Two captains first person novel. A study of Kaverin's novel "Two Captains

“I never forgot about Pskov.

I happened to mention him more than once in essays and stories.

In the novel Two Captains, I called him Ansk. As about a close, beloved person,

I thought a lot about him during the war years, in the Leningrad blockade, in the Northern Fleet "

Kaverin V.A., 1970

We invite you to take a fascinating journey through the city, descended from the pages of the novel Two Captains.

Remembering your childhood main character Sanya Grigoriev describes the city where it took place. We see Mr. Ensk through the eyes of a boy.

The novel begins with Sanya's words: I remember a spacious dirty yard and low houses surrounded by a fence. The yard stood right next to the river, and in the spring, when the flood waters subsided, it was strewn with wood chips and shells, and sometimes with other, much more interesting things ... "

“... As a boy, I visited the Cathedral Garden a thousand times, but then it never occurred to me that it was so beautiful. It is located high on a mountain above the confluence of two rivers: Peschinka and Quiet, and is surrounded by a fortress wall.

“... On this day, mother took us with her - me and my sister. We went to the presence” and carried the petition. The Presence was a dark building behind the Market Square, behind a high iron fence.

“... The shops were closed, the streets were empty, we did not meet a single person behind Sergievskaya”

“The governor’s garden remains in memory, in which he rode tricycle little son fat bailiff"

and the Cadet Corps.

“...we agreed to go to the city museum. Sanya wanted to show us this museum, which Ensk was very proud of. It was located in the Pagankin's Chambers, an old merchant's building, about which Petya Skovorodnikov once said that it was filled with gold, and the merchant Pagankin himself was walled up in the basement ... "

“The train is moving, and the dear Ensky Station is leaving me. Everything is faster! Another minute and the platform breaks off. Goodbye Ensk!

Literature used in the preparation of the material:

• Kaverin, V.A. Two captains.
• Levin, N.F. Pskov on old postcards /N.F. Levin. - Pskov, 2009.

Before talking about the content of the novel, it is necessary at least in in general terms represent its author. Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin is a talented Soviet writer who became famous for his work "Two Captains", written in the period from 1938 to 1944. Real surname writer - Zilber.

People who read this story, it usually sinks into the soul for a long time. Apparently, the fact is that it describes a life in which each of us can recognize himself. After all, everyone faced friendship and betrayal, grief and joy, love and hatred. In addition, this book tells about the polar expedition, the prototype of which was the sailing in 1912 of the missing Russian polar explorers on the schooner "Saint Anna", and wartime, which is also interesting from a historical point of view.

Two captains in this novel- this is Alexander Grigoriev, who is the main character of the work, and the leader of the missing expedition, Ivan Tatarinov, the circumstances of whose death the main character is trying to find out throughout the book. Both captains are united by loyalty and devotion, strength and honesty.

The beginning of the story

The action of the novel takes place in the city of Ensk, where a dead postman is found. With him, a bag full of letters is found, which never reached those to whom they were intended. Ensk is a city not rich in events, so such an incident becomes known everywhere. Since the letters were no longer destined to reach the addressees, they were opened and read by the whole city.

One of these readers is Aunt Dasha, who is listened to with great interest by the main character, Sanya Grigoriev. He is ready to listen for hours to the stories described strangers. And he especially likes stories about polar expeditions written for the unknown Maria Vasilievna.

Time passes, and a black streak begins in Sanya's life. His father is jailed for life on murder charges. The guy is sure that his dad is innocent, because he knows the real criminal, but he is unable to speak and cannot help his beloved person in any way. The gift of speech will return later with the help of Dr. Ivan Ivanovich, who, by the will of fate, ended up in their house, but for now the family, consisting of Sanya, his mother and sister, is left without a breadwinner, plunging into ever greater poverty.

The next test in the boy's life is the appearance of a stepfather in their family, who, instead of improving their unsweetened life, makes it even more unbearable. The mother dies, and they want to send the children to an orphanage against their will.

Then Sasha together with a friend named Petya Skovorodnikov escapes to Tashkent, giving each other the most serious oath in their lives: "Fight and seek, find and not give up!" But the guys were not destined to get to the coveted Tashkent. They ended up in Moscow.

Life in Moscow

Further, the narrator departs from the fate of Petya. The fact is that friends get lost in an unusually huge city, and Sasha ends up in a commune school alone. At first he loses heart, but then he realizes that this place can be useful and fateful for him.

And so it turns out. It is in the boarding school that he meets important later life of people:

1. Faithful friend Valya Zhukov;
2. The real enemy is Misha Romashov, nicknamed Chamomile;
3. Geography teacher Ivan Pavlovich Korablev;
4. School director Nikolai Antonovich Tatarinov.

Subsequently, Sasha meets an elderly woman on the street with obviously heavy bags and volunteers to help her carry her burden home. During the conversation, Grigoriev realizes that the woman is a relative of Tatarinov, the director of his school. At the lady's house, the young man meets her granddaughter Katya, who, although she seems somewhat arrogant, still likes him. As it turned out, mutually.

Katya's mother's name is Maria Vasilievna. Sasha is surprised by how sad this woman constantly looks. It turns out that she experienced great grief - the loss of her beloved husband, who was at the head of the expedition when he went missing.

Since everyone considers Katya's mother a widow, the teacher Korablev and the director of the Tatarinov school show interest in her. The latter is also the cousin of Maria Vasilievna's missing husband. And Sasha often begins to appear at Katya's house in order to help with the housework.

Facing injustice

The geography teacher wants to bring something new into the life of his students and organizes theatrical performance. A feature of his idea is that the roles were given to hooligans, who were subsequently affected by this. in the best way.

After that, the geographer suggested to Katina mother to marry him. The woman had warm feelings for the teacher, but could not accept the offer, and it was rejected. The school director, jealous of Korableva for Maria Vasilievna and envious of his success in raising children, commits a low deed: he gathers a pedagogical council, at which he announces his decision to remove the geographer from classes with schoolchildren.

