Read online white guard summary. White Guard (novel). Situation in the city

Bulgakovskaya White Guard», summary which is hardly capable of reflecting the full depth of the work, describes the events of the late 1918-early 1919. This book is largely autobiographical: the author himself, his friends and family are present on its pages. The action of the novel undoubtedly takes place in Kiev, which is simply called the city. In the "pseudonyms" of the streets, the originals are easily guessed, and the names of the districts (Pechersk, Podol) Bulgakov left completely unchanged.

Situation in the city

The townspeople have already experienced the short "arrival" of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Betrayed by the allies, the White Guard disappeared into space. The novel, a summary of which is presented below, fully reflects the nightmare of post-revolutionary Kiev life. At the moment when events begin, the city experiences last days under the rule of a German-backed hetman.

The Turbins' family lives on Alekseevsky Spusk, at house No. 13: 27-year-old Aleksey, 24-year-old Elena and Nikolka, who is only 17 years old. The story begins with the fact that on a frosty December evening, Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, frozen to death, bursts into the apartment. From his story it is clear that there is confusion and betrayal in the army. Late in the evening, Elena's husband, Sergey Talberg, returns from a business trip - an insignificant person, ready to adapt to any bosses. He informs his wife that he is forced to flee immediately: the Germans are leaving the capital.

Illusions and unrealizable hopes

In the city, squads are actively being formed to protect against the advancing Petliura. These scattered units, in which 80 of 120 cadets do not know how to shoot, are the very same White Guard desperately clinging to its former life and suffering imminent disaster. A summary of events can hardly adequately describe the subsequent disaster.

Someone in the city is still experiencing rainbow illusions. Turbines and family friends also did not lose hope of a good outcome. Deep down, they cherish the hope that somewhere on the Don is Denikin and his invincible White Guard. The content of the conversations in the Turbins' apartment produces a depressing impression: tales of the emperor's miraculous salvation, toasts to his health, talk of the impending "attack on Moscow."

Lightning war

The hetman shamefully flees, the generals in command of the troops follow his example. There is confusion in the headquarters. The officers, who have not lost their conscience, warn the personnel and give young children, almost children, the opportunity to escape. Others throw untrained, poorly armed junkers to certain death. Among the latter is Nikolka Turbin, a 17-year-old squad leader of twenty-eight. Having received the order to go "for reinforcements", the guys did not find anyone in the position, and after a few minutes they saw the remnants of the fleeing unit of Colonel Nai Tours, who died in front of the younger Turbin, trying to cover the panicky "retreat" of the city defenders with machine gun fire.

The capital was taken by the Petliurites without a fight - the pitiful, scattered White Guard could not give it. It won't take long to read a summary of her further fate - it fits in the answer of a little boy, met by the younger Turbin at Alekseevsky: “There are eight hundred of them in the whole city, and they were playing the fool. Petliura came, and he has a million troops. "

The theme of God in the novel "The White Guard"

Nikolka himself manages to get to the house in the evening, where he finds a pale, agitated Elena: Alexei has not returned. The elder brother is brought only the next day by a stranger who saved him - Julia Reiss. His condition is critical. When typhus is added to the fever caused by the wound, doctors decide that Turbin is not a tenant.

In Bulgakov's works, the theme of religion is an everyday phenomenon. The White Guard was no exception. The summary of the prayer that Helen brings to the Theotokos looks like a deal: take your husband, but leave your brother. And a miracle happens: the hopeless patient is on the mend and is recovering by the time Petliura leaves the city. At the same time, Elena learns from the letter she received that her husband left her.

This is where the Turbins' misadventures end. A warm company of surviving friends gathers again on Alekseevsky Spusk: Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky, Karas.

... and the theme of the devil

Life takes its toll: Nikolka and Alexey Turbins collide on Malo-Provalnaya Street. The younger one comes from Nai-Turs: he is attracted by the sister of the deceased colonel. The elder went to thank his savior and confesses that she is dear to him.

In the house of Reiss, Alexey sees a photograph of a man and, asking who it is, receives an answer: a cousin who left for Moscow. Julia is lying - Shpolyansky is her lover. The surname named by the savior evokes in the doctor an “unpleasant, sucking thought”: a patient “touched” on the basis of religion told Turbin about this “cousin” as a forerunner of the Antichrist: “He is young. But the abominations in him, as in the millennial devil ... ".

It is striking that in the Soviet Union the White Guard was published in general - an analysis of the text, even the most superficial, gives a clear understanding that Bulgakov considered the Bolsheviks to be the worst of threats, "aggels", Satan's henchmen. From 1917 to 1921, Ukraine was a kingdom of chaos: Kiev found itself in the power of one or another "benefactor" who could not agree with each other or with anyone else - and as a result were unable to fight the dark force. which was approaching from the North.

Bulgakov and the revolution

When reading the novel "The White Guard", analysis is, in principle, useless: the author speaks out quite bluntly. Mikhail Afanasyevich treated revolutions badly: for example, in the story “The Coming Prospects” he unequivocally assesses the situation: the country found itself “at the very bottom of the pit of shame and disaster, into which it was driven by the“ great social revolution ”.

The White Guard does not at all contradict such a worldview. The summary cannot convey the general mood, but it clearly stands out when reading the full version.

