as if in a shadow, it was obscured prominent representatives contemporaries. Today, the works of A. Kuprin are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity, democracy in the noblest sense of the word. The world of A. Kuprin's heroes is colorful and varied. He himself lived a bright life filled with diverse impressions - he was a military man, a clerk, a land surveyor, and an actor in a traveling circus troupe. A. Kuprin said many times that he does not understand writers who do not find anything more interesting in nature and people than themselves. The writer is very interested human fates, while the heroes of his works are most often not successful, successful, satisfied with themselves and life people, but rather the opposite. But A. Kuprin treats his outwardly unsightly and unlucky heroes with that warmth and humanity that has always distinguished Russian writers. In the characters of the stories "White Poodle", "Taper", "Gambrinus", as well as many others, the features of " little man”, however, the writer does not simply reproduce this type, but rethinks it.
We will reveal very famous story Kupri-na "Garnet Bracelet", written in 1911. At the heart of his story is real event- the love of the telegraph official P.P. Zheltkov to his wife important official, member State Council Lyubimov. This story is mentioned by the son of Lubimo-Voy, the author famous memories Lev Lyubimov. In life, everything ended differently than in the story of A. Kuprin, -. the official accepted the bracelet and stopped writing letters, nothing more was known about him. In the Lyubimov family, this incident was remembered as strange and curious. Under the pen of the writer, the story turned into a sad and tragic story about the life of a little man who was elevated and destroyed by love. This is transmitted through the composition of the work. It gives an extensive, unhurried introduction, which introduces us to the exposition of the Scheny's house. The very story of extraordinary love, the story of the garnet bracelet, is told in such a way that we see it through the eyes of different people: Prince Vasily, who tells it as an anecdotal incident, brother Nikolai, for whom everything in this story is seen as offensive and suspicious, Vera Nikolaevna herself and, finally, General Anosov, who was the first to suggest that here maybe true love lies, "which women dream of and which men are no longer capable of." The circle to which Vera Nikolaevna belongs cannot admit that this is a real feeling, not so much because of the strange behavior of Zheltkov, but because of the prejudices that rule them. Kuprin, wishing to convince us readers of the authenticity of Zheltkov's love, resorts to the most irrefutable argument - the hero's suicide. Thus, the right of the little man to happiness is affirmed, while the motive of his moral superiority over the people who so cruelly offended him, who failed to understand the strength of the feeling that made up the whole meaning of his life, arises.
Kuprin's story is both sad and bright. It permeates musical beginning- indicated as an epigraph musical composition, - and the story ends with a scene when the heroine listens to music at a tragic moment of moral insight for her. The text of the work includes the theme of the inevitability of the death of the protagonist - it is conveyed through the symbolism of light: at the moment of receiving the bracelet, Vera Nikolaevna sees red stones in it and anxiously thinks that they look like blood. Finally, the theme of the collision of various cultural traditions arises in the story: the theme of the east - the Mongolian blood of the father of Vera and Anna, the Tatar prince, introduces the theme of love-passion, recklessness into the story; the mention that the mother of the sisters is an Englishwoman introduces the theme of rationality, impassibility in the sphere of feelings, the power of the mind over the heart. In the final part of the story, a third line appears: it is no coincidence that the landlady turns out to be a Catholic. This introduces into the work the theme of love-worship, which in Catholicism is surrounded mother of God, love-self-sacrifice.
The hero of A. Kuprin, a small man, faces the world of non-understanding around him, the world of people for whom love is a kind of madness, and, having faced it, dies.
In the wonderful story "Olesya" we see the poetic image of a girl who grew up in the hut of an old "sorceress", outside the usual norms. peasant family. Olesya's love for the intellectual Ivan Timofeevich, who accidentally drove into a remote forest village, is a free, simple and strong feeling, without looking back and obligations, among the tall pines, painted with a crimson reflection of the dying dawn. The story of the girl ends tragically. AT free life Olesya is invaded by both the selfish calculations of village officials and the superstitions of dark peasants. Beaten and os-meyannaya, Olesya is forced to flee with Manuilikha from the forest nest.
In the works of Kuprin, many heroes have similar features - this is spiritual purity, dreaminess, ardent imagination, combined with impracticality and lack of will. And they are most clearly revealed in love. All the heroes treat the woman with her sons pure and reverent. Readiness to fight for the sake of a beloved woman, romantic worship, chivalrous service to her - and at the same time underestimating oneself, disbelief in one's own strengths. Men in Kuprin's stories seem to change places with women. These are the energetic, strong-willed "Polesye witch" Olesya and the "kind, but only weak" Ivan Timofeevich, the smart, prudent Shurochka Nikolaevna and the "pure, sweet, but weak and pathetic" Lieutenant Romashov. All these are Kuprin's heroes with a fragile soul, caught in a cruel world.
