Poor people. Novel (1845)

Makar Alekseevich Devushkin is a titular councilor forty-seven years old, copying papers for a small salary in one of the St. Petersburg departments. He had just moved to a new apartment in a “main” building near Fontanka. Along the long corridor are the doors of rooms for residents; the hero himself huddles behind a partition in the common kitchen. His previous housing was “incomparably better.” However, now the main thing for Devushkin is cheapness, because in the same courtyard he rents a more comfortable and expensive apartment for his distant relative Varvara Alekseevna Dobroselova. A poor official takes under his protection a seventeen-year-old orphan, for whom there is no one but him to intercede. Living nearby, they rarely see each other, as Makar Alekseevich is afraid of gossip. However, both need warmth and sympathy, which they draw from almost daily correspondence with each other. The history of the relationship between Makar and Varenka is revealed in thirty-one - his and twenty-four - her letters, written from April 8 to September 30, 184... Makar’s first letter is permeated with the happiness of finding heartfelt affection: “... spring, so are thoughts everyone is so pleasant, sharp, intricate, and tender dreams come..." Denying himself food and clothes, he saves money for flowers and sweets for his "angel."

Varenka is angry with the patron for excessive expenses, and cools his ardor with irony: “...only poems are missing...”

“Fatherly affection animated me, the only pure fatherly affection...” - Makar is embarrassed.

Varya persuades her friend to visit her more often: "What other business!" She takes home work - sewing.

In subsequent letters, Devushkin describes in detail his dwelling - "Noah's Ark" according to the abundance of a motley audience - with a "rotten, sharply sweetened smell", in which "siskins die like that." He draws portraits of his neighbors: the midshipman card player, the petty writer Ratazyaev, the impoverished official without a place, Gorshkov and his family. The hostess is a real witch. He is ashamed that he is bad, stupidly writes - "no syllable": after all, he studied "not even with copper money."

Varenka shares her anxiety: Anna Fedorovna, a distant relative, "finds out" about it. Previously, Varya and her mother lived in her house, and then, allegedly to cover their expenses, the "benefactor" offered the orphaned girl by that time to the wealthy landowner Bykov, who dishonored her. Only Makar's help saves the defenseless from the final "death". If only the bawd and Bykov did not find out her address! The poor thing falls ill from fear, lies unconscious for almost a month. Makar has been around all this time. To put his "yasochka" on his feet, he sells a new uniform. By June, Varenka recovers and sends notes to his caring friend with the story of his life.

Her happy childhood was spent in her native family in the bosom of rural nature. When the father lost his position as manager of the estate of Prince II, they came to St. Petersburg - "rotten", "angry", "dreary". Constant failures brought the father to the grave. The house was sold for debt. Fourteen-year-old Varya and her mother were left homeless and without funds. It was then that they were sheltered by Anna Fedorovna, who soon began to reproach the widow. She worked beyond her strength, destroying poor health for the sake of a piece of bread. For a whole year, Varya studied with a former student, Pyotr Pokrovsky, who lived in the same house. She was surprised in "the kindest, most worthy man, the best of all," a strange disrespect for the old father, who often visited his adored son. It was a bitter drunkard, once a petty official. Peter's mother, a young beauty, was married to him with a rich dowry by the landowner Bykov. She died soon after. The widower remarried. Peter, on the other hand, grew up separately, under the patronage of Bykov, who placed the young man, who left the university for health reasons, "on bread" with his "short acquaintance" Anna Fedorovna.

Joint vigils at the bedside of Varya’s sick mother brought the young people closer together. An educated friend taught the girl to read and developed her taste. However, Pokrovsky soon fell ill and died of consumption. The owner took all the deceased's belongings to pay for the funeral. The old father took as many books from her as he could and stuffed them into her pockets, hat, etc. It started to rain. The old man ran, crying, behind the cart with the coffin, and books fell from his pockets into the mud. He picked them up and ran after them again... Varya, in anguish, returned home to her mother, who was also soon taken away by death...

Devushkin responds with a story about his own life. He has been serving for thirty years. “Smirnenky”, “quiet” and “kind”, he became the subject of constant ridicule: “Makar Alekseevich was introduced into the proverb in our entire department”, “...they didn’t get to the boots, to the uniform, to the hair, to my figure: everything was not According to them, everything needs to be redone!” The hero is indignant: “Well, what’s wrong with <...> that I’m rewriting! What, is it a sin to rewrite, or what?” The only joy is Varenka: “It’s as if the Lord has blessed me with a house and a family!”

On June 10, Devushkin takes his ward for a walk to the islands. She is happy. The naive Makar is delighted with the works of Ratazyaev. Varenka, on the other hand, notes the bad taste and loftiness of "Italian Passions", "Ermak and Zyuleyka", etc.

Realizing that Devushkin’s material worries about himself are too much for him (he was so self-absorbed that he arouses contempt even among the servants and watchmen), the sick Varenka wants to get a job as a governess. Makar is against: its “usefulness” lies in its “beneficial” influence on his life. He stands up for Ratazyaev, but after reading Pushkin’s “Station Warden,” sent by Varya, he is shocked: “I feel the same thing, just like in the book.” Vyrina tries on fate for herself and asks her “native” not to leave, not to “ruin” him. On July 6, Varenka sends Makar Gogol’s “The Overcoat”; that same evening they visit the theater.

If Pushkin's story elevated Devushkin in his own eyes, then Gogol's story offended him. Identifying himself with Bashmachkin, he believes that the author spied on all the little details of his life and unceremoniously made it public. The hero’s dignity is hurt: “after this you have to complain...”

By the beginning of July, Makar had spent everything. More terrible than lack of money is only the ridicule of the tenants over him and Varenka. But the worst thing is that a "searcher" - an officer, from former neighbors, comes to her with an "unworthy offer". In desperation, the poor man took to drink, disappeared for four days, missing the service. He went to shame the offender, but was thrown down the stairs.

Varya consoles her defender, asks, despite gossip, to come to her for dinner.

Since the beginning of August, Devushkin has been trying in vain to borrow money at interest, especially necessary in view of a new misfortune: the other day another “seeker” came to Varenka, directed by Anna Fedorovna, who herself will soon visit the girl. We need to move urgently. Makar starts drinking again out of helplessness. “For my sake, my darling, don’t ruin yourself and don’t ruin me,” the unfortunate woman begs him, sending her last “thirty kopecks in silver.” The emboldened poor man explains his “fall”: “how he lost respect for himself, how he indulged in denying his good qualities and his dignity, so here you are all lost!..” Varya gives Makar self-respect: people “disdained” him, “and I began to abhor myself.., and <...> you <...> illuminated my whole dark life, <,..> and I <...> learned that <...> is no worse than others; that only <.,.> I don’t shine with anything, there’s no gloss, I’m not drowning, but still I’m a man, that in my heart and thoughts I’m a man.”

Varenka’s health is deteriorating, she is no longer able to sew. Anxious, Makar goes out on a September evening to the Fontanka embankment. Dirt, disorder, drunks - “boring”! And on neighboring Gorokhovaya there are rich shops, luxurious carriages, elegant ladies. The walker falls into “freethinking”: if work is the basis of human dignity, then why are so many slackers well-fed? Happiness is not given by merit - therefore the rich should not be deaf to the complaints of the poor. Makar is a little proud of his reasoning and notes that “his syllable has been forming recently.” On September 9, Devushkin was lucky: summoned for a “scolding” to the general for an error in a paper, the humble and pathetic official received the sympathy of “His Excellency” and received personally from him one hundred rubles. This is a real salvation: we paid for the apartment, the table, the clothes. Devushkin is depressed by his boss’s generosity and reproaches himself for his recent “liberal” thoughts. Reading "Northern Bee". Full of hope for the future.

Meanwhile, Bykov finds out about Varenka and on September 20 comes to woo her. His goal is to have legitimate children in order to disinherit his “worthless nephew.” If Varya is against it, he will marry a Moscow merchant's wife. Despite the unceremoniousness and rudeness of the offer, the girl agrees: “If anyone can <...> restore my good name, turn poverty away from me <...> it’s only him.” Makar dissuades: “Your heart will be cold!” Having fallen ill from grief, he still shares her efforts of getting ready for the trip until the last day.

September 30 - wedding. On the same day, on the eve of leaving for the Bykov estate, Varenka writes a farewell letter to an old friend: "Who will you stay here for, kind, priceless, the only one! .."

The answer is full of despair: “I worked, and wrote papers, and walked, and walked, <...> all because you <...> here, on the contrary, lived nearby.” Who now needs his formed “syllable”, his letters, himself? “By what right” do they destroy “human life”?

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

White Nights. A Sentimental Novel (From the Memoirs of a Dreamer) (1848)

A young man of twenty-six years old is a petty official who has been living for eight years in St. Petersburg in the 1840s, in one of the tenement houses along the Catherine Canal, in a room with cobwebs and smoky walls. After the service, his favorite pastime is walking around the city. He notices passers-by and at home, some of them become his "friends". However, among the people he has almost no acquaintances. He is poor and lonely. With sadness, he watches how the inhabitants of St. Petersburg are going to the dacha. He has nowhere to go. Leaving the city, he enjoys the northern spring nature, which looks like a "stunted and sick" girl, for a moment becoming "wonderfully beautiful."

Returning home at ten o'clock in the evening, the hero sees a female figure by the grate of the canal and hears sobbing. Sympathy prompts him to get acquainted, but the girl timidly runs away. A drunk tries to stick to her, and only the "knot stick", which ended up in the hero's hand, saves the pretty stranger. They talk to each other. The young man admits that before he knew only "hostesses", he never spoke with "women" and therefore he is very timid. This calms the companion. She listens to the story about the "romances" that the guide created in dreams, about falling in love with ideal fictional images, about the hope of someday meeting in reality with a girl worthy of love. But here she is almost at home and wants to say goodbye. The dreamer begs for a new meeting. The girl "needs to be here for herself", and she does not mind the presence of a new acquaintance tomorrow at the same hour in the same place. Her condition is "friendship", "but you can't fall in love." Like the Dreamer, she needs someone to confide in, someone to ask for advice.

The second time they meet, they decide to listen to each other's "stories." The hero begins. It turns out that he is a “type”: in the “strange corners of St. Petersburg” live “neuter creatures” like him - “dreamers” - whose “life is a mixture of something purely fantastic, ardently ideal and at the same time <...> dimly prosaic and ordinary." They are afraid of the company of living people, as they spend long hours among “magical ghosts”, in “ecstatic dreams”, in imaginary “adventures”. “You speak as if you are reading a book,” Nastenka guesses the source of the plots and images of her interlocutor: the works of Hoffmann, Merimee, W. Scott, Pushkin. After intoxicating, “voluptuous” dreams, it is painful to wake up in “loneliness,” in one’s “musty, unnecessary life.” The girl feels sorry for her friend, and he himself understands that “such a life is a crime and a sin.” After the “fantastic nights” he already “has moments of sobering up that are terrible.” “Dreams survive,” the soul wants “real life.” Nastenka promises the Dreamer that now they will be together. And here is her confession. She is an orphan. Lives with an old blind grandmother in a small house of her own. She studied with a teacher until she was fifteen, and for the last two years she has been sitting, “pinned” with a pin to her grandmother’s dress, who otherwise cannot keep track of her. A year ago they had a lodger, a young man of “pleasant appearance.” He gave his young mistress books by V. Scott, Pushkin and other authors. He invited them and their grandmother to the theater. The opera “The Barber of Seville” was especially memorable. When he announced that he was leaving, the poor recluse decided on a desperate act: she gathered her things in a bundle, came to the tenant’s room, sat down and “cryed loudly.” Fortunately, he understood everything, and most importantly, he managed to fall in love with Nastenka. But he was poor and without a “decent place,” and therefore could not get married right away. They agreed that exactly a year later, having returned from Moscow, where he hoped to “arrange his affairs,” the young man would wait for his bride on a bench near the canal at ten o’clock in the evening. A year has passed. He has been in St. Petersburg for three days already. He is not at the appointed place... Now the hero understands the reason for the girl’s tears on the evening of their acquaintance. Trying to help, he volunteers to deliver her letter to the groom, which he does the next day.

Because of the rain, the third meeting of the heroes occurs only through the night. Nastenka is afraid that the groom will not come again, and cannot hide her excitement from her friend. She dreams feverishly about the future. The hero is sad because he himself loves the girl. And yet the Dreamer has enough selflessness to console and reassure the despondent Nastenka. Touched, the girl compares the groom with a new friend: “Why is he not you?.. He is worse than you, even though I love him more than you.” And he continues to dream: “Why aren’t we all like brothers and brothers? Why does the best person always seem to be hiding something from another and keeping silent from him? <...> everyone looks like that, as if he is harsher than he really is..." Gratefully accepting the Dreamer's sacrifice, Nastenka also shows concern for him: "you are getting better," "you <...> will fall in love..." "God grant you happiness with her!" In addition, now her friendship is with the hero forever.

And finally the fourth night. The girl finally felt abandoned “inhumanly” and “cruelly.” The dreamer again offers help: go to the offender and force him to “respect” Nastenka’s feelings. However, pride awakens in her: she no longer loves the deceiver and will try to forget him. The “barbaric” act of the tenant sets off the moral beauty of the friend sitting next to him: “You wouldn’t do that? You wouldn’t throw the one who would come to you on her own <...> into the eyes of shameless mockery of her weak, stupid heart?” The dreamer no longer has the right to hide the truth that the girl has already guessed: “I love you, Nastenka!” He doesn’t want to “torment” her with his “selfishness” in a bitter moment, but what if his love turns out to be necessary? And indeed, the answer is: “I don’t love him, because I can only love what is generous, what understands me, what is noble...” If the Dreamer waits until the previous feelings completely subside, then the girl’s gratitude and love will go to him alone. Young people joyfully dream of a future together. At the moment of their farewell, the groom suddenly appears. Screaming and trembling, Nastenka breaks free from the hero’s hands and rushes towards him. Already, it would seem, the hope for happiness, for genuine life, that is coming true leaves the Dreamer. He silently looks after the lovers.

The next morning, the hero receives a letter from the happy girl asking for forgiveness for the involuntary deception and with gratitude for his love, which “cured” her “broken heart.” One of these days she is getting married. But her feelings are contradictory: “Oh God! If only I could love you both at once!” And yet the Dreamer must remain “eternally a friend, brother...”. Again he is alone in a suddenly “old” room. But even fifteen years later, he fondly remembers his short-lived love: “may you be blessed for the minute of bliss and happiness that you gave to another, lonely, grateful heart! <...> A whole minute of bliss! But isn’t that enough even if for the whole human life?.."

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Netochka Nezvanova. Tale (1848 - 1849)

Eight-year-old Netochka lives in a closet in the attic of a large St. Petersburg house. Her mother earns food for the whole family by sewing and cooking. Stepfather, Yegor Efimov, is a strange man. He is a talented violinist, but he gave up music because his “villainous” wife allegedly ruined his talent. Only her death will “untie” him. Rude and unceremonious, he shamelessly lives at the expense of the woman he has disgraced, who, in spite of everything, continues to love him. She has been dangerously ill for a long time.

In his youth, Efimov was a free clarinetist for a wealthy and kind landowner, from whose orchestra he left after the sudden death of his friend, an Italian violinist. He was a "bad man", but with the features of the supernatural. “The devil imposed himself on me,” Efimov later recalled about him. The Italian bequeathed his violin to him and taught him how to play it. Since then, Efimov has been possessed by a proud consciousness of his genius, exclusivity, permissiveness. Not feeling any gratitude to the people who helped him (the landowner and the count), he drank away the money given to him for a trip to St. Petersburg, where he could develop his talent. Only after seven years of random wanderings through the provinces did he finally find himself in the capital.

