"AND. With Turgenev "The Noble Nest"

Rated the book

We shared the pleasure with you.
Together they reveled in the struggle.
But your ideological delusions
I couldn't share it with you.

Yu.M.Polyakov

The “Noble Nest” contains all the stupidity of Soviet literature. I loved him, but it turned out that he did not love Russia. He is bad. If, by analogy, we use the image of a standard Turgenev girl, who is obligated by her presence in this work, what’s her name, ...Liza! (and Turgenev let it slip in “The Nest” and himself gave her a definition - his young ladies can be clearly characterized by his own phrase “I have no words of my own”), then, in view of the fact that Turgenev’s girl, who passes in the silent background during the course of the narrative, is defined exclusively with their external data, therefore, on the basis of this same characteristic, these same female individuals choose men for mating. Therefore, the imaginary patriotism and piety of his virgins is complete nonsense, and they find men for themselves solely guided by the shape of the latter’s buttocks. Or what girls pay attention to first of all. Just don’t talk about money, because Turgenev’s heroes are by definition noble, like Ivan Sergeevich himself, and therefore rich from the very beginning. They have a mother who supports them all their lives. Turgenev had a terrifying moment in his biography, comparable to Hugov’s horror films, when his mother did not give him money for a whole year (!) because her son was infatuated with a bad girl. Such Gestapo methods are comparable to the actions of the parents of one of my friends, who were once not allowed to drink beer for the whole day (!) as a form of punishment. You need to know when to stop. Education is education, but not to the same extent.

Some oddities that probably took place in other works, but somehow no attention was paid to them before, surfaced in full. For example, if we are talking about la-la-la feelings, then everything is written perfectly and meticulously, every ah and ah. But when it comes to some more serious things, be it patriotism or continuity of generations, then Turgenev uses general words. Dialogues disappear somewhere and this is strange, because his characters love to talk so much that you should cautiously withdraw your hands if you give them a carrot. There is a brief retelling of the content of the conversation, ending neither in the village nor, especially in the city, with a mention of the need to plow the land. At least Bazarov has already talked about this. I am sure that Ivan Sergeevich himself saw the plow only from a distance and only in deep childhood. In general, “Turgenevism” is still in fashion today. Many who left immediately due to idleness found literary talent. Most often they remain in splendid isolation among these finders.

Turgenev's patriotism has an obvious commercial component. Moreover, it was aggravated by his own good will, because no one raped him abroad, but, as usual, he preferred to live, naturally, mainly in Europe, and to suffer, naturally, mainly in Russia. That is, “Russian writer” in this case is a profession in the entirety of this phrase. You can interpret the high meaning of “The Noble Nest” in any way you like, depending on your own imagination. The usual humorous ending for Turgenev gives the reader many options for this very meaning, which is understandable; the writer wrote these meanings in bold type, since no one would have been able to discern what was not provided for in the text. In the title itself, I see an undisguised mockery of the homeland, of the inertia and archaic nature of Russian traditions, in contrast to the “German tribe,” because “only they have access to a vivid imagination and courage of thought” (did Hitler read this passage?). I can imagine how much work it took for the author to give the final title to the work, how many times he changed it and how many assistants he resorted to. As a result, on the body of a standard Turgenev love story, the name “Noble Nest” looks like something foreign.

Of the memorable phrases, one can only highlight “death does not wait, and life should not wait.” The text revealed verses unnoticed by Turgenev himself: “There was a hubbub, screaming and uproar: Malanya was locked in a closet.” And the general meaning of the work is expressed as follows: “That’s what he’s like,” she thought, looking affectionately at him; “that’s what you are,” he thought too.” If you understand that we are talking about reindeer, then everything falls into place.

p.s. For those who took Lisa’s monastic lot, described in about 11 and a half lines, too close to heart, there is a much more voluminous and detailed work by Diderot “The Nun”. There, exactly the opposite, the girl is looking for any way to leave the monastery. And you can’t call her a fool.

p.p.s. And here’s another phrase: “He felt: there was something in Lisa that he couldn’t penetrate.” I'm embarrassed to ask, what is he talking about?

Rated the book

“The human heart is full of contradictions” (p.)
I.S. Turgenev.

Without further ado and without plunging into the foggy jungle of symbolic vocabularies, it seems to me that the parallel between the concepts of “nest” and “family” is quite obvious. In any case, in perception, a nest is always associated with hand-built comfort, a cheerful hubbub, the flow of trills, rustling, that unconstrained anxiety that arises when you cross the threshold of a house immersed in the bliss of mutual understanding, love and perky childish voices... The idea, of course, is idyllic . After all, nests can be abandoned or destroyed, just like families that have lost their strong binding thread, love. And, nevertheless, the fact remains that there are many such destroyed nests. As well as many reckless actions that happen every day, as well as many omnipresent troubles. And with all its initially pleasant meaning, it is precisely such abandoned nests, dubious families, that will be found in the small space of Turgenev’s capacious novel...

He will hand them over to the curious reader like a kaleidoscope and, starting his story, he will shake up the plot so much, lay out the mosaic in such a way that you will inevitably think about each family, you will be amazed by each one. And, of course, you will not remain indifferent. The author will subject the Pestov, Lavretsky and Kalitin families to a thorough examination, and in fact it will turn out that from generation to generation - tyrant husbands, infantile weak-willed wives and abandoned, forgotten children. However, Turgenev’s generosity knows no bounds, and therefore, on a thin path, he will bring Lavretsky, disillusioned with life, and Lisa Kalitina, a pure, reasonable girl, with a strong inner faith, together.

“Woe to the heart that did not love from a young age!” (With.)

A deep, dramatic novel. And it seems that barely perceptible sadness suggests a sad ending; nevertheless, it is impossible to prepare for it. Of course, one can talk for a long time about Lavretsky’s cowardice, about Liza’s excessive piety, about the inevitability of fate, but all these arguments are much more likely to be untenable in the face of those internal principles of an honest person, by which, of course, both Liza and Lavretsky are guided. And it’s easier to lock your own feelings behind seven locks than to leave a child and ruin another noble nest. That's just how it will turn out in the end. And happiness was so possible... One can only hope that love will still settle in the new, renovated house of the Kalitins.
Following his creative style, Turgenev will put into the novel a bunch of thoughts about the value of marriage, about the peculiarities of the Russian mentality and the possibility of fundamental changes in the reorganization of the Russian state, about love. He will paint the picture with broad, bright strokes, giving him magnificent images, wonderful landscapes, and the truthful anxieties of a changing soul.

Sad when finished. Is this the fate you expect for the heroes? Of course not. And with this sadness will come the understanding that there are internal beliefs and principles, if you remain faithful to them you will sacrifice a lot. Even personal well-being. But are such sacrifices always justified?..

What can I say, “The Noble Nest” caused some kind of revolution inside me. And I don’t even understand how it happened. It seemed to me for a long time that to experience such feelings I needed a couple of hundred pages with abuse of children with kittens (dozens) against the backdrop of the Second World War in the vicinity of a concentration camp... But it turned out that a simple human drama surrounded by an almost rural idyll was enough, drama, everything the essence of which boils down to the long-known and banal “but happiness was so possible, so close...”

Turgenev is very restrained in describing the feelings and thoughts of the main characters; stingy in conclusions and results; very precise in characterization: one paragraph is enough for the reader to understand what the character is like. And at the same time, the author is far from condemning and censure (if such feelings arise during reading, then these are all our, the reader’s, reactions), like a true Orthodox seer, Turgenev sees the essence of human nature, without blaming it, but without justifying it, adhering to author's neutrality. The depth of understanding of life is so great that it does not fit into the framework of simple life experience and cannot be explained by ordinary observation. How, how, tell me, is it possible? So understand a person and So write about this?

Turgenev conceived the novel “The Noble Nest” back in 1855. However, at that time the writer experienced doubts about the strength of his talent, and the imprint of personal unsettlement in life was also imposed. Turgenev resumed work on the novel only in 1858, upon his arrival from Paris. The novel appeared in the January book of Sovremennik for 1859. The author himself subsequently noted that “The Noble Nest” was the greatest success that had ever befallen him.

Turgenev, who was distinguished by his ability to notice and portray something new and emerging, reflected modernity in this novel, the main moments in the life of the noble intelligentsia of that time. Lavretsky, Panshin, Liza are not abstract images created by the head, but living people - representatives of the generations of the 40s of the 19th century. Turgenev's novel contains not only poetry, but also a critical orientation. This work of the writer is a denunciation of autocratic-serf Russia, a departure song for the “nests of the nobility.”

