The noble nest is short. "Noble nest": history of creation, genre, meaning of the name
"NOBLE NEST" (S. A. Malakhov)
On title page of the manuscript of the novel "The Noble Nest", stored in Paris, the hand of Turgenev made an entry, according to which the novel was conceived at the beginning of 1856, began to be written in the summer of 1858 and finished on October 27, 1858 in Spassky.
This record testifies that the idea of the novel, which arose after the end of Rudin (in July 1855), was formed by the novelist over the next two years, but was creatively carried out by the writer, as well as the idea of Rudin, during the whole only a few months.
The hero of The Noble Nest has autobiographical features. But he is not a self-portrait of a novelist. Turgenev introduced into the biography of Lavretsky the features of many of his contemporaries. It is known what a fatal role the "Spartan" upbringing, which his father gave him, played in the subsequent fate of Fyodor Lavretsky and how little Ivan Petrovich himself observed the "Spartan" way of life. In the midst of work on his second novel, Turgenev, in a letter dated July 7 (June 25), 1858, tells Pauline Viardot about the upbringing that Leo Tolstoy's son-in-law gave his children: “He applied a system of harsh treatment to them; he took pleasure in educating them in a Spartan way, himself leading a completely opposite way of life ”(Letters, III, 418).
The Czech literary critic G. Doks in his article "Ogarev and Turgenev (Ogarev as a prototype of Lavretsky)" provides convincing evidence in favor of the fact that the prototypes of Fyodor Lavretsky, Varvara Pavlovna and Lisa were largely based on N.P. Ogarev and people close to him. Turgenev in "Noble Nest", as well as in "Rudin", created such characters and types, none of which can be completely reduced to any real person from among the writer's contemporaries, but which have features of many of his faces. time.
Historical contemporaneity in the novel "Noble Nest" is comprehended in connection with the earlier stages of Russian life that prepared it. The once well-born noble family of the Pestovs (“three Pestovs appear in the synodikon of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible”; II, 196) by the 40s of the XIX century, when the action of the “Noble Nest” begins, almost completely ruined, retaining only the marginal estate Pokrovskoye, which forced the owner to "move to St. Petersburg for the service" (141). The novel does not say directly what state Kalitin possessed before marrying Marya Dmitrievna and how he made up during his lifetime "a very good ... acquired" state by him (142), which went to his widow. But from the biography of Liza, set forth by the novelist in Chapter XXXV, we learn that Kalitin "compared himself to a horse harnessed to a threshing machine" (252). It is unlikely, therefore, that Kalitin belonged to a wealthy noble family, if the fortune left by him was "acquired" at such a price.
Fyodor Lavretsky's eighty-year-old butler, Anton, epically unhurriedly tells the master about his ancestors: “And he lived, your blessed great-grandfather in memory, in a small wooden mansion; and what good he left behind, what silver, all sorts of supplies, all the cellars were packed full ... But your grandfather, Pyotr Andreevich, set up stone chambers for himself, but he didn’t make any good; everything went to waste with them; and they lived worse than papa's, and did not produce any pleasures for themselves, - but decided everything, and there is nothing to remember him, there was no silver spoon left of them, and then, thank you, Glafira Petrovna was pleased ”(206–207).
Having sketched a broad picture of contemporary local life, touching on its past and present, Turgenev captured in the novel many features from the life of a serf village. With deep artistic expression the author of The Noble Nest told about the fate of two serfs. Seduced by the young son of her landowner, the mother of Fyodor Lavretsky, thanks to the clash of two vanities, becomes the legal wife of her seducer, who married her in order to "take revenge on his father." The fate of this "raw-hammered noblewoman" (171), as Lavretsky's father ironically calls his unlucky daughter-in-law, is tragic. She meekly endures separation from her husband living abroad, meekly endures the "involuntary neglect" (172) of her father-in-law, who fell in love with her, and the deliberate reproaches from her husband's aunt, Glafira Petrovna. But when her son is taken away from her in order to entrust his upbringing to Glafira, the unfortunate mother, despite all her raised as a serf way of life obedience, cannot bear the blow, dies as "unrequited" as she lived. In terms of the strength of the anti-serfdom protest, with which the image of the "unrequited" Malanya Sergeevna is saturated, the op is not inferior to many characters in the "Notes of a Hunter".
In a different, but no less dramatically expressive way, the fate of another serf girl, Agafya Vlasyevna, was mentioned in the novel by the author of The Noble Nest, telling the reader about Liza's biography. After sixteen years of marriage and soon becoming a widow, she becomes the beloved of her landowner; given by the lady after his death as a cattleman, drunkard and thief, she falls into disgrace through the fault of her husband and becomes, as a result of all the ordeals she endured, “very silent and silent” (254). The story of these two women's lives, mutilated and ruined by the masters, embodies in the novel the martyrdom of the Russian serf slave.
Other episodic peasant figures in the novel are also expressive. Such is the "lean peasant" who, having handed over a lordly order to Malanya Sergeevna, kisses his former godmother, like a "new lady", a hand in order to "run home" at once, having covered a ruble sixty versts on foot in one day (169). Fluently but vividly outlined by Turgenev is the eighty-year-old courtyard Anton, telling Fyodor Lavretsky with trepidation about his domineering great-grandfather and listening with delight to his mistress Kalitina at the table, just as he would not be able, in his opinion, to serve some "hired valet" (220).
The image of a man who has lost his son rises to a large, symbolic generalization. Characteristic is the deep inner restraint of his grief, and that instinctive gesture of self-defense with which the peasant "fearfully and sternly" recoils from the master who has pityed him, apparently not trusting either the lordly sincerity or the lordly compassion for the peasant (294).
The events described in the "Noble Nest" are dated by the author, as in "Rudin", to the 30-40s (Lavretsky, born on August 20, 1807, married Varvara Pavlovna in 1833 and separated from his wife, after her betrayal , in 1836, and the hero's romance with Liza is played out in May - June 1842; even in the epilogue of The Noble Nest, the action takes place only two years later than in the epilogue of Rudin: Rudin dies on the barricade in 1848, and Lavretsky appears in last time on the pages of a book in 1850). However, Turgenev wrote his second novel in the late 1950s, on the eve of the peasant reform. The pre-reform socio-economic and political situation put its stamp on the entire content of the "Noble Nest", determined historical meaning novel for contemporary Russian public life.
With his novel, Turgenev tried to answer the question of what a modern educated Russian person should do. According to Mikhalevich, “everyone should know this himself” (218). The main personalities of the novel, each in their own way, solve this painful and difficult question for them. Mikhalevich, having parted with Lavretsky, answers him like this: “Remember my last three words,” he shouted, leaning his body out of the tarantass and standing on the balance sheet, “religion, progress, humanity !. Goodbye!" (220).
Inspirational servant of "progress and humanity", orator, idealist and romantic Mikhalevich, like Rudin, cannot find the application of his abilities to real practical work; he is just as poor, a loser and an eternal wanderer as Rudin. Mikhalevich even outwardly resembles an immortal "knight of a sad image" with whom Rudin compared himself: air, as if scattering the seeds of future prosperity ”(220). Mikhalevich, like Rudin, devoted his life to the struggle for personal well-being, but to the joy of "the fate of mankind." But the objective fault of both lies, according to Turgenev, in the fact that there is practically nothing they can do to help bring about the "future welfare" of the human masses.
