Aglaya. Ivan Bunin "Aglaya St. Seraphim of Sarov"

In the world, in that forest village where Aglaya was born and grew up, her name was Anna.

She lost her mother and father early. Once smallpox came to the village in winter, and many dead people were taken to the churchyard in the village behind Svyato-Ozero. There were two coffins at once in the Skuratovs’ hut. The girl did not experience either fear or pity, she only forever remembered that unlike anything else, for the living, alien and heavy spirit that emanated from them, and that winter freshness, the cold of the Lenten thaw that was released into the hut by the men who carried the coffins to the firewood under the windows.

In that forest side, the villages are rare and small, their rough log yards stand in disarray: like loamy hillocks, they are allowed closer to rivers and lakes. The people there are not too poor and take care of their wealth, their old way of life, even though they have been going around forever to earn money, leaving the women to plow the native land, where it is free from forests, to mow the grass in the forest, and in winter to rattle the weaving mill. Anna’s heart lay in that way of life as a child: both the black hut and the flaming torch in the light were dear to her.

Katerina, her sister, had been married for a long time. She ruled the house, first together with her husband, who was taken into the yard, and then, when he began to leave almost all year round, alone. Under her supervision, the girl grew evenly and quickly, never got sick, never complained about anything, she just thought about everything. If Katerina called out to her and asked what was wrong with her, she responded simply, saying that her neck was creaking and that she was listening to it. "Here! “- she said, turning her head, her little white face, “do you hear?” - “What are you thinking about?” - "So. I don't know". As a child, she did not hang out with her peers, and had never been anywhere - only once she and her sister went to that old village behind Svyato-Ozero, where in the churchyard, under the pine trees, pine crosses stick out and there is a log church covered with blackened wooden scales. For the first time, they dressed her up in bast shoes and a sundress made of motley, and bought her a necklace and a yellow scarf.

Katerina grieved and cried for her husband; She also cried about her childlessness. And after crying tears, she vowed not to know her husband. When her husband came, she greeted him joyfully, talked well with him about household chores, carefully looked through his shirts, mended what was needed, fussed around the stove and was pleased when he liked what he did; but they slept separately, like strangers. And when he left, she again became boring and quiet. She left home more and more often, stayed in a nearby women’s monastery, and visited Elder Rodion, who was hiding behind that monastery in a forest hut. She persistently learned to read, brought from the monastery holy books and read them aloud, in an unusual voice, with her eyes downcast, holding the book in both hands. And the girl stood nearby, listening, looking around the hut, which was always tidy. Reveling in the sound of her voice, Katerina read about the saints, about the martyrs, who despised our dark, earthly things for the sake of the heavenly, who wanted to crucify their flesh with passions and lusts. Anna listened to the reading, like a song in a foreign language, with attention. But when Katerina closed the book, she never asked to read more: it was always incomprehensible.

By the age of thirteen she had become extremely thin, tall and strong. She was gentle, white, blue-eyed, and loved simple, rough work. When summer came and Katerina’s husband came, when the whole village went to mow, Anna and her family would go and work like an adult. Yes, summer work in that direction is scarce. And again the sisters were left alone, again returning to their smooth life, and again, having tidied up with the cattle, with the stove, Anna sat at her sewing, at the camp, and Katerina read - about the seas, about the deserts, about the city of Rome, about Byzantium, about miracles and the exploits of the early Christians. In the black forest hut then the words enchanting the ear sounded: “In the country of Cappadocia, during the reign of the pious Byzantine emperor Leo the Great... During the days of the patriarchate of St. Joachim of Alexandria, in Ethiopia, far from us...” And so Anna learned about the virgins and young men torn to pieces by wild animals in lists, about the heavenly beauty of Varvara, beheaded by her fierce parent, about the relics kept by the angels on Mount Sinai, about the warrior Eustathius, addressed to the true God by the call of the Crucified One himself, the sun shining among the antlers of a deer, by him, Eustathius, persecuted by the wild game, about the labors Savva the Sanctified, who lived in the Valley of Fire, and about many, many, who spent their bitter days and nights by desert streams, in crypts and mountain cenovia... In her adolescence, she saw herself in a dream in a long linen shirt and an iron crown on her head. And Katerina told her: “This is for your death, sister, for your early death.”

