This is a story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, which was first published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski in 1848. The writer dedicated his work to A.N. Pleshcheev, a friend of his youth. Perhaps this particular person is the prototype of the main character, since it is known that at this time he was thinking about his own version of the story, the hero of which is in the clouds. The characteristics of the dreamer from the story "White Nights" will be discussed in our article.
We are all dreamers
"White Nights", according to many researchers of the writer's work, is one of his most poetic and bright works. Dostoevsky himself, in addition, wrote that we are all, to some extent, dreamers. That is, the story in some sense can be called autobiographical. After all, Fyodor Mikhailovich, like main character works, often recalled his dreams. He wrote that in his youthful fantasy he sometimes liked to imagine himself as either Marius, or Pericles, or a knight at a tournament, or a Christian during the reign of Nero, etc. The atmosphere of this work is romantic, as are the images of its main characters - a young girl and a commoner official. Both of them have a pure soul.
Meeting with Nastenka
The story consists of five parts. Moreover, four of them describe nights, and the final one describes morning. The young man, the main character, is a dreamer who has lived for eight years in St. Petersburg, but could not find friends in this city. He went out for a walk one summer day. But suddenly it seemed to the hero that the whole city had gone to the dacha. Being a lonely person, the dreamer felt with great force his isolation from others. He decided to go on foot outside the city. Returning from a walk, the main character noticed a young girl (Nastenka) sobbing at the railing of the canal.
They started talking. These events begin the story "White Nights" by Dostoevsky.
Character of the main character
Having chosen the form of narration in the first person, the author of the work gave it the features of a confession and reflections of an autobiographical nature. It is characteristic that Dostoevsky did not name his hero. This technique strengthens the association with a close friend of the writer or the author himself. All his life, the image of a dreamer worried Fyodor Mikhailovich. He even wanted to write a novel of the same name.
The characteristics of the dreamer from the story "White Nights" are as follows. In the work, the main character is a strong, educated young man. However, he calls himself a lonely and timid dreamer. This character lives in romantic dreams that have replaced reality for him. Everyday worries and affairs are not interesting to him. He performs them only out of necessity and feels like a stranger in this world. The poor dreamer hides in the dark corners of St. Petersburg, where the sun never peeks. This person is always confused, he constantly feels guilty. The hero has ridiculous manners and stupid speech.
The external characteristics of the dreamer from the story "White Nights" are very meager. The author focuses on his So, we cannot say what he does, where he serves. This depersonalizes him even more. The dreamer lives without friends, and he has never dated girls. Because of this, the hero becomes an object of hostility and ridicule from others. He compares himself to a dirty, rumpled kitten, looking at the world with hostility and resentment.
I always get the feeling that main character is a little boy or a feverish teenager. The confused confessions and excessive emotions that he throws out chaotically seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the situation. He does not know the world at all, as the characterization of the dreamer from the story “White Nights” shows. If a girl decides to connect her life with this hero, tender sighs await her, but such a person will not invite her either to visit or to the theater - only a ban at home will make her a hostage to sentimentality. The characteristics of the dreamer allow us to draw the following conclusion.
The sinfulness of the dreamer's life, his creative powers
Fyodor Mikhailovich believes that such a ghostly life is sinful, since it takes a person away from the world of reality. He turns into a “strange creature” of some “neuter kind.” At the same time, the dreams of the main character also have creative value. After all, this man, as Dostoevsky notes, is the artist of his own life. He creates it according to his will every hour.
"The Extra Man"
The dreamer is a type of so-called extra person. However, his criticism is directed only inwards. He does not despise society, like Pechorin or Onegin. This hero feels sincere sympathy for strangers. An altruistic dreamer is able to serve another person and come to his aid.
Reflection of the mood in society in the work
Many of Dostoevsky's contemporaries had a tendency to dream about something unusual and bright. Disappointment and despair reigned in society, which were caused by the defeat of the Decembrists. After all, the rise of the liberation movement, which occurred in the 60s, had not yet matured. Fyodor Mikhailovich himself was able to abandon empty dreams in favor of the ideals of democracy. However, the main character of "White Nights" never managed to escape from the captivity of dreams, although he understood the destructiveness of his own worldview.
Nastenka
Opposed to this hero-dreamer is Nastenka, an active girl. Dostoevsky created the image of a romantic and sophisticated beauty who is a hero, although a little naive and childish. What inspires respect from this girl is her desire to fight for her own happiness. However, Nastenka herself needs support.
The love that a dreamer experienced
Dostoevsky (“White Nights”) in his work describes the pure, sincere feeling of a dreamer. The hero has no selfish motives. He is ready to sacrifice everything for another, so he strives to ensure the happiness of this girl, without thinking for a minute that Nastenka’s love is the only thing he has in this life. The feeling of a dreamer is trusting, selfless. It is as pure as the white nights. Love saves the hero from his “sin” (that is, daydreaming), and allows him to quench his thirst for the fullness of life. However, his fate is sad. He is again a lonely man. F. Dostoevsky (“White Nights”), however, does not leave hopeless tragedy at the end of the story. The dreamer blesses his beloved again.
This story is a kind of idyll. This is the author's utopia about what people could be if they showed better feelings. The work "White Nights", in which the dreamer is a generalized, typical character, is more a dream of a beautiful, different life than Dostoevsky's reflection of reality.
Dreamers in Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
It is interesting to look at the main character’s ideas about happiness (the ideal of compassion and brotherhood) through the prism of Tolstoy’s work “After the Ball.” The characterization of the dreamer (“White Nights”) in the light of this story becomes especially clear. The endless isolation from life and sentimentality of Dostoevsky’s hero contrasts sharply with the deep emotions inherent in the young romantic from Tolstoy’s work. Unlike the first one, he makes serious decisions. The hero Fyodor Mikhailovich is completely immersed in his experiences. For him, the outside world exists somewhere off to the side. One’s own dreams are the only motive for performing a particular action, as shown by the dreamer (“White Nights”) and his “double” from the story “After the Ball.” Any sentimentality is an indicator of a lack of understanding of urgent needs, spiritual loneliness, a consequence of a feeling of alienation from the world that owns a person. F. Dostoevsky (“White Nights”) nevertheless sympathizes with the hero and does not condemn him.
In the story by A. S. Pushkin “ Captain's daughter» many bright and original characters are depicted - courageous,
decisive, fair. However, what most attracted my attention was Masha Mironova, the main character of the work, the daughter of Captain Mironov.
Masha's life takes place in Belogorsk fortress, whose commandant is her father. The portrait of the girl is unremarkable: she is about eighteen years old, she is “chubby, ruddy, with light brown hair, combed smoothly behind the ears." Her mother considers her a “coward,” and the evil Shvabrin characterizes the girl as “a complete fool.”
However, further acquaintance shows that Masha has many advantages: she is a welcoming, sincere, sweet, “prudent and sensitive” girl. Her even character and friendliness cannot leave others indifferent.
Finding herself in a critical situation, Masha reveals a new side. She shows incredible resilience and fortitude when she finds herself in the hands of the hated Shvabrin. Neither force nor threats can break a defenseless girl; she is ready to die rather than agree to marry an unloved person. Left without parents and separated from her fiancé, Masha decides to fight for her happiness alone.
