Composition “The social theme in the work of A.I. Kuprin

Kuprin always passionately and tenderly loved Russia. This feeling is reflected in his work. The main themes of the realist writer's work are ordinary working people, Balaklava fishermen magnificent in labor and revelry, philosophizing lieutenants and tortured privates, the magnificent nature of Russia with its inhabitants, the circus and children, as well as a number of works in which there is a place for the mystical and even fantastic. .

experiences and accumulated life experience, received in educational military institutions and in the service, Kuprin conveys in his works through the image of a “little” person, oppressed by an offensively alien and hostile environment. Topic oppression and insults of the "little" person transmitted
in the story "Duel" (1905), the story "Inquiry" (1894), as well as in early work Kuprin - the story "At the Break" ("The Cadets", 1900). In the story "At the Break" Kuprin captured in detail the morals that crippled the child's soul, the inertia of the authorities, the "universal cult of the fist", who gave the weak to be torn to pieces by the stronger, and finally, desperate longing for the family
and home» . The same deep sympathy for the common man is imbued with Kuprin’s early stories from army life (“Inquiry”
and “Army Ensign”), as well as stories denouncing bribe-taking officials and swindlers (“Unofficial Audit” and “The Petitioner”).

Work at the factories of the Donetsk basin in 1896 served as material for a series of essays on the situation of workers, which were later transformed into Kuprin's first major work - the story "Molokhov". The theme of these stories and stories were ordinary working people.

Kuprin continues to develop theme of ordinary, ordinary people, workers different professions . Another well-known group of works dedicated to ordinary people, - essays "Listrigons". The essays develop the theme of the life of Balaklava fishermen, glorify their hard work,
as well as healthy and courageous people living a harsh but emotional life. This theme began to develop even in the essays "The Lord's Fish", "Silence" and "Mackerel" (issued under the general title "Balaklava" in 1908), as well as in subsequent essays: "Theft"
and "Beluga", released under the general name "Listrigons". Among the works written far from the Motherland, it should be noted Kuprin's story "Svetlana" (1934).

In his story “The Pit”, Kuprin opens a theme that is very unusual for the literature of that time, the theme women who find themselves at the bottom of life. Kuprin describes the images of prostitutes, creating lively and beautiful characters. The author treats his characters with deep sympathy, causing regret and deep compassion. Unfortunately, the story "The Pit" did not become an outstanding phenomenon in Russian literature. It's connected
that " the naturalistic descriptiveness that arose in The Pit was in conflict with the aesthetic principles that were embodied in a number of his previous works - with faith in man,
with the glorification of beauty, hatred of social forces that destroy beauty» . Kuprin's intentions did not include admiring the "bottom", however, when reading the story, one gets the feeling that the author sometimes admires the paintings he creates. In his story, Kuprin showed a person already mutilated by society, who had fallen to the bottom of bourgeois society, and not the process of mutilation human personality. Such a controversial work for the author himself, however, did not deviate from its main theme, the theme of the "little" man, while adding the theme of bourgeois society.

Topic bourgeois society, or rather, Kuprin's criticism of the bourgeois intelligentsia is presented in the stories "The Killer", "Resentment", "Delirium" and the fairy tale "Mechanical Justice". These works are related common idea protest against human violence.

Kuprin's acting activity contributed to the writing of works about the circus, about simple and noble people- wrestlers, clowns, trainers, acrobats. Several stories have been devoted to this topic.
and Kuprin's stories: "Olga Sur" (1929), "Bad Pun" (1929), "Blondel" (1933), "White Poodle".

One of the common themes in the work of A. I. Kuprin is nature theme love and respect for the environment. Kuprin, as a realist writer, quite fully and colorfully describes the landscapes of his beloved homeland.
and other places. In the descriptions of nature, one feels deep sympathy and love for these places, as well as respect for its inhabitants. Theme of the world
in Kuprin's work it is present in many of his works: somewhere it is shown in ordinary descriptions of the area, somewhere it helps to understand the plot of the work and the state of mind of the characters, and somewhere it is the key theme of the work. Among the stories of Kuprin there are several about the world around, where the most ordinary animals become heroes, which turn into heroes on the pages of the work. In the work of Kuprin, among the stories telling about animals, the stories "White Poodle", "Barbos and Zhulka", "Emerald", "Ralph", "Yu-yu", "Elephant" stood out. These stories were written by the author in different years, but they are united by a common idea - to show readers the possibilities and abilities of animals, their dignity.
and quality, as well as to convince future writers to pay attention to the natural world and its representatives.

Speaking about the theme of nature, one should not forget that in his works Kuprin wrote a lot about children and for children. Kuprin was very fond of children.
He treated them in a friendly way and believed that they should not be treated lightly, like a clown. Kuprin wrote many works for children,
these include works of the genre of fairy tale legends (“The Blue Star”), as well as several works about animals.

No less important in the work of Kuprin was the theme love
and romantic feelings. This theme is filled with lines such
famous works, as the story "Olesya", "Garnet Bracelet"
and the story "The Wheel of Time", written in Marseille, as well as the early story "A Strange Case" and many other works.

The story "Olesya" touches on the topic simple working people,
topic yearning for nature, and also in the plot of the story there is mysticism. The theme of love in the story "Olesya" is transmitted through the romance of love.
and dramatic feeling.

« Love to the point of self-denial and even self-destruction, the willingness to die in the name of the beloved woman..."- exactly in this
understanding reveals the theme of love in Kuprin's early story
"A Strange Case" (1895), and later in " Garnet bracelet". K. Paustovsky wrote about the theme of love in the story "Garnet Bracelet":
“... love exists as an unexpected gift - poetic,
illuminating life, among everyday life, among sober reality
and settled life” .

Topic wars in the works of Kuprin is most fully represented
in the story "Cantaloupe". In the story, unpretentious and "plotless",
the author, through the character of the hero, denounces the hypocrite, " ... ominously paints the figures of bourgeois money-grubbers, for whom the people's grief is a source of new profits» .

In his works, Kuprin considered theme of war Not only
on the part of oppression and profit-making by bourgeois money-grubbers.
In his works about the war, the writer tells about the life of ordinary Russian people, who were obliged to fulfill their duty to their homeland. Creating images of heroes, Kuprin endows them with warmth and good-natured humor. A military pilot became such a hero
in the story "Sashka and Yashka".

During the years of exile, Kuprin yearns for the Motherland, which he writes about in his essay “Motherland”. The theme of longing for Russia is clearly expressed in Kuprin's major work - the story "Janeta". In his autobiography "Junker" Kuprin additionally opens the theme of Moscow, Moscow " forty magpies» .

