"The history of one city": a summary of the novel

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

A summary of the "History of a City" will allow you to get a full impression of this work. This is a famous satirical novel written by Mikhail S altykov-Shchedrin. It first saw the light in 1870.

Satirical novel

"The history of one city", a summary of which is in this article, is a detailed chronicle of the city of Foolov. The events that took place from 1731 to 1825 are described. The novel opens with the chapter "From the Publisher", in which the author strongly insists on the authenticity of this chronicle, and also invites the reader to imagine what this city was like in reality.

In the "Appeal to the reader from the last archivist-chronicler" it is stated that the goal that everyone who undertook this work set for himself was to depict the correspondence of power and people. Thus, a detailed history of the reign of all the mayors of Glupov was obtained.

The origin of the inhabitants of the city

In the prehistoric chapter of the novel "The History of a City", the summary of which you are now reading, tells about the victory of the ancient people of the bunglers over the surrounding tribes. True, being stronger than their neighbors, they did not know what to do with it, so they went to look for a prince who could manage them.

To their surprise, all the princes refused them, because no one wanted to rule such a people. Then they had to call for a thief, who managed to find the prince. The prince agreed to manage, but did not want to move, sending this same thief instead of himself. The people ordered to be called "stupid", hence the current name of the city appeared.

These were obedient people, but the thief who controlled them wanted to pacify them, and riots were necessary for this. In addition, the thief turned out to be so dishonest and stole so much that the prince sent him a noose.

All the rulers, whom he sent instead of himself, turned out to be thieves, they only ruined the treasury. Then the prince had to come personally, and this was the end of prehistoric times for the city of Foolov.

Further in Shchedrin's novel "The History of a City", a brief summary will help you quickly remember it, a detailed list of mayors, as well as their biographies.

Dementiy the Brusty

The first of the significant mayors was Dementy Varlamovich, who arrived in 1762.

He was extremely silent and sullen, constantly repeating only: "I will ruin!" and "NotI'll be patient!". The townspeople could not understand what was happening, until one day his secretary, having entered the office to make a report, saw that the official's body was sitting at the table, and the head was lying separately. At the same time, it was completely empty.

The whole city was shocked by this news. It was possible to find out everything from the organ master Baibakov, who regularly visits Brodastom. He explained that in the head of the mayor in one of the corners there was an organ that could only play two pieces of music. One was called "I will not tolerate!", And the second - "I will ruin!".

While Brodysty was getting to Glupov, his head became damp, so now it was in constant need of repair. Baibakov could not cope with the repair, so he ordered a new head in St. Petersburg, but its delivery was delayed.

It all ended when two identical mayors appeared at once, whom the messenger, who had specially arrived from the province for this purpose, dubbed impostors and took them away. Foolov was left without leadership. The mayor's organ in the "History of a City" (a brief summary helps to recall the main events of the work) is one of the most famous and memorable details.

Anarchy

The city fell into anarchy. From S altykov-Shchedrin's novel "The History of a City" (a summary will help you prepare for an exam or a test for this work), we learn that the anarchy lasted exactly a week.

During this time, as many as sixmayors. All claims to power were dubious. If one was based on the work of her husband, and the second - her father, then the rest put forward even less well-founded reasons.

In Foolov, hostilities were constantly going on, in between which some townspeople threw others from the bell tower or drowned. When everyone was tired of anarchy, a new ruler arrived, whose name was Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov.

Semyon Dvokurov

In Foolov, he launched a very fruitful and beneficial activity. A brief summary of the chapters of the "History of a City" can give a complete impression of it. In particular, honey brewing and brewing were introduced, and the use of bay leaves and mustard became mandatory.

Dvoekurov had thoughts of founding his own academy in Foolov, but he did not have time to implement them. Semyon Konstantinovich was replaced by Petr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko. Under him, the city prospered for six years. But in the seventh year he failed. As the Foolovites said, "the devil confused".

Ferdyshchenko fell in love with the coachman's wife Alenka, who, much to the surprise of everyone around, rejected him. Then Ferdyshchenko went to extreme measures. He branded and exiled her husband to Siberia, only then Alenka came to her senses and agreed.

The whole city had to answer for the sins of its ruler, which was hit by a drought. Hunger followed. All around began to die one by one. Then the patience of the townspeople came to an end. They sent a walker to Ferdyshchenko, who did notreturned. A petition was sent, but there was no response. Then they got Alenka herself and threw her from the bell tower. Ferdyshchenko also did not waste time, he wrote numerous reports to his superiors. Bread was not obtained, but a team of soldiers was sent to Foolov.