Having learned about the arrest of Pyotr Grinev and his accusation of treason and betrayal, she goes to St. Petersburg with the intention of submitting a petition to the empress. Confident of her beloved’s innocence, she so simply and sincerely talks about his relationship with the leader of the rebels, Pugachev, that she wins over Ekaterina P. “By personal order,” Grinev is released from prison, in addition, the empress undertakes to arrange the condition of the orphaned Masha.
I believe that Masha Mironova is one of the best heroines in Russian literature. She harmoniously combines tenderness and willpower, femininity and determination, sensuality and intelligence. Getting to know this girl evokes sincere sympathy and affection. I really want to become like Masha, because I consider her the ideal woman.
In the story “The Captain's Daughter” Pushkin painted vivid images. By describing the actions of the heroes, their attitude towards others, their appearance, conveying thoughts and feelings, the writer creates in us a clear idea of their characters, that is, of their internal qualities.
One of the characters in the work is Masha Mironova, the daughter of the commandant of the Belogorsk fortress. During the first meeting with her, we see an ordinary Russian girl: “chubby, ruddy, with light brown hair, smoothly combed behind the ears.” Timid and sensitive, she was afraid even of a gun shot. In many ways, her timidity and embarrassment were caused by her lifestyle: she lived rather secluded, even lonely.
From the words of Vasilisa Egorovna, we learn about the unenviable fate of the girl: “The girl is of marriageable age, but what is her dowry? a fine comb, a broom, and an altyn of money... what to go to the bathhouse with. Okay, if you can find it a kind person; otherwise sit in the girls as an eternal bride.” But Masha refuses Shvabrin’s offer to become his wife. Clean, open soul she cannot accept a marriage with an unloved person: “Alexei Ivanovich, of course, is an intelligent man, has a good family name, and has a fortune; but when I think that it will be necessary to kiss him under the aisle in front of everyone... Never! not for any well-being! “A marriage of convenience is unthinkable for her, even if she finds herself in the most difficult situation. Masha sincerely fell in love with Peter Grinev. And she does not hide her feelings, openly giving him an answer to his explanation: “She, without any affectation, admitted to Grinev her heartfelt inclination and said that her parents would be glad of her happiness.” However, she never agrees to get married without the blessing of the groom's parents. It was not easy for Masha to distance herself from Pyotr Andreevich. Her feelings were still as strong, but pride, honor and dignity did not allow her to do otherwise after she learned of his parents’ disagreement with this marriage.
A bitter fate awaits the girl ahead: her parents were executed, and she was hidden in her house by the priest.
Lesson objectives: evaluate the features of the image of the main character - the dreamer; training in analytical reading; characteristics of the hero.
During the classes
At home, students, relying on existing skills, will try to find a text that shows techniques for revealing the image of the main character. Given the complexity of the topic, you should review the text from beginning to end, helping students complete and correctly formulate their observations.
I. Conversation
Night one.
How does the hero feel in St. Petersburg?
What was the environment around him?
Under what circumstances did his meeting with Nastenka take place?
How did the hero behave and why?
How does his dialogue with Nastenka characterize the hero?
Night two.
Who is the dreamer in the mind of the main character?
How does the hero explain why he doesn't take care of business?
How does he evaluate such a life?
Night three.
Why did the hero become so easily attracted to Nastenka?
Night four.
Why does the hero decide to throw in his lot with Nastenka? How sincere is his impulse?
Morning.
How does the hero perceive the breakup of his relationship with Nastenka? Why? Can such an ending be considered unhappy?
How does the image of Nastenka (read her letter expressively) help to understand the author’s intention, his idea?
II. Assignment throughout the text
Read the subtitle of the sentimental novel. In what meaning is the word “novel” used?
What does the main character, and with him the author, dream about?
Conclusion. The idea of a person’s loneliness, his restlessness cannot leave the reader indifferent
Gradually delving into the content of the story, students begin to understand the characters more deeply, usually changing their primary reading perception.
Homework
Miniature essay “How interesting are Dostoevsky’s thoughts and feelings to the modern reader.”
Lesson 67. Petersburg by Dostoevsky
Lesson objectives: analysis of the first paragraph of the text; identify the features of Dostoevsky’s landscape.
Vocabulary work: landscape in literature.
During the classes
I. Expressive reading of the text (First Night, first paragraph)
II. Work in groups (with elements of linguistic analysis)
Group 1. Write down words and phrases that characterize state of mind hero. What does first-person narration give to a text?
Group 2. Analyze the construction of sentences. Who is the narrator talking to? What does the author achieve in this way?
Group 3. What details help you understand the life of the city? Try to “decipher” the symbol - the color yellow.
Group 4. This part of the text represents the hero's monologue. Appreciate the richness of his speech. How does this monologue characterize him?
Group 5. Prove that Dostoevsky contrasts the life of nature with the life of the city. What is the main contrast of St. Petersburg life depicted in the story? Why is the hero of the story “White Nights” endlessly lonely?
Conclusions.
The tradition of depicting St. Petersburg comes from Pushkin (“The Bronze Horseman”). Unlike Pushkin, Dostoevsky gravitates towards the essayistic and everyday life side of the image of St. Petersburg (details, topographical accuracy). In addition, Dostoevsky is not only a writer of everyday life, he depicts some spiritual and mystical essence of St. Petersburg, where a person is lonely and unhappy. At the same time, it is emphasized that St. Petersburg is a symbol of Russia, that in this city all Russian incongruities are presented in a concentrated form.
Homework
1. Get acquainted with the article in the textbook about L.N. Tolstoy and retell it.
2. Text - “Youth”.
3. Individually - a review of the content of the stories “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”.
Lesson 68. Personality of L.N. Tolstoy.
Autobiographical trilogy. Content overview.
Psychologism of Tolstoy's prose
Lesson objectives: training in working with a textbook; discussion of independently read works.
Vocabulary work: dialectic of the hero's soul.
During the classes
I. Working with an article from a textbook about L. N. Tolstoy
The students read it at home. It is important that they are able to answer the following questions:
What of Tolstoy's readings resonates with you? What haven't you read? Could you make a list like this?
What did the young man Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy want to develop in himself and what did he want to achieve (judging by the plan he drew up)?
What shortcomings did Tolstoy want to fight in himself? How important is this for a person?
What is the history of Tolstoy's military life? What works appeared as a result of Tolstoy's participation in hostilities?
Where does work on the story “Childhood” begin? What kind of response did she receive?
The part “Childhood” was published in Sovremennik in 1852 and was the first part of the planned tetralogy “Four Epochs of Development”. Two more parts were realized - the stories “Adolescence” and “Youth”, and the idea of the fourth was only partially realized in the story “The Morning of the Landowner”. "Adolescence" was published in 1854, and "Youth" in 1857.
How was Tolstoy’s plan reflected in the story of the name change?
Why is not only the work, but also the life of L.N. Tolstoy very interesting?
II. Trilogy content overview
Three pre-prepared students are preparing a review of the content of the stories “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”, paying special attention to the changes occurring with the main character of the trilogy.
