T. V. Dmitrenko
Gorlovka

The reasons for human sensitivity from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century are explained, and it turns out that L. Andreev is not a “dark” author who is seen from a pessimistic point of view, but reveals the true essence of the “little” people.

The end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries in the development of Russian social and literature literature artistic life- this is the time of change of historical eras. By the beginning of the century, Russia had become the center of the world revolutionary movement. The events that took place in the country acquired worldwide historical significance. Fiction expressed the social, ethical and aesthetic ideals of people in revolutionary prose, primarily in the work of L. Andreev. One of the main themes of his work is “tragedy little man", his renunciation of himself and alienation from the world around him.

A detailed study of this problem from a modern and objective point of view is very relevant, as this makes it possible to more fully see and analyze the “picture of the world and perception” of that time. Quite a lot of literary scholars and critics - L. A. Jesuitova, V. I. Bezzubov, Yu. V. Babicheva and many others - studied the problems of L. Andreev’s creativity. But the problem of mortification of the soul, as well as death, was not explored in the author’s work, and therefore the appeal to this issue is relevant for modern literary criticism.

The purpose of this article is to analyze and, as a consequence, prove the death of the soul of the “little man” in connection with his self-denial of himself and the world. As already mentioned, Andreev is one of those writers who was worried about the fate of ordinary people who lived at a turning point. Andreev's creativity had a pronounced anti-bourgeois and anti-philistine character. The author associated the spiritual poverty of the “small” person with the disunity of people, with their indifference to the big life of the country. Man increasingly turned into “a faceless unit of equally faceless multitudes.” Andreev is looking for the reasons for this terrifying impersonality and comes to the conclusion that alienation and spiritual poverty of a person are generated not only by social inequality, but also by material need. The author believed that this was a consequence of abnormality modern society generally.

The story “The Grand Slam” (1899) testifies to the disunity and soullessness of quite “prosperous” people, whose highest pleasure was playing vint at all times of the year. One of the heroes, Maslennikov, in order to start at least some conversation, from time to time read out the weather forecast or told what was happening in the world, to which he always received the same dry answer - “read it already” or there was no answer at all. Already from this, at first glance, insignificant detail, it is clear that the so-called “friends” had practically nothing in common except playing screw. Lack of interest in each other's personal opinions and in what was happening around them gradually turned them into soulless, degrading individuals.

The heroes of the story, three men and one woman, lived in their own world, where the main role was played by cards, which became the meaning of their insignificant existence. Each character, of course, has a name, but the heroes are so faceless that the author begins to call them the equally faceless “they”. “They played screw three times a week,” “And they sat down to play.” Andreev presents the heroes as a “gray mass”, from which absolutely no one stood out. They played three times a week: on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and Sunday, which was very convenient for playing, “had to be left to all sorts of accidents: the arrival of strangers and the theater.” The author calls those people who sometimes visited the main characters “outsiders” not because they really were, but because the main characters only experienced alienation towards each other. The game lasted for six years, during which the players had to not only know each other well, but also become best friends. But it so happened that after so many years they still knew nothing about each other. They only knew that the mistress of the house, Eupraxia Vasilievna, had an affair with a student in her youth. But why she didn’t marry him, even she didn’t remember.

The only one female image The author portrays the story not just as an old maid, but as an impersonal character. A woman who did not remember the reason for her unmarriage after the only affair in her life cannot pretend that at least someone would consider her a worthy subject of society. A real woman, like no one else, will remember every minute spent with her loved one, and, of course, will never forget the reasons for the breakup. The heroine is spiritually empty, but the lack of spiritual values ​​does not bother her at all. A life lived aimlessly does not seem empty to her, because there is a game of screw, where she merges with cards that fill her spiritual emptiness. Even when Nikolai Dmitrievich, one of the players, was late, he always apologized and said: “There are so many people walking on the boulevard. So they go, so they go.” . The heroine, as the mistress of the house, considered herself “obliged not to notice the oddities of her guests.” Her response was always the same: “Yes, probably - the weather is good. But shouldn’t we start?” . She didn't even know what the weather was like. Her assumption that she was good came down to the fact that, according to one of the players, there were a lot of people walking on the street. The reluctance to simply go outside once again proves her spiritual emptiness.