In addition to his usual, already well-established themes, Kuprin tries himself
in genres like fantasy novel, fairy tale legend, religious legend and others. However, creating some fiction, changing images
and surrounding the world of heroes of works, Kuprin remains true to his principles of realism.

In his works of the fantastic genre, he only reveals the ability to combine the fantastic with the life-concrete. This skill is revealed in the fantastic story "The Star of Solomon".

Kuprin's works in the genre of fairy tale legends are very interesting and entertaining. A little humorous, vital and instructive, they found their reader, both among children and adults. especially witty and instructive tale became the "Blue Star", which in its motive resembles a fairy tale Andersen « Ugly duck". This genre includes the works "Four Beggars" and "Hero, Leander and the Shepherd".

To the genre religious legends Kuprin turns during the war years.
In the works "Two Saints" and "The Garden of the Blessed Virgin" (1915), deep respect and sympathy for the common people, oppressed
and humiliated.

Kuprin is known to literature not only as writer, but also how journalist, publicist and even editor.

While still a young writer, in 1894 Kuprin filed a petition
about resignation and moves to Kyiv. The writer works in newspapers, writes stories, essays, notes. The result of this half-writing, half-reporting work was two collections: essays "Kyiv types" (1896) and stories "Miniatures" (1897).

After 1902, Kuprin participated in the publication of the journal "The World of God" as an editor, and also published several of his works in it: "In the Circus", "Swamp" (1902), "Measles" (1904), "From the Street" (1904 ), however, to the editorial work, which interfered with his work, he soon cools.

1. Introduction

Among the outstanding Russian writers of the early twentieth century, one of the most prominent and original places belongs to Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, ”writes V. N. Afanasiev.

The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is closely connected with the traditions of Russian realism. In his work, the writer relied on the achievements of his three idols: Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy and Chekhov. The main direction of Kuprin's creative search is expressed in the following phrase: "We need to write not about how people have become impoverished in spirit and vulgarized, but about the triumph of man, about his strength and power." The themes of this writer's works are extremely diverse. But Kuprin has one cherished theme. This theme of love is one of the highest values ​​in the life of A.I. Kuprin, therefore, in his stories "Garnet Bracelet" and "Olesya" he touches on this burning topic for all time. These works bring together common features, the most important of which is the tragic fate of the main characters. In his stories, love is disinterested, selfless, not thirsty for reward, love for which to accomplish any feat, to go to torment is not labor at all, but joy.
The story "Garnet Bracelet" is a confirmation of what the writer is looking for in real life people "obsessed" with a high sense of love, able to rise above those around them, above vulgarity and lack of spirituality, ready to give everything without demanding anything in return.

1. The main themes and motives in the work of A.I. Kuprin

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is a recognized master of the short story, the author of wonderful stories. In them, he created a broad, multifaceted picture of Russian life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “Man came into the world for boundless freedom of creativity and happiness” - these words from Kuprin's essay could be taken as an epigraph to all his work. A big lover of life, he believed that life would get better. The dream of happiness, of beautiful love - these motives are reflected in the work of Kuprin.

One of the most researched themes in the work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is the theme of love. The theme of love occupies one of the main places in the works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. With his inherent high artistic taste, excellent language, subtle understanding of the psychology of his heroes, he writes about love. Love is one of the brightest and most beautiful human feelings. The dream of happiness, of beautiful love - these are eternal themes in the work of writers, poets, artists, composers. The writer refers to different eras, depicts dissimilar heroes belonging to different strata of society, but all of them are united by love, noble, selfless, devoted, ready for
self-sacrifice. It is this kind of love that is shown in the best works of Kuprin: "Olesya" and "Garnet Bracelet". "Garnet Bracelet" is a beautiful story about undivided great love, love, "which is repeated only once in a thousand years." V. N. Afanasiev in his article “A. I. Kuprin" writes that "having made his "little man" capable only of selfless ... love and denying him any other interests, Kuprin involuntarily impoverished, limited the image of the hero. Fenced off by love from life with all its worries and anxieties ... Zheltkov thereby impoverishes love itself ... this quiet, submissive adoration ... without fighting for a loved one ... dries up the soul, makes it timid and powerless. Critic A. A. Volkov speaks of unrequited love in the writer’s works, which “opens up the opportunity to convey the high intensity of human experiences, to show how destructive the moral foundations of bourgeois society are for a person.”

In The Pomegranate Bracelet, General Anosov claims that true love is always greatest tragedy. According to Volkov, true “love can arise where a person is close to nature, where social contrasts and the destructive influence of “Moloch” (“Olesya”) are not so felt. The forest fairy tale ends tragically. Volkov believes that the environment in which the heroes were brought up is to blame: a girl “brought up in the midst of nature and free from all the conventions of a petty-bourgeois hostel and a man “weak” in front of these conventions could not be together.

Love allows heroes to show the best human qualities: spiritual purity, kindness, the ability to sacrifice themselves for the sake of a loved one. The love of Kuprin's heroes has a thousand shades, and in each of its manifestations there is its own sadness, its own break, its own fragrance. Even despite the tragic denouement, the characters are happy, because they believe that the love that illuminated their lives is a genuine, wonderful feeling.

Also a well-researched topic in Kuprin's work is the problems of the army. Many critics and literary critics called Kuprin the Columbus of the “army mainland”. He, for certain, knows the laws that reign in the army, he experienced all the military drill on himself. When The Duel came out, it was immediately acclaimed by cutting-edge critics. Afanasiev believed that, portraying the tsarist army, Kuprin “managed to touch upon ... a number of issues that deeply worried everyone Russian society and especially acute on the eve and during the first Russian revolution. But the most important thing was the concept that made it possible to discover ... the vices of military life ... as an expression of the general incurable ailment of the monarchical system. A. A. Volkov believed that in the “Duel” the author sought to show “to what a terrifying state the senseless drill, cane discipline brought the already downtrodden, ignorant soldier mass. Reactionary criticism fell upon Kuprin, accusing him of slandering the army. And Lvov, and Volkov, and Afanasiev, and many other critics and literary critics spoke about the talent of Kuprin, a satirist who managed to expose the army life of tsarist times.

Continuing the traditions of Pushkin and Dostoevsky, Kuprin reveals the theme of the “little man”, whom he sympathizes with, reveals his spiritual qualities. On the eve of the revolution and during its years, the theme of “the little man was the main one in the work of Kuprin. Attention to the "little man", protection of his ability to feel, love, suffer, in the spirit of Dostoevsky and Gogol. An example of this is Zheltkov from the Garnet Bracelet.

