When the novel was written the day before. "The day before" I

On one of the hottest days of 1853, two young people lay on the banks of the Moscow River in the shade of a blooming linden tree. Twenty-three-year-old Andrei Petrovich Bersenev had just graduated as the third candidate at Moscow University, and an academic career awaited him. Pavel Yakovlevich Shubin was a sculptor who showed promise. The dispute, quite peaceful, concerned nature and our place in it. Bersenev is struck by the completeness and self-sufficiency of nature, against the background of which our incompleteness is seen more clearly, which gives rise to anxiety, even sadness. Shubin suggests not reflecting, but living. Stock up on a friend of your heart, and the melancholy will pass. We are driven by a thirst for love, happiness - and nothing else. “As if there is nothing higher than happiness?” - Bersenev objects. Isn't this a selfish, divisive word? Art, homeland, science, freedom can unite. And love, of course, but not love-pleasure, but love-sacrifice. However, Shubin does not agree to be number two. He wants to love for himself. No, his friend insists, putting ourselves number two is the whole purpose of our lives.

The young people stopped the feast of the mind at this point and, after a pause, continued talking about everyday things. Bersenev recently saw Insarov. We need to introduce him to Shubin and the Stakhov family. Insarov? Is this the Serb or Bulgarian that Andrei Petrovich already talked about? Patriot? Was it he who inspired the thoughts he had just expressed? However, it’s time to return to the dacha: you shouldn’t be late for dinner. Anna Vasilyevna Stakhova, Shubin’s second cousin, will be dissatisfied, but Pavel Vasilyevich owes her the very opportunity to engage in sculpting. She even gave money for a trip to Italy, and Pavel (Paul, as she called him) spent it on Little Russia. In general, the family is very entertaining. And how could such parents have such an extraordinary daughter like Elena? Try to solve this mystery of nature.

The head of the family, Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov, the son of a retired captain, dreamed of a profitable marriage from his youth. At twenty-five, he fulfilled his dream - he married Anna Vasilyevna Shubina, but he soon became bored, became friends with the widow Augustina Christianovna and was already bored in her company. “They stare at each other, it’s so stupid...” says Shubin. However, sometimes Nikolai Artemyevich starts arguments with her: is it possible for a person to travel the entire globe, or know what is happening at the bottom of the sea, or predict the weather? And I always concluded that it was impossible.

Anna Vasilievna tolerates her husband’s infidelity, and yet it hurts her that he deceitfully gave the German woman a pair of gray horses from her, Anna Vasilievna’s, factory.

Shubin has been living in this family for five years now, since the death of his mother, an intelligent, kind Frenchwoman (his father died several years earlier). He devoted himself entirely to his calling, but he works, although diligently, in fits and starts, and does not want to hear about the academy and professors. In Moscow he is known as a promising one, but at twenty-six years old he remains in the same capacity. He really likes the Stakhovs’ daughter Elena Nikolaevna, but he does not miss the opportunity to be attracted to the plump seventeen-year-old Zoya, who was taken into the house as a companion for Elena, who has nothing to talk about with her. Pavel behind the eyes calls her a sweet German girl. Alas, Elena does not understand “the whole naturalness of such contradictions” of the artist. The lack of character in a person always outraged her, stupidity made her angry, and she did not forgive lies. As soon as someone lost her respect, he ceased to exist for her.

Elena Nikolaevna is an extraordinary person. She has just turned twenty years old and is attractive: tall, with large gray eyes and a dark brown braid. In her entire appearance, however, there is something impetuous, nervous, which not everyone likes.

Nothing could ever satisfy her: she longed for active good. Since childhood, she was worried and occupied by the poor, hungry, sick people and animals. When she was ten years old, a beggar girl, Katya, became the subject of her concern and even worship. Her parents did not approve of this hobby. True, the girl soon died. However, the trace of this meeting remained in Elena’s soul forever.

From the age of sixteen she already lived her own life, but a lonely life. No one bothered her, but she was torn and languished: “How can I live without love, but there is no one to love!” Shubin was quickly dismissed due to his artistic inconstancy. Bersenev, on the other hand, occupies her as an intelligent, educated man, real and deep in his own way. But why is he so persistent with his stories about Insarov? These stories aroused Elena's keen interest in the personality of the Bulgarian, obsessed with the idea of liberating his homeland. Any mention of this seems to ignite a dull, unquenchable fire in him. One can feel the concentrated deliberation of a single and long-standing passion. And this is his story.

