M bitter early work. Gorky's Early Romantic Works. Early romantic work of M. Gorky

Introduction

1. A word about the writer.

2Features of Gorky's early work.

3. The story "Old Woman Izergil" - awareness of a person's personality:

a) "disembodied cloud" of human life;

b) burning heart;

c) the origins of glory and infamy;

d) Izergil is the romantic ideal of freedom.

Conclusion

Introduction

Maxim Gorky entered literature during a period of spiritual crisis that struck Russian society at the turn of the century. The dreams of harmony between man and society that inspired the writers of the 19th century remained unrealized; social and interstate contradictions are aggravated to the limit, threatening to be resolved by a world war and a revolutionary explosion. Unbelief, despondency, apathy for some have become the norm, for others - an impetus to find a way out. Gorky noted that he began to write "by the force of pressure ... of a painfully poor life," to which he sought to oppose his idea of ​​a person, his ideal.

The early work of M. Gorky (the 90s of the 19th century - the first half of the 1900s) goes under the sign of “gathering” the truly human: “I got to know people very early and even in my youth I began to invent the Man in order to satiate my thirst for beauty. Wise people ... convinced me that I had ill-invented consolation for myself. Then I again went to the people and - it's so understandable! - again from them I return to the Man, ”Gorky wrote at that time. Gorky's stories of the 1990s can be divided into two groups. Some of them are based on fiction: the author uses legends or composes them himself. Others draw characters and scenes from the real life of tramps (“Chelkash”, “Emelyan Pilyai”, “Once Upon a Fall”, “Twenty-six and One”, etc.). The heroes of all these stories have a romantic attitude.

The hero of the first Gorky story "Makar Chudra" reproaches people for their slavish psychology. Slave people are contrasted in this romantic narrative by the freedom-loving natures of Loiko Zobar and the beautiful Rada. The thirst for personal freedom is so strong for them that they even look at love as a chain that binds their independence. Loiko and Rada, with their spiritual beauty and power of passion, surpass all those around them, which leads to a tense conflict, ending in the death of the heroes. The story "Makar Chudra" affirms the ideal of personal freedom.

The story "Old Woman Izergil" refers to the masterpieces of M. Gorky's early work. The writer here is not interested in the manifestation of the individual character of the hero, but in the generalized concept of the human in the personality.

In the early romantic works of Gorky, the concept of personality is formed, which will be developed in the later works of the writer.

1. A word about the writer

Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov (M. Gorky - a pseudonym) was born in Nizhny Novgorod on March 16 (28), 1868. His father, a cabinetmaker who became the manager of a steamship office in Astrakhan, died early from cholera (1871). Mother, daughter of the owner of the dyeing workshop V.I. Kashirina, remarried, but soon died of consumption (1879). The boy lived in his grandfather's house, where quarrels reigned, litigation for the division of property between the mother's brothers. It was very difficult for a child to be among them. He was saved by an active, gifted tour and the love of his grandmother. For six years, Alyosha, under the guidance of his grandfather, mastered the Church Slavonic letter, then the civil press. He studied for two years at the Sloboda school, for the 3rd grade he passed as an external student, receiving a certificate of merit. By that time, the grandfather had gone bankrupt and gave his grandson "to the people." Peshkov worked as a messenger in a fashion store, as a servant for a draftsman-contractor and Sergeyev, as a vessel worker on steamboats, as an apprentice in a foreign-painting workshop, as a foreman at fair buildings, and as an extra in a theater. And he read a lot with greed, at first “everything that came to hand”, later he discovered the rich world of Russian literary classics, books on art and philosophy.

In the summer of 1884 he went to Kazan, dreaming of studying at the university. But he was forced to earn a living as a day laborer, laborer, loader, baker's assistant. In Kazan, he met students, attended their gatherings, became close to the populist-minded intelligentsia, read forbidden literature, and attended self-education circles. The hardships of life, the perception of repression against students, personal love drama led to a mental crisis and a suicide attempt. In the summer of 1888, Peshkov left with the populist M. A. Romas for the village of Krasnovidovo to propagate revolutionary ideas among the peasantry. After the defeat of Romas' bookshop, the young man went to the Caspian Sea, worked there in the fishing industry.

Experienced over all these years later gave rise to the autobiographical prose of M. Gorky; He called the stories about the first three periods of his life according to their content: "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities" (1913-1923).

After a stay in the Caspian, "walking in Rus'" began. Peshkov proceeded on foot, earning by labor for food, the middle and southern regions of Russia. In between travels, he lived in Nizhny Novgorod (1889-1891), doing various menial jobs, then he was a clerk for a lawyer; participated in revolutionary secret activities, for which he was first arrested (1889). In Nizhny he met V. G. Korolenko, who supported the creative undertakings of "this nugget with undoubted literary talent."

2. Romantic ideas in the early works of M. Gorky

Romantic works ("Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil", "About a Little Fairy and a Young Shepherd", "Song of the Falcon", "Mute", "Khan and His Son", etc. constitute a special group in the writer's work of the 1890s. .). The writer gives new breath to this literary direction(romanticism), which lost its influence by the middle of the nineteenth century.