And in her fifteenth year she became just like a girl, and the people marveled at her comeliness: the golden-white color of her elongated face slightly played with a subtle blush; Her eyebrows were thick, light brown, her eyes were blue; light, well-behaved - perhaps a little too tall, thin and long-armed - she quietly and well raised her long eyelashes. The winter that year was especially harsh. The forests and lakes were covered with snow, the ice-holes were thickly encased in ice, burned by the frosty wind and played in the morning dawns with two mirrored suns in rainbow rings. Before Christmas time, Katerina ate prison and oatmeal, while Anna ate only bread. "Another prophetic dream I want to post it to myself,” she told her sister. And under New Year she dreamed again: she saw an early frosty morning, the blinding icy sun had just rolled out from behind the snow, the sharp wind was taking her breath away; and in the wind, in the sun, by white field, she was flying on skis, chasing some wondrous ermine, but suddenly she fell into an abyss somewhere - and she became blind, suffocated in a cloud of snow dust that rose from under her skis when she fell... Nothing could be understood in this dream, but Anna for the entire New Year's day I never looked into my sister's eyes; The priests drove around the village and came to the Skuratovs - she hid behind a curtain under the sheets. That winter, not yet firmly established in her thoughts, she was often bored, and Katerina told her: “I’ve been calling for Father Rodion for a long time, he would take everything off you!”

That winter she read to her about Alexei the man of God and about John Kushchnik, who died in poverty at the gates of their noble parents, she read about Simeon the Stylite, who rotted alive while standing in a stone pillar. Anna asked her: “Why isn’t Father Rodion standing?” - And she answered her that the exploits of holy people are different, that our passion-bearers, mostly in the Kiev caves, and then in the dense forests, were saved or reached the kingdom of heaven in the form of naked, obscene fools. That winter, Anna also learned about the Russian saints - about her spiritual ancestors: about Matthew the Seeful, who was gifted to see only one thing dark and low in the world, to penetrate into the innermost filth of people's hearts, to see the faces of underground devils and hear their wicked advice, about Mark The grave digger, who devoted himself to burying the dead and, in constant closeness to Death, gained such power over it that it trembled his voice, about Isaac the Recluse, who dressed his body in a raw goat skin, forever attached to it, and indulged in mad dances with demons at night carrying him into jumping and wobbling under their loud cries, pipes, tambourines and harps... “From him, Isaac, the holy fools came,” Katerina told her, “and how many of them there were later, it is impossible to count! Father Rodion said this: there weren’t any of them in any country, only the Lord visited us with them because of our great sins and because of His great mercy.” And she added that she heard in the monastery - a sad story about how Russia left Kiev into the forests and impenetrable swamps, into its bast towns, under the cruel power of the Moscow princes, how it suffered from unrest, civil strife, from the ferocious Tatar hordes and from other punishments of the Lord - from pestilence and famine, from conflagrations and heavenly signs. There was then, she said, so many things God's people , Christ for the sake of those who suffered and acted like fools, that in the churches one could not hear divine singing from their squeaks and cries. And a considerable number of them, she said, were counted among the heavenly ranks: there is Simon, from the Volga forests, who wandered and hid from the human eye through wild tracts in one tattered shirt, after which, living in the city, he was beaten every day by citizens for his lewdness and died from wounds caused by beatings; there is Procopius, who suffered incessant torment in the city of Vyatka, in the night he ran up the bell towers and rang the bells often and with alarm, as if during a fiery ignition; there is Procopius, who was born in the Zyryan region, among savages-hunters, who walked all his life with three pokers in his hands and adored empty places, the sad forest banks above the Sukhona, where, sitting on a pebble, he prayed with tears for those floating along it; there is Jacob the Blessed, who sailed in a grave oak log along the Meta River to the dark inhabitants of that poor area; there is John the Hairy, from near Rostov the Great, whose hair was so wild that everyone who saw him was thrown into fear; there is John of Vologda, called the Big Cap, small in stature, with a wrinkled face, all hung with crosses, who until his death did not take off his cap, like cast iron; there is Vasily the Nagohodets, who instead of clothes, both in the winter cold and in the summer heat, wore only iron chains and a handkerchief in his hand... “Now, sister,” said Katerina, “they all stand before the Lord, rejoice in the host of his saints, and their incorruptible relics rest in cypress and silver reliquaries, in magnificent cathedrals, next to kings and saints!” - “Why didn’t Father Rodion act like a fool?” – Anna asked again. And Katerina replied that he followed in the footsteps of those who imitated not Isaac, but Sergius of Radonezh, in the footsteps of the founders of forest monasteries. Father Rodion, she said, first escaped in one ancient and glorious desert, founded on the very places where, among a dense forest, in the hollow of a three-century-old oak tree, the great saint once lived; there he bore strict obedience and took tonsure, was rewarded for his repentant tears and callousness towards the flesh with the sight of the Queen of Heaven herself, endured a vow of seven-year seclusion and seven-year silence, but he was not satisfied with this either, left the monastery and came - many, many years ago , - into our forests, he put on bast bast shoes, a white robe made of sackcloth, a black stole with an eight-pointed cross on it, with an image of the skull and bones of Adam, he eats only water and uncooked honey, he blocked the window of his hut with an icon, he sleeps in a coffin, under an unquenchable lamp , and in the midnight hours it is constantly besieged by howling beasts, crowds of furious dead and devils...

