The story "The Village" is one of the first major works of I. Bunin in prose. The writer worked on the main work of the "village" cycle for a whole decade, from 1900 to 1910, it became a response to the processes taking place in the Russian village on the eve, during and after the revolutionary upheavals of 1905-1907.

Having set himself the task of depicting the Russian people without idealization, the artist spends a merciless, like a razor, psychological analysis village life. The main material for the analysis was well-known to the writer everyday life, life and psychology of the Russian peasant.

The leitmotif of the work is the theme of "the soul of a Russian person in deep sense". In a deeply psychological story, Bunin does not just paint a picture village life- it reveals the personality of people, their experiences and feelings.

Realistically portraying the horrifying pictures of impoverished village life, the writer wholeheartedly sympathizes with the peasants - the poor, exhausted by hard work, want and humiliation. Bunin sincerely loves his heroes for moral purity and kindness, for spontaneity and childish naivety, for patience in all trials and inexhaustible love of life. Taking pity on the people, the writer reflects that the people themselves are to blame for their troubles. The sensitive eye of the artist notes the confusion in folk life opposite principles: humility with inhuman conditions of existence and dissatisfaction with the ordinary, kindness and patience of some people and self-will and despotism of others. Such confusion ultimately leads to extreme maximalism, dissatisfaction with everyday life, bitterness, inability to conduct a dialogue and crippled destinies of millions of peasants.

The problems of the story unusually wide. Bunin managed to touch almost all areas in the "Village" human life: history and modernity, politics and philosophy, education and religion, morality and psychology, life and economics. The work also raises eternal questions. Kuzma Krasov, reflecting on the centuries-old hopelessness of village life, exclaims: "Who is to blame?" Bunin believes that the people themselves are to blame for their misfortunes, but does not give a clear answer to the question "What to do?", leaving space for reflection.

Place and time of action- the village of Durnovka, whose name indicates the idiocy of village life, in 1904-1907. Durnovka - collective image, embodying the features of the long-suffering Russian village: “... Russia? Yes, it is all a village ... ".

The narrative in the work is conducted on behalf of the author. Plot-plot basis"Villages" is based on the parallel images of Tikhon and Kuzma Krasov. The composition of the story includes three parts: in the first part, Tikhon is in the center of the story, in the second - Kuzma, and the final part sums up the life of the brothers. At the same time, Bunin deliberately blurs the division into parts by the parallel inclusion of other images and situations in order to create a broader, panoramic picture of village life. There is no cross-cutting plot action in The Village: the narrative is built on the alternation of scenes of familiar village life with episodes of clashes between peasants and the village rich and is decorated with numerous landscape and portrait sketches.

The problems of the Russian village are shown on the basis of fate main characters stories by the Krasov brothers. The images of Tikhon and Kuzma are in many ways opposite. A descendant of serfs who managed to become the owner of the Durnovsky estate, Tikhon is sure that the most reliable thing in the world is money. A savvy, hardworking and strong-willed man subordinates his whole life to the pursuit of wealth. People's Poet and truth-seeker Kuzma Krasov reflects on fate great Russia, painfully experiencing the tragedy of his people - the poverty and backwardness of the peasantry. Through the thoughts, disputes, conclusions of the brothers about himself and Russia, the writer reveals dark and bright sides peasant life revealing the full depth of the decomposition of the peasant world.

In the third part of the story, Bunin pays special attention to the depiction of the brothers at the time of their crisis - a ruthless summing up of life. These results of the outgoing life are disappointing: Kuzma is gnawed by hopeless loneliness and longing, Tikhon is dejected by a personal drama (lack of children) and the destruction of the unshakable foundations of village life. The tragedy of the brothers lies in their awareness of the hopelessness of their situation. For all the difference in their life aspirations, the fate of the brothers is similar: despite prosperity and enlightenment, their social position makes them equally unnecessary, superfluous people.
The story "The Village" is Bunin's sincere, clear and truthful assessment of Russia and the time in which he lived.

Russia. Late XIX- beginning of XX century. The Krasov brothers, Tikhon and Kuzma, were born in the small village of Durnovka. In their youth, they were engaged in petty trade together, then they quarreled, and their paths diverged.