What made Gorky turn to romanticism? Already in the early, creatively immature poem of the writer, the words are heard: "I came into the world to disagree." These words can serve as an epigraph to all of Gorky's work. The motive of disagreement with reality, in which "lead abominations" reign, there is social injustice, oppression of some people by others, cruelty, violence, poverty, is the leading one. Gorky dreams of a strong, independent, free personality, "with the sun in his blood." But in real life and even in contemporary literature, there were no such people, so the writer bluntly stated, “... that the luxurious mirror of Russian literature for some reason did not reflect outbursts of popular anger ...”, and accused literature of being was not looking for "heroes, she loved to talk about people who are strong only in patience, meek, soft, dreaming of heaven in heaven, silently suffering on earth." Such a position was unacceptable for a maximalist writer. Therefore, Gorky turned to romanticism, which allowed him to portray the hero-figure. Gorky's romantic works are imbued with the pathos of life-affirmation and faith in man.

Gorky's romantic works are characterized by the following features:

hero type- the hero stands out sharply from the environment (recall formula of romanticism : "an exceptional hero in exceptional circumstances"), he is rejected, lonely, opposed to the world of everyday reality (cf. Sokol - Uzh), abstractly handsome (Gorky's heroes are not endowed with detailed portrait and psychological characteristics), proud, independent; this hero is ready to argue with fate itself, defending his right to freedom (and this is the main value for which it is worth going to death);

Traditional Choice freedom themes(freedom of the individual), poeticization of freedom (the conflict “mind-feeling” is transformed in Gorky’s works into the conflict “feeling-freedom” (“Makar Chudra”); the author uses symbol images, traditional in the works of romantics, - sea, steppe, sky, wind, falcon (petrel));

Heroes do not act in real, but in a fictional world(the writer refers to a legend, a fairy tale, were - folklore material);

plays a special role scenery, acting at the same time as the background and the hero of the story (the legend of Danko, "Old Woman Izergil");

Use of special visual means: hyperbole(in the description of feelings, thoughts, actions, portrait), epithets, metaphors, comparisons, personifications, highly solemn vocabulary(what makes prose related to poetry);

Often meets framing composition(story within a story). Such a composition of the narrative is subject to one goal: the most complete recreation of the image of the protagonist.

In addition to the narrator (old woman Izergil, Makar Chudra), the image of a "passing", listener(image of the narrator). This image does not manifest itself directly, but is necessary to express the author's position.

The romantic hero is conceived as the destroyer of the sleepy stagnation of the majority. It is said about the gypsy Loiko Zobar (“Makar Chudra”): “With such a person you yourself become better ...” In the bloody drama that unfolded between him and Radda, there is also a rejection of ordinary human fate. In the Wallachian fairy tale “About the Little Fairy and the Young Shepherd” (1892), the young shepherd dreams of “going somewhere far, far away, where there would be nothing that he knew ...”, and the fairy Maya can only live in her native forest. The heroine of "The Girl and Death" (early 1990s, published in 1917) carries in her heart "an unearthly power" and "an unearthly light". Everywhere boring everyday life is opposed by spiritual impulses of rare energy. The Chudra concludes his tale in this way: “... go your own way, without turning aside. Go straight ahead. Maybe you won’t die in vain.”

Having sung a bright personality following his own path, Gorky turned to the sharp spiritual conflicts of the legendary heroes. In a number of romantic narratives "Old Woman Izergil", "Song of the Falcon » (1895–1899), "Khan and his son" (1896), "Mute » (1896) reflects a heterogeneous collision, often tragic, between a dream, a spiritualized feeling, an attraction to the Beautiful and a fear of life, a dull indifference to beauty.

3 The story "Old Woman Izergil" - awareness of a person's personality

The story was published in 1894 in Samarskaya Gazeta, where Gorky received a permanent employee position. Conceptually and thematically, this work is close to the story "Makar Chudra". Firstly, the writer here complicated the composition. He used double frame. The first "frame" is traditionally a seascape, mysterious and fantastic. Against its background, the image of the main character stands out - the old gypsy Izergil, who tells a casual listener (the image of the narrator) the story of her life. The image of the old woman is endowed with the same qualities as the image of Makar Chudra in the story of the same name. She is characterized by uncompromisingness, the desire for personal freedom, admiration for strong personalities. And the legends inserted into her story (the first is about the proud Larr, the second is about Danko), in addition to serving as a second “frame”, also allow us to better understand and comprehend life position the main character. These legends tell about the events of bygone days, and the heroes are the spokesmen for two opposite points of view (antithesis) on the problem of the meaning of life.

The condemnation of individualism and the affirmation of a heroic deed in the name of the freedom and happiness of the people - such is the idea of ​​the story "The Old Woman Izergil".

The story is constructed in a peculiar way: with an internal unity of idea and tone, it consists of three, as it were, independent parts. The first part is the legend of Larra, the second is Izergil's story about his youth, the third is the legend of Danko. At the same time, the first and third parts - the legends about Larra and Danko - are opposite to each other. A characteristic feature of the story is that it has two narrators and, accordingly, two narrative planes. The general narration is conducted on behalf of the author, who speaks with his thoughts, reflections, assessments. In conclusion, he emphasizes the beauty of the fairy tale about Danko. And the second narrator is the old woman Izergil, who keeps in her memory folk tales about a feat, about evil and good in human life.

The people surrounding the old woman Izergil are also depicted as powerful, strong and almost fabulous heroes.

Gorky writes about Moldovans as follows:

“They walked and sang and laughed; men - bronze, with lush, black mustaches and thick curls to the shoulders, in short jackets and wide trousers; women and girls - cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze ...

