Melekhov Grigory Panteleevich Quote characteristic of Grigory Melekhov from the novel Quiet Flows the Don
On the channel "Russia" ended the show of the series " Quiet Don". It has already become the fourth version of the film adaptation of the great novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, who managed to show a catastrophe using the example of his hero human destiny during the era of the Civil War. Did Grigory Melekhov really exist? Sholokhov was asked this question thousands of times after the publication of the work.
For half a century, the writer stated unequivocally: his hero is a character completely invented. And only on the slope of his life did the writer Sholokhov admit: Melekhov really had real prototype. But it was impossible to talk about this, because the prototype of Grigory, by the time the first volume of The Quiet Flows the Don was published, lay in a mass grave, shot as an "enemy of the people."
It is worth noting that Sholokhov nevertheless made attempts to reveal the secret. So, back in 1951, at a meeting with Bulgarian writers, he mentioned that Grigory had a prototype. However, to further attempts to extort details from him, he answered with silence. Only in 1972 Nobel laureate named the literary critic Konstantin Priima the name of the one from whose biography he almost completely copied the image of his hero: the full Cavalier of St. George, the Upper Don Cossack Kharlampy Vasilyevich Ermakov.
From red to white and back
"Almost completely" this case it's not a figure of speech. Now that the researchers have studied The Quiet Don from the first to the last line, comparing the plot with the life of Ermakov, we can admit that Sholokhov's novel came out almost biographical, down to the smallest detail. Remember how "Quiet Flows the Don" begins? "Melekhovsky yard - on the very edge of the farm ...". Here is the house in which Kharlampy grew up, also stood on the very outskirts. And even the appearance of Grigory is written off from him - Ermakov's grandfather actually brought a Turkish wife from the war, which is why the swarthy children went. Unless Kharlampiy went to war not as an ordinary Cossack, but as a platoon officer, having managed to graduate from the training team. And he fought, apparently, he was desperate - in two and a half years he earned four soldier's St. George's crosses and four St. George's medals, becoming one of the few full cavaliers. However, at the end of 1917 he caught a bullet and returned to his native farm.
On the Don, as in the whole country, confusion and vacillation reigned at that time. The Whites with Ataman Kaledin called to fight further for the "single indivisible", the Reds promised peace, land and justice. Coming out of the Cossack wilderness, Ermakov, of course, joined the Reds. Soon the commander of the Cossacks Podtelkov appoints an experienced warrior as his deputy. It is Ermakov who smashes the detachment of Colonel Chernetsov - the last counter-revolutionary force on the Don. However, immediately after the battle, a fatal turn occurs. Podtyolkov ordered the execution of all the prisoners, for example, personally slaughtering a dozen of them.
“Killing without trial is not the point,” Yermakov objected. - Many were taken on mobilization, and many were intoxicated due to their darkness. The revolution was not made in order to let dozens of people into dispersal. After that, Ermakov, citing a wound, left the detachment and returned home. Apparently, that bloody execution firmly stuck in his memory, since with the beginning of the Cossack uprising on the Upper Don, he immediately joined the whites. And again, fate threw a surprise: now the former commander and comrade Podtelkov with his headquarters himself was captured. "Traitors to the Cossacks" were sentenced to hanging. Ermakov was instructed to carry out the sentence.
And again he refused. The military field court sentenced the apostate to be shot, but his hundreds of Cossacks threatened to stage a riot and put the matter on the brakes.
In the Volunteer Army, Ermakov fought for another year, rising to the rank of colonel
shoulder strap However, by that time the victory had passed to the side of the Reds. Having retreated with his detachment to Novorossiysk, where the defeated units white movement embarked on steamships, Ermakov decided that the Turkish emigration was not for him. Then he went to meet the advancing squadron of the First Cavalry. As it turned out, yesterday's opponents had heard a lot about his glory as a soldier, not an executioner. Ermakov personally received Budyonny, giving him command of a separate cavalry regiment. For two years, the former white captain, who changed his cockade to a star, alternately fought on the Polish front, crushed Wrangel's cavalry in the Crimea, chased Makhno's detachments, for which Trotsky himself presented him with a nominal watch. In 1923, Ermakov was appointed head of the Maikop cavalry school. From this position, he retires, settling in his native farm. Why did they decide to forget the owner of such a glorious biography?