Evpraksiya Vasilievna, like her brother, does not need money, but she does not understand games not for money, and therefore, winning any insignificant amount, “she put this money separately, in a piggy bank, and it seemed to her much more important and dearer than those large credit cards that she had to pay for an expensive apartment and issue for housekeeping.” Andreev emphasizes that winning for the mistress of the house has become the meaning of life (just like the overcoat for Gogol’s Bashmachkin).

The complete lack of information about each other's personal lives leads to the fact that after the death of one of them, it turned out that the heroes did not even know his address. And with great surprise they learned about the existence of an adult son, as well as about Maslennikov’s illness with angina pectoris, only on the eve of his sudden death. Already modern critics and writers have come to the conclusion that Andreev in this story is talking not only about the vulgar life of vulgar people, “but also about those fatal forces that cruelly and mockingly control human destiny" And only for one moment, one of the players after Maslennikov’s death thought: “A man lived fruitlessly and in vain, all his life he cherished the dream of playing in a grand slam. And his partner cried with pity for the one who could never find out about the fulfillment of his dream, and with pity for himself, for everyone, since the same “terribly and senselessly cruel” would happen to them and to everyone.” The hero cried and regretted not about the person with whom he had played for many years in a row, but only about the fact that Maslennikov was so close to winning, his cherished dream, but never learned about the grand slam. And the question immediately arises: what would have happened if Maslennikov had remained alive and learned about the realization of his cherished dream? Would his life have changed in any way? Would spiritual values ​​change? Of course not. Winning would in no way affect the hero's meaningless existence. Like six years in a row before, they would continue to play and waste the most priceless thing - life.

The most striking symbol of “that fatal force that controls the heroes” were cards. Andreev points out that “cards have long since lost the meaning of soulless matter in the eyes of the heroes, and each suit, and within the suit each card individually, was strictly individual and lived its own separate life.” It becomes clear that it was the cards that “lived”, not the players. It was the players who turned into soulless matter, and the cards guided their lives, became the rulers and stewards of their destinies, and most importantly, the meaning of their empty lives. “The suits were loved and unloved, happy and unhappy. The cards were combined in an infinite variety, and this variety defied either analysis or rules, but at the same time it was natural. And this pattern contained the life of the cards, which was different from the lives of the people who played them. People wanted and got their way from them, and the cards did their own thing, as if they had their own will, their own tastes, likes and whims.

All suits came to Nikolai Dmitrievich equally, and not one stayed for long, and all the cards looked like hotel guests who come and go, indifferent to the place where they had to spend several days. Sometimes, for several evenings in a row, only twos and threes would come to see him and at the same time they had an impudent and mocking look.” According to the author, it is not the heroes who have a soul, but the cards. The players were faceless, and who cares what the main characters look like. After all, gradually and imperceptibly the cards become the main images of the story, and the players turn into the suits that they did not like so much. Maslennikov was sure that he could not get a grand slam only because “the cards know about his desire and deliberately do not go to him in order to annoy him.” Having such power over a person, the cards represent a certain vector that moves only in the direction in which it is convenient for them.

“And he pretended that he was completely indifferent to what kind of game he would have, and tried not to reveal the buy-in for a long time. Very rarely did he manage to deceive the cards in this way; They usually guessed, and when he opened the purchase, three sixes laughed from there and the king of spades, whom they had dragged for company, smiled gloomily.” Symbolic are these three sixes, which, according to Christian tradition, are the number of Satan. And the king of spades, as the owner of everything unclean, is the opponent against whom Maslennikov played. The story captures the religious meaning and a clear indication that the heroes were most likely atheists, which is primarily indicated by the playing of cards, which is not allowed by the church.

