Images of swindlers in classical Russian literature. Charming literary scammers

At the “Family Counts”* festival in Perm, economists, philologists, bankers, social activists and ordinary citizens discussed models of financial behavior of the characters in their favorite literary works. Experts recommended that the Ranevsky family from The Cherry Orchard recognize the sale of the orchard as invalid, and found out that money is one of the plot frames in Russian literature.

We are publishing a transcript of the literary and financial blitz “Where did the Pinocchio soldo and other adventures of financial rogues and klutzes of Russian literature go?” The event took place on May 12 as part of the “Family Counts” financial literacy festival at the City Culture Center.

Discussion participants:

Svetlana Makovetskaya, discussion moderator, director of the GRANI center, economist

Anna Moiseva, Candidate of Philological Sciences, senior lecturer of the Department of Russian Literature of Perm State National Research University

Peter Sitnik, financier, lecturer at HSE Perm

Irina Orlova, banker, teacher at HSE Perm,

Valentin Shalamov, banker

Maria Gorbach, writer, social activist

Entry and legacy of Evgeny Onegin

Svetlana Makovetskaya: We have all studied Russian classical literature and, on occasion, we try to show ourselves, if not people deeply immersed, then knowledgeable in this area. I think that turning to literary experience will allow us to talk about what the expected financial behavior of characters who are almost relatives looks like and what would have changed in their destinies if they had acted differently. Let's discuss those works where there are clearly stories of financial success or tragedy, where financial decisions were made in the interests of the family or led to the collapse of an entire family.

First of all, “Eugene Onegin” by A.S. comes to my mind. Pushkin. Everyone remembers the quote: “His father lived in debt. Gave three balls annually. And I finally squandered it.” Let me remind you that Evgeniy himself refuses the inheritance, then in the text of the work there are complex constructions about what Evgeniy knows about “natural product” and other economic categories, unlike daddy. It is the refusal of the inheritance that forces Eugene to come to his no less rich, dying uncle, after which the main plot of the work unfolds. Probably, if Onegin had not renounced his father’s inheritance, then everything would have turned out differently. By the way, philologist Yuri Lotman, in his commentary on “Eugene Onegin,” drew attention to the fact that Russian nobles were constantly in debt. So Evgeniy’s father regularly mortgaged and remortgaged the land. As a result, everything went to waste and the land went to the creditors, not Evgeniy.

Experts (from left to right): Anna Moiseva - philologist, Maria Gorbach - social activist and former literature teacher, Valentin Shalamov - banker, Pyotr Sitnik - fundamental financier, discuss the financial behavior of their favorite literary characters.

Indians of capitalism

Peter Sitnik:“The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. immediately comes to mind. Chekhov, which, by the way, I learned about in detail in economic history classes, not literature, as an example of rent-seeking behavior. But I want to talk not about him, but about the Americans of “One-Storey America” Ilf and Petrov. In general, if you want to understand economics, then read either “Dunno on the Moon” by N. Nosov (school level) or “One-Storey America” (university level).

I would like to draw attention to the history of one Indian tribe from “One-Story America”, which lived its culture in the country of victorious capitalism. However, globalization catches up with them when one of their fellow tribesmen organizes trade. He travels to the nearest city, buys goods there and resells them on the spot. Everything is going well until one of the American townspeople is horrified that the Indian is selling without a markup. When an American asks an Indian about the motives for such selflessness, he receives the answer: “But this is not work! Hunting is work." That is, the Indian traded only so that the tribe had goods that were not available in the village.

If you want to understand economics, then read either “Dunno on the Moon” by N. Nosov (school level) or “One-Storey America” (university level)

But what would happen if the Indian turned his activities into commerce? We know the answer from the example of tribes that nevertheless followed this path. In the USA, for example, the government allowed the Seattle Indians to create a casino on their territory, which became their main source of income. Some of these tribes even managed to preserve their culture, but in a somewhat decorative version (for tourists). And where there are no casinos yet, authentic Indian culture remains.

About Balda and a wide range of obligations of Russian employees

Maria Gorbach: I have always perceived literature as a collection of cases, and I told the children that it is not at all necessary to experience everything personally, you can just look into books. Preparing for the discussion, I also chose the work of A.S. Pushkin “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda.” This work is about how to conclude an agreement with a wide range of responsibilities and not pay the employee according to it.

It is noteworthy that the priest, who initially sympathized with Balda in every possible way, enters into an agreement with the priest; in this, Pushkin reveals female cunning. After all, it is the priest who advises to entrust Balda with a job that he definitely cannot handle (asking for a quitrent from the lake devils). However, to everyone’s surprise, including the devils themselves, Balda copes with this task!

"The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda." This work is about how to conclude an agreement with a wide range of responsibilities and not pay the employee for it

Which agreement stated that Balda must collect rent from some devils? But, nevertheless, he is given such an assignment, and he takes on its execution as easily and cheerfully as all the previous ones. Obviously, Balda perceives any task as an opportunity for self-realization, expansion of one’s own space and competencies. At the same time, the devils also came in like the last “suckers.”

Moderator: It turns out to be complete non-economic coercion!

Maria Gorbach: Yes! Balda, excuse me, takes everyone on a show-off, shows himself to be a brilliant communicator, collects quitrent from the devils and only after that begins to demand payment for his work.

Reply from the audience: Behavior of a typical collector.

Maria Gorbach: Please note that there is no money at all in this whole story. And when hiring an employee, there is no talk of a contract or payment. As a result, Balda goes to work for what is known to everyone, exclusively Russian: “for food”! To apply oneself to the task, but not to stipulate the working conditions - this is very our way.

As a result, if the priest had not come up with various schemes to avoid paying Balda, but had behaved honestly and decently, then perhaps he would have survived. But, I repeat, it is noteworthy that throughout the entire work there is constant talk about business relationships and never about money. And what’s also important to me here is how easily people take on responsibilities that are unusual for them. I’m sure everyone in our country does this, so we are all Balds to one degree or another.

Confrontation between two strategies: playing by the rules and breaking them in “The Humiliated and Insulted”

Valentin Shalamov: I would like to offer for discussion the best and, in my opinion, the most profound work of F.M. Dostoevsky - “Humiliated and Insulted.” There are many financial situations here, even if they are not described in detail, but the very nerve of such problems is well shown. The parties and their interests are noted. A situation is being considered where one person can manipulate anyone: a son, a bride, the bride’s parents, an ex-wife and her father, using the most brutal and dirty methods. At the same time, the person himself remains pure in the eyes of others.

It is interesting to compare the values ​​of the world of Protestantism (Calvinism) and the Russian world using the example of the confrontation between the Englishman Jeremiah Smith and Prince Valkovsky (one of the main characters and the main villain). The novel begins with the death of Jeremiah, which was the result of this confrontation. In my opinion, if Jeremiah Smith had carried out what we now call a due diligence check on the counterparty, preserved financial documents, and also adhered to a risk distribution strategy (rather than investing everything in Valkovsky’s enterprise), then the tragedy could have been avoided.

Moderator: You especially emphasized that Jeremiah Smith is English, that is, he should have been expected to behave more competently?

Valentin Shalamov: On the contrary, Smith is a Protestant. He was sure: if you behave conscientiously towards your partner, which is what he did, then in return you should expect the same attitude from your potential counterparty.

Moderator: A classic confrontation between a person who is used to playing by the rules and someone who breaks them.

Vronsky or Levin?

Irina Orlova: I want to say thank you for the two evenings that I spent re-reading my favorite novel “Anna Karenina” by L.N. Tolstoy to prepare for the discussion. We are accustomed to looking at this work from the point of view of the nature of the relationship between man and woman, mother and child, etc. Now I studied it from the point of view of the financial behavior of the two main characters: Vronsky and Levin.

Judging by the way Vronsky sold the forest belonging to Dolly, one can agree with the statement above that the Russian nobility did not consider it shameful to live deeply in debt. Moreover, debts were passed on from generation to generation.

In the character of Vronsky, the discrepancy between expenses and income is most clearly manifested. The opposite of him is Levin, who never borrowed money and always lived within his means, and in general was much more careful in his affairs than Vronsky.

Anna Moiseeva: But, on the other hand, if Vronsky had been different, then Anna Karenina probably would not have chosen him.

From “Minor” to “Dead Souls”

Anna Moiseva: It was difficult for me to stop at any one work, so I will do something like a review and try to prove that the topic of finance is very important for Russian literature, starting from the 18th century (from the moment of the formation of secular literature of the European type in Russia).

The plot of the first work in this series is “Undergrowth” by D.I. Fonvizin is completely built around a financial issue, namely the marriage of the dunce Mitrofanushka to the dowryless Sophia, who suddenly becomes the heir to an annual income of 15 thousand rubles. There is also a wonderful image of Uncle Starodum, who earned money for his niece in Siberia in an honest way. You can remember his wonderful words: “It is not the one who counts out money who is rich, but the one who counts out extra money in order to help others.”

At A.S. Pushkin’s “The Miserly Knight” and “The Queen of Spades” are directly related to the theme of money. If with the “Knight” everything is more or less clear, then I would like to dwell in more detail on the “Queen of Spades”. It is worth noting that Herman is far from a poor person, although we are accustomed to consider him a poor thing who cannot realize himself. Let me remind you that he bets 47 thousand rubles - quite decent money for that time. He just wants everything at once.

