With the publication of Gogol's satirical works, a critical trend in Russian realistic literature was strengthened. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, scourging power - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries. Artistic method Gogol got the name critical realism... New for Gogol is the sharpening of the main character traits of the hero; hyperbole - an exaggerated exaggeration that strengthens the impression - becomes a favorite technique of the writer. Gogol found that the plot “ Dead souls", Prompted by Pushkin, is good because it gives complete freedom to travel with the hero all over Russia and create a multitude of very diverse characters.
In the composition of the poem, it is necessary to emphasize the image of the road that runs through the entire poem, with the help of which the writer expresses his hatred of stagnation and striving forward. This image enhances the emotionality and dynamism of the entire poem.
The landscape helps the writer to tell about the place and time of the depicted events. The role of the road in the work is different: the landscape has a compositional meaning, is the background against which events take place, helps to understand and feel the feelings, state of mind and thoughts of the heroes. Through the theme of the road, the author expresses his point of view on events, as well as his attitude to nature and heroes.
Gogol captured the world of Russian nature in his work. His landscapes are distinguished by their artless beauty, vitality, and amaze with their amazing poetic vigilance and observation.
« Dead Souls”Begins with the image of city life, with pictures of the city and official society. Then there are five chapters describing Chichikov's trips to the landowners, and the action again moves to the city. Thus, five chapters of the poem are assigned to officials, five to landowners, and one almost entirely to Chichikov's biography. All together it presents a general picture of the whole of Russia with a huge number of characters of different positions and states, which Gogol snatches from the general mass and, showing some new side of life, disappear again.
The road in Dead Souls is of great importance. The author draws peasant fields, bad forests, poor pastures, neglected reservoirs, ruined huts. Painting a rural landscape, the writer speaks of peasant ruin more clearly and vividly than long descriptions and arguments could do.
In the novel, landscape sketches are also given, which have independent significance, but are compositionally subordinate to the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe novel. In some cases, the landscape helps the writer to highlight the moods and experiences of his characters. In all these paintings, distinguished by realistic concreteness and poetry, one can feel the love of the writer for his native Russian nature and his ability to find the most suitable and accurate words for its depiction.
“As soon as the city went back, as they went to write, according to our custom, nonsense and game on both sides of the road: hummocks, spruce, low liquid bushes of young pines, burnt trunks of old ones, wild heather and similar nonsense ...” Gogol N V. Collected works: In 9 volumes / Comp. text and comments by V.A. Voropaev and V.V. Vinogradov. - M .: Russian book, 1994.
Pictures of Russian nature are often found in Dead Souls. Gogol, like Pushkin, loved Russian fields, forests, and steppes. Belinsky wrote about Pushkin's landscapes: “Wonderful nature was at his fingertips here, in Russia, on its flat and monotonous steppes, under its eternally gray sky, in its sad villages and its rich and poor cities. What was low for the former poets was noble for Pushkin: what was prose for them was poetry for him. Belinsky Look at Russian Literature in 1847. / History of Russian Literature. - M .: Education, 1984 ..
Gogol describes both sad villages, naked, dull, and the landowner's forest along the road, which "darkened with a kind of dull bluish color," and the lordly park on the Manilov estate, where "five or six birches in small kupami, in some places raised their small-leaved thin tops ". But the main landscape for Gogol is the views on the sides of the road, flashing before the traveler.
Nature is shown in one tone with the depiction of folk life, evokes melancholy and sadness, surprises with immeasurable spaciousness; she lives with the people, as if sharing their plight.
“... the day was not that clear, not that gloomy, but some kind of light gray color, which happens only on the old uniforms of garrison soldiers, this, however, a peaceful army, but partly drunk sundays Gogol N.V. Collected works: In 9 volumes / Comp. text and comments by V.A. Voropaev and V.V. Vinogradov. - M .: Russian book, 1994.
“Gogol develops Pushkin’s principle of the connecting combination of words and phrases that are distant in their meaning, but with an unexpected convergence they form a contradictory and - at the same time - a single, complex, generalized and at the same time quite concrete image of a person, event,“ piece of reality ” , - writes about the language of "Dead Souls" VV Vinogradov. This connecting linkage of words is achieved by unmotivated and, as it were, ironically overturned, or alogical, by the use of connective particles and conjunctions. This is the addition of the words "partly drunk and peaceful army" to the main phrase about the weather; or in the description of officials: “their faces were full and round, some even had warts” Aksakov S. T. The story of my acquaintance with Gogol. // Gogol in the memoirs of his contemporaries. M .: Education, 1962 .-- p. 87 - 209.
"What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable, leading far to the side of the road mankind chose, striving to achieve the eternal truth ..."
This lyrical digression about the "world chronicle of mankind", about delusions and the search for a road to truth belongs to the few manifestations of conservative Christian thinking, which possessed Gogol by the time of the creation of the last edition of Dead Souls. It first appeared in a manuscript, begun in 1840 and completed in early 1841, and stylistically revised several times, and Gogol did not change the main idea, seeking only its better expression and poetry of the language.
But the lofty pathos of tone, the solemn vocabulary of biblical and Slavicisms ("khramina", "palaces", "meaning descending from heaven", "piercing finger", etc.) together with the artistic imagery of the picture "illuminated by the sun and illuminated all night with lights" a wide and luxurious path and "twisted, deaf, narrow ... roads" along which erring mankind wandered, made it possible for the broadest generalization in understanding the whole world history, the "chronicle of mankind" Yu.M. Lotman, At the school of poetic word: Pushkin, Lermontov , Gogol. - M .: Education, 1988 ..
“Rus! Russia! I see you, from my wonderful beautiful far away I see you ... "
Gogol wrote almost the entire first volume of Dead Souls abroad, among the beautiful nature of Switzerland and Italy, among the noisy life of Paris. From there he saw Russia even more clearly with its hard and sad life.
Thoughts about Russia aroused Gogol's emotional excitement and spilled over into lyrical digressions.
Gogol highly appreciated the writer's ability to lyricism, seeing in him a necessary quality of poetic talent. Gogol saw the spring of lyricism not in “tender”, but in “thick and strong strings ... of Russian nature” and defined “the highest state of lyricism” as “a firm rise in the light of reason, the supreme triumph of spiritual sobriety”. Thus, for Gogol, in the lyrical digression, it was primarily thought, idea, and not feeling, as was accepted by the poetics of past trends, which defined lyricism as an expression of feelings reaching delight.
