"What to do?", Analysis of the novel by Chernyshevsky. What to do? (novel) What is the novel about what to do

In literature lessons, as a rule, little attention is paid to the work of Chernyshevsky "What to do". This is partly correct: delving into Vera Pavlovna's endless dreams, analyzing the plot, which serves only as a frame for the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe work, trying through gnashing of teeth to make out not the most highly artistic and easy language of the author, stumbling through almost every word - the classes are long, boring and not completely justified. From the point of view of literary criticism, this is not the best choice to consider. But what an influence this novel had on the development of Russian social thought in the 19th century! After reading it, you can understand how the most progressive thinkers of that time lived.

Nikolai Chernyshevsky was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress for his radical statements about the authorities at that time. His work was also born there. The history of the novel "What to do" began in December 1862 (the author added it in April 1863). Initially, the writer conceived it as a response to Turgenev's book "Fathers and Sons", where he portrayed a man of a new formation - the nihilist Bazarov. Eugene comprehended a tragic ending, but in contrast to him, Rakhmetov was created - a more perfect hero of the same mindset, who no longer suffered from Anna Odintsova, but was engaged in business, and very productively.

To deceive the vigilant censors and the judicial commission, the author introduces a love triangle into the political utopia, which takes up most of the text. With this trick, he confused the officials, and they gave permission to publish. When the deception was revealed, it was already too late: the novel "What to do" was sold throughout the country in issues of Sovremennik and handwritten copies. The ban did not stop the distribution of the book, or the imitation of it. It was removed only in 1905, and a year later, individual copies were officially released. But for the first time in Russian it was published long before that, in 1867 in Geneva.

It is worth citing some quotes from contemporaries in order to understand how significant and necessary this book was for people of that time.

The writer Leskov recalled: “They talked about Chernyshevsky’s novel not in a whisper, not in silence, but at full throat in the halls, at the entrances, at Mrs. Milbret’s table and in the basement brewery of Steenbock’s passage. They shouted: "disgusting", "lovely", "abomination", etc. - all in different tones. "

The anarchist Kropotkin spoke enthusiastically about the work:

For Russian youth of that time, it was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner

Even Lenin honored her with his praise:

The novel "What to do?" This is a thing that gives you a charge for life.

Genre

There is an antithesis in the work: the direction of the novel "What to do" is sociological realism, and the genre is utopia. That is, truth and fiction are closely adjacent in the book and generate a mixture of the present (objectively reflected realities of that time) and the future (the image of Rakhmetov, the dreams of Vera Pavlovna). That is why he caused such a resonance in society: people painfully perceived the prospects that Chernyshevsky put forward.

In addition, "What to Do" is a philosophical and publicistic novel. He earned this title thanks to the hidden meanings that the author gradually introduced. He was not a writer either, he simply used a literary form that everyone understood to spread his political views and express his deep thoughts about a just social structure of tomorrow. It is the journalistic intensity that is obvious in his work, it is precisely philosophical issues that are highlighted, and the fictional plot serves only as a cover from the close attention of the censors.

What is the novel about?

It's time to tell what the book "What is to be done?" The action begins with an unknown man committing suicide by shooting himself and falling into the river. It turned out to be a certain Dmitry Lopukhov, a progressive-minded young man who was pushed to this desperate act by love and friendship.

The essence of the prehistory of "What to do" is as follows: the main character Vera lives with an ignorant and rude family, a calculating and cruel mother has established her own rules there. She wants to marry her daughter to the rich son of the mistress of the house where her husband works as a manager. An avaricious woman does not shun any means, she can even sacrifice the honor of her daughter. A moral and proud girl is looking for salvation from her brother's tutor, student Lopukhov. He secretly engaged in her education, sparing a bright head. He arranges for her to escape from home under the auspices of a fictitious marriage. In fact, young people live like brother and sister, there are no love feelings between them.

"Spouses" often visit a society of like-minded people, where the heroine meets Lopukhov's best friend, Kirsanov. Alexander and Vera are imbued with mutual sympathy, but they cannot be together, as they are afraid of hurting the feelings of a friend. Dmitry became attached to his "wife", discovered in her a multifaceted and strong personality, engaged in her education. A girl, for example, does not want to sit on his neck and wants to arrange her life on her own, opening a sewing workshop, where women in trouble could honestly earn. With the help of loyal friends, she realizes her dream, and a gallery of female images opens before us with life stories characterizing a vicious environment where the weaker sex has to fight for survival and defend honor.

Dmitry feels that he is interfering with his friends, and fakes his own suicide, so as not to stand in their way. He loves and respects his wife, but he understands that she will be happy only with Kirsanov. Naturally, no one knows about his plans, everyone sincerely mourns his death. But from a number of hints from the author, we understand that Lopukhov calmly left abroad and returned from there in the final, reuniting with his comrades.

A separate line of meaning is the company's acquaintance with Rakhmetov, a man of a new formation who embodies the ideal of a revolutionary, according to Chernyshevsky (he came to Vera on the day she received a note about her husband's suicide). It is not the hero's actions that are revolutionary, but his very essence. The author tells about him in detail, reporting that he sold the estate and led a Spartan lifestyle, just to help his people. The true meaning of the book is hidden in his image.

