Gedeonovsky was the first, as usual, to bring the news of Lavretsky's return to the Kalitins' house. Maria Dmitrievna, the widow of the former provincial prosecutor, who at her fifty years retained a certain pleasantness in her features, favors him, and her house is one of the most pleasant in the city ... talkativeness. But what to take - a priest, albeit a state councilor.

However, it is generally tricky to please Marfa Timofeevna. She doesn’t like Panshin - everyone’s favorite, an enviable groom, the first gentleman. Vladimir Nikolaevich plays the piano, composes romances on his own words, draws well, recites. He is quite a secular person, educated and dexterous. In general, he is a St. Petersburg official on special assignments, a chamber junker who arrived in O ... with some kind of assignment. He visits the Kalitins for the sake of Liza, the nineteen-year-old daughter of Maria Dmitrievna. And it looks like his intentions are serious. But Marfa Timofeevna is sure: her favorite is not such a husband. The music teacher Christopher Fedorovich Lemm, a middle-aged, unattractive and not very successful German, secretly in love with his student, puts Panshin and Lizin down low.

The arrival of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky from abroad is a significant event for the city. His story is passed from mouth to mouth. In Paris, he accidentally caught his wife of treason. Moreover, after the breakup, the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna received scandalous European fame.

The inhabitants of the Kalitinsky house, however, did not think that he looked like a victim. He still breathes with steppe health, lasting strength. Only in the eyes is fatigue visible.

Actually, Fyodor Ivanovich is a strong breed. His great-grandfather was a tough, impudent, intelligent and crafty man. The great-grandmother, a hot-tempered, vengeful gypsy, was in no way inferior to her husband. Grandfather Peter, however, was already a simple steppe gentleman. His son Ivan (father of Fyodor Ivanovich) was brought up, however, by a Frenchman, an admirer of Jean Jacques Rousseau: so ordered the aunt with whom he lived. (His sister Glafira grew up with her parents.) The wisdom of the 18th century. the mentor poured into his head entirely, where she remained, without mixing with blood, without penetrating into the soul.

Upon returning to his parents, Ivan felt dirty and wild in his home. This did not prevent him from drawing attention to the maid of mother Malanya, a very pretty, intelligent and meek girl. A scandal erupted: Ivan's father disinherited, and ordered the girl to be sent to a distant village. Ivan Petrovich fought off Malanya on the way and married her. Having accommodated his young wife with the Pestovs' relatives, Dmitry Timofeevich and Marfa Timofeevna, he himself went to Petersburg, and then abroad. In the village of Pestovs, he was born on August 20, 1807. Fedor. Almost a year passed before Malanya Sergeevna was able to appear with her son at the Lavretskys. And that was only because Ivan's mother before her death asked for her son and daughter-in-law the stern Pyotr Andreevich.

The happy father of the baby finally returned to Russia only twelve years later. Malanya Sergeevna had died by this time, and the boy was brought up by his aunt Glafira Andreevna, ugly, envious, unkind and domineering. Fedya was taken from his mother and given to Glafira during her lifetime. He did not see his mother every day and loved her passionately, but he vaguely felt that an unbreakable barrier existed between him and her. Fedya was afraid of his aunt, did not dare to utter a word in front of her.

Returning, Ivan Petrovich himself took up the upbringing of his son. Dressed him in Scottish and hired a porter for him. Gymnastics, natural Sciences, international law, mathematics, carpentry and heraldry formed the core of the educational system. The boy was woken up at four in the morning; doused with cold water, forced to run around the pole on a rope; fed once a day; taught to ride and shoot a crossbow. When Fedya was sixteen years old, his father began to instill in him contempt for women.

A few years later, having buried his father, Lavretsky went to Moscow and at twenty-three entered the university. A strange upbringing has borne fruit. He did not know how to get along with people, he did not dare to look a single woman in the eyes. He got along only with Mikhalevich, an enthusiast and poet. It was this Mikhalevich who introduced his friend to the family of the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina. A twenty-six-year-old child only now understood what it was worth living for. Varenka was charming, intelligent and decently educated, she could talk about the theater, played the piano.

Six months later, the young arrived in Lavriky. The university was abandoned (not to marry a student), and a happy life began. Glafira was removed, and General Korobyin, Varvara Pavlovna's papa, arrived at the place of the steward; and the couple drove off to Petersburg, where their son was born, who soon died. On the advice of doctors, they went abroad and settled in Paris. Varvara Pavlovna instantly settled down here and began to shine in society. Soon, however, Lavretsky got hold of a love note addressed to his wife, whom he so blindly trusted. At first he was seized by rage, a desire to kill both ("my great-grandfather hung peasants by the ribs"), but then, having ordered a letter about the annual allowance for his wife and the departure of General Korobyin from the estate, he went to Italy. The newspapers circulated bad rumors about his wife. From them I learned that he had a daughter. Indifference to everything appeared. And yet, four years later, he wanted to return home, to the city of O ..., but he did not want to settle in Lavriki, where he and Varya spent their first happy days.