At the age of fifteen, at the very time when a girl should become a bride, Anna left the world.

Spring came early and hot that year. The berries had ripened in abundance in the forests, the grass was waist-deep, and from the beginning of Petrovka they had already gone to mow them. Anna worked eagerly, tanned in the sun, among the herbs and flowers; a darker blush glowed on her face, the scarf pulled down over her forehead hid the warm gaze of her eyes. But then one day, while mowing, a large shiny snake with an emerald head wrapped itself around her bare foot. Grabbing the snake with her long and narrow hand, tearing off its icy and slippery tourniquet, Anna threw it far away and did not even raise her face, but was deeply frightened, turning whiter than a sheet. And Katerina told her; “This is your third instruction, sister; Fear the Tempter Serpent, a dangerous time is coming to you!” And whether it was from fear or from these words, only for a week after that the mortal color did not leave Anna’s face. And on Peter’s Day, she unexpectedly asked to go to the monastery for the all-night vigil - and she went and spent the night there, and the next morning she was honored to stand in the crowd of people at the threshold of the hermit. And he showed her great mercy: from the whole crowd he looked at her and beckoned her to him. And she left him, bowing her head low, covering half her face with a scarf, moving it to the fire of her hot cheeks and in the confusion of feelings, not seeing the earth beneath her: he called her a chosen vessel, a sacrifice to the Lord, lit two wax candles and took one for himself , gave her another and stood for a long time, praying in front of the image, and then ordered her to venerate that image - and blessed her to be in obedience in a short time at the monastery. “My happiness, an unwise sacrifice! - he told her. - Be not an earthly bride, but a heavenly one! I know, I know, my sister prepared you. I, a sinner, strive for this too.”

In the monastery, in monasticism, detached from the world and from her will for the sake of her spiritual successor, Anna, who was named Aglaya upon tonsure, stayed for thirty-three months. At the end of the thirty-third, she died.

How she lived there, how she escaped, no one knows in full due to the lapse of time. But still something remains in the people's memory. Once upon a time, pilgrim women were walking from different and distant lands to the forest region where Anna was born. They met at the river through which they had to cross, a familiar wanderer to holy places, looking nondescript, disheveled, even, to put it simply, strange, his eyes were blindfolded under the old master’s bowler hat. They began to ask him about the routes, about the roads to the monastery, about Rodion himself and about Anna. In response, he first talked to them about himself: I, sisters, and I myself don’t know God knows what, but I can partly talk with you, because I am returning precisely from those areas; he said to you, it’s probably scary with me - and I’m not surprised at this, many people are not with me: whether on foot or on horseback, he meets, he sees a wanderer walking through the forest, hobbling along alone with a white scarf over his eyes and even singing psalms - understandably, it takes me by surprise; because of my sins, my eyes are too greedy and quick, my vision is so rare and piercing that even at night I see like a cat, even though I am generally not reasonably sighted, due to the fact that I am not walking with people, but on the sidelines; well, so I decided to shorten my physical vision a little... Then he began to tell how much, according to his calculations, the praying mantises still had left to go, what areas they should go to, where to have overnight stays and rests, and what kind of monastery there is.

“First,” he said, “the village on Holy Lake will come, then the very village where Anna was born, and there you will see another lake, a monastery lake, although small, but decent, and we will have to sail across this lake in a boat.” And once you land, the monastery itself is just a stone’s throw away. It’s clear, and on the other side of the forest there is no end, and through the forest they look, as usual, at the monastery walls, church domes, cells, hospices...

Then he talked for a long time about the life of Rodion, about Anna’s childhood and adolescence, and in the end he spoke about her stay in the monastery:

- Her stay was, oh, short! - he said. - It’s a pity, you say, for such beauty and youth? We, the stupid ones, understandably feel sorry for it. Yes, it’s clear that Father Rodion knew well what he was doing. After all, he was like this with everyone - affectionate, meek, joyful, and persistent to the point of mercilessness, especially with Aglaya. There I was, butterflies, at her resting place... A long grave, beautiful, all overgrown with grass, green... And I won’t hide, I won’t hide: it was there, on the grave, that I decided to blindfold myself, it was Aglain’s example that gave me the idea: after all, she must you know, during her entire stay in the monastery she did not raise her eyes for a single hour - as soon as she lifted the veil over them, she remained there, and she was so stingy in her speech, so evasive that even Father Rodion himself marveled at her. But, I suppose, it was not easy for her to achieve such a feat - to part with the earth, with the human face forever! And she carried out the most difficult work in the monastery, and stood idle at night in prayer. But, they say, her father Rodion loved her! He distinguished her from everyone, allowed her into his hut every day, had long conversations with her about the future glory of the monastery, even revealed to her his visions - of course, with a strict commandment of silence. Well, she burned out like a candle in the shortest possible time... Are you sighing and feeling sorry again? I agree: it’s sad! But I will tell you much more: for her great humility, for not looking at the earthly world, for silence and backbreaking labor, he did something unheard of: at the end of the third year of her exploit, he abducted her, and then, through prayer and holy meditation, called her to him in one terrible hour - and ordered to accept his death. Yes, he said to her directly: “My happiness, your time has come! Remain in my memory as beautiful as you stand before me at this hour: go to the Lord!” So what do you think? A day later she died. It lay down, burst into flames, and ended. He, however, consoled her - he told her before his death that, since she was unable to hide only a few of his secret conversations in the first days of obedience, only her lips would rot. He donated silver for her funeral, copper for distribution at her burial, a beating of candles for the magpie for her, a yellow ruble candle for her coffin, and the coffin itself - round, oak, hollowed out. And with his blessing, they laid her, thin and extremely long, in that coffin with her hair down, in two shirts-shrouds, in a white cassock, girded with a black edge, and on top of it - in a black mantle with white crosses; They put a green velvet cap embroidered with gold on his head, a kamilavochka on the cap, then they tied him with a blue shawl with tassels, and put leather rosaries in his hands... They put it away, in a word, so good! And yet, butterflies, there is a tricky, maddening rumor that she didn’t want to die, oh, how she didn’t want to die! Departing in such youth and in such beauty, they say she said goodbye to everyone in tears, saying loudly to everyone: “Forgive me!” Finally, she closed her eyes and said separately: “And you, Mother Earth, have sinned with soul and body - will you forgive me?” And those words are terrible: bowing their foreheads to the ground, they were read in a prayer of repentance according to ancient Rus' for vespers on Trinity Sunday, on the pagan mermaid day.

LITERARY INSTITUTE named after. A.M. GORKY

A.V.Kovalevich.

Coursework on theoretical stylistics.

Scientific adviser -

Papyan Yu.M.

Moscow

2010

1. Stylistic analysis of I. Bunin’s story “Aglaya”.

I. Bunin’s story “Aglaya,” written by him in 1916, was, according to numerous testimonies of contemporaries, especially loved by the writer himself.

The story begins almost hagiographically: “In the world, in that forest village where Aglaya was born and grew up, her name was Anna.” and tells the story of a village girl who grew up in a remote forest region and was raised by her older sister.

The first half of the story gives a description of life and appearance main character, Aglaia-Anna. As a result of the analysis of these descriptions, the difference immediately becomes visible: the description of the life where the sisters lived is rather meager, although quite sufficient for perception; the description of Anna’s appearance is given in great detail, but at first glance it is contradictory and a little strange:

“By the age of thirteen, she had become extremely thin, tall and strong. She was gentle, white, blue-eyed, and she loved simple, rough work... And in her fifteenth year she became just like a girl, and the people marveled at her prettiness: the golden-white color of her long face slightly played with a deep blush; Her eyebrows were thick, light brown, her eyes were blue; light, well-behaved, - perhaps a little too tall, thin and long-armed - she quietly and well raised her long eyelashes.”

In Anna’s appearance, Bunin places special emphasis on her “longevity”, in everything – height, arms, eyelashes. It is interesting that in another story by I. Bunin “ Easy breath“, written, like “Aglaya,” in 1916, there is a direct explanation for this writer’s attention to the “longevity” of the heroine:

“- I’m in one of my dad’s books, - he has a lot of old ones, funny books, - I read what kind of beauty a woman should have... a gentle playful blush, a thin figure, longer than an ordinary arm, - you know, longer than usual!..”

Anna “was subtle,” but strong, “she was gentle,” but “she loved rough work,” and against the background of these oppositions, the phrase “unless” used by I. Bunin no longer seems accidental, since further in Anna’s behavior the reader constantly sees some , not quite at first glance, understandable, duality, to which Anna’s behavior can be attributed, such as the fact that she “listened to the reading, like a song in a foreign language, with attention. But Katerina closed the book - and she never asked to read more..." ; and when “the priests were driving around the village, they came to the Skuratovs, - she hid behind a curtain under the blankets.” . Anna even asked to come to the monastery “out of the blue.” These contradictions in Anna’s behavior and appearance, emphasized by the writer, most likely characterize her as a girl who lacks internal harmony and balance. Apparently that is why she is so at a young age goes to the monastery.

Books enlighten the soul, elevate and strengthen a person, awaken in him the best aspirations, sharpen his mind and soften his heart.

William Thackeray, English satirist

A book is a huge force.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Soviet revolutionary

Without books, we can now neither live, nor fight, nor suffer, nor rejoice and win, nor confidently move towards that reasonable and beautiful future in which we unshakably believe.

Many thousands of years ago, the book, in the hands of the best representatives of humanity, became one of the main weapons in their struggle for truth and justice, and it was this weapon that gave these people terrible strength.

Nikolai Rubakin, Russian bibliologist, bibliographer.