The favorite setting in Turgenev’s works is “noble nests” with the atmosphere of sublime experiences reigning in them. Turgenev worries about their fate and one of his novels, which is called “The Noble Nest,” is imbued with a feeling of anxiety for their fate.

This novel is imbued with the awareness that the “nests of the nobility” are degenerating. Turgenev critically illuminates the noble genealogies of the Lavretskys and Kalitins, seeing in them a chronicle of feudal tyranny, a bizarre mixture of “wild lordship” and aristocratic admiration for Western Europe.

Let's consider the ideological content and system of images of the "Noble Nest". Turgenev placed representatives of the noble class at the center of the novel. The chronological scope of the novel is the 40s. The action begins in 1842, and the epilogue tells about the events that took place 8 years later.

The writer decided to capture that period in the life of Russia when concern for the fate of themselves and their people grew among the best representatives of the noble intelligentsia. Turgenev decided on the plot and compositional plan of his work in an interesting way. He shows his characters at the most intense turning points in their lives.

After an eight-year stay abroad, Fyodor Lavretsky returns to his family estate. He experienced a great shock - the betrayal of his wife Varvara Pavlovna. Tired, but not broken by suffering, Fyodor Ivanovich came to the village to improve the life of his peasants. In a neighboring city, in the house of his cousin Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina, he meets her daughter, Lisa.

Lavretsky fell in love with her with pure love, Lisa reciprocated.

In the novel "The Noble Nest" the author devotes a lot of space to the theme of love, because this feeling helps to highlight all the best qualities of the heroes, to see the main thing in their characters, to understand their soul. Love is depicted by Turgenev as the most beautiful, bright and pure feeling that awakens the best in people. In this novel, like in no other novel by Turgenev, the most touching, romantic, sublime pages are dedicated to the love of the heroes.

The love of Lavretsky and Lisa Kalitina does not manifest itself immediately, it approaches them gradually, through many thoughts and doubts, and then suddenly falls upon them with its irresistible force. Lavretsky, who has experienced a lot in his life: hobbies, disappointments, and the loss of all life goals, - at first he simply admires Liza, her innocence, purity, spontaneity, sincerity - all those qualities that are absent from Varvara Pavlovna, hypocritical, depraved Lavretsky's wife, who abandoned him. Lisa is close to him in spirit: “Sometimes it happens that two people who are already familiar, but not close to each other, suddenly and quickly become close within a few moments - and the consciousness of this closeness is immediately expressed in their glances, in their friendly and quiet smiles, in themselves their movements. This is exactly what happened to Lavretsky and Liza." They talk a lot and realize that they have a lot in common. Lavretsky takes life, other people, and Russia seriously; Lisa is also a deep and strong girl with her own ideals and beliefs. According to Lemm, Lisa’s music teacher, she is “a fair, serious girl with sublime feelings.” Lisa is being courted by a young man, a metropolitan official with a wonderful future. Lisa's mother would be happy to give her in marriage to him; she considers this a wonderful match for Lisa. But Liza cannot love him, she feels the falseness in his attitude towards her, Panshin is a superficial person, he values ​​\u200b\u200bthe external shine in people, not the depth of feelings. Further events of the novel confirm this opinion about Panshin.

Only when Lavretsky receives news of the death of his wife in Paris does he begin to admit the thought of personal happiness.

They were close to happiness; Lavretsky showed Lisa a French magazine, which reported the death of his wife Varvara Pavlovna.

Turgenev, in his favorite manner, does not describe the feelings of a person freed from shame and humiliation; he uses the technique of “secret psychology,” depicting the experiences of his heroes through movements, gestures, and facial expressions. After Lavretsky read the news of his wife’s death, he “got dressed, went out into the garden and walked back and forth along the same alley until the morning.” After some time, Lavretsky becomes convinced that he loves Lisa. He is not happy about this feeling, since he has already experienced it, and it only brought him disappointment. He is trying to find confirmation of the news of his wife's death, he is tormented by uncertainty. And his love for Liza is growing: “He did not love like a boy, it was not becoming for him to sigh and languish, and Liza herself did not arouse this kind of feeling; but love for every age has its sufferings, and he experienced them fully.” The author conveys the feelings of the heroes through descriptions of nature, which is especially beautiful before their explanation: “Each of them had a heart growing in their chest, and nothing was missing for them: for them the nightingale sang, and the stars burned, and the trees whispered quietly, lulled by sleep, and the bliss of summer and warmth." The scene of the declaration of love between Lavretsky and Lisa was written by Turgenev in an amazingly poetic and touching way; the author finds the simplest and at the same time the most tender words to express the feelings of the characters. Lavretsky wanders around Lisa’s house at night, looking at her window, in which a candle is burning: “Lavretsky did not think anything, did not expect anything; he was pleased to feel close to Lisa, to sit in her garden on a bench, where she sat more than once... " At this time, Lisa goes out into the garden, as if sensing that Lavretsky is there: "In a white dress, with unbraided braids on her shoulders, she quietly walked up to the table, bent over it, put a candle and then looked for something, turning around; Facing the garden, she approached the open door and, all white, light, slender, stopped on the threshold."

A declaration of love takes place, after which Lavretsky is overwhelmed with happiness: “Suddenly it seemed to him that some wondrous, triumphant sounds were flowing in the air above his head; he stopped: the sounds thundered even more magnificently; they flowed in a melodious, strong stream - and in them, it seemed that all his happiness spoke and sang." This was the music that Lemm composed, and it completely corresponded to Lavretsky’s mood: “Lavretsky had not heard anything like this for a long time: a sweet, passionate melody embraced the heart from the first sound; it was all shining, all languishing with inspiration, happiness, beauty, it grew and melted; she touched everything that is dear, secret, holy on earth; she breathed immortal sadness and went to die in heaven." The music foreshadows tragic events in the lives of the heroes: when happiness was already so close, the news of the death of Lavretsky’s wife turns out to be false, Varvara Pavlovna returns from France to Lavretsky, as she was left without money.

Lavretsky endures this event stoically, he is submissive to fate, but he is worried about what will happen to Lisa, because he understands what it is like for her, who fell in love for the first time, to experience this. She is saved from terrible despair by her deep, selfless faith in God. Lisa goes to the monastery, wanting only one thing - for Lavretsky to forgive his wife. Lavretsky forgave, but his life was over; he loved Lisa too much to start all over again with his wife. At the end of the novel, Lavretsky, far from being an old man, looks like an old man, and he feels like a man who has outlived his time. But the heroes' love did not end there. This is the feeling that they will carry throughout their lives. The last meeting between Lavretsky and Lisa testifies to this. “They say that Lavretsky visited that remote monastery where Lisa had disappeared - he saw her. Moving from choir to choir, she walked close past him, walked with the even, hasty, humble gait of a nun - and did not look at him; only the eyelashes of the eye turned towards him trembled a little, only she tilted her emaciated face even lower - and the fingers of her clenched hands, intertwined with rosaries, pressed even tighter to each other.” She did not forget her love, did not stop loving Lavretsky, and her departure to the monastery confirms this. And Panshin, who so demonstrated his love for Liza, completely fell under the spell of Varvara Pavlovna and became her slave.

A love story in the novel by I.S. Turgenev's "The Noble Nest" is very tragic and at the same time beautiful, beautiful because this feeling is not subject to either time or the circumstances of life, it helps a person to rise above the vulgarity and everyday life that surrounds him, this feeling ennobles and makes a person human.

Fyodor Lavretsky himself was a descendant of the gradually degenerating Lavretsky family, once strong, outstanding representatives of this family - Andrey (Fyodor's great-grandfather), Peter, then Ivan.

The commonality of the first Lavretskys is ignorance.

Turgenev very accurately shows the change of generations in the Lavretsky family, their connections with various periods of historical development. A cruel and wild tyrant landowner, Lavretsky’s great-grandfather (“whatever the master wanted, he did, he hung men by the ribs... he didn’t know his elders”); his grandfather, who once “flogged the whole village,” a careless and hospitable “steppe gentleman”; full of hatred for Voltaire and the “fanatic” Diderot - these are typical representatives of the Russian “wild nobility”. They are replaced by those who have become acquainted with the culture, either by claims to “Frenchness” or by Anglomanism, which we see in the images of the frivolous old Princess Kubenskaya, who at a very old age married a young Frenchman, and the father of the hero Ivan Petrovich. Starting with a passion for the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Diderot, he ended with prayer services and baths. “The freethinker began to go to church and order prayer services; the European began to take a steam bath and have dinner at two o’clock, go to bed at nine, fall asleep to the chatter of the butler; a statesman - he burned all his plans, all his correspondence, was in awe of the governor and fussed with the police officer.” Such was the history of one of the families of the Russian nobility.