Written by the beginning of 1841, a lyrical appeal to Russia reveals the idea of \u200b\u200bthe writer's civic duty to his homeland. To create a special language for the final pages of the first volume, Gogol fought for a long time, spent hard work, which shows that changes in vocabulary and grammatical structure were associated with changes in the ideological content of the digression.
The first edition of the appeal to Russia: “Rus! Russia! I see you ... "- was this:
“Eh, you, my Rus ... my dull, riotous, free-spirited, wonderful, God kiss you, holy land! How not to be born in you of an infinite thought when you yourself are endless? Can't you turn around in your wide open space? Can't there be a hero here when there is a place where he can walk? Where did so much of God's light unfold? My bottomless, depth and breadth you are mine! What moves, what speaks in me in unheard-of speeches, when I thrust my eyes into these immovable, unshakable seas, into these steppes that have lost their end?
Wow! ... how formidable and powerfully the stately space embraces me! what a vast strength and manners lie within me! How mighty thoughts carry me! Holy forces! into what distance, into what sparkling, unfamiliar land? What am I? - Eh, Russia! " Smirnova-Chikina E.S. Poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". - L: Education, 1974 .-- pp. 174-175.
This uncoordinated language did not satisfy Gogol. He removed the vernacular, part of the song sayings, added a description of the song as an expression of the power and poetry of the people, as the voice of Russia. The number of Slavicisms and ancient words increased, there appeared "crowned with daring divas of art", "... a formidable cloud, heavy with the coming rains", "nothing will seduce and enchant the gaze" ". Gogol associated space not only with the enormous size of the territory of Russia, but also with the endless roads that “dotted” this space.
"What a strange and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road!"
Gogol loved the road, long trips, fast driving, changing impressions. One of the enchanting lyrical digressions was dedicated by Gogol to the road. Gogol traveled a lot on steamers, trains, horses, "on the check-boxes", Yamskaya troikas and in stagecoaches. He saw Western Europe, Asia Minor, was passing through Greece and Turkey, traveled a lot in Russia.
The road had a soothing effect on Gogol, awakened his creative powers, was the artist's need, giving him the necessary impressions, setting him in a highly poetic mood. “My head and thoughts are better on the road ... My heart hears that God will help me to accomplish on the road all that for which the tools and forces in me have ripened until now,” Gogol wrote about the importance of the road for his work. by: Smirnova-Chikina E.S. Poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". - L: Education, 1974 .-- p.-178.
The image of the "road", including the autobiographical features reflected in this digression, was closely connected with the general idea of \u200b\u200bthe poem and served as a symbol of movement, a symbol of human life, moral improvement, a symbol of the life of a person who is "while on the road and at the station, and not at home. ".
In Chapter X of Dead Souls, Gogol showed the "worldwide chronicle of mankind," constant deviations from the "straight path," the search for it, "illuminated by the sun and illuminated all night with lights," accompanied by the invariable question: "Where is the way out? where is the road? "
The digression about the road is also associated with the image of Chichikov being on the road, wandering through the back streets of life in pursuit of the base goal of enrichment. According to Gogol's plan, Chichikov, unaware of this, is already moving along the path to the straight path of life. Therefore, the image of the road, movement ("horses are racing") is preceded by the biography of Chichikov, the hero of the poem, the awakening of each individual person and the whole of great Russia to a new wonderful life, which Gogol constantly dreamed of.
The text of the digression is a complex linguistic fusion. In it, along with Church Slavism ("heavenly forces", "God", "perishing", "cross of the village church", etc.), there are words of foreign origin: "appetite", "figure", "poetic dreams", and next there are also common, colloquial expressions: "you will snuggle closer and more comfortable", "glanders", "snoring", "alone", "a light is dawning", etc.
Concreteness, realism and accuracy in the description of the road continue Pushkin's traditions of purity and artlessness. Such are the poetically simple expressions: "clear day", "autumn leaves", "cold air" ... "Horses are racing" ... "Five stations ran back, the moon; unknown city "... This simple speech is complicated by enthusiastic lyrical exclamations that convey the author's personal feelings: after all, it is he who tells the reader about his love for the road:
“What a glorious cold! What a wonderful dream embracing you again! "
The inclusion of these exclamations gives a character of originality and novelty to the way of speech of the digression about the road.
A peculiar feature is the introduction of measured speech, representing the contamination of poetic dimensions. For example, “what a strange and alluring and bearing road in the word” - a combination of iambs and dactyls; or the lines “God! How good you are, sometimes a distant, distant road! How many times, like a perishing and drowning person, have I grabbed at you, and every time you generously endured and saved me ”- they represent almost correct choreic prose. This harmonization of the text enhances the artistic and emotional impact of the digression.
“Eh, three! bird three, who invented you? "
The symphony of lyrical digressions, "appeals", "angry praises" of Chapter XI ends with a solemn chord-appeal to the soul of the Russian people, who love fast forward movement, riding a flying bird-troika.
The symbol of the road and movement forward, familiar to Gogol, now addressed to the whole people, to all of Russia, aroused in the writer's soul a lyrical delight of love for the motherland, a sense of pride in her and confidence in the greatness of her future destinies.
The lyrical ending of Dead Souls with the likeness of Russia to the bird-three, written for the second edition (1841), was very slightly revised. The corrections concerned clarification of the meaning of sentences, grammatical and intonational structure. A question has been introduced - "whether not to love her", emphasizing a new meaning: "whether his soul ... not to love (fast driving)" - an emphasis on the special character of the Russian person; “Whether not to love her” - the emphasis on the word “her”, which defines fast driving, an enthusiastic and wonderful forward movement. The three at the end of the poem is the logical conclusion of its entire content.
ROAD AND WAY. POEM ABOUT THE WHEEL
Resume: Analyzing Gogol's poem, the author divides the concepts of "road" and "path", talking about the adventures of Chichikov, and connects them when Chichikov, under the pen of Gogol, realizes that he “stumbled from the straight path”, that he “has no love for good” , that is, together with his creator, he walks the path "from darkness to light."
Key words: road and path - geographic and spiritual concepts; there are many roads - one way; momentary and eternal; self-interest, circling the Russian land, a revolution in Chichikov's soul, the great idea of \u200b\u200ba "great poem"; the wheel metaphor is the poetic code of Dead Souls.
The road and the path in Gogol's poem sometimes converge, then two concepts diverge: the road and the path. A road is movement in space, along the map of Russia, from city to city, from village to village. This is the following along the post stations and milestones. The road is a geographical concept, the way is spiritual.