Varvara Pavlovna is a naive, outspoken selfish woman who has no moral ideals. And Turgenev condemns her just as unconditionally as he condemned in the novel the epicurean egoism of Gedeonovsky and Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina. Panshin, in words, cares a lot "about the future of Russia", in fact, he thinks only about his own bureaucratic career, not doubting that "in time he will become a minister" (150). His entire liberal program is limited to a stereotyped phrase: “Russia ... has lagged behind Europe; we need to adjust it ... we must inevitably borrow from others. " Panshin, as befits a convinced official, considers the implementation of such a program to be purely administrative: “... this is our business, the business of the people ... (he almost said: civil servants)” (214, 215).
The relationship of Liza Kalitina, the heroine of The Noble Nest, with her parents, in many respects repeats Natalia's biography: “She is past her tenth year when her father died; but he did little to study her ... Marya Dmitrievna, in fact, was not much more concerned with Liza than her husband ... She was afraid of her father; her feeling for her mother was vague - she was not afraid of her and not. caressed her ... ”(252, 255). Liza's attitude towards her governess, "the girl of Moreau from Paris," is reminiscent of Natalia's attitude towards m? Ile Boncourt ("She had little influence on Lisa"; 252, 253). Liza, like the other two heroines of Turgenev's novels of the 1950s, is distinguished first of all by the independence of her inner spiritual life. “She didn't think often, but almost always for good reason; after a pause for a while, she usually ended up asking someone older with a question showing that her head was working on a new impression ”(254).
However, unlike Natalya, Liza found in her serf nanny Agafya Vlasyevna a person who had the influence on her that determined her later life destiny, those features of her character and beliefs that made her so sharply different from other Turgenev heroines. The extraordinary beauty of Agafya Vlasyevna twice raised her high from the living conditions usual for other serf women. At first, for five years she was the "lordly mistress" of her landowner Dmitry Pestov, then, three years after his death, for five years she was the favorite of his widow. At this time, she led a "blissful life": "... except for silk and velvet, she did not want to wear anything, she slept * on feather beds." And twice such a life was cut short by an unexpected and terrible catastrophe for Agafya Vlasyevna. The first time the lady "passed her off as a cattleman and banished her out of sight"; second time. she was “demoted from housekeeper to seamstress and ordered to wear a scarf on her head instead of a cap,” which was, of course, terribly humiliating for the previously all-powerful lordly mistress. Seeing in these two catastrophes of her life "the finger of God" that punished her for pride, "to the surprise of everyone, Agafya with humble humility took the blow that struck her" (253, 254).
Under the influence of Agafya Vlasyevna and Liza, she became a convinced supporter of the ideas of Christian humility. Therefore, in her first intimate conversation with Lavretsky, Liza tries to reconcile Fedor with his wife, for. "How can you separate what God has united?" (212). Liza's religious fatalism is especially expressive when, in a conversation with Lavretsky, she says: “It seems to me, Fyodor Ivanovich, ... happiness on earth does not depend on us” (235).
However, after the news of the imaginary death of Varvara Pavlovna, when nothing stood between her and Lavretsky anymore, Liza, in the struggle for her "love, shows such strength of character that she will not yield to either Natalia Lasunskaya or Elena Stakhova:" ... she knew that she loved - and fell in love honestly, not jokingly, became attached tightly, for life - and was not afraid of threats; she felt that she could not forcibly break this bond ”(267).
With tremendous strength and great psychological truth, Turgenev reveals the dramatic clash of religious duty and natural human feelings in the soul of her heroine. Liza comes out of the fight with herself mortally wounded, but does not betray her inherent beliefs about moral duty. She does everything to reconcile Lavretsky with his unexpectedly "resurrected" wife.
The image of Lisa in many ways resembles the image of Pushkin's Tatyana. This is the most charming and at the same time the most tragic of Turgenev's female images. Like Pushkin's Tatyana, Liza in intelligence and moral aspirations is significantly higher not only her mother, but also the entire environment around her. However, the absence in this environment of other spiritual interests that could satisfy her contributed to the fact that inner life Liza acquired an ascetic, religious coloring from an early age. Finding no other way out for her aspirations, Lisa put all her extraordinary spiritual energy into her religious and moral searches. Deep seriousness and concentration, exactingness towards oneself and others, fanatical devotion to duty that distinguish Liza, anticipate the features of the heroine of Turgenev's poem in prose "The Threshold", the real features of the psychological makeup of many advanced Russian women of the 60s and 80s. But, unlike the later Turgenev heroines, Liza in her understanding of duty turns out to be tragically constrained by obsolescent religious ideas hostile to the needs and happiness of a living person. Hence her deep tragedy in life: conquering her passion, sacrificing herself for the sake of her high understanding of duty, Liza at the same time cannot give up the impulses of her heart without deep pain. Like Lavretsky, she remains tragically broken in the epilogue of the novel. Liza's departure to a monastery cannot give her happiness, monastic life remains the last, most tragic page in the life of this Turgenev heroine, as if standing at the crossroads of two eras in the history of the intellectual and moral life of an advanced Russian woman of the 19th century.
Liza's tragic guilt lies in the fact that, unlike Elena, she serves not the cause of liberation and happiness of people, but the “salvation” of her own Christian “soul”. Turgenev justifies his heroine by the objective conditions of her religious upbringing, but does not remove from her the “guilt” which she atones for in the novel only at the cost of her ruined life. The conflict between a person's desire to achieve his personal happiness and his moral duty in relation to his people, Turgenev, laid the foundation of the tragedy and his protagonist. "Neither pava, nor crow" is a landowner in terms of his social status, a "real man", as Glafira Petrovna and Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina put it (177, 194 =), - Lavretsky, having entered a life in which he did not know, with character , which the circumstances raised in him, inevitably had to become a tragic victim of the latter.
None of Turgenev's novels evoked such a unanimous and generally positive assessment on the part of progressive Russian writers and progressive critical thought, which caused the Noble Nest after publication in Sovremennik (1859).
N.A. the kind of idle types we look at with a grin. The drama of his position is no longer in the struggle with his own powerlessness, but in the collision with such concepts and morals, with which the struggle should really frighten even an energetic and courageous person. "
Lavretsky's "great sufferings" did not break him, did not make him an embittered pessimist or a bilious cynic like Pigasov. Turgenev showed this in the epilogue of the novel, conveying the thoughts of the hero, after his last meeting with the young generation of the Kalitins and their young friends. “Play, have fun, grow up, young forces,” he thought, and there was no bitterness in his thoughts, “life is ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you don’t have to find your way, like us, to fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we fussed about how to survive - and how many of us did not survive! - and you need to do business, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you ”(306).
Slowed down thanks to numerous inserted episodes and digressions, more epically unhurried than in Rudin, the course of the narrative of The Noble's Nest is in harmony with the characters of the characters and the circumstances in which they are placed.