These people in their appearance are not much different from Loiko Zobar, Radda and Danko. Thus, romantic and heroic features were emphasized in life. They are also given in the biography of Izergil. This was done in order to shade an important idea: heroic romance does not oppose life, it only expresses what is inherent in reality itself in a stronger and more vivid form.

The first legend tells of "antihero"- selfish and proud Larre, who, being the son of an eagle and a mortal woman, is filled with contempt for people, their laws, their way of life.

Larra is the embodiment of extreme individualism. He considers himself the first on earth. He does not consider it necessary for himself to obey the laws of the human community, therefore he easily commits a crime - the murder of a girl who refused him. For this he is rejected by human society, expelled from among people. He doesn't feel punished at first, but living alone makes him beg for death. People refuse him this, and even the earth does not want to accept him into its bosom. So he turns into an eternal wanderer, into a shadow, and there is no shelter and peace for him anywhere. And the greatest blessing - life - becomes for him a hopeless torment.

In the second legend, another hero, Danko, is presented. He, just like Larra, is handsome and proud, he also stands out from the crowd of people. But Danko, unlike Larra, heroic personality. His whole short life is given to people. Danko leads his people to freedom from a life of slavery: from the darkness of swampy swamps and dark forests, he leads desperate fellow tribesmen to the light (read, to a different life). On the way there were extraordinary difficulties, insurmountable obstacles. And when, tired by the difficult path, people lost heart, when they began to reproach Danko for their inability to manage them, hesitated and were ready to turn back, the hero’s heart flared with the fire of desire to save them. And in order to illuminate the difficult and long path and support the doubting and tired, he tore out his heart from his chest, which burns like a torch from great love and compassion for people, and raised it high above his head.

“It burned so brightly; like the sun, and brighter than the sun, and the whole forest fell silent, illuminated by this torch of great love for people, and the darkness scattered from its light and there, deep in the forest, trembling, fell into the rotten mouth of the swamp. The people, amazed, became like stones.

- Let's go! Danko shouted and rushed forward to his place, holding his burning heart high and lighting the way for people with it.

The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bselfless love for people, heroic self-sacrifice in the name of the happiness of the people, Gorky claims in the legend of Danko.

So, Larra's freedom – it is an individualistic, selfish freedom that turns into a punishment of loneliness. Freedom Danko – it is altruistic freedom, necessary in the name of selfless service to people.

The legends about Larra and Danko are conditional, they are needed in order to clarify the worldview of the main character and the author's point of view.

Really, the central place in the work is still occupied by the story of Izergil herself about her life. This is a story of meetings and partings, short novels that do not leave a noticeable mark in the soul of the heroine. Talking about her hobbies, the heroine focuses the listener's attention on herself, on her indomitable thirst for life and love. But none of her lovers are described in detail, even the names of some have already been erased from her memory. They, like shadows, pass before the listener: a black-moustached fisherman from the Prut, a fiery-red Hutsul, an important Turk, his son, a “little Pole”. But only for the sake of the last lover, Arkadek, Izergil risks his life. Arkadek is a heroic person. He fought for the freedom of the Greeks and was ready to accomplish a feat, "he was ready to go to the ends of the world to do something." To save him from captivity, Izergil, disguised as a beggar, enters the village, where her lover and his comrades are languishing in prison. She has to kill the guard. But having heard false gratitude, Izergil herself rejects her lover. As a result, the rebellious and proud Izergil becomes like all people: he starts a family, raises children, and, having grown old, tells legends and fairy tales to young people, recalling the past, heroic times.

Izergil herself lived a significant and colorful life in her own way. She loved helping good people.

But she lacked what we call ideal. And only Danko embodied the highest understanding of the beauty and greatness of man, sacrificing his life for the happiness of the people. So in the very composition of the story his idea is revealed.

What type of personality is represented in the image of the old woman Izergil? The old woman herself brings her life closer to the life of Danko, this particular hero is an example for her. Indeed, one can find similar features in her life: the ability to perform a feat in the name of love, life among people. It is she who owns the aphoristic statements: "The beautiful are always brave", "In life there is always a place for a feat."

But anyway the image of the old woman is devoid of integrity, some contradictions can be seen: her feelings are sometimes shallow, superficial, her actions are unpredictable, spontaneous, selfish. These traits bring her closer to Larra. Thus, the character of Izergil is ambiguous, contradictory.

But in addition to the point of view of the heroine herself, the story also expresses the narrator's point of view. The narrator occasionally asks the old woman questions, wondering about the fate of her lovers. And it is from her answers that it becomes clear that Izergil is not very concerned about their fate. She explains this indifference to people in her own way: “I was happy for this: I never met again those whom I once loved. These are not good meetings, it’s all the same with the dead ... ”The author does not accept such an explanation, and we feel that he is still inclined to consider Izergil’s personality type close to Larra’s personality type. portrait characteristic Izergil, given by the narrator, once again emphasizes this similarity: “Time bent her in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery. Her dry voice sounded strange, it crunched, as if the old woman spoke with her bones... There were black pits in place of her cheeks, and in one of them lay a strand of ash-gray hair... The skin on her face, neck and arms was all wrinkled... " Such a portrait gives a resemblance to Larra, who "has already become like a shadow."

So, the central image of the story is not at all ideal, but rather contradictory. This indicates that the consciousness of the hero-individualist is anarchic, his love of freedom can be directed both for good and for evil to people.