Judgment without trial
The archives of the FSB department for the Rostov region still store volumes of investigative file No. 45529. Their contents provide an answer to the above question. Apparently, the new government simply could not leave Ermakov alive.
According to him military biography it is not difficult to understand: from one side to the other, the brave Cossack did not run at all because he was looking for a warmer place for himself. “He always stood for justice,” Ermakov’s daughter said years later. So, returning to civilian life, the retired red commander soon began to notice that he actually fought for something else. “Everyone thinks that the war is over, and now she is going against her own, worse than the German one…” he once remarked.
In Bazka's farm, Ermakov was met by the young Sholokhov. The story of Kharlampy, who rushed about in search of the truth from the Reds to the Whites, interested the writer a lot. In conversations with the writer, he spoke frankly about his service, not hiding what they did during the Civil War, both white and red. In the Kharlampy file there is a letter sent to him by Sholokhov in the spring of 1926, when he was just conceived of The Quiet Flows the Don: “Dear comrade Ermakov! I need to get some information from you regarding the era of 1919. This information relates to the details of the Upper Don uprising. Let me know what time would be more convenient to come to you?
Naturally, such conversations could not go unnoticed - the detective of the GPU rushed into Bazki.
It is unlikely that the Chekists brought Yermakov on himself - as follows from the investigation file, the former white officer was already being monitored.
In early 1927, Ermakov was arrested. Based on the testimony of eight witnesses, he was found guilty of counter-revolutionary agitation and participation in a counter-revolutionary uprising. Fellow villagers tried to stand up for their fellow countryman. “Very, very many can testify that they survived only thanks to Yermakov. Always and everywhere, when catching spies and taking prisoners, dozens of hands reached out to tear the captured, but Yermakov said that if you allow the prisoners to be shot, then I will shoot you like dogs, ”they wrote in their appeal. However, it went unnoticed. On June 6, 1927, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee, chaired by Kalinin, allowed Kharlampiy Yermakov to be sentenced "out of court." After 11 days, he was executed. The prototype of Grigory Melekhov by that time was 33 years old.
On August 18, 1989, by the decision of the Presidium of the Rostov Regional Court Kh.V. Ermakov was rehabilitated "due to the lack of corpus delicti". Ermakov's burial place, for obvious reasons, remained unknown. According to some reports, his body was thrown into a mass grave in the vicinity of Rostov.
(1905 - 1984)
1. The personality of the writer.
2. "Don stories".
3. The epic novel "Quiet Don". The image of G. Melekhov in the assessment of criticism. The problem of the authorship of The Quiet Flows the Don. The poetics of the novel.
4. "Virgin Soil Upturned".
5. "The fate of man."
The name of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov turned out to be hot spot in the literature of the second half of the twentieth century. The most conflicting opinions about the works he created, the question of authorship was raised, and from time to time it escalated. The nature of the controversy around his work can be judged from numerous articles and monographs. Summing up the controversy, it should be said that there are many misunderstandings and contradictions. Sholokhov is the greatest writer of the 20th century, the most authoritative artist of the word.
M. A. Sholokhov was born in 1905, according to some reports in 1900. Father, a native of the Ryazan province, raznochinets, mother from peasants. He began to study at the Karginsky parochial school, continued his studies at the gymnasium, in the years civil war left her. From the age of 14 he fought on the side of the Reds, was a member of the food detachment. All the bloody events on the “quiet” Don were experienced by Sholokhov until the age of eighteen - he not only saw everything, but participated in many ways, was several times on the verge of death (no age gives experience of such emotional strength).
