Features of the genre and composition of Gogol dead souls. To help the student
Gogol has long dreamed of writing a work in which "
the whole of Russia. "This was supposed to be a grandiose description of life and
in Russia in the first third of the 19th century. The poem became such a work
Dead Souls, written in 1842. The first edition of the work was
called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls". This name is lower
the true meaning of this work, translated into the field of adventures
novel, Gogol found this for censorship reasons, in order to
for the poem to be published.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? Definition
genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment, since still working
melting over the poem, Gogol calls it a poem, then a novel.
To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can co-
to stage this work with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, the poet of the epic
hee Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. "Divine
comedy "consists of three parts. In the first part to the poet is a shadow
the ancient Roman poet Virgil, who accompanies the lyric hero
to hell, they go through all the circles, a whole gallery passes in front of their eyes
sinners. The fantastic plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the topic of his
Homeland - Italy, her destiny. In fact, Gogol decided to show the same
circles of hell, but hell of Russia. No wonder the title of the poem "Dead Souls" is ideologically
echoes the title of the first part of Dante's poem "Divine Come-
diya ", which is called" Hell ".
Gogol, along with satirical negation, introduces an element of glorification
creative, creative - the image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high
lyrical movement ", which in the poem at times gives way to the comic
narration.
A significant place in the poem Dead Souls is occupied by lyric
digressions and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of the poem as a literary
touring genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing social issues
We and the people are opposed here to the gloomy pictures of Russian life.
So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov in N.
From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination
its plot, since the reader cannot assume that after the meeting
Chichikova and Manilov will have meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. Reader
cannot guess about the end of the poem, because all its characters are post-
Roena according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilova, EU-
whether it is considered as a separate image, it cannot be perceived as a
false (he has a book on the table, open on the same
page, and his politeness is feigned: "Let this you do not -
lyat "), but in comparison with Plyushkin, Manilov in many ways even wins
character traits. But in the center of attention, Gogol put the image of Koroboch-
ki, since it is a kind of single beginning of all characters.
According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the "box-man", which contains
the idea of an irrepressible thirst for hoarding.
The theme of exposing the bureaucracy runs through all creativity
Gogol: she stands out both in the collection "Mirgorod" and in the comedy "The Inspector General".
In the poem Dead Souls, it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom.
A special place in the poem is occupied by "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin".
It is connected with the plot of the poem, but is of great importance for the disclosure
the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a life
character: she denounces the government.
The world of "dead souls" in the poem is contrasted with a lyrical image
People's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration. Per
the terrible world of landlord and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul
of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a rapidly rushing forward
three, embodying the strength of Russia: "Isn't it you, Russia, that
brisk, unstoppable troika rushing? "So, we stopped at
what Gogol portrays in his work. He portrays social
a disease of society, but you should also dwell on how you manage
Gogol should do it.
First, Gogol uses methods of social typification. V
depicting the gallery of landowners skillfully combines the general and the individual.
Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except
emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs,
The buns are dead souls. To characterize their characters Go-
gol also uses a favorite technique - characterizing a character through
detail. Gogol can be called a "genius of detailing", so sometimes it is precisely de-
Talis reflect the character and inner world of the character. What is it worth, for example
measures, description of the estate and house of Manilov. When Chichikov drove into the estate
Manilov, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the mowing
a gazebo, on dirt and lack of ownership, on the wallpaper in Manilov's room, then
either gray or blue, on two matted chairs, up to which
the hands of the owner never reach. All these and many other details are under-
lead us to the main characteristic made by the author himself: "Neither
nothing, but the devil knows what it is! "Let's remember Plyushkin, this" hole in
mankind ", who even lost his gender. He goes to Chichikov in
greasy dressing gown, on his head some kind of inconceivable scarf, everywhere
shadow, dirt, dilapidation. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And that's all
this is conveyed through the detail, through those little things in life that are so
plundered by A.S. Pushkin: "Not a single writer had this gift of ex-
to depict the vulgarity of life so brightly, to be able to outline the vulgarity in such a force
a vulgar person, so that all that little thing that escapes the eyes,
would have flashed big into everyone's eyes. "
The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present
and the future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of his homeland. Conceived
the second and third volumes they had were supposed to narrate about the present and
the spirit of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts.
