Life experience and work of A. I. Kuprin are extremely closely related to each other. The autobiographical element occupies an important place in the writer's books. For the most part, the author wrote about what he saw with his own eyes, experienced with his soul, but not as an observer, but as a direct participant in life's dramas and comedies. The experience and the seen were transformed in different ways in the work - these were both cursory sketches, and an accurate description of specific situations, and a deep socio-psychological analysis.
At the beginning of his literary career, the classic paid a lot of attention to everyday color. But even then he showed a penchant for social analysis. In his entertaining book "Types of Kiev" there is not only picturesque everyday exoticism, but also a hint of the all-Russian social environment. At the same time, Kuprin does not delve into the psychology of people. Only after the passage of years, he began to carefully and scrupulously study a variety of human material.
This was especially clearly manifested in such a theme of his work as the army environment. The first realistic work of the writer, the story "Inquiry" (1894), is associated with the army. In it, he described the type of person who suffers at the sight of injustice, but spiritually restless, devoid of volitional qualities and unable to fight evil. And such an indecisive truth-seeker begins to accompany all of Kuprin's work.
Army stories are notable for the writer's faith in the Russian soldier. She makes such works as "Warrant Officer of the Army", "Night Shift", "Lodging for the Night" truly spiritualized. Kuprin shows the soldier as cheerful, with a rude but healthy humor, intelligent, observant, prone to original philosophizing.
The final stage of creative searches at the early stage of literary activity was the story "Moloch" (1896), which brought real fame to the young writer. In this story, in the center of the action is a humane, kind, impressionable person who reflects on life. Society itself is shown in the form of a transitional formation, that is, one in which changes are brewing that are unclear not only to the actors, but also to the author.
Love played an important role in the work of A. I. Kuprin. The writer can even be called a singer of love. An example of this is the story "On the Road" (1894). The beginning of the story does not bode well for anything sublime. A train, a compartment, a married couple - an elderly boring official, his young beautiful wife and a young artist who happened to be with them. He is interested in the official’s wife, and she is interested in him.
At first glance, the story of a banal romance and adultery. But no, the skill of the writer turns a trivial plot into a serious topic. The story shows how a chance meeting illuminates the life of two good people with honest souls. Kuprin built a small work in such a psychologically verified way that he was able to say a lot in it.
But the most remarkable work dedicated to the theme of love is the story "Olesya". It can be called a forest fairy tale, drawn with the accuracy and accuracy of the details inherent in realistic art. The girl herself is a whole, serious, deep nature, there is a lot of sincerity and spontaneity in her. And the hero of the story is an ordinary person with an amorphous character. But under the influence of a mysterious forest girl, he brightens his soul and, it seems, is ready to become a noble and whole person.
AI Kuprin's creativity conveys not only the concrete, everyday, visible, but also rises to symbolism, implying the very spirit of certain phenomena. Such, for example, is the story "Swamp". The general coloring of the story is heavy and gloomy, similar to the swamp fog in which the action takes place. This almost plotless work shows the slow death of a peasant family in a forest hut.
The artistic means used by the classic are such that there is a feeling of a disastrous nightmare. And the very image of a forest, dark and ominous swamp acquires an expanded meaning, creates the impression of some kind of abnormal swamp life smoldering in the gloomy corners of a huge country.
In 1905, the story "The Duel" was published, in which the methods of psychological analysis indicate Kuprin's connection with the traditions of Russian classics of the 19th century. In this work, the writer showed himself to be a first-class master of words. He once again proved his ability to comprehend the dialectics of soul and thought, artistically draw typical characters and typical circumstances.
A few words should also be said about the story "Headquarters Captain Rybnikov". Before Kuprin, no one in Russian and foreign literature had created such a psychological detective story. The fascination of the story lies in the picturesque two-sided image of Rybnikov and the psychological duel between him and the journalist Shchavinsky, as well as in the tragic denouement that occurs under unusual circumstances.
The stories of Listrigones, which tell about the Balaklava fishermen-Greeks, are fanned with the poetry of labor and the scent of the sea. In this cycle, the classic showed in all its beauty the original corner of the Russian Empire. In the stories, the concreteness of the descriptions is combined with a kind of epic and simple-minded fabulousness.
In 1908, the story "Shulamith" appeared, which was called a hymn to female beauty and youth. This is a prose poem that combines sensuality and spirituality. In the poem there is a lot of bold, daring, frank, but there is no falsehood. The work tells about the poetic love of a tsar and a simple girl, ending tragically. Shulamith becomes a victim of the dark forces. The assassin's sword slays her, but he is unable to destroy the memory of her and her love.
I must say that the classic has always been interested in "small", "ordinary people." He made such a person a hero in the story "The Pomegranate Bracelet" (1911). The point of this brilliant story is that love is as strong as death. The originality of the work lies in the gradual and almost imperceptible growth of the tragic theme. And there is also a certain Shakespearean note. It breaks through the quirks of a funny official and captivates the reader.
The story "Black Lightning" (1912) is interesting in its own way. In it, the work of A.I. Kuprin opens from another side. This work depicts provincial provincial Russia with its apathy and ignorance. But also those spiritual forces are shown that are hidden in provincial cities and from time to time make themselves felt.
During the First World War from the pen of the classic came out such a work as "Violets", praising the springtime in human life. And the continuation was the social criticism embodied in the story "Cantaloupe". In it, the writer paints the image of a cunning businessman and hypocrite who profits from military supplies.
Even before the war, Kuprin began to work on a powerful and deep social canvas, which he called gloomily and briefly - "The Pit". The first part of this story was published in 1909, and in 1915 the publication of The Pit was completed. In the work, true images of women who find themselves at the bottom of life were created. The classic masterfully portrayed the individual traits of the characters and the gloomy back streets of a big city.
Having found himself in exile after the October Revolution and the Civil War, Kuprin began to write about old Russia as an amazing past that always delighted and amused him. The main essence of his works of this period was to reveal the inner world of his heroes. At the same time, the writer often turned to the memories of his youth. This is how the novel "Juncker" appeared, which made a significant contribution to Russian prose.
The classic describes the loyal moods of future infantry officers, youthful love, and such an eternal theme as motherly love. And of course, the writer does not forget nature. It is communication with nature that fills the youthful soul with joy and gives an impulse to the first philosophical reflections.
