Ramzin began new era Russian literature,” Belinsky argued. This era was primarily characterized by the fact that literature gained influence on society, it became for readers a "textbook of life", that is, that on which the glory of Russian literature of the 19th century is based. The significance of Karamzin's activity for Russian literature is great. Karamzin's word echoes Pushkin and Lermontov. Most big influence subsequent literature was influenced by Karamzin's story " Poor Lisa» "Poor Liza" (1729) - the most popular and the best story this writer. Its plot, presented to the reader as a "sad story", is extremely simple, but full of dramatic tension.
Talking about the love of a poor peasant girl Lisa for the aristocrat Erast, who tricked her into committing suicide, the author does not emphasize the class opposition of the hero and heroine. He clearly sees this opposition, but does not want to admit that it was precisely this that caused the death of “poor Lisa.” The entire story depicts the life of the characters through secular and sentimental idealization. The characters in the story are embellished. The deceased father of Liza, an exemplary family man, because he loves work, plowed the land well and was quite prosperous, everyone loved him. Lisa's mother, "a sensitive, kind old woman," is weakening from incessant tears for her husband, or even peasant women know how to feel. She touchingly loves her daughter and admires nature with religious tenderness. Neither Lisa's mother nor the heroine herself resembles genuine peasant women. Most of all, the heroine of the story is idealized - “a beautiful body and soul of a settler”, “tender and sensitive Lisa.”
Warmly loving her parents, she cannot forget about her father, but hides her sadness and tears so as not to disturb her mother. She tenderly took care of her mother, got her medicines, worked day and night (“weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and taking berries in the summer and selling them in Moscow”) The author is sure that such activities fully ensure the life of the old woman and her daughters. According to his plan, Lisa is completely unfamiliar with the book, but after meeting with Erast, she dreams of how good it would be if her lover “was born a simple peasant shepherd ... ..” these words are completely in the spirit of Lisa. In a bookish way, Lisa not only speaks, but also thinks. Nevertheless, the psychology of Lisa, who fell in love with a girl for the first time, is revealed in detail and in a natural sequence. The following moments are psychological and interesting: the desire to see Erast the next day after they met and “some kind of sadness” when this desire did not come true, joyful fright and excitement at the unexpected appearance of Erast under the window of her hut, the author depicts the same feeling with the help of details in at the beginning of the story, wonder how she could have lived before without knowing Erast; anxiety at the thought that Erastubarin should not be the husband of a simple peasant woman; fear of losing a loved one and hope for his return, finally, hopeless despair after Erast escorted her out of the office. Before throwing herself into the pond, Lisa remembered her mother, she took care of the old woman as best she could, left her money, but this time the thought of her was no longer able to keep Lisa from decisive step.
As a result, the character of the heroine is idealized, but internally whole. The author in the story raises not only the topic " little man"and social inequality, but also such a topic as fate and circumstances, nature and man, love-woe and love-happiness. Erast, his character is much different from the character of Lisa. Erast is described more in line with the one who raised him social environment than Lisa. This is a “rather rich nobleman”, who led a dispersed life, thought only about his pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, but often did not find it, got bored and complained about his fate”, endowed with “a fair mind and good heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy", "he read novels. In the image of Erast, for the first time, the type of a disappointed Russian aristocrat is outlined. Liza is a child of nature, her soul and character are close to the people. Erast recklessly falls in love with Liza, breaking the rule that she is not a girl of his circle. Lisa is naive and it is not clear to her that at the time in which she lives, she is considered a small person and they do not give her the right to love, after learning that Erast loves her, Lisa surrenders to her love selflessly without thinking about anything. At first, Erast acts in the same way, but then comes crucial moment, the hero does not stand the test of love, low feelings win.
Wednesday prevents the hero's soul from resurrecting and forces him to lie to Liza. Only circumstances allow the heroine to open the deception. The minute Lisa begins to see clearly, fate acts as a punishment for sin. Lisa is punished for her love. Erast is punished for not keeping his oath. The author's position in the story is the position of a humanist. Before us is Karamzin the artist and Karamzin the philosopher. He sang the beauty of love, described love as a feeling that can transform a person, The writer teaches that a moment of love is beautiful, but long life and strength gives only the mind.