He was still a child when his mother was kidnapped and killed by a Turkish aga. The father tried to take revenge, but was shot. At eight years old, left an orphan, Dmitry arrived in Russia to live with his aunt, and twelve years later he returned to Bulgaria and in two years traveled the length and breadth of it. He was persecuted and in danger. Bersenev himself saw the scar - a trace of a wound. No, Insarov did not take revenge on Agha. His goal is broader.

He is poor like a student, but proud, scrupulous and undemanding, and amazingly efficient. On the first day after moving to Bersenev’s dacha, he got up at four in the morning, ran around the area around Kuntsev, took a swim and, after drinking a glass of cold milk, got to work. He studies Russian history, law, political economy, translates Bulgarian songs and chronicles, compiles Russian grammar for Bulgarians and Bulgarian for Russians: it is a shame for a Russian not to know Slavic languages.

On his first visit, Dmitry Nikanorovich made less of an impression on Elena than she expected after Bersenev’s stories. But the incident confirmed the correctness of Bersenev’s assessments.

Anna Vasilievna decided to somehow show her daughter and Zoya the beauty of Tsaritsyn. We went there with a large group. The ponds and ruins of the palace, the park - everything made a wonderful impression. Zoya sang well as they sailed on a boat among the lush greenery of the picturesque shores. A group of Germans who had been having fun even shouted an encore! They did not pay attention, but already on the shore, after the picnic, we met them again. A man of enormous stature, with a bullish neck, separated from the company and began to demand satisfaction in the form of a kiss because Zoya did not respond to their encores and applause. Shubin floridly and with a pretense of irony began to admonish the drunken impudent man, which only provoked him. Then Insarov stepped forward and simply demanded that he go away. The bull-like carcass leaned forward menacingly, but at the same moment swayed, lifted off the ground, lifted into the air by Insarov, and, plummeting into the pond, disappeared under the water. “He will drown!” - Anna Vasilievna shouted. “It will float out,” Insarov said casually. Something unkind and dangerous appeared on his face.

An entry appeared in Elena’s diary: “...Yes, you can’t joke with him, and he knows how to intercede. But why this anger?.. Or is it impossible to be a man, a fighter, and remain meek and soft? Life is rough, he said recently.” She immediately admitted to herself that she loved him.

The news becomes even more of a blow for Elena: Insarov is moving out of his dacha. So far, only Bersenev understands what’s going on. A friend once admitted that if he fell in love, he would certainly leave: for personal feelings, he would not betray his duty (“...I don’t need Russian love...”). Having heard all this, Elena herself goes to Insarov.

He confirmed: yes, he must leave. Then Elena will have to be braver than him. He apparently wants to force her to confess his love first. Well, that's what she said. Insarov hugged her: “So will you follow me everywhere?” Yes, she will go, and neither the anger of her parents, nor the need to leave her homeland, nor danger will stop her. Then they are husband and wife, the Bulgarian concludes.

Meanwhile, a certain Kurnatovsky, Chief Secretary in the Senate, began to appear at the Stakhovs. Stakhov intends him to be Elena’s husband. And this is not the only danger for lovers. Letters from Bulgaria are becoming more and more alarming. We must go while it is still possible, and Dmitry begins to prepare for departure. Once, after working all day, he got caught in a downpour and was soaked to the bone. The next morning, despite the headache, he continued his efforts. But by lunchtime a strong fever appeared, and by evening it subsided completely. For eight days Insarov is between life and death. Bersenev has been caring for the patient all this time and reporting his condition to Elena. Finally the crisis is over. However, true recovery is far from complete, and Dmitry does not leave his home for a long time. Elena can’t wait to see him, she asks Bersenev not to come to his friend one day and appears to Insarov in a light silk dress, fresh, young and happy. They talk for a long time and passionately about their problems, about the golden heart of Bersenev who loves Elena, about the need to rush to leave. On the same day, they no longer become husband and wife in words. Their date does not remain a secret for the parents.

