Childhood. Tale (1852)

On August 12, 18, ten-year-old Nikolenka Irteniev wakes up on the third day after his birthday at seven o'clock in the morning. After the morning toilet, the teacher Karl Ivanovich takes Nikolenka and his brother Volodya to greet their mother, who is pouring tea in the living room, and with their father, who is giving housekeeping instructions to the clerk in his office. Nikolenka feels in himself a pure and clear love for his parents, he admires them, making accurate observations for himself: "... in one smile lies what is called the beauty of the face: if a smile adds charm to a face, then it is beautiful; if it does not change him, then the face is ordinary; if she spoils it, then it is bad. For Nikolenka, mother's face is beautiful, angelic. The father, due to his seriousness and severity, seems to the child a mysterious, but undeniably beautiful person who "likes everyone without exception." The father announces to the boys about his decision - tomorrow he takes them with him to Moscow. All day long: studying in classes under the supervision of Karl Ivanovich, upset by the news received, and hunting, on which the father takes the children, and meeting with the holy fool, and the last games, during which Nikolenka feels something like first love for Katenka - everything this is accompanied by a woeful and sad feeling of the impending farewell to his native home. Nikolenka recalls the happy time spent in the village, the courtyard people who are selflessly devoted to their family, and the details of the life lived here appear vividly before him, in all the contradictions that his childish consciousness is trying to reconcile.

The next day at twelve o'clock the carriage and the britzka stood at the entrance. Everyone is busy with preparations for the road, and Nikolenka is especially keenly aware of the discrepancy between the importance of the last minutes before parting and the general fuss that reigns in the house. The whole family gathers in the living room around a round table. Nikolenka hugs her mother, cries and thinks of nothing but her grief. Having left for the main road, Nikolenka waves a handkerchief to his mother, continues to cry and notices how tears give him "pleasure and joy." He thinks of his mother, and all Nikolenka's memories are filled with love for her.

For a month now, the father and children have been living in Moscow, in the grandmother's house. Although Karl Ivanovich was also taken to Moscow, new teachers teach the children. On grandmother's name day, Nikolenka writes his first poems, which are read in public, and Nikolenka is especially worried about this moment. He meets new people: Princess Kornakova, Prince Ivan Ivanovich, relatives Ivins - three boys, almost the same age as Nikolenka. When communicating with these people, Nikolenka develops his main qualities: natural subtle observation, inconsistency in his own feelings. Nikolenka often looks at himself in the mirror and cannot imagine that someone can love him. Before going to bed, Nikolenka shares his experiences with his brother Volodya, admits that he loves Sonechka Valakhina, and all the childish genuine passion of his nature is manifested in his words. He admits: "...when I lie and think about her, God knows why I feel sad and I want to cry terribly."

Six months later, my father receives a letter from my mother from the village that she caught a severe cold during a walk, fell ill, and her strength is dwindling every day. She asks to come and bring Volodya and Nikolenka. Without delay, the father and sons leave Moscow. The most terrible forebodings are confirmed - for the last six days, mother has not gotten up. She can't even say goodbye to her children - her open eyes can't see anything anymore... Mommy dies on the same day in terrible suffering, having only had time to ask for blessings for the children: "Mother of God, don't leave them!"

The next day, Nikolenka sees a mother in a coffin and cannot reconcile with the thought that this yellow and wax face belongs to the one he loved most in life. A peasant girl, who is brought to the deceased, screams terribly in horror, screams and rushes out of the room Nikolenka, struck by bitter truth and despair before the incomprehensibility of death.

Three days after the funeral, the whole house moves to Moscow, and with the death of her mother, Nikolenka ends a happy childhood time. Arriving later in the village, he always comes to the grave of mother, not far from whom Natalya Savishnu, faithful until the last days, was buried.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

Adolescence. Tale (1854)

Immediately after arriving in Moscow, Nikolenka feels the changes that have happened to him. In his soul there is a place not only for his own feelings and experiences, but also for compassion for the grief of others, and the ability to understand the actions of other people. He realizes the inconsolability of his grandmother’s grief after the death of his beloved daughter, and is happy to the point of tears that he finds the strength to forgive his older brother after a stupid quarrel. Another striking change for Nikolenka is that he shyly notices the excitement that the twenty-five-year-old maid Masha causes in him. Nikolenka is convinced of his ugliness, envies Volodya’s beauty and tries with all his might, although unsuccessfully, to convince himself that a pleasant appearance cannot account for all the happiness in life. And Nikolenka tries to find salvation in thoughts of splendid loneliness, to which, as it seems to him, he is doomed.

Grandmother is informed that the boys are playing with gunpowder, and although this is just harmless lead shot, the grandmother blames Karl Ivanovich for the lack of supervision of the children and insists that he be replaced by a decent tutor. Nikolenka is having a hard time parting with Karl Ivanovich.

Nikolenka does not get along with the new French tutor, he himself sometimes does not understand his impudence towards the teacher. It seems to him that the circumstances of life are directed against him. The incident with the key, which by negligence he breaks, it is not clear why he is trying to open his father's briefcase, finally brings Nikolenka out of balance. Deciding that everyone has deliberately turned against him, Nikolenka behaves unpredictably - she hits the tutor, in response to her brother's sympathetic question: "What is happening to you?" - shouts, as all are disgusting to him and disgusting. They lock him in a closet and threaten to punish him with rods. After a long confinement, during which Nikolenka is tormented by a desperate feeling of humiliation, he asks his father for forgiveness, and convulsions are made with him. Everyone fears for his health, but after a twelve-hour sleep, Nikolenka feels good and at ease and is even glad that his family is experiencing his incomprehensible illness.

After this incident, Nikolenka feels more and more lonely, and his main pleasure is solitary reflection and observation. He observes the strange relationship between the maid Masha and the tailor Vasily. Nikolenka does not understand how such a rough relationship can be called love. Nikolenka’s range of thoughts is wide, and he often gets confused in his discoveries: “I think, what I think, what I think about, and so on. My mind has wandered beyond my mind...”

Nikolenka rejoices at Volodya’s admission to university and envies his maturity. He notices the changes that are happening to his brother and them, watches how the aging father develops a special tenderness for his children, experiences the death of his grandmother - and he is offended by conversations about who will get her inheritance...

Nikolenka has a few months left before she enters university. He is preparing for the Faculty of Mathematics and is studying well. Trying to get rid of many shortcomings of adolescence, Nikolenka considers the main one to be a tendency to inactive reasoning and thinks that this tendency will bring him a lot of harm in life. Thus, attempts at self-education are manifested in him. Volodya's friends often come to him - adjutant Dubkov and student Prince Nekhlyudov. Nikolenka talks more and more often with Dmitry Nekhlyudov, they become friends. The mood of their souls seems the same to Nikolenka. Constantly improving himself and thus correcting all of humanity - Nikolenka comes to this idea under the influence of his friend, and he considers this important discovery the beginning of his youth.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

Youth. Tale (1857)

The sixteenth spring of Nikolai Irtenyev is coming. He is preparing for university exams, full of dreams and thoughts about his future destiny. In order to more clearly define the purpose of life, Nikolai starts a separate notebook where he writes down the duties and rules necessary for moral perfection. On a passionate Wednesday, a gray-haired monk, confessor, comes to the house. After confession, Nikolai feels like a pure and new person. But at night, he suddenly remembers one of his shameful sins, which he hid in confession. He hardly sleeps until morning and at six o'clock he hurries in a cab to the monastery to confess again. Joyful, Nikolenka comes back, it seems to him that there is no person in the world better and cleaner than him. He is not restrained and tells the driver about his confession. And he replies: "Well, sir, your master's business." The joyful feeling disappears, and Nikolai even experiences some distrust of his excellent inclinations and qualities.

Nikolai successfully passes the exams and is enrolled in the university. The family congratulate him. By order of his father, the coachman Kuzma, the cabman and the bay Handsome are at the complete disposal of Nikolai. Deciding that he is already quite an adult, Nikolai buys many different knick-knacks, a pipe and tobacco on the Kuznetsk bridge. At home, he tries to smoke, but feels nauseous and weak. Dmitri Nekhlyudov, who has come to fetch him, reproaches Nikolai, explaining all the stupidity of smoking. Friends, together with Volodya and Dubkov, go to a restaurant to celebrate the younger Irtenyev's admission to the university. Observing the behavior of young people, Nikolai notices that Nekhlyudov differs from Volodya and Dubkov in a better, correct way: he does not smoke, does not play cards, does not talk about love affairs. But Nikolai, because of his boyish enthusiasm for adulthood, wants to imitate Volodya and Dubkov. He drinks champagne, lights a cigarette in a restaurant from a burning candle, which is on the table in front of strangers. As a result, a quarrel with a certain Kolpikov arises. Nikolai feels insulted, but takes all his offense on Dubkov, unfairly yelling at him. Understanding all the childishness of his friend's behavior, Nekhlyudov calms and comforts him.

The next day, on the orders of his father, Nikolenka goes, as a fully grown man, to make visits. He visits the Valakhins, Kornakovs, Ivins, Prince Ivan Ivanovich, with difficulty enduring long hours of forced conversations. Nikolai feels free and easy only in the company of Dmitry Nekhlyudov, who invites him to visit his mother in Kuntsevo. On the way, friends talk on various topics, Nikolai admits that he has recently become completely confused in the variety of new impressions. He likes Dmitri's calm prudence without a hint of edification, the free and noble mind, he likes that Nekhlyudov forgave the shameful story in the restaurant, as if not attaching special significance to it. Thanks to conversations with Dmitry, Nikolai begins to understand that growing up is not a simple change in time, but a slow formation of the soul. He admires his friend more and more and, falling asleep after a conversation in the Nekhlyudovs' house, thinks about how good it would be if Dmitry married his sister or, on the contrary, he married Dmitry's sister.

The next day, Nikolai leaves for the village by mail, where memories of his childhood and his mother come to life in him with renewed vigor. He thinks a lot, reflects on his future place in the world, on the concept of good manners, which requires enormous internal work on himself. Enjoying village life, Nikolai happily realizes in himself the ability to see and feel the most subtle shades of the beauty of nature. At the age of forty-eight, my father marries for the second time. The children do not like their stepmother; after a few months, the father and his new wife develop a relationship of “quiet hatred.”

With the beginning of his studies at the university, it seems to Nikolai that he dissolves in a mass of the same students and is largely disappointed with his new life. He rushes about from talking with Nekhlyudov to participating in student revels, which are condemned by his friend. Irtenev is annoyed by the conventions of secular society, which seem for the most part to be a pretense of insignificant people. Among the students, Nikolai makes new acquaintances, and he notices that the main concern of these people is to get pleasure from life, first of all. Under the influence of new acquaintances, he unconsciously follows the same principle. Negligence in studies bears fruit: Nikolai fails at the first exam. For three days he does not leave the room, he feels truly unhappy and has lost all the former joy of life. Dmitri visits him, but because of the cooling that comes in their friendship, Nekhlyudov's sympathy seems condescending to Nikolai and therefore insulting.

Late one evening, Nikolai takes out a notebook on which is written: "Rules of life." From the surging feelings associated with youthful dreams, he cries, but not with tears of despair, but of remorse and moral impulse. He decides to re-write the rules of life and never change them again. The first half of youth ends in anticipation of the next, happier one.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

Two hussars. Tale (1856)

“The times of the Miloradovichs, Davydovs, Pushkins”... A congress of landowners and noble elections are taking place in the provincial town of K.

A young hussar officer, Count Turbin, arrives at the best hotel in the city. There are no available rooms; “retired cavalryman” Zavalshevsky invites the count to stay in his room and lends Turbin money. Actually, Zavalshevsky never served in the cavalry, but there was a time when he wanted to join it. And now he himself sincerely believed in his cavalry past. Zavalshevsky is glad to have the opportunity to communicate with Turbin, who is known everywhere as a “true hussar.”

Cornet Ilyin, a "young, cheerful boy," is going from Moscow to his regiment. He is forced to stop in the city of K. Without any malicious intent, Zavalshevsky introduces him to the player Lukhnov. By the time Turbin arrived, Ilyin had been playing for four nights on end and was losing part of the government money he had with him.

Cornet wakes up at six o'clock in the evening. Lukhnov, other players, as well as Zavalshevsky and Turbin come to his room. The Count watches the game without participating in it. He warns Ilyin that Lukhnov is a cheater. But the cornet does not heed his warnings. Turbin and Zavalshevsky are leaving for the marshal's ball.

At the ball, Zavalshevsky introduces Turbin to his sister, Anna Fedorovna Zaitsova, a young widow. Turbin takes care of her. The widow is fascinated by the count, and her former admirer is so annoyed that he even makes a pathetic attempt to quarrel with Turbin.

The Count, having made his way into Anna Fedorovna's carriage, is waiting for her there. A young woman gets into a carriage; Seeing Turbin, she is not afraid or angry...

After the ball, many go to hang out with the gypsies. The spree is already coming to an end, when Count Turbin suddenly arrives. The fun rekindles. The count dances, drinks a lot, mocks the innkeeper, who asks everyone to disperse in the morning. At dawn, Turbin returns to the hotel. He must leave the city today.

Cornet Ilyin, meanwhile, lost all the government money. The count, seeing the desperation of the cornet, promises to rescue him. Turbin takes money from cheater Lukhnov by force and returns Ilyina.

The whole company, who had been partying that night, goes to accompany Turbin to the outpost: in troikas, with gypsies, with songs. At the outpost everyone says goodbye. Having already driven away from the city, Turbin remembers Anna Fedorovna and tells the coachman to turn back. He finds the widow still sleeping. After kissing her, Count Turbin leaves the city of K forever. Twenty years pass. 1848 Count Fyodor Turbin was killed in a duel long ago. His son is already twenty-three years old. The young count resembles his father only in appearance. “Love of decency and the comforts of life”, “practical view of things” are his main qualities.

The hussar squadron, commanded by the young Turbin, spends the night in Morozovka, the village of Anna Feodorovna Zaitsova. Anna Fedorovna is very old. Together with her live her brother - "cavalryman" and daughter Lisa, a simple-hearted, cheerful and sincere girl. Lisa is twenty-two years old.

Officers - Count Turbin and cornet Polozov - stop in a village hut. Anna Fedorovna sends to ask if they need anything. The count asks for a "cleaner room"; then from Anna Fedorovna follows an invitation to spend the night in her house. The count willingly agrees, but the cornet is embarrassed: he is ashamed to disturb the owners. Polozov is a timid, shy young man. He is heavily influenced by Turbine.

Anna Fedorovna is excited about meeting the son of Count Fyodor Turbin. She invites guests to spend the evening with the hosts. Everyone sits down to play preference, and the count beats the poor old woman for an amount that seems quite significant to her. Anna Feodorovna is annoyed, but the count is not the least bit embarrassed.

The cornet is amazed by the beauty of Lisa, but can not strike up a conversation with her. Turbines do it easily. The girl ingenuously tells in which room she sleeps. Count Turbin understands these words as an invitation to a date.

Night. Lisa falls asleep, sitting at the open window Turbin from the garden watches her and, after much hesitation, decides to approach. His touch wakes the girl. She runs away in horror. The count returns to his room and tells the cornet Polozov about this adventure, adding that the young lady herself made an appointment with him. To Cornet, Lisa appears to be "a pure, beautiful creature." Outraged, Polozov calls Turbine a scoundrel.

The next morning, the officers leave without saying goodbye to the hosts and without talking to each other. The duel never came to fruition.

Author of the retelling: O. V. Butkova

Cossacks. The Caucasian story of 1852 (1853 - 1862, unfinished, published 1863)

On an early winter morning from the porch of the Chevalier Hotel in Moscow, after saying goodbye to his friends after a long dinner, Dmitry Andreevich Olenin drives off in a Yamskaya troika to the Caucasian infantry regiment, where he is enlisted as a cadet.

Left without parents from a young age, Olenin squandered half of his fortune by the age of twenty-four, did not finish the course anywhere and did not serve anywhere. He constantly succumbs to the passions of young life, but just enough so as not to be bound; instinctively runs away from any feelings and deeds that require serious effort. Not knowing with certainty what to direct the strength of youth, which he clearly feels in himself, Olenin hopes to change his life with his departure to the Caucasus so that there will be no more mistakes and remorse in it.