In October 1922, Mikhail Sholokhov left for Moscow. The path to literature was not easy. He worked as a loader, a bricklayer, served as an accountant. It was then, according to him, that "a real craving for literary work" appeared. Since 1923, Sholokhov began attending meetings of the Young Guard literary group, got acquainted with young writers - Artyom Vesely, Mikhail Svetlov, Yuri Libedinsky and others, tried himself in the genres of feuilleton, story. He stubbornly engaged in literature. The stay in Moscow was fruitful for Sholokhov. However, he was firmly connected with his small homeland. At the end of 1923, Mikhail Sholokhov left for the Don, where he married Maria Petrovna Gromoslavskaya, and the following year they arrived in Moscow, where he continues his creative work.
2. Creativity M.A. Sholokhov begins "Don stories"(1926) -8 stories ("Birthmark", "Kolovert", "Bakhchevnik", etc.). At the same time, a collection of short stories "Azure Steppe" was published, which included 12 stories ("Azure Steppe", "Nakhalenok", etc.). The main thing in these collections is the depiction of acute class and social conflicts. It happens that in these early stories“Mole”, “Alien blood”, “Shibalkovo seed”, etc.) the brother opposes the brother, the son opposes the father, the husband executes his wife. The civil war, especially on the Don and Kuban, proceeded very tragically, claimed many lives - we also find this drama in The Quiet Don. In the early works of Sholokhov, the strength of these conflicts is felt, and the social conflict grew into a family one. The author of the Don Stories was accused of "hate psychosis", moral "deafness", "romantic execution", erection in a cult of violence. But is it?
The best works M.A. Sholokhov is characterized not only by historical, but also by psychological truth: the truth of characters and actions. There are few such stories, but they exist, for example, “Alien Blood”. It not only depicts an acute conflict of time, but also reveals the psychology of the individual, and at the same time the author traces the change of one mood to another (we are talking about the mood of old Gavrila). Sholokhov portrayed the civil war on the Don as a bloody, fratricidal war, in which even the closest ones collapsed, family ties. In the story "The Foal" one can feel the writer's philosophical thoughts about how unnatural war, blood, death of people are compared to the beauty and harmony of nature. And the foal is perceived as a piece of nature, an integral part of a peaceful life.
"Don stories" in terms of factual material, understanding the main conflict of the time, artistic skill was the approach to the theme of "Quiet Flows the Don". The originality of the style of the young Sholokhov manifested itself in the combination of drama and lyricism, in the depiction of the landscape. The nature of Sholokhov the artist is humanized, it is filled with sadness and anxiety. In the story "The Mole", the poetic image of the dark sun appears for the first time, which in "The Quiet Don" will become a symbol of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov. The image of Don in the stories becomes a symbol of the Motherland, and in the epic it will be the main ideological core. The stories of M. Sholokhov were a significant stage in his work.
In 1924, Sholokhov returned to his homeland and settled forever in the village of Vyoshenskaya in order to constantly see the Don, listen to the sound of its waves, inhale the smells of the steppe, and live among the people.
3. Epic novel "Quiet Flows the Don" created from 1926 to 1940 . The first book appeared in 1928, the last in 1940. The first book of The Quiet Flows the Don original name"Donshchina") was completed in the spring of 1927, and the second - in the fall. After their publication in the magazine "October" (1928, No. 1 - 10), it became clear that a writer of world significance entered the literature. M. Gorky noted that “Sholokhov, judging by the first volume, is talented ...”, and A.V. Lunacharsky called the still unfinished novel "a work of exceptional power in terms of the breadth of pictures, knowledge of life and people, in the bitterness of its plot."
The third book of The Quiet Don began to be published in 1929 (work on it went on from 1929 to 1931), but the publication was suspended several times - RAPP critics accused the writer of justifying the counter-revolutionary Upper Don Cossack uprising, which was discussed in this part of the epic . He was offered an ideological correction of events, which the author did not go for. Sholokhov sought to show the tragedy of each of the opposing sides in the Civil War. M. Sholokhov also had to make excuses for the ideological “reelings” of the protagonist: “I take Grigory as he is, as he really was ... I don’t want to deviate from historical truth.”
