The story olesya the meaning of the work. What topics does Kuprin touch on in his story "Olesya"? Themes of love, man and society

What topics does the writer touch on in the story "Olesya"?

Kuprin in his story "Olesya" touches on several very important topics. They are very clear in this piece.

One of the themes revealed in this work is man and society. Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha faced a complete misunderstanding of people. Olesya and Manuilikha even had to live in the forest, outside of civilization. Although the society from which they escaped can hardly be called civilization.

Because those people, from the village, think very narrowly. Society does not like those people who are not like them. Olesya and Manuilikha differ from everyone else in that they have a huge gift, they do not go to church. People always seek to destroy someone they do not understand, who is different from them.

Another theme revealed in this work is the theme of love. Ivan and Olesya love each other. Despite the mutual sincerity of feelings, the characters' understanding of love and duty is significantly different. Olesya behaves much more responsibly in a difficult situation. She is not afraid of further events, only one thing is important that she is loved. Ivan Timofeevich, on the contrary, is weak and indecisive. Olesya, in order to please Ivan, went to church, but it all ended badly. A beautiful but short tale of mutual love ends tragically. Serious feelings sometimes require people to make various sacrifices - this is evident because of Olesya's serious attitude towards Ivan.

The third theme that is revealed here is the theme of generations. Nastena treats her grandmother very well, does not leave her in a difficult situation and always obeys.

Updated: 2018-03-18

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1) The problem of tolerance / cruelty.

Local peasants consider Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha to be witches, so the villagers are ready to blame them for all their troubles. One day, human hatred made them leave their homes, and now Olesya has the only desire to be left alone.

2) The problem of loneliness.

Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha are not accepted into their ranks by the locals, considering them to be sorceresses. Because of this, poor women are forced to live in a hut, which is located in the forest, away from the village and its inhabitants.

3) The problem of tragic love.

Ivan Timofeevich, indecisive and cautious, cannot go against the rules of his environment. He doesn't know how to take care of others. One day he confronts Olesya with a choice between himself and her grandmother. This leads to the need for the girl and her relative to leave the village, because they are in danger from the locals.

4) The problem of the influence of the beauty of nature on man.

Olesya grew up in harmony with nature. Thanks to this, various talents are developed in her, for example, healing. She has not only physical, but also spiritual beauty. Living in solitude with nature endowed the girl with curiosity. The city and civilization are the embodiment of human vices for Olesya.

5) The problem of education.

The woodsman Yarmola is good at housekeeping, but he is not literate. According to him, there are no literate people in the village. Yarmola asks Ivan Timofeevich to teach him how to write, so that he can sign for the whole village if necessary.

Updated: 2018-03-30

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"Olesya" Kuprin A.I.

"Olesya" is one of the first major works of the author and, in his own words, one of his most beloved. It is logical to start the analysis of the story with the prehistory. In 1897, Alexander Kuprin served as an estate manager in the Rivne district of the Volyn province. The young man was impressed by the beauty of Polissya and the difficult fate of the inhabitants of this region. On the basis of what he saw, a cycle of "Polesye stories" was written, the decoration of which was the story "Olesya".

Despite the fact that the work was created by a young author, it attracts literary critics with complex issues, the depth of the characters of the main characters, and amazing landscape sketches. According to the composition, the story "Olesya" is a retrospective. The narration comes from the perspective of the narrator, who recalls the events of the past days.

The intellectual Ivan Timofeevich comes from a big city to visit the remote village of Perebrod in Volyn. This reserved land seems very strange to him. On the threshold of the 20th century, technical and natural sciences are rapidly developing, and enormous social transformations are taking place in the world. And here it seems that time has stopped. And people in this region believe not only in God, but also in goblin, devils, water and other otherworldly characters. Christian traditions are closely intertwined in Polesie with pagan ones. This is the first conflict in the story: civilization and wildlife live by completely different laws.

Another conflict follows from their confrontation: people brought up in such different conditions cannot be together. Therefore, Ivan Timofeevich, who personifies the world of civilization, and the sorceress Olesya, who lives according to the laws of the wild, are doomed to parting.

The proximity of Ivan and Olesya is the culmination of the story. Despite the mutual sincerity of feelings, the characters' understanding of love and duty differ significantly. Olesya behaves much more responsibly in a difficult situation. She is not afraid of further events, only one thing is important that she is loved. Ivan Timofeevich, on the contrary, is weak and indecisive. In principle, he is ready to marry Olesya and take her to the city with him, but he really does not understand how this is possible. Ivan in love is not capable of an act, because he is used to going with the flow in life.

But one in the field is not a warrior. Therefore, even the sacrifice of a young sorceress, when she decides to go to church for the sake of her chosen one, does not save the situation. A beautiful but short tale of mutual love ends tragically. Olesya and her mother are forced to flee their home, fleeing the wrath of superstitious peasants. Only a string of red corals remains in memory of her.

The story of the tragic love of an intellectual and a sorceress inspired the film adaptation of the work of the Soviet director Boris Ivchenko. The main roles in his film "Olesya" (1971) were played by Gennady Voropaev and Lyudmila Chursina. And fifteen years earlier, the French director Andre Michel, based on the story of Kuprin, made the film "The Witch" with Marina Vladi.