Karamzin laid the foundation for a huge cycle of literature about "little people", took the first step into this hitherto unknown topic. It was he who opened the way for such classics of the future as Gogol, Dostoevsky and others.
The story "Poor Lisa", which became a model of sentimental prose, was published by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin in 1792 in the publication "Moscow Journal". It is worth noting Karamzin as an honored reformer of the Russian language and one of the most highly educated Russians of his time - this is important aspect that allows you to further evaluate the success of the story. Firstly, the development of Russian literature had a "catching up" character, since it lagged behind European literature by about 90-100 years. While in the West they wrote and read with might and main sentimental novels, in Russia they still put together clumsy classical odes and dramas. Karamzin's progressiveness as a writer consisted in "bringing" sentimental genres from Europe to his homeland and developing a style and language for further writing such works.
Secondly, the assimilation of literature of the late 18th century by the public was such that at first they wrote for society how to live, and then society began to live according to what was written. That is, before the sentimental story, people read mostly hagiographic or church literature, where there were no living characters or lively speech, and the heroes of the sentimental story - such as Lisa - gave secular young ladies a real scenario of life, a guide of feelings.
Karamzin brought a story about poor Lisa from his many trips - from 1789 to 1790 he visited Germany, England, France, Switzerland (England is considered the birthplace of sentimentalism), and upon his return he published a new revolutionary story in his own journal.
“Poor Liza” is not an original work, since Karamzin adapted its plot for Russian soil, taking it from European literature. We are not talking about a specific work and plagiarism - there were many such European stories. In addition, the author created an atmosphere of amazing authenticity by drawing himself as one of the heroes of the story and masterfully describing the situation of events.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, shortly after returning from a trip, the writer lived in a dacha not far from the Simonov Monastery, in a picturesque, calm place. The situation described by the author is real - the readers recognized both the surroundings of the monastery and the “lizine pond”, and this contributed to the fact that the plot was perceived as reliable, and the characters as real people.
Analysis of the work
The plot of the story
The plot of the story is love and, according to the author, utterly simple. Peasant girl Lisa (father was wealthy peasant, but after his death, the economy is in decline and the girl has to earn money by selling needlework and flowers) lives in the bosom of nature with her old mother. In a city that seems huge and alien to her, she meets a young nobleman, Erast. Young people fall in love - Erast out of boredom, inspired by pleasures and a noble lifestyle, and Liza - for the first time, with all the simple, ardor and naturalness " natural man". Erast takes advantage of the girl's gullibility and takes possession of her, after which, naturally, he begins to be weary of the girl's company. The nobleman leaves for the war, where he loses his entire fortune in cards. The way out is to marry a rich widow. Lisa finds out about this and commits suicide by throwing herself into a pond, not far from the Simonov Monastery. The author who has been told this story cannot remember poor Liza without holy tears of regret.
For the first time among Russian writers, Karamzin unleashed the conflict of a work by the death of the heroine - as, most likely, it would have been in reality.
Of course, despite the progressiveness of Karamzin's story, his characters differ significantly from real people, they are idealized and embellished. This is especially true of the peasants - Lisa does not look like a peasant woman. Hardly hard labour contributed to her remaining "sensitive and kind", it is unlikely that she behaved with herself internal dialogues graceful style, and she could hardly keep up a conversation with a nobleman. Nevertheless, this is the first thesis of the story - "and peasant women know how to love."
main characters
Lisa
The central heroine of the story, Liza, is the embodiment of sensitivity, ardor and ardor. Her mind, kindness and tenderness, the author emphasizes, are from nature. Having met Erast, she begins to dream not that he, like a handsome prince, will take her to his world, but that he should be a simple peasant or shepherd - this would equalize them and allow them to be together.