Hatred is the root of what is happening

The author understood the nature of the cataclysm in his own way: “four times forty times four hundred thousand men with hearts burning with unquenchable malice”. And after all, these revolutionaries wanted only one thing: an agrarian reform in which the land would go to the peasants - for eternal possession, with the right to be passed on to children and grandchildren. This is very romantic, but the sane Bulgakov understands that "the adored hetman could not carry out such a reform, and he won’t do anything like that." I must say that Mikhail Afanasyevich was absolutely right: as a result of the arrival of the Bolsheviks, the peasants were hardly in a better position.

Times of great upheaval

What people do on the basis of and in the name of hatred cannot be good. The senseless horror of what is happening Bulgakov demonstrates to the reader, using abrupt but memorable images. The "White Guard" abounds in them: a man whose wife is giving birth is running to the midwife. He gives the "wrong" document to the horseman from Petliura, and he chops it off with a sword. The Haidamaks find a Jew behind a stack of firewood and beat him to death. Even a greedy Turbino landlord, robbed by bandits under the guise of a search, adds a touch to the picture of the chaos that ultimately brought “ little man" revolution.

Anyone who wants to better understand the essence of the events of the early twentieth century cannot find a textbook better than Bulgakov's "White Guard". Reading a summary of this work is the lot of careless schoolchildren. This book certainly deserves a better lot. Written in magnificent, piercing prose, it once again reminds us of what an unsurpassed master of words Mikhail Bulgakov was. "White Guard", a summary of which in the most different options offers a worldwide network, belongs to the category of literature with which it is better to get acquainted, as closely as possible.

MA Bulgakov "White Guard" Part 1.
The action of the work takes place cold winter 1918 - 1919 in Kiev. IN two-story house the Turbin family lived on the 2nd floor along Alekseevsky Spusk. On the 1st floor lived the landlord V.I. Lisovich, nicknamed Basilisk. The Turbin family had 3 adult children: Alexey - 28 years old, a doctor, Elena - 24 years old, her husband, diplomat S.I.Talberg - 31 years old, Nikolay - 17 years old. The time was troubling. In Kiev - the Germans, and under the City was a hundred thousandth Petliura army. Confusion. And it is not clear who is fighting whom. At dinner with the family, the conversation turned to military operations. Alexey explained that the Germans are mean. Many are fleeing the war. Meanwhile, Vasilisa locks the door with a key and hides a package wrapped in newspaper in a cache. He did not notice how 2 pairs of eyes were closely watching him from the street. They were thieves, bandits. Vasilisa had 3 hiding places where money, gold, securities were kept. While counting the banknotes, Vasilisa found counterfeit banknotes among them. He put them aside, hoping to pay off in the market, or with the coachman.
Throughout 1918 Kiev lives an unnatural life. The houses are overflowing with guests. Financiers, entrepreneurs, merchants, lawyers fled from Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Kiev, shops are opening, selling food until midnight. The local press publishes stories and stories of famous Russian journalists, hating communists with cowardly, hissing anger. In the City there were officers-gold diggers, who did not receive the necessary papers to travel abroad. The people, having closed in the City, had no idea what was happening in the country. People pinned their hopes on the German occupation forces. At first, there were 2 opposing forces, until Petliura emerged. The first sign, who informed about Petliura, were women, rushing in only shirts and shouting in a terrible voice. Ammunition depots were blown up on Lysaya Gora. The second sign was the brutal murder of the German Field Marshal von Eichhorn. Food prices have risen. For every 400 thousand Germans there were tens of thousands of Ukrainian villagers with hearts burning with anger. The German command could not stand such an intensity of passion. The Germans left the country. At the same time, the Ukrainian hetman was dressed in the clothes of a German major, and he became like hundreds of other German officers. He told his subordinates that the ruler fled abroad. In addition, the commander-in-chief general from the cavalry Belorukov escaped. He added that the ataman's army is concentrated near Kiev, so he does not want his soldiers to die.