The Junkers masterfully and competently describe the life of the school, while it represents not only cognitive, but also historical information. The novel is also interesting in the stage-by-stage formation of a young soul. A chronicle of the spiritual development of one of the Russian youths of the late XIX - early XX centuries unfolds before the reader. This work can be called an elegy in prose with great artistic and cognitive merits.
The skill of a realist artist, sympathy for the ordinary citizen with his everyday life worries is extremely vividly manifested in the miniature essays dedicated to Paris. The writer combined them with one name - "Home Paris". When AI Kuprin's work was in its infancy, he created a series of essays about Kiev. And after many years in emigration, the classic returned to the genre of urban sketches, only the place of Kiev was now taken by Paris.
French impressions were uniquely reunited with nostalgic memories of Russia in the novel Janet. In it, the state of restlessness, mental loneliness, an unquenched thirst to find a close soul was soulfully conveyed. The novel "Janet" is one of the most masterful and psychologically subtle works and, perhaps, the saddest creation of the classic.
The fabulous legendary work "Blue Star" appears to the readers as witty and original in its essence. In this romantic tale, love is the main theme. The plot takes place in an unknown fantastic country, where an unknown people live with their own culture, customs, morals. And a brave traveler, a French prince, enters this unknown country. And of course, he meets a fairy princess.
Both she and the traveler are beautiful. They fell in love with each other, but the girl considers herself ugly, and all the people consider her ugly, although she loves her for her kind heart. And the point was that the people who inhabited the country were real monsters, but considered themselves handsome. The princess did not look like her countrymen, and she was perceived as an ugly woman.
A brave traveler takes the girl to France, and there she realizes that she is beautiful, and the prince who saved her is also beautiful. But she considered him a freak, like herself, and was very sorry. This work has an entertaining good-natured humor, and the plot is somewhat reminiscent of good old fairy tales. All this made the "Blue Star" a significant phenomenon in Russian literature.
In emigration, A. I. Kuprin's work continued to serve Russia. The writer himself lived an intense, fruitful life. But every year it became more and more difficult for him. The stock of Russian impressions was running out, but the classic could not merge with foreign reality. Caring for a piece of bread was also important. Therefore, one cannot but pay tribute to the talented author. Despite difficult years for himself, he managed to make a significant contribution to Russian literature..
Introduction
Realistic in the story of A.I. Kuprin "Listrigones" and the story "Duel"
Romantic in the story "Shulamith" and the story "Olesya"
Theory and methodology of holistic analysis of the story "Garnet bracelet" in the classroom in grade 11
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
The name of A.I. Kuprin is undoubtedly associated with the realistic trend in Russian literature of the early 20th century. This artist honestly and directly spoke about the pressing problems of his time, touched upon many moral, ethical and social issues that worried the pre-revolutionary Russian society.
Indeed, he always portrayed life in his works as you can see it every day, you just have to walk the streets, carefully looking at everything. Although now less and less people like the Kuprin heroes are encountered, they were quite common in the past. Moreover, Kuprin could write only when he himself lived and felt. He did not invent his own stories and stories at the writing table, but took them out of life. Because, probably, all of his books are so bright and impressive.
K. Chukovsky wrote about Kuprin that “his demands on himself, as a realist writer, a depiction of morals, literally had no boundaries, (...) that he knew how to conduct a conversation with a jockey like a jockey, a sailor - like an old sailor. He flaunted his great experience like a boy, boasted of it before other writers (before Veresaev, Leonid Andreev), because that was his ambition: to know for certain, not from books, not from rumors, the things and facts about which he speaks in their books ... ".
Kuprin was looking everywhere for that power that could elevate a person, help him find inner perfection and happiness.
Love for a person could become such a force. It is this feeling that permeates the stories and stories of Kuprin. Humanity can be called the main theme of such works as "Olesya" and "Anathema", "The Wonderful Doctor" and "Listrigones". Directly, openly, Kuprin speaks of love for a person not so often. But with each of his stories, he calls for humanity.
“And to realize his humanistic idea, the writer uses romantic artistic means. Kuprin often idealizes his characters (Olesya from the story of the same name) or endows them with almost unearthly feelings (Zheltkov from Garnet bracelet ). The finale of Kuprin's works is very often romantic ”. So, for example, Olesya is expelled from society again, but this time she is forced to leave, that is, to leave a world alien to her. Romashov from "Duel" leaves reality, completely immersing himself in his inner world. Then, in a duel with life, he dies, unable to bear the painful duality. Yolkov in the story "Pomegranate Bracelet" shoots himself when he loses the meaning of life. He flees from his love, blessing his beloved: "Hallowed be thy name!" Kuprin's theme of love is painted in romantic tones. He speaks of her reverently. The writer said about his "Pomegranate Bracelet" that he had never written anything more chaste. This wonderful story of love, in the words of Kuprin himself, is "a great blessing to everything: earth, waters, trees, flowers, heavens, smells, people, beasts and eternal goodness and eternal beauty in a woman." Despite the fact that the “Garnet Bracelet” is based on real life facts and its heroes have their own prototypes, it is the clearest example of the romantic tradition. This tells us about Kuprin's ability to see the poetically sublime in reality, and in man - the best and purest. Therefore, we can call this writer both a realist and a romantic at the same time. Realistic in the story of A.I. Kuprin "Listrigones" and the story "Duel" An experienced person who has traveled around Russia more than once, changed many professions, easily got close to a wide variety of people, Kuprin accumulated a huge store of impressions and shared them generously, enthusiastically. In his stories, beautiful pages are devoted to love - painful or triumphant, but always bewitching. Critically portraying life "as it is," Kuprin made it possible to feel the life that should be. He believed that a person who "came into the world for immeasurable freedom, creativity and happiness, will be happy and free." However, his ideal was a wandering, vagabond, full of colorful adventures and accidents. And his sympathies are always on the side of people who, for one reason or another, find themselves outside the framework of a measured and prosperous existence. Kuprin story realistic The singer of patriarchal naturalness, Kuprin was not accidentally attracted by the forms of labor associated with nature. This is not a burdensome duty at the bench or in a stuffy mine, but work "with the sun in blood", under a fresh wind on endless expanses of water. Calling his heroes "Listrigons" after the fabulous fishermen-pirates from "The Odyssey", Kuprin emphasized the immutability and stability of this world, which preserved its customs almost from Homeric times, and idealized this ancient, as if untouched by time, type of catcher, hunter, son of nature ... But under the ancient masks, the living faces of the Balaklava Greeks modern to Kuprin were guessed, their current cares and joys were felt. The Listrigons reflected episodes of the writer’s friendly communication with Crimean fishermen; all the heroes of the cycle are real people, Kuprin did not even change their names. So from the fusion of prose and poetry, truth and legend, one of the best examples of Russian lyrical sketch emerged. During the maturing years of the first Russian revolution, Kuprin devoted himself to work on his largest work - the story "The Duel". The story, published in 1905, is set in the 90s. However, everything in her breathed modernity. The work gave a deep explanation of the reasons for the defeat of the tsarist army in the inglorious war with Japan. Moreover, generated by Kuprin's desire to expose the vices of the army environment, "Duel" was a stunning blow to all orders of tsarist Russia. "Regiment, Officers and Soldiers" is written close-up in organic interaction with the main character. In "Duel" we see realistic paintings that create a large canvas in which "minor" characters can be just as important to the artistic whole as the main images. The story is strong, first of all, with accusatory pathos. Kuprin, as you know, was well aware of the wild customs of army life, where the highest army ranks treated soldiers like cattle. Officer Archakovsky, for example, beat his orderly to such an extent that "the blood was not only on the walls, but also on the ceiling." The officers were especially malignant during the senseless soldier drill, when preparations were underway for the ceremonial reviews, on which their service career depended. The plot of the work is everyday tragic: Second lieutenant Romashov dies as a result of a duel with Lieutenant Nikolayev. Romashov, an urban intellectual in the uniform of a second lieutenant of a regular regiment, suffers from the vulgarity and absurdity of life, "monotonous as a fence and gray as a soldier's cloth." The general atmosphere of cruelty, violence, impunity that prevailed among the officers creates the preconditions for the inevitable emergence of a conflict. Romashov feels for the hunted soldier Khlebnikov "a surge of warm, selfless, endless compassion." The author does not idealize young Romashov, does not make him a fighter against the way of life in the army. Romashov is capable only of timid disagreement, of hesitant attempts to convince that cultured, decent people should not attack an unarmed person with a saber: “It is not fair to beat a soldier. That's shameful". The atmosphere of contemptuous alienation hardens Romashov. Towards the end of the story, he discovers firmness and strength of character. The fight becomes inevitable, and his love for a married woman, Shurochka Nikolaeva, who was not ashamed to conclude a cynical deal with a man in love with her, in which his life became the stake, hastened the denouement. The "duel" brought European fame to Kuprin. The advanced public enthusiastically greeted the story, for, as a contemporary wrote, the Kuprin story "undermined, shattered, struck to death the military caste." The story is important to today's readers as a description of the duel between good and evil, violence and humanism, cynicism and purity. Romantic in the story "Shulamith" and the story "Olesya" Despite all the realism of Kuprin's works, you can find elements of romanticism in any of them. Moreover, sometimes it manifests itself so strongly that it is even impossible to call some of the pages realistic. In the story Olesya it all starts out pretty prosaic, even a little boring. Forest. Winter. Dark, illiterate Polesie peasants. It seems that the author just wanted to describe the life of the peasants and does so without embellishing anything, depicting a gray, joyless life in gray. Although, of course, the conditions in which the protagonist of the story finds himself is far from being familiar to most of us, but nevertheless these are the real conditions of life in Polesie. And suddenly, amid all this dull monotony, Olesya appears, the image is undoubtedly romantic. Olesya does not know what civilization is, time seems to have stopped in the thickets of Polesie. The girl sincerely believes in legends and conspiracies, believes that her family is connected with the devil. The norms of behavior accepted in society are absolutely alien to her, she is natural and romantic. But not only the exotic character of the heroine and the situation described in the story attracts the attention of the writer. The work becomes an attempt to analyze the eternal that should underlie any high feeling. Kuprin draws attention to the girl's hands, although they are hardened from work, but small, aristocratic, in her manner of eating and speaking. Where could a girl like Olesya appear in such an environment? Obviously, the image of the young sorceress is no longer vital, but idealized, the author's imagination has worked on it. After Olesya appears in the story, romanticism is already inseparably adjacent to realism. Spring is coming, nature rejoices with the lovers. A new, romantic world appears, where everything is beautiful. This is the world of love for Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich. As soon as they meet, this world suddenly appears out of nowhere, when they part, it disappears, but remains in their souls. And lovers, being in the ordinary world, strive for their own, fabulous, not accessible to anyone else. This "double world" is also a clear sign of romanticism. Usually the romantic hero does the "act." Olesya is no exception. She went to church, surrendering to the power of her love. Thus, the story describes the love of a real person and a romantic heroine. Ivan Timofeevich finds himself in the romantic world of Olesya, and she - in his reality. It becomes clear why features of both one and the other direction can be traced in the work. One of the most important phenomena of love for Kuprin is that even a presentiment of happiness is always clouded by the fear of losing it. On the way to the happiness of the heroes are the difference in their social status and upbringing, the weakness of the hero and the tragic prediction of Olesya. The thirst for harmonious union is generated by deep experiences. Olesya's love becomes the greatest gift that can give life to the hero of the story. In this love there is both selflessness and courage, on the one hand, and contradiction, on the other. Olesya initially understands the tragedy of the outcome of their relationship, but is ready to present herself to her beloved. Even leaving her native place, beaten and dishonored, Olesya does not curse the one who ruined her, but blesses those short moments of happiness that she experienced. The writer sees the true meaning of love in the desire to disinterestedly give to his chosen one all the fullness of feelings that a loving person is capable of. A person is imperfect, but the power of love can, at least for a short time, return to him the sharpness of sensations and naturalness, which only people like Olesya have retained in themselves. The strength of the soul of the heroine of the story is able to bring harmony even into such contradictory relationships as those described in the story. Love is contempt for suffering and even death. It is a pity, but only a select few are capable of such a feeling. But sometimes Kuprin doesn't come up with anything perfect. V Duel , it seems to me, there is not a single perfect image. If Shurochka at first seems beautiful (she is so smart, beautiful, although she is surrounded by vulgar, cruel people), then soon this impression disappears. Shurochka is not capable of true love, like Olesya or Zheltkov, she prefers the outer brilliance of high society to her. And as soon as you understand this, her beauty, mind, and feelings appear in a different light. Lyubov Romashova, of