Erast differs from Lisa not only in social sign but also in character. Perhaps, the author says, he was spoiled by the world - he leads a typical lifestyle for an officer and a nobleman - he seeks pleasures and, having found them, cools to life. Erast is both smart and kind, but weak, incapable of action - such a hero also appears in Russian literature for the first time, a type of "disappointed aristocrat's life." At first, Erast is sincere in his love impulse - he does not lie when he tells Lisa about love, and it turns out that he is also a victim of circumstances. He does not stand the test of love, does not resolve the situation "like a man", but feels sincere torment after what happened. After all, it was he who allegedly told the author the story of poor Lisa and led him to Liza's grave.
Erast predetermined the appearance in Russian literature of a number of heroes like "superfluous people" - weak and incapable of key decisions.
Karamzin uses " talking names". In the case of Liza, the choice of the name turned out to be "double-sided". The fact is that classic literature provided for typing techniques, and the name Lisa was supposed to mean a playful, flirtatious, frivolous character. Such a name could have a laughing maid - a cunning comedy character, prone to love adventures, by no means innocent. Having chosen such a name for his heroine, Karamzin destroyed the classical typification and created a new one. He lined up new addiction between the name, character and actions of the hero and outlined the path to psychologism in literature.
The name Erast was also not chosen by chance. It means "beautiful" in Greek. His fatal charm, the need for novelty of impressions lured and ruined the unfortunate girl. But Erast will reproach himself for the rest of his life.
Constantly reminding the reader of his reaction to what is happening (“I remember with sadness ...”, “tears are rolling down my face, reader ....”), the author organizes the narrative in such a way that it acquires lyricism and sensitivity.
Theme, conflict of the story
Karamzin's story touches on several themes:
- The theme of the idealization of the peasant environment, the ideality of life in nature. The main character is a child of nature, and therefore, by default, she cannot be evil, immoral, insensitive. The girl embodies simplicity and innocence due to the fact that she is from peasant family where eternal moral values are kept.
- The theme of love and betrayal. The author sings of the beauty of sincere feelings and sadly talks about the doom of love, not supported by reason.
- The theme of the opposition of the village and the city. The city turns out to be evil, a great evil force capable of breaking a pure creature from nature (Lisa's mother intuitively feels this evil force and prays for her daughter every time she goes to the city to sell flowers or berries).
- The theme of the "little man". Social inequality, the author is sure (and this is an obvious glimpse of realism) does not lead to the happiness of lovers from different backgrounds. Such love is doomed.
The main conflict of the story is social, because it is precisely because of the gap between wealth and poverty that the love of the heroes dies, and then the heroine. The author praises sensitivity as highest value man, affirms the cult of feelings as opposed to the cult of reason.
"Poor Lisa" really has a happy fate. The story is one of the works that mark literary era and this is its significance for the history of literature. Written almost 200 years ago, over these two centuries it has known neither oblivion nor loss of readers' love.
One of the most characteristic features of the great works of Russian literature is that, with the simplicity of the external plot, they raise the most complex, deep questions of life. These are “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin, “ Dead Souls"N. V. Gogol, "Anna Karenina" by L. N. Tolstoy ...
The plot of "Poor Lisa", as the author himself rightly noted, is very straightforward. The peasant woman Liza and the nobleman Erast fell in love, but soon Erast left his beloved in order to marry a rich widow and thereby improve his fortune. The abandoned girl drowned herself in a pond with grief.
This story was more successful than anything written by Karamzin before. "Your 'Poor Lisa' is beautiful to me!" - this is how Petrov, an impartial and harsh critic, commented on the story.
First of all, "Poor Lisa" bribed the reader with the fact that she talked about Russian life, about modern times. Usually in the stories they wrote that the action takes place in an indefinite “one city”, “one village”, and here the Simonov Monastery, well known to every Muscovite, everyone recognized the birch grove and the meadow where the hut stood, the monastery pond surrounded by old willows - the place of the death of poor Liza … Accurate descriptions gave special credibility to the whole story. In addition, the author emphasized the veracity of his story: “Ah! Why am I not writing a novel, but a sad story!” Even the fact that Lisa was selling forest flowers was new feature life: in one of the articles, Karamzin reports that they began to sell bouquets of such flowers in Moscow only a year or two before the creation of the story.