Introduction

1. The concept of natural personality

2. The originality of realism

3. The role of the romantic beginning

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

The work analyzes the story of the Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870 - 1938) "Olesya" (1898).

In 1897, A. Kuprin served in the Rivne district of the Volyn province as the manager of the estate. The amazing nature and peculiarities of the life of the Polesye region, the dramatic fate of its inhabitants inspired the writer to create a cycle of "Polesye Tales", which also included "Olesya".

"Olesya" is one of the first major works of Kuprin, and one of his favorites, which he spoke about later. This is a story about nature and the tragic love of "representatives of different worlds" - a young gentleman Ivan Timofeevich, who came to Polesie from a big city for six months, and a young girl Olesya, who has extraordinary abilities.

The goals and objectives of the work include:

consideration of the concept of "natural personality" in the story;

the originality of the realism of the writer's artistic style;

the role of the romantic component in the story.

1. The concept of natural personality

The concept of "natural personality" reflected in A. Kuprin's story "Olesya" comes from the ideas of the French writer and thinker Jean Jacques Rousseau and Rousseauism. The main provisions of this concept are as follows:

opposing bourgeois civilization to the simple life of people in the bosom of nature, away from cities where selfishness and hypocrisy reign and in which true love is doomed;

civilization does not bring people happiness;

the idea of ​​a “natural man”, a man of nature, which consists in opposing man to the nature of “a man created by a civilized society”. In Kuprin's story, this conflict can be described as "two worlds".

A. Kuprin, with his characteristic artistic expressiveness, sketches a portrait of the main character of the story, in which both earthly and sublime principles are bizarrely combined:

“My stranger, a tall brunette about twenty to twenty-five years old, kept herself light and slender. A spacious white shirt freely and beautifully wrapped around her young, healthy breasts. The original beauty of her face, once seen, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even getting used to it, to describe it. His charm lay in those large, brilliant, dark eyes, to which thin eyebrows, broken in the middle, gave an elusive shade of slyness, imperiousness and naivety; in a swarthy-pink skin tone, in a masterful bend of the lips, of which the lower, somewhat fuller, protruded forward with a decisive and capricious look.

It is likely that the initial feeling that arose in the protagonist of the story, the young gentleman Ivan Timofeevich, was based on "vague" instinctive inclinations, however, further communication with Olesya is reinforced by spiritual closeness. Kuprin brilliantly combines this transformation of the protagonist with descriptions of nature.

The main character Olesya is an ideal "child of nature", far from a civilized society. However, she has a combination of rare qualities that are inaccessible to both the main character and ordinary residents.

She, in the words of Kuprin, “has access to those unconscious, instinctive, vague, obtained by random experience, strange knowledge, which, having outstripped exact science for whole centuries, lives, mixed with ridiculous and wild beliefs, in a dark, closed mass of the people, transmitted as the greatest secret from generation to generation.

First of all, the young gentleman Ivan Timofeevich is attracted by the romantic "a certain halo of mystery surrounding her, the superstitious reputation of a witch, life in the forest thicket in the middle of a swamp, and in particular - this proud self-confidence that was seen in a few words addressed to me" .

In the image of Olesya, Kuprin embodied the ideal of a natural person, a free, original and whole person, living in harmony with nature, “who grew up in the free space of an old forest as harmoniously and as powerfully as young Christmas trees grow.”

Of course, Kuprin most vividly and fully reveals the characters of the main characters, representatives of radically different worlds - in love, in selfless and honest love.

The birth of love coincides with the spring awakening of nature - the main characters are happy as long as they live one life with nature and obey its laws:

“For almost a whole month, the naive, charming fairy tale of our love continued, and to this day, together with the beautiful appearance of Olesya, these blazing evening dawns, these dewy, fragrant lilies of the valley and honey mornings, full of cheerful freshness and ringing bird noise, live with unfading strength in my soul, these hot, languid, lazy June days ... ".

Ivan Timofeevich, in moments of this spiritual upsurge, at the peak of emotional intimacy with Olesya, compares himself with a “pagan god” or a “young, strong animal”, enjoying “light, warmth, conscious joy of life and calm, healthy, sensual love:

"Not once, neither boredom, nor fatigue, nor an eternal passion for a wandering life, did not move during this time in my soul."

Revealing the character of Olesya, the writer puts his dream into her image - the dream of a Personality not subject to the influence of the environment. However, the prejudices and conventions of the environment are stronger than all the feelings that overwhelm the protagonist, which determines the tragic outcome of this story.

2. The originality of realism

The originality of A. Kuprin's realism lies in the combination of incompatible worlds, the so-called dual world, that is, the division of the world into real and ideal, which are opposed to each other.

So initially, the romantics opposed the classic "imitation of nature" with the creative activity, imagination and originality of the artist with his right to transform the real world. In this regard, the movement of romanticism was originally designated as a "protest against God", against the original predestination. In other words, the reality does not suit the romantic, and he creates, in contrast to it, in parallel with it, or for the purpose of harmonization, his reality, his world.

Proceeding from this, "two worlds" is a clear classic sign of traditional romanticism.