The atmosphere of revolutionary days breathes in Kuprin's excellent story "Gambrinus", created in the alarming year 1907. The theme of all-conquering art is woven here with the idea of democracy, the bold protest of the “little man” against the black forces of arbitrariness and reaction. Meek and merry Sashka outstanding talent violinist and sincerity attracts a diverse crowd of port loaders, fishermen, smugglers to the Odessa tavern. They enthusiastically meet melodies, which, as it were, are a background, as if reflecting public moods and events - from Russo-Japanese War until the rebellious days of the revolution, when Sashkin's violin sounds with the cheerful rhythms of Marseilles. In the days of the onset of terror, Sashka challenges disguised detectives and black-hundred "scoundrels in a hat", refusing to play the monarchist anthem at their request, openly denouncing them for murders and pogroms.
Crippled by the tsarist secret police, he returns to his port friends to play for them on the outskirts of the melody of the deafeningly cheerful "Shepherd". Free creativity, power folk spirit, according to Kuprin, are invincible.
Returning to the question posed at the beginning - "man and the world around him", - we note that in Russian prose of the beginning of the 20th century a wide range of answers to it is presented. We have considered only one of the options - the tragic collision of the individual with the world around him, his insight and death, but the death is not meaningless, but contains an element of purification and high meaning.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a Russian writer who, without a doubt, can be attributed to the classics. His books are still recognizable and loved by the reader, and not only under duress. school teacher but at a conscious age. hallmark his work is documentary, his stories were based on real events, or real events became the impetus for their creation - among them is the story "Garnet Bracelet".
"Garnet bracelet" - real story, heard by Kuprin from friends when watching family albums. The governor's wife made sketches for letters sent to her by a certain telegraph official who was unrequitedly in love with her. Once she received a gift from him: a gilded chain with a pendant in the shape of an Easter egg. Alexander Ivanovich took this story as the basis for his work, turning these meager, uninteresting data into a touching story. The writer replaced the chain with the pendant with a bracelet with five grenades, which, according to King Solomon in one story, mean anger, passion and love.
Plot
The "Garnet Bracelet" begins with preparations for the celebration, when Vera Nikolaevna Sheina suddenly receives a gift from an unknown person: a bracelet in which five garnets adorned with green splashes. The paper note that came with the gift stated that gem able to endow the owner with foresight. The princess shares the news with her husband and shows a bracelet from unknown person. In the course of the action, it turns out that this person is a petty official named Zheltkov. For the first time, he saw Vera Nikolaevna in the circus many years ago, and since then, suddenly flared feelings have not faded away: even the threats of her brother do not stop him. Nevertheless, Zheltkov does not want to torment his beloved, and he decides to commit suicide so as not to bring shame on her.
The story ends with the realization of power sincere feelings stranger who comes to Vera Nikolaevna.
Love Theme
The main theme of the work "Garnet Bracelet" is, of course, the theme of unrequited love. Moreover, Zheltkov is a prime example selfless, sincere, sacrificial feelings that he does not betray, even when his loyalty cost his life. Princess Sheina also fully feels the power of these emotions: years later she realizes that she wants to be loved and love again - and the jewelry presented by Zheltkov marks the imminent emergence of passion. Indeed, soon she falls in love with life again and feels it in a new way. you can read on our website.
The theme of love in the story is frontal and permeates the entire text: this love is high and pure, a manifestation of God. Vera Nikolaevna feels internal changes even after Zheltkov's suicide, she knew the sincerity of a noble feeling and readiness to sacrifice herself for the sake of someone who would not give anything in return. Love changes the character of the whole story: the princess's feelings die, wither, fall asleep, being once passionate and hot, and turned into a strong friendship with her husband. But Vera Nikolaevna in her soul still continues to strive for love, even if it became dull over time: she needed time to let passion and sensuality come out, but before that her calmness could seem indifferent and cold - this puts a high wall for Zheltkov.