For a long time on the road, Olenin either indulges in memories of Moscow life, or draws in his imagination alluring pictures of the future. The mountains that open before him at the end of the path surprise and delight Olenin with the infinity of majestic beauty. All Moscow memories disappear, and some solemn voice seems to say to him: "Now it has begun."

The village of Novomlinskaya stands three miles from the Terek, which separates the Cossacks and the highlanders. Cossacks serve on campaigns and at cordons, “sit” on patrol on the banks of the Terek, hunt and fish. Women run the household. This established life is disrupted by the arrival of two companies of the Caucasian infantry regiment, in which Olenin has been serving for three months. He was given an apartment in the house of the cornet and schoolteacher, who came home on holidays. The household is run by his wife, grandmother Ulita, and daughter Maryanka, who is going to be married off to Lukashka, the most daring of the young Cossacks. Just before the arrival of Russian soldiers in the village, on night watch on the banks of the Terek, Lukashka is different - he kills a Chechen sailing to the Russian shore with a gun. When the Cossacks look at the dead abrek, an invisible quiet angel flies over them and leaves this place, and the old man Eroshka says, as if with regret: “I killed Dzhigit.” Olenin was received by the owners coldly, as is the custom among the Cossacks to receive army personnel. But gradually the owners become more tolerant of Olenin. This is facilitated by his openness, generosity, and immediately established friendship with the old Cossack Eroshka, whom everyone in the village respects. Olenin observes the life of the Cossacks, she delights him with natural simplicity and unity with nature. In a fit of good feelings, he gives Lukashka one of his horses, and he accepts the gift, unable to understand such selflessness, although Olenin is sincere in his act. He always treats Uncle Eroshka to wine, immediately agrees with the cornet’s demand to increase the rent for the apartment, although a lower one was agreed upon, gives Lukashka a horse - all these external manifestations of Olenin’s sincere feelings are what the Cossacks call simplicity.

Eroshka tells a lot about Cossack life, and the simple philosophy contained in these stories delights Olenin. They hunt together, Olenin admires the wild nature, listens to Eroshka's instructions and thoughts and feels that he gradually wants to merge more and more with the surrounding life. All day he walks through the forest, returns hungry and tired, has dinner, drinks with Eroshka, sees mountains at sunset from the porch, listens to stories about hunting, about abreks, about a carefree, daring life. Olenin is overwhelmed with a feeling of causeless love and finally finds a feeling of happiness. "God did everything for the joy of man. There is no sin in anything," says Uncle Eroshka. And as if Olenin answers him in his thoughts: "Everyone needs to live, you need to be happy ... The need for happiness is embedded in a person." Once, while hunting, Olenin imagines that he is "the same mosquito, or the same pheasant or deer, as those that now live around him." But no matter how subtly Olenin felt. nature, no matter how he understands the surrounding life, it does not accept him, and he is bitterly aware of this.

Olenin takes part in one expedition and is promoted to officer. He eschews the hackneyed rut of army life, which consists for the most part of playing cards and carousing in fortresses, and in the villages - courting Cossack women. Every morning, having admired the mountains and Maryanka, Olenin goes hunting. In the evening he returns tired, hungry, but completely happy. Eroshka certainly comes to him, they talk for a long time and go to bed. Olenin sees Maryanka every day and admires her just as he admires the beauty of the mountains and sky, without even thinking about other relationships. But the more he watches her, the more, imperceptibly, he falls in love.

Olenin is forced on his friendship by Prince Beletsiy, who is familiar from the Moscow world. Unlike Olenin, Beletsky leads the ordinary life of a wealthy Caucasian officer in the village. He persuades Olenin to come to the party, where Maryanka should be. Obeying the peculiar playful rules of such parties, Olenin and Maryanka are left alone, and he kisses her. After that, "the wall that separated them before was destroyed." Olenin spends more and more time in the hosts' room, looking for any excuse to see Maryanka. Thinking more and more about his life and succumbing to the feeling that has come over him, Olenin is ready to marry Maryanka.

At the same time, preparations for the wedding of Lukashka and Maryanka continue. In such a strange state, when outwardly everything goes to this wedding, and Olenin's feeling grows stronger and determination becomes clearer, he proposes to the girl. Maryanka agrees, subject to the consent of the parents. In the morning, Olenin is going to go to the owners to ask for the hand of their daughter. He sees Cossacks on the street, among them Lukashka, who are going to catch abreks who have moved to this side of the Terek. In obedience to duty, Olenin goes with them.

Surrounded by Cossacks, the Chechens know they can't escape and are preparing for the final battle. During the fight, the brother of the Chechen that Lukashka killed earlier shoots Lukashka in the stomach with a pistol. Lukashka is brought to the village, Olenin learns that he is dying.

When Olenin tries to speak to Maryanka, she rejects him with contempt and malice, and he suddenly clearly understands that he can never be loved by her. Olenin decides to go to the fortress, to the regiment. Unlike those thoughts that he had in Moscow, now he no longer repents and does not promise himself better changes. Before leaving Novomlinsky, he is silent, and in this silence one feels a hidden, previously unknown understanding of the abyss between him and the surrounding life. Eroshka, who sees him off, intuitively feels the inner essence of Olenin. "After all, I love you, I feel sorry for you! You are so bitter, all alone, all alone. You are somehow unloved!" he says goodbye. Having driven off, Olenin looks back and sees how the old man and Maryana are talking about their affairs and no longer look at him.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

War and Peace. Novel (1863 - 1869, 1st edition 1867 - 1869)

The action of the book begins in the summer of 1805 in St. Petersburg. At the evening at the maid of honor Scherer, among other guests, are Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a wealthy nobleman, and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. The conversation turns to Napoleon, and both friends try to defend the great man from the condemnations of the hostess of the evening and her guests. Prince Andrei is going to war because he dreams of glory equal to that of Napoleon, and Pierre does not know what to do, participates in the revelry of St. Petersburg youth (here Fedor Dolokhov, a poor, but extremely strong-willed and determined officer, occupies a special place); for another mischief, Pierre was expelled from the capital, and Dolokhov was demoted to the soldiers.

Further, the author takes us to Moscow, to the house of Count Rostov, a kind, hospitable landowner, who arranges a dinner in honor of the name day of his wife and youngest daughter. A special family structure unites the Rostovs' parents and children - Nikolai (he is going to war with Napoleon), Natasha, Petya and Sonya (a poor relative of the Rostovs); only the eldest daughter, Vera, seems to be a stranger.

At the Rostovs, the holiday continues, everyone is having fun, dancing, and at this time in another Moscow house - at the old Count Bezukhov - the owner is dying. An intrigue begins around the count's will: Prince Vasily Kuragin (a Petersburg courtier) and three princesses - all of them are distant relatives of the count and his heirs - are trying to steal a portfolio with Bezukhov's new will, according to which Pierre becomes his main heir; Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, a poor lady from an aristocratic old family, selflessly devoted to her son Boris and seeking patronage for him everywhere, interferes with stealing the portfolio, and Pierre, now Count Bezukhov, gets a huge fortune. Pierre becomes his own person in Petersburg society; Prince Kuragin tries to marry him to his daughter - the beautiful Helen - and succeeds in this.

In Lysy Gory, the estate of Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, Prince Andrei's father, life goes on as usual; the old prince is constantly busy - either writing notes, or giving lessons to his daughter Marya, or working in the garden. Prince Andrei arrives with his pregnant wife Liza; he leaves his wife in his father's house, and he himself goes to war.

Autumn 1805; the Russian army in Austria takes part in the campaign of the allied states (Austria and Prussia) against Napoleon. Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov does everything to avoid Russian participation in the battle - at the review of the infantry regiment, he draws the attention of the Austrian general to the poor uniforms (especially shoes) of Russian soldiers; right up to the battle of Austerlitz, the Russian army retreats in order to join the allies and not accept battles with the French. In order for the main Russian forces to be able to retreat, Kutuzov sends a detachment of four thousand under the command of Bagration to detain the French; Kutuzov manages to conclude a truce with Murat (a French marshal), which allows him to buy time.

Junker Nikolai Rostov serves in the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment; he lives in an apartment in the German village where the regiment is stationed, together with his squadron commander, captain Vasily Denisov. One morning, Denisov lost his wallet with money - Rostov found out that Lieutenant Telyanin had taken the wallet. But this offense of Telyanin casts a shadow on the entire regiment - and the regiment commander demands that Rostov admit his mistake and apologize. The officers support the commander - and Rostov concedes; he does not apologize, but retracts his accusations, and Telyanin is expelled from the regiment due to illness. Meanwhile, the regiment goes on a campaign, and the junker's baptism of fire takes place during the crossing of the Enns River; the hussars must be the last to cross and set fire to the bridge.

During the battle of Shengraben (between the detachment of Bagration and the vanguard of the French army), Rostov is wounded (a horse was killed under him, he concussed his hand when he fell); he sees the approaching French and "with the feeling of a hare running away from dogs", throws a pistol at the Frenchman and runs.

For participation in the battle, Rostov was promoted to cornet and awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross. He comes from Olmutz, where the Russian army is encamped in preparation for the review, to the Izmailovsky regiment, where Boris Drubetskoy is stationed, to see his childhood friend and collect letters and money sent to him from Moscow. He tells Boris and Berg, who is lodging with Drubetsky, the story of his injury - but not in the way it really happened, but in the way they usually tell about cavalry attacks ("how he chopped right and left," etc.) .

During the review, Rostov experiences a feeling of love and adoration for Emperor Alexander; this feeling only intensifies during the battle of Austerlitz, when Nicholas sees the king - pale, crying from defeat, alone in the middle of an empty field.

Prince Andrei, right up to the battle of Austerlitz, lives in anticipation of the great feat that he is destined to accomplish. He is annoyed by everything that is discordant with this feeling of his - both the trick of the mocking officer Zherkov, who congratulated the Austrian general on the next defeat of the Austrians, and the episode on the road when the doctor's wife asks to intercede for her and Prince Andrey is confronted by a convoy officer. During the Shengraben battle, Bolkonsky notices Captain Tushin, a "small round-shouldered officer" with an unheroic appearance, commanding a battery. The successful actions of Tushin's battery ensured the success of the battle, but when the captain reported to Bagration about the actions of his gunners, he became more shy than during the battle. Prince Andrei is disappointed - his idea of ​​\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbthe heroic does not fit either with the behavior of Tushin, or with the behavior of Bagration himself, who essentially did not order anything, but only agreed with what the adjutants and superiors who approached him offered him.

On the eve of the battle of Austerlitz there was a military council at which the Austrian General Weyrother read the disposition of the upcoming battle. During the council, Kutuzov openly slept, not seeing any use in any disposition and foreseeing that tomorrow's battle would be lost. Prince Andrei wanted to express his thoughts and his plan, but Kutuzov interrupted the council and suggested that everyone disperse. At night, Bolkonsky thinks about tomorrow's battle and about his decisive participation in it. He wants fame and is ready to give everything for it: "Death, wounds, loss of a family, nothing scares me."

The next morning, as soon as the sun came out of the fog, Napoleon signaled to start the battle - it was the day of the anniversary of his coronation, and he was happy and confident. Kutuzov, on the other hand, looked gloomy - he immediately noticed that confusion was beginning in the allied troops. Before the battle, the emperor asks Kutuzov why the battle does not begin, and hears from the old commander-in-chief: “That’s why I don’t start, sir, because we are not at the parade and not on Tsaritsyn Meadow.” Very soon, the Russian troops, finding the enemy much closer than expected, break up the ranks and flee. Kutuzov demands to stop them, and Prince Andrei, with a banner in his hands, rushes forward, dragging the battalion with him. Almost immediately he is wounded, he falls and sees a high sky above him with clouds quietly crawling over it. All his former dreams of glory seem to him insignificant; insignificant and petty seems to him and his idol, Napoleon, circling the battlefield after the French utterly defeated the allies. "Here is a beautiful death," says Napoleon, looking at Bolkonsky. Convinced that Bolkonsky is still alive, Napoleon orders him to be taken to the dressing station. Among the hopelessly wounded, Prince Andrei was left in the care of the inhabitants.

Nikolai Rostov comes home on vacation; Denisov goes with him. Rostov is everywhere - both at home and by acquaintances, that is, by all of Moscow - is accepted as a hero; he becomes close to Dolokhov (and becomes one of his seconds in a duel with Bezukhov). Dolokhov proposes to Sonya, but she, in love with Nikolai, refuses; at a farewell feast hosted by Dolokhov for his friends before leaving for the army, he beats Rostov (apparently not quite honestly) for a large sum, as if taking revenge on him for Sonin's refusal.

An atmosphere of love and fun reigns in the Rostovs' house, created primarily by Natasha. She sings beautifully, dances (at the ball at Yogel, the dance teacher, Natasha dances a mazurka with Denisov, which causes general admiration). When Rostov returns home in a depressed state after a loss, he hears Natasha's singing and forgets about everything - about the loss, about Dolokhov: "all this is nonsense <...> but here it is - the real one." Nikolai admits to his father that he lost; when he manages to collect the required amount, he leaves for the army. Denisov, admired by Natasha, asks for her hand in marriage, is refused and leaves.

In December 1805, Prince Vasily visited the Bald Mountains with his youngest son, Anatole; Kuragin's goal was to marry his dissolute son to a wealthy heiress, Princess Marya. The princess was extraordinarily excited by the arrival of Anatole; the old prince did not want this marriage - he did not love the Kuragins and did not want to part with his daughter. By chance, Princess Mary notices Anatole, embracing her French companion, m-lle Bourrienne; to her father's delight, she refuses Anatole.

After the Battle of Austerlitz, the old prince receives a letter from Kutuzov, which says that Prince Andrei "fell a hero worthy of his father and his fatherland." It also says that Bolkonsky was not found among the dead; this allows us to hope that Prince Andrei is alive. Meanwhile, Princess Lisa, Andrey's wife, is about to give birth, and on the very night of the birth, Andrey returns. Princess Lisa dies; on her dead face Bolkonsky reads the question: "What have you done to me?" - the feeling of guilt before the deceased wife no longer leaves him.

Pierre Bezukhov is tormented by the question of his wife's connection with Dolokhov: hints from acquaintances and an anonymous letter constantly raise this question. At a dinner in the Moscow English Club, arranged in honor of Bagration, a quarrel breaks out between Bezukhov and Dolokhov; Pierre challenges Dolokhov to a duel, in which he (who does not know how to shoot and has never held a pistol in his hands before) wounds his opponent. After a difficult explanation with Helen, Pierre leaves Moscow for St. Petersburg, leaving her a power of attorney to manage his Great Russian estates (which makes up most of his fortune).

On the way to St. Petersburg, Bezukhov stops at the post station in Torzhok, where he meets the famous Freemason Osip Alekseevich Bazdeev, who instructs him - disappointed, confused, not knowing how and why to live on - and gives him a letter of recommendation to one of the St. Petersburg Masons. Upon arrival, Pierre joins the Masonic lodge: he is delighted with the truth that has been revealed to him, although the ritual of initiation into Masons confuses him somewhat. Filled with a desire to do good to his neighbors, in particular to his peasants, Pierre goes to his estates in the Kyiv province. There he very zealously embarks on reforms, but, having no "practical tenacity", turns out to be completely deceived by his manager.

Returning from a southern trip, Pierre visits his friend Bolkonsky at his estate, Bogucharovo. After Austerlitz, Prince Andrei firmly decided not to serve anywhere (in order to get rid of active service, he accepted the position of collecting the militia under the command of his father). All his worries are focused on his son. Pierre notices the "faded, dead look" of his friend, his detachment. Pierre's enthusiasm, his new views contrast sharply with Bolkonsky's skeptical mood; Prince Andrei believes that neither schools nor hospitals are needed for the peasants, and serfdom should be abolished not for the peasants - they are used to it - but for the landlords, who are corrupted by unlimited power over other people. When friends go to the Bald Mountains, to the father and sister of Prince Andrei, a conversation takes place between them (on the ferry during the crossing): Pierre sets out to Prince Andrei his new views (“we do not live now only on this piece of land, but have lived and will live forever there, in everything"), and Bolkonsky for the first time after Austerlitz sees the "high, eternal sky"; "something better that was in him suddenly woke up joyfully in his soul." While Pierre was in the Bald Mountains, he enjoyed close, friendly relations not only with Prince Andrei, but also with all his relatives and household; for Bolkonsky, a new life (internally) began from a meeting with Pierre.