In the story “Old Woman Izergil”, Larra, who considered himself “the first on earth”, is likened to a mighty beast: “He was dexterous, predatory, strong, cruel and did not meet people face to face”; "He had no tribe, no mother, no livestock, no wife, and he didn't want any of that." And over the years, it turns out that this "son of an eagle and a woman" is deprived of a heart: Larra wanted to plunge a knife into himself, but "the knife broke - they hit it like a stone." The punishment that befell him is terrible and natural - to be a shadow: "He does not understand either the speech of people, or their actions - nothing." In the image of Larra, an anti-human essence is recreated.

Danko cultivated in himself an inexhaustible love for those who "were like animals", "like wolves" who surrounded him, "so that it would be easier for them to capture and kill Danko." And only one desire possessed them - to displace from their consciousness the darkness, cruelty, fear of the dark forest, from where "something terrible, dark and cold looked at the walking ones." Danko's bright feeling was born of deep longing at the sight of fellow tribesmen who had lost their human appearance. And the hero's heart caught fire and burned to dispel the darkness, not only of the forest, but above all of the soul. The final accent is sad: the rescued did not notice the “proud heart” that fell nearby, and one of them, “afraid of something”, stepped on it with his foot. The gift of self-sacrificing compassion did not seem to have reached; its highest goal.

The story "Old Woman Izergil" in two legendary parts and the woman's memories of the beloved of her youth conveys the bitter truth about the dual human race. He has united the antipodes from the century: handsome men who love, and "old people from birth." Therefore, the story is riddled with symbolic parallels: light and darkness, sun and marsh cold, fiery heart and stone flesh. The thirst for complete overcoming of base experience remains unfulfilled, people continue to live in two ways.

Conclusion

The legend of Larra, the story of Izergil and the legend of Danko at first glance seem to be independent, existing independently of each other. Actually it is not. Each of the three parts of the story expresses a general idea and answers the question, what is the happiness of a person.

The people decide to punish the selfish Larra with eternal loneliness. And the greatest blessing - life - becomes for him a hopeless torment.

The old woman Izergil plays a significant role in the story. Fully preserving the realistic character of the image, Gorky at the same time draws a man of "rebellious life". Of course, the "rebellious life" of Izergil and the feat of Danko are different phenomena, and Gorky does not identify them. But the image of the narrator enhances the overall romantic flavor of the work.

Izergil enthusiastically speaks of people with a strong will, with powerful and bright characters, capable of a feat. She recalls her lover: “... he loved exploits. And when a person loves feats, he always knows how to do them and finds where it is possible. In life, you know, there is always a place for exploits.

In The Old Woman Izergil, the very manner of Gorky's writing has a romantic character. The writer emphasizes both in people and in nature, mainly the unusual, sublime and beautiful. When Izergil talks about Larra and Danko, fragments of clouds of “magnificent, strange shapes and colors” roam the sky, the sky is decorated with golden specks of stars. "All this - sounds and smells, clouds and people - was strangely beautiful and sad, it seemed like the beginning of a wonderful fairy tale."

Everybody is here means of expression are subordinated not so much to the desire to accurately depict an object or phenomena, but to create a certain elevated mood. This is served by abundantly used hyperbole, and lyrically colored epithets, and comparisons.

List of sources used

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Slides captions:

Alexei Maksimovich Gorky (Peshkov) Early work on the example of the story "Old Woman Izergil"

Gorky's creative path begins in September 1892 with the publication of the story "Makar Chudra". (then his pseudonym appears) 1895. The story "Old Woman Izergil" was published. Early stories are romantic in nature.

Romanticism Display and reproduction of life outside the real-concrete connections of a person with the surrounding reality, the image of an exceptional personality, often lonely and dissatisfied with the present, striving for a distant ideal and therefore in sharp conflict with society, with people.

Early romantic works "Makar Chudra", "Girl and Death", "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", "Song of the Falcon", "Song of the Petrel", etc. In the center of the story is a romantic hero - a proud, strong, freedom-loving, lonely person, a destroyer of the bitter vegetative life of the majority. The action takes place in an unusual, often exotic setting: in a gypsy camp, in communion with the elements, with the natural world. Actions often shift to legendary times.

"Old Woman Izergil" Heroes appear in a romantic landscape. Give examples to prove this. What time of day does the story take place? Why? What natural images can you highlight? Which artistic means used by the author in the image of nature? Why is the landscape shown in this way in the story? What is the composition of the story?

Analysis of the legend of Larra Who are the main characters of the first legend? Is the story of the birth of a young man important for understanding his character? How does the character relate to other people? A romantic work is characterized by a conflict between the crowd and the hero. What is at the heart of the conflict between Larra and humans? What is the difference between pride and pride. Distinguish between these words. Prove that it is pride, and not pride, that is characteristic of Larra.

What leads to the extreme individualism of the hero? What punishment did Larra suffer for his pride? Why do you think this punishment is worse than death? What is the author's attitude to the psychology of individualism?

Analysis of the legend of Danko What are the main features of Danko? What is the basis of his actions? What act did the hero do for the love of people? How is the relationship between Danko and the crowd?

CONCLUSION We see that Larra is a romantic anti-ideal, so the conflict between the hero and the crowd is inevitable. Danko is a romantic ideal, but the relationship between the hero and the crowd is also based on conflict. This is one of the features of a romantic work. ? Why do you think the story ends with the legend of Danko?