III. Working with a fragment of text - the chapter “My classes”.
Discussion of questions 1-6 in the textbook. To do this, you will need knowledge of the full text of the chapter.
IV. Observation of the features of L. N. Tolstoy’s narrative
Why does Tolstoy choose the form of autobiographical narrative for his work?
What feature of Tolstoy's psychologism is manifested in this work?
Final question:
One of the meanings of the word “dialectics” is: the process of movement and development. Can the changes that occur in the hero’s soul be called the dialectics of his soul?
Homework
2. Create questions to analyze the chapter.
Lesson 69. True and imaginary values of life
Lesson objectives: training in analytical reading; reading fragments and analysis of the chapter “Comme il faut”; consolidation of retelling-analysis skills.
During the classes
I. Implementation of homework
Along with evaluating the work, the teacher holds a competition for the most interesting question.
II. Conversation (chapter content analysis)
What is the ideal of a “come il faut” person?
How does L.N. Tolstoy evaluate this concept? How does the author characterize the time spent acquiring the qualities of a “come il faut” person?
What was the main evil of this hobby?
Work in groups.
The textbook contains a number of questions after the chapter. Students, united in groups, prepare a joint answer to one of the questions, if possible, presenting different points of view.
Group 1: How do you assess this fate of the hero?
Group 2: Are there qualities that attract you in the list of characteristics that guided the narrator?
Group 3:
Did this chapter remind you of anything from your life? Do your friends have similar hobbies? Is it worth convincing them?
III. Retelling and analysis of chapter XXI “Comme il faut”.
This chapter is a compositionally complete part that shows an issue that is important for the younger generation.
To prepare a retelling-analysis, it is important to formulate main idea, on the analysis of which students will concentrate their attention. In this case, this could be the following question: what does the author want to convince his reader of and how does he do it.
Having thus defined the problem, during the secondary reading and viewing, the main, key facts and details are selected for an oral concise retelling and analysis.
In this case, the second part of the question is very important, because here students must show the features of L.N. Tolstoy’s narrative style.
What students should pay attention to:
What form of storytelling is chosen for this work and why?
How are the feelings and experiences of the main character conveyed to the reader?
Why is there a strong journalistic element in the chapter and how is it expressed?
IV. Conversation
We should return again to the key question of the lessons: why can the changes that occur to the main character be considered “the dialectic of his soul”?
Homework
Lesson 70. Features of the narrative of A. N. Tolstoy.
Methods of psychological self-analysis of the hero.
Chapter "I'm Failing" Preparing for an essay
Lesson objectives: work on the concept of “dialectics of the soul”; techniques (internal monologues, the predominance of descriptions and reasoning over the development of action, dialogues, speech characteristic) psychological self-analysis of the hero; training in analytical reading; drawing up and analyzing an essay plan.
During the classes
I. Conversation
Answer the questions and support your thoughts with text.
Why was the hero “in some strange fog” on the eve of the exam?
What is the condition inner world Nikolenki?
What was Nikolenka thinking about after the exam? Why does the author convey his internal monologue in such detail?
What upset Nikolenka most in this story?
What changed in his feelings after much thought?
What is the plot of the chapter based on? Why do descriptions and reasoning prevail over action? How can Tolstoy’s plan be viewed in this regard?
What does “I’m failing” mean in the chapter title?
II. Preparation for the miniature essay “Dialectics of the Soul” in L. N. Tolstoy’s story “Youth”
Again, students should be reminded how to work on a miniature essay.
1. Think about what problem is being posed, formulate it in your own words.
When publishing the story “Childhood,” N. A. Nekrasov replaced the title with another one - “The Story of My Childhood.” Let us remember how Tolstoy reacted to this: “The title “The Story of My Childhood” contradicts the idea of the essay. Who cares about my childhood? Obviously, it was not the life story of a specific person, but something else that underlay the author’s plan. Tolstoy impartially and frankly talks about what happened to the child’s soul, and then young man during the most important periods of his life. So it turns out that the development of the human soul forms the basis of this work. The task of the essay is to show how Tolstoy depicts this development, in other words, dialectics.
2. Select the material necessary to solve this problem.
Since Ch. has been studied more deeply than others. 4, placed in the textbook, factual material can be taken from them, making the necessary references to the text of the entire story. The material can be grouped as follows:
Autobiographical prose is one of the forms of revealing from within the process of personality formation;
The hero's spiritual conflict with his environment and his own shortcomings;
True and imaginary values of the hero's life;
Tolstoy evaluates his hero by his ability or inability to grow spiritually;
“dialectics of the soul” and purity of moral feeling in Tolstoy’s trilogy;
Features of the narrative (internal monologues, the predominance of descriptions and reasoning over action, dialogues).
3. Draw a conclusion and generalization.
What conclusions does Nikolenka Irtenyev ultimately come to about the meaning of life, about good and bad?
What is the universal significance of the story “Youth”?
The plan is discussed in class and written down by students.
Homework
Write a miniature essay.
Lesson 71. How to write an essay?
Preparing for home essay on the topic
"My Contemporary"
The purpose of the lesson: characteristics of essay types; learning to write essays.
Information for teachers
The studied works of I. S. Turgenev and L. N. Tolstoy are dedicated to young people of 15-16 years of age. Naturally, if students compare their life experiences with their own. And this comparison can be embodied in an essay about yourself or about your contemporary.
During the classes
I. Lecture. How to write an essay?
An essay is a genre of journalism because it depicts and explains significant and interesting phenomena of reality.
Questions for students.
Why is it advisable to write an essay on this topic in the essay genre?
There are these types of essays:
travel essay (if the problem is related to pictures of everyday life, nature or road events);
portrait sketch (at the center is a person, his business; the essay decides socially significant problem associated with the character or actions of the hero, on the other hand, expresses author's attitude to the hero of the essay himself).
Questions:
What type of essay is best to write on this topic?
What style of speech is appropriate for presenting such a topic?
Let us once again remind students how to construct a journalistic speech.
Journalistic allows:
Journalistic vocabulary (ideals of goodness; turning points; freedom and independence);
Repetitions (long ago, young and fresh);
Antitheses (strength - weakness, faith - unbelief);
Rhetorical questions (Who can be deceived by this aggressive appearance?);
Incentive and exclamation sentences(Imagine... Remember...);
Comparative and contrastive constructions (Both young and adult people...).
II. Discussion of key questions regarding the essay topic
It is interesting to give the floor to students at the beginning - to set them up to think about their contemporary.
How is the life of a modern young man different?
What problems are typical for this generation? How are they resolved?
If among your peers there are individuals about whom you can say that they are constantly developing?
Are adults’ reproaches that “young people have gone the wrong way” fair?
Has the life of your peer become easier or more difficult compared to the last century?
Have the ideals that young people of the last century proclaimed been preserved in our time?
The topic is considered freely, because the student himself chooses who to write about and what form of narration to choose.
Homework
Essay essay (based on lesson materials). The result may be the publication of a class newspaper, where the best works will be published at the choice of the teacher and students.
Information for teachers 1
Autobiographical literature has existed for a very long time. This genre is close to memoirs, but an autobiography is usually devoted not to the person’s surroundings, but to the author’s own thoughts, feelings and experiences.