Nikolai Artemyevich demands his daughter to answer. Yes, she admits, Insarov is her husband, and next week they are leaving for Bulgaria. “To the Turks!” – Anna Vasilievna faints. Nikolai Artemyevich grabs his daughter’s hand, but at this time Shubin shouts: “Nikolai Artemyevich! Augustina Christianovna has arrived and is calling you!”

A minute later he is already talking with Uvar Ivanovich, a retired sixty-year-old cornet who lives with the Stakhovs, does nothing, eats often and a lot, is always imperturbable and expresses himself something like this: “It would be necessary... somehow, that...” At the same time, he desperately helps himself gestures. Shubin calls him a representative of the choral principle and black earth power.

Pavel Yakovlevich expresses his admiration for Elena to him. She is not afraid of anything or anyone. He understands her. Who does she leave here? Kurnatovskys, and Bersenevs, and people like himself. And these are even better. We don't have people yet. Everything is either small fry, hamlets, or darkness and wilderness, or pouring from empty to empty. If there were good people among us, this sensitive soul would not have left us. “When will we have people, Ivan Ivanovich?” “Give it time, they will,” he answers.

And here are the young people in Venice. The difficult journey and two months of illness in Vienna are behind us. From Venice we go to Serbia and then to Bulgaria. All that remains is to wait for the old sea wolf Rendich, who will transport him across the sea.

Venice was the best place to help for a while to forget the hardships of travel and the excitement of politics. Everything that this unique city could give, the lovers took in full. Only in the theater, listening to “La Traviata,” are they embarrassed by the farewell scene between Violetta and Alfred, dying of consumption, and her plea: “Let me live... die so young!” A feeling of happiness leaves Elena: “Is it really impossible to beg, to avert, to save? I was happy... And by what right?.. And if it is not given for nothing?”

The next day Insarov gets worse. The heat rose and he fell into oblivion. Exhausted, Elena falls asleep and has a dream: a boat on the Tsaritsyn pond, then finding herself in a restless sea, but a snow whirlwind hits, and she is no longer in a boat, but in a cart. Katya is nearby. Suddenly the cart flies into a snowy abyss, Katya laughs and calls her from the abyss: “Elena!” She raises her head and sees the pale Insarov: “Elena, I’m dying!” Rendich no longer finds him alive. Elena begged the stern sailor to take the coffin with her husband’s body and herself to his homeland.

Three weeks later, Anna Vasilievna received a letter from Venice. The daughter is going to Bulgaria. There is no other homeland for her now. “I was looking for happiness - and I will find, perhaps, death. Apparently... there was guilt.”

The further fate of Elena remained unclear. Some said that they later saw her in Herzegovina as a sister of mercy with the army in an invariable black outfit. Then her trace was lost.

Shubin, occasionally corresponding with Uvar Ivanovich, reminded him of an old question: “So, will we have people?” Uvar Ivanovich played with his fingers and directed his mysterious gaze into the distance.

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Summary of Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve”

The history of writing the novel

In the second half of the 1850s, Turgenev, according to the views of a liberal democrat, who rejected the ideas of revolutionary-minded commoners, began to think about the possibility of creating a hero whose positions would not conflict with his own, more moderate, aspirations, but who would at the same time be revolutionary enough not to provoke ridicule from his more radical colleagues at Sovremennik. The understanding of the inevitable change of generations in progressive Russian circles, clearly evident in the epilogue of “The Noble Nest,” came to Turgenev back in the days of work on “Rudin”:

In 1855, Turgenev’s neighbor in Mtsensk district, landowner Vasily Karateev, who was going to Crimea as an officer in the noble militia, left the writer the manuscript of an autobiographical story, allowing him to dispose of it at his own discretion. The story told about the author's love for a girl who preferred him to a Bulgarian student at Moscow University. Later, scientists from several countries established the identity of the prototype of this character. This man was Nikolai Katranov. He came to Russia in 1848 and entered Moscow University. After the Russian-Turkish war began in 1853, and the revolutionary spirit revived among the Bulgarian youth, Katranov and his Russian wife Larisa returned to his hometown of Svishtov. His plans, however, were hindered by an outbreak of transient consumption, and he died during treatment in Venice in May of the same year.

