Karamzin poor lisa analysis of the work. Main heroes
Today in the lesson we will talk about the story of N.M. Karamzin "Poor Liza", we will find out the details of its creation, the historical context, determine what the author's innovation is, analyze the characters of the characters in the story, and also consider the moral issues raised by the writer.
It must be said that the publication of this story was accompanied by extraordinary success, even a stir among the Russian readership, which is not surprising, because the first Russian book appeared, the heroes of which could be empathized in the same way as Goethe's The Sufferings of Young Werther or The New Eloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We can say that Russian literature began to become on the same level with European. The enthusiasm and popularity were such that even a pilgrimage to the place of events described in the book began. As you remember, the case takes place not far from the Simonov Monastery, the place was called "Lizin's pond". This place is becoming so popular that some evil-speaking people even compose epigrams:
Drowned here
Erast's bride...
Get drunk girls
There's plenty of room in the pond!
Well, can you do
Godless and worse?
Fall in love with a tomboy
And drown in a puddle.
All this contributed to the unusual popularity of the story among Russian readers.
Naturally, the popularity of the story was given not only by the dramatic plot, but also by the fact that it was all artistically unusual.
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Rice. 2. N. M. Karamzin () Here is what he writes: “They say that the author needs talents and knowledge: a sharp, penetrating mind, a vivid imagination, and so on. Fair enough, but not enough. He also needs to have a kind, tender heart if he wants to be a friend and favorite of our soul; if he wants his gifts to shine with a flickering light; if he wants to write for eternity and collect the blessings of the nations. The Creator is always depicted in creation, and often against his will. It is in vain that the hypocrite thinks to deceive the readers and to hide an iron heart under the golden clothes of magnificent words; in vain speaks to us of mercy, compassion, virtue! All his exclamations are cold, without soul, without life; and the nutritious, ethereal flame will never pour from his creations into the tender soul of the reader…”, “When you want to paint your portrait, then first look in the right mirror: can your face be an object of art…”, “You take up the pen and want to be an author: ask yourself, alone, without witnesses, sincerely: what am I? for you want to paint a portrait of your soul and heart…”, “You want to be an author: read the history of the misfortunes of the human race - and if your heart does not bleed, leave the pen, - or it will portray to us the cold gloom of your soul. But if for all that is sorrowful, for all that is oppressed, for all that weeps, the way is open to your sensitive breast; if your soul can rise to a passion for goodness, can nourish in itself a holy desire for the common good, not limited by any spheres: then boldly call on the goddesses of Parnassus - they will pass by the magnificent halls and visit your humble hut - you will not be a useless writer - and none of good people will not look with dry eyes at your grave ... "," In a word: I am sure that a bad person cannot be a good author. Here is the artistic motto of Karamzin: a bad person cannot be a good writer. |
So before Karamzin, no one had ever written in Russia. Moreover, the unusualness began already with the exposition, with a description of the place where the action of the story would take place.
“Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the surroundings of this city as well as I do, because no one more often than me is in the field, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - where the eyes look - through the meadows and groves, hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauties in old ones. But most pleasant for me is the place on which the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Si ... New Monastery rise.(Fig. 3) .
Rice. 3. Lithography of the Simonov Monastery ()
Here, too, there is unusualness: on the one hand, Karamzin accurately describes and designates the place of action - the Simonov Monastery, on the other hand, this encryption creates a certain mystery, understatement, which is very much in line with the spirit of the story. The main thing is the installation on the non-fiction of events, on documentary. It is no coincidence that the narrator will say that he learned about these events from the hero himself, from Erast, who told him about this shortly before his death. It was this feeling that everything happened nearby, that one could be a witness to these events, intrigued the reader and gave the story a special meaning and a special character.
Rice. 4. Erast and Lisa ("Poor Lisa" in a modern production) ()
It is curious that this private, uncomplicated story of two young people (the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Lisa (Fig. 4)) turns out to be inscribed in a very wide historical and geographical context.
“But the most pleasant for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Si ... new monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on the right side almost all of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to the eyes in the form of a majestic amphitheater»
Word amphitheater Karamzin singles out, and this is probably no coincidence, because the scene becomes a kind of arena where events unfold, open to the eyes of everyone (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. Moscow, XVIII century ()
“a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays blaze on countless golden domes, on countless crosses, ascending to the sky! Below are fat, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, on yellow sands, a bright river flows, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that float from the most fruitful countries of the Russian Empire and endow greedy Moscow with bread.(Fig. 6) .
Rice. 6. View from Sparrow Hills ()
On the other side of the river, an oak grove is visible, near which numerous herds graze; there the young shepherds, sitting under the shade of the trees, sing simple, melancholy songs, and thereby shorten the summer days, so uniform to them. Farther away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; still farther, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills turn blue. On the left side, you can see vast fields covered with bread, forests, three or four villages, and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.
Curiously, why does Karamzin frame private history with this panorama? It turns out that this history is becoming a part of human life, a part of Russian history and geography. All this gave the events described in the story a generalizing character. But, giving a general hint at this world history and this extensive biography, Karamzin nevertheless shows that private history, the history of individual people, not famous, simple, attracts him much more strongly. 10 years will pass, and Karamzin will become a professional historian and begin to work on his "History of the Russian State", written in 1803-1826 (Fig. 7).
Rice. 7. Cover of the book by N. M. Karamzin "History of the Russian State" ()
But for now, the focus of his literary attention is the story of ordinary people - the peasant woman Lisa and the nobleman Erast.