A book is a working tool. But not only. It introduces people to the lives and struggles of other people, makes it possible to understand their experiences, their thoughts, their aspirations; it makes it possible to compare, understand the environment and transform it.

Stanislav Strumilin, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences

No the best remedy to refresh the mind, like reading the ancient classics; As soon as you take one of them in your hands, even for half an hour, you immediately feel refreshed, lightened and cleansed, lifted and strengthened, as if you had refreshed yourself by bathing in a clean spring.

Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher

Anyone who was not familiar with the creations of the ancients lived without knowing beauty.

Georg Hegel, German philosopher

No failures of history and blind spaces of time are able to destroy human thought, enshrined in hundreds, thousands and millions of manuscripts and books.

Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian Soviet writer

The book is a magician. The book transformed the world. It contains the memory of the human race, it is the mouthpiece of human thought. A world without a book is a world of savages.

Nikolai Morozov, creator of modern scientific chronology

Books are a spiritual testament from one generation to another, advice from a dying old man to a young man beginning to live, an order passed on to a sentry going on vacation to a sentry taking his place.

Empty without books human life. The book is not only our friend, but also our constant, eternal companion.

Demyan Bedny, Russian Soviet writer, poet, publicist

A book is a powerful tool of communication, labor, and struggle. It equips a person with the experience of life and struggle of humanity, expands his horizon, gives him knowledge with the help of which he can force the forces of nature to serve him.

Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, Soviet party, public and cultural figure.

Reading good books is a conversation with the most the best people past times, and, moreover, such a conversation when they tell us only their best thoughts.

Rene Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician, physicist and physiologist

Reading is one of the sources of thinking and mental development.

Vasily Sukhomlinsky, an outstanding Soviet teacher-innovator.

Reading for the mind is the same as physical exercise for body.

Joseph Addison English poet and satirist

Good book- like a conversation with an intelligent person. The reader receives from her knowledge and a generalization of reality, the ability to understand life.

Alexei Tolstoy, Russian Soviet writer and public figure

Do not forget that the most colossal weapon of multifaceted education is reading.

Alexander Herzen, Russian publicist, writer, philosopher

Without reading there is no real education, there is no and there can be no taste, no words, no multifaceted breadth of understanding; Goethe and Shakespeare are equal to a whole university. By reading a person survives centuries.

Alexander Herzen, Russian publicist, writer, philosopher

Here you will find audiobooks by Russian, Soviet, Russian and foreign writers various topics! We have collected for you masterpieces of literature from and. Also on the site are audiobooks with poems and poets; lovers of detective stories, action films, and audiobooks will find interesting audiobooks. We can offer women, and for women, we will periodically offer fairy tales and audiobooks from school curriculum. Children will also be interested in audiobooks about. We also have something to offer to fans: audiobooks from the “Stalker” series, “Metro 2033”..., and much more from . Who wants to tickle their nerves: go to the section