The main characters and their characteristics

First of all, the novel is notable for its characters, and not for the plot, which was needed to distract the attention of the censors. Chernyshevsky in his work "What to do" draws images of strong people, "salt of the earth", intelligent, decisive, courageous and honest, people on whose shoulders later the frantic machine of revolution will rush at full speed. These are the images of Kirsanov, Lopukhov, Vera Pavlovna, who are the central characters of the book. All of them are constant participants in the action in the work. But above them the image of Rakhmetov stands alone. In contrast to him and the trinity "Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna" the writer wanted to show the "usualness" of the latter. In the last chapters, he clarifies and literally chews on his plan for the reader:

“At the height at which they stand, all people must stand, can stand. Higher natures, which you and I cannot keep up with, my pathetic friends, higher natures are not like that. I showed you a light outline of the profile of one of them: you see the wrong features "

Rakhmetov - the main character of the novel "What is to be done?" Already in the middle of 1917 he began his transformation into a "special person", before that he was "an ordinary, good, high school student who finished the course." Having managed to appreciate all the "delights" of a free student life, he quickly lost interest in them: he wanted something more, meaningful, and fate brought him to Kirsanov, who helped him to embark on the path of rebirth. He began to greedily absorb knowledge from all sorts of areas, read books "drunkenly", train physical strength by hard hard work, gymnastics and lead a Spartan lifestyle to strengthen his will: give up luxury in clothes, sleep on felt, there is only that can afford the common people. For closeness with the people, determination, developed strength among people, he acquired the nickname "Nikita Lomov", in honor of the famous barge haule, distinguished by his physical capabilities. In the circle of friends, they began to call him a "rigorist" because "he accepted the original principles in material, moral, and mental life", and later "they developed into a complete system, which he adhered to rigorously." This is an extremely purposeful and fruitful person who works for the good of someone else's happiness and limits his own, I am content with little.
Vera Pavlovna - the main heroine of the novel "What to do", a beautiful dark woman with long dark hair. In her family, she felt like a stranger, because her mother tried to marry her profitably at any cost. Although she was characterized by calmness, poise and thoughtfulness, in this situation she showed cunning, inflexibility and willpower. She pretended to be favored by courtship, but in reality she was looking for a way out of the trap set by her mother. Under the influence of education and a good environment, she is transformed and becomes much smarter, more interesting and stronger. Even her beauty blossoms, as does her soul. Now we have before us a self-confident and intellectually developed woman of a new type, who runs a business and provides for herself. This is the ideal of a lady, according to Chernyshevsky.
Lopukhov Dmitry Sergeevich - medical student, husband and liberator of Vera. He is distinguished by composure, sophisticated mind, cunning, and at the same time responsiveness, kindness, sensitivity. He sacrifices his career to save a stranger, and even limits his freedom for her. He is calculating, pragmatic and restrained, his entourage appreciates efficiency and education in him. As you can see, under the influence of love, the hero also becomes a romantic, because again he radically changes his life for the sake of a woman, staging suicide. This act betrays him a strong strategist who calculates everything in advance.
Alexander Matveevich Kirsanov - Vera's lover. He is a kind, intelligent, sympathetic young man, always ready to meet friends. He resists his feelings for his friend's wife, does not allow him to destroy their relationship. For example, she stops visiting their house for a long time. The hero cannot betray Lopukhov's trust, both of them "with their breasts, without connections, without acquaintances, paved their way for themselves." The character is resolute and firm, and this masculinity does not prevent him from having a delicate taste (for example, he loves opera). By the way, it was he who inspired Rakhmetov to the feat of revolutionary self-denial.

The main characters of "What to do" are noble, decent, honest. There are not so many such characters in literature, and there is nothing to say about life, but Chernyshevsky goes further and introduces an almost utopian character, thereby showing that decency is far from the limit of personality development, that people have crumbled in their aspirations and goals, that you can be even better, harder, stronger. Everything is cognized in comparison, and by adding the image of Rakhmetov, the writer raises the bar of perception for readers. This is how, in his opinion, a real revolutionary looks like, capable of leading the Kirsanovs and Lopukhovs. They are strong and smart, but not mature enough for decisive independent action.

Subject

Love theme... Chernyshevsky in the novel "What to do" reveals the favorite motive of the writers in a new role. Now the extra link in the love triangle self-destructs and sacrifices its interests as a sacrifice for the reciprocity of the remaining parties. In this utopia, a person controls his feelings as much as possible, sometimes even, it seems, completely refuses them. Lopukhov ignores vanity, male pride, feelings for Vera, just to please friends and at the same time provide them with happiness without guilt. This perception of love is too far from reality, but we take it at the expense of the author's innovation, who presented a hackneyed theme in such a fresh and original way.
Willpower... The hero of the novel "What to do" has curbed in himself almost all passions: he gave up alcohol, society of women, stopped wasting time on entertainment, being engaged only in "other people's affairs or nobody's business in particular."
Indifference and responsiveness... If Vera's mother, Marya Aleksevna, was indifferent to the fate of her daughter and thought only about the material side of the family's life, then an outsider, Lopukhov, without any ulterior motive sacrifices his bachelor calmness and career for the girl. So Chernyshevsky draws a line between the old-regime bourgeoisie with a petty greedy soul and representatives of a new generation, pure and disinterested in their thoughts.
Revolution theme... The need for change is expressed not only in the image of Rakhmetov, but also in the dreams of Vera Pavlovna, where the meaning of life is revealed to her in symbolic visions: it is necessary to lead people out of the dungeon, where they are imprisoned by conventions and a tyrannical regime. The writer considers enlightenment to be the basis of the new free world; it is from it that the heroine's happy life begins.
Education theme... The new people in What Is To Be Done are educated and intelligent, and they devote most of their time to learning. But this does not exhaust their impulse: they try to help others and put their efforts into helping the people in the fight against age-old ignorance.