N.V. Gogol in “Dead Souls” describes ready-made fraudulent schemes

N.V. Gogol in “Dead Souls” describes the ready-made fraudulent schemes that Chichikov carried out, as well as a number of images representing different models of financial behavior of landowners. Here there is the wasteful Manilov, who cannot treat his guest to decent food, but is ready to build a gazebo in the garden for his sake. The hoarder Sobakevich tries to collect as much as possible from everyone; he even tries to profit from the deal with Chichikov, although he understands its dubious purity. A box that stupidly and stupidly hoards and spends everything on pitiful scraps. Nozdryov, ready to spend the last on his whims (a puppy, a barrel organ with one melody, etc.). Plyushkin combines both the craving for accumulation and thoughtless spending. The way he runs his household is complete suicide! Having at first an excellent household, he ends up walking around the house in an old robe, holding wine with flies, and only dried crackers in his pockets. All these are examples of how not to behave in terms of money-grubbing or wastefulness.

It is impossible to underestimate the influence of money on the fate of the heroes of the works of F.M. Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov, like German from The Queen of Spades, is also aimed at getting everything at once. Which leads him to tragedy, although Raskolnikov wanted to direct his capital to lofty goals: to spend it not on himself, but on the needs of his loved ones.

Thus, the topic of money is very significant in Russian literature. Perhaps the reason we don’t notice it is that it is found almost everywhere, but always in connection with problems of human relationships, although this financial spring often determines the development of the plot of works and the fate of the heroes. In the case of the same “Crime and Punishment”, if Raskolknikov had not wanted everything at once, then the novel would not have worked out, and the pawnbroker died a quiet and peaceful death and all destinies would have been intact.

About the love of money

Peter Sitnik: I would like to continue the idea that money and relationships are always somewhere nearby. In general, finance is money itself and relationships around it. Following this logic, it is necessary to remember that finances and how a person perceives, values ​​or despises them are inseparable things.

Reply from the audience: Here I would like to return to the title of the topic of discussion. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it is in Alexei Tolstoy’s interpretation of a foreign work that we encounter a completely different attitude towards money. After all, Pinocchio sincerely loves his soldiers; I cannot remember a single Russian work where the hero’s love for money would be as bright and direct.

In Russia, money has always been, first of all, an attribute of status and power. They are not valuable in themselves.

Reply from the audience: Because in Russia money has always been, first of all, an attribute of status and power. They are not valuable in themselves.

Moderator: Having money with us means that it needs to be begged for or protected in a special way.

Maria Gorbach: In my opinion, A.N. wrote optimistically about money. Ostrovsky.

Anna Moiseva: A striking example of impeccable business discipline and respectful attitude towards finance is Prince Bolkonsky (father of Andrei Bolkonsky) from “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy. As everyone remembers, he hardly found time to meet with his son before he went to war.

Reply from the audience: In the same “War and Peace” there is an example of the financially illiterate behavior of an entire family. I mean the Rostovs, where each family member only aggravated the situation, not wanting to change their own habits. Which ultimately led to the financial collapse of this lovely couple.

Results. Advice to Ranevsky

Moderator: Let's take the textbook “The Cherry Orchard” and think about what can be changed financially for the characters for a successful ending to the work?

Anna Moiseva: There is an article on this topic by a wonderful teacher at the Higher School of Economics, Elena Chirkova. She notes that Ranevskaya had several options. Firstly, do not sell the entire estate, but only the plot with the house or rent out some part of the estate. Secondly, follow Firs’ advice and try to establish a cherry trade. But Mrs. Ranevskaya, again, wanted everything at once. Here she receives a letter from Paris, and she prefers 90 thousand one-time income instead of smaller, but annual payments.

Moderator: It seems to me that Ranevskaya is also a person who, in principle, cannot make decisions, which is why everything happens as if by itself, weak-willed and almost by accident.

Irina Orlova: It was also possible to recognize the transaction for the sale of the Ranevsky estate as invalid.

Valentin Shalamov: In general, a rich woman and a young gigolo is a plot that is reproduced in our literature in different periods.

Moderator: Let's sum it up. We found out that money is sometimes a rigid plot framework in classical works, but we are not aware of this, probably due to a shameful attitude towards money. We noted the feeling that Russians don’t treat money with respect and, perhaps, that’s why we don’t get it. And successful or losing models of financial behavior can be characteristic of the whole family, and not just one person, and the reluctance of family members to change leads to the collapse of the entire family.

* The “Family Counts” project is being implemented by the GRANI center together with the federal Ministry of Finance and the World Bank in five cities of the Perm Territory: Perm, Kudymkar, Kungur, Lysva and Okhansk. The goal of the project is to increase financial literacy and awareness of families in the field of financial services, master the skills of obtaining safe and high-quality financial services, and form in local communities “positive” models of household activities in the implementation and protection of the rights of consumers of financial services.

One of the most prominent representatives of humanist writers was Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), who devoted his work to protecting the rights of the “humiliated and insulted.” As an active participant in the Petrashevites circle, he was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death, which was replaced by hard labor and subsequent military service. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky was engaged in literary activities, and together with his brother he published the soil journals “Time” and “Epoch”. His works realistically reflected the sharp social contrasts of Russian reality, the clash of bright, original characters, the passionate search for social and human harmony, the finest psychologism and humanism.

V. G. Perov “Portrait of F. M. Dostoevsky”

Already in the writer’s first novel, “Poor People,” the problem of the “little” person began to speak loudly as a social problem. The fate of the heroes of the novel, Makar Devushkin and Varenka Dobroselova, is an angry protest against a society in which a person’s dignity is humiliated and his personality is deformed.

In 1862, Dostoevsky published “Notes from the House of the Dead” - one of his most outstanding works, which reflected the author’s impressions of his four-year stay in the Omsk prison.

From the very beginning, the reader is immersed in the ominous atmosphere of hard labor, where prisoners are no longer seen as people. The depersonalization of a person begins from the moment he enters the prison. Half of his head is shaved, he is dressed in a two-color jacket with a yellow ace on the back, and shackled. Thus, from his first steps in prison, the prisoner, purely outwardly, loses the right to his human individuality. Some especially dangerous criminals have a brand burned into their faces. It is no coincidence that Dostoevsky calls the prison the House of the Dead, where all the spiritual and mental forces of the people are buried.

Dostoevsky saw that the living conditions in the prison did not contribute to the re-education of people, but, on the contrary, aggravated the base qualities of character, which were encouraged and reinforced by frequent searches, cruel punishments, and hard work. Continuous quarrels, fights and forced cohabitation also corrupt the inhabitants of the prison. The prison system itself, designed to punish rather than correct people, contributes to the corruption of the individual. The subtle psychologist Dostoevsky highlights the state of a person before punishment, which causes physical fear in him, suppressing the entire moral being of a person.

In “Notes,” Dostoevsky for the first time tries to comprehend the psychology of criminals. He notes that many of these people ended up behind bars by coincidence; they are responsive to kindness, smart, and full of self-esteem. But along with them there are also hardened criminals. However, they are all subject to the same punishment and are sent to the same penal servitude. According to the firm conviction of the writer, this should not happen, just as there should not be the same punishment. Dostoevsky does not share the theory of the Italian psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso, who explained crime by biological properties, an innate tendency to crime.

It is also to the credit of the author of the Notes that he was one of the first to talk about the role of prison authorities in the re-education of a criminal, and about the beneficial influence of the moral qualities of the boss on the resurrection of the fallen soul. In this regard, he recalls the commandant of the prison, “a noble and sensible man,” who moderated the wild antics of his subordinates. True, such representatives of the authorities are extremely rare on the pages of the Notes.

The four years spent in the Omsk prison became a harsh school for the writer. Hence his angry protest against the despotism and tyranny that reigned in the royal prisons, his excited voice in defense of the humiliated and disadvantaged._

Subsequently, Dostoevsky will continue his study of the psychology of the criminal in the novels “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “Demons”, “The Brothers Karamazov”.

“Crime and Punishment” is the first philosophical novel based on crime. At the same time, this is a psychological novel.

From the first pages, the reader gets acquainted with the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, enslaved by a philosophical idea that allows for “blood according to conscience.” A hungry, beggarly existence leads him to this idea. Reflecting on historical events, Raskolnikov comes to the conclusion that the development of society is necessarily carried out on someone’s suffering and blood. Therefore, all people can be divided into two categories - “ordinary”, who meekly accept any order of things, and “extraordinary”, “the powerful of this world”. These latter have the right, if necessary, to violate the moral principles of society and step over blood.

Similar thoughts were inspired by Raskolnikov’s idea of ​​a “strong personality,” which was literally floating in the air in the 60s of the 19th century, and later took shape in F. Nietzsche’s theory of the “superman.” Imbued with this idea, Raskolnikov tries to solve the question: which of these two categories does he himself belong to? To answer this question, he decides to kill the old pawnbroker and thus join the ranks of the “chosen ones.”