The initial pages of "Olesya" can be characterized as realism in style, since the life of the Polissya peasants is described in sufficient detail there. And only after Olesya appears in the story, romanticism already inseparably coexists with realism.

In other words, the work describes the love of a real person and a romantic ideal heroine. Ivan Timofeevich finds himself in the attractive and mysterious world of Olesya, unknown to him, and she - in his reality. Olesya's ideality, in addition to the listed properties, also lies in the fact that she is ready to sacrifice herself and accept the real world, with all its cruelties. Thus, the work traces the features of both realism and romanticism.

The first conflict of the story lies in the originality of the traditions of Polissya, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with pagan ones. Civilization and wildlife live by completely different laws.

However, despite the extensive history of the development and evolution of man (changes in lifestyle, cultural and social changes, etc.) and all the specific moments of human civilization (the development of natural sciences, technology and social transformations), man has retained the basic traditional ideas about good and evil, love and hate, enemies and friends.

Initially, it seems to the main character that he has fallen into some kind of reserved world in which time has stopped. This feeling is conveyed to the reader.

The world appears before us in two realities - real (where there is one form of time) and magical (where time and space flows according to other laws).

A detailed description of the space of Polissya, which is divided into its own - pure, Christian - and pagan, in which evil forces live, is necessary in order to explain to the reader the reason for the negative attitude of the peasants towards the "sorceress" Olesya.

Ivan Timofeevich, the hero, on whose behalf the reader learns about all the events, is a kind of "border" that separates the real and ideal worlds. The real world is St. Petersburg and its "high society"; the ideal world is the forest where Olesya lives with her grandmother.

Ivan Timofeevich himself tells Oles about St. Petersburg with undisguised disgust:

“So these are the tall houses. And filled from top to bottom with people. These people live in small huts, like birds in cages, ten people in each, so that there is not enough air for everyone. And others live below, under the very earth, in dampness and cold; it happens that you don’t see the sun in your room all year round.”

Olesya answers Ivan Timofeevich:

“Well, I wouldn’t trade my forest for your city for anything. I'll come to the market in Stepan, it will make me feel so disgusted. They push, they make noise, they scold ... And such anguish will take me beyond the forest, so I would leave everything and run without looking back ... God be with him, with your city, I would never live there.

Another conflict follows from the opposition of these worlds. This conflict is social: people brought up in such different conditions simply cannot be together, and are doomed to parting.

Therefore, Kuprin does not make romantic love serene and leads the heroes to severe trials. Thus, the "forest fairy tale" ends tragically. The point is not only in the circumstances of the finale, when Olesya is faced with the harshness and meanness of the world around her. Kuprin considers this issue on a larger scale, from a social point of view: as far as possible for the ideal “child of nature” to live in an alien environment.

These worlds are clearly opposed to each other and, as the protagonist correctly notes, cannot be combined:

“I didn’t even dare to imagine what Olesya would be like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of my colleagues, torn out of this charming frame of an old forest full of legends and mysterious forces.”

Thus, the story touches not only on the theme of love, but also on the theme of unattainable happiness.

The originality of Kuprin's realism also lies in the fact that this fairy-tale world, into which the main character has fallen, is devoid of idealism - the villagers appear vicious and limited. Olesya, knowing the turn of their mind and having experienced their rejection, tries to protect herself and protect herself from them:

“Are we touching anyone! We don't need people. Once a year, I only go to the town to buy soap and salt... Yes, here's another tea for my grandmother - she loves tea with me. And then at least not to see anyone at all.

Possessing intuitive knowledge, nobility and a number of other human qualities, Olesya wins in comparison with her lover - Ivan Timofeevich, who appears before us as a typical representative of the intelligentsia, a person with a "lazy heart", a sincere, sympathetic, but indecisive and somewhat selfish person. He could not feel the danger that threatened Olesya and, thanks to his exposure to the conventions and prejudices of the civilized world, unwittingly, brought misfortune to his beloved.

Olesya feels and understands this from the very beginning, telling her lover:

“This is what happened to you: although you are a kind person, you are only weak ... Your kindness is not good, not cordial. You are not master of your word. You love to take over people, but you yourself, although you don’t want to, obey them. You will not love anyone with your heart, because your heart is cold, lazy, and you will bring much grief to those who love you.

Olesya, who possesses a gift of providence that is inexplicable from Ivan's point of view, feels the inevitability of a tragic end. She knows that Ivan Timofeevich is not able to renounce his world, but, nevertheless, goes to self-denial, trying to try on his way of life with the world that is alien to her.

When Olesya offers Ivan to simply go after him, without any marriage, the protagonist suspects that her refusal is due to the fear of the church. However, Olesya says that for the sake of love for him, she is ready to overcome this too.

Ivan Timofeevich himself, on whose behalf the narration is being conducted, does not justify himself and does not deny that, with all his love for Olesya, he depends on the conventions of the civilized world. In fact, it is these conventions that determine the tragedy of the finale, and now the protagonist also visits the protagonist with forebodings of near trouble and close parting:

“I peered closely into her pale, thrown back face, into her large black eyes with bright moonlight shining in them, and a vague foreboding of imminent misfortune suddenly crept into my soul with a sudden cold.”