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Creation of a new language of fiction In the language of fiction, even at the end of the 18th century, the theory of three calms, created by Lomonosov and reflecting the needs of classicism literature, with its ideas about high and low genres, still dominated. The theory of three calms- classification of styles in rhetoric and poetics, distinguishing three styles: high, medium and low (simple). Classicism- an artistic direction focused on the ideals of ancient classics. But it is natural that by the 90s of the 18th century this theory was already outdated and became a brake on the development of literature. Literature demanded more flexible language principles, there was a need to bring the language of literature closer to the spoken language, but not a simple peasant language, but an educated noble one. The need for books that were written the way people in this educated society speak was already very acute. Karamzin believed that the writer, having developed his own taste, could create a language that would become the spoken language of a noble society. In addition, another goal was implied here: such a language was supposed to displace French from everyday use, in which the predominantly Russian noble society was still expressed. Thus, the language reform carried out by Karamzin becomes a general cultural task and has a patriotic character. |
Perhaps the main artistic discovery of Karamzin in "Poor Liza" is the image of the narrator, the narrator. We are talking on behalf of a person who is interested in the fate of his heroes, a person who is not indifferent to them, who sympathizes with other people's misfortunes. That is, Karamzin creates the image of the narrator in full accordance with the laws of sentimentalism. And now this is becoming unprecedented, this is the first time in Russian literature.
Sentimentalism- this is a worldview and a tendency of thinking aimed at identifying, strengthening, emphasizing the emotional side of life.
In full accordance with Karamzin's intention, the narrator does not accidentally say: “I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!”
The description in the exposition of the fallen Simonov Monastery, with its collapsed cells, as well as the crumbling hut in which Liza and her mother lived, introduce the theme of death into the story from the very beginning, creates that gloomy tone that will accompany the story. And at the very beginning of the story, one of the main themes and favorite ideas of the figures of the Enlightenment sounds - the idea of the extra-class value of a person. And it sounds weird. When the narrator talks about the history of Liza's mother, about the early death of her husband, Liza's father, he will say that she could not be consoled for a long time, and will utter the famous phrase: "... for even peasant women know how to love".
Now this phrase has become almost catchy, and we often do not correlate it with the original source, although in Karamzin's story it appears in a very important historical, artistic and cultural context. It turns out that the feelings of common people, peasants are no different from the feelings of noble people, nobles, peasant women and peasants are capable of subtle and tender feelings. This discovery of the extra-class value of a person was made by the figures of the Enlightenment and becomes one of the leitmotifs of Karamzin's story. And not only in this place: Liza will tell Erast that there can be nothing between them, since she is a peasant woman. But Erast will begin to console her and will say that he does not need any other happiness in life, except for Lisa's love. It turns out that, indeed, the feelings of ordinary people can be as subtle and refined as the feelings of people of noble birth.
At the beginning of the story, another very important topic will sound. We see that in the exposition of his work, Karamzin concentrates all the main themes and motives. This is the theme of money and its destructive power. At the first date of Lisa and Erast, the guy will want to give her a ruble instead of the five kopecks requested by Lisa for a bouquet of lilies of the valley, but the girl will refuse. Subsequently, as if paying off Liza, from her love, Erast will give her ten imperials - one hundred rubles. Naturally, Liza will automatically take this money, and then she will try through her neighbor, a peasant girl Dunya, to transfer it to her mother, but this money will also be of no use to her mother. She will not be able to use them, because upon the news of Lisa's death, she herself will die. And we see that, indeed, money is the destructive force that brings misfortune to people. Suffice it to recall the sad story of Erast himself. For what reason did he refuse Lisa? Leading a frivolous life and losing at cards, he was forced to marry a wealthy elderly widow, that is, he, too, is actually sold for money. And this incompatibility of money as an achievement of civilizations with the natural life of people is demonstrated by Karamzin in Poor Liza.
With a fairly traditional literary plot - a story about how a young rake-nobleman seduces a commoner - Karamzin nevertheless solves it not quite traditionally. It has long been noted by researchers that Erast is not at all such a traditional example of an insidious seducer, he really loves Lisa. He is a man with a good mind and heart, but weak and windy. And it is this frivolity that destroys him. And destroys him, like Lisa, too strong sensitivity. And here lies one of the main paradoxes of Karamzin's story. On the one hand, he is a preacher of sensitivity as a way of moral improvement of people, and on the other hand, he also shows how excessive sensitivity can bring detrimental consequences. But Karamzin is not a moralist, he does not call to condemn Liza and Erast, he calls on us to sympathize with their sad fate.
Just as unusual and innovative Karamzin uses landscapes in his story. The landscape for him ceases to be just a scene of action and a background. The landscape becomes a kind of landscape of the soul. What happens in nature often reflects what happens in the soul of the characters. And nature seems to respond to the characters on their feelings. For example, let's remember a beautiful spring morning when Erast first sails along the river in a boat to Lisa's house, and vice versa, a gloomy, starless night, accompanied by a storm and thunder, when the heroes fall into sin (Fig. 8). Thus, the landscape also became an active artistic force, which was also an artistic discovery of Karamzin.
Rice. 8. Illustration for the story "Poor Liza" ()
But the main artistic discovery is the image of the narrator himself. All events are presented not objectively and dispassionately, but through his emotional reaction. It is he who turns out to be a genuine and sensitive hero, because he is able to experience the misfortunes of others as his own. He mourns his too sensitive heroes, but at the same time remains true to the ideals of sentimentalism and a faithful adherent of the idea of \u200b\u200bsensibility as a way to achieve social harmony.