Part 2.
From day to day, Petliura's army may enter Kiev. Colonel Kozyr - Lyashko for many years working as a teacher in the village, ends up on the front of the First World War. It turned out that this was his business. And in 1917 he became a corporal, and in 1918 he became a lieutenant colonel with the chieftain. The main forces of the defenders are being drawn to Kiev. The frozen military moved closer to the city center. Lyashko orders to saddle the horses. Soon the legion set out on a campaign.
Commander Toropets was also near Kiev, he came up with a scheme according to which the defending troops should retreat to the village of Kurenevka, then he himself would be able to strike directly in the forehead. From the flank, the City attacked Lyashko. A battle broke out on his right. Shetkin from early morning was not in the General Staff, since the headquarters as such no longer existed. First, 2 assistants disappeared. Nobody knew anything in Kiev. Here was the ruler (no one had guessed about the mysterious disappearances of the commander), and his lordship Prince Belorukov, and General Kartuzov, who was forming an army to defend Kiev. The people were perplexed: “Why did the Petliura trains come close to the city fortifications? Maybe you made an agreement with the ataman? Then why is the White Guard firing at the advancing Petliura units? “Panic and mess was present in Kiev on December 14th. Calls at the focal point were less and less frequent. Finally, Maxim scribbled right on the city streets. Bolbotun, tired of waiting for the order of the commander, gives the order to the cavalry to go to railroad... He stops the train carrying a new batch of refugees to Kiev. Apparently, he was not expected, so he easily entered Kiev, meeting resistance only at the school.
Part of Colonel Nai-Tours wandered for 3 days through the snowdrifts near Kiev, until he returned to the city. He took care of his subordinates, so 150 cadets and 3 warrant officers were shod in warm felt boots. On the night of 14, Nye was examining a map of the City. The headquarters did not disturb, only in the afternoon the volunteer handed over a written order to guard the strategic road. The thunder of bolts rolled along the chains of the junkers: by order of the commander, they entered into an unequal battle. Finding himself in Brest-Litovsky lane. He sends 3 volunteers to scout. They soon returned without finding any defending units. The commander turns to his subordinates and gives a loud order. In the hostel, 28 cadets under the command of Nikolai Turbin were tormented. Commander Bezrukov and 2 warrant officers went to the coordination center and did not return home. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the telephone rings. Alexey Turbin was sleeping. Suddenly the young man rushed about. In a hurry forgetting the testimony and embracing his sister. He hires a carriage and drives to the museum. After reaching the meeting place, he sees an armed people. He got a little scared. Thinking that he was late. He ran to the store, where he found the boss. The colonel quickly explained to Alexei that the command had left them to their fate. Petliura in Kiev. He advises him to take off his epaulettes as soon as possible. And to leave here in good health. Turbin rips off the epaulettes and throws them into the stove. He himself leaves through the back door. Nikolai Turbin leads the fighters through Kiev. And suddenly he noticed that the cadets began to scatter home. He meets the colonel, who tears off his shoulder straps and orders him to drop his weapon. And he does not have time to ask, as the colonel is killed by a shell that exploded in the vicinity. The young man experienced a natural sense of fear. He goes to his home in courtyards and alleys. The sister is worried about the fate of the elder Turbin. And she did not let her younger brother go outside. Nikolai wants to climb onto the roof of the barn and see what is happening in Kiev. Returning home, the boy falls asleep as if killed. The sister waited for the older brother the whole night. He wakes up because someone is complaining about his wife. Larion came from Zhitomir and told Nikolai that the elder Turbin had come with him. Alexei was lying there on the sofa. He was wounded in the arm. Nikolai ran for the medic. An hour later, there were scraps of bandages in the house, and a basin full of red water was on the floor. Alexey has already woken up from oblivion. The physician assured the family that the bone and blood vessels were not affected, but warned that suppuration of the wound could begin due to scraps of an overcoat.

Part 3.
A few hours later, Alexei came to his senses. His sister was sitting next to him. The family was visited by 3 doctors who gave a disappointing conclusion: typhus and that it is hopeless. Alexei begins to agony. Leaving the store in the courtyards, he stumbles upon the Petliura soldiers. When the doctor turns around, they recognize him as a white officer and open fire to kill. The Medic runs away from his pursuers. The Petliurites did not lag behind, Alexei was hiding with an unknown woman. He ran after the beautiful stranger. Having reached the 2nd gate, they began to climb the stairs, the doctor falls on his left leg. She drags the injured doctor to her home. He is trying to give himself first aid. Madame helped Alexey stop the blood. The doctor was very worried about his relatives, but could not tell them where he was. Alexei met Yu. Reisse. He spent the whole night with her. In the morning, Madame gave her husband's clothes and took them in a carriage to the Turbins' apartment. Late in the evening, Myshlevsky turned up at the Turbins. The housekeeper opens the door for him and immediately informs Turbin about his health. Entering the room, Victor meets Larion. The colonel had a great fight with his comrade, saying that it was necessary to destroy the General Staff in the toilet. Crucian carp calmed down the skirmish that had begun. Nikolai asks the guests to speak more quietly, the patient should not be disturbed. After 2 days, Nikolai goes to Nye's relatives to report the news of his heroic death. They find the body, and on the same day they perform the funeral service for Nye in the chapel.
A year later, Alexey goes on foot to Yulia Reisa, who saved him from death. He asks the woman for permission to visit her often. Towards evening, Alexei's temperature rose. He was afraid for his hand. When the scratch bothered Alexei, he dropped the cold compress on the floor, and he himself crawled under the covers. The temperature was getting higher, the tearing pain in the left side of the body dulled. Everyone listened attentively to the story of Lieutenant Shervinsky. Who told the guests about the imminent arrival of the communists. People were walking along the platform. A man in a long greatcoat was walking around the armored train. The armored train bore the inscription "Proletarian". Alexey was delirious.
In front door they called, and the frightened owner went to open it. The people who came announced to the landlord that they had come with a search warrant for his apartment. First of all, the bandits opened Vasilisa's secret. Then, with the same success, the thieves plundered the master's bedroom. One of the intruders liked Vasilisa's shoes, and he immediately puts them on. The guests completely dressed in the master's clothes, not forgetting to threaten the Lisovichi with a quick reprisal. Leaving they are ordered to write a receipt to Vasilisa that he gave them things. When the footsteps subside. They order Vasilisa not to complain about them anywhere. They quickly leave the premises. Wanda Mikhailovna immediately began to have a seizure, she sent her husband to the General Staff to complain about the robbers. He quickly rises to the Turbines. He says that the robbers threatened with 2 pistols, 1 of which was with a gold chain. They feed the guest with boiled veal, pickled mushrooms and delicious jam from cherries. The sister leaves Alexey's office with unsteady steps. She peered at Alexei for a long time and realized that her brother would die. The patient had been unconscious for a long time and did not realize what was happening around him. Elena lights the lamp and silently bows down. She looked unkindly at the Mother of God, reproaching her for the troubles that happened in the family. Then Elena could not stand it and began to passionately pray to the higher powers for the bestowal of health to Alexei. Turbin was covered in sweat, his chest heaving nervously. He suddenly opens his eyes and informs everyone that death has receded from him.
A colleague in excitement injects medicine into the patient's hand. He has changed a lot, 2 folds remain at the mouth forever, his eyes have become gloomy and gloomy. He thought about the chieftain, family friends, and Elena.
A young man enters the doctor's office and reports that he has syphilis. Alexey prescribes a drug and gave good advice to read the Apocalypse less.
Conclusion
The White Guard is one of Bulgakov's best works, which reveals the essence of the confrontation between the white and red armies.

