"History of the village of Goryukhina", an unfinished story by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin: history of creation, summary, main characters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The famous Boldin autumn occupies a special place in the work of A. Pushkin. over the course of 3 months, the poet created many works that were completely different in genre and style, including the famous cycle "Belkin's Tale". But not everyone knows that Ivan Petrovich “belongs” to another creation of the poet: the unfinished story “The History of the Village of Goryukhin”. And although she did not receive such wide popularity as "The Snowstorm", "The Stationmaster" and other 3 stories of the cycle, the story about the Goryukhin people was noted by many critics as a work, albeit not finished, but quite mature and important in the work of Alexander Sergeevich.

Who is Belkin?

For those who are not familiar with Pushkin's work, it should be noted that the image of Belkin appears in his works twice. From the preface to The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, we learn that this writer was born and lived almost all his life in Goryukhino, was fond of literature and left behind several stories, five of which are included inthe cycle mentioned above. It also gives a description of the appearance of the hero and a brief history of his deeds and death. In the second work, Belkin already appears as the actual author of the history of the village of Goryukhin. Moreover, the story about Goryukhin is preceded by a biography of Ivan Petrovich himself.

Now more about what the reader will learn about Belkin and his fiefdom from the unfinished story of the poet.

Childhood and youth

Born in 1801, Belkin received his first education from a deacon from Goryukhin, who instilled in him, among other things, a love of reading, and then of literature in general. The boy's parents, on the contrary, did not like to read, and therefore they almost did not keep books in the house. Yes, and they didn’t particularly burden their child with classes, which Belkin would later reckon among the shortcomings of education that prevented him from becoming a real writer.

At the age of twelve, the barchuk was sent to a boarding school - Pushkin continues the "History of the village of Goryukhin". However, this was followed by the invasion of Napoleon's troops, and after 3 months the boy was returned home. Belkin, pampered by parental care, refused further education himself - he begged his mother to leave him in the village, since his he alth did not allow him to get up early in the boarding school. And only at the age of 16 he still had to go to serve in an infantry regiment, where the young man was enrolled as a cadet. Those years left unpleasant impressions on Ivan Petrovich. However, the absence did not last long: 8 years later, after the death of his dearest parents, he returned to his native estate.

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I drove up with indescribable excitementBelkin to his native places and with the same feeling drove into the manor's yard. The first thing that caught his eye was the decline in the economy and the delight of the servants. With surprise, the young master looked at the immediately gathered men and women, finding in the crowd the faces of former playmates. After a bath and a hastily prepared dinner, Ivan Petrovich was put to sleep in the room in which he fell asleep 23 years ago.

For three weeks, the gentleman who accepted the inheritance was fussing about his patrimony and met with officials. When all the work was completed, he began to experience boredom, which prompted a dashing thought: why not start writing? However, the future author of the history of the village of Goryukhin was pushed to this not only by a craving for literature, but also by the stories of the housekeeper about the past of the estate, as well as a letter book found in the pantry.

Thoughts on writing

Belkin at first was frightened by the thought that came into his head. Lack of education in childhood, wandering around the apartments and service did little to seriously master this tricky and inaccessible, in his opinion, business. I remembered how, back in St. Petersburg, fate brought the young cadet together with the famous writer B., who accidentally sat down at his table in a candy store. Belkin then did not pay attention to his neighbor, and when he found out who was eating a steak next to him, he rushed after him. He didn’t take change for lunch, almost knocked down a guards officer, but never caught up with Mr. B. The loss of 30 kopecks, a reprimand and almost an arrest - such was the price of an attempt to get to know a famous writer, which was never crowned with success.

No matter howthe author of the future history of the village of Goryukhin doubted his own abilities, the innate craving for writing took over. For a long time he tried himself in different genres, he even decided on a historical poem about Rurik. Finally, he took up stories that taught him to express thoughts correctly, freely and pleasantly. But soon these activities bored him, and Belkin began to look for a new subject for his literary activity.

An unexpected decision

Next "The history of the village of Goryukhin", a summary of which is given here, has received an unexpected development. The housekeeper found a basket of books in the attic and, knowing about Ivan Petrovich's craving for reading, dragged her master. Belkin's first enthusiasm soon gave way to disappointment: the basket contained ordinary calendars. However, they turned out to be not so useless: on the sheets woven into the calendars, the novice writer saw quite interesting records concerning the life of the Goryukhin estate for 55 years. Economic, meteorological, and statistical data gleaned from leaves written in an old handwriting prompted Ivan Petrovich to start searching for other data on the history of his native estate. There were so many of them that already six months later the hero of Pushkin's work began to write the history of his estate.

The following are the sources that served as the basis for the creation of the work: 54 old calendars written by various representatives of the Belkin family; the surviving part of the deacon chronicle; oral traditions told to the master by the old-timers of Goryukhin; account books compiledestate elders.

