Clean Monday - the story of I. Bunin, written in 1944.

The events of the story take place in Moscow, the story is from the main character.

Winter Moscow plunged into twilight. The nameless hero of our story was riding along the street on a sled. He moved from the Red Gate to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Near the cathedral lived the second heroine of the story, his beloved.

He visited her every day, they went to the theater together, concerts, often went to restaurants. It would seem that they are a typical happy couple in love. But in reality, their relationship was strange. She did not have any joint plans for the future.

She herself established the secret, her life, her actions were often incomprehensible to him. For example, she took courses, but almost never attended them. Her parents were merchants, but they died. She rented a corner apartment, exquisitely furnished, with a portrait of Tolstoy on the wall and a beautiful view of Moscow. She loved to play the Moonlight Sonata on an expensive piano. The girl loves loneliness and reads a lot of books.

He regularly visited her regularly, brought many gifts, books, chocolate. Every Saturday I ordered fancy flowers for her. Lying on her Turkish sofa, she indifferently accepted his gifts. It would seem that she does not need all this, but she read all the books, ate all the chocolate. Expensive and good clothes were her weakness. As a couple, they looked almost perfect: young, and beautiful, they attracted the attention of many around. "Indecently handsome" - this is how one famous actor described him.

Her beauty was also magnificent, oriental type. Going out in public with him, she was not shy about expensive jewelry. But their characters were different. He was cheerful and liked to talk a lot. She, more often than not, was silent, thinking about something of her own, detached. We met in the Art Circle, accidentally being next to us in an armchair. Often they had different views on different things, nevertheless they were together. He often reminded of his love, even accusing her of inattention to himself. Their love was rather strange. This went on for months until Forgiveness Sunday came.

He stopped by her in the evening. She expressed a desire to go to the Novodevichy Monastery, to which he was surprised. Together they walked through the snow-covered cemetery, he looked at her tracks. He was very surprised that she herself often visits temples and cathedrals. It turned out that he did not know her well. After this slightly sad walk, they drove through Moscow, for some reason looking for Griboyedov's house on Ordynka, and then went to dinner at Yegorov's tavern. It was very crowded and stuffy there. Passing into another room, they found a place near the icon of the Mother of God of the Three-handed. She told him about her visit to the Conception Monastery. She really liked it there, sighing, she said that she would go to the monastery someday. Our hero was seriously worried about this statement, and added that in such a case he himself would go somewhere far away. They ordered food. She was especially talkative today, but her stories thrilled him even more. Something is wrong with her today, he thought.

The next day, in the evening, our heroes went to the Theater, to the "Skit". It was her initiative yesterday. She behaved a little strange, smoked a lot, then danced, causing admiration in others. He accompanied her home and went into the apartment. She went into the bedroom. With excitement, he looked there and saw his goddess without a dress in only shoes. They were together that night. At dawn, he woke up, and she told him that she was leaving for Tver for an indefinite time. She asked to leave her, promising to write a letter.

Letter came. She informed him that she was going to obedience, and then perhaps she would be tonsured as a nun. She also asked not to look for her, and not to torment both of them. Our hero disappeared for a long time in taverns, trying to forget himself. In the fourteenth year, on New Year's Eve, he went to the Archangel Cathedral, and after that to Ordynka. He suddenly wanted to enter the Martha-Mariinsky monastery. It turned out that the Grand Duchess and the prince were praying there right now. Entering the courtyard, he saw the princess leaving the church, and behind her a line of singing nuns or sisters. One of them suddenly raised her head and fixed her gaze somewhere ahead, directly at him. She felt it even before she looked. Our heroes recognized each other, they silently understood everything. He turned and quietly walked out of the temple courtyard.

The main characters met by chance, in December. Listening to Andrei Bely's lecture, the young man laughed and spun so that the girl next to him, who at first looked at him with some bewilderment, eventually laughed too. After that, every evening, he drove to the heroine's apartment, which she rented only because of the beautiful view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

In the evening, the lovers went to dine in expensive restaurants, went to various concerts, visited theaters ... He did not know how this relationship would end, and even tried not to allow such thoughts in himself, since she forever suppressed conversations about the future. This is how Bunin begins "Clean Monday." We present a summary of the story, published in 1944, to your attention.

