Ilya KHAZANOV,
Kurgan
"Garnet bracelet"
Hallowed be Thy name ...
Is this story pure fiction or did Kuprin manage to find a plot in real life that would correspond to the author's idea?
The writer tried to find plots and images for his works in the real world. The story is based on facts from the family chronicle of the Tugan-Baranovsky princes. In October 1910, Kuprin reported this to his friend, critic and literary historian F.D. Batyushkov: "Do you remember this? - the sad story of the little telegraph official Zheltkov, who was so hopelessly, touchingly and selflessly in love with Lyubimov's wife (DN is now the governor in Vilna)."
Where does the action take place? What pictures of nature does the author describe, how do they affect the mood of Princess Vera Nikolaevna?
The action takes place in a seaside resort town. Kuprin shows the middle of August, when "the disgusting weather that is so characteristic of the northern coast of the Black Sea suddenly set in." Rain, hurricane wind, thick fog drive the inhabitants of the resort, "abandoned dachas with their sudden spaciousness, emptiness and bareness" look sad. But by the beginning of September, "there were quiet, cloudless days, so clear, sunny and warm, which were not even in July." The peace that has come in nature is also transmitted to Vera Nikolaevna: she "was very happy about the lovely days, silence, solitude."
How does the princess perceive her name day?
"According to sweet, distant childhood memories, she always loved this day and always expected something from him happily wonderful".
How does Vera Nikolaevna feel about her husband?
"The former passionate love for her husband has long since passed into a feeling of solid, faithful, true friendship."
How does her portrait characterize the princess?
With a tall lithe figure, a cold and proud face, she "was strictly simple, cold with everyone and a little arrogant amiable, independent and regally calm."
Will she be capable of ardent, passionate love?
Perhaps, in her youth and early youth, the princess was capable of a strong, all-consuming feeling, it is not for nothing that Kuprin mentions her former passionate love for her husband. But "time heals", including from ardent impulses. Now this woman will not let anyone so easily into her soul. Kuprin does not condemn the heroine, he only states the changes in her character that have occurred over time. And who among us does not lose the spontaneity and depth of feelings with age! But there are people for whom love at any age is a holy and passionate revelation. They managed to save their soul for the great element. Meeting with them - happily wonderful moment in a woman's life.
What event disrupts the calm flow of the name day? Read the bracelet description. What did the princess feel when she saw him?
In poorly polished grenades, "lovely deep red living lights" light up before the light bulbs. The bracelet foreshadows a future tragedy. ("" Precisely blood! "- Vera thought with unexpected alarm.)
What did Vera Nikolaevna think when she saw the letter?
"" Ah, that's the one! " - Vera thought with displeasure. " Apparently, this is not the first letter that the princess receives from her admirer.
Read the letter. What properties does green garnet have? What feelings does G.S.Zh. experience?
A rare variety of pomegranate - green - "tends to impart the gift of foresight to women wearing it and drives away heavy thoughts from them, while protecting men from violent death." Note that G.S. Zh. now there is no talisman - and now nothing will protect the unfortunate lover from death. Feelings of G.S.Zh. unusually sublime - "reverence, eternal admiration and slavish devotion." They are akin to the feelings of Khvoshchinsky - the hero of the story of I.A. Bunin "The Grammar of Love". "Now I can only wish you every minute of happiness and rejoice if you are happy. I mentally bow down to the ground of the furniture on which you sit, the parquet on which you walk, the trees that you touch in passing, the servant with whom you speak." This is sacrificial, to some extent even insane love. G.S.Zh. betrayed by his beloved to death and "after death a humble servant." But he is unhappy, Vera also confirms this: "... now not only this unfortunate man will be ridiculous, but I will be with him as well."
What's included in Prince Shein's humorous home album?
This album contains the story "Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love". From the ironic story of Vasily Lvovich, we learn how Vera, not yet married, received the first letter "with kissing doves on the headline" and showed it to her parents and groom. Prince Shein scoffs at the feelings of G.S.Zh. For Shein, true love means nothing, it is the lot of crazy people. And again in the prince's story - the mention of the death of a lover ...
What is the story of General Anosov and why is it given in such detail? What is the drama of this man?
Anosov knows what love is at first sight. But his wife left him. "People in our time have forgotten how to love, - says the general. - I do not see true love. And in my time I have not." Anosov talks about why people get married. For women - "the desire to be a mistress, the main in the house, independent ... In addition, the need for motherhood, and to start building their own nest." Men have other motives - "fatigue from single life, from disorder in rooms ... from debts, from unceremonious comrades ... You feel that living as a family is more profitable, healthier and more economical ... you think: here the kids will go, - I something I will die, but a part of me will still remain in the world ... sometimes there are thoughts about a dowry. " As we can see, the motives for the marriage of people who lived at the beginning of the 20th century differ little from the aspirations of our contemporaries ... Through the lips of his hero, Kuprin exclaims: “Where is love, then? about which it is said - "strong as death"? .. Such a love for which to perform any feat, to give up life, to go to torment is not labor at all, but one joy. " According to the writer, "love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life comforts, calculations and compromises should not concern it." Kuprin tried to find such love in real life and sang it in his story. The writer is sure that "almost every woman is capable of the highest heroism in love ... For her ... love encompasses the whole meaning of life - the whole universe. But it is not at all her fault that love among people has taken such vulgar forms and condescended just to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little entertainment. Men are to blame ... those who are incapable of strong desires, for heroic deeds, for tenderness and adoration before love. " Every woman dreams of love "one, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless." This is Kuprin's ideal of love. But achieving the ideal is difficult, almost impossible. If there is no love, women take revenge. They take revenge on themselves and others.
How deep and true are the author's thoughts about love! How subtly he understands its nature! The story "Garnet Bracelet" is a textbook of life, a source of wisdom and moral purity. The essence of great feeling is revealed to us in its entirety. We think over and over again about the eternal, imperishable, about what worries people at all times ...
Prince Shein and the princess's brother decide to find Zheltkov and return the bracelet to him in order to preserve the good name of Vera and her husband. The appearance of the telegraph operator is unusual: "very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle." He is very excited, looking at Vasily Lvovich with imploring eyes. Seven years of "hopeless and polite love" have passed, but the feeling cannot be stifled. Zheltkov sees the only way out - death. "A huge tragedy of the soul" is resolved by suicide.
What does Vera think after learning about the death of Zheltkov?
She foresaw a tragic outcome. Was it love or madness?
How does Zheltkov appear in the suicide letter? Does he already seem to be originally a dead person?
