"Dumb Artist", analysis of Leskov's story. Leskov, analysis of the work of a stupid artist, plan

The story was first published in the Art Journal in 1883. Leskov indicates the place and exact date of its writing: “St. Petersburg. February 19, 1883." The name was followed by a meaningful subtitle: "Day of the liberation of the serfs and Saturday" commemoration of the dead. In the Collected Works, the date of writing and the subtitle are replaced by the dedication: "To the blessed memory of the blessed day February 19, 1861." And the subtitle contains an indication of the genre originality of the work: "The story on the grave." Leskov consciously equates the meaning of the concepts "departed" and "serfs" and immediately gives the reader the opportunity to catch the general color of the work and, to some extent, its content.

The story is based on historically reliable material.

In Orel, indeed, for a long time there was a fortress theater of the Counts Kamensky. From the history of this serf theater, the plot of the famous story by A. I. Herzen "The Thieving Magpie" (1848) was taken, but at that time he could not name the owner of the theater.

The events described by Herzen took place under S. M. Kamensky (1771-1835), an “enlightened” theater-goer, the son of Field Marshal M. F. Kamensky, who was killed by his serfs for cruelty in 1809.

No less amazing story of the serf make-up artist Arkady and the young actress Lyuba is contained in the story of Leskov.

Of course, Leskov, like Herzen, did not write off his heroes from some living faces, but recreated them with the help of his creative imagination. At the same time, he relied on quite specific facts, which he himself witnessed or heard about from eyewitnesses.

In the genre of social satire, this is one of the strongest works of Russian literature.

377. ... in the good ... - in the righteous.

Sazikov P. I. (died in 1868), Ovchinnikov P. A. (1830-1888) - Moscow sculptors and gold chasers.

Heine recalled the tailor, who "was an artist" and "had ideas" ... - "Artist" Heine called not the tailor, but the shoemaker Sakosky ("Lutetia", part 1, ch. XII. Poli. sobr. op., v. 9. M.-L., "Academia", 1936, p. 84); about the "ideas" of the tailor Heine speaks in the work "Travel Pictures, II. Ideas. The Book of Le Grand, ch. XIV. Poly, coll. cit., vol. 4. M.-L., "Academia", 1935, p. 240.

Schnip - a toe at the female belt, bodice.

Bret Hart Francis (1839-1902) - famous American writer. We are talking about his story "A Conversation in a Sleeping Car" (1877).

S. 380. Imagination - here: expression.

Alferyeva Akilina Vasilievna (1790 - ca. 1860) - Leskov's grandmother from his mother's side.

P. 381. "Podpuri" - potpourri (melody, consisting of excerpts from various works).

P. 382. "Kamarin earrings" - aquamarine (aquamarine is a bluish-green gemstone).

Odalisque is a slave; here: concubine.

P. 383. ... attentive charity ... - attention.

"Charmed" - here: overgrown with hair.

S. 384. Water - simultaneously, immediately.

P. 386. Background - here: shirt lining (mainly among peasants) from the shoulders to the middle of the chest and back.

P. 387. ... they croaked ... - The quack is a thick rope. Hide - twist - twist.

“They will crawl,” he says, “the snakes will suck out their eyes ...” - words from the Serbian song “Marko-Kralevich in the dungeon” (translated by A. Kh. Vostokov).

P. 388. Intermediate darkness - pitch darkness.

Turkish Khrushchuk - the Bulgarian city of Ruschuk.

S. 389. With demolition - with stolen goods.

Lobanchik is a gold coin.

S. 390. Trump - a standing collar.

S. 391. ... under my bed ... - Bed - peace, bedroom.

P. 392. ... came to a sign - came to consciousness.

Placon - bottle.

S. 394. Talc - skeins of yarn.

Zagnetka - the front part of the Russian stove.

S. 396. The innkeeper is the landlord, the owner of the inn.

The old people who remembered how they punished the cruel count ... - We are talking about a real event - the murder in 1809 of the serf-owner M.F. Kamensky, known for his cruelties.

Sources:

• Leskov N. S. Novels and stories / Comp. and note. L. M. Krupchanova.- M.: Mosk. worker, 1981.- 463 p.

annotation: The book includes: “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”, “The Enchanted Wanderer”, “Lefty”, “Dumb Artist” and other works by N. S. Leskov.

The Toupee Artist (1883), which we will analyze, is one of Leskov's most famous and even popular works. A cultured reader often knows the plot of a story from childhood. This plot is built on a legend and entered into the tradition. Leskov told the story of the love and death of a serf actress of the "former Oryol theater of Count Kamensky" and a dull artist (that is, a hairdresser and make-up artist) who served in this theater; V. Dahl, “whipped crest on the head”).

Under which of the historically famous Counts Kamensky the action takes place is not clear, and it does not matter, for the author it is essentially different: the events took place at the time of serfdom of people. One of the subtitles of the story emphasizes precisely the anti-serfdom theme: “Holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861.”

Both Count Kamensky, acting in the work, are distinguished not only by cruelty, fierce temper, but also by a purely outward disgrace. The count - the owner of the theater - is "terribly bad", "he looked like all the animals at once." His brother was even more unattractive: “his whole face was overgrown with bumps,” so that even shaving was dangerous.

Under the "cursed estate", according to tradition, cellars were summed up, where the guilty, according to the discretion of the theater count, sat on chains next to the bears. There was no one to stand up for them: everyone was afraid of the master. The heroes who fled from his ferocity, Lyuba and Arkady, are betrayed by a priest who has nothing to do with Kamensky, because he is afraid of reprisals in the same way as the count's serfs. The theme of fear unites all the heroes of the story: slaves and masters of life. In relation to the Kamenskys, it is realized in the mention of a historical fact that has become legendary: "Field Marshal Mikhail Fedotovich was killed by serfs for cruelty in 1809 ...". The legend of this event was facilitated by the poem dedicated to him by V. A. Zhukovsky “On the Death of Field Marshal Count Kamensky” (1809). The poem was published by Zhukovsky in different versions, and in one of them, glorifying the military merits of the Catherine commander, the poet nevertheless did not keep silent about his “despicable” death:

Here rock gave a despicable end to Kamensky

Alive only in intimidation!

Reworking his work for subsequent editions after the first, Leskov made amendments to it that strengthened the anti-serfdom trend. According to the writer, the reader, even more than twenty years after the abolition of serfdom, that is, in 1883, should have perceived the anti-serfdom content of the story as an unforgettable, living experience that has not gone down in history.

We emphasize that this inextinguishable pathos of Leskovsky's "Dumb Artist" is also relevant for the reader of the 21st century. The psychological trauma of centuries of slavery is still palpable in the national consciousness. The opposition slave-master is realized in modern life often and in various ways. Fear continues to be a persistent motivator of the actions of a Russian person.

In developing the theme of serfdom, Leskov openly relies on the creative experience of his predecessors. The plot of the well-known novel by A. I. Herzen "The Thieving Magpie", published in the Sovremennik magazine back in 1848, is developed in detail in "The Tupey Artist".

Many of the motifs essential for Lesk's story were first introduced into literature by another Russian classic, I. S. Turgenev, in his famous narrative cycle Notes of a Hunter (1847-1852). Among them, the following should also be noted: a “slave” is, first of all, a person, he is also able to love, to comprehend the beauty of nature and life, he is able to feel belonging to the worlds. The world of Russian nobles and peasants is a single Russian world; The talent of a Russian person does not depend on his social affiliation and for everyone stems from one source - human nature and God's gifts.