The actions of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The White Guard" unfold in Ukraine in the midst of civil war... The city, which, according to the author's description, strongly resembles Kiev, is occupied by German troops. From day to day, the troops of Petliura can descend here. Confusion and turmoil reigns everywhere.

Dinner at the Turbins

IN big house Several servicemen are talking at the Turbins' dinner: military doctor Oleksiy Turbin, non-commissioned officer Nikolai Turbin, lieutenant Myshlevsky, second lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant of the headquarters of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Turbins' sister Elena is also at the table.

We are talking about the terrible prospects for the arrival of Petliura's troops and the search for an opportunity to prevent this.

Aleksey Turbin believes that if it were not for the Ukrainian hetman, in the city where many officers and junkers have accumulated, a good army could be assembled not only to repel Petliura, but also to save all of Russia.

The rest do not mind him, but argue that the reigning chaos and the desire to quickly escape from here will not lead to anything good.

At this time, Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, the husband of Elena Turbina, appears and, as if in confirmation of the last words, reports that he must leave the city tonight together with the German troops. Consoling his wife, he promises to return in 3 months along with Denikin's army.

Unsuccessful attempt to save the city

Meanwhile, a division was formed in the city under the command of Colonel Malyshev. Karas, Myshlevsky and Aleksey Turbin gladly sign up for his service. The next day they must report to the division headquarters in full military bearing. However, at night, together with the German troops, the hetman leaves the city along with all his council, and Colonel Malyshev dissolves his small army. Petliura enters the city.

Alexei Turbin, who knew nothing about these events, comes to the headquarters of the already disbanded division and, knowing about what happened, tears off the officers with annoyance. Walking through the city, he attracts the attention of Petliura's soldiers and with horror realizes that he forgot to remove the officer's hat from his hat. He runs under fire from the Petliurites and one of the bullets hits him in the arm. But at the most critical moment he is rescued by an unfamiliar young woman, hiding in her house.

Parallel to this, dramatic events take place outside the city. There, Colonel Nai-Tours has assembled his fighting detachment, to which Nikolai Turbin also joined, and is preparing to defend the city from Petliura. A battle ensues, during which Nai Tours learns that the bulk of Petliura's troops bypassed him and entered the city. The courageous colonel gives the order to all his soldiers to leave, and he himself dies in front of Nicholas, covering his soldiers and officers.

Meanwhile, Alexei falls seriously ill. He has typhus and his wounded arm is inflamed. A council of doctors comes to a terrible conclusion: Turbin will not be able to survive. But in spite of this, Alexei miraculously manages to avoid death.

An artillery cannonade is heard outside the window. Petliura's troops leave the city. The Red Army will soon join it.

The novel ends on these two optimistic notes.

The novel takes place in the winter of 1918/19 in a certain City, in which Kiev is clearly guessed. The city is occupied by German occupation troops, the hetman of "All Ukraine" is in power. However, from day to day the army of Petliura can enter the City - battles are already going on twelve kilometers from the City. The city lives a strange, unnatural life: it is full of visitors from Moscow and St. Petersburg - bankers, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, poets - who rushed there since the election of the hetman, since the spring of 1918.

In the dining room of the Turbins' house, at dinner, Aleksey Turbin, a doctor, his younger brother Nikolka, a non-commissioned officer, their sister Elena and family friends - Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, Second Lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and Lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant at the headquarters of Prince Belorukov, the commander of all the military forces of Ukraine , - excitedly discuss the fate of their beloved City. The elder Turbin believes that the hetman is to blame for his Ukrainization: until the very last moment, he did not allow the formation of the Russian army, and if this happened on time, a select army of cadets, students, high school students and officers, of whom there are thousands, would be formed. and not only would they have defended the City, but Petliura would not have been in Little Russia, moreover, they would have gone to Moscow and Russia would have been saved.

Elena's husband, captain of the general staff Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, announces to his wife that the Germans are leaving the City and he, Talberg, is being taken on the staff train leaving tonight. Thalberg is sure that it will not work and three monthshow he will return to the City with Denikin's army now forming on the Don. In the meantime, he cannot take Elena into the unknown, and she will have to stay in the City.

To protect against the advancing troops of Petliura, the formation of Russian military units begins in the City. Karas, Myshlaevsky and Aleksey Turbin appear to the commander of the emerging mortar battalion, Colonel Malyshev, and enter the service: Karas and Myshlaevsky as officers, Turbin as a divisional doctor. However, the next night - from 13 to 14 December - the hetman and General Belorukov flee the City in a German train, and Colonel Malyshev dissolves the newly formed division: he has no one to defend, there is no legitimate authority in the City.

Colonel Nye Tours finishes the formation of the second division of the first squad by December 10. Considering the conduct of a war without winter equipment for soldiers is impossible, Colonel Nye Tours, threatening the head of the supply department with a colt, receives boots and hats for his one hundred and fifty cadets. On the morning of December 14, Petliura attacks the City; Nai Tours receives an order to guard the Polytechnic Highway and, if an enemy appears, to take battle. Nai-Tours, having entered the battle with the advanced detachments of the enemy, sends three junkers to find out where the hetman's units are. The sent ones return with the message that there are no units anywhere, in the rear there is machine-gun fire, and the enemy cavalry is entering the City. Nye realizes that they are trapped.