Description of the fiefdom

The next part of the work is especially distinguished by Pushkin's contemporaries, who believed that here the poet, using the example of a small estate, managed to recreate a complete picture of feudal Russia.

240 acres of land and 63 souls - these are the dimensions of the country, located next to the Sivka River and having the capital Goryukhino. Its inhabitants, of strong build and courageous appearance, were distinguished by diligence, courage and militancy. Although they were prone to drinking. They lived by hunting, fishing, picking berries, mushrooms and nuts, which at all times were generously endowed by the local forests, lakes and rivers. The fields, where rye, buckwheat and other grains were grown in large quantities, can also be called favorable to the residents of Goryukhin. The development of trade was facilitated by the presence of the Sivka River and the development of crafts, for example, knitting bast shoes. To match the men there were also women who were always able to stand up for themselves and constituted public guards.

A special place in the history of the village of Goryukhina is given to the customs and customs that prevailed among its inhabitants. Belkin tells how the life of the young people improved after the wedding, how the dead were buried, what clothes they wore at different times of the year. Goriukhinians also loved art. So, Zemstvo Terenty, who became famous for the fact that he skillfully wrote with both hands, got into the annals. The ears of the inhabitants were often delighted by the bagpipes and balalaika. And the verses of Bald Arkhip were compared with the works of Virgil and Sumarokov (by the way, the content of one of them is given in Belkin's story).

On the reign of Tryphon

"Fabulous times" - this is the name of the last chapter of Pushkin's unfinished story about the history of the village of Goryukhin. Its main characters are courtyard people, the last elder Tryphon elected by the people, the clerk sent by the master.

According to the annals, the Belkins once possessed vast lands. Goryukhino was one of the remote corners, which was often forgotten. That is why the years of prosperity alternated in the patrimony with times of decline. And in the last came the end of the reign of the popularly elected headman Tryphon. On the eve of the temple feast, when all the people, including the headman, were tipsy, a cart with an unfamiliar Jew and a certain dignitary drove into the village.

The arrivals demanded Tryphon, but since the latter turned out to be pretty drunk, they showed some kind of letter and everyone was dismissed until the next day. In the morning, all the residents of Goryukhin were gathered for a meeting, where they read out a message from the master. According to him, from now on, a visitor will manage the patrimony, and Tryphon, accused of cheating, should help him in everything. The contents of the letter and the threats that supplemented it from the new clerk instantly knocked the drunk out of the heads of the nobles. The latter dutifully dispersed to their homes in anticipation of changes.

How the new reign ended

The clerk immediately began to implement his political system. First of all, he divided all the peasants into we althy and poor, so that the first paid arrears, carried public duties and became more and more meek. The reveler was sent to arable land, and if this did not help, he gave it to laborers. It was possible to redeem only for a double quitrent, which carriedundoubted benefit to the economy of the master. For threats to send in recruits he took a big payoff. I added an unexpected fee to the quitrent. The mundane gathering was completely destroyed. All this, after three years, led to the complete impoverishment of the Goryukhins, in which some peasants worked on the tower, others worked as farm laborers, and the children even went to beg. On such a gloomy note, the “History of the village of Goryukhin” ends.

What idea unites all parts of the piece

Pushkin's contemporaries and descendants saw several important points in the unfinished story.

Firstly, the poet's attempt to recreate under the patrimony attracts attention - the poet himself calls Goryukhino not an estate, but a country - a generalized image of feudal Russia with arbitrariness, cruelty and violence against a person reigning in it.

Secondly, involuntarily there is an association with another work - "The History of the Russian State" by N. Karamzin, which is distinguished by a well-intentioned semi-official approach in depicting Russian reality. And Pushkin in this situation acts as an irreconcilable opponent of the established foundations, which drove the people into even greater bondage.

History of the publication of Pushkin's work

Written in the Boldino autumn of 1830, the story saw the light only after the death of the poet. It was published in Sovremennik in 1837 with many errors, in particular with an incorrect sequence of parts and under the title "Chronicle of the village of Gorokhin", published in Sovremennik in 1837.

"History of the village of Goryukhin" has not received such popularity as many other works of the poet. However, she is rightfullycalled the forerunner of S altykov-Shchedrin's "History of a City" - a grotesque and satirical story that exposed the vices of Russian society in the 19th century.

Why the writer never finished his work remains a mystery. One thing is clear: as the basis for the plot, he used statistical records prepared for the revision of 1794 in Boldino. This is evidenced by the poet's notes made on the pages of the manuscript itself, and the plan of parts of the story that were never written. So, in the title of the last part of the "History of the village of Goryukhin" the word "rebellion" is mentioned, which, most likely, would indicate the Pugachev uprising - it is reliably known that in 1774 the Boldino peasants tried to hang the clerk, but they were prevented by the approaching parts of the authorities.

Summarizing, it can be noted that a talented person is great in everything. And therefore, even the fact that A. S. Pushkin did not finish his story to the end does not in the least detract from its merits and significance for Russian literature.