The need to love, the ability to love, is a spiritual quality, taking into account the above images, without which Bunin himself seems to be unable to imagine a Russian peasant woman. However, what happens to her if she is deprived not of these priceless qualities, but, simply put, does not find exactly the person on whom she could pour out her love, sacrifice everything she has for her...
Was it these questions that Bunin pondered painfully when creating his own story, not quite ordinary in theme, “Aglaya”. The girl after whom the story is named, for all her closeness social status, and natural features, to Natalya and Anisya, unlike them, is unusual in the richness of her inner world.
As Maxim Gorky confessed to Bunin: “Aglaya’s Theme” is alien to me, but you wrote this thing exactly old master icon - amazingly clearly!
(Gorky readings. 1958-1959. - M., - 1961 - p. 88.).
Of course, in the very appearance of Aglaya there is something iconic, blissful, holy, i.e. alien to the proletarian writer. Although, this did not prevent him from asserting that Bunin was for him the foremost master in Russian literature. Gorky, naturally, is unacceptable to the “spiritual essence” of Aglaya, the predominance of this essence over the other qualities of her personality...
The human essence of this girl, the entire uniqueness of her nature, is distinguished by a complex contradictory combination in her of the most seemingly irreconcilable feelings and experiences.
First of all, these are the conditions external environment- they leave an indelible imprint on the girl’s entire appearance. But it is precisely with them that Aglaya’s spiritual inclinations, those with which she was born, come into conflict. Having grown up in the wilderness, having lost her parents at an early age, she is obviously doomed to a miserable existence - wretched, wild, completely cut off from the outside world. And one must be an extremely limited being, incapable of development, in order to similar conditions, obediently, until the end of days, pull the slave strap, in essence, knowing nothing about real life. And natures like Aglaya, one way or another, manifest a desire to understand the world; in particular, the spiritual world, since her soul does not accept a gray, meaningless existence. The tragic doom of a young girl is that inner world it is closely and strictly delineated by religion. This is where the beginning of the growing feeling of detachment comes from in her... Perhaps this will seem unexpected, however, this detachment of Aglaya, by association, brings to mind the image of the heroine, so far from her “ Clean Monday" Or rather, her apathy. Apathy in everything, both in communication with the man who loves her, and in all kinds of secular metropolitan entertainment. It seems that she is mortally tired from everything and everyone. Only Moscow churches and monasteries revive it. And this spirit of ancient monastic life delights her so much that she treats with obvious disdain not only the aristocratic splendor surrounding her, but even her lover. Something similar happens to Aglaya’s sister, Katerina.
“Reveling in the sounds of her voice,” writes the author, “Katerina read about the saints, about the martyrs, our dark earthly things, who despised for the sake of heavenly things
crucify your flesh with passions and lusts,” True, the heroine of “Pure
Monday,” leaving the world seems somewhat romantic, as a kind of outlet from everything that is boring, but Katerina is already full of fanaticism. As for Aglaya, her thoughts about the saints do not leave her at all, the same apathy. “Anna (Aglaya) listened to the reading, like a song in a foreign language, with attention. But when Katerina closed the book, she never asked to read more: it was always incomprehensible.”
Apparently, she does not consider it necessary to repeat about leaving for a monastery as something inevitable. And, probably, in response to the question: why does she need a monastery, she could not answer anything definite. That’s how it should be, that’s all... “Why is everything being done in the world? - argues the enlightened heroine of the same “Clean Monday”. “Do we understand anything in our actions?” Subconsciously, Aglaya probably had the same answer...
And yet... The author briefly and laconically describes the maturation of her heroine, which seems to take place in two dimensions. On the one hand, she matures in appearance: she turns into a beauty, enjoying the short time of her girlhood in her own way; loving even his rough work. Perhaps, living in a different environment, she would have found her simple happiness. But... next to her sister, she is drawn deeper and deeper into the prayer pool, it enslaves her consciousness. And there is nothing and no one around that one could even pay attention to. There is only Katerina nearby with her gloomy books and endless reading; with the interpretation of Aglaya's dreams foreshadowing her early death...
Without going into psychological details, Bunin, by describing the atmosphere itself and developing the plot, leads his heroine to a logical conclusion: Anna takes monastic vows and becomes the nun Aglaya.
At the same time, the question inevitably arises: did she find in monasticism the main thing that she was unconsciously looking for in this life. After all, the same Turgenev’s Liza Kalitina, having experienced “sinful” love for married man, goes to the monastery with a clearly expressed desire: to pray! To atone for your sins and those of your neighbors. Moreover, without her loved one, the world feels empty and lonely to her.
But with Aglaya, not everything is so clear: her early, sudden
death does not at all fit with long-suffering and prayerful feats. After all, Aglaya dies, being young and beautiful... The girl, almost a child, becomes a nun, and soon dies... Apparently, it is not her destiny to find her place in this world. But whether the bored secular beauty from “Clean Monday” found herself in monasticism remains a mystery... “... it is useless to prolong and increase our torment...” she writes, saying goodbye forever to her friend. And besides the mysterious and incomprehensible doom in these words, it is difficult to understand anything, except that the life she renounces is painful for her...
The dark negative principle that reigns in the life of the Russian village and in the characters of its inhabitants did not escape Bunin’s writer’s gaze. Shining through this beginning in his work, Ivan Alekseevich finds himself under the fierce fire of liberal criticism, and, in the end, receives the label of a bourgeois writer. Could he, a first-class expert on the Russian village, fail to reflect in his work those completely different female “individuals” that grew out of the thick of the people, and embodied by him in typical, sometimes simply sinister, images. Suffice it to remember Young, from the dark soul by which
all those spiritual qualities, which distinguishes Natalya, Anisya, Katerina, and finally Aglaya.
And how many of them there are - alien to selfless love and humility! Generously endowed with cunning, resourcefulness, and bestial instinct
self-preservation!.. It has already been said above that the poor peasant woman, Anisya from the story “The Cheerful Yard,” despite everything, managed to preserve love and compassion in her soul. Does Nastasya Semyonovna know anything about love and compassion from the story - “ A good life"? After all, she so skillfully and diligently avoids all kinds of trials and disasters; she was so sophisticated in her desire to rid herself of everything that inevitably befalls a simple peasant woman - poverty, exhaustingly hard work, drunkenness and beatings from her husband. Thanks to his nature; Thanks to pre-planned goals, she came to a good life. True, good, only in her understanding, that is, financially secure, without exhausting worries; when life is content mainly with the stomach and body. What about the soul? Somehow she is alive, not loving anyone, not grieving about anything. After all, even the fate of her only son, who disappeared somewhere unknown, is absolutely indifferent to her!
Indeed, how calm, how good, and... terrible in its selfish senselessness, is the life of this very Nastasya Semyonovna! And her soul is truly dark, black!
Feature women from the people cannot be disputed in any way. And, reflecting this feature in his work, Bunin revealed his unique knowledge the darkest depths peasant life and peasant characters. The very elements of this life, not only its good and evil, but sometimes even wild principles; managed to reflect precisely the extremes that reign among the common people. These extremes are also reflected in female images.
Here, for example, is Alyonka from the story “Mitya’s Love.” Let us remember how dreamy Mitya, who has not yet crossed the line to the ordinary - rude male sensuality, to the “everyday” relationship with a woman; how the cold cynicism of an outwardly clean, prudent peasant girl, somewhat reminiscent of the lover who abandoned him, stuns and devastates him. It’s stunning how openly she seeks benefits from her hasty love and business affair with a young master... And, as they say, no lyrics for you...
Alyonka is another, incomprehensibly stunning type of rationally-down-to-earth and soulless peasantry.
But Lyubka’s appearance in the story “Ignat” is even uglier. Corrupted by the young owners of the estate, she seemingly completely turns into a stupid, dehumanized creature. After all, she even derives pleasure from her shameful craft, not to mention self-interest. And yet, a dull, unconscious protest,
in the form of a dark, animal instinct, pushes her to commit a terrible crime - murder. At the same time, it seems that what provoked Lyubka was precisely the debauchery of the merchant - her victims, his vile lust, the money offered to her... Everything that led her to such an existence caused a wild outbreak of bitterness in her. Although, this is rather an extreme degree of instinctive licentiousness rather than a conscious act...
Bunin clearly shows that the consciousness of many of his “village” characters is in captivity of wild primitive instincts, a psychological element uncontrolled by the intellect. At the same time, it seems somewhat strange that, being a believer, Ivan Alekseevich, with rare exceptions, says nothing about the faith of his characters. As if they were talking about God
and never heard of it. And only the above-mentioned “spontaneity” characterizes these images.
This is the unfortunate Parashka in the story “On the Road,” somewhat reminiscent of Lyubka. Belated insight blinds and embitters her. True, here, the origins of cruelty are more likely genetic than social. After all, Parashka, of course, inherited the character of her father, whom she loves so much, and is so similar to him...
The blind element, dark anger or revenge, is terrible when a woman becomes its victim. The short story “Oaks,” from the “Dark Alleys” series, will shock you with the bestial cruelty of its hero, a dark peasant... The beautiful Anfisa, under pain of death, gives free rein to her incinerating feeling of love for the young master. And her old and unloved husband Laurus, convinced of his suspicions, kills his wife with a terrible, painful death - who did not even have time to cheat on him.
...Sensing the unexpected return of her husband home, Anfisa, as the author writes: “all sensitively and wildly straightens up, jumps up, looking at me with the eyes of Pythia.”
Pythia... in Greek mythology, this is a priestess-soothsayer in the temple of Apollo... Looking through the eyes of Pythia, Anfisa embodies both the premonition of her death and the horror of her...
As you can see, it is precisely such images from the people, personifying cynicism, ignorance, cruelty, that more and more firmly secure Bunin’s characterization as a bourgeois writer who denigrates the ordinary Russian people.
Meanwhile, in all his works, Ivan Alekseevich Bunin sought to develop the best traditions Russian realistic fiction 19th century. And the emergence of other trends, different stripes of decadents, leading to the inevitable decline of contemporary literature, caused him furious, indignant rejection.
This is how Bunin characterized this the latest literature in his speech at the anniversary of the newspaper “Russian Vedomosti”, October 6, 1913: “The precious features of Russian literature have disappeared: depth, seriousness, nobility, directness - vulgarity, far-fetchedness, slyness, boasting, folly, bad taste, pompous and invariably false. The Russian language has been spoiled (in the close collaboration of the writer and the newspaper), the sense of rhythm and organic features of Russian prose speech has been lost, the verse has been vulgarized or brought to the most vulgar lightness - called “virtuosity”, everything down to the sun itself has been vulgarized...