Maslennikov was blind to all the signs that the cards “gave” to him. “Only Nikolai Dmitrievich could not come to terms with the whimsical rights of the cards, their mockery and inconstancy. Going to bed, he thought about how he would play a grand slam with no trumps... then one ace comes and another. But when, full of hope, he sat down to play, the damned sixes again bared their wide white teeth.” These constant three sixes clearly indicated the danger that threatened Maslennikov, they were somehow trying to “protect” him, but how can an unbeliever pay attention to such trifles, and why, if the goal is set and must be achieved in any way.

Many critics agree that none of the writers before Andreev refined their lines and colors so much, none of them took on such a thin shell, did not merge so much to the point of losing the distinction between their inner world and its external expression, as in Andreev's creativity. In “Grand Slam,” as in Andreev’s other stories, one cannot help but notice the extreme laconicism in the reproduction of the characters’ backgrounds, as well as the absence of detailed, detailed, objectively neutral images of social reality.

At the beginning of the story, the author prefers to introduce the reader to the feelings, moods and experiences of his hero, as well as how others treat him, and only then, and even then not always, gives details of his appearance and some touches of his biography. Inner world the character, which is often autobiographical, is as important to the author as life itself is to him. It is the inner qualities of a person that are capable of conveying his essence to the smallest detail. And for Andreev it doesn’t matter at all whether the hero is wealthy or poor as a church mouse, but what matters is what he lives and breathes - love or the thirst for revenge for betrayal or injustice; forgiveness or condemnation.

Andreev’s closest friend and critic, Maxim Gorky, having read “The Grand Slam”, noticed that the author in his story “sought to compare life and death.” In this “comparison” one cannot help but see a parallel with L. N. Tolstoy’s story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” (the hero of which, by the way, devoted all his leisure time to playing cards and took it more than seriously). The life of Andreev’s heroes is just as “ordinary” and “terrible” as the life of Tolstoy’s character, and death for them is an event that forces them to take a new, broader and more meaningful look at themselves and everything around them. But Andreev, in this story of his, does not consider it necessary to go into detail describing the personal and business biography of his characters. He strives to convey the course of the heroes’ lives and their more than indifferent attitude towards everything that had nothing to do with the game in one phrase. It is repeated several times in the work and, undoubtedly, is a kind of key to understanding the artist’s general plan: “This is how they played summer and winter, spring and autumn. The decrepit world obediently bore the heavy yoke of endless existence and either blushed with blood or shed tears, announcing its path through space with the groans of the sick, hungry and offended.”

Already in his first stories, Andreev began to develop the theme of fate and fatal circumstances in the fate of man in more detail and depth than his predecessors. In the analyzed “Grand Slam”, this is everything that is associated with the “visible” manifestations of mysterious and mystical fatality in the life-game of the heroes. Sensitive to new trends in literature, V. G. Korolenko wrote in 1904: “Already in some of the young author’s previous stories one can feel a slight sense of mysticism: just remember the excellent story “The Grand Slam”, imbued with deep humor, in which, however, in a random game of card combinations, one seems to feel someone’s mysterious consciousness, mocking and evil.”

This "mysterious consciousness" that controls the "random game of card combinations" is especially emphasized in the story. Andreev thereby wants to say that blind chance reigns in a person’s life, that his fate is controlled by “someone’s mysterious” will, which cannot be ignored, and the logic and illogicality of the manifestation of which cannot be foreseen, understood and explained. Despite the ominous signs of “someone’s mysterious” will, Maslennikov persistently strives to realize his dream. And in this endeavor, he challenges, albeit very timidly, fate, that fatal combination of circumstances that will lead him to death a few moments before this dream becomes a reality. Unlike Tolstoy's Ivan Ilyich, Maslennikov is not even aware of his imminent death. Otherwise, he, like Ivan Ilyich, might have turned to a higher power, to Him, with a protesting question: “Why did you do all this?”