course, was purer and sincere. And although he is not at all idealized by the author, he can be considered a romantic hero. He experiences and feels everything very acutely. In addition, Kuprin leads Romashov through life's suffering: loneliness, humiliation, betrayal, death. Against the background of a realistic depiction of the order of the tsarist army, vulgarity, cruelty, rudeness, another person stands out - Nazansky. This is already a real romantic hero. It is in his speeches that you can find all the main ideas of romanticism about the imperfection of this world, about the existence of another, beautiful, about eternal struggle and eternal suffering. As you can see, in his works Kuprin did not adhere to the framework of only a realistic direction. There are also romantic tendencies in his stories. He places romantic heroes in everyday life, in a real environment, next to ordinary people. And very often, therefore, the main conflict in his works is the conflict between the romantic hero and the mundane, dullness, and vulgarity. Kuprin had the ability to combine reality with romantic fiction in his books. Perhaps this is the very wonderful ability to see in life the beautiful, admirable, which many people are deprived of. But if you are able to see the best sides of life in life, then, in the end, a new, wonderful world can be born from the most boring and gray everyday life. The perception and comprehension of a work of art as a whole has become especially significant in our time. The attitude of a modern person to the world as a whole has a value, life meaning. From its inception, art has focused on the emotional sensation and reproduction of the integrity of life. Therefore, "... it is in the work that the universal principle of art is clearly realized: the re-creation of the integrity of the world of human life as an endless and unfinished" social organism "in the final and complete aesthetic unity of the artistic whole." Literature in its development, temporary movement, that is, the literary process, reflected the progressive course of artistic consciousness, which seeks to reflect people's mastery of the integrity of life and the accompanying destruction of the integrity of the world and man. In order to more or less comprehensively cognize a work of art, it is ideally necessary to go through all three stages of its scientific examination, without missing anything in them. This means that it is necessary to understand the work as a whole at the level of primary perception, then conduct a thorough analysis of it by elements and, finally, complete the consideration with a systemic-integral synthesis. Ideally, the method of analysis should be different for each work, it should be dictated by its ideological and artistic characteristics. In order for a sample analysis not to be random and fragmentary, it must at the same time be a holistic analysis. It would seem a contradiction, but in reality it is not. Only with a holistic view of the system can we determine which aspects, elements and connections in it are more essential, and which are of an auxiliary nature. First of all, it is necessary to know the "law of the whole", the principle of its organization, and only then he will tell you what specifically to pay attention to. Therefore, consideration of a work of fiction must begin not with analysis, but with synthesis. It is necessary, first of all, to realize your complete first impression and, having checked it mainly by re-reading, formulate it at the conceptual level. At this stage, it is already possible to carry out a key operation for further holistic-selective analysis - to determine the content and style dominants of the work. This is the key that reveals the integrity of the structure of an artistic creation and determines the ways and directions of further analysis. So, if the dominant content lies in the field of problems, then the subject matter of the work can be completely ignored, focusing on the connection between the problematic and the idea; if in the field of pathos, then the analysis of the subject matter is necessary, since in pathos the objective and subjective aspects are naturally combined, the problematics in this case turns out to be not so important. A more specific definition of dominants suggests more specific ways of analysis: for example, ideological and moral problems require close attention to the individual “philosophy” of the hero, to the dynamics of his views and beliefs, while his connections with the social sphere are, as a rule, secondary. Sociocultural issues, on the other hand, dictate increased attention to statics, to the invariable features of the external and internal appearance of the characters, to the hero's connections with the environment that gave birth to him. Highlighting style dominants also indicates what should be done in the work in the first place. So, it makes no sense to analyze the elements of the plot if we observe descriptiveness or psychologism as a style dominant; tropes and syntactic figures are analyzed if the style dominant is rhetoric; complex composition directs attention to the analysis of off-plot elements, narrative forms, subject details, etc. As a result, the set task is achieved: saving time and effort is combined with comprehending the individual ideological and artistic originality of the work, selective analysis turns out to be at the same time holistic. "Garnet Bracelet" has an unusual creative history. Work on the story was in the fall of 1910 in Odessa. At this time Kuprin often visited the family of the Odessa doctor L. Ya. Maisels and listened to Beethoven's Second Sonata performed by his wife. The musical work so captivated Alexander Ivanovich that the work on the story began with the fact that he wrote down the epigraph. L. van Beethoven. 2 Son. (op. 2, no. 2). Largo Appassionato ... Beethoven's sonata Appassionata ", one of the most intense, painful, passionate creations of human genius in music, awakened Kuprin to literary creativity. The sounds of the sonata combined in his imagination with the story of light love that he witnessed. The prototypes of the heroes of the story are known from Kuprin's correspondence and memoirs: Zheltkov - a small telegraph official P.P. Zheltikov, Prince Vasily Shein - member of the State Council D.N. Lyubimov, Princess Vera Sheina - his wife Lyudmila Ivanovna, nee Tugan - Baranovskaya, her sister Anna Nikolaevna Friesse - sister of Lyubimova, Elena Ivanovna Nitte, brother of Princess Sheina - an official of the State Chancellery Nikolai Ivanovich Tugan - Baranovsky. The story has gone through a number of editions in French, German, English, Swedish, Polish, Bulgarian, Finnish. Foreign criticism, noting the subtle psychologism of the story, hailed it as a "gust of fresh wind." For a holistic analysis of a work of art, students need to ask the following questions: What is the work of A.I. Kuprin about? Why is it so named? (The story "The Pomegranate Bracelet" praises the feeling of the "little man", the telegraph operator Zheltkov, towards Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. The story is named so because the main events are associated with this decoration.) How did Kuprin artistically transform the real story he heard? (Kuprin embodied in his creation the ideal of beautiful, omnipotent, but not mutual love, showed that small man capable of a great, all-encompassing feeling. Kuprin ended the story with the death of the hero, which made Vera Nikolaevna think about love, about feeling, made her worry, sympathize with what she had not done before). How do we know about Zheltkov's love? Who is talking about her? (We learn about Zheltkov's love for the first time from the stories of Prince Shein. The prince's truth is intertwined with fiction. For him, this is a funny story. after death the will). Read the description of the autumn garden. Why does it follow the description of Vera's feelings for her husband? Is she happy? (The author shows that her manners are distinguished by cold courtesy, regal calmness. "The former passionate love is long gone", maybe Vera does not love her husband, because she does not know love, therefore she treats her husband with "a feeling of strong, faithful, true friendship." . She is a sensitive, selfless and delicate person: she tries to quietly help her husband “make ends meet.”) Highlight important key episodes of the story and relate plot elements to them. (1. Vera's name day and Zheltkov's gift - the outset 2. The conversation between Nikolai Nikolaevich and Vasily Lvovich with Zheltkov - the culmination. 