The name Lisin was strengthened behind the Fox Pond, it is on for a long time became a place of pilgrimage for sensitive readers. The Moscow Guide of 1827, along with the Sukharev Tower, the Red Gates and other Moscow sights, recommends visiting Lizin Pond.
Not only sensitive girls came to the pond, but also men: Pogodin conveys the words of Professor Tsvetaev, “that he, too, went to Lizin’s pond, with a white handkerchief in his hands, to wipe his tears.”
Now, many years later, “Poor Lisa” seems almost like an elegant toy, but at one time it was perceived differently: it was a sharply modern and socially sounding work. The theme and images of "Poor Liza" directly echo the pages of Radishchev's book, which had just been banned and confiscated even from private individuals.
The chapter "Edrovo" "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" tells how in this village the author met a peasant girl, Anyuta, who cannot marry her loved one, because he has to pay 100 rubles for permission to marry, and neither , neither Anyuta has that kind of money. The author offers Anyuta and her mother this money, but they refuse.
The image of Anyuta's mother resonates with the image of Lisa's mother, who resolutely refuses to take from Erast the fee he insistently offers "ten times more than the price she sets" for the canvas woven by Liza. In addition, there are minor coincidences in details, words: for example, Anyuta's father died, leaving a strong economy, Lisa's father was also a "well-to-do villager", and here and there there was no male worker left in the house; Liza at Karamzin says: “God gave me hands to work,” Anyuta’s fiancé, also refusing to accept money as a gift, declares: “I, master, have two hands, I will run the house with them.” The connection between "Poor Liza" and "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" is undeniable.
The fundamental difference between the works of Radishchev and Karamzin lies in the fact that in "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" the theme is revealed by means of journalism, in "Poor Lisa" - by artistic means. Radishchev names the phenomenon and gives it an explanation from the point of view of social and economic, Karamzin depicts it. Both methods have their merits, but for the conditions of Russian reality fiction was of particular importance. Very well her role in public life determined by N. G. Chernyshevsky. He called it "the textbook of life."
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826) one of the greatest Russian writers of the times of sentimentalism. He was called the "Russian Stern". Historian, creator of the first generalizing historical work"History of the Russian State" in 12 volumes.
The history of the creation of the work
Wherever the name of N. M. Karamzin occurs, his story “Poor Liza” immediately comes to mind. Having glorified young poet, she is one of bright works in Russian . This work is considered the first sentimental story that brought fame and popularity to the author.
In 1792, Nikolai Karamzin, who was 25 years old, worked as the editor of the Moscow Journal. In it, the story "Poor Lisa" was first published. According to contemporaries, at that time Karamzin lived in the vicinity of the Simonov Monastery at Beketov's dacha. He knew those places well and transferred all their beauty to the pages of his work. Sergius Pond, allegedly dug by S. Radonezhsky, subsequently became the center of attention for couples in love who came there for walks. Later the pond was renamed "Lizin's pond".
Literary direction
From the end of the 17th century, the era triumphed with its clear rules and genres. Therefore, the sentimentalism that came to replace it, with its sensuality and simplicity of presentation, close to simple speech, translated literature into new level. With his story, N. Karamzin laid the foundation for noble sentimentalism. He did not advocate the abolition of serfdom, but at the same time showed all the humanity and beauty of the lower class.
Genre
Karamzin is the creator of a short novel - a "sensitive story". Prior to this, multi-volume works were widespread in the 18th century. "Poor Lisa" - the first psychological tale based on moral conflict.