Returning from leave to the regiment, Nikolai Rostov felt at home. Everything was clear, known in advance; True, it was necessary to think about what to feed the people and horses - the regiment lost almost half of its people from hunger and disease. Denisov decides to recapture the transport with food assigned to the infantry regiment; Summoned to headquarters, he meets Telyanin there (in the position of Chief Provision Master), beats him and for this he must stand trial. Taking advantage of the fact that he was slightly wounded, Denisov goes to the hospital. Rostov visits Denisov in the hospital - he is struck by the sight of sick soldiers lying on straw and on greatcoats on the floor, and the smell of a rotting body; in the officer's chambers he meets Tushin, who has lost his arm, and Denisov, who, after some persuasion, agrees to submit a request for pardon to the sovereign.

With this letter, Rostov goes to Tilsit, where the meeting of two emperors, Alexander and Napoleon, takes place. At the apartment of Boris Drubetskoy, enlisted in the retinue of the Russian emperor, Nikolai sees yesterday's enemies - French officers, with whom Drubetskoy willingly communicates. All this - both the unexpected friendship of the adored tsar with yesterday's usurper Bonaparte, and the free friendly communication of the retinue officers with the French - all irritates Rostov. He cannot understand why battles were needed, arms and legs torn off, if the emperors are so kind to each other and reward each other and the soldiers of the enemy armies with the highest orders of their countries. By chance, he manages to pass a letter with Denisov's request to a familiar general, who gives it to the tsar, but Alexander refuses: "the law is stronger than me." Terrible doubts in Rostov's soul end with the fact that he convinces familiar officers, like him, who are dissatisfied with the peace with Napoleon, and most importantly, himself that the sovereign knows better what needs to be done. And "our job is to cut and not think," he says, drowning out his doubts with wine.

Those enterprises that Pierre started at home and could not bring to any result were executed by Prince Andrei. He transferred three hundred souls to free cultivators (that is, he freed them from serfdom); replaced corvée with dues on other estates; peasant children began to be taught to read and write, etc. In the spring of 1809, Bolkonsky went on business to the Ryazan estates. On the way, he notices how green and sunny everything is; only the huge old oak "did not want to submit to the charm of spring" - it seems to Prince Andrei in harmony with the sight of this gnarled oak that his life is over.

On guardianship matters, Bolkonsky needs to see Ilya Rostov, the district marshal of the nobility, and Prince Andrei goes to Otradnoye, the Rostov estate. At night, Prince Andrei hears the conversation between Natasha and Sonya: Natasha is full of delight from the charms of the night, and in the soul of Prince Andrei "an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes arose." When - already in July - he passed the very grove where he saw the old gnarled oak, he was transformed: "through the hundred-year-old hard bark, juicy young leaves made their way without knots." “No, life is not over at thirty-one,” Prince Andrei decides; he goes to St. Petersburg to "take an active part in life."

In St. Petersburg, Bolkonsky becomes close to Speransky, the state secretary, an energetic reformer close to the emperor. For Speransky, Prince Andrei feels a feeling of admiration, "similar to the one he once felt for Bonaparte." The prince becomes a member of the commission for drafting the military regulations. At this time, Pierre Bezukhov also lives in St. Petersburg - he became disillusioned with Freemasonry, reconciled (outwardly) with his wife Helen; in the eyes of the world, he is an eccentric and kind fellow, but in his soul "the hard work of inner development" continues.

The Rostovs also end up in St. Petersburg, because the old count, wanting to improve his money matters, comes to the capital to look for places of service. Berg proposes to Vera and marries her. Boris Drubetskoy, already a close friend in the salon of Countess Helen Bezukhova, begins to go to the Rostovs, unable to resist Natasha's charm; in a conversation with her mother, Natasha admits that she is not in love with Boris and is not going to marry him, but she likes that he travels. The countess spoke with Drubetskoy, and he stopped visiting the Rostovs.

On New Year's Eve there should be a ball at the Catherine's grandee. The Rostovs are carefully preparing for the ball; at the ball itself, Natasha experiences fear and timidity, delight and excitement. Prince Andrei invites her to dance, and "the wine of her charms hit him in the head": after the ball, his work in the commission, the speech of the sovereign in the Council, and the activities of Speransky seem insignificant to him. He proposes to Natasha, and the Rostovs accept him, but according to the condition set by the old prince Bolkonsky, the wedding can take place only after a year. This year Bolkonsky is going abroad.

Nikolai Rostov comes on vacation to Otradnoye. He is trying to put the household affairs in order, trying to check the accounts of Mitenka's clerk, but nothing comes of it. In mid-September, Nikolai, the old count, Natasha and Petya, with a pack of dogs and a retinue of hunters, go out on a big hunt. Soon they are joined by their distant relative and neighbor ("uncle"). The old count with his servants let the wolf through, for which the hunter Danilo scolded him, as if forgetting that the count was his master. At this time, another wolf came out to Nikolai, and the dogs of Rostov took him. Later, the hunters met the hunt of a neighbor - Ilagin; the dogs of Ilagin, Rostov and the uncle chased the hare, but his uncle's dog Rugay took it, which delighted the uncle. Then Rostov with Natasha and Petya go to their uncle. After dinner, uncle began to play the guitar, and Natasha went to dance. When they returned to Otradnoye, Natasha admitted that she would never be as happy and calm as now.

Christmas time has come; Natasha languishes from longing for Prince Andrei - for a short time she, like everyone else, is entertained by a trip dressed up to her neighbors, but the thought that "her best time is wasted" torments her. During Christmas time, Nikolai especially acutely felt love for Sonya and announced her to his mother and father, but this conversation upset them very much: the Rostovs hoped that Nikolai's marriage to a rich bride would improve their property circumstances. Nikolai returns to the regiment, and the old count with Sonya and Natasha leaves for Moscow.

Old Bolkonsky also lives in Moscow; he has visibly aged, become more irritable, relations with his daughter have deteriorated, which torments the old man himself, and especially Princess Marya. When Count Rostov and Natasha come to the Bolkonskys, they receive the Rostovs unkindly: the prince - with the calculation, and Princess Mary - herself suffering from awkwardness. Natasha is hurt by this; to console her, Marya Dmitrievna, in whose house the Rostovs were staying, took her a ticket to the opera. In the theater, the Rostovs meet Boris Drubetskoy, now fiancé Julie Karagina, Dolokhov, Helen Bezukhova and her brother Anatole Kuragin. Natasha meets Anatole. Helen invites the Rostovs to her place, where Anatole pursues Natasha, tells her about his love for her. He secretly sends her letters and is going to kidnap her in order to secretly marry (Anatole was already married, but almost no one knew this).

The kidnapping fails - Sonya accidentally finds out about him and confesses to Marya Dmitrievna; Pierre tells Natasha that Anatole is married. Prince Andrei, who has arrived, learns about Natasha's refusal (she sent a letter to Princess Marya) and about her affair with Anatole; he returns Natasha her letters through Pierre. When Pierre comes to Natasha and sees her tear-stained face, he feels sorry for her and at the same time he unexpectedly tells her that if he were "the best person in the world", then "on his knees he would ask for her hand and love" her. In tears of "tenderness and happiness" he leaves.

In June 1812, the war begins, Napoleon becomes the head of the army. Emperor Alexander, having learned that the enemy had crossed the border, sent Adjutant General Balashev to Napoleon. Balashev spends four days with the French, who do not recognize the importance he had at the Russian court, and finally Napoleon receives him in the very palace from which the Russian emperor sent him. Napoleon listens only to himself, not noticing that he often falls into contradictions.

Prince Andrei wants to find Anatoly Kuragin and challenge him to a duel; for this he goes to St. Petersburg, and then to the Turkish army, where he serves at Kutuzov’s headquarters. When Bolkonsky learns about the start of the war with Napoleon, he asks to be transferred to the Western Army; Kutuzov gives him an assignment to Barclay de Tolly and releases him. On the way, Prince Andrei stops by Bald Mountains, where outwardly everything is the same, but the old prince is very annoyed with Princess Marya and noticeably brings mlle Bourienne closer to him. A difficult conversation takes place between the old prince and Andrei, Prince Andrei leaves.

In the Drissa camp, where the headquarters of the Russian army was located, Bolkonsky finds many opposing parties; at the military council, he finally understands that there is no military science, and everything is decided "in the ranks." He asks the sovereign for permission to serve in the army, and not at court.

The Pavlograd regiment, in which Nikolai Rostov still serves, already a captain, retreats from Poland to the Russian borders; none of the hussars think about where and why they are going. On July 12, one of the officers tells in the presence of Rostov about the feat of Raevsky, who brought two sons to the Saltanovskaya dam and went on the attack next to them; This story raises doubts in Rostov: he does not believe the story and does not see the point in such an act, if it really happened. The next day, at the town of Ostrovne, the Rostov squadron hit the French dragoons, who were pushing the Russian lancers. Nikolai captured a French officer "with a room face" - for this he received the St. George Cross, but he himself could not understand what confuses him in this so-called feat.

The Rostovs live in Moscow, Natasha is very ill, doctors visit her; at the end of Peter's Lent, Natasha decides to go to fast. On Sunday, July 12, the Rostovs went to mass at the Razumovskys' home church. Natasha is very strongly impressed by the prayer (“Let us pray to the Lord in peace”). She gradually returns to life and even begins to sing again, which she has not done for a long time. Pierre brings the sovereign's appeal to the Muscovites to the Rostovs, everyone is touched, and Petya asks to be allowed to go to war. Not having received permission, Petya decides the next day to go to meet the sovereign, who is coming to Moscow, in order to express to him his desire to serve the fatherland.

In the crowd of Muscovites greeting the Tsar, Petya was almost run over. Together with others, he stood in front of the Kremlin Palace when the sovereign went out onto the balcony and began throwing biscuits to the people - one biscuit went to Petya. Returning home, Petya resolutely announced that he would certainly go to war, and the old count went the next day to find out how to settle Petya somewhere safer. On the third day of his stay in Moscow, the tsar met with the nobility and merchants. Everyone was in awe. The nobility donated militia, and merchants donated money.

The old Prince Bolkonsky is weakening; despite the fact that Prince Andrei informed his father in a letter that the French were already at Vitebsk and that his family's stay in the Bald Mountains was unsafe, the old prince laid a new garden and a new building on his estate. Prince Nikolai Andreevich sends the manager Alpatych to Smolensk with instructions, he, having arrived in the city, stops at the inn, at the familiar owner - Ferapontov. Alpatych gives the governor a letter from the prince and hears advice to go to Moscow. The bombardment begins, and then the fire of Smolensk. Ferapontov, who previously did not want to even hear about the departure, suddenly begins to distribute bags of food to the soldiers: "Bring everything, guys! <...> I decided! Raceya!" Alpatych meets Prince Andrei, and he writes a note to his sister, offering to urgently leave for Moscow.

For Prince Andrei, the fire of Smolensk "was an epoch" - a feeling of anger against the enemy made him forget his grief. He was called "our prince" in the regiment, they loved him and were proud of him, and he was kind and meek "with his regimental officers." His father, having sent his family to Moscow, decided to stay in the Bald Mountains and defend them "to the last extremity"; Princess Mary does not agree to leave with her nephews and stays with her father. After the departure of Nikolushka, the old prince has a stroke, and he is transported to Bogucharovo. For three weeks, the paralyzed prince lies in Bogucharovo, and finally he dies, asking for forgiveness from his daughter before his death.

Princess Mary, after her father's funeral, is going to leave Bogucharovo for Moscow, but the Bogucharovo peasants do not want to let the princess go. By chance, Rostov turns up in Bogucharovo, easily pacified the peasants, and the princess can leave. Both she and Nikolai think about the will of providence that arranged their meeting.

When Kutuzov is appointed commander-in-chief, he calls on Prince Andrei to himself; he arrives in Tsarevo-Zaimishche, at the main apartment. Kutuzov listens with sympathy to the news of the death of the old prince and invites Prince Andrei to serve at the headquarters, but Bolkonsky asks for permission to remain in the regiment. Denisov, who also arrived at the main apartment, hurries to present Kutuzov with a plan for a guerrilla war, but Kutuzov listens to Denisov (as well as the report of the general on duty) obviously inattentively, as if "by his life experience" despising everything that was said to him. And Prince Andrei leaves Kutuzov completely reassured. “He understands,” Bolkonsky thinks about Kutuzov, “that there is something stronger and more significant than his will, this is the inevitable course of events, and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their meaning <...> And the main thing is that He is Russian".

Same. he speaks before the Battle of Borodino to Pierre, who has come to see the battle. “While Russia was healthy, a stranger could serve it and there was a wonderful minister, but as soon as it is in danger, you need your own, dear person,” Bolkonsky explains the appointment of Kutuzov as commander-in-chief instead of Barclay. During the battle, Prince Andrei was mortally wounded; they bring him to the tent to the dressing station, where he sees Anatol Kuragin on the next table - his leg is being amputated. Bolkonsky is seized with a new feeling - a feeling of compassion and love for everyone, including his enemies.

The appearance of Pierre on the Borodino field is preceded by a description of the Moscow society, where they refused to speak French (and even take a fine for a French word or phrase), where Rostopchinsky posters are distributed, with their pseudo-folk rude tone. Pierre feels a special joyful "sacrificial" feeling: "everything is nonsense in comparison with something," which Pierre could not understand to himself. On the way to Borodino, he meets militiamen and wounded soldiers, one of whom says: "They want to attack with all the people." On the field of Borodin, Bezukhov sees a prayer service before the miraculous icon of Smolensk, meets some of his acquaintances, including Dolokhov, who asks for forgiveness from Pierre.

During the battle, Bezukhov ended up on Raevsky's battery. The soldiers soon get used to him, call him "our master"; when the charges run out, Pierre volunteers to bring new ones, but before he could reach the charging boxes, there was a deafening explosion. Pierre runs to the battery, where the French are already in charge; the French officer and Pierre simultaneously grab each other, but the flying cannonball makes them unclench their hands, and the Russian soldiers who run up drive the French away. Pierre is horrified by the sight of the dead and wounded; he leaves the battlefield and walks along the Mozhaisk road for three versts. He sits on the side of the road; after a while, three soldiers make a fire nearby and invite Pierre to supper. After dinner, they go together to Mozhaisk, on the way they meet the bereator Pierre, who takes Bezukhov to the inn. At night, Pierre has a dream in which a benefactor (as he calls Bazdeev) speaks to him; the voice says that one must be able to unite in one's soul "the meaning of everything." "No," Pierre hears in a dream, "it is not necessary to connect, but it is necessary to conjugate." Pierre returns to Moscow.

Two more characters are given in close-up during the Battle of Borodino: Napoleon and Kutuzov. On the eve of the battle, Napoleon receives a gift from the Empress from Paris - a portrait of his son; he orders the portrait to be taken out to show it to the old guard. Tolstoy claims that Napoleon's orders before the battle of Borodino were no worse than all his other orders, but nothing depended on the will of the French emperor. Near Borodino, the French army suffered a moral defeat - this, according to Tolstoy, is the most important result of the battle.

Kutuzov did not make any orders during the battle: he knew that "an elusive force called the spirit of the army" decides the outcome of the battle, and he led this force "as far as it was in his power." When the adjutant Wolzogen arrives at the commander-in-chief with news from Barclay that the left flank is upset and the troops are fleeing, Kutuzov violently attacks him, claiming that the enemy has been beaten off everywhere and that tomorrow there will be an offensive. And this mood of Kutuzov is transmitted to the soldiers.

After the battle of Borodino, Russian troops retreat to Fili; the main issue that the military leaders are discussing is the question of protecting Moscow. Kutuzov, realizing that there is no way to defend Moscow, gives the order to retreat. At the same time, Rostopchin, not understanding the meaning of what is happening, ascribes to himself the leading role in the abandonment and fire of Moscow - that is, in an event that could not have happened by the will of one person and could not have happened in the circumstances of that time. He advises Pierre to leave Moscow, reminding him of his connection with the Masons, gives the crowd to be torn apart by the merchant's son Vereshchagin and leaves Moscow. The French enter Moscow. Napoleon is standing on Poklonnaya Hill, waiting for the deputation of the boyars and playing generous scenes in his imagination; he is told that Moscow is empty.

