Men are attracted to predominantly male characters, while women are interested in both male and female characters.

In the Year of Literature, the Reading Section of the RLA held an Internet campaign “Monument to a Literary Hero”, inviting readers of different generations to talk about literary traditions and literary preferences.

From January 15 to March 30, 2015, a questionnaire was published on the RBA website with the possibility of reprinting it. Colleagues from many libraries, regional book and reading centers, educational institutions, and the media supported the action by posting a questionnaire on their resources.

The action was attended by more than four and a half thousand people from 63 subjects of the Russian Federation aged from 5 to 81 years. In general, women made up 65% of the sample, men - 35%. Answering the question “Which literary hero would you like to see a monument in the area where you live?”, the respondents named 510 heroes out of 368 works created by 226 authors. Adults over 18 named 395 heroes. Children and teenagers 17 years and younger - 254 heroes. Adult women named 344 heroes. Men - 145 heroes.

The first ten heroes, whose monuments the participants of the action would like to see, are as follows:

1st place: Ostap Bender - named 135 times (including a joint monument with Kisa Vorobyaninov), 179 mentions;

2nd place: Sherlock Holmes - 96 times (including a joint monument with Dr. Watson), is 108 mentions;

3rd place: Tom Sawyer - 68 times (including the joint monument to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn), is 108 mentions;

4th place: Margarita - 63 (including the joint monument with the Master) is 104 mentions;

5th place: Eugene Onegin - 58 (including the joint monument with Tatyana) is 95 mentions;

6th-7th place was shared by Vasily Terkin and Faust - 91 times each;

8th place: Romeo and Juliet - 86;

9th place: Anna Karenina - 77;

10th place: Stirlitz - 71.

Considering male and female preferences, we can say that men are attracted mainly to male images, while women are interested in both male and female characters. The top ten male preferences are as follows (we consider by analogy with the data for the entire array, taking into account joint monuments): 1) Ostap Bender; 2) Stirlitz; 3) Musketeers; 4-5) Sherlock Holmes and Don Quixote; 6) Margarita; 7) Fedor Eichmanis; 8) Sharikov; 9) Artyom Goryainov; 10-11) the shepherd of Santiago; Robinson Crusoe. So, in the top ten there is only one female image - Margarita. It should be added that Galina is very rarely present with Artyom Goryainov. Women's preferences look different: 1) Ostap Bender; 2) Tatyana Larina; 3) Anna Karenina; 4-5) Romeo and Juliet; Arseny-Laurus; 6) Sherlock Holmes; 7-8) Cat Behemoth; Margarita; 9-10) Strange children; Angie Malone; 11) Mary Poppins.

The survey data provide strong evidence of intergenerational reading preferences. The top ten preferences of girls aged 17 and under include (in descending order): Assol, Romeo and Juliet, Mermaid, Thumbelina, Snow Maiden, Little Red Riding Hood, Gerda, Mary Poppins, Harry Porter, Alice.

Thus, the majority are female images. At the same time, girls' orientation toward female images is not as pronounced as the preference for male images among boys.

The top ten preferences of boys aged 17 and younger: Tom Sawyer, Vasily Terkin, Robinson Crusoe, D'Artagnan and the Musketeers, Dunno, Sherlock Holmes, Andrey Sokolov, Mowgli, Faust, Hottabych.

Boys, like men, clearly demonstrate a preference for and need for male heroes. The boys in the top twenty heroes do not have female images at all. The first of them appear only in the third ten of the rating, and even then in the company of male heroes: The Master and Margarita; Harry, Hermione, Ron; Romeo and Juliet.

According to the survey, the absolute leader in the number of preferred monuments is Ostap Bender.

Comparison of preference lists according to different parameters shows that the image of Ostap Bender is the undisputed leader, but he is still closer to men.

Why is this image of a hero-adventurer so attractive to our contemporaries? Analyzing the most numerous and famous monuments favorite literary characters that arose in the post-Soviet era (Ostap Bender, Munchausen, Vasily Terkin, Koroviev and Begemot), M. Lipovetsky notes the common thing that unites them: “Apparently, the fact that they are all to one degree or another, but always quite clearly represent the cultural archetype of the trickster.

Looking back at Soviet culture in its various manifestations, it is not difficult to see that most of the characters that gained mass popularity in Soviet culture represent various versions of this ancient archetype.

Moreover, the author proves that the significance of such images is preserved in post-Soviet culture. Both men and women are also interested in the image of Sherlock Holmes, who, according to M. Lipovetsky, also belongs to the trickster archetype.

Traditionally, in the structure of women's preferences, the proportion of domestic and foreign classics, as well as melodramas, is higher. Among men, especially young ones, there is a clear interest in the heroes of adventure literature.

The survey clearly showed other preferences related to the age and gender of readers. Each new generation wants to see its heroes, corresponding to their time, acting in the books created at the present time. So, "The House of Peculiar Children" by R. Riggs is interesting mainly for 20-year-olds and mostly for girls. Also, mostly 20-year-olds are interested in "A Street Cat Named Bob" by J. Bowen.

According to online stores, both books are in great demand among readers. Their high rating among the youth is also noted by various online reader communities. And the image of Katerina from the story by V. Chernykh for the film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” gathers a female audience at the age of 40-50 and is not found among those who are younger than 30 and older than 60 years.