Bibliography
- Korovina V.Ya., Zhuravlev V.P., Korovin V.I. Literature. Grade 9 Moscow: Enlightenment, 2008.
- Ladygin M.B., Esin A.B., Nefyodova N.A. Literature. Grade 9 Moscow: Bustard, 2011.
- Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Antipova A.M. Literature. Grade 9 M.: Education, 2012.
- Internet portal "Lit-helper" ()
- Internet portal "fb.ru" ()
- Internet portal "KlassReferat" ()
Homework
- Read the story "Poor Liza".
- Describe the main characters of the story "Poor Liza".
- Tell us, what is Karamzin's innovation in the story "Poor Liza".
Lisa is the main character in N. M. Karamzin's story "Poor Liza", a poor young peasant woman from a village near Moscow. Liza was left early without her father, who was the breadwinner of the family. After his death, he and his mother quickly became impoverished. Lisa's mother was a kind, sensitive old woman, but already unable to work. Therefore, Lisa took on any job and worked without sparing herself. She wove canvases and knitted stockings, picked berries and flowers, and then sold them in the city. The main character traits of Lisa are sensitivity, naivety, purity and the ability to love devotedly. She sees only the good in people, although her mother warned her that there are also “evil” people who can offend.
One day, while selling flowers in Moscow, she met a young rich nobleman who asked to continue selling her products only to him. Lisa's mother was pleased with this news, because her daughter would no longer have to travel to the city so often. Lisa's new acquaintance named Erast begins to visit the girl often and the young people fall in love. They often meet and walk by the pond. However, Erast subsequently betrays Liza. Having said that he is leaving for the service, he no longer returns to her. During his service, he played cards a lot and lost his entire fortune. As a result, he had to marry a rich widow. Lisa's heart could not stand such news, and the girl drowned herself in a deep pond.
After her death, other girls, unhappy in love, began to come to the grave of the girl. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life and considered himself guilty of Lisa's death.
Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa" became a key work of its time. The introduction of sentimentalism into the work and the presence of many themes and problems allowed the 25-year-old author to become extremely popular and famous. Readers were absorbed in the images of the main characters of the story - the story of the events of their lives became an occasion to rethink the features of humanistic theory.
History of writing
In most cases, unusual works of literature have unusual stories of creation, however, if Poor Lisa had such a story, then it was not provided to the public and was lost somewhere in the wilds of history. It is known that the story was written as an experiment at the dacha of Peter Beketov, which was located near the Simonov Monastery.
Information about the publication of the story is also rather scarce. For the first time, "Poor Liza" saw the light in the "Moscow Journal" in 1792. At that time, N. Karamzin himself was its editor, and 4 years later the story was published as a separate book.
Heroes of the story
Lisa is the main character of the story. The girl belongs to the peasant class. After her father's death, she lives with her mother and earns money by selling knitwear and flowers in the city.
Erasmus is the main character of the story. The young man has a gentle character, he is not able to defend his position in life, which makes both himself and Lisa in love with him unhappy.
Lisa's mother is a peasant woman by birth. She loves her daughter and wants the girl to live her future life without difficulties and sorrows.
We propose to trace which was written by N. Karamzin.
The plot of the story
The action of the story takes place in the vicinity of Moscow. The young girl Lisa lost her father. Because of this, her family, consisting of her and her mother, began to gradually become poorer - her mother was constantly sick and therefore could not work fully. Liza represented the main labor force in the family - the girl actively wove carpets, knitted stockings for sale, and also collected and sold flowers. Once a young aristocrat, Erasmus, approached the girl, he fell in love with the girl and therefore decided to buy flowers from Lisa every day.
However, Erasmus did not come the next day. Disappointed, Lisa returns home, but fate presents the girl with a new gift - Erasmus comes to Lisa's home and says that he can come for flowers himself.
From this moment, a new stage in the girl's life begins - she is completely captivated by love. However, despite everything, this love adheres to the framework of platonic love. Erasmus is captivated by the spiritual purity of the girl. Unfortunately, this utopia did not last long. The mother decides to marry Lisa - a rich peasant decided to woo Lisa. Erasmus, despite his love and admiration for the girl, cannot claim her hand - social norms strictly regulate their relationship. Erasmus belongs to the nobility, and Lisa belongs to ordinary peasants, so their marriage is a priori impossible. In the evening, Liza comes on a date to Erast as usual and tells the young man about the upcoming event in the hope of support.
The romantic and devoted Erast decides to take Lisa to his house, but the girl cools his ardor, noting that in this case he will not be her husband. This evening the girl loses her purity.
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After this, the relationship between Lisa and Erasmus was no longer the same - the image of the immaculate and holy girl faded away in the eyes of Erasmus. The young man begins military service, and the lovers part. Lisa sincerely believes that their relationship will retain its former ardor, but the girl will be greatly disappointed: Erasmus is addicted to playing cards and does not become a successful player - marriage to a rich old woman helps him avoid poverty, but does not bring happiness. Lisa, having learned about the wedding, committed suicide (drowned in the river), and Erasmus forever acquired a sense of guilt for her death.
The reality of the events described
The features of the artistic construction of the plot and the description of the background of the work suggest the reality of the events taking place and the literary reminiscence of Karamzin. After the publication of the story, the surroundings of the Simonov Monastery became especially popular among young people, near which, based on Karamzin's story, Liza lived. Readers also took a fancy to the pond, in which the girl allegedly drowned, and even cutely renamed it "Lizin". However, there is no data on the real basis of the story; it is believed that its characters, as well as the plot, were the fruit of the author's imagination.