However, having committed a crime, Raskolnikov begins to be tormented by remorse. The novel presents a complex psychological struggle of the hero with himself and at the same time with a representative of the authorities - the highly intelligent investigator Porfiry Petrovich. In Dostoevsky’s portrayal, he is an example of a professional who, step by step, from conversation to conversation, skillfully and prudently closes a thin psychological ring around Raskolnikov.

The writer pays special attention to the psychological state of the criminal’s soul, to his nervous disorder, expressed in illusions and hallucinations, which, according to Dostoevsky, must be taken into account by the investigator.

In the epilogue of the novel, we see how Raskolnikov’s individualism collapses. Among the labors and torments of the exiled convicts, he understands “the groundlessness of his claims to the title of hero and the role of ruler,” realizes his guilt and the highest meaning of goodness and justice.

In the novel “The Idiot” Dostoevsky again turns to the criminal theme. The writer focuses on the tragic fate of the noble dreamer Prince Myshkin and the extraordinary Russian woman Nastasya Filippovna. Having suffered deep humiliation in her youth from the rich man Totsky, she hates this world of businessmen, predators and cynics who outraged her youth and purity. In her soul there is a growing feeling of protest against the unjust structure of society, against the lawlessness and arbitrariness that reign in the harsh world of capital.

The image of Prince Myshkin embodies the writer’s idea of ​​a wonderful person. In the soul of the prince, as in the soul of Dostoevsky himself, there live feelings of compassion for all the “humiliated and disadvantaged”, the desire to help them, for which he is subjected to ridicule from the prosperous members of society, who called him a “fool” and an “idiot”.

Having met Nastasya Filippovna, the prince is imbued with love and sympathy for her and offers her his hand and heart. However, the tragic fate of these noble people is predetermined by the bestial customs of the world around them.

The merchant Rogozhin, unbridled in his passions and desires, is madly in love with Nastasya Filippovna. On the day of Nastasya Filippovna’s wedding to Prince Myshkin, the selfish Rogozhin takes her straight from the church and kills her. This is the plot of the novel. But Dostoevsky, as a psychologist and a real lawyer, convincingly reveals the reasons for the manifestation of such a character.

The image of Rogozhin in the novel is expressive and colorful. Illiterate, not subject to any education since childhood, psychologically he is, in the words of Dostoevsky, “the embodiment of an impulsive and consuming passion” that sweeps away everything in its path. Love and passion burn Rogozhin's soul. He hates Prince Myshkin and is jealous of Nastasya Filippovna. This is the reason for the bloody tragedy.

Despite the tragic collisions, the novel “The Idiot” is Dostoevsky’s most lyrical work, because its central images are deeply lyrical. The novel resembles a lyrical treatise, rich in wonderful aphorisms about beauty, which, according to the writer, is a great force capable of transforming the world. It is here that Dostoevsky expresses his innermost thought: “The world will be saved by beauty.” What is implied, undoubtedly, is the beauty of Christ and his divine-human personality.

The novel “Demons” was created during the period of intensified revolutionary movement in Russia. The actual basis of the work was the murder of student Ivanov by members of the secret terrorist organization “People's Retribution Committee,” headed by S. Nechaev, a friend and follower of the anarchist M. Bakunin. Dostoevsky perceived this event itself as a kind of “sign of the times,” as the beginning of future tragic upheavals, which, in the writer’s opinion, would inevitably lead humanity to the brink of disaster. He carefully studied the political document of this organization, “Catechism of a Revolutionary,” and subsequently used it in one of the chapters of the novel.

The writer portrays his heroes as a group of ambitious adventurers who have chosen the terrible, complete and merciless destruction of the social order as their life credo. Intimidation and lies have become their main means of achieving their goals.

The inspirer of the organization is the impostor Pyotr Verkhovensky, who calls himself a representative of a non-existent center and demands complete submission from his associates. To this end, he decides to seal their union with blood, for which purpose he kills one of the members of the organization, who intends to leave the secret society. Verkhovensky advocates rapprochement with robbers and public women in order to influence high-ranking officials through them.

Another type of “revolutionary” is represented by Nikolai Stavrogin, whom Dostoevsky wanted to show as the ideological bearer of nihilism. This is a man of high intelligence, unusually developed intellect, but his mind is cold and cruel. He instills negative ideas in others and pushes them to commit crimes. At the end of the novel, despairing and having lost faith in everything, Stavrogin commits suicide. The author himself considered Stavrogin a “tragic face.”

Through his main characters, Dostoevsky conveys the idea that revolutionary ideas, no matter in what form they appear, have no soil in Russia, that they have a detrimental effect on a person and only corrupt and disfigure his consciousness.

The result of the writer’s many years of creativity was his novel “The Brothers Karamazov.” The author focuses on the relationships in the Karamazov family: the father and his sons Dmitry, Ivan and Alexei. Father and eldest son Dmitry are at odds with each other over the provincial beauty Grushenka. This conflict ends with Dmitry's arrest on charges of parricide, the reason for which was traces of blood found on him. They were mistaken for the blood of the murdered father, although in reality it belonged to another person, the lackey Smerdyakov.

The murder of Karamazov the father reveals the tragedy of the fate of his second son, Ivan. It was he who seduced Smerdyakov into killing his father under the anarchic slogan “Everything is allowed.”

Dostoevsky examines in detail the process of investigation and legal proceedings. He shows that the investigation is persistently leading the case to a pre-drawn conclusion, since it is known both about the enmity between father and son, and about Dmitry’s threats to deal with his father. As a result, soulless and incompetent officials, on purely formal grounds, accuse Dmitry Karamazov of parricide.

The opponent of the unprofessional investigation in the novel is Dmitry’s lawyer, Fetyukovich. Dostoevsky characterizes him as an “adulterer of thought.” He uses his oratory to prove the innocence of his client, who, they say, became a “victim” of the upbringing of his dissolute father. Undoubtedly, moral qualities and good feelings are formed in the process of education. But the conclusion that the lawyer comes to contradicts the very idea of ​​justice: after all, any murder is a crime against the person. However, the lawyer's speech makes a strong impression on the public and allows him to manipulate public opinion.

The picture of arbitrariness and lawlessness typical of Tsarist Russia appears no less vividly in the works of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky (1823-1886). With all the power of artistic skill, he shows the ignorance and covetousness of officials, the callousness and bureaucracy of the entire state apparatus, the corruption and dependence of the court on the propertied classes. In his works, he branded the savage forms of violence of the rich over the poor, the barbarity and tyranny of those in power.

D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. A. N. Ostrovsky

Ostrovsky knew firsthand the state of affairs in Russian justice. Even in his youth, after leaving the university, he served in the Moscow Conscientious Court, and then in the Moscow Commercial Court. These seven years became a good school for him, from which he learned practical knowledge about judicial procedures and bureaucratic morals.

One of Ostrovsky’s first comedies, “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered,” was written by him when he worked in the Commercial Court. Its plot is taken from the very “thick of life”, from legal practice and merchant life that are well known to the author. With expressive force, he draws the business and moral physiognomy of the merchants, who, in their pursuit of wealth, did not recognize any laws or barriers.

This is the clerk of the rich merchant Podkhalyuzin. The merchant's daughter, Lipochka, is a match for him. Together they send their master and father to debt prison, guided by the bourgeois principle “I’ve seen it in my time, now it’s time for us.”

Among the characters in the play there are also representatives of bureaucrats who “administer justice” according to the morals of rogue merchants and rogue clerks. These “servants of Themis” are not far from their clients and petitioners in moral terms.

The comedy "Our People - Let's Count" was immediately noticed by the general public. A sharp satire on tyranny and its origins, rooted in the social conditions of that time, denunciation of autocratic-serf relations based on the actual and legal inequality of people, attracted the attention of the authorities. Tsar Nicholas I himself ordered the play to be banned from production. From that time on, the name of the aspiring writer was included in the list of unreliable elements, and secret police surveillance was established over him. As a result, Ostrovsky had to submit a petition for dismissal from service. Which, apparently, he did not without pleasure, focusing entirely on literary creativity.

Ostrovsky remained faithful to the fight against the vices of the autocratic system, exposing corruption, intrigue, careerism, and sycophancy in the bureaucratic and merchant environment in all subsequent years. These problems were clearly reflected in a number of his works - “Profitable Place”, “Forest”, “It’s not all Maslenitsa for cats”, “Warm Heart”, etc. In them, in particular, he showed with amazing depth the depravity of the entire state system service, in which an official, for successful career growth, was recommended not to reason, but to obey, to demonstrate his humility and submission in every possible way.

It should be noted that it was not just his civic position, and especially not idle curiosity, that prompted Ostrovsky to delve deeply into the essence of the processes taking place in society. As a true artist and legal practitioner, he observed clashes of characters, colorful figures, and many pictures of social reality. And his inquisitive thoughts as a researcher of morals, a person with rich life and professional experience, forced him to analyze the facts, correctly see the general behind the particular, and make broad social generalizations concerning good and evil, truth and untruth. Such generalizations, born of his insightful mind, served as the basis for building the main storylines in his other famous plays - “The Last Victim”, “Guilty Without Guilt” and others, which took a strong place in the golden fund of Russian drama.