The off-plot elements in The Noble Nest are more complex and diverse than in Rudin. Chapter I of the novel contains a biography of Kalitin and the history of three representatives noble family Pestovs, Chapter IV - Panshin's biography, Chapter U - Lemma. As many as nine chapters (VIII? XVI) are devoted to the history of the Lavretsky family and the story of the unsuccessful marriage of its last representative; Chapter XXXV reports the biographies of Agafya Vlasyevna and Liza. Such a compositional construction helped the author to reproduce the socio-historical situation more broadly than in "Rudin", to give more concrete images of the main characters of the novel.
For all the structural differences between the first two novels by Turgenev, they have much in common. And in "Rudin", and in the "Noble nest" tragic fate the protagonist is determined not so much as a result of clashes with his ideological opponents - antipodes (Pigasov, Panshin), but as a result of the outcome of his relationship with the heroine. The most social value of both heroes is believed by the author, first of all, by their behavior in front of the woman he loves.
The characteristic features of the secondary characters are that they are not subject to development, but remain invariably true to themselves throughout the novel.
The sentimental character of a wealthy Russian provincial noblewoman is already revealed in the first scene of The Noble Nest Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina in a conversation with Martha Timofeevna:
“- What are you talking about? she suddenly asked Marya Dmitrievna. - What are you sighing for, my mother?
“- So, - she said, - what wonderful clouds!
"- So you feel sorry for them, or what?" (143).
And Marya Dmitrievna maintains this character of hers throughout the novel. Favorable to Gedeonovsky for his vulgar compliments, and to Panshin for his “secular” courtesy, Marya Dmitrievna contemptuously speaks of Lavretsky: “What a seal, man! Well, now I understand why his wife could not remain faithful to him ”(194). But when the same Lavretsky, seeking the Kalitins to come to Vasilievskoye, "kissed both her hands," Marya Dmitrievna, "sensitive to affection" and "not at all expecting such a courtesy from the" seal ", was moved by her soul and agreed" (213). Helping Varvara Pavlovna to arrange her reconciliation with her husband, Marya Dmitrievna almost ruined things, trying at all costs melodramatically - a sentimental scene of the forgiveness of the "repentant sinner", and remained dissatisfied with Lavretsky's "insensitivity".
The compositional grouping of supporting characters in the "Noble Nest", as in "Rudin", is subordinated, by the author, to the function of multilateral disclosure of the character of the protagonist. It is noteworthy that Lavretsky's ill-wishers are the lady Kalitina, the priest Gedeonovsky, the careerist Panshin, the official, and the poor Mikhalevich, the loser Lemm, the simple courtyard people Anton and Apraksey as friends or well-wishers. It is no coincidence that Lavretsky himself realizes the insignificance of his personal sufferings as a result of comparing them with the grief of a peasant who has lost his son, with the difficult fate of his mother, a peasant serf. DI Pisarev subtly noticed the connection between the Turgenev hero and the people, noting in his review of The Noble Nest: “On the personality of Lavretsky there is a clearly marked stamp of nationality”.
The deep stream of the spiritual life of Turgenev's heroes, inexhaustible in all its inner wealth, as in Rudin, receives a diverse external expression in the characteristic external details that are extremely economically and subtly chosen by the author.
Lisa's tears tell the reader about the state of her soul in the same understandable language as Natalia's tears. And at the same time, their tears reveal the difference in the character of these two Turgenev heroines. Natalya cries only at the moment of maturation of her love for Rudin, which she has not yet realized. When, in response to his confession, she says with firm determination to her chosen one: "Know that ... I will be yours" (82), her eyes are dry. And Liza responds to Lavretsky's confession with tears: having heard her “quiet sobs,” he “understood what those tears meant” (249–250).
They tell the reader no less clearly about the state of Turgenev's heroine and Liza's hand. After the deadly dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin, Lavretsky confesses his love to Lisa. “She wanted to get up,” writes Turgenev, “she could not and covered her face with her hands ... Her shoulders began to tremble slightly, and the fingers of her pale hands pressed closer to her face” (249). Later, meeting with Lavretsky, who had come to say goodbye to her forever, "Liza leaned against the back of the chair and quietly raised her hands to her face ...". “No,” she said and pulled back her already outstretched hand, “no, Lavretsky (she called him that for the first time), I won't give you my hand” (287). For the last time in the novel, Liza's hands appear in the epilogue when Lavretsky meets her in the monastery, and she, passing by him, “did not look at him; only the eyelashes of the eye turned to him trembled slightly, only she tilted her emaciated face even lower - and the fingers of her clenched hands, entwined with rosary beads, pressed closer to each other ”(307).
Lavretsky's novel with Liza opens with the landscape of a "spring, bright day" (141). In this landscape, there is also a "light", in Pushkin's way, sorrow "- the result of Lavretsky's past disappointments - and one can already hear the overture to his second unhappy love. On the way to Vasilievskoe, the nightingale song returns Lavretsky's thoughts to Liza; Lisa's purity evokes in the hero an association with pure stars that light up in the sky above his head. Fyodor's new meeting with Liza, who has arrived from the city to Vasilievskoye, takes place against the background of still water and the "reddish ... reeds" quietly standing around, when nature itself, having fallen silent, seems to listen to the "quiet" conversation of the heroes (222). The night landscape in the scene of Lavretsky's return after Liza's farewell is saturated with a growing major sound of pleasure and joy, foreshadowing the radiant birth of love (226), which will find its apotheosis under the "mighty, audaciously ringing song of the nightingale" (246).
Turgenev contrasts in "Noble Gcezda" not only the spontaneous gravitation towards the people, the moral purity of Lavretsky and Liza - the immorality of Panshin and Varvara Pavlovna, but also the pure aesthetic taste of Liza ("She can love one beautiful thing"; 211) and Fyodor ("he ... passionately he loved music, efficient, classical music "; 207) - chansonnet and poldecko aesthetics, their antipodes.
Against the background of the salon music of Panshin and Varvara Pavlovna, a painful denouement of their ruined love takes place for the heroes, and the night melody Lemma remains forever in Lavretsky's soul, the hero of the novel recalls it with feeling in the epilogue, again visiting the walls of the Kalitinsky house.
Poems, music, nature not only help the novelist in characterizing the characters, but also play an important role in the very development of the plot. Words for the romance he conceived, dedicated to Lisa, which Lemme is trying to improvise: "... you stars, oh you pure stars!" - evoke in Lavretsky's mind the image of this "pure girl" (209, 210). Lavretsky will soon repeat the poems read during a hot night conversation with Mikhalevich, associating their meaning with his disappointment in love for Varvara Pavlovna and with the birth of a new feeling for Liza (215, 226):
And I burned everything I worshiped
Bowed down to everything that he burned.
The atmosphere of "light poetry, diffused in every sound of this novel" is generated not only by the landscape, music and poetry, but also by lyrical digressions and the author's remarks of the novelist, organically connected either with the characters' characters, or with the development of the plot, or with the general idea of the work.
The agitated lyricism of Turgenev's rhythmic prose acquires its musical sound thanks to the poetic organization of the syntactic structure. Thus, Turgenev used the technique of poetic repetition where the novelist paints a landscape against which Liza and Lavretsky catch fish in his pond: “Tall reddish reeds rustled quietly around them, motionless water was quietly shining ahead, and their conversation was quiet” (222 ). The musical sound and rhythmic structure of phrases are often emphasized by the interrogative or exclamatory intonation of the author's speech ("What did they think, what did both of them feel? Who will know? Who will say? There are such moments in life, such feelings"; 307), syntactic parallelisms, anaphores, etc. ...