In terms of genre, The Quiet Flows the Don belonged to a new type of historical romance. Central problem - searching for a place in a changing world. The plot is full of drama. The novel intertwines many storylines, through the development of which the main socio-historical conflict of the work is refracted. Extra-plot elements are author's digressions, lyrical landscapes. A large-scale recreation of the epochal life of the people, the subordination of numerous storylines to them, the disclosure of the fate of the characters (more than 700) determine the genre originality - the polyphony of voices that carry their own truth of understanding the world. Exposure: the beginning of a love affair and the beginning social conflict- interconnection and interdependence of the storyline.
The structure of the epic is four books. The action in the first book (parts one, two and three) begins from 1912 to 1914, it describes the life of the Cossacks and the Melekhov family is brought to the fore, the formation of the character of the protagonist is presented; the action of the second book (parts four and five) begins in 1916 and ends in May 1918, its content is: The First Imperialist War and Revolution. In the third book (part six) in the center of the Upper Don rebellion, civil war, the fate of Grigory, Natalia, Aksinya; book four (parts seven and eight) is a picture of the destruction of a life established over the centuries. The action ends in 1922, when the civil war died down on the Don.
One of characteristic features epic novel is the writer's appeal to the life of people, the image of the family, traditions, etc. In The Quiet Don, Sholokhov talks about family relationships, about how three families coexisted peacefully under one roof. Pictures of mowing and catching fish turn into independent scenes. Sholokhov tells about folk customs. The matchmaking scene, the marriage of Grigory Melekhov, is written out in all details. Author from close range tells about the relationship of neighbors (Melekhovs and Astakhovs), relationships in the farm. In the 1st and 2nd parts of the novel, where interest in everyday life is especially noticeable, features of the national character are revealed.
The image of everyday life allows M. Sholokhov to touch upon the deepest problems - the problems of the stratification of society, to discover serious conflicts. Talking about the Tatar farm, Sholokhov seems to catch a glimpse of the fact that the neighbors have been fighting each other for seven years. The author also draws attention to the fact that the farm was ambivalent about the arrival of Shtokman. Some rebelled, treated him with hostility, but among the farmers there are those who are ready to listen to these evening conversations.
The relationship between the Melekhov and Korshunov families is perceived in a special way. Pantelei Prokofievich Melekhov knows his worth and tries to save his face in any situation. But one cannot help but pay attention to the timidity that he experiences in the Korshunovs' house when he acts as a matchmaker (Melekhov guesses that he is no match for the rich owner Korshunov). It should also be noted that there is a peculiar beginning, an inserted short story about the father of Panteley Prokofievich, about his tragic fate. This story is a kind of prologue to the fate of Gregory.
Turning to everyday life, Sholokhov leads the reader to the conclusion that the Don society was not so united in its moods, that the Don began to be torn apart by contradictions. Here Sholokhov disagrees with bourgeois historiography, which proves that there was no ground for contradictions on the Don, and the Don Cossacks were free and prosperous, did not know serfdom, and later it was concluded that the revolution on the Don was not an organic phenomenon, that the Don did not come to the revolution, and the revolution - to the Don. Therefore, the uprising of 1919 is explained by the fact that the revolution was imposed from the outside, and in 1919 the Don defended his freedom. So Sholokhov's main idea was to create a true image of the people in a critical era.