Independent work Comparison of the images of Danko and Larra. Criteria. Danko Larra 1. Attitude towards the crowd 2. The crowd is a hero 3. Distinctive feature character 4. Attitude to life 5. Legend and modernity 6. Actions performed by heroes 7. Attitude of the writer to the heroes

Homework: Reading the play “At the Bottom”; Consider the history of the creation of the play, the genre of the work, the conflict.

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

Literature lesson in grade 11 "M. Gorky's early work"

The material presents the development of a meta-subject lesson based on Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil", the concept of "pride" is considered on the material of the story, the concept of "pride" is introduced; self-service offered...

Life and work of Maxim Gorky. Early Romantic Stories. Problems and features of the composition of the story.

The purpose of the lesson: to introduce students to the milestones of Gorky's biography and work; show the features of Gorky's romanticism. Follow how the writer's intention is revealed in the composition of the stories.Method ...

(1868-1936) By the beginning of the century, Gorky had knowledge in many areas of culture, showed great erudition. The idea that Gorky was primarily a publicist, and not an artist, was picked up in the 1980s-1990s by modern criticism, which "in the bustle of changing ideas" lost its objectivity of assessments. others - "a talented nugget from the people", for the third - "petrel of the revolution." After the publication of the novel "Mother" symbolist criticism announced the final fall of Gorky's talent, the "end" of him as an artist. In the 1930s, Gorky - founder of the literature of socialist realism. First literary experiences Maxim Gorky(Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov) belong to the 80s. By this time, Peshkov's first acquaintance with populists and Marxists dates back. The name of the writer appears in print in 1892 - his story was published in the Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" Makar Chudra. Around Gorky's work, the struggle of various ideological and artistic movements flared up. In 1889, Gorky brought Korolenko the poem “ Song of the Old Oak". The poem was unsuccessful, weak. After Korolenko's criticism, Gorky destroyed it, but a line was preserved in his memory, which expressed the main idea of ​​the poem: "I came into the world to disagree." The pathos of "disagreement", "denial" will permeate his work of the 90s. H the aspiring writer called for active "disagreement" with the existing reality. In the early period of his work, Gorky wrote several works in which the traditions of the revolutionary democratic satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin are even tangible. (“Conversation to the Soul”, 1893; “The Wise Radish”; stories about the “masters of life”). Exposing the "lead abominations" of life, the artist opposed them with his ideal of moral and social relations between people. In the mind of a young writer literature should be a "scourge" and a "noble bell" calling for action. The pathos of protest and the desire to awaken in the reader an active attitude to life, to influence him social psychology expressed primarily in the heroic-romantic works of Gorky, built on a legendary-fantastic plot basis. This was clearly expressed in the legends about Danko and Larra included in the story. "Old Isergil" (1895). Legend of Larra directed against the pseudo-heroism of individualism, which was poeticized by the symbolists, the legend of Danko opposed individualistic ethics to the heroism of collectivism. Gorky's belief in the ability of the human spirit to create the beauty of the world determined the social and moral optimism of his works. Later, when he finally frees himself from the influence of populist ideology and begins to reflect on the ideals of socialism, as a social and moral doctrine close to him, he will already refute Nietzsche. Gorky’s stories also reveal an original understanding of the traditions of Russian literature, devoted to the peasant theme. The Russian village of the end of the century in the image of Gorky is full of internal contradictions. Gorky destroys the populists' illusions about the harmony of the village "world" ("Conclusion", 1895; "Shabry", 1896). The pictures of rural life in these works are reminiscent of sketches of rural life in the work of sixties writers. But the pathos of Gorky's stories was different. Gorky wrote primarily about the spiritual health of the Russian muzhik, about his social and moral quest, while hidden, but real creative forces. The story " Cyrillic" ( 1899). Gorky speaks of the awakening of the public consciousness of the Russian peasant, predicting the inevitable explosion of the contradictions of Russian life. Gorky's heroes are people of not average dignity, but outstanding natures, they are united by the rarest qualities of character, unusual actions. Gorky seeks to put his characters in situations that are extremely pointed, to show a person at turning points in his fate, self-determination in the difficult turns of life. Gorky's landscape usually had a generalizing meaning, a philosophical content. Landscape symbolism expressed the author's premonitions of a social storm, a social explosion. This is the scene of the approaching storm in « Former people"(1897), pictures of the storm in "Song of the Petrel" (1901), thunderstorms in "Chelkashe" (1895). In stories "For them" « Bell", "Obsession", Gorky drew a gallery of entrepreneurs - from small first-time savers to the latest type of bourgeois. In these stories, for the first time in the writer's work, the theme of generations also appears: the very successes of the "masters of the current situation" are pushing them to death: the more they "triumph", the faster it will come. Gorky tried to show Russian life in its historical movement . ("Foma Gordeev", 1899; " Three", 1900) and dramaturgy (" Philistines", 1901; " At the bottom", 1902; " summer residents", 1904). In the novel "Foma Gordeev", published in 1899 in the journal "Life", a theme was set that would sound in full force in Gorky's work in subsequent years - the internal decomposition of the bourgeois class, the historical doom of the existing world order . "Foma Gordeev" became the writer's first novel about the fate of generations. Gorky himself defined work on the novel as "a transition to a new form of literary existence." In the novel, a string of primary accumulators passes before the reader, who have become "masters of life." But it is not these people that are brought to the fore, but the bourgeois of the new formation, who inherited the money of their fathers and adopted new methods of dealing with capital. The central hero of this circle is Yakov Mayakin, the “ideologist” and leader of the new merchant class, who is not only interested in the fate of the altyn put into circulation, but also eager for power and social influence. He glorifies bourgeois progress, the merchant class, which he regards as the only life-giving force of Russian economic and cultural life. Therefore, Mayakin demands for the merchants a living "space", a share in the government of the country. Gorky wrote that he gave Mayakin the features of Nietzscheanism. As for the attitude of the writer himself to the hero, Gorky’s polemic with the philosophy of Nietzsche, which the writer considered the philosophy of “masters”, justifying their power over people, is already heard here. The tragedy of Thomas is that he cannot oppose anything to the immoral force of this world. He rebels, but his rebellion is doomed, it is the rebellion of a weak loner. In the early 1900s, Gorky turned to drama, seeing in the theater a platform from which he could directly address the mass democratic reader. The first work of Gorky the playwright was the play "Pimps" ( Scenes in the Bessemenovs' House) (1901) The main conflict of Gorky's play is the clash of the world of petty-bourgeois proprietors with the opposing camp of the Nile, bourgeois ideology and ethics with new views on the world and man, emerging among the progressive