The peculiarity of the story is the lack of plot dynamics. Here everything is focused at one point, reduced to the description of one simplest “action” that is repeated from year to year - a card game, harmless, trifling entertainment, in relation to which everything else turns out to be just

Background. And this “background” is life itself, dully rustling outside the window, distant, alien, and only occasionally bursting in here. The center of the composition is the recording of the environment in which the game takes place, the attitude of its participants, the heroes of the story, to it, as to some kind of serious, absorbing activity, even some kind of solemn ritual: “. The room was filled with the necessary silence for studying... And they began. The tall room, which destroyed the sound with its upholstered furniture and curtains, became completely deaf. The maid moved silently along the fluffy carpet.” .

Here you can hardly hear human speech or conversations: they are distracting! Nikolai Andreevich, who loves to talk about the weather, is known in this company as a “frivolous and incorrigible person.” Everything outside the game is almost unknown to the reader, and this, of course, is a deliberate and consistently emphasized technique by the author. Without saying anything about their service, about their position in society, about their families, with the exception of brief information about the owners of the apartment (a lonely brother and sister, a widower and an old maid), remarks that arise in the same direct connection with the game, motivating the choice of the players’ gathering place.

The artistic time and the ways in which it is introduced into the narrative are unique in the story. The deaf, quiet room depicted here seems impenetrable to time, to disturbances from the outside. But the time of the big world will one day break through here: it will remind the heroes of itself with the Dreyfus affair. The most expressive thing is how it happens. “At one time, Maslennikov greatly worried his partners. Every time he came, he began to say one or two phrases about Dreyfus. Yakov Ivanovich was the first to come to his senses and pointed to the table: “But isn’t it time?” . Talk about Dreyfus

Just a preface to the main event, the screw. And there is no movement, no changes in life characters“Grand Slam” during their long meetings, or changes are not noticed here. The disappearance of one of the players from sight worries them only as the absence of a partner. Nikolai Dmitrievich disappeared: it turned out that his son had been arrested. “Everyone was surprised, because they didn’t know that Maslennikov had a son, maybe he ever talked about it, but everyone forgot about it.”

In all this, of course, there is a considerable amount of ironic convention. The very denouement of the story (the death of one of the characters from joy because of a lucky card that fell to his lot) and the epilogue that follows it (no one knows where the deceased lived), which brings to the point of absurdity the key point of the story - the impermeability of people to each other , fictions of communication. But behind all this there is a deadly authenticity of life. The characters themselves, the individualities, barely outlined here, are revealed, as if they all come to life in the same game, and differ from each other in the manner of playing (one, Yakov Ivanovich, is overly cautious and pedantic; the other, Nikolai Dmitrievich, is hasty, hot, and is prone to risk; the third - Evpraksiya Vasilievna - is indecisive; the fourth - Prokopy Vasilyevich - is skeptical and gloomy).

Everything that is outside the game is closed by the author to the reader, not without reason, and we believe that people like Andreev’s heroes, in fact, can be livelier, more animated, and more interesting than anything else at the card table. This is the terrible irony of the hero’s fate: his life has been reduced, reduced to a minimum, reached the “point”, reduced to one insignificant, mechanical, soulless occupation. In a similar art world the characters, the personalities of the characters are almost indistinguishable, invisible to us, because they are not even open to each other. It is no coincidence that in the depiction of the characters in “Grand Slam” there appears a certain (seemingly strange when depicting a close circle of people) namelessness: “old man”, “Eupraxia Vasilievna’s brother”, etc.

Without investing himself, his soul into anything around him, a person becomes alienated from the world, from common life, from people, even from those with whom he seems to be communicating for many years. This real process, characteristic of a society dominated by capital that divides people, is acutely captured in the images of the Grand Slam. There are quite a lot of prospects for studying the motif of play and fate in Russian literature, as well as the traditions and innovations of L. Andreev in revealing the symbolism of his “small prose”. Of course, the study of this problem is not limited to this article, and therefore this problem will be studied further within the framework of the dissertation research.

