Still from the film “Holiday in September” (1979)

The action takes place in provincial town. Viktor Aleksandrovich Zilov is awakened by a phone call. Having difficulty waking up, he picks up the phone, but there is silence. He slowly gets up, touching his jaw, opens the window, and it’s raining outside. Zilov drinks beer and begins physical exercises with a bottle in his hands. Another phone call and again silence. Now Zilov is calling himself. He talks to the waiter Dima, with whom he was going hunting together, and is extremely surprised that Dima asks him if he will go. Zilov is interested in the details of yesterday’s scandal, which he caused in a cafe, but which he himself remembers very vaguely. He is especially worried about who hit him in the face yesterday.

He barely hangs up when there is a knock on the door. A boy enters with a large mourning wreath, on which is written: “To the unforgettable Viktor Aleksandrovich Zilov, who burned out untimely at work, from inconsolable friends.” Zilov is annoyed by such a dark joke. He sits down on the ottoman and begins to imagine how things might have been if he had actually died. Then life passes before his eyes last days.

First memory. In the Forget-Me-Not cafe, Zilov’s favorite place to hang out, he and his friend Sayapin meet with their work boss Kushak during their lunch break to celebrate a big event - he has received a new apartment. Suddenly his mistress Vera appears. Zilov asks Vera not to advertise their relationship, seats everyone at the table, and the waiter Dima brings the ordered wine and kebabs. Zilov reminds Kushak that a housewarming celebration is scheduled for that evening, and he, somewhat flirtatiously, agrees. Zilov is forced to invite Vera, who really wants this. He introduces her to the boss, who has just escorted his legal wife south, as a classmate, and Vera, with her very relaxed behavior, inspires Kushak with certain hopes.

In the evening, Zilov's friends gather for a housewarming party. While waiting for guests, Galina, Zilov’s wife, dreams that everything between her and her husband will be like at the very beginning, when they loved each other. Among the gifts brought were items of hunting equipment: a knife, a cartridge belt and several wooden birds used in duck hunting for decoys. Duck hunting- Zilov’s greatest passion (except for women), although so far he has not yet managed to kill a single duck. As Galina says, the main thing for him is getting ready and talking. But Zilov does not pay attention to the ridicule.

Memory two. At work, Zilov and Sayapin must urgently prepare information on the modernization of production, the flow method, etc. Zilov proposes to present it as an already implemented modernization project at a porcelain factory. They toss a coin for a long time, what to do or not to do. And although Sayapin is afraid of exposure, they are nevertheless preparing this “linden”. Here Zilov reads a letter from his old father, living in another city, whom he has not seen for four years. He writes that he is sick and calls to see him, but Zilov is indifferent to this. He doesn’t believe his father, and he doesn’t have time anyway, since he’s going duck hunting on vacation. He cannot and does not want to miss her. Suddenly, an unfamiliar girl, Irina, appears in their room, confusing their office with the editorial office of a newspaper. Zilov plays it out, introducing himself as a newspaper employee, until his joke is exposed by the boss who comes in. Zilov begins an affair with Irina.

Memory three. Zilov returns home in the morning. Galina is not sleeping. He complains about the abundance of work, about the fact that he was sent on a business trip so unexpectedly. But his wife directly says that she does not believe him, because last night a neighbor saw him in the city. Zilov tries to protest, accusing his wife of being excessively suspicious, but this has no effect on her. She has endured for a long time and no longer wants to endure Zilov’s lies. She tells him that she went to the doctor and had an abortion. Zilov feigns indignation: why didn’t she consult with him?! He tries to somehow soften her, remembering one of the evenings six years ago when they first became close. Galina protests at first, but then gradually succumbs to the charm of memory - until the moment when Zilov cannot remember some very important words for her. She finally sinks into a chair and cries. The memory is the following. At the end of the working day, an angry Kushak appears in Zilov and Sayapin’s room and demands an explanation from them about a brochure with information about reconstruction at the porcelain factory. Shielding Sayapin, who is about to get an apartment, Zilov takes full responsibility upon himself. Only Sayapin’s wife, who suddenly appears, manages to extinguish the storm by taking the simple-minded Kushak to football. At this moment, Zilov receives a telegram about his father’s death. He decides to fly urgently to make it to the funeral. Galina wants to go with him, but he refuses. Before leaving, he stops at Forget-Me-Not for a drink. In addition, he has a date with Irina here. Galina accidentally witnesses their meeting and brings Zilov a cloak and briefcase for the trip. Zilov is forced to admit to Irina that he is married. He orders dinner, postponing his flight until tomorrow.

The memory is the following. Galina is going to visit relatives in another city. As soon as she leaves, he calls Irina and invites her to his place. Galina unexpectedly returns and announces that she is leaving forever. Zilov is discouraged, he tries to detain her, but Galina locks him with a key. Finding himself in a trap, Zilov uses all his eloquence, trying to convince his wife that she is still dear to him, and even promising to take her hunting. But it is not Galina who hears his explanation, but the emerging Irina, who perceives everything Zilov said as relating specifically to her.

The last memory. While waiting for friends invited on the occasion of the upcoming vacation and duck hunting, Zilov drinks at Forget-Me-Not. By the time his friends gather, he is already quite drunk and begins to say nasty things to them. Every minute he diverges more and more, he is carried away, and in the end everyone, including Irina, whom he also undeservedly insults, leaves. Left alone, Zilov calls the waiter Dima a lackey, and he hits him in the face. Zilov falls under the table and “passes out.” After some time, Kuzakov and Sayapin return, pick up Zilov and take him home.

Having remembered everything, Zilov actually suddenly gets the idea of ​​committing suicide. He doesn't play anymore. He writes a note, loads the gun, takes off his shoes and feels for the trigger with his big toe. At this moment the phone rings. Then Sayapin and Kuzakov appear unnoticed, who see Zilov’s preparations, pounce on him and take away the gun. Zilov drives them away. He screams that he doesn't trust anyone, but they refuse to leave him alone. In the end, Zilov manages to drive them out, he walks around the room with a gun, then throws himself on the bed and either laughs or sobs. Two minutes later he gets up and dials Dima’s phone number. He is ready to go hunting.

Retold

Play by A.B. Vampilov’s “Duck Hunt,” written in 1970, embodied the fate of the generation of the “era of stagnation.” Already in the stage directions the typical nature of the events depicted is emphasized: a typical city apartment, ordinary furniture, household disorder, indicating the unsettled mental life of Viktor Zilov, the main character of the work.

A fairly young and physically healthy man (in the story he is about thirty years old) feels deeply tired of life. There are no values ​​for him. From Zilov’s first conversation with a friend, it turns out that yesterday he caused some kind of scandal, the essence of which he no longer remembers. It turns out he offended someone. But he doesn't really care. “They’ll survive, right?” - he says to his friend Dima.

Suddenly, Zilov is brought a funeral wreath with a ribbon on which touching funeral words are written: “To the unforgettable Viktor Alexandrovich Zilov, who was untimely burned out at work, from inconsolable friends.”

Initially this event seems like a bad joke, but in the process further development events, the reader understands that Zilov really buried himself alive: he drinks, makes scandals and does everything to arouse the disgust of people to whom he was close and dear until recently.

The interior of Zilov's room has one important artistic detail - a large plush cat with a bow around its neck, a gift from Vera. This is a kind of symbol of unrealized hopes. After all, Zilov and Galina could have a happy family with children and a cozy, well-established life. It is no coincidence that after the housewarming party, Galina invites Zilov to have a child, although she understands that he does not need one.

The basic principle of relationships with people for Zilov is unbridled lies, the purpose of which is the desire to whitewash oneself and denigrate others. So, for example, inviting his boss Kushak to a housewarming party, who at first does not want to go on a visit without his wife, Zilov informs Galina that Vera, with whom he is supposedly in love, has been invited for him. In fact, Vera is the mistress of Zilov himself. In turn, Victor pushes Kushak to court Vera: “Nonsense. Act boldly, don't stand on ceremony. This is all done on the fly. Grab the bull by the horns."

Expressive in the play is the image of Sayapin's wife Valeria, whose ideal is bourgeois happiness. She identifies family ties with material wealth. “Tolechka, if in six months we don’t move into such an apartment, I will run away from you, I swear to you,” she declares to her husband at the Zilovs’ housewarming party.