The national character reveals itself in the special diligence of Natalya, Grigory, Pantelei Prokofievich. Grigory, in the saddest moment, will say that the only thing his thought is connected with is peasant worries, and everything else is tired. Drawing a portrait of Natalya, Sholokhov draws the reader's attention to "large hands crushed by work." The image of the people and its features are found in the fury of Panteley Prokofievich, in the pride of Aksinya, in the motherly wisdom of Ilyinichna. Sholokhov was paramount not only to create an image from individual strokes, sketches, but the attitude of the people themselves to the ongoing events was important to him: the imperialist and civil wars, the revolution, and socio-political changes in the Don. About imperialist war we are talking even when the farm says goodbye to young Cossacks going into the army. Here one hears the dreary sorrowful "today feeds, the bread is ripe - it is necessary to clean it up." Officers argue about the war, but it is important for Sholokhov to show the perception of the rank and file, those who are on the front line. The people's environment also gives birth to Mikhail Koshevoy, who, unlike Grigory, accepted the truth of the Bolsheviks, and therefore is ready to take revenge and kill former friends for the idea.
So, at the end of 1926, Mikhail Sholokhov began his main book - Quiet Flows the Don. Trips around the Don farms, conversations with old-timers, work in the archives of Rostov - "material and nature", as the writer said, were at hand.
Image Grigory Melekhov connects the private world of family, home and the vast earthly world. Grigory Melekhov attracts the reader with a deep nationality and originality. Since childhood, he was brought up love for the earth, nature, wildlife. Somehow, by chance, while mowing, he cut a wild duck with a scythe and suffers from this. The author endows him with such character traits: he is wild, he has an indefatigable temperament, at the same time he is sensitive, observant. Grigory is a strong-willed nature (he took the first prize at horse races), he was handsome and stately. He was respected for his love for the household, work. At the beginning of the story, he is a nineteen-year-old boy. For the sake of his goal, he goes ahead: he fell in love with his neighbor's wife Aksinya, with her "vicious beauty", "he looked after her with bully perseverance ...", broke all the barriers on the way to her. They married not of their own free will, and Gregory did not want to come to terms with this. He cannot go against himself. Natalya is not sweet to him: “I don’t love you, Natasha.” Unable to overcome the passion for Aksinya, Grigory leaves home with her. An unprecedented thing - a free Cossack goes as a farm laborer to Pan Lesnitsky.
As a young father, wayward, obedient not to customs, but to his heart, he leaves for the service, goes to war. With all his being, Gregory resisted lies, violence, injustice. He is having a hard time with his first fight, he imagines the "Austrian" whom he cut down. "I'm tired of my soul." He not only acts, but thinks about the causes of what is happening. Grigory Melekhov witnesses how Silantyev dies, "saw how he fell, hugging the blue distance ...". The senselessness of the war gives rise to certain moods among the Cossacks, negative attitude to war. At the same time, Grigory managed to preserve the dignity of a person in the war - he helps Aksinya's husband, the wounded Stepan Astakhov, get out of the battlefield, tries to protect the servant Franya from the brutalized Cossacks, denounces Chubatov for the senseless execution of a captured Austrian, but he also becomes hardened, ceases to understand the boundaries of goodness and evil, loses the ability to feel happiness.
Gregory meets on his life path both with fictional characters, and with those who have real historical prototypes - Poznyakov, Budyonny, the imperial family. His endless throwing leads to his beloved woman, to his home, to children. Gregory's personality traits are spiritual quest and depth of experience.
Gregory did not have even and smooth roads. In 1917, Grigory Melekhov decides what to do: return home to the Don or go with the Reds. He, focusing on the mood of the Cossacks, at the beginning of 1918 fought on the side of the Reds and received the rank of colonel. Returning to the farm, he feels spiritual discord. Again the question arose: “To whom to lean?”. Gregory finds himself involuntarily in another camp again. Cruelty is becoming a terrible norm. Unable to stand it, he returns home again, "half gray". And again joins the Red Army, where he commands a squadron. Then the choice fell in favor of "peaceful life", but in the village he was persecuted as a "white, Cossack officer." Grigory falls into Fomin's gang, but cannot stand the senseless cruelty, leaves the gang of deserters, runs away to start a new life.