With the work of N. A. Nekrasov and F. M. Dostoevsky, the work of Leskov is connected with the themes of suffering, sufferers and compassion. The heroine of The Dumb Artist, a former serf actress, in another time the nanny of the narrator of her story, addresses her listener with the words familiar to Russian literature of the 19th century: “And you, good boy, never tell your mother this, never betray ordinary people : because ordinary people must be protected, ordinary people are all sufferers.

Unlike Herzen, Turgenev, Nekrasov and even Dostoevsky, the theme of suffering and sufferers will not receive, however, from Leskov either philosophical, moral, or aesthetic resolution or catharsis - spiritual purification through horror and compassion. Beloved of Lyubov Onisimovna, Arkady, will endure torture in the count's cellars, will die, but will survive after bloody military battles; returning to her, he will die at the hands of "his brother" - a simple man, a janitor. In the end, against his will, the count determined the hero's path in accordance with the noble character of Arkady - he sent him to war, gave him a chance to curry favor with personal nobility, opened the "path of honor." A man from the people - a "staying janitor" - stabbed Arkady at night, sleepy, seeing money on his chest: "Absolutely," he says, "he caught his throat and took five hundred rubles of money from him. They caught him, covered in blood, they say, and the money is with him. The heroine of the story satisfies her sufferings, also in Russian, trying to pour them “from the slab”: “pour over coal”, “Remember Arkasha”.

The tragic pathos in Leskov's story only grows towards the end. It is addressed, we repeat, to the consciousness of the reader living after the abolition of serfdom.

The writer never changed the title of his work. This fact testifies that anti-serfdom motives are reinforced here by reflections on the fate of the artist, and in particular on the fate of the artist in Russia.

Not only painters, sculptors, writers or actors are, from the point of view of Leskovsky's narrator, artists. To the outdated, academic notion, life opposed its own reasons. As artists are known and goldsmiths and silversmiths, in America, the narrator notes, the master who worked on the faces of the dead became famous. The hairdresser Arkady was also undoubtedly artistically talented. He did not just comb his hair, but "painted" the actresses. Moreover, he “draws” everyone, and when necessary, the count himself in a noble form. The strength of his art was, in the words of the narrator, in "ideological", in the ability to give the face a subtle, lofty expression. But if the make-up done by Arkady for actresses, turning courtyard girls into heroines and even goddesses, then the “drawing” of a freak-count covered the true appearance of a serf-owner with a noble mask. Leskov also described moments of inspiration that the stupid artist experienced more than once. In those moments, he looked perfectly handsome, an angelic soul shone in his eyes, a thought rested on his forehead, then he looked as if “because of a foggy cloud.”

In such a description, romantic images and ideas are easily recognizable. According to romantic concepts, the artist is a being that rises above reality, the secrets of life and art are revealed to him, the highest harmony can enter life only through the artist, he, like a true master, is endowed with perfect taste, he does not know the contradictions between thought and form, his art can transform reality.

Arkady "painted" actresses for the stage, and the count for life. The themes of playing "at the theater" and playing on the stage of life converge in the fate of the artist - an exceptional personality, endowed with the features of truth and authenticity. The hero of Leskov - and this also shows his romantic chosenness - is constantly on the verge of life and death, walking on a razor's edge. Arkady was placed under such conditions by an agreement with the count, according to which he could not apply his art to any other male person, except for the count, without dooming himself to torment and death in the soldiers. The brother of the patron of the theatre, knowing the content of the contract, under pistols forced Arkady to “remove” his face, promising to kill him for the cut. Having escaped the expected death, the hero nevertheless dies, but unexpectedly, by accident, and therefore already completely martyred.

Having overtaken the artist, death will change his own face in such a way that he will become almost unrecognizable, and this means - a kind of opposite of his artistic images, the antipode of "stupid" "drawings". The closeness of death that he constantly experiences is a sign of being chosen, but death itself takes his image beyond the limits of romance.

It is no coincidence that the hero-narrator listens to the nanny's story about Arcadia in the literal sense of the word at the artist's grave. The first subtitle of Leskov's work is "The Story at the Grave".

So, the catastrophic fate of the artist exposes, makes clear the deep tragedy of Russian life. It is through the artist, according to Leskov, that the essence, the metaphysics of the fate of a Russian person, is manifested.

Arkady decides to resist the tyranny and voluptuousness of the count and, without a moment's hesitation, acts in accordance with his noble nature. He saves, takes away his beloved, of course, without considering the details and consequences of the escape. His behavior shows typical features that are characteristic of very many Leskov's heroes, "antiques" (this is how Leskov calls his talented and noble eccentrics) and the righteous. More than others, Ivan Dvyagin - the hero of the story with the symbolic and poetic title "The Enchanted Wanderer", the hero, fascinated by the beauty of life, a wanderer endowed with a true artistic flair.

In Leskov, which is confirmed by his other works, artistic talent underlies the Russian national character.

The left-hander, the hero of the tale of the same name, the most skilled craftsman, forged microscopic carnations for the horseshoes of the "English" flea only after he prayed to God, worshiped the icon of St. Nicholas, and renounced the world. The Tula people were wise over their skills, “outside” not showing up, eating no one knows what, not heeding the words from the outside about the fire, they finished their “breathless work” at the very last minute of the time allotted to them. At the same time, in the “close mansion”, in which they were skillful, “such a sweaty spiral became” that it was difficult - it was impossible to “breathe”. Is this not a spontaneous, though not romantic, manifestation of inspiration?

In the story "Dumb Artist", the analysis of which we are interested in, all the characters are somehow connected with the world of art, play, theater. There is a tragic game in Russian life, and it manifests itself not only in the change of roles that she is forced to "perform", for example, the heroine of the story - Lyuba. First, Lyubov Onisimovna is an actress, then a cowgirl, a nanny, and finally a storyteller who has lived her life. The "staying janitor", who stabbed the artist, did his act, paradoxically, also on a kind of inspiration, instantaneous "enlightenment", as if he was forced to play a fatal role: he saw the money - he stabbed him. No one was surprised at his obvious atrocity, he did not evoke a moral assessment from any of the characters in the story, even from the heroine. The accident of what happened due to special Russian conditions, habits, deformations of consciousness turns out to be fatally natural.

As a result, the state of inspiration unites both the artist Arkady and the nameless "innkeeper" who stabbed him to death.

Leskov's realistic art does not divide in different directions, does not separate opposites: cruelty and the ability to mercy (the count and his attitude towards Arkady), the variability and constancy of life (the path and death of the artist), creative impulse and crime. The source of unity is Russian life, Russian consciousness with their uniform nature, common essence.

The composition of The Dumb Artist, as always with Leskov, is intricate. The story is told by a hero who once, as a boy, listened to the sad story of his nanny at the grave of her deceased lover, not far from which the ruins of the Kamensky Theater blacken. Lyubov Onisimovna's speech sounds like a commemoration for an artist, which is directly stated in the finale: "I have never seen a more terrible and soul-rending commemoration in all my life."

A story about love, an artist, death is addressed to a child. She is remembered by the hero-narrator in a different time and at a different age. Leskov's goal is to influence the listener's memory in order to shake the existing type of consciousness and type of behavior of a Russian person. Recalling, to horrify and thereby free from the past, from the moral legacy of serfdom.

