The historical novel by Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy "Peter the Great" is dedicated to the first Russian emperor, one of the most prominent statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

This epic depicts one of the brightest and most difficult periods in the history of our country, when "young Russia matured with the genius of Peter." Peter the Great was not only the first emperor of Russia, but also a military leader, builder and naval commander.

The historical basis of the novel

P. Delaroche. Portrait of Peter I (1838)
During the preparatory work on the novel, Alexei Tolstoy used a number of historical sources: the academic "History of the reign of Peter the Great" by N. Ustryalov; volumes 13-15 "History of Russia from ancient times" by S. Solovyov; "Acts of Peter the Great" by I. Golikov; diaries and notes of Patrick Gordon, I. Zhelyabuzhsky, Johann Korb, D. Perry, B. Kurakin, Yust Jul, I. Neplyuev, P. Tolstoy, F. Berchholz and others; torture records of the end of the 17th century, collected by Professor N. Ya. Novombergsky.
The author depicts some historical events in the novel: the Azov campaigns of Peter the Great, the Streltsy rebellion, as well as a number of historical characters: Princess Sophia and her lover Vasily Golitsyn, Lefort, Menshikov, Charles XII, Anna Mons, etc.
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov- an associate of the king, the son of a court groom, later the most illustrious prince.

Unknown artist. Portrait of A. D. Menshikov (1716-1720)
Franz Yakovlevich Lefort- Russian statesman and military leader of Swiss origin, the closest assistant and adviser to Tsar Peter I.

Portrait of F. Ya. Lefort (late 17th century)
Anna Mons- Peter's favourite. D.L. Mordovtsev, a Russian writer, author of historical novels popular at the time on themes from the Cossack history of the 17th-18th centuries, described this lady and the consequences of her favoritism: “Anna Mons is a foreigner, the daughter of a wine merchant, a girl, out of love for which Peter turned old Russia to face the West and turned so sharply that Russia still remains a little wryneck” (“Idealists and Realists”, 1878).

Supposed portrait of Anna Mons
Sofia Alekseevna- princess, sister of Peter. In 1682-1689. she was regent for the younger brothers Peter and Ivan. Sophia ruled, relying on her favorite Vasily Golitsyn.
May 30, 1689 Peter I turned 17 years old. He, at the insistence of his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, married Evdokia Lopukhina, and, according to the customs of that time, entered the age of majority. The elder Tsar Ivan was also married. Thus, there were no formal grounds for the regency of Sofya Alekseevna, but she continued to keep power in her hands. Peter made attempts to insist on his rights, but to no avail: the archery chiefs and order dignitaries, who received their positions from the hands of Sophia, still carried out only her orders.

Sofia Alekseevna

Vasily Vasilievich Golitsyn- Prime Minister of Sophia
Artamon Sergeevich Matveev- Russian statesman, "the great sovereign's neighbor boyar", the head of the Russian government at the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, one of the first "Westerners".

Patriarch Joachim

Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina- Empress, mother of Peter I
In addition, among the characters of the novel are Fedor Yuryevich Romodanovsky (Prince Caesar), boyar Andrei Golikov (Bogomaz from Palekh), Elder Nektary (head of the schismatic monastery), Charles XII (King of Sweden), Augustus (Elector of Saxony, King of Poland) and others
Along with major historical figures, the novel depicts ordinary people from the people. The action of the novel is constantly transferred from the palace to the chicken hut; from the boyar estate to the smoky tavern; from the Assumption Cathedral - to the royal wanted list, etc.

After the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (end of the 17th century), a struggle for power begins in Russia. Incited by Princess Sophia, archers rebel. There were two tsars in Moscow (the juvenile Ivan Alekseevich and Pyotr Alekseevich), and above them - the ruler Sophia. “And everything went back to normal. Nothing happened. Over Moscow, over cities, over hundreds of districts, spread over the vast land, the sour century-old twilight - poverty, servility, homelessness.
At the same time, the Brovkin peasant family lives. Once Ivashka Brovkin took his son Alyoshka with him to Moscow, who runs away and meets his peer Aleksashka Menshikov. Alyoshka begins an independent life. And Aleksashka Menshikov had a fleeting meeting with the boy Peter, the future tsar. Soon they will meet again and will not part until the death of Peter.
Growing Peter and his mother Natalya Kirillovna live quietly and boringly in Preobrazhensky. To kill boredom, Peter visits the German settlement and there he meets Franz Lefort (Aleksashka Menshikov is in the service of Lefort), falls in love with Ankhen Mons. Mother Natalya Kirillovna marries Peter Evdokia Lopukhina.