The people were calmed down, but then Ferdyshchenko got a new hobby - archer Domashka. Fires came to Foolov through it. The Pushkarskaya Sloboda burned down, and then the fire spread to the Sloboda and Bolotnaya settlements. Only then did Ferdyshchenko retreat, returning Domashka.

The reign of this mayor ended with a journey. He went in search of a city pasture. In all places he was welcomed, they were always treated to dinner. Three days later, he died from overeating.

Basilisk Wartkin

The summary of the "History of a City" gives a detailed description of all the events of the novel. Vasilisk Semyonovich Borodavkin became a new important leader for the city, who immediately set to work resolutely.

He studied the entire history of the city, deciding that the only role model was Dvokurov. But by that time, all his undertakings and achievements were forgotten and abandoned, in Glupovo they even stopped sowing mustard. Wartkin first of all decided to correct this injustice. And as a punishment for such carelessness, he ordered to eat more Provence oil.

But the Foolovites did not agree to this. Then Borodavkin decided to set out on a campaign against Streltsy Sloboda. The campaign lasted 9 days, but not everything worked outsuccessfully. In the summary of the novel "The History of a City" one can find confirmation of this. In the dark, they often had to fight with their own, and some real soldiers were quietly replaced with tin ones. But the mayor still survived.

But when he came to the settlement, he did not find anyone in it and began to pull houses into logs. He staged several more wars for education, but all this ultimately led to the impoverishment of Glupov, which finally ended under yet another mayor, Negodyaev. In this state, he was found by the next important ruler, a Circassian named Mikeladze.

His reign was not marked by almost any events and decrees, he focused entirely on attention to the female sex. The city could breathe easy.

Theophylact Benevolensky

Feofilakt Irinarkhovich Benevolensky is an important character for the plot, described in S altykov-Shchedrin's History of a City. The summary of the novel helps to learn the plot without reading the whole work. Benevolensky was a close friend of Speransky, even studied with him in the same lyceum. From a friend, he adopted a passion for legislation.

The trouble was that the mayor did not have such functions, so laws had to be issued secretly. Benevolensky did it at the house of the merchant Raspopova, and at night he scattered them all over the city. But he was not destined to rule for long. The authorities found out about his connections with Napoleon and fired him.

Lieutenant Colonel Pimple

Another ruler waslieutenant colonel Pimple. From the summary of the "History of a City" from the passage, one can understand what he was like. It was described like this:

The pimple was no longer young, but unusually preserved. Broad-shouldered, folded in a circle, he seemed to be saying with his whole figure: do not look at the fact that I have a gray mustache: I can! I can still do it! He was ruddy, had red and juicy lips, behind which a row of white teeth could be seen; his gait was active and brisk, his gesture quick. And all this was decorated with shiny staff officer epaulettes, which played on his shoulders at the slightest movement.

He had little to do with the city, so life just blossomed. The harvests were so plentiful that the Foolovites became alert. Pimple's secret was revealed by the leader of the nobility, who noticed that Pimple's head smells like truffles. The big mince lover pounced and ate the head.

After that State Councilor Ivanov arrived in Foolov. He was so short that he could not fit anything large, and he died. The next was the foreigner Viscount de Chario, who had a lot of fun, for which he was sent abroad. At the same time, he also turned out to be a woman.

Erast Sadilov

Important changes began with the arrival of Erast Sadtilov. Under him, everyone was completely mired in laziness and debauchery. Nobody wanted to work, the hunger started again.

Grustilov was engaged only in balls. The pharmacist's wife set him on the path of goodness. The townspeople repented, but no one returned to work. And when the authorities found out that the local nobility read Strakhov at night,then Sadtilov was completely dismissed.

Glum-Burcheev

Over time, Gloomy-Grumbling came to power in the city. It is known that he was a complete idiot, from the "History of a City". A summary in the 8th grade is especially useful, because then they study S altykov-Shchedrin. In Glupovo, Ugryum-Burcheev decided to make the same streets with the same houses and families.

To do this, he destroyed everything and began to build again, but a river stood in the way. He began to build dams from construction debris left after the destruction, but the river eroded them every time. Then Moody-Grumbling led the Foolovites away from the river. A new place was chosen for the city, on a lowland, where construction began.

A sad end

It is not known how it all ended, because the publisher claims that the notebooks with all the details were lost. The scoundrel in the face of Grim-Grumbling eventually disappeared very suddenly, as if dissolving in the air, and history stopped flowing at that. The publisher does not provide other details and circumstances at all.

The conclusion of the story contains the so-called supporting documents. These are the writings of various city governors, which they wrote at different times as a warning to their followers.