An hour earlier Nikolai Turbin, corporal of the third division of the first infantry squad, receives the order to lead the team along the route. Arriving at the appointed place, Nikolka with horror sees the running junkers and hears the command of Colonel Nai-Tours, ordering all the junkers - both his own and Nikolka's - to rip off shoulder straps, cockades, throw weapons, tear documents, run and hide. The colonel himself is covering the withdrawal of the cadets. In front of Nikolka's eyes, the mortally wounded colonel dies. Shaken, Nikolka, leaving Nai-Tours, makes his way to the house by courtyards and alleys.

Meanwhile, Alexei, who was not informed about the dissolution of the division, having appeared, as ordered, at two o'clock, finds an empty building with abandoned guns. Having found Colonel Malyshev, he gets an explanation of what is happening: The city is taken by the troops of Petliura. Alexei, having ripped off his shoulder straps, goes home, but runs into Petliura's soldiers, who, recognizing him as an officer (in a hurry, he forgot to rip off the cockade from his hat), pursue him. Alexei, who was wounded in the arm, is sheltered in his house by an unfamiliar woman named Julia Reise. The next day, after dressing Alexei in civilian dress, Yulia takes him home in a cab. Simultaneously with Alexei, Talberg's cousin Larion comes from Zhitomir to the Turbin, after having experienced a personal drama: his wife left him. Larion really likes the Turbins' house, and all Turbins find him very attractive.

Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa, the owner of the house in which the Turbins live, occupies the first floor in the same house, while the Turbins live in the second. On the eve of the day when Petliura entered the City, Vasilisa builds a cache in which he hides money and jewelry. However, through a crack in a loosely curtained window, an unknown person is watching Vasilisa's actions. The next day, three armed men come to Vasilisa with a search warrant. First of all, they open the cache, and then take away Vasilisa's watch, suit and boots. After the “guests” leave, Vasilisa and his wife guess that they were bandits. Vasilisa runs to the Turbins, and Karas is sent to them to defend against a possible new attack. Usually avaricious Vanda Mikhailovna, Vasilisa's wife, is not stingy here: on the table there is cognac, and veal, and pickled mushrooms. Happy Crucian doze, listening to Vasilisa's plaintive speeches.

Three days later Nikolka, having learned the address of the Nai-Tours family, goes to the colonel's relatives. He tells Nye's mother and sister the details of his death. Together with the colonel's sister Irina, Nikolka finds the body of Nai-Tours in the morgue, and on the same night in the chapel at the anatomical theater of Nai-Tours, the funeral is performed.

A few days later, Alexei's wound becomes inflamed, and besides, he has typhus: heat, nonsense. According to the conclusion of the council, the patient is hopeless; On December 22, agony begins. Elena locks herself in her bedroom and fervently prays to the Most Holy Theotokos, begging her to save her brother from death. "Let Sergei not come back," she whispers, "but don't punish this with death." To the amazement of the doctor on duty with him, Alexei regains consciousness - the crisis is over.

A month and a half later, Alexey, who finally recovered, goes to Julia Reis, who saved him from death, and gives her a bracelet of his late mother. Alexei asks Julia for permission to visit her. Leaving Julia, he meets Nikolka returning from Irina Nai Tours.

Elena receives a letter from a friend from Warsaw, in which she informs her about Thalberg's upcoming marriage to their mutual friend. Elena, sobbing, recalls her prayer.

On the night of February 2 to 3, the Petliura troops began to leave the City. The roar of the guns of the Bolsheviks, which approached the City, is heard.

The novel "White Guard" by Mikhail Bulgakov is the author's first work in this genre. The work was written in 1923 and published in 1925. The book is written in the tradition of a realistic literature XIX century. Reading the summary of the "White Guard" in chapters and in parts will be useful for those who want to recall the events of the novel before a literature lesson. Also summary books are useful for a reader's diary.

main characters

Alexey Turbin - military doctor, 28 years old. passed the First World War.

Nikolka Turbin - Alexey's younger brother, 17 years old.

Elena Talberg , nee Turbina - sister of Alexey and Nikolka, 24 years old.

Other characters

Sergey Talberg - Elena's husband. He abandons his wife in Kiev, and he, together with the Germans, fled the country to Germany.

Lisovich (Vasilisa) - the owner of the house where Turbines live.

Nai Tours - Colonel. In his detachment, Nikolka Turbin fights with the Petliurists.

Victor Myshlaevsky - an old friend of the Turbins.

Leonid Shervinsky and Fyodor Stepanov (Karas) - friends of Alexei Turbin at the gymnasium.

Colonel Malyshev - the commander of the mortar division, in which Karas serves, and in which Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin entered the service.

Trump-Leshko - Petlyura colonel.

Larion Surzhansky (Lariosik) - Talberg's nephew from Zhitomir.

Part one

Chapter 1

The action takes place in Kiev, in December 1918, during the revolution. The intelligent family of the Turbins - two brothers and a sister - live in house number 13 on Alekseevsky Spusk. Twenty-eight-year-old Alexei Turbin, a young doctor, had already gone through the First World War. His younger brother Nikolka is only seventeen and a half years old, and his sister Elena is twenty-four years old. Sister is married to staff captain Sergei Talberg.