The syntax of Turgenev's prose is especially delicately organized in the scene when, after a painful meeting for the heroine with Varvara Pavlovna, Marfa Timofeevna, taking Lisa to her room, expresses a feeling of silent compassion for the heavy grief of her beloved niece. This scene is put by the author within the framework of a large, complex sentence, rhythmically developing in the sequence of a single syntactic movement: "Liza ... burst into tears"; “Marfa Timofeevna could not kiss these… hands”; "Tears flowed"; "The cat Sailor purred"; "The flame of the lamp ... was stirring"; "Nastasya Karpovna ... wiped her eyes" (274). Many of the simple sentences that make up this difficult period are linked by elements of syntactic parallelism: “Liza leaned forward, blushed, and burst into tears”; "The flame of the lamp moved and moved slightly"; "Nastasya Karpovna stood and ... wiped her eyes" (274). The system of sound repetitions enhances the rhythmic character of Turgenev's prose (“I could not kiss those poor, pale, powerless hands - and silent tears poured from her eyes and Liza's eyes”; 274).
Turgenev in the novels of the 50s of sorrow parted with the past. The novelist sadly saw off the idealism of the progressive people of the 1930s – 1940s and the romance of Russian “noble nests” to the grave. This determined the tragic pathos, the lyrical atmosphere of Turgenev's first novels. But Rudin leaves the stage, impregnating the young shoots of a new life with his educational propaganda, and Lavretsky - welcoming with deep faith the bright future of Russia, its "young, unfamiliar tribe." And this gives the drama of the first Turgenev novels, despite all their tragedy, optimistic sound.
With death and suffering, the heroes of Turgenev atone for their tragic guilt before the people, whom both Rudin and Lavretsky wanted, but did not know how to serve. And their personal suffering pales against the background of the immense suffering that a serf or a peasant woman endures. No matter how little space they take peasant images in Turgenev's novels, their presence lends a particularly acute social resonance to these novels. Turgenev's heroes are unhappy, but they rise above their personal grief, talking about themselves, as Lavretsky does: “Look around, who is blissful around you, who is enjoying? There is a man going mowing; maybe he is content with his lot ”(281).
"Noble nest" The next novel about the "Nikolaev" era "Noble nest" is devoted to the time when the Westernizing picture of the world in the minds of a fairly large part of the Russian intelligentsia, and Turgenev is no exception, began, if not ousted, then in some
From the book History of the Russian Novel. Volume 2 the authorCHAPTER V. LAST NOVELS OF TURGENEV AND GONCHAROV (S. A. Malakhov, N. I.
From the book History of the Russian Novel. Volume 1 the author Philology The team of authors -"RUDIN" (G. M Friedlander - § 1; SA Malakhov - §§ 2-5) 1 Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol were the founders of the Russian realistic novel of the 19th century. Their artistic discoveries created the necessary prerequisites for creative development later novelists. In the same time
From the book On literary trails the author Shmakov Alexander Andreevich From the book Essays on the History of English Poetry. Renaissance poets. [Volume 1] the author Kruzhkov Grigory Mikhailovich From the author's book"English Petrarch", or Phoenix's Nest (About Philip
In the provincial town O ... lives a wealthy fifty-year-old widow Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina. Together with her live her aunt Marfa Timofeevna, as well as two daughters - Elena and Elizabeth. The son is being brought up in St. Petersburg. On a spring evening in 1842, Marya Dmitrievna and Marfa Timofeevna are sitting at an open window. The servant announces the arrival of Gedeonovsky, who was friends with her late husband Kalitina.
Gedeonovsky says that a relative of Kalitina, Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, has arrived in the city. The young man lived abroad for a long time. Eleven-year-old Lena Kalitina runs into the living room from the garden and announces with delight that Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin is riding a new horse to them.
Immediately, a handsome young rider on a hot horse appears in front of the window. Panshin brags about his purchase and deftly pacifies the stallion so that Lena can stroke him. Then he drives up to the porch and already appears in the living room. At the same time, a beautiful black-haired girl, Liza, Kalitina's eldest daughter, enters from the garden.
Panshin is a favorite of the governor and the whole society, a brilliant St. Petersburg official, temporarily performing an assignment in the provinces. He has long become his own in the house of Kalitina. Nikolai has composed a romance and invites you to listen to it. During the performance, an old German, music teacher Lemm, enters the living room. He came to give Lena a lesson.
Lemm was born into a family of poor musicians and became an orphan at the age of ten. He wandered around the world a lot, wrote music, but did not become famous. Fleeing poverty, Lemm accepted the offer of a Russian master to lead the orchestra. So he ended up in Russia, where he settled for many years. Recent times Lemm lives with an old cook in a tiny house and moonlights with music lessons.
Panshin and Liza sat down to learn Beethoven's sonata, but Nicholas did not do well. He starts painting the landscape. Lemme comes out, having finished the lesson. The German refuses to stay for tea, and Lisa goes out to see him off. At the gate, she meets a tall, broad-shouldered stranger.
The new guest turns out to be Fyodor Lavretsky. Lisa leads the man into the house, where he is happily greeted by Marya Dmitrievna and Marfa Timofeevna. Fedor talks about his desire to live in the small village of Vasilievskoye, where he is going to go tomorrow morning. Late in the evening, Panshin tries to explain to Lisa, tells her about his feelings.
The story of the birth of Fyodor Lavretsky is noteworthy. His father Ivan was brought up in the wealthy house of Princess Kubenskaya and was considered her heir. But unexpectedly, the old woman married a French teacher and transferred the entire fortune to her husband. Ivan was forced to return home to the village, where he fell in love with the courtyard girl Malanya. In spite of his father, he married his beloved and went to live with his aunt - Marfa Timofeevna. The princess helped him secure a diplomatic post. Ivan learned about the birth of his son Fyodor in London.
Ivan's mother soon fell ill and fell ill. Before her death, she wanted to see her grandson and daughter-in-law. The husband did not dare to contradict, and Malanya again crossed the threshold of the house, but not as a servant, but as a lady. The sight of his one-year-old grandson touched the old man. He allowed Malanya and the child to stay. For the sake of his grandson, Ivan was also forgiven, who returned from abroad after the death of his father. Malanya had also died by that time, and Fyodor was already twelve years old.
Ivan's return home changed little on the estate. He drove out the army of freeloaders, changed the furniture and liveries of the lackeys. Other guests began to visit the house. But otherwise, nothing has changed: the master did not take care of the household, the house was still managed by his older sister Glafira, a hunchbacked old maid.
But Ivan took up raising his son. The child was woken up at four in the morning, doused cold water and forced to run. The boy ate once a day and only one dish, rode a horse, fired a crossbow and practiced gymnastics. Fedor studied international law, natural Sciences, math and carpentry. His father called his method "Spartan education." He died when Fedor was twenty-three years old.
The knowledge that Fyodor received at home seemed haphazard and insufficient to him. Therefore, Lavretsky went to Moscow and entered the university there. Fedor grew up an introverted person, almost did not communicate with his peers, but at the university he became friends with one student by the name of Mikhalevich. He introduced Lavretsky to Varvara Korobyina, the daughter of a retired general.