Also, the early work of Alexander Ivanovich was well studied by critics. All of them distinguish the same boundaries of early creativity - this is approximately seven years from 1889 to 1896, i.e. from the writer's first appearance in print with the story "The Last Debut" to the creation of the story "Moloch" - the first major in ideological and artistic terms, original works. Afanasiev believed that in the early stories, despite their unequal value, “the main, leading line is manifested, connected with the desire of their author to reveal the spiritual beauty of a working man, a man from the people, to show the unsightly appearance of the “masters of life”. Kuleshov believes that it is in early work“A circle of the writer’s favorite topics is outlined and the search begins goodie". For seven to eight years of his writing youth, Kuprin published about forty stories, two stories, fourteen everyday essays, half a dozen "production" essays, a number of poems, countless reporter's notes, newspaper articles, feuilletons, correspondence and chronicles.

And another insufficiently studied topic is the masses in the work of Kuprin. Kuprin, like Turgenev, took a different look at the people. In the depiction of ordinary people, Kuprin differed from writers prone to popular worship. His democratism was not limited to a tearful demonstration of their "humiliation and insult." A simple man at Kuprin turned out to be not only weak, but also able to fend for himself. Folk life appeared in his works in its free, spontaneous, natural course, with its own circle of ordinary concerns - not only sorrows, but also joys and consolations.

Another topic is Kuprin the psychologist. According to Volkov, “Kuprin reveals a great ability for artistic transformation, “entry” into the image, which allowed him to create living characters and convey the complex train of thought and feelings of his characters with deep truthfulness. The strength of Kuprin as an artist was revealed in the disclosure of the psychology of people placed in various life circumstances, especially those in which nobility and fortitude are manifested.

3. The story "Garnet bracelet"

AI Kuprin worked on the story in Odessa. "Garnet Bracelet" was started in September, completed - in early December 1910. In 1908 - 1910. Kuprin creates a whole cycle of short stories about love. This series opens with the story "Shulamith", and ends with the realistic story "Garnet Bracelet". The theme of love has always worried the writer. And this feeling was regarded by him as elevating "to an infinite height the value of the human personality", giving equally beautiful "gentle chaste fragrance" and "awe of intoxication" with pure passion. At the same time, Kuprin clearly saw the tragic outcome of love, so he wrote a wonderful story "Garnet Bracelet".

"Garnet Bracelet" is one of the most touching, saddest tales of unrequited love. As V. G. Afanasiev wrote: “Love has always been the main, organizing theme of all great works Kuprin. In "Garnet Bracelet" - a great passionate feeling that inspires the characters, determines the movement of the plot, helps to reveal the best qualities of the characters.

The most surprising in this story can be considered the epigraph: “L. van Beethoven.2 Son (op. 2, no. 2). Largo Appassionato. Here the sadness and delight of love are combined with the music of Beethoven. Music surprisingly harmonizes with the experiences of Vera, in whose soul the words “Hallowed be Thy name” sound. In these gentle sounds - life, which "dutifully and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death." The story "Garnet Bracelet" is a textbook of life, a source of wisdom and moral purity. The essence of a great feeling is revealed to us in its entirety.

The originality of this story is in the gradual, as if imperceptible emergence, growth of the tragic theme.

The love of the little official Zheltkov is alien to this deep secrecy, in which noble modesty is intertwined with pride, alien to this fear, even with the slightest hint, to disturb the peace of the Only and unattainable. Kuprin's hero systematically makes himself known to his Madonna, sometimes approaching that dangerous line beyond which importunity already begins. Funny in his behavior is not the most important thing. This is just the outward clumsiness of a person who has grown up and lives in a social environment. The love of this strange, lonely man turned out to be serious and tragic. The story “Garnet Bracelet” has a real basis. Throughout the story, Kuprin tries to inspire readers with “the concept of love on the verge of life”, and he does this through Zheltkov, for him love is life, therefore, no love - no life. And when Vera’s husband insistently asks to stop love, his life also stops: “... you are offered one of two things: either you completely refuse to persecute Princess Vera Nikolaevna, or, if you do not agree to this, we will take measures that our position will allow us …”.

In an effort to sing the beauty of a high, but obviously unrequited feeling, which “perhaps one in a thousand is capable of,” Kuprin endows the tiny official Zheltkov with this feeling. His love for Princess Vera Sheina is unrequited, unable to inspire him. Closed in itself, this love has no creative, creative power. “It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people,” Zheltkov writes before his death to the object of his worship, “for me, all life lies only in you.” A petty official, a lonely and timid dreamer, hopelessly in love with a young secular lady. Princess Vera. An unrequited romance has been going on for eight years. In the beloved woman for Zheltkov, all the beauty of the earth is embodied: “there is no beast, no plant, no man, more beautiful than you and more tender,” he writes in a farewell letter to her. The lover's letters serve as the subjects of ridicule of Vera Nikolaevna's family members, and the gift sent to the lovers - a garnet bracelet - causes a storm of indignation, and only the old general Anosov guesses the true motives: “Maybe your true path, Verochka, crossed exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.

Zheltkov - was he a sick man, and pursued an unfortunate woman, or was he sick with love - unrequited, the most cruel love in the world, which did not give hope for reciprocity. Eight years of "hopeless and polite love" have passed, but the feeling cannot be drowned out. Zheltkov sees the only way out - death. The "huge tragedy of the soul" is resolved by suicide. The very story of extraordinary love, the story of the garnet bracelet, is told in such a way that we see it through the eyes of different people: Prince Vasily, who tells it as an anecdotal incident, brother Nikolai, for whom everything in this story is seen as insulting and suspicious, Vera Nikolaevna herself, and, finally, General Anosov, who was the first to suggest that, perhaps, lies real love, "which women dream of and which men are no longer capable of." The circle to which Vera Nikolaevna belongs cannot admit that this is a real feeling, not so much because of the strange behavior of Zheltkov, so much because of the prejudices that rule them. Kuprin, wishing to convince us readers of the authenticity of Zheltkov's love, resorts to the most irrefutable argument - the hero's suicide. Thus, the right of the little man to happiness is affirmed, but the motive of his moral superiority over the people who so cruelly offended him, who failed to understand the strength of the feeling that made up the whole meaning of his life, arises. Leaving forever, he thought that the path of Vera would become free, and life would get better and go on as before. But there is no way back. Saying goodbye to Zheltkov's body was the climax of her life. At that moment, the power of love reached its maximum value, became equal to death. Eight years of bad, selfless love, demanding nothing in return, eight years of devotion to a sweet ideal, selflessness from one's own principles. In one short moment of happiness, sacrificing everything accumulated over such a long period of time is not for everyone. But Zheltkov's love for Vera did not obey any models, she was above them. And even if her end turned out to be tragic, Zheltkov's forgiveness was rewarded. Zheltkov kills himself so as not to interfere with the life of the princess, and, dying, thanks her for the fact that she was for him "the only joy in life, the only consolation, one thought." This story is not so much about love as a prayer to it. In his dying letter, the loving official blesses his beloved princess: “When I leave, I say in delight: “Hallowed be thy name.” The crystal palace in which Vera lived crashed, letting a lot of light, warmth, sincerity into life. Merging in the finale with Beethoven's music, it merges with Zheltkov's love and eternal memory of him, saluting Zheltkov's feelings.