"Funny" troops
Peter in Preobrazhensky is engaged in a "amusing" army, a prototype of the future Russian army. The tsar takes Aleksashka to his bed, and he becomes an intermediary between the tsar and foreigners. Alyosha Brovkin Aleksashka arranges for the "amusing" army as a drummer. Alyosha helps his father with money, and from this small capital, things immediately begin to improve for Ivan Brovkin: he redeems himself from serfdom, becomes a merchant. Peter gives Sanka Brovkina for Vasily Volkov, the former master of the Brovkins. “From now on, nobility is counted according to suitability” - the future motto of Tsar Peter.
A new streltsy rebellion begins in favor of Sophia, who is defeated, the streltsy leaders are terribly tortured and executed. Vasily Golitsyn is sent with his family to eternal exile in Kargopol, Sophia is locked up in the Novodevichy Convent.
Peter's heir is born - Alexei Petrovich, mother Natalya Kirillovna dies.
Peter begins his reforms. We must go into the new 18th century with new achievements. Lefort plays a big role in Peter's transformations.
But the reforms place a heavy burden on the people, who, from exorbitant hardships, begin to rob or go into the forests to the schismatics, but even there they are overtaken by the sovereign's servants. “Western contagion irresistibly penetrated into a drowsy being... The boyars and the local nobility, the clergy and archers were afraid of change, hated the speed and cruelty of everything that was being introduced... But those, rootless, quick, who wanted change, who were fascinated by Europe... these said that they were not mistaken in the young king.
In connection with the preparation of Peter I for military operations against the Ottoman Empire by the end of the 17th century. there was a need to build a regular Russian navy, and only at the expense of the state and with the help of domestic specialists. Peter begins to build ships in Voronezh, and with the help of the fleet, Azov is nevertheless taken, but this leads to a clash with the powerful Turkish Empire. Peter understands that allies must be sought in Europe. Under the name of an officer of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Pyotr Mikhailov, he travels with an embassy to Konigsberg, Berlin, Holland, and England. There he lives as a simple artisan, mastering the necessary crafts.

M. Dobuzhinsky "Peter the Great in Holland"
But during his absence, rumors spread that the king had died and that foreigners had replaced him. Sophia again incites the archers to rebellion, but this rebellion is suppressed, and upon Peter's return to Moscow, torture and executions begin. “The whole country was terrified. The old one was huddled in the dark corners. Byzantine Russia ended.
Tsarina Evdokia Feodorovna is sent to Suzdal, to a monastery, and Anna Mons takes her place. Franz Lefort dies. More and more new ships are being laid down in Voronezh, and now a whole flotilla is sailing to the Crimea, then to the Bosphorus, and the Turks can do nothing with the new Russian naval power that has come from nowhere.
The rich man Ivan Artemyich Brovkin is engaged in deliveries to the army, he has a large house, many eminent merchants are his clerks, his son Yakov is in the navy, his son Gavril is in Holland, the younger Artamon lives with his father. Alexandra Brovkina became a noble lady. And Alexei Brovkin falls in love with Princess Natalya Alekseevna, Peter's sister, she is also not indifferent to him.
In 1700, the young and brave Swedish king Charles XII defeated Russian troops near Narva, occupied Livonia and Poland, wanted to rush after Peter into the depths of Muscovy, but the generals dissuaded him. And Peter rushes between Moscow, Novgorod and Voronezh, re-creating the army; ships are built, new cannons are cast from monastery bells. The army of the nobility is unreliable, now everyone who wants to take its place is recruited, and there are many who want to come from bondage and peasant captivity. Under the command of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, Russian troops captured the fortress of Marienburg; among the prisoners and soldiers, the field marshal notices a pretty girl with straw in her hair and takes her as a housekeeper, but the influential Alexander Menshikov takes the beautiful Katerina for himself. When Peter learns about the betrayal of Anna Mons, Menshikov slips him Katerina, who is the king's heart. Subsequently, she becomes Tsarina Catherine I.

Catherine I
“The embarrassment near Narva was of great benefit to us,” says Peter. “From beating, iron becomes stronger, a person becomes masculine.” He begins the siege of Narva, its defender, General Gorn, does not want to surrender the city, which leads to senseless suffering of its inhabitants. Narva was taken by a furious storm, in the midst of the battle one can see the fearless Menshikov with a sword. General Gorn surrenders. “You will not be honored by me,” says Peter. - Take him to prison, on foot, through the whole city, so that he can see the sad work of his hands ... "
A. Tolstoy worked on the novel from 1929 until his death. The first two books were published in 1934. Shortly before his death in 1943, the writer began work on the third book, but managed to bring the novel only up to the events of 1704.

The image of Peter in the novel

Peter I in childhood
In the first volume we read about Peter's childhood. For the first time, the author shows him as a still frightened child in a Monomakh hat that has slipped to one side, when, at the request of the rebellious archers, the tsarina and Matveev carry the boy out onto the porch to the people. A. Tolstoy also describes other episodes of Peter's real biography.
Gradually, the image of the hero changes. First, it is a 12-year-old teenager, “a boy with a muffled voice and unblinking owl eyes,” whom Aleksashka Menshikov, his future favorite, teaches tricks. Then it is Peter, already spreading his wings, giving the first rebuff to the imperial claims of his elder sister. During the solemn religious procession in the Assumption Cathedral, the hero violates the magnificent church ritual, in the presence of the boyars enters into an argument with Sophia. Then this awkward, lanky young man ...
Peter's youth and youth were full of sharp dramatic clashes and a tense struggle for power. The future king has a restless, but active character, he constantly manifests himself in business: at first these are “amusing” regiments, in relation to which the king’s hot, unbridled temper was fully manifested. This was facilitated by unlimited power and permissiveness, the obedience of others. Gradually, the “amusing” troops turn into Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky, become a force, a support for Peter in the fight against the old way of life, the guardian of which is Princess Sophia. It is supported by boyars and archers.
At that time, the question of which way Russia would go further was being decided. Therefore, it can be said without exaggeration that the role of Peter in the fate of our country is exceptionally great.
But his personality is considered demonic. His gaze is "dark, staring, inhuman". His sharpness, intemperance, cruelty towards enemies, suspiciousness, suspicion are extremely aggravated. The character of Peter, well known from documentary sources, acquires artistic authenticity in the novel.
Despite the fact that the novel remained unfinished, the character of the first Russian emperor is described quite fully. In his image, the features of the people's leader, who knows the way to a new better life and is ready to sacrifice his own and others' fate, and his contradictions, have merged. The image of Peter I shows the best features of the national character, he is truly a "people's tsar-worker", but he is also the arbiter of world history.