Heroine

The heroine was incomprehensible and mysterious. The relationship of the lovers was uncertain and strange, so the young man was constantly in agonizing anticipation, unresolved tension. However, every hour shared with the heroine was happiness for him.

The girl was in Moscow alone (her father, an enlightened man from a merchant noble family, was a widower and already retired in Tver), studied at courses (simply because she liked the story) and was constantly learning the beginning of one melody - "Moonlight Sonata" , just the beginning. He gave her flowers, fashionable books and chocolate, in return receiving only an absent-minded and indifferent "Thank you ...". It seemed that she was not interested in anything, she was not needed, but she still chose certain flowers, read all the books she presented, ate chocolate, and dined with gusto.

Only expensive fur and clothes were her only obvious weakness, as noted by Bunin ("Clean Monday"). A summary would be incomplete without describing the characters of the boy and girl.

Two opposites

Both heroes were healthy, rich, young and very good-looking, so much so that at concerts and in restaurants they were seen off with enthusiastic looks. He was from somewhere in the Penza province, handsome with "Italian" southern beauty. The character of the hero was appropriate: cheerful, lively, always ready to smile. The beauty of the girl was somehow Persian, Indian, and as much as he was restless and talkative, she was so brooding and silent.

Doubts of the hero

Describing the summary of "Clean Monday", it is necessary to note the doubts that sometimes possessed the hero. Even when he suddenly, impulsively and hotly kissed her, she did not resist this, but was always silent. And when she felt that the hero was unable to cope with himself, she pulled away in silence, went to her bedroom and dressed for the trip. The girl said that she was not suitable for a wife. The young man thought: "It will be seen there!" - and never after that spoke about marriage.

Sometimes, however, such a situation was unbearably painful for the gentleman. He began to think that this was not love. Having told the girl about this, the hero heard in response that no one really knows what love is. After that, all evening they again talked only about a stranger, and the young man again rejoiced that he was just nearby, hears her voice, looks at the lips, which he kissed an hour ago.

Forgiveness Sunday

We continue to describe the main events of the story created by Bunin ("Clean Monday"). Their summary is as follows. Two months of winter passed, January and February, and then Maslenitsa. The heroine dressed in all black on Forgiveness Sunday, announcing that tomorrow is pure Monday, and gave her gentleman the idea to go to loneliness ... Then they walked for a long time around the Novodevichy cemetery, visited the graves of Chekhov and Ertel, long and unsuccessfully searched for the house where Griboyedov lived, and then went to Okhotny Ryad, to the tavern.

It was warm here and there were many cabs. The heroine said that this Russia was now preserved only somewhere in the northern monasteries, and that she would one day go to the most remote of them. Again he looked at her with concern and surprise: what happened to her today, again fads? The hero asks himself this question, and along with him Bunin.

Clean monday

A summary of further events is as follows. The next day, the girl asked to take her to the theater, to a skit, although she said that there was nothing more vulgar than him. Here she smoked incessantly and looked attentively at the actors who grimaced to the amicable laughter of the audience. One of them looked at her with feigned greed, and then, leaning to his hand, asked about her gentleman: "What kind of handsome man is this? I hate." Coming out of the skit at three o'clock in the morning, she half-jokingly, half-seriously said that the actor was, of course, right, "of course, handsome." Contrary to her custom, she dismissed the carriage that evening.

In the apartment, the heroine immediately went to the bedroom, took off her dress and in only shoes, combing her black hair with a comb, standing in front of the pier glass, said: "He said that I did not think much about him. No, I thought."

Parting

In the morning, the hero woke up feeling her gaze on him. The girl said that in the evening she was leaving for Tver, and did not know for how long, she promised to write as soon as she arrived at the place.

Here are the further events of the story, their summary. Bunin I. A. continues as follows. The letter received two weeks later was laconic - a firm, albeit affectionate, request not to wait, not to make attempts to see and find the heroine. The girl said that while she would remain a novice, and then, perhaps, she would decide to become a nun. For a long time he disappeared in taverns, sinking more and more. Then he began to recover a little - hopelessly, indifferently ...