The general did not have significant funds, therefore, after his resignation, he was forced to settle not in the capital, but in a cheaper Moscow. Varvara graduated from the Institute of Noble Maidens as the best student, played the piano perfectly and adored the theater, where Fedor saw her for the first time.
For six months, Lavretsky, in love, went to the general's house, and then made an offer to Varvara. The girl accepted him. The Korobyins knew very well that Fyodor had two thousand serf souls, and considered him a good party for his daughter.
At the insistence of his wife's relatives, Lavretsky left the university and returned to the estate. Soon Varvara very deftly survived Glafira, whose place was taken by the general. The young people left for Petersburg, where Varvara began to shine in the light. After the death of their newborn son, the couple went abroad. There Fedor again plunged into self-education, and his wife continued to shine.
Accidentally entering his wife's office, Lavretsky found on the floor a note from her lover. From that moment on, he no longer wanted to see his wife. Fyodor assigned her a small annual allowance and ordered that the general be removed from the management of the estate. Lavretsky indifferently took the news of the birth of his daughter. Four years later, he fully recovered from the blow and returned to Russia.
Lavretsky goes to the Kalitins to say goodbye before leaving. On the porch, he meets Lisa, who is about to go to church, and asks the girl to pray for him. Then Fyodor says goodbye to Marya Dmitrievna and his aunt. Kalitina hopes for Liza's early marriage with the brilliant Panshin. Marfa Timofeevna, on the other hand, is very unhappy with Nikolai.
Fedor arrives at Vasilievskoye. Desolation reigns in the yard and in the house. Only one gray-haired footman comes out to meet him. Almost everything has remained unchanged here since the death of Glafira's aunt.
Lavretsky feels uncomfortable in a small and old, but still solid house. The garden is completely abandoned. The servants are perplexed why the master decided to settle here, if he has a rich estate in Lavrika. But Fedor cannot live where everything reminds of his wife.
Lavretsky plunges into sleepy vegetation. All day he sits motionless by the window and looks with detachment at the slow flow of village life. The pain gradually leaves his soul.
Fyodor begins to put Vasilievskoye in order. He lives as a hermit, is fond of the history of his native land, old traditions... Three weeks after his return, Lavretsky visits the Kalitins and meets Lemm. He really likes the old man, and Fyodor invites the German to stay in Vasilievsky.
On the way to the village, Lavretsky and Lemm talk about music. Fyodor invites the old man to compose an opera. But Lemme claims that he is too old for this, he can only master the romance. True, a romance needs good poetry, something about pure stars. These words remind Fedor of Liza, he thinks about the girl for a long time.
Lemme gets a job in Vasilievsky. At tea, Lavretsky discusses with him the upcoming marriage of Liza and Panshin. The old German is angry. He believes that Panshin is not a couple for such an honest, innocent and talented girl. Fedor proposes to invite Lisa with her mother and aunt to Vasilievskoye. Lemm demands that Panshin not come with them.
Lavretsky goes to the city to invite the ladies to visit. In the living room he finds Lisa and starts a sincere conversation with her. The girl wonders why Fedor left his wife? Lisa believes that you need to be able to forgive even betrayal. Fyodor tries to explain to her that Barbara is a fallen woman and is not worthy of her intercession. Here Marya Dmitrievna enters, and Lavretsky is forced to cut off the conversation. Everyone except my aunt agrees to go to the village.
Fyodor returns home, where Mikhalevich is waiting for him. An old friend learned that Lavretsky had come from abroad and decided to visit a friend. Fedor communicates with the guest until the third roosters. The next day Mikhalevich leaves.
Two days later, the Kalitins arrive in the village. Lemm composed the romance unsuccessfully and was very upset about it. After lunch, everyone goes to catch carp in the pond. Lavretsky and Liza sit side by side and talk a lot.
In the evening Marya Dmitrievna is going home. Lavretsky volunteers to accompany the guests until halfway through the road. All this time he talks with Lisa, the young people part as friends. On the evening of the next day, while reading a French magazine, Fyodor accidentally discovered a note about the death of his wife.
Lemme is going home. It's time for him to return to his lessons. Fedor goes with him and takes a magazine with an article. Having said goodbye to Lemme in the city, he pays a visit to Kalitin. Guests gathered there, but Lavretsky finds a good moment and hands Liza a magazine where the note is marked. He whispers to the girl that he will stop by tomorrow.
Lavretsky again comes to the Kalitins. Marya Dmitrievna is unhappy with his visit. She does not like Fedor, and Panshin speaks badly of him. Lavretsky goes out into the garden, where Liza and Lena are strolling. The older sister quietly returns the magazine and asks about how Fedor took the terrible news. Lavretsky was practically not upset, and Liza was outraged by such an answer. She admits that she received an offer from Panshin. Lavretsky begs Liza not to make a hasty decision.
In the evening Fyodor again goes to the Kalitins' house. He cannot wait until tomorrow to hear from him. Liza informs Lavretsky that she did not give an unambiguous answer and promised to think more.
Lavretsky returns to Vasilievskoye and does not appear in the city for four days. All this time he does not find a place for himself. Fedor is waiting for the official news of his wife's death. He clearly understands that he is in love with Lisa, but does not hope for reciprocity. When Lavretsky arrives again, Liza scolds him for his long absence and invites him to church service on Sunday to pray together for the repose of Barbara's soul. The young man comes, but does not pray, but looks at Lisa all the time.
Fedor waits every day for news from his beloved, but they do not come. The girl is thoughtful, she tries not to be alone with Lavretsky. Fedor does not understand what is happening and suffers greatly from uncertainty. He finds himself in the priest's house. It turns out that Lisa ordered a prayer service.
In the Kalitins' house, Lavretsky enters into an argument with Panshin about the ways of Russia's development. Panshin scolds the backwardness of Russian thought and everyday life, claims that his compatriots "are not even capable of inventing mousetraps" and therefore must learn from more developed Europeans. Lavretsky smashes all the arguments of the opponent.
Liza completely agrees with Lavretsky, and Panshin's reasoning frightens her. The guests leave, but Fedor does not want to go home. He goes out into the field and wanders for a long time among the grasses. A narrow path leads Lavretsky to a gate, which is not locked. Fyodor enters the garden and is surprised to find that this is the Kalitins' garden. Liza leaves the house, she cannot sleep. An explanation takes place between the lovers. Happy Lavretsky walks through the streets of the city, a melody of extraordinary beauty is heard to him. This is old man Lemm playing his piece.
Lisa was 10 years old when her father died. He, like Marya Dmitrievna, was not involved in raising his daughter. The stupid French governess devoted more time to cards and sweets than to her pupil. The main influence on the girl was the nanny Agafya.
The fate of this woman was difficult. Agafya grew up in prosperity in the family of the headman. A beautiful lively peasant woman was noticed by the master and fell in love with her. Agafya was taken to the house where she lived in luxury and idleness until the death of her benefactor. Then the lady married Agafya to a cattleman, but after a couple of years she returned to the estate and even appointed her as a housekeeper, and her husband as a lackey. But he started drinking and began to steal. Agafya fell out of favor again. Soon the husband passed away, and then the children of Agafya also died. A lonely pious woman was assigned to Liza. From her, the girl learned humility, forgiveness, love for God. Agafya could not get along with Marfa Timofeevna. When she appeared in the house, Agafya went to the schismatic hermitage.