In the papers of Pyotr Andreevich, the grandson found the only old book, in which he wrote either “Celebration in the city of St. Petersburg of the peace concluded with the Turkish Empire by His Excellency Prince Alexander Andreevich Prozorovsky,” then a recipe for breast decoction with a note; “this instruction was given to General Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova from the protopresbyter of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity Fyodor Avksentievich,” etc.; Apart from calendars, a dream book and the work of Abmodik, the old man had no books. And on this occasion, Turgenev ironically remarked: “Reading was not his thing.” As if in passing, Turgenev points to the luxury of the eminent nobility. Thus, the death of Princess Kubenskaya is conveyed in the following colors: the princess “flushed, scented with ambergris a la Richelieu, surrounded by little black girls, thin-legged dogs and noisy parrots, died on a crooked silk sofa from the time of Louis XV, with an enamel snuffbox by Petitot in her hands.”

Admiring everything French, Kubenskaya instilled the same tastes in Ivan Petrovich and gave him a French upbringing. The writer does not exaggerate the significance of the War of 1812 for nobles like the Lavretskys. They only temporarily “felt that Russian blood was flowing in their veins.” “Peter Andreevich dressed an entire regiment of warriors at his own expense.” But only. Fyodor Ivanovich's ancestors, especially his father, loved foreign things more than Russian ones. The European-educated Ivan Petrovich, returning from abroad, introduced a new livery to the servants, leaving everything as before, about which Turgenev writes, not without irony: “Everything remained the same, only the quitrent was increased in some places, and the corvee became heavier, yes the peasants were forbidden to address the master directly: the patriot really despised his fellow citizens.”

And Ivan Petrovich decided to raise his son using the foreign method. And this led to a separation from everything Russian, to a departure from the homeland. "An Anglomaniac played a bad joke on his son." Separated from his native people since childhood, Fyodor lost his support, his real cause. It is no coincidence that the writer led Ivan Petrovich to an inglorious death: the old man became an unbearable egoist, with his whims he did not allow everyone around him to live, a pathetic blind man, suspicious. His death was a deliverance for Fyodor Ivanovich. Life suddenly opened up before him. At the age of 23, he did not hesitate to sit on the student bench with the firm intention of mastering knowledge in order to apply it in life and benefit at least the peasants of his villages. Where does Fyodor’s isolation and unsociability come from? These qualities were the result of a “Spartan upbringing.” Instead of introducing the young man into the thick of life, “they kept him in artificial solitude,” protecting him from life’s shocks.

The genealogy of the Lavretskys is intended to help the reader trace the gradual retreat of the landowners from the people, to explain how Fyodor Ivanovich “dislocated” from life; it is intended to prove that the social death of the nobility is inevitable. The opportunity to live at someone else's expense leads to the gradual degradation of a person.

An idea of ​​the Kalitin family is also given, where parents do not care about their children, as long as they are fed and clothed.

This whole picture is complemented by the figures of the gossip and jester of the old official Gedeonov, the dashing retired captain and famous gambler - Father Panigin, the lover of government money - retired General Korobin, the future father-in-law of Lavretsky, etc. By telling the story of the families of the characters in the novel, Turgenev creates the picture is very far from the idyllic image of “noble nests”. He shows a motley Russia, whose people face all sorts of hardships, from a full course to the West to literally dense vegetation on their estate.

And all the “nests”, which for Turgenev were the stronghold of the country, the place where its power was concentrated and developed, are undergoing a process of disintegration and destruction. Describing Lavretsky's ancestors through the mouths of the people (in the person of the courtyard man Anton), the author shows that the history of noble nests is washed by the tears of many of their victims.

One of them is Lavretsky's mother - a simple serf girl, who, unfortunately, turned out to be too beautiful, which attracts the attention of the nobleman, who, having married out of a desire to annoy his father, went to St. Petersburg, where he became interested in another. And poor Malasha, unable to bear the fact that her son was taken away from her for the purpose of raising her, “meekly faded away in a few days.”

Fyodor Lavretsky was brought up in conditions of desecration of the human person. He saw how his mother, the former serf Malanya, was in an ambiguous position: on the one hand, she was officially considered the wife of Ivan Petrovich, transferred to half of the owners, on the other hand, she was treated with disdain, especially by her sister-in-law Glafira Petrovna. Pyotr Andreevich called Malanya “a raw noblewoman.” As a child, Fedya himself felt his special position; the feeling of humiliation oppressed him. Glafira reigned supreme over him; his mother was not allowed to see him. When Fedya was eight years old, his mother died. “The memory of her,” writes Turgenev, “of her quiet and pale face, of her dull glances and timid caresses, is forever imprinted in his heart.”

The theme of the “irresponsibility” of the serf peasantry accompanies Turgenev’s entire narrative about the past of the Lavretsky family. The image of Lavretsky’s evil and domineering aunt Glafira Petrovna is complemented by the images of the decrepit footman Anton, who has aged in the lord’s service, and the old woman Apraxya. These images are inseparable from the “noble nests”.

In his childhood, Fedya had to think about the situation of the people, about serfdom. However, his teachers did everything possible to distance him from life. His will was suppressed by Glafira, but “... at times wild stubbornness came over him.” Fedya was raised by his father himself. He decided to make him a Spartan. Ivan Petrovich's "system" confused the boy, created confusion in his head, pressed it down. Fedya was taught exact sciences and “heraldry to maintain knightly feelings.” The father wanted to mold the young man’s soul to a foreign model, to instill in him a love for everything English. It was under the influence of such an upbringing that Fedor turned out to be a man cut off from life, from the people. The writer emphasizes the wealth of spiritual interests of his hero. Fedor is a passionate fan of Mochalov’s playing (“he never missed a single performance”), he deeply feels music, the beauty of nature, in a word, everything that is aesthetically beautiful. Lavretsky cannot be denied his hard work. He studied very diligently at the university. Even after his marriage, which interrupted his studies for almost two years, Fyodor Ivanovich returned to independent studies. “It was strange to see,” writes Turgenev, “his powerful, broad-shouldered figure, always bent over his desk. He spent every morning at work.” And after his wife’s betrayal, Fyodor pulled himself together and “could study, work,” although skepticism, prepared by life experiences and upbringing, finally crept into his soul. He became very indifferent to everything. This was a consequence of his isolation from the people, from his native soil. After all, Varvara Pavlovna tore him not only from his studies, his work, but also from his homeland, forcing him to wander around Western countries and forget about his duty to his peasants, to the people. True, from childhood he was not accustomed to systematic work, so at times he was in a state of inaction.

Lavretsky is very different from the heroes created by Turgenev before The Noble Nest. The positive traits of Rudin (his loftiness, romantic aspiration) and Lezhnev (sobriety of views on things, practicality) passed on to him. He has a strong view of his role in life - to improve the life of the peasants, he does not limit himself to the framework of personal interests. Dobrolyubov wrote about Lavretsky: “... the drama of his situation no longer lies in the struggle with his own powerlessness, but in the clash with such concepts and morals, with which the struggle, indeed, should frighten even an energetic and courageous person.” And further the critic noted that the writer “knew how to stage Lavretsky in such a way that it would be awkward to ironize him.”

With great poetic feeling, Turgenev described the emergence of love in Lavretsky. Realizing that he loved deeply, Fyodor Ivanovich repeated Mikhalevich’s meaningful words:

And I burned everything that I worshiped;

He bowed to everything he burned...

Love for Lisa is the moment of his spiritual rebirth, which occurred upon returning to Russia. Lisa is the opposite of Varvara Pavlovna. She could have helped Lavretsky’s abilities to develop and would not have prevented him from being a hard worker. Fyodor Ivanovich himself thought about this: “... she would not distract me from my studies; she herself would inspire me to honest, strict work, and we would both go forward, towards a wonderful goal.” Lavretsky's dispute with Panshin reveals his boundless patriotism and faith in the bright future of his people. Fyodor Ivanovich “stood up for new people, for their beliefs and desires.”

Having lost his personal happiness for the second time, Lavretsky decides to fulfill his social duty (as he understands it) - improving the life of his peasants. “Lavretsky had the right to be pleased,” writes Turgenev, “he became a really good owner, really learned to plow the land and worked not only for himself.” However, it was half-hearted; it did not fill his entire life. Arriving at the Kalitins’ house, he thinks about the “work” of his life and admits that it was useless.