Subject
The story as a genre does not imply the presence of a huge number of themes. Karamzin fully complies with this requirement and is actually limited to only two topics.
The theme of peasant life
Using the example of Lisa's family, the reader can get acquainted with the peculiarities of the life of peasants. Readers are presented with a non-generalized image. From the story you can learn about the details of the life of the peasants, their everyday and not only everyday difficulties.
Peasants are people too
In literature, one can often find the image of peasants as a generalized one, devoid of individual qualities.
Karamzin, on the other hand, shows that the peasants, despite their lack of education and lack of involvement in art, are not devoid of intelligence, wisdom, or moral character.
Lisa is a girl who can keep up the conversation, of course, these are not topics about innovations in the field of science or art, but her speech is logical, and her content makes her associate the girl as an intelligent and talented interlocutor.
Issues
The Problem of Finding Happiness
Every person wants to be happy. Lisa and Erasmus are also no exception. The platonic love that arose between young people allowed them to realize how it is to be happy and at the same time how it is to be deeply unhappy. The author in the story raises an important question: is it always possible to become happy and what is needed for this.
The problem of social inequality
One way or another, but our real life is subject to some unspoken rules and social stereotypes. Most of them arose on the principle of social distribution into layers or castes. It is this moment that Karamzin acutely personifies in the work - Erasmus is an aristocrat, a nobleman by origin, and Lisa is a poor girl, a peasant woman. A marriage between an aristocrat and a peasant woman was unthinkable.
Loyalty in relationships
When reading the story, you understand that such exalted relations between young people, if they were transferred to the plane of real time, would not exist forever - sooner or later the love ardor between Erasmus and Lisa would fade away - the public position prevented further development, and the resulting stable uncertainty provoked the degradation of romance.
Guided by the possibility of material improvement of his position, Erasmus decides to marry a rich widow, although he himself gave Lisa a promise to always love her. While the girl faithfully awaits the return of her lover, Erasmus cruelly betrays her feelings and hopes.
The problem of urban orientation
Another global problem that found its reflection in Karamzin's story is the comparison of the city and the countryside. In the understanding of urban residents, the city is the engine of progress, newfangled trends and education. The village is always presented as something backward in its development. The inhabitants of the village, respectively, are also backward in every sense of the word.
The villagers also note the differences between the inhabitants of cities and villages. In their concept, the city is the engine of evil and danger, while the village is a safe place that preserves the moral character of the nation.
Idea
The main idea of the story is to denounce sensuality, morality and the influence of the emotions that have arisen on the fate of a person. Karamzin brings readers to the concept: empathy is an important part of life. Don't deliberately renounce compassion and humanity.
Karamzin argues that human morality is a factor that does not depend on class and position in society. Very often people with aristocratic ranks are lower in their moral development than simple peasants.
Direction in culture and literature
The story "Poor Lisa" is marked by the peculiarities of the direction in literature - sentimentalism successfully embodied in the work, which was successfully embodied in the image of Lisa's father, who, according to Karamzin's description, was an ideal person within his social cell.
Lisa's mother also has multiple features of sentimentalism - she experiences significant mental anguish after the departure of her husband, sincerely worries about the fate of her daughter.
The main array of sentimentalism falls on the image of Lisa. She is depicted as a sensual person who is so absorbed in her emotions that she is unable to be guided by critical thinking - after meeting Erasmus. Liza is so absorbed in new romantic experiences that, apart from these feelings, she does not take any other feelings seriously - the girl is not able to sensibly assess her life situation, she is little worried about her mother's feelings and her love.
Instead of love for her mother (which used to be inherent in Lisa), now the girl's thoughts are occupied by love for Erasmus, which reaches a critical egoistic climax - Lisa perceives the tragic events in a relationship with a young man as an irrevocable tragedy of her whole life. The girl does not try to find a "golden mean" between the sensual and the logical - she completely surrenders to emotions.
Thus, Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa" became a breakthrough of its time. For the first time, readers were given an image of the characters as close to life as possible. The characters do not have a clear division into positive and negative. Every character has good and bad qualities. The work reflects the main social themes and problems, which in their essence are philosophical problems outside of time - their relevance is not regulated by the framework of chronology.
The history of the creation of Karamzin's work "Poor Lisa"
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is one of the most educated people of his time. He preached advanced educational views, widely promoted Western European culture in Russia. The personality of the writer, multifacetedly gifted in various fields, played a significant role in the cultural life of Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Karamzin traveled a lot, translated, wrote original works of art, and was engaged in publishing activities. His name is associated with the formation of professional literary activity.
In 1789-1790. Karamzin undertook a trip abroad (to Germany, Switzerland, France and England). Upon the return of N.M. Karamzin began to publish the Moscow Journal, in which he published the story Poor Liza (1792), Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791-92), which put him among the first Russian writers. In these works, as well as in literary critical articles, the aesthetic program of sentimentalism was expressed with its interest in a person, regardless of class, his feelings and experiences. In the 1890s the writer's interest in the history of Russia is growing; he gets acquainted with historical works, the main published sources: chronicle monuments, notes of foreigners, etc. In 1803, Karamzin began work on The History of the Russian State, which became the main work of his life.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in the 1790s. the writer lived in a dacha near Beketov near the Simonov Monastery. The environment played a decisive role in the concept of the story "Poor Lisa". The literary plot of the story was perceived by the Russian reader as a vitally authentic and real plot, and its characters were perceived as real people. After the publication of the story, walks in the vicinity of the Simonov Monastery, where Karamzin settled his heroine, and to the pond into which she threw herself and which was called "Lizin's pond", became fashionable. As the researcher V.N. Toporov, defining the place of Karamzin's story in the evolutionary series of Russian literature, "for the first time in Russian literature, fiction created such an image of true life, which was perceived as stronger, sharper and more convincing than life itself." "Poor Lisa" - the most popular and best story - brought real fame to Karamzin, who was then 25 years old. A young and previously unknown writer suddenly became a celebrity. "Poor Lisa" was the first and most talented Russian sentimental story.