Problematic

Many writers and public figures even after a while mentioned this book. Chernyshevsky understood the spirit of that time and successfully developed these thoughts further, creating a real memo to the Russian revolutionary. The problematic in the novel "What to do" turned out to be painfully topical and topical: the author touched upon the problem of social and gender inequality, topical political problems and even imperfections of the mentality.

Women's question. The problems in the novel "What to do", first of all, concern women and their social disorder in the realities of tsarist Russia. They have nowhere to go to work, nothing to feed themselves without a humiliating marriage of convenience or even more humiliating earnings on a yellow ticket. The position of the governess is not much better: no one will do anything to the owner of the house for harassment if he is a noble person. So Vera would have fallen victim to the officer's lust if it had not been saved by progress in the person of Lopukhov. He treated the girl differently, as an equal. This attitude is the key to the prosperity and independence of the weaker sex. And the point is not in rabid feminism, but in the banal opportunity to provide for oneself and the family in case the marriage did not work out or the husband died. The writer complains about the powerlessness and helplessness of women, and not about the underestimated superiority of one sex over another.
Monarchy crisis. Ever since the uprising on Senate Square in 1825, ideas about the failure of the autocracy have ripened in the minds of the Decembrists, but the people were not then ready for upheavals of this magnitude. Subsequently, the thirst for revolution only strengthened and with each new generation it became stronger, which could not be said about the monarchy, which fought this dissent as best it could, but, as you know, by 1905, it reeled itself, and in the 17th it already voluntarily surrendered its positions Provisional Government.
The problem of moral choice. Kirsanov runs into her when he realizes his feelings for his friend's wife. Vera constantly feels her, starting with a failed "profitable marriage" and ending with a relationship with Alexander. Lopukhov also faces a choice: to leave everything as it is, or to act fairly? All the heroes of the novel "What to do" withstand the test and make an impeccable decision.
The problem of poverty. It is the depressing financial situation that leads Vera's mother to moral degradation. Marya Alekseevna cares about "real dirt", that is, she thinks how to survive in a country where she is not considered anything without a title and wealth? Her thoughts do not burden her with excesses, but worries about her daily bread. Constant need reduced her spiritual needs to a minimum, leaving no space or time for them.
The problem of social inequality. Vera's mother, not sparing her daughter's honor, lures officer Storeshnikov to make him her son-in-law. There was not a drop of dignity left in her, because she was born and lived in a rigid hierarchy, where those who are lower are wordless slaves to those who are higher. She will regard it as happiness if the master's son dishonors her daughter, if only he would marry after that. Such an upbringing disgusts Chernyshevsky, and he scoffs at him.

The meaning of the novel

The author created a role model for young people to show how to behave. Chernyshevsky gave Russia the image of Rakhmetov, in which most of the answers to the burning questions "what to do", "who to be", "what to strive for" are collected - Lenin saw this and took a number of actions that led to a successful coup, otherwise he would not spoke of the book so enthusiastically. That is, the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe novel "What to do" is an enthusiastic hymn to a new type of active person who can solve the problems of his people. The writer not only criticized the society of his day, but also suggested ways to resolve the conflict situations that were tearing him apart. In his opinion, it was necessary to do what Rakhmetov did: to give up selfishness and class arrogance, to help ordinary people not only with words, but with a ruble, participate in large and global projects that can really change the situation.

A real revolutionary, according to Chernyshevsky, is obliged to live the life that an ordinary person lives. People in power should not be elevated to a separate elite caste, as is often the case. They are the servants of the people who appointed them. Something like this can be expressed the position of the author, which he conveyed to his "special" hero and which he wants to convey through him to the reader. Rakhmetov is an accumulation of all positive qualities, one might say, "superman", like in Nietzsche. With the help of it, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe novel "What to do" is expressed - bright ideals and a firm determination to defend them.

Nevertheless, Chernyshevsky warns the reader that the path of these people is thorny and "meager in personal joys", "to which they are calling you." These are people who are trying to be reborn from a person into an abstract idea, devoid of personal feelings and passions, without which life is hard and joyless. The writer warns against admiration for such Rakhmetovs, calling them ridiculous and pitiful, because they are trying to embrace the immensity, exchange the fate full of earthly blessings for duty and unrequited service to society. But meanwhile the author understands that without them life would completely lose its taste and "sour". Rakhmetov is not a romantic hero, but a very real person whom the creator views from different angles.