Karateev, who had a presentiment of his death when he handed over the manuscript to Turgenev, did not return from the war, dying of typhus in the Crimea. Turgenev’s attempt to publish Karateev’s work, which was artistically weak, was not successful, and until 1859 the manuscript was forgotten, although, according to the recollections of the writer himself, when he first read it, he was so impressed that he exclaimed: “Here is the hero I was looking for!” » Before Turgenev returned to Karateev’s notebook, he managed to finish “Rudin” and work on “The Noble Nest.”

Returning home to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo in the winter of 1858-1859, Turgenev returned to the ideas that occupied him in the year he met Karateev, and remembered the manuscript. Taking as a basis the plot suggested by his late neighbor, he began to artistically rework it. Only one scene from the original work, a description of a trip to Tsaritsyno, according to Turgenev himself, was retained in general terms in the final text of the novel. In working on the factual material, he was helped by his friend, writer and traveler E.P. Kovalevsky, who was well acquainted with the details of the Bulgarian liberation movement and who himself published essays about his trip to the Balkans at the height of this movement in 1853. Work on the novel “On the Eve” continued both in Spassky-Lutovinovo and abroad, in London and Vichy, until the autumn of 1859, when the author took the manuscript to Moscow, to the editorial office of the Russian Messenger.

Plot

The novel begins with a dispute about nature and the place of man in it between two young people, the scientist Andrei Bersenev and the sculptor Pavel Shubin. In the future, the reader gets acquainted with the family in which Shubin lives. The husband of his second cousin Anna Vasilyevna Stakhova, Nikolai Artemyevich, once married her for money, does not love her and makes acquaintance with the German widow Augustina Christianovna, who robs him. Shubin has been living in this family for five years, since the death of his mother, and is engaged in his art, but is subject to bouts of laziness, works in fits and starts and does not intend to learn the skill. He is in love with the Stakhovs' daughter Elena, although he does not lose sight of her seventeen-year-old companion Zoya.

In this article we will look at the novel by Ivan Sergeevich, created in 1859, and outline its summary. Turgenev first published “On the Eve” in 1860, and this work remains in demand to this day. Not only the novel itself is interesting, but also the history of its creation. We will present it, as well as a brief analysis of the work, after we outline the summary of “On the Eve”. he is presented below) has created a very interesting novel, and you will probably like its plot.

Bersenev and Shubin

On the banks of the Moscow River in the summer of 1853, two young men lie under a linden tree. A brief summary of “The Eve” begins with an introduction to them. Turgenev introduces us to the first of them, Andrei Petrovich Bersenev. He is 23 years old and has just graduated from Moscow University. A scientific career awaits this young man. The second is Pavel Yakovlevich Shubin, a promising sculptor. They argue about nature and man's place in it. Her self-sufficiency and completeness amaze Bersenev. He believes that against the backdrop of nature, the incompleteness of man is seen more clearly. This gives rise to anxiety and sadness. Shubin believes that you need to live, not reflect. He advises his friend to find a girlfriend of his heart.

Then the young people move on to talking about everyday things. Recently Bersenev saw Insarov. It is necessary to introduce Shubin to him, as well as to the Stakhov family. It's time to return to the dacha; you shouldn't be late for lunch. Stakhova Anna Vasilievna, Pavel Yakovlevich’s second cousin, will be dissatisfied. And to this woman he owes the opportunity to practice sculpting.

The story of Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov

The story of Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov continues in Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve” (summary). This is the head of the family, who from a young age dreamed of marrying profitably. He realized his dream at 25 years old. His wife was Anna Vasilievna Shubina. However, Stakhov soon became friends with Augustina Christianovna. Both of these women bored him. His wife endures infidelity, but it still hurts her, because he deceitfully gave his mistress a pair of gray horses from a factory owned by Anna Vasilyevna.

Shubin's life in the Stakhov family

Shubin has been living in this family for about 5 years, after his mother, a kind and smart Frenchwoman, died (Shubin’s father died several years before her). He works hard, but in fits and starts, and does not want to hear anything about professors and the academy. In Moscow, Shubin is considered promising, but he has not yet done anything outstanding. He really likes the Stakhovs’ daughter. However, the hero does not miss the opportunity to flirt with plump 17-year-old Zoya, Elena’s companion. Alas, Elena does not understand these contradictions in Shubin’s personality. She was always outraged by a person's lack of character, she was angry at stupidity, and she does not forgive lies. If someone loses her respect, he immediately ceases to exist for her.