By a coincidence, Grigoriev finds out about this conversation and tells Ivan Pavlovich about it. This leads to the fact that Tatarinov calls Sasha, accuses him of informing and forbids him to appear in Katya's apartment. Sanya has no choice but to think that it was the geography teacher who let it slip about who told him about the collective meeting.

Deeply wounded and disappointed, the young man decides to leave the school and the city. But he still does not know that he is sick with the flu, flowing into meningitis. The disease is so complicated that Sasha loses consciousness and ends up in the hospital. There he meets the same doctor who helped him start talking after his father's arrest. Then the geographer visits him. He explains to the student and says that he kept the secret told to him by Grigoriev. So it was not the teacher who handed it over to the principal.

School education

Sasha returns to school and continues to study. Once he was given the task - to draw a poster that would encourage the guys to enter the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet. In the process of creativity Grigoriev the idea came to him that he would like to become a pilot. This idea absorbed him so much that Sanya began to fully prepare to master this profession. He began to read special literature and prepare himself physically: temper and play sports.

After some time, Sasha resumes communication with Katya. And then he learns more about her father, who was the captain of the Saint Mary. Grigoriev compares the facts and understands that it was Katya's father's letters about the polar expeditions that then ended up in Ensk. And it also turned out that it was equipped by the director of the school and part-time cousin of Katya's father.

Sasha understands what she feels for Katya strong feelings. At the school ball, unable to cope with the impulse, he kisses Katya. But she does not take this step of his seriously. However, their kiss had a witness - none other than Mikhail Romashov, an enemy of the protagonist. As it turned out, he had long been Ivan Antonovich's scammer and even kept notes about everything that could be of interest to the director.

Disliked by Grigoriev, Tatarinov again forbids Sasha to appear in Katya's house, and indeed to maintain any communication with her. In order to separate them for sure, he sends Katya to the city of Sasha's childhood - Ensk.

Grigoriev was not going to give up and decided to follow Katya. Meanwhile, the face of the one who was the culprit of his misadventures was revealed to him. Sasha caught Mikhail when he got into the guy's personal belongings. Not wanting to leave this offense unpunished, Grigoriev hit Romashov.

Sasha follows Katya to Ensk, where she visits Aunt Dasha. The woman kept the letters, and Grigoriev was able to read them again. Approaching the matter more consciously, the young man understood more of the new and became eager to find out how Katya's father disappeared, and what director Tatarinov could have had to do with this incident.

Grigoriev told Katya about the letters and his guesses, and she gave them to her mother upon her return to Moscow. Unable to survive the shock of the fact that the culprit of her husband's death was their relative Nikolai Antonovich, whom the family trusted, Maria Vasilievna committed suicide. Out of grief, Katya blamed Sanya for the death of her mother and refused to see or talk with him. Meanwhile, the director prepared documents that would justify his guilt in the incident. This evidence was presented to the geographer Korablev.

Sanya is hard going through separation from her beloved. He believes that they are never destined to be together, but he cannot forget Katya. Nevertheless, Grigoriev manages to pass the test exams and get the profession of a pilot. First of all, he goes to the place where the expedition of Katya's father disappeared.

New meeting

Sanya was lucky, and he found Katya's father's diaries about the expedition to the "St. Mary". After this, the guy decides to return to Moscow with two goals:

1. Congratulate your teacher Korablev on his anniversary;
2. To meet your beloved again.

As a result, both goals were achieved.

Meanwhile, things are going from bad to worse for the dastardly director. He is blackmailed by Romashov, who gets papers testifying to the betrayal of his brother by Tatarinov. With these documents, Michael hopes to achieve the following:

1. Successfully defend a dissertation under the guidance of Nikolai Antonovich;
2. Marry his niece Katya.

But Katya, who forgave Sasha after the meeting, believes young man and leaves his uncle's house. Subsequently, she agrees to become Grigoriev's wife.

War years

The war that began in 1941 separated the spouses. Katya was in besieged Leningrad, Sanya got to the North. Nevertheless, the loving couple did not forget about each other, continued to believe and love. Sometimes they had the opportunity to get news about each other that the most native person still alive.

However, this time does not pass in vain for the couple. During the war, Sana manages to find evidence of what he was sure of almost all the time. Tatarinov was really involved in the disappearance of the expedition. In addition, Romashov, an old enemy of Grigoriev, again showed his meanness by throwing war time wounded Sanya to die. Michael was put on trial for this. At the end of the war, Katya and Sasha finally found each other and reunited, never to get lost again.

Moral of the book

The analysis of the novel leads to an understanding of the main idea of ​​the author, that the main thing in life is to be honest and faithful, to find and keep your love. After all, only this helped the heroes to cope with all the hardships and find happiness, even if it was not easy.

The above content is very condensed retelling a voluminous book, which is not always enough time to read. However, if this story did not leave you indifferent, reading the full volume of the work will surely help you spend your time with pleasure and benefit.

Hamlet of the Ensky district. The genesis of the plot in Kaverin's novel "Two Captains" 

V.B. Smirensky

This poem is encrypted.

V. Kaverin. "Fulfillment of desires".

Analyzing the plot of the novel by V. Kaverin "Two Captains", the authors of the critical essay "V. Kaverin" O. Novikova and V. Novikov 1 believe that the novel is marked by a special affinity for folk fantasy narrative and therefore it is advisable to draw an analogy not with specific fairy tale plots, but with the very structure of the genre described in V.Ya. 2. According to the authors, almost all (thirty-one) functions of Propp find one or another correspondence in the plot of the novel, starting with the traditional plot "One of the family members leaves home" - in the novel, this is the arrest of Sanya's father on a false charge of murder. Further, the authors cite Propp's clarification: "An enhanced form of absence is the death of parents." So it goes with Kaverin: Sanya's father died in prison, and some time later his mother died.