Short description

Among the outstanding Russian writers of the early twentieth century, one of the most prominent and original places belongs to Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, ”writes V. N. Afanasiev.
The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is closely connected with the traditions of Russian realism. In his work, the writer relied on the achievements of his three idols: Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy and Chekhov. The main direction of Kuprin's creative search is expressed in the following phrase: "We need to write not about how people have become impoverished in spirit and vulgarized, but about the triumph of man, about his strength and power."

1. A word about the work of A. I. Kuprin.

2. Main themes and let's go creativity:

a) "Moloch" - an image of bourgeois society;

b) the image of the army ("Night shift", "Campaign", "Duel");

c) conflict romantic hero with everyday reality ("Olesya");

d) the theme of the harmony of nature, the beauty of man ("Emerald", "White Poodle", "Dog's Happiness", "Shulamith");

e) the theme of love ("Garnet bracelet").

3. Spiritual atmosphere of the era.

1. The work of A. I. Kuprin is peculiar and interesting, it strikes the author's observational ability and the amazing plausibility with which he describes people's lives. As a realist writer, Kuprin carefully peers into life and highlights the main, essential aspects in it.

2. a) This gave Kuprin the opportunity to create in 1896 a major work "Moloch", dedicated to the most important topic of the capitalist development of Russia. Truthfully and without embellishment, the writer depicted the true face of bourgeois civilization. In this work, he denounces hypocritical morality, corruption and falsehood in relations between people in a capitalist society.

Kuprin shows a large factory where the workers are brutally exploited. The main character, engineer Bobrov, an honest, humane person, is shocked and outraged by this terrible picture. At the same time, the author depicts the workers as an uncomplaining crowd, powerless to take any active action. In Moloch, motifs were outlined that are characteristic of all subsequent work of Kuprin. Images of humanist truth-seekers will pass in a long line in many of his works. These heroes yearn for the beauty of life, rejecting the ugly bourgeois reality of their time.

b) Pages full of great revealing power were dedicated by Kuprin to the description of the tsarist army. The army was the stronghold of the autocracy, against which all the progressive forces of Russian society rose up in those years. That is why Kuprin's works "Night Shift", "Campaign", and then "Duel" had a great public impact. The tsarist army, with its mediocre, morally degenerated command, appears on the pages of "Duel" in all its unsightly appearance. Before us is a whole gallery of stupid and geeks, devoid of any glimmer of humanity. They are opposed main character lead Lieutenant Romashov. He wholeheartedly protests against this nightmare, but is unable to find a way to overcome it. Hence the name of the story - "Duel". The theme of the story is the drama of the "little man", his duel with an ignorant environment, which ends with the death of the hero.

c) But not in all his works Kuprin adheres to the framework of a strictly realistic direction. There are also romantic tendencies in his stories. He places romantic heroes in everyday life, in a real environment, next to ordinary people. And very often, therefore, the main conflict in his works becomes the conflict of a romantic hero with everyday life, dullness, and vulgarity.

In the wonderful story "Olesya", imbued with genuine humanism, Kuprin sings of people living in the midst of nature, untouched by money-grubbing and corrupting bourgeois civilization. Against the backdrop of wild, majestic, beautiful nature, strong, original people live - “children of nature”. Such is Olesya, who is as simple, natural and beautiful as nature itself. The author clearly romanticizes the image of the “daughter of the forests”. But her behavior, psychologically subtly motivated, allows you to see the real prospects of life. Endowed with unprecedented strength, the soul brings harmony into the obviously contradictory relationships of people. Such a rare gift is expressed in love for Ivan Timofeevich. Olesya, as it were, returns the naturalness of experiences that he had briefly lost. Thus, the story describes the love of a realist person and romantic heroine. Ivan Timofeevich falls into romantic world heroine, and she - in his reality.

d) The theme of nature and man worries Kuprin throughout his life. The power and beauty of nature, animals as an integral part of nature, a person who has not lost touch with it, living according to its laws - these are the facets of this topic. Kuprin admires the beauty of the horse ("Emerald"), the fidelity of the dog ("White Poodle", "Dog's Happiness"), female youth ("Shulamith"). Kuprin sings of the beautiful, harmonious, living world of nature.

e) Only where a person lives in harmony with nature, love is beautiful and natural. In the artificial life of people, love, true love, which happens once in a hundred years, turns out to be unrecognized, misunderstood and persecuted. In The Pomegranate Bracelet, the poor official Zheltkov is endowed with this gift of love. Great love becomes the meaning and content of his life. The heroine - Princess Vera Sheina - not only does not respond to his feelings, but also perceives his letters, a gift - a garnet bracelet - as something unnecessary, disturbing her peace, her usual way of life. Only after Zheltkov's death does she realize that "the love that every woman dreams of" has passed by. Mutual, perfect love did not take place, but this high and poetic feeling, even if concentrated in one soul, opens the way to a beautiful rebirth of another. Here the author shows love as a phenomenon of life, as an unexpected gift - poetic, illuminating life in the midst of everyday life, sober reality and sustainable life.

3. Thinking about the individuality of the hero, his place among others, about the fate of Russia in a time of crisis, at the turn of two centuries, Kuprin studied the spiritual atmosphere of the era, portrayed "living pictures" of the environment.

"GARNET BRACELET"

Another work that excited me, which is called “Garnet Bracelet”, also shows true love. In this work, Kuprin depicts the fragility and insecurity of high human feelings. G. S. Zheltkov - one of the employees in a government institution. He has been in love with Vera Nikolaevna Sheina for eight years now, but his feelings are unrequited. Zheltkov, even before Vera's marriage, wrote to her Love letters. But no one knew who sent them, since Zheltkov signed with the initials “P. P. J.”. It was assumed that this was an abnormal, crazy, madman, “maniac”. But this was a man who truly loved. Zheltkov's love was selfless, selfless, not waiting for a reward, "love for which to accomplish any feat, to give one's life, to go to torment is not labor at all, but one joy." That's exactly what Zheltkov's love for Vera was like. In his life he loved only her and no one else. Faith for him was the only joy in life, the only consolation, "a single thought." And since his love had no future, it was hopeless, he committed suicide.