Here the already 30-year-old violinist became friends with a young colleague, the Russian German B., with whom he shared shelter and food. In friend B., who had lost his technical skills, he was struck by his “deep, <...> instinctive understanding of art,” but was depressing by his self-confidence and “continuous dream of his own genius.” B. worked hard and, despite his relatively modest talent, eventually achieved success and became a famous musician. The talented Efimov, having “neither patience nor courage,” gradually became an alcoholic and behaved more and more dishonestly. The friends parted, but B. forever retained sympathy and compassion for the comrade of his youth. Soon Efimov married the mother of then two-year-old Netochka, a dreamer who believed in his talent and was ready to sacrifice everything for her husband. Once B. helped an old friend get a job in a theater orchestra. He did not give a penny of his salary to his wife and “daughter,” drinking himself and drinking with his friends. He was soon fired due to his bad, arrogant character.

Not understanding the true relationship between mother and stepfather, Netochka becomes passionately attached to her "father". He is just as "driven" by a strict mother, as she herself is. The girl is inspired by dreams inspired by Efimov's speeches: after the death of her mother, they, together with their "father", will leave the miserable attic and go to a new, happy life - to the "house with red curtains", a rich mansion visible from their window.

When the famous violinist S-ts arrives on tour in St. Petersburg, it becomes a matter of life for Efimov to get to his concert. He must prove to himself that S-ts is nothing before him, not recognized because of "evil" people, but a great genius. Where can I get money for a ticket? Taking advantage of Netochka's blind love for himself, her stepfather forces her to deceive her sick mother, who sent her daughter to go shopping with her last rubles. Having given the money to the "father", the girl must say that she lost it. Having figured out her husband's plan, the mother falls into despair. Suddenly B. brings a ticket to S-tsa's concert. Yefimov leaves. The shocked woman dies that same evening. At night, the beggar musician returns, killed by the consciousness of his insignificance before the art of S-ts, Netochka in excitement rushes to the distraught "father" and drags him away from the house, towards her childhood dream, although her heart aches for the abandoned dead mother. On the street, Efimov runs away from his "daughter", who, screaming, tries to catch up with the madman, but falls unconscious. He himself soon ends up in the hospital, where he dies.

Now Netochka lives in the same "house with red curtains" that belongs to Prince X, a clever, kind and compassionate "eccentric". She was sick for a long time after the experience, but then a new feeling took possession of her heart. This is love for the lovely and proud coeval Katya, the daughter of the prince. Frisky Katya at first disliked the sad and sickly "orphan", jealous of her father for her. However, she inspired respect for herself, with dignity reflecting the princess's mockery of her parents. Netochka's ability to learn also stung the conceited minx, whose coldness deeply hurts the girl. One day, Katya decides to play a trick on the prince's wicked and absurd aunt: she lets the bulldog Falstaff into her rooms, who inspires horror in the old princess. Netochka takes the blame on Katya and serves her sentence, locked in a dark room until four in the morning because she has been forgotten. Agitated by the injustice, Katya raises a fuss, and the girl is released. Now there is an open mutual love between them: they cry and laugh, kiss each other, keep secret until the morning. It turns out that Katya also loves her friend for a long time, but she wanted to "torment" her by waiting. Noticing the unnatural excitement of the princess, the adults separate the girls. Soon Katya and her parents leave for Moscow for a long time.

Netochka moves into the house of 22-year-old Alexandra Mikhailovna, Katya's married sister. The "quiet, gentle, loving" woman is glad to replace the "orphan" mother and devotes a lot of energy to her upbringing. The happiness of the girl is overshadowed only by an unaccountable antipathy for Pyotr Alexandrovich, the husband of Alexandra Mikhailovna. She feels some kind of mystery in their unnatural relationship: the husband is always gloomy and "ambiguously compassionate", and the wife is timid, passionately impressionable and as if to blame for something. She is thin and pale, her health gradually deteriorating due to constant mental pain.

Netochka is already thirteen. She is able to guess a lot, but the awakened passion for reading distracts her from reality. By chance, the girl finds access to the home library, where novels forbidden to her are kept. Now she lives in "fantasies", "magical pictures" that take her far away from the "dreary monotony" of life. For three years, she hides even from her older friend. There has been no trust between them for a long time, although mutual love is just as strong. When Netochka turns sixteen, Alexandra Mikhailovna notices her "wonderful voice": since then, the girl has been studying singing at the conservatory.

Once in the library, Netochka finds an old letter forgotten in a book. A certain S. O. writes to Alexandra Mikhailovna. The girl learns a secret that has tormented her for eight years: already married, Alexandra Mikhailovna fell in love with an "unequal", a petty official. After a short and completely "sinless" happiness, "gossip", "malice and laughter" began - society turned away from the "criminal". Her husband, however, protected her, but ordered S.O. to leave immediately. The faint-hearted lover forever said goodbye to the "forgotten" "sad beauty".

The shocked Netochka reveals the meaning of Alexandra Mikhailovna's "long, hopeless suffering", her "sacrifice, offered humbly, resignedly and in vain." After all, Pyotr Alexandrovich "despises her and laughs at her": before entering his wife's office, he usually "remakes" his face in front of a mirror. From a humming and laughing person, he turns into a dejected, hunched, heartbroken person. Seeing this, Netochka laughs caustically in the face of "the criminal who forgives the sins of the righteous."

Soon Pyotr Aleksandrovich, whom his wife suspects of his love for Netochka hidden behind his unreasonable pickiness, tracks down the girl in the library and sees the treasured letter. Wanting to justify himself, he accuses Netochka of immoral correspondence with lovers. During a stormy scene in Alexandra Mikhailovna’s office, the husband threatens to kick the pupil out of the house. Netochka does not refute the slander, fearing to “kill” her friend with the truth. She protects the girl. The pretender, in anger, reminds his wife of a past “sin,” which makes her faint. Netochka denounces his moral tyranny over his wife in order “to prove” that he is “more sinless than her”! Before leaving their house forever, she must also talk with Pyotr Alexandrovich’s assistant Ovrov, who unexpectedly stops her.

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Uncle's dream. From the Mordasov chronicles. Tale (1856 - 1859)

Marya Aleksandrovna Moskaleva, thanks to her unsurpassed ability to splurge, to “kill” her opponent with a well-aimed word and clever gossip, was recognized as the “first lady” of the provincial city of Mordasov. While hating and fearing, all, however, recognize its influence. Her husband Afanasy Matveyevich, simple-minded and extremely intimidated by his wife, once lost his place "due to incapacity and dementia" and lives alone in a "suburban village", steaming in a bathhouse and drinking tea. The Moskalevs have only one hundred and twenty souls of the estate; Marya Alexandrovna, on the other hand, dreams of a brilliant life in "high society", the only way to which is the profitable marriage of her twenty-three-year-old beautiful daughter Zina. Therefore, two years ago, she sharply opposed the girl's love for the modest teacher of her soon-dead little brother. A handsome and educated young man was just the son of a deacon, he received a penny salary at the county school, but considered himself a great poet with a great future. Zina, despite her mother's refusal to marry, continued to see and correspond with Vasya. After some quarrel, the proud young man, in a fit of revenge, handed over one of her love letters to the city gossips, which threatened with scandal. Saving her daughter's reputation, Marya Alexandrovna paid two hundred rubles to her hanger-on Nastasya Petrovna for stealing a letter from ill-wishers. Zina's "honor" was saved. The repentant Vasya in despair drank a mixture of tobacco and wine, which caused consumption in himself. Now he is dying. The offended Zina all this time, however, is "tormented" and helps the patient's mother with money.

Not seeing a better match, the elder Moskaleva is not averse to marrying her "overripe" daughter to twenty-five-year-old Pavel Aleksandrovich Mozglyakov. He has only one hundred and fifty souls and "a bit empty in his head", but "not bad manners", excellent costumes and "great hopes" for a place in St. Petersburg. Mozgliakov is "madly in love" and has already made an offer. Zina, indifferent to him, does not answer with a final refusal, but asks for two weeks to think. The impatient young man, however, takes the opportunity to appear at the Moskalevs earlier. Hoping to please Marya Alexandrovna, who is claiming a role in the world, he brings to her house the rich and noble Prince K., whom he had just "rescued" from a snowdrift during a road accident.

Seven years ago, K. spent six months in Mordasov’s “society,” winning over the ladies with his high-society courtesy and squandering the remnants of his fortune. Already without a penny, the prince suddenly received news of a new rich inheritance - the Dukhanovo estate near Mordasov with four thousand souls - and left for St. Petersburg to formalize it. Upon his quick return, without visiting the city, he settled permanently in Dukhanovo under the supervision of a certain Stepanida Matveevna, who manages the estate and does not allow relatives to visit the old man, including Mozglyakov, who is very distantly related to the prince, but calls him uncle. They say that other heirs wanted to take the feeble-minded prince under their guardianship and even place him in a madhouse. And now, thanks to a “happy” chance, six years later he is back with his “friends” in Mordasov.

This “God knows what kind of old man” is so “worn out” that “he is all made up of <...> pieces”: with a glass eye, false teeth, false hair, in a corset, with a prosthesis instead of one leg, with springs for straightening wrinkles, etc. Most of the day he sits at his toilet, dressed like a fashionable young man and reduces all conversations to love affairs. Already powerless, he maintains voluptuous habits, making compliments, admiring “forms,” “greedily lorning” “tempting” females. Always narrow-minded, in recent years he has completely lost his mind: he confuses people and circumstances, does not recognize acquaintances, and speaks nonsense. And yet Marya Alexandrovna is proud of his “aristocratic” society, which elevates her above other contenders for championship in the city. She flatters and feigns sympathy for the simple-minded and gentle old man.

As a joke, Mozglyakov invites Nastasya Petrovna to marry a “half-dead man” in order to soon become a rich widow. But don't mind. However, the “idea” “caught fire... in the head” of the hostess herself. When Mozglyakov takes “uncle” away on visits, with an indispensable promise to return for dinner, Marya Alexandrovna begins a conversation with her daughter.

Zina, a girl of “stubborn romanticism” and “severe nobility”, at first flatly refuses “baseness”: “to marry <...> a cripple in order to get his money out of him and then <...> every hour to wish for his death. .!" But the mother uses all her “brilliant” eloquence, the extraordinary art of seduction, now drawing poetic pictures of a trip to Spain, now feats of Christian charity towards a helpless old man, now the opportunity to use the prince’s money to cure her beloved Vasya and, having become a widow, to marry him . Zina, although with contempt, agrees. But the mother must take upon herself the “dirt” and “stench”. Now the main thing is the secret, so that the machinations of jealous ladies do not ruin the plan. Meanwhile, Nastasya Petrovna, who overheard them, offended by unflattering reviews about herself, decides to take revenge.

Soon Moskaleva learns about the "interception" of the prince by her rivals, who almost guessed her intentions. She rushes to the carriage and almost by force brings the old man back to her. After dinner, Mozglyakov very opportunely goes to tea with his godfather. But Nastasya Petrovna secretly keeps him on the threshold and leads him to eavesdrop on the "comedy" of seduction.

There are three people in the "salon": the old man, Zina and mother. She makes her daughter sing a romance twice, which awakens passionate memories in the prince. Skillfully guided by the hostess, tipsy and emotional bon vivant proposes to Zina. Satisfied Marya Alexandrovna takes the "limp" guest upstairs to "lie down".

Shocked by the "treachery" of the Moskalev Mozgliakov, he runs in to Zina and makes a scene for her. The girl arrogantly upsets the ex-fiance. He is ready to take revenge, but Marya Alexandrovna, who arrives in time, "pacifies" him by means of the most sophisticated demagogy. Mozgliakov leaves, confident in Zina's love and future brilliant life with her after the death of the prince.

Moskaleva decides to immediately take the old man to the village, where she will marry Zina. She flies for her husband, who is now needed for "representation" before the prince. Afanasy Matveyevich receives strict instructions to remain silent and smile "sarcastically" in response to any questions. Upon returning to the city, Marya Alexandrovna finds uninvited guests in her "salon" - about a dozen ladies exuding envy, anger and ridicule under feigned courtesy. Their goal is to thwart the plans of the hostess.

Meanwhile, Mozglyakov, having understood Marya Alexandrovna's "Jesuitism" on reflection, returns to the Moskalevs, quietly rises to the "uncle" who has just woken up and convinces the madman that Zina's proposal is just his "charming" dream.

In the "salon" Marya Alexandrovna decides to disarm the "enemies" with a bold "trick": she publicly announces the proposal of Prince Zina. However, supported by the "nephew", the old man stubbornly denies that it was "in reality", and not in a dream. The disgraced hostess, forgetting about decency, rudely scolds Mozglyakov, who "shat" him. Everyone laughs wickedly. Zina, for her part, pours contempt on the guests and, frankly talking about the intrigue, asks for forgiveness from the prince. Enchanted by her again, Mozglyakov repents of his "uncle's" deceit. Meanwhile, an ugly squabble between the ladies flares up, in which the prince also gets hard. Terrified, he leaves for a hotel, where he dies on the third day.

Zina, summoned by Vasya's mother, spends these days with the dying teacher. Her reputation has been completely ruined. However, Mozgliakov "renews" his proposal. Having received a refusal, he leaves for St. Petersburg. Having sold their property, they leave Mordasov and Moskalev. A year later, Zina marries an elderly general, the governor of a "remote region", where she becomes the first lady. Marya Alexandrovna, together with her daughter, shines in "high society". Both of them barely recognize Mozglyakov, who accidentally drove into their places.

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants. From the notes of an unknown person. Tale (1857 - 1859)

Former hussar, forty-year-old retired colonel Yegor Ilyich Rostanev is the owner of the rich and comfortable estate of Stepanchikov, where he lives with his mother, the widow of General Krakhotkin, his unmarried sister, his daughter Sashenka, fifteen years old, and his son Ilyusha, eight years old. Rostanev's wife died several years ago. The house is filled with hangers-on, among whom stands out Foma Fomich Opiskin, who had previously been a jester “for a piece of <...> bread” from Krakhotkin, but who managed to completely subordinate the general’s wife and her retinue of “overripe” girls to his influence thanks to his reading of “soul-saving books.” ", interpretation of "Christian virtues", dreams, "masterful" condemnation of neighbors, as well as unbridled self-praise. “The personification of the most boundless pride,” “festering” due to previous humiliations and “squeezing out envy and poison from himself at every meeting, at every other person’s success,” the nonentity Opiskin finds in Rostanev’s house ideal conditions for the manifestation of his nature. The kindest, conscientious, compliant, prone to self-accusation owner Stepanchikov, by his nature, is not capable of asserting his own dignity, independence and interests. His main aspiration is peace and “universal happiness” in the house; the satisfaction of others is a deep spiritual need, for which he is ready to sacrifice almost everything. Convinced of the goodness and nobility of human nature, he endlessly justifies even the most evil, selfish actions of people, and does not want to believe in evil plans and motives. As a result, the colonel finds himself a victim of the moral tyranny of his hanger-on and his tyrant mother, who treat him like a guilty child. “A low soul, coming out from under oppression, oppresses itself.” Rostanev considers both impudent people to be people of “highest qualities” and sublime nobility.