Main characters (characteristic)
- Zheltkov worked as a minor official in the control chamber (the author placed him there to emphasize that main character was a small person). Kuprin does not even indicate his name in the work: only the letters are signed with initials. Zheltkov is exactly what the reader imagines as a low-ranking person: thin, pale-skinned, straightening his jacket with nervous fingers. He has delicate features, eyes blue color. According to the story, Zheltkov is about thirty years old, he is not rich, modest, decent and noble - even the husband of Vera Nikolaevna notes this. The elderly mistress of his room says that for all the eight years that he lived with her, he became like a family to her, and he was a very sweet interlocutor. “... Eight years ago I saw you in a circus in a box, and then in the first second I said to myself: I love her because there is nothing like her in the world, there is nothing better ...”, - so begins modern fairy tale about Zheltkov's feelings for Vera Nikolaevna, although he never cherished hopes that they would be mutual: "... seven years of hopeless and polite love ...". He knows the address of his beloved, what she does, where she spends time, what she wears - he admits that nothing but her is interesting and joyful to him. you can also find it on our website.
- Vera Nikolaevna Sheina inherited her mother's appearance: a tall, stately aristocrat with a proud face. Her character is strict, uncomplicated, calm, she is polite and courteous, kind to everyone. She has been married to Prince Vasily Shein for more than six years, together they are full members high society, arrange balls and receptions, despite financial difficulties.
- Vera Nikolaevna has a sister, the youngest, Anna Nikolaevna Friesse, who, unlike her, inherited her father's features and his Mongolian blood: a narrow slit in the eyes, femininity of features, flirty facial expressions. Her character is frivolous, perky, cheerful, but contradictory. Her husband, Gustav Ivanovich, is rich and stupid, but idolizes her and is constantly nearby: his feelings, it seems, have not changed from the first day, he courted her and still adored her very much. Anna Nikolaevna cannot stand her husband, but they have a son and a daughter, she is faithful to him, although she is quite contemptuous.
- General Anosov - Godfather Anna, his full name- Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov. He is fat and tall, good-natured, patient, does not hear well, he has a large, red face with clear eyes, he is very respected for the years of his service, he is fair and courageous, he has a clear conscience, constantly wears a frock coat and cap, uses a hearing horn and a stick.
- Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein is the husband of Vera Nikolaevna. Little is said about his appearance, only that he has blond hair and a big head. He is very soft, compassionate, sensitive - he treats Zheltkov's feelings with understanding, unshakably calm. He has a sister, a widow, whom he invites to the celebration.
Features of Kuprin's creativity
Kuprin was close to the theme of the character's awareness of the truth of life. He saw the world around him in a special way and strove to learn something new, his works are characterized by drama, some anxiety, excitement. "Cognitive pathos" - they call it calling card his creativity.
In many ways, Dostoevsky influenced Kuprin's work, especially early stages When he writes about fatal and significant moments, the role of chance, the psychology of characters' passion - often the writer makes it clear that not everything can be understood.
It can be said that one of the features of Kuprin's work is a dialogue with readers, in which the plot is traced and reality is depicted - this is especially noticeable in his essays, which in turn were influenced by G. Uspensky.
Some of his works are famous for their lightness and immediacy, poetization of reality, naturalness and naturalness. Others - the theme of inhumanity and protest, the struggle for feelings. At some point, he becomes interested in history, antiquity, legends, and so fantastic stories with the motives of the inevitability of chance and fate.
Genre and composition
Kuprin is characterized by love for stories within stories. The “Garnet Bracelet” is another proof: Zheltkov’s note about the qualities of the jewelry is the plot in the plot.
The author shows love with different points vision - love general concepts and Zheltkov's unrequited feelings. These feelings have no future: marital status Vera Nikolaevna, difference in social status, circumstances - everything is against them. In this doom, the subtle romanticism invested by the writer in the text of the story is manifested.
The whole work is ringed by references to the same piece of music - Beethoven's sonata. So the music, "sounding" throughout the story, shows the power of love and is the key to understanding the text, resounding in the final lines. Music communicates the unsaid. Moreover, it is Beethoven's sonata at the climax that symbolizes the awakening of the soul of Vera Nikolaevna and the realization that comes to her. Such attention to melody is also a manifestation of romanticism.
The composition of the story implies the presence of symbols and hidden meanings. So a fading garden implies the fading passion of Vera Nikolaevna. General Anosov tells short stories about love - these are also small plots within the main narrative.
Difficult to define genre affiliation"Pomegranate Bracelet" In fact, the work is called a story, largely due to its composition: it consists of thirteen short chapters. However, the writer himself called "Garnet Bracelet" a story.