Speaking about the reflection of the history of Russian justice in Russian classical literature, one cannot ignore the works of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889). They are of interest not only to scientists, but also to those who are just mastering legal science.

N. Yaroshenko. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

Following his great predecessors, who illuminated the problem of legality and its connection with the general structure of life, Shchedrin especially deeply revealed this connection and showed that robbery and oppression of the people are integral parts of the general mechanism of the autocratic state.

For almost eight years, from 1848 to 1856, he pulled the bureaucratic “shoulder” in Vyatka, where he was exiled for the “harmful” direction of his story “A Confused Affair.” Then he served in Ryazan, Tver, Penza, where he had the opportunity to become familiar with the structure of the state machine in every detail. In subsequent years, Shchedrin focused on journalistic and literary activities. In 1863-1864, he chronicled in the Sovremennik magazine, and later for almost 20 years (1868-1884) he was the editor of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine (until 1878, together with N. A. Nekrasov).

Shchedrin's Vyatka observations are vividly captured in “Provincial Sketches,” written in 1856-1857, when the revolutionary crisis was growing in the country. It is no coincidence that the “Essays” open with stories dedicated to the terrible pre-reform judicial order.

In the essay “Torn,” the writer, with his characteristic psychological skill, showed the type of official who, in his “zeal,” reached the point of frenzy, to the loss of human feelings. No wonder the locals nicknamed him “the dog.” And he was not indignant at this, but, on the contrary, he was proud. However, the fate of innocent people was so tragic that one day even his petrified heart trembled. But just for a moment, and he immediately stopped himself: “As an investigator, I have no right to reason, much less condole...”. This is the philosophy of a typical representative of Russian justice as depicted by Shchedrin.

Some chapters of the “Provincial Sketches” contain sketches of the prison and its inhabitants. Dramas are played out in them, as the author himself puts it, “one more intricate and intricate than the other.” He talks about several such dramas with deep insight into the spiritual world of their participants. One of them ended up in prison because he is “a fan of truth and a hater of lies.” Another warmed a sick old woman in his house, and she died on his stove. As a result, the compassionate man was condemned. Shchedrin is deeply outraged by the injustice of the court and connects this with the injustice of the entire state system.

“Provincial Sketches” in many ways summed up the achievements of Russian realistic literature with its harshly truthful portrayal of the savage nobility and all-powerful bureaucracy. In them, Shchedrin develops the thoughts of many Russian humanist writers, filled with deep compassion for the common man.

In his works “Pompadour and Pompadours”, “The History of a City”, “Poshekhon Antiquity” and many others, Shchedrin in a satirical form talks about the remnants of serfdom in social relations in post-reform Russia.

Speaking about post-reform “trends,” he convincingly shows that these “trends” are sheer verbiage. Here the pompadour governor “accidentally” finds out that the law, it turns out, has prohibitive and permissive powers. And he was still convinced that his governor’s decision was the law. However, he has doubts: who can limit his justice? Auditor? But they still know that the auditor is a pompadour himself, only in a square. And the governor resolves all his doubts with a simple conclusion - “either the law or me.”

Thus, in a caricature form, Shchedrin branded the terrible arbitrariness of the administration, which was a characteristic feature of the autocratic police system. The omnipotence of arbitrariness, he believed, had distorted the very concepts of justice and legality.

The Judicial Reform of 1864 gave a certain impetus to the development of legal science. Many of Shchedrin's statements indicate that he was thoroughly familiar with the latest views of bourgeois jurists and had his own opinion on this matter. When, for example, the developers of the reform began to theoretically justify the independence of the court under the new statutes, Shchedrin answered them that there cannot be an independent court where judges are made financially dependent on the authorities. “The independence of the judges,” he wrote ironically, “was happily balanced by the prospect of promotion and awards.”

Shchedrin's depiction of judicial procedures was organically woven into a broad picture of the social reality of tsarist Russia, where the connection between capitalist predation, administrative arbitrariness, careerism, bloody pacification of the people and unjust trials was clearly visible. Aesopian language, which the writer masterfully used, allowed him to call all the bearers of vices by their proper names: gudgeon, predators, dodgers, etc., which acquired a nominal meaning not only in literature, but also in everyday life.

Legal ideas and problems are widely reflected in the works of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910). In his youth, he was interested in jurisprudence and studied at the Faculty of Law of Kazan University. In 1861, the writer was appointed as a peace mediator in one of the districts of the Tula province. Lev Nikolaevich devoted a lot of energy and time to protecting the interests of the peasants, which caused discontent among the landowners. Arrested people, exiles and their relatives turned to him for help. And he conscientiously delved into their affairs, writing petitions to influential persons. It can be assumed that it was this activity, along with active participation in the organization of schools for peasant children, that was the reason that, from 1862 until the end of his life, Tolstoy was under secret police surveillance.

L.N. Tolstoy. Photo by S.V. Levitsky

Throughout his life, Tolstoy was invariably interested in issues of legality and justice, studied professional literature, including “Siberia and Exile” by D. Kennan, “The Russian Community in Prison and Exile” by N. M. Yadrintsev, “In the World of the Outcasts” by P. F. Yakubovich, knew well the latest legal theories of Garofalo, Ferri, Tarde, Lombroso. All this was reflected in his work.

Tolstoy also had an excellent knowledge of the judicial practice of his time. One of his close friends was the famous judicial figure A.F. Koni, who suggested the writer the plot for the novel “Resurrection.” Tolstoy constantly turned to his other friend, Chairman of the Moscow District Court N.V. Davydov, for advice on legal issues, was interested in the details of legal proceedings, the process of executing sentences, and various details of prison life. At Tolstoy’s request, Davydov wrote the text of the indictment in the case of Katerina Maslova for the novel “Resurrection” and formulated the court’s questions for the jurors. With the assistance of Koni and Davydov, Tolstoy visited prisons many times, talked with prisoners, and attended court hearings. In 1863, having come to the conclusion that the tsarist court was complete lawlessness, Tolstoy refused to take part in “justice.”

In the drama “The Power of Darkness”, or “The Claw Got Stuck, the Whole Bird Is Lost,” Tolstoy reveals the psychology of the criminal and exposes the social roots of the crime. The plot for the play was the real criminal case of a peasant in the Tula province, whom the writer visited in prison. Taking this matter as a basis, Tolstoy clothed it in a highly artistic form and filled it with deeply human, moral content. The humanist Tolstoy convincingly shows in his drama how retribution inevitably comes for the evil committed. The worker Nikita deceived an innocent orphan girl, entered into an illegal relationship with the owner’s wife, who treated him kindly, and became the involuntary cause of the death of her husband. Then - a relationship with his stepdaughter, the murder of a child, and Nikita completely lost himself. He cannot bear his grave sin before God and people, he repents publicly and, in the end, commits suicide.

Theater censorship did not allow the play to pass. Meanwhile, “The Power of Darkness” was a huge success on many stages in Western Europe: in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland. And only in 1895, i.e. 7 years later, it was first staged on the Russian stage.

A deep social and psychological conflict underlies many of the writer’s subsequent works - “Anna Karenina”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “Resurrection”, “The Living Corpse”, “Hadji Murat”, “After the Ball”, etc. In them, Tolstoy mercilessly exposed the autocratic order, the bourgeois institution of marriage, sanctified by the church, the immorality of representatives of the upper strata of society, corrupted and morally devastated, as a result of which they are not able to see in the people close to them individuals who have the right to their own thoughts, feelings and experiences, to their own dignity and private life.

I. Pchelko. Illustration for L. N. Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball”

One of Tolstoy’s outstanding works in terms of its artistic, psychological and ideological content is the novel “Resurrection.” Without exaggeration, it can be called a genuine legal study of the class nature of the court and its purpose in a socially antagonistic society, the cognitive significance of which is enhanced by the clarity of the images and the accuracy of the psychological characteristics so inherent in Tolstoy’s writing talent.

After the chapters revealing the tragic story of the fall of Katerina Maslova and introducing Dmitry Nekhlyudov, the most important chapters of the novel follow, which describe the trial of the accused. The environment in which the trial takes place is described in detail. Against this background, Tolstoy draws the figures of judges, jurors, and defendants.

The author's comments allow you to see the whole farce of what is happening, which is far from true justice. It seemed that no one cared about the defendant: neither the judges, nor the prosecutor, nor the lawyer, nor the jury wanted to delve into the fate of the unfortunate woman. Everyone had their own “business”, which overshadowed everything that was happening, and turned the process into an empty formality. The case is being considered, the defendant is facing hard labor, and the judges are languishing with melancholy and are only pretending to participate in the hearing.

Even bourgeois law entrusts the presiding officer with the active conduct of the process, and his thoughts are occupied with the upcoming meeting. The prosecutor, in turn, deliberately condemned Maslova and, for the sake of form, makes a pretentious speech with references to Roman lawyers, without even making an attempt to delve into the circumstances of the case.

The novel shows that the jury also does not bother with its duties. Each of them is preoccupied with their own affairs and problems. In addition, these are people of different worldviews and social status, so it is difficult for them to come to a common opinion. However, they unanimously convict the defendant.