Zheltkov admits that he "crashed into an uncomfortable wedge" in Vera's life 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 fate of the garnet bracelet? What does the princess feel at the last meeting with Zheltkov?
The unhappy lover asked to hang a bracelet - a symbol of holy love - on the icon. The lips of the dead hero "smiled blissfully and serenely, as if, before parting with life, he had learned some deep and sweet secret that had resolved his entire human life." And Vera realized that "the love that every woman dreams of passed her by." After death, Zheltkov received the highest award: Vera "kissed him on his cold, damp forehead with a long, friendly kiss." And still friendly kiss! No, even after the self-sacrifice of Zheltkova, the princess did not fall in love with her admirer. Lawless Heart...
What role does Beethoven's music play in the work? What feelings does she evoke in the princess?
Beethoven's Sonata No. 2 is "an exceptional work, unique in depth." (If there is an opportunity, it is advisable to give the pupils an excerpt from this composition to listen to.) The music is surprisingly in harmony with the experiences of Faith, in whose soul the words: "Hallowed be thy name". In these gentle sounds - life, which "humbly and joyfully doomed itself to torment, suffering and death." The last memories of the lover are covered with sweet sadness. "Calm down, I am with you. Think of me, and I will be with you, because you and I loved each other for only one moment, but forever. Do you remember me?" A moment of happiness for Zheltkov becomes an eternity.
Did Zheltkov forgive the princess?
Vera feels that the lover has forgiven her. I could not help but forgive, because in the mournful hour of parting, on the verge of death, I still sang the glory of my goddess.
- Would you forgive a person whom you loved passionately and who did not reciprocate to you?
How does a writer see true love?
True love, according to Kuprin, is the basis of everything earthly. It should not be isolated, undivided. Love should be based on high sincere feelings, strive for the ideal. This is a holy tragedy in human life. Love is stronger than death and raises the little man above the vain world of injustice and malice.
"Olesya"
Kuprin loved Olesya, although he saw the shortcomings of the story and agreed with A.P. Chekhov, who found her "a youthful sentimental and romantic thing." Kuprin confessed to his wife: "... Anton Pavlovich is also right, who considers this thing weak and pointed out to me that the mysterious past of the old woman, the witch and the mysterious origin of Olesya, is a tabloid novel." That is why the writer did not include Olesya in his first large collection, Stories, published in 1903. However, a few years later Kuprin, when asked which of his stories he considers the best, replied: “There are two of them:“ Olesya ”and“ River of Life. ”Here is life, freshness, a struggle with the old, obsolete, impulses for a new, better. two stories more than in my other stories, my soul. " M. Gorky praised this story and regretted that it was not included in the collection "Stories." "I like this thing," he said, "that it is all imbued with the mood of youth. After all, if you wrote it now, you would write it even better, but that immediacy would no longer be in it." This work possesses an amazing charm, and above all the image of the main character is mysterious, attractive. The story captures the soul of the writer, the task of the reader is to comprehend it.
For what purpose does the young "panych" Ivan Timofeevich come to a remote village in the Volyn province?
"Polesie ... wilderness ... the bosom of nature ... simple customs ... primitive natures," the hero reflects, "a people completely unfamiliar to me, with strange customs, a peculiar language ... and, probably, so many poetic legends , legends and songs! " This is all so appealing to the aspiring writer! But in the village there is nothing to do except hunting. Ivan Timofeevich cannot get along with the local "intelligentsia" in the person of the priest, the sergeant and the clerk; he cannot establish contact with the peasants either.
What breaks the usual village boredom of the city "master"?
Ivan Timofeevich learns about the existence of a witch. "The witch lives some ten miles from my house ... a real, living, Polissya witch!" This thought immediately excited and interested him. "Panych" decides to visit the house of the mysterious witch.
What fairy-tale elements are used in describing Manuilikha?
Her house is located in an inaccessible place - behind a swamp: "It was not even a hut, but a fabulous hut on chicken legs." The hostess of the house is an old woman sitting on the floor near the stove. "All the features of Baba Yaga, as the folk epic depicts her, were evident: thin cheeks, pulled inward, passed below into a sharp, long, flabby chin, almost in contact with the nose hanging down; the sunken toothless mouth was constantly moving, as if chewing something ; faded, once blue eyes, cold, round, protruding, with very short red eyelids, looked like the eyes of an unprecedented ominous bird. " Manuilikha is not happy with an uninvited guest. But suddenly a fresh, sonorous female voice is heard and the most mysterious heroine of the story, Olesya, appears on the threshold.
Why is Olesya's portrait attractive?
Ivan Timofeevich involuntarily admired her: "My stranger, a tall brunette of about twenty or twenty-five, kept light and slender. A spacious white shirt loosely and beautifully wrapped around her young, healthy chest. The original beauty of her face, once she saw him, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even getting used to him, to describe him.His charm lay in those large, shiny, dark eyes, to which thin, broken eyebrows in the middle gave an imperceptible shade of guile, imperiousness and naivety; in the dark-pink skin tone, in the willful curl of the lips , of which the lower one, somewhat more complete, protruded forward with a resolute and capricious look. "
The portrait of a girl is an expression of her rich inner world. Everything in her is there - and decisiveness, and imperiousness, and naivety, and even slyness, and all this is elusive, unusual, exciting.
What is the attitude of the villagers to Olesya and her grandmother?
Ordinary people do not oppress Olesya. But the bosses constantly humiliate and rob.
What image of Olesya stands before the hero's eyes in the days of early spring? Is there a hint of a nascent feeling here? (ch. IV)
In the soul of Ivan Timofeevich "poured ... poetic sadness." The image of Olesya did not leave him. "I liked ... constantly conjuring up in my imagination her now harsh, now crafty, now shining with a tender smile, her young body, which had grown in the freedom of the old forest as slender and just as powerful as young Christmas trees grow, her fresh voice, with unexpected low velvet notes. " In the appearance of Olesya, in her movements and words, the hero sees something noble, "some kind of innate graceful moderation." How the city dwellers lack this moderation! It turns out that real nobility is not necessarily inherent in people from the rich, educated strata of society, but a beautiful, proud, mysterious girl can grow up in the wilderness of Polesie. A feeling arises, not yet realized, but deep, strong and pure.
How does fortune telling help to know the character of Ivan Timofeevich? Did Olesya's prediction come true?
Ivan Timofeevich is a kind person, but weak, "he is not a master of his word." Doesn't value money, doesn't know how to save. Fortune-telling promises him love on the part of some lady of clubs, dark-haired, like Olesya. The lady herself gets a long sadness and great misfortune. It is easy to guess that the lady of clubs is Olesya. The prediction came true exactly.