“I am the way,” says Christ. If you adhere to the final plan of the poem, which was determined at the end of the forties (the time of creation of "Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends"), then this is the path that Chichikov will have to take.
For there is no third way, as the Holy Scriptures say. And the Gospel, as stated in the second epistle of the Apostle Peter, can be called "the way of truth" or "the scarecrow of the truth."
The path to Christ is a harsh vow made to oneself, a narrow path (literally: the path burdened with sorrow). In Jesus, the goal is identical to the path.
The path can be determined on the road, but it will never merge with it. There are many roads, but one way. In June 1842, Gogol wrote to VA Zhukovsky: "Heavenly power will help me climb the ladder that lies ahead of me, although I am standing on its lowest and first steps."
The path is God's plan for the salvation of man (see Acts 3-10), and when publishing the first volume of Dead Souls ", Gogol knew this:" Having cooled down for a long time And having died out for all the excitements and passions of the world, I live my inner world. "
The first volume, in his opinion, is only "a slightly pale threshold of that great poem that is being built in me and will finally solve the riddle of my existence."
All this is said on the threshold of the second volume, towards the end of which his path will be drawn in front of Chichi KOBblM.
Selfish circles around the Russian land, now and then resolved by crises, should turn his soul at a critical point.
Paradoxically, but here the paths and roads of the author and his hero converge. The “great poem” is “built” in Gogol himself, who does not separate it from himself, but himself from Chichikov.
Already in 1842, he understood that “ dead souls"The matter will not be limited that self-interest itself will ask for mercy. Chichikov has some sins, Gogol has others. But there is no salvation without cleansing from sin.
“Sins, indications of sins longs for and thirsts for my soul! - writes Gogol in July 1842. "If only you knew what a holiday is now taking place inside me when I discover a vice in myself."
Isn't this the holiday that its hero should also celebrate in the finale of the "great poem"?
That is why she is “great” because her plan and the plan of the life of Gogol himself are great.
The “forger of false papers” will also have to climb the stairs he wants to climb.
The full title of the poem is Chichikov's Adventures, or Dead Souls. "Adventures" accurately convey the original idea of \u200b\u200bGogol. Chichikov in the poem "walks", one might even say is having fun, and his journey is quickis like an adventurous adventure,than a serious enterprise. He lay downko rolls in his chaise, it is easy to cheatdoes business.
The word "adventures" includes this lightness, this frivolity. A distant perspective is not visible: what comes to hand, then goes into production.
This is a wandering to the top, a plot of luck (or, conversely, failure), buffoonery and acting.
The opening chapters of Dead Souls are a classic roguish novel as prevalent as a genre in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Vladimir Dal interprets the word "adventure" as follows: "An adventure, an incident, an incident with someone, especially in a wandering." Gulliver's journey, for example, cannot be called an adventure, for it is not an adventure, but a very fundamental plot.
Adventures can be considered Khlestakov's adventures in The Inspector General. There is only one difference from Dead Souls. Chichikov is deliberately fooling, Khlestakov on a whim. On the way, he loses his vacation pay to the infantry captain, and having driven into the city of N, he recovers the loss at the expense of the mayor and the company.
"Dead Souls" were born in the element of the "Inspector General", in the element of unrestrained laughter and traffic incidents, and they dawned in Gogol's imagination at the same time as "The Inspector General", in the fall
1835 year. In the initial chapters, the handwriting of the creator Khlestakov is clearly visible. At the end of that autumn, Gogol wrote to MP Pogodin: “Now let's laugh, laugh more. Long live the comedy! " But, as always with Gogol, tragedy mingled with the comedy.
Realizing that Gogol's poem is fiction, let's try to correlate Chichikov's route with a postal map of the 30s of the 19th century.
Chichikov makes a detour of the Russian province in a circle, And his wheel dictates this choice to him, or rather the metaphor of the wheel, which is the poetic code of "Dead Souls".
They begin with the "wheel" (a conversation between two men at the walls of the pub about the wheel of a visitor's chaise) and end with them: the wheel carries Chichikov's troika out of town N not when it wants to
Chichikov, but on your own. The wheel is almost like rock and a higher will. As soon as he breaks down, the chaise's route changes, it is worth recovering, and again Chichikov goes to the wrong place.
The peasants, looking at the newcomer, ask each other: will the wheel of his chaise reach Kazan or Moscow or not?
By the name of these cities, one can at least establish where Chichikov currently resides in the Russian Empire. We learn that he once lived in Moscow from the story of his youth (eleventh chapter) and from Petrushka, who, in a dispute with the servant of the landowner Platonov, which of their owners traveled more, calls Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl and Moscow ...
Chichikov himself, in passing, points to the provinces where he visited: Simbirsk, Ryazan, Kazan, Moscow, Penza and Vyatka. They are all connected with the Volga, like Kostroma, Nizhny and Yaroslavl.
In the Ryazan forests, the gang of Captain Kopeikin is robbing passers-by (according to the postmaster - the gang of Chichikov), Ryazan stands on the Oka that flows into the Volga, Vyatka on the Vyatka River, which flows into the Kama, a tributary of the Volga, Kazan and Simbirsk are the Volga cities, Penza province stretches into Volga upland, turning into the Volga forest-steppe. Kostroma and Nizhny Novgorod are cities on the Volga.
Where it is about the peasants bought by Chichikov, Tsarevo-Kokshaisk and Vesyegonsk are remembered. Vesyegonsk is located in the Tver province and has a pier on the Volga. Tsarevo-Kokshaisk (now Yoshkar-Ola) is a place for which, as stated in the Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary (2001), “the main river Volga”. ...
Thus, the Chichikov troika describes a circle covering the center of Russia and the Volga, which holds its historical vertical. The Volga lies within indigenous Russia, the homeland of the ancestors and the homeland of the Russian language. The Volga is the trunk of Russia, around which its fruiting branches are scattered. The land of the landowner Tentetnikov in the second volume is cut by a navigable river. There is a pier on it. And in the first volume, among the peasants bought by Chichikov, there are barge haulers who were dragged along
heavy barges on the banks of the big river. And the city, where the action of the second volume takes place, "is located not far from both capitals", therefore, and from the Volga.
Gogol gives him the not very sonorous name Tfuslavl, suggesting a sound similarity with Yaroslavl and the presence of a parody element. And where is Chichikov heading from Tfuslavl? It is clear that not in the Kherson province, where he intends to "peresepit" the dead peasants. And not to the Lithuanian border, where he was unlucky with a swindle at customs.