Well familiar with the tsarist system of punishment, Tolstoy was one of the first to raise his voice in defense of the rights of convicts. Having walked with his heroes through all circles of courts and institutions of the so-called correctional system, the writer concludes that most of the people whom this system doomed to torment as criminals were not criminals at all: they were victims. Legal science and the judicial process do not at all serve to find the truth. Moreover, with false scientific explanations, such as references to natural crime, they justify the evil of the entire system of justice and punishment of the autocratic state.

L. O. Pasternak. "Morning of Katyusha Maslova"

Tolstoy condemned the dominance of capital, state administration in a police, class society, its church, its court, its science. He saw a way out of this situation in changing the very system of life, which legitimized the oppression of ordinary people. This conclusion contradicted Tolstoy’s teaching about non-resistance to evil, about moral improvement as a means of salvation from all troubles. These reactionary views of Tolstoy were reflected in the novel “Resurrection”. But they faded and retreated before the great truth of Tolstoy’s genius.

One cannot help but say something about Tolstoy’s journalism. Almost all of his famous journalistic articles and appeals are full of thoughts about legality and justice.

In the article “Shame,” he angrily protested against the beating of peasants, against this most absurd and insulting punishment to which one of its classes, “the most industrious, useful, moral and numerous,” is subjected in an autocratic state.

In 1908, indignant at the brutal reprisals against the revolutionary people, against executions and gallows, Tolstoy issued the appeal “They cannot remain silent.” In it, he brands the executioners, whose atrocities, in his opinion, will not calm or frighten the Russian people.

Of particular interest is Tolstoy’s article “Letter to a Student about Law.” Here he, again and again expressing his hard-won thoughts on issues of legality and justice, exposes the anti-people essence of bourgeois jurisprudence, designed to protect private property and the well-being of the powerful.

Tolstoy believed that legal laws must be in accordance with moral standards. These unshakable convictions became the basis of his civic position, from the height of which he condemned the system based on private property and branded its vices.

• Justice and execution of punishments in works of Russian literature of the late XIX-XX centuries.

The problems of Russian law and court at the end of the 19th century were widely reflected in the diverse works of another classic of Russian literature, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904). The approach to this topic was due to the rich life experience of the writer.

Chekhov was interested in many areas of knowledge: medicine, law, legal proceedings. Having graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University in 1884, he was appointed district doctor. In this capacity, he has to go to calls, see patients, participate in forensic autopsies, and act as an expert at court hearings. Impressions from this period of his life served as the basis for a number of his famous works: “Drama on the Hunt”, “Swedish Match”, “Intruder”, “Night before the Court”, “Investigator” and many others.

A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy (photo).

In the story “The Intruder,” Chekhov talks about an investigator who has neither flexibility of mind, nor professionalism, and has no idea about psychology at all. Otherwise, he would have realized at first glance that in front of him was a dark, uneducated man who was not aware of the consequences of his action - unscrewing the nuts on the railway. The investigator suspects the man of malicious intent, but does not even bother to explain to him what he is accused of. According to Chekhov, a guardian of the law should not be such a “blockhead,” both professionally and personally.

The language of the story is very laconic and conveys all the comedy of the situation. Chekhov describes the beginning of the interrogation as follows: “In front of the forensic investigator stands a small, extremely skinny little man in a motley shirt and patched ports. His hairy and rowan-eaten face and eyes, barely visible because of thick, overhanging eyebrows, have an expression of gloomy severity. On his head there is a whole cap of unkempt, tangled hair that has long been unkempt, which gives him even greater, spider-like severity. He's barefoot." In fact, the reader again encounters the theme of the “little man,” so characteristic of classical Russian literature, but the comedy of the situation lies in the fact that the further interrogation of the investigator is a conversation between two “little people.” The investigator believes that he has caught an important criminal, because the train crash could have entailed not only material consequences, but also the death of people. The second hero of the story, Denis Grigoriev, does not understand at all: what illegal thing did he do that the investigator is interrogating him? And in response to the question: why was the nut unscrewed, he answers without embarrassment at all: “We make sinkers from nuts... We, the people... Klimovsky men, that is.” The subsequent conversation is similar to a conversation between a deaf man and a mute, but when the investigator announces that Denis is going to be sent to prison, the man is sincerely perplexed: “To prison... If only there was a reason for it, I would have gone, otherwise... you live great ... For what? And he didn’t steal, it seems, and didn’t fight... And if you have doubts about the arrears, your honor, then don’t believe the headman... You ask Mr. the indispensable member... There’s no cross on him, the headman...” .

But the final phrase of the “malefactor” Grigoriev is especially impressive: “The deceased master-general, the kingdom of heaven, died, otherwise he would have shown you, the judges... We must judge skillfully, not in vain... Even if you flog, but for the cause, according to conscience..."

We see a completely different type of investigator in the story “The Swedish Match”. His hero, using only one piece of material evidence - a match - achieves the final goal of the investigation and finds the missing landowner. He is young, hot-tempered, builds various fantastic versions of what happened, but a thorough examination of the scene and the ability to think logically lead him to the true circumstances of the case.

In the story “Sleepy Stupidity,” undoubtedly written from life, the writer caricatured a district court hearing. The time is the beginning of the 20th century, but how surprisingly the trial resembles the district court that Gogol described in “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich.” The same sleepy secretary reads in a mournful voice the indictment without commas and periods. His reading is like the babbling of a stream. The same judge, prosecutor, jury were laughing out of boredom. They are not at all interested in the substance of the matter. But they will have to decide the fate of the defendant. About such “guardians of justice” Chekhov wrote: “With a formal, soulless attitude towards the individual, in order to deprive an innocent person of the rights of his fortune and sentence him to hard labor, the judge needs only one thing: time. Just time to comply with some formalities for which the judge is paid a salary, and then it’s all over.”

A. P. Chekhov (photography)

"Drama on the Hunt" is an unusual crime story about how

the forensic investigator commits a murder and then investigates it himself. As a result, the innocent person receives 15 years of exile, and the criminal walks free. In this story, Chekhov convincingly shows how socially dangerous is such a phenomenon as the immorality of the servant of Themis, who represents the law and is invested with a certain power. This results in violation of the law and violation of justice.

In 1890, Chekhov makes a long and dangerous trip to Sakhalin. He was prompted to this not by idle curiosity and the romance of travel, but by the desire to become more acquainted with the “world of the outcasts” and to arouse, as he himself said, public attention to the justice that reigned in the country and to its victims. The result of the trip was a voluminous book “Sakhalin Island”, containing a wealth of information on the history, statistics, ethnography of this outskirts of Russia, a description of gloomy prisons, hard labor, and a system of cruel punishments.

The humanist writer is deeply outraged by the fact that convicts are often the servants of their superiors and officers. “...The giving of convicts to the service of private individuals is in complete contradiction with the legislator’s views on punishment,” he writes, “this is not hard labor, but serfdom, since the convict serves not the state, but a person who does not care about correctional goals... " Such slavery, Chekhov believes, has a detrimental effect on the prisoner’s personality, corrupts it, suppresses the prisoner’s human dignity, and deprives him of all rights.

In his book, Chekhov develops Dostoevsky’s idea, which is still relevant today, about the important role of prison authorities in the re-education of criminals. He notes the stupidity and dishonesty of prison governors, when a suspect whose guilt has not yet been proven is kept in a dark cell of a convict prison, and often in a common cell with inveterate murderers, rapists, etc. Such an attitude of people who are obliged to educate prisoners has a corrupting effect on those being educated and only aggravates their base inclinations.

Chekhov is especially indignant at the humiliated and powerless position of women. There is almost no hard labor on the island for them. Sometimes they wash the floors in the office, work in the garden, but most often they are appointed as servants to officials or sent to the “harems” of clerks and overseers. The tragic consequence of this unearned, depraved life is the complete moral degradation of women who are capable of selling their children “for a glass of alcohol.”

Against the background of these terrible pictures, clean children’s faces sometimes flash on the pages of the book. They, together with their parents, endure poverty, deprivation, and humbly endure the atrocities of their parents tormented by life. However, Chekhov still believes that children provide moral support to the exiles, save mothers from idleness, and somehow tie the exiled parents to life, saving them from their final fall.

Chekhov's book caused a great public outcry. The reader saw closely and vividly the enormous tragedy of the humiliated and disadvantaged inhabitants of Russian prisons. The advanced part of society perceived the book as a warning about the tragic death of the country's human resources.

It can be said with good reason that with his book Chekhov achieved the goal that he set for himself when he took on the Sakhalin theme. Even the official authorities were forced to pay attention to the problems raised in it. In any case, after the book was published, by order of the Ministry of Justice, several officials of the Main Prison Directorate were sent to Sakhalin, who practically confirmed that Chekhov was right. The result of these trips were reforms in the field of hard labor and exile. In particular, over the next few years, heavy punishments were abolished, funds were allocated for the maintenance of orphanages, and court sentences to eternal exile and lifelong hard labor were abolished.