The undisputed hero of the older generation is Stirlitz. Among 20-year-olds, it is never mentioned once, among 30-year-olds - 1 time, 40-year-olds - 7 times, 50-year-olds - 26 times, among 60-year-olds - the absolute leader in men, it is also found in women and is in the lead in general in senior group according to the age. The Julian Semyonov Cultural Foundation has already held an Internet voting “Monument to Stirlitz. What should he be?"

However, the monument to one of the most iconic heroes of Soviet literature and cinema never appeared.

The results of the FOM study “Idols of Youth”, conducted in 2008, noted: “It is significant that the relative majority of people who had idols in their youth remain faithful to them in adulthood: two-thirds (68%) of such people (this is 36% of of all respondents) admitted that they can still call their idol the one who was them in the years of their youth. Probably, this can partly explain the attitude of older people towards Stirlitz.

According to the survey, readers would like to erect monuments to the heroes of completely different books: including the heroes of Homer and Sophocles, Aristophanes, J. Boccaccio, as well as L.N. Tolstoy, A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgenev, N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, I.A. Goncharova, M.Yu. Lermontov, A.P. Chekhov. Among foreign literature The heroes of the books of G. Hesse, G. Garcia Marquez, R. Bach were named in the 20th century; among domestic - the heroes of the books of K. Paustovsky, V. Astafiev, B. Mozhaev, V. Zakrutkin, V. Konetsky, V. Shukshin and many others.

Speaking of works latest literature, then the survey participants showed considerable interest in the characters of the trilogy "Russian Canary" by D. Rubina and the characters of the novel "The Abode" by Z. Prilepin.

It should be noted another work of modern fiction that deserved a fairly high reader rating is the novel by E. Vodolazkin "Laurel", which received the "Big Book" award in 2013. There is one main character- Arseniy-Lavr, to whom they would like to erect a monument.

Among the works whose heroes would like to erect a monument, thus, clear leaders are noted:

№	Author	Work	Number of mentions
1	I. Ilf and E. Petrov	12 chairs, Golden calf	189
2	Bulgakov M.	The Master and Margarita	160
3	Pushkin A.	Eugene Onegin	150
4	Prilepin Z.	Abode	114
5	Dumas A.	Musketeer Trilogy	111
6-7	Doyle A.-K.	Notes about Sherlock Holmes	108
6-7	Mark Twain	Adventures of Tom Sawyer	108
8	Rubina D.	Russian canary	93
9-10	Tvardovsky A.	Vasily Terkin	91
9-10	Goethe I.	Faust	91
11	Shakespeare V.	Romeo and Juliet	88
12	Defoe D.	Robinson Crusoe	78
13	Tolstoy L.N.	Anna Karenina	77
14	Green A.	Scarlet Sails	73
15	Bulgakov M.	dog's heart	71
16	Semenov Yu.	Seventeen Moments of Spring	70
17	Travers P.	Mary Poppins	66
18	Saint Exupery A.	The little Prince	65
19	Rowling J.	Harry Potter	63
20	Cervantes M.	Don Quixote	59

The diversity of the presented literature is noteworthy. The top ten books include Russian and foreign classic literature, a classic of world adventure literature, the best domestic literature, created in the Soviet period, modern bestsellers.

When asked what existing monuments to literary heroes like and where they are located, 690 people answered, which is 16.2% of the number of participants. In total, 355 monuments dedicated to 194 heroes were named. These heroes act in 136 works created by 82 authors.

The rating of heroes whose monuments are well known and liked is headed by: The Little Mermaid; Ostap Bender; Pinocchio; White Bim Black Ear; Chizhik-Pyzhik; Baron Munchausen; Mu Mu; Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson; The Bremen Town Musicians…

The overall ranking of monuments is headed by: The Little Mermaid from Copenhagen; White Bim Black Ear from Voronezh; Samara Pinocchio; Petersburg Chizhik-Pyzhik, Ostap Bender, Mumu; Baron Munchausen from Kaliningrad; Moscow Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; Bremen Town Musicians from Bremen; monument to the Cat Behemoth and Koroviev from Moscow.

The named monuments are located in 155 cities, including 86 domestic cities (55.5%) and 69 foreign (44.5%). Among foreign cities the leaders are: Copenhagen, Odessa, London, Kyiv, Bremen, Kharkov, New York, Osh, Nikolaev. Among domestic: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Samara, Kaliningrad, Ramenskoye, Tobolsk, Tomsk. It should be said that actually two cities of the country head the list in terms of the number of mentions of monuments: the monuments of Moscow were named 174 times, and the monuments of St. Petersburg - 170 times. In third place is Copenhagen with the only monument to the Little Mermaid - 138 times, in fourth place is Voronezh - 80 times.

During the survey, the participants of the action also named the region of their residence. Comparison of the region of residence of the survey participant with the hero to whom they would like to erect a monument (and it was a question of a monument for their place of residence), as well as with those existing monuments that they like, showed that respondents from less than half of the regions named real or desired monuments , where the hero, author of the work, or scene of action was associated with the place of residence of the participant.

In modern Russia, a tradition has been formed to put up street sculptures for literary heroes, and architecture of small forms is being developed. Literary heroes can and do become local cultural symbols.

The social demand for such symbols is quite large. Literary monuments create comfortable conditions for the pastime of citizens, are aimed at a reciprocal emotional response, form the unity of local self-consciousness.

A series of events develops around them, that is, they are included in traditional commemorative or everyday practices, they are getting used to the urban environment.