Personality of Elena Nikolaevna

It must be said that Elena Nikolaevna is an extraordinary person. She is 20 years old, very attractive and statuesque. She has a dark brown braid and gray eyes. However, there is something nervous and impetuous in the appearance of this girl that not everyone will like.

Nothing can satisfy Elena Nikolaevna, whose soul strives for active good. Since childhood, this girl has been occupied and disturbed by hungry, poor, sick people and animals. At the age of 10, she met a beggar girl, Katya, and began to take care of her. This girl even became a kind of object of her worship. Elena's parents did not approve of this hobby. True, Katya soon died. However, in Elena’s soul there remained a trace from the meeting with her.

The girl had been living her own life since she was 16 years old, but she was lonely. Nobody embarrassed Elena, but she languished, saying that there was no one to love. She did not want to see Shubin as her husband, since he is fickle. But Bersenev attracts Elena as an educated, intelligent and deep person. But why does he talk so persistently about Insarov, who is obsessed with the idea of liberating his homeland? Bersenev's stories awaken in Elena a keen interest in the personality of this Bulgarian.

The story of Dmitry Insarov

The story of Insarov is as follows. His mother was kidnapped and then killed by a certain Turkish aga when the Bulgarian was still a child. The father attempted to take revenge on him, but was shot. Left orphaned at the age of eight, Dmitry came to his aunt in Russia. After 12 years, he returned to Bulgaria, which he studied inside and out for 2 years. Insarov was repeatedly exposed to danger on his travels and was persecuted. Bersenev personally saw the scar that remained at the site of the wound. Dmitry does not intend to take revenge on the Agha; he is pursuing a broader goal.

Insarov is poor, like all students, but he is scrupulous, proud and undemanding. He is distinguished by his enormous efficiency. This hero studies political economy, law, Russian history, translates Bulgarian chronicles and songs, compiles Bulgarian grammar for Russians and Russian for Bulgarians.

How Elena fell in love with Insarov

During his first visit, Dmitry Insarov did not make as great an impression on Elena as she expected after Bersenev’s enthusiastic stories. However, one incident soon confirmed that he was not mistaken about the Bulgarian.

One day Anna Vasilievna was going to show the beauty of Tsaritsyn to her daughter and Zoya. A large company went there. The park, the ruins of the palace, the ponds - all this made an impression on Elena. Zoya sang well while sailing on the boat. She was even shouted an encore by a group of Germans who had been having fun. At first they didn’t pay much attention, but after the picnic, already on the shore, we met them again. Suddenly, one man of impressive stature separated from the company. He began to demand a kiss as compensation for the fact that Zoya did not respond to the applause of the Germans. Shubin began to exhort this drunken impudent man with a pretense of irony, but this only provoked him. And so Insarov stepped forward. He simply demanded that the impudent man leave. The man leaned forward, but Insarov lifted him into the air and threw him into the pond.

Are you curious to know what the summary of "The Eve" continues with? Sergeevich has prepared a lot of interesting things for us. After the incident that happened at the picnic, Elena admitted to herself that she fell in love with Dmitry. Therefore, the news that he was moving out of the dacha was a big blow for her. Only Bersenev still understands why this departure was necessary. His friend once admitted that he would definitely leave if he fell in love, since he could not betray his duty for the sake of personal feelings. Insarov said that he did not need Russian love. Having learned about this, Elena decides to personally go to Dmitry.

Declaration of love

So we come to the scene of declaration of love, describing the brief content of the work “On the Eve”. Surely readers are interested in how it happened. Let's briefly describe this scene. Insarov confirmed to Elena, who came to him, that he was leaving. The girl decided that she needed to be the first to admit her feelings, which she did. Insarov asked if she was ready to follow him everywhere. The girl answered in the affirmative. Then the Bulgarian said that he would take her as his wife.

Difficulties faced by lovers

Meanwhile, Kurnatovsky, who worked in the Senate as chief secretary, began to appear at the Stakhovs. Stakhov sees this man as the future husband of his daughter. And this is just one of the dangers that await lovers. Letters from Bulgaria are becoming more and more alarming. It is necessary to go while you can, and Dmitry is preparing to leave. However, he suddenly caught a cold and fell ill. For 8 days Dmitry was dying.