Dante's Divine Comedy: Purgatory and Paradise. However, this intention
lamas were not destined to come true: the second volume was unsuccessful in theory, and
the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov's trip remained a train
into the unknown. Gogol was lost thinking about the future of Russia:
"Rus, where are you rushing? Give an answer. Does not give an answer."
From the very beginning of his writing career, Gogol dreamed of writing a work "in which all of Russia would appear." This was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. This work was the poem "Dead Souls", written in 1842. The first edition of the book was called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls." Such a name reduced the true meaning of the work, translated it into the field of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, wanting to publish a poem.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment - while working on the manuscript, he speaks now about a poem, now about a novel.
To understand the peculiarities of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first movement to Dante is the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, which accompanies the lyric hero to hell; they go through all the circles, a whole gallery of sinners appears before their eyes. The fantastic plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland - Italy. In fact, Gogol conceived to show the same circles of hell, but the hell of Russia. No wonder the title of the poem "Dead Souls" ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", which is called "Hell".
Gogol, along with satirical denial, introduces a glorifying, creative element - the image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high lyrical movement", which in the poem at times replaces the comic narration.
A significant place in the poem "Dead Souls" is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of this literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing Russian public issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here opposed to the gloomy pictures of Russian life.
As for the composition of the work, it is extremely simple and expressive. It has three links.
First: five portrait chapters (2-6), in which all the types of landowners available at that time are given; the second - counties and officials (chapters 1, 7 - 10); the third - 11 chapter, in which the prehistory of the main character. In the first chapter - Chichikov's arrival in the city and his acquaintance with officials and surrounding landowners.
Five portrait chapters dedicated to Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin describe the Chichikovs' visit to manor estates in order to buy "dead souls." In the next four chapters - the troubles with the registration of "purchases", excitement and talk in the city about Chichikov and his enterprise, the death of the prosecutor, who was frightened by rumors about Chichikov. The eleventh chapter concludes the first volume.
In the second volume, which has not come down to us completely, there is much more tragedy and dynamism. Chichikov continues to pay visits to the landlords. New characters are introduced. At the same time, events occur leading to the rebirth of the protagonist.
Compositionally, the poem consists of three externally not closed, but internally interconnected circles - the landlords, the city, the life of the hero - united by the image of the road, connected by plot by Chichikov's scam.
“... Gogol called his novel a“ poem ”in earnest, and that he does not mean a comic poem by it. It was not the author who told us this, but his book. We do not see anything comic and funny in it; in no word of the author did we notice any intention to amuse the reader: everything is serious, calm, true and deep ... Do not forget that this book is only an exposition, an introduction to the poem, that the author promises two more equally great books in which we will meet again with Chichikov and we will see new faces in which Russia will express itself on its other side ... "(" VG Belinsky about Gogol ", OGIZ, State Publishing House of Fiction, Moscow, 1949).
V.V. Gippius writes that Gogol built his poem on two levels: psychological and historical.
The task of the first plan is to bring out as many characters as possible that are attached to the landlord's environment. “But the significance of Gogol's heroes outgrows their initial social characteristics. Manilovshchina, Nozdrevshchina, Chichikovshchina received ... meanings of great typical generalizations. And this was not only a later historical rethinking; the generalized character of the images is provided for in the author's intention. Gogol reminds of this about almost each of his heroes. " (VV Gippius, "From Pushkin to Blok", Publishing House "Science", Moscow-Leningrad, 1966, p. 127).
On the other hand, each Gogol image is historical, because it is marked by the features of its era. Images that have been in time for a long time are supplemented by newly emerging ones (Chichikov). Images from Dead Souls have received long-term historical significance.
The novel inevitably remains within the portrayal of individuals and events. There is no place in the novel for the image of the people and the country.