The reader's fate of the work "The Toupee Artist", which we analyzed, developed in such a way that in many ways indicates the implementation of the author's attitude. In the eyes of posterity, "Dumb Artist" is not only a work of art. This story is also referred to as a documentary source, psychologically reliable evidence of the tragic past of Russia.

Image of the tragic fate of a talented

Russian man in serf Russia

in N. S. Leskov's story "Dumb Artist"

Lesson Objectives:

1. Understanding the ideological and artistic value of the story;learning to analyze a self-read work;consolidation and expansion of students' knowledge about serfdom and the life of serfs;revealing the author's position on the issue of serfdom.

2. The formation of skills and abilities of independent research work, the development of creative and associative thinking, the ability to analyze and compare works of art,development of historical and literary thinking.

3. Education of moral qualities, aesthetic taste, the formation of a culture of feelings of students.

Lesson type: integrated (combined lesson) with interdisciplinary connections.

Type of lesson: a lesson in collective analysis.

Forms: individual, group, frontal.

Methods and tricks: partially search, problematic, verbal, visual, practical, development of speech skills, the ability to analyze and systematize material, work with a literary text,analysis of the style features of the work.

During the classes:

I. opening speech

Russian literature at all times and ages has stubbornly and consistently sought out in reality and recreated in works of art images of people of an honest, worthy life, living, as they say, in truth. A proverb came from ancient times: "A village is not worthy without a righteous man."

The main distinguishing feature of the work of the remarkable Russian writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is that the most beloved, most cherished heroes of his works were those whom he called "the righteous." Leskov firmly believed that goodness was inherent in a person from the very beginning, from nature, and therefore the most vile times, even such as the reign of Nicholas I, cannot destroy honesty and philanthropy in people. “The righteous have not died out and will never die out. They just do not notice, but if you look closely, they are there, ”he wrote. And Leskov looked for them and found them - bright people, obsessed with the idea of ​​goodness, justice and sacrifice. M. Gorky, who was very close to the search for Leskov, noted this feature in his work. Leskov, he wrote, is "a writer who discovered the righteous in every class, in all groups."

Leskov described contemporary life in its present form, with all its contradictions, without hiding the dark sides. Therefore, his works more than once caused displeasure of the secular and spiritual authorities, and were banned by censorship.

During his lifetime, Leskov did not enjoy such fame as, for example, I.S. Turgenev or F.M. Dostoevsky. But the most perceptive contemporaries foresaw his future glory: LN Tolstoy said that Leskov was "a writer of the future" and that "his life in literature is deeply instructive." A.P. Chekhov called him his favorite writer and, according to A.M. Gorky, said that "he owes a lot to Leskov."

Most of Leskov's works tell about the tragic fate of talented people from the people. N.S. Leskov called the people "the keeper of the national tradition"in art, work, in the way of life. Who are Leskov's heroes? How does the author feel about Russia?

According to Leskov, Russia is a country of the righteous, wanderers, skilled and talented people,who are uneducated and unenlightened. He mourns that the natural talent of a Russian person is not associated with education.

In today's lesson, we will turn to Leskov's story "The Toupee Artist", which is one of the most famous and significant works of the writer, and reveal the moral meaning of the story.

What is known about where, when, on the basis of what events it was created?

(The story was first published in 1883, entered into the only lifetime collection of Leskov's works. The story is based on historically reliable material. Leskov heard this story at the age of nine, and it made a painful and indelible impression on him. As A.N. Leskov noted, the writer's son, "the story is woven from true stories or memories faithfully preserved by the people. As a result, a sharply impressive picture in which, according to an old proverb, "what really happened and what the world has put together, you can't make out." The author did not strive for an accurate transfer of details, but recreated a typical picture).

What title did Leskov choose for his work?

(Dumb artist, Story on the grave).

What is the original mood of the title?

To what (to whom) is the story dedicated?

(The work is dedicated to the “holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861” - on this day Emperor Alexander II signed the Manifesto on a deep reform of the state structure of Russia, and above all - the abolition of serfdom)

What happened on this day?(On this day, serfdom was abolished in Russia)

Why is this day called blessed?(Probably, it was a very long-awaited day).

Refer to the epigraph. How do you understand its meaning?

(The words from the funeral song are taken as an epigraph - “Their souls will settle in the good.” “In the good” in translation from Church Slavonic means “among the saints, the righteous.” Both the dedication and the epigraph N.S. Leskov points to the main theme of the story and expresses his attitude towards it)

Where and when does Lyubov Onisimovna's story take place?

Leskov refuses an exact dating. The action of the story takes place in Orel during the reign of Alexander Pavlovich (Alexander I) or Nikolai Pavlovich (Nicholas I) - the narrator does not remember exactly, and for the author it is not so important, the main thing is that it was under serfdom.

Why, in the phrase “... but it happened. That the sovereign passed through Orel (I can’t say whether Alexander Pavlovich or Nikolai Pavlovich) ... it is not specified which emperor passed?

Under all these sovereigns, the same thing happened as described in the story.

Do the characters in the story have prototypes? What is known about them? Why do you think Leskov did not change their names?(Speech by a pre-prepared student about Kamensky).

The feudal lords - Counts Kamensky - are not fictional characters. The commentators of the story explain: they mean Field Marshal Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky (1738–1809) - a participant in the seven-year war of 1756–1763 and the Russian-Turkish wars - and his sons: Nikolai Mikhailovich (1778–1811) - a general, a gifted commander, in 1810 commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army, and Sergei Mikhailovich (1771-1835) - a general who retired in 1822 and had a famous fortress theater in Orel. He is one of the prototypes of the "Dumb Artist".

In addition, the story mentions the writer's grandmother Alferyev's mother Akilina Vasilievna, the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Androsov and others who could confirm the authenticity of the events.

For the main idea of ​​​​the story, it does not matter under which Kamensky and in what reign it was - serfdom and serfs, like Counts Kamensky, were in all these reigns, and the same fate awaited our heroes. So the writer emphasizes the typicality of what is described for an entire era.

Sharply, definitely, in one color, quite in the folklore tradition, Leskov depicts the serf-owners - Count Kamensky and his brother. The first "was so terribly bad, through his usual anger, that he looked like all the animals at once," the second "was even worse himself")

After reading the story, you saw those abominations of serfdom that remained in its shadow. Why do we, the readers, believe everything that is written in the work? // = What do you know about serfdom and the manners of landlords? about fortress theaters and the fate of actors? (Speech by a pre-prepared student about the serf theater )

What were the punishments for serfs? What means of punishment and for what offense did Count Kamensky use? (text)

We learn about the mores of the serf-owning era from the one who perfectly remembers that bad time when she had to endure so much torment, mental and physical pain (she still has her legs that were cold during the escape), constant humiliation from her oppressor. She saw everything, survived everything, managed to endure and now talks about it.

The feudal lords in the story are two brothers, the Counts Kamensky are cruel petty tyrants. This is reflected in their appearance: the owner of Arkady, Count Kamensky Sr., has “an ugly and insignificant face”; “The village brother of the count was even uglier than the city brother and, in addition, in the village he was completely “bewildered” and “let such rudeness in his face” that even he himself felt it ... ”(7).