3. The role of the romantic beginning

The romantic beginning of "Olesya" is guessed at the very beginning of the story, when a realistic, unhurried description of the life and customs of the Polissya peasants is supplied with stories from Ivan Timofeevich's servant - Ermola about "witches" and about a sorceress living nearby.

However, the romantic beginning appears in its entirety only with the appearance of Olesya, the daughter of the forests. The romantic image of Olesya lies not only in her ideality - isolation from people limited by their anger and the absence of base interests in fame, wealth, power, etc. The main motives of her actions are emotions. In addition to this, Olesya knows the secrets of the human subconscious, for which the locals call her a "witch".

Olesya, who does not know all the subtleties, tricks and conventions of the civilized world, thanks to her openness makes Ivan Timofeevich, at least for a while, forget about all the prejudices of his environment.

At the same time, it should be noted that Olesya is not characterized by naivety and defenselessness - she knows what human malice and rejection are, she knows that any dissimilarity in the human community is punishable, but, nevertheless, she is capable of an “act”, unlike beloved.

Olesya's love is the greatest gift to the protagonist, which combines sacrifice and courage, but at the same time, Kuprin puts a number of conflicts and contradictions into this gift.

Thus, A. Kuprin sees the true meaning of love in the desire to disinterestedly give his chosen one the fullness of his feelings.

Conclusion

The concept of "natural personality" in A. Kuprin's story is represented by the following points:

opposition of two worlds - the real world, which is personified by the main character, and the ideal world, which is personified by the village girl Olesya;

the doom of true love in the civilized world;

the idea of ​​a “natural man”, a man of nature, that is, the opposition to man of the nature of “a man created by a civilized society” on the example of the image of Olesya.

Revealing the character of Olesya, the writer puts his dream into her image - the dream of a Personality not subject to the influence of the environment.

The originality of A. Kuprin's realism lies in the same concept - in the combination of incompatible worlds, the so-called dual world, that is, the division of the world into real and ideal, which are opposed to each other.

The first conflict of the story lies in the originality of the traditions of Polissya, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with pagan ones.

The second conflict follows from the confrontation between the real and the ideal worlds: lovers, brought up in such different conditions, simply cannot be together, and are doomed to parting.

The romantic component can be traced at the very beginning of "Olesya", when a realistic description of the life of the peasants is supplied with stories of the master's servant about "witches" and about a sorceress living nearby.

However, only after Olesya appears in the story, romanticism fully inseparably coexists with realism. The protagonist, once in this fabulous ideal world, for a while forgets about all the conventions of modern traditional society and unites with nature for a while. However, Kuprin remains a realist, and the forest tale ends tragically, which Olesya herself intuitively guesses at the first stages of her acquaintance with Ivan Timofeevich.

kuprin personality romantic realism

Literature

1. Kuprin A.I. Selected works - M .: "Fiction", 1985. - 655 p.

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History of creation

A. Kuprin's story "Olesya" was first published in 1898 in the newspaper "Kievlyanin" and was accompanied by a subtitle. "From the memories of Volyn". It is curious that the writer first sent the manuscript to the journal "Russian Wealth", since before that the Kuprin story "Forest Wilderness", also dedicated to Polesie, had already been published in this journal. Thus, the author counted on creating the effect of continuation. However, "Russian wealth" for some reason refused to release "Olesya" (perhaps the publishers were not satisfied with the size of the story, because by that time it was the author's largest work), and the cycle planned by the author did not work out. But later, in 1905, "Olesya" came out in an independent edition, accompanied by an introduction from the author, which told the story of the creation of the work. Later, a full-fledged "Polesye cycle" was released, the apex and decoration of which was "Olesya".

The author's introduction has been preserved only in the archives. In it, Kuprin said that he was a guest in Polissya with a friend of the landowner Poroshin, he heard from him many legends and tales related to local beliefs. Among other things, Poroshin said that he himself was in love with a local witch. Kuprin will later tell this story in the story, at the same time including in it all the mysticism of local legends, the mysterious mystical atmosphere and the piercing realism of the situation surrounding him, the difficult fate of the Polissya inhabitants.

Analysis of the work

The plot of the story

Compositionally, "Olesya" is a retrospective story, that is, the author-narrator returns in his memories to the events that took place in his life many years ago.

The basis of the plot and the leading theme of the story is the love between the city nobleman (panych) Ivan Timofeevich and a young resident of Polissya, Olesya. Love is bright, but tragic, since its death is inevitable due to a number of circumstances - social inequality, the abyss between the characters.

According to the plot, the hero of the story, Ivan Timofeevich, spends several months in a remote village, on the edge of Volyn Polissya (the territory called Little Russia in tsarist times, today - the west of the Pripyat lowland, in northern Ukraine). A city dweller, he first tries to instill culture in the local peasants, heals them, teaches them to read, but the classes are unsuccessful, as people are overwhelmed by worries and they are not interested in either education or development. Ivan Timofeevich increasingly goes hunting in the forest, admires the local landscapes, sometimes listens to the stories of his servant Yarmola, who talks about witches and sorcerers.

Lost one day while hunting, Ivan finds himself in a forest hut - the same witch from Yarmola's stories - Manuilikha and her granddaughter Olesya - lives here.