The writer condemns Lavretsky for the sad outcome of his life. For all his cute, positive qualities, the main character of “The Noble Nest” did not find his calling, did not benefit his people, and did not even achieve personal happiness.

At 45 years old, Lavretsky feels old, incapable of spiritual activity; the Lavretsky “nest” has virtually ceased to exist.

In the epilogue of the novel, the hero appears aged. Lavretsky is not ashamed of the past, he does not expect anything from the future. "Hello, lonely old age! Burn out, useless life!" - he says.

“Nest” is a house, a symbol of a family where the connection between generations is not interrupted. In the novel "The Noble Nest" this connection is broken, which symbolizes the destruction and withering away of family estates under the influence of serfdom. We can see the result of this, for example, in the poem "The Forgotten Village" by N.A. Nekrasov. Turgenev the serf publication novel

But Turgenev hopes that all is not lost, and in the novel he turns, saying goodbye to the past, to a new generation in which he sees the future of Russia.

One of the most famous Russian novels about love, which contrasted idealism with satire and consolidated the archetype of Turgenev’s girl in culture.

comments: Kirill Zubkov

What is this book about?

“The Noble Nest,” like many of Turgenev’s novels, is built around unhappy love - the two main characters, Fyodor Lavretsky, who survived an unsuccessful marriage, and young Liza Kalitina, meet, have strong feelings for each other, but are forced to separate: it turns out that Lavretsky’s wife Varvara Pavlovna is not died. Shocked by her return, Lisa goes to a monastery, but Lavretsky does not want to live with his wife and spends the rest of her life farming on his estate. At the same time, the novel organically includes a narrative about the life of the Russian nobility, which has developed over the past several hundred years, a description of relations between different classes, between Russia and the West, debates about the paths of possible reforms in Russia, philosophical discussions about the nature of duty, self-denial and moral responsibility.

Ivan Turgenev. Daguerreotype of O. Bisson. Paris, 1847–1850

When was it written?

Turgenev conceived a new “story” (the writer did not always consistently distinguish between stories and novels) soon after finishing work on “Rudin,” his first novel, published in 1856. The idea was not realized immediately: Turgenev, contrary to his custom, worked on a new large work for several years. The main work was done in 1858, and already at the beginning of 1859 “The Noble Nest” was published in Nekrasov "Contemporary" ⁠ .

Title page of the manuscript of the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1858

How is it written?

Now Turgenev's prose may not seem as effective as the works of many of his contemporaries. This effect is caused by the special place of Turgenev's novel in literature. For example, paying attention to the detailed internal monologues of Tolstoy’s heroes or to the originality of Tolstoy’s composition, which is characterized by many central characters, the reader proceeds from the idea of ​​​​a kind of “normal” novel, where there is a central character who is often shown “from the side” rather than from the inside. It is Turgenev’s novel that now acts as such a “reference point”, very convenient for assessing the literature of the 19th century.

“Here you are, back to Russia, what do you intend to do?”
“To plow the land,” answered Lavretsky, “and try to plow it as best as possible.”

Ivan Turgenev

Contemporaries, however, perceived Turgenev's novel as a very unique step in the development of Russian prose, standing out sharply against the background of typical fiction of its time. Turgenev’s prose seemed a brilliant example of literary “idealism”: it was contrasted with the satirical essay tradition, which went back to Saltykov-Shchedrin and painted in dark colors how serfdom, bureaucratic corruption and social conditions in general destroy people’s lives and cripple the psyche of the oppressed and the oppressors alike. Turgenev does not try to avoid these topics, but presents them in a completely different spirit: the writer is primarily interested not in the formation of a person under the influence of circumstances, but rather in his understanding of these circumstances and reaction to them.

At the same time, even Shchedrin himself, far from being a soft critic and not prone to idealism, wrote in a letter to Annenkov ⁠ admired Turgenev's lyricism and recognized its social benefits:

Now I have read “The Noble Nest,” dear Pavel Vasilyevich, and I would like to tell you my opinion about this thing. But I absolutely cannot.<…>And what can be said about all of Turgenev’s works? Is it that after reading them it’s easy to breathe, easy to believe, and feels warm? What do you clearly feel, how your moral level rises, what do you mentally bless and love the author? But these will only be commonplaces, and this, this is the impression that these transparent images, as if woven from air, leave behind, this is the beginning of love and light, flowing in every line with a living spring and, however, still disappearing in empty space . But in order to express these commonplaces decently, you need to be a poet yourself and fall into lyricism.

Alexander Druzhinin. 1856 Photo by Sergei Levitsky. Druzhinin is a friend of Turgenev and his colleague at the Sovremennik magazine

Pavel Annenkov. 1887 Engraving by Yuri Baranovsky from a photograph by Sergei Levitsky. Annenkov was friends with Turgenev, and was also the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin’s work

“The Noble Nest” became Turgenev’s last great work, published in "Contemporary" Literary magazine (1836-1866), founded by Pushkin. Since 1847, Sovremennik was led by Nekrasov and Panaev, later Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov joined the editorial staff. In the 60s, an ideological split occurred in Sovremennik: the editors came to understand the need for a peasant revolution, while many of the magazine’s authors (Turgenev, Tolstoy, Goncharov, Druzhinin) advocated slower and more gradual reforms. Five years after the abolition of serfdom, Sovremennik closed by personal order of Alexander II. ⁠ . Unlike many novels of this time, it was entirely contained in one issue - readers did not have to wait for a sequel. Turgenev’s next novel, “On the Eve”, will be published in the magazine Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (1818-1887) - publisher and editor of the literary magazine "Russian Bulletin" and the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti". In his youth, Katkov was known as a liberal and a Westerner, and was friends with Belinsky. With the beginning of the reforms of Alexander II, Katkov's views became noticeably more conservative. In the 1880s, he actively supported the counter-reforms of Alexander III, waged a campaign against ministers of non-titular nationality and generally became an influential political figure - and his newspaper was read by the emperor himself. ⁠ "Russian Messenger" Literary and political magazine (1856-1906), founded by Mikhail Katkov. At the end of the 50s, the editors took a moderately liberal position; from the beginning of the 60s, Russian Messenger became more and more conservative and even reactionary. Over the years, the magazine published the central works of Russian classics: “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace” by Tolstoy, “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoevsky, “On the Eve” and “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev, “Soborians” Leskova. ⁠ , which was economically a competitor to Sovremennik, and politically and literary a principled opponent.

Turgenev’s break with Sovremennik and his fundamental conflict with his old friend Nekrasov (who, however, many biographers of both writers tend to overdramatize) are apparently connected with Turgenev’s reluctance to have anything in common with the “nihilists” Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky, who published on the pages of Sovremennik. Although both radical critics never spoke badly about The Noble Nest, the reasons for the breakup are generally clear from the text of Turgenev’s novel. Turgenev generally believed that it was aesthetic qualities that made literature a means of public education, while his opponents rather saw art as an instrument of direct propaganda, which could just as easily be carried out directly, without resorting to any artistic techniques. In addition, Chernyshevsky hardly liked that Turgenev again turned to the image of a nobleman hero disappointed in life. In the article “Russian man at rendez-vous” dedicated to the story “Asya”, Chernyshevsky already explained that he considers the social and cultural role of such heroes to be completely exhausted, and they themselves deserve only condescending pity.

The first edition of "The Noble Nest". Publishing house of bookseller A. I. Glazunov, 1859

Sovremennik magazine for 1859, where the novel “The Noble Nest” was first published

What influenced her?

It is generally accepted that Turgenev was primarily influenced by the works of Pushkin. The plot of “The Noble Nest” has been repeatedly compared with history. In both works, a Europeanized nobleman who arrived in the province encounters an original and independent girl, whose upbringing was influenced by both noble and common culture (by the way, both Pushkin’s Tatyana and Turgenev’s Liza encounter peasant culture through communication with their nanny). In both, love feelings arise between the characters, but due to a combination of circumstances they are not destined to stay together.