The genre of the novel did not contain Gogol's tasks. “Based on these tasks (not canceling, but including an in-depth image of real life), it was necessary to create a special genre - a large epic form, broader than the novel. Gogol calls Dead Souls a poem - by no means jokingly, as hostile criticism said; it is no coincidence that on the cover of Dead Souls, drawn by Gogol himself, the word poem is highlighted in especially large letters. " (V. V. Gippius, "From Pushkin to Blok", publishing house "Science", Moscow-Leningrad, 1966).
There was innovative courage in what Gogol called Dead Souls. Calling his work a poem, Gogol was guided by the following judgment: "the novel does not take a whole life, but a significant event in life." In a different way, Gogol imagined the epic. It “embraces some features, but the entire epoch of time, among which the hero acted with the way of thinking, beliefs and even confessions that humanity did at that time ...” “... Such phenomena from time to time appeared among many peoples. Although many of them are written in prose, they can nevertheless be considered poetic creations. " (P. Antopolsky, article "Dead Souls", poem by N. V. Gogol ", Gogol N. V.," Dead Souls ", Moscow, Higher School, 1980, p. 6).
A poem is a work about significant events in a state or in life. It implies the historicity and heroism of the content, legendary, pathetic.
“Gogol conceived“ Dead Souls ”as a historical poem. With great consistency, he attributed the time of the first volume to at least twenty years ago, to the middle of the reign of Alexander the First, to the era after the Patriotic War of 1812.
Gogol directly states: "However, one must remember that all this happened soon after the glorious expulsion of the French." That is why, in the views of officials and inhabitants of the provincial city, Napoleon is still alive (he died in 1821) and may threaten to disembark from the island of St. Helena. That is why the story or the tale about the unfortunate one-armed and one-legged veteran - the captain of the victorious Russian army, who took Paris in 1814, has such a vivid effect on the postmaster's listeners. That is why one of the heroes of the second volume (on which Gogol ... worked much later), General Betrishchev, completely emerged from the epic of the twelfth year and is full of memories of it. And if Chichikov invented for Tentetnikov some mythical story of generals of the twelfth year, then this circumstance pours water on the historical mill of Gogol. " (Introductory article by P. Antopolsky, "Dead Souls", Moscow, Higher School, 1980, p. 7). This is on the one hand.
On the other hand, Dead Souls could not be called anything other than a poem. Because the name itself betrays its lyric-epic essence; soul is a poetic concept.
The genre of "Dead Souls" has become a peculiar form of raising everyday life material to the level of poetic generalization. The principles of artistic typification used by Gogol create an ideological and philosophical situation when reality is realized exclusively in the context of a global ethical doctrine. In this regard, the title of the poem plays a special role. After the appearance of "Dead Souls", fierce controversy flared up. The author was accused of encroaching on sacred categories, in an attempt on the foundations of faith. The title of the poem is based on the reception of an oxymoron, the social characteristics of the characters are correlated with their spiritual and biological state. A specific image is considered not only in the aspect of moral and ethical antinomies, but also within the dominant existential and philosophical concept (life-death). It is this thematic collision that determines the specific perspective of the author's vision of problems.
Gogol defines the genre of "Dead Souls" already in the title of the work, which is explained by the author's desire to anticipate the reader's perception with a hint of the lyrical epic of the artistic world. "Poem" indicates a special type of storytelling in which the lyrical element largely prevails over the epic scale. The structure of Gogol's text is an organic synthesis of lyrical digressions and plot events. The image of the narrator plays a special role in the narration. He is present in all scenes, comments, evaluates what is happening, expresses hot indignation or sincere sympathy. " ("The originality of the narrative manner in the poem" Dead Souls ", gramota.ru).
Two worlds are artistically embodied in Dead Souls: the “real” world and the “ideal” world. The "real" world is the world of Plyushkin, Nozdrev, Manilov, Korobochka — a world that reflects contemporary Russian reality to Gogol. According to the laws of the epic, Gogol creates a picture of life, embracing reality most closely. He shows as many characters as possible. To show Russia, the artist moves away from the events and is busy creating a reliable world.
This is a terrible, ugly world, a world of inverted values and ideals. In this world, the soul can be dead. In this world, spiritual guidelines are upside down, its laws are immoral. This world is a picture of the modern world, in which there are caricatured masks of contemporaries, and hyperbolic, and bringing what is happening to the point of absurdity ...