What wonderful gift does Olesya have?
By her face, she can determine the fate of a person, speak a wound, catch up with fear, heal the most severe diseases with plain water, even knock him down with a glance. But Olesya never used her gift to harm people.
How does love arise: at first sight or in the process of communication? What fascinates Ivan Timofeevich in Oles? (ch. VI)
In the process of communication, Ivan Timofeevich and Olesya became more and more tied to each other. "Not a word has yet been said about love between us, but it has already become a necessity for us to be together, and often in silent moments, when our glances accidentally and simultaneously met, I saw how Olesya's eyes were moistened and how a thin blue vein was beating in her at the temple. " Ivan Timofeevich is fascinated not only by the beauty of Olesya, but also by her whole, original, free nature, clear, childishly innocent mind.
What kind of misfortune threatens Olesya and her grandmother? What is Ivan Timofeevich forced to sacrifice to help? How did Olesya's behavior change after that? What is Ivan Timofeevich experiencing at this moment? (ch. IX)
Olesya and her grandmother face eviction, the greedy sergeant is no longer content with their modest offerings. Ivan Timofeevich does not hesitate to give him an old hunting rifle. For a while, Manuilikha's family is saved, but proud Olesya cannot forgive patronage: “In her treatment of me, not a trace of the former trusting and naive affection, the old animation, in which the coquetry of a beautiful girl was so sweetly mixed with a playful childish naughty, appeared in our conversation. some kind of irresistible awkward compulsion. " Ivan Timofeevich is surprised: "Where, in fact, could such an overly scrupulous pride appear in a simple girl who grew up in the forest?" Kuprin traces the stages in the development of feelings: first, interest in an unusual appearance, nature, then a craving for communication, and finally, a period of "vague, painfully sad feelings." The hero's heart "is tied with thin, strong, invisible threads" to a charming girl: "... all my thoughts were occupied with the image of Olesya, my whole being strove for her, every memory ... squeezed my heart with quiet and sweet pain."
Why is the development of love shown in close connection with pictures of nature?
The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe story: only far from civilization, from an indifferent city, you can find a person who is able to love unselfishly, devotedly. Only in unity with nature, in preserving naturalness, a person is able to achieve moral purity and nobility.
What does the hero's illness bring with it?
She brings separation. But "separation is to love the same as the wind is to fire: it extinguishes a small love, and blows a big one even more strongly." Olesya is happy, on her face "in an instant were reflected, replacing each other, bewilderment, fright, anxiety and a gentle, radiant smile of love." Ivan Timofeevich is experiencing "pure, complete, all-consuming delight." In Olesya's eyes, he sees the excitement of the meeting and an ardent declaration of love.
Who is the first to declare love and what premonition accompanies the explanation?
Olesya is the first to pour out her feelings. One cannot escape fate, a feeling of anxiety, a presentiment of imminent trouble does not leave both.
The "naive, charming fairy tale of love" lasts a whole month. What feelings does Ivan Timofeevich feel? (Chapter XI)
Growing up in the middle of the forest, a girl who does not even know how to read "in many cases of her life shows a sensitive delicacy and a special, innate tact." "Calm, healthy, sensual" love gives rise to the idea of \u200b\u200bmarriage. But the hero is frightened by the fact that Olesya, having become his wife, will be expelled from his native environment. Olesya is afraid that one day she will get tired of her beloved. In addition, a superstitious fear of the church is strong in her soul.
On what act did Olesya decide to prove her love to Ivan Timofeevich, and - most importantly - to herself?
Olesya overcame her fear and came to church. But she was expected to hate and fear the peasants, from which she miraculously managed to escape. In despair, Olesya threatened the crowd and is now forced to leave, since the very first incident in the village will be attributed to her charms. As a keepsake, Olesya leaves a string of cheap red beads, which (like the garnet bracelet in the work of the same name) will forever remind of tender, generous love.
What is the drama of this love?
This is a beautiful, gentle, pure, sublime feeling. But there are too many external obstacles to happiness. Separation and sadness await lovers.
Kuprin is looking in real life for people filled with a holy feeling of love, capable of rising above the surrounding vulgarity and lack of spirituality, ready to give everything, without demanding anything in return. "Garnet Bracelet" and "Olesya" are hymns to female beauty and love, hymns to a woman who is spiritually pure and wise, hymns to a sublime primordial feeling. The eternal theme of love has always worried and will excite the hearts of people, but few are able to unravel its secrets. Among them is the remarkable Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, whose works carry not only quiet sadness, but also faith in the spiritual perfection of man.
INTRODUCTION
For the essay, I chose a topic related to the work of the famous Russian writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The choice of this name is explained by the fact that this is a fairly well-known and interesting writer, but in the school curriculum not so much time is devoted to his work, and when working on an essay, you can study the writer's work in detail. The very life of a writer, his personality makes a strong impression. This is a whole person, distinguished by a firmness in life, true intelligence and kindness, the ability to understand life.
The purpose of my work:
To reveal the features of the image of the theme of love in the works of Kuprin;
Show the meaning of this theme in his work.
Show the place of the theme of love in world and Russian literature;
To reveal the peculiarities of understanding this feeling by different authors;
To reveal, using the example of a trilogy about love, its different sides and faces;
Show the skill of the writer in the portrayal of heroes.
Sometimes it seems that everything is said about love in world literature. What can you tell about love after Shakespeare's story of Romeo and Juliet, after Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", after "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy? You can continue this list of creations that praised love. But love has a thousand shades, and each of its manifestations has its own light, its own sorrow, its own fracture and its own fragrance.
Kuprin has many subtle and excellent stories about love, about waiting for love, about its tragic outcomes, about longing and eternal youth in a person's soul. Kuprin always and everywhere blessed love. You can't hide anything from love: either it highlights the true nobility of the human soul, or vices and base desires. Many writers in their books have tested and will test their characters by sending them this feeling. Each author tries to explain love in his own way, to contribute to its definition. For Kuprin, love is a gift from God, not available to everyone. Love has its peaks, which are capable of overpowering a few out of millions. Unfortunately, now it is less and less common to meet a great fiery love between a man and a woman. People stopped adoring and reverence for her. Love has become a common, everyday feeling. The relevance of this work is that it is addressed to an eternal feeling, shows an example of extraordinary, bright, selfless love and makes us, living in such an unromantic and sometimes soulless time, once again think about the meaning of the most amazing meeting on the roads of life - the meeting of a Man and a Woman.
creativity Kuprin love story
LOVE IS ONE OF THE ETERNAL THEMES OF LITERATURE
The theme of love is eternal, as the very feeling that gave birth to it, inspired the art of all times and peoples. But in each epoch she expressed some special moral and aesthetic values. After all, love is a feeling that makes you perform feats and go to crime, a feeling that can move mountains, change the course of history, a feeling that gives happiness and inspiration and makes you suffer, a feeling without which life has no meaning.