The second time the hero comes to the inhabitants of the hut in the spring. Olesya tells fortunes to him, predicting an early unhappy love and adversity, up to a suicide attempt. The girl also shows mystical abilities - she can influence a person, inspiring her will or fear, stop the blood. Panych falls in love with Olesya, but she herself remains emphatically cold with him. She is especially angry that the panych stands up for her with her grandmother in front of the local police officer, who threatened to disperse the inhabitants of the forest hut for their alleged divination and harm to people.

Ivan falls ill and does not appear in the forest hut for a week, but when he arrives, it is noticeable that Olesya is happy to see him, and the feelings of both flare up. A month of secret dates and quiet, bright happiness passes. Despite the obvious and perceived inequality of lovers, Ivan makes an offer to Olesya. She refuses, arguing that she, a servant of the devil, should not go to church, and therefore, get married, entering into a marriage union. Nevertheless, the girl decides to go to church to make a pleasant panycha. Local residents, however, did not appreciate Olesya's impulse and attacked her, beating her badly.

Ivan hurries to the forest house, where the beaten, defeated and morally crushed Olesya tells him that her fears about the impossibility of their union have been confirmed - they cannot be together, so she and her grandmother will leave her house. Now the village is even more hostile to Olesya and Ivan - any whim of nature will be associated with her sabotage and sooner or later they will be killed.

Before leaving for the city, Ivan again goes to the forest, but in the hut he finds only red beads of woods.

Heroes of the story

The main character of the story is the forest sorceress Olesya (her real name Alena is reported by her grandmother Manuilikha, and Olesya is the local version of the name). A beautiful, tall brunette with intelligent dark eyes immediately attracts Ivan's attention. The natural beauty in the girl is combined with the natural mind - despite the fact that the girl cannot even read, there is perhaps more tact and depth in her than in the city.

(Olesya)

Olesya is sure that she is “not like everyone else” and soberly understands that for this dissimilarity she can suffer from the people. Ivan does not believe too much in Olesya's unusual abilities, believing that there is more centuries-old superstition here. However, he cannot deny the mysticism of the image of Olesya.

Olesya is well aware of the impossibility of her happiness with Ivan, even if he makes a strong-willed decision and marries her, therefore it is she who boldly and simply manages their relationship: firstly, she takes self-control, trying not to be imposed on the panych, and secondly, she decides to part seeing that they are not a couple. Social life would be unacceptable for Olesya, her husband would inevitably become burdened by her after it became clear that there were no common interests. Olesya does not want to be a burden, to tie Ivan hand and foot, and leaves on her own - this is the heroism and strength of the girl.

Ivan is a poor, educated nobleman. City boredom leads him to Polissya, where at first he tries to do some business, but in the end, only hunting remains from his occupation. He treats the legends about witches like fairy tales - a healthy skepticism is justified by his education.

(Ivan and Olesya)

Ivan Timofeevich is a sincere and kind person, he is able to feel the beauty of nature, and therefore Olesya at first interests him not as a beautiful girl, but as. He wonders how it turned out that nature itself brought her up, and she came out so tender and delicate, unlike rude, uncouth peasants. How did it happen that they, religious, although superstitious, are ruder and tougher than Olesya, although it is she who should be the embodiment of evil. For Ivan, a meeting with Olesya is not a lordly fun and a difficult summer love adventure, although he understands that they are not a couple - in any case, society will be stronger than their love, will destroy their happiness. The personification of society in this case is unimportant - be it a blind and stupid peasant force, be it urban residents, Ivan's colleagues. When he thinks of Oles as his future wife, in a city dress, trying to keep up a small talk with his colleagues, he simply comes to a standstill. The loss of Olesya for Ivan is the same tragedy as finding her as a wife. This remains outside the scope of the story, but most likely Olesya's prediction came true in full - after her departure, he felt bad, even thinking about intentionally leaving life.

The culmination of events in the story falls on a big holiday - the Trinity. This is not an accidental coincidence, it emphasizes and enhances the tragedy with which Olesya's bright fairy tale is trampled by people who hate her. There is a sarcastic paradox in this: the servant of the devil, Olesya, the sorceress, turns out to be more open to love than the crowd of people whose religion fits into the thesis "God is Love."

The author's conclusions sound tragic - the joint happiness of two people is impossible, when happiness for each of them individually is different. For Ivan, happiness is impossible apart from civilization. For Olesya - in isolation from nature. But at the same time, the author argues, civilization is cruel, society can poison relations between people, morally and physically destroy them, but nature cannot.