The heroine is married, but she loves her husband, and on the contrary, she does not feel any feelings towards Mr. Zheltkov, except for annoyance. And Zheltkov himself seems to us at first just a vulgar boyfriend. This is how Vera and her family perceive him. But in the story of a calm and happy life, disturbing notes flash: this fatal love brother of Vera's husband; the love-adoration that the husband has for Vera's sister; the failed love of grandfather Vera, it is this general who says that true love should be a tragedy, but in life it is trivialized, interferes with life and different kind conventions. He tells two stories (one of them even somewhat resembles the plot of the “Duel”), where true love turns into a farce. Listening to this story, Vera has already received a garnet bracelet with a bloody stone, which should save her from misfortune, and could save her former owner from a violent death. It is from this gift that the reader's attitude towards Zheltkov changes. He sacrifices everything for his love: career, money, peace of mind. And asks for nothing in return.

But again, empty secular conventions ruin even this illusory happiness. Nikolai, Vera's brother-in-law, who himself once yielded his love to these prejudices, now demands the same from Zheltkov, he threatens with prison, a court of society, and his connections. But Zheltkov reasonably objects: what can all these threats do to his love? Unlike Nikolai (and Romashov), he is ready to fight and defend his feelings. The barriers put up by society mean nothing to him. Only for the peace of his beloved, he is ready to give up love, but along with life: he commits suicide.

Now Vera understands what she has lost. If Shurochka gave up feelings for the sake of well-being and did it consciously, then Vera simply did not see a great feeling. But after all, in the end, she did not want to see him, she preferred peace and familiar life (although nothing was demanded of her), and by this, as it were, she betrayed the person who loved her. But true love generous - she was forgiven.

By definition of Kuprin himself, “Garnet Bracelet” is his most “chaste” thing. traditional plot about the little official and the woman secular society Kuprin turned it into a poem about unrequited love, sublime, selfless, selfless.

The owner of spiritual wealth, the beauty of feeling in the story is a poor man - the official Zheltkov, who sincerely loved Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina for seven years. “For him there was no life without you,” said the husband of the princess, Prince Vasily, about Zheltkov. Zheltkov loved Sheina without the slightest hope of reciprocity. Happiness for him was already the fact that she read his letters. Zheltkov was dear to all the little things associated with her. He kept the handkerchief she had forgotten, the program she kept, the note in which the princess forbade writing to her. He worshiped these things as believers worship holy relics. “I mentally bow to the ground of the furniture you sit on, the parquet floor you walk on, the trees you touch in passing, the servants you talk to.” Zheltkov deified the princess, even dying: “Leaving, I say in delight: “Hallowed be thy name.” In the boring life of a petty official, in the constant struggle for life, work for a piece of bread, this suddenly arisen feeling was, in the words of the hero himself, “... tremendous happiness ... love that God was pleased to reward me for something.”

Zheltkova was not able to understand the brother of Princess Vera, but her husband, Prince Vasily Lvovich, appreciated the feeling of this person, although he was forced by the laws of decency to stop this story. He foresaw a tragic end: “It seemed to me that I was present at the enormous suffering from which people die,” he admits to Vera.

Princess Vera at first treated with some contempt the letters and gifts of G.S.Zh., then pity for the unfortunate lover stirred in her soul. After Zheltkov's death, "... she realized that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by."

After the death of Zheltkov, Vera came to agreement with herself only after she listened to “ best work Beethoven" - Second sonata. The music, as it were, was telling her on behalf of Zheltkov’s soul: “You and I love each other for only one moment, but forever.” And Vera feels that neither anger, nor hatred, nor even resentment really stirred in the soul of a poor person at the hour of death. to her, the culprit of great happiness and great tragedy life of Zheltkov, and that he died loving and blessing his beloved.

Kuprin showed in his story "Garnet Bracelet" light human feelings, opposed to the callousness of the surrounding world.

In the story "Garnet Bracelet" Kuprin, with all the strength of his skill, develops the idea of ​​​​true love. He does not want to put up with vulgar, practical views on love and marriage, drawing our attention to these problems quite in an unusual way, equaling the perfect feeling. Through the mouth of General Anosov, he says: “... People in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see true love. I haven't seen it in my time either." What's this? Call? Isn't what we feel the truth? We have calm moderate happiness with the person we need. What more? According to Kuprin, “Love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No comforts of life, calculations and compromises should concern her.” Only then can love be called a real feeling, completely true and moral.

I still cannot forget the impression Zheltkov's feelings made on me. How much he loved Vera Nikolaevna that he could commit suicide! This is madness! Loving Princess Sheina "seven years of hopeless and polite love", he, never meeting her, talking about his love only in letters, suddenly commits suicide! Not because the brother of Vera Nikolaevna is going to turn to power, and not because they returned his gift - a garnet bracelet. (He is a symbol of deep fiery love and at the same time a terrible bloody sign of death.) And, probably, not because he squandered government money. For Zheltkov, there was simply no other way out. He loved married woman so that he could not stop thinking about her even for a minute, to exist without remembering her smile, look, the sound of her gait. He himself says to Vera's husband: "There is only one thing left - death ... You want, I will accept it in any form." The terrible thing is that Vera Nikolaevna's brother and husband, who came to demand that their family be left alone, pushed him to this decision. They turned out to be, as it were, indirect culprits of his death. They had the right to demand peace, but on the part of Nikolai Nikolaevich it was unacceptable, even a ridiculous threat to appeal to the authorities. How can power forbid a person to love!

Kuprin's ideal is “love is disinterested, selfless, not waiting for a reward”, one for which you can give your life and endure anything. It was this kind of love, which happens once in a thousand years, that Zheltkov loved. This was his need, the meaning of life, and he proved this: “I didn’t know any complaint, no reproach, no pain of self-love, I have only one prayer before you: “Hallowed be thy name.” These words, with which his soul was overflowing, are felt by Princess Vera in the sounds immortal sonata Beethoven. They cannot leave us indifferent and instill in us an unbridled desire to strive for the same incomparably pure feeling. Its roots go back to morality and spiritual harmony in a person ... Princess Vera did not regret that this love, "of which every woman dreams, passed her by." She cries because her soul is overwhelmed with admiration for sublime, almost unearthly feelings.

A person who could love so much must have some kind of special worldview. Although Zheltkov was only a small official, he turned out to be above social norms and standards. Such people as they are elevated by human rumor to the rank of saints, and a bright memory lives about them for a long time.