“Childhood” was published in the Sovremennik magazine under the title “The Story of My Childhood.” 1852 Signature under the work “L. N."
“Adolescence” was published in the Sovremennik magazine. 1854 Signature under the work “L.N.T.”
“Youth” was published in the Sovremennik magazine. 1857 Signature under the work “L. Tolstoy."
The change in signature seems to reflect the author’s strengthening confidence in his luck, in the right to declare to the whole world that it was he who created this work.
Let's take a look at what paved the way for their creation and how the writer's life developed in previous years. Let the students face the difficult process of “overcoming oneself”, without which there would not have been a brilliant rise of a new writer who, let us remember, unlike many other authors, did not experience a streak of creative failures at the beginning of his career.
Let's see what feasible goals L.N. Tolstoy sets for himself: “1) Get into the circle of players and, with money, play. 2) Get into high light and, under certain conditions, get married. 3) Find a place beneficial for the service.” And all this in order to “put things right” after numerous losses.
True to himself, he immediately creates “Rules for the Game”, “Rules for Society”, in which he plans to “invite the most important ladies to dance at the ball”, “try to always master the conversation”. For this purpose, he goes to the Moscow military governor-general, married to his aunt, to his cousin Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Volkonsky, etc.
We will read in one of the draft editions of “Cossacks” his thoughts on this matter: “The mind has long explained to him that the Governor-General is an idiot, but he still wants with all his might to have his hand shaken by the hand of the Governor-General. The mind has proven that light is an ugliness, and with trepidation, excitement he enters the ball and waits, expects something magically happy from this terrible light.”
The state of mental dissatisfaction with oneself continues. And then in one of the novels of that time he read about the “Franklin diary”, which was once kept by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an American educator, scientist, statesman, one of the authors of the US Declaration of Independence, creator of America's first public library. In the diary, the author reported to himself about his weaknesses and misdeeds every day.
In March 1851, Tolstoy gave himself the task: “Compile a journal for weaknesses (Franklin’s).” The diary itself has not reached us, but in the works and sketches of that time, for example, in the unfinished story “The History of Yesterday,” so many shortcomings are named that their list alone takes up more than a page. This includes vanity in its various manifestations, and cowardice, which obviously includes other qualities, such as shyness (“I couldn’t bow to Lvova - cowardice”), and lack of energy, and lack of patience, and lack of consistency, and weakness of character, “tenderness”... But all these reproaches have nothing to do with the ideal that he will form later. For now, Nikolenka is convinced that shortcomings only hinder the formation of a strong person.
At the same time, work is underway on the first edition of Childhood. In it he already finds his “most important artistic techniques.” This is inner speech (internal monologue) and the image of mental movements through their external manifestations. He, for example, is already trying to show what is expressed by the look and “mouth shape” of the mistress of the house. And this, as he immediately explains, was expressed in thoughtfulness, mockery, importance, and caprice...
He worked intensively on the story, he constantly creates new artistic techniques and at the same time demands harmony and unity from his work. “It is necessary to destroy without pity all places that are unclear, drawn out, inappropriate - in a word, unsatisfactory, even if they were good in themselves” (diary entry dated March 27, 1852). Working on the story became an urgent need for him.
Tolstoy worked on the story “Adolescence” with long breaks for about a year and a half. The first sketch was made on November 29, 1852 in the Caucasus. The third version was completed in Bucharest (he entered the Danube army from Sevastopol) in April 1854. The techniques that he found while working on “Childhood” continue to be improved. The depiction of emotional movements through facial expressions, smiles, voice intonation, gaze, and gestures immediately attracted the attention of readers. The skill in depicting the landscape was also replaced: the famous thunderstorm was immediately especially noted by Nekrasov.
“Youth” became the final one in the cycle autobiographical stories. While still in Sevastopol, he began this story and at the end of June 1856 he began the work that captivated him - its alteration. On September 12, the third edition of the story was completed. Having finished, he re-read the story and on a separate sheet of paper gave critical assessment each of the written chapters. Tolstoy gave the story to Sovremennik, where it was published.
Interest in what I am like lives in the minds of every person. When this secret process is told by a talented writer who appears to the reader as an honest, courageous and conscientious person, this doubles the impact of the work.
The spiritual life of Tolstoy's hero - Nikolenka Irtenyev - several times invades the reading world of students, and in the ninth grade one can somehow summarize the results of observations of the hero's childhood, adolescence and youth.
The author is constantly on the move, constantly looking for solutions to a variety of issues. The beginning of the journey, which seemed extremely unsuccessful to all close relatives, turned out to be a confluence of many successes. A nomination for a registered weapon for courage, the creative success of an aspiring writer, an awareness of the importance of one’s own thoughts about the future - everything suddenly came together in the definition of recognition.
Tolstoy's stories are not sentimental, although it was he who owned the formula “golden childhood”, they are devoid of narcissism. There is not a grain of those qualities in the author that could cause a feeling of awkwardness. Usually there is a grateful response from the reader for help in forming a benevolent attitude towards himself: the reader goes through a kind of school of self-demandingness, which is accompanied by self-respect.
The measure and degree of appropriate frankness are depicted in the lines of all three autobiographical stories. Interesting descriptions of attempts literary creativity future writer. Thus, in the chapter “Poems” (the story “Childhood”) it is told how Nikolenka is trying to create a congratulation for her grandmother.
“Childhood” and “Adolescence” is a story about Nikolenka Irteniev, whose thoughts, feelings and mistakes are depicted with complete and sincere sympathy. The depiction of youth is another matter. The hero retains his former aspirations and noble spiritual qualities. But he was brought up in the false prejudices of an aristocratic society, from which he frees himself only at the end of the story, and then only after going through doubts and serious reflection and meeting other people - not aristocrats. "Youth" is a tale of mistakes and rebirth.
Nikolenka will eventually begin to give special meaning“the voice of repentance and a passionate desire for perfection.” “A good, joyful voice, how many times since then, in those sad times when the soul silently submitted to the power of life’s lies and depravity, suddenly boldly rebelled against all untruth, maliciously denounced the past, pointed out, forcing her to love, the clear point of the present and promised good and happiness in the future - a good, gratifying voice! Will you ever stop sounding?
Of course, one cannot assume that the story is an overly pathetic work. The author is often ironic towards the hero. Let us recall, for example, the proposition from Chap. XXVI: “...I tried my extraordinary intelligence and originality, to which I especially considered myself obliged by my uniform.”
The chapter “Youth” is one of the poetic chapters of the story and deserves special attention of the class. But even more curious and even instructive are the chapters that testify to his moral regeneration. When Tolstoy re-read the story almost 50 years later, he saw some insincerity in it. He indicated that “at that time I did not consider my democratic direction good and important,” directly pointing to the XXXI and last three chapters.
N. N. Gusev in his study states that “Chapter “Comme il faut” (XXXI) contains a classic, nowhere else found in our literature, characteristic of “this concept, which served as the main rule of behavior in secular society. Nikolenka already sees all the emptiness, simply the stupidity of this basis for evaluating people in an aristocratic society.” The researcher even argues that Tolstoy's self-accusation should be completely rejected. Obviously, the teacher will have to think about this issue quite thoroughly. It is probably more likely that Nikolenka saw all the disadvantages of his ideal, but was not able to immediately renounce its overwhelming influence and accept, without hesitation and reservations, democratic manners and style of behavior that were alien to him.