This year, the mother of the Turbins died, before her death she wished the children one thing: "Live!" But the revolution, like the blizzard in this terrible year, is only growing and it seems that it will never end. Apparently, the Turbins will not have to live, but die. Priest Father Alexander, who served the funeral service for his deceased mother, advises Alexei Turbin not to fall into the sin of despondency, but warns that everything will only get worse.

Chapter 2

On a December evening, all the Turbins gather at a hotly heated stove, on the tiles of which they left memorable drawings all their lives. Alexei and Nikolka sing cadet songs, but Elena does not share their enthusiasm: she is waiting for her husband to go home, worries about him. The doorbell rings. But it was not Talberg who came, but Viktor Myshlaevsky, an old friend of the Turbins.

He tells a terrible thing: 40 people of his detachment were left in a cordon and promised to change in six hours, and changed in a day. For 24 hours, his people could not even light a fire to keep warm, so two people froze to death. Myshlaevsky scolds Colonel Shchetkin from the headquarters with the very last words. Turbines heat Myshlaevsky.

The doorbell rang again. This time it was Elena Talberg's husband, but he did not come for good, he came to collect his things, because the power of Hetman Skoropadsky, imprisoned by the Germans, staggered, the troops of Petliura, a socialist and a Ukrainian nationalist, are approaching Kiev from the side of the White Church, so the Germans are leaving the city and he, Thalberg, leaves with them. General von Bussov's train leaves for Germany at 1 am. Thalberg says that he cannot take Elena with him "on wanderings and uncertainty." Elena cries, and Talberg promises his wife to return to Kiev with Denikin's troops.

Chapter 3

Engineer Vasily Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa for a cunning, almost feminine character, is the Turbins' neighbor from below. He covered the window with a white sheet so that no one from the street could see where he was hiding the money. But it was the white sheet on the window that caught the attention of a passer-by. He climbed a tree and saw through the gap between the window and the sheet that the engineer had hidden the money in a cache inside the wall. Lisovich falls asleep. He dreams of thieves. He wakes up from some noise.

Upstairs, at the Turbins, it's noisy. Guests came to them: Alexei's friends in the gymnasium - Lieutenant Leonid Shervinsky and Second Lieutenant Fyodor Stepanov, nicknamed Karas. The Turbins have a feast, they drink vodka and wine, which the guests brought with them. Everyone gets drunk, Myshlaevsky becomes especially bad, he is being drunk with drugs. Karas agitates everyone who wants to defend Kiev from Petliura to enter the mortar division being formed, where the excellent commander is Colonel Malyshev. Shervinsky, in love with Elena, is very happy about Talberg's departure. Everyone goes to bed closer to dawn. Elena cries again, as she realizes that her husband will never return for her.

Chapter 4

More and more wealthy people are arriving in Kiev, fleeing the revolution from Russia, where the Bolsheviks now rule. Among the refugees were not only officers who went through the First World War, like Alexei Turbin, but also landowners, merchants, breeders, and many officials. They huddled with their wives, children and mistresses in tiny apartments and modest hotel rooms, but, at the same time, threw money into endless carousing.

Few officers join the hetman convoy, but the rest are idle. In Kiev, four cadets' schools are being closed, and the cadets cannot complete the course. Nikolka Turbin was among them. Everything is calm in Kiev, thanks to the Germans, but news comes from the villages that the peasants continue to plunder, that a period of chaos and lawlessness is coming.

Chapter 5

It is becoming more and more alarming in Kiev. In the spring, they first blew up a warehouse with shells, and then the SRs killed the commander of the German army, Field Marshal Eichhorn. Simon Petliura is released from the hetman prison, who seeks to lead the revolting peasants. And the peasant revolt is dangerous because the men returned from the fronts of the First World War with weapons.

Alexei has a dream in which he meets Captain Zhilin with a squadron of hussars at the gates of Paradise, who died in 1916 in the Vilnius direction. Zhilin told Turbin that the Apostle Peter let the whole detachment into Paradise, even let the women run, which the hussars grabbed on the way. And Zhilin said that he saw mansions in Paradise, which were painted with red stars. "And this," says the Apostle Peter, "is for the Bolsheviks who are from Perekop." Zhilin was surprised that atheists were allowed into Paradise. But I received the answer that the Almighty does not care whether people are believers or not, that for God they are all the same, “killed in the battlefield”. Turbin wanted to go to Paradise himself, tried to go through the gate, but woke up.

Chapter 6

The former shop of Madame Anjou "Parisian chic", which was located in the very center of Kiev on Teatralnaya Street, now hosts the "Registration of volunteers in the Mortar Division". In the morning, still drunk from the night, Karas, who is already in the division, brings Alexei Turbin and Myshlaevsky there.

Colonel Malyshev, the division commander, is very glad to see like-minded people in his ranks who, like him, hate Kerensky. In addition, Myshlaevsky is an experienced artilleryman, and Turbin is a doctor, so they are immediately assigned to the battalion. Within an hour they should be on the parade ground of the Alexander Gymnasium. Alexei manages to run home in an hour and change. He is very happy to put on his military uniform again, to which Elena has sewn new shoulder straps. On the way to the parade ground, Turbin sees a crowd of people carrying several coffins. It turned out that at night in the village of Popelyukha, the Petliurites had killed the entire officer corps, gouged out their eyes and carved shoulder straps on their shoulders.

Colonel Malyshev examines the volunteers and disbands his division until tomorrow.