Now Foma and the general's wife want to force the colonel into marriage with a middle-aged but very rich girl Tatyana Ivanovna, invited for this purpose to stay in Stepanchikovo. This kind, ingenuous creature is just a toy in the hands of intriguers. Unexpectedly lifted up by a rich inheritance from a humiliating life, she was "moved" by her mind. "Mania for amorous affairs" makes her behavior funny and strange; any rogue with the help of cheap "romantic" effects can lure, rob and abandon her. Pitying Tatyana Ivanovna, Rostanev, however, opposes the plans to enrich his family, as he is in love with the young governess of his children, Nastasya Evgrafovna Ezhevikina. A girl from a poor family, she was brought up and educated at the expense of the colonel, who had previously loved her like a daughter. Nastya herself is cordially attached to the father of Sashenka and Ilyusha. But both do not admit to themselves and each other in their love: Rostanev - because of the difference in age, Nastya - because of the difference in social status. Nevertheless, for half a year now, their mutual sympathy has not been a secret for spies who sensed a threat to their dominance. In fact, Nastya, unlike her older friend, openly resents Opiskin's tyranny and antics and clearly will not tolerate this, becoming Stepanchikov's mistress. The impudent ones demand the shameful expulsion of the girl from the house, hiding behind shameless demagogy about the "phenomenal voluptuousness" of the actually delicate and chaste Rostanev and concern for the morality of Nastya, who allegedly has a bad influence on children. Ready for endless concessions, the colonel shows some firmness in this matter: he decides to marry Nastenka to his twenty-two-year-old nephew Sergei Alexandrovich, who recently graduated from the university, and summons him with a letter from St. Petersburg. The young man also studied at the expense of a loving uncle, who now dreams of a happy life together in village with both of his pupils.

A Petersburger who arrived in Stepanchikovo in the early July morning finds a real "madhouse" here. The rich man's owner trembles before the poor hanger-on, fearing to "offend" him with his superiority. He secretly meets with his own serfs, who heard about the intention to "give" them to the despot Opiskin. In desperation, they beg the master not to let them "offend". He agrees, wondering why Thomas, forcing the peasants to learn French and astronomy, is "not so nice" to them. Sergei Alexandrovich, like his uncle, at first suspects in Opiskin "an extraordinary nature", but "embittered" by circumstances, and dreams of "reconciling him with a man" with respect and kindness. After changing his clothes, he goes to the tea room, where the whole society has gathered: the general's wife with her daughter and hangers-on, the poor young man Obnoskin with his mother, the poor relative Mizinchikov, Tatyana Ivanovna, Nastya and children. There is no Thomas, because; he is "angry" at Rostanev for his intransigence on the issue of marriage. "Angry" and other households, accusing the colonel aloud of "gloomy selfishness", "murder of mother" and other nonsense. The good-natured man is seriously worried and awkwardly justifies himself. Sasha alone speaks the truth about Opiskin: "he is stupid, capricious, dirty, ungrateful, hard-hearted, tyrant, gossip, liar", "will eat us all." Claiming for an extraordinary mind, talent and knowledge, Opiskin is also jealous of the "learned" nephew of Rostanev, as a result of which the poor visitor is subjected to an extremely ungracious reception from the general's wife.

Finally, Foma enters: he is a “small little man” “about fifty years old,” with sanctimonious manners and “impudent self-confidence” on his face. Everyone fawns over him. He begins to mock the yard boy Falalei, who fell out of favor with him because of his beauty and the general’s affection for him. Desperate to learn Falaley in French, Thomas decides to “ennoble” his dreams. Falaley, who cannot lie, constantly dreams of a “rude, peasant” dream “about a white bull,” in which Foma sees the “corrupting” influence of Rostanev. The day before, Opiskin managed to catch his victim in another “crime” - performing an “indecent” dance about a Komarin man. The torturer tramples with pleasure the “live beefsteak” on the grounds that he knows “Rus” and “Rus” “knows” him. The colonel who tries to interfere in the “scientific” conversation is rudely interrupted and publicly reprimanded: “Do your housework, drink tea, but <...> leave literature alone.” Foma himself imagines himself as a writer on the eve of all-Russian “fame.” Next, he swaggers over the valet Gavrila, forcing him to answer in French in front of everyone. This is funny, and the poor “crow” can’t stand it: “I’ve never seen such shame as now in my entire life!” Outraged by the “rebellion,” Thomas runs away, squealing. Everyone goes to console him.

In the garden, Sergei Alexandrovich meets with his intended bride, receives a refusal and learns of her intention to leave Stepanchikovo on the same day. Sounds of scandal are heard from the windows. The colonel does not want to give in to Nastya and decides to part with Opiskin "in a noble way, without any humiliation" for the latter. During a private conversation in a tearoom, he generously offers Foma fifteen thousand and promises to buy him a house in the city. Opiskin, on the other hand, scatters money, pretending to be incorruptible virtue. The colonel, it turns out, reproaches him with a piece of bread and conceits his wealth. Poor Rostanev repents, begs for forgiveness. It is possible only on condition that he humbles his "pride" and calls the accustomer "your excellency", that is, recognizes him worthy of the "general rank". The unfortunate good man goes to this humiliation. The briefly pacified Foma "forgives" him and Gavrila.

Late in the evening, Mizinchikov comes to Sergei Alexandrovich's wing in the vain hope of finding a paid assistant in the young man. His "idea" is to take Tatyana Ivanovna away, marry her and take over her money. By the way, this will save Rostanev from an unwanted marriage. Mizinchikov promises to treat the sick woman humanely, giving her a decent life and peace of mind. True, he is afraid that Obnoskin, to whom he inadvertently revealed himself, will get ahead of him.

After Mizinchikov leaves, his uncle appears with his lackey Vidoplyasov. This is Opiskin’s “secretary,” a fool confused by him, who understands “nobility of soul” as pretentiousness and contempt for everything popular and natural. Suffering ridicule from the servants for his arrogance, he begs to change his “discordant” surname to Oleandrova, Ulanov, Essbuketov, etc. He calls his poems “Vidoplyasov’s cries.” Rostanev informs his nephew that he has “settled everything”: Nastya is staying, since Sergei Alexandrovich has been declared her fiancé, and the uncle himself proposes to Tatyana Ivanovna tomorrow. Having learned about Nastenka's impending departure, the colonel rushes to stop her.

The nephew follows him through the night garden and sees Tatyana Ivanovna in the arbor with Obnoskin, who has clearly stolen Mizinchikov's "idea". Soon he also meets an alarmed uncle: Foma had just caught him in the moment of a kiss with Nastenka, who confessed her love to him. Intending to propose to his girlfriend tomorrow, the colonel is nevertheless afraid of Opiskin's condemnation and the "ringing" that he can raise. At night, he writes to "brother and friend", begging not to disclose about the meeting in the garden and to facilitate the general's consent to his marriage with Nastya.

At dawn, Tatyana Ivanovna's escape with Obnoskin is discovered. Rostanev gives chase and snatches the insane woman from the hands of the swindler. She is back in Stepanchikovo.

In the afternoon, a general meeting takes place in the rooms of Foma Fomich on the occasion of Ilyusha's name day. In the midst of the holiday, Opiskin, confident that he will not be released anywhere, plays the comedy of "expulsion" from the estate in a "simple, peasant cart", with a "bundle". "Finally" he tears Yegor Ilyich's letter and notifies those present that he saw him at night with Nastya "in the garden, under the bushes." The enraged colonel throws out the boor, who clearly did not expect such an outcome. Gavrila takes him away in a cart. Rostanev asks his mother for blessings for marriage, but she does not listen to her son and only begs to return Foma Fomich. The colonel agrees on the condition that he publicly apologizes to Nastya. Meanwhile, the cowardly and subdued Opiskin returns himself - Rostanev finds him "already in the village."

The cunning man performs a new "trick": it turns out that he is Nastya's well-wisher, the defender of her "innocence", which was threatened by the "unbridled passions" of the colonel. The simple-hearted Rostanev feels guilty, and Foma, unexpectedly for everyone, joins the hands of the lovers. The Generalsha blesses them. Those present in delight thank Opiskin for arranging "universal happiness." Former "rebels" ask him for forgiveness.

After the wedding, Thomas reigned even more firmly in the house: “he soured, sulked, broke, got angry, scolded, but the reverence for him by the “happy” did not <...> decrease.” The general's wife died three years later, Opiskin died after seven. The writings found after his death turned out to be “extraordinary rubbish.” Rostanev and Nastya had no children.

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Humiliated and insulted. Novel (1861)

Ivan Petrovich, a twenty-four-year-old aspiring writer, in search of a new apartment, meets a strange old man with a dog on a St. Petersburg street. Impossibly thin, in rags, he has a habit of sitting for hours in Miller's confectionery near Voznesensky Prospekt, warming himself by the stove and staring with a deathly unseeing gaze at one of the visitors. On this March evening, one of them is indignant at the "impoliteness" of the poor man. He leaves in fear and dies nearby on the sidewalk. Having come home to a stranger, Ivan Petrovich learns his name - Smith - and decides to settle in his deserted dwelling under the very roof of an apartment building,

An orphan since childhood, Ivan Petrovich grew up in the family of Nikolai Sergeevich Ikhmenev, a small estate nobleman of an old family, managing the rich estate of Prince Peter Alexandrovich Valkovsky. Friendship and love connected him with the daughter of the Ikhmenevs, Natasha, who was three years younger than him. As a young man, the hero went to St. Petersburg, to the university, and saw "his" only five years later, when they moved to the capital because of a quarrel with Valkovsky. The latter showed friendship and trust to his manager for many years, even to the extent that he sent him his then nineteen-year-old son Alyosha to "educate". Believing the rumors about the desire of the Ikhmenevs to marry the young prince to his daughter, Valkovsky in retaliation accused the kind, honest and naive old man of theft and started a lawsuit.

Ivan Petrovich is almost a daily guest at the Ikhmenevs, where he is again accepted as a native. It is here that he reads his first novel, just published and extremely successful. The love between him and Natasha grows stronger, we are already talking about the wedding, with which, however, they decide to wait one year until the literary position of the groom is strengthened.

A "wonderful" time passes when Alyosha begins to visit the Ikhmenevs. Valkovsky, who has his own plans for the future of his son, repeats the accusation of pandering and forbids the latter to see Natasha. The offended Ikhmenev, however, does not suspect the love of his daughter and the young prince until she leaves her parental home for her lover.

The lovers rent an apartment and want to get married soon. Their relationship is complicated by the unusual nature of Alyosha. This handsome, graceful secular youth is a real child in terms of naivety, disinterestedness, innocence, sincerity, but also selfishness, frivolity, irresponsibility, spinelessness. Loving Natasha immensely, he does not try to provide for her financially, often leaves her alone, delays the painful state of her mistress. Carried away, weak-willed Alyosha succumbs to the influence of his father, who wants to marry him to a rich woman. To do this, it is necessary to separate the son from Natasha, and the prince refuses the young man financial support. This is a serious test for the young couple. But Natasha is ready to live modestly and work. In addition, the bride found by the prince for Alyosha - Katya - is a beautiful girl, pure and naive, like her alleged fiance. It is impossible not to be carried away by it, and a new love, according to the calculation of a smart and insightful prince, will soon force out the old one from the unstable heart of his son. And Katya herself already loves Alyosha, not knowing that he is not free.

From the very beginning, Natasha is clear about her lover: “if I am not with him always, constantly, every moment, he will stop loving me, forget me and leave me.” She loves “like crazy”, “it’s not good”, she “even the torment from him is happiness.” A stronger nature, she strives to dominate and “torture until it hurts” - “and that’s why <...> she hastened to give herself up <...> as a sacrifice first.” Natasha continues to love Ivan Petrovich - as a sincere and reliable friend, a support, a “heart of gold” that selflessly bestows her with care and warmth. "The three of us will live together."

Smith's former apartment is visited by his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Nellie. Struck by her isolation, savagery and beggarly appearance, Ivan Petrovich finds out the conditions of her life: Nelly's mother recently died of consumption, and the girl fell into the hands of a cruel bawd. Thinking about ways to save Nelly, the hero runs into an old school friend Masloboev, a private detective, on the street, with the help of which he pulls the girl out of a depraved brothel and settles her in his apartment. Nelly is seriously ill, and most importantly, misfortunes and human malice have made her distrustful and painfully proud. She takes care of herself suspiciously, slowly thaws, but finally becomes passionately attached to her savior. He is even jealous of Natasha, whose fate is so busy with her older friend.

It's been six months since the last one left her inconsolable parents. The father suffers silently and proudly, at night shedding tears over the portrait of his daughter, and during the day condemning and almost cursing her. Mother relieves her soul in conversations about her with Ivan Petrovich, who reports all the news. They are disappointing. Alyosha is getting closer and closer to Katya, not showing up to Natasha for several days. She thinks about the break: "He cannot marry me; he is not able to go against his father." It's hard, "when he himself, the first one, forgets" her near the other - so Natasha wants to get ahead of the "traitor". However, Alyosha announces to Katya that their marriage is impossible because of his love for Natasha and obligations to her. The generosity of the "bride", who approved of his "nobility" and showed concern for the position of a "happy" rival, delights Alyosha. Prince Valkovsky, concerned about the "firmness" of his son, takes a new "move". Having come to Natasha and Alyosha, he gives feigned consent to their marriage, hoping that the young man's calm conscience will no longer be an obstacle to his growing love for Katya. Alyosha is "delighted" by his father's act; Ivan Petrovich, on the basis of a number of signs, notices that the prince is indifferent to the happiness of his son. Natasha is also quick to figure out Valkovsky's "game", whose plan, however, succeeds quite well. During a stormy conversation, she exposes him in front of Alyosha. The pretender decides to act differently: he asks himself to be friends with Ivan Petrovich.

The latter is surprised to learn that the prince uses the services of Masloboev in a certain case related to Nelly and her dead mother. With bluff and hints, a classmate dedicates the hero to his essence: many years ago, Valkovsky "climbed" into an enterprise with an English breeder Smith. Wishing to take possession of his money "for free", he seduced and took abroad an idealist passionately in love with him, Smith's daughter, who gave it to him. The bankrupt old man cursed his daughter. Soon the swindler left the girl, with whom, apparently, he was nevertheless forced to marry, with little Nellie in her arms, without a livelihood. After long wanderings, the terminally ill mother returned with Nelly to Petersburg in the hope that the girl's father would take part in her fate. In desperation, she more than once tried to write to her scoundrel husband, overcoming pride and contempt. Valkovsky himself, cherishing plans for a new profitable marriage, was afraid of documents on legal marriage, possibly kept by Nelly's mother. To search for them, Masloboev was hired.

Valkovsky is taking the hero to Katya's for the evening, where Alyosha is also present. Natasha's friend can be convinced of the futility of her hopes for Alyosha's love: Natasha's "groom" cannot tear himself away from Katya's society. Then Ivan Petrovich and the prince go to dinner at a restaurant. During the conversation, Valkovsky drops his mask: he arrogantly treats Ikhmenev's gullibility and nobility, cynically talks about Natasha's feminine virtues, reveals his mercenary plans for Alyosha and Katya, laughs at Ivan Petrovich's feelings for Natasha and offers him money for marrying her. This is a strong, but absolutely immoral person, whose credo is "love yourself" and use others to your advantage. The prince is especially amused by playing on the lofty feelings of his victims. He himself values ​​only money and gross pleasures. He wants the hero to prepare Natasha for a close separation from Alyosha (he must leave for the village with Katya) without "scenes, pastorals and Schillerism." His goal is to remain in the eyes of his son a loving and noble father "for the most convenient mastery of Katya's money later."