Like all other literatures in the world, Russian literature devotes considerable space to the theme of love, its "specific" weight is no less than in French or English literature. Although "love stories" in their pure form are not so common in Russian literature, more often a love story is burdened with side lines and themes. However, the implementation of this theme in various texts belonging to Russian classical literature is distinguished by its great originality, sharply distinguishing it from all other literatures in the world.
This originality lies, first of all, in the fact that Russian literature is characterized by a serious and intent look at love and, more broadly, at the intimate relationship between a man and a woman. The motto of this attitude can be the well-known proverb “they don’t joke with love”. There is only one reason for this seriousness - love in Russian literature almost always belongs to the realm of dramatic and very often tragic pathos, but it is extremely rare that the history of the relationship between a man and a woman - whether in prose or poetry - gives rise to fun. The happy ending, loved by many foreign writers and sometimes even allowed by Balzac, is not simply absent in Russian literature, it is alien to her. All the famous love stories of Russian classics, from "Poor Liza" by Karamzin to "Dark Alley" by Bunin, run very intensely and end very badly.
The tragedy in the development of love themes stems from several sources, the most ancient of which is, of course, folk tradition. Only in Russian folklore love ditties are called "suffering", only in the Russian countryside was the word "sorry" synonymous with love. Thus, the emphasis is placed precisely on the sad, painful side of the relationship between a man and a woman, and the spiritual principle is at the head of the relationship. The popular understanding of marriage and love echoes the Christian, Orthodox understanding of marriage as a test of the strength of a person's spiritual and physical strength, hard work in the name of a common goal.
The understanding of love as a higher power that unites the divine with the human is characteristic of 20th century literature. It can be argued that the writers largely determined the integral concept of life through the comprehension of the essence of love. First of all, this aspiration was expressed in the prose of Alexander Kuprin and Ivan Bunin. The writers were attracted not so much by the history of the relationship of a loving couple or the development of her psychological duel, as by the influence of the experience on the hero's comprehension of himself and the whole world. Therefore, the event outline in their works is extremely simplified, and attention is focused on the moments of insight, the turning internal states of the characters:
Love, love - legend says -
Union of the soul with the soul dear -
Their connection, combination,
And their fatal fusion,
And ... the fatal duel ...
(F. Tyutchev)
Bunin's love stories are a story about the secret of love. He had his own concept of love: it appears like a sunstroke and strikes a person. In true love, Bunin believes, there is something in common with eternal nature. Beautiful is only that feeling that is natural, not false, not invented. The book by I. Bunin "Dark Alleys" can be considered an encyclopedia of love. The author himself considered her to be his most perfect creation. The writer poses a difficult artistic task: thirty-eight times (this is the number of stories in the book) to write about the same thing - about love. Bunin shows various and bizarre images of love: love is enmity, venal love, love is pity, love is compassion, carnal love. The book opens with the story of the same name "Dark Alleys". Despite the fact that it is small, the action develops quickly, the author managed to fully reveal the theme of the tragic love of people of different classes. An old gray-haired officer Nikolai Alekseevich at an inn meets a woman with whom he was in love in his youth, and then left. She carried her feeling through her whole life. “Everyone's youth passes, but love is another matter,” says the heroine. This huge passionate feeling passes through her fate as a bright ray, filling her with happiness, albeit alone. Their love was born in the shadow of the alleys and Nikolai Alekseevich himself will say at the end of the story: “Yes, of course, the best moments. And not the best, but truly magical! " Love, like "light breath", visits the heroes and disappears. Fragile and fragile, she is doomed to death: Nikolai Alekseevich abandons Nadezhda, and, having met many years later, they are forced to part again. Love turned into a tragedy. The hero now understands what moments of his life were the main ones. There was no place for happiness in his life: his wife abandoned him, his son "came out a scoundrel, an impudent man, without a heart, without honor, without conscience." The story could not have a happy ending, but still does not leave a painful impression, since, according to Bunin, "all love is a great happiness." One short moment is enough to illuminate the entire life of the heroes. In love, as in life, light and dark beginnings are always opposed. Along with the feeling that illuminates life, every lover has his own dark alleys. This is what the best pages of the love prose of another representative of Russian literature - A. Kuprin - are about.
30.03.2013 31116 0Lessons 7-8
Stages of life and work of A. I. Kuprin.
Love as the highest value in the world
in the story "Garnet Bracelet"
Objectives: to acquaint with the peculiarities of Kuprin's life and work; develop the skills of perceiving lecture material, independent work with a book.
Tasks : to note realism as an artistic method of the writer in the traditions of classical Russian literature; to observe the sound of the eternal themes of love and the "little" person in the story "Pomegranate Bracelet", to determine the role of the image-symbol in this work.
Lesson progress
He is one of those writers to whom it is enough to point out: read him, this is true art; it is clear to everyone without comment.
F. D. Batyushkov
Life in all its infinite variety is reflected in Kuprin's work, not so much life as a whole, but in fragments, in a whirlwind of accidents ... He has the greed of a collector, only he collects not rare coins, but rare occasions.
V. Lvov-Rogachevsky
I. Introductory speech of the teacher.
– Tell us what you can do well. How many of you are involved in sports, music, creativity? Is there something you definitely want to learn?
But this man in his early 20s “was consistently ... a land surveyor, a loader of watermelons, a carrier of bricks, a salesman in Moscow, on Myasnitskaya ... He was a forest ranger, loaded and unloaded furniture during the autumn and spring summer seasons, traveled advanced in the circus, engaged in ... acting craft ... ".
Let's add: he managed an estate in a remote corner of Polesye, replaced the psalm-reader in a distant rural parish, served as a bookkeeper in the forge of a steel plant, it seems, even tried himself as a circus fighter ...
Later he went out with the Balaklava fishermen on the winter beluga fishing, sank to the bottom of the sea in a diver's suit, climbed behind the clouds in an airplane and a balloon, kept a foal in his room in order to write the story "Emerald", was friends with the famous pilot Sergei Utochkin and an even more famous wrestler Ivan Zaikin, with the clowns Jacomino and Tahiti Geretti, with the trainer Anatoly Durov and his troupe (Durov wrote on the poster about his animals: "Kuprin himself is a writer // There was a friend with them ...")