All these days Bersenev looked after him and also told Elena about his condition. Finally the threat was over. But full recovery is still far away, and Insarov is forced to remain in his home. Ivan Sergeevich talks about all this in detail, but we will omit the details when compiling a summary of I. S. Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve”.

One day Elena visits Dmitry. They talk for a long time about the need to hurry up with leaving, about Bersenev’s golden heart, about their problems. On this day they become husband and wife no longer in words. Parents find out about their date.

Elena's father calls his daughter to account. She confirms that Insarov is her husband, and that in a week they will go to Bulgaria. Anna Vasilievna faints. The father grabs Elena by the hand, but at this moment Shubin shouts that Augustina Khristianovna has arrived and is calling Nikolai Artemyevich.

Journey of Elena and Dmitry

The newlyweds have already arrived in Venice. The difficult journey was left behind, as well as 2 months of illness in Vienna. After Venice they will go first to Serbia and then to Bulgaria. They just need to wait for Rendich, the old wolf, who must transport them across the sea.

Elena and Dmitry really liked Venice. However, while listening to La Traviata in the theater, they are embarrassed by the scene in which Alfred says goodbye to Violetta, who is dying of consumption. Elena leaves a feeling of happiness. The next day Insarov gets worse. He has a fever again and is in a state of oblivion. Elena, exhausted, falls asleep.

Further, Turgenev describes her dream (“On the Eve”). Reading a summary, of course, is not as interesting as the original work. We hope that after reading the plot of the novel you will have a desire to get to know it better.

Elena's dream and Dmitry's death

She dreams of a boat, first on the Tsaritsyn pond, and then in the restless sea. Suddenly a snowstorm begins, and now the girl is no longer in a boat, but in a cart. Next to her is Katya. Suddenly the cart rushes into the snowy abyss, and its companion laughs and calls Elena from the abyss. Raising her head, Elena sees Insarov, who says that he is dying.

The further fate of Elena

The summary of “On the Eve” is already approaching the end. Turgenev I.S. further tells us about the fate of the main character after the death of her husband. 3 weeks after his death a letter arrives from Venice. Elena tells her parents that she is going to Bulgaria. She writes that from now on there is no other homeland for her. The further fate of Elena remains reliably unclear. There were rumors that someone had seen her in Herzegovina. Elena allegedly was a sister of mercy under the Bulgarian army, she always wore black clothes. Then the trace of this girl is lost.

This concludes the summary of "The Eve". Turgenev took as the basis for this work a plot from a story by his friend. You will learn more about this by getting acquainted with the history of the creation of “On the Eve”.

History of creation

Vasily Katareev, an acquaintance of Turgenev and his neighbor on the estate, went to Crimea in 1854. He had a presentiment of his death, so he gave Ivan Sergeevich a story he had written. The work was called "Moscow Family". The story presented the story of Vasily Katareev's unhappy love. While studying at Moscow University, Katareev fell in love with a girl. She left him and went with a young Bulgarian to his homeland. Soon this Bulgarian died, but the girl never returned to Katareev.

The author of the work suggested that Ivan Sergeevich edit it. After 5 years, Turgenev began writing his novel "On the Eve". Katareev's story served as the basis for this work. By that time Vasily had already died. Turgenev completed “On the Eve” in 1859.

Brief Analysis

After creating the images of Lavretsky and Rudin, Ivan Sergeevich wondered where the “new people” would come from, from what layers would they appear? He wanted to portray an active, energetic hero who is ready for a stubborn struggle. These were the kind of people the stormy 1860s required. They were supposed to replace the likes of Rudin, who could not move from words to deeds. And Turgenev created a new hero, whom you have already met by reading the summary of the novel. Of course, this is Insarov. This hero is an “iron man” who has determination, perseverance, willpower, and self-control. All this characterizes him as a practical figure, in contrast to contemplative natures like the sculptor Shubin and the philosopher Bersenev.