Liza drew his attention from the very first meeting. He noticed Panshin near her. Maria Dmitrievna did not hide that the chamber junker was crazy about her daughter. Marfa Timofeevna, however, still believed that Liza would not be with Panshin.

In Vasilievskoye Lavretsky examined the house, the garden with a pond: the estate had time to run wild. The silence of a leisurely solitary life surrounded him. And what strength, what health was in this inactive silence. The days went by monotonously, but he did not get bored: he did the housework, rode a horse, read.

Three weeks later I went to O ... to the Kalitins. Lemma found them. In the evening, having gone to see him off, he stayed with him. The old man was touched and admitted that he writes music, played and sang something.

In Vasilievsky, the conversation about poetry and music imperceptibly turned into a conversation about Liza and Panshin. Lemme was categorical: she doesn't love him, she just obeys her mother. Liza can love one beautiful thing, but he is not beautiful, i.e. his soul is not beautiful

Liza and Lavretsky trusted each other more and more. Not without hesitation, she once asked about the reasons for his break with his wife: how can you break what God has united? You must forgive. She is sure that one must forgive and submit. As a child, she was taught this by her nanny Agafya, who told the life of the Most Pure Virgin, the lives of saints and hermits, and took her to church. Her own example brought up humility, meekness and a sense of duty.

Suddenly Mikhalevich appeared in Vasilievsky. He grew old, it was evident that he was not doing well, but he spoke as passionately as in his youth, read his own poems: "... And I burned everything that I worshiped / I bowed down to everything that I burned."

Then the friends argued for a long time and loudly, disturbing Lemma, who continued to visit. You cannot only wish for happiness in life. This means building on sand. Faith is needed, and without it Lavretsky is a pitiful Voltairean. If there is no faith, there is no revelation, there is no understanding of what to do. You need a pure, unearthly being who will pull him out of apathy.

After Mikhalevich, the Kalitins arrived at Vasilievskoye. The days passed joyfully and carefree. “I speak to her as if I were not an obsolete person,” Lavretsky thought of Liza. Escorting their carriage on horseback, he asked: “Are we friends now? ..” She nodded in response.

The next evening, looking through French magazines and newspapers, Fyodor Ivanovich came across a message about the sudden death of the queen of fashionable Parisian salons, Madame Lavretskaya. In the morning he was already at the Kalitins. "What's wrong with you?" - asked Lisa. He gave her the text of the message. Now he is free. “You don't have to think about this now, but about forgiveness…” she objected and at the end of the conversation she repaid with the same trust: Panshin asks for her hand in marriage. She is not at all in love with him, but she is ready to obey her mother. Lavretsky begged Liza to think, not to marry without love, out of a sense of duty. That same evening, Liza asked Panshin not to rush her with an answer and informed Lavretsky about this. All the following days a secret anxiety was felt in her, as if she even avoided Lavretsky. And he was also alarmed by the lack of confirmation of his wife's death. And Liza, when asked if she had dared to give an answer to Panshin, said that she knew nothing. She doesn't know herself.

One summer evening in the living room, Panshin began to reproach the new generation, saying that Russia had lagged behind Europe (we didn’t even invent a mousetrap). He spoke beautifully, but with secret bitterness. Lavretsky suddenly began to object and defeated the enemy, proving the impossibility of leaps and haughty alterations, demanded recognition of the people's truth and humility before it. The irritated Panshin exclaimed; what is he going to do? Plow the land and try to plow it as best you can.

Liza was on the side of Lavretsky the whole time of the dispute. The secular official's contempt for Russia offended her. Both of them realized that they love and do not love the same thing, but differ only in one thing, but Lisa secretly hoped to lead him to God. Embarrassment last days disappeared.

Everyone gradually dispersed, and Lavretsky quietly went out into the night garden and sat down on a bench. Light appeared in the lower windows. Liza was walking with a candle in her hand. He quietly called her and, sitting down under the linden trees, said: "... I was brought here ... I love you."

Returning along the sleeping streets, full of joyful feeling, he heard the wondrous sounds of music. He turned to where they were coming from and called: Lemme! The old man appeared in the window and, recognizing him, threw down the key. Lavretsky had not heard anything like it for a long time. He walked over and hugged the old man. He paused, then smiled and cried: "I did this, for I am a great musician."