Far from his father's plans, Alyosha is torn between two girls, no longer knowing which one he loves more. However, Katya, by his nature, is more "pair" to him. Before leaving, the rivals meet and decide the fate of Alyosha in addition to his participation: Natasha painfully yields to Katya her lover, "without character" and childishly "close-minded" in mind. In a strange way, “this is what” she “loved in him most of all,” and now Katya loves the same thing.

Valkovsky offers abandoned Natasha money for a relationship with a depraved old man, the count. Ivan Petrovich arrived in time and beats and rudely kicks out the offender. Natasha must return to her parents' house. But how to convince old Ikhmenev to forgive, although dearly beloved, but disgraced his daughter? In addition to other grievances, the prince has just won a lawsuit and is taking away all his small fortune from the unfortunate father.

For a long time, the Ikhmenevs decided to take an orphan girl to their place. The choice fell on Nelly. But she refused to live with "cruel" people like her grandfather Smith, who never forgave her mother during her lifetime. begging Nellie to tell Ikhmenev the story of her mother, Ivan Petrovich hopes to soften the old man's heart. His plan succeeds: the family is reunited, and Nelly soon becomes the "idol of the whole house" and responds to "universal love" for herself.

On warm June evenings, Ivan Petrovich, Masloboev and the doctor often gather in the hospitable house of the Ikhmenevs on Vasilyevsky Island. Soon parting: the old man got a place in Perm. Natasha is sad because of the experience. Marital happiness is overshadowed by Nellie's serious heart disease, from which the poor thing soon dies. Before her death, the legitimate daughter of Prince Valkovsky does not forgive, contrary to the gospel commandment, her traitor father, but, on the contrary, curses him. Natasha, dejected by the future parting with Ivan Petrovich, regrets that she ruined their possible joint happiness.

These notes were compiled by the hero a year after the events described. Now he is alone, in the hospital, and it seems that he will die soon.

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Notes from the Underground. Tale (1864)

The hero of the "underground", the author of the notes, is a collegiate assessor who recently retired after receiving a small inheritance. Now he is forty. He lives "in the corner" - a "cheesy, nasty" room on the edge of St. Petersburg. In the "underground" he is also psychologically: almost always alone, indulges in unrestrained "dreaming", the motives and images of which are taken from "books". In addition, the nameless hero, showing an extraordinary mind and courage, explores his own consciousness, his own soul. The purpose of his confession is "to test: is it possible even with oneself to be completely frank and not be afraid of the whole truth?"

He believes that he is a smart person from the 60s. XIX century doomed to be "spineless". Activity is the lot of stupid, limited people. But the latter is the “norm,” and increased consciousness is “a real, complete illness.” the mind is forced to rebel against the laws of nature discovered by modern science, the “stone wall” of which is “certainty” only for the “stupid” direct person. The hero of the “underground” does not agree to come to terms with the obvious and experiences a “sense of guilt” for the imperfect world order that causes him suffering. Science “lies” that a person can be reduced to reason, an insignificant fraction of the “ability to live,” and “calculated” according to a “tablet.” “Want” is the “manifestation of all life.” Contrary to the “scientific” conclusions of socialism about human nature and human good, he defends his right to “mix positive prudence <...> the most vulgar stupidity <...> solely in order to confirm to himself <...> that people are all still people, and not piano keys, on which <...> the laws of nature themselves play with their own hands...".

“In our negative age,” the “hero” yearns for an ideal that can satisfy his inner “broadness.” This is not pleasure, not a career, and not even the “crystal palace” of socialists, which robs a person of the most important “benefits” - his own “wants”. The hero protests against the identification of goodness and knowledge, against unconditional faith in the progress of science and civilization. The latter “does not soften anything in us,” but only develops “the versatility of sensations,” so that pleasure is found in humiliation, and in the “poison of unsatisfied desire,” and in the blood of others... After all, in human nature there is not only the need for order and prosperity , happiness, but also chaos, destruction, suffering. The “Crystal Palace,” in which there is no place for the latter, is untenable as an ideal, because it deprives a person of freedom of choice. And therefore it’s better - a modern “chicken coop”, “conscious inertia”, “underground”.

But longing for "reality" used to drive me out of the "corner". One of these attempts is described in detail by the author of the notes.

At twenty-four years old, he was still serving in the office and, being “terribly proud, suspicious and touchy,” he hated and despised, “and at the same time <...> he was afraid” of “normal” colleagues. He considered himself a “coward and a slave,” like any “developed and decent person.” He replaced communication with people with intensive reading, and at night he “debauched” in “dark places.”

Once in a tavern, while watching a game of billiards, he accidentally blocked the path of an officer. Tall and strong, he silently moved the “short and emaciated” hero to another place. The “underground” wanted to start a “proper”, “literary” quarrel, but “preferred <...> to angrily hide” for fear that he would not be taken seriously. For several years he dreamed of revenge, many times he tried not to be the first to turn away when they met on Nevsky. When, finally, they “tightly bumped shoulder to shoulder,” the officer did not pay attention to it, but the hero “was delighted”: he “maintained his dignity, did not yield a single step and publicly placed himself on an equal social footing with him.” “The need of the “underground” person to occasionally “rush into society” was satisfied by a few acquaintances: the chief of staff Setochkin and a former school friend Simonov. During a visit to the latter, the hero learns about a dinner being prepared in honor of one of his fellow students and “shares” with the others. The fear of possible insults and humiliation haunts the “underground” long before lunch: after all, “reality” does not obey the laws of literature, and real people are unlikely to fulfill the roles prescribed for them in the dreamer’s imagination, for example, to “love” him for his mental superiority. At lunch, he tries to offend and offend his comrades. In response, they stop noticing him. "Underground" goes to the other extreme - public self-abasement. The dinner companions leave for the brothel without inviting him with them. Now, for the sake of “literariness,” he is obliged to take revenge for the shame he suffered. For this purpose, he goes after everyone, but they have already gone to the prostitutes’ rooms. They offer him Lisa.

After “rude and shameless” “debauchery,” the hero starts a conversation with the girl. She is 20 years old, she is a bourgeois from Riga and recently arrived in St. Petersburg. Having guessed sensitivity in her, he decides to make up for what he suffered from his comrades: he paints picturesque pictures in front of Lisa of either the terrible future of a prostitute, or the family happiness inaccessible to her, entering “pathos to the point that <...> himself was preparing for a throat spasm.” And it achieves the “effect”: disgust for her base life brings the girl to sobs and convulsions. When leaving, the “savior” leaves his address to the “lost” woman. However, through the “literariness”, genuine pity for Lisa and shame for his “cunning” break through.

Three days later she comes. The “disgustingly embarrassed” hero cynically reveals to the girl the motives for his behavior, but unexpectedly encounters love and sympathy from her. He is also touched: “They don’t give me... I can’t be... kind!” But soon, ashamed of his “weakness,” he vindictively takes possession of Liza, and for complete “triumph,” he thrusts five rubles into her hand, like a prostitute. When leaving, she quietly leaves money.

"Underground" admits that he wrote his memoirs with shame, and yet he "only brought to the extreme in <...> life" what others "did not dare to bring to half." He was able to abandon the vulgar goals of the surrounding society, but also the “underground” - “moral corruption.” Deep relationships with people, “living life,” inspire fear in him.

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Player. From the notes of a young man. Novel (1866)

Aleksey Ivanovich, a 25-year-old home teacher, lives with the family of the elderly General Zagoryansky - his stepdaughter Polina and two young children - in a luxury hotel in the German resort of Rouletenburg. While still in Russia, the general pledged his estate to a certain Marquis de Grieux, and for half a year he has been impatiently waiting from Moscow for news of the death of his sick aunt, Antonida Vasilievna Tarasevicheva. Then Des Grieux will take possession of the property of the general, and the latter will receive a large inheritance and marry a young beautiful Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle Blanche, with whom she is in love with no memory. The French, in anticipation of big money, are constantly near the general, a narrow-minded and simple-minded person, moreover, subject to strong passions. They all treat Aleksey Ivanovich with condescension, almost like a servant, which greatly offends his vanity. The Russian teacher is friends only with the Englishman Astley, an aristocrat and a rich man, an extremely honest, noble and chaste person. Both of them are in love with Polina.

About two months ago this beautiful and proud girl wished to make Alexei Ivanovich her friend. A kind of “slave” and “tormentor” relationship was established between them. An educated nobleman, but without funds, Alexey Ivanovich is wounded by his dependent position - therefore, his love for Polina, arrogant and unceremonious with him, is often mixed with hatred. The young teacher is convinced that only money can earn him the respect of others, including his girlfriend: “Money is everything!” The only way to obtain them is to win at roulette. Polina also needs money, but for purposes that are still unclear to Alexei Ivanovich. She does not believe in the seriousness of the hero’s love, perhaps because his pride is too developed, sometimes reaching the point of wanting to kill the cruel mocker. Nevertheless, at the whim of his mistress, the teacher commits a ridiculous prank: he insults the Prussian baronial couple of the Wurmerhelms during a walk.

In the evening a scandal breaks out. The baron demanded that the general deprive the impudent “servant” of his position. He rudely scolds Alexei Ivanovich. For his part, the latter is outraged that the general took responsibility for his action: he himself is “a person legally competent.” Fighting for his human dignity even in the “lowly position” of a teacher, he behaves defiantly, and the matter really ends with his dismissal. However, for some reason the general was frightened by the former teacher’s intention to explain himself to the baron. He sends Des Grieux to Alexei Ivanovich, now with a request to abandon his idea. Seeing Alexei’s persistence, the Frenchman proceeds to threaten, and then passes on a note from Polina: “<...> stop and calm down <...> I need you <...>” The “slave” obeys, but is puzzled by the influence of Des Grieux to Polina.

Astley, who met on the "promenade", to whom the hero tells about what happened, explains the matter. It turns out that two years ago Mademoiselle Blanche already spent a season in Rouletenburg. Abandoned by her lovers, without money, she unsuccessfully tried her luck at roulette. Then she decided to charm the baron, for which, according to the complaint of the baroness to the police, she was expelled from the city. Now, aspiring to become a general, Blanche must avoid the attention of the Wurmerhelms. The continuation of the scandal is undesirable.

Returning to the hotel, Alexey Ivanovich is amazed to see on the porch a “grandmother” who has just arrived from Russia, whose death the general and the French are waiting in vain for. This is a 75-year-old “formidable and rich <...> landowner and Moscow lady,” in an armchair, with paralyzed legs, with commandingly rude manners. Her arrival is a “catastrophe for everyone”: direct and sincere, the old woman immediately denies the general money for his attitude towards himself. She judges the “story” of Alexei Ivanovich with the Prussian baron from the standpoint of Russian national dignity: “you don’t know how to support your fatherland.” She is concerned about the unenviable fate of Polina and the general’s children; For a patriarchal lady, a servant is also a “living person.” Although she disliked the French, she highly praised Astley.

Wanting to see the local sights, the grandmother tells Alexei Ivanovich to take himself to the roulette table, where he begins to bet "in a frenzy" and wins a significant amount.

The general and the French are afraid that the grandmother will lose their future inheritance: they beg Alexei Ivanovich to distract the old woman from the game. However, on the same evening she was again in the "voxal". This time, the eccentric Muscovite "professionalized" all the cash and part of the securities. Repenting of frivolity, she intends to build a church in the "Moscow region" and orders to immediately gather in Russia. But twenty minutes before the departure of the train, he changes his plans: "I don't want to be alive, I'll win back!" Alexei Ivanovich refuses to accompany her to the roulette table. During the evening and the next day, the grandmother loses almost all of her fortune.

Des Grieux leaves town; Blanche "throws" the general away from her, ceasing even to recognize him at a meeting. From desperation, he almost loses his mind.

Finally, the old woman leaves for Russia with the money borrowed from Astley. She still has real estate, and she invites Polina and her children to come to Moscow. Convinced of the power of passions, he speaks more softly about the general: “And even that unfortunate <...> it’s a sin for me to blame now.”

In the evening, in the dark, Alexei Ivanovich finds Polina in his room. She shows him Des Grieux's farewell letter. There was a connection between her and the Frenchman, but without her grandmother's inheritance, the prudent "marquis" refused to marry. However, he returned to the general mortgages for fifty thousand francs - Pauline's "own" money. Proud to the point of passion, she dreams of throwing these fifty thousand into the "mean face" of Des Grieux. Aleksey Ivanovich should get them.

The hero rushes into the gambling hall. Happiness smiles on him, and he soon brings a huge sum to the hotel - two hundred thousand francs. While still in the “voxal”, the former teacher felt “the terrible pleasure of luck, victory, power.” For him, playing from a means of self-affirmation and “service” to his beloved turns into an independent, all-consuming passion. Even in the presence of Polina, the player cannot take his eyes off the “piles of tickets and bundles of gold” he brought. The girl is hurt by the fact that for Alexei Ivanovich, as for Des Grieux, other interests are more important than love for her. The proud woman refuses to accept fifty thousand “for free” and spends the night with the hero. In the morning, he hatefully throws banknotes in his lover’s face and runs away.

The selfless friend Astley, having sheltered the sick Polina, blames Alexei Ivanovich for not understanding her inner drama and incapacity for true love. “I swear, I felt sorry for Polina,” the hero echoes, “but <...> from <...> the minute I touched the gambling table yesterday and began raking in wads of money, my love seemed to retreat to the second plan".

On the same day, Blanche easily seduces the wealthy Russian and takes him to Paris with him. Having taken possession of his money, she, in order to acquire a name and title, is married to a general who came here. He is completely "lost" and agrees to the most miserable role with a prudent and dissolute Frenchwoman. Three weeks later, Alexey Ivanovich, without regret about the money spent, leaves his mistress and goes to roulette in Hamburg.

For more than a year and a half, he wanders around the "gambling" cities of Germany, sometimes descending to serve as a footman and imprisonment for an unpaid debt. It's all "hardened".

And now - an unexpected meeting in Hamburg with Astley, who tracked down Alexei Ivanovich on behalf of Polina, who lives in Switzerland with relatives of an Englishman. The hero learns about the death of his grandmother in Moscow and the general in Paris, and most importantly, about Polina's unquenched love for herself. It turns out that he was mistaken in thinking that she loved Des Grieux. Astley considers his friend a "dead man" who, due to his Russian character, is incapable of resisting destructive passions. "It's not the first time that you don't understand what labor is (I'm not talking about your people). Roulette is a predominantly Russian game."

“No, he’s wrong!, he’s harsh and quick about the Russians,” thinks Alexey Ivanovich in the hope of “resurrecting” in love with Polina. You just need to “maintain character” in relation to the game. Will it work out?

Author of the retelling: O. A. Bogdanova

Crime and Punishment. Novel (1866)

Poor district of St. Petersburg in the 60s. XIX century, adjacent to Sennaya Square and the Catherine Canal. Summer evening. Former student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leaves his closet in the attic and takes the last valuable thing as a pawn to the old pawnbroker Alena Ivanovna, whom she is preparing to kill. On the way back, he goes into one of the cheap drinking establishments, where he accidentally meets the official Marmeladov, who has drunk himself and lost his job. He tells how consumption, poverty and her husband’s drunkenness pushed his wife Katerina Ivanovna to a cruel act - to send his daughter from her first marriage, Sonya, to work at the panel to earn money.