Bibliographical messages

1. Andreev L. N. Tales and stories: In 2 volumes - M., 1971. - T. 2.

2. Achatova A.V. The originality of the genre of L. Andreev’s story in the early 1900s. - Tashkent, 1977.

3. Jesuitova L. A. Creativity of L. Andreev. - L., 1976.

4. Moskovkina I. I. Prose by L. Andreev. Genre system, poetics, artistic method. - Kh., 1994.

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M. Gorky considered the “Grand Slam” best story L.N. Andreeva. The work was highly appreciated by L.N. Tolstoy. In a card game, a "grand slam" is a position in which the opponent cannot take high card or trump any of your partner's cards. For six years, three times a week (on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) Nikolai Dmitrievich Maslennikov, Yakov Ivanovich, Prokopiy Vasilyevich and Evpraksiya Vasilievna play screw. Andreev emphasizes that the stakes in the game were insignificant and the winnings were small. However, Evpraxia Vasilievna really valued the money she won and put it separately in her piggy bank.

The behavior of the characters during a card game clearly shows their attitude towards life in general. The elderly Yakov Ivanovich never plays more than four, even if he had good game. He is careful and prudent. “You never know what might happen,” he comments on his habit.

His partner Nikolai Dmitrievich, on the contrary, always takes risks and constantly loses, but does not lose heart and dreams of winning back next time. One day Maslennikov became interested in Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) - an officer of the French general staff who was accused of transferring secret documents to Germany in 1894, and then acquitted. The partners first argue about the Dreyfus case, but soon get carried away by the game and fall silent.

When Prokopiy Vasilievich loses, Nikolai Dmitrievich rejoices, and Yakov Ivanovich advises not to take risks next time. Prokopiy Vasilyevich is afraid of great happiness, since great sorrow follows it.

Evpraksiya Vasilievna is the only woman among the four players. During a big game, she looks pleadingly at her brother, her constant partner. Other partners await her move with chivalrous sympathy and condescending smiles.

The symbolic meaning of the story is that our whole life, in fact, can be presented as card game. It has partners, and there are rivals. “Cards can be combined in infinitely different ways,” writes L.N. Andreev. An analogy immediately arises: life also presents us with endless surprises. The writer emphasizes that people tried to achieve their own in the game, and the cards lived their own lives, which defied either analysis or rules. Some people go with the flow in life, others rush around and try to change their fate. For example, Nikolai Dmitrievich believes in luck and dreams of playing a “grand slam”. When, finally, the long-awaited serious game comes to Nikolai Dmitrievich, he, fearing to miss it, assigns a “grand slam in no trumps” - the most difficult and highest combination in the card hierarchy. The hero takes a certain risk, since for a sure victory he must also receive the ace of spades in the draw. To everyone's surprise and admiration, he reaches for the purchase and suddenly dies of heart paralysis. After his death, it turned out that, by a fateful coincidence, the draw contained the same ace of spades that would have ensured a sure victory in the game.

After the death of the hero, the partners think about how Nikolai Dmitrievich would rejoice at this game played. All people in this life are players. They try to take revenge, win, catch luck by the tail, thereby asserting themselves, count small victories, and think very little about those around them. For many years, people met three times a week, but rarely talked about anything other than the game, did not share problems, and did not even know where their friends lived. And only after the death of one of them, the rest understand how dear they were to each other. Yakov Ivanovich is trying to imagine himself in his partner’s place and feel what Nikolai Dmitrievich must have felt when he played the “grand slam”. It is no coincidence that the hero changes his habits for the first time and begins to play a card game, the results of which his deceased comrade will never see. It is symbolic that the most open person is the first to leave for another world. He told his partners about himself more often than others, and was not indifferent to the problems of others, as evidenced by his interest in the Dreyfus case.