"DUEL"

Georgy Romashov, "Romochka", from "Duel" - a young officer. His character does not correspond to the chosen field at all. He is shy, blushes like a young lady, in any person he is ready to respect the dignity, but the results are deplorable. His soldiers are the worst marchers. He makes mistakes all the time. His idealistic ideas constantly come into conflict with reality and his life is painful. His only consolation is his love for Shurochka. She personifies for him beauty, grace, education, culture in general in the atmosphere of a provincial garrison. In her house, he feels like a man. Shurochka also appreciates in Romashov his excellentness, his dissimilarity to others. She is proud and ambitious, her dream is to break out of here. To do this, she forces her husband to prepare for the academy. She herself teaches military disciplines, so as not to wallow in idleness, not to become dumb in the surrounding lack of spirituality. Romashov and Shurochka found each other, opposites met. But if Romashov’s love swallowed up his whole soul, became the meaning and justification of life, then Shurochka is hindered by it. Achieving the intended goal for her is impossible with a weak-willed, gentle "Romochka". Therefore, she allows herself this weakness only for a moment, and then prefers to stay with her unloved, mediocre, but persistent and stubborn husband. Once Shurochka had already refused Nazansky's love (and now he is a drunken, desperate man). In Shurochka's understanding, the lover must make sacrifices. After all, she herself, without hesitation, sacrifices love both her own and someone else's for the sake of well-being, social status. Nazansky could not adapt to her demands - and he was removed. Shura will demand even more from Romashov - for the sake of her reputation, for the sake of gossip and talkers, he must sacrifice his life. For George himself, this may even be salvation. After all, if he had not died, he, at best, would have suffered the fate of Nazansky. The environment would swallow him up and destroy him.

A. I. Kuprin's story "The Duel" is the pinnacle of creativity, his final work, in which he addresses the problem of the individual and society, their tragic disharmony.

"Duel" is a politically topical work: the story itself does not say anything about Russo-Japanese War, however, contemporaries perceived it in the context of those events. Kuprin revealed the essence of the state of society that led to the explosion, in fact, pointed out the reasons that caused the defeat of the Russian army in the war with Japan.

Documentary in "Duel" is obvious (the consonance of the names of the officers - the heroes of the story with those with whom Lieutenant Kuprin served in the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment, details of the biography of Romashov and the author himself). Kuprin said so: "The main thing actor- this is me", "Romashov is my double". With all this, the work contained a broad generalizing meaning. The author's attention is drawn to the theme of life in Russia in the first decade of the 20th century. The image of the military environment was by no means an end in itself. Going from local "army" theme, Kuprin raised problems that worried the whole society, they determined the moral pathos of the story: the fate of the people, the inherent value of the human person, the awakening of its activity.

The name of the story is symbolic, the story became a duel between Kuprin himself and the tsarist army, autocratic orders, destroying people. This is a duel with lies, immorality, injustice. The decline of morality, the apology of war, robbery, and violence are especially hated by the humanist writer.

Kuprin shows what path the protagonist of the story, Romashov, makes in search of the truth. When the hero begins to see clearly, comes to the conclusion about the inherent value of "I", he recognizes the right to respect for human dignity not only in relation to himself, but also extends it to the soldiers. Before our eyes, Romashov is morally mature: “Beating a soldier is dishonorable. You can’t beat a person who cannot answer you, has no right to raise his hand to his face to protect himself from a blow. He doesn’t even dare to bow his head. It’s shameful!” Romashov, who affirms: "The Khlebnikovs are my brothers," who is aware of his spiritual kinship with the people, is making a huge step forward in his development. This is a completely different person: not the young dreamer we meet at the beginning of the story. However, Romashov dies. The author has brought his hero to such a point that, had he survived, it would have been necessary to open up some sort of clear prospect of his future. And this was not clear to Kuprin himself.

Loving his hero, Kuprin mourns his death and clearly points to those who are guilty of this, speaks honestly and directly, because he himself has often suffered cruelly from human indifference.

Is Shurochka Nikolaeva guilty of Romashov's death? To a greater extent, yes. Contrasting qualities are combined in her character. She is fierce and smart, beautiful and agile. High and low and rudely pragmatic intertwined in her. The whole trouble is that these negative qualities of Shurochka are hidden from Romashov for the time being. A pragmatic lady, unscrupulous in the means to achieve her goals, the cynical Shurochka removes Romashov as an obstacle in her path. She relies on her husband - albeit unloved, but she will make sure that he will help her achieve what she wants.

The position of the author helps to understand the image of Nazansky. This hero is no less complex and controversial than Shurochka. Deep understanding of reality, originality of thinking - and reflection, inertia, silence. However, for all the inconsistency of Nazansky's judgments, in his famous monologues, which determine the moral pathos of the story, the most important ideas for Kuprin are openly publicistically expressed. Two lines are outlined in Nazansky's monologues: sharp criticism of the autocracy and dreams of a wonderful life.

The mass of officers shown by Kuprin in the story are people different in their human qualities. Almost each of them has a minimum of "good" feelings, bizarrely mixed with cruelty, rudeness, indifference. These "good" feelings are distorted beyond recognition by caste military prejudices. Let the commander of the regiment Shulgovich, under his thunderous bourbon, hide his concern for the officers, or Lieutenant Colonel Rafalsky loves animals and devotes all his free and non-free time to collecting a rare domestic menagerie - they cannot bring any real relief, with all their desire. Officers are just an obedient instrument of inhuman statutory conventions.

The writing

In world literature in general, and in Russian literature in particular, the problem of the relationship of a person with the world around him occupies great place. Personality and environment, individual and society - many Russians thought about this 19th writers century. The fruits of these reflections were reflected in many stable verbal formulas. There has been a marked increase in interest in this topic in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, in an era that was a turning point for Russia. In the spirit of humanistic traditions inherited from the past, such realist writers as I. Bunin, A. Kuprin, V. Korolenko consider this issue, using all artistic means, which became the achievement of the turn of the century. The problem of man and the surrounding world can be considered on the example of the works of A. Kuprin.

The work of this writer was for a long time, as it were, in the shade, he was obscured prominent representatives contemporary prose. Today, the works of A. Kuprin are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity, democracy in the noblest sense of the word. The world of A. Kuprin's heroes is colorful and varied. He himself lived a bright life filled with rich impressions - he was a military man, and a clerk, and a land surveyor, and an actor in a traveling circus troupe. A. Kuprin said many times that he does not understand writers who do not find anything more interesting in nature and people than themselves. The writer is very interested human fates, while the heroes of his works are often not happy, prosperous, satisfied with themselves and life people, but rather the opposite. But A. Kuprin treats his outwardly unsightly and unfortunate heroes with the warmth of humanity that has always distinguished Russian writers. In the characters of the stories "White Poodle", "Taper", "Gambrinus" and many others, the features of a "little man" are guessed, but the writer does not just reproduce this image, but rethinks it. This line is characteristic of Kuprin's famous story "Garnet Bracelet", written in 1911. The plot is based real event- the love of the telegraph official Zheltkov for the wife of an important rank, a member State Council Lyubimov. Lyubimova's son, the author of well-known memoirs, Lev Lyubimov recalls this story. In life, everything ended differently than in the story of A. Kuprin - the official stopped writing letters, nothing is known about him. In the Lyubimov family, this incident was remembered as strange and curious. Under the writer's pen, he appears as a sad and tragic story of the life of a little man, who was exalted and destroyed by love.