On the previous road, he "recoiled far from the path," "the tempter demon knocked down, pushed away from the path, Satan, devil, devil!" (his own confession). This means that we must break away from the demon, devil and Satan. Chichikov's roads always circled around his dreams of "property". Along the "crooked roads" and attracted him "crooked wheel". At the end of the second volume, “the snow had fallen enough,” “the road, as Selifan says, was established,” and they had to switch from the wheels to the “skids”.
On skids, you can drive off to Siberia. But there is no serfdom, therefore, there are no serf souls either. If, as the postmaster believes, Chichikov is Captain Kopeikin, then he will have the prospect of realizing his talent in the country of capital, in America. But, as you can see, the paths of the author and his hero run through their native land. It is time for Chichikov to think "about the improvement of mental property", because "without this, the improvement of earthly property will not be established."
The tax farmer Murazov admonishes him: "Think not about dead souls, but about your living soul, but with God on a different road!"
The track was established, hardened, and Chichikov left the city at the same time as the ruined landowner Khlobuev. Khlobuyev goes to collect money for the church, Murazov advises Chichikov: "Settle in a quiet corner, closer to the church."
Gogol also thought about a "quiet corner" somewhere not far from Moscow, where you can retire. The mentioned "corner" often appears in his letters. We hear about him more than once, And in the poem.
Before leaving, Chichikov confesses: “I made a mistake, I will not hide it, I made a mistake. What to do! But he only crooked when he saw that you couldn't take a straight road and that the oblique road was more straightforward. I’m not walking like that, I have stepped back far from the straight path, but I can’t any more! No
great disgust from vice, nature has become coarse, there is no love for good. There is no such desire to strive for good, as there is to obtain property. "
This time, there are no lies in his speech, no complaints about the vicissitudes of fate and persecution by enemies. And let a minute later the hypocrite will rise again in him and for thirty thousand he will return both the selected box and the money, sew a new coat of Navarino smoke with a flame (the old
broke from despair in prison), "this," as Gogol notes, "was the ruin of the former Chichikov."
He compares the state of his soul “with a dismantled structure, which has been dismantled in order to build a new one out of it; and a new one has not yet begun, because the defining plan did not come from the architect, and the workers were left at a loss. "
What structure are we talking about? Most likely, this is a house with bright rooms and finally found peace. But who is the "architect"? Is it not a "heavenly" architect? Yes
and who, besides Him, having sprinkled the soul of Chichikov with living water, is capable of turning the disassembled structure back into a whole?
Only He. He will calm, He will lift, give strength. And, having forgiven him everything, he will save. Gogol also hopes for this, including for himself. If you look closely at the course of the second volume, the paths of Chichikov and Gogol, as non-Euclidean straight lines, crossed.
The theme of the road, movement is one of the most important in N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls". The plot of the work itself is based on the adventures of the protagonist, the swindler Chichikov: he travels from landlord to landowner, moves around the provincial town in order to buy "dead souls".
In the last part of the poem, the biography of Chichikov is given - also a kind of movement in time, accompanied by his internal development.
Dead Souls begins and ends with the theme of the road. At the beginning of the poem, Chichikov enters the provincial town, it is full of hopes and plans, and at the end the hero runs out of it, fearing the final exposure.
For Gogol, the whole life of a person is an endless movement, no matter how imperceptible it may seem. That is why, while portraying the landowners who are not farmers, he nevertheless considers their revival possible. For a writer, mental stop and peace are not the end of movement, not mortification. Internal development can begin again and both lead to the "main road" and force to wander off-road.
Let's remember that, leaving Korobochka, Chichikov asks her to tell how to get to the main road: “How could this be done? - said the hostess. - It's tricky to tell, there are many twists and turns ... "
This answer contains a symbolic meaning, it is connected both with the theme of the road, path, movement, and with another important image - the image of Russia. "How to get to the high road"? - this is the author's question to the readers. Together with the writer, he must think about how to go on the "high road" of life. It is difficult to talk about how to "get to the main road": there are many "turns", you always run the risk of turning in the wrong place. Therefore, you cannot do without a guide. This role in the poem is played by the author himself: "And for a long time it has been determined for me by the wonderful power ... to look at the whole immensely rushing life, to look at it through the laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears!"
In the eleventh chapter, which concludes the first volume of Dead Souls, a kind of hymn to the road sounds. This is a hymn to the movement - the source of "wonderful designs, poetic dreams", "wonderful impressions": "What a strange, and alluring, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! .."
The two most important themes of the author's reflections - the theme of Russia and the theme of the road - merge in this lyrical digression, "Russia-troika", "all inspired by God", appears in it as a vision of the author who seeks to understand the meaning of her movement: "Russia, where are you rushing you? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. "
The image of Russia created in this digression, and the author's rhetorical question addressed to her, echoes Pushkin's image of Russia - the “proud horse” created in The Bronze Horseman, and with the rhetorical question: “And what fire is in this horse! Where are you galloping, proud horse, / And where will you lower your hooves? "
Gogol passionately wanted to understand the meaning and purpose of Russia's historical movement. The artistic result of the author's reflections was the image of an irresistibly rushing country, heading into the future, defiant to its "riders": miserable "nebokoptitels", whose immobility sharply contrasts with the "terrifying movement" of the country.
Reflecting on Russia, the author reminds of what is hidden behind the "mud of little things that enmeshed our life", depicted by him, behind "cold, fragmented, everyday characters that are teeming with our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road." He speaks of "a wonderful, beautiful distance" from which he looks at Russia. This is an epic distance that attracts him with its "secret power": the distance of the "mighty space" of Russia ("wow! What a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Russia! ..") and the distance of historical time ("What does this immense space prophesy? Here Is it possible that in you an infinite thought might not be born, when you yourself endlessly? Isn't there a hero here when there is a place where he can turn around and walk? ").
The heroes depicted in the story of Chichikov's "adventures" are devoid of positive qualities: they are not heroes, but ordinary people with their weaknesses and vices. In the majestic image of Russia, created by the author, there is no place for them: they seem to diminish, disappear, just like "like dots, badges, imperceptibly low ... cities stick out among the plains." Only the author himself, endowed with the knowledge of Russia, with "terrible power" and "unnatural power" received by him from the Russian land, becomes the only one positive hero "Dead Souls", a prophecy about those heroic forces that, according to Gogol, should appear in Russia.
The theme of Russia and its future has always worried writers and poets. Many of them tried to predict the fate of Russia and explain the situation in the country. So N.V. Gogol reflected in his works the most important features of the era, contemporary writer, - the era of the crisis of serfdom.