After an explanation with Liza, Lavretsky comes to the Kalitins, but he is not accepted. Lisa is not at home, and Marya Dmitrievna has a headache. Two hours later, Fedor is again refused. In the evening Lavretsky returns to his town house and unexpectedly finds Varvara Pavlovna and daughter Ada there. Varvara throws herself at his feet and asks for forgiveness. Taking advantage of the rumor about her death, she dropped everything and hurried to return to Russia. Varvara repents of her bad deeds, but Lavretsky does not believe her.
In complete confusion, Fedor wanders the streets midnight and stops at Lemma's house. Lavretsky asks the old man to take a note to Lisa in the morning, in which he informs about the sudden "resurrection" of his wife. Lisa replies that they will not be able to see each other today. Lavretsky returns home. Having barely endured a conversation with his wife, he went to Vasilievskoye.
On the day Lavretsky's wife returned, Liza had a meeting with Panshin. He came to receive an answer to his proposal. Liza refuses Panshin, after which she listens to many unpleasant words from Marya Dmitrievna. She accuses Lisa of ingratitude. Marfa Timofeevna informs Lisa that she was seen at night in the garden with Fyodor. Lisa hardly manages to justify herself.
Varvara Pavlovna goes to the Kalitins. Marya Dmitrievna accepts her out of curiosity, but the cunning lady charms the provincial with stories about Paris, and then bribes her with a fashionable bottle of perfume. Varvara is an excellent musician, her talent surpasses those of Liza. The girl hardly forces herself to have dinner in the company of Fyodor's wife. She immediately understands this woman's deceitful play. Varvara and Marfa Timofeevna do not like it. The old woman takes Lisa to her place and cries for a long time, kissing her hands.
For dinner, Panshin arrives, whom Varvara instantly charms. Marya Dmitrievna promises that she will try to reconcile her with Fedor. Lavretsky's wife behaves quite freely and even tries her spell on the old man Gedeonovsky. She finally overshadows Lisa in the eyes of provincial society.
Meanwhile, Lavretsky finds no place for himself in the village. He realizes that everything is over and happiness, beckoning slightly, left him again. You should reconcile and pull yourself together. Fedor goes to the city.
Here Lavretsky learns that his wife is with the Kalitins. Fyodor hurries there, but does not enter the living room, but climbs the back stairs to Marfa Timofeevna. The old woman brings Lisa and leaves the lovers alone. The girl asks Lavretsky to make peace with his wife for the sake of her daughter. She leaves him a handkerchief as a keepsake. The footman passes on to Fyodor Marya Dmitrievna's request to visit her.
Turgenev introduces the reader to the main actors"Noble nest" and describes in detail the inhabitants and guests of the house of Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina, the widow of the provincial prosecutor, living in the city of O. with two daughters, the eldest of whom, Liza, is nineteen years old. More often than others, Marya Dmitrievna has a St. Petersburg official, Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, who ended up in a provincial city out of state necessity. Panshin is young, dexterous, moves up the career ladder with incredible speed, while he sings, draws well and looks after Liza Kalitina N.S. Bilinkis, T.P. Gorelik. "The noble nest of Turgenev and the 60s of the nineteenth century in Russia // Scientific reports of the higher school. Philological sciences. - M .: 2001. - No. 2, pp. 29-37 ..
The appearance of the main character of the novel by Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, who is distantly related to Marya Dmitrievna, is preceded by a brief background. Lavretsky is a deceived husband, he is forced to leave his wife because of her immoral behavior. His wife remains in Paris, Lavretsky returns to Russia, ends up in the Kalitins' house and imperceptibly falls in love with Lisa.
Dostoevsky in "The Noble Nest" pays great attention to the theme of love, because this feeling helps to highlight all the best qualities of the heroes, to see the main thing in their characters, to understand their soul. Love is portrayed by Turgenev as the most beautiful, bright and pure feeling that awakens all the best in people. In this novel, like in no other novel by Turgenev, the most touching, romantic, sublime pages are devoted to the love of the heroes.
The love of Lavretsky and Liza Kalitina does not manifest itself immediately, she approaches them gradually, through many reflections and doubts, and then suddenly falls upon them with her irresistible force. Lavretsky, who experienced a lot in his lifetime: hobbies, disappointments, and the loss of all life goals, at first simply admires Liza, her innocence, purity, spontaneity, sincerity - all those qualities that are absent in Varvara Pavlovna, Lavretsky's hypocritical, depraved wife who abandoned him. Liza is close to him in spirit: “It sometimes happens that two people who are already familiar, but not close to each other, suddenly and quickly approach each other within a few moments, - and the consciousness of this closeness is immediately expressed in their looks, in their friendly and quiet smiles, in themselves their movements "Turgenev I.S. Noble Nest. - M .: Publishing house: Children's Literature, 2002. - 237 p .. This is exactly what happened to Lavretsky and Liza.
They talk a lot and understand that they have a lot in common. Lavretsky takes life seriously, to other people, to Russia, Liza is also a deep and strong girl with her own ideals and beliefs. According to Lemma, Lisa's music teacher, she is "a fair, serious girl with high feelings." Liza is looked after by a young man, a capital official with a wonderful future. Lisa's mother would be happy to give her in marriage to him, she considers it a wonderful party for Lisa. But Liza cannot love him, she feels false in his attitude towards her, Panshin is a superficial person, he appreciates the external brilliance in people, and not the depth of feelings. Further events in the novel confirm this opinion about Panshin.
From a French newspaper, he learns about the death of his wife, this gives him hope for happiness. The first climax comes - Lavretsky confesses his love to Lisa in the night garden and learns that he is loved. However, the next day after the confession, his wife, Varvara Pavlovna, returned from Paris to Lavretsky. The news of her death turned out to be false. This second culmination of the novel, as it were, opposes the first: the first gives the heroes hope, the second takes it away. There comes a denouement - Varvara Pavlovna settles in the family estate of Lavretsky, Liza leaves for a monastery, Lavretsky is left with nothing.
Kalitin learned that Lavretsky had returned. This was announced by Gedeonovsky.
Fifty-year-old Maria Dmitrievna, the widow of the former provincial prosecutor, is not indifferent to him. For her age, she is well preserved, and her house is considered one of the most coveted in the city. But because of Gedeolinsky's tendency to lie and his talkativeness, Marfa Timofeevna Pestova, Maria's aunt, dislikes him.
Marfa Timofeevna is not easy to please. She even dislikes Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, who is considered one of the best suitors.
He has many advantages: he is educated, plays the piano, writes romances, draws, and in his position he is a Petersburg official who, on special assignments, arrived in the city of O.
Panshin likes Liza, the daughter of Maria Dmitrievna, but Marfa Timofeevna does not want to see him next to a nineteen-year-old girl.
A notable event for the city was the return of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky from abroad. Rumor has it that in Paris, his wife cheated on him, so he returned to his homeland. But besides fatigue, there was no sign of disappointment in him. His father was a pupil of a Rousseau fan. But no matter how his aunt insisted on adopting some French manners, Ivan did not like it.