The next morning, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother from the provinces describing the troubles suffered by his younger sister Dunya in the house of the depraved landowner Svidrigailov. He learns about the imminent arrival of his mother and sister in St. Petersburg in connection with the upcoming marriage of Dunya. The groom is a prudent businessman Luzhin, who wants to build a marriage not on love, but on poverty and the dependence of the bride. The mother hopes that Luzhin will financially help her son finish his course at the university. Reflecting on the sacrifices that Sonya and Dunya make for the sake of their loved ones, Raskolnikov strengthens his intention to kill the pawnbroker - a useless evil "louse". Indeed, thanks to her money, "hundreds, thousands" of girls and boys will be spared from undeserved suffering. However, disgust for the bloody violence rises again in the hero's soul after he saw a dream-memories of childhood: the boy's heart is torn from pity for the nag being beaten to death.

And yet, Raskolnikov kills with an ax not only the “ugly old woman,” but also her kind, meek sister Lizaveta, who unexpectedly returned to the apartment. Miraculously leaving unnoticed, he hides the stolen goods in a random place, without even assessing its value.

Soon Raskolnikov is horrified to discover alienation between himself and other people. Sick from the experience, he, however, is not able to reject the burdensome worries of his comrade at the university, Razumikhin. From the conversation of the latter with the doctor, Raskolnikov learns that the painter Mikolka, a simple village boy, was arrested on suspicion of the murder of an old woman. Painfully reacting to talk about a crime, he himself also arouses suspicion among others.

Luzhin, who came for a visit, is shocked by the squalor of the hero’s closet; their conversation develops into a quarrel and ends in a breakup. Raskolnikov is especially offended by the closeness of practical conclusions from Luzhin’s “reasonable egoism” (which seems vulgar to him) and his own “theory”: “people can be cut up...”

Wandering around St. Petersburg, the sick young man suffers from his alienation from the world and is already ready to confess his crime to the authorities, as he sees a man crushed by a carriage. This is Marmeladov. Out of compassion, Raskolnikov spends the last money on the dying man: he is transferred to the house, the doctor is called. Rodion meets Katerina Ivanovna and Sonya, who is saying goodbye to her father in an inappropriately bright prostitute outfit. Thanks to a good deed, the hero briefly felt community with people. However, having met his mother and sister who arrived at his apartment, he suddenly realizes that he is "dead" for their love and rudely drives them away. He is alone again, but he has a hope of getting closer to Sonya, who, like him, "stepped over", the absolute commandment.

Raskolnikov's relatives are taken care of by Razumikhin, who almost at first sight fell in love with the beautiful Dunya. Meanwhile, the offended Luzhin puts the bride before a choice: either he or his brother.

In order to find out about the fate of the things pawned by the murdered woman, and in fact to dispel the suspicions of some acquaintances, Rodion himself asks for a meeting with Porfiry Petrovich, the investigator in the case of the murder of the old pawnbroker. The latter recalls Raskolnikov’s recently published article “On Crime,” inviting the author to explain his “theory” about “two classes of people.” It turns out that the “ordinary” (“lower”) majority is just material for the reproduction of their own kind; it is they who need a strict moral law and must be obedient. These are "trembling creatures." “People” (“higher ones”) have a different nature, possessing the gift of a “new word”, they destroy the present in the name of the better, even if it is necessary to “step over” the moral norms previously established for the “lower” majority, for example, by shedding someone else’s blood. These "criminals" then become the "new legislators." Thus, not recognizing the biblical commandments ("thou shalt not kill", "thou shalt not steal", etc.), Raskolnikov "allows" "those who have the right" - "blood according to their conscience." The intelligent and insightful Porfiry discerns in the hero an ideological murderer who claims to be the new Napoleon. However, the investigator has no evidence against Rodion - and he releases the young man in the hope that his good nature will overcome the delusions of his mind and will itself lead him to confess to his crime.

Indeed, the hero is increasingly convinced that he has made a mistake in himself: “the real ruler <...> destroys Toulon, carries out massacres in Paris, forgets the army in Egypt, wastes half a million people in the Moscow campaign,” and he, Raskolnikov, suffers because "vulgarity" and "meanness" of a single murder. It is clear that he is a “trembling creature”: even after killing, he “did not step over” the moral law. The very motives of the crime are twofold in the hero’s consciousness: this is both a test of oneself for the “highest level”, and an act of “justice”, according to revolutionary socialist teachings, transferring the property of “predators” to their victims.

Svidrigailov, who arrived after Dunya in St. Petersburg, apparently guilty of the recent death of his wife, meets Raskolnikov and notices that they are "of the same field", although the latter did not completely defeat Schiller in himself. With all the disgust towards the offender, Rodion's sister is attracted by his seeming ability to enjoy life, despite the crimes committed.

During dinner in cheap rooms, where Luzhin settled Dunya and his mother out of economy, a decisive explanation takes place. Luzhin is convicted of slandering Raskolnikov and Sonya, to whom he allegedly gave money for base services selflessly collected by a poor mother for his studies. Relatives are convinced of the purity and nobility of the young man and sympathize with Sonya's fate. Exiled in disgrace, Luzhin is looking for a way to discredit Raskolnikov in the eyes of his sister and mother.

The latter, meanwhile, again feeling the painful alienation from loved ones, comes to Sonya. She, who "crossed" the commandment "do not commit adultery," he seeks salvation from unbearable loneliness. But Sonya is not alone. She sacrificed herself for the sake of others (hungry brothers and sisters), and not others for herself, as her interlocutor. Love and compassion for loved ones, faith in the mercy of God never left her. She reads to Rodion the gospel lines about the resurrection of Lazarus by Christ, hoping for a miracle in her life. The hero fails to captivate the girl with the "Napoleonic" plan of power over "the whole anthill."

Tortured at the same time by fear and a desire to be exposed, Raskolnikov again comes to Porfiry, as if worrying about his pledge. A seemingly abstract conversation about the psychology of criminals eventually brings the young man to a nervous breakdown, and he almost betrays himself to the investigator. He is saved by an unexpected confession to everyone in the murder of the pawnbroker painter Mikolka.

In the passage room of the Marmeladovs, a wake was arranged for her husband and father, during which Katerina Ivanovna, in a fit of morbid pride, insults the landlady of the apartment. She tells her and her children to leave immediately. Suddenly, Luzhin, who lives in the same house, enters and accuses Sonya of stealing a hundred-ruble banknote. The girl's "guilt" has been proven: the money is found in her apron pocket. Now, in the eyes of those around her, she is also a thief. But unexpectedly there is a witness that Luzhin himself imperceptibly slipped Sonya a piece of paper. The slanderer is put to shame, and Raskolnikov explains to those present the reasons for his act: having humiliated his brother and Sonya in the eyes of Dunya, he hoped to return the favor of the bride.

Rodion and Sonya go to her apartment, where the hero confesses to the girl in the murder of the old woman and Lizaveta. She pities him for the moral torments to which he condemned himself, and offers to atone for his guilt by voluntary confession and hard labor. Raskolnikov laments only that he turned out to be a "trembling creature", with a conscience and a need for human love. "I'll still fight," he disagrees with Sonya.

Meanwhile, Katerina Ivanovna with the children finds herself on the street. She begins to bleed from the throat and dies after refusing the services of a priest. Svidrigailov, who is present here, undertakes to pay for the funeral and provide for the children and Sonya.

At his home, Raskolnikov finds Porfiry, who convinces the young man to confess: the “theory”, which denies the absoluteness of the moral law, tears away from the only source of life - God, the creator of humanity, united by nature - and thereby dooms its captive to death. “Now you <...> need air, air, air!” Porfiry does not believe in the guilt of Mikolka, who “accepted suffering” out of an primordial popular need: to atone for the sin of not conforming to the ideal - Christ.

But Raskolnikov still hopes to "transcend" morality as well. Before him is the example of Svidrigailov. Their meeting in a tavern reveals to the hero a sad truth: the life of this "insignificant villain" is empty and painful for him.

The reciprocity of Dunya is the only hope for Svidrigailov to return to the source of being. Convinced of her irrevocable dislike of himself during a heated conversation in his apartment, he shoots himself a few hours later.

Meanwhile, Raskolnikov, driven by the lack of "air", says goodbye to his family and Sonya before confessing. He is still convinced of the correctness of the "theory" and full of contempt for himself. However, at the insistence of Sonya, before the eyes of the people, he repentantly kisses the ground, before which he "sinned." In the police office, he learns about Svidrigailov's suicide and makes an official confession.

Raskolnikov finds himself in Siberia, in a convict prison. The mother died of grief, Dunya married Razumikhin. Sonya settled near Raskolnikov and visits the hero, patiently enduring his gloom and indifference. The nightmare of alienation continues here: the common convicts hate him as an “atheist.” On the contrary, Sonya is treated with tenderness and love. Once in the prison hospital, Rodion sees a dream reminiscent of pictures from the Apocalypse: mysterious “trichinas”, moving into people, give rise to a fanatical conviction in everyone’s own rightness and intolerance to the “truths” of others. "People killed each other in <...> senseless anger" until the entire human race was exterminated, except for a few "pure and chosen ones." It is finally revealed to him that the pride of the mind leads to discord and destruction, and the humility of the heart leads to unity in love and to the fullness of life. “Endless love” for Sonya awakens in him. On the threshold of “resurrection into a new life,” Raskolnikov picks up the Gospel.

Idiot. Novel (1868)

The novel takes place in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk at the end of 1867 - beginning of 1868.

Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg from Switzerland. He is twenty-six years old, he is the last of a noble noble family, orphaned early, fell ill with a severe nervous illness in childhood and was placed by his guardian and benefactor Pavlishchev in a Swiss sanatorium. He lived there for four years and is now returning to Russia with vague but big plans to serve her. On the train, the prince meets Parfyon Rogozhin, the son of a wealthy merchant, who inherited a huge fortune after his death. From him, the prince for the first time hears the name of Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the mistress of a certain wealthy aristocrat Totsky, whom Rogozhin is passionately infatuated with.

Upon arrival, the prince with his modest bundle goes to the house of General Yepanchin, whose wife, Elizabeth Prokofievna, is a distant relative. There are three daughters in the Yepanchin family - the eldest Alexandra, the middle Adelaide and the youngest, the common favorite and beautiful Aglaya. The prince amazes everyone with his spontaneity, gullibility, frankness and naivete, so extraordinary that at first he is received very wary, but with increasing curiosity and sympathy. It turns out that the prince, who seemed to be a simpleton, and to some a cunning one, is very intelligent, and in some things he is really deep, for example, when he talks about the death penalty he saw abroad. Here the prince also meets the extremely proud secretary of the general Ganya Ivolgin, in whom he sees a portrait of Nastasya Filippovna. Her face of dazzling beauty, proud, full of contempt and hidden suffering, strikes him to the core.

The prince also learns some details: the seducer of Nastasya Filippovna Totsky, trying to get rid of her and hatching plans to marry one of the daughters of the Epanchins, woo her to Ganya Ivolgin, giving seventy-five thousand as a dowry. Ganya is beckoned by money. With their help, he dreams of breaking out into the people and in the future significantly increasing his capital, but at the same time he is haunted by the humiliation of the situation. He would prefer marriage to Aglaya Yepanchina, with whom, perhaps, he is even a little in love (although here, too, the possibility of enrichment awaits him). He expects a decisive word from her, making his further actions dependent on this. The prince becomes an involuntary mediator between Aglaya, who unexpectedly makes him her confidant, and Ganya, causing irritation and anger in him.

Meanwhile, the prince is offered to settle not just anywhere, but precisely in the apartment of the Volgins. The prince does not have time to take the room provided to him and get acquainted with all the inhabitants of the apartment, starting with Ganya’s relatives and ending with his sister’s fiancé, the young usurer Ptitsyn and Ferdyshchenko, the master of incomprehensible occupations, as two unexpected events occur. None other than Nastasya Filippovna suddenly appears in the house, who has come to invite Ganya and his relatives to her for the evening. She amuses herself by listening to the fantasies of General Ivolgin, which only inflame the atmosphere. Soon a noisy company appears with Rogozhin at the head, who lays out eighteen thousand in front of Nastasya Filippovna. Something like bargaining takes place, as if with her mockingly contemptuous participation: is it her, Nastasya Filippovna, for eighteen thousand? Rogozhin is not going to retreat: no, not eighteen - forty. No, not forty - a hundred thousand! ..

For Ganya's sister and mother, what is happening is unbearably insulting: Nastasya Filippovna is a corrupt woman who should not be allowed into a decent house. For Ghani, she is the hope for enrichment. A scandal breaks out: Ganya's indignant sister Varvara Ardalionovna spits in his face, he is about to hit her, but the prince unexpectedly stands up for her and receives a slap from the enraged Ganya, "Oh, how you will be ashamed of your act!" - in this phrase, the whole of Prince Myshkin, all his incomparable meekness. Even at this moment he sympathizes with another, even the offender. His next word, addressed to Nastasya Filippovna: "Are you the way you now seemed to be," will become the key to the soul of a proud woman, deeply suffering from her shame and falling in love with the prince for recognizing her purity.

Captivated by Nastasya Filippovna's beauty, the prince comes to her in the evening. A motley crowd gathered here, starting with General Epanchin, also infatuated with the heroine, to the jester Ferdyshenko. To Nastasya Filippovna’s sudden question whether she should marry Ganya, he answers negatively and thereby destroys the plans of Tonky, who is present here. At half past eleven the bell rings and the old company appears, led by Rogozhin, who lays out one hundred thousand wrapped in newspaper in front of his chosen one.

And again, the prince is in the center, who is painfully hurt by what is happening, he confesses his love for Nastasya Filippovna and expresses his readiness to take her, "honest", and not "Rogozhin's", as his wife. Immediately, it suddenly turns out that the prince received a rather solid inheritance from the deceased aunt. However, the decision was made - Nastasya Filippovna rides with Rogozhin, and throws the fatal bundle with a hundred thousand into a burning fireplace and invites Ghana to get them out of there. Ganya is holding back with all his strength so as not to rush after the flashed money, he wants to leave, but falls unconscious. Nastasya Filippovna herself snatches out a packet with fireplace tongs and leaves the money to Ghana as a reward for his torment (later they will be proudly returned to them).

Six months pass. The prince, having traveled around Russia, in particular on inheritance matters, and simply out of interest in the country, comes from Moscow to St. Petersburg. During this time, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna fled several times, almost from the crown, from Rogozhin to the prince, stayed with him for some time, but then ran away from the prince.

At the station, the prince feels someone’s fiery gaze on him, which torments him with a vague premonition. The prince pays a visit to Rogozhin in his dirty green, gloomy, prison-like house on Gorokhovaya Street. During their conversation, the prince is haunted by a garden knife lying on the table; he picks it up every now and then until Rogozhin finally takes it away in irritation. he has it (later Nastasya Filippovna will be killed with this knife). In Rogozhin's house, the prince sees on the wall a copy of a painting by Hans Holbein, which depicts the Savior, just taken down from the cross. Rogozhin says that he loves to look at her, the prince screams in amazement that “... from this picture someone else’s faith may disappear,” and Rogozhin unexpectedly confirms this. They exchange crosses, Parfen leads the prince to his mother for a blessing, since they are now like siblings.

Returning to his hotel, the prince suddenly notices a familiar figure at the gate and rushes after her to the dark narrow stairs. Here he sees the same as at the station, the sparkling eyes of Rogozhin, the knife raised. At the same moment, an epileptic seizure occurs with the prince. Rogozhin runs away.

Three days after the seizure, the prince moves to Lebedev's dacha in Pavlovsk, where the Yepanchin family and, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna are also located. On the same evening, a large company of acquaintances gathers with him, including the Yepanchins, who decided to visit the sick prince. Kolya Ivolgin, Ganya's brother, teases Aglaya as a "poor knight", clearly alluding to her sympathy for the prince and arousing the painful interest of Aglaya's mother Elizaveta Prokofievna, so that her daughter is forced to explain that the poems depict a person who is capable of having an ideal and, having believed in him, to give his life for this ideal, and then with inspiration he reads Pushkin's poem itself.