V. Serov. "Peter I" (1907)
Not only A. Tolstoy, but also other authors at different times tried to comprehend the role of this outstanding personality. Almost everyone evaluates his character and deeds ambiguously: some consider Peter a great reformer who saved Russia, opened up new prospects for development, others consider him a strong but cruel autocrat who disrupted the smooth course of history.

With all the exaggeration of the role of trading people, the author is not inclined to reveal the mechanism of commercial success. But in the depiction of a new way of life, culture clumsily transplanted onto unprepared soil, ridiculously fitting clothes, a mixture of foreign (often distorted) and Russian words in the speech of many characters, in a fun-ironic display of “polites” (Sanka Brovkina-Volkova, her brother Artamon, “ Maidens” by the Buynosovs, etc.) A. Tolstoy is entirely in his element. He showed both the boyar's disgust for coffee, and the belligerent non-recognition of the potato by the common Russian. Even the lies of the experienced peasant Fedka Wash Yourself with Mud (a nickname that evokes a physiognomy dirtier than mud) about him, allegedly with a bullet in his chest, making a rifle article in front of Charles XII raises him in the eyes of the men who are ready to marvel at everything, letting him in for the night.

The change of the country and people is shown, starting with Peter himself. Being "frightened from his youth," he hates antiquity and willingly parodies it at "the most joking and all-drunk cathedrals." Milestones in the formation of a personality are distinguished: the first visit to the German settlement, a trip to Arkhangelsk, to the sea (A. Tolstoy omitted the second trip, like a number of other historical events, in the name of concentration of action, and singled out some episodes of these events significant for him), and a serious conversation with Lefort, the first major setback near Azov, which made Peter feel cold ("...another person: angry, stubborn, businesslike"), and the second, near Narva, a subsequent experience leading to success and victories.

The speech of the characters and partly of the author, based on modern colloquial speech, is permeated with understandable or immediately explained archaisms and barbarisms that create historical flavor; written documents, partly edited, partly stylized, more archaic. In general, in "Peter the Great" A. Tolstoy reached the pinnacle of his speech and visual skills. Here, for example, is a description of the dances of the Russian guests at the Elector of Hanover: “Menshikov shrugged his shoulders, moved his eyebrows, missed his face and went from toe to heel ... Volunteers who arrived in time from the garden dismantled the ladies and grabbed them in a crouch with twists, mad Tatar squeals. Skirts swirled, wigs tousled. They poured sweat on the German women.

In the first and second books of the novel, not a single character is idealized. But the writer did not stay at this level. In 1934-1935, the play "On the Rack" was transformed into an almost new one - "Peter the Great", where the emphasis on the psychological drama of the reformer was weakened, although the threat of the death of his business remained. Almost simultaneously, the script for a two-part film of the same name (with the participation of director V. Petrov and his assistant N. Leshchenko) began to be created, talentedly embodied on the screen in 1937 and 1939, but already very far from the novel. The originally written episodes were excluded: the self-immolation of the schismatics, the “most jesting cathedral”, Catherine’s betrayal of Peter and Willim Mons (in the novel, not brought to this time, Ankhen Mons’s betrayal with Koenigsek plays a similar role), etc. A gross anachronism is allowed to concentrate the action: in At the time of the Narva defeat (1700), Peter already had an adult son, an enemy of his cause (an analogy to "enemies of the people") - the historical Tsarevich Alexei was then ten years old. In the third edition of the play (1938), out of the ten paintings of the original version, three were left that were heavily altered. The scene of the Battle of Poltava was reworked, the action was moved to the battlefield. The pictures of popular resistance, the scene in the fortress with the death of Alexei, etc., have disappeared. The play, like the film, ends not with a flood, but with Peter's solemn speech after the victorious conclusion of the Northern War and the Senate granting him the title of father of the fatherland.

Between the two Peter books, Tolstoy wrote the novel Black Gold (1931), about emigrants and European politicians organizing an anti-Soviet conspiracy and a terrorist group. The basis of the work is genuine (many portraits of those whom Tolstoy met before the revolution and in exile). The writer said that he was creating a political novel, innovative in genre, which had not yet been in Soviet literature. But his characters are caricatured or turned out to be black villains (although the material gave grounds for this); this novel is more adventurous than political. In 1940, almost rewritten, it came out under the title "Emigrants".