According to O. Novikova and V. Novikov, the second function "The hero is treated with a ban" is transformed in the novel into the story of Sanya's muteness. When the “prohibition is violated,” that is, Sanya acquires speech and begins to read Captain Tatarinov’s letters by heart everywhere, the “antagonist” (that is, Nikolai Antonovich) comes into play. Perhaps absent, the authors believe, is only the fourteenth function "A magical agent comes into the possession of the hero", that is, a miracle in literally. However, this is compensated by the fact that the hero achieves his goal and defeats opponents only when he acquires willpower, knowledge, etc.

In this regard, O. Novikova and V. Novikov believe that although folklore elements in literature are qualitatively transformed, however, they seem legitimate attempts by modern writers to use the energy of a fairy tale, pairing it with a realistic narrative. Propp's list of functions can serve as a kind of connecting link, a special language into which not only fairy tale plots, but also literary plots are translated. For example, "The hero leaves the house"; "The hero is tested, questioned, attacked..."; "The hero arrives unrecognized at home or in another country"; "The false hero makes unfounded claims"; "The hero is offered a difficult task"; "A false hero or antagonist, a pest is exposed"; "The enemy is punished" - all this is in the "Two Captains" - up to the final, until the thirty-first move: "The hero marries and reigns." The whole plot of "Two Captains", according to O. Novikova and V. Novikov, is based on the test of the hero, "this is a framing short story, centralizing all the other plot threads."

In addition, researchers see in "The Two Captains" a reflection of a whole range of varieties of the novel genre and, in particular, Dickens' plots. The history of the relationship between Sanya and Katya resembles at the same time a medieval romance and a sentimental novel of the 18th century. "Nikolai Antonovich resembles a hero-villain from a Gothic novel" 3.

At one time, A. Fadeev also noted that the novel "Two Captains" was written "according to the traditions of a non-Russian classical literature, but Western European, in the manner of Dickens, Stevenson " four . It seems to us that the plot of "Two Captains" has a different basis, not directly related to folk traditions. Recognizing the links with the traditions of the novel genre, our analysis shows a much more striking similarity and close connection between the plot of Kaverin's novel and the plot of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy Hamlet.

Let's compare the plots of these works. Prince Hamlet receives "news from the next world": the ghost of his father told him that he - the king of Denmark - was treacherously poisoned by his own brother, who seized his throne and married the queen - Hamlet's mother. "Farewell and remember me," calls the Illusive Man. Hamlet is shocked by these three monstrous crimes committed by Claudius: murder, seizure of the throne, and incest. He is also deeply hurt by the act of his mother, who so soon agreed to the marriage. Trying to make sure that the ghost of his father told, Hamlet with visiting actors plays a play about the murder of the king in the presence of Claudius, Gertrude and all the courtiers. Claudius, losing his temper, gives himself away (the so-called "mousetrap" scene). Hamlet reproaches his mother for betraying her husband's memory and denounces Claudius. During this conversation, Polonius, eavesdropping, hides behind a carpet, and Hamlet (unintentionally) kills him. This entails Ophelia's suicide. Claudius sends Hamlet to England with secret orders to kill him upon arrival. Hamlet escapes death and returns to Denmark. Laertes, furious at the death of his father and sister, agrees with the king's insidious plan and tries to kill Hamlet in a duel with a poisoned rapier. In the finale, all the main characters of the tragedy die.

The basic construction of the plot of "The Two Captains" largely coincides with the plot of Shakespeare. At the very beginning of the novel, Sanya Grigoriev, a boy from the city of Ensk, receives "news from the other world": Aunt Dasha reads letters every evening from the bag of a drowned postman. Some of them he learns by heart. They deal with the fate of an expedition lost and probably lost in the Arctic. A few years later, fate brings him in Moscow with the addressees and characters of the found letters: the widow (Maria Vasilievna) and daughter (Katya) of the missing captain Ivan Tatarinov and his cousin Nikolai Antonovich Tatarinov. But at first Sanya does not know about it. Maria Vasilievna marries Nikolai Antonovich. She speaks of him as a man of rare kindness and nobility, who sacrificed everything to equip his brother's expedition. But Sanya by this time already has a strong distrust of him. Arriving in his native Ensk, he again turns to the surviving letters. "Like lightning in a forest illuminates the area, so I understood everything by reading these lines." In the letters it was said that the expedition owed all the failures to Nikolai (that is, Nikolai Antonovich). He was not named by his last name and patronymic, but it was him, Sanya is sure.

So, like Claudius, Nikolai Antonovich committed a triple crime. He sent his brother to certain death, since the schooner had dangerous side cutouts, worthless dogs and food, etc. In addition, he not only married Maria Vasilievna, but also made every possible effort to appropriate the glory of his brother.

Sanya exposes these crimes, but his revelations lead to Maria Vasilievna's suicide. Returning to Moscow, Sanya tells her about the letters and reads them by heart. According to the signature "Montigomo Hawk Claw" (although erroneously pronounced Sanya - Mongotimo), Maria Vasilievna made sure of their authenticity. The next day she got poisoned. Compared with Shakespeare's Gertrude, her betrayal of her husband's memory is somewhat softened at first. At first, she "ruthlessly" treats all attempts by Nikolai Antonovich to look after her and take care of her. He achieves his goal only after many years.

It is important to motivate Sanya's behavior that relations in the Tatarinov family strikingly remind Sanya of the events that took place in his own family: after the death of his father, his beloved mother marries the "buffoon" Gayer Kuliy. Stepfather, a man with a "fat face" and a very nasty voice, causes Sanya great dislike. However, his mother liked him. "How could she fall in love with such a person? Involuntarily, Maria Vasilievna also came to mind, and I decided once and for all that I did not understand women at all." This Gaer Kuliy, who sat down in the place where his father sat and liked to lecture everyone with endless foolish reasoning, demanding for this that they also thanked him, in the end, caused the premature death of his mother.

When Sanya met Nikolai Antonovich, it turned out that, like Gaer Kuliy, he was the same lover of tedious teachings: “Do you know what“ thank you ”is? Keep in mind that depending on whether you know or not. .." Sanya understands that he is "talking nonsense" specifically to annoy Katya. At the same time, like Gaer, he expects gratitude. So, there is symmetry in the relationship of the characters: Sanya's father, mother, stepfather, Sanya, on the one hand, and the deceased captain Tatarinov, Maria Vasilievna, Nikolai Antonovich, Katya, on the other.