The next day Lavretsky went to Vasilyevskoye and in the evening returned to the city. In the hall he was greeted by the smell of strong perfume, and there were trunks right there.

Kalitin learned that Lavretsky had returned. This was announced by Gedeonovsky.

Fifty-year-old Maria Dmitrievna, the widow of the former provincial prosecutor, is not indifferent to him. For her age, she is well preserved, and her house is considered one of the most coveted in the city. But because of Gedeolinsky's tendency to lie and his talkativeness, Marfa Timofeevna Pestova, Maria's aunt, dislikes him.

Marfa Timofeevna is not easy to please. She even dislikes Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, who is considered one of the best suitors.

He has many advantages: he is educated, plays the piano, writes romances, draws, and in his position he is a Petersburg official who, on special assignments, arrived in the city of O.

Panshin likes Liza, the daughter of Maria Dmitrievna, but Marfa Timofeevna does not want to see him next to a nineteen-year-old girl.

A notable event for the city was the return of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky from abroad. Rumor has it that in Paris, his wife cheated on him, so he returned to his homeland. But besides fatigue, there was no sign of disappointment in him. His father was a pupil of a Rousseau fan. But no matter how his aunt insisted on adopting some French manners, Ivan did not like it.

He liked the young maid Malanya. His persistence in courting her became the reason for the disinheritance. Against the wishes of his parents, he married her. After that, Ivan had to leave Malanya with the Pestovs' relatives, and go abroad himself. After the birth of their son Fyodor, Malanya comes to the Lavretskys, who are forced to recognize her.

After 12 years, Ivan returns to Russia. Fedora was raised by his aunt Glafira, whom he feared because of her anger and envy. After his father's return, Fedor studied mathematics, natural sciences, heraldry, carpentry, international law, studied under a very tough regime. Having buried his father, Fedor sent him to Moscow and entered the university. During this period, his tough upbringing made itself felt, where he could not find friends and establish a relationship with a woman. But he had a friend Mikhalevich, who introduced him to the Korobin family. He really liked Varvara Pavlovna, they got married. During their stay in St. Petersburg, they had a son, but he died. On the advice of doctors, they go to France, where Barbara's secular outings have become more frequent. Soon Fedor convicted her of treason and leaves for Italy. Four years later, O.

While staying in the Kalitins' house, he liked Lisa, where, with constant communication, he told her about his wife. Lisa offered to forgive her. Plus, she believed in God. Suddenly Mikhalevich appears at the Lavretskys', which prompts friends to long conversations. Fedor receives news of his wife's death. He comes to Lisa and breaks the news. But she says that Panshin made her an offer. Liza, at the request of Fedor, is in no hurry with an answer. During a conversation between Panshin and Lavretsky about the politics of Russia and Europe, Liza prefers Fedor because of the identity of her views, except for faith in God. Fedor and Lisa declare their love. But Fyodor's wife unexpectedly arrives with her daughter Ada, where she persuades him to forgive and resume married life. But Lavretsky refused. Varvara turns to Maria Dmitrievna for help.

Liza was also aware of the arrival of Fyodor's wife. But before that, she had an explanation with Panshin. But soon Liza herself suggested not to break off relations with his wife, where Fedor conceded. Lisa goes to the monastery. Fyodor visits, but she does not look at him. Varvara leaves her husband again, leaving for Paris.

History of the Russian novel. Volume 1 Philology The team of authors -

"GIRL'S NEST" (S. A. Malakhov)

"NOBLE NEST" (S. A. Malakhov)

On the title page of the manuscript of the novel “ Noble Nest", Stored in Paris, written by Turgenev's hand, according to which the novel was conceived at the beginning of 1856, began to be written in the summer of 1858 and finished on October 27, 1858 in Spassky.

This record testifies that the idea of ​​the novel, which arose after the end of Rudin (in July 1855), was formed by the novelist over the next two years, but was creatively carried out by the writer, as well as the idea of ​​Rudin, during the whole only a few months.

The hero of The Noble Nest has autobiographical features. But he is not a self-portrait of a novelist. Turgenev introduced into the biography of Lavretsky the features of many of his contemporaries. It is known what a fatal role the "Spartan" upbringing that his father gave him and how little Ivan Petrovich himself observed the "Spartan" way of life in the subsequent fate of Fyodor Lavretsky. In the midst of work on his second novel, Turgenev, in a letter dated July 7 (June 25), 1858, tells Pauline Viardot about the upbringing that Leo Tolstoy's son-in-law gave his children: “He applied a system of harsh treatment to them; he gave himself pleasure to educate them in a Spartan way, himself leading a completely opposite way of life ”(Letters, III, 418).