Filled with sin, without reason and will,
A fickle and vain person.
Wherever you look, only loss, pain
His flesh and soul have been tormented for a century...
As soon as they leave alone, they are replaced by others,
Everything in the world is continuous suffering for him:
His friends, enemies, loved ones, relatives. Anna Bradstreet
Russian literature is rich in wonderful images of beautiful women: strong in character, smart, loving, courageous and selfless.
The Russian woman with her amazing inner world has always attracted the attention of writers. Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky understood the depth of the spiritual impulses of their heroines.
The works of these writers help to get to know life better, to understand the nature of human relationships. And life is full of conflicts, sometimes tragic, and to delve into their essence, to understand their origins - only the great talent of the writer can do it.
The story of A. I. Kuprin “Olesya” is a work that marked the beginning of a new literary era. Its main character - Olesya - evokes conflicting feelings. She awakens pity and understanding in me, I felt her freedom-loving and strong character
We need to go back to Olesya's past in order to better understand this heroine.
She grew up in constant persecution, moving from one place to another, she was always haunted by the glory of a witch. She and her grandmother even had to go to live in a forest thicket, in swamps, away from the villages.
Unlike the peasants, Olesya never attended church, because she believed that the magical power was not given to her from God. This pushed the locals away from her even more. Their hostile attitude brought up in her an amazing spiritual strength.
And then the little girl grew up and became a lovely flower.
Olesya is a tall girl of twenty-five years old, with beautiful long crow-colored hair, which gives a special tenderness to her white face. In big black eyes you can see a spark of wit, ingenuity. The appearance of the girl is very different from how village women look, everything in her speaks of her originality, love of freedom. Faith in magic, otherworldly forces gives her a special charm.
And now a big and strong love appears in Olesya's life. At the first meetings with Ivan Timofeevich, she does not feel anything, but then she realizes that she fell in love with him. Olesya tries to put out the love in her heart. But as soon as she was separated from Ivan Timofeevich for two weeks, she realized that she loved him more than before.
When meeting with her chosen one, Olesya says: “Parting for love is the same as the wind for fire: it extinguishes a small love, and inflates a big one even more.” The heroine gives herself completely to love, she loves sincerely and tenderly. For her sake, the girl was not afraid to go to church, having sacrificed her principles, she was not afraid of the consequences.
She suffered great humiliation when women attacked her and threw stones at her. Olesya gives herself as a sacrifice of love.
Ivan Timofeevich, before his departure, offered Olesya a hand and a heart, but she refused, saying that she did not want to burden him with her presence, so that he would be ashamed of her. In this act, the foresight of the girl is visible, she thinks not only about today, but also about the future of Ivan Timofeevich.
However, despite her strong love, Olesya unexpectedly, without saying goodbye to her beloved, leaves, leaving only beads in the house as a keepsake.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin portrayed in his work a sincere, sensitive, beautiful heroine who grew up far from civilization, in harmony with nature, capable of deep feelings.

A special place in the work of A. I. Kuprin is occupied by the theme of love. The writer gave us three stories united by this wonderful theme - "Garnet Bracelet", "Olesya" and "Shulamith".
Kuprin showed different facets of this feeling in each of his works, but one thing is invariable: love illuminates the life of his heroes with an extraordinary light, becomes the brightest, unique event in life, a gift of fate. It is in love that the best features of his heroes are revealed.
Fate threw the hero of the story "Olesya" into a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polissya. Ivan Timofeevich is a writer. He is an educated, intelligent, inquisitive person. He is interested in people, with their customs and traditions, he is interested in legends and songs of the region. He traveled to Polissya with the intention of supplementing his life experience with new observations useful for the writer: "Polesie ... the wilderness ... the bosom of nature ... simple morals ... primitive natures," he thought, sitting in the car.
Life gave Ivan Timofeevich an unexpected gift: in the wilderness of Polissya he met a wonderful girl and his true love.
Olesya and her grandmother Manuilikha live in the forest, away from the people who once expelled them from the village, suspecting them of witchcraft. Ivan Timofeevich is an enlightened person and, unlike the dark Polissya peasants, understands that Olesya and Manuilikha simply "have access to some instinctive knowledge obtained by random experience."
Ivan Timofeevich falls in love with Olesya. But he is a man of his time, his circle. Reproaching Olesya for superstition, Ivan Timofeevich himself is no less dominated by the prejudices and rules by which the people of his circle lived. He did not even dare to imagine what Olesya would look like, dressed in a fashionable dress, talking in the living room with the wives of his colleagues, Olesya, torn from the "enchanting frame of the old forest."
Next to Olesya, he looks like a weak, not free person, “a person with a lazy heart”, which will not bring happiness to anyone. “There will be no great joys in your life, but there will be a lot of boredom and hardship,” Olesya predicts to him from the cards. Ivan Timofeevich could not save Olesya from trouble, who, trying to please her beloved, went to church contrary to her convictions, despite the fear of the hatred of the local inhabitants.
In Oles there is courage and determination, which our hero lacks, she has the ability to act. Petty calculations and fears are alien to her when it comes to the feeling: “Let it be, what will be, but I will not give my joy to anyone.”
Persecuted and persecuted by superstitious peasants, Olesya leaves, leaving a string of "coral" beads as a memento for Ivan Timofeevich. She knows that for him soon “everything will pass, everything will be erased”, and he will remember her love without grief, easily and joyfully.
The story "Olesya" brings new touches to the endless theme of love. Here, Kuprin's love is not only the greatest gift, from which it is a sin to refuse. Reading the story, we understand that this feeling is unthinkable without naturalness and freedom, without the bold determination to defend one's feelings, without the ability to sacrifice in the name of those one loves. Therefore, Kuprin remains the most interesting, intelligent and delicate interlocutor for readers of all time.