Interesting? Keep it on your wall!

The novel “What is to be done? "Was written in record time, less than 4 months, and was published in the spring issues of the magazine" Contemporary "for 1863. It appeared in the midst of the controversy that unfolded around the novel by Ivan Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". His work, which has a very significant subtitle "From stories about new people", Chernyshevsky conceived as a direct response to Turgenev on behalf of the "young generation". Simultaneously in the novel What is to be done? "Chernyshevsky's aesthetic theory has found its real embodiment. Therefore, it can be considered that a work of art was created, which was supposed to serve as a kind of tool for "reworking" reality.

"I am a scientist ... I am one of those thinkers who adhere to a scientific point of view," Chernyshevsky once remarked. From this point of view, a “scientist”, not an artist, he offered in his novel a model of an ideal life arrangement. He doesn't seem to bother looking for an original plot, but almost directly borrows it from Georges Sand. Although, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the events in the novel have acquired sufficient intricacy.

A certain young lady in the capital does not want to marry a rich man and is ready to go against the will of her mother. From a hated marriage, the girl is saved by the medical student Lopukhov, the teacher of her younger brother. But he saves her in a rather original way: first he “develops her”, giving her the appropriate books to read, and then he is combined with her with a fictitious marriage. At the heart of their life together is the freedom, equality and independence of the spouses, manifested in everything: in the way of the house, in housekeeping, in the activities of the spouses. So, Lopukhov serves as a manager at a plant, and Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop "on a share" with the workers and arranges a housing commune for them. Here the plot makes a sharp turn: the main character falls in love with her husband's best friend, the medic Kirsanov. Kirsanov, in turn, "rescues" the prostitute Nastya Kryukova, who soon dies of consumption. Realizing that he is standing in the way of two loving people, Lopukhov "leaves the stage." All "obstacles" are removed, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna are combined in a legal marriage. In the course of the development of the action, it becomes clear that Lopukhov's suicide was imaginary, the hero left for America, and in the end he appears again, but under the name of Beaumont. Returning to Russia, he marries a wealthy noblewoman Katya Polozova, whom Kirsanov saved from death. Two happy couples start a common household and continue to live in complete harmony with each other.

However, the readers were attracted to the novel not by the original twists and turns of the plot or any other artistic merit: they saw something else in it - a specific program of their activities. If the democratic-minded youth took the novel as a guide to action, then the official circles saw in it a threat to the existing social order. The censor, who assessed the novel already after it was published (about how it was published, a separate novel can be written) wrote: contrary to the fundamental principles of religion, morality and social order. " However, the censor did not notice the main thing: the author did not so much destroy as he created a new model of behavior, a new model of the economy, a new model of life.

Talking about the structure of Vera Pavlovna's workshops, he embodied completely different relations between the owner and the workers, who are equal in their rights. In Chernyshevsky's description, life in the workshop and in the commune with her looks so attractive that similar communities immediately arose in St. Petersburg. They did not last long: their members were not ready to arrange their lives on new moral principles, which, by the way, are also said a lot in the work. These "new beginnings" can be interpreted as a new morality of new people, as a new faith. Their life, thoughts and feelings, their relations with each other resolutely do not coincide with the forms that have developed in the "old world" and are generated by inequality, a lack of "reasonable" principles in social and family relations. And new people - Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna, Mertsalovs - strive to overcome these old forms and build their lives in a different way. It is based on work, respect for freedom and feelings of each other, true equality between a man and a woman, that is, what, according to the author, is natural for human nature, because it is reasonable.

In the book, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the famous theory of "reasonable egoism" is born, the theory of the benefit that a person derives for himself by doing good deeds. But this theory is available only to "developed natures", which is why so much space is devoted in the novel to "development", ie, education, the formation of a new personality, in Chernyshevsky's terminology - "coming out of the basement." And the attentive reader will see the ways of this "exit". Follow them - and you will become a different person, and another world will open to you. And if you engage in self-education, then new horizons will open up for you and you will repeat the path of Rakhmetov, you will become a special person. Here is an intimate, albeit utopian, program embodied in a literary text.

Chernyshevsky believed that the path to a bright and wonderful future lies through the revolution. So, to the question put in the title of the novel: "What to do?", The reader received an extremely direct and clear answer: "To convert to a new faith, to become a new person, to transform the world around him, to" make a revolution. " This idea was embodied in the novel, as one of Dostoevsky's heroes would later say, "seductively clear."

A bright, wonderful future is achievable and close, so close that the main character Vera Pavlovna even dreams of it. “How will people live? "- thinks Vera Pavlovna, and the" bright bride "opens up tempting prospects for her. So, the reader is in the society of the future, where labor reigns "on the hunt", where labor is pleasure, where a person is in harmony with the world, with himself, with other people, with nature. But this is only the second part of the dream, and the first is a kind of journey "through" the history of mankind. But everywhere Vera Pavlovna sees pictures of love. It turns out that this is a dream not only about the future, but also about love. Social and moral issues are again connected in the novel.