Lyubov Onisimovna talks about the "torment" the peasants endured from them. They were flogged at the stable for the slightest offense, they could be given to the soldiers, among the guilty women “all the children entered the terrible tyranny”, the actresses who fell in love with the master were “delivered to the lord's half”, and the recalcitrant were sent “to torment”. “And our torment was such that it is better a hundred times for the one who is destined for death. And the rack, and the string, and the head were hidden and wrapped with a hook - it was all there. State punishment after that was already set for nothing. Under the whole house there were hidden cellars, where people were sitting alive on chains like bears. It happened, if it happens when you go past, then sometimes you can hear how the chains rattle there and people in chains groan. True, they wanted the news to reach them or the authorities to hear, but the authorities did not dare to intervene. And people were tormented here for a long time, and others for life. One sat-sat, but invented a verse:

They will crawl, - he says, - snakes will suck out their eyes,
And the scorpions will fill your face with poison.

You used to whisper this verse in your mind and get scared.

And others were even chained with bears, so that a bear could not lift its paw only half an inch” (11).

The images of the landowners-serfs in Leskov's story really look like folklore villains. Not a single good word has been said about them. This expresses the attitude of the author and the narrator towards them.

It turns out that N.S. Leskov is not the only Russian writer who told the world about the ruined life of a talented serf actress. The prototype of Aneta, the main character of Herzen's story "The Thieving Magpie", is Kuzmina, the serf of Count Kamensky. But Herzen wrote his story in 1846, during the years of serfdom, and his work is a topical accusatory document. Count Kamensky bears the surname Skalinsky. It must also be said about the difference between the heroines: Herzen's Aneta is a professional actress who received an excellent education, while Leskov's Lyuba is a simple, albeit very talented yard girl, who remembers roles “at a glance”, that is, by memory, watching how others play.

It is interesting that both stories are built on the same historical material, united by a common theme, and social conflict is clearly visible in them. We noticed that the author's feelings are very consonant. They are expressed like this.

Herzen: it was a protestsoul-rending ” - about the singing of Aneta;

Leskov: “More terrible andtearing apart the soul I have never seen a commemoration in all my life.”

But ... comparing these two works is the topic of a separate lesson.

It is also worth mentioning that A. N. Radishchev, A. S. Pushkin, A. S. Griboyedov did not pass over this topic in silence before Leskov. Both Turgenev, Nekrasov, and Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote about the position of serfs in the time of Leskov ... everyone who considered himself a citizen and understood that in the country of "slaves and masters", in the words of Lermontov, it was impossible to be happy in the midst of general misfortune .

So, for example, A. S. Pushkin in the poem "The Village" painted a terrible picture of serf Russia:

Here is a heavy yoke

Everyone is dragged to the grave,

Hopes and inclinations

Not daring to feed in my soul,

Here young maidens bloom

For the whim of an unfeeling villain.

A.S. Griboyedov in the comedy "Woe from Wit" (1824) told about the fate of serf actors:

Or the one over there, which is for pranks

He drove to the fortress ballet on many wagons

From mothers, fathers of rejected children?!

He himself is immersed in mind in Zephyrs and Cupids,

Made all of Moscow marvel at their beauty!

But the debtors did not agree to the postponement:

Cupids and Zephyrs all

Sold out individually!!!

N.S. Leskov picked up, continued and developed this theme, traditional for Russian literature, of the impossibility of happiness in the midst of universal misfortune.

What can you say about the composition of the work? How many chapters does it have? How is it built?

What compositional technique does Leskov use in The Toupee Artist?

The composition of the story is simple: the introduction is about talented people from the people, artists in their field; an exposition in which we get acquainted with the scene and the narrator (former actress of the Oryol serf theater, and now the nanny of the younger brother of the narrator Lyubov Onisimovna); the main part - the story of Lyubov Onisimovna about the fate of her and the stupid artist Arkady Ilyich; a short conclusion - the author's remark about the "heart-rending commemoration".

The story "Dumb Artist" is written in the favorite form of N.S. Leskova - a story within a story. This gives the reader the opportunity to hear about the events "first hand". But the old nanny, an insufficiently educated woman, is not able to tell and reveal everything, and not everything can be known (for example, the conversations of the master with his brother), so the author sets out part of the events himself, often quoting the narrator. The work has nineteen chapters. From them we learn about the fate of two talented serfs - an actress and a make-up artist, their unsuccessful escape from the cruel count and the punishment that befell them, followed by the main character's service as "regimental sergeants", and then his death.

From whose perspective is the story being told?

On behalf of a boy who listened to the story of his nanny, Lyubov Onisimovna. "Dumb Artist" is written in the form of a story by the former serf actress Lyubov Onisimovna. The story is not from the author, but on behalf of some literary hero - Leskov's favorite artistic technique, which he mastered to perfection.

Lyubov Onisimovna talks about the events she witnessed and took part in. The story is told in her own way.

Leskov describes not just one of the episodes of the past, not just the fate of certain people - he depicts an era, an era of serfdom. His story naturally acquires the features of a folk epic.

What does Lyubov Onisimovna tell us about? Outline the story in 7-10 sentences.

Plot. The events of the story take place in the Oryol count, known for his cruelty.

The actress and the hairdresser were in love with each other, but "eye-to-eye dates were completely impossible and even unthinkable": actresses were not allowed to have novels. Arkady decides to take his beloved away, having learned that the count is giving her special signs of favor and wants to make her his mistress, but they are chased in the priest's house. Lyuba is sent to the barnyard, and Arkady - to the soldiers. After several years of service, Arkady, having received "an officer's rank and a noble rank", returns to Oryol to buy Lyuba from the count, but at night he is robbed and killed by an innkeeper.

We get acquainted with the heroes of the story only in the 2nd chapter. And what is the 1st chapter devoted to and for what purpose is it written?

In the 1st chapter, the concept of "artist" is revealed. It is not as narrow as we think. An artist should be considered a talented person, dedicated to his work and striving to achieve a good goal: to help improve the world with his creations, to reveal to people and in people their best sides.

Confirm with the text that Arkady really corresponds to the high rank of Artist. Describe the main character - stupid artist Arkady Ilyich. Why is he called an artist, artist?

The protagonist of the story is the stupid artist Arkady Ilyich. “Dumb,” we read from Dahl, “a whipped crest over your head.” Fashionable at that time hairstyle. So, the stupid artist is a hairstylist. According to the narrator, he was a master "of an extraordinary artistic kind."

“…He was a "stupid artist", that is, a hairdresser and make-up artist, who "painted and combed" all the count's serf artists. But this was not a simple, banal master with a stupid comb behind his ear and a tin of rouge rubbed in lard, but he was a man with ideas - in a word, painter . Better than him ... no one could “make in the face of imagination””. This is an "inimitable artist", that is, master of his craft , "a sensitive and courageous young man". Here is how the narrator tells about his appearance from the words of Lyubov Onisimovna: “He was moderate in stature, but slender, it is impossible to say, his nose is thin and proud, and his eyes are angelic, kind, and a thick tuft hung beautifully over his eyes, - so he looks, it was like a misty cloud. In a word, the dumb artist was handsome and “liked by everyone” (4).

How did Arkady live in the master's house? How does he feel about his dependent position? (talking about life)

= What character traits is endowed with Arkady?