The Czech literary critic G. Doks in his article "Ogarev and Turgenev (Ogarev as a prototype of Lavretsky)" provides convincing evidence in favor of the fact that the prototypes of Fyodor Lavretsky, Varvara Pavlovna and Lisa were largely based on N.P. Ogarev and people close to him. Turgenev in "Noble Nest", as well as in "Rudin", created such characters and types, none of which can be completely reduced to any real person from among the writer's contemporaries, but which have features of many of his faces. time.

Historical contemporaneity in the novel "Noble Nest" is comprehended in connection with the earlier stages of Russian life that prepared it. The once well-born noble family of the Pestovs (“three Pestovs appear in the synodikon of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible”; II, 196) by the 40s of the XIX century, when the action of the “Noble Nest” begins, almost completely ruined, retaining only the marginal estate Pokrovskoye, which forced the owner to "move to St. Petersburg for the service" (141). The novel does not say directly what state Kalitin possessed before marrying Marya Dmitrievna and how he made up during his lifetime "a very good ... acquired" state by him (142), which went to his widow. But from the biography of Liza, set forth by the novelist in chapter XXXV, we learn that Kalitin "compared himself to a horse harnessed to a threshing machine" (252). It is unlikely, therefore, that Kalitin belonged to a wealthy noble family, if the fortune left by him was "acquired" at such a price.

Fyodor Lavretsky's eighty-year-old butler, Anton, epically unhurriedly tells the master about his ancestors: “And he lived, your blessed great-grandfather in memory, in a small wooden mansion; and what good he left behind, what silver, all sorts of supplies, all the cellars were packed full ... But your grandfather, Pyotr Andreevich, set up stone chambers for himself, but he didn’t make any good; everything went to waste with them; and they lived worse than papa's, and did not produce any pleasures for themselves, - but decided everything, and there is nothing to remember him, there was no silver spoon left of them, and then, thank you, Glafira Petrovna was pleased ”(206–207).

Having sketched a broad picture of contemporary local life, touching on its past and present, Turgenev captured in the novel many features from the life of a serf village. The author of The Noble Nest told about the fate of two peasant serfs with deep artistic expressiveness. Seduced by the young son of her landowner, the mother of Fyodor Lavretsky, thanks to the clash of two vanities, becomes the legal wife of her seducer, who married her in order to "take revenge on his father." The fate of this "raw-hammered noblewoman" (171), as Lavretsky's father ironically calls his unlucky daughter-in-law, is tragic. She meekly endures separation from her husband living abroad, meekly endures the "involuntary neglect" (172) of her father-in-law, who has fallen in love with her, and the deliberate reproaches from her husband's aunt, Glafira Petrovna. But when her son is taken away from her in order to entrust his upbringing to Glafira, the unhappy mother, despite all her obedience brought up by the serf lifestyle, cannot bear the blow, dies as "unrequited" as she lived. In terms of the strength of the anti-serfdom protest, which permeates the image of the "unrequited" Malanya Sergeevna, he is not inferior to many characters in the "Notes of a Hunter".

In a different, but no less dramatically expressive way, the fate of another serf girl, Agafya Vlasyevna, was mentioned in the novel by the author of The Noble Nest, telling the reader about Liza's biography. After sixteen years of marriage and soon becoming a widow, she becomes the beloved of her landowner; betrayed by the lady after his death as a cattleman, drunkard and thief, she falls into disgrace through the fault of her husband and becomes, as a result of all the ordeals she endured, “very silent and silent” (254). The story of these two women's lives, mutilated and ruined by the masters, embodies in the novel the martyrdom of the Russian serf slave.

Other episodic peasant figures in the novel are also expressive. Such is the "lean peasant" who, having handed over a lordly order to Malanya Sergeevna, kisses his former godmother, like a "new mistress," a hand so that he can immediately "run home", having covered a ruble sixty versts on foot in one day (169). Fluently but vividly outlined by Turgenev is the eighty-year-old courtyard Anton, telling Fyodor Lavretsky with trepidation about his domineering great-grandfather and listening with delight to his mistress Kalitina at the table, just as he would not be able, in his opinion, to serve some "hired valet" (220).

The image of a man who has lost his son rises to a large, symbolic generalization. Characteristic is the deep inner restraint of his grief, and that instinctive gesture of self-defense with which the peasant "fearfully and sternly" recoils from the master who has pityed him, apparently not trusting either the lordly sincerity or the lordly compassion for the peasant (294).