For the first time in a separate book, the most famous work of Chernyshevsky - the novel "What is to be done?" - was published in 1867 in Geneva. The publication of the book was initiated by Russian émigrés, in Russia the novel had by that time been banned by the censors. In 1863, the work was still published in the Sovremennik magazine, but the issues where its individual chapters were printed were soon banned. Summary "What to do?" The young people of those years passed Chernyshevsky to each other by word of mouth, and the novel itself was in handwritten copies, so the work made an indelible impression on them.

Is it possible to do something

The author wrote his sensational novel in the winter of 1862-1863 while in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The dates of writing are December 14-April 4. From January 1863, censors began to work with individual chapters of the manuscript, but, seeing only a love line in the plot, they allowed the novel to be published. Soon the deep meaning of the work reaches the officials of tsarist Russia, the censor is removed from office, but the job is done - a rare youth circle of those years did not discuss the summary of "What is to be done?" With his work, Chernyshevsky wanted not only to tell the Russians about the “new people”, but also to arouse in them a desire to imitate them. And his bold appeal resonated in the hearts of many of the author's contemporaries.

The youth of the late 19th century transformed Chernyshevsky's ideas into their own lives. Stories about numerous noble deeds of those years began to appear so often that for some time they became almost commonplace in everyday life. Many suddenly realized that they were capable of an Action.

Having a question and a clear answer to it

The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe work, and it is twice revolutionary in its essence, is the freedom of the individual, regardless of gender. That is why the main character of the novel is a woman, since at that time the domination of women did not go beyond their own living room. Looking back at the life of her mother and close friends, Vera Pavlovna early realizes the absolute mistake of inaction, and decides that her life will be based on work: honest, useful, giving the opportunity to exist with dignity. Hence the moral - the freedom of the individual comes from the freedom to perform actions that correspond to both thoughts and possibilities. This is what he tried to express through the life of Vera Pavlovna Chernyshevsky. "What to do?" chapter by chapter draws readers a colorful picture of the phased construction of "real life." Now Vera Pavlovna leaves her mother and decides to open her own business, now she realizes that only equality between all members of her artel will correspond to her ideals of freedom, her absolute happiness with Kirsanov depends on Lopukhov's personal happiness. interconnected with high moral principles - this is the whole of Chernyshevsky.

Characterization of the author's personality through his heroes

Both writers and readers, as well as omniscient critics, are of the opinion that the main characters of a work are a kind of literary copies of their creators. Even if not exact copies, then very close in spirit to the author. The narrative of the novel "What is to be done?" is conducted in the first person, and the author is an acting character. He enters into conversation with other heroes, even argues with them and, like a “voice-over”, explains to both the characters and the readers many moments that they do not understand.

At the same time, the author brings to the reader doubts about his writing abilities, says that "even he speaks the language poorly", and certainly there is not a drop of "artistic talent" in him. But for the reader, his doubts are unconvincing, this refutes the novel, which was created by Chernyshevsky himself, "What is to be done?" Vera Pavlovna and the rest of the characters are written out so precisely and versatile, endowed with such unique individual qualities that an author who does not possess true talent would be unable to create.

New but so different

The heroes of Chernyshevsky, these positive "new people", according to the author, from the category of unreal, non-existent, at one fine time should themselves firmly enter our life. Enter, dissolve in a crowd of ordinary people, push them out, reborn someone, persuade someone, and completely push the rest of the unyielding people out of the crowd, ridding society of them like a field of weeds. The artistic utopia, which Chernyshevsky himself was clearly aware of and tried to define through the name, is "What is to be done?" A special person, in his deep conviction, is able to radically change the world around him, but how to do this, he must determine for himself.

Chernyshevsky created his novel as a counterweight to Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, his “new people” are not at all like the cynical and annoying nihilist Bazarov. The cardinality of these images in the implementation of their main task: the hero of Turgenev wanted to “clear a place” around him from everything that had outlived his own, that is, to destroy, while the characters of Chernyshevsky tried more to build something, create something, before destroying it.

Formation of the "new man" in the middle of the 19th century

These two works of great Russian writers became for the readers and the literary community of the second half of the 19th century a kind of beacon - a ray of light in the dark kingdom. Both Chernyshevsky and Turgenev loudly proclaimed the existence of a “new man”, his need for the formation of a special mood in society, capable of bringing about cardinal changes in the country.

If you reread and translate the summary "What to do?" Chernyshevsky into the plane of revolutionary ideas that deeply struck the minds of a separate part of the population of those years, then many of the allegorical features of the work will become easily explainable. The image of "the bride of her grooms" seen by Vera Pavlovna in her second dream is nothing more than "Revolution" - this is the conclusion drawn by the writers who lived in different years, who studied and analyzed the novel from all sides. The rest of the images that are narrated in the novel are also marked by allegory, regardless of whether they are animated or not.

A little about the theory of reasonable egoism

The desire for change not only for yourself, not only for your loved ones, but also for everyone else runs through the whole novel as a red thread. This is completely different from the theory of calculating one's own benefits, which Turgenev reveals in Fathers and Children. In many ways, Chernyshevsky agrees with his fellow writer, believing that any person not only can, but must reasonably calculate and determine his individual path to his own happiness. But at the same time, he says that you can enjoy it only when surrounded by the same happy people. This is the fundamental difference between the plots of the two novels: in Chernyshevsky's heroes forge well-being for everyone, in Turgenev, Bazarov creates his own happiness without regard to others. The closer we are through our novel Chernyshevsky.