The appearance of objects of decorative urban sculpture, monuments to literary heroes, monuments dedicated to books and reading can contribute not only to the aesthetic education of the population, but also to the formation of a personal perception of their small homeland, new traditions.

Sculptures, especially street ones, close to a person, play and entertain the townspeople, form unofficial practices of handling such an object and personal attitude towards it.

Filling public spaces with such symbols undoubtedly carries a positive emotional load and contributes to the humanization of the social environment.

(Guillermo Erades)

And also about why Russian women understand: you should not count on "happily ever after"

After the recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace, many viewers dusted off their old copies of Tolstoy's masterpiece and went for a new approach. Those who are especially brave, perhaps inspired by the magnificent Natasha Rostova, will want to plunge into the vast world of Russian literature in search of equally memorable female images. Where to begin? You have found what you need. Here is your guide to selected heroines of Russian literature.

We all know that all happy heroines are equally happy, and each unhappy heroine is unhappy in her own way. But here's what's interesting: in Russian literature, happy heroes are a rarity. In fact, Russian heroines tend to complicate their lives. And it works, because in no small part of the charm of these characters is due to their suffering and tragic destinies. Because they are Russian.

The narrator in my first novel, Back to Moscow, is working - or pretending to be working - on a thesis about female images in Russian literature. He tries to build relationships with the women he meets along the way, drawing on the lessons he has learned from the Russian classics. He soon realizes that modern Russia is no longer the country that Tolstoy and Chekhov described in their books. And Moscow at the dawn of the 21st century is a bustling metropolis undergoing rapid and profound changes, and women in this city very rarely behave as described in books.

One thing is worth remembering about Russian heroines: their stories are not about overcoming obstacles on the way to a happy ending. As guardians of national values ​​that have long been revered, they know that there is more to life than happiness.

Tatyana Larina - Eugene Onegin

In the beginning there was Tatyana. She was the Eve of Russian literature. Not only because she was the first, but also because of Pushkin's special place in the hearts of Russians - he is like a shrine. Any Russian, holding a pickle in his hands, is ready to recite entire poems of the father of modern Russian literature (and after a couple of glasses of vodka, many do just that). Pushkin's masterpiece "Eugene Onegin" is actually not about Onegin, but about Tatyana, a young provincial lady in love with the title character.

Unlike the cynical reveler Onegin, corrupted by the influence of European values, Tatyana embodies the purity and essence of the Mysterious Russian Soul, including the readiness for self-sacrifice and the ability to despise happiness - these qualities of her are obvious, it is worth remembering the famous scene in which she refuses her beloved man .

Anna Karenina

Unlike Pushkin's Tatyana, who resisted the temptation, Tolstoy's Anna decided to leave both her husband and son for Vronsky. The somewhat hysterical heroine is distinguished by a special talent for making the wrong choice, for which she then has to pay.

Her main mistake is not that she started an affair or left her child. Anna's sin, from which her tragedy was born, lies elsewhere - in a "selfish" desire to satisfy her romantic and sexual desires, she forgot about the lesson of the selfless Tatyana: if you see a light at the end of the tunnel, cool down and step aside - it could be an approaching train .

Sonya Marmeladova - Crime and Punishment

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonya is opposed to Raskolnikov. A harlot and a saint at the same time, Sonya perceives her existence as a long road of martyrdom. Upon learning of Raskolnikov's crimes, she did not run away, on the contrary, she is ready to share this burden with him and save his soul, for example, tirelessly reading the Bible to him and reminding him of the story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Sonya can forgive Raskolnikov because she believes that all people are equal before God, and God forgives everything. You just have to repent - it's wonderful.

Natasha Rostova - War and Peace

Natasha Rostova is a dream come true. Smart, cheerful, spontaneous, funny. Pushkin's Tatyana is too good to be true, but Tolstoy's Natasha seems real, alive. Partly, perhaps, the reason is that she, among other things, is a wayward, naive, flirtatious girl and - in the manner early XIX century - teasing.

For the first time on the pages of the novel, Natasha appears as a charming teenager, full of joy and love of life. As the story progresses, she grows up, assimilates life lessons, tames his changeable heart, gains depth and wisdom. In addition, this woman, which is so uncharacteristic of Russian literature, is still smiling after a thousand pages.

Irina Prozorova - Three sisters

At the beginning of Chekhov's play "Three Sisters", Irina, the youngest of them, is full of hope and light. While her older sisters, bored in the provinces, complain and frown, Irina's naive soul exudes endless optimism. She dreams of leaving for Moscow, where she thinks she will meet true love and their whole family will be happy. But the hopes of moving are fading, Irina realizes that she can forever be stuck in her town, and her inner fire is gradually fading.

In the images of Irina and her sisters, Chekhov shows life as a series of dull episodes, which is only occasionally interrupted by occasional outbursts of joy. Like Irina, we all live our lives, constantly distracted by the insignificant, dreaming of a better future, gradually realizing the insignificance of our own existence.

Liza Kalitina - Noble Nest

AT " noble nest"Turgenev represents the quintessential Russian heroine. Lisa is young, naive, pure of heart. There are two admirers in her life - a young and cheerful handsome officer and a sad married man older than her. Guess who won her heart? Lisa's choice says a lot about the Mysterious Russian Soul She clearly gravitates toward suffering.