Aptly depicted by A.B. Vampilov and other expressive female image the plays are the image of Vera, who is also, in essence, unhappy. She has long lost faith in the possibility of finding a reliable life partner and calls all men the same (Alikami). At the housewarming party, Verochka constantly shocks everyone with her tactlessness and attempt to dance on Zilov’s table. A woman tries to seem ruder and more cheeky than she really is. Obviously, this helps her drown out her longing for real human happiness. Kuzakov understands this best of all, who tells Zilov: “Yes, Vitya, it seems to me that she is not at all who she claims to be.”

The housewarming scene uses an important compositional move. All the guests give the Zilovs gifts. Valeria torments the owner of the house for a long time before giving a gift, and asks what he loves most. This scene plays a big role in revealing the image of Zilov. Galina confesses in it that she has not felt her husband’s love for a long time. He has a consumer attitude towards her.

Vera, asking about her mistress with a grin, also understands that Victor is indifferent to her and her visit does not give him much pleasure. During the conversation, it turns out that Zilov does not like his job as an engineer, although he can still improve his business reputation. This is evidenced by Kushak’s remark: “He lacks a business spirit, that’s true, but he’s a capable guy...”. The Sayapins give Zilov the hunting equipment that the hero so dreams of. The image of duck hunting in the work is undoubtedly symbolic in nature. It can be seen as a dream of a worthwhile task, which Zilov turns out to be incapable of. It is no coincidence that Galina, who knows his character more deeply than others, notices that the main thing for him is getting together and talking.

A peculiar test for Zilov is a letter from his father, who asks him to come to see him. It turns out that Victor has not been with his parents for a long time and is very cynical about the tearful letters of his old father: “He sends out such letters to all ends and lies there, like a dog, waiting. Relatives, fools, come over, oh, oh, and he’s happy. He lays down and lies down, then, lo and behold, he gets up - he’s alive, healthy and drinking vodka.” At the same time, the son does not even know exactly how old his father is (he remembers that he is over seventy). Zilov has a choice: go on vacation to his father in September or realize his old dream of duck hunting. He chooses the second. As a result, the unfortunate old man will die without seeing his son.

Before our eyes, Zilov destroys Galina’s last hopes for personal happiness. He is indifferent to her pregnancy, and the woman, seeing this, gets rid of the child. Tired of endless lies, she leaves her husband for her childhood friend, who still loves her.

Troubles are brewing at work: Zilov handed over an article with false information to his boss, and also forced his friend Sayapin to sign it. The hero is facing dismissal. But he doesn’t really worry about it.

In a cafe with the sentimental name “Forget-Me-Not,” Zilov often appears with new women. It is there that he invites young Irina, who sincerely falls in love with him. His wife finds him and his girlfriend in a cafe.

Having learned about Galina’s desire to leave him, Zilov tries to keep her and even promises to take her hunting with him, but when he sees that Irina has come to him, he quickly switches. However, other women whom he once attracted to him with false promises eventually leave him. Vera is going to marry Kuzakov, who takes her seriously. It is no coincidence that she begins to call him by name, and not Alik, like other men.

Only at the end of the play does the viewer learn what kind of scandal Zilov created in Forget-Me-Not: he gathered his friends there, invited Irina and began to insult everyone in turn, grossly violating the rules of decency.

In the end, he also offends the innocent Irina. And when the waiter Dima, with whom the hero is going on the long-awaited duck hunt, stands up for the girl, he insults him too, calling him a lackey.

After this whole disgusting story, Zilov is actually trying to commit suicide. He is saved by Kuzakov and Sayapin. The economical Sayapin, dreaming of his own apartment, is trying to distract Zilov with something. He says it's time to refinish the floors. Victor responds by giving him the keys to the apartment. The waiter Dima, despite the insult, invites him to go duck hunting. He allows him to take the boat. Then he drives away people who are somehow trying to fight for his life. At the end of the play, Zilov throws himself on the bed and either cries or laughs. And most likely he cries and laughs at himself. Then he finally calms down and calls Dima, agreeing to go hunting with him.

What is the further fate of the hero? It is quite obvious that he needs to rethink his attitude towards life in general, towards the people with whom he communicates. Perhaps Zilov will still be able to overcome his mental crisis and return to normal life. But most likely the hero is doomed to quickly find his death, since he cannot overcome his own selfishness and does not see a goal for which it is worth continuing life. The loss of spiritual and moral support is a typical feature of the generation of the period of stagnation. For centuries, people's lives have been subject to the norms of religious morality. At the beginning of the 20th century, public thought was driven by the idea of ​​​​creating a bright future, a socially just government system. During the Great Patriotic War the main task was to protect the native land from invaders, then - post-war construction. In the sixties and seventies there were no socio-political problems of this magnitude. Perhaps this is why a generation of people has formed who are characterized by the loss of family ties and the meaning of friendships. The influence of the church on the spiritual life of man by this time had been lost. Norms of religious morality were not observed. And few people believed in the idea of ​​building a bright future. The reason for Zilov’s spiritual crisis is the awareness of the worthlessness of his life, the lack of a real goal, since the so-called duck hunt, which he constantly dreams of, is more of an attempt to escape from life’s problems than a real thing for which he can sacrifice everything else

"Duck Hunt": a brief analysis

"Duck Hunt" (Vampilov A.V.) was created between 1965 and 1967. This time was extremely important, turning point, eventful and bright in the life of the playwright. This was his birth as an artist. At this time, Vampilov fully felt his own poetic power (“Duck Hunt”). The analysis summarized in this article will help you better understand this difficult play.

Three layers in the work

The work is complex, original, and its structure is sophisticated. This is a play in memory. The technique of using them as a special form of dramatic storytelling was very common in the 60s. As analysis shows, “Duck Hunt” (Vampilov) consists of three layers: the layer of the present, memories and the intermediate, borderline layer of visions. What plants should not be kept in the house? 11 quotes from Buddha that will ease your soul 6 coincidences in history that seem incredible There are some pretty tense memories in the layer of memories storylines. The main character starts an affair with a girl who falls in love with him. Having discovered the betrayal, the wife leaves. When, it seems, nothing prevents Zilov from reuniting with his young lover, he suddenly gets heavily drunk and makes a scandal, insulting the girl and his friends. At the same time, another plot is developing. Zilov gets a new apartment. He sets up his boss with his ex-girlfriend. At the same time, this girl begins an affair with another friend of Zilov. The main character is in trouble at work - he slipped a fake report to his superiors. He was betrayed by a friend and colleague, evading responsibility for what he had done. As you can see, this layer is full of events. Nevertheless, it does not carry much drama. Why is it not advisable to shower every day? 10 habits of chronically unhappy people How a python “dined” with a porcupine and how it ended The plot of the memoirs is unusually varied in everyday details. The hero’s father, whom he had not seen for a long time, dies; Zilov’s wife ends up having an affair with her former classmate. Finally, main character dreams of duck hunting. Another layer of action is the layer of visions of the hero, who is wondering how his colleagues, friends, and girlfriends will react to the news of his death. At first he imagines it, and then it seems inevitable to him. This layer consists of 2 interludes. Their text, except for two or three phrases, is almost completely identical verbally. Nevertheless, in terms of emotional sign they are completely opposite. In the first case, the death scene that the hero imagines is of a comic nature, and in the second, there is not a shadow of a smile in its tone or mood. The drama thus develops between a half-joking plan to commit suicide, which was inspired by the “original” gift from Kuzakov and Sayapin, and an attempt to carry out this plan seriously. The confessional nature of the play Let us continue the analysis. “Duck Hunt” (Vampilov) is a work that has a confessional character. The work is structured as a confession that lasts throughout the entire play. It presents the hero's life in retrospective sequence - starting from the events of two months ago and ending with the present day. The conflict in the work is not external, but internal - moral, lyrical. The tragedy intensifies as the hero's memories and awareness of them in the present get closer in time. Find out about 5 plants that should be in your home. What women's habits are unpleasant for men? 35 of the wisest Jewish sayings Zilov’s memoirs form a complete, comprehensive, integral picture. They lack a cause-and-effect relationship, despite their coherence. They are motivated by external impulses. Main character The main character is Viktor Zilov in the play "Duck Hunt" (Vampilov). The analysis of the work is largely based on the worldview of this hero. We observe the events of the play precisely through the prism of Zilov’s memories. A lot of them happen in 1.5 months of his life. Their apogee is the funeral wreath, which was presented by friends to the “hero of his time”, who “burned out untimely” at work. The meaning of remarks The author's position in the work is expressed through remarks. This is traditional for dramaturgy. Vampilov’s remarks are quite common. They place a qualitative emphasis, as, for example, in the case of Irina: the main feature in the heroine is sincerity. Directions indicate to the director how to interpret a particular character. The role of dialogues in expressing the author's position An analysis of A. V. Vampilov's play "Duck Hunt" would be incomplete if we did not note the significance of the dialogues. They also show author's attitude to the characters. The assessment characteristics here are mainly given by Zilov. This cynic and unpredictable frivolous citizen is allowed a lot, just as jesters were allowed at all times. It’s not for nothing that even his closest friends joke and laugh at Zilov, sometimes very angrily. Those around him have various feelings for this hero, but not friendly ones. This is jealousy, hatred, envy. And Victor deserved them exactly as much as any person can deserve. Zilov's mask When guests ask Zilov what he loves most, he does not know what to answer. However, friends (as well as the state, party, society) know better than him - most of all, Zilov loves hunting. One artistic detail emphasizes the tragicomic nature of the situation (the entire play is replete with such details). Until the end of the memories, Zilov does not take off his hunting accessories, like a mask. This is not the first time that the leitmotif of a mask appears in the work of this author in “Duck Hunt.” We see a similar technique in earlier plays ("The Story with the Master Page", "The Eldest Son"). Vampilian characters often resort to labels, since labeling them frees them from thoughts and the need to make decisions. World's first surviving septuplets turn 18 Daughters of the stars: look what they've become! Top 20 things that should not be in the house Duck hunting in the life of the main character For Victor, duck hunting is the embodiment of freedom and dreams. It is collected already a month before the cherished day and awaits the hunt as the beginning of a new life, deliverance, a period of respite. On the one hand, this is an introduction to nature, which is so valuable for modern man. At the same time, hunting is one of the most monstrous symbols of murder, which culture does not take into account. This is a murder legalized by civilization, which has been elevated to the rank of entertainment, and respectable one at that. The double essence of hunting is communion with the pure, eternal natural principle, purification through it, and murder is realized in the play. The theme of death permeates the entire action. For Zilov, hunting is the only moment in the life of the spirit. This is an opportunity to break away from everyday life, everyday life, vanity, laziness, lies, which he cannot overcome on his own. This is the world of an ideal dream, high and not compromised anywhere. In this world, his poor, nasty, lied to soul feels good, it straightens up and comes to life, uniting in a bright and united harmony with all living things. Vampilov constructs the action of the play in such a way that Zilov’s guide, his constant companion into this world, is the Waiter. His figure deprives Zilov’s utopia of meaning, high poetry, and purity. “Heroes of their time” The work that interests us tells about the values ​​of the “Thaw” generation, or rather, about their collapse.