Materials for familiarization

Kuprin Early period of creativity

"Duel"

Garnet bracelet

"Olesya"

8 Responses to “A. I. Kuprin”

In general, the problem of "assault" appears very clearly in this story. This is the apotheosis of social inequality. Of course, we must not forget that corporal punishment for soldiers was abolished. But in this case, we are no longer talking about punishment, but about mockery: “Non-commissioned officers brutally beat their subordinates for an insignificant mistake in literature, for losing a leg while marching - they beat them into blood, knocked out teeth, smashed eardrums with blows to the ear, knocked them to the ground with their fists." Will a person with a normal psyche behave like this? The moral world of everyone who enters the army is changing radically and, as Romashov notes, far from being for the better. So even Captain Stelkovsky, commander of the fifth company, the best company in the regiment, an officer who always “possessed patient, cool-headed and confident perseverance,” as it turned out, also beat soldiers (Romashov cites as an example how Stelkovsky knocks out a soldier’s teeth along with a horn, incorrectly giving a signal to this very horn). That is, it is not worth envying the fate of people like Stelkovsky.

In the story "Duel" Kuprin touches on the problem of inequality of people, the relationship between the individual and society.
The plot of the work is built at the crossroads of the soul of the Russian officer Romashov, whom the conditions of army barracks life make him think about the wrong relationship between people. Romashov is the most ordinary person who instinctively resists the injustice of the world around him, but his protest is weak, and his dreams and plans are easily destroyed, since they are very naive. But after meeting with the soldier Khlebnikov, a turning point occurs in Romashov's mind, he is shocked by the readiness of a person to commit suicide, in which he sees the only way out of a martyr's life, and this strengthens his will to active resistance. Romashov is shocked by the strength of Khlebnikov's suffering, and it is precisely the desire to sympathize that makes the second lieutenant think for the first time about the fate of the common people. But talk about Romashov's humanity and justice remains largely naive. But this is already a big step towards the moral purification of the hero and his struggle with the cruel society around him.

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The story "Duel". The problem of a person's moral choice.
AI Kuprin raised in his story "Duel" the theme of alienation, misunderstanding between officers and soldiers. In connection with the topic, the author raises a number of problematic questions. One of which is the problem of moral choice. Georgy Romashov, the main character of the story, is subjected to the most severe moral quest. Dreaminess and lack of will are the most important features of Romashov's nature, which are immediately evident. Then the author introduces us closer to the hero, and we learn that Romashov is characterized by warmth, gentleness, and compassion.
In the soul of the hero, there is a constant struggle between a man and an officer. One of the values
Names "duel" is a clash
Romashov with the way of officer life and his inner
A duel with yourself. Arriving at the regiment, Romashov dreamed of exploits, of glory. In the evenings, officers gather, play cards, and drink. Romashov is drawn into this atmosphere, begins to lead the same lifestyle as everyone else. However, he feels much more subtle and thinks more confidently. He is more and more horrified by the wild, unfair treatment of the soldiers.
He tries to isolate himself from them: “he began to retire from the society of officers, dined mostly at home, did not go to dance evenings at the assembly at all, and stopped drinking.” He "has definitely matured, has become older and more serious in recent days."
Thus, there is a moral purification of the hero. Suffering, his inner insight. He becomes able to sympathize with his neighbor, to feel someone else's grief as his own. His moral feeling comes into conflict with the life around him.

The story "Duel" is one of the links in the chain of works by A. I. Kuprin. The author clearly and accurately showed in the “Duel” the social problems of the Russian army and the problem of not understanding And alienation between soldiers and officers. Almost hopeless despair reigns on the pages of the story. The heroes are doomed, just as the army itself is doomed. The protagonist of the story, lieutenant Romashov, does not find any sense in the very existence of the army. Teachings, charters, everyday life in the barracks seem to him and his fellow soldiers absolutely meaningless. Lieutenant Romashov, a young officer who dreams of a career and a position in society, is capable of love and compassion, but the writer shows us his negative traits: he allows himself to get drunk almost to unconsciousness, he has an affair with someone else's wife, which has been going on for six months. Nazansky is a smart, educated officer, but a deep drunkard. Captain Plum is a degraded officer, slovenly and stern. His company has its own discipline: he is cruel to junior officers and soldiers, although he is attentive to the needs of the latter. Speaking about the fact that the soldiers were beaten “cruelly, to the point of blood, to the point that the offender fell off his feet ...”, Kuprin once again emphasizes that, despite the charter of military discipline, assault was widely used in the army. In the story, almost all the officers used this means of calling for discipline, and therefore let the junior officers get away with everything. But not all officers were satisfied with this state of affairs, but many resigned themselves, like Vetkin. The desire of Lieutenant Romashov to prove that "you cannot beat a person who not only cannot answer you, but does not even have the right to raise his hand to his face in order to protect himself from a blow," does not lead to anything and even causes condemnation, because most of officers were satisfied with this state of affairs.