Her decision shows that the desire for melancholic sadness is just as life path like any other. In the finale, Lisa renounces her love and goes to a monastery, choosing the path of self-denial and deprivation. “Happiness didn’t come to me,” she says, as if explaining herself, “even when I had hopes for happiness, my heart ached.” She is lovely.

Margarita - Master and Margarita

Chronologically, the last addition to the canon, Bulgakov's Margarita is the strangest in this series. At the beginning of the novel, this is an unhappy woman who becomes the Master's lover and muse, and then turns into a flying witch. In Margarita, the Master draws energy, she, like Sonya for Raskolnikov, is his healer, lover, savior. When he needs help, she turns to Satan himself and, in the name of love, concludes an agreement with him in the spirit of Faust, after which, finally, she reunites with her chosen one, albeit not in this world.

Olga Semyonovna - Darling

Chekhov's "Darling" tells the story of Olga Semyonovna, a loving and tender nature, an ingenuous woman who, as the reader will know, lives to love. Poor Olga became a young widow. Twice. Left without a man to love, she lost her taste for life and preferred seclusion in the company of her cat.

In his review of Darling, Tolstoy wrote that Chekhov, intending to ridicule this ingenuous woman, unexpectedly portrayed an unusually sweet heroine. Tolstoy went further, accusing Chekhov of being too harsh with Olga, that he judges her by her mind, and not by her spiritual qualities. According to Tolstoy, Olga embodies the ability of a Russian woman to unconditional love - a virtue unfamiliar to a man.

Madam Odintsova - Fathers and Sons

In "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev (the title of this novel on English language often erroneously translated as "Fathers and Sons") Mrs. Odintsova, as her surname hints, is a single woman. At least, by the standards of its time. Although Odintsova was conceived as an unusual character, she passed the test of time and became, in a sense, a pioneer among literary heroines.

As opposed to others female characters novel, which obey the requirements of society, Odintsova, a widow without children and without a mother, stubbornly defends her independence, refusing, like Tatyana in Pushkin, the only opportunity to experience true love.

Nastasya Filippovna - Idiot

The heroine of The Idiot, Nastasya Filippovna, is an example of Dostoevsky's complexity. This is a woman who has been used, a victim of her own beauty. Orphaned at an early age, she found herself in the care of an adult man who made her his mistress. In an attempt to break free from the chains of fate and become a kind of femme fatale, Nastasya, suffering from mental wounds, cannot get rid of the guilt that casts a shadow on her every decision.

In the manner traditional for Russian literature, life puts the heroine in front of a difficult choice - mainly the choice of a man. And within the framework of the same tradition, she is unable to make the right choice, but instead submits to fate and, ultimately, allows her to carry herself towards a tragic ending.

I continue the once started series "Literary Heroes" ...

Heroes of Russian literature

Almost every literary character has its own prototype - a real person. Sometimes it is the author himself (Ostrovsky and Pavka Korchagin, Bulgakov and the Master), sometimes it is a historical figure, sometimes it is an acquaintance or relative of the author.
This story is about the prototypes of Chatsky and Taras Bulba, Ostap Bender, Timur and other heroes of books...

1. Chatsky "Woe from Wit"

The main character of Griboyedov's comedy - Chatsky- most often associated with the name Chaadaeva(in the first version of the comedy, Griboyedov wrote "Chadsky"), although the image of Chatsky is in many ways a social type of the era, a "hero of the time."
Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev(1796-1856) - member Patriotic War 1812, was on a foreign campaign. In 1814 he joined the Masonic lodge, and in 1821 he agreed to join a secret society.

From 1823 to 1826, Chaadaev traveled around Europe, comprehended the latest philosophical teachings. After returning to Russia in 1828-1830, he wrote and published a historical and philosophical treatise: "Philosophical Letters". The views, ideas, and judgments of the thirty-six-year-old philosopher turned out to be so unacceptable for Nicholas Russia that the author of the Philosophical Letters suffered an unprecedented punishment: he was declared insane by the highest decree. It so happened that the literary character did not repeat the fate of his prototype, but predicted it...

2. Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba is written out so organically and vividly that the reader does not leave the feeling of his reality.
But there was a man whose fate is similar to the fate of the hero Gogol. And this man also had a surname Gogol!
Ostap Gogol was born at the beginning of the 17th century. On the eve of 1648, he was a captain of the "panzer" Cossacks in the Polish army stationed in Uman under the command of S. Kalinovsky. With the outbreak of the uprising, Gogol, along with his heavy cavalry, went over to the side of the Cossacks.

In October 1657, Hetman Vyhovsky, with a general foreman, of which Ostap Gogol was a member, concluded the Treaty of Korsun between Ukraine and Sweden.

In the summer of 1660, Ostap's regiment took part in the Chudnivsky campaign, after which the Slobodischensky treaty was signed. Gogol took the side of autonomy within the Commonwealth, he was made a gentry.
In 1664, an uprising broke out in Right-Bank Ukraine against the Poles and the hetman Teteri. Gogol at first supported the rebels. However, he again went over to the side of the enemy. The reason for this was his sons, whom Hetman Potocki held hostage in Lvov. When Doroshenko became hetman, Gogol came under his mace and helped him a lot. When he fought with the Turks near Ochakov, Doroshenko at the Rada proposed to recognize the supremacy of the Turkish Sultan, and it was accepted.
.
At the end of 1671, the Crown Hetman Sobieski took Mogilev, Gogol's residence. During the defense of the fortress, one of the sons of Ostap died. The colonel himself fled to Moldavia and from there sent Sobieski a letter of his desire to obey.
As a reward for this, Ostap received the village of Vilkhovets. The letter of salary of the estate served the grandfather of the writer Nikolai Gogol as evidence of his nobility.
Colonel Gogol became Hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine on behalf of King Jan III Sobieski. He died in 1679 at his residence in Dymer, and was buried in the Kiev-Mezhigorsky monastery not far from Kyiv.
story analogy is obvious: both heroes are Zaporozhye colonels, both had sons, one of whom died at the hands of the Poles, the other went over to the side of the enemy. In this way, a distant ancestor of the writer and was the prototype of Taras Bulba.