The main idea of “Youth” is the growth of the consciousness of a young man. The theme of spiritual “resurrection” underlies many of the writer’s subsequent works.
Confessionalism and moralizing are present in the story, but they are not what attract generations of readers to it, and they are not the focus of the teacher’s attention during lessons on its study. Attention to one’s own spiritual life and severe demands on oneself, honesty in assessments and characteristics are lessons in the demanding introspection that youth cannot do without. An example of an artistically perfect embodiment of youthful states and thoughts appears before the class and teacher as a subject of respectful, perhaps even enthusiastic consideration.
The ninth grade program also contains an autobiographical cycle created by Maxim Gorky. The hero of this cycle is sharply polemical not with Nikolenka Irteniev, and not even with his creator, Leo Tolstoy, but perhaps with fate itself. Let's remember the story of two lives by comparing the titles of autobiographical works.
Leo Tolstoy - “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”.
Maxim Gorky - “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”.
It is precisely the polemical and frank journalistic nature of the stories created by Gorky long years later after the events themselves, they make it possible not so much to compare artistic features works of two writers, how much to discuss the specifics of the genre and reflect on its perception by readers.
When referring to Tolstoy's trilogy, works that were created by the writer in the same years are often drawn to. They also carry echoes of autobiography, reproducing events in which the author was a participant - these are “The Raid”, “Cutting Wood”, but above all “Sevastopol Stories”.
A similar situation arises when studying the final story of Gorky’s autobiographical works. However, there is a significant difference. Tolstoy wrote his autobiographical stories practically from the “battlefield”; these works record the formation of character a little later than the moment when this formation itself took place. Gorky in the 20s of the XX century. On the threshold of old age, I decided to take a look at my youth and youth. The author was decades separated from the time of the events described in his stories.
The story “Mom Universities” was written in 1922. Adjacent to it is a cycle of autobiographical stories: “The Time of Korolenko” (1923), “About First Love” (1923) and other works, which are usually considered as fragments of the unrealized plan of the fourth part of the artistic autobiography.
In the story “Mom Universities” there is just as abundant a layer of “leaden abominations” as in “Childhood”, and the oppression of these abominations is stronger - they are already comprehended by the rebellion against injustice by the hero of the story. When addressing the plot of the story, teachers often do not even mention the tragic suicide attempt of Alyosha Peshkov. Waves of youth suicide, which periodically arise for a number of reasons, frighten teachers as a fact that is difficult and unknown how to resist. A conversation on such a sensitive topic requires both the trust of students and the skillful determination of the right tone. The teacher decides for himself the question of the possibility of discussing it, but there is no need to completely exclude this tragic topic.
Contemplating the picture of the “universities” that Alyosha Peshkov went through suddenly becomes very hot topic, which responds completely modern problems. The problem of exploitation, the problem of the initial accumulation of capital, the problem of justice. Reflection on the pages of Gorky's story will help not so much in their categorical decision, which may be unrealistic, but in the formation of ideas about possible ways to overcome or mitigate all these difficulties, and the formation of a sense of moral responsibility.
Works fiction activate the worldview, help sharpen the reaction to everything that surrounds us, be it a gust of wind or a complex technical device, an interesting thought or an outrageous act. Autobiographical works make the reader’s reaction stricter and more demanding and at the same time inspire more trust and participation in him. Their study, and even more so their comparison, when it is convincingly motivated, is an excellent school of reading skills.
Lesson objectives: training in monologue statements; analytical reading of the hero's characteristics.
Equipment: board, portrait of the writer, epigraphs for the lesson, illustrations, task cards, informant cards; Questions about the hero's characteristics are written on the board.
Epigraphs for the lesson:
“He himself is the artist of his life and creates it for himself every hour according to new arbitrariness.”
“You see, the more spirit and inner content we have, the more beautiful our corner and life. Of course, the dissonance is terrible, the disequilibrium that society presents to us is terrible. Outside must be balanced with internal. Otherwise, with the absence of external phenomena, the internal will take over too dangerously.”
F. M. Dostoevsky
Teacher's opening speech
We are meeting with F. M. Dostoevsky for the second time. The first was a meeting with “The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree.” Dostoevsky is the author of difficult works to read. In each of his novels we meet children. Dostoevsky wrote with pain in his heart about childhood suffering, about the misfortunes of the poor and humiliated. The author wanted to awaken the conscience of every person, so that he would never forget that next to a well-fed, prosperous life there is always another. And in this other life - hunger, suffering, rudeness, dirt, humiliation and insults. His first story was called “Poor People.” It was a complete work in the genre of the novel, in which the issue of class inequality was highlighted, in showing truly “pariahs of society” - people doomed, oppressed by the burden of dependence and humiliation, not complex, full of inner spiritual delicacy, full of self-esteem.
A student’s message about F. M. Dostoevsky’s story “Poor People.”
By comparing Makar Devushkin with Samson Vyrin from “ Stationmaster” A. S. Pushkin and Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin from “The Overcoat” by N. V. Gogol.
Abstracts of a student's speech prepared in advance by the teacher
In Vyrin, Devushkin recognizes himself, the caretaker’s experiences are close and understandable to him, he even accepts the ending of Pushkin’s story without protesting against the injustice of fate.
Vyrin's fate is somewhat repeated in the fates of other characters in the novel: Pokrovsky - father, official Gorshkov, Emelya. All of them, in Devushkin’s eyes, possess one virtue or another, just like Pushkin’s hero.
Bashmachkin evokes a feeling of indignation. In “The Overcoat,” the hero also faces the truth of his life, a truth that he does not want to admit, but which penetrates into his very heart and destroys his idea of himself and his place in life. This state awakens in Devushkin a desire to speak out and sharpens his self-awareness.
Along with traditional ideas about the world and one’s place in it, inherent in both Vyrin and Bashmachkin, Devushkin develops an understanding of life values, awakened primarily by his love for Varenka Dobroselova.
Teacher's word
As you can see, the problem of the relationship between “environment” and “personality” was stated by Dostoevsky already in early works, and in them the theme of love as the highest manifestation of human essence sounded in a new way. Dostoevsky’s expression is known that “beauty will save the world”; he wanted to look into the realm of “premonitions and premonitions” of what does not exist, but what should be reality.
“Why aren’t we all like brothers and brothers?” - such a rhetorical question is asked by the heroine of “White Nights” to her unexpected acquaintance.
Working with the introductory article of the textbook.
Working with illustrations.
Teacher's word
Take a closer look at the illustration by G. Gornetsov “Neva Embankment. Night” we will not analyze it; We will try to get into the mood set by Dostoevsky at the very beginning of the story: “It was a wonderful night, the kind of night that can only happen when we are young, dear reader. The sky was so starry, like a bright sky, that, looking at it, you involuntarily had to ask yourself: can all sorts of angry and capricious people really live under such a sky?”
The portrait of a young man against the background of the city of St. Petersburg, reflected, as in a mirror, in the calm waters of the canal, is called “The Dreamer. F. Dostoevsky. "White Nights". The author of this portrait is Ilya Glazunov.