The poem by N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls" is a work not only about the present and future of Russia, contemporary to the writer, but about the fate of Russia in general, about its place in the world. The author tries to analyze the life of our country in the thirties of the nineteenth century and concludes that the people who are responsible for the fate of Russia are dead souls. This is one of the meanings that the author put into the title of the poem.
Initially, the author's idea was to "show at least from one side all of Russia", but later the idea changed and Gogol wrote: "All Russia will be reflected in him (in the work)." An important role for understanding the concept of the poem is played by the image of the road, which is associated, first of all, with the composition of "Dead Souls". The poem begins with the image of the road: the main character Chichikov arrives in the city of NN - and ends with him: Pavel Ivanovich is forced to leave the provincial town. While in the city, Chichikov makes two circles: first he goes around the officials to pay them his respect, and then the landlords in order to directly carry out the scam that he conceived - to buy up dead souls. Thus, the road helps Gogol to show the whole panorama of Russia, and bureaucratic, and landlord, and peasant, and draw the attention of readers to the state of affairs in the country.
Gogol creates the image of a provincial city, displaying a whole line of officials in the text of the work. Chichikov considers it his duty to visit everyone " the mighty this ". Thus, he makes a small circle around the city, the author once again emphasizes the importance of the image of the road for understanding the meaning of the work. The writer wants to say that Pavel Ivanovich feels like a fish in water among officials. It is no coincidence that those in power take him for their own and immediately invite him to visit. So Chichikov gets to the ball to the governor.
Describing officials, Gogol draws the readers' attention that none of them fulfills their direct mission, that is, they do not care about the fate of Russia. For example, the governor, the main person in the city, arranges balls, cares about his social status, because he is proud of having Anna around his neck, and even embroiders on tulle. However, nowhere is it said that he is doing something for the well-being of his city. The same can be said about the rest of the authorities. The effect is enhanced by the fact that there are a great many officials in the city.
Of all the types of landowners created by Gogol, there is not one behind whom the future could be seen. The heroes presented in the poem are not alike, and at the same time, individual typical features of the Russian landowner appear in each of them: stinginess, idleness and spiritual emptiness. The most prominent representatives are Sobakevich and Plyushkin. The landowner Sobakevich symbolizes the gloomy serf lifestyle, he is a cynical and rude person. Everything around him looks like him: a rich village, an interior and even a thrush sitting in a cage. Sobakevich is hostile to everything new, he hates the very idea of \u200b\u200b"enlightenment". The author compares him to a "medium-sized bear", while Chichikov calls Sobakevich a "fist."
Another landowner, Plyushkin, is not so much a comic figure as a tragic one. In the description of his village, the word "neglect" is the key word.
The poem "Dead Souls" is a brilliant satire on feudal Russia. But fate has no mercy for the One whose noble genius Became the denouncer of the crowd, Her passions and delusions. Creativity N.V., Gogol is multifaceted and diverse. The writer has a talent ...
Chichikov is the main character of the poem, he is found in all chapters. It is he who owns the idea of \u200b\u200ba scam with dead souls, it is he who travels around Russia, meeting with a variety of characters and getting into a variety of situations. Characteristic of Chichikov ...
Each time has its own heroes. They determine his face, character, principles, ethical guidelines. With the advent of "Dead Souls", he entered Russian literature new heronot like its predecessors. Elusive, slippery is felt in the description of his appearance ...
The poem "Dead Souls" cannot be imagined without "lyrical digressions". They so organically entered the structure of the work that we can no longer imagine it without these magnificent author's monologues. Thanks to “ lyrical digressions»We constantly feel ...
READING THE CLASSIC.
E.N. Proskurin
HOUSE AND ROAD IN THE POEM OF GOGOL "DEAD SOULS"
The road and the adjacent space in its Russian diversity (fields, forests, villages, provincial town) - this is the topography of Dead Souls. In this article, we will be interested in the relationship between the road and the house.
According to the point of view established in Gogol studies, the road belongs to the leading place in the poem. It sets the genre features of the work, linking it with the travel novel, as well as with the adventure novel, it is the starting point of the author's lyrical thought, in the narrative plan, the road is a connecting link between settlements, in which, according to the writer's plan, the main character needs to be Chichikov, etc. However, the house in the poem has no less place, at least in terms of the frequency of Gogol's use of depicting various kinds of landlord dwellings. It is also fundamentally important that Chichikov's main goal is to establish a home, family, offspring. The "fantastic" "negotiation" undertaken by him is nothing more than a means to achieve this goal. At the same time, the way of realizing the adventure with "dead souls" is possible for the hero only through his personal contacts with the landowners - the owners of the serfs. That is, Chichikov's basically "road" idea needs to enter into a relationship with a local, which means, for the most part, a closed type of life, penetrate into it and, having caused trust, subordinate it to itself.
However, despite the fact that the house in "Dead Souls" is located in the vicinity of the road1, that is, it would seem, should be susceptible to the winds of the road, after getting acquainted with Chichikov's "road" idea, he shows resistance to it, and, of a kind.
So, Manilov's house is located several versts from the pole road, “in the Jura ...
1 The topographic point farthest from the pole road along which Chichikov is moving is Korobochka's house. Located about an hour away from the Chichikovskaya chaise on the "bad", rain-swept land, the hero perceives it as "wilderness." The time assumed by us can be set according to indirect indications available in Gogol's text: after a stormy night, Chichikov woke up in Korobochka's house at ten o'clock. A difficult conversation with the "club-headed" mistress, a plentiful meal with pancakes, a pie with an egg, the time for laying the chaise probably took at least an hour. And at noon Chichikov's carriage was already on the main road.