The story itself unusual love, the story of the garnet bracelet is told in such a way that we see it through the eyes of different people. Unlike Zheltkov, who is depicted in dotted lines, the main character of the "Duel" is revealed psychologically in detail and convincingly. One can argue about who Lieutenant Romashov is - this image is ambiguous. The features of a small person are guessed in him - he is unsightly in appearance, sometimes even funny. At the beginning of the story, he lives with a dream, but his dream itself is somewhat miserable - he sees himself as a “learned officer general staff who gives great promise”, presents himself either as a brilliant military man who successfully suppresses a workers’ revolt, or as a military spy in Germany, or as a hero who leads a whole army (here one can guess the parodic rethought pages of the dreams of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky from “War and Peace” - dreams of "his own Toulon").

However, life makes its own adjustments to his dreams: a mistake during the inspection made them unrealizable, but it also played a huge and beneficial role - the hero’s moral purification by suffering, his inner insight takes place. He becomes able to sympathize with his neighbor, to feel someone else's grief as his own. Having met the unfortunate, downtrodden soldier Khlebnikov, he addresses him with the biblical words: "My brother." In Romashov, the features of an “extra person” are more and more clearly drawn, his moral sense comes into conflict with the life around him. This is especially evident in the sphere of personal feelings, in his love for Shurochka Nikolaeva. Romashov's love, pure and touching, confronts him with the cruelty and inhumanity of people. The image of Shurochka Nikolaeva, a woman who dooms the person she loves to death for the sake of her husband's career, can be called A. Kuprin's discovery, his prophecy. Romashov agrees to a duel, the result of which is almost clear to him, resolved not only through the ability to love-worship, selfless and sacrificial love, like Zheltkov, but also through the consciousness of his own uselessness, hopelessness.

The catastrophe of a dream occurs, and not only from the consciousness of its impracticability, but also from the understanding of its pettiness and vanity. The story ends with the death of the protagonist. But there is no hopelessness in the author's view of life - the very possibility of inspiration, insight, moral purification leaves a feeling of enlightenment in the reader's soul. The psychological authenticity of the image of Romashov, the whole picture of Russian life at the beginning of the 20th century, makes the work consonant modern reader. The story only shows one of the options. tragic collision personality with the world around him, his insight and death, but not a senseless death, but one that contains an element of purification and high meaning.

Question number 1 The main themes and motives in the work of Bunin

Love captures all thoughts, all the spiritual and physical potentialities of a person - but this state cannot last long. So that love does not run out of steam, does not exhaust itself, it is necessary to part - and forever. If the heroes themselves do not do this, then fate, fate interferes in their life: one of the lovers dies. The story "Mitya's Love" ends with the hero's suicide. Death is interpreted here as the only possibility of liberation from love. Bibliography

The main themes in the work of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin are eternal themes: nature, love, death Bunin belongs to the last generation of writers from a noble estate, which is closely connected with the nature of the central strip of Russia. “So few people know how to know and love nature, as Ivan Bunin knows how,” Alexander Blok wrote in 1907. No wonder Pushkin Prize in 1903 was awarded to Bunin for the collection of poems Falling Leaves, which glorify Russian rural nature. In his poems, the poet connected the sadness of the Russian landscape with Russian life into one inseparable whole. "Against the background of the golden iconostasis, in the fire of falling leaves, gilded by the sunset, an abandoned estate rises." Autumn - "silent widow" unusually harmonizes with empty estates and abandoned farms. "Native silence torments me, desolate nest torments me" This sad poetry of withering, dying, desolation is also imbued with Bunin's stories, which are similar to poetry. Here is the beginning of it famous story"Antonov apples": "I remember early, fresh, quiet morning. I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinned garden, I remember maple alleys, the delicate aroma of fallen leaves and the smell of Antonov apples, the smell of honey and autumn freshness. "And this smell of Antonov apples accompanies him in all his wanderings and in the capitals of the world as a memory of his Motherland : "But in the evenings," writes Bunin, "I read old poets, who are dear to me in everyday life and in many of my moods, finally, just in the area, - middle lane Russia. And my desk drawers are full Antonov apples, and a healthy autumn aroma takes me to the village, to the landowners' estates. "Together with the degeneration of noble nests, the village also degenerates. In the story" Village "he describes the courtyard of a rich peasant family and sees "darkness and filth" - both in the physical, and in the mental, and in the moral life. " Bunin writes: "The old man is lying, dying. He is still alive - and already in the vestibule the coffin has been prepared, pies are already being baked for the commemoration. And suddenly the old man recovers. Where was the coffin to go? How to justify spending? Lukyan was then cursed for five years for them, lived reproachfully from the light, starved to death. "And here is how Bunin describes the level of political consciousness of the peasants: - Do you know why the court came? - A deputy to judge. They say he wanted to poison the river. - A deputy? Fool But do the deputies do this? -And the plague knows them. Bunin's point of view on the people is polemically sharpened against those people-lovers who idealized the people, flattered him, The dying Russian village is framed by a dull Russian landscape: village, bumpy, muddy roads, horse manure, ice and water; twilight fog hid endless fields, all this great desert with its snows, forests, villages and cities - the realm of hunger and death. resolver of all contradictions, but also a source of absolute, cleansing power ("Transfiguration", "Mitya's love"). Bunin's story "The Gentleman from San Francisco" was understood most deeply by Alexander Tvardovsky: "In the face of love and death, according to Bunin, they are erased by themselves social, class, property lines dividing people - everyone is equal before them.

Question number 2 The main themes and results in the work of Kuprin

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin can be safely called one of the best Russian writers of the early 20th century!? If we talk about the place in Russian literature of A. S. Pushkin, L. N. Tolstoy, A. M. Gorky, then everything is clear here, this is no longer discussed. But speaking of Kuprin, his contemporaries, critics and literary scholars constantly clarify his place in domestic literature. So A. V. Vorontsov in his article “130th Anniversary of Birth” writes: “... It is unlikely that anyone will confidently call Kuprin a figure equal to both his great contemporaries - Chekhov and Bunin, and a smaller rank - Gorky and A. Tolstoy. And why, exactly? Are his works outdated, forgotten...? Nothing happened. Children are reading white poodle", "Barbosa and Zhulka", adults - "Olesya", "Duel", "Pit", "Garnet Bracelet". ... So what's the matter? Where Kuprin "did not hold out" to enter the host of "great" or be the first among the "outstanding"?". But really, why? According to the same Vorontsov, he, "a talented writer, has not outlived the journalist in himself."