At the same time, the teachings of the stepfathers in the novel are consonant with the speeches of the hypocrite Claudius. Let us compare, for example, such quotes: "King. The death of our beloved brother is still fresh, and it is fitting for us to bear pain in our hearts ..." "Nikolai Antonovich not only talked to me about his cousin. This was his favorite topic." "He made it very clear to him why he loved to remember him so much." Thus, due to the double reflection in the novel of the relationship of the main characters of Hamlet, the motive of "the betrayal of her husband's memory" ultimately turns out to be strengthened by V. Kaverin. But the motive of "restoring justice" is also getting stronger. Gradually, the orphan Sanya Grigoriev, looking for traces and recreating the history of the "St. Mary" expedition, seems to find his new one, this time spiritual father in the image of Captain Tatarinov, "as if instructed to tell the story of his life, his death."

Having found the expedition and the body of Captain Tatarinov frozen into the ice, Sanya writes to Katya: “As if from the front, I am writing to you - about a friend and father who died in battle. Sorrow and pride for him excite me, and before the spectacle of immortality, my soul passionately freezes ..." As a result, external parallels are reinforced by internal psychological motivations 5.

Continuing to compare the episodes of the novel and the tragedy, we note that although the revelations of Hamlet shocked the queen, their consequences turned out to be completely unexpected. The unexpected murder of Polonius led to the insanity and suicide of the innocent Ophelia. From the point of view of "normal" or life logic, Maria Vasilievna's suicide is more justified than Ophelia's suicide. But this example shows how far Shakespeare is from ordinary life logic and everyday ideas. Suicide of Maria Vasilievna– a natural event in the overall plot structure of the novel. Ophelia's suicide is a tragedy in high tragedy, which in itself has the deepest philosophical and artistic sense, an unpredictable plot twist, a kind of intermediate tragic finale, thanks to which the reader and viewer delve into the "inscrutable meaning of good and evil" (B. Pasternak).

Nevertheless, from a formal (plot, or event) point of view, one can state the coincidence of the episodes: both in the tragedy and in the novel, one of the main characters commits suicide. And one way or another, the hero is burdened by an involuntary feeling of guilt.

Nikolai Antonovich seeks to turn Sanya's evidence of guilt against him. "This is the man who killed her. She is dying because of a vile, vile snake who says that I killed her husband, my brother." "I threw him away like a snake." Here you can already pay attention to the vocabulary and phraseology of the characters in the novel, to their similarity with the translation of "Hamlet" by M. Lozinsky, which was published in 1936 and with which V.A. Kaverin was probably familiar by the time the novel was written: "The ghost. The snake that hit your father put on his crown."

Sanya intends to find the missing expedition and prove his case. He makes these promises to himself, to Katya and even to Nikolai Antonovich: "I will find the expedition, I do not believe that it has disappeared without a trace, and then we'll see which of us is right." The oath runs through the novel as a leitmotif: "Fight and seek, find and not give up!" This oath and promises resonate with Hamlet's oath and promises to avenge his father: "From now on, my cry is:" Farewell, farewell! And remember me. "I swore an oath," although, as you know, the role of Hamlet goes far beyond the usual revenge.

In addition to the most important plot coincidences in the tragedy and the novel, one can note coincidences that relate to the details of the behavior of the characters.

Sanya comes to Korablev, but at this time Nina Kapitonovna also comes to Korablev. Korablev leads Sanya into the next room with a holey green curtain in place of the door and tells him: "And listen - it's good for you." Sanya hears all this important conversation in which they talk about him, Katya and Romashka and looks through the hole in the curtain.

The circumstances of the episode are reminiscent of the scene of the meeting between Hamlet and the queen, when Polonius is hiding behind the carpet. If in Shakespeare this detail is important from many sides (characterizes the spy zeal of Polonius and becomes the cause of his death, etc.), then Kaverin apparently uses this scene only so that Sanya quickly learns important news for him.

Claudius, frightened and angered by the revelations, sends Hamlet to Britain with a letter, where there was an order, "that immediately after reading, without delay, without looking whether the ax was sharpened, they would have blown my head away," as Hamlet later tells Horatio about this.

In the novel, Sanya, organizing an expedition to search for Captain Tatarinov, learns from Nina Kapitonovna that Nikolai Antonovich and Romashka "... they write about everything. Pilot G., pilot G. Denunciation, go ahead." And she turns out to be right. Soon an article appears, which, indeed, contains a real denunciation and slander against Sanya. The article said that a certain pilot G. in every possible way denigrates a respected scientist (Nikolai Antonovich), spreads slander, etc. "The Directorate of the Main Northern Sea Route should pay attention to this man, who dishonors the family of Soviet polar explorers with his actions." If we take into account that the case takes place in the fateful thirties (Kaverin wrote these episodes in 1936-1939), then the effectiveness of the denunciation-article could be no less than the treacherous letter of Claudius dooming Hamlet to execution to the British king. But, like Hamlet, Sanya avoids this danger with his energetic actions.

You can pay attention to further coincidences in the character system. Lonely Hamlet has only one true friend– Horatio:

"Hamlet. But why aren't you in Wittenberg, student friend?" Marcellus calls Horatio "the scribe".

Sanya has more friends, but Valka Zhukov stands out among them, who is interested in biology at school. Then he was a "senior scientific specialist" on an expedition to the North, then a professor. Here we see coincidences in the type of activity of the friends of the heroes: their distinguishing feature- learning.

But Romashov, or Chamomile, plays a much larger role in the novel. Even at school, his deceit, hypocrisy, double-dealing, denunciation, greed, espionage, etc., are manifested, which he tries, at least sometimes, to hide under the guise of friendship. Early enough, he becomes close to Nikolai Antonovich, later becoming his assistant and the closest person in the house. By position in the novel and by its extremely negative properties, he combines all the main characteristics of the courtiers of Claudius: Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Katya thinks that he looks like Uria Gip, the character of C. Dickens. Perhaps that is why both A. Fadeev and the authors of the essay "V. Kaverin" suggested that Dickens' plot was reflected in the novel.