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The recognized master of love prose is Alexander Kuprin, the author of the story "Garnet Bracelet". “Love is selfless, selfless, not waiting for a reward, the one about which it is said “strong as death.” Love, for which to accomplish any feat, to give one's life, to go to torment is not labor at all, but one joy, ”such love touched an ordinary middle-class official Zheltkov.
He once and for all fell in love with Vera. And not ordinary love, but the one that happens once in a lifetime, divine. Faith does not attach importance to the feelings of her admirer, lives full life. She marries a quiet, calm, good man from all sides, Prince Shein. And her quiet, calm life begins, not overshadowed by anything, neither sadness nor joy.
A special role is assigned to Vera's uncle, General Anosov. In his mouth, Kuprin puts the words that are the theme of the story: “... maybe your life path, Vera, crossed exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of. Thus, in his story, Kuprin wants to show the story of love, albeit unrequited, but nonetheless, this unrequitedness has not become less strong and has not turned into hatred. According to General Anosov, any person dreams of such love, but not everyone gets it. And Vera, in her family life there is no such love. There is another thing - respect, mutual, for each other. Kuprin, in his story, sought to show readers that such sublime love is already a thing of the past, there are only a few people left, such as the telegraph operator Zheltkov, who are capable of it. But many, the author emphasizes, are not at all able to understand the deep meaning of love.
And Vera herself does not understand that she is destined to be loved by fate. Of course, she is a lady of a certain position in society, a countess. Probably, happy outcome such love could not be. Kuprin probably himself understands that Vera is not able to connect her life with the "little" man Zheltkov. Although it still leaves her one chance to live the rest of her life in love. Vera missed her chance to be happy.
The idea of the work
The idea of the story "Garnet Bracelet" is faith in the power of a true, all-consuming feeling, which is not afraid of death itself. When they try to take away the only thing from Zheltkov - his love, when they want to deprive him of the opportunity to see his beloved, then he decides to die voluntarily. Thus, Kuprin is trying to say that life without love is meaningless. This is a feeling that does not know temporary, social and other barriers. No wonder the name of the main one is Vera. Kuprin believes that his readers will wake up and understand that not only material values rich man, but rich inner world, soul. The words of Zheltkov “Let the your name", - this is the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work. Every woman dreams of hearing such words, but big love only by the Lord and not by all.
In literature in general, and in Russian literature in particular, the problem of man's relationship with the world around him occupies a significant place. Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russian writers of the 19th century thought about this. The fruits of these reflections were reflected in many stable formulations, for example, in the well-known phrase "the environment is stuck." Interest in this topic noticeably intensified in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in an era that was a turning point for Russia. In the spirit of humanistic traditions inherited from the past, Alexander Kuprin considers this issue, using all the artistic means that became the achievement of the turn of the century. The work of this writer was for a long time, as it were, in the shadows, he was overshadowed by the bright representatives of his contemporaries. Today, the works of A. Kuprin are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity, democracy in the noblest sense of the word. The world of A. Kuprin's heroes is colorful and varied. He himself lived a bright life filled with diverse impressions - he was a military man, a clerk, a land surveyor, and an actor in a traveling circus troupe. A. Kuprin said many times that he does not understand writers who do not find anything more interesting in nature and people than themselves. The writer is very interested in human destinies, while the heroes of his works are most often not lucky, prosperous, satisfied with themselves and life people, but rather the opposite. But A. Kuprin treats his outwardly unsightly and unlucky heroes with the warmth and humanity that have always distinguished Russian writers. In the characters of the stories "White Poodle", "Taper", "Gambrinus", as well as many others, the features of a "little man" are guessed, but the writer does not just reproduce this type, but rethinks it. Let's reveal a very famous story by Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet", written in 1911. Its plot is based on a real event - the love of telegraph official P.P. Zheltkov for the wife of an important official, member of the State Council Lyubimov. This story is mentioned by the son of Lyubimova, the author of famous memoirs, Lev Lyubimov. In life, everything ended differently than in the story of A. Kuprin - the official accepted the bracelet and stopped writing letters, nothing more was known about him. In the Lyubimov family, this incident was remembered as strange and curious. Under the writer's pen, the story turned into a sad and tragic story about the life of a little man, who was exalted and destroyed by love. This