It is easier to understand the meaning of these parallels in a literary context. Critics of the 1850s were inclined to contrast the “Gogol” and “Pushkin” trends in Russian literature with each other. The legacy of Pushkin and Gogol became especially relevant in this era, given that in the mid-1850s, thanks to softened censorship, it became possible to publish fairly complete editions of the works of both authors, which included many works previously unknown to contemporaries. On Gogol’s side in this confrontation was, among others, Chernyshevsky, who saw in the author primarily a satirist who exposed social vices, and in Belinsky the best interpreter of his work. Accordingly, such writers as Saltykov-Shchedrin and his numerous imitators were considered to be part of the “Gogol” movement. Supporters of the “Pushkin” trend were much closer to Turgenev: it is no coincidence that Pushkin’s collected works were published by Annenkov Pavel Vasilievich Annenkov (1813-1887) - literary critic and publicist, the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin, the founder of Pushkin studies. He became friends with Belinsky, in the presence of Annenkov, Belinsky wrote his actual will - “Letter to Gogol”, and under Gogol’s dictation Annenkov rewrote “Dead Souls”. Author of memoirs about the literary and political life of the 1840s and its heroes: Herzen, Stankevich, Bakunin. One of Turgenev’s close friends, the writer sent all his latest works to Annenkov before publication. ⁠ , a friend of Turgenev, and the most famous review of this publication was written by Alexander Druzhinin Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin (1824-1864) - critic, writer, translator. Since 1847, he published stories, novels, feuilletons, and translations in Sovremennik; his debut was the story “Polinka Sax.” From 1856 to 1860, Druzhinin was the editor of the Library for Reading. In 1859 he organized a Society to benefit needy writers and scientists. Druzhinin criticized the ideological approach to art and advocated “pure art”, free from any didacticism. ⁠ - another author who left Sovremennik, who was on good terms with Turgenev. During this period, Turgenev clearly orients his prose precisely towards the “Pushkin” principle, as the criticism of that time understood it: literature should not directly address socio-political problems, but gradually influence the public, which is formed and educated under the influence of aesthetic impressions and ultimately becomes capable of responsible and worthy actions in a variety of spheres, including socio-political. The job of literature is to promote, as Schiller would say, “aesthetic education.”

"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969

How was she received?

Most writers and critics were delighted with Turgenev's novel, which combined poetic beginnings and social relevance. Annenkov began his review of the novel like this: “It is difficult to say, starting an analysis of Mr. Turgenev’s new work, which is more worthy of attention: whether it itself with all its merits, or the extraordinary success that met it in all layers of our society. In any case, it is worth seriously thinking about the reasons for that unique sympathy and approval, that delight and passion that were caused by the appearance of the “Noble Nest”. On the author's new novel, people of opposite parties agreed on one common verdict; representatives of disparate systems and views shook hands with each other and expressed the same opinion.” The reaction of the poet and critic was especially impressive Apollo Grigoriev ⁠ , who dedicated a series of articles to Turgenev’s novel and admired the writer’s desire in the person of the main character to portray “attachment to the soil” and “humility before the people’s truth.”

However, some contemporaries had different opinions. For example, according to the memoirs of the writer Nikolai Luzhenovsky, Alexander Ostrovsky remarked: “The Noble Nest,” for example, is a very good thing, but Lisa is unbearable for me: this girl definitely suffers from scrofula driven inside.”

Apollo Grigoriev. Second half of the 19th century. Grigoriev devoted a whole series of complimentary articles to Turgenev’s novel

Alexander Ostrovsky. Around 1870. Ostrovsky praised The Noble Nest, but found the heroine Lisa “unbearable”

In an interesting way, Turgenev’s novel quite quickly ceased to be perceived as a topical and relevant work and was then often assessed as an example of “pure art.” Perhaps this was influenced by those that caused a much greater resonance, thanks to which the image of the “nihilist” entered Russian literature, becoming the subject of heated debate and various literary interpretations for several decades. Nevertheless, the novel was a success: an authorized French translation was published already in 1861, a German translation in 1862, and an English translation in 1869. Thanks to this, Turgenev’s novel was one of the most discussed works of Russian literature abroad until the end of the 19th century. Researchers have written about its influence on, for example, Henry James and Joseph Conrad.

Why was The Noble Nest such a relevant novel?

The time of publication of “The Noble Nest” was an exceptional period for Imperial Russia, which Fyodor Tyutchev (long before Khrushchev’s times) called the “thaw.” The first years of the reign of Alexander II, who ascended the throne at the end of 1855, were accompanied by a rise in “glasnost” (another expression now associated with a completely different era) that amazed his contemporaries. The defeat in the Crimean War was perceived both among government officials and in educated society as a symptom of the deepest crisis engulfing the country. The definitions of the Russian people and empire adopted in the Nicholas years, based on the well-known doctrine of “official nationality,” seemed completely inadequate. The new era required a reinterpretation of the nation and the state.

Many contemporaries were confident that literature could help with this, actually contributing to the reforms initiated by the government. It is no coincidence that in these years the government invited writers, for example, to participate in compiling the repertoire of state theaters or to compile a statistical and ethnographic description of the Volga region. Although The Noble Nest takes place in the 1840s, the novel reflected the current issues of the era of its creation. For example, in Lavretsky’s dispute with Panshin, the main character of the novel proves “the impossibility of leaps and arrogant alterations from the heights of bureaucratic self-awareness - alterations that are not justified either by knowledge of the native land or by real faith in an ideal, even a negative one” - obviously, these words refer to plans government reforms. The preparations for the abolition of serfdom made the topic of relations between classes very relevant, which largely determines the background of Lavretsky and Lisa: Turgenev is trying to present to the public a novel about how a person can comprehend and experience his place in Russian society and history. As in his other works, “the story gets inside the character and works from within. Its properties are generated by a given historical situation, and outside of this they have no meaning" 1 Ginzburg L. Ya. About psychological prose. Ed. 2nd. L., 1976. P. 295. ⁠ .

"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969 In the role of Lavretsky - Leonid Kulagin

Piano by Konrad Graf. Austria, around 1838. The piano in the “Noble Nest” is an important symbol: acquaintances are made around it, disputes are waged, love is born, and a long-awaited masterpiece is created. Musicality and attitude to music are an important feature of Turgenev’s heroes

Who and why accused Turgenev of plagiarism?

At the end of work on the novel, Turgenev read it to some of his friends and took advantage of their comments, finalizing his work for Sovremennik, and especially valued the opinion of Annenkov (who, according to the recollections of Ivan Goncharov, who was present at this reading, recommended Turgenev to include in the story the background story of the main character Lisa Kalitina, explaining the origins of her religious beliefs. Researchers actually discovered that the corresponding chapter was written into the manuscript later).

Ivan Goncharov was not delighted with Turgenev’s novel. A few years earlier, he told the author of “The Noble Nest” about the idea of ​​his own work, dedicated to an amateur artist who finds himself in the Russian outback. Having heard “The Noble Nest” in the author’s reading, Goncharov was furious: Turgenev’s Panshin (among other things, an amateur artist), as it seemed to him, was “borrowed” from the “program” of his future novel “The Precipice”, and besides, his image was distorted ; the chapter about the ancestors of the main character also seemed to him the result of literary theft, as did the image of the strict old lady Marfa Timofeevna. After these accusations, Turgenev made some changes to the manuscript, in particular changing the dialogue between Marfa Timofeevna and Lisa, which takes place after the night meeting between Lisa and Lavretsky. Goncharov seemed to be satisfied, but in Turgenev’s next great work, the novel “On the Eve,” he again discovered the image of an amateur artist. The conflict between Goncharov and Turgenev led to a big scandal in literary circles. Gathered for its resolution "Areopagus" A government body in Ancient Athens, which consisted of representatives of the family aristocracy. In a figurative meaning - a meeting of authoritative persons to resolve an important issue. ⁠ of the authoritative writers and critics acquitted Turgenev, but for several decades Goncharov suspected the author of “The Noble Nest” of plagiarism. “The Precipice” was published only in 1869 and was not as successful as the first novels of Goncharov, who blamed Turgenev for this. Gradually, Goncharov’s conviction of Turgenev’s dishonesty turned into a real mania: the writer, for example, was sure that Turgenev’s agents were copying his drafts and passing them on to Gustave Flaubert, who made a name for himself thanks to Goncharov’s works.

Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, Turgenev's family estate. Engraving by M. Rashevsky based on a photograph by William Carrick. Originally published in Niva magazine in 1883

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

What do the heroes of Turgenev's novels and stories have in common?