Let's analyze Vampilov's play "Duck Hunt" from the point of view of the characters. The tragicomic existence of the heroes of the work - the Sayapins, Gali, Kushak, Kuzakov, Vera - speaks of their lack of self-confidence and the fragility of the surrounding reality, seemingly determined by society forever. In the character system there is no division into positive and negative. There is Dima, self-confident, Zilov, suffering from the injustice of life, defiant Vera and Sash, in eternal fear. There are unhappy people whose lives for some reason did not work out. When analyzing the play “Duck Hunt” by Vampilov, one should take into account the personality of the author. Vampilov is the last romantic of Russian drama of the Soviet period. He developed as a personality in the second half of the 50s. At this time, the goals, slogans, ideals, aspirations of society, quite humane in themselves, seemed to be about to begin to connect with real life, to acquire meaning and weight in it. Vampilov worked when processes of demarcation between the values ​​proclaimed everywhere and real life began in society. The terrible thing was not that the meaning of ideals was destroyed in this way, but that the meaning of morality as such was destroyed. Vampilov was the son of the time that gave birth to him. He longed to know where a person should go, how he lives, how he should live. He needed to give answers to these questions to himself, and he was the first of the playwrights to see that life had come to a last line. And behind it, these questions no longer have the usual answer. Vampilov is a master of open endings. An analysis of Vampilov's play "Duck Hunt" shows that this work also ends ambiguously. We never know whether the main character is laughing or crying. last scene. Truth of the times We are accustomed to using the expression “truth of character,” meaning by it that the writer did not falsify anything, did not hide anything, and depicted a certain social type that developed in reality. Reading the play created by Alexander Vampilov (“Duck Hunt”), analyzing it, you can feel pity for the person whose “truth” turned out to be too defenseless. As a rule, conversations about morality are boring. The author of the work did not know how to be boring. All his plays, including Duck Hunt, are characterized by tension inner world Main character. The work makes us think about life itself, and not just about art and literature. The author wanted to understand the basic laws called the truth of time. Let us note one more thought to complete the analysis. "Duck Hunt" (Vampilov) is a work that gave birth to the rhythm of time. He lives inside, and not outside, each of us, so the appearance of “heroes of their time” is natural. This concludes the analysis of Vampilov’s play “Duck Hunt”. Short piece- and so much meaning! We can talk about this play for quite a long time, discovering more and more of its features.

The behavior of Zilov and his entourage would seem to exclude the possibility of any introspection, any self-control, but nevertheless the playwright forces this hero to look closely at his life and think about it. The gap between the seriousness of Zilov’s drama and that obvious moral defectiveness of the very layer of life from which the hero raised his face to us, bathed in “incomprehensible” tears (“whether he cried or laughed, we will never understand from his face”), was too great and for the concrete historical experience of the era, and for the artistic historical-literary experience of drama.

This is a strange and complex play in which the main drama comes from something that, in essence, is impossible to play - the process of comprehending what is happening, the process of self-awareness, and ordinary dramaturgy is reduced to a minimum. The age of the characters in the play was about thirty years old, it was comparable to or slightly higher than that generally accepted for young science fanatics of the mid-sixties. A significant place in the play is occupied by the official activities of the characters, and although in Vampilov all the efforts of the characters are aimed mainly at avoiding work, some of the pressing production tasks facing them are brought to the stage.

The central character has two friends, one of whom is mean, and the other is naive and straightforward. Required for this situation love triangle of the usual style: the hero has a strict, tired, silent wife, whom he deceives, and a young beloved, on whom his thoughts are concentrated. The usual secondary figures loom on the periphery of the plot: the foolish boss, the punchy wife of one of the friends, the hero’s long-time girlfriend, a familiar waiter from a nearby cafe, a neighbor’s boy. But even this boy is not equal to himself, he came as a reminder of the drama of those years when the teenager was the personification and bearer of truth." But the fact is that, based on plot clichés familiar to the sixties, Vampilov sets himself completely different goals and tasks.

The play presents not the “drama” of the hero, “but a way of life in which dramas occur not from the hero’s active collision with reality (as was the case in Rozov’s early plays, for example), but, on the contrary, from non-collision and the transformation of life into some kind of everyday ritual , where half-love, half-friendship, occupation (...) line up in one tiresome row.” And therefore, “Duck Hunt” is based not on the pillars of external conflict, but on figurative, almost symbolic pillars. And one of them is duck hunting.

Vampilov’s play is extremely everyday, it is literally buried in everyday realities, and at the same time it is free from everyday life: “not a single playwright carries with him as much convention as this, at first glance, “everyday” writer. And if we forget this, we begin to look in him only for a storyteller and a writer of everyday life, or even “a prosecutor of provincial life and boredom, we will achieve nothing.” However, the life of “Duck Hunt” is organized in a very special way.

In the play there is not even a pleasure in words, that unbridled element of words, jokes, which is usually characteristic of Vampilov’s plays. And how cleverly and subtly Zilov’s contemporaries—the heroes of the sixties—reflected, what depths of spirit and moral paradoxes were revealed in their arrogant self-irony and subtle causticism. There is nothing of this in the play, although Zilov is quite ironic and intellectual, and is placed in the position of a reflective hero, and the author, as time will show, has not lost his craving for theatrical colorfulness.

Zilov and Galina moved to a new apartment, the first in their lives, but the premises are in no hurry to become their home. The theme of the apartment in the play is - so to speak - cardboard and plaster. There is no house, and housing does not try to take on its features. The garden bench brought to the housewarming party by Kuzakov is just as appropriate and welcome here as in the park. The lack of furniture is just an inconvenience: there is nothing for guests to sit on, but it is not a hair's breadth away from the absence of a face at home. Entering an empty, unfurnished apartment, Sayapin easily recreates in his imagination everything that should be here: “There will be a TV here, a sofa here, a refrigerator next to it. There's beer and stuff in the fridge. Everything for friends." Everything is known, down to the ins and outs of the refrigerator. But this knowledge is generated not by the character’s imagination, but by absolute impersonality, the standardization of housing.