Genus, genre, creative method
Russian literature of the 18th century multi-volume classic novels were widely used. Karamzin was the first to introduce the genre of the short novel, the “sensitive story,” which enjoyed particular success among his contemporaries. The role of the narrator in the story "Poor Lisa" belongs to the author. The small volume makes the plot of the story clearer and more dynamic. Karamzin's name is inextricably linked with the concept of "Russian sentimentalism".
Sentimentalism is a trend in European literature and culture of the second half of the 17th century that highlights the feelings of a person, and not the mind. Sentimentalists focused on human relations, the opposition between good and evil.
In Karamzin's story, the life of the characters is depicted through the prism of 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, for even peasant women know how to feel. She touchingly loves her daughter and admires nature with religious tenderness.
The very name Lisa until the early 80s. 18th century almost never met in Russian literature, and if it did, then in its foreign language version. Choosing this name for his heroine, Karamzin went to break the rather strict canon that had developed in literature and predetermined in advance what Lisa should be like, how she should behave. This behavioral stereotype was defined in the European literature of the 18th-18th centuries. the fact that the image of Lisa, Lisette (OhePe), was associated primarily with comedy. Lisa of the French comedy is usually a servant-maid (maid), the confidante of her young mistress. She is young, pretty, rather frivolous and understands perfectly everything that is connected with a love affair. Naivety, innocence, modesty are the least characteristic of this comedic role. Breaking the reader's expectations, removing the mask from the name of the heroine, Karamzin thereby destroyed the foundations of the very culture of classicism, weakened the ties between the signified and the signifier, between the name and its bearer in the space of literature. With all the conventionality of the image of Lisa, her name is associated precisely with the character, and not with the role of the heroine. Establishing a relationship between the "internal" character and "external" action was a significant achievement for Karamzin on the way to the "psychologism" of Russian prose.
Subject
An analysis of the work shows that several themes are identified in Karamzin's story. One of them is an appeal to the peasant environment. The writer portrayed a peasant girl as the main character, who retained patriarchal ideas about moral values.
Karamzin was one of the first to introduce the opposition of the city and the countryside into Russian literature. The image of the city is inextricably linked with the image of Erast, with the “terrible bulk of houses” and the shining “gold of domes”. The image of Lisa is associated with the life of a beautiful natural nature. In Karamzin's story, a village man - a man of nature - turns out to be defenseless, falling into an urban space, where laws operate that are different from the laws of nature. No wonder Liza's mother tells her (thus indirectly predicting everything that will happen next): “My heart is always out of place when you go to the city; I always put a candle in front of the image and pray to the Lord God that he save you from all trouble and misfortune.
The author in the story raises not only the topic of the “little man” and social inequality, but also such a topic as fate and circumstances, nature and man, love-grief and love-happiness.
With the voice of the author, the theme of the great history of the fatherland enters into the private plot of the story. The comparison of the historical and the particular makes the story "Poor Liza" a fundamental literary fact, on the basis of which the Russian socio-psychological novel will subsequently arise.
The story attracted the attention of contemporaries with its humanistic idea: "peasant women know how to love." 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: a moment of love is beautiful, but only reason gives long life and strength.
"Poor Liza" immediately became extremely popular in Russian society. Humane feelings, the ability to sympathize and be sensitive turned out to be very consonant with the trends of the times, when literature moved from the civil theme, characteristic of the Enlightenment, to the theme of a person’s personal, private life, and the inner world of an individual became the main object of its attention.
Karamzin made another discovery in literature. With “Poor Lisa”, such a concept as psychologism appeared in it, that is, the writer’s ability to vividly and touchingly depict the inner world of a person, his experiences, desires, aspirations. In this sense, Karamzin paved the way for the writers of the 19th century.
The nature of the conflict
The analysis showed that there is a complex conflict in Karamzin's work. First of all, this is a social conflict: the gap between a rich nobleman and a poor villager is very large. But, as you know, "peasant women know how to love." Sensitivity - the highest value of sentimentalism - pushes the characters into each other's arms, gives them a moment of happiness, and then leads Lisa to death (she "forgets her soul" - commits suicide). Erast is also punished for his decision to leave Lisa and marry another: he will forever reproach himself with her death.
The story "Poor Liza" is written on the classic story about the love of representatives of different classes: its characters - the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Lisa - cannot be happy not only for moral reasons, but also for social conditions of life. The deep social root of the plot is embodied in Karamzin's story at its most external level as a moral conflict between Liza's "beautiful soul and body" and Erast - "a rather rich nobleman with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and windy." And, of course, one of the reasons for the shock produced by Karamzin's story in literature and the reader's mind was that Karamzin was the first Russian writer who turned to the topic of unequal love and decided to unleash his story in the way that such a conflict would most likely be resolved in real conditions. Russian life: the death of the heroine.