In Bunin’s diary we read: “At two o’clock Kolya and I went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. We were at the Trinity Cathedral at the All-Night Vigil...” Bunin's hopes for peace of mind were not justified. “I keep remembering the monasteries - a complex and unpleasant, painful feeling,” he wrote with disappointment in his diary on January 7. On the same day, Bunin created two poems “Ring” and “Word”. This means that this pilgrimage was not in vain for him.
“In the first (comp. poem), the “complex”, in other words, the contradictory, dual impression of the churches was reinterpreted into a contrasting comparison of a precious ring,..., and a vulgar market crowd,..., - the eternal tragic incompatibility " divine gift"with a despicable way of life. And the famous Bunin “Word”!... Bunin had to go around “in the days of anger and suffering” the shrines especially revered by the people in order to finally be convinced that “everything is perishable on earth and the remains are silent”, that “from ancient darkness, ..., only the Letters sound.” (Palagin Yu.N.-comp.).
The story “Aglaya” was also written under the impression of visiting holy places. Started back in 1914, it was completed two years later. The story arose from observations of past years and, probably, not without the influence of the days spent by the writer in the Lavra and the Chernigov monastery. Bunin showed how the once immaculate, holy service of Christian covenants had degenerated into outright hypocrisy. “Only the image of St. Sergius of Radonezh remained crystal clear in Bunin’s memory.” (Palagin Yu.N.-comp.).
The writer visited the Trinity-Sergius Monastery again in April 1919, after the relics of Sergius of Radonezh were opened and put on public display.