In fact, for understanding this image, it is essential that in the novel he also performs the function of Laertes, which consists in the fact that he. engages in mortal combat with the hero. If Laertes is driven by revenge, then Romashov is driven by envy and jealousy. At the same time, both the one and the other character act in the most treacherous way. So, Laertes uses a poisoned rapier, and Chamomile leaves Sanya, seriously wounded during the war, stealing a bag of crackers, a flask of vodka and a pistol from him, that is, dooming him, it would seem, to certain death. At least he himself is sure of it. "You will be a corpse," he said haughtily, "and no one will know that I killed you." Assuring Katya that Sanya is dead, Romashka apparently believes in it himself.

Thus, as in the case of the suicide of Maria Vasilievna, we see that in the novel, in comparison with the tragedy, there is a redistribution of plot functions between the characters.

The vocabulary used by V. Kaverin to characterize Romashov is based on keyword"scoundrel". Even at a school lesson, Sanya on a bet gives Chamomile to cut his finger. “Cut,” I say, and this scoundrel coldly cuts my finger with a penknife. Further: "Chamomile rummaged in my chest. This new meanness struck me"; "I will say that Chamomile is a scoundrel and that only a scoundrel will apologize to him." If in the novel these expressions are "scattered" throughout the text, then in M. Lozinsky's translation they are collected "in a bouquet" in a monologue, where Hamlet, choking with anger, says about the king: "Scoundrel. Smiling scoundrel, damned scoundrel! - My tablets, - you need to write down that you can live with a smile and be a scoundrel with a smile.

In the final scene of the showdown, Sanya says to Romashov: "Sign, scoundrel!" – and gives him to sign the "testimony of M.V. Romashov", which says: "Meanly deceiving the leadership of the Main Northern Sea Route, etc." "O regal villainy!" - exclaims Hamlet, shocked by the treacherous letter of Claudius.

Key scenes in Hamlet include the Ghost scene and the mousetrap scene in which the antagonist is exposed. In Kaverin, similar scenes are combined into one and placed at the end of the novel, where, finally, justice finally triumphs. It happens in the following way. Sanya managed to find photographic films of the expedition that had lain in the ground for about 30 years and developed some of the footage that seemed to be lost forever. And now Sanya demonstrates them at his report in the Geographical Society, dedicated to the materials found. Katya, Korablev, and Nikolai Antonovich himself are present on it, that is, as in the "mousetrap" scene, all the main characters of the novel.

"The light went out, and the screen appeared tall man in a fur hat... He seemed to have entered the hall - a strong, fearless soul. Everyone stood up when he appeared on the screen (cf. Shakespeare's remark: The Ghost Enters). And in this solemn silence, I read the report and the captain's farewell letter: "We can safely say that we owe all our failures only to him." And then Sanya reads out a document-commitment, where the culprit of the tragedy is directly indicated. Finally, in conclusion, he says about Nikolai Tatarinov: "Once in a conversation with me, this man said that he recognizes only one witness: the captain himself. And now the captain now calls him - his full name, patronymic and surname!"

Shakespeare the king's dismay climax, which comes in the "mousetrap" scene, conveys through the exclamations and remarks of the characters:

About f e l and I. The king is up!

HAMLET What? Scared of a blank shot?

Queen. What about your majesty?

P about l about n and y. Stop the game!

King. Give fire here. - Let's go!

In with e. Fire, fire, fire!

In the novel, the same task is solved by descriptive means. We see how Nikolai Antonovich "suddenly straightened up, looked around when I loudly called this name." "In my life I have not heard such a diabolical noise," "a terrible turmoil arose in the hall." Comparing these episodes, we see that Kaverin seeks to solve the climax and denouement of his novel with a spectacular scene in which he tries to merge the emotional tension that arises in the tragedy "Hamlet" in the scenes with a ghost and in the "mousetrap" scene.

O. Novikova and V. Novikov, the authors of the essay "V. Kaverin", believe that in the work on "Two Captains" "the author of the novel, as it were," forgot "about his philological erudition: no quotations, no reminiscences, no parody-stylization moments not in the novel, and this may be one of the main reasons for good luck" 6.

However, the evidence presented suggests otherwise. We see a fairly consistent use of the Shakespearean plot and the system of characters in the tragedy. Nikolai Antonovich, Captain Tatarinov, Valka Zhukov and the main character himself consistently reproduce the plot functions of their prototypes. Maria Vasilievna, repeating the fate of Gertrude, commits suicide, like Ophelia. One can quite clearly trace the correspondence to the prototypes and their actions in the image of Romashov: espionage and denunciation (Polonius), feigned friendship (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), an attempted insidious murder (Laertes).

O. Novikova and V. Novikov, trying to bring the novel "Two Captains" closer to the structure of the genre described in "The Morphology of a Fairy Tale" by V. Ya. Propp, are right in the sense that in Kaverin's novel, as in a fairy tale, discovered by Propp: if a set of permanent characters changes in a fairy tale, then between them there is a redistribution or combination of plot functions 7. Apparently, this regularity operates not only in folklore, but also in literary genres when, for example, one or another plot is reused. O. Revzina and I. Revzin gave examples of combining or "gluing" functions - the roles of characters in A. Christie's novels 8. Differences associated with the redistribution of functions are of no less interest for plot and comparative studies than close coincidences.

The identified coincidences and consonances make one wonder how consciously Kaverin used the plot of the tragedy. It is known how much attention he paid to the plot and composition in his works. "I have always been and remain a story writer," great value compositions... underestimated in our prose",– he emphasized in the "Outline of work" 9. The author has described in some detail here the work on "Two Captains".