The events described in the "Noble Nest" are dated by the author, as in "Rudin", to the 30-40s (Lavretsky, born on August 20, 1807, married Varvara Pavlovna in 1833 and separated from his wife, after her betrayal , in 1836, and the hero's romance with Liza is played out in May - June 1842; even in the epilogue of The Noble Nest, the action takes place only two years later than in the epilogue of Rudin: Rudin dies on the barricade in 1848, and Lavretsky appears for the last time on the pages of the book in 1850). However, Turgenev wrote his second novel in the late 1950s, on the eve of the peasant reform. The pre-reform socio-economic and political situation put its stamp on the entire content of the "Noble Nest", determined historical meaning novel for contemporary Russian public life.

Turgenev tried with his novel to answer the question of what to do for a modern educated Russian person. According to Mikhalevich, “everyone should know this himself” (218). The main personalities of the novel, each in their own way, solve this painful and difficult question for them. Mikhalevich, having parted with Lavretsky, answers him like this: “Remember my last three words,” he shouted, leaning his body out of the tarantass and standing on the balance sheet, “religion, progress, humanity !. Goodbye!" (220).

Inspirational servant of "progress and humanity", orator, idealist and romantic Mikhalevich, like Rudin, cannot find the application of his abilities to real practical work; he is just as poor, a loser and an eternal wanderer as Rudin. Mikhalevich even outwardly resembles an immortal "knight of a sad image" with whom Rudin compared himself: air, as if scattering the seeds of future prosperity ”(220). Mikhalevich, like Rudin, devoted his life to the struggle for personal well-being, but to the joy of "the fate of mankind." But the objective fault of both lies, according to Turgenev, in the fact that there is practically nothing they can do to help bring about the "future welfare" of the human masses.

Varvara Pavlovna is a naive, outspoken selfish woman who has no moral ideals. And Turgenev condemns her as unconditionally as he condemned in the novel the epicurean egoism of Gedeonovsky and Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina. Panshin, in words, cares a lot "about the future of Russia", but in reality he only thinks about his own bureaucratic career, without doubting that "in time he will become a minister" (150). His entire liberal program is limited to a stereotyped phrase: “Russia ... has lagged behind Europe; we need to adjust it ... we must inevitably borrow from others. " Panshin, as befits a convinced official, considers the implementation of such a program to be purely administrative: “... this is our business, the business of the people ... (he almost said: civil servants)” (214, 215).

The relationship between the heroine of The Noble Nest, Liza Kalitina, and her parents are in many ways similar to Natalya's biography: “She is in her tenth year when her father died; but he did little to study her ... Marya Dmitrievna, in fact, was not much more concerned with Liza than her husband ... She was afraid of her father; her feeling for her mother was vague - she was not afraid of her and not. caressed her ... ”(252, 255). Liza's attitude to her governess, "the girl of Moreau from Paris", is reminiscent of Natalia's attitude to m? Ile Boncourt ("She had little influence on Lisa"; 252, 253). Liza, like the other two heroines of Turgenev's novels of the 1950s, is distinguished first of all by the independence of her inner spiritual life. “She didn’t think often, but almost always for good reason; after a pause for a while, she usually ended up asking someone older with a question showing that her head was working on a new impression ”(254).

However, unlike Natalya, Liza found in her serf nanny Agafya Vlasyevna a person who had the influence on her that determined her later life destiny, those features of her character and beliefs that made her so sharply different from other Turgenev heroines. The extraordinary beauty of Agafya Vlasyevna twice raised her high from the living conditions usual for other serf women. At first, for five years she was the "lordly mistress" of her landowner Dmitry Pestov, then, three years after his death, for five years she was the favorite of his widow. At this time, she led a "blissful life": "... except for silk and velvet, she did not want to wear anything, she slept * on feather beds." And twice such a life was cut short by an unexpected and terrible catastrophe for Agafya Vlasyevna. For the first time the lady "passed her off as a cattleman and banished her out of sight"; second time. she was “demoted from housekeeper to seamstress and ordered to wear a scarf on her head instead of a cap,” which was, of course, terribly humiliating for the previously all-powerful lordly mistress. Seeing in these two catastrophes of her life "the finger of God" that punished her for pride, "to the surprise of all, Agafya with humble humility took the blow that struck her" (253, 254).

Under the influence of Agafya Vlasyevna and Liza, she became a convinced supporter of the ideas of Christian humility. Therefore, in her first intimate conversation with Lavretsky, Liza tries to reconcile Fedor with his wife, for. "How can you separate what God has united?" (212). Liza's religious fatalism is especially expressive when, in a conversation with Lavretsky, she says: “It seems to me, Fyodor Ivanovich, ... happiness on earth does not depend on us” (235).