Chapter 7

That night Hetman Skoropadsky hastily left Kiev. He was changed into a German uniform and his head was tightly bandaged so that no one could recognize the hetman. He is being taken away from the capital according to the documents of Major Schratt, who, according to legend, accidentally wounded himself in the head while unloading a revolver.

In the morning, Colonel Malyshev informs the assembled volunteers about the dissolution of the mortar division. He orders "the entire division, with the exception of gentlemen officers and those junkers who were on guard tonight, to immediately go home!" After these words, the crowd became agitated. Myshlaevsky says that they must protect the hetman, but the colonel informs everyone that the hetman fled shamefully, leaving them all to their fate, that they have no one to protect. With this the officers and the cadets disagree.

Part 2

Chapter 8

In the morning Petliura's colonel Kozyr-Leshko from the village of Popelyukhi sends his troops to Kiev. Another Petliura colonel, Toropets, came up with a plan to encircle Kiev and launch an offensive from the direction of Kurenevka: with the help of artillery, distract the city's defenders and arrange a main attack from the south and center.

These colonels are led by Colonel Shchetkin, who secretly abandons his troops in a snowy field and leaves to visit a certain plump blonde in a rich apartment, where he drinks coffee and goes to bed.

Another Petlyura colonel, distinguished by an impatient disposition, Bolbotun, violates Torobets's plan and rushes with his cavalry into Kiev. He is surprised that he did not meet any resistance. only at the Nikolaev school, thirty cadets and four officers fired at him from a single machine gun. Bolbotun's centurion Galanba cuts a random passer-by with his saber, who turns out to be Yakov Feldman, a supplier of the hetman's armor.

Chapter 9

An armored car arrives to help the junkers. Bolbotun has already lost, thanks to the cadets, seven Cossacks killed and nine - wounded, but he manages to significantly approach the city center. At the corner of Moskovskaya Street, an armored car blocks the way Bolbotunu. It is mentioned that there are four vehicles in the hetman's armored division. The second armored car was appointed to command the famous writer Mikhail Shpolyansky. Since he entered the service, something was wrong with the cars: armored cars break down, gunners and drivers suddenly disappear somewhere. But even one car is enough to stop the Petliurists.

Shpolyansky has an envious person - the son of a librarian - Rusakov, who has syphilis. Once Shpolyansky helped Rusakov to print an atheistic poem. Now Rusakov repents, he spits on his work and believes that syphilis is a punishment for atheism. He tearfully prays to God for forgiveness.

Shpolyansky and the driver Shchur go on reconnaissance and do not return. Pleshko, the commander of the armored division, also disappears.

Chapter 10

Hussar Colonel Nai-Tours - a talented commander - is completing the formation of the second division of the squad. No supplies. His junkers are stripped. Nai-Tours knocks out boots for all the cadets from Staff General Makushin.

On the morning of December 14, Petliura attacked Kiev. An order came from the headquarters: Nye must guard the Polytechnic Highway with his junkers. There he entered into battle with the Petliurists. The forces were unequal, so Nye sent three junkers to find out when help from other hetman units would come, transport was still needed to evacuate the wounded. After a while the junkers report that there will be no help. Nye realizes that he and his cadets are trapped.

Meanwhile, in the barracks on Lvovskaya Street, the third section of the infantry squad of twenty-eight cadets awaits orders. Since all the officers left for the headquarters, corporal Nikolai Turbin turns out to be the senior in the detachment. The phone rang and the order came in to move into position. Nikolka leads his squad to the indicated place.

Alexei Turbin comes to a former Parisian fashion store at two o'clock, where he sees Malyshev, who burns papers. Malyshev advises Turbine to burn the shoulder straps and leave through the back door. Turbin only followed his advice at night.

Chapter 11

Petliura takes the city. Colonel Nye Tours heroically dies, covering the withdrawal of the cadets, whom he orders to rip off shoulder straps and cockades. Nikolka Turbin, who remained next to Nai-Tours, sees his death, and then runs away himself, hiding in the courtyards. Through Podol, he returns home and finds Elena crying there: Alexey has not returned yet. By nightfall, Nikolka manages to fall asleep, but he wakes up when he hears the voice of a stranger: “She was with her lover on the same sofa on which I read her poetry. And after the bills for seventy-five thousand I signed without hesitation, like a gentleman ... And, imagine, a coincidence: I arrived here at the same time as your brother. " Hearing about his brother, Nikolka jumps out of bed and rushes into the living room. Alexei was wounded in the arm. The inflammation has begun, but he cannot be taken to the hospital, because the Petliurites can find him there. Fortunately, neither bones nor large vessels are affected.

Part three

Chapter 12

The stranger was Larion Surzhansky, whom everyone calls Lariosik. He is Talberg's nephew from Zhitomir. He left the city to stay with his relatives, because his wife cheated on him. Lariosik is kind and clumsy, loves canaries. He is comfortable and joyful at the Turbins. He brought with him an impressive wad of money, so Turbines willingly forgive him for the broken service.

Alexei starts to have a fever. A doctor is called for him and an injection of morphine relieves his suffering. Turbina's neighbors are told that Alexei has typhus, they hide his injury. Nikolka, on the other hand, rips off all the inscriptions from the stove, which indicate that officers live in the house.