The children's story of 1935 "The Golden Key" is a reworking of the fairy tale by Collodi (Carlo Loranzini, 1826-1890) "Pinocchio", or "The Adventures of the Puppet". The first chapters, before the meeting of Pinocchio with Malvina, are a free retelling, then an independent plot follows, without the didacticism of the primary source and the transformation of a wooden doll into a real exemplary boy. In Tolstoy's fairy tale, dolls receive their own theatre, and during its ideological transformation into a play and a film script (1938), the key began to unlock the door to the "Land of Happiness" - the USSR.

After the abolition of the RAPP (1932), the social position of A. Tolstoy, previously unenviable, was strengthened, but the most independent people, like Akhmatova and Pasternak, treated him hostilely. In 1934, the former count received a slap in the face from the mendicant Jew O. Mandelstam. M. Bulgakov ridiculed him in the image of Fialkov ("Theatrical novel"). True, during the war, in evacuation. Tolstoy easily became friends in Tashkent with Akhmatova and called her Annushka. The soul of any society, he literally spread the “joy of life” around him.

In 1934, according to the memoirs of L. Kogan, Tolstoy scolded his "Eighteenth Year" and talked about the lack of starting points for further work. In anticipation of the continuation (“The Nineteenth Year”, as the author first called his plan in accordance with the “historical” principle), the writer was influenced by the political leadership in the person of K. E. Voroshilov. He outlined his (and Stalinist) version of the events of 1918, which were not covered in the second book of the trilogy, and assigned a general staff worker to Tolstoy for briefing. The writer was supplied with materials from the then-created official “History of the Civil War in the USSR”, a list of participants in the “Tsaritsyn epic”, and was sent to the battlefields. Tolstoy stated in an interview with Stalingradskaya Pravda (1936) that the main characters in his new work on the defense of Tsaritsyn in 1918 “are Lenin. Stalin and Voroshilov. At the same time, in the article “On the Broad Road”, he wrote about the difficulties of “creating images of great people” (although he considered his experience “the beginning, perhaps, of a whole series of stories”): it was necessary to “understand their character”, “understand the line of their behavior. After all, the words that they spoke are not written down anywhere, you can give them (this I did) words that, of course, they did not say. But when they read them, they will say with certainty that they said them."

Those in power were quite satisfied with the recognition as authentic not only words that they did not utter, but also uncompleted (or completely otherwise committed) deeds. The Tsaritsyn "epopee" in the story "Bread (Defence of Tsaritsyn)" (1937) was presented as perhaps the main event of the civil war, Voroshilov and especially Stalin appeared as the saviors of all Soviet Russia from hunger. Lenin, before sending Stalin to Tsaritsyn (the future Stalingrad), consulted with him and accepted his proposal. Ivan Gora, a Red Guard soldier, while fixing a telephone for a hungry leader (there is no one else to fix it), shares bread from his ration with him along the way. Charming Voroshilov skillfully worked with people and no less skillfully chopped with a saber. The commander of the detachment Dumenko (the creator of the first cavalry corps, repressed in 1920) appeared before the reader in a dressing gown, barefoot and drunk, but his assistant Budyonny turned out to be fine and fit in every sense. The “Leader of the Left Communists,” that is, Bukharin, figured without a surname and was clearly caricatured. At the end of the story, Stalin and Voroshilov walked under targeted artillery fire, “without speeding up their pace,” and Stalin also stopped to light his pipe. At the sight of a kite, he reflects on the creation of an "air fleet": "... people can fly better if their forces are freed ..."

Alexei Tolstoy in the novel "Peter the Great" paid tribute to the image of Peter the Great, creating a novel of the same name. Having accepted the revolutionary events, Tolstoy chose for a better understanding of them the most accurate analogy in Russian history - with the era of Peter.

The works of the historical genre, especially the large form, are distinguished by the presence of the author's idea expressed by artistic means about the laws of history, its driving forces and conflicts.

Unlike the novels of the 1920-1930s, which depicted popular uprisings and their leaders (Razin Stepan and Walking People by A. Chapygin, Salavat Yulaev
S. Zlobina, "The Tale of Bolotnikov" by G. Storm and others). A. Tolstoy placed in the center of the work the figure of the king, a figure of historical proportions. In Peter, the writer first of all showed his transformative genius, his understanding of the need for fundamental changes in the life of the country (“In Russia, everything needs to be broken - everything is new”).

The author has no doubts about the historical prospects of the reforms. The meaning of the Petrine era in A. Tolstoy's novel is a breakthrough from the past to the future, from isolation and patriarchy to the number of leading powers of the world, a time of sharp clash between the old and the new. In this, Tolstoy saw a consonance between the "tragic and creative" era of Peter the Great and the revolutionary history of Russia.

If the traditional historical novel is characterized by a focus on
depicting the past, then A. Tolstoy sought to recreate the connection of times, to reveal the common features of critical historical eras. This approach has become a fundamentally new phenomenon for historical prose.

“Formation of the personality in the historical era” - this is how A. Tolstoy defined the main principle of the image. The author does not just recreate the biography of Peter, he seeks to show, on the one hand, how the era influenced the formation of the personality of the hero, and on the other, what was the impact of Peter's
transformations on the fate of the country.

All other problems of the novel are connected with the solution of this main task: the question of the objective necessity and significance of Peter's transformations; depiction of the acute struggle between the new and the old; "Identification of the driving forces of the era", the role of the individual and the people in history.