Arkady is a serf of Count Kamensky, a cruel and despotic master. But he fears neither his master nor his brother , such a terrible person. For the sake of the planned escape, he disobeyed the first, and to the second, when asked if Arkady was being charmed, since he was not afraid of master's pistols, “he said as if in a half-dream:

- There is no conspiracy on me, but there is a meaning in me from God: as long as you would raise your hand with a pistol to shoot at me, I would first cut your entire throat with a razor” (9).

It is the gentlemen who are afraid of him: “I advise you like a brother: you are afraid of him when he shaves with a razor” (10).

Protest is brewing in Arcadia against the constant humiliation of his human dignity. After this incident with the brother of the count, he is no longer afraid of anything. His actions determined and thoughtful : after the performance, when Luba was “taken away by Cecilia” to be led to the count, he “jumped into ... a closet ... grabbed a table and suddenly knocked out the whole window ...”. And he fled, capturing Lyuba, who had lost consciousness.

He did not give up even after he was caught. Takes all the blame : “... Take me to be tormented, but she is not guilty of anything: I sped her off by force.

And he turned to the priest and only did everything that he spat in his face ”(13).

Why do you think the priest changed his mind to hide the fugitives and handed them over to their pursuers?

Pop was very much afraid of Kamensky, despite the fact that he was considered brave. He knew about the atrocities of the count, and therefore he understood that he would not be spared. After all, not only peasants and courtyard people got it from the master. “The count himself did not believe in God, but he could not stand the spiritual ones, and once on Easter he hunted the priests of Borisoglebsk with a cross with greyhounds” (4). This episode eloquently, fully shows how dangerous serfdom is, breaking even strong people and pushing them to betrayal.

How did the feudal lord Kamensky “pity” Arkady?

After the failed escape, Arkady was punished and "surrendered to the soldiers." Even the hard-hearted master treats him with respect: “I don’t want you to be lower than the way you put yourself with a noble spirit ... you won’t serve in ordinary soldiers, but you will be in regimental sergeants and show your courage” (15). He sent Arkady not just to the army, but to the war, where he could be killed immediately.

How does Arkady feel about the main character?

Arkady's feeling for Lyuba is filled with a special light. Like the heroes of lyrical folk songs, he loves her reverently, enthusiastically and courteously, and later, having learned that the girl did not escape shame and humiliation, he sympathizes with his beloved and does not blame her for anything.

Why does Arkady decide to run away?

1. He broke the word of his master not to cut anyone except him and the actresses, and he knew about the impending punishment and exile to the soldiers.

2. The touching love of the young "slaves" of Count Kamensky is waiting for severe trials. Lyuba must replenish the number of concubines of the depraved master, and then Arkady decides on a DESPERATE act - he commits a crime that is serious from the point of view of the legal norms of that era. He takes away his beloved, not fearing the possible consequences of the escape, and at the same time - quite in Russian - without having thought it through properly.

Do you think Arkady had hope to change his life? Or was this lesson enough for him?

Of course, he was, he was not afraid to fight, he achieved a high rank, he came to ransom Lyuba.

Having endured torture in the count's cellars and won (after 3 years) freedom, officer rank and money for himself on the battlefields (Arkady faithfully served the sovereign, deserved “officer rank and noble title”, “orders and crosses”, vacation and five hundred rubles “to heal wounds”), Arkady returns to Orel to his beloved in order to redeem her from the master and marry her “before the throne of the Most High Creator”. It would seem that the heroes almost managed to escape from slavery, to defend their right to happiness in the confrontation with the "wild nobility", with the cruelty of the world. But on the eve of the release of Lyuba, Arkady is killed by a simple Russian peasant - a janitor (he was stabbed to death by the owner of the inn), who could not resist the temptation of quick enrichment. The governor himself attended the funeral of Arkady Ilyich. They buried him with all military honors, as a nobleman, an officer.

How does the main character appear before us - Lyubov Onisimovna - in her own story and in the perception of the author?

Lyubov Onisimovna, according to the narrator's memoirs, during her story “was not yet very old, but white as a harrier; her features were delicate and delicate, and her high figure was completely straight and surprisingly well-proportioned, like that of a young girl. Mother and aunt, looking at her, said more than once that she was undoubtedly a beauty in her time ”(2).

Yes, Lyubov Onisimovna then “was not only in the prime of her virginal beauty, but also at the most interesting moment in the development of her many-sided talent.” The narrator herself modest and speaks little of his beauty. She only mentioned her luxurious hair. In her youth, they “were surprisingly big and fair-haired, and Arkady removed them - a feast for the eyes.” With her amazing fair-haired scythe, she “wrapped herself”, trying to commit suicide (you can imagine what kind of scythe it was!), And when she came to herself, she was frightened: “the head turned white” .

About character its author says: “She was infinitely honest, meek and sentimental ; loved the tragic in life and ... sometimes drank it down ”(2). Before her escape, in the theater, she was busy in the lead roles, Arkady loved her, and Count Kamensky wanted to make her his concubine. Probably, she was touchingly good in the “dress” of Saint Cecilia: in a white chiton dress and “a thin crown with a hoop”.

You noticed in the text of the story the name of a Catholic saint, like whom Count Kamensky ordered to decorate that young actress that attracted his attention. How does this circumstance characterize Count Kamensky and what do you know about Saint Cecilia?

(Speech by a pre-prepared student)

This is a saint of the Catholic Church, an image of virgin innocence. Depicted with musical instruments, she was considered the patroness of the performing arts, because one day she would be given to hear the singing of angels. She, like the heroine of our story, suffered for her beliefs - faith in Christ.

Kamensky is a voluptuary who has nothing sacred in his soul.

Why was her fate so tragic? Why couldn't she change it?

She was a serf actress.

What character traits of a Russian person are emphasized in the heroine? Does it differ from Arkady or does it fully correspond to him?

If in Arcadia such traits of a Russian person as fearlessness, spiritual nobility and the ability to sacrifice are emphasized, then another type of national character is presented in the image of Lyubov Onisimovna. Lyuba resembles an “ideal” folklore heroine or “quiet” and meek angels of Russian icons. However, this character also reflects the negative psychological consequences of centuries of slavery - first of all, the inability and inability to resist circumstances. Separated from her beloved, insulted by her master and humiliated to the position of a cowgirl, Lyuba does not protest, does not think about freedom, perceiving her new “role” in the world with humility and humility.

Find a description of the life of serf actresses. Why did actresses dislike “camarina earrings” so much? (A sign of recognition of talent and deprivation of innocence by the "master")

What detail shows the reader that there were a lot of runaway, caught, crazy actresses like Lyuba?(Cowgirl Drosis, who was supposed to "observe psychosis")

All the positive characters of the story have speaking names: the name Love comes from the Old Slavonic word meaninglove. Arkady (from the Greek words "arkados" and "arkas" - a resident of Arcadia. Arcadia is a happy, idyllic country of shepherds and shepherds). The name Arkady symbolizes an active, good and brave beginning. All these qualities are inherent in the protagonist of the "Dumb Artist". The name Drosida seems strange to readers, but Leskov also introduces it into the work for a reason. Drosis (in translation from Greek - a martyr), who was martyred for Christ. In the story "Dumb Artist" Droshida ended up in a barnyard, having suffered for love.

All negative characters do not have names and surnames.Why?