On the eve of leaving Moscow, the Rostovs were getting ready to leave. When the carts were already laid, one of the wounded officers (the day before several wounded were taken into the house by the Rostovs) asked permission to go further with the Rostovs in their cart. The countess at first objected - after all, the last fortune was lost - but Natasha convinced her parents to give all the carts to the wounded, and leave most of the things. Among the wounded officers who traveled with the Rostovs from Moscow was Andrei Bolkonsky. In Mytishchi, during another stop, Natasha entered the room where Prince Andrei was lying. Since then, she has looked after him on all holidays and overnight stays.

Pierre did not leave Moscow, but left his home and began to live in the house of Bazdeev's widow. Even before the trip to Borodino, he learned from one of the Masonic brothers that the Apocalypse predicted the invasion of Napoleon; he began to calculate the meaning of the name of Napoleon ("the beast" from the Apocalypse), and this number was equal to 666; the same amount was obtained from the numerical value of his name. So Pierre discovered his destiny - to kill Napoleon. He remains in Moscow and prepares for a great feat. When the French enter Moscow, officer Rambal comes to Bazdeev's house with his batman. The insane brother of Bazdeev, who lived in the same house, shoots at Rambal, but Pierre snatches the pistol from him. During dinner, Rambal frankly tells Pierre about himself, about his love affairs; Pierre tells the Frenchman the story of his love for Natasha. The next morning he goes to the city, no longer believing his intention to kill Napoleon, saves the girl, stands up for the Armenian family, which is robbed by the French; he is arrested by a detachment of French lancers.

Petersburg life, "preoccupied only with ghosts, reflections of life," went on in the old way. Anna Pavlovna Scherer had an evening at which Metropolitan Platon's letter to the sovereign was read and Helen Bezukhova's illness was discussed. The next day, news was received about the abandonment of Moscow; after some time, Colonel Michaud arrived from Kutuzov with the news of the abandonment and fire of Moscow; during a conversation with Michaud, Alexander said that he himself would stand at the head of his army, but would not sign peace. Meanwhile, Napoleon sends Loriston to Kutuzov with an offer of peace, but Kutuzov refuses "any kind of deal." The tsar demanded offensive actions, and, despite Kutuzov's reluctance, the Tarutino battle was given.

One autumn night, Kutuzov receives news that the French have left Moscow. Until the very expulsion of the enemy from the borders of Russia, all the activities of Kutuzov are aimed only at keeping the troops from useless offensives and clashes with the dying enemy. The French army melts in retreat; Kutuzov, on the way from Krasnoye to the main apartment, addresses the soldiers and officers: "While they were strong, we did not feel sorry for ourselves, but now you can feel sorry for them. They are also people." Intrigues do not stop against the commander-in-chief, and in Vilna the sovereign reprimands Kutuzov for his slowness and mistakes. Nevertheless, Kutuzov was awarded George I degree. But in the upcoming campaign - already outside of Russia - Kutuzov is not needed. "There was nothing left for the representative of the people's war but death. And he died."

Nikolai Rostov goes for repairs (to buy horses for the division) to Voronezh, where he meets Princess Marya; he again has thoughts of marrying her, but he is bound by the promise he made to Sonya. Unexpectedly, he receives a letter from Sonya, in which she returns his word to him (the letter was written at the insistence of the Countess). Princess Mary, having learned that her brother is in Yaroslavl, at the Rostovs, goes to him. She sees Natasha, her grief and feels closeness between herself and Natasha. She finds her brother in a state where he already knows that he will die. Natasha understood the meaning of the turning point that occurred in Prince Andrei shortly before her sister's arrival: she tells Princess Marya that Prince Andrei "is too good, he cannot live." When Prince Andrei died, Natasha and Princess Marya experienced "reverent tenderness" before the sacrament of death.

The arrested Pierre is brought to the guardhouse, where he is kept along with other detainees; he is interrogated by French officers, then he gets interrogated by Marshal Davout. Davout was known for his cruelty, but when Pierre and the French marshal exchanged glances, they both vaguely felt that they were brothers. This look saved Pierre. He, along with others, was taken to the place of execution, where the French shot five, and Pierre and the rest of the prisoners were taken to the barracks. The spectacle of the execution had a terrible effect on Bezukhov, in his soul "everything fell into a heap of senseless rubbish." A neighbor in the barracks (his name was Platon Karataev) fed Pierre and reassured him with his affectionate speech. Pierre forever remembered Karataev as the personification of everything "Russian good and round." Plato sews shirts for the French and several times notices that there are different people among the French. A party of prisoners is taken out of Moscow, and together with the retreating army they go along the Smolensk road. During one of the crossings, Karataev falls ill and is killed by the French. After that, Bezukhov has a dream at a halt in which he sees a ball, the surface of which consists of drops. Drops move, move; “Here he is, Karataev, spilled over and disappeared,” Pierre dreams. The next morning, a detachment of prisoners was repulsed by Russian partisans.

Denisov, the commander of the partisan detachment, is about to join forces with a small detachment of Dolokhov to attack a large French transport with Russian prisoners. From the German general, the head of a large detachment, a messenger arrives with a proposal to join in joint action against the French. This messenger was Petya Rostov, who remained for a day in Denisov's detachment. Petya sees Tikhon Shcherbaty returning to the detachment, a peasant who went to "take his tongue" and escaped the chase. Dolokhov arrives and, together with Petya Rostov, goes on reconnaissance to the French. When Petya returns to the detachment, he asks the Cossack to sharpen his saber; he almost falls asleep, and he dreams of the music. The next morning, the detachment attacks the French transport, and Petya dies during the skirmish. Among the captured prisoners was Pierre.

After his release, Pierre is in Orel - he is ill, the physical hardships he has experienced are affecting, but mentally he feels freedom he has never experienced before. He learns about the death of his wife, that Prince Andrei was still alive for a month after being wounded. Arriving in Moscow, Pierre goes to Princess Mary, where he meets Natasha. After the death of Prince Andrei, Natasha closed herself in her grief; She is brought out of this state by the news of Petya's death. She does not leave her mother for three weeks, and only she can ease the grief of the countess. When Princess Marya leaves for Moscow, Natasha, at the insistence of her father, goes with her. Pierre discusses with Princess Mary the possibility of happiness with Natasha; Natasha also awakens love for Pierre.

Seven years have passed. Natasha marries Pierre in 1813. The old Count Rostov is dying. Nikolai retires, accepts an inheritance - the debts turn out to be twice as much as the estates. He, along with his mother and Sonya, settled in Moscow, in a modest apartment. Having met Princess Marya, he tries to be restrained and dry with her (the thought of marrying a rich bride is unpleasant to him), but an explanation takes place between them, and in the fall of 1814 Rostov marries Princess Bolkonskaya. They move to the Bald Mountains; Nikolai skillfully manages the household and soon pays off his debts. Sonya lives in his house; "She, like a cat, took root not with people, but with the house."

In December 1820, Natasha and her children stayed with her brother. They are waiting for Pierre's arrival from Petersburg. Pierre arrives, brings gifts to everyone. In the office between Pierre, Denisov (he is also visiting the Rostovs) and Nikolai, a conversation takes place, Pierre is a member of a secret society; he talks about bad government and the need for change. Nikolai disagrees with Pierre and says that he cannot accept the secret society. During the conversation, Nikolenka Bolkonsky, the son of Prince Andrei, is present. At night, he dreams that he, along with Uncle Pierre, in helmets, as in the book of Plutarch, are walking ahead of a huge army. Nikolenka wakes up with thoughts of her father and the future glory.

Author of the retelling: L. I. Sobolev

Anna Karenina. Roman (1873 - 1877)

In the Moscow house of the Oblonskys, where "everything was mixed up" at the end of the winter of 1873, they were waiting for the owner's sister, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina. The reason for the family discord was that Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky was caught by his wife in treason with a governess. Thirty-four-year-old Stiva Oblonsky sincerely regrets his wife Dolly, but, being a truthful person, does not assure himself that he repents of his deed. Cheerful, kind and carefree Stiva has long been no longer in love with his wife, the mother of five living and two dead children, and has long been unfaithful to her.

Stiva is completely indifferent to the work he does while serving as a boss in one of the Moscow presences, and this allows him to never get carried away, not make mistakes and perfectly fulfill his duties. Friendly, condescending to human shortcomings, charming Stiva enjoys the location of the people of his circle, subordinates, bosses and, in general, everyone with whom his life brings. Debts and family troubles upset him, but they cannot spoil his mood enough to make him refuse to dine in a good restaurant. He is having lunch with Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, who has arrived from the village, his peer and a friend of his youth.

Levin came to propose to the eighteen-year-old Princess Kitty Shcherbatskaya, Oblonsky's sister-in-law, with whom he had long been in love. Levin is sure that such a girl, who is above all earthly things, like Kitty, cannot love him, an ordinary landowner, without special, as he believes, talents. In addition, Oblonsky informs him that, apparently, he has a rival - a brilliant representative of the St. Petersburg "golden youth", Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky.

Kitty knows about Levin's love and feels light and free with him; with Vronsky she experiences an incomprehensible awkwardness. But it is difficult for her to understand her own feelings; she does not know who to give preference to. Kitty does not suspect that Vronsky does not intend to marry her, and dreams of a happy future with him force her to refuse Levin. Meeting his mother, who has arrived from St. Petersburg, Vronsky sees Anna Arkadyevna Karenina at the station. He immediately notices the special expressiveness of Anna’s entire appearance: “It was as if an excess of something filled her being so much that, against her will, it was expressed either in the brilliance of her gaze or in a smile.” The meeting is overshadowed by a sad circumstance: the death of a station watchman under the wheels of a train, which Anna considers a bad omen.

Anna manages to persuade Dolly to forgive her husband; a fragile peace is established in the Oblonskys' house, and Anna goes to the ball together with the Oblonskys and the Shcherbatskys. At the ball, Kitty admires Anna's naturalness and grace, admires that special, poetic inner world that appears in her every movement. Kitty expects a lot from this ball: she is sure that during the mazurka Vronsky will explain himself to her. Unexpectedly, she notices how Vronsky is talking with Anna: in each of their glances, an irresistible attraction to each other is felt, each word decides their fate. Kitty leaves in despair. Anna Karenina returns home to Petersburg; Vronsky follows her.

Blaming himself alone for the failure of the matchmaking, Levin returns to the village. Before leaving, he meets with his older brother Nikolai, who lives in cheap rooms with a woman he took from a brothel. Levin loves his brother, despite his irrepressible nature, which brings a lot of trouble to himself and those around him. Seriously ill, lonely, drinking, Nikolai Levin is fascinated by the communist idea and the organization of some kind of locksmith artel; this saves him from self-contempt. A meeting with his brother exacerbates the shame and dissatisfaction with himself, which Konstantin Dmitrievich experiences after the matchmaking. He calms down only in his family estate Pokrovsky, deciding to work even harder and not allow himself luxury - which, however, had not been in his life before.

The usual Petersburg life, to which Anna returns, causes her disappointment. She had never been in love with her husband, who was much older than her, and had only respect for him. Now his company becomes painful for her, she notices the slightest of his shortcomings: too big ears, the habit of cracking his fingers. Nor does her love for her eight-year-old son Seryozha save her. Anna tries to regain her peace of mind, but she fails - mainly because Alexei Vronsky seeks her favor in every possible way. Vronsky is in love with Anna, and his love is intensified because an affair with a lady of high society makes his position even more brilliant. Despite the fact that his whole inner life is filled with passion for Anna, outwardly Vronsky leads the usual, cheerful and pleasant life of a guards officer: with the Opera, the French theater, balls, horse races and other pleasures. But their relationship with Anna is too different in the eyes of others from easy secular flirting; strong passion causes general condemnation. Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin notices the attitude of the world to his wife's affair with Count Vronsky and expresses his displeasure to Anna. Being a high-ranking official, "Alexey Alexandrovich lived and worked all his life in the spheres of service, dealing with reflections of life. And every time he encountered life itself, he moved away from it." Now he feels himself in the position of a man standing above the abyss.

Karenin's attempts to stop his wife's irresistible desire for Vronsky, Anna's attempts to restrain herself, are unsuccessful. A year after the first meeting, she becomes Vronsky's mistress - realizing that now they are connected forever, like criminals. Vronsky is burdened by the uncertainty of relations, persuades Anna to leave her husband and join her life with him. But Anna cannot decide on a break with Karenin, and even the fact that she is expecting a child from Vronsky does not give her determination.

During the races, which are attended by all the high society, Vronsky falls from his horse Frou-Frou. Not knowing how serious the fall is, Anna expresses her despair so openly that Karenin is forced to take her away immediately. She announces to her husband about her infidelity, about disgust for him. This news produces on Alexei Alexandrovich the impression of a diseased tooth pulled out: he finally gets rid of the suffering of jealousy and leaves for Petersburg, leaving his wife at the dacha awaiting his decision. But, having gone through all the possible options for the future - a duel with Vronsky, a divorce - Karenin decides to leave everything unchanged, punishing and humiliating Anna with the requirement to observe the false appearance of family life under the threat of separation from her son. Having made this decision, Alexey Alexandrovich finds enough calmness to give himself over to reflections on the affairs of the service with his characteristic stubborn ambition. The decision of her husband causes Anna to burst into hatred for him. She considers him a soulless machine, not thinking that she has a soul and the need for love. Anna realizes that she is driven into a corner, because she is unable to exchange her current position for the position of a mistress who left her husband and son and deserves universal contempt.

The remaining uncertainty of relations is also painful for Vronsky, who in the depths of his soul loves order and has an unshakable set of rules of conduct. For the first time in his life, he does not know how to behave further, how to bring his love for Anna into line with the rules of life. In the event of a connection with her, he will be forced to retire, and this is also not easy for him: Vronsky loves regimental life, enjoys the respect of his comrades; besides, he is ambitious.

The life of three people is entangled in a web of lies. Anna's pity for her husband alternates with disgust; she cannot but meet with Vronsky, as Alexey Alexandrovitch demands. Finally, childbirth occurs, during which Anna almost dies. Lying in childbed fever, she asks for forgiveness from Alexei Alexandrovich, and at her bedside he feels pity for his wife, tender compassion and spiritual joy. Vronsky, whom Anna unconsciously rejects, experiences burning shame and humiliation. He tries to shoot himself, but is rescued.

Anna does not die, and when the softening of her soul caused by the proximity of death passes, she again begins to be burdened by her husband. Neither his decency and generosity, nor touching concern for a newborn girl does not save her from irritation; she hates Karenin even for his virtues. A month after her recovery, Anna goes abroad with retired Vronsky and her daughter.

Living in the countryside, Levin takes care of the estate, reads, writes a book on agriculture and undertakes various economic reorganizations that do not find approval among the peasants. The village for Levin is "a place of life, that is, joys, suffering, work." The peasants respect him, for forty miles they go to him for advice - and they strive to deceive him for their own benefit. There is no deliberateness in Levin's attitude towards the people: he considers himself a part of the people, all his interests are connected with the peasants. He admires the strength, meekness, justice of the peasants and is irritated by their carelessness, slovenliness, drunkenness, and lies. In disputes with his half-brother Sergei Ivanovich Koznyshev, who came to visit, Levin proves that zemstvo activities do not benefit the peasants, because they are not based either on knowledge of their true needs, or on the personal interest of the landowners.

Levin feels his merging with nature; he even hears the growth of spring grass. In the summer, he mows with the peasants, feeling the joy of simple labor. Despite all this, he considers his life idle and dreams of changing it to a working, clean and common life. Subtle changes are constantly taking place in his soul, and Levin listens to them. At one time it seems to him that he has found peace and forgotten his dreams of family happiness. But this illusion crumbles to dust when he learns about Kitty's serious illness, and then sees her herself, going to her sister in the village. The feeling that seemed dead again takes possession of his heart, and only in love does he see the opportunity to unravel the great mystery of life.

In Moscow, at a dinner at the Oblonskys, Levin meets Kitty and realizes that she loves him. In a state of high spirits, he proposes to Kitty and receives consent. Immediately after the wedding, the young people leave for the village.

Vronsky and Anna are traveling through Italy. At first, Anna feels happy and full of the joy of life. Even the consciousness that she is separated from her son, that she has lost her honorable name and that she has become the cause of her husband's misfortune, does not overshadow her happiness. Vronsky is lovingly respectful towards her, he does everything to ensure that she is not burdened by her position. But he himself, despite his love for Anna, feels longing and grabs at everything that can give his life significance. He begins painting, but having enough taste, he knows his mediocrity and soon becomes disillusioned with this occupation.

Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Anna clearly feels her rejection: they do not want to accept her, acquaintances avoid meeting her. Insults from the world poison Vronsky's life, but, busy with her experiences, Anna does not want to notice this. On Seryozha's birthday, she secretly goes to him and, finally seeing her son, feeling his love for herself, she realizes that she cannot be happy apart from him. In despair, in irritation, she reproaches Vronsky for falling out of love with her; it costs him great efforts to calm her down, after which they leave for the village.

The first time of married life turns out to be difficult for Kitty and Levin: they hardly get used to each other, charms are replaced by disappointments, quarrels - reconciliations. Family life seems to Levin like a boat: it is pleasant to look at sliding on water, but it is very difficult to rule. Unexpectedly, Levin receives news that brother Nikolai is dying in the provincial town. He immediately goes to him; despite his protests, Kitty decides to go with him. Seeing his brother, experiencing tormenting pity for him, Levin still cannot rid himself of the fear and disgust that the nearness of death arouses in him. He is shocked that Kitty is not at all afraid of the dying man and knows how to behave with him. Levin feels that only the love of his wife saves him in these days from horror and himself.

During Kitty's pregnancy, about which Levin learns on the day of his brother's death, the family continues to live in Pokrovsky, where relatives and friends come for the summer. Levin cherishes the spiritual closeness that he has established with his wife, and is tormented by jealousy, fearing to lose this closeness.

Dolly Oblonskaya, visiting her sister, decides to visit Anna Karenina, who lives with Vronsky on his estate, not far from Pokrovsky. Dolly is struck by the changes that have taken place in Karenina, she feels the falsity of her current way of life, especially noticeable in comparison with her former liveliness and naturalness. Anna entertains guests, tries to take care of her daughter, reading, setting up a village hospital. But her main concern is to replace Vronsky with herself for everything that he left for her sake. Their relationship is becoming more and more tense, Anna is jealous of everything that he is fond of, even of the Zemstvo activities, which Vronsky is engaged in mainly in order not to lose his independence. In the fall, they move to Moscow, waiting for Karenin's decision on a divorce. But, offended in his best feelings, rejected by his wife, finding himself alone, Alexei Alexandrovich falls under the influence of the well-known spiritualist, Princess Myagkaya, who persuades him, for religious reasons, not to give a criminal wife a divorce. In the relationship between Vronsky and Anna there is neither complete discord nor agreement. Anna accuses Vronsky of all the hardships of her position; attacks of desperate jealousy are instantly replaced by tenderness; quarrels break out every now and then. In Anna's dreams, the same nightmare is repeated: some peasant leans over her, mutters meaningless French words and does something terrible to her. After a particularly difficult quarrel, Vronsky, against Anna's wishes, goes to visit his mother. In complete dismay, Anna sees her relationship with him as if by a bright light. She understands that her love is becoming more and more passionate and selfish, and Vronsky, without losing his love for her, is still weary of her and tries not to be dishonorable towards her. Trying to achieve his repentance, she follows him to the station, where she suddenly remembers the man crushed by the train on the day of their first meeting - and immediately understands what she needs to do. Anna throws herself under the train; her last vision is of a mumbling peasant. After that, "the candle, under which she read a book full of anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flared up with a brighter light than ever, illuminated for her everything that had previously been in darkness, crackled, began to fade and went out forever."

Life becomes hateful for Vronsky; he is tormented by an unnecessary, but indelible remorse. He leaves as a volunteer for the war with the Turks in Serbia; Karenin takes his daughter to her.

After Kitty's birth, which became a deep spiritual shock for Levin, the family returns to the village. Levin is in painful disagreement with himself - because after the death of his brother and the birth of his son he cannot resolve for himself the most important questions: the meaning of life, the meaning of death. He feels that he is close to suicide, and is afraid to walk around with a gun so as not to shoot himself. But at the same time, Levin notices: when he does not ask himself why he lives, he feels in his soul the presence of an infallible judge, and his life becomes firm and definite. Finally, he understands that the knowledge of the laws of good, given personally to him, Levin, in the Gospel Revelation, cannot be grasped by reason and expressed in words. Now he feels himself able to put an undeniable sense of goodness into every minute of his life.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

Холстомер. История лошади. Рассказ (1863 - 1885)

At dawn, horses are driven from the manor's horse yard to the meadow. Of the whole herd, the old piebald gelding stands out with a serious, thoughtful look. He does not show impatience, like all other horses, he meekly waits for the old man Nester to saddle him, and sadly watches what is happening, knowing in advance every minute. Having driven the herd to the river, Nester unsaddles the gelding and scratches it under the neck, believing that the horse is pleased. The gelding does not like this scratching, but out of delicacy pretends to be grateful to the person, closes her eyes and shakes her head. And suddenly, for no reason, Nester painfully beats the gelding with a bridle buckle on a dry leg. This incomprehensible evil act upsets the gelding, but he does not show it. Unlike a man, the behavior of the old horse is full of dignity and calm wisdom. When young horses tease and make trouble for him - a brown filly stirs up water in front of his nose, others push and do not allow passage - he forgives his offenders with unfailing dignity and silent pride.

Despite the repulsive signs of decrepitude, the figure of the piebald gelding retains the calmness of its former beauty and strength. His old age is majestic and ugly at the same time. And this causes resentment and contempt among horses. "Horses pity only themselves and occasionally only those in whose shoes they can easily imagine themselves." And all night in the horse yard, obeying the herd instinct, the whole herd drives the old gelding, hooves are heard on thin sides and heavy grunting. And the gelding cannot stand it, stops in impotent despair and begins a story about his life. The story lasts for five nights, and during the breaks, during the day, the horses are already respectfully treating the gelding.

He is born from the Dear First and Baba. According to the pedigree, his name is Muzhik the first, and in the street - Kholstomer. So people call it for a long and sweeping move. From the first days of his life, he feels the love of his mother and the surprise that causes others. He is piebald, unusual, not like everyone else. The first grief in life is the loss of the love of a mother who already carries a little brother in herself. The first love for the beautiful filly Vyazopurikha ends, ending with the most important change in Kholstomer's life - he is emasculated so as not to continue in the piebald family. His difference from all gives rise to a tendency to seriousness and thoughtfulness. The young gelding notices that people are guided in life not by deeds, but by words. And the main thing among the words is "mine". This word changes the behavior of people, makes them often lie, pretend and not be what they really are. This word was the reason why the gelding is passed from hand to hand. Although he bypasses the famous trotter Swan, Kholstomer is still sold to a horse-dealer: because he is piebald and does not belong to the count, but to the stableman.

He is bought by a hussar officer, with whom the gelding spends the best time of his life. The owner is handsome, rich, cold and cruel - and dependence on such a person makes Kholstomer’s love for him especially strong. The owner needs an unusual horse in order to stand out even more in the world, to ride to his mistress, to rush along Kuznetsky so that everyone will stay away and look around. And Kholstomer serves selflessly, thinking: “Kill me, drive me, <...> the happier I will be.” He admires the owner and himself next to him. But one rainy day, the mistress leaves the officer and leaves with another. The hussar, in pursuit of her, drives Kholstomer. He trembles all night and cannot eat. The next morning they give him water, and he forever ceases to be the horse he was. The canvas merchant is sold to a dealer, then to an old woman, a merchant, a peasant, a gypsy, and finally to the local clerk.

When the herd returns from the meadow the next evening, the owner shows the best, most expensive horses to the visiting guest. The guest reluctantly praises. Passing Kholstomer, he pats him on the rump and says that he once had the same "painted" gelding. Strider recognizes in the flabby old man his former beloved master, the hussar.

In a manor house, in a luxurious living room, the owner, hostess and guest are sitting at tea. Former hussar Nikita Serpukhovsky is now over forty. Once very beautiful, now he has fallen "physically, and morally, and financially." He squandered a fortune of two million and still owes a hundred and twenty thousand. And so the sight of the happiness of the young master humiliates Serpukhovsky. He tries to talk about his past, when he was handsome, rich, happy. The owner interrupts him and talks about his current life, boasting about what he has. This boring conversation for both, in which they do not hear each other, continues until the morning, until Serpukhovskaya gets drunk and, staggering, goes to bed. He does not even have the strength to undress completely - in one unremoved boot, he falls on the bed and snores, filling the room with the smell of tobacco, wine and dirty old age.

At night, the herdsman Vaska rides Kholstomer to the tavern and keeps him tied until morning next to the peasant's horse, from which the scab passes to the gelding. Five days later, Kholstomer is not driven into the field, but is led behind the barn. When his throat is cut, it seems to him that, together with a large stream of blood, the whole burden of life comes out of him. He is skinned. Dogs, crows and kites take away the horse meat, at night the she-wolf also comes; a week later, only bones are lying around the barn. But then the peasant takes away these bones and puts them into action.

"The dead body of Serpukhovsky, who walked around the world, ate and drank, was removed to the ground much later." And to hide there a rotting, worm-infested body in a new uniform and polished boots was an unnecessary, unnecessary embarrassment for people.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

Death of Ivan Ilyich. Tale (1884 - 1886)

During a break in the meeting, members of the Trial Chamber learn from the newspaper about the death of Ivan Ilyich Golovin, which followed on February 4, 1882 after several weeks of incurable illness. The deceased’s comrades, who loved him, involuntarily calculate possible career moves now, and everyone thinks: “What, he died; but I’m not.”

At the memorial service, everyone experiences an awkward feeling caused by the realization of the general pretense of grief. The only calm, and therefore significant, face of Ivan Ilyich, on which was "an expression that what needed to be done was done, and done correctly. In addition, in this expression there was also a reproach or a reminder to the living." The widow Praskovya Fyodorovna is trying to find out from Pyotr Ivanovich, whom she calls "a true friend of Ivan Ilyich", whether it is possible to get more money from the treasury on the occasion of death. Pyotr Ivanovich cannot advise anything and says goodbye. It is pleasant for him to inhale the clean air in the street after the smell of incense and a corpse, and he hurries to his friend Fyodor Vasilyevich so as not to be too late for the card game.

"The past history of Ivan Ilyich's life was the simplest, and the most ordinary, and the most terrible." His father, a Privy Councilor, had three sons. The eldest, cold and tidy, made the same career as his father. The younger one was a loser, his relatives did not like to meet him and did not remember him unless it was absolutely necessary. Ivan Ilyich was average between the brothers not only in age, but also in everything that makes up and directs human life. In his youth, his qualities were already determined, which later did not change - Ivan Ilyich was an intelligent, capable, lively and sociable person, strictly fulfilling the rules of life adopted by people standing above him. If he ever deviated from these rules, he justified himself by the fact that such actions were committed by high-ranking people and were not considered bad, and calmed down.

Having finished the course of jurisprudence well, Ivan Ilyich, with the help of his father, receives the position of an official for special assignments in the province. He serves honestly, is proud of his honesty, at the same time he has pleasant and decent fun - within the limits of the norms of decency accepted in society, he makes a good career. He becomes a judicial investigator - a new appointment requires a move to another province. Ivan Ilyich leaves his old connections and makes new ones so that his life becomes even more pleasant. He meets his future wife, and, although he could count on a more brilliant party, he decides to marry, since the bride is pleasant to him and, moreover, Ivan Ilyich's choice looks right in the eyes of people who are higher than him in the world.

The first time after the wedding, Ivan Ilyich's life does not change and even becomes more pleasant and approved by society. But gradually, especially with the birth of the first child, married life becomes more complicated, and Ivan Ilyich develops a certain attitude towards her. He demands from marriage only those conveniences that he finds, replenishing the feeling of his own independence in the affairs of the service. This attitude is bearing fruit - in public opinion, Ivan Ilyich is accepted both as a good family man and as a good campaigner. Three years later he was made a fellow prosecutor and after seven years of service in one city he was transferred to the position of prosecutor in another province.

Seventeen years have passed since the marriage. During this time, five children were born, three of them died, the eldest daughter is already sixteen years old, she is studying at home, Praskovya Fedorovna sends the boy to the gymnasium to spite her husband, who wanted to see his son study law. Praskovya Fedorovna blames her husband for all the discord and hardships of the family, but he avoids quarrels. The entire interest of Ivan Ilyich's life is absorbed by service. There is not enough money to live on, and Ivan Ilyich in 1880, the most difficult year in his life, decides to go to St. Petersburg to ask for a place with a salary of five thousand. This trip ends with amazing, unexpected success. Life, which had been faltering, again takes on the character of pleasantness and decency.

Looking around the new apartment, Ivan Ilyich falls down the stairs and hits his side against the handle of the window frame. The bruise hurts, but soon passes. Despite some disagreements, family life proceeds safely and is filled with the worries of the new device. Ivan Ilyich's service goes on easily and pleasantly, he even feels the virtuosity with which he conducts his business.

He is healthy - the strange taste in his mouth and the uneasiness in the left side of his stomach cannot be called unhealthy. But over time, this awkwardness turns into heaviness, then into pain, which is accompanied by a bad mood. He becomes increasingly irritated, especially after his wife insists on seeing a doctor. Ivan Ilyich obeys her and undergoes humiliating, from his point of view, medical examinations. The doctors evade direct answers to questions about the danger of the disease, and this irritates Ivan Ilyich even more. He fulfills all the doctors’ orders, finding consolation in this, but the pain intensifies. The wife constantly makes comments, finding that Ivan Ilyich is not strictly following the prescribed treatment. At work, he begins to notice that they are looking at him as a person who can free up space. The disease is progressing. And no longer with irritation, but with horror and physical torment, he does not sleep at night, suffers without a single person nearby who could understand and regret. The pain intensifies, and in the intervals of relief, Ivan Ilyich understands that it is not about the kidney, not about the disease, but “about life and <...> death. Yes, there was life and now it is leaving, leaving, and I cannot hold on to it. Then I was here, and now there! Where? <...> Was it really death? No, I don’t want to.” He always waits with annoyance for his wife, who comes to help him, to leave, and keeps thinking about pain, about death, calling it for himself the short word “she.” He knows that he is dying, but he cannot understand it. And the remembered syllogism: “Kai is a man, people are mortal, therefore Kai is mortal,” he cannot apply to himself.

In the terrible situation of Ivan Ilyich, consolation appears to him. This is a clean, fresh peasant Gerasim, a servant assigned to care for the dying. The simplicity and ease with which Gerasim performs his duties touches Ivan Ilyich. He feels Gerasim's inability to lie and pretend in the face of death, and this, in a strange way, calms Ivan Ilyich. He asks Gerasim to keep his legs on his shoulders for a long time, in this position the pain goes away, and Ivan Ilyich likes to talk with Gerasim at the same time. Gerasim pities Ivan Ilyich simply and truly.

The last days are coming, filled with physical and moral torments. Meetings with family members, with doctors, make Ivan Ilyich suffer, and when these people leave, he feels that the lie is leaving with them, but the pain remains. And he sends for Gerasim.

When Ivan Ilyich becomes very ill, he takes communion. When asked by his wife if he is better, he replies: "Yes." And along with this word, he sees all the deceit that hides life and death. Since that moment, for three days he has been screaming, without ceasing, one sound "Oooh!", Remaining from the cry "I don't want to!". An hour before his death, his son, a gymnasium student, makes his way to him, and Ivan Ilyich's hand falls on his head. The son grabs his hand, presses it to his lips and cries. Ivan Ilyich sees his son and feels sorry for him. The son is taken away. Ivan Ilyich listens to pain, looks for the habitual fear of death and does not find it. Instead of death, there is light. "Death is over, it is no more," he says to himself, stops at half a breath, stretches and dies.

Author of the retelling: V. M. Sotnikov

The power of darkness, or the Claw is stuck, the whole bird is lost. Drama (1886)

Autumn. In the spacious hut of a wealthy, sickly man, Peter, his wife Anisya, Akulina, his daughter from his first marriage, are singing songs. The owner himself once again calls and scolds, threatening to kill Nikita, a dapper guy of about twenty-five, a lazy worker and a walker. Anisya angrily stands up for him, and Anyutka, their ten-year-old daughter, runs into the upper room with a story about the arrival of Matryona and Akim, Nikita’s parents. Hearing about Nikitina's upcoming marriage, Anisya "became enraged <...> like a sheep in a circle" and attacked Peter even more angrily, planning to disrupt the wedding by any means necessary. Akulina knows her stepmother's secret intentions. Nikita reveals to Anisya his father’s desire to force him to marry the orphan girl Marinka. Anisya warns: if anything happens... “I’ll make up my mind about life! I sinned, I broke the law, but I can’t stop tossing and turning.” When Peter dies, he promises to take Nikita into the house and cover all his sins at once.