And Yu. Druzhinin in the article “Kuprin in tar and molasses” speaks with regret about the unnoticed anniversaries of such a great writer as A. Kuprin. Why did it happen? But because the date "marked what they did not want to remember, so they pretended not to remember." In the Soviet literary criticism of the times of “perestroika”, a lot of things were revised .. Individual writers previously banned in their homeland began to move from the black list to the white one. Kuprin was resolved long ago, only the truth about him remained half-hearted, hidden. Apparently, therefore, his work has not yet been sufficiently studied, as the work of those to whom fate was more favorable. Soviet criticism did not ignore his life and work, but at different stages of his life it was considered differently. Constantly it turned out: “ours” or “not ours”?

S. Chuprinin also speaks with regret about the forgotten Kuprin in the introductory article “Rereading Kuprin” to one of the editions of the author’s works: “Now they rarely remember Kuprin. It is republished, dissertations are written, but they do not argue.”

It was a shame when I opened the book “100 best writers 20th century”, not to find Kuprin there, although few of his contemporaries wrote the way he did. He had a gift to get used to every created image. It was not for nothing that he once said the words, which one of the heroes of The Pit will later repeat: “By God, I would like to become a horse, a plant or a fish for a few days, or to be a woman and experience childbirth; I would like to live an inner life and see the world through the eyes of every person I meet.” In addition, Kuprin was the first to touch upon the problems of the army (“Duel”), opened the world of corrupt love (“Pit”).

Considering the topics and problems already studied in the work of A. I. Kuprin, we will try to arrange them in a gradation sequence: from the most studied to the least studied.

One of the most researched themes in the work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is the theme of love. Love has always been main theme of his large works and miniatures, all the researchers of his work thought so. And, perhaps, the most poetic thing of Kuprin, according to most critics, was "Garnet Bracelet" - a wonderful story about unrequited great love, love, "which is repeated only once in a thousand years."

But here V. N. Afanasiev in his article “A. I. Kuprin" writes that "having made his "little man" capable only of selfless ... love and denying him any other interests, Kuprin involuntarily impoverished, limited the image of the hero. Fenced off by love from life with all its worries and anxieties ... Zheltkov thereby impoverishes love itself ... this quiet, submissive adoration ... without fighting for a loved one ... dries up the soul, makes it timid and powerless. But A. A. Volkov in his work “The Creativity of A. I. Kuprin” speaks precisely of unrequited love in the writer’s works, which “opens up the opportunity to convey the high intensity of human experiences, to show how destructive the moral foundations of bourgeois society are for a person.” In The Duel, Nazansky, speaking about love, speaks specifically about unrequited love: “And love has its peaks, accessible only to a few out of millions ... Do you understand how many varied happiness and charming torments lie in unrequited, hopeless love.” Volkov, talking about the happiness of unrequited love, comes to the conclusion that "the feeling of unrequited love is never dulled, because this love is hopeless, it is not quenched by a reciprocal feeling." It is unrequited love that the heroes of Kuprin consider real.

In The Garnet Bracelet, General Anosov claims that true love is always the greatest tragedy. According to Volkov, true “love can arise where a person is close to nature, where social contrasts and the destructive influence of Moloch are not so felt” (“Olesya”). The forest fairy tale ends tragically. Volkov believes that the environment in which the heroes were brought up is to blame: a girl “brought up in the midst of nature and free from all the conventions of a petty-bourgeois hostel and a man “weak” in front of these conventions could not be together. But about the "Sulamith" you can meet completely opposite points of view. This is Kuprin's work, one of the few, about a mutual feeling ruined by jealousy. According to Sergei Chuprinin, Gorky “ranked Shulamith among immoral literature,” while Volkov reads: “I. Koretskaya, in her comments on Sulamith, passes the following verdict: "Over-saturation with exoticism, stylization, spicy eroticism brought the story closer to modernist art." P. N. Berkov, not so unconditionally, but also condemns the author for Shulamith. But both Volkov and Chuprinin call the story talented, since the author poeticized in it the tender passion of the beloved. In this work, a new thought about love appears, which is "strong as death."

Also a well-researched topic in Kuprin's work is the problems of the army. Many critics and literary critics called Kuprin the Columbus of the “army mainland”. Who, if not him, knows for certain the laws that reign in the army, he experienced all the military drill on himself. When The Duel came out, it was immediately acclaimed by cutting-edge critics. M. Chunosov was the first to respond with the article “The Monster of Militarism”, he saw in the “Duel” army life in all its terrible and tragic ugliness. V. Lvov also wrote about the indictment of soldiery in the article “Priests and Victims”. Afanasiev believed that, portraying the tsarist army, Kuprin "managed to touch upon ... a number of issues that deeply worried the entire Russian society and were especially acute on the eve and during the first Russian revolution." But the most important thing was the concept, which allowed, according to Plotkin, "to discover in private phenomena ... the vices of military life ... as an expression of the general incurable ailment of the monarchical system." A. Volkov believed that in the “Duel” the author sought to show “to what a terrifying state the senseless drill, cane discipline brought the already downtrodden, ignorant mass of soldiers” But Volkov did not see revolutionary trends in the army described by Kuprin. And Paustovsky in the book “The Stream of Life” called “Duel” “the hardest slap in the face political system tsarist Russia”, “a document about a stupid and rotten to the core officer caste, about an army that was kept only on the fear and humiliation of soldiers, about an army, as if purposely created for an inevitable and shameful defeat in the very first battles.” Reactionary criticism fell upon Kuprin, accusing him of slandering the army (A. Basargin, “A Literary Foray Against the Military”). And Lvov, and Volkov, and Afanasiev, and many other critics and literary critics spoke about the talent of Kuprin, a satirist who managed to expose the army life of tsarist times. Kuprin will return to the painfully familiar problems of the army more than once in his stories. Indeed, the relationship between officers and soldiers, the bureaucratic machine of the state, requiring compulsory service even for those who are physically or psychologically incapable, service in the provinces that corrupts young officers - Kuprin was the first to discover all these problems in the literature.

Another topic is Kuprin the psychologist. According to Volkov, “Kuprin reveals a great ability for artistic transformation, “entry” into the image, which allowed him to create living characters and convey the complex train of thought and feelings of his characters with deep truthfulness. The strength of Kuprin as an artist was revealed in the disclosure of the psychology of people placed in various life circumstances, especially those in which nobility and fortitude are manifested. However, sometimes he is inclined to delve into the jungle of the pathological psyche, to study the complex curves of the sick soul. It is good when an artist, penetrating into the essence of the pathological psyche, finds out its social genesis. The error begins when the properties of the sick psyche are presented as the eternal beginning of the human soul, which cannot be controlled by the mind. We see similar psychological experiments in the stories "Yas", "Madness". Unfortunately, even in these stories, mystical motifs testify to the influence of decadence."