The “ideal” world is built in accordance with the criteria by which the author judges himself and his life. This is the world of true spiritual values, high ideals. For this world, the human soul is immortal, for it is the embodiment of the Divine in man.
“The“ ideal ”world is the world of spirituality, the spiritual world of man. There is no Plyushkin and Sobakevich in it, there cannot be Nozdryov and Korobochka. It contains souls - immortal human souls. He is perfect in every sense of the word. Therefore, this world cannot be epically recreated. The spiritual world describes a different kind of literature - lyrics. That is why Gogol defines the genre of the work as lyric-epic, calling Dead Souls a poem. " (Monakhova O. P., Malkhazova M. V., Russian literature of the XIX century, part 1, Moscow, 1995, p. 155).
The entire composition of the huge work, the composition of all the volumes of Dead Souls, was suggested to Gogol immortally by Dante's Divine Comedy, where the first volume is hell and the kingdom of dead souls, the second volume is purgatory and the third is heaven.
In the composition of Dead Souls, inserted novellas and lyrical digressions are of great importance. Especially important is "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin", which is, as it were, outside the plot, but shows the peak of the death of the human soul.
The exposition of "Dead Souls" has been moved to the end of the poem - to the eleventh chapter, which is almost the beginning of the poem, showing the main character - Chichikov.
“Chichikov is conceived as a hero who faces a coming revival. The way of motivating this very possibility leads us to new ones for the 19th century. sides of Gogol's artistic thinking. The villain in the educational literature of the 18th century. retained the right to our sympathy and our belief in his possible rebirth, since his personality was based on the kind nature, but society perverted by society. The romantic villain atoned for his guilt by the grandeur of his crimes, the greatness of his soul provided him with the sympathy of the reader. Ultimately, he could be a stray angel or even a sword in the hands of heavenly justice. Gogol's hero has hope for revival because he has reached the limit of evil in its extreme - low, petty and ridiculous - manifestations. Comparison of Chichikov and the robber, Chichikov and Napoleon,
Chichikov and the Antichrist makes the first a comic figure, removes from him the aura of literary nobility (in parallel, there is a parody theme of Chichikov's attachment to a “noble” service, “noble” conversion, etc.). Evil is given not only in its pure form, but also in its insignificant forms. This is already the most extreme and most hopeless, according to Gogol, evil. And it is precisely in its hopelessness that the possibility of an equally complete and absolute rebirth lies. This concept is organically connected with Christianity and constitutes one of the foundations of the artistic world of Dead Souls. This makes Chichikov akin to the heroes of Dostoevsky. (YM Lotman, "Pushkin and" The Tale of Captain Kopeikin. To the history of the concept and composition of "Dead Souls", gogol.ru).
“Gogol loves Russia, knows and guesses it with a creative feeling better than many: we see this at every step. The depiction of the very shortcomings of the people, if you take them even in moral and practical terms, leads him to deep thoughts about the nature of the Russian person, about his abilities and especially upbringing, on which all his happiness and power depend. Read Chichikov's reflections on dead and fugitive souls (on pp. 261 - 264): laughing, you will deeply reflect on how a Russian person, who stands at the lowest stage of social life, grows, develops, is brought up and lives in this world.
May our readers not think that we recognize Gogol's talent as one-sided, capable of contemplating only the negative half of human and Russian life: oh! of course, we do not think so, and everything that has been said before would contradict such a statement. If in this first volume of his poem comic humor prevailed, and we see Russian life and the Russian person for the most part their negative side, then it does not follow that Gogol's fantasy could not rise to the full extent of all aspects of Russian life. He himself promises to us further to present all the innumerable wealth of the Russian spirit (countries. 430), and we are sure in advance that he will gloriously keep his word. In addition, in this part, where the very content, the characters and the object of the action carried him away into laughter and irony, he felt the need to make up for the lack of the other half of his life, and therefore in frequent digressions, in vivid notes thrown occasionally, he gave us a presentiment of another side of Russian life, which in time will reveal in its entirety. Who does not remember the episodes about the apt word of the Russian person and the nickname he gives, about the endless Russian song rushing from sea to sea about the wide expanse of our land, and, finally, about the ugly troika, this bird-troika that he could have invented only a Russian person and who inspired Gogol with a hot page and a wonderful image for a quick flight of our glorious Russia? All these lyrical episodes, especially the last one, seem to us as if glances thrown forward, or a premonition of the future, which should develop enormously in the work and depict the fullness of our spirit and our life. " (Stepan Shevyrev, "The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls", a poem by N. V. Gogol ").