Some distorted, ugly reminder of customs enters with Vera. Instead of a live cat - a symbol of the hearth, which is usually allowed into the house ahead of the owners, she brings a toy cat, making this plush abomination the personification not of home (although something like that, perhaps unconsciously, lies in the gift), but of male bestiality: She calls the cat Alik.

The laws of the most basic behavior are forgotten not only by the guests, but also by the owners, not only by Zilov, but also by Galina, who cannot resist the onslaught of her husband, who does not know the slightest rule or limitation of momentary desires. This is especially interesting and important to note in comparison with the fact that Zilov, who does not know how to restrain his desires, who does not know the rules and prohibitions, does not even think of opening the hunting season for himself an hour earlier.

The flat, emasculated world of everyday life, or, more precisely, everyday life, is contrasted in the play with another world - the world of hunting." Hunting, the theme of hunting appears here as a kind of moral pole, opposite to everyday life. This theme is not only directly stated in the title, it is not only revealed in the word, but also invisibly dissolved in the entire poetics of the drama.

In the stage directions of the play and in the plastic organization of the text, two realities are persistently repeated - the window and the rain outside the window (or the blue sky that replaces it). The window is a drawing on the backdrop, a dead, airless, painted space, the rain is light and onomatopoeia or the play of actors. Moreover, compliance with these stage directions requires considerable tricks from the director and artist.

In all tense situations, the hero’s face (sometimes this remark accompanies Galina’s behavior) is turned to the window. If the viewer should see what is happening outside the window: rain, cloudy, clear - then Zilov, turning to the window, should stand with his back to the auditorium, but if the turn to the window coincides with the turn to the proscenium, then the “biography” of the weather for the same spectators disappear.

The border between everyday and extra-domestic life in the play is the window, to which Zilova is drawn like a magnet, especially in moments of intense mental work: all transitions from momentary reality to memories are accompanied by the hero’s approach to the window. The window is, so to speak, his favorite habitat, his chair, table, armchair; Only an ottoman can resist the window (which is also one of the important features of the play, especially if we remember Oblomov’s sofa). Of all the characters in “Duck Hunt,” only Galina has this unmotivated, unconscious gesture—turning to the window at a moment of emotional stress. The window is like a sign of another reality, not present on the stage, but given in the play, the reality of the Hunt. Hunting is an ambivalent image.

On the one hand, hunting is an introduction to nature, so precious for modern man; it is the essence of nature, an existential category, opposed to the everyday world. And at the same time, this is an artistically and literaryly mediated category. On the other hand, hunting is one of the most monstrous symbols of murder. This is a murder, the essence of which culture does not take into account. This murder, legalized by civilization, elevated to the rank of respectable entertainment, occupies a certain place in the hierarchy of prestigious values ​​of life. It is this double essence of hunting - purification, familiarization with the eternal, pure natural principle of life and murder - that is fully realized in the play. The theme of death permeates the entire action.

The image of Zilov is constructed in such a way that the last remark of the play can be taken as an epigraph to his analysis: “We see him calm face. Whether he cried or laughed, we won’t be able to tell from his face.” One should not think that Vampilov himself does not know whether his hero is crying or laughing; the author makes this antithesis and duality the subject of research.

Drama, much more than lyricism and epic, is characterized by plot schematics. And it has a slightly different meaning here than in other literary genres. A dramatic collision - that is, the circle of situations chosen by the author - already in itself carries a certain problematic. The sense of collision is a very rare quality, sometimes poorly developed even in the most brilliant playwrights. This quality is very valuable, but not exhaustive, just as absolute pitch does not exhaust the abilities of a composer. Vampilov has an absolute sense of conflict; perhaps it is precisely this that gives his poetics both such a striking attractiveness and a somewhat emphasized traditionalism. It is in the handling of dramatic conflict that Vampilov’s innovation is especially clearly visible.

Zilov is undoubtedly taller than all the characters around him. The level is set both by the position of the hero in the dramatic conflict of the play (Zilov is the bearer of reflective consciousness), and by the personality of the hero himself. Zilov is more significant not because the freedom of his desires, the irresponsibility of his actions, his laziness, his lies and drunkenness are good, but because the other characters have everything the same, only worse. Their interest in life may be cynically carnivorous, like Kushak’s, or ideally sublime, like Kuzakov’s, but not one of them will accept joint guilt, fall in love, or bewitch a girl, nor, indeed, will they think about their lives . They lack human charm that would brighten up their shortcomings.

The waiter is already described in the stage directions as a person extremely similar to Zilov. Zilov “is about thirty years old, he is quite tall, strongly built, in his gait, gestures, and manner of speaking there is a lot of freedom, which comes from confidence in his physical usefulness.” The waiter is “the same age as Zilov, tall, athletic in appearance, he is always in an even business mood, cheerful, self-confident and carries himself with exaggerated dignity.” The waiter is the only character in the play, in whose description the author seems to be starting from the appearance of the main character of the play (the same age as Zilov), and in their appearance, it would seem that absolutely everything coincides; the nature that creates the similarity does not coincide, so to speak.

He knows and can do everything, except for one single thing. He doesn't know what the world alive, that love exists in him, and not lust, that hunting is not physical exercise with shooting at a target, that life is not only the existence of protein bodies, that there is a spiritual principle in it. The waiter is absolutely impeccable and also absolutely inhuman.

What is he doing here, in this play about a not very good life? good people, this calculating cold bastard? Why is it that every time he appears in “Duck Hunt” a painful, alarming, unclear and piercing note arises, like the sound of a broken string - after all, he seems to have nothing to do with the spiritual sphere of life? And yet, in the ideological structure of the play, his role is cardinal, and not only because the theme of death is connected with him - the measure of Zilov’s drama.

For Zilov, there is only one moment in the life of his spirit - hunting. Hunting is an opportunity to break away from everyday life, everyday life, vanity, lies, laziness, which he himself is no longer able to overcome. This is a world of dreams, ideal, uncompromised and lofty. In this world, his lying, nasty and poor soul is fine, there it comes to life and straightens out, uniting with all living things into a single and bright harmony. Vampilov builds the action of the play in such a way that the Waiter becomes Zilov’s constant companion and guide into this world, and this terrible figure deprives Zilov’s utopia of meaning, purity, and its lofty poetry.

In “Duck Hunt,” dramaturgy came close to a person, opened a person, so to speak, from within the personality, it tried to penetrate under the shell of the body, behind the frontal bone, to make the process of choice, decision, and thinking dramatic. Eighties dramaturgy with joy; picked up this internal cerebellar attention, but not yet very well aware of what to do with this attention. However, Vampilov also found himself in a kind of confusion before his own discovery.

Vampilov was the last romantic Soviet drama. He was formed as a personality in the second half of the fifties, at a time when the ideals, aspirations, slogans and goals of society, quite humane in themselves, seemed to be about to begin to connect with real life, about to gain weight and meaning in it (and sometimes it seemed like they were already gaining). He worked as an artist when they began irreversible processes demarcation between proclaimed values ​​and real life. The terrible thing was not that in this way the meaning of ideals was destroyed, but that the meaning of morality in general was destroyed. Vampilov was a son, and a wonderful son, of the time that gave birth to him: he needed to know how a person lives, where he should go, how to live, he needed to answer these questions for himself, and he was the first, at least the first of the playwrights , discovered that life had come to that final line, beyond which these questions no longer have the usual answer.

Conclusion

The drama of the 20th century also strives to free itself from the shackles of the usual dramatic categories, not only from the dictates of the unity of time, place, action, but also from such mandatory conditions of old drama as unidirectionality of time, indivisibility human personality. In the sixties, the freedom and looseness of the dramatic form was inspired by the new, after a very long temporary break, flowering of the art of directing, the search for literature, acquaintance with foreign drama, the influence of cinema, which was experiencing its best years, his freedom in dealing with place and time, “reality” and “dreams”, with the ease with which he objectifies dreams, memories, dreams on the screen. For the sixties, the latter was one of the favorite methods of storytelling: the dying visions of Boris Borozdin (“The Cranes Are Flying”), the hero’s meeting with his dead father (“I’m Twenty Years Old”), the time-disruption of the film “Nine Days of One Year,” the episodes of which were accompanied by voiceover voice-commentary, also created a feeling of visions-memories. (It is interesting that such an important substantive and rhythmic key to the picture, according to A. Batalov, was found already in the editing room and was not determined by direct plot needs.)

And in general, all types of “loosening” the classical structure of the play were held in high esteem during that period. “No open journalism, no intellectual debates, no internal monologues, no shifting time plans, no documentary inserts, no junction of genres - in a word, no “innovations”,” M. Stroeva stated with amazement, examining new play in 1967. The critic very fully listed the things without which it was not customary for a decent playwright to appear in public.