The idea of ​​the work determined the features of the composition and plot.

The work is distinguished by an epic scale in depicting the life of the country at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. The plot is based on real events of a short but rich period from 1682 to 1704.

The first book of the novel (1930) is a prehistory of Peter's reforms. This is the period of Peter's childhood and youth, cruel life lessons, learning from foreigners, the beginning of the creation of a fleet, military "embarrassment", suppression of the streltsy rebellion.

The second book (1934) includes a description of the initial period of the Northern War and
ends with the construction of St. Petersburg.

The third book was supposed to be the apogee of the depiction of the state activity of Peter, but the novel remained unfinished. In the published chapters of the third book (1943-1944), in accordance with the spirit of wartime when it was created, the main motive was the glorious victories of Russian weapons (the capture of Narva). The novel recreates a lively, dynamic, multifaceted picture of the era.

The first chapter is a historical exposition depicting the life of pre-Petrine Russia. Here, the negative aspects of patriarchal Russian life are accentuated: “poverty, servility, homelessness”, lack of movement (“sour hundred-year twilight”).

General dissatisfaction with life is emphasized by the author's digressions (beginning of ch. 2; ch. 5, subch. 12; beginning of ch. 7). They formulated a general conclusion: "What kind of Russia, the accursed country - when will you move from your place?"

Creating the image of Russia waiting for change, the author uses the cinematic technique of changing angles. The action, which began in the peasant hut of Ivashka Brovkin, is transferred to the estate of Vasily Volkov,
from there to Moscow, more than once it will be delayed on the roads of Russia, it will lead to the royal chambers, where at the bedside of the dying Fyodor Alekseevich it is decided who will be the king.

The place of action is a tavern on Varvarka, where the opinion of ordinary people is expressed, the room of Princess Sophia, the square where archers riot, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Pereslavl, Arkhangelsk, Don, Voronezh, Germany with Holland, Narva.

The multifaceted composition gave the author the opportunity to depict the life of all classes and groups of Russian society: from the royal family, boyars, foreigners to merchant and military people, peasants, schismatics, convicts, fugitives. Along with real facts and characters of history, fictional events and heroes play an important role in the novel.

In this regard, one can especially note the history of the Brovkin family, closely connected with Peter, by the example of which concrete changes in the life of Russian people are shown.

Life, customs, customs, the very spirit of the past era are recreated in the novel based on documents, historical works and other sources. The most important of them was the book of Professor N. Novombergsky "The word and deed of the sovereign", which contains acts of the Secret Chancellery and the Preobrazhensky order. In these "torture records" "people's Russia told, groaned, lied, screamed in pain and fear" (XIII, pp. 567-568).

The simple and precise colloquial language of the 17th century formed the basis of the language of A. Tolstoy's novel. This made it possible to give the work a historical flavor, liveliness and imagery, while making it accessible to the modern reader.

The language of the work reflects the spirit of Peter's transformations, it combines folk words and expressions, archaisms, foreign borrowings. Researchers are unanimous in their opinion about Tolstoy's novel as the pinnacle of the artist's speech and visual skills.

Image of Peter the Great.

The peculiarity of the image of the hero is that the writer shows Peter not as an already established statesman, but traces the process of personality formation under the influence of historical circumstances.

The depicted events in the life of the country become milestones in Peter's personal biography, the stages of his growing up. Tolstoy makes the young hero a witness
the reprisals of the archers with his relatives, and this memory will echo in the future with an irreconcilable conflict with his sister Sophia and the boyars in the struggle for power and the brutal reprisal against the archers.

A visit to the German Quarter arouses Peter's interest in the European way of life. A trip to Arkhangelsk and the sight of foreign ships reinforces in Peter's mind the idea of ​​the need for change.

The author repeatedly uses the technique of paired episodes, showing rapid changes in the character of the hero (for example, two meetings of the Boyar Duma - before
Azov campaign (book 1, ch. 5, ep. 20.) and after it (book 1, ch. 7, ep. 1) - they emphasize: Peter is now "... a different person: angry, stubborn, businesslike."

These oppositions reveal the energy and determination of the protagonist, his willingness to learn from a variety of people, learn from defeats, his sincere pain for the poverty and backwardness of the country, simplicity and lack of arrogance.

Alexei Tolstoy shows Peter as a complex and controversial personality (for example, the scenes of the procession in the Assumption Cathedral - book 1, ch. 4, subch. 2; the end of book 1 - the suppression of the streltsy rebellion; Peter at the Electors - book 1, ch. 7 , subchapter 8; in the smithy near Zhemova — book 2. ch.1, subchapter 10; Peter near Narva — book 2, chapter 4, subchapter 3; book Z. ch.4, subchapter 1; Pyotr In the dugout - book 3, chapter 2, subsection 5).

He, using Pushkin's definition, "with an iron hand / raised Russia on its hind legs." Transformations are carried out at the expense of cruel exploitation, at the cost of thousands of lives, the country breaks out of backwardness through mass executions, torture, and the forcible introduction of elements of European culture.