3. Zheltkov's death and farewell to him - the denouement.) How is Kuprin portraying Zheltkov and his love? Why does he "force" Vera to listen to Beethoven's second sonata? (Looking at his face, Vera recalls the same pacified expression on the masks of the great sufferers, Pushkin and Napoleon. Turgenev "How good, how fresh the roses were"), the perfection of the universe. In the story, two roses are rewarded: General Anosov and Zheltkov. The last letter is beautiful, like poetry, convinces the reader of the sincerity and strength of his feelings. For Zheltkov, to love Vera even without reciprocity - “Tremendous happiness.” Saying goodbye to her, he writes: “As I leave, I am delighted to say:“ Hallowed be thy name. ”He truly loves Zheltkov, with passionate, unselfish love. Death does not frighten him. The hero asks to hang a pomegranate bracelet, not accepted by Vera, on the icon. This deifies his love and puts Vera on a par with the saints. Zheltkov is talented in his love, like Pushkin and Napoleon. Talent is unthinkable without a realizator. ui, but the hero was not understood. Posthumously, Zheltkov bequeathed to Vera to listen to Beethoven's sonata, a majestic reflection on the gift of life and love. The greatness of what an ordinary person has experienced is comprehended under the sounds of music, as if conveying his shocks, pain, happiness, and unexpectedly displaces from the soul everything vain, petty, instills a reciprocal ennobling suffering.) How does Zheltkov appear in the suicide letter? (Zheltkov admits that an awkward wedge crashed into into the life of Vera and is infinitely grateful to her only for the fact that she exists. His love is not a disease, not a manic idea, but a reward sent by God. His tragedy is hopeless, he is a dead man). What is the mood of the story's finale? (The finale is imbued with a feeling of light sadness, not tragedy. Zheltkov dies, but Vera awakens to life, that same "great love that repeats itself once in a thousand years" was revealed to her.) Is there a perfect love? Is love and being loved the same thing? What's better? What is the fate of the garnet bracelet? (The unhappy lover asked to hang a bracelet - a symbol of holy love - on the icon) Does unearthly love meet? (Yes, it does. But very rarely. It is this kind of love that A. Kuprin described in his work) How to attract love? (It's not enough to wait for love, you yourself have to learn to love, to feel like a particle of the world around you) Why does love rule a person, and not vice versa? (Love is an eternal flow. A person reacts to waves of love. Love is eternal, it was, is and will be. And a person comes and goes) How does A.I. Kuprin see true love? (true love is the basis of everything earthly. It should not be isolated, undivided, it should be based on high sincere feelings, strive for the ideal. Love is stronger than death, it elevates a person) What is love? (Love is passion, it is strong and real feelings that uplift a person, awakening his best qualities, it is truthfulness and honesty in a relationship). Love for a writer is the basis of everything that exists: “Love should be a tragedy, the greatest secret in the world. And no life inconveniences, calculations and compromises should concern her. " Its heroes are people with an open soul and a pure heart, rebelling against human humiliation, trying to defend human dignity. The writer sings sublime love, opposing it to hatred, enmity, distrust, antipathy, indifference. Through the lips of General Anosov, he says that this feeling should be neither frivolous, nor primitive, nor, moreover, based on profit and self-interest: “Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! touch". Love, according to Kuprin, should be based on lofty feelings, on mutual respect, honesty and truthfulness. She must strive for the ideal. Conclusion Today A. Kuprin's works are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity, democracy in the noblest sense of the word. The world of A. Kuprin's heroes is colorful and crowded. He himself lived a bright life filled with diverse impressions - he was a military man, a clerk, a land surveyor, and an actor of a wandering circus troupe. A. Kuprin has said many times that he does not understand writers who do not find anything more interesting in nature and people than themselves. The writer is very interested in human destinies, while the heroes of his works are most often not successful, successful people who are satisfied with themselves and life, but rather the opposite. Kuprin was struggling with the fate of emigrants, he did not want to submit to her. He tried to live an intense creative life and continue serving literature. One cannot but pay tribute to the talented writer - in these difficult years for him he managed to make a significant contribution to Russian literature. The work of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was highly appreciated by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Alexei Maksimovich Gorky, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Konstantin Paustovsky wrote about him: “Kuprin cannot die either in the memory of the Russians, or in the memory of many people - representatives of humanity, just as the wrathful power of his“ Duel ”, the bitter charm of the“ Pomegranate Bracelet ”, the stunning picturesqueness of his“ Listrigons ”cannot die, just as his passionate, intelligent and direct love for man and his land cannot die ”. Moral energy, and artistic, creative magic of Kuprin come from the same root, from the fact that he can be safely called the healthiest, most cheerful and life-loving in the circle of Russian writers of the XX century. Kuprin's books must certainly be read, lived in youth, for they are a kind of encyclopedia of healthy, morally impeccable human desires and feelings. List of used literature Korman B.O. On the integrity of a work of art. News of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Ser. literature and language. 1977, no. 6 Kuprin A. I. Garnet bracelet. - M., 1994. - S. 123. Paustovsky K. The stream of life // Sobr. Op. in 9 volumes. - M., 1983.T.7.-416 p. Chukovsky K. Contemporaries: portraits and sketches (with illustrations): ed. Central Committee of the Komsomol "Young Guard", M., 1962 - 453 p.
The creativity of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was formed during the years of the revolutionary upsurge. All his life he was close to the theme of the insight of a simple Russian man who eagerly sought the truth of life. Kuprin devoted all his work to the development of this complex psychological topic. His art, in the words of his contemporaries, was characterized by a special vigilance of seeing the world, concreteness, a constant striving for knowledge. The cognitive pathos of Kuprin's work was combined with a passionate personal interest in the victory of good over all evil. Therefore, most of his works are characterized by dynamics, drama, emotion.
Kuprin's biography is similar to an adventure novel. By the abundance of meetings with people, life observations, she resembled the biography of Gorky. Kuprin traveled a lot, performed various jobs: he served at a factory, worked as a loader, played on stage, sang in a church choir.