3. Plushkin
Orlovsky landowner Spiridon Matsnev he was extremely stingy, walked around in a greasy dressing gown and dirty clothes, so that few could recognize him as a rich gentleman.
The landowner had 8,000 souls of peasants, but he starved not only them, but also himself.

This stingy landowner N.V. Gogol brought to " Dead souls» in the image of Plyushkin. “If Chichikov had met him, dressed up like that, somewhere at the church doors, he would probably have given him a copper penny”...
“This landowner had more than a thousand souls, and someone else would have tried to find so much bread in grain, flour and simply in luggage, who would have pantries, barns and dryers cluttered with such a multitude of canvases, cloths, tanned and rawhide sheepskins ... " .
The image of Plushkin has become a household name.

4. Silvio
"Shot" A.S. Pushkin

Silvio's prototype is Ivan Petrovich Liprandi.
Pushkin's friend, Silvio's prototype in Shot.
Author of the best memories of Pushkin's southern exile.
The son of a Russified Spanish grandee. Member of the Napoleonic Wars since 1807 (from the age of 17). Colleague and friend of the Decembrist Raevsky, member of the Union of Welfare. Arrested in the case of the Decembrists in January 1826, he sat in a cell with Griboyedov.

“... His personality was of undoubted interest in terms of his talents, fate and original way of life. He was gloomy and gloomy, but he liked to gather officers at his place and treat them widely. The sources of his income were shrouded in mystery for everyone. A scribbler and book lover, he was famous for his breter, and a rare duel took place without his participation.
Pushkin "Shot"

At the same time, Liprandi, as it turned out, was a member of military intelligence and the secret police.
Since 1813, the head of the secret political police under the army of Vorontsov in France. He was in close contact with the famous Vidocq. Together with the French gendarmerie, he participated in the disclosure of the anti-government Pin Society. Since 1820 he was the chief military intelligence officer at the headquarters of the Russian troops in Bessarabia. At the same time, he became the main theorist and practitioner of military and political espionage.
Since 1828 - the head of the Supreme Secret Foreign Police. Since 1820 - in the direct subordination of Benckendorff. The organizer of the provocation in the circle of Butashevich-Petrashevsky. Organizer of Ogarev's arrest in 1850. The author of the project on the establishment of a school of spies at the universities ...

5. Andrey Bolkonsky

Prototypes Andrei Bolkonsky there were several. His tragic death was "written off" by Leo Tolstoy from the biography of the real prince Dmitry Golitsyn.
Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was signed up for service in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Justice. Soon, Emperor Alexander I granted him to the chamber junkers, and then to the actual chamberlains, which was equated to the rank of general.

In 1805, Prince Golitsyn entered the military service and, together with the army, went through the campaigns of 1805-1807.
In 1812, he filed a report with a request to be enrolled in the army., became an Akhtyrsky hussar, Denis Davydov also served in the same regiment. Golitsin participated in border battles as part of the 2nd Russian army of General Bagration, fought on the Shevardinsky redoubt, and then ended up on the left flank of the Russian orders on the Borodino field.
In one of the skirmishes, Major Golitsyn was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment., he was taken out of the battlefield. After the operation in the field infirmary, it was decided to take the wounded man further east.
"House of Bolkonsky" in Vladimir.


They made a stop in Vladimir, Major Golitsyn was placed in one of the merchant houses on a steep hill on the Klyazma. But, almost a month after the Battle of Borodino, Dmitry Golitsyn died in Vladimir ...
.....................

Soviet literature

6. Assol
The gentle dreamer Assol had more than one prototype.
First prototype - Maria Sergeevna Alonkina, secretary of the House of Arts, almost everyone living and visiting this House was in love with her.
Once, going up the stairs to his office, Green saw a short, swarthy-faced girl talking to Korney Chukovsky.
There was something unearthly in her appearance: flying gait, radiant look, sonorous happy laughter. It seemed to him that she looked like Assol from the story "Scarlet Sails", on which he was working at that time.
The image of 17-year-old Masha Alonkina occupied Green's imagination and was reflected in the extravaganza story.


“I don’t know how many years will pass, only in Kapern one fairy tale will bloom, memorable for a long time. You will be big, Assol. One morning in the distance of the sea, a scarlet sail will sparkle under the sun. The shining bulk of the scarlet sails of the white ship will move, cutting through the waves, straight to you ... "

And in 1921, Green meets with Nina Nikolaevna Mironova, who worked in the newspaper "Petrograd Echo". He, gloomy, lonely, was easy with her, he was amused by her coquetry, he admired her love of life. Soon they got married.

The door is closed, the lamp is on.
In the evening she will come to me
No more aimless, dull days -
I sit and think about her...