AI Kuprin, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, experienced a burning interest in "literally any work." He was always tormented by a thirst to research, understand, study how people of all sorts of professions live and work: engineers, factory workers, organ-grinders, circus performers, horse thieves, monks, bankers, spies - he longed to learn all the ins and outs about them, because in the study of Russian life he did not tolerate any half-knowledge.
KI Chukovsky recalled: “In 1902 in Odessa, a newspaper reporter Leon Tresek introduced Kuprin to the head of one of the fire brigades. He took advantage of this acquaintance, and when a house full of residents caught fire in the middle of the city on Yekaterininskaya Street in the middle of the night, Kuprin in a copper helmet rushed there with a detachment of firemen and worked in flames and smoke until morning.
Kuprin's contemporary, the writer Teffi, noted his serious attitude to creativity: “... When he wrote, he worked, and did not amuse himself and did not play pranks. And that side of his soul, which appeared in creativity, was clear and simple, and the compass of his feelings pointed with an arrow to goodness. " She also recalled that as a person, AI Kuprin "was not at all a simpleton."
How did his fate develop?
II. Lecture by a teacher with assistants.
August 26, 1870in the town of Narovchat, Penza province, a son, Alexander, was born into the family of the collegiate registrar Kuprin.
1874. After the death of his father, he lives with his mother in the Widows' House (a charitable institution "for the charity of the elderly and who have no way to feed their widows" of noble origin).
WITH 1877 begins to write poetry. From the age of 6, the boy's childhood began, which he later in many of his works will call "desecrated" and "official". In 1880, Sasha Kuprin passed the entrance exams to the 2nd Moscow Military Gymnasium. In his story "At the Break" Kuprin describes how he was sentenced to ten blows with rods for a minor offense.
"On a small scale, he experienced everything that a criminal sentenced to death feels." And he ends the story with the words: "Many years passed until this bloody, long-oozing wound healed in the soul of Bulanin (Kuprin)."
While studying in the cadet corps, he not only writes his poems, but also translates from German and French.
1889 g. - the first story "The Last Debut" was published, for which he was punished at the school, since the junkers were forbidden to appear in print. In 1893 he successfully passed exams at the Academy of the General Staff, but by order of the commander of the Kiev Military District, Second Lieutenant Kuprin was prohibited from entering the Academy. It was said that on the banks of the Dnieper, a district warden came into conflict with a group of young officers, which included Kuprin. A man of legendary physical strength, Kuprin threw a police officer into the river, and he drew up a protocol "on the utopia of a police rank in the line of duty."
1894 g.- Kuprin with the rank of lieutenant leaves the regiment and finds himself in Kiev "without money, without relatives, without acquaintances."
The prepared student reads by heart.
The writer himself recalled this time as follows: “Suddenly, the days of severe lack of money came. I barely interrupted myself from bread to kvass. The newspaper I worked for stopped paying me for feuilletons, and only occasionally did I manage to get a ruble from the accountant, or at best three rubles. I owed the landlord for the room, and she threatened to "throw my things out into the street."
I had to think about how to temporarily move to a shelter and, since summer was coming, to do not literary, but honest work of a loader at the pier. Still, I did not break with the newspaper and gave notes to the section "From urban accidents" with the following content:
“Yesterday on Khreshchatyk, Mr. N.'s beautiful pedigree dog fell under the wheels of a horse-drawn car and, crushed, shouted inhumanvoice "... I wrote these notes with pleasure ... And, what was most surprising, no one: neither the editor, nor the readers - did not notice the obvious mockery ...
1896 g. - Kuprin's first book is published - a book of essays "Kiev types".
1898 g. - lives with his sister's family in the forestry. He recalled this time: "... I spent the most fertile months of my life, ... absorbed the most powerful, most fruitful impressions ... I studied the Russian language and the Russian landscape." Working on the story "Olesya".
1904-1905 - work on the story "The Duel".
An attentive attitude towards people was manifested not only in the work of the writer.
I. Bunin said about him this way: "Along with great pride, there is a lot of unexpected modesty, along with impudent impetuosity, there is a lot of kindness, easygoingness, and shyness."
The prepared student reads by heart.
K. Chukovsky, in his memoirs about Kuprin, told the story of how he, having learned from a friend about an old woman who is mercilessly beaten by her son, an enormous bindyuzhnik, on the same day found this man in the port.
At the risk of being mutilated by his fists, Kuprin said such words to him that he repent of bullying his mother. Chukovsky wrote: “I saw this woman when she came to thank Kuprin. Kuprin received her with filial piety and, not wanting us to praise his nobility, said when his guest left:
- Old women in the south smell good: bitter wormwood, chamomile, dry cornflowers and incense.
1909 g. - awarded the Pushkin Prize.
1911 g.- in the almanac "Earth" the story "Garnet Bracelet" was published, a little later, in 1915 g. a film based on this work will be produced.
1914 g. - did not stay away from the military events. In the Kuprins' house in Gatchina, a private infirmary was opened for the wounded of the First World War. The writer himself goes to the army, but was declared unfit for military service for health reasons.
1919 g.- during the civil war emigrates abroad: first he leaves for Helsinki, then he moves to Paris.
IN 1924 g. the writer received a semi-official offer to return to Soviet Russia, but he refused: “... five years in exile ... But still I will not go ... Suppose they don’t rip off my skin, let me graze wherever and what I want. .. We'll have to somehow twirl, twist, dodge ... Yes, sir, we wanted a revolution, like a mare to vinegar. True: it would be sweeter and easier to die there. "
Abroad Kuprin lived poorly, but continued his literary activity: he worked in a newspaper, wrote the novel "Juncker".
IN 1937 g.the Kuprin family receives permission to return to Russia and leaves France. The writer is warmly received in Moscow by the new generation of readers, but he is seriously ill.
IN 1938 g. at the request of Kuprin, he was taken to Gatchina. In the Leningrad hospital, he undergoes a serious oncological operation.
Mark the features of Kuprin's creativity in the form of a plan (The lecture continues.)
1. Kuprin's realism.
His demands on himself as a realist writer had no boundaries. As a boy, he flaunted this great experience of his before other writers, because that was his ambition: to know for certain, not from books, not from rumors, the things and facts about which he speaks in his books.
1) If you want to portray something ... first, imagine it completely clearly: smell, taste. The position of the figure, the expression on the face ... Give a juicy perception of what you saw, and if you cannot see yourself, put down the pen.