Elena Nikolaevna Proskurina - Candidate of Philology, Senior Researcher of the Literary Studies Sector of the Institute of Philology of the SB RAS.
open to all winds "2. This "openness", symbolizing, at first glance, the owner's susceptibility to everything new, in fact, manifests itself in nothing more than arranging the estate in the English manner and in the exotic names of his sons: Themistoclus and Alcides. It is difficult to move beyond this "mixture" of English and Greek: Chichikov's proposal to "hand over, surrender" the "dead peasants" to him does not fit Manilov's head. Hearing “such strange and extraordinary things that human ears have never heard before” (19S), he “immediately took out the shank with the pipe on the floor and, as he opened his mouth, remained with his mouth open for several minutes” (196); “Finally ... he picked up the receiver with a shank and looked from below into his [Chichikov's] face, trying to spy out whether he could see some kind of smile on his lips, whether he was joking” (196); “Then I wondered if the guest had somehow accidentally gone mad” (196). In the course of the further conversation, Manilov “becomes embarrassed,” “gets in the way,” “is completely lost,” and calms down only after Chichikov assured him that his duty was “a sacred deed” and he “grew numb before the law” (197). At the same time, however, “he still did not understand the matter itself” (197), but he was “mentally” glad that he “gave his guest a little pleasure” (199). The "pleasure" consisted in the fact that Manilov did not accept money from Chichikov for his "fantastic desire" and even took upon himself the execution of the deed of sale. That is, the idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal gain from the Chichikov enterprise also turned out to be inaccessible to Manilov. And after Chichikov's departure, he again indulged in his usual reflections:
“He thought about the prosperity of a friendly life, about how good it would be to live with a friend on the bank of some river, then a bridge was built across this river, then a huge house with such a high belvedere that one could even see Moscow from there and there in the evening to drink tea in the open air and talk about some pleasant subjects ... Chichikov's strange request suddenly interrupted all his dreams. The thought of her somehow did not really boil in his head: no matter how he turned it over, he could not explain it to himself, and all the time he sat and smoked a pipe, which lasted until dinner ”(199-200).
From the examples given, one can see, first, that Chichikov's idea, which Ma-
2 Gogol N. Dead Souls // Gogol N. Selected Works: in 2 volumes. T. 2. M., 1984. P. 186. Further quotations from the text are given in this edition with the indication of pages in brackets. Italics in my quotes - E.P.
nilov defined for himself as "unheard of" and "fantastic", and did not penetrate into his consciousness, and secondly, it did not in any way affect his established type of life, only gave a new reason for long fruitless thoughts.
Arrival to Nozdrev3 was not accompanied by any road problems for Chichikov. Perhaps because he was driving with Nozdryov himself, which means that he could not think about the road and not cope; and it is also possible that the Nozdrev village with a manor house was located right next to main road... In any case, the hero gets there "in the meantime", as if succumbing to the author's road thoughts about the Nozdrev "type", that is, without difficulty, as if by the way, and from there, frightened by Nozdrev's reception, he jumps at once "at full speed", "into all gone. "
It should be noted that Nozdryov's dwelling itself bears little resemblance to a private space and is more suited to the concept of a "house by the road" 4, where the owner is ready to bring anyone, even an almost unfamiliar person, if only there was an opportunity to realize his own "agility and agility of character." In this respect, Nozd-roar belongs to the "road" type of people even more than Chichikov, because his adventurism is, one might say, a state of mind, while Chichikov's adventurism is more a tribute to vital necessity. The latter sees a home as a result of his undertaking, while Nozdryov lacks at least some idea of \u200b\u200bhis personal future. Therefore, it was by no means accidental (and by no means unreasonable, as we know) that Chichikov sensed in Nozdrev's destructiveness the danger for his "business."
As for Nozdrev's reaction to Chichikov's "negotiation", it fully corresponds to the character's character type. Nozdrev no more than Manilov understands the essence of the Chichikov enterprise ("What do you need?", "Why do you need them?" You must admit that "(231)), both because of his personal adventurism, and also because of the loss of cards, he is trying to squeeze his own benefit out of his guest's idea: he sells to Chichikov everything that can be sold (horses, puppies, organ ...), starts to beat him at cards, checkers. That is, he wants to cheat Chichikov in the same way that he cheated many simpletons before him, but at the same time, which is fundamentally important,
3 In this work, in connection with our own research tasks, we disrupt the sequence of Chichikov's visits to landowners' estates.
4 For the features of the "house by the road" model see: E.N. Proskurina. The motive of the house by the road in Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries // Plots and motives of Russian literature. Materials for the dictionary of plots and motives of Russian literature. Issue 5. Collection of scientific papers. Novosibirsk, 2002.S. 148-171.
in ways that are included in the category of traditional "lordly" entertainment. When his idea fails, Nozdryov also uses his usual trick: he tries to beat his guest with the help of courtyard people. And only the unexpected arrival of the gendarmes prevents his undertaking from being realized. It should be noted that the type of behavior of Nozdryov in the scene with Chichikov (inability to dwell on the subject of conversation, jumping from one to another, etc.), with all the outward decisiveness of his actions, indicates that he is having more fun here, so to speak, amuses " glibness of character ", which makes a commercial transaction.
Thus, like Manilov, Nozdryov, after getting acquainted with the Chichikov idea, remains true to himself. Despite the apparent interest, the thought of personal gain does not really seem to capture him. And, I think, for the same reason as Manilova: too unusual, "lying", that is, alien, it seems even to him, for all his "nimbleness", the idea of \u200b\u200bbuying and selling "dead souls", and, not understanding how to treat her, he does not take her seriously. Although it does not do without the fact that his own unbridled nature, as they say, begins to beat Nozdryov over the edge, and in his impatience he misses the real opportunity for himself to extract, albeit a small, sum of money, which he needs in earnest.
In the village of Plyushkina, which in the poem is presented as "a vast village with many huts and streets" (258), Chichikov finds himself in an imperceptible way. It can be assumed that it is located in the immediate vicinity of the main road, otherwise the country-side inconveniences would have made themselves felt, like that "orderly push" on the log village pavement, which brought our hero out of the road thoughts. Plyushkin's house turned out to be around several bends from the road, "where the chain of huts was interrupted and in their place there was a wasteland, a vegetable garden or a skits, surrounded by a low, in places broken city" (259). With such a general roadside position, however, both the village itself and the landlord's house leave the greatest impression in the whole work of musty, abandonment, destruction. Road trends associated with dynamism, changes, and novelty are completely imperceptible here. The location of the Plyushkinsky house: on a vacant lot, "where the chain of huts was interrupted," that is, at the point farthest from the road - in this regard, it is undoubtedly symbolic.
Plyushkin's first reaction to Chichikov's proposal practically coincides with Manilov's reaction: "He goggled for a long time" (267) at his guest, without comprehending the essence of his idea. But he completely calmed down after
rhenium Chichikov, that he is "ready and at a loss" solely for the "pleasure" of the "respectable, kind old man." Such an almost childish naivety, which opened in Plyushkin, who suspects everyone and everything, once again speaks of the exclusivity, nothing-like-nothing-similarity of the Chichikov enterprise. However, after the unexpected guest takes “even the costs of the deed” “at his own expense,” Plyushkin immediately concludes that he “must be completely stupid ... For all that, he, however, could not hide his joy .. After that he began ... to look at Chichikov suspiciously. The features of such extraordinary generosity began to seem incredible to him. " (268-269). All this complex palette of Plyushkin's feelings testifies to one thing: the absolute incomprehensibility for him of the meaning of acquiring dead souls.