On the third we see a girl and a young man walking along the deserted streets of the city at night, in whom we undoubtedly recognize the heroes of the story Nastenka and the Dreamer.
Conversation (questions are written on the board in advance)
Try, based on the text of the story, to characterize its main character:
- Who is he?
- What does he do?
- What is his type of activity and attitude towards it?
- Favorite leisure activity?
- What can you say about his hobbies and outlook?
- Can a dreamer be classified as a “little” person?
Group work
Cards - tasks
|
First group |
How does the hero feel in St. Petersburg? What was the environment around him? Prove that Dostoevsky contrasts the life of nature with the life of the city. |
|
Second group |
Under what circumstances did the dreamer meet with Nastenka? How did the hero behave and why? |
|
Third group |
Why did the hero become so easily attracted to Nastenka? What does the hero experience when meeting her? |
|
Fourth group |
Why does the hero decide to throw in his lot with Nastenka? How sincere is his impulse? |
|
Fifth group |
How does the hero perceive the breakup of his relationship with Nastenka? Why? |
|
Group six |
How does Nastenka perceive the world? What does she dream about? How does the image of Nastenka help to understand the author’s intention, his idea? |
|
Group seven |
It happened to you - in a dark grove, Why did Dostoevsky take several lines from it for the epigraph? Why did I slightly correct the last three lines of the poem taken for the epigraph? How has their meaning changed? How does it relate to the overall tone and events of White Nights? |
Result of group work.
Why is the fate of a person with a kind “weak heart” so sad? How do you understand the words selflessness? altruism? (Unselfishness is the absence of desire for personal gain, profit. Altruism is selfless concern for the good of others, the willingness to sacrifice one’s personal interests for others, the opposite of selfishness.)
INFORMATION CARD Romanticism - A movement in literature and art in the first quarter of the 19th century, which opposed the canons of classicism and was characterized by a desire for national and individual originality; to the depiction of ideal heroes and feelings. A movement in literature and art imbued with optimism and the desire to show bright images high purpose of a person. A state of mind imbued with the idealization of reality, dreamy contemplation. A large narrative work of fiction with a complex plot. A love relationship between a man and a woman. Sentimental - Based on the principles of sentimentalism. Too sweet. Capable of easily touching and feeling. Sentimentalism - A literary movement characterized by excessive sensuality and an idealized depiction of people, their experiences, life conditions and nature Based on dictionary entries, determine genre originality works of F. M. Dostoevsky “White Nights” and write it down in a notebook. |
Homework
Write a short essay: are you, a modern reader, interested in Dostoevsky’s thoughts and feelings?
Bibliography
- Belov S.V. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky: Book. for the teacher. – M.: Education, 1990. – 207 p.
- In the world of literature. 9th grade: textbook. – a textbook for general education. textbook manager / Author. – composed by A. G. Kutuzov, A. K. Kiselev, E. S. Romanicheva and others; Ed. A. G. Kutuzova. – M.: Bustard, 2002. – 560 p.
- Zolotareva I.V., Belomestnykh O.B., Korneeva M.S. Lesson developments in literature, grade 9. – M.: “VAKO”, 2002, 400 p.
- Kuleshov V.I. Life and work of F.M. Dostoevsky: Essay - M.: Det. lit., 1984. – 208 p.
- Methodological advice for the textbook - workshop for 9th grade. Literature. Russian classics (selected pages) / Under. Ed. G.I. Belenky. – M.: Mnemosyne, 1998. – 192 p.
- Kutuzov A.G., Kiselev A.K., Romanicheva E.S. How to enter the world of literature. 9th grade: Methodical manual / Ed. A. G. Kutuzova - M.: Bustard, 2001. – 144 p.
Subject:« A type of St. Petersburg dreamer. The theme of human loneliness in the terrible world of nights.”
TARGET:
to find out the moral and philosophical issues of the story and its connection with today through the features of the image of the dreamer
TASKS:
Formation of analysis skills work of art from the standpoint of his relationship to literary direction and genre affiliation.
Identifying the features of the landscape in the story.
Formation of skills of oral and written productive expression, preparation of lesson theses.
Fostering a desire for kindness, an attentive and sensitive attitude towards others.
Equipment:
screen, projector
During the classes
Slide no.
1.Organizing moment.
Man is a mystery. It needs to be solved, and if you spend your whole life solving it, don’t say you wasted your time; I deal with this mystery because I want to be a man.
F.M. Dostoevsky
First level of perception: reproductive.
(As an epigraph, Dostoevsky took the last three lines from I. S. Turgenev’s poem “Flower” (1843), slightly changing and thereby partially rethinking them. In the first - confidence, in the second - doubt.
At Turgenev's:
Know that it was created for
To be for a moment
In the neighborhood of your heart.
Dostoevsky's:
...Or was he created for this purpose,
To be for a moment
In the neighborhood of your heart?..)
How many words does the full title of this work contain?(seven)
What was your name main character the story “White Nights”?(Nastenka)
How many nights were there in the work “White Nights”?(four)
What is the name of the city in which the events described by the hero take place?(St. Petersburg)
2. The teacher's word.
Reflections on the type of St. Petersburg “dreamer” occupy the most important place in Dostoevsky’s work of the 1840s (see the introductory article in volume 1 of this edition): “In characters, greedy for activity, greedy for immediate life, greedy for reality, but weak, feminine , gentle, - wrote Dostoevsky in the "Petersburg Chronicle" (present volume p. 31), - little by little what is called reverie arises, and a person becomes not a man, but some strange creature of the neuter kind - a dreamer ".
In the hero of "White Nights" autobiographical elements are clear: "...we are all more or less dreamers!" - Dostoevsky wrote at the end of the fourth feuilleton of the “Petersburg Chronicle”, and at the end of the later feuilleton “Petersburg Dreams in Poems and Prose” (1861) he recalled his “golden and inflamed dreams” that cleanse the soul and are necessary for the artist. In its heroic-romantic mood, his story is close to the visions of the hero of White Nights: “Before, in my youthful fantasy, I sometimes liked to imagine myself as either Pericles, or Marius, or a Christian from the time of Nero, or a knight in a tournament, or Edward Glyandening from the novel “The Monastery.” "Walter Scott, etc., etc. And what I didn’t dream of in my youth<...>. There has never been a fuller, holier or purer moment in my life. I was so lost in daydreaming that I overlooked my entire youth.”
It is possible that one of the prototypes of the main character was the writer’s friend A. N. Pleshcheev, to whom Dostoevsky dedicated the story. In the hero's confession, some motives of Pleshcheev's lyrics are rethought. The story was created in the days of close friendship between Dostoevsky and Pleshcheev, members of the circle of A. N. and N. N. Beketov, and then the socialist circles of M. V. Petrashevsky and S. F. Durov. At the time Dostoevsky was working on White Nights, Pleshcheev was considering his own version of the story about the dreamer, Friendly Advice. 1
1 Otech. zap. 1849. T. 63. P. 61--126.
3. Conversation
Night one.
In what setting does the plot of the work unfold?
What events are depicted on the pages of the story?
How does the hero feel in St. Petersburg?