2) When transmitting someone else's speech, grasp the characteristic in it: omission of letters, construction of a phrase. Study, listen, as they say, paint the image with the speech of the speaker himself. This is one of the most important colors ... for the ear.
3) 3nay, what, actually, you mean. Write in such a way that it is clear that you know your subject thoroughly. Walk and watch, get used to it, listen, take part yourself. Never write from your head.
In the article "The Mystery of the Artist" O. Mikhailov wrote about Kuprin's skill:
“Kuprin was ... a great life historian. Everything around him, especially human life, everyday life, served for him as the surest indicator of inner human life and its most complex psychological states ...
These knowledge are especially valuable because they are all the result of everyday observations. This gives Kuprin's prose unfading freshness and richness ... You can open at random volume after volume of Kuprin's works and in each story find placers of deep and versatile knowledge. "
One of Kuprin's brightest and diverse in subject matter and problematics realistic works is the story "The Duel".
(Individual message based on the textbook and book by V. Lilin "Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. A manual for students. - L .: Education, 1975, chapter" Duel. ")
2. Love for the homeland.
Wherever the writer lived, wherever he worked, he always remained truly Russian, was connected with Russia by blood roots. Kuprin admitted:
“There are people who, out of stupidity or despair, assert that it is possible without a homeland, or that homeland is where you are happy. But, forgive me, all this is pretense in front of myself. I can't live without Russia. I got to the point where I can’t calmly write letters there, a lump in my throat ... That's really, really, "dissolve your bread with tears."
The prepared student reads by heart (or artistic retelling).
In one of Kuprin's letters to I. Repin we read:
“... Not my will, but fate itself fills the sails of our ship with the wind and drives it to Europe ... Longing is here ... Do you know what I am missing? This is two or three minutes of conversation with a sex worker from the Lyubimovsky district, with a cabman from Zaraysk, with a bathhouse attendant in Tula, with a carpenter from Volodymyr, with a bricklayer from Mishchev. I am exhausted without the Russian language! It used to be that one dexterous, coarse word brought me into a light, warm mood for the whole day ... "
3. Kuprin's heroes are unusual.
In the journal "Education" for 1907, in the article "Kuprin as an exponent of the era" one could read:
“... Kuprin's heroes are sincerely imbued with the consciousness of the significance and beauty of life, they sincerely sing a hymn to it, but they themselves suffer painfully from it and are hardly able to finish it safely to the end - even with the help of bromine and alcohol ...
Infinite, winged romanticism, more characteristic of our old than new literature, is the hallmark of Kuprin's best works. "
4. The theme of love in Kuprin's work.
Individual student message.
In his best works, A.I. Kuprin always wrote about love. It is enough to remember his stories and novellas such as "The Pomegranate Bracelet", "Olesya", "Shulamith" to understand that the writer not only thought about love himself, but also made his readers think about its power.
Love in Kuprin's works is always disinterested, selfless; she does not expect a reward and is often stronger than even death itself. For many of the writer's heroes, it has forever remained the greatest secret in the world and at the same time a tragedy.
They reveal themselves more clearly, illuminated by a feeling of love. In Kuprin's works, love is that for which to accomplish any feat, to go to torment is not labor at all, but joy. No life comforts, calculations and compromises should concern her.
It was this kind of love that touched the Polissya "witch" Olesya, who fell in love with the "kind, but only weak" Ivan Timofeevich. "Pure and kind" Romashov, the hero of the story "Duel", sacrifices himself for the sake of calculating Shurochka Nikolaeva. Such is both the knightly and romantic love of Zheltkov for Princess Vera Nikolaevna (story "The Pomegranate Bracelet"), which engulfed his entire being.
Despite the tragic denouement, Kuprin's heroes are happy. They believe that the love that illuminated their lives is a truly wonderful feeling. Olesya regrets only that she does not have a child from a loved one, Zheltkov dies, blessing her beloved woman.
This is how Kuprin describes love. You read and think: probably this does not happen in life. But, contrary to common sense, I want it to be.
Kuprin writes in his story about all-consuming love, which is dearer than any wealth, any glory and even dearer than life itself "Shulamith".
This is probably his most poetic work, because it was inspired by the biblical "song of songs" - one of the oldest tales of love. The love of the all-powerful and wise Tsar Solomon for the "poor girl from the vineyard" - Sulamith - allowed Kuprin to reveal all the depth and beauty of this feeling. Such a great love, as the author writes, “will never pass and will not be forgotten, because it is strong as death, because every woman who loves is a queen”.
It is not so important whether the real Shulamith ever existed or whether it is just a beautiful legend that has come down to us through the millennia. Such love, which “is repeated once in a thousand years,” deserves to be invented and to compose songs, legends about it, to write stories and novels about it. And although the happiness of the heroes does not last long (Shulamith tragically dies, covering Solomon with his body from the sent assassin), the memory of such love will survive for centuries.
In the works of AI Kuprin, love appears before the reader in its various manifestations. We see it both as a gentle, fiery, high feeling, and as a tragic passion. But love always raises a person above other people and makes him equal to God himself, for only in love does a person, like gods, attain true immortality.
- Make a generalization of what you have studied, tell us about the features of the work of A. I. Kuprin.
III. Working with the text of Kuprin's story "Garnet Bracelet".
1. Word of the teacher.
Analysis of the text will help to find out what features of Kuprin's artistic method are reflected in the story.
K. Paustovsky in "Notes on Kuprin's Prose" writes about this work: Kuprin has one cherished theme. He touches her chastely, reverently and nervously. Otherwise, you can't touch her. This is a theme of love ... One of the most fragrant and painful stories about love– and the saddest is Kuprin's "Garnet Bracelet".
It is characteristic that great love strikes the most ordinary person - the official of the control chamber, Zheltkov, bending his back at the clerical table.
It is impossible without heavy emotional excitement to read the end of the story with its amazingly found refrain: "Hallowed be thy name!"
The special strength of the "Pomegranate Bracelet" is given by the fact that love exists in it as an unexpected gift - poetic and illuminating life - in the midst of everyday life, in the midst of a sober reality and settled life.
2. Analysis of the text of the story by questions.
- How is the theme of love embodied in the story?
The theme of poetic love sounds.
Zheltkov's last letter raises love to the point of tragedy. Read it text.Zheltkov leaves this life without complaint, without reproach, saying, like a prayer: "Hallowed be thy name."
The death of a hero does not end love. His death reveals to Vera the world of unknown feelings, because Vera did not really love her husband.