A little later, a company of young people appears, led by a certain young man Burdovsky, allegedly "the son of Pavlishchev." They seem to be nihilists, but only, in the words of Lebedev, "they went further, sir, because first of all they are businesslike." A libel is read from a newspaper about the prince, and then they demand from him that he, as a noble and honest man, reward the son of his benefactor. However, Ganya Ivolgin, who was instructed by the prince to deal with this matter, proves that Burdovsky is not Pavlishchev's son at all. The company retreats in embarrassment, only one of them remains in the center of attention - the consumptive Ippolit Terentyev, who, asserting himself, begins to "orate". He wants to be pitied and praised, but he is ashamed of his openness, his inspiration is replaced by rage, especially against the prince. Myshkin, on the other hand, listens attentively to everyone, pities everyone, and feels guilty before everyone.

A few days later, the prince visits the Yepanchins, then the whole Yepanchin family, together with Prince Yevgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, who is caring for Aglaya, and Prince Sh., Adelaide's fiancé, go for a walk. Another company appears at the station not far from them, among which is Nastasya Filippovna. She familiarly addresses Radomsky, informing him of the suicide of his uncle, who has squandered a large state sum. Everyone is outraged by the provocation. The officer, a friend of Radomsky, indignantly remarks that "you just need a whip here, otherwise you won’t take anything with this creature!" The officer is about to hit Nastasya Filippovna, but Prince Myshkin holds him back.

At the celebration of Prince's birthday, Ippolit Terentyev reads "My Necessary Explanation" written by him - a confession, amazing in depth, of a young man who almost did not live, but changed his mind a lot, doomed by illness to an untimely death. After reading, he attempts suicide, but the primer is missing from the gun. The prince defends Ippolit, who is painfully afraid of seeming ridiculous, from attacks and ridicule.

In the morning, on a date in the park, Aglaya invites the prince to become her friend. The prince feels that he truly loves her. A little later, in the same park, the prince meets Nastasya Filippovna, who kneels before him and asks him if he is happy with Aglaya, and then disappears with Rogozhin. It is known that she writes letters to Aglaya, where she persuades her to marry the prince.

A week later, the prince was formally declared Aglaya's fiancé. High-ranking guests were invited to the Yepanchins for a kind of "bride" of the prince. Although Aglaya believes that the prince is incomparably higher than all of them, the hero, precisely because of her partiality and intolerance, is afraid to make a wrong gesture, is silent, but then painfully inspired, talks a lot about Catholicism as anti-Christianity, declares his love to everyone, breaks a precious Chinese vase and falls in another fit, making a painful and awkward impression on those present.

Aglaya makes an appointment with Nastasya Filippovna in Pavlovsk, to which she comes with the prince. Apart from them, only Rogozhin is present. The "proud young lady" asks sternly and hostilely what right Nastasya Filippovna has to write letters to her and generally interfere in her and the prince's private life. Offended by the tone and attitude of her rival, Nastasya Filippovna, in a fit of revenge, calls on the prince to stay with her and drives Rogozhin away. The prince is torn between two women. He loves Aglaya, but he also loves Nastasya Filippovna - with love and pity. He calls her crazy, but is unable to leave her. The prince's condition is getting worse, he is more and more immersed in mental confusion.

The wedding of the prince and Nastasya Filippovna is planned. This event is overgrown with all sorts of rumors, but Nastasya Filippovna seems to be joyfully preparing for it, writing out outfits and being either in inspiration or in unreasonable sadness. On the wedding day, on the way to the church, she suddenly rushes to Rogozhin, who is standing in the crowd, who picks her up in his arms, gets into the carriage and takes her away.

The next morning after her escape, the prince arrives in Petersburg and immediately goes to Rogozhin. Togo is not at home, but it seems to the prince that Rogozhin seems to be looking at him from behind the curtains. The prince walks around Nastasya Filippovna's acquaintances, trying to find out something about her, returns several times to Rogozhin's house, but to no avail: that is not there, no one knows anything. All day the prince wanders around the sultry city, believing that Parfyon will certainly appear. And so it happens: Rogozhin meets him on the street and asks him in a whisper to follow him. In the house, he leads the prince to a room where, in an alcove on a bed under a white sheet, furnished with bottles of Zhdanov's liquid so that the smell of decay is not felt, lies the dead Nastasya Filippovna.

The prince and Rogozhin spend a sleepless night together over the corpse, and when the door is opened the next day in the presence of the police, they find Rogozhin rushing about in delirium and the prince calming him, who no longer understands anything and does not recognize anyone. Events completely destroy Myshkin's psyche and finally turn him into an idiot.

Author of the retelling: E. A. Shklovsky

Demons. Roman (1871 - 1872)

The action of the novel takes place in a provincial town in early autumn. The events are narrated by the chronicler G-v, who is also a participant in the events described. His story begins with the story of Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky, an idealist of the forties, and a description of his complex platonic relationship with Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina, a noble provincial lady, whose patronage he enjoys.

Around Verkhovensky, who fell in love with the "civil role" and lives "embodied reproach" to the homeland, local liberal-minded youth are grouped. There is a lot of "phrase" and posture in it, but there is also enough intelligence and insight. He was the tutor of many of the characters in the novel. Formerly handsome, now he has drooped a little, is flabby, plays cards and does not deny himself champagne.

The arrival of Nikolai Stavrogin, an extremely “mysterious and romantic” person about whom there are many rumors, is expected. He served in an elite guards regiment, fought in a duel, was demoted, and gained service. Then it is known that he went on a spree and plunged into the wildest licentiousness. Having visited his hometown four years ago, he pulled a lot of pranks, causing general indignation: he pulled the respectable man Gaganov by the nose, painfully bit the then governor on the ear, publicly kissed someone else's wife... In the end, everything seemed to be explained by delirium tremens. Having recovered, Stavrogin went abroad.

His mother Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina, a resolute and imperious woman, worried about her son's attention to her pupil Daria Shatova and interested in his marriage to the daughter of a friend Liza Tushina, decides to marry her ward Stepan Trofimovich to Daria. He, in some horror, although not without enthusiasm, is preparing to propose.

In the cathedral, at mass, Marya Timofeevna Lebyadkina, aka Khromonozhka, unexpectedly approaches Varvara Petrovna and kisses her hand. An intrigued lady, who recently received an anonymous letter informing her that a lame woman would play a serious role in her fate, invites her to her place, and Liza Tushina is also traveling with them. An excited Stepan Trofimovich is already waiting there, since it is on this day that his matchmaking with Daria is scheduled. Soon, Captain Lebyadkin, who arrived for his sister, also appears here, in whose vague speeches, interspersed with verses of his own composition, some terrible secret is mentioned and some special rights are hinted at.

Suddenly they announce the arrival of Nikolai Stavrogin, who was expected only a month later. First, the fussy Pyotr Verkhovensky appears, followed by the pale and romantic handsome Stavrogin himself. Varvara Petrovna immediately asks her son whether Marya Timofeevna is his legal wife. Stavrogin silently kisses his mother's hand, then nobly grabs Lebyadkin's arm and leads her out. In his absence, Verkhovensky tells a beautiful story about how Stavrogin inspired a beautiful dream in a downtrodden holy fool, so that she even imagined him as her fiancé. Immediately he sternly asks Lebyadkin if this is true, and the captain, trembling with fear, confirms everything.

Varvara Petrovna is delighted and, when her son appears again, asks him for forgiveness. However, the unexpected happens: Shatov suddenly approaches Stavrogin and slaps him in the face. The fearless Stavrogin grabs him in anger, but then suddenly removes his hands behind his back. As it turns out later, this is another evidence of his enormous strength, another test. Shatov leaves unhindered. Liza Tushina, clearly partial to “Prince Harry,” as Stavrogin is called, faints.

Eight days pass. Stavrogin does not accept anyone, and when his seclusion ends, Pyotr Verkhovensky immediately slips in to him. He expresses readiness for everything for Stavrogin and informs about a secret society, at whose meeting they should appear together. Shortly after his visit, Stavrogin goes to the engineer Kirillov. The engineer, for whom Stavrogin means a lot, reports that he still professes his idea. Its essence is the need to get rid of God, who is nothing but; "pain of the fear of death", and declare self-will, killing himself and thus becoming a man-god.

Then Stavrogin goes up to Shatov, who lives in the same house, to whom he informs that, indeed, some time ago in St. Petersburg he officially married Lebyadkina, as well as his intention to publicly announce this in the near future. He generously warns Shatov that they are going to kill him. Shatov, on whom Stavrogin previously had enormous influence, reveals to him his new idea of ​​a God-bearing people, which the Russian people consider to be, and advises him to give up wealth and achieve God through peasant labor. True, to the counter question whether he himself believes in God, Shatov somewhat hesitantly answers that he believes in Orthodoxy, in Russia, that he... will believe in God.

That same night, Stavrogin goes to Lebyadkin and on the way meets the fugitive Fedka Katorzhny, sent to him by Pyotr Verkhovensky. He expresses his readiness to fulfill any will of the master for a fee, but Stavrogin drives him away. He informs Lebyadkin that he is going to announce his marriage to Marya Timofeevna, whom he married “... after a drunken dinner, because of a bet on wine...”. Marya Timofeevna greets Stavrogin with a story about an ominous dream. He asks her if she is ready to go with him to Switzerland and live the rest of her life there in solitude. The indignant Lame Leg shouts that Stavrogin is not a prince, that her prince, the clear falcon, has been replaced, and he is an impostor, he has a knife in his pocket. Accompanied by her squeals and laughter, the enraged Stavrogin retreats. On the way back, he throws money to Fedka Katorzhny.

The next day there is a duel between Stavrogin and the local nobleman Artemy Gaganov, who summoned him for insulting his father. Seething with anger, Gaganov shoots three times and misses. Stavrogin, on the other hand, announces that he does not want to kill anyone else, and defiantly shoots into the air three times. This story greatly raises Stavrogin in the eyes of society.

Meanwhile, frivolous moods and a tendency to various kinds of blasphemous amusements have emerged in the city: mockery of newlyweds, desecration of icons, etc. The province is restless, fires are raging, giving rise to rumors of arson, proclamations calling for rebellion are found in different places, cholera is raging somewhere , the workers of the closed factory of the Shpigulins show dissatisfaction, a certain second lieutenant, unable to bear the commander’s reprimand, rushes at him and bites him on the shoulder, and before that he chopped up two images and lit church candles in front of the works of Vocht, Moleschott and Buchner... In this atmosphere, preparations are being made a subscription holiday in favor of governesses, started by the governor’s wife Yulia Mikhailovna.

Varvara Petrovna, offended by Stepan Trofimovich’s too obvious desire to get married and his too frank letters to his son Peter with complaints that they allegedly want to marry him “for the sins of others,” assigns him a pension, but at the same time announces a breakup. The younger Verkhovensky in This is a time of intense activity. He was admitted to the governor's house and enjoyed the patronage of his wife Yulia Mikhailovna. She believes that he is connected with the revolutionary movement, and dreams of uncovering a government conspiracy with his help. On a meeting with Governor von Lembke, who is extremely concerned about what is happening, Verkhovensky skillfully gives him several names, in particular Shatov and Kirillov, but at the same time asks him for six days to reveal the entire organization. Then he runs to Kirillov and Shatov, notifying them about the meeting of “ours” and asking them to be there, after which he goes after Stavrogin, who has just been visited by Mavriky Nikolaevich, Liza Tushina’s fiancé, with a proposal that Nikolai Vsevolodovich marry her, since she is at least and hates him, but at the same time loves him. Stavrogin admits to him that he cannot do this in any way, since he is already married. Together with Verkhovensky, they go to a secret meeting.

The gloomy Shigalev speaks at the meeting with his program for the “ultimate resolution of the issue.” Its essence is the division of humanity into two unequal parts, of which one tenth receives freedom and unlimited right over the remaining nine-tenths, turned into a herd. Then Verkhovensky offers the provocative question of whether the meeting participants would have reported if they had known about the impending political murder. Suddenly Shatov gets up and, calling Verkhovensky a scoundrel and a spy, leaves the meeting. This is what Pyotr Stepanovich needs, who has already designated Shatov as a victim in order to cement the formed revolutionary group “five” with blood. Verkhovensky tags along with Stavrogin, who has come out with Kirillov, and in a fever, initiates them into his crazy plans. His goal is to cause great chaos. “There will be such a swing, such as the world has never seen... Rus' will become clouded, the earth will cry for the old gods...” That’s when he, Stavrogin, will be needed. Handsome and aristocrat. Ivan Tsarevich.

[Stavrogin visits Bishop Tikhon in the monastery and confesses to the saint that he is subject to hallucinations in which “some evil creature” appears to him, and that he believes in a demon, he believes canonically. He reads to him his terrible confession about the seduction of the girl Mat-reshi, who soon after committed suicide, and declares that he is going to spread his confession and thereby publicly repent. Tikhon offers him another path - humility of his own pride, because his confession, although it testifies to the need for repentance and the thirst for martyrdom, is at the same time a challenge. Tikhon also predicts: before making his confession public and in order to avoid this, Stavrogin will throw himself “into a new crime, as if into an outcome”] *.

Events are growing like a snowball. Stepan Trofimovich is "described" - officials come and take away papers. Workers from the Shpigulin factory send petitioners to the governor, which causes von Lembke to have a fit of rage and almost pass for a riot. Falls under the hot hand of the mayor and Stepan Trofimovich. Immediately after this, in the governor's house, there is also Stavrogin's confusing announcement that Lebyadkina is his wife.

The long-awaited day of the holiday is coming. The highlight of the first part is the reading by the famous writer Karmazinov of his farewell essay "Merci", and then Stepan Trofimovich's accusatory speech. He passionately defends Raphael and Shakespeare against the nihilists. He is booed, and cursing everyone, he proudly leaves the stage. It becomes known that Lisa Tushina in broad daylight suddenly moved from her carriage, leaving Mavriky Nikolaevich there, to Stavrogin's carriage and drove off to his Skvoreshniki estate. The highlight of the second part of the holiday is the "quadrille of literature", an ugly caricature allegorical act. The governor and his wife are beside themselves with indignation. It was then that they reported that the District was on fire, allegedly set on fire by the Shpigulins, and a little later it became known about the murder of Captain Lebyadkin, his sister and maid. The Governor is driving to a fire where a log falls on him.

In Skvoreshniki, meanwhile, Stavrogin and Liza Tushina greet the morning together. Lisa intends to leave and is trying in every possible way to hurt Stavrogin, who, on the contrary, is in an uncharacteristic sentimental mood. He asks why Lisa came to him and why there was “so much happiness.” He invites her to leave together, which she perceives with ridicule, although at some point

* This episode is taken in brackets because it is a presentation of the chapter “At Tikhon’s” that was not included - contrary to Dostoevsky’s own wishes - in the final text of the novel. Her eyes suddenly light up. Indirectly, the topic of murder comes up in their conversation - so far only a hint. At this moment the omnipresent Peter Verkhovensky appears. He tells Stavrogin the details of the murder and fire in Zarechye. Liza Stavrogin says that he did not kill and was against it, but he knew about the impending murder and did not stop it. In hysterics, she leaves the Stavrogin house; nearby, the devoted Mavriky Nikolaevich, who had been sitting all night in the rain, is waiting for her. They head to the scene of the murder and meet Stepan Trofimovich on the road, running, in his words, “out of delirium, a feverish sleep, <...> to look for Russia <...>.” In the crowd near the fire, Lisa is recognized as “Stavrogin’s,” since rumors have already spread that the matter was started by Stavrogin to get rid of his wife and take another. Someone from the crowd hits her and she falls. The lagging behind, Mavriky Nikolaevich, makes it too late. Lisa is taken away, still alive, but unconscious.