Kuzma went to work for hire. Tikhon rented an inn, opened a tavern and a shop, began to buy wheat and rye from the landowners, and acquire land for next to nothing. Having become a fairly wealthy owner, Tikhon even bought a manor estate from an impoverished descendant of the previous owners. But this did not bring him joy: his wife gave birth only to dead girls, and there was no one to leave everything that he had acquired. Tikhon did not find any consolation in the dark, dirty village life, except for the tavern. Began to drink. By the age of fifty, he realized that of the years that had passed, there was nothing to remember, there was not a single one nearby. loved one, and he himself is a stranger to everyone. Then Tikhon decides to make peace with his brother.

Kuzma is a completely different person by nature. Since childhood, he dreamed of studying. A neighbor taught him to read and write, a bazaar "freethinker", an old accordionist, supplied him with books and introduced him to disputes about literature. Kuzma wanted to describe his life in all its poverty and terrible routine. He tried to compose a story, then he began to write poetry and even published a book of simple verses, but he himself understood all the imperfection of his creations. Yes, and this business did not bring income, and a piece of bread was not given for nothing. Many years passed in search of work, often fruitless. Having seen enough of human cruelty and indifference in his wanderings, he began to drink and began to sink lower and lower. In the end, Kuzma decides to either go to a monastery or commit suicide.

Here Tikhon finds him and offers to take over the management of the estate. Having settled in Durnovka, Kuzma becomes more cheerful - at last a quiet place was found for him. At night, he walks with a mallet - guards the estate, during the day he reads newspapers and makes notes in an old office book about what he saw and heard around.

Gradually, his melancholy begins to overcome him: there is no one to talk to. Tikhon rarely appears, talking only about the economy, the meanness and anger of the peasants and the need to sell the estate. The cook, Avdotya, the only living creature in the house, is always silent, and when Kuzma falls seriously ill, she leaves him to himself and, without any sympathy, goes to spend the night in the servants' room.

Now Tikhon, who rarely goes to church, decides to justify himself before God. He asks his brother to take care of this case. Kuzma is against this idea: he feels sorry for the unfortunate Avdotya, in whose suitors Tikhon identified a real “liver cutter”, who beat his own father, had no inclination to the household and was tempted only by the promised dowry. Tikhon stands his ground, Avdotya meekly submits to an unenviable fate, and Kuzma reluctantly yields to his brother.

The wedding is played routinely. The bride weeps bitterly, Kuzma blesses her with tears, the guests drink vodka and sing songs. The indefatigable February blizzard accompanies the wedding train to the dull chime of bells.

"Village"

In the center of the story is the fate of two Krasov brothers: Tikhon and Kuzma. Both of them are descendants of serfs. However, in the new economic conditions, Tikhon, a man with a strong-willed character, quickly went uphill and bought out the very estate, the owner of which once hunted his great-grandfather with greyhounds. Becoming the owner of Durnovka ( speaking name the village reminds of the absurdities and contrasts of Russian life in general), Tikhon Ilyich showed himself to be an imperious master: “He followed every inch of the earth like a hawk.”

Through the description of the life of the Krasov brothers and other heroes of the story, a panoramic picture of the life and customs of the Russian people emerges: poverty, superstition reign all around, there are rumors of upcoming riots. However, Bunin, as you know, was an opponent of social revolutions and tried with all his might to reconcile the interests of the master and the peasant, believing that the life of a prosperous peasant and an impoverished nobleman in Russia is approximately the same.

The disorder of Russian life is clearly emphasized in the story by the interior. In the house of Tikhon Ilyich, a dirty heavy blanket lies in the hallway, and two large sofas are overflowing with live and crushed dried bugs. What can we say about the hut of a poor peasant, which is described by I.A. Bunin on the example of Gray's dwelling, where there is no light, people live in the same room with cattle, and in the middle of the hut a hungry baby is writhing in a cradle from screaming.

Tikhon's brother Kuzma is a less practical man. By conviction, he is an anarchist, writes poetry. Handing over the management of the estate to him, Tikhon thinks: “An unreliable brother, an empty one, it seems, a man, well, as long as he can do it!”

In disputes between Kuzma and Balashkin, I.A. Bunin is trying to embody the controversy about the Russian people.

Kuzma often thinks about why he lives in the world, and bitterly realizes his hopeless loneliness.