What was the environment around him?
Under what circumstances did his meeting with Nastenka take place?
How did the hero behave and why?(All his previous meetings were imaginary, but here - real meetings, acquaintances, almost a romance...)
And here the meaning of such a concept as a “sentimental novel” is revealed. The word “novel” has two meanings. Let's turn to the dictionary of Ozhegov S.I..(Individual task. Working with a dictionary)
Novel 1 is a narrative work with a complex plot and many characters, a large form of epic prose.
Roman 2 – love relationship between man and woman. (according to S.I. Ozhegov)
In what sense is the word “novel” used in this subtitle?(Love relationship between a man and a woman)
What does the addition “sentimental” mean?(Literally means “sensitive”) So, according to Yu. Mann, “this is not just a novel, but a sentimental one, that is, covered in the poetry of heartfelt feeling, blurring the contours real events and incidents"
How does his dialogue with Nastenka characterize the hero?
Night two.
Who is the dreamer in the mind of the main character?
Dream - dreaminess - dreamer
DREAM what, or about what, to play with the imagination, indulge in the play of thoughts, imagine, think, imagine something that is not in the present; It’s nice to think, to think about the impossible.
Dreaming Wed durationdream and. about. valid by value verbDream in general, any picture of the imagination and play of thought; an empty, unrealizable fiction; ghost, vision, mara.
Dreamer m.-nitsa and. hunter to dream, think or play with imagination; who has a high opinion of himself.
Statement of a problematic question : Does a person need to have a dream? Does a person need to dream? Is it good to be a dreamer? Which human qualities are stated in the story by F.M. Dostoevsky’s “White Nights” as “beautiful and holy”?
How does the hero explain why he doesn't take care of business?(The loneliness, the solitude of the hero of “White Nights” from life is a manifestation of his rejection of the world around him, where, in his words, “everything between us is cold, gloomy, as if angry”)
How does he evaluate such a life?
“The basis of human life is harmony - between the external world and the internal, between actions and will, between thought and imagination. If one thing takes over, the balance is disrupted, and the entire development of a person receives a one-sided, distorted direction. (Yu. Mann “Pain of a Man”)
Is there such harmony in the life of a dreamer? What is the cause of disharmony?(The hero of “White Nights” has an ideal, dreamy life that has swallowed up his external life. He himself realizes this and suffers, calling dreams “falsehood,” “voluptuous poison.”
Could the Dreamer speak out in front of someone before Nastenka? What motive begins to sound in the dialogue between the dreamer and Nastenka? (Motive of unspokenness.A feeling that is not spoken out loud and in time acquires extraordinary strength and expressiveness.“Petty official for the first time Dostoevsky speaks so much and with such tonal vibrations”, noted the famous literary critic V.V. Vinogradov. With “tonal vibrations” - this means with an extraordinary range of subtle mental movements. Russian literature has never known anything like this )
Conclusion: The dreamer was a young man with a completely unusual attitude. He did not feel the world at all, but existed entirely in his inner experiences. He was enthusiastic and romantic. He doesn't know the world at all.
Night three.
Why did the hero become so easily attracted to Nastenka?
Conclusion: The hero doesn’t know the world at all. If Nastenka connects her life with him, sentimental tears and tender sighs await her, but he will not invite her to the theater or on a visit, he will ban her at home and make her a hostage to his sentimentality.
Night four.
Why does the hero decide to throw in his lot with Nastenka?
Morning .
At the end of the work, the hero-narrator reports that fifteen years have passed between the events described and the moment of their presentation.
Why is time (as an element of the chronotope, its category) indicated by Dostoevsky precisely? What's the point of this? (Dreamer says he's even celebrating the anniversary of his special memories)
Let us pay attention to the compositional features of the novel: the entire action of the novel takes place at night. It doesn’t even have the usual division into chapters, there are nights: “Night One”, “Night Two”... Only four nights. What do you think is the reason for this? (Because every night is an event associated with it. A contrast between day and night arises. Night is “better than day.”)
Until the denouement comes, the novel is filled with some kind of omnipotence of the night. The image of “night” is associated with a more or less stable range of meanings. Night is the time of dreams, the innermost life of the spirit, and the uplifting of feelings. Night is poetry. And the day is prose. And here it’s not just nights, but white ones. What does this epithet tell us? (First of all, it has the flavor of the place, that is, a characteristic feature of the northern capital. On the other hand, there is something unreal, fantastic in such nights.” The dreamer says: “Yesterday was our third date, our third white night.” What were they for him these nights? Date - love - white night)
In a work consisting of four “nights” replacing chapters, there is only one “morning”. But this morning is like an epilogue. Let's read the first paragraph of “Morning”. (“My nights ended in the morning. It wasn’t a good day...”) You noticed that for Dostoevsky, time and space as artistic categories are very important.
How does the hero perceive the breakup of his relationship with Nastenka? Why? Is the hero happy or unhappy?
The Dreamer's love story for Nastenka has a sad ending. However, the work itself ends on a different note. Read the text from the words: “But so that I remember my offense, Nastenka!” and until the end. What motive begins to sound clearly in these lines?
4. Dostoevsky's Petersburg (first night, first paragraph)
Find words and phrases that characterize the hero’s state of mind.
Analyze the construction of sentences. What does the author achieve in this way?
What details help you understand the life of the city?
Prove that Dostoevsky contrasts the life of nature with the life of the city. What is the main contrast of St. Petersburg life depicted in the story? Why is the hero of the story endlessly lonely?
Conclusion: the hero is an introvert, uncommunicative, immersed in his dreams. His loneliness in the capital and isolation from his family increase his separation from life. The thoughtfulness of the white nights encourages daydreaming and contemplation. Everyone goes through a stage of daydreaming in their development. This is normal for a certain age. Dostoevsky's hero is completely immersed in his own experiences; the outside world does not exist for him. He is not guided in his actions by reality. For Dostoevsky's hero, his own dreams are the only motivation for action. Any sentimentality is a consequence of alienation from the world, an indicator of mental loneliness and a person’s lack of understanding of his immediate needs.
Are there such types in modern life? Do you experience similar states of daydreaming?
Conclusion.
What human qualities are affirmed in the story by F.M. Dostoevsky’s “White Nights” as “beautiful and holy”?
Dreamer: Disappointment in life and withdrawal into the world of illusions; The longer he stays there, the more painfully he realizes the artificiality and irregularity of his life. Conflict with the world leads to conflict within oneself.
The attention of another person can reconcile a person with himself, help him understand his value in this real world. The dreamer needed a meeting with Nastenka. (“Anastasia” translated from Greek means “resurrection”) The heroine resurrects an unfortunate dreamer to life.
In his works F.M. Dostoevsky poses the fundamental questions of existence - the problems of the meaning of life, the universal ideal. Comprehension of these problems is especially important in our difficult times.
The idea of a person’s loneliness, his restlessness cannot leave the reader indifferent.
The tradition of depicting St. Petersburg comes from Pushkin. Unlike Pushkin, Dostoevsky gravitates towards the sketchy, everyday-writing side of depicting St. Petersburg. In addition, Dostoevsky depicts a certain spiritual and mystical essence of the city, where a person is lonely and unhappy. At the same time, it is emphasized that St. Petersburg is a symbol of Russia, that in this city all Russian incongruities are presented in concentrated form.