However, after the news of the imaginary death of Varvara Pavlovna, when nothing stood between her and Lavretsky anymore, Liza, in the struggle for her "love, shows such strength of character that she will not yield to either Natalya Lasunskaya or Elena Stakhova:" ... she knew that she loved - and fell in love honestly, not jokingly, became attached tightly, for life - and was not afraid of threats; she felt that she could not forcibly break this bond ”(267).

With tremendous strength and great psychological truth, Turgenev reveals the dramatic clash of religious duty and natural human feelings in the soul of her heroine. Liza comes out of the fight with herself mortally wounded, but does not betray her inherent beliefs about moral duty. She does everything to reconcile Lavretsky with his unexpectedly "resurrected" wife.

The image of Lisa in many ways resembles the image of Pushkin's Tatyana. This is the most charming and at the same time the most tragic of Turgenev's female images. Like Pushkin's Tatyana, Liza in intelligence and moral aspirations is significantly higher not only her mother, but also the entire environment around her. However, the absence in this environment of other spiritual interests that could satisfy her contributed to the fact that inner life Liza acquired an ascetic, religious coloring from an early age. Finding no other way out for her aspirations, Lisa put all her extraordinary spiritual energy into her religious and moral searches. Deep seriousness and concentration, exactingness towards herself and others, fanatical devotion to duty that distinguish Liza, anticipate the features of the heroine of Turgenev's poem in prose "The Threshold", the real features of the psychological makeup of many advanced Russian women of the 60s and 80s. But, unlike the later Turgenev heroines, Liza in her understanding of duty turns out to be tragically constrained by obsolescent religious ideas hostile to the needs and happiness of a living person. Hence her deep tragedy in life: conquering her passion, sacrificing herself for the sake of her high understanding of duty, Liza at the same time cannot give up the impulses of her heart without deep pain. Like Lavretsky, she remains tragically broken in the epilogue of the novel. Liza's departure to the monastery cannot give her happiness, the monastery life remains the last, most tragic page in the life of this Turgenev heroine, as if standing at the crossroads of two eras in the history of the intellectual and moral life of an advanced Russian woman of the 19th century.

Liza's tragic guilt lies in the fact that, unlike Elena, she does not serve the cause of the liberation and happiness of people, but the “salvation” of her own Christian “soul”. Turgenev justifies his heroine by the objective conditions of her religious upbringing, but does not remove from her the “guilt” which she atones for in the novel only at the cost of her ruined life. The conflict between a person's desire to achieve his personal happiness and his moral duty in relation to his people, Turgenev, laid the foundation of the tragedy and his protagonist. "Neither pava, nor crow" is a landowner in terms of his social status, a "real man", as Glafira Petrovna and Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina put it (177, 194 =), - Lavretsky, having entered a life in which he did not know, with character , which the circumstances raised in him, inevitably had to become a tragic victim of the latter.

None of Turgenev's novels evoked such a unanimous and generally positive assessment on the part of progressive Russian writers and advanced critical thought, which caused the Noble Nest after publication in Sovremennik (1859).

N.A. the kind of idle types we look at with a grin. The drama of his position is no longer in the struggle with his own powerlessness, but in the collision with such concepts and morals, with which the struggle should really frighten even an energetic and courageous person. "

Lavretsky's "great sufferings" did not break him, did not make him an embittered pessimist or a bilious cynic like Pigasov. Turgenev showed this in the epilogue of the novel, conveying the thoughts of the hero after his last meeting with the young generation of the Kalitins and their young friends. “Play, have fun, grow up, young forces,” he thought, and there was no bitterness in his thoughts, “life is ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you don’t have to find your way, like us, to fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we fussed about how to survive - and how many of us did not survive! - and you need to do business, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you ”(306).

Slowed down thanks to numerous inserted episodes and digressions, more epically unhurried than in Rudin, the course of the narrative of The Noble Nest is in harmony with the characters of the characters and the circumstances in which they are placed.

The off-plot elements in The Noble Nest are more complex and diverse than in Rudin. Chapter I of the novel contains the biography of Kalitin and the history of three representatives of the noble family of the Pestovs, chapter IV - the biography of Panshin, chapter U - Lemma. As many as nine chapters (VIII? XVI) are devoted to the history of the Lavretsky family and the story of the unsuccessful marriage of its last representative; Chapter XXXV reports the biographies of Agafya Vlasyevna and Liza. Such a compositional structure helped the author to reproduce the socio-historical situation more broadly than in Rudin, to give more concrete images of the main characters of the novel.