He liked the young maid Malanya. His persistence in courting her became the reason for the disinheritance. Against the wishes of his parents, he married her. After that, Ivan had to leave Malanya with the Pestovs' relatives, and himself went abroad. After the birth of their son Fyodor, Malanya comes to the Lavretskys, who are forced to recognize her.
After 12 years, Ivan returns to Russia. Fedora was raised by his aunt Glafira, whom he feared because of her anger and envy. After his father's return, Fedor studied mathematics, natural sciences, heraldry, carpentry, international law, studied under a very tough regime. Having buried his father, Fedor sent him to Moscow and entered the university. During this period, his tough upbringing made itself felt, where he could not find friends and start a relationship with a woman. But he had a friend Mikhalevich, who introduced him to the Korobin family. He really liked Varvara Pavlovna, they got married. During their stay in St. Petersburg, they had a son, but he died. On the advice of doctors, they go to France, where Barbara's secular outings have become more frequent. Soon Fedor convicted her of treason and leaves for Italy. Four years later, O.
While staying in the Kalitins' house, he liked Lisa, where, with constant communication, he told her about his wife. Lisa offered to forgive her. Plus, she believed in God. Suddenly Mikhalevich appears at the Lavretskys', which prompts friends to long conversations. Fedor receives news of his wife's death. He comes to Lisa and breaks the news. But she says that Panshin made her an offer. Liza, at the request of Fedor, is in no hurry with an answer. During a conversation between Panshin and Lavretsky about the politics of Russia and Europe, Liza prefers Fedor because of the identity of her views, except for faith in God. Fedor and Lisa declare their love. But Fyodor's wife unexpectedly arrives with her daughter Ada, where she persuades him to forgive and resume married life. But Lavretsky refused. Varvara turns to Maria Dmitrievna for help.
Liza was also aware of the arrival of Fyodor's wife. But before that, she had an explanation with Panshin. But soon Liza herself suggested not to break off relations with his wife, where Fedor conceded. Lisa goes to the monastery. Fyodor visits, but she does not look at him. Varvara leaves her husband again, leaving for Paris.
Gedeonovsky was the first, as usual, to bring the news of Lavretsky's return to the Kalitins' house. Maria Dmitrievna, the widow of the former provincial prosecutor, who at her fifty years retained a certain pleasantness in her features, favors him, and her house is one of the most pleasant in the city of O ... But Marfa Timofeevna Pestova, the seventy-year-old sister of Maria Dmitrievna's father, does not favor Gedeonovsky for his inclination make up and talkativeness. But what to take - a priest, albeit a state councilor.
However, it is generally tricky to please Marfa Timofeevna. She does not like Panshin - everyone's favorite, enviable groom, the first cavalier. Vladimir Nikolaevich plays the piano, composes romances on his own words, draws well, recites. He is quite a secular person, educated and dexterous. In general, he is a St. Petersburg official on special assignments, a chamber-cadet who arrived in O ... with some assignment. He visits the Kalitins for the sake of Liza, the nineteen-year-old daughter of Maria Dmitrievna. And it looks like his intentions are serious. But Marfa Timofeevna is sure: her favorite is not such a husband. The music teacher Christopher Fedorovich Lemm, an elderly, unattractive and not very successful German, secretly in love with his student, puts Panshin and Lizin down low.
The arrival of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky from abroad is a significant event for the city. His story is passed from mouth to mouth. In Paris, he accidentally caught his wife of treason. Moreover, after the breakup, the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna received scandalous European fame.
The inhabitants of the Kalitinsky house, however, did not think that he looked like a victim. He still breathes with steppe health, lasting strength. Only in the eyes is fatigue visible.
Actually, Fyodor Ivanovich is a strong breed. His great-grandfather was a tough, impudent, intelligent and crafty man. The great-grandmother, a hot-tempered, vengeful gypsy, was in no way inferior to her husband. Grandfather Peter, however, was already a simple steppe gentleman. His son Ivan (father of Fyodor Ivanovich) was brought up, however, by a Frenchman, an admirer of Jean Jacques Rousseau: so ordered his aunt, with whom he lived. (His sister Glafira grew up with her parents.) The wisdom of the 18th century. the mentor poured into his head entirely, where she stayed, without mixing with blood, without penetrating into the soul.
Upon returning to his parents, Ivan felt dirty and wild in his home. This did not prevent him from drawing attention to the maid of mother Malanya, a very pretty, intelligent and meek girl. A scandal erupted: Ivan's father disinherited, and ordered the girl to be sent to a distant village. Ivan Petrovich fought off Malanya on the way and married her. Having accommodated his young wife with the Pestovs' relatives, Dmitry Timofeevich and Marfa Timofeevna, he himself went to Petersburg, and then abroad. In the village of Pestovs, he was born on August 20, 1807. Fedor. Almost a year passed before Malanya Sergeevna was able to appear with her son at the Lavretskys. And that was only because Ivan's mother, before her death, asked for her son and daughter-in-law the stern Pyotr Andreevich.
The happy father of the baby finally returned to Russia only twelve years later. Malanya Sergeevna had died by this time, and the boy was brought up by his aunt Glafira Andreevna, ugly, envious, unkind and domineering. Fedya was taken from his mother and given to Glafira during her lifetime. He did not see his mother every day and loved her passionately, but he vaguely felt that an unbreakable barrier existed between him and her. Fedya was afraid of his aunt, did not dare to utter a word in front of her.
Returning, Ivan Petrovich himself took up the upbringing of his son. Dressed him in Scottish and hired a porter for him. Gymnastics, natural sciences, international law, mathematics, carpentry and heraldry formed the backbone of the educational system. The boy was woken up at four in the morning; doused with cold water, forced to run around the pole on a rope; fed once a day; taught to ride and shoot a crossbow. When Fedya was sixteen years old, his father began to instill in him contempt for women.
A few years later, having buried his father, Lavretsky went to Moscow and at twenty-three entered the university. A strange upbringing has borne fruit. He did not know how to get along with people, he did not dare to look a single woman in the eyes. He only got along with Mikhalevich, an enthusiast and poet. It was this Mikhalevich who introduced his friend to the family of the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina. A twenty-six-year-old child only now understood what it was worth living for. Varenka was charming, intelligent and decently educated, she could talk about the theater, played the piano.
Six months later, the young arrived in Lavriky. The university was abandoned (not to marry a student), and a happy life began. Glafira was removed, and General Korobyin, Varvara Pavlovna's papa, arrived at the place of the steward; and the couple drove off to Petersburg, where their son was born, who soon died. On the advice of doctors, they went abroad and settled in Paris. Varvara Pavlovna instantly settled down here and began to shine in society. Soon, however, Lavretsky got hold of a love note addressed to his wife, whom he so blindly trusted. At first he was seized by rage, a desire to kill both ("my great-grandfather hung peasants by the ribs"), but then, having ordered a letter about the annual allowance for his wife and the departure of General Korobyin from the estate, he went to Italy. The newspapers circulated bad rumors about his wife. From them I learned that he had a daughter. Indifference to everything appeared. And yet, four years later, he wanted to return home, to the city of O ..., but he did not want to settle in Lavriki, where he and Varya spent their first happy days.