The problem of the story is the interaction of man with the world. An inactive person, a dreamer, is contrasted with an active person who knows how to cope with problems and keeps his promises.
6 .Homework.
Mini-essay.
Why is the story “White Nights” interesting to you, modern schoolchildren?
After reading F. M. Dostoevsky’s story “White Nights,” what would you like to tell your classmates about?
Dissatisfaction with the life around him, the desire to escape into an ideal world from the squalor of everyday life brings the Dreamer of “White Nights” closer to Gogol’s Piskarev from the story “Nevsky Prospekt” (1835), the dreamers of E. T. A Hoffman, V. F. Odoevsky and other representatives of Western and Russian romanticism. The similarity with many romantic characters is emphasized in the story when characterizing the hero’s “ecstatic dreams” (“The Second Night”). In the very title of the story, dividing it into “nights,” Dostoevsky to a certain extent followed the romantic tradition: cf. “The Double, or My Evenings in Little Russia” by A. Pogorelsky (1828), “Russian Nights” by V. F. Odoevsky (1844). But among the romantics, the theme of dreaming merged with the theme of chosenness. Dostoevsky's hero, doomed to daydreaming, suffers deeply from this. For one day of real life, he is ready to give “all his fantastic years.”
"White Nights" is one of the brightest and most poetic works of the writer. A young commoner official and a young girl, both pure and clear-hearted, are depicted here against the backdrop of St. Petersburg canals, illuminated by the radiance of the white nights. Both the setting of the story and the images of its heroes are covered in the poetic atmosphere of romantic lyrics, as well as Pushkin’s poems about St. Petersburg - “The House in Kolomna” and “ Bronze Horseman". Dostoevsky's philosophical and historical understanding of the theme of St. Petersburg, which first appeared in Dostoevsky's "Petersburg Chronicle" and "White Nights", the image of a lonely intelligent hero created by the writer, feeling like a stranger and abandoned in a big noisy city, his modest dreams of a quiet "corner of his own", Nastenka's story about life in her grandmother's house, an appeal to the theme of "white nights" to characterize the "ghostly" Petersburg, a description of its canals - the meeting place of Nastenka and the Dreamer - all this is also covered in the poetic atmosphere of Pushkin's poems.
Dreaming receives a new, in-depth interpretation in Dostoevsky’s subsequent work. It is interpreted by the writer as a consequence of “the break with the people of the vast majority of our educated class” as a result of Peter’s reform. 1 Therefore, many central characters in Dostoevsky’s novels and stories of the 1860s-1879s are endowed with the features of dreamers. In the mid-1870s, the writer also conceived a special novel, “The Dreamer.” The dreamers of the mature period of Dostoevsky’s work are united with the hero of “White Nights” by the thirst for “real”, “living” life, and the search for ways to join it.
1 Writer's Diary. 1873. Ch. 2. Old people.
The first critical reviews of the story appeared in January 1849. In Sovremennik, A. V. Druzhinin wrote that “White Nights” is “higher than Golyadkin, higher than Weak Heart,” not to mention “The Mistress” and some other works , dark, verbose and a bit boring." 2 The main idea of the story, according to the critic, is “both wonderful and true.”
2 Contemporary. 1849. N 1. Dept. 4. P. 43.
He considered “dreaming” not only specifically St. Petersburg, but characteristic feature modern life in general. Druzhinin wrote about the existence of “a whole breed of young people who are kind, and smart, and unhappy, with all their kindness and intelligence, with all the limitations of their modest needs.” They become dreamers and “get attached to their castles in the air” “out of pride, out of boredom, out of loneliness.”
Druzhinin considered the shortcomings of the story to be that the Dreamer is placed outside a clearly designated place and time and that the reader does not know his activities and attachments. “If the personality of the Dreamer of White Nights,” he continued, “had been more clearly defined, if his impulses had been conveyed more clearly, the story would have gained a lot.”
The changes made by Dostoevsky to the text during the preparation of the 1860 edition allow the assumption that he took into account a number of Druzhinin’s critical comments. So, for example, lines depicting images that arise in moments of the Dreamer’s romantic dreams appeared in the story, perhaps not without the influence of this review (cf. this volume, pp. 171--173).
S. S. Dudyshkin ranked “Weak Heart” and “White Nights” among the best works of 1848, noting the leading role psychological analysis in Dostoevsky’s works, he wrote that from an artistic point of view, “White Nights” is more perfect than the writer’s previous works: “The author was more than once reproached for his special love of often repeating the same words, of drawing out characters that often breathe with inappropriate exaltation, of anatomizing the poor too much human heart<...>in White Nights the author is almost impeccable in this regard. The story is light, playful, and if the hero of the story were not a little original, this work would be artistically beautiful." 1
1 Otech. zap. 1849. N 1. Dept. 5. P. 34.
In 1859, in the article “I. S. Turgenev and his activities regarding the novel” Noble Nest"" mentioned Ap.'s "White Nights". Grigoriev. He considered the story one of best works school of “sentimental naturalism”, noting that “all the painful poetry” of “White Nights” did not save this movement from an obvious crisis. 2
2 See: Rus. word. 1859. N 5. Dept. 2. P. 22.
Several reviews of the story appeared in 1861 after its reprint. Dobrolyubov, in his article “Downtrodden People,” expressed the opinion that in the Dreamer of “White Nights” the features of the hero of the novel “Humiliated and Insulted” (1861) Ivan Petrovich are anticipated. Protesting against being satisfied with “sighs and complaints and empty dreams,” he wrote: “I confess - I don’t like all these gentlemen who bring their spiritual greatness to the point of deliberately kissing their bride’s lover and being at his beck and call. They either didn’t love at all, or they only loved with their heads.<...>. If these romantic self-sacrifices truly loved, then what rag hearts they must have, what chicken feelings! And these people were also shown to us as the ideal of something! ". 3
3 Dobrolyubov N. A, Collection op. M., 1963. T. 7. P. 275, 268, 230.
Positive assessments of the story were contained in articles about “The Humiliated and Insulted” in “Son of the Fatherland” (1861. September 3, No. 36. P. 1062) and “The Northern Bee” (1861. August 9, No. 176. P. 713).
E. Tur’s article also opened with a characterization of Dostoevsky’s works of the 1840s. Despite the fact that, according to the writer, the plot of the story “looks like a fairy tale and in no way resembles anything similar to reality,” E. Tur highly appreciated this work, calling it “one of the most poetic” in Russian literature, “ original in thought and absolutely elegant in execution." 4
When preparing his first collected works in 1860, Dostoevsky subjected the story to stylistic revisions. In addition, an addition was made to the Dreamer's monologue (Night Two) (starting with the words: “You might ask, what is he dreaming about?” and ending with the words: “my little angel...”).
Poetic world"White Nights" inspired the artist M. V. Dobuzhinsky, who created classic illustrations for this story (1922). The plot of "White Nights" was used in films by I. A. Pyryev (1960) and Italian director L. Visconti (1957; The Dreamer - M. Mastroianni, Nastenka - M. Schell).