Two years later

Almost 2 years have passed since that day. On such a quiet evening, the hero took a cab and headed for the Kremlin. Here he stood for a long time without praying in the Archangel Cathedral, after which he traveled a lot, as two years ago, along the dark streets and cried.

He looked at them, and suddenly one of the girls raised her head and looked at him in the darkness, as if seeing. What could she discern, how she felt the youth's presence? He turned and silently walked out of the gate.

This is how Bunin I.A. ends his story. ("Clean Monday"). The chapter summaries are interesting and intriguing.

Making a reader's diary is not an easy task. In order to correctly and as concisely state the main events of the work, you need to have a worthy model before your eyes. You can always find it on Literaguru. Here at your service is a very brief summary of Bunin's book "Clean Monday".

(439 words) It was winter, and every evening the narrator drove up to the house next to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to spend this time with his girlfriend. She lived there. Every evening they dined in restaurants, then attended theaters and concerts. Although they spent time together, they were still not very close - the girl refused to talk about what awaits their couple in the future.

She lived alone. Each week, the narrator brought her fresh flowers, boxes of chocolates, and books, but she seemed indifferent to gifts. She couldn't understand, for example, why people eat in restaurants every day. At the same time, she always ate with great appetite and read all the donated books. She had a great love for furs and silk.

As a narrator, that a girl, both were rich and beautiful, as from the cover. And he is a handsome man with a southern appearance, active and cheerful, and she also had oriental features, but was most often silent and calm. And often, while reading a book, I was distracted and thought about something.

Sometimes the narrator enjoyed those blissful moments when he could kiss her, but the answer was silence. When he started talking about the wedding, she replied that she was not a wife. The hero hoped that her opinion might change over time, and continued to court and suffer from their strange and incomplete closeness.

Two winter months passed, and on Forgiveness Sunday she admitted that she often visits Moscow cathedrals alone. She is admired by church chants, old Russia, old funeral rites. On the same evening, the two of them went to the Novodevichy Convent, then to the tavern. There, the girl promised herself that one day she would leave for some farthest abode. The narrator was moved by her words. The next evening they went to the theater for a "skit". There she smoked, drank champagne and danced a polka, and then suddenly for the first time allowed the narrator to stay at her place at night.

In the morning she said that on the same evening she was going to Tver and did not know when she would be back. This day was - pure Monday.

A few weeks after leaving, she wrote that it was useless to look for her, and there was no need to scribble an answer - both would only hurt more from this. She is going to go to obedience, and then, possibly, get a haircut as a nun.

The hero began to drink in the taverns. So two years have passed since that clean Monday. And one day, on New Year's Eve, he visited the Archangel Cathedral, where he listened to the silence of the church for a long time and seemed to expect a miracle. Then - he went to Ordynka, to the gates of the Martha-Mariinsky monastery. A girl's choir was heard from there, and he entered the courtyard. From the church appeared the Grand Duchess in a snow-white robe, followed by the chorus girls with candles in their hands. Then one of them looked into the darkness at the narrator. He asked himself how she felt that he was here, not seeing anything, turned around and left the courtyard.

Every winter evening, the author came to the apartment opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where his beloved lived. He took her to dinner, then to theaters, to concerts ... He did not know what awaited them in the future - she was mysterious and incomprehensible to him; their relationship kept him on his toes, but at the same time made him happy.

She attended history courses, although she rarely attended them. Every day, on his order, fresh flowers were brought to her, he gave her books and chocolates. It seemed that all this was indifferent to her, but she had loved and unloved flowers, and she always read books. At lunches and dinners, she ate no less than the narrator, with a Moscow understanding of the matter, loved expensive clothes, silk and velvet.

They were both young and gorgeous. Going out into the light, the couple caught admiring glances on themselves. He, being a native of the Penza province, was unexpectedly handsome with a certain southern, hot beauty, his character was lively and inclined towards a smile, a good joke. Her beauty was oriental: her dark complexion, thick black hair, black, like velvet coal, her eyes made her face beautiful. He was as chatty as she was silent.