For all the structural differences between the first two novels by Turgenev, they have much in common. In both Rudin and Noble Nest, the tragic fate of the protagonist is determined not so much as a result of clashes with his ideological opponents - antipodes (Pigasov, Panshin), but as a result of the outcome of his relationship with the heroine. The most social value of both heroes is believed by the author, first of all, by their behavior in front of the woman he loves.

The characteristic features of the secondary characters are that they are not subject to development, but remain invariably true to themselves throughout the novel.

The sentimental character of a wealthy Russian provincial noblewoman is already revealed in the first scene of The Noble Nest Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina in a conversation with Martha Timofeevna:

“- What are you talking about? she suddenly asked Marya Dmitrievna. - What are you sighing for, my mother?

“- So, - she said, - What wonderful clouds!

"- So you feel sorry for them, or what?" (143).

And Marya Dmitrievna maintains this character of hers throughout the novel. Favorable to Gedeonovsky for his vulgar compliments, and to Panshin for his “secular” courtesy, Marya Dmitrievna contemptuously speaks of Lavretsky: “What a seal, man! Well, now I understand why his wife could not remain faithful to him ”(194). But when the same Lavretsky, seeking the Kalitins to come to Vasilievskoye, "kissed both her hands," Marya Dmitrievna, "sensitive to affection" and "not at all expecting such a courtesy from the" seal ", was moved by her soul and agreed" (213). Helping Varvara Pavlovna to arrange her reconciliation with her husband, Marya Dmitrievna almost ruined things, trying at all costs melodramatically - a sentimental scene of the forgiveness of the "repentant sinner", and remained dissatisfied with Lavretsky's "insensitivity".

The compositional grouping of supporting characters in the "Noble Nest", as in "Rudin", is subordinated, by the author, to the function of multilateral disclosure of the character of the protagonist. It is noteworthy that Lavretsky's ill-wishers are the lady Kalitina, the priest Gedeonovsky, the careerist Panshin, the official, and the poor Mikhalevich, the loser Lemm, the simple courtyard people Anton and Apraksey as friends or well-wishers. It is also no coincidence that Lavretsky himself realizes the insignificance of his personal sufferings as a result of comparing them with the grief of a peasant who has lost his son, with the difficult fate of his mother, a peasant serf. DI Pisarev subtly noticed the connection between the Turgenev hero and the people, noting in his review of The Noble Nest: “On the personality of Lavretsky there is a clearly marked stamp of nationality”.

The deep flow of the spiritual life of Turgenev's heroes, inexhaustible in all its inner wealth, as in Rudin, receives a diverse external expression in the characteristic external details that are extremely economically and subtly chosen by the author.

Lisa's tears tell the reader about the state of her soul in the same understandable language as Natalia's tears. And at the same time, their tears reveal the difference in the character of these two Turgenev heroines. Natalya cries only at the moment of maturation of her love for Rudin, which she has not yet realized. When, in response to his confession, she says with firm determination to her chosen one: "Know that ... I will be yours" (82), her eyes are dry. And Liza responds to Lavretsky's confession with tears: having heard her “quiet sobs,” he “understood what those tears meant” (249–250).

They tell the reader no less clearly about the state of Turgenev's heroine and Liza's hand. After the deadly dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin, Lavretsky confesses his love to Lisa. “She wanted to get up,” writes Turgenev, “she could not and covered her face with her hands ... Her shoulders began to tremble slightly, and the fingers of her pale hands pressed closer to her face” (249). Later, meeting with Lavretsky, who had come to say goodbye to her forever, "Liza leaned against the back of the chair and quietly raised her hands to her face ...". “No,” she said and pulled back her already outstretched hand, “no, Lavretsky (she called him that for the first time), I won't give you my hand” (287). For the last time in the novel, Liza's hands appear in the epilogue when Lavretsky meets her in the monastery, and she, passing by him, “did not look at him; only the eyelashes of the eye turned to him trembled slightly, only she tilted her emaciated face even lower - and the fingers of her clenched hands, entwined with rosary beads, pressed closer to each other ”(307).

Lavretsky's novel with Liza opens with the landscape of a "spring, bright day" (141). In this landscape, there is also a "light", in Pushkin's way, sorrow "- the result of Lavretsky's past disappointments - and one can already hear the overture to his second unhappy love. On the way to Vasilievskoe, the nightingale song returns Lavretsky's thoughts to Liza; Lisa's purity evokes in the hero an association with pure stars that light up in the sky above his head. Fyodor's new meeting with Liza, who has come from the city to Vasilievskoye, takes place against the background of still water and the "reddish ... reeds" quietly standing around, when nature itself, having fallen silent, seems to listen to the "quiet" conversation of the heroes (222). The night landscape in the scene of Lavretsky's return after Lisa's farewell is saturated with a growing major sound of pleasure and joy, foreshadowing the radiant birth of love (226), which will find its apotheosis under the "mighty, audaciously ringing song of the nightingale" (246).