A special role in the story is played by the image of Young, who, due to his master's whim, was taken by force by Tikhon Ilyich, then dishonored by the townspeople. This image of a disenfranchised Russian woman, hunted down by poverty, hard physical labor and bondage.

Having raped Young, Tikhon Ilyich shows an imaginary concern for her. Helping her first husband, who brutally beat a woman, get out into the other world, he marries her to Deniska, promising a rich dowry. This wedding, in fact, no one needs. The young woman is calm, economic. She has by nature kind heart. This is evidenced by her attitude towards the old Ivanushka, whom she affectionately, carefully feeds. “She smiled only at him alone,” writes I.A. Bunin. How many unspent tender feelings are hidden in the heart of this woman, who is not spoiled by fate.

Having learned about the upcoming wedding with Deniska, Young first agrees to her in order to somehow arrange her fate. Newlyweds are given gifts, a pig was slaughtered for the wedding. AT last moment Kuzma, who dissuaded Young from this marriage, asks her: “Maybe we should throw this whole story away?” However, she feels that it is embarrassing to refuse, because she has already incurred expenses.

In the wedding scene, this idea looks even more ridiculous desired wedding. Pain and sadness are heard in the words of the author when he writes: “And the hand of the Young, which seemed even more beautiful and dead in the crown, trembled, and the wax of the melting candle dripped onto the frills of her blue dress ...”.

The author's anxiety for the fate of Young in this unequal marriage associated with pain for the fate of Russia. The village of Durnovka in the story symbolizes, in fact, our entire long-suffering country. BUT central characters works - Krasov brothers - two sides Russian life: the desire from the village to the city, and from the city to the village.

The story "Village" (1910)

Bunin worked on the story "The Village" in 1909-1910, and in March - November 1910 the work was published in the magazine " Modern world", causing the most contradictory reviews with its sharpness and passionate polemic. Comprehending the life and being of the Russian village during the revolution of 1905-1907, the writer expressed deep insights about the Russian character, the psychology of the peasantry, the metaphysics of the Russian rebellion, and ultimately - which came true in the historical perspective prophecy about Russia.

The depicted village - Durnovka - appears in the story as symbolic image Russia as a whole: "Yes, it's all a village ...!" In the center of the system of characters, the images of the brothers Tikhon and Kuzma Krasov, which are largely antithetical to each other, are put forward, whose fates, with all individual differences, are fused in the dark depths of the family legend about great-grandfather, grandfather and father: depicted already in the first lines, it shows a terrifying sometimes the irrationality of the Russian character sets the main tone for the further narration. A significant role in the story is also played by secondary, episodic characters, embodying, as, for example, in the cases of Deniska or Sery, the brightest types, as if snatched by the author from the bowels of the county environment.

The artistic character of Tikhon, who, by the will of fate, became the owner of the impoverished "Durnovsky estate", is interesting for an extraordinary combination of a practical business mind and deep intuitions of a psychological and national-historical plan. family drama leads the hero to the tragic self-awareness of a person who has fallen out of the ancestral "chain": "Without children, a person is not a person. So, some kind of seeding ..." (3.14). Such an individual worldview gives rise to a whole complex of complex, "confused" thoughts of the hero about the life of the people. Repeatedly using the form of Tikhon's improperly direct speech, the author, through his sorrowful and piercing gaze, reveals the tragic paradoxes of national reality - as in cases of painful poverty. county town, Shocked by the godless reality of Russian life, Tikhon's soul plunges into the process of painful self-knowledge. Particularly noteworthy is the image of the hero's "stream of consciousness" unfolding on the verge of sleep and reality. Keenly feeling that "reality was disturbing", "that everything is doubtful", he mercilessly fixes the ulcers of national existence: the loss of the spiritual foundations of existence ("we pigs are not in the mood for laziness"), Russia's rejection of European civilization ("and we have all enemies each other"). For Tikhon, the “thoughts about death” that appear in a discrete psychological pattern become a severe test of the entire life lived for strength and meaningfulness.