Matryona finds them hugging, sympathizes with Anisya’s life with the old man, promises to stop Akim and finally, having secretly agreed, leaves her sleeping powders, a potion to intoxicate her husband - “there is no spirit, but great power...”. Having argued with Peter and Akim, Matryona defames the girl Marina, the artel cook, whom Nikita deceived, having previously lived on a cast iron stove. Nikita lazily denies it in public, although he is “afraid to swear in lies.” To Matryona’s joy, their son is kept as an employee for another year.

From Anyuta, Nikita learns about Marina’s arrival, about her suspicions and jealousy. Akulina hears from the closet how Nikita drove Marina away: “You offended her <...> that’s how you’ll offend me <...> you dog.”

Six months pass. Dying Peter calls Anisya and orders Akulina to be sent for her sister. Anisya hesitates, looks for money and cannot find it. As if by chance, Matryona comes to visit her son with the news of Marinka’s wedding with widower Semyon Matveevich. Matryona and Anisya talk face to face about the effects of the powders, but Matryona warns to keep everything secret from Nikita - “he’s very pitiful.” Anisya is a coward. At this moment, holding onto the wall, Peter crawls out onto the porch and asks once again to send Anyutka for his sister Martha. Matryona sends Anisya to immediately search all the places to find money, and she sits down on the porch with Peter. Nikita drives up to the gate. The owner asks him about the plowing, says goodbye, and Matryona takes him to the hut. Anisya rushes about, begs Nikita for help. The money is being found right on Peter - Matryona groped, hurries Anisya to quickly put on the samovar before her sister arrives, and she instructs Nikita, first of all, “not to miss the money,” and only then “the woman will be in her hands.” “If <...> starts snoring <...> it can be shortened.” And then Anisya runs out of the hut, pale, beside herself, carrying money under her apron: “He just died. I was filming, he didn’t even smell it.” Matryona, taking advantage of her confusion, immediately transfers the money to Nikita, ahead of the arrival of Marfa and Akulina. They begin to wash the deceased.

Another nine months pass. Winter. Anisya, undressed, sits at the camp, weaves, waits for Nikita and Akulina from the city and, together with the worker Mitrich, Anyuta and her godfather who has dropped in on the light, discuss Akulina’s outfits, shamelessness (“a disheveled girl, not a freeloader, but now she’s overdressed, swollen like a bubble on water, I, he says, am the mistress"), evil disposition, unsuccessful attempts to marry her off and get her together quickly, Nikita's dissipation and drunkenness. “They entwined me, put them on me so cleverly <...> I foolishly didn’t notice anything <...> but they agreed,” Anisya groans.

The door opens. Akim comes in to ask Nikita for money for a new horse. At dinner, Anisya complains about Nikita’s “indulgence” and outrages, asking for reassurance. To which Akim responds with one thing: “...They forgot God” and talks about Marinka’s good life.

Nikita, drunk, with a bag, a bundle and paper purchases, stops on the threshold and begins to swagger, not noticing his father. Next comes the discharged Akulina. At Akim’s request, Nikita takes out the money and calls everyone to drink tea, ordering Anisya to put on the samovar. Anisya returns from the closet with a pipe and a tabletop and brushes off the little shawl bought by Akulina. A quarrel breaks out. Nikita pushes Anisya out, saying to Akulina: “I am the owner <...> I stopped loving her, I fell in love with you. My power. And her arrest.” Amused, he returns Anisya and takes out some liquor and treats. Everyone gathers at the table, only Akim, seeing that life is not going well, refuses money, food and lodging for the night, and, leaving, prophesies: “to destruction, that means, my son, to destruction...”

On an autumn evening, talking and drunken screams can be heard in the hut. Akulina's matchmakers are leaving. The neighbors gossip about the dowry. The bride herself lies in the barn, sick to her stomach. “In the eyes,” Matryona persuades the matchmakers, “otherwise, “the girl is like a cast woman - you can’t pinch her.” After seeing off the guests, Anyutka runs into the yard to see Anisya: Akulina has gone into the barn, “I won’t get married, she says, I’ll die,” she says. The squeak of a newborn is heard. Matryona and Anisya are in a hurry to hide it, they push Nikita into the cellar to dig a hole - “Mother Earth will not tell anyone how a cow will lick it with her tongue.” Nikita snaps at Anisya: “...she’s disgusted me <...> And here are these powders <...> Yes, if I knew, I would have killed her, the bitch then!” He hesitates, persists: “What a thing this is! A living soul too...” - and yet he gives up, takes the baby wrapped in rags, and suffers. Anisya snatches the child from his hands, throws him into the cellar and pushes Nikita down: “Strangle him quickly, he won’t be alive!” Soon Nikita crawls out of the cellar, shaking all over, rushes at his mother and Anisya with a scraper, then stops, runs back, listens, begins to rush about: “What did they do to me? <...> Squeaked like <...> As the bottom crunches me. And everyone is alive, really, alive <...> I made up my mind about my life..."

Guests walk at Akulina's wedding. Songs and bells can be heard in the courtyard. Along the path past the barn, where the drunken Mitrich fell asleep in the straw with a rope in his hands, two girls walk: “Akulina <...> never howled...” Marina catches up with the girls and, while waiting for her husband Semyon, sees Nikita, who left the wedding : "...And most of all, Marinushka, I feel sick that I am alone and have no one to share my grief with..." Semyon interrupts the conversation and takes his wife to the guests. Nikita, left alone, takes off his boots and picks up a rope, makes a noose out of it, puts it around his neck, but notices Matryona, and behind her is an elegant, beautiful, tipsy Anisya. In the end, as if agreeing to the persuasion, he gets up, picks the straw off himself, sending them forward. Having sent his mother and wife out, he sits down again and takes off his shoes. And suddenly Mitrich’s drunken muttering: “I’m not afraid of anyone <...> I’m not afraid of people...” seems to give strength and determination to Nikita.

In a hut full of people, Akulina and her groom are waiting for the blessing of their “stepfather.” Among the guests is Marina, her husband and a police officer. When Anisya delivers the wine, the songs fall silent. Nikita enters, barefoot, leading Akim with him, and, instead of taking the icon, falls to his knees and repents, to Akim’s delight, - “God’s work is going on...” - of all his sins - of guilt before Marina, of violent death Peter, the seduction of Akulina and the murder of her baby: “I poisoned the father, I killed the dog and the daughter <...> I did it, I alone!” He bows to his father: “...you told me: “The claw got stuck, and the whole bird is lost.” Akim hugs him. The wedding is upset. The constable calls witnesses to interrogate everyone and tie up Nikita.

Author of the retelling: E. N. Penskaya

The fruits of enlightenment. Comedy (1889)

In St. Petersburg, in the rich house of the Zvezdintsevs, the handsome and depraved lackey Grigory admires himself for a long time in front of a mirror, lazily responding to the repeated calls of Vasily Leonidich, the master's son, flirting with Tanya, a cheerful and energetic maid.

In the usual morning turmoil, servants scurry about, visitors are constantly ringing at the door: Bourdieu’s artel with a dress and a note for the lady, Sakhatov Sergey Ivanovich, a former comrade of the minister, an elegant gentleman, free and interested in everything in the world, a doctor who regularly observes the lady, Yakov the bartender , always guilty, awkward and shy. A conversation about spiritualism begins and ends between the doctor and Sakhatov. The valet Fyodor Ivanovich, a "lover" of education and politics, a smart and kind person, manages all the running around.

New doorbell. The porter reports the arrival of peasants from the Kursk village, fussing about buying land. Among them is Mitriy Chilikin, the father of the barman Semyon, Tanya's fiancé. While Fyodor Ivanovich is with the master, the peasants with the gifts are waiting under the stairs.

In the growing bustle - between the "eternal" conversation with Sakhatov about spiritualism, the questions of the artel worker, the explanations of Fyodor Ivanovich, the new guest of his son - Leonid Fedorovich Zvezdintsev, a retired lieutenant of the horse guards, the owner of twenty-four thousand dessiatines, a gentle, pleasant gentleman - after long explanations The men finally understand their request: to accept the amount collected by the whole world, four thousand silver rubles at once, and the rest of the money in installments - as agreed last year. “That was last year; then I agreed, but now I can’t,” Leonid Fedorovich refuses. The men ask, insist: “I gave you hope, we also straightened the paper...” Leonid Fedorovich promises to think and takes the paper to his office, leaving the peasants in despondency.

At this time, Vasily Leonidovich, who, as always, desperately needs money for his next venture, having learned the reason for the men’s arrival, unsuccessfully tries to beg his father and in the end receives the required amount from his mother. The men, watching the young master, talk to each other in bewilderment. “For food, say, the parents were left...”; “This one will feed you, to be sure.”

Meanwhile, Betsy, the youngest daughter of the Zvezdintsevs, flirting with Petrishchev, a friend of her brother, chatting with Marya Konstantinovna, a music teacher, finally releases the artel from Bourdieu, who is still waiting in the hall: her mother refused to pay for the dress - Betsy's fancy dress - indecent, too open. Betsy pouts: Vovo's brother has just received three hundred rubles to buy dogs. Young people gather at Vasily Leonidich's to sing to the guitar. The men, waiting for a decision, marvel at what is happening.

Semyon returns, having completed the usual orders of the lady. Tanya watches with concern the meeting between father and son, as they must agree on a wedding. The men are looking forward to Fedor Ivanovich, from whom they learn that Leonid Fedorovich is "in session". Soon, Leonid Fedorovich himself announced the decision: the spirits ordered to refuse and not to sign the paper.

The confused peasants are suddenly noticed by a lady who is obsessed with cleanliness and fear of contracting germs. A cry rises, the lady demands complete disinfection, returns the doctor, who has just been released before the start of the evening seance. The doctor advises to do it “cheaply and cheerfully”: add a tablespoon of salicylic acid to a bottle of water, wash everything, and “these fellows, of course, get out.” The lady, on the go, coming up with instructions for the servants - the main thing is not to catch a cold in her beloved dog Fifka - leaves. Petrishchev and Vasily Leonidych, satisfied, count the money they received from maman.

In the absence of the gentlemen, Tanya is slowly bringing the men back again. They beg Fyodor Ivanovich to intercede for them again. After a new failure, Tanya suddenly realizes that if the paper “just needs to be signed,” she could help: she takes the “document,” sends the men out into the street, and through Fyodor Ivanovich she calls the master to “say a word” in confidence, face to face , and it is revealed to him that Semyon wants to marry her, but there is “spiritualism” behind him - he will sit down at the table, and the spoon will fall into his hands - he will jump... Isn’t this dangerous? Leonid Fedorovich calms Tanya down and, to his delight, exactly according to her plan, gives orders to Fedor Ivanovich, while he himself considers how to install Semyon with a new medium at the next session. Finally, Tanya asks Fyodor Ivanovich “instead of her own father” to be her matchmaker and talk with Semyon’s father.

At the beginning of the second act, the men and Fyodor Ivanovich are discussing matters in the people's kitchen: matchmaking, sale of land, city and country life, Tanino's promise to help. Their conversation is interrupted by the efforts of the cook, the complaints of the coachman - three male dogs were brought from Vasily Leoniditch - “either the dogs live in the coachman’s room, or the coachmen live.” After Fyodor Ivanovich leaves, the cook explains to the men the delights of the lordly life and the dangers of the “sweet life”: always white rolls for tea, sugar, various dishes, from classes - cards and piano in the morning, balls and masquerades. Easy work and free food spoil the common man. There are many such weakened, dead creatures - the old drunken cook on the stove, the girl Natalya, who died in the hospital. In the kitchen - a busy place - there is a lot of hustle and bustle, people change. Semyon, before sitting down with the gentlemen, drops in for a moment to exchange a few words with his father - “if, God willing, we will be happy about the land, because I, Semka, will take you home.” Tanya runs in, hurries up the servants, treats the men, telling them incidents from the master’s life as she goes. “That’s it, it seems like life is good, but other times it’s disgusting to clean up all this nasty stuff after them,” and finally shows a piece of paper from behind his apron: “I try, I try... If only one thing would be a success... "

Vasily Leonidovich and Sakhatov appear in the kitchen. The same conversation with the men about the sale of land is repeated. Sakhatov hides the spoon in the bag of one of them, and they leave. The rest go to bed for the night and turn off the lights. Silence, sighs. Then the clatter of steps, the noise of voices are heard, the doors open wide and quickly tumble in: Grosman with a blindfold, holding Sakhatov’s hand, a professor and a doctor, a fat lady and Leonid Fedorovich, Betsy and Petrishchev, Vasily Leonidych and Marya Konstantinovna, a lady and a baroness, Fedor Ivanovich and Tanya. The men jump up. They walk and search. Grosman trips over the bench. The lady notices the men and again becomes hysterical: there is a “diphtheria infection” all around. They don’t pay attention to it, everyone is so busy looking for the object. Grosman, after circling around the kitchen, bends over to the third man’s purse and takes out a spoon. General delight. The same ones, without Betsy, Marya Konstantinovna, Petrishchev and Vasily Leonidych, under the supervision of a doctor, check Grosman’s temperature and pulse, interrupting each other, discussing the nature of hypnosis. The lady nevertheless creates a scandal for Leonid Fedorovich: “You only know your own stupidity, but the house is mine. You will infect everyone.” He drives the men away and leaves in tears. With a sigh, Tanya escorts the peasants to the janitor's room.

That evening, in Leonid Fedorovich’s living room, the former guests gathered to conduct “experiments.” They are looking forward to Semyon, a new medium. Tanya is hiding in the room. Betsy notices her, and Tanya reveals her plan to her. After Betsy leaves, she and Fyodor Ivanovich clean the room: a table in the middle, chairs, a guitar, harmony. They are worried about Semyon - whether he is clean. Semyon appears in his undershirt, washed. He is instructed: “Don’t think, but surrender to the mood: if you want to sleep, sleep, if you want to walk, walk <...> You can come up for air...” When Semyon is left alone, Tanya appears silently next to him. Semyon repeats her lessons: "...wet the matches. Wave - one. <...> chatter your teeth - two. I forgot the third..." - "And the third - most of all: as soon as the paper falls on the table - I I’ll ring the bell again, so you immediately grab it with your hands <...> And as soon as you grab it, press it <...> as if in a dream <...> And when I start playing the guitar, it’s as if you’re waking up. ..” Everything happens according to Tanya’s scenario. The paper is signed. The guests disperse, animatedly sharing their impressions. Tanya is alone, crawls out from under the sofa and laughs. Gregory notices her and threatens to tell her about her tricks and tomfoolery. The theater presents the scenery of the first act. Two “foreign” traveling lackeys. The princess and princess descend from above. Betsy accompanies them. The princess looks at the book, reads the schedule of her visits, Grigory puts on her shoes, then puts on the shoes of the young princess. In parting, they remember the last session. Grigory argues with the lackeys about the difference between their “low” position and the master’s: “There is no difference. Today I am a lackey, and tomorrow, perhaps, I will live no worse than them.” leaves to smoke. Following him: “Oh, they don’t like such fidgets.” Petrishchev runs down from above and Koko Klingen meets him. They exchange charades, make puns, prepare for a rehearsal for a home performance, for a masquerade. Betsy joins them, laughingly talking about yesterday's spiritualist "performance" at her father's. Their chirping alternates with the conversations of the lackeys' servants and the slow Yakov. Tanya joins them: she has already given the paper to the men. All that remains is to beg the owners to give an estimate - “you can’t stay here.” She and Yakov again ask for Fyodor Ivanovich’s intercession, each for his own reason.

While seeing off the old countess with fake hair and teeth, in front of Fyodor Ivanovich, the lady, and lackeys, a fight suddenly breaks out between Grigory and Semyon. In response to the lady’s anger, Fyodor Ivanovich’s attempts to justify Semyon, Grigory reveals their conspiracy with Tanya and the “cheating” in the session. “If it weren’t for her, the paper would not have been signed and the land would not have been sold to the peasants.” Scandal. And then there are men rushing through the door to give money past the doorman. The lady upsets the case, shames Leonid Fedorovich in front of everyone, interrogates Tanya, and threatens to file a lawsuit with the magistrate because of the loss she caused for several thousand. But thanks to Betsy’s intervention, confession of complicity, the professor’s reports about the thirteenth congress of spiritualists in Chicago, a new attack of the lady’s rage against Jacob (“Get out, now get out!”) and fear of the “sick” (“rash on the nose,” “reservoir of infection”) ") - in the confusion, the men finally accept the money and Tanya is sent home to prepare for the wedding. Fyodor Ivanovich said goodbye to her: “... when you live in a house, I’ll come to stay with you...”