What do you think, was there a limit to the patience of serfs or could they endure indefinitely? (“And she still remembered how our people slaughtered the old count, and the chief valet himself, because they couldn’t stand his hellish ferocity in any way).

How did you see the “lord's servants” (the Tula executioner) in the story? Why do you think Lyubov Onisimovna tells in such detail about the punishment of the peasants “for the cruel count” and “the innkeeper” - for Arkady Ilyich? How does this characterize the narrator?

Even more terrible than the actions of tyrant landowners, it seems the behavior of people obsessed with blind obedience and fear of the masters of life. These people, “master's servants”, are capable of betrayal, like a Judas priest, and even of some kind of senseless cruelty towards their own kind, like a Tula executioner who punished an “innkeeper” for murder. “He was given three glasses of rum to drink before business ... a hundred whips hit everything just for one torment ... and then, as he clicked a hundred first, he ripped the entire vertebral bone ... He was still shouting: “Let's beat someone else - I’ll kill all the Orlovskys” ”(19 ).

The fate of the serfs in the story (drosida motley).

The people were driven to despair. Many lives were ruined, destinies - crippled. We also learn about the unfortunate fate of Drosida, a kind woman who cared for the sick Lyuba in the barnyard and taught her to drown her grief in wine, because “it is bitter grief, and the poison of grief is even bitterer, and pouring coal with this poison goes out for a minute ". Since then, Lyubov Onisimovna has not fallen asleep without the contents of her “little bottle”. This is how she remained in the memory of the author-narrator, who commemorates her Arkasha on a “simple grave with an old cross”.

And the final chord of the story is only one sentence: “I have never seen a more terrible and soul-rending commemoration in my whole life.” This short phrase expressed all the author's heartache for the desecrated human dignity and ruined lives of his heroes. And the blame for everything is unfair, ugly social relations - serfdom and the cruelty of people.

Let me remind you that Herzen's work "The Thieving Magpie" was written in 1846, during the years of serfdom, and therefore was relevant, topical. Leskov's story appears almost 40 years later, 22 years after the abolition of serfdom, but tells about the same period of landlord permissiveness and serfdom. Why, for what purpose does Leskov remind readers of that slave time?Was it only in the era of serfdom that cruelty was manifested in people?

Before Leskov, when he wrote "The Dumb Artist", there was another task. For 22 years now, serfdom has been abolished, all the participants in the tragedy that took place in the serf theater of Count Kamensky died long ago, but nevertheless, the era of serfdom still dominated Russia, the remnants of serfdom still survived in social relations, in state institutions, and most importantly, they tenaciously were held in the minds and psychology of both former serfs and former owners of serf souls.

"Dumb Artist" is a psychologically reliable study of the national character, correlated with the current state of Russian life. It is no coincidence that Leskov's story of Lyubov Onisimovna is addressed to a child. The purpose of the author is to liberate future generations of Russian people from the moral legacy of serfdom, to get rid of the dark beginnings in the Russian soul, and on the other hand, to sing in the person of the “stupid artist” and his beloved the best features of the Russian people - talent, fortitude, loyalty, ability to sacrifice love.

Connection of the old nanny's story with the author's epigraph to it.

Arkady and Lyuba appear before readers at a decisive moment. They are faced with a difficult choice: to submit, endure humiliation and continue to live as submissive slaves, as many thousands of serfs live, or to rebel against laws that trample on human dignity. They choose the second path, although this threatens them with almost inevitable "torment" and death. And this is where pride, courage, determination, hidden hitherto, begin to appear in them. The awakened feeling of freedom ennobles their every act, gives them strength” (Vl. Muravyov).

Lyubov Onisimovna recalls that during the escape, noticing the pursuit, Arkady Ilyich leaned over to her and asked: “Lyubushka, my dear! they are chasing us… do you agree to die if we don’t leave?”

She “answered that she even gladly agreed” (11).

As already mentioned, Leskov continues the theme of righteousness in The Toupee Artist. “Their souls will settle in good things,” the epigraph says. And the good, that is, the righteous, the saints, in Russia (and not only in Russia - it is no coincidence that the saint of the Catholic Church - Cecilia is probably mentioned) has always been called people capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of love for God and people, for the sake of ideas of goodness and justice.

Who is to blame for the plight and lack of rights of the peasants? From where, from whom does evil come?

The drama of relations between the feudal lords and the disenfranchised "slaves" is complicated in Leskov by the drama of the relations between ordinary Russian people and each other. Ultimately, the heroes are destroyed not by the "masters of life" - the Kamenskys, but by "their own". At first, Arkasha and Lyuba are betrayed by a priest whom they trusted, and later Arkady becomes a victim of the innkeeper. Evil is by no means the exclusive property of the world of feudal lords, the author shows. The dark beginnings of life are present both in the nobility and among the people.

Do you think the story of the stupid artist could have ended happily? Or did you have the feeling when you finished reading the story that there would be no good ending? Why did it end like this?

The story told in "The Toupee Artist" could not end happily, it would not be typical for the era, and Leskov remains true to the truth of life. The heroes of the story are twice close to achieving their cherished goal, but both times all their efforts and hopes are destroyed by a seemingly unforeseen event at first glance: the first time - the betrayal of the priest, the second - the greed of the innkeeper. But Leskov makes it clear that both of these cases are not at all accidental, they are in the mores of the era. And besides two obvious catastrophes, the writer mentions in the story a third one, which inevitably awaited Arkady and Lyubov Onisimovna, if the escape was successful. The fugitives sought to "Turkish Khrushchuk", "where, - as Lyubov Onisimovna explains, - then many of our people fled from Kamensky." "Turkish Khrushchuk" the serfs of Count Kamensky called Ruschuk - a Bulgarian city on the Danube, which was under the rule of the Turks. More than once during the Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th-19th centuries, passing from hand to hand, destroyed by the war, it could not and was not a haven for fugitives from Russia. Khrushchuk was the same dream and legend as the legends about the country of Belovodie, about the Walnut Land and many other "distant lands". But Leskov retains in the story the obviously mythical Khrushchuk - as a Symbol of the groundless, unrealizable hopes of the serfs for freedom and happiness in a feudal state.

It is also possible that the count could not allow the former serf to win, to become free himself. Yes, and redeemed his love and set free. Then all the serfs will do the same. But Kamensky could not allow this. He had to break these two strong men. Therefore, probably, the watchman was persuaded to kill.

Such a fate (we are talking about Arcadia) is also characteristic of Russian life to a certain extent - let us recall Gogol, who noticed in Dead Souls that a Russian person "does not like" to die a natural death.

In a feudal state, enslaved peasants had no right to freedom and happiness.

Although in Russian history There was one exception. This is the life story of the serf actress P.I. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova. (Speech by a pre-prepared student). “The daughter of the blacksmith Parasha Kovalev, as a thirteen-year-old girl, played the role of Louise in the opera The Fugitive Soldier, touching and captivating the audience of the fortress theater of Count Sheremetev. She had a wonderful voice and great dramatic talent.” This is an exceptional case in the history of the Russian serf theater: the serf Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova became Countess Sheremeteva. But soon she died of consumption.

And why do you think, despite the fact that the narrator is a “recent” boy and Lyubov Onisimovna, who told him her sad story, the story is called “Dumb Artist”?

In honor of the protagonist, who was able to oppose serfdom, was not afraid to show his love and fight for it.