Turgenev contrasts in "Noble Gcezda" not only the spontaneous gravitation towards the people, the moral purity of Lavretsky and Liza - the immorality of Panshin and Varvara Pavlovna, but also the pure aesthetic taste of Liza ("She can love one beautiful thing"; 211) and Fyodor ("he ... passionately he loved music, efficient, classical music "; 207) - chansonnet and poldecko aesthetics, their antipodes.

Against the background of the salon music of Panshin and Varvara Pavlovna, a painful denouement of their ruined love takes place for the heroes, and the night melody Lemma remains forever in Lavretsky's soul, the hero of the novel recalls it with feeling in the epilogue, again visiting the walls of the Kalitinsky house.

Poems, music, nature not only help the novelist in characterizing the characters, but also play important role in the very development of the plot. Words for the romance he conceived dedicated to Lisa, which Lemme is trying to improvise: "... you stars, oh you pure stars!" - evoke in Lavretsky's mind the image of this "pure girl" (209, 210). Lavretsky will soon repeat the poems read during a hot night conversation with Mikhalevich, associating their meaning with his disappointment in love for Varvara Pavlovna and with the birth of a new feeling for Liza (215, 226):

And I burned everything I worshiped

Bowed down to everything that he burned.

The atmosphere of "light poetry, diffused in every sound of this novel" is generated not only by the landscape, music and poetry, but also by lyrical digressions and the author's remarks of the novelist, organically connected either with the characters' characters, or with the development of the plot, or with the general idea of ​​the work.

The agitated lyricism of Turgenev's rhythmic prose acquires its musical sound thanks to the poetic organization of the syntactic structure. Thus, Turgenev used the technique of poetic repetition where the novelist paints a landscape against which Lisa and Lavretsky catch fish in his pond: “Tall reddish reeds rustled quietly around them, motionless water quietly shone ahead, and their conversation was quiet” (222 ). The musical sound and rhythmic structure of phrases are often emphasized by the interrogative or exclamatory intonation of the author's speech ("What did they think, what did both of them feel? Who will know? Who will say? There are such moments in life, such feelings"; 307), syntactic parallelisms, anaphores, etc. ...

The syntax of Turgenev's prose is especially delicately organized in the scene when, after a painful meeting for the heroine with Varvara Pavlovna, Marfa Timofeevna, taking Lisa to her room, expresses a feeling of silent compassion for the heavy grief of her beloved niece. This scene is put by the author in the framework of a large complex sentence, rhythmically developing in the sequence of a single syntactic movement: "Liza ... wept"; “Marfa Timofeevna could not kiss these… hands”; "Tears flowed"; "The cat Sailor purred"; "The flame of the lamp ... was stirring"; "Nastasya Karpovna ... wiped her eyes" (274). Many of simple sentences that make up this difficult period are linked by elements of syntactic parallelism: "Liza leaned forward, blushed - and began to cry"; "The flame of the lamp moved and moved slightly"; "Nastasya Karpovna stood and ... wiped her eyes" (274). The system of sound repetitions enhances the rhythmic character of Turgenev's prose (“I could not kiss these poor, pale, powerless hands - and silent tears poured from her eyes and Liza's eyes”; 274).

Turgenev in the novels of the 50s of sorrow parted with the past. The novelist sadly saw off the idealism of the progressive people of the 1930s – 1940s and the romance of Russian “noble nests” to the grave. This determined the tragic pathos, the lyrical atmosphere of Turgenev's first novels. But Rudin leaves the stage, impregnating the young shoots of a new life with his educational propaganda, and Lavretsky - welcoming with deep faith the bright future of Russia, its "young, unfamiliar tribe." And this gives the drama of the first Turgenev novels, despite all their tragedy, optimistic sound.

With death and suffering, the heroes of Turgenev atone for their tragic guilt before the people, to whom both Rudin and Lavretsky wanted, but did not know how to serve. And their personal suffering pales against the background of the immense suffering that a serf or a peasant woman endures. No matter how little place peasant images occupy in Turgenev's novels, their presence lends a particularly acute social resonance to these novels. Turgenev's heroes are unhappy, but they rise above their personal grief, talking about themselves, as Lavretsky does: “Look around, who is blissful around you, who is enjoying? There is a man going mowing; maybe he is content with his lot ”(281).