is transmitted through the composition of the work. It gives an extensive, unhurried introduction, which introduces us to the exposition of the Scheins' house. The very story of extraordinary love, the story of the garnet bracelet, is told in such a way that we see it through the eyes of different people: Prince Vasily, who tells it as an anecdotal incident, brother Nikolai, for whom everything in this story is seen as offensive and suspicious, Vera Nikolaevna herself and, finally, , General Anosov, who was the first to suggest that here, perhaps, true love lies, "which women dream about and which men are no longer capable of." The circle to which Vera Nikolaevna belongs cannot admit that this is a real feeling, not so much because of the strange behavior of Zheltkov, but because of the prejudices that rule them. Kuprin, wishing to convince us readers of the authenticity of Zheltkov's love, resorts to the most irrefutable argument - the hero's suicide. Thus, the right of the little man to happiness is affirmed, while the motive of his moral superiority over the people who so cruelly offended him, who failed to understand the strength of the feeling that made up the whole meaning of his life, arises. Kuprin's story is both sad and bright. It is permeated with a musical beginning - a piece of music is indicated as an epigraph - and the story ends with a scene when the heroine listens to music at a tragic moment of moral enlightenment for her. The text of the work includes the theme of the inevitability of the death of the protagonist - it is conveyed through the symbolism of light: at the moment of receiving the bracelet, Vera Nikolaevna sees red stones in it and thinks with alarm that they look like blood. Finally, the theme of the clash of different cultural traditions arises in the story: the theme of the east - the Mongolian blood of Vera and Anna's father, the Tatar prince, introduces the theme of love-passion, recklessness into the story; the mention that the sisters' mother is an Englishwoman introduces the theme of rationality, dispassion in the sphere of feelings, the power of reason over the heart. In the final part of the story, a third line appears: it is no coincidence that the landlady turns out to be a Catholic. This introduces into the work the theme of love-worship, which in Catholicism surrounds the Mother of God, love-self-sacrifice. The hero of A. Kuprin, a small man, faces the world of misunderstanding around him, the world of people for whom love is a kind of madness, and, having faced it, dies. In the wonderful story "Olesya" we see the poetic image of a girl who grew up in the hut of an old "sorceress", outside the usual norms of a peasant family. Olesya's love for the intellectual Ivan Timofeevich, who accidentally drove into a remote forest village, is a free, simple and strong feeling, without looking back and obligations, among tall pines, painted with a crimson reflection of the dying dawn. The girl's story ends tragically. Olesya's free life is invaded by the mercenary calculations of village officials and the superstitions of dark peasants. Beaten and ridiculed, Olesya is forced to flee the forest nest with Manuilikha. In the works of Kuprin, many heroes have similar features - this is spiritual purity, dreaminess, ardent imagination, combined with impracticality and lack of will. And they are most clearly revealed in love. All the heroes treat the woman with filial purity and reverence. Readiness to fight for the sake of a beloved woman, romantic worship, chivalrous service to her - and at the same time underestimating oneself, disbelief in one's own strengths. Men in Kuprin's stories seem to change places with women. These are the energetic, strong-willed "Polesye sorceress" Olesya and the "kind, but only weak" Ivan Timofeevich, the smart, prudent Shurochka Nikolaevna and the "pure, sweet, but weak and pathetic" Lieutenant Romashov. All these are Kuprin's heroes with a fragile soul, caught in a cruel world. The atmosphere of revolutionary days breathes in Kuprin's excellent story "Gambrinus", created in the alarming year 1907. The theme of all-conquering art is woven here with the idea of democracy, the bold protest of the "little man" against the black forces of arbitrariness and reaction. Meek and cheerful Sashka, with his outstanding talent as a violinist and sincerity, attracts a diverse crowd of port loaders, fishermen, and smugglers to the Odessa tavern. With delight they meet the melodies, which, as it were, are a background, as if reflecting public moods and events - from the Russian-Japanese war to the rebellious days of the revolution, when Sasha's violin sounds with the cheerful rhythms of the Marseillaise. In the days of the onset of terror, Sashka challenges the disguised detectives and the Black Hundred "scoundrels in a hat", refusing to play the monarchical anthem at their request, openly denouncing them for murders and pogroms. Crippled by the tsarist secret police, he returns to his port friends to play for them on the outskirts of the melody of the deafeningly cheerful "Shepherd". Free creativity, the strength of the national spirit, according to Kuprin, are invincible. Returning to the question posed at the beginning - “man and the world around him”, we note that Russian prose of the early 20th century presents a wide range of answers to it. We considered only one of the options - the tragic collision of the individual with the world around him, his insight and death, but the death is not meaningless, but contains an element of purification and high meaning.