What is to be done ?, the analysis of which we give in our review, is, as a result, much closer to the reader of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.

Briefly about the plot

As the reader, who has never picked up Chernyshevsky's novel, has already been able to determine, the main character of the work is Vera Pavlovna. Through her life, the formation of her personality, her relationship with others, including men, the author reveals the main idea of \u200b\u200bhis novel. Summary "What to do?" Chernyshevsky, without listing the characteristics of the main characters and the details of their lives, can be conveyed in several sentences.

Vera Rozalskaya (aka Vera Pavlovna) lives in a fairly well-to-do family, but everything in her home hates her: both her mother with her dubious activities, and acquaintances who think one thing, but say and do something completely different. Having decided to leave her parents, our heroine is trying to find a job, but only with her close spirit, Dmitry Lopukhov, gives the girl that freedom and the way of life she dreams of. Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop with equal rights to her income for all seamstresses - a rather progressive undertaking for that time. Even her sudden outbreak of love for her husband's close friend Alexander Kirsanov, which she was convinced of while caring for the sick Lopukhov with Kirsanov, does not deprive her of her sanity and nobility: she does not leave her husband, she does not leave the workshop. Seeing the mutual love of his wife and close friend, Lopukhov, staging a suicide, frees Vera Pavlovna from any obligations to him. Vera Pavlovna and Kirsanov are getting married and are quite happy with this, and a few years later Lopukhov appears again in their lives. But only under a different name and with a new wife. Both families live in the neighborhood, spend a lot of time together and are quite satisfied with the circumstances that have developed in this way.

Does Being Determine Consciousness?

The formation of Vera Pavlovna's personality is far from the regularity of the character traits of those of her peers who grew up and were brought up in conditions similar to her. Despite her youth, lack of experience and connections, the heroine clearly knows what she wants in life. It is not for her to marry successfully and become an ordinary mother of the family, especially since by the age of 14 the girl knew a lot and understood. She sewed beautifully and provided the whole family with clothes, at the age of 16 she began to earn money by giving private piano lessons. The mother's desire to give her in marriage meets with a firm refusal and creates her own business - a sewing workshop. The work "What is to be done?" Is about broken stereotypes, about bold actions of a strong character. Chernyshevsky, in his own way, provides an explanation for the well-established assertion that consciousness determines the being in which a person is. Determines, but only as he decides for himself - either following the path he has chosen not, or finds his own. Vera Pavlovna left the path prepared for her by her mother and the environment in which she lived, and created her own path.

Between the realms of dreams and reality

Determining your path does not mean finding it and walking along it. There is a huge gap between dreams and their embodiment. Someone does not dare to jump over it, but someone gathers all their will into a fist and takes a decisive step. This is how Chernyshevsky responds to the problem raised in his novel What Is to Be Done? The analysis of the stages of the formation of Vera Pavlovna's personality is carried out by the author himself instead of the reader. He leads him through the embodiment of the heroine of her dreams of her own freedom in reality through vigorous activity. Let it be a difficult, but straight and quite passable path. And according to him, Chernyshevsky not only directs his heroine, but also allows her to achieve what she wants, letting the reader understand that only through activity can the cherished goal be achieved. Unfortunately, the author emphasizes that not everyone chooses this path. Not every.

Reflection of reality through dreams

In a rather unusual form, he wrote his novel What Is to Be Done? Chernyshevsky. Vera's dreams - there are four of them in the novel - reveal the depth and originality of those thoughts that cause real events in her. In her first dream, she sees herself freed from the basement. This is a certain symbolism of leaving her own home, where she was destined for an unacceptable fate. Through the idea of \u200b\u200bliberating girls like her, Vera Pavlovna creates her own workshop, in which each seamstress receives an equal share of her total income.

The second and third dream explain to the reader through real and fantastic dirt, reading Verochka's diary (which, by the way, she never kept) what thoughts about the existence of different people take possession of the heroine at different periods of her life, what she thinks about her second marriage and about the very necessity of this marriage. Explanation through dreams is a convenient form of presentation of the work, which Chernyshevsky chose. "What to do?" - the content of the novel , reflected through dreams, the characters of the main characters in dreams - a worthy example of the use of this new form by Chernyshevsky.

Ideals of a bright future, or the Fourth dream of Vera Pavlovna

If the first three dreams of the heroine reflected her attitude to fait accompli, then her fourth dream is dreams of the future. It is enough to recall it in more detail. So, Vera Pavlovna dreams of a completely different world, incredible and beautiful. She sees many happy people living in a wonderful house: luxurious, spacious, surrounded by amazing views, decorated with gushing fountains. In it, no one feels destitute, for all there is one common joy, one common prosperity, in it everyone is equal.

Such are the dreams of Vera Pavlovna, and this is how Chernyshevsky would like to see reality ("What is to be done?"). Dreams, and they, as we remember, about the relationship between reality and the world of dreams, reveal not so much the spiritual world of the heroine as the author of the novel himself. And his full awareness of the impossibility of creating such a reality, a utopia that cannot be accomplished, but for which it is still necessary to live and work. And this is also Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream.