The idea of ​​the novel was associated with an acquaintance with a young biologist. According to Kaverin, his biography so captivated the writer and seemed so interesting that he "made a promise to himself not to give free rein to the imagination." The hero himself, his father, mother, comrades are written exactly as they appeared in the story of a friend. "But the imagination still came in handy," admits V. Kaverin. Firstly, the author tried to "see the world through the eyes of a young man shocked by the idea of ​​justice." Secondly, "it became clear to me that in this small town(Enske) Something extraordinary is about to happen. The "extraordinary" I was looking for was the light of the arctic stars, accidentally falling into a small abandoned city" 10.

So, as the author himself testifies, the basis of the novel "Two Captains" and the basis of its plot, in addition to the biography of the hero-prototype, formed two major lines. Here we can recall the technique that Kaverin first tried to use in his first story.

In the trilogy "Illuminated Windows" V. Kaverin recalls the beginning of his writing career. In 1920, while preparing for an exam in logic, he read for the first time summary non-Euclidean geometry of Lobachevsky and was struck by the courage of the mind, who imagined that parallel lines converge in space.

Returning home after the exam, Kaverin saw a poster announcing a competition for novice writers. In the next ten minutes, he made the decision to leave poetry for good and switch to prose.

"Finally - this was the most important thing - I managed to think over my first story and even called it: "The Eleventh Axiom." Lobachevsky crossed parallel lines at infinity. What prevents me from crossing two pairs at infinity allelic plots? It is only necessary that, regardless of time and space, they eventually unite, merge ... ".

Arriving home, Kaverin took a ruler and drew a sheet of paper lengthwise into two equal columns. In the left, he began to write the story of a monk who loses faith in God. In the right is the story of a student who loses his possessions at cards. At the end of the third page, both parallel lines converged. The student and the monk met on the banks of the Neva. This short story was sent to the competition under the meaningful motto "Art must be based on the formulas of the exact sciences", received an award, but remained unpublished. However, "the idea of ​​"The Eleventh Axiom" is a kind of epigraph to all Kaverin's work. And in the future he will look for a way to cross parallel ..." 11

Indeed, in the novel "Two Captains" we see two main lines: in one storyline, techniques are used adventure novel and a travel novel in the spirit of J. Verne. The bag of the drowned postman with soaked and partially damaged letters, which speak of the missing expedition, cannot but resemble the letter found in the bottle in the novel "Captain Grant's Children", where, by the way, the search for the missing father is also described. But the use of authentic documents in the novel, reflecting the real and dramatic story researchers of the Far North Sedov and Brusilov, and, most importantly, the search for evidence leading to the triumph of justice (this line turned out to be based on Shakespeare's plot), made the plot not only fascinating, but also literary more significant.

Peculiarly "works" in the novel and the third story line, on which Kaverin initially relied - true biography biologist. Rather, here, from the point of view of comparative plot, the combination of this line with the two above is of interest. In particular, the beginning of the novel, which describes the homelessness and hungry wanderings of Sleigh. If Shakespeare's main character, who is destined to take on the heavy burden of restoring violated justice, is Prince Hamlet, then in the novel the main character is at first a homeless child, that is, "n and sh and y." This well-known literary opposition turned out to be organic, because, as O. Novikova and V. Novikov rightly point out, in overall structure"Two Captains" clearly manifested the tradition of the novel of education. "Traditional techniques have vigorously earned, applied to cutting-edge material" 12.

In conclusion, let us return to the question, how conscious was Kaverin's use of Shakespeare's plot? A similar question was asked by M. Bakhtin, proving the genre proximity of the novels by F.M. Dostoevsky and the ancient menippea. And he answered him resolutely: "Of course not! He was not at all a stylizer of ancient genres ... Speaking somewhat paradoxically, one can say that not Dostoevsky's subjective memory, but the objective memory of the very genre in which he worked, preserved the features of the ancient menippea." 13

In the case of V. Kaverin's novel, we still tend to attribute all the intertextual coincidences noted above (in particular, lexical coincidences with M. Lozinsky's translation of Hamlet) to the writer's "subjective memory". Moreover, he probably left a certain "key" for the attentive reader to decipher this riddle.

As you know, the author himself dates the emergence of his idea for "Two Captains" to 1936. 14. Work on the novel "Fulfillment of desires" has just been completed. One of the indisputable successes in it was a fascinating description of the decoding by the hero of the novel of the tenth chapter of "Eugene Onegin". Perhaps, while working on "Two Captains", Kaverin tried to solve the opposite problem: to encrypt the plot of the greatest and all famous tragedy into the plot modern novel. It must be admitted that he succeeded, since so far no one seems to have noticed this, despite the fact that, as V. Kaverin himself pointed out, the novel had "meticulous readers" who saw some deviations from the text of the documents used 15. Such a connoisseur of plot construction as V. Shklovsky, who noticed at one time that two novels were inserted into the novel "Fulfillment of Desires" 16.

How did Kaverin manage to transform the tragic Shakespearean story so skillfully? S. Balukhaty, analyzing the genre of melodrama, noted that one can "read" and "see" the tragedy in such a way that, omitting or weakening its thematic and psychological materials, turn the tragedy into a melodrama, which is characterized by "convex, bright forms, sharply dramatic conflicts, in-depth plot" 17.

These days, the time for close attention to the novel is gone. However, this should not affect the theoretical interest in his study. As for the "key" to unraveling the plot, which the author left, it is connected with the title of the novel, if one recalls one of the final solemn lines of Shakespeare's tragedy:

Let Hamlet be raised to the platform,

Like a warrior, four captains.

Finally, the last "syllable" of the Kaverin charade is associated with the name hometown Sled. In general, such names as the city of N. or N, N-sk, etc., have a tradition in literature. But, melting the Shakespearean plot into the plot of his novel, Kaverin could not help but recall his predecessors, and among them the famous story related to the Shakespearean theme - "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". If Leskov's heroine was from Mtsensk, then my hero, pilot G., let him be just from ... Enska, Kaverin might have thought and left a rhyming trail for future clues: Ensk - Mtsensk - Lady Macbeth - Hamlet.