At the early stage of his work, Kuprin was strongly influenced by Dostoevsky. It manifested itself in the stories "In the Dark", "Moonlit Night", "Madness". He writes about fateful moments, the role of chance in a person's life, analyzes the psychology of a person's passions. Some stories of that period say that the human will is helpless in the face of spontaneous chance, that the mind cannot learn the mysterious laws that govern man. A decisive role in overcoming the literary clichés coming from Dostoevsky was played by direct acquaintance with the life of people, with real Russian reality.
He begins to write essays. Their peculiarity is that the writer usually conducted a leisurely conversation with the reader. Clear storylines, simple and detailed depiction of reality were clearly visible in them. G. Uspensky had the greatest influence on Kuprin the essayist.
Kuprin's first creative quests ended with the largest thing that reflected reality. It was the story "Moloch". In it, the writer shows the contradictions between capital and human forced labor. He was able to grasp the social characteristics of the latest forms of capitalist production. The angry protest against the monstrous violence against man, on which the industrial flourishing in the world of Moloch is based, the satirical display of the new masters of life, the exposure of the shameless predation of foreign capital in the country - all this cast doubt on the theory of bourgeois progress. After essays and stories, the story was an important stage in the writer's work.
In search of moral and spiritual ideals of life, which the writer contrasted with the ugliness of modern human relations, Kuprin turns to the life of vagabonds, beggars, drunken artists, starving unrecognized artists, children of the poor urban population. This is the world of nameless people who form the mass of society. Among them, Kuprin tried to find his goodies. He writes the stories "Lidochka", "Lock", "Kindergarten", "In the circus" - in these works Kuprin's heroes are free from the influence of bourgeois civilization.
In 1898 Kuprin wrote the story "Olesya". The plot of the story is traditional: an intellectual, an ordinary and urban person, in a remote corner of Polesie meets a girl who grew up outside of society and civilization. Olesya is distinguished by spontaneity, integrity of nature, spiritual wealth. Poetising a life unbounded by modern social cultural frameworks. Kuprin strove to show the clear advantages of “natural man”, in which he saw the spiritual qualities that were lost in a civilized society.
In 1901 Kuprin came to St. Petersburg, where he became close to many writers. During this period, his story "Night shift" appears, where the main character is a simple soldier. The hero is not a detached person, not a forest Olesya, but a very real person. From the image of this soldier, threads stretch to other heroes. It was at this time that a new genre appeared in his work: the short story.
In 1902 Kuprin conceived the story "Duel". In this work, he shattered one of the main foundations of autocracy - the military caste, in the lines of decay and moral decline of which he showed signs of decay of the entire social system. The story reflects the progressive aspects of Kuprin's work. The plot is based on the fate of an honest Russian officer, who was forced by the conditions of army barracks to feel the illegality of people's social relations. Again Kuprin is not talking about an outstanding personality, but about a simple Russian officer Romashov. The regimental atmosphere torments him, he does not want to be in the army garrison. He became disillusioned with military service. He begins to fight for himself and his love. And the death of Romashov is a protest against the social and moral inhumanity of the environment.
With the onset of reaction and the aggravation of social life in society, Kuprin's creative concepts also change. During these years, his interest in the world of ancient legends, in history, antiquity increased. An interesting fusion of poetry and prose, real and legendary, real and romantic feelings, arises in creativity. Kuprin gravitates towards the exotic, develops fantastic plots. He returns to the themes of his earlier novel. The motives of the inevitability of a chance in the fate of a person sound again.
In 1909 Kuprin wrote the story “The Pit”. Here Kuprin pays tribute to naturalism. He shows the inhabitants of the brothel. The whole story consists of scenes, portraits and clearly breaks down into individual details of everyday life.
However, in a number of stories written in the same years, Kuprin tried to point out real signs of high spiritual and moral values in reality itself. “Garnet Bracelet” is a story about love. This is what Paustovsky said about him: this is one of the most “fragrant” stories about love.
In 1919 Kuprin emigrated. In exile, he wrote the novel "Janet". This work is about the tragic loneliness of a person who has lost his homeland. This is a story about the touching attachment of an old professor who ended up in exile for a little Parisian girl - the daughter of a street newspaper lady.
Kuprin's emigrant period is characterized by withdrawal into himself. A major autobiographical work of that period is the novel "Juncker".
In emigration, the writer Kuprin did not lose faith in the future of his homeland. At the end of his life, he still returns to Russia. And his work rightfully belongs to Russian art, the Russian people.
Military career
Born into the family of a petty official who died when his son was in his second year. Mother from a Tatar princely family, after the death of her husband was in poverty and had to send her son to an orphan school for minors (1876), then a military gymnasium, later transformed into a cadet corps, which he graduated in 1888. In 1890 he graduated from the Alexander military school. Then he served in the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment, preparing for a military career. Not entering the Academy of the General Staff (this was prevented by the scandal associated with the violent, especially intoxicated, disposition of the cadet who threw a police officer into the water), Lieutenant Kuprin resigned in 1894.
Life style
Kuprin's figure was extremely colorful. Hungry for impressions, he led a wandering lifestyle, trying different professions - from a loader to a dentist. Autobiographical material of life formed the basis of many of his works.
There were legends about his stormy life. Possessing remarkable physical strength and explosive temperament, Kuprin eagerly rushed towards any new life experience: he went down under water in a diving suit, flew an airplane (this flight ended in a disaster that almost cost Kuprin his life), organized an athletic society ... During the war in his Gatchina house, he and his wife set up a private infirmary.
The writer was interested in people of various professions: engineers, organ-grinders, fishermen, card sharpers, beggars, monks, merchants, spies ... the most unthinkable adventure. According to his contemporaries, he approached life like a real researcher, seeking as complete and detailed knowledge as possible.
Kuprin willingly engaged in journalism, publishing articles and reports in various newspapers, traveled a lot, living now in Moscow, now near Ryazan, now in Balaklava, now in Gatchina.
Writer and revolution
Dissatisfaction with the existing social order attracted the writer to revolution, so Kuprin, like many other writers, his contemporaries, paid tribute to revolutionary sentiments. However, he reacted sharply negatively to the Bolshevik coup and to the power of the Bolsheviks. At first, he nevertheless tried to cooperate with the Bolshevik government and was even going to publish the peasant newspaper Zemlya, for which he met with Lenin.