The main characters of Leskov's story - Lyuba and Arkady - personify the best features of the national character. Both of them are beautiful, noble, capable of true love. In addition, each of the characters is artistically gifted. According to Leskov, artists are not only painters, sculptors or writers, but any person who feels beauty and strives to achieve perfection in his work. Such is Arkady, who not only combed, but “drawn” actresses, turning courtyard girls into heroines and even goddesses, and, in addition, if necessary, “drawn” the Kamensky brothers in a noble form. His special talent was "ideological", in the ability to give the face with the help of "drawing" a sloppy, noble expression. Performing the work of a “stupid artist”, the hero experiences moments of creative insight, bright joy.

Among the anti-serf works of Russian fiction, N. S. Leskov’s “Tupei Artist” occupies one of the first places in terms of the strength and depth of the image, artistic embodiment and emotional impact on the reader, along with A. N. Radishchev’s “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” Notes of a hunter" by I. S. Turgenev, poems and poems by N. A. Nekrasov. Leskov's story can rightly be called "the verdict of posterity" of feudal Russia.

Reflection

What topic did we discuss in class?

Why were Russian writers not indifferent to the national problem?

Do you think serfdom hindered the development of Russia?

Explain the words of N.S. Leskov "I really want to die for the people.”

Application

SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH KAMENSKY (1771–1835)

There are three known Counts of Kamensky, and the Oryol old-timers called all of them "unheard of tyrants."

CM. Kamensky was the eldest son of Field Marshal Count M.F. Kamensky, brother of the commander, with whom he was always on bad terms. A cruel serf-owner and a great lover. Born in 1771. He was brought up, like his younger brother, in the cadet corps. Less loved by his father than Nikolai. From a young age, he served the Fatherland, distinguished himself in many campaigns and battles, and was awarded the highest military awards. He fought with the Turks, with the Swedes, against Poland. By 1798 he had risen to the rank of major general.

In the campaign of 1805, he distinguished himself in, where he commanded a brigade in a general's column. Carried out three brilliant attacks against the general's division. For a trip to Galicia, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Kamensky distinguished himself most of all during in the Moldavian army, where he served under the command of his younger brother, which was very offended.

Many times Kamensky showed wisdom and courage in the battle with enemies, especially when taking the fortress of Bazardzhik. But willfulness and self-will prevailed in his character. So, when in February 1810, the brother of Sergei Mikhailovich, General of Infantry P.M., was appointed to the post of commander in chief of the Russian army operating against the Ottoman Empire. Kamensky, Kamensky 1st could not come to terms with the second role, and in June 1810 "threw" the operation near Shumla.

On October 19, 1812, he received an indefinite leave "to cure his illness", on March 6, 1822 he was dismissed from service.

After leaving military service, the count settled in Saburov, his father's estate a few miles from Orel.

Sergei Mikhailovich had a special propensity for. The entire troupe of his Oryol theater consisted of serfs. The count sold tickets to the theater himself, sitting at the box office. The audience was treated to marshmallows, soaked apples and honey. The count vigilantly watched the play of the artists and wrote down all the mistakes noticed. Several whips hung on the stage, and after each act he went backstage and there he made calculations with the guilty actors, whose screams reached the audience.

The morals of the theater of S.M. Kamensky are described in the story "".

A.I. Herzen also wrote about Count S.M. Kamensky in “Thieving Magpie" : “He was very rich and lived on the theater. There was a Russian, broad, sweeping nature in him: a passionate lover of art, a man with great taste and tact of luxury. Contemporaries called Count Kamensky "crazy", without denying, however, that he was one of the most educated people of his time, had an extensive library, translated works of drama from European languages, and was the author of several books.

TheatreCount S.M.Kamensky (1771–1835), existed from 1815 to 1835 as a traditional serf. In 1815, the count erected an unusual building on Kamenskaya Square, tall, wooden, with a bright red roof and white columns, with false windows painted with soot and ocher, and on September 26 (October 8, according to a new style) raised the curtain on the first public public theater in Orel .

The fortress theater of Count Kamensky in Orel existed from 1815 to 1835, its performances were distinguished by luxury, there was a school at the theater where experienced teachers taught serf actresses and actors, Kamensky invited free actors to participate in performances, he played the great Russian actor M. S. Shchepkin. At the same time, it was a real serf theater, with all its horrors: with disenfranchised slave actors, whom the owner, a tyrant and tyrant, did not consider to be people and humiliated at every step.

The story set forth by Leskov in The Tupey Artist is quite real - after all, the owner of the serf theater where the main character played was none other than Count Kamensky. Kamensky was cruel, the actors who did not know the text of the role or made any mistake, he personally whipped, often right behind the scenes during the intermission, so that the screams of the punished could be heard by the audience. The serf actresses he liked became his short-lived favorites. One of the count's quirks was that the new favorite was always brought to him in the costume of Saint Cecilia.

I think it will not be a mistake to conclude that similar atrocities also reigned in other serf theaters. And this means that creativity was not free. It was morally suppressed. And in general, what kind of creativity can we talk about when the artist was not even considered a person! environment of so-called creativity.

The serf theater was absolutely powerless, as it remained a serf and, together with the entire troupe, could be sold into other hands, punished, and sent to hard work by the decision of a nobleman.

The theater of Count Kamensky was public, accessible to everyone. The count himself sold tickets, published the magazine "Friend of Russians", where he published excerpts from plays, reflections on performances (6 issues of the magazine were published). Performances were given three times a week, the theater repertoire included plays by D.I. Fonvizin, A.S. Griboedov, I.A. Krylov, W. Shakespeare, F. Schiller. In addition to the drama troupe, the theater included an opera and ballet troupe, a choir and two orchestras. The decorator was the famous Italian artist Domenico Scotti. During the first six months of the theater's existence, 82 performances were given: 18 operas, 15 dramas, 41 comedies and 6 ballets. The count's education, his love for the theater and the breadth of interests did not prevent Kamensky from cruelly flogging and drilling his serf artists, sitting during the performance with a whip in his hand. Subsequently, Count Kamensky went bankrupt at the theatre, in 1834 he issued free serf artists and quietly, in obscurity, passed away in 1835 (he was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery).

Features of speech

storytellers

Examples from the text

Character traits

heroines

1. Construction of phrases:

2. Turnovers of colloquial speech

Grief does not sleep (15).

French

"My comprehension of the hero of Leskov's story"

Features of the speech of the narrator

Examples from the text

Character traits

heroines

1. Construction of phrases:

Inversion

The performance went well, because we were all like stone, accustomed to both fear and torment: whatever was in our hearts, and we did our performance in such a way that nothing was noticeable (10)

Emotionality

- broken phrases

How I sensed that they were tormenting him ... and rushed ... hit the door to run to him ... and the door was locked ... I don’t know what I wanted to do ... and fell, but it was even more audible on the floor ... (14)

Passionate nature, capable of strong deeds

2. Turnovers of colloquial speech

And when the whole performance was over, then they took off the dress of the Duchess de Bourblanc and put me on Cecilia - one kind of white, just without sleeves, and on the shoulders it was only picked up with knots - we could not stand this dress. Well, then Arkady comes to comb my head in an innocent style, as indicated in the paintings by Saint Cecilia, and fasten a thin crown with a hoop, and Arkady sees that six people are standing at the door of my closet (11)

Simplicity, sincerity
Freedom of story in an effort to convey the experience

3. Figurative and expressive means:

Hyperbola

And our torment was such that it is better a hundred times for the one who is destined for death (11)

Susceptibility to the beauty and expressiveness of folk speech

- figurative meaning of words

Snow splashes from under the hooves of the horses ... (11)
And suddenly here we flew over some river on the ice ... (11)

personification

Grief does not sleep (15).