The main characters of the story "Poor Lisa"
Lisa is the main character of Karamzin's story. For the first time in the history of Russian prose, the writer turned to a heroine endowed with emphatically mundane features. His words "... and peasant women know how to love" became winged. Sensitivity is a central character trait of Lisa. She trusts the movements of her heart, lives "gentle passions." Ultimately, it is ardor and ardor that lead Lisa to death, but she is morally justified.
Lisa doesn't look like a peasant woman. “Beautiful in body and soul, a settler”, “gentle and sensitive Liza”, passionately loving her parents, cannot forget about her father, but hides her sadness and tears so as not to disturb her mother. She tenderly takes care of her mother, gets her medicines, works day and night (“she wove canvases, knitted stockings, picked flowers in the spring, and took berries in the summer and sold them in Moscow”). The author is sure that such activities fully ensure the life of the old woman and her daughter. 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.
Lisa not only speaks like a book, but also thinks. Nevertheless, the psychology of Liza, who fell in love with a girl for the first time, is revealed in detail and in a natural sequence. Before rushing into the pond, Lisa remembers 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 taking a decisive step. As a result, the character of the heroine is idealized, but internally whole.
The character of Erast is much different from the character of Lisa. Erast is described more in line with the social environment that brought him up than Lisa. This is a “rather rich nobleman”, an officer who led a dispersed life, thought only of his own pleasure, looked for him in secular amusements, but often did not find him, was bored and complained about his fate. Endowed with "a fair mind and a kind heart", being "kind by nature, but weak and windy", Erast represented a new type of hero in Russian literature. In it, for the first time, the type of a disappointed Russian aristocrat is outlined.
Erast recklessly falls in love with Lisa, not thinking that she is not a girl of his circle. However, the hero does not stand the test of love.
Before Karamzin, the plot automatically determined the type of hero. In Poor Liza, the image of Erast is much more complicated than the literary type to which the hero belongs.
Erast is not a "treacherous seducer", he is sincere in his oaths, sincere in his deceit. Erast is as much the culprit of the tragedy as he is the victim of his "ardent imagination". Therefore, the author does not consider himself entitled to judge Erast. He stands on a par with his hero - because he converges with him at the "point" of sensitivity. After all, it is the author who acts in the story as a “narrator” of the plot that Erast told him: “.. I met him a year before his death. He himself told me this story and led me to Liza's grave ... ".
Erast begins a long series of heroes in Russian literature, the main feature of which is weakness and inability to live, and for whom the label of “an extra person” has long been entrenched in literary criticism.
plot, composition
In the words of Karamzin himself, the story "Poor Liza" is "a very uncomplicated fairy tale." The plot of the story is simple. This is the love story of a poor peasant girl Liza and a rich young nobleman Erast. Public life and secular pleasures bored him. He was constantly bored and "complained about his fate." Erast “read idyllic novels” and dreamed of that happy time when people, not burdened by the conventions and rules of civilization, would live carelessly in the bosom of nature. Thinking only of his own pleasure, he "looked for it in amusements." With the advent of love in his life, everything changes. Erast falls in love with the pure "daughter of nature" - the peasant woman Lisa. Chaste, naive, joyfully trusting people, Lisa appears as a wonderful shepherdess. Having read novels in which “all people carelessly walked along the rays, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtledoves, rested under roses and myrtle”, he decided that he “found in Liza what his heart had been looking for for a long time.” Liza, although "the daughter of a rich peasant", is just a peasant woman who is forced to earn her own living. Sensuality - the highest value of sentimentalism - pushes the characters into each other's arms, gives them a moment of happiness. The picture of pure first love is drawn very touchingly in the story. “Now I think,” Liza says to Erast, “that without you life is not life, but sadness and boredom. Without your dark eyes, a bright month; the singing nightingale is boring without your voice...” Erast also admires his “shepherdess”. “All the brilliant amusements of the great world seemed to him insignificant in comparison with the pleasures with which the passionate friendship of an innocent soul fed his heart.” But when Lisa gives herself to him, the satiated young man begins to grow cold in his feelings for her. In vain Lisa hopes to regain her lost happiness. Erast goes on a military campaign, loses all his fortune in cards and, in the end, marries a rich widow. And deceived in her best hopes and feelings, Liza throws herself into a pond near the Simonov Monastery.
Artistic originality of the analyzed story
But the main thing in the story is not the plot, but the feelings that it was supposed to awaken in the reader. Therefore, the main character of the story becomes the narrator, who, with sadness and sympathy, tells about the fate of the poor girl. The image of a sentimental narrator became a discovery in Russian literature, since before the narrator remained “behind the scenes” and was neutral in relation to the events described. The narrator learns the story of poor Lisa directly from Erast, and he himself often comes to be sad at Liza's Grave. The narrator of "Poor Liza" is mentally involved in the relationship of the characters. Already the title of the story is built on the combination of the heroine's own name with an epithet that characterizes the narrator's sympathetic attitude towards her.
The author-narrator is the only mediator between the reader and the life of the characters, embodied by his word. The narration is conducted in the first person, the constant presence of the author reminds of himself by his periodic appeals to the reader: "now the reader should know ...", "the reader can easily imagine ...". These address formulas, emphasizing the intimacy of the emotional contact between the author, the characters and the reader, are very reminiscent of the methods of organizing narrative in the epic genres of Russian poetry. Karamzin, transferring these formulas into narrative prose, ensured that prose acquired a penetrating lyrical sound and began to be perceived as emotionally as poetry. The story "Poor Liza" is characterized by short or extended lyrical digressions, at each dramatic turn of the plot we hear the author's voice: "my heart bleeds ...", "a tear rolls down my face."