The picture of national reality on the eve of revolutionary chaos is supplemented by a whole series of mass scenes (either rioting, or "walking" peasants at the tavern), as well as a remarkable gallery of secondary and episodic characters. characteristic feature The compositional organization of the story was the predominance of a static panoramic image of reality over linear plot dynamics. This is associated with significant artistic role flashbacks, inserted episodes and symbolic scenes, sometimes containing a parable potential, as well as detailed landscape descriptions saturated with expressive details.

The artistic functions of landscape descriptions in the "Village" are varied. The main part of the work is dominated by social landscapes, sometimes giving a condensed panorama of the "cave times" of district life. So, through the eyes of Tikhon, with generous detail, a fragment is displayed rural landscape, where the appearance of a peasant completes the general morale of the impoverished peasantry: “A wild-colored church stuck out roughly on a bare pasture. Behind the church, a shallow clay pond under a dung dam glittered in the sun - thick yellow water, in which a herd of cows stood, every minute sent their needs, and lathered a naked man's head..." (3.24). Further, the description of the "cave times" of the village will appear through the prism of Kuzma's gaze, enriched with psychological background: "But the dirt is around knee-deep, a pig lies on the porch ... The old woman-mother-in-law constantly throws her tacks, bowls, rushes at her daughters-in-law ..." (3.80). On the other hand, Bunin's deeply lyrical feeling of district Russia from the unique rhythms of her life breaks through in "convex" detail: "In the cathedral they called for the vigil, and under this measured, thick ringing, county, Saturday, the soul ached unbearably ..." (3.92 ).

As the author and his characters deepen their understanding of not only the social, but also the mystical foundations of frontier Russian reality, the texture of landscape images changes. AT landscape descriptions, given by Kuzma's eyes, the concrete social background more and more clearly develops into an overtime generalization saturated with apocalyptic overtones: "And again the black darkness opened deep, raindrops sparkled, and on the wasteland, in a deathly blue light, the figure of a wet, thin-necked horse was carved" (3 .90); "Durnovka, covered with frozen snows, so far away to the whole world on this sad evening in the middle of the steppe winter, suddenly terrified him ..." (3.115). In the final symbolic landscape that accompanies the description of the absurdistically colored episode of Young's wedding, these apocalyptic notes are intensified and, involuntarily anticipating the figurative plan of Blok's "The Twelve", signify the author's woeful prophecies about Russian history striving towards the disastrous darkness: "The blizzard at dusk was even more terrible. And the horses were driven home especially vigorously, and the vociferous wife of Vanka the Red stood in the front sleigh, danced like a shaman, waved her handkerchief and yelled into the wind, into the violent dark murk, into the snow, flying into her lips and drowning out her wolf voice ... "(3.133) .

Thus, a profoundly tragic canvas of national life unfolded in the "Village" at the time of the "eve" of upheavals. In the author's word, in speeches and internal monologues many characters captured the most complex bends of the Russian soul, which received a capacious psychological and historiosophical understanding in the work. The epic breadth and "objectivity" of the story contain a passionate, painfully poignant author's lyricism.

The Buni peasants appear before us with all their ugliness, opening dark sides peasant world: wild drunkenness, beating of wives and children, torturing animals, murders. Most of the critics did not understand my point of view at all, - Bunin complained - They accused me of being angry with the Russian people, they reproached me for my noble attitude towards the people. And all this is because I look at the situation of the Russian people rather bleakly. But what to do if the modern Russian village does not give rise to optimism, but, on the contrary, plunges into hopeless pessimism ... ”Even the title of the story corresponds to the thoughts expressed by Kuzma Krasov’s mentor, the county eccentric and philosopher Balashkin, that Russia is all the village, and the impoverished village - these are the fates of Russia. In the pictures of village life, the writer tries to reflect the whole of Russian life in general. In them we hear a hidden, muffled stop native land, noble grief, excruciating fear for her. And as Gorky wrote: In addition to its paramount artistic value, Bunin's "Village" was the impetus that forced the broken and shattered Russian society seriously think not about the peasant, not about the people, but over the strict question - to be or not to be Russia? We have not yet thought about Russia - as a whole - this work showed us the need to think about the whole country, to think historically.