But of course, this was not just a fashion moment. Literature of the 20th century in general is highly inclined to overcome, so to speak, formal characteristics literary heroes and genres. Poetry gives up the presumption of rhyme, stanza, metric; prose, in an effort to explore the depths of the human personality and the vast expanses of folk life, willingly sacrifices the literary norm of language, syntax, spelling, and logical coherence.

Playing with time and stage space, journalistic addresses to the audience, the most diverse types of dramatic detachment, the simultaneous coexistence on stage of various age and personal-emotional hypostases of the hero (“Listen!” and “Comrade, believe!” - performances of the Taganka Theater ), an attempt to “replay” life and fate before the eyes of the viewer (“The Choice” by A. Arbuzov, a production of Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” with two finales at the Taganka Theater), and finally, an attempt to make the author’s “I” one of the heroes of the play (“ Pathetic Sonata" by M. Kulish, written in the thirties, but which came into theatrical use during the Thaw period; "The Colonel's Widow, or Doctors Know Nothing" by Y. Edlis, "Public Opinion" by A. Barangi) - all this turned out to be familiar, commonplace dramatic techniques. During these years, it was believed that the further development of drama would be associated precisely with the “losing” of the generic boundaries of drama, a radical change in its structure.

Vampilov’s play “Duck Hunt”, a brief summary of which will be presented below, has become one of the most best works Soviet literature. Today it is classified as Russian classical literature.

Preface

In our article, every reader will find a work authored by Vampilov. A very brief summary of “Duck Hunt” will tell you about the main events of the play. Reading a summary of the play will not take more than ten minutes, while the original will require about two hours. What did Alexander Vampilov write about? An analysis and summary of “Duck Hunt” will help you better understand the work. The morality that the author deliberately introduced into his creation became an indicator that even in times Soviet Union there were dishonest spouses, despair and the shame of betrayal. Undoubtedly, in the summary of “Duck Hunt” by A. Vampilov it is impossible to convey all the author’s thoughts that can be seen in the original play.

Moreover, it is important to note that there were many theatrical productions and several film adaptations of the play. A summary of “Duck Hunt” (Vampilov) will play an important role in motivating viewing of the film adaptation of the heritage of world culture. So, more details.

About the heroes

Viktor Zilov is the main character of the story. A thirty-year-old man has a noble appearance: large facial features, tall stature, strong build. In all of Zilov’s manners, one can see how self-confident the main character is: this is noticeable in the way he talks, in his gestures and even in his gait. Zilov feels special because he differs from his friends in physical superiority. Despite the fact that Viktor Alexandrovich does not show his inner experiences, from his habits one can notice boredom and sadness, which goes unnoticed when first meeting the hero.

Galina is the wife of the main character. The girl is slightly younger than her husband - she is twenty-six. This is a fragile woman who amazes everyone with her elegance. But natural femininity is inherent in Galina from birth. After she fell in love with Zilov and married him, all the dreams that the girl had kept for years were simply destroyed by everyday difficulties. Due to her unenviable financial situation, Galina has to work a lot, and difficulties in her personal life constantly upset the woman. The expression of happiness and carelessness has long disappeared on Galina’s face - the girl is always upset and preoccupied with something.

Irina is a young student who manages to lure Zilov into the love network. She falls in love with herself married man, who, in the end, is going to marry her, leaving Galina alone.

Kuzakov is Victor's friend. He is about thirty years old, an inconspicuous young man. By nature, Kuzakov is silent and thoughtful. He constantly worries about his problems, although he does not share his feelings with any of his loved ones.

Sayapin is Victor's former classmate. In addition, young people served together in military service in the past. For many years, Zilov and Sayapin remained friends.

Valeria is Sayapin's wife. The girl is younger than her husband. She is distinguished by her particular activity, positive outlook on life and humor with which she perceives all life's difficulties.

Vadim Kushak is the boss of Sayapin and Zilov. He is a serious man who knows his worth. Important, respectable, Kushak keeps all his subordinates in fear. Despite the fact that in the institution Vadim is strict and businesslike, outside the walls of the workplace he is too unsure of himself, indecisive and often fussy.

Vera is Victor's former lover. She is young and beautiful, dresses well and spares no time and effort to look great. The girl works as a simple saleswoman in a store.

Dmitry is a waiter at the Forget-Me-Not bar. Since Victor is a regular at the bar, Dima and the main character have a common friendship since their school days.

Plot

It’s worth starting with the morning when Viktor Zilov wakes up and feels a severe hangover. Victor was awakened by a phone call. He picks up the phone, but the caller doesn't say a word. Within a few minutes everything repeats itself: the phone rings, silence on the phone. He tries to remember what happened last night, but the memories don't want to come back. Then Zilov himself decides to call Dima to ask what happened last night. Dima briefly talks about how the main character caused a row in the bar. In addition, the waiter asks if Zilov is going to duck hunting, which they agreed on for a long time. Surprised by the question, Viktor Alexandrovich says that the offer is valid and hangs up. He begins to do morning exercises, quenching his thirst with cold beer.

Unexpected guest

Continuation summary"Duck Hunt" may surprise the reader with its plot twist.

Victor hears the doorbell. Opening it, he sees a boy holding a funeral wreath in his hands. On the wreath is written “Eternal memory of Viktor Zilov, who died during a huge fire.” Surprised and annoyed by such a joke, Zilov sits down on the bed and begins to think about what would happen if he really died. He begins to remember the last days of his life.

First memory

Our summary of “Duck Hunt” continues with the memories of the main character, which are truly capable of shedding light on the character of Zilov and his entourage.

The first memory was of the meeting of Zilov and Sayapin with their boss. It took place in honor of a joyful event - Zilov had just received a good apartment. Suddenly, Zilov’s mistress, Vera, appears in the Forget-Me-Not bar. He takes her aside and asks her not to tell anyone about their affair. Vera understands everything and fulfills the request. And he begins to “make eyes” at Kushaku, who just recently sent his wife to rest in the south. Vera does not retreat from conquering Vadim’s heart, and hope begins to appear in the soul of the insecure man.

Housewarming

That same evening the whole company goes to a housewarming party with the Zilovs. Galina is very upset; she sees how strained her relationship with her husband has become. She warms her heart with hope that it is still possible to improve. She believes that everything can be the same as it was between her and Victor at the very beginning of the relationship.

Zilov's friends brought a huge number of gifts to the spouses, most of which related to hunting equipment. Zilov's passion is duck hunting. Despite the fact that the “hunter” himself has not yet managed to shoot a single bird, he regularly goes for it. Galina says the following about her husband’s passion: “For Victor, hunting is just talk and preparation.” However, Zilov himself does not notice his wife’s ridicule.

Second memory

A very brief summary of Vampilov’s play “Duck Hunt” continues to amaze the reader with its ironic events.

Sayapin and Zilov were given an assignment at work: to draw up a plan for innovations in the institution. Victor suggests his friend do something simpler: simply provide information that the porcelain factory was modernized and reconstructed. Sayapin doubts for a long time whether this is a good idea. He is afraid that such a prank will soon be discovered. In the end, he agrees to hand over the “fake” information.

At the same time, the main character receives a letter from his old father. The old man writes that he is very sick and would like to see his son. But Zilov does not believe that this is true. He decides that his father is just playing him. Therefore, Victor is not going anywhere, and he is very busy, he has a vacation soon, which he was going to spend hunting, so he does not have time to visit his father.

At first sight

You can learn about further funny events from the summary of “Duck Hunt” by Vampilov. At the same moment, Irina appears in Zilov’s office, having confused his office with the room of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. Victor decides to play a prank on the girl and pretends to be an employee of the publishing house. When Kushak enters the office, he immediately exposes the deceiver, which makes Irina laugh. It is after this joke that a romance begins between the young people.

Third memory

The summary of “Duck Hunt” continues with tragic events.

Victor returns home early in the morning. My wife Galina has not yet gone to bed. She meets her husband and complains to him that she has a lot of work, that she is very tired, that she is too upset by such a sudden business trip of her beloved. Zilov understands that Galina began to suspect him of treason and denies all his wife’s accusations. But the girl does not give up and tells her husband that the neighbor saw him with a young beauty. Angry at Galina, the main character says that she herself is to blame for this state of affairs, without paying any attention to him.