She often thought about something. When visiting her, the author often found her reading. At such moments, she could not leave the house for three or four days. Then she made him sit in a chair next to him and read in silence. She reproached him for being too talkative and restless, to which he recalled their acquaintance. One day in December, at a lecture by Andrei Bely, he laughed loudly, which at first caused her bewilderment, and then made her laugh.

He swore his love to her, and she replied that for her there were no people closer than her father and him. "Odd love!" - thought the narrator. His thoughts were echoed by the landscape of a "strange city", in which such dissimilar buildings as Okhotny Ryad, Vasily the Blessed, Spas-na-Boru adjoined ...

Arriving at dusk, he sometimes found her in one arhaluk, kissed her hands, feet, body, hot lips. She didn’t resist, but she was still silent. Then she pushed him aside and went into another room, allowing him to cool down and recover. A quarter of an hour later, the woman came out dressed and ready to go.

One winter evening, sitting in silence, he grabbed his head and asked her why she was torturing them both so. In her silence, he added that this is not love. "Who knows what love is?" she replied from the darkness. "I know!" - he exclaimed, promising to wait for her to discover feelings of love and happiness. The woman quoted the words from the dialogue between Platon Karataev and Pierre about the essence of happiness, and he asked not to bother him with all this Eastern wisdom.

And again, all evening, the conversation was only about an outsider. Again, the author was satisfied with her presence nearby, her voice, the pattern of her lips and the spicy smell of her hair.

Sometimes, drunk, she led him into the study and called the gypsies. The woman with a kind of languid grin listened to their songs, and then asked to take her home. Standing at her house and kissing the fur of her collar, he understood that tomorrow would be the same, and it was both great torment and great happiness.

So January and February passed, and Maslenitsa began. On Forgiveness Sunday, she met him in black. She responded to his remark with a reminder that the next day is pure Monday, and suggested that we go to the Novodevichy Convent. She told him about how she was at the Rogozhskoye cemetery and that in the morning she often goes to cathedrals. The woman told him about the burial of the archbishop, the white "air" that covered his face, about the deacons with ripids and tricirians. He was surprised at her deep knowledge and admitted that he had no idea about the religiosity of his beloved. She replied that this was not religiosity, although she herself found it difficult to give it any definition. He followed her, admiring the small footprints in the snow. Turning around and shaking her head, she remarked with quiet bewilderment:

True, how you love me!

After not long standing at the graves of Chekhov and Ertel, they moved on. She remembered that somewhere on Ordynka there was Griboyedov's house. After a long drive through unknown lanes and, of course, not finding the writer's house, they arrived at Yegorov's tavern in Okhotny Ryad. The first floor was full of shaggy cabbies eating stacks of pancakes generously drenched in butter and sour cream. Old Testament merchants sat in the upper rooms. They went into the second room. In the corner in front of the icon of the Mother of God the three-handed lamp burned. She admired the spirit of Russia, which remained only in the northern monasteries and in church chants. Inadvertently, the woman notices that she would like to go to a remote monastery, but the author did not take her words seriously.

She was talkative all evening. When his beloved began to read Russian legends from memory, he at first tried to joke, but, noticing her concentration, he became agitated, not understanding what was happening to her.

When she returned home, she asked him to take her to the Art Theater "skit" the next evening. He was discouraged by her recent disdain for them. At the meeting, she smoked and drank champagne all the time, watching the actors' antics. A drunken Kachalov approached her and proclaimed a toast in her honor. Clinking glasses with him, she slowly smiled. Then the music thundered and Sulerzhitsky, who was always in a hurry somewhere, flew up to them and invited her. She went off to dance the polka, accompanied by applause.

When she returned, she asked the narrator to release the coachman. The author was surprised because the woman had not allowed him to stay overnight before. The next morning she confessed that she was leaving for Tver. She was not sure if she would come back and asked him to leave. He kissed her hair timidly and walked away. When he reached the Iberian chapel, he stopped in a crowd of old women and beggars and fell to his knees, pulling off his cap. An old woman, frowning with tears of pity, touched his shoulder, and urged him not to be killed like this - "sin!"

Two weeks later, he received a letter in which she asked not to write to her and not to wait.