But soon he unexpectedly switched to the side of the White movement, and after his defeat he left first for Finland, and then for France, where he settled in Paris (until 1937). There he actively participated in the anti-Bolshevik press, continued his literary activity (novels "The Wheel of Time", 1929; "Juncker", 1928-32; "Janet", 1932-33; articles and stories). But living in exile, the writer was terribly poor, suffering from both lack of demand and isolation from his native soil, and shortly before his death, believing Soviet propaganda, in May 1937 he returned with his wife to Russia. By this time he was already seriously ill.
Empathy for the common man
Almost all of Kuprin's work is permeated with the pathos of sympathy, traditional for Russian literature, for a “little” person who is doomed to drag out a miserable fate in an inert, squalid environment. Kuprin expressed this sympathy not only in the depiction of the "bottom" of society (a novel about the life of prostitutes "Yama", 1909-15, etc.), but also in the images of his intelligent, suffering heroes. Kuprin was inclined precisely to such reflective characters, nervous to the point of hysteria, not devoid of sentimentality. Engineer Bobrov (story "Molokh", 1896), endowed with a quivering soul, responsive to someone else's pain, worries about the workers squandering their lives in unbearable factory labor, while the rich are fattening on unjustly acquired money. Even characters from a military environment like Romashov or Nazansky (story "Duel", 1905) have a very high pain threshold and a small margin of mental strength to resist the vulgarity and cynicism of their environment. Romashov is tormented by the stupidity of military service, the debauchery of the officers, the downtroddenness of the soldiers. Perhaps none of the writers threw such a passionate accusation to the army environment as Kuprin. True, in his portrayal of ordinary people Kuprin differed from the populist-oriented writers inclined to worship of the people (although he received the approval of the venerable critic-populist N. Mikhailovsky). His democratism was not limited only to a tearful demonstration of their "humiliation and insult." Kuprin's common man turned out to be not only weak, but also able to stand up for himself, possessing an enviable inner strength. People's life appeared in his works in its free, spontaneous, natural course, with its own circle of ordinary concerns - not only sorrows, but also joys and consolations (Listrigones, 1908-11).
At the same time, the writer saw not only its bright sides and healthy beginnings, but also outbursts of aggressiveness, cruelty, easily directed by dark instincts (the famous description of the Jewish pogrom in the story "Gambrinus", 1907).
The joy of being In many of Kuprin's works, the presence of an ideal, romantic principle is clearly perceptible: it is both in his craving for heroic plots, and in his desire to see the highest manifestations of the human spirit - in love, creativity, kindness ... breaking out of the usual rut of life, looking for truth and seeking some other, fuller and more lively existence, freedom, beauty, grace ... Few in the literature of that time, so poetically, like Kuprin, wrote about love, tried to restore humanity to it and romance. "Garnet Bracelet" (1911) has become for many readers just such a work, where a pure, disinterested, ideal feeling is praised.
A brilliant depiction of the mores of various strata of society, Kuprin described the environment and everyday life in relief, with particular intentness (for which he more than once suffered from criticism). There was also a naturalistic tendency in his work.
At the same time, the writer, like no one else, knew how to feel the course of natural life from the inside - his stories "Watchdog and Zhulka" (1897), "Emerald" (1907) were included in the golden fund of works about animals. The ideal of natural life (the story "Olesya", 1898) is very important for Kuprin as a kind of desired norm, he often highlights modern life with it, finding in it sad deviations from this ideal.
For many critics, it was this natural, organic perception of Kuprin's life, the healthy joy of being that was the main distinguishing quality of his prose with its harmonious fusion of lyrics and romance, plot-compositional proportionality, dramatic action and accuracy in descriptions.
Literary skill Kuprin is an excellent master not only of the literary landscape and everything related to the external, visual and olfactory perception of life (Bunin and Kuprin competed to find out who would more accurately determine the smell of this or that phenomenon), but also of a literary character: portrait, psychology, speech - everything is worked out to the smallest nuances. Even the animals that Kuprin loved to write about reveal complexity and depth in him.
The narrative in Kuprin's works, as a rule, is very spectacular and is often addressed - unobtrusively and without false speculation - precisely to existential problems. He reflects on love, hatred, will to live, despair, strength and weakness of man, recreates the complex spiritual world of man at the end of eras.
The life and work of Kuprin represent an extremely complex and variegated picture. It is difficult to summarize them. All the experience of life taught him to call for humanity. All of Kuprin's stories and novellas have the same meaning - love for a person.
Childhood
In 1870, in the dull and waterless town of Narovchat, Penza province.
Orphaned very early. When he was one year old, his father, a petty clerk, died. There was nothing remarkable in the city, except for the artisans who made sieves and barrels. The kid's life went on without joys, but there were enough resentments. She and her mother went to friends and obsequiously begged for at least a cup of tea. And the "benefactors" stuck out their hand for a kiss.
Wanderings and studies
Mother 3 years later, in 1873, left for Moscow with her son. She was taken to a widow's house, and her son from the age of 6, in 1876 - to an orphanage. Later Kuprin will describe these establishments in the stories "The Runaways" (1917), "The Holy Lie", "At Rest". These are all stories about people whom life has mercilessly thrown out. This is how the story of Kuprin's life and work begins. It is difficult to tell about this briefly.
Service
When the boy grew up, he was able to be attached first to a military gymnasium (1880), then to a cadet corps and, finally, to a cadet school (1888). The training was free, but painful.
So dragged on the long and bleak 14 war years with their senseless drills and humiliations. The continuation was the adult service in the regiment, which was stationed in small towns near Podolsk (1890-1894). The first story, which will be published by A. I. Kuprin, opening the military theme - "Inquiry" (1894), then "Lilac Bush" (1894), "Night shift" (1899), "Duel" (1904-1905) and others ...
Years of wandering
In 1894 Kuprin resolutely and abruptly changes his life. He retires and lives very poorly. Alexander Ivanovich settled in Kiev and began writing feuilletons for newspapers, in which he paints the life of the city with colorful strokes. But the knowledge of life was lacking. What did he see besides military service? He was interested in everything. And Balaklava fishermen, and Donetsk factories, and the nature of Polissya, and unloading watermelons, and a balloon flight, and circus artists. He thoroughly studied the life and everyday life of the people who made up the backbone of society. Their language, jargons and customs. It is almost impossible to briefly convey the life and work of Kuprin saturated with impressions.
Literary activity
It was during these years (1895) that Kuprin became a professional writer, constantly publishing his works in various newspapers. He meets Chekhov (1901) and everyone around him. And earlier he became friends with I. Bunin (1897) and then with M. Gorky (1902). One after another, stories come out that make society shudder. Moloch (1896) about the severity of capitalist oppression and the lack of rights of the workers. "Duel" (1905), which cannot be read without anger and shame for the officers.