Galina rashly tells Victor that she had an abortion last week. Zilov, completely heated, begins to scream, asking Galina why she didn’t consult with him before accepting such a thing. important decision, to which his wife replied that she was not sure that Victor really wanted children together. The man is trying to somehow soften the tension that has grown between him and his wife. He begins to remember how his relationship with Galina began. At first, the girl tries not to react in any way to the words of her beloved man, but soon gives up and begins to plunge into the past. As a result, the unhappy woman sits down on a chair and begins to cry.

Fourth memory

The very brief summary of “Duck Hunt” continues with another memory of the main character.

Sayapin and Zilov are sitting in their office. Suddenly an angry boss appears and begins to scold his friends for their prank with the porcelain factory. Zilov, knowing that his friend should soon be allocated an apartment, takes the entire blow upon himself. Sayapin's wife invites Vadim to football and thereby pacifies the evil boss.

Unexpected message

Our very brief summary of Vampilov’s “Duck Hunt” continues with very sad events.

On this day, Victor receives an urgent telegram saying that his father has died as a result of illness. He abandons all his plans and is going to fly to his native land in order to be in time for the funeral. Galina offers to join him, but the man refuses. Before leaving, Victor decides to look into the bar where he had an appointment with his mistress. Galina, who suddenly appeared within the walls of “Forget-Me-Not” and brought a briefcase and a raincoat to her husband, sees Victor and Irina. After this, Zilov confesses to the young girl that he is married. Realizing that he doesn’t have the strength to fly anywhere today, he postpones his departure until the next day and orders dinner at a bar.

Fifth memory

Zilov’s wife is going to leave for her relatives. As soon as Galina leaves the apartment, Victor calls Irina and asks her to come to him. Suddenly the wife returns to the apartment and tells Zilov that she will not come back. He tries to stop the woman, but she leaves and locks Zilov in the apartment. The man shouts that he loves her, that she is infinitely dear to him, he is ready to do anything so that she does not leave. But instead of Galina, for whom this speech was intended, Irina hears all Victor’s words, taking all Zilov’s confessions personally.

Last memory

While Zilov is waiting for his friends at the bar, he drinks heavily. When the friends finally gather, Victor is already very drunk and begins to be rude to everyone, saying various nasty things. Friends, seeing Victor's behavior, simply leave. Irina also leaves the main character, who greatly insulted her.

Victor calls the waiter Dima a lackey, for which he hits Zilov painfully in the face. Victor passes out and soon his friends come to take him home.

Conclusion

From the summary of Vampilov's "Duck Hunt" you can learn that the plot ends with the despair of the main character. Remembering all the horror of the last days, the main character wonders whether he should commit suicide. He writes a farewell letter, takes the gun and points the barrel under his chin. At this time, friends come to him and, seeing what is happening to Zilov, push him onto the bed and take away his weapon. Viktor Alexandrovich tries to drive them away, and he succeeds. Having kicked out his friends, he throws himself into bed and either laughs loudly or sobs out loud. Time passes, and he calls Dmitry to say that he is ready to go hunting.

A.V. Vampilov “Duck Hunt”

“Duck Hunt” was written in 1965-1967. These years were extremely important, eventful, bright and turning points in the life of the playwright. At this time, his rebirth took place, no longer as a professional writer, but as an artist who fully felt his poetic power.

“Duck Hunt” in an original, complex and indirect way absorbed the quest of literature, theater and cinema of the sixties. The fact that the sixties in Soviet literature were the heyday of lyricism is as important for the essence of “Duck Hunt” as the golden age of the Russian novel was for the emergence of Chekhov’s drama.

The structure of “Duck Hunt,” despite all the external appearance of the play, is extremely complex and sophisticated. "Duck Hunt" is a play in memoirs. Memoirs as a special form of dramatic storytelling are a very common technique in the sixties. “Duck Hunt” consists of three layers: the layer of the present, the layer of memories and, so to speak, the borderline, intermediate layer - the layer of visions.

The layer of memories unfolding within this frame is richer in events, but also does not carry much drama, although several very intense plot lines are intertwined in it: Zilov starts an affair with a pretty girl, the girl falls in love with him, his wife, having discovered his betrayal, leaves, but when, it would seem, nothing interferes with the hero’s happy reunion with his young lover, in the midst of a party, almost an engagement, Zilov gets heavily drunk, causes a scandal, insults his friends and the girl.

At the same time, another plot unfolds: the Hero gets a new apartment and, in gratitude, “sets up” the boss with his ex-girlfriend, at the same time this girlfriend begins an affair with another friend of Zilov. The hero has troubles at work - he slipped a fake report to his superiors, and a friend and colleague betrayed him, evading their joint responsibility for what they had done.

The plot of the memoirs is richly varied with everyday details. The hero’s father, whom he had not seen for a long time, died, the hero’s wife turns out to have either a real or a fictional affair with a former classmate, and finally, the hero constantly dreams about the upcoming vacation, about duck hunting, for which there are no obstacles in the play.

The third layer of action is the layer of Zilov’s visions, wondering how friends, colleagues, girlfriends will perceive the news of his death, at first imaginary, in the end, as it seems to him, inevitable. This layer consists of two interludes, the text of which, with the exception of two or three phrases, almost completely coincides. But, although they coincide verbally, they are absolutely opposite in emotional sign: in the first case, the imaginary scene of death is clearly of a comic and even buffoonish nature, in the second - in its mood, there is not even a shadow of a smile in the tone. But the main thing about them is that these visions seem to objectify the nature of Zilov’s memories. The visions are mocking and malicious, the characters in the play are evil and accurately caricatured, and this moment seems to remove the subjective nature of the hero’s memories, leaving behind them the right to a certain artistic impartiality. The drama unfolds between a half-joking suicide plan, inspired by the “original” gift from Sayapin and Kuzakov, and an attempt to carry it out seriously.

The most important aspect of the play relates to its confessional character. “Duck Hunt” is structured as a confession, which lasts exactly as long as the play lasts, presenting the hero’s life in retrospective sequence - from the depths of two months ago to the present day. The tragedy increases as we approach the time junction of the hero's memories and their awareness in the present, indicating that the conflict here is not external, but internal - lyrical, moral.

Zilov’s memories add up to such a coherent, comprehensive and complete picture of life that the moments that gave rise to them seem, at first glance, not to be very significant plot points, however, in essence they are very important. Despite the coherence of Zilov’s memories, there is no cause-and-effect relationship in them; they are motivated by an external impulse - the silence of the one Zilov is calling and cannot get through to: Vera does not answer the phone - scenes related to her emerge; Sayapin and Kuzakov are silent - episodes arise with their participation, the hero’s constant interlocutor turns out to be only the waiter Dima, and this is a very significant feature in the dramatic development of the play.

“Duck Hunt” is characterized by a special atmosphere generated by the relationship between the generic principles of lyricism and drama. The dramaturgy of the play is largely determined by the combination of the objective nature of the drama, according to which everything that happens must be revealed in action, and the special lyrical essence of the main conflict, which consists in the process of memories.

Drama presupposes judgment from the outside, lyrics - awareness from within. Lyrical confession does not allow low self-exposure; dramatic action requires a conflict that must be resolved at the level of any human well-being. The poetic sentence “and reading my life with disgust, I tremble and curse” is high. Judushka Golovlev, Golyadkin or Varravin cannot be the subject of high lyricism; more precisely, the poetic tradition of the 19th century prevents us from recognizing this right for them.

The behavior of Zilov and his entourage would seem to exclude the possibility of any introspection, any self-control, but nevertheless the playwright forces this hero to look closely at his life and think about it. The gap between the seriousness of Zilov’s drama and that obvious moral defectiveness of the very layer of life from which the hero raised his face to us, bathed in “incomprehensible” tears (“whether he cried or laughed, we will never understand from his face”), was too great and for the concrete historical experience of the era, and for the artistic historical-literary experience of drama.

This is a strange and complex play in which the main drama comes from something that, in essence, is impossible to play - the process of comprehending what is happening, the process of self-awareness, and ordinary dramaturgy is reduced to a minimum. The age of the characters in the play was about thirty years old, it was comparable to or slightly higher than that generally accepted for young science fanatics of the mid-sixties. A significant place in the play is occupied by the official activities of the characters, and although in Vampilov all the efforts of the characters are aimed mainly at avoiding work, some of the pressing production tasks facing them are brought to the stage.

The central character has two friends, one of whom is mean, and the other is naive and straightforward. A love triangle of the usual style is required for this situation: the hero has a strict, tired, silent wife, whom he deceives, and a young lover, on whom his thoughts are concentrated. The usual secondary figures loom on the periphery of the plot: the foolish boss, the punchy wife of one of the friends, the hero’s long-time girlfriend, a familiar waiter from a nearby cafe, a neighbor’s boy. But even this boy is not equal to himself, he came as a reminder of the drama of those years when the teenager was the personification and bearer of truth." But the fact is that, based on plot clichés familiar to the sixties, Vampilov sets himself completely different goals and tasks.