Ring

The gloomy rubies bloomed and turned black in it,
Purple bloody inside,
Diamonds flashed with pink fire,
Crushing like icy tears.
My treasured ring played priceless,
But with hidden rays:
So it shines and burns, hidden in the semi-darkness
An ancient image in the royal temple.
And for a long time I looked at this God's gift
With sadness, vague and anxious,
And he lowered his eyes while crossing the market,
In a crowd noisy and insignificant.

7.I.15
Moscow

Word

The tombs, mummies and bones are silent, -
Only the word is given life:
From ancient darkness, on the world graveyard,

Only the Letters sound.
And we have no other property!
Know how to take care
At least to the best of my ability, in days of anger and suffering,
Our immortal gift is speech.

7.I.15
Moscow

1. Bunin, I.A. Aglaya [story] / I.A. Bunin // Collection. cit.: in 6 volumes / editorial board: Yu. Bondarev, O. Mikhailov, V. Rynkevich; prepared text, article-after. and comment. A.A. Sahakyants. – M.: Khudozh.lit., 1988. – T. 4. - P. 99-106.
The story is one of the author's favorites. In this work, the writer used a fairy-tale style of narration in the spirit of ancient Russian hagiographic literature.
The heroine of the work is a simple village girl who was raised by her older sister. Aglaya, in the world Anna, was raised on the lives of the holy righteous. It was her from the crowd of pilgrims that Father Rodion “looked and beckoned to him” and said: “My happiness, the sacrifice is not wise! Be not an earthly bride, but a heavenly one!” Detached from the world and from her own will, she unquestioningly obeyed the elder, so much so that, at his command, she died at the appointed time.

2. Bunin, I.A. Diaries. / I. A. Bunin // Collection. cit.: in 6 volumes / editorial board: Yu. Bondarev, O. Mikhailov, V. Rynkevich; prepared text, article-after. and comment. O. Mikhailova. – M.: Khudozh.lit., 1988. – T. 6. - P. 354-355.

3. Bunin, I.A. Ring [poem] / A.I. Bunin // Collection. cit.: in 6 volumes / editorial board: Yu. Bondarev, O. Mikhailov, V. Rynkevich; entry article by A. Tvardovsky; comp.,prep. text and comment. A. Baboreko; article “Bunin's Poetry” by O. Mikhailov. – M.: Khudozh.lit., 1987. – T. 1. - P. 287.

4. Bunin, I.A. Word [poem] / A.I.Bunin // Collection. cit.: in 6 volumes / editorial board: Yu. Bondarev, O. Mikhailov, V. Rynkevich; entry article by A. Tvardovsky; comp.,prep. text and comment. A. Baboreko; article “Bunin's Poetry” by O. Mikhailov. – M.: Khudozh.lit., 1987. – T. 1. - P. 287.

5. Baboreko, A. I. A. Bunin: materials for the biography / A. Baboreko. – M.: Khudozh. lit., 1967. – P.203.

6. Baboreko, A. Bunin: Biography / A. Baboreko. – M.: Young Guard, 2004. – P.211: ill. - (Life wonderful people: ZhZL: ser.biogr.: main. in 1890 by F. Pavlenkov and continued. in 1933 by M. Gorky; issue 1106 (906).
The book contains excerpts from Bunin's diary about a trip to the Lavra and the Chernigov monastery.

7. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin // Russian writers in Moscow: collection / comp. L.P. Bykovtseva. – 3rd ed., add. and processed – M.: Moscow. worker, 1987. – P. 696-706.

8. Palagin, Yu.N. In search of support / Yu.N. Palagin // Forward. – 1999. – December 25 (No. 145). – P. 5.

9. Palagin, Yu.N. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin / Yu.N.Palagin // Russian writers and poets of the twentieth century in Sergiev Posad. Part IV: from the book “Russian and foreign writers of the 14th-20th centuries about Sergiev Posad.” – Sergiev Posad: LLC “Everything for You-Moscow Region”, 2009. – P.166-188.

10. Palagin, Yu.N. Last days in Russia / Yu.N.Palagin // Sergievskie Vedomosti. – 2008. – November 7 (No. 44). – P. 15.