On this day she will give me her hand,
I trust quietly and completely.
A terrible world rages around
Come, beautiful, dear friend.

Come, I've been waiting for you for a long time.
It was so dull and dark
But the winter spring has come,
Light knock ... My wife came.

To her, his "winter spring", Green dedicated the extravaganza "Scarlet Sails" and the novel "The Shining World".
..................

7. Ostap Bender and Children of Lieutenant Schmidt

The man who became the prototype of Ostap Bender is known.
It - Osip (Ostap) Veniaminovich Shor(1899 -1979). Shor was born in Odessa, was an employee of the UGRO, a football player, a traveler .... Was a buddy E. Bagritsky, Y. Olesha, Ilf and Petrov. His brother was the futurist poet Natan Fioletov.

The appearance, character and speech of Ostap Bender are taken from Osip Shor.
Almost all the famous "Bendera" phrases - "The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!", "I will command the parade!", "My dad was a Turkish citizen ..." and many others - were gleaned by the authors from Shor's lexicon.
In 1917, Shor entered the first year of the Petrograd Institute of Technology, and in 1919 he left for his homeland. He got home almost two years, with many adventures about which he spoke authors of The Twelve Chairs.
The stories they told about how, not knowing how to draw, he got a job as an artist on a propaganda ship, or about how he gave a session simultaneous play in some remote town, introducing themselves as an international grandmaster, they were reflected in the "12 chairs" with virtually no changes.
By the way, the famous leader of the Odessa bandits, Mishka Jap, with whom the employee of the UGRO Shor fought, became the prototype Beni Krika, from " Odessa stories” by I. Babel.

And here is the episode that gave rise to the creation of the image "children of Lieutenant Schmidt".
In August 1925, a man with an oriental appearance, decently dressed, wearing American glasses, appeared at the Gomel provincial executive committee and introduced himself Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Uzbek SSR Faizula Khodzhaev. He told Yegorov, chairman of the gubernia executive committee, that he was going from Crimea to Moscow, but money and documents were stolen from him on the train. Instead of a passport, he presented a certificate that he really was Khodzhaev, signed by Ibragimov, chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Crimean Republic.
He was warmly received, given money, they began to take him to theaters and banquets. But one of the police chiefs decided to compare the personality of the Uzbek with the portraits of the chairmen of the CEC, which he found in an old magazine. Thus, false Khodjays were exposed, who turned out to be a native of Kokand, who was on his way from Tbilisi, where he was serving a term ...
In the same way, posing as a high-ranking official, the former convict had fun in Yalta, Simferopol, Novorossiysk, Kharkov, Poltava, Minsk...
It was a fun time the time of the NEP and such desperate people, adventurers as Shor and false Khodjays.
Later I will write separately about Bender ...
………

8. Timur
TIMUR is the hero of the screenplay and A. Gaidar's story "Timur and his team." One of the most famous and popular heroes of Soviet children's literature of the 30s - 40s.
Under the influence of A.P. Gaidar "Timur and his team" in the USSR arose among the pioneers and schoolchildren in the beginning. 1940s "Timurov movement". Timurovites provided assistance to the families of military personnel, the elderly ...
It is believed that the “prototype” of the Timurov team for A. Gaidar was a group of scouts that operated back in the 1910s in a suburban suburb of St. Petersburg.“Timurovites” and “scouts” really have a lot in common (especially in the ideology and practice of “chivalrous” care of children about the people around them, the idea of ​​doing good deeds “in secret”).
The story told by Gaidar turned out to be surprisingly consonant with the mood of a whole generation of guys: the struggle for justice, the underground headquarters, the specific signaling, the ability to rapidly assemble "along the chain", etc.

Interestingly, in early edition the story was called "Duncan and his team" or "Duncan to the rescue" - the hero of the story was - Vovka Duncan. The influence of the work is obvious Jules Verne: yacht "Duncan"» at the first alarm went to help Captain Grant.

In the spring of 1940, while working on a film based on a still unfinished story, the name "Duncan" was rejected. The Committee on Cinematography expressed bewilderment: "Good Soviet boy. Pioneer. I came up with such a useful game and suddenly -" Duncan ". We consulted with our comrades here - you need to change your name"
And then Gaidar gave the hero the name of his own son, whom he called "the little commander" in life. According to another version - Timur- the name of the boy next door. Here comes the girl Zhenya received the name from the adopted daughter of Gaidar from her second marriage.
The image of Timur embodies the ideal type of a teenage leader with his desire for noble deeds, secrets, pure ideals.
concept "Timurovets" firmly established in everyday life. Until the end of the 1980s, children who provided disinterested assistance to those in need were called Timurovites.
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9. Captain Vrungel
From the story Andrey Nekrasov "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel"".
The book is about the incredible sea adventures of the resourceful and resilient captain Vrungel, his senior assistant Lom and the sailor Fuchs.

Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel- the main character and narrator, on whose behalf the story is being told. An old experienced sailor, with a solid and judicious character, is not without ingenuity.
The first part of the surname uses the word "liar". Vrungel, whose name has become a household name - the marine analogue of Baron Munchausen, telling stories about his sailing adventures.
According to Nekrasov himself, the prototype of Vrungel was his acquaintance with the surname Vronsky, a lover of telling maritime fiction stories with his participation. His surname was so suitable for the protagonist that the original book should have been called " Adventures of Captain Vronsky", however, for fear of offending a friend, the author chose a different surname for the protagonist.
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Who is a literary character? We devote our article to this issue. In it, we will tell you where this name came from, what literary characters and images are, and how to describe them in literature lessons at your own request or the teacher’s request.