Creative method and style
An innovative approach in the story is the very image of the narrator. The story is told on behalf of the author, a person who is not indifferent to the fate of the main characters. His empathy and participation is conveyed in a manner of presentation, which makes the story consistent with all the laws of sentimentalism. The narrator sympathizes with the heroes, worries about them and does not condemn anyone, although in the course of the story he gives vent to his emotions and writes that he is ready to curse Erast, that he is crying, that his heart is bleeding. Describing the thoughts and feelings of his characters, the author addresses them, argues with them, suffers with them - all this was also new in literature and also corresponded to the poetics of sentimentalism.
Karamzin was also able to show the landscape in a new way in the story. Nature in the work is no longer just a background, it harmonizes and corresponds to the feelings experienced by the characters of the story. Becomes an active artistic force of the work. So, after Erast's declaration of love, all nature rejoices with Lisa: birds sing, the sun shines brightly, flowers are fragrant. When young people could not resist the call of passion, a storm roars with a formidable warning, and rain pours from black clouds.
Problems of the work
- Social: the story of lovers belonging to different social strata, despite all the beauty and tenderness of feelings, leads to tragedy, and not to a happy ending, which is used to in old novels.
- Philosophical: the struggle of the mind with strong natural feelings.
- Moral: the moral conflict of the story. wonderful feelings between the peasant woman Lisa and the nobleman Erast. As a result, after short moments of happiness, the sensitivity of the heroes leads Lisa to death, and Erast remains unhappy and will forever reproach himself for Lisa's death; it was he, according to the narrator, who told him this story and showed Liza the grave.
Characteristics of heroes
Lisa. The main character is a peasant girl. The author showed her true image, not similar to the general idea of peasant women: “a beautiful body and soul villager”, “tender and sensitive Liza”, loving daughter your parents. She works, protects her mother from anxiety, not showing her suffering and tears. Even in front of the pond, Lisa remembers her mother. She decides on a fatal act, confident that she helped her mother in any way she could: she handed over the money to her. After meeting Erast, Lisa dreamed that her lover was born a simple shepherd. This emphasizes all the disinterestedness of her soul, as well as the fact that she really looked at things and understood that there could be nothing in common between a peasant woman and a nobleman.
Erast. In the novel, his image corresponds social society in which he grew up. A wealthy nobleman, in the rank of an officer, who led a wild life in search of solace in secular amusements. But not finding what he wanted, he was bored and complained about his fate. Karamzin in the image of Erast showed new type hero - a disillusioned aristocrat. He was not a "treacherous seducer" and sincerely fell in love with Lisa. Erast is also a victim of tragedy, and he has his own punishment. Subsequently, many more heroes of works of Russian literature are represented in the image of " extra person”, weak and unadapted to life. The author emphasizes that Erast was kind by nature, but a weak and windy person. He was dreamy, imagined life in pink color by reading novels and lyric poems. Therefore, his love did not stand the test of real life.
Lisa's mother. The image of mother Lisa often remains out of sight, as the main attention of the reader is riveted to the main actors. Nevertheless, we should not forget that the famous words of Karamzin “and peasant women know how to love” do not refer to Liza, but to her mother. It was she who devotedly loved her Ivan, lived with him in happiness and harmony. long years and took his death very hard. The only thing that kept her on the ground was her daughter, whom she could not leave alone, which is why she dreams of marrying Lisa in order to be calm for her future. The old woman cannot stand the grief that has befallen her - the news of Lisa's suicide - and dies.
Plot and composition
All events of the story take place over three months. However, the author tells about them as about the events of thirty years ago. In addition to the psychology of the characters, which is revealed to the smallest detail in the story, the ending is also influenced by external events who pushed main character take a decisive step.
The story begins and ends with a description of the surroundings of the Simonov Monastery, which remind the narrator of the deplorable fate of poor Liza. Near her grave, he likes to sit in thought under the canopy of trees and look at the pond. This description was made by Karamzin so accurately and picturesquely that the pilgrimage of fans of the story to the monastery began, the search for the place where the hut was, the search for Lisa's grave, etc. Readers believed that this story really happened.
What was new and unusual in the story was that instead of the expected (according to the usual novels) happy ending, the reader met with the bitter truth of life.