Comparisons

I had these cattle like children (15)
My heart burns like coal, and there is no source (19)

Kindness, the ability to subtly feel, empathize

vernacular

Visualization, torment, sufferers, in the evening, desperate weddings, remarried, bled to death, ends (dies), etc.

- occasionalisms, words built on the principles of folk etymology

Podpuri (potpourri); kamarin earrings (aquamarine); plakonchik (bottle + cry); darkness is between; vertebral bone; in anticipation (waiting + agitation - fromFrench . excitement), Turkish Khrushchuk (Rushchuk is a city in Bulgaria)

4. Appeals

Look, my dear, over there ... Do you see how terrible it is? (3)
Filyushka, father! Haven't you heard what people are walking about and talking about so curiously? (eighteen)
I can’t, auntie, my heart burns like coal ...
And you, good boy, never tell your mother this, never betray ordinary people ...
Thank you, my dear - do not say: I need it (19)

Kind, gentle attitude towards others, despite the experience

5. Diminutive suffixes

Kamorochka; old lady; in the entire front half; covered with an old thin muslin; the old priest ... shouts quickly; there were calves... a lot of calves; made a bed of fresh oatmeal; covered with matting, and taken to prison

The ability to endure and forgive, tolerance for people who have done evil

Analysis of the work

The work has a subtitle: "The story on the grave (Holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861)". The fortress theater of Count Kamensky in Orel is described here, but the author says that he cannot specify under which of the Counts Kamensky - under Field Marshal M.F. Kamensky or his sons - these events took place.

The story consists of nineteen chapters. In this work, the theme of the death of folk talents in Russia, as well as the theme of exposing the feudal system, are heard, and they are solved by the author with great artistic skill. This story tells about brutally trampled love, about life ruined by a despot who, due to certain circumstances, has unlimited power over people. There are few books in Russian literature that capture the period of serfdom with such artistic power.

The history of the serfs is reminiscent of the plot of Herzen's story "The Thieving Magpie".

The genre of "Dumb Artist" is very peculiar. This is a story written in satirical-elegiac tones. The subtitle already sets the tone for an elegiac tone: "The Story on the Grave." The epigraph reinforces this impression even more: “Their souls will settle in good… The development of the plot is preceded by the narrator’s reasoning about the very concept of “artist”. With such a polemical entry, the first chapter of the story begins. Further, the narrator gives several examples that illustrate exactly how other people understand this word. The Russian "stupid artist" Arkady, peering into a living, unique face, finds in him every time a "new imagination". Even giving nobility and importance to the face of a feudal count, tough by nature, Arkady does not lie with his art, but, as it were, releases that good beginning that is necessarily hidden in any person, even in the most insignificant and useless. According to Leskov, the highest giftedness lies precisely in the purity of moral feeling, humanity.

The narrative manner of this work is multi-stage, since different times are intricately intertwined here. The events that make up the plot of the story are reproduced by a seventy-year-old woman, and they took place in her distant youth. In turn, the narrator, already being a mature person, shares his childhood memories with readers. The former serf actress was his nanny. Thus, a living unity of times appears in the story. Mutual understanding and sympathy between the nanny and the little boy, which is born in this communication, strengthens the bond between people, thereby preventing the chain of generations from falling apart. Here, in the characters, the past is organically present, showing its great significance for the present.

The words from the funeral song given in the epigraph mean for the writer that the good done by a person is not in vain. After all, everything that happens in life does not disappear without a trace. Arkady, defending his love, defended the good, bright, truly human life principles. Everything that happened to him and his beloved girl was not in vain, since their story had such a strong moral influence on at least one person - the narrator. The events of someone else's fate that have arisen in the memory reveal simple but wise truths to an already adult man, taking part in his spiritual development, and the feeling of compassion, to which the nanny called him, entered the soul of the child and armed the person for life with a passionate desire for active good and beauty.

Thus, the tragic fate of the serf make-up artist Arkady and the actress Lyubov Onisimovna confirms the main idea of ​​the author: “Ordinary people must be protected, after all, ordinary people are all sufferers.”

In this story, Leskov manifests himself as a social satirist, thereby rising to the level of the best works of the "Gogol" literary trend.

The work has a subtitle: "The story on the grave (Holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861)". The fortress theater of Count Kamensky in Orel is described here, but the author says that he cannot specify under which of the Counts Kamensky - under Field Marshal M.F. Kamensky or his sons - these events took place.

The story consists of nineteen chapters. In this work, the theme of the death of folk talents in Russia, as well as the theme of exposing the feudal system, are heard, and they are solved by the author with great artistic skill. This story tells about brutally trampled love, about life ruined by a despot who, due to certain circumstances, has unlimited power over people. There are few books in Russian literature that capture the period of serfdom with such artistic power.

The history of the serfs is reminiscent of the plot of Herzen's story "The Thieving Magpie".

The genre of "Dumb Artist" is very peculiar. This is a story written in satirical-elegiac tones. The subtitle "Story on the Grave" already sets the tone for an elegiac tone. The epigraph reinforces this impression even more: "Their souls will settle in good ... The development of the plot is preceded by the narrator's reasoning about the very concept of "artist". Russian "stupid artist" Arkady, peering into a living, unique face, finds in him every time a "new imagination". at the same time, it releases that good beginning that is necessarily hidden in any person, even in the most insignificant and worthless.According to Leskov, the highest talent lies precisely in the purity of moral feeling, humanity.

The narrative manner of this work is multi-stage, since different times are intricately intertwined here. The events that make up the plot of the story are reproduced by a seventy-year-old woman, and they took place in her distant youth. In turn, the narrator, already being a mature person, shares his childhood memories with readers. The former serf actress was his nanny. Thus, a living unity of times appears in the story. Mutual understanding and sympathy between the nanny and the little boy, which is born in this communication, strengthens the bond between people, thereby preventing the chain of generations from falling apart. Here, in the characters, the past is organically present, showing its great significance for the present.

The words from the funeral song given in the epigraph mean for the writer that the good done by a person is not in vain. After all, everything that happens in life does not disappear without a trace. Arkady, defending his love, defended the good, bright, truly human life principles. Everything that happened to him and his beloved girl was not in vain, since their story had such a strong moral influence on at least one person - the narrator. The events of someone else's fate that have arisen in the memory reveal simple but wise truths to an already adult man, taking part in his spiritual development, and the feeling of compassion, to which the nanny called him, entered the soul of the child and armed the person for life with a passionate desire for active good and beauty.

Thus, the tragic fate of the serf make-up artist Arkady and the actress Lyubov Onisimovna confirms the main idea of ​​the author: "Ordinary people must be protected, after all, ordinary people are all sufferers."

In this story, Leskov appears as a social satirist, thereby rising to the level of the best works of the "Gogol" literary trend.

Plan

Discourse about artists. Nanny Lyubov Onisimovna. Dumbass Arkady. Grace of the Count. Unsuccessful escape. The return of Arkady from the war and his death.

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