The writer chastely touches the theme of nature and love. "Olesya" (1898), "Shulamith" (1908), "Garnet Bracelet" (1911) is known all over the world. He knows the life of animals: "Emerald" (1911), "Starlings". Around these years, Kuprin can already support his family for literary earnings and get married. His daughter is born. Then he gets divorced, and in his second marriage he also has a daughter. In 1909 Kuprin was awarded the Pushkin Prize. The life and work of Kuprin, briefly described, can hardly fit into several paragraphs.
Emigration and return home
Kuprin did not accept the October Revolution with the instinct and heart of the artist. He leaves the country. But, being published abroad, he yearns for his homeland. Age and illness fail. Finally, he nevertheless returned to his beloved Moscow. But, having lived here for a year and a half, he, seriously ill, dies in 1938 at the age of 67 in Leningrad. This is how Kuprin's life and work ends. The summary and description do not convey the vivid and rich impressions of his life, reflected in the pages of the books.
About prose and biography of the writer
The essay briefly presented in our article suggests that each master of his own destiny. When a person is born, he is caught up in the stream of life. He brings someone into a stagnant swamp, and so he leaves there, someone flounders, trying to somehow cope with the current, and someone just floats with the current - where he will take it. But there are people to whom Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin belongs, who have stubbornly rowed against the stream all their lives.
Born in a provincial, unremarkable town, he will love him forever and will return to this uncomplicated dusty world of harsh childhood. The bourgeois and meager Narodchats he will love inexplicably.
Maybe for the carved platbands and geraniums on the windows, maybe for the vast fields, or maybe for the smell of dusty earth nailed down by rain. And maybe this scarcity will pull him in his youth, after the army drill, which he experienced for 14 years, to recognize Russia in all the fullness of its colors and dialects. Wherever his paths-roads will take him. And in the woods of Polissya, and in Odessa, and to metallurgical plants, and to the circus, and in the skies on an airplane, and to unload bricks and watermelons. A person, full of inexhaustible love for people, for their life, learns everything, and will reflect all his impressions in stories and stories that will be read by contemporaries and which are not outdated even now, a hundred years after they were written.
Can the young and beautiful Shulamith, the beloved of Tsar Solomon, become old, can the forest sorceress Olesya stop loving a timid city dweller, can Sasha, the musician from Gambrinus (1907), stop playing? And Artaud (1904) is still loyal to his masters, who love him endlessly. The writer saw all this with his own eyes and left it to us on the pages of his books, so that we could be horrified by the heavy tread of capitalism in Moloch, the nightmare life of young women in the Pit (1909-1915), the terrible death of the beautiful and innocent Emerald ...
Kuprin was a dreamer who loved life. And all the stories passed through his attentive gaze and sensitive intelligent heart. Maintaining friendship with writers, Kuprin never forgot neither the workers, nor the fishermen, nor the sailors, that is, those who are called ordinary people. They were united by an inner intelligence, which is given not by education and knowledge, but by the depth of human communication, the ability to sympathize, and natural delicacy. He was very upset about emigration. In one of his letters he wrote: "The more talented a person is, the more difficult it is for him without Russia." Not counting himself as a genius, he simply yearned for his homeland and, upon returning, died after a serious illness in Leningrad.
Based on the presented essay and chronology, you can write a short essay "The life and work of Kuprin (briefly)".
Kuprin's artistic method has long been and by common agreement defined as "consistent" or "traditional" realism, which most directly develops the traditions of classical literature of the 19th century.
This method organically combines the harsh denial of a soberly analyzed social reality and the high flight of a dream, in principle realizable, but not yet realized. As an artist, Kuprin was strong when he posed and resolved urgent social problems on the basis of living modernity.
The masterpieces of his pen - "Moloch", "Olesya", "Duel" - have become very strong arguments in the recent scientific dispute about the concept of the "crisis" of realism at the turn of the century.
Over the years, Kuprin, like most of his contemporary writers, increasingly attracted problems and themes of an abstract and generalized, universal nature.
But the persistent interest in mysterious and difficult to explain or completely inexplicable phenomena in human life, manifested both in the early works of Kuprin ("A Strange Case", "Madness", "Moonlit Night", etc.), and in later, cannot be explained in any way , as is sometimes done, solely by the influence of modernist literature on him.
Being a regularity in the artistic evolution of Kuprin, this side of his creative worldview does not destroy, but deepens the idea of the close relationship of his literary heritage with the current of Russian realism, in the depths of which back in the 60s and 70s. formed an interest in the mysterious sphere of human existence, not yet revealed to science. This tendency was most expressively embodied in the "mysterious stories" of I. S. Turgenev.
Kuprin, with his expressed interest in the "mysterious", but not mystical, but only unknown, is not a victim of the influences of modernism, but the legitimate heir and successor of certain searches for realism of the 19th century. in its evolution from concrete historical relevance to broader socio-philosophical generalizations of world existence and deep penetration into the sphere of human consciousness that has not yet been sufficiently cognized by science.
The peculiarity of Kuprin's artistic talent - an increased interest in each human personality and the skill of psychological analysis - allowed him to master the realistic heritage in his own way. The value of his work is in the artistically convincing disclosure of the soul of his contemporary, agitated and shocked by social reality and the mysteries of human existence.
Towards the turn of 1917, Kuprin came up with a life program that was fundamentally humanistic, but full of contradictions. The critical pathos inherent in him from the first literary steps has been preserved, but the subject of exposure has lost its clear social contours. This prevented the writer from understanding the meaning and tasks of the October Socialist Revolution. Like many others, he was brought in by the wave of emigration in 1919, first to Finland and then to France.
“There are people who, out of stupidity or despair, assert that it is possible without a homeland,” said Kuprin the emigrant bitterly. - But, forgive me, all this is pretense to myself. The more talented a person is, the more difficult it is for him without Russia. "
Almost all of Kuprin's foreign work is a dreary "look into the past." But, yearning for the past, now idealized by him, "sweet, carefree, comfortable, kind Russian life", the writer could not free himself from the thought that he did not understand something and does not understand until now, but it is necessary to understand. This anxiety led Kuprin to the inevitable thought of returning home, which he did shortly before his death.
History of Russian Literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983