Sobakevich is the least surprised by Chichikov's proposal. His reaction is extremely laconic and businesslike: “Do you need dead souls? ... Excuse me, I'm ready to sell ... "(250). At the same time, he breaks such a fabulously high price for them that Chichikov's reaction to it is akin to that shown by Manilov or Plyushkin in relation to the very subject of bargaining:
“- Stu! cried Chichikov, opening his mouth and looking into his [Sobakevich's] very eyes, not knowing whether he himself had misheard, or whether Sobakevich's language, due to its heavy nature, turned not so much, blurted out another word instead of one ”(250).
At the same time, however, Sobakevich no more than others understands the essence of Chichikov's idea. He only “realizes” that “the buyer must surely have some benefit here” (250), and in the process of bargaining for Chichikov’s remark about his “subject”: “What is it worth? Who needs",
Vaguely philosophically he answers: "Why, you are buying, therefore, you need it" (252). And by virtue of his personal "efficiency" he tries to get the maximum benefit for himself. However, this benefit, so to speak, is of a one-time nature. Chichikov in the house-fortress of Sobakevich is a migratory bird. As he arrived, he left, leaving the owner in the same hermetic space in which he lived all his life. The idea of \u200b\u200bmaking the trade in dead peasants his constant "trade" does not even arise in Sobakevich's head.
Attention should also be paid to the location of this landowner's house. First, Chichikov saw his village from the road. Likewise, the house, located "in the middle" of the village, was immediately noticed by him. When Chichikov drives out of Sobakevich's estate, he turns "towards the peasant huts so that it would not be possible to see the carriage from the side of the master's yard" (256). That is, the pole road is clearly visible from the porch of Sobakevich's house, which in this case is not at all desirable for Chichikov, intending
to pay a visit to Plyushkin. Therefore, he is forced to take a detour.
Thus, in all the cases cited by us, the landlord's house is either in relative or in the immediate vicinity of the road. At the same time, however, the road has not yet been introduced and throughout the plot has not been introduced into the way of life of the landlords. Such different types of life arrangement, which are presented in Gogol's poem, are possible only in the case of isolation, extreme privacy of home economics. That is, the road for Gogol landowners
It is nothing more than a means of communication with the provincial city, while communication that does not at all open the hermetic space of their life. All other functions of the road in the poem either relate to the author's plan, or are associated with the main character.
Here, however, one should specially dwell on such a character as Korobochka, for it is she who will, so to speak, knock Chichikov's "negotiation" off the road. A hint of this function of the character lies in the very story of the appearance of the hero at the gates of Korobochka's house, where, having lost his way during a thunderstorm, drunk Selifan brings him. The full name itself: Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka - has a semantic meaning in terms of the plot characteristics of the heroine: it contains a double marking of the extreme closeness of her consciousness and way of life. So, if Mikhailo Semyonitch, Mikhailo Ivanovich, Mikhailo Potapych usually call a bear in Russian fairy tales, then Nastasya Petrovna is the name of a bear in them. Mikhail Semyonovich Sobakevich's “bearish”, that is, heavy, lair-like life arrangement is often spoken of directly in Gogol's work. An allusion to the same type of home economics, only with an even greater degree of secrecy (remember that Korobochka's house is the farthest from the road. See note 1 to this article), contains both the heroine's name and her unusual surname.
However, none other than Korobochka, who lives in the "wilderness", with her clumsy mind, will have to destroy Chichikov's plans. It is she who is the only one of all the heroes of the poem (however, like them, not understanding anything in the sense of the deal itself) is seriously afraid to miscalculate in it, for what reason, she gets out of her “village” and goes to the city to find out “how much they go dead souls, and if she did not miss, God forbid, having sold them, perhaps at a great price ”(311).
Thus, Korobochkin's "cudgel-loviness" turns out to be akin to Chichikov's ingenuity (a hint of the relationship of these characters is contained in an episode of their morning conversation:
“And let me know your surname. I'm so confused. arrived at night.
Box, collegiate secretary.
Thank you very much. And the name and patronymic?
Nastasya Petrovna.
Nastasya Petrovna? Good name Nastasya Petrovna. I have a dear aunt, my mother's sister, Nastasya Petrovna ”(208)).
To a greater extent than other "sellers", she realizes her interest here, realizes her own "negotiation". Moreover, Korobochka suspects of Chichikov's idea of \u200b\u200bsome reusable project that can become one of the articles of her permanent income ("Really, my such inexperienced widow's business! I'd better wait a little, maybe merchants will come in large numbers, but I will apply to prices (211)). She is not interested in Chichikov's benefit in this case, and she is beyond the power of her mind, as evidenced by the scene of their bargaining. It is important for her first of all not to miscalculate herself. It is the idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal long-term benefit, declared in the conversation about government contracts, that makes her move from her own "wilderness" to the city "for long". We can say that here the road "manages" to open the living space of the character, and even one who, it seems, is least capable of changes.
The new "road" intrigue created by Korobochka in such an unexpected way conflicts with Chichikov's enterprise and, as a result, destroys his plans. Thus, the heroine moves from one group of characters - the characters of the house - to another: the characters of the road, which is now represented by three persons: Chichikov, Nozdrev and Korobochka. It is no coincidence that this particular trinity is assigned the main role at the end of the first volume of the poem. The complication of the "road" intrigue arising due to the final events creates the possibility of a conflict that is new in the literature of the Gogol period, essentially bourgeois. And here, in the text, or rather, in the subtext of the work, new semantic intentions arise, associated with the motive of the road: in its sound there are sounds "not abusive" before, revealing the possibilities of the road chronotope as a dangerous space fraught not only with positive changes, but also with destruction , the destruction of the traditional way of life. Having appeared in the literature of the 19th century, they will make themselves known in full force in the literature of the 20th century, which we have already written about. In this semantic context, Gogol's house appears in a different hypostasis for itself: as a space opposing a destructive road and thus acts as a stronghold and defender of primordial traditions.