And Peter Verkhovensky continues to bother. He collects the top five and announces that a denunciation is being prepared. The scammer is Shatov, he must be removed by all means. After some doubts, they agree that the common cause is the most important thing. Verkhovensky, accompanied by Liputin, goes to Kirillov to remind him of the agreement according to which he must, before committing suicide in accordance with his idea, take on someone else's blood. Fedka Katorzhny is sitting in the kitchen of Kirillov drinking and eating. In anger, Verkhovensky snatches out a revolver: how could he disobey and appear here? Fedka unexpectedly beats Verkhovensky, he falls unconscious, Fedka runs away. To the witness of this scene, Liputin, Verkhovensky declares that Fedka drank vodka for the last time. In the morning, it really becomes known that Fedka was found with a broken head seven miles from the city. Liputin, who was about to run away, now has no doubts about the secret power of Peter Verkhovensky and remains.

Shatov's wife Marya comes to Shatov the same evening, having left him after two weeks of marriage. She is pregnant and asks for temporary shelter. A little later, a young officer Erkel from "ours" comes to him and informs him about tomorrow's meeting. At night, Shatov's wife goes into labor. He runs after the midwife Virginskaya and then helps her. He is happy and looks forward to a new working life with his wife and child. Exhausted, Shatov falls asleep in the morning and wakes up already dark. Erkel comes in behind him, together they head to the Stavrogin park. Verkhovensky, Virginsky, Liputin, Lyamshin, Tolkachenko and Shigalev are already waiting there, who suddenly categorically refuses to take part in the murder, because it contradicts his program.

Shatov is attacked. Verkhovensky shot him point blank with a revolver. Two large stones are tied to the body and thrown into the pond. Verkhovensky hurries to Kirillov. Although he is indignant, he fulfills his promise - he writes a note under dictation and takes the blame for the murder of Shatov, and then shoots himself. Verkhovensky collects his things and leaves for St. Petersburg, from there abroad.

Having set off on his last wandering, Stepan Trofimovich dies in a peasant hut in the arms of Varvara Petrovna, who rushed after him. Before his death, a random fellow traveler, to whom he tells his whole life, reads the Gospel to him, and he compares the possessed, from whom Christ cast out the demons that entered the pigs, with Russia. This passage from the Gospel is taken by the chronicler as one of the epigraphs to the novel.

All participants in the crime, except Verkhovensky, were soon arrested, extradited by Lyamshin. Daria Shatova receives a letter of confession from Stavrogin, who admits that from him “<...> only denial poured out, without any generosity and without any strength.” He invites Daria with him to Switzerland, where he bought a small house in the canton of Uri to settle there forever. Daria gives the letter to Varvara Petrovna to read, but then both find out that Stavrogin unexpectedly appeared in Skvoreshniki. They rush there and find the "citizen of the canton of Uri" hanged in the mezzanine.

Author of the retelling: E. A. Shklovsky

Teenager. Novel (1875)

Arkady Makarovich Dolgoruky, who is also a Teenager, tells in his notes about himself and recent events in which he was one of the main participants. He is twenty years old, he had just graduated from a gymnasium in Moscow, but he decided to postpone entering the university so as not to be distracted from the implementation of the cherished idea, which he had hatched almost from the sixth grade.

His idea is to become a Rothschild, that is, to accumulate a lot of money, and along with the money to gain power and solitude. According to him, it is difficult for Arkady with people, he is lost, it seems to him that they are laughing at him, he begins to assert himself and becomes too expansive. The idea did not accidentally crept into his soul. Arkady is the illegitimate son of the well-born nobleman Andrei Petrovich Versilov and his yard, which gives rise to an inferiority complex in him, a proud and proud teenager. He has a different surname - his formal father, also a yard Versilov, Makar Ivanovich Dolgoruky, but this is just another reason for humiliation - when meeting him, he is often asked again: Prince Dolgoruky?

Before the gymnasium, he was brought up in the boarding school of the Frenchman Touchard, where he suffered many humiliations because of his illegitimacy. All this made him especially impressionable and vulnerable. Once, having come to his half-brother, the legitimate son of Versilov, to receive money sent by his father, he was not received, although his brother was at home, the money was transferred through a footman, which caused a storm of indignation in Arcadia. His self-esteem is constantly on the alert and easily wounded, but, kind and enthusiastic by nature, with a friendly and benevolent attitude towards him, he quickly passes from resentment and hostility to love and adoration.

He comes to St. Petersburg at the invitation of his father to enter the service. In addition, his mother, meek and pious Sofya Andreevna, and sister Liza live there, and most importantly, his father, Andrey Petrovich Versilov, who belongs to the highest Russian cultural type of "worldwide support for everyone." Versilov professes the idea of ​​spiritual nobility, the highest aristocracy of the spirit, considers the highest Russian cultural thought to be "the reconciliation of ideas" and "world citizenship".

He occupies a huge place in the Teenager's heart. Raised by strangers, Arkady saw his father only once, and he made an indelible impression on him. “Every dream of mine, since childhood, responded to him: it hovered around him, came down to him in the final result. I don’t know whether I hated or loved him, but he filled my entire future, all my plans for life.” He thinks a lot about him, trying to understand what kind of person he is, he collects rumors and opinions of different people about him. Versilov is an ideal for him: beauty, intelligence, depth, aristocracy... And especially nobility, which nevertheless is constantly questioned by Arkady.

Arkady arrives in St. Petersburg wary and aggressive towards Versilov. He wants to crush the slander against him, crush his enemies, but at the same time he suspects him of base and dishonorable deeds. He wants to know the whole truth about him. He heard a lot about his piety and passion for Catholicism, something is known about his proposal to Lidia Akhmakova, as well as about the slap in the face of Prince Sergei Sokolsky, to which Versilov did not respond. After some scandalous act, Versilov is expelled from high society, but everything is shrouded in fog and mystery.

Arkady is appointed secretary to Versilov's former friend, the old prince Nikolai Ivanovich Sokolsky, who becomes attached to an intelligent and impulsive young man. However, he soon resigns from his position out of pride, especially since the prince's daughter, the beautiful Katerina Nikolaevna Akhmakova, who has long been hostile to Versilov, accuses Arkady of espionage.

By chance, two important letters turn out to be in the hands of Arkady: from one it follows that the process won by Versilov about the inheritance with the princes Sokolsky can be revised not in his favor. The second, written by Katerina Nikolaevna, speaks of the dementia of her father, the old prince Sokolsky, and the need to take him into custody. The letter is capable of arousing the wrath of the old prince with dire consequences for the daughter, namely deprivation of inheritance. This "document", around which the main intrigue revolves, is sewn up in the lining of Arkady's coat, although he tells everyone, including Katerina Nikolaevna, that the letter was burned by his acquaintance Kraft (he gave it to Arkady), who soon shot himself.

The first explanation with Versilov leads to a temporary reconciliation, although Arkady's attitude towards his father remains wary. He acts as a demon-tempter, giving Versilov a letter of inheritance, believing that he will hide it, and justifying him in advance. In addition, in order to protect the honor of his father, he decides to challenge the same Prince Sergei Sokolsky, who once slapped Versilov, to a duel.

Arkady goes to his friend Vasin to ask him to be a second, and there he meets his stepfather, the swindler Stebelkov, from whom he learns about Versilov's infant from Lydia Akhmakova. Immediately in the next room, a scandal is played out, also in some mysterious way connected with Versilov. Soon, Arkady will find the continuation of this scandal at his mother's apartment, where he accidentally arrives at the same time as a young girl Olya, who angrily accuses Versilov of meanness and throws the money given to him, and a little later commits suicide. Trouble in the mind of a teenager. Versilov appears as a secret corrupter. After all, Arkady himself is the fruit of Versilov's sinful passion for someone else's wife, whom he takes away from her lawful husband. Where is the honor? Where is the debt? Where is the nobility?

Arkady finally expresses to his father everything that has accumulated in his soul over the years of humiliation, suffering and reflection, and announces his break with Versilov, so that he can then proudly retire to his corner and hide there. He does not leave the thought of a duel with Prince Sergei Sokolsky and challenges him, but he expresses his deep repentance and no less deep respect for Versilov himself. They part as great friends. Immediately it becomes known that Versilov renounced the inheritance in favor of the princes. It turns out that it was not his fault in Olya's suicide: they gave her money completely disinterestedly, as help, but she, who had already become the object of heinous attacks several times, misunderstood his act.

Two months pass, Arkady dressed up as a dandy and leads the most secular way of life, taking money from Prince Sergei Sokolsky on account of those that, as it were, rely on Versilov. His main hobby is playing roulette. He plays often, but that doesn't stop him. Versilov visits Arkady from time to time for a chat. The closest and most trusting relationship is established between father and son. Friendly relations are established with Arkady and with Katerina Nikolaevna Akhmakova.

Meanwhile, it becomes known that the legitimate daughter of Versilov, the half-sister of Arkady Anna Andreevna, intends to marry the old prince Sokolsky and is extremely preoccupied with the question of the inheritance. For her, the document discrediting the daughter of Prince Akhmakova is important, and she is extremely interested in it.

One day, Katerina Nikolaevna appoints Arkady a meeting with his aunt Tatyana Pavlovna Prutkova. He flies winged and, finding her alone, is even more inspired, dreaming that he has an appointment for a love date. Yes, he suspected her of deceit, of wanting to know about the document, but now, fascinated by her innocence and cordiality, he admiringly composes a hymn to her beauty and chastity. She slightly pushes the young man who has become too excited, although she does not at all seek to extinguish the fire that has flared up in him.

In a semi-feverish state, Arkady plays roulette and wins a lot of money. During a hysterical explanation with Prince Serezha, who offended Arkady by turning away from him in the gambling hall, he learns that his sister Lisa is pregnant from the prince. Dumbfounded, Arkady gives him everything he has won. Arkady tells Versilov in every detail about his meeting with Akhmakova, and he sends her an angry, insulting letter. Arkady, having learned about the letter, in anguish seeks to explain himself to Katerina Nikolaevna, but she avoids him. Arkady plays roulette again and wins again, but he is unfairly accused of stealing other people's money and pushed out of the gambling hall.

Under the impression of the humiliations he has experienced, he falls asleep in the cold, he dreams of a boarding house where he was insulted by both Tushar and his friend Lambert, he wakes up from someone’s blows and sees... Lambert. An old friend brings him to his place, gives him wine, and Arkady, in a fit of frankness, tells him about the fatal document. From this moment on, the scoundrel Lambert begins to weave his vile intrigues, trying to use Arkady.

In turn, Prince Sergei Sokolsky, a kindly but weak-willed person, turns out to be somehow involved in the counterfeiting of shares, which is carried out by the swindler Stebelkov, who also weaves his networks around the hero. Not devoid of conscience and honor, the prince goes to the police and confesses everything. Arrested, he, however, commits another mean thing - out of jealousy, he informs on Vasin, who owns a certain seditious manuscript, which he gave to Liza and from her has already come to Sokolsky. As a result, Vasin was also arrested. During these same days, Arkady, who was seriously ill, met his legal father Makar Ivanovich Dolgoruky, a handsome and pious old man, who on his travels collected money for the construction of a temple, and now, due to illness, stayed with Arkady’s mother. During their conversations, the wise old man sheds light into his soul.

The arrival of the old prince Sokolsky with Anna Andreevna is expected, and they intend to place the prince in the same apartment where Arkady lives, in the hope that he will not stand it when he sees the prince in a state of fear and depression, and will show him Akhmakova’s letter. Meanwhile, Makar Ivanovich dies, as a result of which Versilov gets the opportunity to legally marry Arkady's mother. But a frenzied passion for Akhmakova flares up in him again, driving him to insanity. In front of the eyes of the whole family, he splits the icon especially dear to Sofya Andreevna, bequeathed to him by Makar Ivanovich, and leaves. Arkady looks for him and overhears Versilov's explanation with Akhmakova. He is shocked by his father's passion, in which love and hate fight. Akhmakova admits that she once loved him, but now she definitely doesn’t love him, and she marries Baron Bjoring because she will be calm for him.

Sympathizing with his father and wanting to save him, hating and at the same time jealous of Akhmakova, confused in his own feelings, Arkady runs to Lambert and discusses with him actions against Akhmakova in order to disgrace her. Lambert gets the Teenager soldered and at night, with the help of his mistress Alfonsinka, steals the document, sewing up an empty piece of paper instead.

The next day, the old prince Sokolsky arrives. Anna Andreevna is trying in every possible way to influence her brother, but Arkady, having repented after desperate frankness with Lambert, categorically refuses to act against Akhmakova. Meanwhile, Bjoring breaks into the apartment and takes the prince away by force. Now defending the honor of Anna Andreevna, Arkady tries to fight, but to no avail. They take him to the station.

Soon he is released, and he learns that Lambert and Versilov lured Katerina Nikolaevna to Arkady's aunt Tatyana Pavlovna. He hurries there and is in time at the most critical moments: Lambert, threatening with a document, and then with a revolver, extorts money from Akhmakova. At this moment, Versilov, who was hiding, runs out, takes away the revolver and stuns Lambert with it. Katerina Nikolaevna faints in horror. Versilov picks her up in his arms and senselessly carries her in his arms, and then lays his victim on the bed and, suddenly remembering the revolver, wants to shoot first at her, and then at himself. During the struggle with Arkady and Trishatov, who came to his aid, he tries to commit suicide, but he hits not in the heart, but in the shoulder.

After the crisis, Versilov remains with Sofya Andreevna, Akhmakov breaks up with Bjoring, and the Teenager, who has not renounced his idea, now, however, "already in a completely different form," is persuaded to enter the university. These notes, according to the hero, served his re-education - "precisely the process of remembering and writing down."

Author of the retelling: E. A. Shklovsky

Brothers Karamazov. Roman (1879 - 1880)

The action takes place in the provincial town of Skotoprigonyevsk in the 1870s. In the monastery, in the skete of the famous elder Zosima, a famous ascetic and healer, the Karamazovs, father Fyodor Pavlovich and sons, the elder Dmitry and the middle Ivan, gather to clarify their family property affairs. At the same meeting, the younger brother Alyosha, a novice with Zosima, as well as a number of other persons are present - a relative of the Karamazovs, a wealthy landowner and liberal Miusov, seminarian Rakitin and several clergymen. The reason is Dmitry's dispute with his father about hereditary relations. Dmitry believes that his father owes him a large amount, although he has no obvious legal rights. Fedor Pavlovich, a nobleman, a small landowner, a former hooker, angry and touchy, is not going to give his son money at all, but agrees to a meeting with Zosima more out of curiosity. Dmitry's relationship with his father, who never showed much concern for his son, is tense not only because of money, but also because of the woman - Grushenka, with whom both are passionately in love. Dmitry knows that the lustful old man has money prepared for her, that he is even ready to marry if she agrees.

The meeting at the skete introduces almost all the main characters at once. Passionate impetuous Dmitry is capable of rash acts, in which he later deeply repents. smart, mysterious Ivan is tormented by the question of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, as well as the key question for the novel - is everything allowed or not everything? If there is immortality, then not all, and if not, then an intelligent person can arrange himself in this world as he pleases - such is the alternative. Fyodor Pavlovich is a cynic, a voluptuary, a brawler, a comedian, a money-grubber, with all his appearance and actions, he causes disgust and protest in those around him, including his own sons. Alyosha is a young righteous man, a pure soul, he is rooting for everyone, especially for his brothers.