M. Gorky considered “The Grand Slam” the best story by L.N. Andreeva. The work was highly appreciated by L.N. Tolstoy. In a card game, a “grand slam” is a position in which the opponent cannot take any of his partner’s cards with the highest card or trump card. For six years, three times a week (on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) Nikolai Dmitrievich Maslennikov, Yakov Ivanovich, Prokopiy Vasilyevich and Evpraksiya Vasilievna play screw. Andreev emphasizes that the stakes in the game were insignificant and the winnings were small. However, Evpraxia Vasilievna really valued the money she won and put it separately in her piggy bank.

The behavior of the characters during a card game clearly shows their attitude towards life in general. The elderly Yakov Ivanovich never plays more than four, even if he had a good game on his hands. He is careful and prudent. “You never know what might happen,” he comments on his habit.

His partner Nikolai Dmitrievich, on the contrary, always takes risks and constantly loses, but does not lose heart and dreams of winning back next time. One day Maslennikov became interested in Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) - an officer of the French general staff who was accused of transferring secret documents to Germany in 1894, and then acquitted. The partners first argue about the Dreyfus case, but soon get carried away by the game and fall silent.

When Prokopiy Vasilievich loses, Nikolai Dmitrievich rejoices, and Yakov Ivanovich advises not to take risks next time. Prokopiy Vasilyevich is afraid of great happiness, since great sorrow follows it.

Evpraksiya Vasilievna is the only woman among the four players. During a big game, she looks pleadingly at her brother, her constant partner. Other partners await her move with chivalrous sympathy and condescending smiles.

The symbolic meaning of the story is that our whole life, in fact, can be represented as a card game. It has partners, and there are rivals. “Cards can be combined in infinitely different ways,” writes L.N. Andreev. An analogy immediately arises: life also presents us with endless surprises. The writer emphasizes that people tried to achieve their own in the game, and the cards lived their own lives, which defied either analysis or rules. Some people go with the flow in life, others rush around and try to change their fate. For example, Nikolai Dmitrievich believes in luck and dreams of playing a “grand slam”. When, finally, the long-awaited serious game comes to Nikolai Dmitrievich, he, fearing to miss it, assigns a “grand slam in no trumps” - the most difficult and highest combination in the card hierarchy. The hero takes a certain risk, since for a sure victory he must also receive the ace of spades in the draw. To everyone's surprise and admiration, he reaches for the purchase and suddenly dies of heart paralysis. After his death, it turned out that, by a fateful coincidence, the draw contained the same ace of spades that would have ensured a sure victory in the game.

After the death of the hero, the partners think about how Nikolai Dmitrievich would rejoice at this game played. All people in this life are players. They try to take revenge, win, catch luck by the tail, thereby asserting themselves, count small victories, and think very little about those around them. For many years, people met three times a week, but rarely talked about anything other than the game, did not share problems, and did not even know where their friends lived. And only after the death of one of them, the rest understand how dear they were to each other. Yakov Ivanovich is trying to imagine himself in his partner’s place and feel what Nikolai Dmitrievich must have felt when he played the “grand slam”. It is no coincidence that the hero changes his habits for the first time and begins to play a card game, the results of which his deceased comrade will never see. It is symbolic that the most open person is the first to leave for another world. He told his partners about himself more often than others, and was not indifferent to the problems of others, as evidenced by his interest in the Dreyfus case.

The story has philosophical depth and subtlety of psychological analysis. Its plot is both original and characteristic of the works of the era “ silver age" At this time, the theme of the catastrophic nature of existence, the ominous fate hanging over human destiny, receives special significance. It is no coincidence that the motive of sudden death brings together the story of L.N. Andreev “Grand Slam” with the work of I.A. Bunin's "Mr. from San Francisco", in which the hero also dies at the very moment when he finally had to enjoy what he had dreamed of all his life.