Lisa drew his attention from the very first meeting. He noticed Panshin near her. Maria Dmitrievna did not hide that the chamber junker was crazy about her daughter. Marfa Timofeevna, however, still believed that Liza would not be with Panshin.
In Vasilievskoye Lavretsky examined the house, the garden with a pond: the estate had time to run wild. The silence of a leisurely solitary life surrounded him. And what strength, what health there was in this inactive silence. The days went by monotonously, but he did not get bored: he did the housework, rode a horse, read.
Three weeks later I went to O ... to the Kalitins. Lemma found them. In the evening, having gone to see him off, stayed with him. The old man was touched and admitted that he writes music, played and sang something.
In Vasilievsky, the conversation about poetry and music imperceptibly turned into a conversation about Liza and Panshin. Lemme was categorical: she doesn't love him, she just obeys her mother. Liza can love one beautiful thing, but he is not beautiful, i.e. his soul is not beautiful
Liza and Lavretsky trusted each other more and more. Not without hesitation, she once asked about the reasons for his break with his wife: how can you break what God has united? You must forgive. She is sure that one must forgive and submit. As a child, she was taught this by her nanny Agafya, who told the life of the Most Pure Virgin, the lives of saints and hermits, and took her to church. Her own example brought up humility, meekness and a sense of duty.
Suddenly Mikhalevich appeared in Vasilievsky. He grew old, it was evident that he was not doing well, but he spoke as passionately as in his youth, read his own poems: "... And I burned everything that I worshiped, / I bowed down to everything that I burned."
Then the friends argued for a long time and loudly, disturbing Lemma, who continued to visit. You cannot only wish for happiness in life. This means building on sand. Faith is needed, and without it Lavretsky is a pitiful Voltairean. If there is no faith, there is no revelation, there is no understanding of what to do. You need a pure, unearthly being who will pull him out of apathy.
After Mikhalevich, Kalitins arrived at Vasilievskoye. The days passed joyfully and carefree. “I talk to her as if I were not an obsolete person,” Lavretsky thought of Liza. Seeing off their carriage on horseback, he asked: "Are we friends now? .." She nodded in response.
The next evening, looking through French magazines and newspapers, Fyodor Ivanovich came across a message about the sudden death of the queen of fashionable Parisian salons, Madame Lavretskaya. In the morning he was already at the Kalitins. "What's wrong with you?" - asked Lisa. He gave her the text of the message. Now he is free. “You don't need to think about this now, but about forgiveness ...” she objected, and at the end of the conversation she repaid with the same trust: Panshin asks for her hand. She is not at all in love with him, but she is ready to obey her mother. Lavretsky begged Liza to think, not to marry without love, out of a sense of duty. That same evening, Liza asked Panshin not to rush her with an answer and informed Lavretsky about this. All the following days a secret anxiety was felt in her, as if she even avoided Lavretsky. And he was also alarmed by the lack of confirmation of his wife's death. And Liza, when asked if she had dared to give an answer to Panshin, said that she knew nothing. She doesn't know herself.
One summer evening in the living room Panshin began to reproach latest generation, said that Russia lagged behind Europe (we didn't even invent a mousetrap). He spoke beautifully, but with secret bitterness. Lavretsky suddenly began to object and defeated the enemy, proving the impossibility of leaps and haughty alterations, demanded recognition of the people's truth and humility before it. The irritated Panshin exclaimed; what is he going to do? Plow the land and try to plow it as best you can.
Liza was on the side of Lavretsky the whole time of the dispute. The secular official's contempt for Russia offended her. Both of them realized that they love and do not love the same thing, but differ only in one thing, but Lisa secretly hoped to lead him to God. The embarrassment of the last days has disappeared.
Everyone gradually dispersed, and Lavretsky quietly went out into the night garden and sat down on a bench. Light appeared in the lower windows. Liza was walking with a candle in her hand. He quietly called her and, sitting down under the linden trees, said: "... I was brought here ... I love you."
Returning along the sleeping streets, full of joyful feeling, he heard the wonderful sounds of music. He turned to where they were coming from and called: Lemme! The old man appeared in the window and, recognizing him, threw down the key. Lavretsky had not heard anything like it for a long time. He walked over and hugged the old man. He paused, then smiled and cried: "I did this, for I am a great musician."
The next day Lavretsky went to Vasilievskoye and in the evening he returned to the city. In the hall he was greeted by the smell of strong perfume, and there were trunks right there. Crossing the threshold of the living room, he saw his wife. Confusedly and verbosely, she began to beg to forgive her, at least for the sake of her innocent daughter in front of him: Ada, ask your father with me. He invited her to settle in Lavriki, but never expect a renewal of relations. Varvara Pavlovna was submissive herself, but on the same day she visited the Kalitins. The final explanation of Liza and Panshin has already taken place there. Maria Dmitrievna was in despair. Varvara Pavlovna managed to occupy, and then arrange her in her favor, hinted that Fyodor Ivanovich had not completely deprived her of "his presence." Liza received Lavretsky's note, and the meeting with his wife was not a surprise to her ("Serves me right"). She behaved stoically in the presence of a woman whom “he” once loved.
Panshin appeared. Varvara Pavlovna immediately found the tone with him. She sang a romance, talked about literature, about Paris, took up semi-secular, semi-artistic chatter. Parting, Maria Dmitrievna expressed her readiness to try to reconcile her with her husband.
Lavretsky reappeared at the Kalitinsky house when he received Liza's note with an invitation to come to them. He immediately went up to Marfa Timofeevna. She found an excuse to leave them alone with Lisa. The girl came to say that it remains for them to fulfill their duty. Fyodor Ivanovich must make peace with his wife. Doesn't he now see for himself: happiness does not depend on people, but on God.
When Lavretsky was going downstairs, the footman invited him to Marya Dmitrievna's. She spoke about the remorse of his wife, asked to forgive her, and then, offering to take her from hand to hand, brought Varvara Pavlovna out from behind the screen. Requests and already familiar scenes were repeated. Lavretsky finally promised that he would live with her under the same roof, but he would consider the contract violated if she allowed herself to leave Lavriki.
The next morning, he took his wife and daughter to Lavriky, and a week later he left for Moscow. A day later, Panshin visited Varvara Pavlovna and stayed for three days.
A year later, news reached Lavretsky that Liza had tonsured her hair in a monastery in one of the remote regions of Russia. After some time, he visited this monastery. Liza walked close to him - and did not look, only her eyelashes twitched slightly and her fingers holding the rosary tightened even more.
And Varvara Pavlovna very soon moved to Petersburg, then to Paris. A new admirer appeared near her, a guard of an extraordinary build strength. She never invites him to her fashionable evenings, but otherwise he takes full advantage of her location.
Eight years have passed. Lavretsky again visited O ... The older inhabitants of the Kalitinsky house had already died, and the youth reigned here: Liza's younger sister, Lenochka, and her fiancé. It was fun and noisy. Fyodor Ivanovich walked through all the rooms. There was the same piano in the living room, the same hoop stood by the window as then. Only the wallpaper was different.
In the garden, he saw the same bench and walked along the same alley. His sadness was agonizing, although that turning point was already taking place in him, without which one cannot remain a decent person: he stopped thinking about his own happiness.
Retold