Chapter 13

Alexey Turbin was wounded because he decided, after running out of a Parisian fashion store, not to go straight home, but to see what was happening in the center of Kiev. On Vladimirskaya Street, he came across the Petliurists, who immediately recognized him as an officer, because Turbin, although he tore off his shoulder straps, forgot to take off his cockade. “Well, then, an officer! Trymay the officer! " They shout. The Petliurites wounded Turbin in the shoulder. Alexei took out a revolver and fired six bullets at the Petliurites, leaving the seventh for himself so as not to be captured and to avoid torture. Then he ran by the yards. In some courtyard, he found himself in a dead end, exhausted by the loss of blood. An unknown woman named Yulia, who lived in one of the houses, hid Turbin at her place, threw away his bloody clothes, washed and bandaged his wound, and a day later brought him home to Alekseevsky descent.

Chapter 14

Alexei, indeed, has typhoid fever, which Turbins talked about in order to hide his injury. Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky and Karas appear in turn in the apartment on Alekseevsky Spusk. They stay with the Turbins and play cards all night long. The sudden call at the door makes everyone nervous, but that is only the postman who brought a belated telegram about the arrival of Lariosik. As soon as everyone calms down, they knocked on the door. Opening the door, Myshlaevsky literally caught Lisovich, the Turbins' neighbor from below, in his arms.

Chapter 15

It turns out that the bell rang at Lisovich's door that evening. He did not want to open it, but they threatened him that they would start shooting. Then Lisovich let three men armed with revolvers into the apartment. They searched his apartment "by order", showing Lisovich some kind of paper with a fuzzy seal, allegedly in support of their words. Uninvited guests they quickly find a cache in the wall, in which Lisovich hid money. They take everything from Vasilisa, including clothes and shoes, and then demand that he write a receipt stating that he gave all the things and money voluntarily to Kirpaty and Nemolyaka. Then the robbers left, and Vasilisa rushed to the Turbins.

Myshlaevsky advises Lisovich not to complain anywhere and to be glad that he survived. Nikolka decided to check whether the revolvers hung outside the window were in place, but the box was not there. The robbers took him and, possibly, it was with this weapon that they threatened Vasilisa and his wife. Turbines tightly clog the gap between the houses, through which the robbers entered.

Chapter 16

The next day, after a prayer service in St. Sophia Cathedral, a parade began in Kiev. There was a crush. In this crush, a Bolshevik orator climbed the fountain and made a speech. The crowd of people did not immediately understand what the Bolshevik-revolutionary was agitating for, while the Petliurists, on the contrary, understood everything and wanted to arrest the speaker. But instead of the Bolshevik, Shchur and Shpolyansky surrender to the Petliurists a Ukrainian nationalist, who is falsely accused of theft. The crowd begins to beat the thief, and the Bolshevik manages to escape. Karas and Shervinsky admire the boldness of the Bolsheviks.

Chapter 17

Nikolka cannot muster the resolve to inform the relatives of Colonel Nai-Tours about his death. finally, he makes a decision and goes to the right address. A woman in pince-nez opens the door to his apartment. besides her, there are two more ladies in the apartment: an elderly one and a young one, very similar in appearance to Nai Tours. Nikolka did not have to say anything, because the colonel's mother understood everything from his face. Nikolka decides to help the colonel's sister, Irina, to take his brother's body from the morgue of the anatomical theater. Nai-Turs is buried as expected. The colonel's family is very grateful to Nikolka.

Chapter 18

On December 22, Alexei Turbin becomes very ill. He no longer comes to his senses. Three doctors, having gathered a council, pass a merciless verdict. In tears, Elena begins to pray that Alexei will come to his senses. Their mother died, her husband abandoned Elena. How can she survive alone with Nikolka without Alexei? Her prayer was answered. Alexey came to his senses.

Chapter 19

In February 19919, the power of Petliura came to an end. Alexei is recovering and can already move around the apartment, however, with a cane. He begins to practice again and sees patients at home.

Rusakov, a patient with syphilis, comes to see him, who scolds Shpolyansky for nothing and speaks on religious topics. Turbin advises him not to get carried away with religion, so as not to go crazy and be treated for syphilis.

Alexei found Yulia, the woman who saved him, and gives her as a token of gratitude a bracelet that once belonged to his mother. On the way home from Yulia, Alexei met with Nikolka, who was visiting Nai-Tours' sister, Irina.

In the evening, Lisovich came to the Turbins 'apartment with a letter from Warsaw, in which the Turbins' acquaintances expressed bewilderment about Talberg and Elena's divorce, as well as in connection with his new marriage.

Chapter 20

On the night of February 3, the Petliurites, before leaving Kiev for good, dragged a Jew across the ground, whom Kozyr-Leshko beat on the head with a ramrod until he died.

Alexei dreams that he is fleeing from the Petliurites, but dies.

Lisovich dreams that some piglets with fangs ravaged his wonderful garden, and then pounced on him.

At the Darnitsa station there is an armored train in which a Red Army soldier stubbornly fights dreams.

Rusakov is not sleeping, he is reading the Bible.
Elena dreams of Shervinsky, who clings a star to his chest and Nikolka, who looks like a dead man.

But the most better sleep sees five-year-old Petya Scheglov, who lives with his mother in the wing. He dreams of a green meadow, and in the center of the meadow there is a sparkling ball. Splashes erupt from the ball and Petya laughs in his sleep.

Conclusion

Mikhail Bulgakov said that the "White Guard" is "a stubborn image of the Russian intelligentsia as the best layer in our country ...". One of the most important motives in the novel is the theme of the family. For the Turbins, their home is like Noah's Ark, in which everyone can take refuge in the turbulent, terrible years of the raging revolution and chaos of anarchy. At the same time, each of the heroes strives to preserve himself, his self, his humanity in this dashing time.

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