Famous philologist Lev Pumpyansky Lev Vasilyevich Pumpyansky (1891-1940) - literary critic, musicologist. After the revolution he lived in Nevel, together with Mikhail Bakhtin and Matvey Kagan he formed the Nevel Philosophical Circle. In the 1920s he taught at the Tenishevsky School and was a member of the Free Philosophical Association. He taught Russian literature at Leningrad University. Author of classic works on Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Turgenev. ⁠ wrote that the first four Turgenev novels (“Rudin”, “The Noble Nest”, “On the Eve” and) represent an example of a “test novel”: their plot is built around a historically established type of hero who is tested for suitability for the role of a historical figure. To test the hero, not only, for example, ideological disputes with opponents or social activities, but also love relationships serve. Pumpyansky, according to modern researchers, exaggerated in many ways, but in general his definition is apparently correct. Indeed, the main character is at the center of the novel, and the events that happen to this hero make it possible to decide whether he can be called a worthy person. In “The Noble Nest” this is expressed literally: Marfa Timofeevna demands that Lavretsky confirm that he is an “honest man” out of fear for Lisa’s fate - and Lavretsky proves that he is incapable of doing anything dishonest.

She felt bitter in her soul; She didn't deserve such humiliation. Love did not express itself to her with gaiety: for the second time she cried since yesterday evening.

Ivan Turgenev

The themes of happiness, self-denial and love, perceived as the most important qualities of a person, were already raised by Turgenev in his stories of the 1850s. For example, in the story “Faust” (1856), the main character is literally killed by the awakening of a love feeling, which she herself interprets as a sin. The interpretation of love as an irrational, incomprehensible, almost supernatural force, which often threatens human dignity or at least the ability to follow one’s convictions, is characteristic, for example, of the stories “Correspondence” (1856) and “First Love” (1860). In “The Noble Nest,” the relationships of almost all the characters, except Liza and Lavretsky, are characterized in exactly this way—suffice it to recall the characteristics of the relationship between Panshin and Lavretsky’s wife: “Varvara Pavlovna enslaved him, she enslaved him: in no other word can one express its unlimited, irrevocable, unrequited power over him."

Finally, the backstory of Lavretsky, the son of a nobleman and a peasant woman, is reminiscent of the main character of the story “Asya” (1858). Within the framework of the novel genre, Turgenev was able to connect these themes with socio-historical issues.

"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969

Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1988

Where are the references to Cervantes in The Noble Nest?

One of the important Turgenev types in “The Noble Nest” is represented by the hero Mikhalevich - “an enthusiast and poet” who “still adhered to the phraseology of the thirties.” This hero in the novel is presented with a fair amount of irony; it is enough to recall the description of his endless nightly argument with Lavretsky, when Mikhalevich tries to define his friend and every hour rejects his own formulations: “you are not a skeptic, not disappointed, not a Voltairian, you are bobak Steppe marmot. In a figurative sense - a clumsy, lazy person. ⁠ , and you are a malicious bobak, a bobak with consciousness, not a naive bobak.” In the dispute between Lavretsky and Mikhalevich, a topical issue is especially evident: the novel was written during a period that contemporaries assessed as a transitional era in history.

And when, where did people decide to screw around? - he shouted at four o’clock in the morning, but in a somewhat hoarse voice. - We have! Now! in Russia! when each individual has a duty, a great responsibility before God, before the people, before himself! We are sleeping and time is running out; we are sleeping…

The funny thing is that Lavretsky considers the main goal of a modern nobleman to be a completely practical matter - to learn to “plow the land”, while Mikhalevich, who reproaches him for laziness, could not find anything to do on his own.

You joked with me in vain; my great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather was a man himself

Ivan Turgenev

This type, a representative of the generation of idealists of the 1830-40s, a man whose greatest talent was the ability to understand current philosophical and social ideas, sincerely sympathize with them and convey them to others, was brought out by Turgenev back in the novel “Rudin”. Like Rudin, Mikhalevich is an eternal wanderer, clearly reminiscent of the “knight of the sad image”: “Even sitting in the tarantass, where they carried out his flat, yellow, strangely light suitcase, he still spoke; wrapped in some kind of Spanish cloak with a reddish collar and lion paws instead of fasteners, he was still developing his views on the fate of Russia and moved his dark hand through the air, as if scattering the seeds of future prosperity.” For the author, Mikhalevich is the beautiful and naive Don Quixote (Turgenev’s famous speech “Hamlet and Don Quixote” was written shortly after “The Noble Nest”). Mikhalevich “fell in love endlessly and wrote poems about all his lovers; He sang especially passionately about one mysterious black-haired “lady,” who, apparently, was a woman of easy virtue. The analogy with Don Quixote’s passion for the peasant woman Dulcinea is obvious: Cervantes’s hero is similarly incapable of understanding that his beloved does not correspond to his ideal. However, this time it is not a naive idealist who is placed at the center of the novel, but a completely different hero.

Why does Lavretsky sympathize so much with the peasant?

The father of the novel's protagonist is a Europeanized gentleman who raised his son according to his own “system,” apparently borrowed from the works of Rousseau; his mother is a simple peasant woman. The result is quite unusual. The reader finds himself in front of an educated Russian nobleman who knows how to behave decently and with dignity in society (Lavretsky’s manners are constantly poorly assessed by Marya Dmitrievna, but the author constantly hints that she herself does not know how to behave in really good society). He reads magazines in different languages, but at the same time is closely connected with Russian life, especially the common people. In this regard, his two love interests are remarkable: the Parisian “lioness” Varvara Pavlovna and the deeply religious Liza Kalitina, raised by a simple Russian nanny. It is no coincidence that Turgenev’s hero aroused delight Apollo Grigoriev Apollo Aleksandrovich Grigoriev (1822-1864) - poet, literary critic, translator. In 1845, he began to study literature: he published a book of poems, translated Shakespeare and Byron, and wrote literary reviews for Otechestvennye Zapiski. Since the late 1950s, Grigoriev wrote for Moskvityanin and headed its circle of young authors. After the magazine closed, he worked at Library for Reading, Russian Word, and Vremya. Due to alcohol addiction, Grigoriev gradually lost his influence and practically stopped publishing. ⁠ , one of the creators pochvennichestvo Social and philosophical trends in Russia in the 1860s. The basic principles of pochvennichestvo were formulated by employees of the magazines “Time” and “Epoch”: Apollo Grigoriev, Nikolai Strakhov and the Dostoevsky brothers. The Pochvenniki occupied a kind of middle position between the camps of Westerners and Slavophiles. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in “Announcement of subscription to the magazine “Time” for 1861,” considered the manifesto of pochvennichestvo, wrote: “The Russian idea, perhaps, will be a synthesis of all those ideas that Europe is developing with such tenacity, with such courage in its individual nationalities ; that, perhaps, everything hostile in these ideas will find its reconciliation and further development in the Russian people.” ⁠ : Lavretsky is really able to sincerely sympathize with a peasant who has lost his son, and when he himself suffers the collapse of all his hopes, he is consoled by the fact that the ordinary people around him suffer no less. In general, Lavretsky’s connection with the “common people” and the old, non-Europeanized nobility is constantly emphasized in the novel. Having learned that his wife, who lives according to the latest French fashions, is cheating on him, he experiences something other than secular rage: “he felt that at that moment he was able to torment her, beat her half to death, like a peasant, strangle her with his own hands.” In a conversation with his wife, he indignantly says: “You joked with me in vain; My great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather himself was a man.” Unlike the previous central characters of Turgenev’s prose, Lavretsky has a “healthy nature”, he is a good owner, a man who is literally destined to live at home and take care of his family and household.

Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1845 Private collection

What is the meaning of the political dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin?

The main character's beliefs correspond to his background. In a conflict with the capital official Panshin, Lavretsky opposes the reform project, according to which European public “institutions” (in modern language - “institutions”) are capable of transforming people’s life itself. Lavretsky “demanded, first of all, recognition of the people’s truth and humility before it - that humility without which courage against lies is impossible; “Finally, he did not deviate from the well-deserved, in his opinion, reproach for frivolous waste of time and effort.” The author of the novel clearly sympathizes with Lavretsky: Turgenev, of course, himself had a high opinion of Western “institutions,” but, judging by “The Nest of Nobles,” he did not have such a good opinion of the domestic officials who were trying to introduce these “institutions.”

"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969

Coach. 1838 The carriage is one of the attributes of secular European life, which Varvara Pavlovna indulges in with pleasure

The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

How does the characters' family history influence their fate?