The play presents not the “drama” of the hero, “but a way of life in which dramas occur not from the hero’s active collision with reality (as was the case in Rozov’s early plays, for example), but, on the contrary, from non-collision and the transformation of life into some kind of everyday ritual , where half-love, half-friendship, occupation (...) line up in one tiresome row.” And therefore, “Duck Hunt” is based not on the pillars of external conflict, but on figurative, almost symbolic pillars. And one of them is duck hunting.

Vampilov’s play is extremely everyday, it is literally buried in everyday realities, and at the same time it is free from everyday life: “not a single playwright carries with him as much convention as this, at first glance, “everyday” writer. And if we forget this, we begin to look in him only for a storyteller and a writer of everyday life, or even “a prosecutor of provincial life and boredom, we will achieve nothing.” However, the life of “Duck Hunt” is organized in a very special way.

In the play there is not even a pleasure in words, that unbridled element of words, jokes, which is usually characteristic of Vampilov’s plays. And how cleverly and subtly Zilov’s contemporaries—the heroes of the sixties—reflected, what depths of spirit and moral paradoxes were revealed in their arrogant self-irony and subtle causticism. There is nothing of this in the play, although Zilov is quite ironic and intellectual, and is placed in the position of a reflective hero, and the author, as time will show, has not lost his craving for theatrical colorfulness.

Zilov and Galina moved to a new apartment, the first in their lives, but the premises are in no hurry to become their home. The theme of the apartment in the play is - so to speak - cardboard and plaster. There is no house, and housing does not try to take on its features. The garden bench brought to the housewarming party by Kuzakov is just as appropriate and welcome here as in the park. The lack of furniture is just an inconvenience: there is nothing for guests to sit on, but it is not a hair's breadth away from the absence of a face at home. Entering an empty, unfurnished apartment, Sayapin easily recreates in his imagination everything that should be here: “There will be a TV here, a sofa here, a refrigerator next to it. There's beer and stuff in the fridge. Everything for friends." Everything is known, down to the ins and outs of the refrigerator. But this knowledge is generated not by the character’s imagination, but by absolute impersonality, the standardization of housing.

Some distorted, ugly reminder of customs enters with Vera. Instead of a live cat - a symbol of the hearth, which is usually allowed into the house ahead of the owners, she brings a toy cat, making this plush abomination the personification not of home (although something like that, perhaps unconsciously, lies in the gift), but of male bestiality: She calls the cat Alik.

The laws of the most basic behavior are forgotten not only by the guests, but also by the owners, not only by Zilov, but also by Galina, who cannot resist the onslaught of her husband, who does not know the slightest rule or limitation of momentary desires. This is especially interesting and important to note in comparison with the fact that Zilov, who does not know how to restrain his desires, who does not know the rules and prohibitions, does not even think of opening the hunting season for himself an hour earlier.

The flat, emasculated world of everyday life, or, more precisely, everyday life, is contrasted in the play with another world - the world of hunting." Hunting, the theme of hunting appears here as a kind of moral pole, opposite to everyday life. This theme is not only directly stated in the title, it is not only revealed in the word, but also invisibly dissolved in the entire poetics of the drama.

In the stage directions of the play and in the plastic organization of the text, two realities are persistently repeated - the window and the rain outside the window (or the blue sky that replaces it). The window is a drawing on the backdrop, a dead, airless, painted space, the rain is light and onomatopoeia or the play of actors. Moreover, compliance with these stage directions requires considerable tricks from the director and artist.

In all tense situations, the hero’s face (sometimes this remark accompanies Galina’s behavior) is turned to the window. If the viewer should see what is happening outside the window: rain, cloudy, clear - then Zilov, turning to the window, should stand with his back to the auditorium, but if the turn to the window coincides with the turn to the proscenium, then the “biography” of the weather for the same spectators disappear.

The border between everyday and extra-domestic life in the play is the window, to which Zilova is drawn like a magnet, especially in moments of intense mental work: all transitions from momentary reality to memories are accompanied by the hero’s approach to the window. The window is, so to speak, his favorite habitat, his chair, table, armchair; Only an ottoman can resist the window (which is also one of the important features of the play, especially if we remember Oblomov’s sofa). Of all the characters in “Duck Hunt,” only Galina has this unmotivated, unconscious gesture—turning to the window at a moment of emotional stress. The window is like a sign of another reality, not present on the stage, but given in the play, the reality of the Hunt. Hunting is an ambivalent image.

On the one hand, hunting is an introduction to nature, so precious for modern man; it is the essence of nature, an existential category, opposed to the everyday world. And at the same time, this is an artistically and literaryly mediated category. On the other hand, hunting is one of the most monstrous symbols of murder. This is a murder, the essence of which culture does not take into account. This murder, legalized by civilization, elevated to the rank of respectable entertainment, occupies a certain place in the hierarchy of prestigious values ​​of life. It is this double essence of hunting - purification, familiarization with the eternal, pure natural principle of life and murder - that is fully realized in the play. The theme of death permeates the entire action.

The image of Zilov is constructed in such a way that the last remark of the play can be taken as an epigraph to his analysis: “We see his calm face. Whether he cried or laughed, we won’t be able to tell from his face.” One should not think that Vampilov himself does not know whether his hero is crying or laughing; the author makes this antithesis and duality the subject of research.

Drama, much more than lyricism and epic, is characterized by plot schematics. And it has a slightly different meaning here than in other literary genres. A dramatic collision - that is, the circle of situations chosen by the author - already in itself carries a certain problematic. The sense of collision is a very rare quality, sometimes poorly developed even in the most brilliant playwrights. This quality is very valuable, but not exhaustive, just as absolute pitch does not exhaust the abilities of a composer. Vampilov has an absolute sense of conflict; perhaps it is precisely this that gives his poetics both such a striking attractiveness and a somewhat emphasized traditionalism. It is in the handling of dramatic conflict that Vampilov’s innovation is especially clearly visible.

Zilov is undoubtedly taller than all the characters around him. The level is set both by the position of the hero in the dramatic conflict of the play (Zilov is the bearer of reflective consciousness), and by the personality of the hero himself. Zilov is more significant not because the freedom of his desires, the irresponsibility of his actions, his laziness, his lies and drunkenness are good, but because the other characters have everything the same, only worse. Their interest in life may be cynically carnivorous, like Kushak’s, or ideally sublime, like Kuzakov’s, but not one of them will accept joint guilt, fall in love, or bewitch a girl, nor, indeed, will they think about their lives . They lack human charm that would brighten up their shortcomings.

The waiter is already described in the stage directions as a person extremely similar to Zilov. Zilov “is about thirty years old, he is quite tall, strongly built, in his gait, gestures, and manner of speaking there is a lot of freedom, which comes from confidence in his physical usefulness.” The waiter is “the same age as Zilov, tall, athletic in appearance, he is always in an even business mood, cheerful, self-confident and carries himself with exaggerated dignity.” The waiter is the only character in the play, in whose description the author seems to be starting from the appearance of the main character of the play (the same age as Zilov), and in their appearance, it would seem that absolutely everything coincides; the nature that creates the similarity does not coincide, so to speak.

He knows and can do everything, except for one single thing. He does not know that the world around him is alive, that love exists in it, and not lust, that hunting is not physical exercise with shooting at a target, that life is not only the existence of protein bodies, that there is a spiritual principle in it. The waiter is absolutely impeccable and also absolutely inhuman.

What is this calculating, cold bastard doing here, in this play about the not-so-good life of not-so-good people? Why is it that every time he appears in “Duck Hunt” a painful, alarming, unclear and piercing note arises, like the sound of a broken string - after all, he seems to have nothing to do with the spiritual sphere of life? And yet, in the ideological structure of the play, his role is cardinal, and not only because the theme of death is connected with him - the measure of Zilov’s drama.

For Zilov, there is only one moment in the life of his spirit - hunting. Hunting is an opportunity to break away from everyday life, everyday life, vanity, lies, laziness, which he himself is no longer able to overcome. This is a world of dreams, ideal, uncompromised and lofty. In this world, his lying, nasty and poor soul is fine, there it comes to life and straightens out, uniting with all living things into a single and bright harmony. Vampilov builds the action of the play in such a way that the Waiter becomes Zilov’s constant companion and guide into this world, and this terrible figure deprives Zilov’s utopia of meaning, purity, and its lofty poetry.