Also from our article you will learn what an "eternal" image is and what images are called eternal.

Literary hero or character. Who is it?

Often we hear the concept of "literary character". But what it is about, few can explain. And even schoolchildren who have recently returned from a literature lesson often find it difficult to answer a question. What is this mysterious word "character"?

It came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). Meaning - "person", "person", "person".

So, a literary character is a protagonist. We are mainly talking about prose genres, since images in poetry are usually called "lyrical hero".

Without actors it is impossible to write a story or a poem, a novel or a short story. Otherwise, it will be a meaningless set, if not of words, then perhaps of events. The heroes are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, Andersen's steadfast tin soldier, historical figures and even entire nations.

Classification of literary heroes

They can confuse with their number any connoisseur of literature. It's especially hard for middle school students. And especially those who prefer to play their favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify heroes if this is required by a teacher or, even worse, an examiner?

The most win-win option: classify the characters according to their importance in the work. On this basis, literary heroes are divided into main and secondary. Without the protagonist, the work and its plot will be a collection of words. But in case of loss minor characters we will lose a certain branch of the storyline or the expressiveness of events. But in general, the work will not suffer.

The second classification option is more limited and will not suit all works, but fairy tales and fantastic genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, poor Cinderella herself - positive hero, it causes pleasant emotions, you sympathize with her. But the sisters and the evil stepmother are clearly heroes of a completely different warehouse.

Character characteristic. How to write?

Heroes of literary works sometimes (especially in a literature lesson at school) need a detailed description. But how to write it? The option "there once was such a hero. He is from a fairy tale about this and that" is clearly not suitable if the assessment is important. We will share with you a win-win option for writing the characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.

• Introduction. Name the work and the character you will be talking about. You can also add here why you want to describe it.
• The place of the hero in the story (novel, story, etc.). Here you can write whether he is main or secondary, positive or negative, a person or a mythical or historical person.
• Appearance. It will not be superfluous with quotes, which will show you as an attentive reader, and even add volume to your characterization.
• Character. Everything is clear here.
• Actions and their characteristics in your opinion.
• Conclusions.

That's all. Save this plan for yourself, and it will come in handy more than once.

Notable literary characters

Although the very concept of a literary hero may seem completely unfamiliar to you, if you tell you the name of a hero, you will most likely remember a lot. This is especially true of famous characters in literature, such as Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, Assol or Cinderella, Alice or Pippi Longstocking.

Such heroes are called famous literary characters. These names are familiar to children and adults from many countries and even continents. Not knowing them is a sign of narrow-mindedness and lack of education. Therefore, if you have no time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell you about these heroes.

The concept of image in literature

Along with the character, you can often hear the concept of "image". What's this? The same as the hero, or not? The answer will be both positive and negative, because a literary character may well be in a literary way, but the image itself does not have to be a character.

Often we call this or that character an image, but nature can appear in the same image in a work. And then the topic of the examination sheet can be "the image of nature in the story ...". How to be in that case? The answer is in the question itself: if we are talking about nature, you need to characterize its place in the work. Start with a description, add character elements, such as "the sky was frowning", "the sun was mercilessly hot", "the night was frightening with its darkness", and the characteristic is ready. Well, if you need a characterization of the image of the hero, then how to write it, see the plan and tips above.

What are the images?

Our next question. Here we highlight several classifications. Above, we considered one - the images of heroes, that is, people / animals / mythical creatures and images of nature, images of peoples and states.

Also images can be so-called "eternal". What is an "eternal image"? This concept names a hero created at some time by an author or folklore. But he was so "characteristic" and special that after years and epochs other authors write their characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but without changing the essence of this. Such heroes include the fighter with Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan and many others.

Unfortunately, modern fantasy characters do not become eternal, despite the love of fans. Why? What's better than this funny Don Quixote of Spider-Man, for example? It is difficult to explain it in two words. Only reading the book will give you the answer.

The concept of "proximity" of the hero, or My favorite character

Sometimes the hero of a work or movie becomes so close and loved that we try to imitate him, to be like him. This happens for a reason, and it is not in vain that the choice falls on this particular character. Often the favorite character becomes an image that already somewhat resembles us. Perhaps the similarity is in character, or experienced by both the hero and you. Or this character is in a situation similar to yours, and you understand and sympathize with him. In any case, it's not bad. The main thing is that you imitate only worthy heroes. And there are plenty of them in the literature. We wish you to meet only with good heroes and imitate only the positive traits of their character.

Every book that has become a masterpiece has its heroes (bad and good). Today we want to talk about characters that, even after 100 years, remain relevant and famous. Many of these books were filmed, so we sometimes recognize many of the characters from films. Let's start with Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes

Literary character created by Arthur Conan Doyle. His works, dedicated to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the famous London private detective, are considered classics of the detective genre. The prototype of Holmes is considered to be Dr. Joseph Bell, a colleague of Conan Doyle who worked at the Edinburgh Royal Hospital and was famous for his ability to the smallest details guess the character and past of a person.

The first work about the famous detective, the story "A Study in Scarlet", was written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887. The last collection, The Sherlock Holmes Archive, was published in 1927. Sherlock Holmes is apparently a biochemist by training. At the time of meeting Watson, he worked as a laboratory assistant in one of the London hospitals.