Of all Turgenev's heroes, Lavretsky has the most detailed pedigree: the reader learns not only about his parents, but also about the entire Lavretsky family, starting with his great-grandfather. Of course, this digression is intended to show the hero’s rootedness in history, his living connection with the past. At the same time, this “past” turns out to be very dark and cruel for Turgenev - in fact, this is the history of Russia and the noble class. Literally the entire history of the Lavretsky family is built on violence. The wife of his great-grandfather Andrei is directly compared to a bird of prey (for Turgenev this is always a significant comparison - just remember the ending of the story “Spring Waters”), and the reader literally learns nothing about their relationship, except that the spouses were always at war with each other friend: “Goggle-eyed, with a hawk nose, with a round yellow face, a gypsy by birth, hot-tempered and vindictive, she was in no way inferior to her husband, who almost killed her and whom she did not survive, although she was always squabbling with him.” The wife of their son Pyotr Andreich, a “humble woman,” was subordinate to her husband: “She loved to ride trotters, was ready to play cards from morning to evening, and always used to cover with her hand the penny winnings written on her when her husband approached the gambling table; and she gave all her dowry, all her money, to him at his unrequited disposal.” Lavretsky’s father Ivan fell in love with the serf girl Malanya, a “modest woman” who obeyed her husband and his relatives in everything and was completely excluded by them from raising her son, which led to her death:

Ivan Petrovich's poor wife did not endure this blow, did not endure the secondary separation: without a murmur, she died away within a few days. Throughout her life, she did not know how to resist anything, and she did not fight the disease. She could no longer speak, the shadows of the grave were already falling on her face, but her features still expressed patient bewilderment and constant meekness of humility.

Pyotr Andreich, who learned about his son’s love affair, is also compared to a bird of prey: “He descended on his son like a hawk, reproaching him for immorality, godlessness, pretense...” It was this terrible past that was reflected in the life of the protagonist, only now Lavretsky himself found himself in the power of his wife. Firstly, Lavretsky is a product of his father’s specific upbringing, because of which he, a naturally intelligent, far from naive person, got married without completely understanding what kind of person his wife was. Secondly, the very topic of family inequality connects Turgenev’s hero and his ancestors. The hero got married because his family past did not let him go - in the future his wife will become part of this past, which at a fateful moment will return and destroy his relationship with Lisa. The fate of Lavretsky, who is not destined to find his native corner, is connected with the curse of his aunt Glafira, expelled by the will of Lavretsky’s wife: “I know who is driving me away from here, from my ancestral nest. Just remember my words, nephew: you won’t build a nest anywhere, you’ll wander forever.” At the end of the novel, Lavretsky thinks of himself that he is a “lonely, homeless wanderer.” In the everyday sense, this is inaccurate: before us are the thoughts of a wealthy landowner - however, internal loneliness and the inability to find happiness in life turn out to be a logical conclusion from the history of the Lavretsky family.

The head is all gray, and when he opens his mouth, he lies or gossips. And also a state councilor!

Ivan Turgenev

The parallels with Lisa's backstory are interesting here. Her father was also a cruel, “predatory” man who subjugated her mother. There is also a direct influence of folk ethics in its past. At the same time, Liza feels her responsibility for the past more acutely than Lavretsky. Liza’s readiness for humility and suffering is connected not with some kind of internal weakness or sacrifice, but with a conscious, thoughtful desire to atone for sins, not only her own, but also those of others: “Happiness did not come to me; even when I had hopes of happiness, my heart still ached. I know everything, both my sins and those of others, and how daddy acquired our wealth; I know everything. All this must be prayed away, it must be prayed away.”

Pages from the collection “Symbols and Emblems”, published in Amsterdam in 1705 and in St. Petersburg in 1719

The collection consisted of 840 engravings with symbols and allegories. This mysterious book was the only reading for the impressionable and pale child Fedya Lavretsky. The Lavretskys had one of the re-editions of the early 19th century revised by Nestor Maksimovich-Ambodik: Turgenev himself read this book as a child

What is a noble nest?

Turgenev himself wrote in an elegiac tone about “noble nests” in the story “My Neighbor Radilov”: “When choosing a place to live, our great-grandfathers certainly took out two tithes of good land for an orchard with linden alleys. Fifty, many seventy years later, these estates, “noble nests,” gradually disappeared from the face of the earth, the houses rotted or were sold for removal, the stone services turned into piles of ruins, the apple trees died out and were used for firewood, fences and wattles were destroyed. Some linden trees were still growing to their glory and now, surrounded by plowed fields, they speak to our windy tribe about “the fathers and brothers who died before.” Parallels with “The Noble Nest” are easy to notice: on the one hand, the reader is not presented with Oblomovka, but with the image of a cultural, Europeanized estate, where alleys are planted and music is listened to; on the other hand, this estate is doomed to gradual destruction and oblivion. In “The Noble Nest,” apparently, this is precisely the fate destined for the Lavretsky estate, whose family line will end with the main character (his daughter, judging by the epilogue of the novel, will not live long).

The village of Shablykino, where Turgenev often hunted. Lithograph by Rudolf Zhukovsky based on his own drawing. 1840 State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of I. S. Turgenev “Spasskoye-Lutovinovo”

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Does Lisa Kalitina resemble the stereotype of the “Turgenev girl”?

Lisa Kalitina is probably now one of the most famous Turgenev images. They have repeatedly tried to explain the unusualness of this heroine by the existence of some special prototype - here they also pointed to the Countess Elizabeth Lambert Elizaveta Egorovna Lambert (née Kankrina; 1821-1883) - maid of honor of the imperial court. Daughter of the Minister of Finance Count Yegor Kankrin. In 1843 she married Count Joseph Lambert. She was friends with Tyutchev and had a long correspondence with Turgenev. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was deeply religious. From Turgenev’s letter to Lambert dated April 29, 1867: “Of all the doors into which I, a bad Christian, but following the gospel rule, pushed, your doors opened easier and more often than others.” ⁠ , a secular acquaintance of Turgenev and the addressee of his numerous letters filled with philosophical reasoning, and on Varvara Sokovnin Varvara Mikhailovna Sokovnina (monastic Seraphim; 1779-1845) - nun. Sokovnina was born into a wealthy noble family, at the age of 20 she left home for the Sevsky Trinity Monastery, took monastic vows, and then the schema (the highest monastic level, requiring the performance of severe asceticism). She lived in seclusion for 22 years. In 1821, she was elevated to the rank of abbess of the Oryol nunnery, and ruled it until her death. In 1837, Abbess Seraphim was visited by Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Nicholas I. ⁠ (in the monasticism of Seraphim), whose fate is very similar to the story of Lisa.

Probably, first of all, the stereotypical image of the “Turgenev girl” is built around Lisa, which is usually written about in popular publications and which is often discussed at school. At the same time, this stereotype hardly corresponds to Turgenev’s text. Lisa can hardly be called a particularly refined person or a lofty idealist. She is shown as a person of exceptionally strong will, decisive, independent and internally independent. In this sense, her image was rather influenced not by Turgenev’s desire to create the image of an ideal young lady, but by the writer’s ideas about the need for emancipation and the desire to show an internally free girl so that this internal freedom would not deprive her of poetry. A night date with Lavretsky in the garden for a girl of that time was completely indecent behavior - the fact that Lisa decided on it shows her complete internal independence from the opinions of others. The “poetic” effect of her image is given by a very unique manner of description. The narrator usually reports about Lisa’s feelings in rhythmic prose, very metaphorical, sometimes even using sound repetitions: “No one knows, no one has seen and will never see how, from bath to life and flourishing, pours and in sight no zer but in the womb ze mli." The analogy between the love growing in the heroine’s heart and a natural process is not intended to explain some psychological properties of the heroine, but rather to hint at something that is beyond the capabilities of ordinary language. It is no coincidence that Lisa herself says that she “doesn’t have her own words” - in the same way, for example, at the end of the novel the narrator refuses to talk about her and Lavretsky’s experiences: “What did they think, what did they both feel? Who will know? Who's to say? There are such moments in life, such feelings... You can only point to them and pass by.”

"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969

Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1988

Why do Turgenev's heroes suffer all the time?

Violence and aggression permeate Turgenev’s entire life; a living being cannot help but suffer, it seems. In Turgenev’s story “The Diary of an Extra Man” (1850), the hero was opposed to nature, because he was endowed with self-awareness and acutely felt approaching death. In “The Noble Nest,” however, the desire for destruction and self-destruction is shown as characteristic not only of people, but of all nature. Marfa Timofeevna tells Lavretsky that no happiness for a living creature is possible in principle: “Why, I used to envy the flies: look, I thought, who has a good life in the world; Yes, one night I heard a fly whining in the spider’s legs - no, I think there’s a thunderstorm on them too.” At his own, simpler level, Lavretsky’s old servant Anton, who knew his aunt Glafira, who cursed him, speaks about self-destruction: “He told Lavretsky how Glafira Petrovna bit herself on the hand before her death,” and, after a pause, said with a sigh: “Every person, master-father, he is devoured to himself.” Turgenev's heroes live in a terrible and indifferent world, and here, unlike historical circumstances, it will probably not be possible to improve anything.

Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1839 Private collection

Why does Turgenev talk so much about happiness and duty?

The key debate between Lisa and Lavretsky is about the human right to happiness and the need for humility and renunciation. For the heroes of the novel, the theme of religion is of exceptional importance: the non-believer Lavretsky refuses to agree with Lisa. Turgenev does not try to decide which of them is right, but he shows that duty and humility are necessary not only for a religious person - duty is also significant for public life, especially for people with such a historical background as Turgenev’s heroes: the Russian nobility is not depicted in the novel only as a bearer of high culture, but also as a class whose representatives for centuries oppressed each other and the people around them. The conclusions from the disputes, however, are ambiguous. On the one hand, the new generation, free from the heavy burden of the past, easily achieves happiness - it is possible, however, that this succeeds due to a more successful combination of historical circumstances. At the end of the novel, Lavretsky addresses the younger generation with a mental monologue: “Play, have fun, grow, young strength... you have life ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you won’t have to, like us, find your way, fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we were trying to figure out how to survive - and how many of us didn’t survive! “But you need to do something, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you.” On the other hand, Lavretsky himself renounces claims to happiness and largely agrees with Lisa. If we consider that tragedy, according to Turgenev, is generally inherent in human life, the fun and joy of “new people” turn out to be in many ways a sign of their naivety, and the experience of misfortune that Lavretsky went through can be no less valuable for the reader.

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Full list of references

Turgenev introduces the reader to the main characters of “The Noble Nest” and describes in detail the inhabitants and guests of the house of Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina, the widow of the provincial prosecutor, living in the city of O. with two daughters, the eldest of whom, Lisa, is nineteen years old. More often than others, Marya Dmitrievna visits St. Petersburg official Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, who ended up in the provincial city on official business. Panshin is young, dexterous, moves up the career ladder with incredible speed, while he sings well, draws and looks after Liza Kalitina Bilinkis N.S., Gorelik T.P. "Turgenev's noble nest and the 60s of the 19th century in Russia // Scientific reports of higher education. Philological sciences. - M.: 2001. - No. 2, pp. 29-37..

The appearance of the main character of the novel, Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, who is distantly related to Marya Dmitrievna, is preceded by a brief background. Lavretsky is a deceived husband; he is forced to separate from his wife because of her immoral behavior. The wife remains in Paris, Lavretsky returns to Russia, ends up in the Kalitins’ house and imperceptibly falls in love with Lisa.

Dostoevsky in “The Nest of Nobles” devotes a lot of space to the theme of love, because this feeling helps to highlight all the best qualities of the heroes, to see the main thing in their characters, to understand their soul. Love is depicted by Turgenev as the most beautiful, bright and pure feeling that awakens the best in people. In this novel, like in no other novel by Turgenev, the most touching, romantic, sublime pages are dedicated to the love of the heroes.

The love of Lavretsky and Lisa Kalitina does not manifest itself immediately, it approaches them gradually, through many thoughts and doubts, and then suddenly falls upon them with its irresistible force. Lavretsky, who has experienced a lot in his life: hobbies, disappointments, and the loss of all life goals, - at first he simply admires Liza, her innocence, purity, spontaneity, sincerity - all those qualities that are absent from Varvara Pavlovna, Lavretsky’s hypocritical, depraved wife who left him. Lisa is close to him in spirit: “Sometimes it happens that two people who are already familiar, but not close to each other, suddenly and quickly become close within a few moments - and the consciousness of this closeness is immediately expressed in their glances, in their friendly and quiet smiles, in themselves their movements" Turgenev I.S. Noble Nest. - M.: Publisher: Children's Literature, 2002. - 237 p.. This is exactly what happened to Lavretsky and Lisa.

They talk a lot and realize that they have a lot in common. Lavretsky takes life, other people, and Russia seriously; Lisa is also a deep and strong girl with her own ideals and beliefs. According to Lemm, Lisa’s music teacher, she is “a fair, serious girl with sublime feelings.” Lisa is being courted by a young man, a metropolitan official with a wonderful future. Lisa's mother would be happy to give her in marriage to him; she considers this a wonderful match for Lisa. But Liza cannot love him, she feels the falseness in his attitude towards her, Panshin is a superficial person, he values ​​\u200b\u200bthe external shine in people, not the depth of feelings. Further events of the novel confirm this opinion about Panshin.

From a French newspaper he learns about the death of his wife, this gives him hope for happiness. The first climax comes - Lavretsky confesses his love to Lisa in the night garden and finds out that he is loved. However, the day after the confession, his wife, Varvara Pavlovna, returns from Paris to Lavretsky. The news of her death turned out to be false. This second climax of the novel seems to be opposed to the first: the first gives the heroes hope, the second takes it away. The denouement comes - Varvara Pavlovna settles in Lavretsky’s family estate, Lisa goes to a monastery, Lavretsky is left with nothing.

The famous Russian writer I. S. Turgenev wrote many wonderful works, “The Noble Nest” is one of the best.

In the novel “The Noble Nest,” Turgenev describes the morals and customs of life of the Russian nobility, their interests and hobbies.

The main character of the work - nobleman Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky - was brought up in the family of his aunt Glafira. Fyodor's mother, a former maid, died when the boy was very young. My father lived abroad. When Fyodor was twelve years old, his father returned home and raised his son himself.

The novel “The Noble Nest” and a brief summary of the work give us the opportunity to find out what kind of home education and upbringing children in noble families received. Fedor was taught many sciences. His upbringing was harsh: he was woken up early in the morning, fed once a day, taught to ride a horse and shoot. When his father died, Lavretsky left to study in Moscow. He was then 23 years old.

The novel “The Noble Nest”, a brief summary of this work will allow us to learn about the hobbies and passions of the young nobles of Russia. During one of his visits to the theater, Fyodor saw a beautiful girl in the box - Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina. A friend introduces him to the beauty’s family. Varenka was smart, sweet, educated.

Studying at the university was abandoned due to Fyodor's marriage to Varvara. The young couple move to St. Petersburg. There their son is born and soon dies. On the advice of a doctor, the Lavretskys go to live in Paris. Soon, enterprising Varvara becomes the owner of a popular salon and starts an affair with one of her visitors. Having learned about accidentally reading a love note from her chosen one, Lavretsky breaks off all relations with her and returns to his estate.

One day he visited his cousin, Kalitina Maria Dmitrievna, who lived with two daughters - Liza and Lena. The eldest - the pious Lisa - interested Fyodor, and he soon realized that his feelings for this girl were serious. Lisa had an admirer, a certain Panshin, whom she did not love, but on her mother’s advice she did not push away.

In one of the French magazines, Lavretsky read that his wife had died. Fyodor declares his love to Lisa and learns that his love is mutual.

The young man's happiness knew no bounds. Finally, he met the girl of his dreams: gentle, charming and also serious. But when he returned home, Varvara was waiting for him in the foyer, alive and unharmed. She tearfully begged her husband to forgive her, at least for the sake of their daughter Ada. Notorious in Paris, the beautiful Varenka was in dire need of money, since her salon no longer provided her with the income she needed for a luxurious life.

Lavretsky assigns her an annual allowance and allows her to settle on his estate, but refuses to live with her. Smart and resourceful Varvara talked to Lisa and convinced the pious and meek girl to give up Fyodor. Lisa convinces Lavretsky not to leave his family. He settles his family on his estate, and he himself leaves for Moscow.

Deeply disappointed in her unfulfilled hopes, Lisa breaks off all relations with the secular world and goes to a monastery to find the meaning of life in suffering and prayer. Lavretsky visits her in the monastery, but the girl did not even look at him. Her feelings were revealed only by her fluttering eyelashes.

And Varenka again left for St. Petersburg, and then to Paris to continue her cheerful and carefree life there. “The Noble Nest”, the summary of the novel reminds us how much space in a person’s soul is occupied by his feelings, especially love.

Eight years later, Lavretsky visits the house where he once met Lisa. Fyodor again plunged into the atmosphere of the past - the same garden outside the window, the same piano in the living room. After returning home, he lived for a long time with sad memories of his failed love.

“The Noble Nest”, a brief summary of the work, allowed us to touch on some of the features of the lifestyle and customs of the Russian nobility of the 19th century.