Love for Aksinya Astakhova, difficult and sinful, Grigory will carry through his whole life. Their love has withstood many trials: passion, betrayal and endless separation. When Grigory and Aksinya seemed to have united after long torments (they were running away from the farm together), a tragedy occurred - a stray bullet took from him the creature dearest to him: “Grigory, dying of horror, realized that everything was over, that the worst thing that could only to happen in his life - it has already happened ... ". Grigory loses his Aksinya forever, and with her attachment to life, hope. After burying his beloved woman, he "raised his head and saw above him a black sky and a dazzlingly shining black disk of the sun." "The black disk of the sun" - a poetic image of monumental power, emphasizes the terrible loss.
There was no need for him to rush now. Everything was over. Grigory returns to the stirrup of the Quiet Don at the moment of the coming spring, throws weapons and cartridges into the "spiny ice" and even from a distance notices his son Mishatka. “Kneeling down, kissing his son’s pink cold hands, he repeated only one word in a choked voice:
“Son… son… That was all he had left in his life.”
The end of the novel has a philosophical sound. The final symbolizes not only parting with the past, but also the idea of continuing life. Mikhail Sholokhov left his hero on the threshold of new life trials. What are his paths? How will his life turn out? The writer does not answer these questions, but makes the reader think.
One of the features of The Quiet Flows the Don is Sholokhov's attitude to people's destiny and personality. Therefore, the author singled out a bright representative of the people - Grigory Melekhov. G. Melekhov is a people, popular attitude to truth and cruelty, to war, to life. There is no doubt that the image of Melekhov is a great artistic discovery of M. Sholokhov. This is the most complex image in literature.
The image of G. Melekhov in the assessment of criticism. Since 1940, since the release of the novel, there have been rather sharp disputes in literary criticism about the image of Grigory Melekhov. There were, as it were, two directions in the assessment of the hero. In the first case, researchers (L. Yakimenko and others) emphasized that Grigory was gradually at odds with his people and turned into a “renegade”, that Melekhov, on this path of divergence, was gradually losing those attractive qualities of nature that he had at the beginning. In the works of the 1940s-1950s, this image was interpreted with a minus sign.
The second concept, formed in the 1960s, "removed" the blame from Melekhov. V. Kovalev spoke out against critics who believed that Sholokhov was mainly occupied with exposing weaknesses popular character, was against the theory of apostasy. F. Biryukov argued with those who saw in the novel a violation of historical truth (Yakimenko, Gura and others) - this concerned the episode of Podtelkov's lynching of Cherentsov. According to Biryukov, Sholokhov followed the truth of history and destroyed only the straightforward schemes of the enemies of the revolution. The Quiet Don reflects all the complexity of life, when subjective honesty could turn into a betrayal of the people (Kaledin) and when the unscrupulousness of the leader cast a shadow on the communists (Podtelkov). A. Britikov urged not to simplify the organic social duality of the protagonist of The Quiet Flows the Don.
The tragedy of Melekhov was fully explained as a historical error, and a conclusion was made about the tragic fate of man. The authors who share this concept, Khvatov, Biryukov, Petelin, with a certain difference between them, emphasized the circumstance that pushed the hero onto this path, onto the path of Grigory entering the Fomin gang and proving that Grigory is not a loner, not a renegade, and not guilty if the peasant-worker could not figure out what was happening. Grigory Melekhov, in search of the truth, stood on the verge of two principles, denying both of them, without realizing that the third was not given.
Shcherbina spoke about the inconsistency of the character of Sholokhov's hero, and Metchenko called G. Melekhov " artistic type epoch." Ultimately, literary critics conclude that the hero is tragic.
At present, it would be naive to analyze the arguments of L. Yakimenko and those who tried to prove that Grigory broke up with the people - they are unconvincing. Those who spoke of renegade paid attention to the tragic ending of the protagonist. This, of course, makes sense, but also a tragedy. Grigory Melekhov testifies that the writer places high demands on his hero, and at the same time speaks of responsibility for the crime committed, and yet the finale leads to the conclusion that the author trusts his hero. In order to understand the essence of Melekhov's tragedy, it is necessary to understand the author's attitude to this image, and which cannot be replaced (as Yakimenko did) with an attitude towards any of the heroes. Sholokhov's attitude to G. Melekhov arises at the intersection of views on Grigory of other actors: mother, Natalia, Aksinya, Koshevoy, Shtokman, etc.