Utopia and its predictable ending

As everyone knows, their main work is the novel What Is to Be Done? - Nikolai Chernyshevsky wrote while in prison. Deprived of family, society, freedom, seeing reality in dungeons in a completely new way, dreaming of a different reality, the writer set it out on paper, himself not believing in its implementation. Chernyshevsky did not doubt that the "new people" are capable of changing the world. But the fact that not everyone can stand under the rule of circumstances, and not everyone will be worthy of a better life - he also understood that.

How does the novel end? Idyllic coexistence of two close-minded families: the Kirsanovs and the Lopukhov-Beumont. A small world created by active people full of nobility of thoughts and actions. Are there many such happy communities around? Not! Is this not the answer to Chernyshevsky's dreams of the future? Whoever wants to create his own prosperous and happy world will create it, whoever does not want to - will go with the flow.

The novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky "What is to be done?" created by him in the chamber of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the period from 14/12/1862 to 4/04/1863. in three and a half months. From January to April 1863, parts of the manuscript were transferred to the commission on the writer's case for censoring. The censorship did not find anything reprehensible and allowed the publication. The oversight was soon discovered and the censor Beketov was removed from office, but the novel had already been published in the Sovremennik magazine (1863, No. 3-5). The bans on the issues of the magazine did not lead to anything and the book was distributed throughout the country in "samizdat".

In 1905, under Emperor Nicholas II, the publication ban was lifted, and in 1906 the book was published in a separate edition. The reaction of readers to the novel is interesting, as they are divided in opinions into two camps. Some supported the author, others considered the novel devoid of artistry.

Analysis of the work

1. Socio-political renewal of society through revolution. In the book, the author could not expand on this topic in more detail due to censorship. It is given by half-hints in the description of Rakhmetov's life and in the 6th chapter of the novel.

2. Moral and psychological. That a person with the power of his mind is able to create in himself new given moral qualities. The author describes the whole process from small (the fight against despotism in the family) to large-scale, that is, revolution.

3. Women's emancipation, norms of family morality. This topic is revealed in the history of Vera's family, in the relationship of three young people before Lopukhov's alleged suicide, in Vera's first 3 dreams.

4. Future socialist society. This is a dream of a beautiful and bright life, which the author unfolds in the 4th dream of Vera Pavlovna. Here is the vision of lightened labor with the help of technical means, that is, the technogenic development of production.

(Chernyshevsky writes a novel in the chamber of the Peter and Paul Fortress)

The pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of \u200b\u200btransforming the world through revolution, the preparation of minds and the expectation of it. Moreover, the desire to actively participate in it. The main goal of the work is the development and implementation of a new method of revolutionary education, the creation of a textbook on the formation of a new worldview for every thinking person.

Story line

In the novel, it actually covers the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe work. It was not for nothing that at first even the censors considered the novel nothing more than a love story. The beginning of the work, deliberately entertaining, in the spirit of French novels, aimed to confuse the censorship and, along the way, attract the attention of the majority of the reading public. The plot is based on an uncomplicated love story, which hides the social, philosophical and economic problems of that time. Aesop's narrative language is permeated through and through with the ideas of the coming revolution.

The plot is as follows. There is an ordinary girl Vera Pavlovna Rozalskaya, whom the selfish mother tries in every possible way to pass off as a rich man. Trying to avoid this fate, the girl resorts to the help of her friend Dmitry Lopukhov and enters into a fictitious marriage with him. Thus, she gets freedom and leaves her parents' house. In search of earnings, Vera opens a sewing workshop. This is not an ordinary workshop. There is no hired labor here, women workers have their share of the profits, therefore they are interested in the prosperity of the enterprise.

Vera and Aleksandr Kirsanov are mutually in love. To free his imaginary wife from remorse, Lopukhov fakes a suicide (it is with his description that the whole action begins) and leaves for America. There he acquired a new name, Charles Beaumont, became an agent of an English company and, fulfilling its assignment, came to Russia to acquire a stearic plant from the industrialist Polozov. Lopukhov at Polozov's house meets his daughter Katya. They fall in love with each other, the affair ends with a wedding. Now Dmitry is announced to the Kirsanov family. Friendship begins with families, they settle in the same house. Around them, a circle of "new people" is formed who want to arrange their own and social life in a new way. Lopukhov-Beaumont's wife, Ekaterina Vasilievna, also joins the business, arranges a new sewing workshop. Such is the happy ending.

main characters

The central character of the novel is Vera Rozalskaya. She is very sociable and belongs to the type of "honest girls" who are not ready to compromise for a profitable marriage without love. The girl is romantic, but, despite this, she is quite modern, with good administrative inclinations, as they would say today. Therefore, she was able to interest the girls and organize a sewing production and more than one.