To the sounds of Beethoven's sonata, Vera's soul is shocked. She understands that love has passed by, which "repeats once in a thousand years."
The image of Zheltkov also helps to reveal the theme of the "little man", which is traditional for Russian literature. Prove it.
There is no sharp criticism of bourgeois society in The Pomegranate Bracelet. The ruling classes are painted in softer colors than the provincial philistinism. But in comparison with the tremendous feeling of the little official Zheltkov, the hardening of the soul of people who consider themselves superior to Zheltkov is revealed.
The spiritual appearance of Zheltkov is clearly visible from his letter sent to Vera Sheina's name day. Zheltkov does not hope for anything, he is ready to give everything. In his words, humility and worship, nobility.
IN the scene of the arrival to Zheltkov Bulat-Tuganovsky and Prince Shein, the hero has a spiritual superiority, which his sublime feeling gives him.
Vera's husband, Prince Vasily, inclined to humor, parodies the feelings of Zheltkov, known to the prince from letters received by his wife.
This parody seems vulgar and blasphemous. Kuprin does not portray Prince Vasily as bad and evil, but notes his caste disregard for the "lower" classes of society. Nikolay Bulat-Tuganovsky symbolizes everything bad that happens in the aristocracy.
He is a narrow-minded, arrogant, cruel person. It is he who demands that Zheltkov be punished, because he dared to raise his eyes to his sister Vera.
What did the garnet bracelet become in Zheltkov's love story for Princess Vera?
The reason for the quick denouement of the story, which lasted more than eight years, was a birthday present for Vera Nikolaevna. This gift becomes a symbol of the very love that every woman dreams of.
The garnet bracelet is valuable to Zheltkov because it was worn by the "late mother", in addition, the old bracelet has its own history: according to family legend, it has the ability to impart the gift of foresight to the women wearing it and protects from violent death ...
And Vera Nikolaevna actually predicts unexpectedly: "I know that this man will kill himself." Kuprin compares the five garnets of the bracelet with “five scarlet, bloody fires”, and the princess, staring at the bracelet, exclaims with alarm: “Exactly blood!”.
The love that the bracelet symbolizes does not obey any laws and rules. It can go against all the foundations of society. Zheltkov is a petty, poor official, and Vera Nikolaevna is a princess, but this circumstance does not bother the hero, he still loves, realizing only that nothing, not even death, will make his wonderful feeling subside: “... Yours to death and after death humble servant. "
Unfortunately, Vera Nikolaevna understood the meaning of the bracelet too late. Anxiety overcomes her: “And all her thoughts were chained to that unknown person whom she had never seen and is unlikely to see, to this funny“ Pe Pe Zhe ”.
The princess is tormented by the most difficult question for her: what was it: love or madness? Zheltkov's last letter puts everything in its place. He loves. He loves hopelessly, passionately and goes to the end in his love. He accepts his feeling as a gift of God, as a great happiness: "I am not guilty, Vera Nikolaevna, that God was pleased to send me love to you as a great happiness."
And, not cursing fate, he leaves life, and people are left with only a symbol of this beautiful love - a garnet bracelet.
3. Research team report.
Comparative analysis of A. Chekhov's story "The Lady with the Dog" and Kuprin's story "The Garnet Bracelet".
1. Kuprin as a student and follower of A. P. Chekhov. The realism of A.P. Chekhov and the romantic worldview of A.I. Kuprin.
2. The Lady with the Dog (1899) and The Garnet Bracelet (1910) are two classic love stories, but each of them belongs to its own time.
3. Love that grew out of an accidental adultery, which dawned on two ordinary people in the story "The Lady with the Dog". How can we explain Chekhov's remark “This love of theirs changed both of them”? What, from your point of view, confirms the depth of feelings of Chekhov's heroes and what refutes?
4. GS Zheltkov's love for Princess Vera is "such a love that women dream of and which men are no longer capable of." The romantic image of Kuprin's heroine. The chivalrous image of the hero. How do you think Chekhov would have disposed of a similar plot, similar details?
5. The theme of "heroic deed" in the stories of Chekhov and Kuprin.
6. The role of details in Chekhov and Kuprin. "The atmosphere of the seaside autumn" in ch. 1-11 "Ladies with the Dog" and in the "Garnet Bracelet". Why does Chekhov transfer the brightest love scenes of the heroes from Yalta - to Moscow and the provincial town of S.? Why does Kuprin, on the contrary, “move” the history that “really” took place in St. Petersburg to a seaside town?
7.In than a principled, the polar difference between the "concepts of love" in Chekhov's story and Kuprin's story? Which of the stories seems to you personally brighter, more human, closer to reality? Which of these two stories is closer to you?
Homework.Write a miniature essay “Love in Kuprin's Works” (based on the story “The Pomegranate Bracelet” and the story “Olesya”); re-read Kuprin's story "Olesya", make bookmarks with quotes based on the characters of the main characters.
Individually: prepare a message on the topic "Landscape in Kuprin's story" Olesya ".
Kuprin always loved Russia dearly and dearly. This feeling is reflected in his work. The main themes of the realist writer are ordinary working people, Balaklava fishermen brilliant in work and revelry, philosophizing lieutenants and tortured privates, the magnificent nature of Russia with its inhabitants, a circus and children, as well as a number of works in which there is a place for mystical and even fantastic ...
The experiences and accumulated life experience gained in military educational institutions and in the service, Kuprin conveys in his works through the image of a "little" person oppressed by an insultingly alien and hostile environment. Subject oppression and insults of the "little" person transmitted
in the story "Duel" (1905), the story "Inquiry" (1894), as well as in Kuprin's early work - the story "At the Turning Point" ("Cadets", 1900). In the story "At the Break" Kuprin captured in detail the morals crippling a child's soul, the inertness of the bosses, "the universal cult of the fist", which gave the weak to be torn apart by the stronger, finally, desperate longing for family
and home". The same deep sympathy for the common man permeated Kuprin's early stories from army life ("Inquiry"
and "Warrant Officer of the Army"), as well as stories exposing bribe officials and rogues ("Secret Audit" and "Petitioner").
Work at the factories of the Donetsk Basin in 1896 served as material for a cycle of essays on the situation of workers, which were later transformed into Kuprin's first major work - the story "Molokhov". The theme of these stories and stories became ordinary working people.
