An absent-minded person in Marshak's poem and in life

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

Do you remember who wrote "The absent-minded man" (more precisely, "That's how absent-minded")? More than one generation of people grew up on the mocking poems of this Soviet poet. And today, mothers read to their children in the evenings "The Tale of the Stupid Mouse", "Children in a Cage" and "Snooze and Yawn". Even adults with the most unimportant memory are able to quote: “My cheerful sonorous ball, where did you rush off?”, “In December, in December, all the trees are in silver” or “The lady checked in a sofa, a suitcase, a bag …”. Such is the nature of the works of this author - they are remembered, like songs that have achieved rotation.

Doodle for Google

But the most published poem of the poet is the story of an absent-minded man who “instead of a hat on the go” put on a frying pan, confused trousers with a shirt, and gloves with felt boots. The popularity of the work turned out to be so great that in 2012, when the world celebrated the 125th anniversary of its creator, even Google succumbed to general absent-mindedness. On this day, users of the legendary search engine were greeted with a funny doodle, on which familiar letters crumbled and stood backwards.

The author of the famous poem -Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. A scattered person is certainly a collective image, although researchers say there are several real prototypes.

Heel Ivanov

More often than others, the name of Ivan Alekseevich Kablukov, a well-known specialist in the field of physical chemistry, is called. True, this scientist lived in Moscow, and not in the northern capital, but otherwise he was very similar: absent-minded, charming and constantly confusing words and letters. In one of the rough drafts of the future poem, the hero writes that his name is "Kabluk Ivanov." The real Ivan Kablukov called his two favorite sciences "chemistry and physics"; having made a reservation, he could say “the shovel popped” instead of “the flask burst.”

Lev Petrovich

Who else claims the title of "distracted man from Basseinaya Street"? One version says that in 1926 Marshak published a poem called "Lev Petrovich". It is completely unknown to the general public, because it came out under the name of the symbolist Vladimir Piast. In the 20s of the last century, the poet was very poor, and Marshak managed to "knock out" an advance for him from the literary leadership for the publication of a future children's book. Since Piast did not know how to write for kids, Marshak composed the poem for his friend.

An absent-minded man Lev Petrovich put a live cat on his head instead of a hat, and waited for the tram "for firewood at the barn." Contemporaries believed that this image was "written off" from Vladimir Alekseevich Pyast himself, who was distinguished by inattention andeccentricity. This version is indirectly confirmed by the presence in one of the draft versions of a hint at a story from the poet's life: "Instead of tea, he poured ink into a tea cup."

Marshak or Kharms?

Some researchers believe that an absent-minded person is the author of the work, Samuil Marshak. Allegedly, he was characterized by lack of assembly. True, others are convinced that such behavior could also be part of what is now commonly called PR. Talented authors themselves invented and "created" their image for posterity.

Not only Marshak, but also Piast, as well as Daniil Kharms are suspected of deliberate absent-mindedness. In the works of the latter, by the way, one can also find the theme of forgetfulness and inattention, embodied in absurd images: Pushkin, constantly stumbling over Gogol and calling epigrams "erpigarms", and Zhukovsky - Zhukov; city dwellers who have forgotten "what comes first - 7 or 8", and old women falling out of the window.

A little more about prototypes

A truly talented work is always a generalization. Therefore, many people can claim the role of the prototype of the “distracted man”. It is said that Mendeleev regularly took off his galoshes when entering the tram. Apparently, he confused comfortable transport with home. Isn't Marshak writing about him: “He began to put on leggings. They tell him: “Not yours!”

Another chemist, and part-time composer, Alexander Borodin, once, in the midst of a dinner party in his own house, stunned the guests. He put on his coat, loudly said goodbye to everyone, explaining that it was time for him to return … home. Is it not this case that inspired the lines: “Put onhe became a coat. They tell him: “Not that!”.

Maybe the "distracted man from Basseinaya Street" is Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov? After all, he really lived on a St. Petersburg street with that name (now it bears the name of a peasant poet)? One day, the inattention of the author of "Russian Women" almost left Russian literature without the novel "What Is To Be Done?".

Chernyshevsky, who was sitting in the Peter and Paul Fortress, handed over the manuscript in tiny pieces for 4 months, and Nekrasov, who was hurrying to the publishing house, dropped it on the street, and did not even notice it. A few days later, fortunately, the materials were returned for a large reward for those times - 100 rubles. At the same time, the poet-publisher initially promised to pay the finder 50 rubles, but out of forgetfulness he gave out an amount twice as large.

On the reality of the image

The poem "That's how absent-minded" is often presented to readers as a story about a funny and ridiculous person. We do not know his name or profession. The author does not provide any information about the hero's family. Of the features inherent in him, only emphasized politeness can be noted. Perhaps this is all that the poem tells us about. An absent-minded person is the embodiment of one character trait in an exaggerated form.

However, as we have already seen, this image cannot be called absurd. Similar situations happened repeatedly with people known and unknown, with scientists, writers and musicians, with heroes of books and films. They still happen today. Most people suffer from forgetfulness, inattention, lack of concentration from time to time.

On true distraction

Who is a distracted person? From the point of view of psychology, this is someone who suffers from an inability to concentrate. True absent-mindedness is understood as a state of a kind of prostration, when a person cannot concentrate on anything, for some time “turns off” from reality. One of the terrible varieties of this condition is the so-called "road hypnosis", familiar to many drivers. From a long monotonous ride, a person falls into a state of half-asleep. At some point, he feels the effect of a gap in time. What happened to him just now: did he fall asleep, passed out? It is at these moments that accidents can occur.

The causes of true absent-mindedness are insomnia, headache, severe fatigue, monotonous monotonous work. It is difficult to say whether Marshak's hero suffered from it, but some symptoms indicate that he could. A resident of Basseinaya Street managed to sleep for two days, as they say, without hind legs. Doesn't this indicate the extreme exhaustion of a person, the lack of normal sleep and rest in his life?

About imaginary distraction

Why do we often think that an absent-minded person is certainly a dreamy poet or an eccentric professor? The fact is that psychologists distinguish another type of absent-mindedness - imaginary. Imaginary absent-mindedness is a side effect of a strong internal concentration on some topic, problem. A person absorbed in an idea that is important to him is not able to distributeyour attention between different objects. He cannot "follow" everything at once. Hence - inattention to everyday trifles, forgetfulness, inability to find the right word and speech reservations.

Parents often accuse children of distraction, but often its manifestations are evidence of inner concentration. The little man is busy with a very serious matter: he learns a world in which there are so many irritants that it is sometimes simply impossible to keep track of them!

The hero and his era

If we recall the era in which the work was created, then a thoughtful adult reader will be able to find in it allusions to events about which it was customary to remain silent.

The poem was written in 1928, and was first published in 1930. By this time, Nikolai Gumilyov had already been shot, whose lines (“Stop, carriage driver, stop the carriage now!”) Marshak parodies. In 1930 Piast was arrested, in 1931 Kharms.

And in cultural circles, a serious discussion was in full swing: can children's literature be playful or even (God forbid!) funny? The conclusion was unequivocal: works for kids should be serious. Could it be otherwise? After all, laughter is contrary to the foundations of a totalitarian state. The existence of a thinking person in the conditions of the 30s of the twentieth century could well plunge him into a state of prostration - as a defensive reaction to what is happening. After all, psychologists call depression and anxiety disorders one of the reasons for absent-mindedness.

So the absent-minded hero of Marshak is, of course, a funny person, but the reasonswhat is happening to him can be the most serious.