Nothing from this meeting, except for the scandal, which will be followed by many more, does not occur. However, the wise and insightful elder Zosima, who keenly feels the pain of others, finds a word and a gesture for each of the participants in the meeting. Before Dmitry, he kneels and bows to the ground, as if anticipating his future suffering, Ivan answers that the issue has not yet been resolved in his heart, but if it is not resolved in the positive direction, then it will not be resolved in the negative direction, and blesses him. He remarks to Fyodor Pavlovich that all his buffoonery comes from the fact that he is ashamed of himself. From the weary old man, most of the meeting participants, at the invitation of the hegumen, go to the refectory, but Fyodor Pavlovich suddenly appears there with speeches denouncing the monks. After another scandal, everyone scatters.

After the guests leave, the elder blesses Alyosha Karamazov for great obedience in the world, ordering him to be close to his brothers. Following the elder’s instructions, Alyosha goes to his father and meets brother Dmitry, hiding in the garden next to his father’s estate, who is guarding his beloved Grushenka here if she, seduced by money, nevertheless decides to come to Fyodor Pavlovich. Here, in an old gazebo, Dmitry enthusiastically confesses to Alyosha. He, Dmitry, happened to plunge into the deepest shame of depravity, but in this shame he begins to feel a connection with God, to feel the great joy of life. He, Dmitry, is a voluptuous insect, like all the Karamazovs, and voluptuousness is a storm, big storms. The ideal of Madonna lives in him, just like the ideal of Sodom. Beauty is a terrible thing, says Dmitry, here the devil fights with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people. Dmitry also tells Alyosha about his relationship with Katerina Ivanovna, a noble maiden, whose father he once saved from shame by lending him the money he needed to account for the government sum. He suggested that the proud girl herself come to him for money, she appeared, humiliated, ready for anything, but Dmitry behaved like a noble man, gave her this money without demanding anything in return. Now they are considered the bride and groom, but Dmitry is infatuated with Grushenka and even spent three thousand with her at an inn in the village of Mokroye, given to him by Katerina Ivanovna to send to her sister in Moscow. He considers this his main shame and, as an honest person, he must return the entire amount. If Grushenka comes to the old man, then Dmitry, according to him, will break in and interfere, and if... then he will kill the old man, whom he hates fiercely. Dmitry asks his brother to go to Katerina Ivanovna and tell her that he bows, but will not come again.

In his father's house, Alyosha finds Fyodor Pavlovich and brother Ivan over cognac, amused by the arguments of the footman Smerdyakov, the son of the tramp Lizaveta and, according to some assumptions, Fyodor Pavlovich. And soon Dmitry suddenly bursts in, who thought that Grushenka had come. In a rage, he beats his father, but after making sure that he made a mistake, he runs away. Alyosha goes at his request to Katerina Ivanovna, where she unexpectedly finds Grushenka. Katerina Ivanovna affectionately courts her, showing that she was mistaken, considering her corrupt, and she answers her meticulously. Ultimately, everything again ends in a scandal: Grushenka, about to kiss Katerina Ivanovna's hand, suddenly defiantly refuses to do so, insulting her rival and provoking her fury.

The next day, Alyosha, after spending the night in the monastery, again goes on worldly business - first to his father, where he listens to another confession, now Fyodor Pavlovich, who complains to him about his sons, and says about the money that he himself needs them, because he still after all, the man wants to be on this line for another twenty years, that he wants to live in his filth to the end and will not yield to Grushenka Dmitry. He gossips to Alyosha and about Ivan, that he beats off Dmitry's bride, because he himself is in love with Katerina Ivanovna.

On the way, Alyosha sees schoolchildren throwing stones at a small lonely boy. When Alyosha comes up to him, he first throws a stone at him, and then bites his finger painfully. This boy is the son of Staff Captain Snegirev, who was recently humiliatingly dragged out of the tavern by the beard and beaten by Dmitri Karamazov for having some kind of promissory note dealings with Fyodor Pavlovich and Grushenka.

In Khokhlakov's house, Alyosha finds Ivan and Katerina Ivanovna and becomes a witness to another strain: Katerina Ivanovna explains that she will be faithful to Dmitry, will be "a means for his happiness", and asks Alyosha's opinion, who ingenuously declares that she does not love Dmitry at all, but I just convinced myself. Ivan says that he is leaving for a long time, because he does not want to sit "next to the anguish", and adds that she needs Dmitry to contemplate continuously her feat of fidelity and reproach him for infidelity.

With two hundred rubles given to him by Katerina Ivanovna for the staff captain Snegirev, who suffered at the hands of Dmitry, Alyosha goes to him. At first, the captain, the father of a large family living in extreme poverty and illness, plays the fool, and then, having become emotional, confesses to Alyosha. He accepts money from him and with inspiration imagines what he can now accomplish.

Then Alyosha again visits Mrs. Khokhlakov and has a sincere conversation with her daughter Liza, a sickly and expansive girl who recently wrote to him about her love and decided that Alyosha must definitely marry her. After a short time, she confesses to Alyosha that she would like to be tormented - for example, to be married and then abandoned. She describes to him a terrible scene of torturing a crucified child, imagining that she herself did it, and then sat down opposite and began to eat pineapple compote, "The Devil" - Ivan Karamazov will call her.

Alyosha goes to a tavern, where, as he learned, brother Ivan is. One of the key scenes of the novel takes place in the tavern - a date between two "Russian boys", who, if they get together, then immediately start talking about eternal world issues. God and immortality is one of them. Ivan reveals his secret, answering an unasked, but extremely interesting question to Alyosha, "what do you believe?".

In him, Ivan, there is a Karamazovian thirst for life, he loves life contrary to logic, sticky spring leaves are dear to him. And he does not accept God, but the world of God, full of immeasurable suffering. He refuses to agree with the harmony based on the teardrop of a child. He lays out "facts" to Alyosha, testifying to blatant human cruelty and childish suffering. Ivan retells Alyosha his poem "The Grand Inquisitor", which takes place in the sixteenth century in the Spanish city of Seville. The ninety-year-old cardinal imprisons Christ, who has descended to earth for the second time, and during a nightly meeting sets out to Him his view of humanity. He is convinced that Christ idealized it and that it is unworthy of freedom. The choice between good and evil is torment for a person. The Grand Inquisitor and his comrades-in-arms decide to correct the cause of Christ - to overcome freedom and arrange human happiness themselves, turning humanity into an obedient herd. They take upon themselves the right to dispose of human life. The inquisitor is waiting for an answer from Christ, but he only silently kisses him.

After parting with Alyosha, Ivan meets Smerdyakov on the way home, and a decisive conversation takes place between them. Smerdyakov advises Ivan to go to the village of Chermashnya, where the old man is selling a grove, he hints that in his absence anything can happen to Fyodor Pavlovich. Ivan is angry with Smerdyakov's impudence, but at the same time he is intrigued. He guesses that much now depends on his decision. He decides to go, although on the way he changes the route and goes not to Chermashnya, but to Moscow.

Meanwhile, Elder Zosima dies. Everyone expects a miracle after the death of a righteous man, but instead, very soon the smell of decay appears, which creates confusion in souls. Alyosha is also confused. In this mood, he leaves the monastery, accompanied by the atheist seminarian Rakitin, an intriguer and envious man, who takes him to Grushenka’s house. They find the hostess anxiously awaiting some news. Delighted by Alyosha’s arrival, at first she behaves like a cocotte, sitting on his lap, but upon learning about Zosima’s death, she changes dramatically. In response to Alyosha’s warm words and the fact that he, a sinner, calls her sister, Grushenka thaws her heart and devotes it to her torment. She is waiting for news from her “ex”, who once seduced her and abandoned her. For many years she cherished the thought of revenge, and now she is ready to crawl like a little dog. And indeed, immediately after receiving the news, she rushes to the call of her “ex” in Mokroe, where he was staying.

Alyosha, pacified, returns to the monastery, prays near the tomb of Zosima, listens to Father Paisius reading the Gospel about marriage in Cana of Galilee, and he, dozing, seems to be an old man who praises him for Grushenka. Alyosha's heart is more and more filled with delight. Waking up, he comes out of the cell, sees the stars, the golden domes of the cathedral, and plunges in a joyful frenzy to the ground, hugs and kisses her, touching other worlds with his soul. He wants to forgive everyone and ask everyone for forgiveness. Something solid and unshakable enters his heart, transforming him.

At this time, Dmitry Karamazov, tormented by jealousy for his father because of Grushenka, rushes about in search of money. He wants to take her away and start a virtuous life somewhere with her. He also needs money in order to repay the debt to Katerina Ivanovna. He goes to the patron of Grushenka, the rich merchant Kuzma Samsonov, offering his dubious rights to Chermashnya for three thousand, and he, in mockery, sends him to the merchant Gorstkin (aka Lyagavy), who sells a grove with Fyodor Pavlovich. Dmitri rushes to Gorstkin, finds him sleeping, takes care of him all night, almost pissed off, and in the morning, waking up after a short slumber, he finds the peasant hopelessly drunk. In desperation, Dmitry goes to Khokhlakova to borrow money, the same tries to inspire him with the idea of ​​​​gold mines.

Having lost time, Dmitry realizes that he may have missed Grushenka, and, not finding her at home, sneaks to his father's house. He sees his father alone, waiting, but doubt does not leave him, so he makes a secret conventional knock, which Smerdyakov taught him, and, making sure that Grushenka is not there, runs away. At this moment, Fyodor Pavlovich's valet Grigory, who came out onto the porch of his house, notices him. He rushes after him and catches up when he climbs over the fence. Dmitri beats him with a pestle he had captured in Grushenka's house. Grigory falls, Dmitry jumps down to see if he is alive, and wipes his bloodied head with a handkerchief.

Then he again runs to Grushenka and already there he is trying to get the truth from the maid. Dmitry, with a pack of one hundred-ruble credits suddenly in his hands, goes to the official Perkhotin, to whom he recently pawned pistols for ten rubles in order to buy them back. Here he puts himself in order a little, although his whole appearance, blood on his hands and clothes, as well as mysterious words, arouse Perkhotin's suspicions. In a nearby shop, Dmitry orders champagne and other dishes, ordering them to be delivered to Wet. And he, without waiting, jumps there on a troika.

At the inn he finds Grushenka, two Poles, a handsome young man Kalganov and the landowner Maksimov, entertaining everyone with his buffoonery. Grushenka greets Dmitry with fear, but then rejoices at his arrival. He is shy and fawns over her and everyone present. The conversation doesn't go well, then a game of cards starts. Dmitry begins to lose, and then, seeing the lit-up eyes of the gentlemen who have become excited, he offers his “ex” money so that he will give up Grushenka. Suddenly it turns out that the Poles have changed the deck and are cheating during the game. They are taken out and locked in a room, the festivities begin - a feast, songs, dances... Grushenka, drunk, suddenly realizes that she loves only one Dmitry and is now connected with him forever.

Soon a police officer, an investigator and a prosecutor appear in Wet. Dmitry is accused of parricide. He is amazed - after all, only the blood of the servant Gregory is on his conscience, and when he is informed that the servant is alive, he is greatly inspired and readily answers questions. It turns out that not all of Katerina Ivanovna's money was spent by him, but only a part, the rest was sewn into a bag that Dmitry wore on his chest. This was his "great secret". That was a shame for him, romance in his soul, who showed some prudence and even prudence. It is this recognition that is given to him with the greatest difficulty. The investigator, however, cannot understand this at all, and other facts testify against Dmitry.

In a dream, Mitya sees a child crying in the fog in the arms of an emaciated woman, he keeps trying to find out why it is crying, why they don’t feed it, why the bare steppe and why they don’t sing joyful songs. A great, never-before-seen emotion rises in him, and he wants to do something, he wants to live and live, and set out on a journey “towards a new calling light.”

Soon it turns out that Fyodor Pavlovich was killed by the footman Smerdyakov, who pretended to be a broken epileptic. Just at the moment when old Grigory was lying unconscious, he came out and, beckoning Fyodor Pavlovich Grushenka, forced him to unlock the door, hit his paperweight several times on the head, and took the fateful three thousand from a place known only to him. Now the really sick Smerdyakov himself tells about everything to Ivan Karamazov who visited him, the mastermind of the crime. After all, it was his idea of ​​permissiveness that made an indelible impression on Smerdyakov. Ivan does not want to admit that the crime was committed with his secret consent and with his connivance, but the pangs of conscience are so strong that he goes crazy. He imagines the devil, a kind of Russian gentleman in plaid trousers and with a lorgnette, who mockingly expresses his own thoughts, and Ivan tortures him whether there is a God or not. During the last meeting with Smerdyakov, Ivan says that he will confess everything at the upcoming trial, and he, confused, at the sight of the infirmity of Ivan, who meant so much to him, gives him the money, and then hangs himself.

Katerina Ivanovna, together with Ivan Fedorovich, make plans for Dmitry's escape to America. However, the rivalry between her and Grushenka continues, Katerina Ivanovna is not yet sure how she will act in court - the rescuer or the destroyer of her former fiancé. Dmitry, during a meeting with Alyosha, expresses a desire and readiness to suffer and be cleansed by suffering. The trial begins with the questioning of witnesses. The evidence for and against at first does not add up to a clear picture, but rather, all the same, in favor of Dmitry. Everyone is amazed by the performance of Ivan Fedorovich, who, after painful hesitation, informs the court that he killed Smerdyakov, who hanged himself, and in confirmation lays out a bundle of money received from him. Smerdyakov killed, he says, and I taught. He is delirious in a fever, blaming everyone, he is taken away by force, but immediately after this, Katerina Ivanovna's hysteria begins. She presents to the court a document of "mathematical" importance - a letter received by Dmitry on the eve of the crime, where he threatens to kill his father and take the money. This indication is decisive. Katerina Ivanovna destroys Dmitry in order to save Ivan.

Further, the local prosecutor and the well-known capital lawyer Fetyukovich spoke brightly, eloquently and in detail. Both cleverly and subtly reason, paint a picture of Russian Karamazovism, astutely analyze the social and psychological causes of the crime, convincing that the circumstances, the atmosphere, the environment and the low father, who is worse than someone else's offender, could not but push him to it. Both conclude that Dimitri is the killer, albeit an unwitting one. The jury finds Dmitry guilty. Dmitry is condemned.

After the trial, Dmitry falls ill with nervous fever. Katerina Ivanovna comes to him and admits that Dmitry will forever remain an ulcer in her heart. And that even though she loves another, and he loves another, she will still love him, Dmitry, forever. And he is punished to love himself all his life. With Grushenka, they remain implacable enemies, even though Katerina Ivanovna reluctantly asks her forgiveness.

The novel ends with the funeral of Ilyushenka Snegirev, the son of Captain Snegirev. Alyosha Karamazov calls on the boys gathered at the grave, with whom he became friends when visiting Ilyusha during his illness, to be kind, honest, never forget about each other and not be afraid of life, because life is beautiful when good and truthful things are done.

Author of the retelling: E. A. Shklovsky

<< Back: Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky) 1818-1883 (In the forests. Roman (1871-1875). On the mountains. Roman (1875-1881))

>> Forward: Alexey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky 1821-1881 (A Thousand Souls. Novel (1853-1858). Bitter Fate. Drama (1859))

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