Such was the social impact of the book “Sakhalin Island”, brought to life by the civic feat of the Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Control questions:

1. What characteristic features of the trial are captured in the works of Gogol and Chekhov?

2. How is their civic position manifested in the works of classics of Russian literature about the court?

3. What did Saltykov-Shchedrin see as the main defects of tsarist justice?

4. What, according to Dostoevsky and Chekhov, should an investigator be? And what should it not be?

5. For what reasons did Ostrovsky end up on the police list of unreliable elements?

6. How can you explain the title of Dostoevsky’s novel “Demons”?

7. What did Russian writers see as the main causes of crime? Do you agree with Lombroso's theory of an innate tendency to crime?

8. How are the victims of autocratic justice shown in the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky?

9. What goals did Chekhov pursue when going to the island? Sakhalin? Has he achieved these goals?

10. Which Russian writer owns the words “The world will be saved by beauty”? How do you understand this?

Golyakov I.T. Court and legality in fiction. M.: Legal literature, 1959. P. 92-94.

Radishchev A. N. Complete works in 3 volumes. M.; L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1938. T. 1. P. 445-446.

Right there. P. 446.

Latkin V.N. Textbook on the history of Russian law during the imperial period (XVIII and XIX centuries). M.: Zertsalo, 2004. pp. 434-437.

Nepomnyashchiy V.S. Pushkin's lyrics as a spiritual biography. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 2001. P. 106-107.

Koni A.F. Pushkin’s social views // Honoring the memory of A.S. Pushkin imp. Academy of Sciences on the hundredth anniversary of his birth. May 1899". St. Petersburg, 1900. pp. 2-3.

Right there. pp. 10-11.

Quote by: Koni A.F. Pushkin’s social views // Honoring the memory of A.S. Pushkin imp. Academy of Sciences on the hundredth anniversary of his birth. May 1899". St. Petersburg, 1900. P. 15.

See: Bazhenov A.M. To the mystery of “Grief” (A.S. Griboyedov and his immortal comedy). M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 2001. P. 3-5.

Bazhenov A.M. Decree. op. pp. 7-9.

See also: Kulikova, K. A. S. Griboedov and his comedy “Woe from Wit” // A. S. Griboedov. Woe from the mind. L.: Children's literature, 1979. P.9-11.

Smirnova E.A. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". L., 1987. pp. 24-25.

Bocharov S.G. About Gogol’s style // Typology of stylistic development of modern literature. M., 1976. S. 415-116.

See also: Vetlovskaya V. E. Religious ideas of utopian socialism and the young F. M. Dostoevsky // Christianity and Russian literature. St. Petersburg, 1994. pp. 229-230.

Nedvesitsky V. A. From Pushkin to Chekhov. 3rd ed. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 2002. pp. 136-140.

Miller O.F. Materials for the biography of F. M. Dostaevsky. St. Petersburg, 1883. P. 94.

Golyakov I.T. Court and legality in fiction. M.: Legal literature, 1959. pp. 178-182.

Golyakov I.T. Court and legality in fiction. M.: Legal literature, 1959. P. 200-201.

Linkov V.Ya. War and Peace by L. Tolstoy. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 2007. pp. 5-7.

Golyakov I.T. Court and legality in fiction. M.: Legal literature, 1959. pp. 233-235.

"Woe from Wit." Maid Lisa

Lisa is a classic type of maid who arranges her mistress’s love affairs. She is a serf of the Famusovs, but in the house of her masters, Lisa is in the position of a servant-friend of Sophia. She has a sharp tongue, she has free manners and freedom in dealing with Chatsky and Sophia. Since Lisa grew up with her educated young lady, her speech is a mixture of common people and affectation, so natural in the mouth of a maid. This half-young lady, half-servant plays the role of Sophia's companion. Lisa is an active participant in the comedy, she is cunning, shielding the young lady, and laughs at her, dodging Famusova’s lordly advances. She says: “Let me go, you flighty people, come to your senses, you are old people.” He remembers Chatsky, with whom Sophia grew up together, regretting that the young lady has lost interest in him. Molchalin is on an equal footing with Lisa, trying to look after her until the young lady sees it.

She comes to him, and he comes to me,

And I... I’m the only one who’s scared to death in love.-

How can you not love the bartender Petrusha!

Carrying out instructions for her young lady, Lisa almost sympathizes with the love affair and even tries to reason with Sophia, saying that “love will be of no use.” Lisa, unlike Sophia, understands perfectly well that Molchalin is not a match for her mistress and that Famusov will never give Sophia as his wife to Molchalin. He needs a son-in-law who has a position in society and a fortune. Fearing a scandal, Famusov will send Sophia to her aunt in the Saratov wilderness, but after a while he will try to marry her to a man in his circle. A more brutal reprisal awaits the serfs. Famusov first of all takes out his anger on the servants. He orders Liza: “Go to the hut, march, go after the birds.” And the doorman Filka threatens to exile to Siberia: “To work for you, to settle you.” From the lips of the serf-owner, the servants hear their own sentence.

"Captain's daughter". "Dubrovsky". Anton, nanny

Anton and the nanny……….- servants from the work “Dubrovsky”. They are representatives of serf courtyard people, devoted to the point of selflessness to their masters, who respected them for their high honesty and devotion. Despite the difficult living conditions, these servants retained a warm human heart, a bright mind, and attention to people.

In the image of Anton, Pushkin captured the sober and sharp mind of the people, a sense of self-esteem and independence, the gift of wit and accurate and vivid speech. In his speech there is an abundance of proverbs and figurative speech: “often he is his own judge,” “he doesn’t give a damn,” “on parcels,” “not only the skin, but also the meat.”

Anton knew Vladimir as a child, taught him to ride a horse, amused him. He was strongly attached to Vladimir, whom he remembered as a child and then still loved, but at the same time he expresses his feelings for Vladimir in a form familiar to him as a serf (“bowed to him to the ground”)

Anton has no slavish fear in relation to masters. He, like other serfs, hates the cruel landowner Troekurov, he is not going to submit to him, he is ready to fight with him.

Nanny of Vladimir Dubrovsky She was a kind woman, attentive to people, although she was far from thinking about the possibility of fighting the landowners.

She was very attached to the Dubrovsky family: pity and care for the old man Dubrovsky, concern about his affairs, about the court decision, love for Vladimir, whom she nursed and affectionately calls in her letter “my clear falcon.” Her letter also indicates expressions that were familiar to a serf when addressing a master and which were explained by his servitude (“your faithful slave,” “and we have been yours from time immemorial,” “does he serve you well”). But when she meets Vladimir, the nanny behaves not like a master, but like a loved one (“she hugged her with tears…”).

“The Captain's Daughter” Servant Savelich.

One of the brightest images from the people is the servant Savelich (“The Captain’s Daughter”). Savelich appears before us without the “shadow of slavish humiliation.” The great inner nobility and spiritual richness of his nature are fully revealed in the completely unselfish and deep human affection of a poor, lonely old man for his pet.

Pushkinsky Savelich is convinced that serfs must faithfully serve their masters. But his devotion to his masters is far from slavish humiliation. Let us remember his words in a letter to his master Grinev-father, who, having learned about his son’s duel, reproaches Savelich for his oversight. The servant, in response to rude, unfair reproaches, writes: “... I am not an old dog, but your faithful servant, I obey the master’s orders and have always served you diligently and lived to see my gray hair.” In the letter, Savelich calls himself a “slave,” as was customary then when serfs addressed their masters, but the entire tone of his letter breathes with a feeling of great human dignity, imbued with a bitter reproach for an undeserved insult.

A serf, a courtyard man, Savelich is filled with a sense of dignity, he is smart, intelligent, and has a sense of responsibility for the assigned work. And he has been entrusted with a lot - he is actually raising the boy. He taught him to read and write. Forcibly deprived of his family, Savelich felt truly fatherly love for the boy and young man, and showed not servile, but sincere, heartfelt care for Pyotr Grinev.

A more detailed acquaintance with Savelich begins after Pyotr Grinev’s departure from his parental home. And every time Pushkin creates situations in which Grinev commits actions, mistakes, and Savelich helps him out, helps him, saves him. The very next day after leaving home, Grinev got drunk, lost a hundred rubles to Zurin, and “had dinner at Arinushka’s.” Savelich “gasped” when he saw the drunken master, but Grinev called him a “bastard” and ordered him to put himself to bed. The next morning, showing lordly power, Grinev orders the lost money to be paid, telling Savelich that he is his master. This is the morality that justifies Grinev’s behavior.

The landowner's "child" deliberately assumes "adult" rudeness, wanting to escape from the "uncle's" care and prove that he is no longer a child. At the same time, he “feels sorry for the poor old man,” he experiences remorse and “silent repentance.” After some time, Grinev directly asks Savelich for forgiveness and makes peace with him.

When Savelich finds out about Grinev’s duel with Shvabrin, he rushes to the place of the duel with the intention of protecting his master. Grinev not only did not thank the old man, but also accused him of informing his parents. If it were not for Savelich’s intervention at the time of the trial and the oath to Pugachev, Grinev would have been hanged. He was ready to take Grinev’s place under the gallows. And Pyotr Grinev will also risk his life when he rushes to the rescue of Savelich, captured by the Pugachevites.