democratic intelligentsia. The play is based on ideological disputes, clashes of various ideological platforms. At one pole - the Nile and the Fields, democratically minded intellectuals are drawn to them, at the other - the Bessemenovs (of both the older and younger generations). The theme of philistinism and tense expectation of the future is at the center of both plays. But if in Chekhov's play philistinism sets in, then in Gorky's play a different situation develops: a new force is actively attacking the whole way of life - new people whose dream of the future is already based on real foundations in the present. The main conflict of "Petty Bourgeois" is clearly expressed in the ideological struggle. Gorky's second play "At the bottom", written during the winter and summer of 1902, brought him worldwide fame. It was the writer's response to the most pressing social, philosophical and moral problems of the time. Ideological topicality immediately attracted the attention of the Russian public to the play. Around her, a sharp struggle unfolded between various ideological currents. Critics of the reactionary-monarchist direction saw in it a revolutionary sermon that undermines social foundations. Liberal criticism presented the writer as a preacher of Christian morality. Populist critics questioned the realistic content of Gorky's work, and his humanism was regarded as a proud contempt for little man. The history of the struggle around the play emphasized its ideological relevance. Thematically, the play completed the cycle of Gorky's works about "tramps". It reflects the facts and events of our time that really took place. In this sense, it was a sentence to the social system, which threw many people endowed with intelligence, feeling, talent, to the "bottom" of life, led them to a tragic death. Gorky argued that a society that distorted the human in a person cannot exist. The heroes of the play - the Actor, Ashes, Nastya, Natasha, Klesch - strive to break free from the "bottom" of life, but feel their own impotence in front of this "prison". They have a feeling of hopelessness of their fate and a craving for a dream, an illusion that gives at least some hope for the future. When the illusory nature of hopes becomes apparent, these people perish. The loss of hope caused the death of his soul, Gorky said about the fate of the Actor. Works hard, passionately wants to return to working life Tick. The bearer of the idea of ​​consoling deceit in the play is Luke. The principle of his attitude to man is the idea of ​​compassion. Throughout the course of the play, Gorky shows the inhumanity of passive compassionate humanism. Subjectively, Luka, the bearer of the idea of ​​such humanism, is honest, evokes sympathy even for the gloomy Klesh; he wants to help people by giving them, however illusory, hope for the future. For Luke, a person is weak and insignificant before the circumstances of life, which, in his opinion, cannot be changed. And if so, it is necessary to reconcile a person with life, instilling a comforting “truth” that is convenient for him. And there are as many such truths as there are those who are eager to find it: the truth and the truth of life become relative concepts. And it turns out that even in this world, where compassion would be a natural expression of a humane attitude towards a person, a comforting lie leads to a tragic denouement. And it comes in the fourth act of the play. Illusions dissipated. The Actor dies, Nastya rushes about. The nochlezhka is a picture of complete destruction. The so-called "heroless" composition drama. If in the play “At the Bottom” Gorky summed up the theme of the “tramp” in his work, then in other plays he identified new stage in the development of the theme of the intelligentsia. In 1904-1905. Gorky writes plays "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun" (1905), "Barbarians" (1905). The central problem of the plays is the intelligentsia and the people, the intelligentsia and the revolution. The cycle of these plays opened “ summer residents". Gorky himself defined the main theme of the play in a letter to the director. : "I wanted to portray that part of the Russian intelligentsia that came out of the democratic strata and, having reached a certain height of social position, lost contact with the people - their blood relatives, forgot about their interests and the need to expand life for them ...". This Gorky judgment reveals the meaning of the images of Ryumin, Kaleria. These intellectuals, appearing to be the antipodes of the philistines, are in fact people of the same life and ideological direction, a product of the same environment as the Basovs, Suslovs, who, without hiding their life credo, declare the “right to rest” after the unrest of the social movement. All these people have shut themselves off from life and its demands. Gorky rips off the mask of spiritual refinement and complexity from the philistine. Here again the writer's thought about decadence as a spiritual mask of the tradesman sounds. To the renegade intellectuals, the "dacha residents", Gorky contrasts the democratic intelligentsia. This is the doctor Marya Lvovna, Vlas, Sonya. Marya Lvovna's monologue about the role of the intelligentsia in modern Russian life, as Gorky himself pointed out, was the "key" to the play. “We must all be different, gentlemen! Children of laundresses, cooks, Children of healthy working people - we must be different! After all, there have never been educated people in our country who were connected with the masses of the people by blood kinship ... This blood kinship should feed us with an ardent desire to expand, rebuild, illuminate the life of people dear to us, who only work all their days, suffocating in darkness and dirt ... They sent us ahead of themselves so that we could find a way for them to a better life."Summer Residents" is Gorky's most "Chekhovian" play. But the play's conflict took on a socio-ideological character with Gorky. The problem of relations between the intelligentsia and the people, the intelligentsia and the revolution became the leading one in another play by Gorky of this cycle - "Children of the Sun". The stratum of the Russian intelligentsia is depicted - these are people of science and art, sincerely devoted to their work and sincerely mistaken in the social issues of life. Therefore, the theme of the intelligentsia sounds in this play in a different way. The central character of the play, Protasov, a scientist, dreams of man's victory over death, he is full of faith in man, in the possibility of his creative thought, and stands on the threshold of some great scientific discovery. Protasov's monologue about Man directly echoes the thoughts expressed by Gorky in the poem "Human". In the summer of the same 1905, Gorky wrote the third play of this cycle. - "Barbarians" in which the playwright, using new material, developed a theme outlined in Foma Gordeev - the theme of the contradictions between bourgeois progress and civilization. Gorky opposed the existing social world order, its ideology and ethics in the play " Enemies» and the novel "Mother" the world of new human relations, new people with a new social psychology, emerging in the revolutionary struggle. -real revolutionary events in Russia in the 1900s. This is a plot of a new type, it is determined by the clash of classes, political trends. “Enemies” is the first work in Russian drama that shows an open political clash of social camps, political views, and moral concepts. The play, as it were, summed up the creative searches of Gorky the playwright and marked a new stage in the development of his dramatic style. Previously, in Gorky's dramas, conflicts were expressed primarily in the clash of ideological views and philosophical concepts. This determined the type of their plot movement. The ideological and ethical ideals of the heroes collided with reality and were tested by it. In "Enemies" the basis of all conflicts is the unfolding political struggle. Socio-political circumstances test everything: both political and ethical views, and the attitude of a person to art.