In their aesthetic unity, the three central images of the story - the author-narrator, poor Lisa and Erast - with a completeness unprecedented in Russian literature, realized the sentimentalist concept of a person, valuable for his extra-class moral virtues, sensitive and complex.
Karamzin was the first to write smoothly. In his prose, words were intertwined in such a regular, rhythmic way that the reader was left with the impression of rhythmic music. Smoothness in prose is the same as meter and rhyme in poetry.
Karamzin introduces the tradition of the rural literary landscape.
The meaning of the work
Karamzin laid the foundation for a huge cycle of literature about "little people", opened the way for the classics of Russian literature. The story "Rich Lisa" essentially opens the theme of the "little man" in Russian literature, although the social aspect in relation to Liza and Erast is somewhat muffled. Of course, the gulf between a rich nobleman and a poor peasant woman is very large, but Lisa is least of all like a peasant woman, rather like a sweet secular young lady, brought up on sentimental novels. The theme of "Poor Liza" appears in many works by A.S. Pushkin. When he wrote "The Young Lady-Peasant Woman", he definitely focused on "Poor Lisa", turning the "sad story" into a novel with a happy ending. In The Stationmaster, Dunya is seduced and taken away by the hussars, and her father, unable to bear the grief, becomes an inveterate drunkard and dies. In The Queen of Spades, the further life of Karamzin's Liza is visible, the fate that would have awaited Liza if she had not committed suicide. Lisa also lives in the novel "Sunday" by Leo Tolstoy. Seduced by Nekhlyudov, Katyusha Maslova decides to throw herself under a train. Although she remains to live, her life is full of dirt and humiliation. The image of Karamzin's heroine continued in the works of other writers.
It is in this story that the refined psychologism of Russian artistic prose, recognized throughout the world, is born. Here Karamzin, opening the gallery of "superfluous people", stands at the source of another powerful tradition - the image of smart loafers, for whom idleness helps to keep a distance between themselves and the state. Thanks to blessed laziness, "superfluous people" are always in opposition. If they had served their country honestly, they would have had no time for Liz's seduction and witty digressions. In addition, if the people are always poor, then the "extra people" are always with funds, even if they squandered, as happened with Erast. He has no affairs in the story, except for love.
This is interesting
"Poor Lisa" is perceived as a story about true events. Lisa belongs to the characters with a "registration". “... Increasingly, it draws me to the walls of the Si...nova monastery - the memory of the deplorable fate of Liza, poor Liza" - this is how the author begins his story. For a gap in the middle of a word, any Muscovite guessed the name of the Simonov Monastery, the first buildings of which date back to the 14th century. The pond, located under the walls of the monastery, was called Lisiny Pond, but thanks to the story of Karamzin, it was popularly renamed Lizin and became a place of constant pilgrimage for Muscovites. In the XX century. Lizin Pond was named Lizina Square, Lizin Dead End and Lizino Railway Station. To date, only a few buildings of the monastery have survived, most of them were blown up in 1930. The pond was filled up gradually, it finally disappeared after 1932.
To the place of Lisa's death, first of all, the same unfortunate girls in love, like Liza herself, came to cry. According to eyewitnesses, the bark of the trees growing around the pond was mercilessly cut with the knives of the "pilgrims". The inscriptions carved on the trees were both serious (“In these streams, poor Liza passed away for days; / If you are sensitive, a passerby, take a breath”), and satirical, hostile to Karamzin and his heroine (the following couplet gained special fame among such “birch epigrams”: "Erast's bride died in these streams. / Drown yourself, girls, there is enough space in the pond").
The festivities at the Simonov Monastery were so popular that the description of this area can be found on the pages of the works of many writers of the 19th century: M.N. Zagoskina, I.I. Lazhechnikova, M.Yu. Lermontov, A.I. Herzen.
Karamzin and his story were certainly mentioned when describing the Simonov Monastery in guidebooks around Moscow and special books and articles. But gradually these references began to take on an increasingly ironic character, and already in 1848, in the famous work of M.N. Zagoskin "Moscow and Muscovites" in the chapter "A walk to the Simonov Monastery" did not say a word about either Karamzin or his heroine. As sentimental prose lost its charm of novelty, "Poor Lisa" ceased to be perceived as a story about true events, and even more so as an object for worship, but became in the minds of most readers a primitive fiction, a curiosity, reflecting the tastes and concepts of a bygone era.
Good DD. History of Russian literature of the 18th century. - M., 1960.
WeilP., GenisA. Native speech. The legacy of "Poor Lisa" Karamzin // Star. 1991. No. 1.
ValaginAL. Let's read together. - M., 1992.
DI. Fonvizin in Russian criticism. - M., 1958.
History of Moscow districts: encyclopedia / ed. K.A. Averyanov. - M., 2005.
Toporov VL. "Poor Liza" Karamzin. Moscow: Russian world, 2006.
In the outskirts of Moscow, not far from the Simonov Monastery, once a young girl Liza lived with her old mother. After the death of Lisa's father, a rather prosperous peasant, his wife and daughter became impoverished. The widow grew weaker day by day and could not work. Only Liza, not sparing her tender youth and rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and selling berries in the summer in Moscow.
One spring, two years after her father's death, Liza came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed man met her on the street. Upon learning that she was selling flowers, he offered her a ruble instead of five kopecks, saying that "beautiful lilies of the valley plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl are worth a ruble." But Lisa refused the offered amount. He did not insist, but said that from now on he would always buy flowers from her and would like her to pick them only for him.