As for the provincial town, after the revelations of Nozdryov and the appearance of Korobochka, he was completely perplexed. The sense of Chichikov's idea is just as beyond his power as the landowners:
5 See: E.N. Proskurina. Decree. op.
“What a parable, in fact, what a parable are these dead souls? There is no logic in dead souls; how to buy dead souls? Where can such a fool come from? and with what blind money will he buy them? and to what end, to what business can these dead souls be drawn? " (321) -
this was the reaction of "the inhabitants and officials of the city." As a result, Chichikov's "road" enterprise brought them out of their usual sleepy state: all of them suddenly - in full accordance with the revealed intrigue - found themselves on the road:
“All the jails and bobaks that had lain in their robes for several years at home came out of their holes ... All those who had stopped any acquaintances for a long time ... in a word, it turned out that the city was both populous, and large, and properly populated ... ... On the streets appeared covered droshky, unknown rulers, rattles, wheel whistles ... ”(322).
The end of this "road" situation was the funeral of the prosecutor, which the whole city went to, lining up on foot, in carriages and in droshky in an endless funeral procession, as if heralding the end of the established circle of life and the beginning of the next, which comes with the arrival of the new governor-general and so far only intriguing its unknown.
However, such a "road" situation was unusual for the inhabitants of city N, because their life so far proceeded in an atmosphere of "nepotism" and resembled the life of a large family house:
". They were all kind people, they lived in harmony with each other, treated in a completely friendly manner, and their conversations bore the stamp of some special innocence and brevity:" Dear friend Ilya Ilyich! "," Listen, brother, Antipator Zakharievich! " , "You are lying, mommy, Ivan Grigorievich" ... in a word, everything was very familial "(294).
The townsfolk readily accepted Chichikov into their urban "family", deciding to even marry him to a bride from their circle in order to force him to settle in the city:
“- No, Pavel Ivanovich! As you want, it only comes out to cool the hut: on the threshold and back! No, you will spend time with us! Here we are marrying you: won't it, Ivan Grigorievich, marry him?
Marry, marry! - the chairman picked up. - No matter how hard you put your hands and feet, we will marry you! No, father, we got here, so don't complain ... ”(290-291).
The very word "father", with which the chairman refers to Chichikov, already says that he has been introduced into the circle of the city "family", where everyone is called in a relative way "brother", "friend", "mother", "father". After Chichikov agreed to marry (“why bother with your hands and feet,” Chichikov said, grinning, there would be a bride ”(291)), the chairman joyfully rushes to him“ in an outpouring of the heart ”with the same kindred addresses:“ My soul! My mother! "" (291).
In such a “family” atmosphere, the idea of \u200b\u200ba house really captures the heart of Chichikov, who “imagined himself to be a real Kherson landowner, talked about various improvements: about a three-floor economy, about the happiness and bliss of two souls” and even “began to read Sobakevich a message in verse by Werther to Charlotte "(291), unexpectedly resonating with the" domestic "romanticism of the townspeople, where" the chairman of the chamber knew "Lyudmila" Zhukovsky by heart ... and masterfully read many passages, especially: "Bor fell asleep, the valley is asleep" ... The postmaster went into more into philosophy and read very diligently, even at night, Jung's "Nights" and "Key to the mysteries of nature" by Eckartshausen, from which he made very long extracts. " (294-295).
As you can see, the unhindered easy inclusion of Chichikov in the circle of urban dwellers is due not only to his ability to please, the ability to mimicry and rumors about his millionth fortune, but also to the internal readiness of Chichikov himself to become "theirs" for them.
At the same time, the provincial city, where the hero was led by the road, lives the life that dozens of similar Russian provincial cities live: all the shortcomings of its inhabitants (theft, bribery, dishonesty of officials, etc.) are typical for russian life... Therefore, taking Chichikov for “their own,” the inhabitants of the city see in him a typical “gentleman of the middle hand,” that is, an understandable, familiar, familiar in spirit and interests of a person. The rumor about Chichikov's millions only adds weight to him in society. The alienation of the hero from the circle of the urban “family” occurs not because of the identification of his dishonesty, but when society fails to internally adapt the idea of \u200b\u200bacquiring dead souls.
As we remember, failing to fit into consciousness “what could these dead souls mean” (317), the female half of the city society agreed that “this is simply invented just to cover up, but the point is this: he wants take away the governor's daughter ”(318). In this purely feminine way of illogical explanation of the incomprehensible - through its translation into the realm of the familiar - the idea of \u200b\u200bthe unnaturalness of Chichikov's idea is once again highlighted. But since at the same time the danger of the governor's daughter being taken away is quite real, if we take into account Chichikov's bachelor position and his willingness to marry, the female part of society captured by this imaginary intrigue, including the governor, felt offended “like a mother of a family, like the first lady in the city” (323), immediately takes our hero out of the category of people of his circle. As a result, the doorman of the governor's house “was given
the strictest order not to accept Chichikov at any time and under any guise ”(323).
A similar reception was given to the hero and the male part of the provincial town:
“Everyone either didn’t accept him, or accepted him so strangely, such a forced and incomprehensible conversation, they were so confused and such confusion came out of everything that he doubted the health of their brain” (340).
However, the Chichikov idea of \u200b\u200bthe “male party” was not clearer than the female one:
“Everything they had was somehow callous, uncouth, wrong, worthless, discordant, bad, in the head of a mess, commotion, confusion ...” (324).
But at the same time, it was the men who felt that “the main subject to which attention should be paid is dead souls, which, however, the devil knows what they mean ...” (324). Having connected them with the appointment of a new governor and frightened of the consequences of their own official dishonesty, weaving here Napoleon and the story of Captain Kopeikin, the "men's party", however, could not come close to the true essence of Chichikov's "negotiation". That is, like women, men of the provincial city try to comprehend the idea of \u200b\u200bbuying dead souls by introducing it into the circle of understandable life phenomena. But it turns out to be more incredible than even the most paradoxical assumptions, which include Napoleon's escape and his secret appearance in the city of N and the story of Captain Kopeikin.
Thus, "our", "familiar", accepted by the city society as a native Chichikov, in fact, turns out to be an incomprehensible, alien stranger. His removal by the inhabitants of the city N from the category of "friends" leaves him no choice but to leave the city-home with a vague feeling and set off further to carry out his road enterprise.
Judging by the published chapters of the second volume of "Dead Souls", Chichikov succeeds in carrying out his "negotiation" quite successfully in the future. However, this road is not his path to home. Crossing with the motive of the path in the first volume at the level of the author's plan, later, in the second and third volumes of the poem, the motive of the road, according to Gogol's plan, should increasingly come closer to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe hero's life path, moreover, in his spiritual, reviving understanding ... Thus, at the level of the hero's plan, the road motive must change its vector direction: from horizontal to vertical. Having united as a result into the motive of the path-road, these two initially different motives set and new idea at home in accordance with the spiritual task that Gogol considered the main one for all his artistic creation.