Author of the retelling: E. N. Penskaya

Kreutzer Sonata. Tale (1887 - 1889, published 1890)

Early spring. End of the century. There is a train in Russia. There is a lively conversation going on in the carriage; a merchant, a clerk, a lawyer, a smoking lady and other passengers are arguing about the women's question, about marriage and free love. Only love illuminates a marriage, says the smoking lady. Here, in the middle of her speech, a strange sound is heard, as it were, of interrupted laughter or sobbing, and a certain not yet old, gray-haired gentleman with impetuous movements intervenes in the general conversation. Until now, he had responded sharply and briefly to the neighbors' conversations, avoiding communication and acquaintance, but he smoked more and more, looked out the window or drank tea, and at the same time was clearly burdened by his loneliness. So what kind of love, sir asks, what do you mean by true love? Preferring one person over another? But for how long? For a year, for a month, for an hour? After all, this only happens in novels, never in real life. Spiritual affinity? Unity of ideals? But in this case, there is no need to sleep together. Oh, you know me, right? How not? Yes, I am the same Pozdnyshev who killed his wife. Everyone is silent, the conversation is spoiled.

Here is the true story of Pozdnyshev, told by him that same night to one of his fellow travelers, the story of how he was led by this very love to what happened to him. Pozdnyshev, a landowner and university candidate (he was even the leader) lived before his marriage, like everyone else in his circle. He lived (in his current opinion) depravedly, but, living depravedly, he believed that he was living as he should, even morally. He was not a seducer, did not have “unnatural tastes”, did not make debauchery the goal of his life, but gave himself up to it sedately, decently, rather for the sake of health, avoiding women who could tie him up. Meanwhile, he could no longer have a pure relationship with a woman; he was, as they say, a “fornicator,” like a morphine addict, a drunkard, and a smoker. Then, as Pozdnyshev put it, without going into details, all sorts of deviations began. He lived like this until he was thirty, not abandoning, however, the desire to arrange for himself the most elevated, “pure” family life, looking closely at girls for this purpose, and finally found one, one of the two daughters of a bankrupt Penza landowner, whom he considered worthy of himself. One evening they rode in a boat and returned home at night, by moonlight. Pozdnyshev admired her slender figure, covered in jersey (he remembered this well), and suddenly decided that it was her. It seemed to him that she understood at that moment everything that he was feeling, and he, as it seemed to him then, was thinking the most sublime things, and in fact, the jersey especially suited her, and after spending the day with her he returned home in delight , confident that she was “the pinnacle of moral perfection,” and proposed the next day. Since he did not marry for money or connections (she was poor), and besides, he had the intention of maintaining “monogamy” after marriage, his pride knew no bounds. (I was a terrible pig, but I imagined that I was an angel, Pozdnyshev admitted to his traveling companion.) However, everything immediately went awry, the honeymoon did not work out. It was disgusting, embarrassing and boring all the time. On the third or fourth day, Pozdnyshev found his wife bored, began asking questions, hugged her, she began to cry, unable to explain. And she felt sad and heavy, and her face expressed unexpected coldness and hostility. How? What? Love is a union of souls, but instead this is what! Pozdnyshev shuddered. Has love been exhausted by the satisfaction of sensuality and they have remained complete strangers to each other? Pozdnyshev did not yet understand that this hostility was normal and not a temporary state. But then another quarrel occurred, then another, and Pozdnyshev felt that he was “caught,” that marriage was not something pleasant, but, on the contrary, very difficult, but he did not want to admit it to himself or others. (This anger, he later reasoned, was nothing more than a protest of human nature against the “animal” that suppressed it, but then he thought that his wife’s bad character was to blame.)

At the age of eight they had five children, but life with children was not joy, but torment. The wife was child-loving and gullible, and family life turned out to be a constant salvation from imaginary or real dangers. The presence of children gave new reasons for discord, and relations became more and more hostile. By the fourth year they were talking simply: “What time is it? It’s time to go to bed. What’s lunch today? Where to go? What’s written in the newspaper? Send for the doctor. Masha’s throat hurts.” He watched her pour the tea, lift the spoon to her mouth, slurp, sucking in the liquid, and he hated her for that very reason. “It’s good for you to grimace,” he thought, “you’ve tormented me with scenes all night, and I have a meeting.” “You feel good,” she thought, “but I didn’t sleep with the baby all night.” And they not only thought so, but also spoke, and would have lived like this, as if in a fog, not understanding themselves, if what had happened had not happened. His wife seemed to have woken up since she stopped giving birth (the doctors suggested remedies), and the constant worry about the children began to subside, as if she had woken up and seen the whole world with its joys, which she had forgotten about. Oh, don't miss it! Time will pass, you can’t turn it back! From her youth she was taught that there is only one thing worthy of attention in the world - love; when she got married, she received some of this love, but not all that was expected. Love with her husband was no longer the same, she began to imagine some other, new, pure love, and she began to look around, expecting something, again took up the piano that had been abandoned before... And then this man appeared.

He was a musician, violinist, the son of a bankrupt landowner, who graduated from the Conservatory in Paris and returned to Russia. His name was Trukhachevsky. (Pozdnyshev even now could not talk about him without hatred: moist eyes, red smiling lips, a fixed mustache, a handsome face, and a feigned gaiety in his manners; he spoke more and more in hints and fragments.) Trukhachevsky, having arrived in Moscow, went to see Pozdnyshev , he introduced him to his wife, the conversation immediately turned to music, he invited her to play with her, she was delighted, and Pozdnyshev pretended to be happy, so that they would not think that he was jealous. Then Trukhachevsky arrived with a violin, they played, his wife seemed interested in the music alone, but Pozdnyshev suddenly saw (or it seemed to him that he saw) how the animal sitting in both of them asked: “Can I?” - and answered: “It’s possible.” Trukhachevsky had no doubt that this Moscow lady agreed. Pozdnyshev gave him expensive wine at dinner, admired his performance, invited him to dinner again the next Sunday and could barely restrain himself so as not to kill him right there.

Soon there was a dinner party, boring, feigned. Pretty soon the music began, they played Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, his wife on the piano, Trukhachevsky on the violin. This sonata is a terrible thing, music is a terrible thing, thought Pozdnyshev. And this is a terrible tool in the hands of anyone. Is it possible to play the Kreutzer Sonata in the living room? Play, clap, eat ice cream? To hear it and live as before, without doing those important things that the music set me up for? It's scary, destructive. But for the first time Pozdnyshev shook Trukhachevsky's hand with sincere feeling and thanked him for the pleasure.

The evening ended happily, everyone left. And two days later Pozdnyshev left for the district in the best mood, there was an abyss of things to do. But one night, in bed, Pozdnyshev woke up with a “dirty” thought about her and Trukhachevsky. Horror and anger squeezed his heart. How can it be? How can this not happen if he himself married her for this reason, and now another person wants the same from her. That man is healthy, unmarried, “between them there is a connection of music - the most refined lust of the senses.” What can hold them back? Nothing. He did not sleep all night, at five o'clock he got up, woke up the watchman, sent for the horses, at eight he got into the tarantass and drove off. It was necessary to travel thirty-five miles on horseback and eight hours by train, the wait was terrible. What did he want? He wanted his wife not to want what she wanted and even should want. As if in delirium, he drove up to his porch; it was the first hour of the night, the lights were still burning in the windows. He asked the footman who was in the house. Hearing that Trukhachevsky, Pozdnyshev almost burst into tears, but the devil immediately told him: don’t be sentimental, they will disperse, there will be no evidence... It was quiet, the children were sleeping, Pozdnyshev sent the lackey to the station to get his things and locked the door behind him. He took off his boots and, remaining in his stockings, took a crooked Damascus dagger from the wall, which had never been used and was terribly sharp. Stepping softly, he went there and sharply opened the door. He forever remembered the expression on their faces, it was an expression of horror. Pozdnyshev rushed at Trukhachevsky, but a sudden weight hung on his arm - his wife. Pozdnyshev thought that it would be funny to catch up with his wife’s lover in just stockings, he didn’t want to be funny and hit his wife with a dagger in the left side, and immediately pulled it out, wanting to somehow correct and stop what had been done. “Nanny, he killed me!” Blood gushed from under the corset. “I achieved my goal...” - and through physical suffering and the proximity of death, her familiar animal hatred was expressed (she did not consider it necessary to talk about the same thing that was main for him, about betrayal). Only later, having seen her in the coffin, did he begin to understand what he had done, that he had killed her, that she was alive, warm, but became motionless, waxy, cold, and that this could never, anywhere, be corrected by anything. He spent eleven months in prison awaiting trial and was acquitted. His sister-in-law took the children.

Author of the retelling: A. V. Vasilevsky

Resurrection. Roman (1889 - 1899)

No matter how hard people, having gathered in one small place several hundred thousand, disfigure the land on which they huddle, no matter how they stone the earth so that nothing grows on it, no matter how they clean off any breaking grass, no matter how they smoke with coal and oil - spring remains spring even in the city. The sun warms, the grass, reviving, grows and turns green wherever it is scraped off; jackdaws, sparrows and pigeons joyfully prepare their nests in the spring, and flies buzz along the walls warmed by the sun. Cheerful and plants, and birds, and insects, and children. But people - big, adult people - do not stop deceiving and torturing themselves and each other. On such a joyful spring day (namely April 28) in one of the nineties of the last century in one of the Moscow prisons, the warden, rattling iron, unlocks the lock in one of the cells and shouts: "Maslova, to court!"

The story of this prisoner Maslova is the most ordinary. She was the daughter of a passing gypsy, an unmarried yard woman in the village with two sisters, young ladies of the landowners. Katyusha was three years old when her mother fell ill and died. The old ladies took Katyusha to their place, and she became a half-pupil, half-maid. When she was sixteen years old, their nephew-student, a rich prince, still an innocent youth, came to her young ladies, and Katyusha, not daring to admit it to him or even to herself, fell in love with him. A few years later, this same nephew, who had just been promoted to an officer and already corrupted by military service, stopped by his aunts on his way to the war, stayed with them for four days, and on the eve of his departure seduced Katyusha and, having slipped her a hundred-ruble note on the last day, left. Five months after his departure, she probably found out that she was pregnant. She uttered rudeness to the young ladies, which she herself later repented of, and asked for a calculation, and the young ladies, dissatisfied with her, let her go. She settled with a village widow-midwife who sold wine. The birth was easy. But the midwife, who took delivery of a sick woman in the village, infected Katyusha with puerperal fever, and the child, a boy, was sent to an orphanage, where he died immediately upon arrival. After some time, Maslova, who had already replaced several patrons, was found by a detective who supplied girls for a brothel, and with Katyushin's consent, she took her to Kitaeva's famous house. In the seventh year of her stay in the brothel, she was put in prison and is now being brought to trial along with murderers and thieves.

At this very time, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, the same nephew of those same landowning aunts, lying in bed in the morning, recalls yesterday evening at the rich and famous Korchagins, whose daughter, as everyone expected, he should marry. And a little later, having drunk coffee, he famously rolls up to the entrance of the court, and already as a juror, wearing pince-nez, he examines the defendants accused of poisoning the merchant in order to steal the money that was with him. "It can't be," Nekhlyudov says to himself. Those two black female eyes looking at him remind him of something black and terrible. Yes, this is Katyusha, whom he first saw when, in his third year at the university, while preparing his essay on landed property, he spent the summer with his aunts. Without any doubt, this is the same girl, the pupil-maid, with whom he was in love, and then, in some crazy child, he seduced and abandoned her, and whom he then never remembered, because the memory too exposed him, so proud of his decency. But he still does not submit to the feeling of remorse, which is already beginning to speak in him. What is happening seems to him only an unpleasant accident, which will pass and not disturb his current pleasant life, but the trial continues, and finally the jury must make a decision. Maslova, obviously innocent of what she was accused of, was found guilty, like her associates, however, with some reservations. But even the chairman of the court is surprised that the jurors, having stipulated the first condition "without intent to rob", forget to stipulate the necessary second "without intent to take life", and it turns out, by the decision of the jury, that Maslova did not rob or steal, but at the same time she poisoned merchant for no apparent purpose. So, as a result of a judicial error, Katyusha is sentenced to hard labor.

It is shameful and disgusting for Nekhlyudov when he returns home after a visit to his rich bride Missy Korchagina (Missy really wants to get married, and Nekhlyudov is a good match), and in his imagination a prisoner with black squinting eyes appears with unusual vivacity. How she wept at the last word of the defendants! Marriage to Missy, which had recently seemed so close and inevitable, now seems to him completely impossible. He prays, asks God to help, and the God who lived in him wakes up in his mind. All the best that a person is capable of doing, he feels himself able to do, and the thought, in order to sacrifice everything for the sake of moral satisfaction and even marry Maslova, especially touches him. Nekhlyudov seeks a meeting with Katyusha. "I came here to ask your forgiveness," he blurts out without intonation, like a learned lesson. "At least now I want to atone for my sin." “There is nothing to redeem; what was, is gone,” Katyusha is surprised. Nekhlyudov expects that, seeing him, recognizing his intention to serve her and his repentance, Katyusha will be delighted and moved, but, to his horror, he sees that Katyusha is not there, but there is only one prostitute Maslova. He is surprised and horrified that Maslova is not only not ashamed of her position as a prostitute (the position of a prisoner just seems shameful to her), but is also proud of it as an important and useful activity, since so many men need her services. On another occasion, having come to her prison and finding her drunk, Nekhlyudov announces to her that, despite everything, he feels obliged to God to marry her in order to atone for his guilt not only in words, but in deed. “If only you would remember God then,” shouts Katyusha. “I am a convict, and you are a gentleman, a prince, and you have nothing to mess with me. That you want to marry - it will never happen. I will hang myself sooner. you want to be saved in the next world too! You disgust me, and your glasses, and your fat, filthy whole mug."

However, Nekhlyudov, determined to serve her, embarks on the path of trouble for her pardon and correction of a judicial error made with his connivance as a juror, and even refuses to be a juror, now considering any trial a useless and immoral matter. Every time he passes through the wide corridors of the prison, Nekhlyudov experiences strange feelings - both compassion for those people who were imprisoned, and horror and bewilderment before those who imprisoned and keep them here, and for some reason ashamed of himself, for the fact that he calmly considers it. The former feeling of solemnity and joy of moral renewal disappears; he decides that he will not leave Maslova, will not change his noble decision to marry her, if only she wants it, but this is hard and painful for him.

Nekhlyudov intends to go to St. Petersburg, where Maslova’s case will be heard in the Senate, and in case of failure in the Senate, submit a petition to the highest name, as the lawyer advised. If the complaint is left without consequences, it will be necessary to prepare for a trip to Siberia for Maslova, so Nekhlyudov goes to his villages to regulate his relations with the men. These relations were not living slavery, abolished in 1861, not the slavery of certain individuals to the owner, but the general slavery of all landless or land-poor peasants to large landowners, and not only does Nekhlyudov know this, he also knows that this is unfair and cruel, and, while still a student, he gives his father’s land to the peasants, considering the ownership of land to be the same sin as the earlier ownership of serfs was. But the death of his mother, inheritance and the need to manage his property, that is, land, again raises for him the question of his relationship to land ownership. He decides that, although he faces a trip to Siberia and a difficult relationship with the world of the prisons, for which money is needed, he still cannot leave things in the same position, but must, to his detriment, change it. To do this, he decides not to cultivate the land himself, but, by renting it out at an inexpensive price to the peasants, to give them the opportunity to be independent of landowners in general. Everything is arranged as Nekhlyudov wants and expects: the peasants receive land thirty percent cheaper than the land in the district was given; his income from the land is reduced by almost half, but is more than sufficient for Nekhlyudov, especially with the addition of the amount received for the sold timber. Everything seems to be fine, but Nekhlyudov is always ashamed of something. He sees that the peasants, despite the fact that some of them say words of gratitude to him, are dissatisfied and expect something more. It turns out that he deprived himself of a lot, and did not do to the peasants what they expected. Nekhlyudov is dissatisfied with himself. What he is dissatisfied with, he does not know, but he is always sad and ashamed of something.