Arriving home, Liza told her mother everything, and the next day she picked the best lilies of the valley and again came to the city, but this time she did not meet the young man. Throwing flowers into the river, she returned home with sadness in her soul. The next evening, a stranger himself came to her house. As soon as she saw him, Liza rushed to her mother and excitedly announced who was coming to them. The old woman met the guest, and he seemed to her a very kind and pleasant person. Erast - that was the name of the young man - confirmed that he was going to buy flowers from Lisa in the future, and she did not have to go to the city: he himself could call on them.
Erast was a rather wealthy nobleman, with a fair mind and a naturally kind heart, but weak and windy. He led a distracted life, thinking only about his own pleasure, looking for it in secular amusements, and not finding it, he got bored and complained about his fate. The immaculate beauty of Liza at the first meeting shocked him: it seemed to him that in her he found exactly what he had been looking for for a long time.
This was the start of their long relationship. Every evening they saw each other either on the banks of the river, or in a birch grove, or under the shade of hundred-year-old oaks. They embraced, but their embrace was pure and innocent.
So several weeks passed. It seemed that nothing could interfere with their happiness. But one evening Lisa came to the meeting sad. It turned out that the groom, the son of a rich peasant, was wooing her, and the mother wanted her to marry him. Erast, comforting Lisa, said that after the death of his mother, he would take her to him and would live with her inseparably. But Liza reminded the young man that he could never be her husband: she is a peasant woman, and he is of a noble family. You offend me, Erast said, for your friend, your soul is most important, sensitive, innocent soul, you will always be closest to my heart. Liza threw herself into his arms - and at this hour chastity was to perish.
The delusion passed in one minute, giving way to surprise and fear. Liza cried, saying goodbye to Erast.
Their dates continued, but how everything had changed! Liza was no longer an angel of purity for Erast; platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be "proud of" and which were not new to him. Liza noticed a change in him, and it saddened her.
Once, during a date, Erast told Lisa that he was being drafted into the army; they will have to part for a while, but he promises to love her and hopes to never part with her upon his return. It is not difficult to imagine how hard Liza felt the separation from her beloved. However, hope did not leave her, and every morning she woke up with the thought of Erast and their happiness upon his return.
So it took about two months. Once Lisa went to Moscow and on one of the big streets she saw Erast passing by in a magnificent carriage, which stopped near a huge house. Erast went out and was about to go to the porch, when he suddenly felt himself in Liza's arms. He turned pale, then, without saying a word, led her into the study and locked the door. Circumstances have changed, he announced to the girl, he is engaged.
Before Lisa could come to her senses, he led her out of the study and told the servant to escort her out of the yard.
Finding herself on the street, Liza went aimlessly, unable to believe what she heard. She left the city and wandered for a long time, until suddenly she found herself on the shore of a deep pond, under the shade of ancient oaks, which, a few weeks before, had been silent witnesses of her delights. This memory shocked Lisa, but after a few minutes she fell into deep thought. Seeing a neighbor girl walking along the road, she called her, took all the money out of her pocket and gave it to her, asking her to give it to her mother, kiss her and ask her to forgive the poor daughter. Then she threw herself into the water, and they could not save her.
Liza's mother, having learned about the terrible death of her daughter, could not stand the blow and died on the spot. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. He did not deceive Lisa when he told her that he was going to the army, but instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost all his fortune. He had to marry an elderly rich widow who had been in love with him for a long time. Upon learning of Liza's fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer. Now, perhaps, they have already reconciled.
Once there lived a young and sweet girl Lisa. Her prosperous father died, and Lisa was left with her mother to live in poverty. The unfortunate widow grew weaker every day and could no longer work. Liza wove canvases day and night, knitted stockings, went for flowers in the spring, and picked berries in the summer, after which she sold them in Moscow.
Two years after the death of her father, the girl went to the city to sell lilies of the valley and met a young man on the street. He offered a whole ruble instead of five kopecks for her goods, but the girl refused. The guy asked to always sell him flowers plucked only for him.
When Lisa returned home, she told her mother about the stranger. In the morning she picked the most beautiful lilies of the valley, but she did not meet a guy. Frustrated, Liza threw the flowers into the river, and in the evening of the next day the young man came to her house himself.
Lisa and her mother greeted the guest. He seemed very nice and kind to them. The guy called himself Erast and said that from now on he would become the only buyer of Liza, and that the girl would no longer go to the city.
Erast was rich, smart, kind, but weak and fickle in character. The beauty of Lisa sunk deep into the soul of a nobleman. Thus began their meetings and long dates. A few weeks passed and everything was fine, but one day Lisa came with a sad look on her face. A rich groom began to woo her, and her mother decided to give her in marriage. Erast promised the girl to take her to him after the death of her mother, despite the fact that a peasant woman and a nobleman cannot be together. Another moment and the couple would have drowned in depravity, but delusion was replaced by reason.
After some time, Erast went into the army, but promised to return and love the girl forever. But two months later, Lisa met Erast in the city and found out that he was engaged. Lisa was beside herself with grief. She walked down the street and reached the local deep pond. She stood for a long time, immersed in her thoughts. I saw a girl passing by, and gave her all the money to give it to her mother, and then threw herself into the water.
Upon learning of the death of her daughter, the old woman died on the spot. And Erast was unhappy until the end of his days. In the army, he played cards and lost his entire fortune, after which he had to marry an elderly rich widow in order to pay off the debt. He learned about the fate of Lisa and felt guilty.