Another character in the novel is Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov, a student at the Medical Academy. Somewhat closed, prefers loneliness. He is honest, decent and noble. It was these qualities that prompted him to help Vera in her difficult situation. For her sake, he drops out of his last year and begins to engage in private practice. Considered the official husband of Vera Pavlovna, he behaves towards her in the highest degree decent and noble. The apogee of his nobility is his decision to stage his own death in order to give loving each other Kirsanov and Vera to unite their fates. Just like Vera, he refers to the formation of new people. Smart, enterprising. This can be judged if only because the English firm entrusted him with a very serious matter.

Kirsanov Alexander is the husband of Vera Pavlovna, Lopukhov's best friend. He is very impressed by his attitude towards his wife. He not only loves her dearly, but is also looking for something to do for her in which she could fulfill herself. The author feels deep sympathy for him and speaks of him as a courageous person who knows how to carry on to the end the work he has undertaken. At the same time, the person is honest, deeply decent and noble. Not knowing about the true relationship of Vera and Lopukhov, falling in love with Vera Pavlovna, disappears from their home for a long time, so as not to disturb the peace of his loved ones. Only Lopukhov's illness forces him to appear to treat a friend. The fictitious husband, understanding the state of the lovers, imitates his death and makes room for Kirsanov next to Vera. Thus, lovers find happiness in family life.

(In the photo, the artist Karnovich-Valois in the role of Rakhmetov, the play "New People")

A close friend of Dmitry and Alexander, the revolutionary Rakhmetov is the most significant hero of the novel, although he has little space in the novel. In the ideological outline of the narrative he played a special role and is devoted to a separate digression in chapter 29. The person is extraordinary in all respects. At the age of 16, he left the university for three years and wandered around Russia in search of adventure and character education. This is a person with already formed principles in all spheres of life, in material, physical and spiritual. Moreover, he has an ebullient nature. He sees his future life in serving people and prepares for this, tempering his spirit and body. He even abandoned his beloved woman, because love can limit his actions. He would like to live like most people, but he cannot afford it.

In Russian literature, Rakhmetov became the first practical revolutionary. Opinions about him were completely opposite, from indignation to admiration. This is the ideal image of a revolutionary hero. But today, from the point of view of knowledge of history, such a person could only arouse sympathy, since we know how accurately history has proved the correctness of the words of the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte: “Revolutions are conceived by heroes, performed by fools, and scoundrels use their fruits”. Perhaps the voiced opinion does not quite fit into the framework of the image and characteristics of Rakhmetov formed for decades, but this is really so. The above does not diminish the qualities of Rakhmetov, because he is a hero of his time.

According to Chernyshevsky, using the example of Vera, Lopukhov and Kirsanov, he wanted to show ordinary people of the new generation, of whom there are thousands. But without the image of Rakhmetov, the reader could have a deceptive opinion about the main characters of the novel. According to the writer, all people should be like these three heroes, but the highest ideal that all people should strive for is the image of Rakhmetov. And I totally agree with that.

Year of writing: Publication:

1863, "Contemporary"

Separate edition:

1867 (Geneva), 1906 (Russia)

in wikisource

"What to do?" - a novel by the Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, written in December - April, while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The novel was written in part in response to Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons.

History of creation and publication

Chernyshevsky wrote the novel while in the solitary cell of the Alekseevsky Ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863. Since January 1863, the manuscript has been transferred in parts to the commission of inquiry on the Chernyshevsky case (the last part was submitted on April 6). The commission, and after it the censors, saw only a love line in the novel and gave permission to print. The oversight of the censorship was soon noticed, the responsible censor Beketov was removed from office. However, the novel has already been published in the journal Sovremennik (1863, No. 3-5). Despite the fact that the issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel What Is to Be Done? Were published, were banned, the text of the novel in handwritten copies spread throughout the country and caused a lot of imitations.

“They talked about Chernyshevsky’s novel not in a whisper, not quietly, but at full throat in the halls, at the entrances, at Mrs. Milbret’s table and in the basement brewery of Steenbok’s passage. They shouted: "disgusting", "lovely", "abomination", etc. - all in different tones. "

"For the Russian youth of that time, it [the book" What is to be done? "] Was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner."

The clearly entertaining, adventurous, melodramatic beginning of the novel was supposed not only to confuse the censorship, but also to attract a wide audience of readers. The external plot of the novel is a love story, but it reflects new economic, philosophical and social ideas of the time. The novel is permeated with hints of the coming revolution.

In the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky "What is to be done?" aluminum is mentioned. In the "naive utopia" of Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream, it is called the metal of the future. And this great future by now (mid. XX - XXI century) aluminum has already reached.
"The Lady in Mourning" appearing at the end of the work is Olga Sokratovna Chernyshevskaya, the writer's wife. At the end of the novel, we are talking about the release of Chernyshevsky from the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was at the time of writing the novel. He did not wait for release: on February 7, 1864, he was sentenced to 14 years in hard labor, followed by settlement in Siberia.
The main characters with the surname Kirsanov are also found in the novel Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev.

Literature

Nikolaev P. Revolutionary novel // Chernyshevsky N.G. What to do? M., 1985

Screen adaptations

1971: Three-part television play (directors: Nadezhda Marusalova, Pavel Reznikov)

Notes

Links

Categories:

Literary works by alphabet
Nikolay Chernyshevsky
Political novels
Novels of 1863
Novels in Russian

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