The problem of love in Kuprin's story "Olesya".
Love is revealed by the writer as a strong, passionate, all-consuming feeling that completely took possession of a person. It allows the heroes to reveal the best qualities of the soul, illuminates life with the light of kindness and self-sacrifice. But love in the works of Kuprin often ends in tragedy. Such is the beautiful and poetic story of the pure, direct and wise "daughter of nature" from the story "Olesya". This amazing character combines intelligence, beauty, responsiveness, disinterestedness and willpower. The image of the forest sorceress is shrouded in mystery. Her fate is unusual, life away from people in an abandoned forest hut. The poetic nature of Polissya has a beneficial effect on the girl. Isolation from civilization allows it to preserve the integrity and purity of nature. On the one hand, she is naive, because she does not know elementary things, yielding in this to the intelligent and educated Ivan Timofeevich. But on the other hand, Olesya has some kind of higher knowledge, which is inaccessible to an ordinary smart person.
In the love of the "savage" and the civilized hero, from the very beginning, doom is felt, which permeates the work with sadness and hopelessness. The ideas and views of lovers turn out to be too different, which lead to separation, despite the strength and sincerity of their feelings. When the urban intellectual Ivan Timofeevich, who got lost in the forest while hunting, saw Olesya for the first time, he was struck not only by the bright and original beauty of the girl. He felt her dissimilarity to ordinary village girls. In the appearance of Olesya, her speech, her behavior, there is something witchcraft, not subject to logical explanation. This is probably what captivates Ivan Timofeevich in her, in which admiration imperceptibly develops into love. When Olesya, at the insistent request of the hero, tells fortunes to him, she predicts with amazing insight that his life will be sad, he will not love anyone with his heart, since his heart is cold and lazy, but, on the contrary, will bring a lot of grief and shame to the one who loves his. Olesya's tragic prophecy comes true at the end of the story. No, Ivan Timofeevich does not commit any meanness or betrayal. He sincerely and seriously wants to connect his fate with Olesya. But at the same time, the hero shows insensitivity and tactlessness, which condemn the girl to shame and persecution. Ivan Timofeevich inspires her with the idea that a woman should be pious, although he knows perfectly well that Olesya is considered a sorceress in the village, and therefore attending church can cost her her life. Possessing a rare gift of foresight, the heroine goes to the church service for the sake of her beloved, feeling malicious looks on herself, hearing mocking remarks and abuse. This selfless act of Olesya especially emphasizes her bold, free nature, which contrasts with the darkness and wildness of the villagers. Beaten by local peasant women, Olesya leaves her home not only because she fears their even more cruel revenge, but also because she perfectly understands the unfulfillment of her dream, the impossibility of happiness. When Ivan Timofeevich finds an empty hut, his eyes are drawn to a string of beads that towered over heaps of rubbish and rags, like “a memory of Olesya and her tender, generous love”

In the story "Duel" I.A. Kuprin touches upon the problem of the moral inferiority of a person and shows it on the example of the Russian army. This example is the most striking.
The officers brutally mocked their subordinates, who, once in a new environment, did not understand what was happening: “Non-commissioned officers severely beat their subordinates for an insignificant mistake in literature, for losing a leg while marching, they beat them into blood, knocked out teeth, smashed them with blows eardrums up to the ear, knocked down with fists on the ground. The soldiers had no right to either respond to this cruelty, or dodge the blows, they had no choice. Even the most seemingly patient and cold-blooded officer, like Stelkovsky, sank to this level. Such a situation prevailed throughout the army. The main character, Romashov, understood that changes in the army were necessary, but he reproached himself for being close to everyone else.
Bullying in the Russian army was a big problem for society that needed to be addressed, but it was simply impossible to do it alone.

In the Tale "Olesya" Kuprin tells us that a person is losing contact with nature, which is one of the problems of this work.
In his work, the author contrasts society and the world around it with each other. People living in cities, who have lost touch with their native nature, have become gray, faceless, have lost their beauty. And Olesya, who is connected with the nature around her, pure, bright. The writer admires his main character, for him this girl is the embodiment of an ideal person. And only by living in harmony with nature, you can become like that. Kuprin tells us that people should not lose contact with nature, because he loses himself, his soul turns black, and his body fades. But if you return to this naturalness, then the soul will begin to bloom, the body will become better.
Thus, we must strive to maintain contact with the environment around us, because it is it that gives us the strength to live and develop.

How does primitive nature affect a person? Next to her it is impossible to be insincere, she seems to push a person onto the path of a pure, truthful understanding of life. In his story, A. I. Kuprin confronts the main character Olesya with the problem of confrontation between the natural and the social.
Olesya is a strong, strong-willed character, sensitive, inquisitive mind, and at the same time an incredibly beautiful girl. After reading the story, I drew a picture in my head: a tall, black-haired girl in a red headscarf, and wide-spread bright green firs around. Against the backdrop of the forest, all the spiritual qualities of the heroine are manifested especially clearly: the willingness to sacrifice oneself and the wisdom of life. It harmoniously intertwines the beauty of the soul with the beauty of the body.
Society becomes against Olesya's connection with nature. Here it appears from its most unattractive side: dullness, dusty streets and even faces, intimidation and ugliness of women. This dullness is against everything new, bright, honest. Olesya with her red scarf becomes a stumbling block, the culprit of all troubles.
For the narrowness of thinking, the villagers will be punished by the elements. And again they will blame Olesya for this ...