Stepan Shevyrev also writes that a complete answer to the question of why Gogol called his work a poem can be given if the work is completed.
“Now the meaning of the word: poem - seems to us twofold: if you look at the work from the side of the fantasy that participates in it, then you can accept it in a real poetic, even lofty sense; - but if you look at the comic humor prevailing in the content of the first part, then involuntarily because of the word: the poem - there will appear a deep, significant irony, and you will say inwardly: "Should we add to the title:" Poem of Our Time "?" (Stepan Shevyrev, "The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls", a poem by NV Gogol ").
The soul should not be dead. And the resurrection of the soul is from the realm of the poetic. Therefore, the conceived work in three volumes by Gogol "Dead Souls" is a poem; it's not a joke or irony. Another thing is that the plan was not completed: the reader did not see either purgatory or paradise, but only the hell of Russian reality.
The genre originality of Dead Souls is still controversial. What is this - a poem, a novel, a moral narrative? In any case, this is a great work about a significant one.
N.V. Gogol wanted to write a work "in which all of Russia would appear." This work was supposed to become a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. It was the poem "Dead Souls", written in 1842. The first edition of the work was called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls." This name reduced the satirical meaning of this work. Gogol changed the title for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? This name, like the poem itself, is ambiguous. One of the values is quite realistic. The work deals with a kind of population census: an enterprising businessman Chichikov buys up the names of those peasants who have died. In pre-revolutionary Russia, male peasants were called souls and assigned to some landowner. Acquiring non-existent people for himself, Chichikov unwittingly exposes the shaky and fragile foundation of the existing system. Already at least in this one can see the satirical orientation of Gogol's poem.
Alongside the satirical denial of the ugliness of Russian life, the poem contains lyrical elements that glorify the beautiful image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high lyrical movement", which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.
The author's lyrical digressions and inserted episodes are very important in the poem "Dead Souls". In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing social issues in Russia. The author's thoughts about the high destiny of man, about the fate of the Fatherland and the people are in sharp contrast to the gloomy pictures of Russian reality.
So, let's go together with the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov to the city of N.
From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since we cannot assume that after the meeting between Chichikov and Manilov, there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess about the end of the poem, because all its characters are outlined according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov as a separate image does not seem to be a positive character (he has a book on the table, open on the same page, and his politeness is insincere: “Let me not let you do this”), but in comparison with Plyushkin he even wins in many ways ... Interestingly, in the center of the composition, Gogol put the image of a Korobochka, because her features can be found in each of the landowners. According to the author, she is the personification of the irrepressible thirst for hoarding and acquisitions.
The world of landowners, who are real dead souls in the poem, is contrasted with the lyrical image of people's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.
The image of the troika rushing forward is very important in the poem. The troika of horses embodies the strength, prowess, recklessness of Russia: "Isn't it so you, Rus, that you are a brisk, unattainable troika, rushing?" But the troika is also a symbol of a frantic race that can take you to uncharted lands.
What artistic means does the writer use in his work to emphasize the entire horror of Russian life?
First, Gogol uses the method of social typification. In depicting the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), captured by the author as a result of the social development of society. This technique once again emphasizes that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are real dead souls.
Secondly, in the poem Gogol uses his favorite technique - characterization of a character through detail. In this work, the details reflect the character and inner world of the character.
It is worth looking, for example, at the description of the Manilov estate. When Chichikov comes to Manilov, he draws attention "to the overgrown English pond, to the lopsided gazebo, to the dirt and neglect, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room, either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which they never reach. All these details bring us to the main conclusion drawn by the author himself: "Neither this, nor that, but the devil knows what it is!"