5 V. Borisova, Roman V. Kaverin "Two Captains" (See V. Kaverin. Collected works in 6 volumes, vol. 3, M., 1964, p. 627).

8 O. Revzina, I. Revzin, Toward a formal analysis of plot composition. – "Collection of articles on secondary modeling systems", Tartu, 1973, p.117.

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// In kN.: Smirensky V. Analysis of plots.
- M. - AIRO-XX. - With. 9-26.
Among Chekhov's literary connections is one of the most important and permanent - Shakespeare. new material for the study of Chekhov's literary connections gives his play "Three Sisters and Shakespeare's tragedy" King Lear ".

Famous novel by Veniamin Kaverin deservedly loved by more than one generation of readers. In addition to almost a decade (from the mid-1930s to 1944) painstaking work and writing talent, a special spirit was invested in this novel - the spirit of the era of stormy and often tragic exploration of the Far North.

The author never hid the fact that many of his characters have quite real prototypes, and their words are sometimes invested with the genuine words of some Arctic explorers. Kaverin himself repeatedly confirmed that, for example, the image of Captain Tatarinov was inspired by reading books about the expeditions of Georgy Brusilov, Vladimir Rusanov, Georgy Sedov and Robert Scott.

Indeed, it is enough to look a little closer at the plot of the novel, as behind the literary character Ivan Lvovich Tatarinov, the figure of a polar explorer, Lieutenant Georgy Lvovich Brusilov , whose expedition to schooner "Saint Anna" (in the novel "Holy Mary") set off in 1912 from St. Petersburg by the Northern Sea Route to Vladivostok.

Lieutenant G. L. Brusilov (1884 - 1914?)

The schooner was not destined to arrive at its destination - the ship frozen into the ice drifted far to the north.

Schooner "Saint Anna" on the Neva before the start of the expedition
Lieutenant Brusilov (1912)

About the twists and turns of this tragic voyage, about the failures that haunted the expedition, about the strife and conflicts between its participants can be found in the navigator's diary Valerian Ivanovich Albanov , which in April 1914, together with ten crew members, with the permission of the captain, left the "Saint Anna" in the hope of reaching Franz Josef Land on foot.

Polar navigator V. I. Albanov (1882 - 1919)

In this campaign on the ice, only Albanov himself and one of the sailors survived.

The diary of navigator Albanov, who was the prototype of the character in Kaverin's novel navigator Klimov, was published as a book in Petrograd in 1917 under the title "South to Franz Josef Land!"

Map of the expedition area of ​​Lieutenant Brusilov
from the book of navigator Albanov

There is no one to confirm or refute the version of the history of this expedition, set out by the navigator - "Saint Anna" disappeared without a trace.
The letters of the expedition members entrusted to Albanov could bring some clarity, but they also disappeared.

In the novel by Veniamin Kaverin, the "polar" mail from "St. Mary", which played a decisive role in the fate of not only Sanya Grigoriev, but also other heroes of the book, ended up in the bag of a drowned letter carrier and helped to shed light on many things. AT real life letters could not be found, and in the history of the voyage of the "St. Anna" many unresolved questions remained.

By the way, it is also interesting that the motto of the novel is "Fight and seek, find and never give up" - this is not at all a boyish oath invented by V. Kaverin, but the final line from the textbook poem by the favorite poet of the British Queen Victoria, Lord Alfred Tennyson "Ulysses" (in the original: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" ).

This line is also engraved on the cross in memory of the lost expedition of Robert Scott to the South Pole, on observer hill in Antarctica.

It is possible that English polar explorer Robert Scott also served as one of the prototypes for Captain Tatarinov. So, for example, a farewell letter to the wife of this character in Kaverin's novel begins in the same way as a similar letter from Scott: "To my widow...".

Robert Scott (1868 - 1912)

But the appearance, character, some episodes of the biography and the views of Captain Ivan Tatarinov were borrowed by Veniamin Kaverin from the fate of the Russian polar explorer Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov , whose expedition to schooner "Saint Foka" to the North Pole, which also began in 1912, ended in complete failure, primarily due to the fact that it was completely ugly prepared.

Senior Lieutenant G. Ya. Sedov (1877 - 1914)

So, the ship itself - the old Norwegian fishing barque "Geyser" built in 1870 - was clearly not adapted to long voyages in high polar latitudes, so most of the most necessary members of Sedov's crew (captain, assistant captain, navigator, mechanic and his assistant, boatswain) , quit on the eve of the expedition - more precisely, three days before it began (August 27, 1912, n. St.).

Schooner of the expedition of G. Ya. Sedov "Saint Foka"
wintering near Novaya Zemlya (1913?)

The expedition leader hardly managed to recruit a new team, and the radio operator could not be found. It is especially worth remembering the story of sled dogs, which were caught for Sedov right on the streets of Arkhangelsk and sold at an inflated price (ordinary mongrels, of course), with poor-quality provisions, delivered to St. Fok in a hurry, which local merchants did not hesitate to use.

Isn't it true that all this has direct parallels with the plot of Kaverin's novel, in which one of the main reasons for the failure of the "St. Mary" expedition in the letters of Captain Tatarinov is called a supply disaster (as far as I remember, dogs were also discussed there)?

Scheme of Sedov's expedition in 1912 - 1914.

And finally, another possible prototype of Captain Tatarinov is a Russian Arctic explorer Vladimir Alexandrovich Rusanov.

V. A. Rusanov (1875 - 1913?)

The fate of the expedition of V. A. Rusanov, which also began in 1912 on a sail-motor Bote "Hercules" , still remains completely unexplained. And the leader himself and all its participants went missing in 1913 in the Kara Sea.

Boat "Hercules" of the expedition of V. A. Rusanov.

Search expedition Rusanov, undertaken in 1914 - 1915. maritime ministry Russian Empire did not bring any results. Exactly where and under what circumstances "Gekrules" and his team were killed could not be found out then. Well, then, in connection with the world and civil wars, the devastation that followed them, was simply not up to it.