The beginning of the 90s of the XIX century is a difficult and uncertain time. Chekhov and Bunin, Gorky's older contemporaries, depict this period with the utmost realistic truthfulness in their works. Gorky himself declares the need to search for new ways in literature. In a letter to Pyatnitsky dated July 25, 1900, he writes: “The task of literature is to capture in colors, words, sounds, and forms what is best, beautiful, honest, noble in a person. In particular, my task is to arouse in a person pride in himself, to tell him that he is the best, the most sacred in life, and that apart from him there is nothing worthy of attention. The world is the fruit of his creativity, God is a particle of his mind and heart, ..” The writer understands that in real modern life a person is oppressed and powerless, and therefore says: “The time has come for a romantic ...”

Indeed, the features of romanticism predominate in Gorky's early stories. First of all, because they depict a romantic situation of confrontation between a strong man (Danko, Larra, Sokol) with the world around him, as well as the problem of a person as a person in general * The action of stories and legends is transferred to fantastic conditions (“He stood between the boundless steppe and the endless sea"). The world of works is sharply demarcated into light and darkness, and these differences are important in assessing the characters: after Larra, a shadow remains, after Danko, sparks.

Gorky uses elements of folklore. He animates nature (“The haze of the autumn night shuddered and fearfully looked around, revealing the steppe and the sea...”). Man and nature are often identified and can even talk (Ragim's conversation with a wave). Animals and birds acting in stories become symbols (Already and Falcon). Using the same genre of legend allows the writer to most clearly express his thoughts and ideas in allegorical form.

Gorky clearly prefers people who are free from the laws of society. His favorite characters are gypsies, beggars, thieves. It cannot be said that the writer idealizes thieves, but the same Chelkash, in terms of moral qualities, is incommensurably higher than the peasant. A man possessed by a dream, a man with a capital letter, is much more interesting for a writer. The central figure of Gorky's early romantic work is introduced in the poem "Man". Man is called to illuminate the whole world, to unravel the knots of all delusions, he is "tragically beautiful." Danko is also depicted in the same way: “I am going to burn as brightly as possible and to illuminate the darkness of life more deeply. And death for me is my reward.” The concepts of “people” and “man” are directly opposed by Gorky: “I want each of the people to be a “Man”!”

The question of human freedom is also fundamental for Gorky. The theme of a free man is the main theme of his first story "Makar Chudra", as well as many other works, including "Songs about the Falcon". The concept of "freedom" for the writer is associated with the concepts of "truth" and "feat". If in the story “Makar Chudra” Gorky is interested in freedom “from something”, then in “Old Woman Izergil” - freedom “in the name”. Larra, the son of an eagle and a woman, is not human enough to be with people, but not an eagle enough to do without people. His lack of freedom is in his selfishness, and therefore he is punished by loneliness and immortality, and after him only a shadow remains. Danko, on the contrary, turns out to be a freer person, because he is free from himself and lives for the sake of others. Danko's act can be called a feat, because a feat for Gorky is the highest degree of freedom from self-love.