After a trip to the village, Nekhlyudov feels with all his being disgusted with his environment in which he has lived up to now, for that environment where the sufferings carried by millions of people were so carefully hidden in order to ensure the comforts and pleasures of a small number of people. In St. Petersburg, Nekhlyudov has several cases at once, for which he takes on, having become better acquainted with the world of prisoners. In addition to Maslova's cassation petition, there are still troubles in the Senate for some political ones, as well as the case of sectarians who refer to the Caucasus for not properly reading and interpreting the Gospel. After many visits to necessary and unnecessary people, Nekhlyudov wakes up one morning in St. Petersburg with the feeling that he is doing some kind of disgusting thing. He is constantly haunted by bad thoughts that all his current intentions - marrying Katyusha, giving away land to the peasants - that all these are unrealizable dreams, that he will not be able to stand all this, that all this is artificial, unnatural, but one must live as he always lived. But no matter how new and difficult what he intends to do, he knows that this is now the only possible life for him, and the return to the former is death. Returning to Moscow, he informs Maslova that the Senate approved the decision of the court that it is necessary to prepare for being sent to Siberia, and he himself goes after her.

The party with which Maslova is marching has already traveled about five thousand versts. As far as Perm, Maslova goes with the criminals, but Nekhlyudov manages to get her transferred to the political ones, who go with the same party. Not to mention the fact that the politicals get mad better, eat better, are subjected to less rudeness, Katyusha's transfer to the political improves her position by stopping the harassment of men and you can live without being reminded every minute of her past, which she now wants to forget. Two politicians are walking with her: a good woman, Marya Shchetinina, and a certain Vladimir Simonson, who was exiled to the Yakutsk region. After the depraved, luxurious and pampered life of the last years in the city and the last months in the prison, the current life with political ones, despite all the severity of the conditions, seems to Katyusha good. Walking from twenty to thirty miles on foot with good food, a day's rest after two days of walking strengthens her physically, and communication with new comrades opens up to her such interests in life that she had no idea about. She not only did not know such wonderful people, but could not even imagine. “I was crying that I was sentenced,” she says. “Yes, I should be grateful for a century. Vladimir Simonson loves Katyusha, who very soon guesses this with a feminine instinct, and the consciousness that she can arouse love in such an extraordinary person raises her in her own opinion, and this makes her try to be as good as she can be. Nekhlyudov offers her a marriage out of generosity, but Simonson loves her as she is now, and loves simply because he loves, and when Nekhlyudov brings her the long-awaited news of a pardon obtained, she says that she will be where Vladimir Ivanovich Simonson is.

Feeling the need to remain alone in order to think over everything that had happened, Nekhlyudov arrives at a local hotel and, without going to bed, walks up and down the room for a long time. His business with Katyusha is over, she does not need him, and this is shameful and sad, but this is not what torments him. All the social evil that he has seen and learned lately, and especially in prison, torments him and requires some kind of activity, but he does not see any possibility, not only to defeat evil, but even to understand how to defeat it. Tired of walking and thinking, he sits down on the sofa and mechanically opens the Gospel given to him as a keepsake by an Englishman passing by. “They say that there is a solution to everything,” he thinks and begins to read where he opened, and opened the eighteenth chapter from Matthew. From that night, a completely new life begins for Nekhlyudov. How this new period of life will end for him, we will never know, because Leo Tolstoy did not tell about it.

Author of the retelling: A. V. Vasilevsky

Living Dead. Drama (1900, unfinished, published 1911)

Elizaveta Andreevna Protasova decides to part with her husband, Fedor Vasilyevich, whose lifestyle becomes unbearable for her: Fedya Protasov drinks, squanders his and his wife's fortune. Lisa's mother approves of her decision, sister Sasha is categorically against parting with such an amazing, albeit with weaknesses, person like Fedya. The mother believes that, having received a divorce, Lisa will join her fate with a childhood friend, Viktor Mikhailovich Karenin. Lisa makes a last attempt to return her husband and for this sends Karenin to him. He finds Protasov with gypsies, in the company of several officers. Listening to his favorite songs "Kanavela", "Fateful Hour", "Not Evening", Fedya remarks: "And why can a person reach this delight, but cannot continue it?" He rejects his wife's request to return to the family.

Everything speaks for the fact that Liza Protasova should join her fate with Viktor Karenin: he loves her since childhood, she reciprocates deep down; Victor also loves her little son Mishechka. Victor's mother, Anna Dmitrievna, would also be glad to see Lisa as the wife of her son, if it were not for the difficult circumstances connected with this.

The gypsy Masha, whose singing he loves so much, falls in love with Fedya. This infuriates her parents, who believe that the master ruined their daughter. Masha is also trying to convince Fedya to take pity on his wife and return home. He rejects this request too - confident that he now lives in accordance with his conscience. Having left his family, alone, Protasov begins to write. He reads to Masha the beginning of his prose: “In late autumn, my friend and I agreed to gather at Murygin’s site. This site was a strong island with strong broods. It was a dark, warm, quiet day. Fog...”

Viktor Karenin, through Prince Abrezkov, is trying to find out about Protasov’s further intentions. He confirms that he is ready for a divorce, but is not capable of the lies associated with this. Fedya tries to explain to Abrezkov why he cannot lead a respectable life: “No matter what I do, I always feel that it’s not what I need, and I’m ashamed. And to be a leader, to sit in a bank is so shameful, so shameful... And only when you drink will you stop being ashamed." He promises in two weeks to remove the obstacles to the marriage of Lisa and Karenin, whom he considers a decent and boring person.

To free his wife, Fedya tries to shoot himself, even writes a farewell letter, but does not find the strength in himself for this act. Gypsy Masha invites him to fake suicide, leaving clothes and a letter on the river bank. Fedya agrees.

Lisa and Karenin are waiting for news from Protasov: he must sign a petition for divorce. Lisa tells Victor about her love without remorse and without return, that everything has disappeared from her heart except love for him. Instead of a signed petition, Karenin's secretary, Voznesensky, brings a letter from Protasov. He writes that he feels like an outsider, interfering with the happiness of Lisa and Victor, but he cannot lie, give bribes in the consistory to get a divorce, and therefore wants to be physically destroyed, thus freeing everyone. In the last lines of his farewell letter, he asks for help to some weak but good watchmaker Evgeniev. Shocked by this letter, Liza repeats in despair that she loves only Fedya.

A year later, Fedya Protasov, slumped and ragged, sits in the dirty room of the tavern and talks with the artist Petushkov. Fedya explains to Petushkov that he could not choose for himself any of the fates that are possible for a person of his circle: he was disgusted with serving, making money and thus "increasing the dirty trick in which you live," but he was not a hero, capable of destroying this evil. Therefore, he could only forget - to drink, walk, sing; which he did. In his wife, the ideal woman, he did not find that which is called zest; in their life there was no game, without which it is impossible to forget. Fedya remembers the gypsy Masha, whom he loved - most of all because he left her, and thus did her good, not evil. "But you know," says Fedya, "we love people for the good we have done them, and we don't love them for the evil we have done to them."

Protasov tells Petushkov the story of his transformation into a "living corpse", after which his wife was able to marry a respectable man who loves her. This story is overheard by Artemiev, who happened to be nearby. He begins to blackmail Fedya, suggesting that he demand money from his wife in exchange for silence. Protasov refuses; Artemiev hands him over to the policeman.

In the village, on an ivy-covered terrace, a pregnant Liza awaits the arrival of her husband, Viktor Karenin. He brings letters from the city, among which is a paper from the forensic investigator with the message that Protasov is alive. Everyone is in despair.

The forensic investigator takes testimony from Lisa and Karenin. They are accused of bigamy and that they knew about Protasov's staging of suicide. The matter is complicated by the fact that before Lisa had identified the dead body found in the water as the corpse of her husband, and in addition, Karenin regularly sent money to Saratov, and now refuses to explain to whom they were intended. Although the money was sent to a figurehead, it was in Saratov that Protasov lived all this time.

Protasov, brought in for a confrontation, apologizes to Lisa and Viktor and assures the investigator that they did not know that he was alive. He sees that the interrogator is torturing them all just to show his power over them, not understanding the spiritual struggle going on in them.

During the trial, Fedya is in some kind of special excitement. During the break, his former friend Ivan Petrovich Aleksandrov hands him a pistol. Having learned that his wife's second marriage will be dissolved, and he and Lisa are facing exile to Siberia, Protasov shoots himself in the heart. At the sound of the shot, Lisa, Masha, Karenin, the judges and the defendants run out. Fedya asks for forgiveness from Lisa for not being able to “unravel” her otherwise. “How good... How good...” he repeats before dying.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

Hadji Murat. Tale (1896 - 1904, published 1912)

On a cold November evening in 1851, Hadji Murat, the famous naib of Imam Shamil, enters the peaceful Chechen village of Makhket. The Chechen Sado receives a guest in his hut, despite Shamil’s recent order to detain or kill the rebellious naib. On the same night, from the Russian fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya, fifteen versts from the village of Makhket, three soldiers with non-commissioned officer Panov go out to the front guard. One of them, the cheerful Avdeev, remembers how he once drank away his company money out of homesickness, and once again says that he became a soldier at the request of his mother, instead of his family brother.

Envoys of Hadji Murad come out to this guard. Escorting the Chechens to the fortress, to Prince Vorontsov, the merry Avdeev asks about their wives and children and concludes: "And what are these, my brother, good bare-faced guys."

The regimental commander of the Kurinsky regiment, the son of the commander-in-chief, the adjutant wing, Prince Vorontsov, lives in one of the best houses in the fortress with his wife Marya Vasilievna, the famous beauty of St. Petersburg, and her little son from his first marriage. Despite the fact that the life of the prince amazes the inhabitants of the small Caucasian fortress with its luxury, it seems to the Vorontsov spouses that they are suffering great hardships here. The news of Hadji Murad's departure finds them playing cards with the regimental officers.

That same night, the inhabitants of the village of Makhket, in order to cleanse themselves in front of Shamil, are trying to detain Hadji Murad. Shooting back, he breaks through with his murid Eldar into the forest, where the rest of the murids are waiting for him - the Avar Khanefi and the Chechen Gamzalo. Here Hadji Murad is waiting for Prince Vorontsov to respond to his proposal to go out to the Russians and start a fight against Shamil on their side. He, as always, believes in his happiness and that this time everything works out for him, as it always happened before. The returned envoy of Khan-Magom reports that the prince promised to receive Hadji Murad as an honored guest.

Early in the morning, two companies of the Kurinsky regiment go out to cut wood. Company officers over drinks discuss the recent death in battle of General Sleptsov. During this conversation, none of them sees the most important thing - the end of human life and its return to the source from which it came - but they see only the military valor of the young general. During Hadji Murad's exit, the Chechens pursuing him casually mortally wound the cheerful soldier Avdeev; he dies in the hospital, not having time to receive a letter from his mother saying that his wife had left home. All Russians who see the “terrible mountaineer” for the first time are struck by his kind, almost childish smile, self-esteem and the attention, insight and calmness with which he looks at those around him. The reception of Prince Vorontsov at the Vozdvizhenskaya fortress turns out to be better than Hadji Murat expected; but the less he trusts the prince. He demands to be sent to the commander-in-chief himself, old Prince Vorontsov, in Tiflis.

During a meeting in Tiflis, Vorontsov the father understands perfectly well that he should not believe a single word of Hadji Murad, because he will always remain an enemy to everything Russian, and now he is only submitting to circumstances. Hadji Murad, in turn, understands that the cunning prince sees right through him. At the same time, both say to each other completely opposite to their understanding - what is necessary for the success of negotiations. Hadji Murad assures that he will faithfully serve the Russian tsar in order to take revenge on Shamil, and vouches that he will be able to raise all of Dagestan against the imam. But for this it is necessary that the Russians redeem the family of Hadji Murad from captivity, the Commander-in-Chief promises to think about this.

Hadji Murad lives in Tiflis, attends the theater and balls, increasingly rejecting in his soul the way of life of the Russians. He tells the adjutant Vorontsov assigned to him, Loris-Melikov, the story of his life and enmity with Shamil. Before the listener passes a series of brutal murders committed by the law of blood feud and by the right of the strong. Loris-Melikov is also watching the murids of Hadji Murad. One of them, Gamzalo, continues to consider Shamil a saint and hates all Russians. Another, Khan-Magoma, went out to the Russians only because he easily plays with his own and other people's lives; just as easily he can return to Shamil at any moment. Eldar and Hanefi obey Hadji Murad without question.

While Hadji Murad was in Tiflis, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, in January 1852, a raid was launched into Chechnya. The young officer Butler, who recently transferred from the guard, also takes part in it. He left the guard because of a gambling loss and is now enjoying a good, brave life in the Caucasus, trying to preserve his poetic idea of ​​the war. During the raid, the village of Makhket was destroyed, a teenager was killed with a bayonet in the back, a mosque and a fountain were senselessly polluted. Seeing all this, the Chechens do not even feel hatred towards the Russians, but only disgust, bewilderment and a desire to exterminate them like rats or poisonous spiders. Residents of the village ask Shamil for help,

Hadji Murad moves to the Groznaya fortress. Here he is allowed to have relations with the highlanders through scouts, but he cannot leave the fortress except with an escort of Cossacks. His family is currently being held in custody in the village of Vedeno, awaiting Shamil's decision on their fate. Shamil demands that Hadji Murad come back to him before the Bayram holiday, otherwise he threatens to send his mother, the old woman Patimat, to the auls and blind his beloved son Yusuf.

For a week Hadji Murad lives in the fortress, in Major Petrov's house. The major's cohabitant, Marya Dmitrievna, is imbued with respect for Hadji Murad, whose manner differs markedly from the rudeness and drunkenness accepted among regimental officers. A friendship develops between Officer Butler and Hadji Murad. Butler is embraced by the "poetry of a special, energetic mountain life", tangible in the mountain songs that Khanefi sings. The Russian officer is especially struck by Hadji Murad's favorite song - about the inevitability of blood feud. Butler soon becomes a witness of how calmly Hadji Murad perceives an attempt of blood revenge on himself by the Kumyk prince Arslan Khan,

Negotiations on the ransom of the family, which Hadji Murad is conducting in Chechnya, are not successful. He returns to Tiflis, then moves to the small town of Nukha, hoping to snatch the family away from Shamil by cunning or force. He is in the service of the Russian Tsar and receives five gold pieces a day. But now, when he sees that the Russians are in no hurry to release his family, Hadji Murad perceives his exit as a terrible turn in his life. He increasingly recalls his childhood, mother, grandfather and his son. Finally, he decides to flee to the mountains, break into Vedeno with his faithful people in order to die or free his family.

During a horseback ride, Hadji Murat, together with his murids, mercilessly kills the Cossack escort. He hopes to cross the Alazan River and thus escape pursuit, but he fails to cross the rice field flooded with spring water on horseback. The chase overtakes him, in an unequal battle Hadji Murat is mortally wounded. The last memories of his family run through his imagination, no longer arousing any feeling; but he fights until his last breath.

Cut off from the mutilated body, the head of Hadji Murad is carried around the fortresses. In Groznaya, they show her to Butler and Marya Dmitrievna, and they see that the blue lips of a dead head retain a childish kind expression. Marya Dmitrievna is especially shocked by the cruelty of the "liver cutters" who killed her recent lodger and did not bury his body in the ground.

The history of Hadji Murad, his inherent strength of life and inflexibility are recalled when looking at a burdock flower crushed in full bloom by people in the middle of a plowed field.

Author of the retelling: T. A. Sotnikova

<< Back: Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky 1828-1889 (What to do? Novel (1862-1863). Prologue. Novel from the early sixties (1867-1870, unfinished))

>> Forward: Nikolai Semenovich Leskov 1831-1895 (Nowhere. Novel (1864). Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Tale (1865). Warrior. Tale (1866). On Knives. Novel (1870-1871). Cathedrals. Novel chronicle (1872). The sealed angel. Tale (1873) . The Enchanted Wanderer. A Tale (1873). The Tale of the Tula Scythe Lefty and the Steel Flea. A Guild Legend. A Story (1881). The Stupid Artist. A Story at the Grave (1883))

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