Only in 1934 on an unnamed island (now it is called Hercules) west coast Taimyr, a pillar was found dug into the ground with the inscription "HERCULES. 1913"), and on another nearby island - the remains of clothes, cartridges, a compass, a camera, a hunting knife and some other things, apparently belonging to the members of the Rusanov expedition.

It was at this time that Veniamin Kaverin began work on his novel "Two Captains". Most likely, it was the 1934 find that served him as a real basis for the final chapters of the book, in which Sanya Grigoriev, who became a polar pilot, accidentally (although, of course, not at all by accident) discovered the remains of Captain Tatarinov's expedition.

It is possible that Vladimir Rusanov became one of the prototypes of Tatarinov also because the real polar explorer had a long (since 1894) revolutionary past, and he associated himself not with any Socialist-Revolutionaries, but being a convinced Marxist, with the Social Democrats. Still, one must also take into account the time in which Kaverin wrote his novel (1938 - 1944).

At the same time, supporters blame Soviet writers in the constant chanting of Stalin, which contributes to the formation of a "cult of personality", I note that in the entire rather voluminous novel by Kaverin, the name of the general secretary is mentioned only once, which did not prevent the writer from receiving in 1946 Stalin Prize precisely for the "Two Captains", being a Jew by origin, in the midst of a struggle with the "cosmopolitans".

Veniamin Kaverin (Veniamin Abelevich Zilber)
(1902 - 1989)

By the way, if you carefully read the science fiction novel by V. A. Obruchev "Sannikov Land", written by him in 1924, then in it you can also find prototypes of V. Kaverin's book (not real, but literary). It is worth recalling that your literary activity Kaverin began in the 1920s precisely as an author of fantastic stories, and it is unlikely that he did not experience a certain influence of Obruchev.

So, despite the title of the novel by Veniamin Kaverin, it does not feature two captains at all, but at least six: Ivan Tatarinov and Sanya Grigoriev (as fictitious literary characters), as well as the prototypes of Captain Tatarinov - polar explorers - Lieutenant Brusilov, Senior Lieutenant Sedov, English officer Scott and enthusiast Rusanov. And this is not counting the navigator Klimov, the prototype of which was the navigator Albanov.
However, Sanya Grigoriev also had a prototype. But it is better to talk about this separately.

The collective image of Captain Tatarinov in Kaverin's novel "Two Captains" is, in my opinion, wonderful literary monument to all those who at the beginning of the 20th century, believing in the bright future of mankind, sought to bring it closer, setting off on often hopeless expeditions on fragile boats to explore the Far North (or the Far South, in the case of Robert Scott).

The main thing is that we all do not forget these, albeit somewhat naive, but completely sincere heroes.

Perhaps the conclusion of my post will seem too pretentious to you.
As you please. You can even consider me a "scoop"!
But I really think so, because in my soul, fortunately, the romantic impulse has not yet died. And Veniamin Kaverin's novel "Two Captains" is still one of my favorite books from among those that were read in childhood.

Thank you for attention.
Sergei Vorobyov.

Even in modern Pskov, fans of the novel can easily recognize the places where Sanya Grigoriev spent his childhood. In describing the non-existent city of Ensk, Kaverin actually follows his memories of Pskov at the beginning of the 20th century. The protagonist lived on the famous Golden Embankment (until 1949 - American Embankment), caught crayfish in the Pskov River (in the novel - Peschanka) and took the famous oath in the Cathedral Garden. However, Veniamin Alexandrovich did not write off the image of little Sanya from himself, although he admitted that from the first pages of the novel he made it a rule not to invent anything. Who became the prototype of the main character?

In 1936, Kaverin went to rest in a sanatorium near Leningrad and there he met Mikhail Lobashev, the writer's neighbor at the table during lunches and dinners. Kaverin offers to play carom, a kind of billiards, in which the writer was a real ace, and easily beats his opponent. Several next days For some reason, Lobashev does not come to lunch and dinner ... What was Kaverin's surprise when, a week later, his neighbor showed up, offered to compete in carom again and easily won game after game from the writer. It turns out that he has been training hard all these days. A man with such willpower could not but interest Kaverin. And over the next few evenings, he wrote down the story of his life in detail. The writer practically does not change anything in the life of his hero: the boy’s muteness and an amazing recovery from it, the arrest of his father and the death of his mother, an escape from home and a shelter ... The author only relocates him from Tashkent, where they passed school years hero, to the familiar and native Pskov. And also changes his occupation - after all, then genetics were of no interest to anyone. That was the time of the Chelyuskinites and the development of the North. Therefore, the second prototype of Sanya Grigoriev was the polar pilot Samuil Klebanov, who died heroically in 1943.

The novel connected the fates of two captains at once - Sanya Grigoriev and Ivan Tatarinov, who commanded the schooner "Holy Mary". For the image of the second main character, Kaverin also used prototypes of two real people, explorers of the Far North - Sedov and Brusilov, expeditions led by which left St. Petersburg in 1912. Well, the diary of the navigator Klimov from the novel is entirely based on the diary of the polar navigator Valerian Albanov.

It is interesting that Sanya Grigoriev became almost national hero long before the writer finished his novel. The fact is that the first part of the book was published in 1940, and after its writing Kaverin postponed as much as 4 years - the war interfered.

During the Leningrad siege… The Leningrad Radio Committee turned to me with a request to speak on behalf of Sanya Grigoriev with an appeal to the Baltic Komsomol members,” recalled Veniamin Alexandrovich. - I objected that although in the person of Sanya Grigoriev he was brought out certain person, a bomber pilot who operated at that time on the Central Front, nevertheless, this is still a literary hero. "It doesn't interfere with anything," was the reply. - Speak as if your last name literary hero can be found in the phone book. I agreed. On behalf of Sanya Grigoriev, I wrote an appeal to the Komsomol members of Leningrad and the Baltic - and in response to the name of the "literary hero" letters rained down containing a promise to fight to the last drop of blood.

The novel "Two Captains" really liked Stalin. The writer was even awarded the title of laureate of the USSR State Prize.