Hercule Poirot

Literary character of the famous English writer Agatha Christie, Belgian detective, the protagonist of 33 novels, 54 short stories and 1 play written between 1920 and 1975, and based on them in films, television series, theater and radio shows.

Poirot is a Belgian immigrant, a former policeman. Poirot himself in the book "A Tragedy in Three Acts" says that "... in my youth I was poor and had many brothers and sisters ... worked for some time in the police in Belgium ... then the War began, I was wounded ... I was sent to England for treatment, where I stayed…”.

Robin Hood

A popular hero of medieval English folk ballads, a noble leader of forest robbers. According to legend, he acted with his gang in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham - robbed the rich, giving the spoils to the poor.

The identity of the prototype of these ballads and legends has not been established. Presumably, he lived at the beginning of the XIV century, during the reign of King Edward II. However, at present, the artistic version of Walter Scott is the most popular, according to which Robin lived in the second half of the 12th century (that is, he was a contemporary of Richard Lion Heart and John the Landless). A number of historical details speak in favor of the first version and against Scott's version: for example, archery competitions began to be held in England no earlier than the 13th century.

E rast Fandorin

Hero of a series of historical detectives Russian writer Boris Akunin "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin". In this series, the writer set himself the task of writing one detective of different styles: conspiracy detective, spy detective, hermetic detective, ethnographic detective, etc.

The reviewers expressed the opinion that Fandorin's surname is an allusion to the journalist Jerome Fandor, the hero of a series of detective novels by French writers Marcel Allen and Pierre Souvestre about Fantômas (1911-1913) and a French film trilogy of the 1960s based on these novels.

Erast Petrovich Fandorin was born on January 8 (20), 1856 in an old noble family. The boy's mother died during childbirth. Therefore, either out of annoyance, or in mockery of the bitter fate, the father, Pyotr Isaakievich, mourning his wife Elizabeth, called the boy Erast.

To Commissioner Maigret

Commissaire Jules Maigret

Commissioner Jules Maigret is the hero of the popular series of detective novels and short stories by Georges Simenon, a wise policeman.

Jules Joseph Anselm Maigret was born in 1884 in the village of Saint-Fiacre near Mantignon in the family of the estate manager, Count Saint-Fiacre. There he spent his childhood and youth. Simenon repeatedly mentions Maigret's peasant roots. The commissioner's mother died in childbirth. When he was 8 years old, he spent several months at the Lyceum, where he had a very hard time, and, in the end, his father sent him to his sister, who was married to a baker in Nantes. Arriving in Paris, Megre began to study as a doctor, but for a number of reasons and circumstances he left his studies and decided to join the police.

Megre, with his talent and perseverance, rose from an ordinary inspector to the position of divisional commissar, head of a brigade for the investigation of especially serious crimes.

Maigret is unimaginable without a smoking pipe, he has a whole collection of them.

Z orro

A fictional character, a variation on the theme of Robin Hood, a "masked hero" who comes to the aid of the destitute people of New Spain. Zorro was originally a character in Johnston McCully's adventure books.

Zorro was originally a character in Johnston McCully's adventure books. He first appeared in the story The Curse of Capistrano, published in 1919. According to one version, when creating the image, McCully was based on stories about a certain William Lamport. The following year saw the first Fox film, The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks. Subsequently, many films were made about Zorro both in America and abroad.

T arzan

Fictional character created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and first appeared in the book Tarzan of the Apes. Journal publication of the novel took place in 1912, in 1914 it came out as a separate book, followed by twenty-three sequels. Tarzan is called the most recognizable literary character in the world. Except huge amount books written by Burroughs himself and others, the character has also appeared in many films, television shows, radio, comics, and parodies.

d racula

Vampire, the title character and main antagonist of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. As an archetypal vampire, Dracula has appeared in many works of popular culture, not even directly related to Bram Stoker's novel.

B the right soldier Schweik

A satirical character invented by the Czech writer Jaroslav Hasek; the protagonist of the unfinished novel "The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik during the World War", written in 1921-1923, a cycle of 5 stories "The Good Soldier Schweik. Fascinating Adventures of an Honest Servant" and the story "The Good Soldier Schweik in Captivity".

According to the literary critic S. V. Nikolsky, the prototypes of the good soldier Schweik were two people with whom Hasek was familiar: corporal Josef Schweik and Frantisek Strashlipka, the orderly of the real lieutenant Lukash, Hasek's company commander during the First World War.

B etman

Fictional superhero comic book character published by DC Comics who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. Along with Superman, Batman is one of the most popular and famous heroes comics. Created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. Until recently, Bob Kane was considered the main creator of the character, but after much research, authorship was transferred to Bill Finger in 2015, since Kane's real contribution to the creation of the character was very small.

Tom Sawyer

One of the main characters in Mark Twain's novels: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Tom Sawyer Abroad" and "Tom Sawyer - Detective"; also a character in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom Sawyer is present, by at least, in three more unfinished works of Mark Twain - "On the School Hill", "The Tom Sawyer Conspiracy" and "Huck and Tom Among the Indians".

The fictitious character's name may have been taken from a real person named Tom Sawyer, whom Twain met in San Francisco, California, where Mark Twain worked as a reporter for the San Francisco Call. Mark Twain states in the preface that the character was based on three boys he knew as a child.

Most famous characters books updated: November 26, 2017 by: website