He fulfilled her request and began to disappear in taverns. Almost two years later, on New Year's Eve, there was almost the same quiet evening as the unforgettable one. He took a cab and went to the Kremlin. After standing in the Archangel Cathedral, he drove along Griboyedovsky Lane. And he kept crying, crying ... At the gates of the Martha and Mary monastery, he stopped, hearing the singing of the girl's choir. Having thrust a ruble into the janitor who did not want to let him in, he was about to go inside, as the procession of the cross, led by the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke, left the door. A line of singing girls followed. One of the sisters raised her eyes and peered into the darkness. How could she feel that he was standing there? He turned and walked out of the gate.

Picture or drawing Clean Monday

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"Clean Monday"

They met in December by chance. When he got to Andrei Bely's lecture, he turned and laughed so much that she, who happened to be in the chair next to her and at first looked at him with some bewilderment, also laughed. Now every evening he drove to her apartment, rented by her solely for the sake of a wonderful view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, every evening he took her to dine in chic restaurants, theaters, concerts ... How all this was supposed to end, he did not know and tried not to even think: she once and for all put away the talk of the future.

She was mysterious and incomprehensible; their relationship was strange and uncertain, and this kept him in constant unresolved tension, in painful anticipation. And yet, what happiness was every hour spent next to her ...

In Moscow she lived alone (her widowed father, an enlightened man of a noble merchant family lived in retirement in Tver), for some reason she studied at courses (she liked history) and kept learning the slow beginning of the Moonlight Sonata, only one beginning ... flowers, chocolate and newfangled books, receiving an indifferent and absent-minded "Thank you ..." for all this. And it seemed that she did not need anything, although she still preferred flowers to her beloved, read books, ate chocolate, dined and dined with an appetite. Her obvious weakness was only good clothes, expensive fur ...

They were both rich, healthy, young and so good-looking that they were gazed at in restaurants and at concerts. He, being a native of the Penza province, was then handsome with southern, "Italian" beauty and had the appropriate character: lively, cheerful, always ready for a happy smile. And she had some kind of Indian, Persian beauty, and how talkative and restless he was, she was so silent and thoughtful ... Even when he suddenly kissed her hotly, impulsively, she did not resist, but was silent all the time. And when she felt that he could not control himself, she calmly pulled away, went into the bedroom and dressed for the next trip. "No, I'm not good for a wife!" She repeated. "It will be seen there!" - he thought and never again spoke of marriage.

But sometimes this incomplete intimacy seemed to him unbearably painful: "No, this is not love!" - "Who knows what love is?" - she answered. And again all evening they talked only about a stranger, and again he was glad only that he was just next to Her, he heard her voice, looked at the lips that he had kissed an hour ago ... What a torment! And what happiness!

So January, February passed, the Shrovetide came and passed. On Forgiveness Sunday, she dressed in all black ("After all, tomorrow is clean Monday!") And invited him to go to the Novodevichy Convent. He looked at her in surprise, and she talked about the beauty and sincerity of the burial of the schismatic archbishop, about the singing of the church choir, making the heart flutter, about their lonely visits to the Kremlin cathedrals ... Then they wandered around the Novodevichy cemetery for a long time, visited the graves of Ertel and Chekhov, long and fruitlessly looking for Griboyedov's house, and not finding it, went to Yegorov's tavern in Okhotny Ryad.

The tavern was warm and full of thickly dressed cabbies. “How good,” she said. “And only in some northern monasteries this Russia now remains ... Oh, I’ll go somewhere to a monastery, to some of the most deaf ones!” And she read by heart from ancient Russian legends: “... And the devil brought a flying serpent to his wife for fornication. And this serpent appeared to her in human nature, very beautiful ... ". And again he looked with surprise and concern: what happened to her today? All quirks?

For tomorrow she asked to take her to the theatrical skits, although she noticed that there was nothing more vulgar than them. At the skit, she smoked a lot and stared at the actors, grimacing to the laughter of the audience. At first one of them looked at her with mock eagerness, then, drunkenly leaning to his hand, inquired about her companion: “And what kind of handsome man is this? I hate it. ” Of course, handsome. "A serpent in human nature, very beautiful ..." ". And that evening, contrary to usual, she asked to let the carriage go ...