In “Duck Hunt,” dramaturgy came close to a person, opened a person, so to speak, from within the personality, it tried to penetrate under the shell of the body, behind the frontal bone, to make the process of choice, decision, and thinking dramatic. Eighties dramaturgy with joy; picked up this internal cerebellar attention, but not yet very well aware of what to do with this attention. However, Vampilov also found himself in a kind of confusion before his own discovery.

Vampilov was the last romantic of Soviet drama. He was formed as a personality in the second half of the fifties, at a time when the ideals, aspirations, slogans and goals of society, quite humane in themselves, seemed to be about to begin to connect with real life, about to gain weight and meaning in it (and sometimes it seemed like they were already gaining). He worked as an artist when the irreversible processes of demarcation between proclaimed values ​​and real life began. The terrible thing was not that in this way the meaning of ideals was destroyed, but that the meaning of morality in general was destroyed. Vampilov was a son, and a wonderful son, of the time that gave birth to him: he needed to know how a person lives, where he should go, how to live, he needed to answer these questions for himself, and he was the first, at least the first of the playwrights , discovered that life had come to that final line, beyond which these questions no longer have the usual answer.

"Duck Hunt"

Play by A.V. Vampilov’s “Duck Hunt,” written in 1970, embodied the fate of the generation of the “era of stagnation.” Already in the stage directions the typical nature of the events depicted is emphasized: a typical city apartment, ordinary furniture, household disorder, indicating the unsettled mental life of Viktor Zilov, the main character of the work.

A fairly young and physically healthy man (in the story he is about thirty years old) feels deeply tired of life. There are no values ​​for him. From Zilov’s first conversation with a friend, it turns out that yesterday he caused some kind of scandal, the essence of which he no longer remembers. It turns out he offended someone. But he doesn't really care. “They’ll survive, right?” - he says to his friend Dima.

Suddenly, Zilov is brought a funeral wreath with a ribbon on which touching funeral words are written: “To the unforgettable Viktor Alexandrovich Zilov, who was untimely burned out at work, from inconsolable friends.”

Initially, this event seems like a bad joke, but in the process of further development of events, the reader understands that Zilov really buried himself alive: he drinks, makes scandals and does everything to arouse the disgust of people to whom he was close and dear until recently.

The interior of Zilov's room has one important artistic detail - a large plush cat with a bow around its neck, a gift from Vera. This is a kind of symbol of unrealized hopes. After all, Zilov and Galina could have a happy family with children and a cozy, well-established life. It is no coincidence that after the housewarming party, Galina invites Zilov to have a child, although she understands that he does not need one.

The basic principle of relationships with people for Zilov is unbridled lies, the purpose of which is the desire to whitewash oneself and denigrate others. So, for example, inviting his boss Kushak to a housewarming party, who at first does not want to go on a visit without his wife, Zilov informs Galina that Vera, with whom he is supposedly in love, has been invited for him. In fact, Vera is the mistress of Zilov himself. In turn, Victor pushes Kushak to court Vera: “Nonsense. Act boldly, don't stand on ceremony. This is all done on the fly. Grab the bull by the horns."

Expressive in the play is the image of Sayapin's wife Valeria, whose ideal is bourgeois happiness. She identifies family ties with material wealth. “Tolechka, if in six months we don’t move into such an apartment, I will run away from you, I swear to you,” she declares to her husband at the Zilovs’ housewarming party.

Aptly depicted by A.V. Vampilov and another expressive female character in the play - the image of Vera, who is also, in essence, unhappy. She has long lost faith in the possibility of finding a reliable life partner and calls all men the same (Alikami). At the housewarming party, Verochka constantly shocks everyone with her tactlessness and attempt to dance on Zilov’s table. A woman tries to seem ruder and more cheeky than she really is. Obviously, this helps her drown out her longing for real human happiness. Kuzakov understands this best of all, who tells Zilov: “Yes, Vitya, it seems to me that she is not at all who she claims to be.”

The housewarming scene uses an important compositional move. All the guests give the Zilovs gifts. Valeria torments the owner of the house for a long time before giving a gift, and asks what he loves most. This scene plays a big role in revealing the image of Zilov. Galina confesses in it that she has not felt her husband’s love for a long time. He has a consumer attitude towards her.

Vera, asking about her mistress with a grin, also understands that Victor is indifferent to her and her visit does not give him much pleasure. During the conversation, it turns out that Zilov does not like his job as an engineer, although he can still improve his business reputation. This is evidenced by Kushak’s remark: “He lacks a business spirit, that’s true, but he’s a capable guy...”. The Sayapins give Zilov the hunting equipment that the hero so dreams of. The image of duck hunting in the work is undoubtedly symbolic in nature. It can be seen as a dream of a worthwhile task, which Zilov turns out to be incapable of. It is no coincidence that Galina, who knows his character more deeply than others, notices that the main thing for him is getting ready and talking.

A peculiar test for Zilov is a letter from his father, who asks him to come to see him. It turns out that Victor has not been with his parents for a long time and is very cynical about the tearful letters of his old father: “He sends out such letters to all ends and lies there, like a dog, waiting. Relatives, fools, come over, oh, oh, and he’s happy. He lays down and lies down, then, lo and behold, he gets up - he’s alive, healthy and drinking vodka.” At the same time, the son does not even know exactly how old his father is (he remembers that he is over seventy). Zilov has a choice: go on vacation to his father in September or realize his old dream of duck hunting. He chooses the second. As a result, the unfortunate old man will die without seeing his son.

Before our eyes, Zilov destroys Galina’s last hopes for personal happiness. He is indifferent to her pregnancy, and the woman, seeing this, gets rid of the child. Tired of endless lies, she leaves her husband for her childhood friend, who still loves her.

Troubles are brewing at work: Zilov handed over an article with false information to his boss, and also forced his friend Sayapin to sign it. The hero is facing dismissal. But he doesn’t really worry about it.

In a cafe with the sentimental name “Forget-Me-Not,” Zilov often appears with new women. It is there that he invites young Irina, who sincerely falls in love with him. His wife finds him and his girlfriend in a cafe.

Having learned about Galina’s desire to leave him, Zilov tries to keep her and even promises to take her hunting with him, but when he sees that Irina has come to him, he quickly switches. However, other women whom he once attracted to him with false promises eventually leave him. Vera is going to marry Kuzakov, who takes her seriously. It is no coincidence that she begins to call him by name, and not Alik, like other men.

Only at the end of the play does the viewer learn what kind of scandal Zilov created in Forget-Me-Not: he gathered his friends there, invited Irina and began to insult everyone in turn, grossly violating the rules of decency.

In the end, he also offends the innocent Irina. And when the waiter Dima, with whom the hero is going on the long-awaited duck hunt, stands up for the girl, he insults him too, calling him a lackey.

After this whole disgusting story, Zilov is actually trying to commit suicide. He is saved by Kuzakov and Sayapin. The economical Sayapin, dreaming of his own apartment, is trying to distract Zilov with something. He says it's time to refinish the floors. Victor responds by giving him the keys to the apartment. The waiter Dima, despite the insult, invites him to go duck hunting. He allows him to take the boat. Then he drives away people who are somehow trying to fight for his life. At the end of the play, Zilov throws himself on the bed and either cries or laughs. And most likely he cries and laughs at himself. Then he finally calms down and calls Dima, agreeing to go hunting with him.

What is the further fate of the hero? It is quite obvious that he needs to rethink his attitude towards life in general, towards the people with whom he communicates. Perhaps Zilov will still be able to overcome his mental crisis and return to normal life. But most likely the hero is doomed to quickly find his death, since he cannot overcome his own selfishness and does not see a goal for which it is worth continuing life. The loss of spiritual and moral supports is a typical feature of the generation of the period of stagnation. For centuries, people's lives have been subject to the norms of religious morality. At the beginning of the 20th century, public thought was driven by the idea of ​​​​creating a bright future, a socially just government system. During the Great Patriotic War, the main task was to protect the native land from invaders, then - post-war construction. In the sixties and seventies there were no socio-political problems of this magnitude. Perhaps this is why a generation of people has formed who are characterized by the loss of family ties and the meaning of friendships. The influence of the church on the spiritual life of man by this time had been lost. Norms of religious morality were not observed. And few people believed in the idea of ​​building a bright future. The reason for Zilov’s spiritual crisis is the awareness of the worthlessness of his life, the lack of a real goal, since the so-called duck hunt, which he constantly dreams of, is more of an attempt to escape from life’s problems than a real cause for which he can sacrifice everything else.