Elena Stakhova finds it difficult to make a choice. She can marry Alexei Bersenev, Pavel Shubin, Yegor Kurnatovsky or Dmitry Insarov. The chapter-by-chapter presentation of the work “On the Eve” (Turgenev) allowed you to get acquainted with each of them. Elena personifies young Russia “on the eve” of change. Ivan Sergeevich thus solves the important question of who the country needs most now. People of art or scientists, statesmen or naturalists who devoted their lives to serving a patriotic goal? With her choice, Elena answers a question that was very important for Russia in the 1860s. You know who she chose if you read the summary of the novel.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev wrote one of his most famous novels in 1859. Over a short period of several years, he wrote a whole series of brilliant novels, which became Turgenev’s reaction to the era of reforms in Russia: “Rudin” (1856), “The Noble Nest” (1859), “On the Eve” (1860), “Fathers and Sons” "(1862).

With his creative eye, Turgenev had already noticed the birth of a new Russian woman - and, as an expression of the new era, he made her the center of his next social novel, “On the Eve.”

Already in its title there was something symbolic. All Russian life was then on the eve of radical social and state changes, on the eve of a break with old forms and traditions.

The heroine of the novel, Elena, is the poetic personification of a new era of reform, an indefinite desire for good and new, something new and beautiful. Elena is not fully aware of her aspirations, but instinctively her soul is yearning somewhere: “she is waiting” for the artist Shubin, who is in love with her, into whose mouth the author put most of his own comments on the events of the novel.

As a young girl, she expected, of course, first of all love. But the choice she made between three young men in love with her clearly reflected the psychology of the new Russian woman, and symbolically, the new trend of Russian society.

Like Lisa Kalitina, Elena is naturally generous and kind, and since childhood she has been drawn to unhappy people. But her love is not only compassionate: it requires an active struggle against evil. That is why her imagination is so amazed by the meeting with the Bulgarian Insarov, who is preparing an uprising against the Turks.

Even if he is in many respects worse than the talented naughty Shubin, and Elena’s other admirer - the learned and noble-minded Bersenev, the future successor of Granovsky, even if he, according to Shubin’s definition, is “dry land”, even if he has “no talents, no poetry.”

But poor Shubin was mistaken when he consoled himself with the thought “that these qualities, thank God, are not liked by women. There is no charm, no charm.” All this would have been true for the old woman: the new Russian woman - and in her person the new Russian life - sought first moral charm and the practical implementation of ideals.

“Liberate your homeland. These words are so great that it’s scary to even utter them,” Elena exclaims in her diary, recalling what Insarov said - and her choice is made. She despises decency, refuses a secure position and goes with Insarov to fight and perhaps to death.

When Insarov dies prematurely of consumption, Elena decides to “remain faithful to his memory” by remaining faithful to “his life’s work.” She doesn't want to return to her homeland. “Return to Russia,” she writes to her parents, “why? What to do in Russia? The action takes place in the dark period of reaction at the end of the pre-reform era - and, really, what could a person with such an impulse towards the real implementation of social ideals do then in Russia?

Finally, Shubin now understands Elena’s desire to reconcile word and deed and sadly reflects on the reasons for Elena’s departure from Insarov. He blames this on people's lack of a strong, definite will. “We don’t have anyone yet, there are no people, no matter where you look. Everything is either small fry, rodents, hamlets, Samoyeds, or darkness and underground wilderness, or pushers, pourers from empty to empty, and drum sticks! No, if there were traveling people between us, this girl, this sensitive soul would not have left us, she would not have slipped away like a fish into water! »

But it’s not for nothing that the novel is called “On the Eve.” When Shubin ends his elegy with the exclamation: “When will our time come? When will people be born here?” His interlocutor gives him hope for a better future, and Shubin, a true echo of the author’s thoughts, believes him. “Give it time,” answered Uvar Ivanovich, “they will.” - Will there be? Priming! Black earth power Did you say they will? Look, I will write down your word." - Only two years separate “On the Eve” from Turgenev’s subsequent and most famous social novel, “Fathers and Sons”; but enormous changes took place in this short period of time in social trends.

Turgenev worked on his work for a year and a half, most of which he spent in Spassky-Litovino, among the original nature. The reaction to his novel was very mixed. Tolstoy criticized him for “sentimentality.” In general, after the release of the novel, Turgenev broke up with Sovremennik and with Nekrasov, who even openly ridiculed his novel and the concept that is set out in it.