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M. Gorky considered “The Grand Slam” the best story by L.N. Andreeva. The work was highly appreciated by L.N. Tolstoy. In a card game, a “grand slam” is a position in which the opponent cannot take any of his partner’s cards with the highest card or trump card. For six years, three times a week (on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) Nikolai Dmitrievich Maslennikov, Yakov Ivanovich, Prokopiy Vasilyevich and Evpraksiya Vasilievna play screw. Andreev emphasizes that the stakes in the game were insignificant and the winnings were small. However, Evpraxia Vasilievna really valued the money she won and put it separately in her piggy bank.

The behavior of the characters during a card game clearly shows their attitude towards life in general. The elderly Yakov Ivanovich never plays more than four, even if he had a good game on his hands. He is careful and prudent. “You never know what might happen,” he comments on his habit.

His partner Nikolai Dmitrievich, on the contrary, always takes risks and constantly loses, but does not lose heart and dreams of winning back next time. One day Maslennikov became interested in Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) - an officer of the French general staff who was accused of transferring secret documents to Germany in 1894, and then acquitted. The partners first argue about the Dreyfus case, but soon get carried away by the game and fall silent.

When Prokopiy Vasilievich loses, Nikolai Dmitrievich rejoices, and Yakov Ivanovich advises not to take risks next time. Prokopiy Vasilyevich is afraid of great happiness, since great sorrow follows it.

Evpraksiya Vasilievna is the only woman among the four players. During a big game, she looks pleadingly at her brother, her constant partner. Other partners await her move with chivalrous sympathy and condescending smiles.

The symbolic meaning of the story is that our whole life, in fact, can be represented as a card game. It has partners, and there are rivals. “Cards can be combined in infinitely different ways,” writes L.N. Andreev. An analogy immediately arises: life also presents us with endless surprises. The writer emphasizes that people tried to achieve their own in the game, and the cards lived their own lives, which defied either analysis or rules. Some people go with the flow in life, others rush around and try to change their fate. For example, Nikolai Dmitrievich believes in luck and dreams of playing a “grand slam”. When, finally, the long-awaited serious game comes to Nikolai Dmitrievich, he, fearing to miss it, assigns a “grand slam in no trumps” - the most difficult and highest combination in the card hierarchy. The hero takes a certain risk, since for a sure victory he must also receive the ace of spades in the draw. To everyone's surprise and admiration, he reaches for the purchase and suddenly dies of heart paralysis. After his death, it turned out that, by a fateful coincidence, the draw contained the same ace of spades that would have ensured a sure victory in the game.

After the death of the hero, the partners think about how Nikolai Dmitrievich would rejoice at this game played. All people in this life are players. They try to take revenge, win, catch luck by the tail, thereby asserting themselves, count small victories, and think very little about those around them. For many years, people met three times a week, but rarely talked about anything other than the game, did not share problems, and did not even know where their friends lived. And only after the death of one of them, the rest understand how dear they were to each other. Yakov Ivanovich is trying to imagine himself in his partner’s place and feel what Nikolai Dmitrievich must have felt when he played the “grand slam”. It is no coincidence that the hero changes his habits for the first time and begins to play a card game, the results of which his deceased comrade will never see. It is symbolic that the most open person is the first to leave for another world. He told his partners about himself more often than others, and was not indifferent to the problems of others, as evidenced by his interest in the Dreyfus case.

The story has philosophical depth and subtlety of psychological analysis. Its plot is both original and characteristic of works of the “Silver Age” era. At this time, the theme of the catastrophic nature of existence, the ominous fate hanging over human destiny, receives special significance. It is no coincidence that the motive of sudden death brings together the story of L.N. Andreev “Grand Slam” with the work of I.A. Bunin's "Mr. from San Francisco", in which the hero also dies at the very moment when he finally had to enjoy what he had dreamed of all his life.