But the author balances the sharp drama of the situation with attention to the image
the results of the case of Peter (one can compare the description of the life of the peasants on the Volkov estate during the reign of Sophia (book 1, ch. 4, subch. 1) and in the Buynosov estate during the reign of Peter (book 2, ch. 1, subch. 3) ; follow the changes in the life of Ivashka Brovkin).

Peter is shown through the eyes of different people: mother, Sophia, boyars, associates: Menshikov, Brovkin, the German Lefort, ordinary people - the blacksmith Zhemov, the artist Golikov, peasants, builders, soldiers. This allows us to convey the polyphony of opinions about the main content of the image - the case of Peter.

The writer captured a phenomenon unique for the era depicted: a change in traditional social trajectories, the promotion of people not by the nobility of the family, but by intelligence, efficiency, commitment to the new (Menshikov, Alyoshka Brovkin and his sister Sanka, Demidov, etc.).

Defining the relationship between the characters, the writer places them between two poles: supporters and opponents of Peter's reforms. In relation to all characters, even minor ones, the principle of the versatility of the image applies (for example, the image of the boyar Buinosov).

In revealing the psychology of the hero, Tolstoy widely uses the technique of "internal gesture". We are talking about the transfer of the internal state through the external manifestation. through movement, gesture. The writer was convinced that “it is impossible to write a portrait of a hero on as many as ten pages”, “a portrait of a hero must appear from the very movement, struggle, in clashes, in behavior”) (XIII, p. 499)3. That is why the movement and its expression - the verb - are the basis for creating the image.

The people in the novel "Peter the Great".

Peter In the novel by A.N. Tolstoy appears as the brightest embodiment of the Russian national character. Having placed the reformer tsar in the center of the work, the writer paid special attention to depicting the active role of the people in Peter's reforms. In the work, one constantly hears an assessment of what is happening by the people, and for the author this is the most important criterion for the historical justice of Peter's case. In crowd scenes, the people are depicted not statically, but in a clash of conflicting moods. Tolstoy skillfully uses the polylogue, highlights individual figures in the generalized image of the people.

In the second and third books, the author shows the growth of popular discontent, evidence of which is the frequent mention of the name of the rebellious Stepan Razin. The movement of schismatics is also interpreted by Tolstoy as one of the forms of protest against the strengthening of oppression in the era of Peter the Great.

The close-up images of Ovdokim, the tan-bearded Ivan and Fedka Wash Yourself with Mud became the embodiment of the conflict. The finale of the second book of the novel sounds symbolically: a gloomy, branded, shackled man “Fedka wash yourself with Mud, throwing your hair on an inflamed wet forehead, beat and beat with an oak sledgehammer into piles ...”. Here, the bloody efforts that create a passage from Ladoga to the open sea are emphasized, and the threat posed by the construction of the new capital of the empire is emphasized.

Talking about the life of a Russian person, A. Tolstoy emphasizes his industriousness, talent (images of Kuzma Zhemov, Kondrat Vorobyov (book 2, ch. 5, subch. 3); Palekh painter Andrei Golikov (book 2, ch. 5, subch. 3; book 2, chapter 2, subsection 5).

In the battles that Peter leads, such qualities of the Russian people as heroism and courage are clearly manifested. Thanks to the interaction of the images of Peter and the people, the author managed to show the turbulent, contradictory historical movement of Russia and reveal the fate of the nation at a turning point that determined the course of its history for many centuries.

The novel "Peter the Great" is Tolstoy's pinnacle work, which has received recognition both in Russia and in Russian abroad. If the historical concept of the Petrine era was not accepted by everyone, then the highest skill of figurativeness, lively language, and inexhaustible humor made the novel a classic work of Russian literature.

War as a Test of the Russian Character “In the days of the war, Alexei Tolstoy was at his post. His words cheered up, amused, excited the fighters, Tolstoy did not go into silence, did not wait, did not refer to the estrangement of the muses from the music of battle. Tolstoy spoke in October 1941, and Russia will not forget this,” wrote Ilya Ehrenburg.

The leading theme of Tolstoy's work - the Russian character in its historical development - acquired particular relevance during the Great Patriotic War. As in the historical theme, the central image in the works of the war years was the image of the native land, watered with the blood of ancestors, protected by “smart, clean, unhurried”, “protecting their dignity” Russian people. The appeal to the heroic images of national history and culture, the exploits of fathers and grandfathers, characteristic of the public consciousness and culture of the period of the Great Patriotic War, contributed to the strengthening of national self-consciousness. The writer saw the task of literature in being "the voice of the heroic soul
people."

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The system of images in the novel "Peter the Great"

"Peter" is the first true historical novel in our literature, "for a long time," M. Gorky wrote to Alexei Tolstoy. In general, the historical narrative of the writer about Peter the Great became such a “magnificent thing”. Conveying the complexity and dramatic grandeur of the unfolding events, Tolstoy seeks to combine them into an integral plot unity. The writer populates the novel with a huge number of characters. Through the relationship of the characters, the author tries to explore the spirit of the era, to understand the alignment of its driving forces, the events that shaped and developed the personality of Peter.

All the efforts of the writer are aimed at fully and multifacetedly revealing the image of Peter, to show the uniqueness of this figure not only for Russia, but for all times and peoples. But no matter how talented and energetic the king was, he would not have been able to do anything if he had not rallied around him faithful and active people. Subsequently, Pushkin will figuratively and accurately call them "chicks of Petrov's nest."