Let us also recall Plyushkin, this “hole in humanity”, which has even lost the signs of its gender. He goes out to Chichikov in a greasy dressing gown, with some kind of unthinkable scarf on his head. Everywhere it has desolation, dirt, decay. Plyushkin is the lowest stage of the fall. And all this is transmitted through the detail, through the little things of life.
The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the country's past. The second and third volumes conceived by him were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. However, these plans were never implemented: the second volume did not like the writer, and he burned it, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov's trip remained a trip into the unknown. Gogol was lost thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you rushing? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. "
Features of the genre and composition of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". Artistic features of the poem
Gogol has long dreamed of writing a work "in which all of Russia would appear." This was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. Such a work was the poem "Dead Souls", written in 1842. The first edition of the work was called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls". Such a name reduced the true meaning of this work, translated into the field of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol calls it either a poem or a novel. To understand the peculiarities of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", one can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" of Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part to the poet, there is the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, which accompanies the lyric hero to hell, they go through all the circles, a whole gallery of sinners passes in front of their eyes. The fantastic plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland - Italy, her fate. In fact, Gogol conceived to show the same circles of hell, but the hell of Russia. No wonder the title of the poem "Dead Souls" ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", which is called "Hell". Gogol, along with satirical negation, introduces an element of glorification, a creative one - the image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high lyrical movement", which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.
A significant place in the poem "Dead Souls" is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of the poem as a literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing Russian public issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here opposed to the gloomy pictures of Russian life.
So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov in N.
From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after the meeting between Chichikov and Manilov, there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess about the end of the poem, because all its characters are deduced according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if viewed as a separate image, cannot be perceived as a positive hero (he has a book on the table, open on the same page, and his politeness is feigned: "Let me not allow this to you >>), but in comparison Manilov even wins in many ways with Plyushkin. However, Gogol put the image of the Korobochka in the center of attention, since she is a kind of unified beginning of all the characters. According to Gogol, it is a symbol of the "man-box", which contains the idea of an irrepressible thirst for hoarding.
The theme of exposing the bureaucracy runs through all of Gogol's work: it stands out both in the collection Mirgorod and in the comedy The Inspector General. In the poem Dead Souls, it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. A special place in the poem is occupied by "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". It is connected with the plot of the poem, but is of great importance for the disclosure of the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.
The poem contrasts the world of "dead souls" with the lyrical image of people's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.
Behind the terrible world of landlord and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a troika rushing forward, embodying the strength of Russia: "Isn't it so you, Russia, that a brisk, unstoppable troika is rushing?" So, we stopped at what Gogol portrays in his work. He portrays the social illness of society, but one should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this.
First, Gogol uses methods of social typification. In the depiction of the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses a favorite technique - characterizing a character through a detail. Gogol can be called a "genius of detailing," as sometimes details reflect the character and inner world of a character. What is, for example, a description of the estate and house of Manilov! When Chichikov drove into Manilov's estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the lopsided gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room - either gray or blue, two chairs covered with matting, which never reached the hands of the owner. All these and many other details bring us to the main characteristic made by the author himself: "Neither this, nor that, but the devil knows what it is!" Let us recall Plyushkin, this "hole in humanity", which has even lost its gender.
He goes out to Chichikov in a greasy dressing gown, on his head some kind of unthinkable scarf, everywhere desolation, dirt, dilapidation. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A.S. so admired. Pushkin: "Not a single writer had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so brightly, to be able to outline in such force the vulgarity of a vulgar person, so that all that trifle that escapes the eyes would flash into everyone's eyes."
The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of his homeland. The second and third volumes conceived by him were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. This plan can be compared with the second and third parts of Dante's Divine Comedy: Purgatory and Paradise. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in theory, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov's trip remained a trip into the unknown.
Gogol was lost thinking about the future of Russia: "Rus, where are you rushing? Give me an answer! Doesn't give an answer."
Bibliography
For the preparation of this, materials from the Internet from public access were used.