Kuprin continues to develop further the topic of ordinary, ordinary people, workers of different professions... Another well-known group of works dedicated to ordinary people is the essays by Listrigones. The essays develop the theme of the life of Balaklava fishermen, praise their hard work,
as well as healthy and courageous people who live a harsh but rich life. This theme began to develop even in the essays "The Lord's Fish", "Silence" and "Mackerel" (published under the general title "Balaklava" in 1908), as well as in subsequent essays: "Theft"
and Beluga, issued under the general title Listrigones. Among the works written far from the Motherland, Kuprin's story "Svetlana" (1934) should be noted.
In his story "The Pit" Kuprin opens a very unusual for the literature of that time theme, theme women at the bottom of their lives... Kuprin describes the images of prostitutes, creating lively and beautiful characters. The author has deep sympathy for his characters, causing regret and deep compassion. Unfortunately, the story "The Pit" did not become an outstanding phenomenon in Russian literature. It's related
that " the naturalistic descriptiveness that arose in Yama was in contradiction with those aesthetic principles that were embodied in a number of his previous works - with faith in man,
with the glorification of beauty, hatred of social forces that destroy beauty". Kuprin did not intend to admire the "bottom", however, when reading the story, one gets the feeling that the author sometimes admires the paintings he creates. In his story, Kuprin showed a man already disfigured by society, slipping to the bottom of bourgeois society, and not the process of mutilating the human personality. Such a contradictory work for the author himself, however, did not deviate from his main theme, the theme of the "little" man, while adding the theme of bourgeois society.
Subject bourgeois society, or rather Kuprin's criticism of the bourgeois intelligentsia is presented in the stories "Murderer", "Resentment", "Delirium" and the fairy tale "Mechanical Justice". These works are linked by a common idea of \u200b\u200bprotest against violence against humans.
Acting activity Kuprin contributed to the writing of works about the circus, about simple and noble people - wrestlers, clowns, trainers, acrobats. Several short stories are devoted to this topic.
and Kuprin's stories: "Olga Sur" (1929), "Bad Pun" (1929), "Blondel" (1933), "White Poodle".
One of the common themes in the work of A.I. Kuprin is nature theme, love and respect for the surrounding world. Kuprin, as a realist writer, quite fully and colorfully describes the landscapes of his beloved homeland
and other places. In the descriptions of nature, one can feel deep sympathy and love for these places, as well as respect for its inhabitants. The theme of the surrounding world
in Kuprin's work it is present in many of his works: somewhere it is shown in ordinary descriptions of the area, somewhere it helps to understand the plot of the work and the state of mind of the heroes, and somewhere it is the key theme of the work. Among Kuprin's stories, there are several about the world around them, where the most ordinary animals become heroes, who turn into heroes on the pages of the work. In Kuprin's work, among the stories about animals, the stories "White Poodle", "Watchdog and Zhulka", "Emerald", "Ralph", "Yu-yu", "Elephant" stood out. These stories were written by the author in different years, but they are united by a common idea - to show readers the capabilities and abilities of animals, their dignity
and quality, as well as to convince future writers to pay attention to the natural world and its representatives.
Speaking about the theme of nature, one should not forget that in his works Kuprin wrote a lot about children and for children. Kuprin was very fond of children.
He treated them in a friendly way and believed that they should not be treated lightly, in a jest. Kuprin wrote many works for children,
these include works of the legend-fairy tale genre ("Blue Star"), as well as several works about animals.
No less important in Kuprin's work was the topic love
and romantic feelings... This theme is filled with lines of such
famous works like the story "Olesya", "Garnet Bracelet"
and the novel "The Wheel of Time", written in Marseilles, as well as the early story "A Strange Case" and many other works.
The story "Olesya" touches upon the topic common working people,
subject pursuit of nature, and also in the plot of the story there is also mysticism. The theme of love in the story "Olesya" is conveyed through the romance of a love
and a dramatic feeling.
« Love to self-denial and even to self-destruction, readiness to perish in the name of a beloved woman ..."- exactly in this
understanding reveals the theme of love in Kuprin's early story
"A Strange Case" (1895), and later in "Garnet Bracelet". K. Paustovsky wrote about the theme of love in the story "Garnet Bracelet":
“... love exists as an unexpected gift - poetic,
illuminating life, in the midst of everyday life, in the midst of sober reality
and well-established life” .
Subject wars Kuprin's works are most fully represented
in the story "Cantaloupe". In a story, unpretentious and "plotless",
the author, through the character of the hero, denounces the hypocrite, “ ... ominously colors the figures of bourgeois money-grubbing, for whom the people's grief is a source of new profits» .
In his works, Kuprin considered war theme Not only
from the side of oppression and profit-making bourgeois money-grubbing.
In his works about the war, the writer tells about the life of ordinary Russian people, who had to fulfill their duty to their homeland. Creating images of heroes, Kuprin endows them with warmth and good-natured humor. A military pilot became such a hero
in the story "Sashka and Yashka".
During the years of exile, Kuprin yearns for his homeland, as he writes about in his essay "Homeland". The theme of longing for Russia is clearly expressed in Kuprin's major work - the story "Janet". In his autobiography "Juncker" Kuprin additionally opens the theme of Moscow, Moscow " forty forty» .
In addition to his usual, already established topics, Kuprin tries himself
in genres such as fantastic novel, fairy tale legend, religious legend and others. However, creating some kind of fiction, changing images
and the surrounding world of heroes of works, Kuprin remains true to his principles of realism.
In his works of the fantastic genre, he only reveals the ability to combine the fantastic with the concrete life. This skill is revealed in the fantastic story "The Star of Solomon".
Kuprin's works in the genre of a legend-fairy tale are very interesting and entertaining. A bit humorous, vital and instructive, they found their readers, both among children and adults. A particularly witty and instructive tale was "Blue Star", which in its motive resembles a fairy tale Andersen "Ugly duck". This genre includes the works "The Four Beggars" and "Hero, Leander and the Shepherd."
By genre religious legends Kuprin addresses during the war.
The works "Two Saints" and "The Garden of the Most Pure Virgin" (1915) expressed deep respect and sympathy for the common people, oppressed
and humiliated.
Kuprin is known to literature not only as writerbut also how journalist, publicist and even editor.
While still a young writer, in 1894 Kuprin submitted a petition
about retirement and moved to Kiev. The writer works in newspapers, writes stories, essays, notes. The result of this half-writing, half-reporter's work was two collections: the essays "Kiev types" (1896) and stories "Miniatures" (1897).
After 1902 Kuprin participated in the publication of the magazine "Peace of God" as an editor, and also published in it several of his works: "In the circus", "Swamp" (1902), "Kor" (1904), "From the street" (1904 ), however, to the editorial work that interfered with his work, he soon cooled off.