Who were they? Greedy for life and work, to match Tsar Peter, with his indefatigable energy, strength, will and desire to be useful to Russia.

Franz Lefort was the first friend and mentor who did a lot for Peter's spiritual growth. He introduced the still unintelligent young man to the course of European politics, explained why, sitting on wealth, the Russians are in poverty. After his early death, Peter felt that he had suffered an irreparable loss. That evening, he admitted that Menshikov was the only faithful person to the end, his right hand, "albeit a thieving one."

Having got out of the urban poor, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov was never able to give up some of the habits that were firmly ingrained in his soul.

Menshikov is devoted to Peter to self-forgetfulness, he is ready, at the wave of the “Min Hertz” hand, to go to any business, without hesitation he jumps into the thick of battle, blocking his idol with himself, gives him his beloved woman - the captive Katerina, but it’s not possible to refuse his thieving nature forces, for which it is often beaten by Peter, quick to reprisal.

The Brovkins, who have risen from oblivion, are just as devoted to the tsar. Ivan Artemyich is trying to supply Peter's troops with the best products, the fleet - with hemp and canvas. He gives the king and the most precious - his sons. Brovkins are one of those who do not accumulate wealth by chests, but study languages, sciences, European politeness. Peter above all appreciates knowledge and dedication in people, so he instructs Alexei Brovkin to make a trip to the northern lands, to recruit people suitable for the construction of St. Petersburg and into the troops.

Artamon Brovkin, despite his young age, serves in the embassy department, as he knows languages, understands European politics. Gavrila Brovkin was sent by the tsar to Moscow to help his sister Natalya Alekseevna organize the first theater. Among Peter's associates there are well-born boyars, on whom the tsar can rely in difficult times. This is, first of all, Prince-Caesar Romodanovsky, left by the governor in Moscow. Like a chained dog, he protects the royal property, in the most difficult periods for the king he is his support and support, he opens secret cellars to Peter to equip the troops for the Azov campaign. Sheremetiev, Repnin, Makarov - there are many of them, who, together with Peter, forged the victory near Azov and Narva, then completely defeated the Swedes near Poltava.

If Peter had not had so many followers, faithful and selfless comrades-in-arms, he would not have been able to do anything, but this was precisely the phenomenon of this man, that he could unite the best forces around him, lead him, where only by personal example, and where, if necessary, with the help of a whip and fists, he drove negligent assistants to work. Peter understood that, acting only in a good way, in a good way, he would not achieve anything. Russian society was too ossified in inaction, so all means were good to force them to serve the Fatherland zealously and conscientiously.

A. Tolstoy achieved in world literature an outstanding ability to depict characters in their organic unity with the social and physical environment. Romain Rolland noted that what struck him most about Tolstoy's art was the way the writer "sculpts characters in their surroundings."

Bright, memorable, historically determined, the heroes of A. Tolstoy still amaze readers with their individuality, truthfulness, simplicity and artlessness. This work is of constant interest to both Russian and foreign readers, as it explains the phenomenon of the national Russian character.

The theme of Peter excited the creative imagination of Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy for more than a quarter of a century. Stories, the tragedy "On the Rack" and, of course, the novel "Peter I" were devoted to this topic.

Tolstoy's novel is a "monumental work, consisting of three books and describing in detail the era of Peter's reign. The first book tells about the events connected with the accession of Peter to the throne, about the struggle for power with his opponents. The second book, as conceived by the author, describes the next two decades of the Petrine era. In the third book, which was written in 1944, the author showed the legislative activities of Peter, his reforms, the tsar's trips abroad. Thus, the author set himself the task of giving an objective assessment of the turbulent events of the time of Peter the Great.

Assessing the talent of A. Tolstoy, contemporaries noted his amazing optimism. Even depicting gloomy pictures of history, Tolstoy gives the reader the opportunity to feel his faith in the Russian people, in their past.

Going to write a novel about a historical figure, Tolstoy wanted to show the formation of a person in an era. Like Leo Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace", the author of "Peter G" believes that the individual is not the force that drives history. Personality is a function of the era. She grows out of the era. It seems to designate historical events depending on the contribution made.

Tolstoy's novel is multi-layered. In the final version, the work is structured as follows: the first book is a picture of pre-Petrine Russia. It begins with the depiction of the hard life of a peasant, using the Brovkin family as an example, and ends with scenes of the execution of archers. The second book is the beginning of young Russia created by Peter. It begins with a sad picture of the life of Moscow after the suppression of the Streltsy revolt, and ends with the construction of St. Petersburg. In the third book it is shown that the cause of Peter won and was established. It begins with the lamentation of the old boyars that Moscow is no longer the same after the construction of the new capital. The author wanted to end the book with the triumph of the Poltava victory. But the novel is interrupted by the events connected with the capture of Narva. Thus, the novel explores the life of Russia from the beginning of the 80s of the 17th century to 1704.

Tolstoy is objective in his assessments. Depicting the cruel times of the formation of Peter's power, he shows the conflict between different representatives of the master classes - between the old boyars and supporters of Peter, between the ruling class and the people, and between the Russian state and foreign invaders.