The "Village" is oversaturated with the material of the reality of those years, full of stormy hopes and bitter disappointments. Everything is here: the landowner's estate burning in the distance, and the peasant's attempt at arbitrariness in Durnaya itself, which now belongs to Tikhon Krasov, the great-grandson of the serf landowner Durnov, hunted by greyhounds. The peasant Krasov based his well-being not so much on the ruins of the estate ruined by a noblewoman, but on the rural poor. But his well-being does not bring him happiness. His life is spent in anguish of dirty everyday life. Tikhon drinks, but he drinks because everyone around him drinks, he yearns because it is impossible not to yearn in such an existence. He often calls his life hard labor, a noose, a golden cage. And yet, he continues to walk through this life, the years of which flow monotonously, merging into one working day. Krasov, a typical Russian person, is a reflection of his time, with its hectic and revolutionary fever, this crowd, discord and disputes. In "The Village" there are few heroes with names and direct participation in events, much more nameless rural and district people, peasants, buyers in Tikhon Krasov's shop, beggars, wanderers, then merchants. And they all remember something, talk about something, thickening dark colors in the image of rural reality. The thoughts of the author himself about the hopeless life in the village haunt us throughout the story. For example, they are clearly felt in Krasov's dialogue with his brother Kuzma. Tikhon says: “Sit by the village, sip gray cabbage soup, wear thin bast shoes!” “Laptey!” Kuzma replies somewhere. “For the second thousand years, brother, he has been dragging them, damn them three times! And who is to blame? Kuzma himself dreams of studying and writing all his life. He wants to talk about unprecedented poverty and about the terrible everyday life that cripples people. Thinking over his life, he both executes himself and justifies. Its history is the history of all Russian self-taught people. He was born in a country with over a hundred million illiterates. He grew up in Cherno Sloboda, where they still kill to death in fistfights, amidst great savagery and the deepest ignorance. The author, with the help of his hero Kuzma, conveys to us all the "horrors" of village life. But his particular ruthlessness in showing the man is a healthy reaction to idealized lighting. folk theme in the work of other great writers. Bunin said: “I know what kind of men you need. Give you Plateau on Karaev, mystical Scythians, God-bearers! And I don't have any."

Russia. Late XIX - early. 20th century The Krasov brothers, Tikhon and Kuzma, were born in the small village of Durnovka. In their youth, they were engaged in petty trade together, then they quarreled, and their paths diverged. Kuzma went to work for hire. Tikhon rented an inn, opened a tavern and a shop, began buying up grain from the landowners, acquiring land for a pittance, and, becoming a fairly wealthy owner, even bought a manor estate from an impoverished descendant of the previous owners. But all this did not bring him joy: his wife gave birth only to dead girls, and there was no one to leave everything that he had acquired. Tikhon did not find any consolation in the dark, dirty village life, except for the tavern. Began to drink. By the age of fifty, he realized that there was nothing to remember from the past years, that there was not a single close person and he himself was a stranger to everyone. Then Tikhon decided to make peace with his brother.

Kuzma by nature was a completely different person. Since childhood, he dreamed of studying. A neighbor taught him to read and write, a bazaar "freethinker", an old harmonica player, provided him with books and introduced him to disputes about literature. Kuzma wanted to describe his life in all its poverty and terrible routine. He tried to compose a story, then he began to write poetry and even published a book of simple verses, but he himself understood all the imperfection of his creations. Yes, and this business did not bring income, and a piece of bread was not given for nothing. Many years passed in search of work, often fruitless. Having seen enough of human cruelty and indifference in his wanderings, he began to drink, began to sink lower and lower and came to the conclusion that he must either go to a monastery or commit suicide.

Here Tikhon found him, offering his brother to take over the management of the estate. It seems that a quiet place was found. Having settled in Durnovka, Kuzma became cheerful. At night, he walked with a mallet - he guarded the estate, during the day he read newspapers and made notes in an old office book about what he saw and heard around. But gradually he began to overcome his longing: there was no one to talk to. Tikhon rarely appeared, talking only about the economy, about the meanness and malice of the peasants, and about the need to sell the estate. The cook, Avdotya, the only living creature in the house, was always silent, and when Kuzma fell seriously ill, leaving him to himself, without any sympathy, she went to spend the night in the servants' room.

The wedding was played in a routine manner. The bride sobbed bitterly, Kuzma blessed her with tears, the guests drank vodka and sang songs. The irrepressible February blizzard accompanied the wedding train to the dull chime of bells.

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