Savelich, unlike the rebellious peasants, is betrayed by the Grinevs, he defends their property and, like the gentlemen, considers Pugachev a robber. A striking episode of the work is Savelich’s demand to return the things taken by the rebels.

Savelich left the crowd to give Pugachev his register. Serf Savelich knows how to read and write. The rebel and leader of the uprising is illiterate. "What's this?" - Pugachev asked importantly. “Read it, you’ll see it,” Savelich answered. Pugachev accepted the paper and looked at it for a long time with a significant look. “Why are you writing so cleverly?” - he finally said, “Our bright eyes can’t make out anything here. Where is my chief secretary?

The comical behavior of Pugachev and the childishness of his play do not humiliate the rebel, but Savelich, thanks to the created situation, does not humiliate himself with a servile request to return the stolen master's robes, linen Dutch shirts with cuffs, a cellar with tea utensils. The scale of interests of Pugachev and Savelich are incommensurable. But, defending the plundered property, Savelich is right in his own way. And we cannot be left indifferent by the old man’s courage and dedication. He boldly and fearlessly turns to the impostor, not thinking about what the demand for the return of things “stolen by the villains” threatens him; he also remembered the hare sheepskin coat given to Pugachev by Grinev at the first meeting in the snowstorm. Grinev’s generous gift to the unknown “peasant” who saved the heroes during a snowstorm, Savelich’s ingenuity and dedication will prove to be life-saving for both the servant and the young officer.

"Dead Souls". Parsley, Selifan.

Selifan and Petrushka are two serf servants. They are given as a convincing example of the destructive influence of the serfdom system on the people. But neither Selifan nor Petrushka can be considered as representatives of the peasant people as a whole.

The coachman Selifan and the footman Petrushka are two serf servants of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, these are courtyards, that is, serfs torn from the land by the master and taken into personal service. In order for them to better look after the master, courtyard servants were very often not allowed to get married (and women were not allowed to get married). Their life is hard.

Petrushka “even had a noble impulse to enlightenment, that is, to read books whose contents were not difficult for him: he did not care at all whether it was the adventures of a hero in love, just a primer or a prayer book - he read everything with equal attention... Although Gogol humorously describes the reading process serf servant Chichikov, his “passion for reading,” but still the fact of spreading literacy among serfs is important in itself. Petrushka’s entire appearance and behavior, his gloomy appearance, silence, and drunkenness reveal his deep dissatisfaction with life and hopeless despair.

Chichikov shows much more “participation” for the dead peasants than for the living Selifan or Petrushka who belong to him.

Petrushka’s friend Selifan is also curious. We can learn something about Selifan’s concepts when he, blissfully drunk, takes his master from Malinovka and, as usual, talks to the horses. He praises the venerable bay horse and the brown Assessor, who “do their duty” and reproaches the crafty sloth Chubary: “Uh, barbarian!” Damn Bonaparte!.. No, you live in truth when you want to be respected.”

Chichikov’s servants are also characterized by that “in their own mind” secrecy of peasants who will appear when the masters are talking to them and asking something from them: here the “men” play fools, because who knows what the gentlemen are up to, but of course something bad. This is what Petrushka and Selifan did when officials of the city of NN began to extort information about Chichikov from them, because “this class of people has a very strange custom. If you ask him directly about something, he will never remember, will not get it all into his head, and will even simply answer that he doesn’t know, but if you ask him about something else, then he will drag it in and tell him in such detail , although you don’t want to know.

In his works, he first raised the topic of the “idiocy” of slavery, downtrodden, powerless and hopeless existence; This theme is embodied in the image of Petrushka with his strange way of reading books and all the features of his sad appearance, and partly in Selifan, in his habitual patience, his conversations with horses (who should he talk to if not horses!), his reasoning about the dignity of his master and about the fact that flogging a person is not harmful.

"Inspector". Osip.

Osip's words about the delights of metropolitan life, in essence, give an idea of ​​St. Petersburg, in which tens of thousands of servants, huddled in the miserable closets of noble mansions, lead a forced, idle, essentially bitter and hateful existence.

Osip's monologue occupies a significant place in comedy. It is in it that some aspects of St. Petersburg life arise, the product of which Khlestakov was. Osip reports that Khlestakov is not an auditor, but an emissary, and this gives the entire further action an acutely comical overtones.

Osip pronounces the first lines of his monologue with annoyance. He seems to be complaining about the unlucky master, because of whom the servant must experience hunger and humiliation.

Osip talks irritably and grumpily about Khlestakov. But when he remembered the village, where he could lie on a bed all his life and eat pies, his intonation changed, it became dreamily melodious. However, Osip has no antipathy towards St. Petersburg either. Talking about the “delicate conversations” and “haberdashery treatment” of St. Petersburg residents, Osip becomes more and more animated and reaches almost delight.

The memory of the owner makes him preoccupied and angry again, and he begins to read morals to Khlestakov. The conflict of the situation is obvious: Khlestakov is not in the room. Osip himself eventually understands the helplessness of his teachings addressed to an absent face, and his tone becomes sad, even melancholy: “Oh, my God, if only there was some cabbage soup!” It seems like now the whole world has been eaten.”

The appearance of Khlestakov and the scenes with Osip make it possible to notice in Khlestakov a strange mixture of beggary and lordly arrogance, helplessness and self-confident contempt, frivolity and demandingness, courteous courtesy and arrogance.

Internal tension is born of another conflict, deep and not only comic. It is a conflict between truth and deception, error and truth. The beginning of this conflict is Osip’s monologue, who, after Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky’s gossip about a passing inspector, tells us about Khlestakov, makes us understand how little his owner resembles the “incognito damned.” Obviously, it is no coincidence that Gogol instructs Osip, a man from the people, with clear common sense and an independent mind, to reveal the conflict between truth and deception.

"Oblomov." Zakhar.

The image of Zakhar, a valet and servant of Ilya Ilyich since childhood, also helps to better understand the image of the main character. Zakhar is the second Oblomov, his kind of double. The techniques for revealing the image are the same. The novel traces the fate of the hero, his relationship with the master, character, and preferences. A detailed description of the room and a portrait of the hero are given. Several details in the description of Zakhar’s appearance are interesting. The author especially highlights sideburns. They are also mentioned at the end of the novel: “The sideburns are still big, but wrinkled and tangled like felt.”. Just like the robe and sofa, Oblomov’s constant companions, the couch and frock coat are Zakhar’s irreplaceable things. These are symbolic details. The couch tells us about laziness, contempt for work, the frock coat (by the way, with a hole) about reverence for the master; This is also a memory of my beloved Oblomovka. Goncharov describes in detail the character of Zakhar, noting his laziness, impracticality (everything falls out of hand) and devotion to the master. Devotion is noted not only in the story about the service in the Oblomovs’ house, but also in the comparison of Zakhar with a faithful dog: “At the master’s call “Zakhar!” You can hear the grumbling of a chained dog.". As in Oblomov, there is both bad and good in Zakhara. Despite his laziness and untidiness, Zakhar is not disgusted; Goncharov describes him with humor. (For example: “...Zakhar could not bear the reproach written in the master’s eyes and lowered his gaze to his feet: here again, in the carpet, saturated with dust and stains, he read a sad certificate of his zeal.”) The writer seems to be making fun of Zakhar, watching him, his life. And the hero's fate is tragic. Zakhar, like his master, is afraid of change. He believes that what he has is the best. He felt the impracticality and his wretchedness when he married Anisya, but this did not make him any better. He did not change his lifestyle, even when Stolz suggested that he change his vagabond lifestyle. Zakhar is a typical Oblomovite. Before us is another sad result of the corrupting influence of nobility and serfdom on people.

Comparison of Savelich’s servant from “The Captain’s Daughter”

with servant Zakhar from “Oblomov”

If we compare the servant Savelich from “The Captain’s Daughter” with the servant Zakhar from “Oblomov”, then both of them are representatives of serf courtyard people, devoted to their masters to the point of selflessness, servants of the household, filling our ideal of a servant, outlined in “Domostroi” by priest Sylvester. But there is a big difference between them, which can be explained very simply: after all, Savelich is seventy to eighty years older than Zakhar. Savelich, indeed, was a member of the family, the gentlemen respected his high honesty and devotion. He treated Pyotr Andreevich Grinev more like a mentor with his young charge, not forgetting at the same time that he was his future serf. But this consciousness manifests itself not in the form of a purely slavish, fearful attitude towards him, but in the fact that he considers his master above all other masters. He responds to Andrei Petrovich’s unfair letter with his own, expressing complete submission to his will, and is ready to be a swineherd; This expresses the age-old dependence of the Russian peasant on the landowner, the age-old obedience of the serf. Savelich does not do this out of fear, he is not afraid of either death or deprivation (it is enough just to remember his words: “and for the sake of example and fear, at least order me, an old man, to be hanged! "), but prompted by his inner conviction that he is a servant of the Grinev family. Therefore, when young Grinev strictly demands obedience from him, he obeys, although he grumbles and regrets the involuntary waste of property. His concerns in this regard sometimes reach the point of being funny, mixed with tragic. Forgetting about his safety, he presents Pugachev with a bill for the items damaged and taken by him and his gang; He talks for a long time about losing a hundred rubles and giving Pugachev a hare sheepskin coat. But he cares not only about property: he spends 5 days constantly over the head of the wounded Pyotr Andreevich, does not write to his parents about his duel, not wanting to disturb them in vain. We have already had occasion to talk about his self-sacrifice. In addition, Savelich is ideally honest, he will not hide for himself a penny of the master’s goods; he does not lie, does not chat in vain, behaves simply and sedately, however, showing youthful liveliness when it comes to the benefit of his masters. In general, it is difficult to find unattractive traits in his character.