Hard was Peter's struggle against the well-born Miloslavskys and Sophia. It is in this struggle that the heart of the young king hardens. The scenes associated with this struggle i allow us to understand the behavior of Peter during the execution of Tsykler or the massacre of the archers. Sophia's attempt to stay on the throne was not successful, as the Crimean campaigns undertaken at that time were unsuccessful. Golitsyn fantasized more about great feats than he was able to accomplish them. Meanwhile, in his amusing games in Preobrazhensky, Tsar Peter is maturing. The author is not indifferent to the movements of the soul of his characters.

So, the princess loves the handsome Golitsyn, but is doomed to loneliness. Peter is hopelessly in love with the charming Ankhen. Tragic is the fate of Evdokia Lopukhina, Peter's first wife, unloved, but loving in her own way. Of course, the love line is not the main one in the novel, but without it, the story would turn out to be dry and lifeless. Scenes imbued with humor are not rare in Tolstoy's novel. It is impossible to read without a smile how Roman Borisovich Buynosov, dejected by the hated new order, spends the morning. The author skillfully combines detail paintings and generalization paintings in the novel. And this gives the story depth and volume. Surprising and bright, figurative, conveying the features of the time, the language of the novel. The novel is historical, and this is a responsible condition. Tolstoy follows his own special path.

The novel is based on the modern Russian literary language. Archaic elements are very carefully introduced into this language. There are so few of them that it is not necessary for the author to explain them in footnotes. On the other hand, he sometimes resorts to other methods: here he gives explanations nearby.

The central image of the novel is certainly the image of Peter I. Next to him, the author portrayed his associates, as well as those who stood in the way of the new Russia. An important place in the novel is occupied by the image of the people. In the novel about Peter, the people are shown as they were at that time: downtrodden, oppressed, but creating all material values. For example, in the first book, the peasant Gypsy is described, who fled from the landowner, but was returned. He lost an eye in the Azov campaign, began to work as a laborer, as his farm was ruined. From such a life, the Gypsy runs into a gang of robbers, and then goes to prison. Blacksmith Zhomov talks about his fate. He is a serf and dreams of building a flying machine. But there are no funds for the construction. And the master only scoffs at his ideas.

In the second book, we see Zhomov working next to Peter. Here is the hero Fedka, nicknamed Wash with Mud, who reproaches Andryushka Golikov for dreaming of peace in schismatic sketes.

Concluding the story about the great work of the great master, we can quote the words of Tolstoy himself: "To understand the secret of the Russian people, its greatness, you need to know its past well and deeply: our history, its root knots ... in which the Russian character was tied." Alexey Nikolayevich Tolstoy depicts historical facts from the point of view of the interests of contemporary reality, emphasizing the moments important for the education of a new person in the era of the first years of Soviet power.

Peter the Great - character characteristics

PETER THE FIRST is the hero of several works by A. N. Tolstoy: the story "Peter's Day" (1918), the play "On the Rack" (1929, 2nd edition under the title "Peter I" - 1934, 3rd edition - 1938), the historical novel "Peter the Great" (1st book - 1929-1930, 2nd - 1933-1934, 3rd, unfinished - 1944-1945), as well as a screenplay (1937-1939, in co-authorship with director V. M. Petrov). The image of P. in Tolstoy's writings received different interpretations, due to both the time of their writing and genre features that are different for the heroes of the epic plot and the dramatic plot. Nevertheless, the general trend in the interpretation of Peter's personality remained unchanged. historical works of S. M. Solovyov ("Public Readings on Peter the Great", 1872, and other works) with their image of the "people's tsar", called to carry out the great work of transforming Russia, personifying the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bstrong autocratic power, understood as an out-of-class and above-class phenomenon Tolstoy is certainly close to Pushkin's image of Peter, the hero of Poltava, who erected "a huge monument to himself as a citizen of a northern power." In the image of Tolstoy, P. has nothing to do with the "tsar-antichrist", as Merezhkovsky showed him. But the enemies of the cause of Petrov are obvious servants of the antichrist, performing "black masses", fearing the dawn of Russia. In the play "On the Rack" P. is shown as an exceptional and tragic personality. This, in the words of B. V. Alpers, is Gulliver, who has fallen into the country of the Lilliputians. He is the only bearer of the transforming will, doomed to, surrounded by betrayal and betrayal. While P. strong, everything is subject to him. Literally at the wave of a hand, a city is erected and a fleet is created. But only the forces leave P., and everything rises against him. In the finale, the dying emperor sees how the storm breaks the fleet he built into chips, and the rushing sea floods the one he built city ​​In Tolstoy's novel, the chronology of which covers the period from 1682 to 1704, from the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich and the wedding of Ivan and Peter to the kingdom to the capture of Narva, the image of P. acquired greater historical objectivity, although he lost the tragic component of the hero of the play. Faces opposition, suppresses rebellions, fights hordes of enemies, but his historical victory is predetermined. (1930), in which the role of P. was played by V. V. Gotov-tsev. In the production of the third edition of the play on the stage of the Leningrad Drama Theater. Pushkin P. was played by N.K. Cherkasov (1938). The most significant actor's embodiment of this image belongs to N. K. Simonov, who played the role of P. in the film by V. M. Petrov (1937-1939).