As Karamzin said about the story "Poor Lisa": "The tale is not very intricate." Erast is a young, wealthy nobleman who falls in love with the daughter of a settler, Lisa. But due to class inequality, their marriage is impossible. He is looking for a friend in her, but friendly communication develops into deeper mutual feelings. But he quickly lost interest in the girl. While in the army, Erast loses his fortune and, in order to improve his financial situation, marries a wealthy elderly widow. Having accidentally met Erast in the city, Liza decides that his heart belongs to another. Unable to come to terms with this, Liza drowns herself in the very pond near which they once met. Erast remains unhappy until the end of his days, he suffers from the pangs of repentance for many years and opens this story to the narrator a year before his death. “Now, maybe they have already reconciled!” - with these words, Karamzin concludes his story.
The meaning of the work
N. M. Karamzin, having created “Poor Lisa”, laid the foundation for a cycle of literature about “little people”. Created a modern literary language, which was spoken not only by nobles, but also by peasants. Moved the story closer colloquial speech, which added even more to the plot of reality and closeness with the reader.
Poor Lisa (compilation) Nikolai Karamzin
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Title: Poor Liza (compilation)
About the book "Poor Lisa (collection)" Nikolai Karamzin
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826) - writer, historian and educator, creator of one of the most significant works in Russian historiography- "History of the Russian State" the founder of Russian sentimentalism.
The book includes the stories "Poor Lisa", "Bornholm Island" and "Sierra Morena", as well as a collection of essays "Letters from a Russian Traveler".
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Quotes from the book "Poor Liza (collection)" Nikolai Karamzin
She flung herself into his arms—and now chastity was to perish! - Erast felt an extraordinary excitement in his blood - Liza had never seemed so charming to him - her caresses had never touched him so much - her kisses had never been so fiery - she knew nothing, suspected nothing, was not afraid of anything - the darkness of the evening nourished desires - not a single star shone in the sky - no ray could illuminate delusions. - Erast feels a thrill in himself - Liza also, not knowing why - not knowing what is happening to her ... Ah, Liza, Liza! Where is your guardian angel? Where is your innocence?
Lizin's father was a rather prosperous peasant, because he loved work, plowed the land well and always led a sober life.
“You must, young man,” he said, “you must inform me of the occurrences of the world, which I have left, but not yet completely forgotten. For a long time I have lived in solitude, for a long time I have not heard anything about the fate of people. Tell me if love reigns on the globe? Is incense smoked on the altars of virtue? Are the peoples prospering in the countries you have seen? “The light of the sciences,” I replied, “is spreading more and more, but human blood is still flowing on the earth—the tears of the unfortunate are shed—they praise the name of virtue and argue about its essence.” The old man sighed and shrugged.
In order to vividly feel all the audacity of the human spirit, one must be on the open sea, where one thin plank, as Wieland says, separates us from wet death, but where a skillful swimmer, spreading his sails, flies and in his thoughts already sees the glint of gold, which in another parts of the world will be rewarded for his bold enterprise. “Nil mortalibus arduum est” - “There is nothing impossible for mortals,” I thought with Horace, losing my gaze in the infinity of the Neptune kingdom.
The poet preaches the philosophy of "painful joy", calls melancholy a sweet feeling, which is "the most tender overflow from sorrow and longing to the pleasures of pleasure."
The heroes of Karamzin are like people who have been shipwrecked, thrown onto a harsh and wild coast, lonely on a deserted land.
Belinsky wrote: “Karamzin was the first in Russia to start writing stories that interested society ... stories in which people acted, portrayed the life of the heart and passions in the midst of ordinary everyday life.”
Karamzin is deeply convinced that humanity is on the path of progress, that it was precisely the 18th century. thanks to the activities of the great educators - scientists, philosophers and writers - he brought people closer to the truth. There are misconceptions, but they, like "alien growths, will sooner or later disappear," for a person will certainly come "to a pleasant goddess-truth." Having mastered the enlightening philosophy of his time, Karamzin believes that "enlightenment is the palladium of good manners." Enlightenment is beneficial for people of all conditions.