The famous Russian philosopher of the XX century N.A. Berdyaev spoke of the beginning of M. Gorky's creative path in the following way: “Gorky spoke in literature with his refreshing word and in his first stories he was strong, original and talented. It was necessary to tell the world about the tramps and their rebellion. This new power of bogeymanship had a dazzling effect on modern society and was successful in the most bourgeois circles ... Everyone recognized that Gorky's tramps are a rebellious and revolutionary force ”(“ Revolution and Culture ”).
Gorky's early work (the nineties of the 19th century) represents two streams, creative and realistic beginnings, merging into a single artistic whole. The writer seeks to get away from the gray, everyday life into a dream and a fairy tale. He was sure that “the time has come for the need for the heroic: everyone wants an exciting, bright one ... that does not look like life, but is higher, better, more beautiful. It is imperative that today's literature begin to embellish life a little, and as soon as it begins to embellish life, that is, people will live faster, brighter ”(From a letter to Chekhov, 1900).
Such an attitude leads to the creation of a whole cycle of romantic works: “Makar Chudra”, “Girl and Death”, “About a Little Fairy and a Young Shepherd”, “Khan and His Son”, “Old Woman Izergil”, “Song of the Falcon”.
The most important feature of Gorky's romantic work is the researcher V.V. Mikhailovsky considered the image of a “beautiful world”, whose representatives are exclusively solid, bright, strong, bold natures, sharply outlined, without semitones: Loiko Zobar, Radda, the old Khan, Danko, Sokol ... The writer frankly admires them, it is no coincidence that their outward beauty. Here, for example, is how the young gypsy Loyko Zobar appears: “The mustache fell on his shoulders and mixed with curls, his eyes, like clear stars, burn, and his smile is the whole sun, by golly! It was as if he was forged from one piece of iron along with the horse. It stands all, as if in blood, in the fire of a fire and sparkles with its teeth, laughing! Damn me if I didn’t love him already, like myself, before he said a word to me or simply noticed that I also live in this world.
And here is a description of the gypsy Radda: “Do you know my Nonka? Queen girl! Well, Radd cannot be compared with her - a lot of honor to Nonka! About her, this Rudd, you can’t say anything in words. Perhaps her beauty could be played on the violin, and even then to those who know this violin as their soul" ("Makar Chudra"),
And here is a general portrait of Moldovans, young grape pickers: “They walked, sang and laughed; men - bronze, with lush, black mustaches and thick curls to the shoulders, in short jackets and wide trousers; women - cheerful, flexible, with dark blue eyes, also bronze. Their hair, silk and black, was loose, the wind, warm and light, playing with them, jingled with the coins woven into them. The wind flowed in a wide, even wave, but sometimes it seemed to jump over something invisible and, giving rise to a strong gust, blew the women's hair into fantastic manes that billowed around their heads. It made women strange and fabulous. They moved farther and farther away from us, and the night and fantasy dressed them more and more beautifully” (“Old Woman Izergil”).
The main thing in the heroes of Gorky's early romantic works is an active attitude to life, the ability to fight for their moral ideals and defend them even at the cost of their lives. And it's not even about the death of the hero, although the motive for death in such situations is stable (Radda and Zobar die, Danko dies, Sokol dies), but in the ideas they defend. Loiko Zobar cannot lose his honor and humiliate himself even in front of his beloved girl; dying, the Falcon only dreams of once again rising into the free space of the sky and finally fighting the enemy; at the cost of his life, Danko, tearing out a flaming heart from his chest and illuminating the path with it, leads people out of the dead forest. But their memory does not die. The beautiful love story of Zobar and Radda lives on in the stories of Makar Chudra; about the death of the proud Falcon, the sea composes a solemn song and, roaring and hitting the waves on the coastal rocks, performs it; sparks from Danko's heart, burning with love for people, still appear in the steppe before a thunderstorm ...
The writer finds the origins of romantic art in the international folklore of the peoples of the Volga region, Crimea, the Caucasus, gypsies, Moldovans ...
Nature is an indispensable part of the "beautiful world". Nature acts as if the protagonist in a number of stories: "Makar Chudra", "Old Woman Izergil", "Song of the Falcon" ... And the story itself usually sounds in the open, merging with the freedom of the elements of the sea, steppe, wind, sky.
Here, for example, is how the story “Makar Chudra” opens: “A damp, cold wind blew from the sea, spreading across the steppe the thoughtful melody of the splash of a wave running ashore and the rustle of coastal bushes. Occasionally his impulses brought with them shriveled, yellow leaves and threw them into the fire, fanning the flames; the darkness of the autumn night surrounding us shuddered and timidly moved away, opening for a moment on the left - an unlimited degree, on the right - an endless sea and directly opposite me - the figure of Makar Chudra, an old gypsy ... "
And the legend about Danko ends with the following description: “And then the forest parted before them, parted and remained behind, dense and dumb, and Danko and all those people immediately plunged into a sea of ​​sunlight and clean air, washed by rain. The storm was there, behind them, over the forest, and here the sun was shining, the steppe was sighing, the grass was shining in the diamonds of the rain, and the river was sparkling with gold... Danko's torn chest..."
And there are many such examples.
A.V. Lunacharsky noted that no one before Gorky had created such a background, he “almost cannot approach a person, start a story or a chapter of a novel without looking at the sky, without looking at what the sun, moon and stars and the whole inexpressible palette of heaven are doing. vault with the changing magic of the clouds.