And in a quiet night apartment, she immediately went into the bedroom, rustling with the dress she was taking off. He went to the door: she, only in some swan's shoes, stood in front of the pier glass, combing her black hair with a tortoiseshell comb. “All he said was that I didn't think much of him,” she said. “No, I thought…”… And at dawn he woke up from her gaze: “This evening I am leaving for Tver,” she said. - For how long, God knows ... I'll write everything as soon as I arrive. Forgive me, leave me now ... "

The letter received two weeks later was short - an affectionate, but firm request not to wait, not to try to search and see: "I will not return to Moscow, I will go to obedience for now, then, perhaps, I will decide to tonsure ..." And he did not look, for a long time he disappeared in the dirtiest taverns, drank himself to death, sinking more and more. Then he began to recover a little - indifferently, hopelessly ...

Almost two years have passed since that clean Monday ... On the same quiet evening, he left the house, took a cab and drove to the Kremlin. I stood for a long time, without praying, in the dark Archangel Cathedral, then I drove for a long time, as then, along the dark alleys and kept crying, crying ...

On Ordynka he stopped at the gates of the Martha-Mariinsky monastery, in which the girl's choir sang sadly and tenderly. The janitor did not want to let it through, but for a ruble, sighing in rue, he let it go. Then from the church appeared icons and banners carried on their hands, a white line of singing nuns stretched out, with candles on their faces. He looked at them attentively, and then one of the walking in the middle suddenly raised her head and gazed with dark eyes into the darkness, as if seeing him. What could she see in the dark, how could she feel His presence? He turned and quietly left the gate.

They met one day in December by chance. He came to listen to a lecture by Andrei Bely, and he laughed so hard that he infected everyone around him with his laughter. She was next to him, and also laughed, not understanding the reason. Now they went to restaurants and theaters together, and lived in the same apartment. They didn't want to talk about the future, enjoying every minute of their happiness. She had a separate apartment in Moscow. Father, from a wealthy family, lived in Tver. Every day he brought flowers and gifts. Both were not poor, young and happy. In restaurants, everyone watched them go, admiring the combination of such beauty. But for marriage, they were not ready yet.

There were times when it seemed to him that there was no love. In response I heard only the words: "What is love?" Again and again, they were just the two of them, and enjoyed every moment of life. So the winter passed, and on Forgiveness Sunday she put on black clothes and offered to go to the Novodevichy Convent. He looked at her in surprise, and she told how the heart beats when you are in the temple, and how beautifully the church choir sings. They walked around the Novodevichy cemetery for a long time, looking for the graves of famous writers. After that, they went to a tavern on Okhotny Ryad.

There were a lot of people in the tavern. She never stopped thinking about how good it was in Russian monasteries, and she wanted to go to one of them someday. She recited ancient Russian legends by heart, and he again looked at her in surprise, not knowing what was happening to her.

The next day, she decided to take a ride to the theatrical meeting, although she said it went well. Here she looked at celebrities and smoked a lot. One of the actors watched her eagerly for the whole evening, and at the end, having drunk, pressed his lips to her hand. He asked who her companion was, looking at him with hatred. In the middle of the night, coming from a party, she thought that her boyfriend was too handsome, like a snake in human form. And after thinking a little, she let the carriage go.

Entering a quiet, calm apartment, she immediately went into the bedroom and took off her dress. He went to the door and saw her standing only in swan's shoes. She stood in front of the mirror and combed her hair. Saying that it was not morning she was leaving for Tver to see her father, she went to bed. Two weeks later, he received a letter stating that she would not come again. In addition, she asked not to seek a meeting with her. He did not search, for a long time, going down to the bottom with the help of alcohol. Then, little by little I began to come to my senses.

A few years later, he left the house and went to the Kremlin. It was a clean Monday, and he stood for a long time, in one of the cathedrals, not praying. Then he drove through the dark Moscow streets and cried.

After a while, he stopped at the gates of the Martha - Mariinsky Monastery, where the girl's choir sang so beautifully and sadly. At first they did not want to let him in, but after paying the janitor a ruble, he entered. Here he saw the nuns come out of the church, holding candles in their hands. He looked at them closely. Suddenly he saw her. She stared into the darkness, straight at him, not seeing anything. It is possible that she sensed his presence. He turned and walked out.


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