Zakhar, according to Goncharov, is also a lackey’s knight, but a knight with fear and reproach. He is also devoted to the Oblomov family, considers them real bars, and often does not even allow comparisons between them and other landowners. He is ready to die for Ilya Ilyich, but he does not like work, he even cannot stand it at all, and therefore he would not be able to care for the sick the way Savelich does. He has once and for all outlined his responsibilities and will never do more, unless after repeated orders. Because of this, he has constant bickering with Oblomov. Having become accustomed to Ilya Ilyich, whom he looked after when he was a child, and knowing that he would not punish him except with a “pathetic word,” Zakhar allows himself to be rude towards the master; this rudeness is a consequence of his rather complex character, which is full of contradictions: Zakhar does not give his coat to Tarantiev, despite Oblomov’s order, and at the same time does not hesitate to steal change from his master, which Savelich would never do; In order to hide his tricks, get rid of work, and boast, Zakhar constantly resorts to lies, differing here from the frank, truthful Savelich. He does not take care of the master’s property, constantly breaks dishes and spoils things, carouses with friends in a tavern, “runs to a godfather of a suspicious nature,” while Savelich not only does not allow himself to carouse, but also keeps his master from carousing. Zakhar is extremely stubborn and will never change his habits; if, suppose, he usually sweeps the room only in the middle, without looking into the corners, then there is no way to force him to do this; There is only one remedy left; repeat the order every time, but even after repeating it a hundred times, Zakhar will not get used to the new type of duties.

An aversion to work due to the need to do at least something gave rise to gloom and grumpiness in Zakhara; he doesn’t even speak as people usually speak, but somehow wheezes and wheezes. But behind this rough, dirty, unattractive appearance, Zakhara hides a kind heart. For example, he is capable of playing for hours with children who mercilessly pinch his thick sideburns. In general, Zakhar is a mixture of serf patriarchy with the most coarse, external manifestations of urban culture. After comparing him with Savelich, the integral, sympathetic character of the latter is outlined even more clearly, his typical features as a real Russian serf servant - a member of the household in the spirit of “Domostroy” - appear even more sharply. In the type of Zakhar, the unattractive features of the later liberated, often dissolute servants, who served the masters already on the basis of hiring, are already strongly noticeable. Having received freedom, some of them were not prepared for it, they used it to develop their bad qualities, until the softening and ennobling influence of the new era, already free from the bonds of serfdom, penetrated into their midst.

It often happens that a high-profile crime that has attracted public attention becomes a source of inspiration for a writer. It is worth adding that detective stories and novels that describe criminal incidents are always popular among readers. Our review includes 10 world-famous books, the plot of which is based on real-life crimes.

1. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Consider the example of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's "great American novel" about the life of Jay Gatsby - a boy from a family of farmers in North Dakota named James "Jimmy" Gats. Jay manages to go “from rags to riches” - from a semi-impoverished farmer from the Midwest to an eccentric rich man living on Long Island. The carefree playboy with endless money is actually a lovestruck con man who made most of his fortune from bootlegging. Gatsby's main partner in working on the black market was the dishonest businessman Meyer Wolfsheim.

It turns out that Meyer Wolfsheim had a real-life prototype - Arnold Rothstein, a wealthy gambler who owned a number of casinos, brothels, and expensive racehorses. Rothstein was eventually killed while playing cards at the prestigious Park Central Hotel in Manhattan. The Great Gatsby, which is essentially a cautionary tale about the proverbial American Dream, was inspired by Rothstein's life and the explosion of get-rich-quick crime during the 1920s.

2. “American Tragedy” Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser, a leading proponent of American naturalism, tells a story similar to The Great Gatsby (also published in 1925) in his novel An American Tragedy. Dreiser's protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, is the lonely son of strict evangelicals who has been conquered by the temptations of the big city. Gradually Griffiths gets used to alcohol and prostitutes. His real downfall, however, comes when he falls in love with Roberta Alden. The girl soon became pregnant, but Clyde had a “more interesting option” - a girl from high society. After this, he decides to kill Roberta. Clyde was eventually arrested, convicted and executed for murder.

Before sitting down to write his ambitious novel, Dreiser learned the story of Chester Gillette, the nephew of a wealthy factory owner who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and their four-month-old baby in 1906. Given the stunning similarity of the case, it can be argued that Dreiser practically rewrote the story of 22-year-old Gillette.

3. “The High Window” by Raymond Chandler

The High Window (1942) is considered one of Raymond Chandler's more distinguished novels about detective Philip Marlowe, as well as a classic tale of the abuse of power and money. Marlowe is hired to find the missing rare coin - the Brashers' gold doubloon - but is subsequently faced with intra-family drama, which first involves the disappearance of a young singer, Linda Conquest, and then he is forced to investigate a murder case. As it turned out later, the novel was a retelling of the case of Ned Doheny (one of the richest oilmen in California).

4. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

One of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "scary" stories, "The Tell-Tale Heart," is a strange account of possession - the unnamed narrator killed an old man with whom he lived in the same house, due to the fact that the old man had an "evil eye" with a thorn that led to makes him furious. After killing and dismembering his victim, the narrator hides the body parts under the floorboards inside the old man's house. But gradually he begins to lose his mind because he constantly hears “the old man’s heart beating under the floorboards.” Finally driven mad by the ghostly heartbeat, the narrator surrendered to the police.

A special highlight of The Tell-Tale Heart is that its narrator is one of the earliest and most in-depth depictions of criminal psychology in popular literature. This may be due in part to the fact that Poe was inspired to write the story by a real-life murder that rocked Salem, Massachusetts, in 1830. Captain Joseph White, who lived in one of the most luxurious houses in Salem, was beaten to death by an unknown assailant. At the same time, nothing was touched at all in the richly furnished house. As it turned out later, his great-nephew White Joseph Knapp and his brother John, who wanted to receive an inheritance, were guilty of the murder of Captain White.

5. “The Mystery of Marie Roger” by Edgar Allan Poe

In addition to famous horror stories, Edgar Allan Poe also wrote several detective stories about Auguste Dupin, who essentially became the prototype of Sherlock Holmes. In the 1842 story “The Mystery of Marie Roger,” Dupin and his nameless friend (who became the inspiration for Dr. Watson) investigate the unsolved murder of a young Parisian woman. The story is actually Poe's own thoughts on the sensational murder case of Mary Cecilia Rogers, whose body was found near Sibyl's Cave in Hoboken, New Jersey.

6. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson's posthumously published novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series) became a bestseller upon its publication in 2005. Since then, millions of books have been sold worldwide, and numerous authors are planning to write a sequel. Larsson, himself a former journalist, was inspired to write the novel by investigating the case of Catherine da Costa, a 28-year-old prostitute and drug addict whose body parts were found scattered throughout Stockholm in the summer of 1984. The girl was initially believed to be the victim of two doctors, one of whom was a forensic pathologist. . The doctors were later acquitted. And the character in the novel, Lisbeth Salander, was based on a real-life rape victim named Lisbeth.

8. "Bloody Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett

When Dashiell Hammett's Bloody Harvest was published in 1929, the detective-adventure genre was dominated by English writers whose novels tended to be accounts of bizarre murder mysteries that took place mostly in private estates. These crimes were investigated by brilliant private detectives. Hammett made the genre of detective fiction adventures more realistic and more cruel.

The novel Blood Harvest takes place in the city of Personville, which is better known as Poisonville due to its high crime rate. An employee of a detective agency arrives in the city, who subsequently learns that Personville is actually ruled by gangs. The plot of the novel is based on the real-life miners' strike in Montana, which lasted from 1912 to 1920, as well as the lynching of union leader Frank Little.

9. Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb

Before the acclaimed film The Night of the Hunter was released in 1955, Davis Grubb's novel of the same name was published in 1953. The novel describes the murders of ex-con Harry Powell, who pretends to be "Reverend Powell" and marries Willa Harper, the wife of a former thief named Ben Harper. In order to obtain the loot from Harper's past robberies, Powell kills Villa and then her children. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and the character of Harry Powell was based on the real-life serial killer Harry Powers, who operated in West Virginia in the early 1930s.

10. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Clockwork Orange is without a doubt the saddest book on this list. The novel by British writer Anthony Burgess reveals the dark underbelly of England, which is riddled with teenage violence. Alex is the head of a gang in which they speak English-Russian slang. Alex, inspired by the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and drugs dissolved in milk, leads his gang on nightly gang attacks, during which teenagers engage in beatings and even murders. Burgess wrote his novel largely based on the Teddy Boy culture of post-war England.

Continuing the theme of exciting reading. A great way to spend time for those who don't feel like sleeping.