Of course, we take into account the Bolshevik Koshevoy's idea of Grigory, but we also take into account the attitude of his mother towards Grigory. It is no coincidence that Ilyinichna singled out the youngest among other children. There is a magnificent scene in the novel, which is perceived through the eyes of Aksinya: the mother wants to meet Grigory before her death.
The truth is manifested both in sympathy for Gregory and in his condemnation, the measure of exactingness and the measure of trust. The tragedy of the image is seen in the fact that he is a person of a certain life experience and it is difficult for him to understand in the name of what sacrifices, sufferings. He does not accept these sufferings and therefore seeks his truth from the Reds, then from the Whites, but strives to go his own way. In such a situation, it is impossible to explain the contradictions of the hero by social position.
Throwing Grigory Melekhov explained by the complexity of his situation, the inconsistency of time and the fact that a man who knew only the peasant business, was not able to understand these events, could not decide "where to go." His throwing is “not his fault, but his misfortune” (S.I. Sheshukov). And at the same time, Grigory Melekhov modern man, and the choice life path imposes responsibility for their actions. The fate of Melekhov shows that the people fought on the side of the Reds and the Whites ”(P. Palievsky). Gregory's throwing is not only personal contradictions, but also contradictions of being.
It should be emphasized that the continuity fiction manifested itself in the fact that characters were created in national literatures (like Grigory Melekhov), where different shades of the struggle between good and evil, tragic throwings, were dialectically complex. For example, the image of Kazgirey Matkhanov by Alim Keshokov. It brings together heroes and unity with the people.
The author does not reduce the novel "Quiet Flows the Don" to the image of Grigory Melekhov. Women's images carry a special meaning in the novel - they continue the traditions of Russian classical literature. Each of them has its own unique world, its own suffering and joy, its own pain of the soul. Sholokhov on the new historical stage shows a collective image of a Russian woman. It would be unfair to bring out the characteristics of individual heroines or oppose one another. The images of Sholokhov, both female and male, are of world-historical significance.
One of the manifestations of the heroic are the principles of Sholokhov's portrayal of the people, a man from the people. The author reveals the people in typical terms and does not show the feat of the people either in the unjust imperialist war, or in the White Cossack uprising, "the inglorious war against the Russian people." This is the writer's concept of achievement, heroism.
The problem of the authorship of The Quiet Flows the Don. Why was the authorship of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel questioned? For the first time, rumors and hints that the author had used someone else's manuscript arose in 1928, when the October magazine published the first two books of The Quiet Flows the Don - they immediately brought All-Russian and international fame to Mikhail Sholokhov.
Amazement, followed by suspicion, caused the age of the author - Mikhail Sholokhov was only twenty-two years old at the time of the publication of the first book of The Quiet Flows the Don, and he finished the second at twenty-three. It seemed from where at all young man such a maturity of judgment and such a brilliant mastery of literary form? They could not accept this phenomenon. A version arose about a certain white officer who allegedly wrote on the roads of the Civil War and then lost the manuscript of the book, and Sholokhov found it and “appropriated it”. A special commission was created, where Mikhail Sholokhov was supposed to submit drafts of The Quiet Flows the Don. When he introduced them, the suspicions immediately dissipated.
In 1965, after Mikhail Sholokhov was awarded Nobel Prize, old rumors resurfaced. However, the main argument for Sholokhov's "plagiarism" was the absence of the manuscript of The Quiet Flows the Don, which was lost during the Great Patriotic War.
Interest in the problem was later fueled by the book by I. Tomashevskaya, "The Stirrup of the Quiet Don", speaking under the pseudonym D * (Paris, 1974), with a preface and afterword by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a book by Roy Medvedev (1975), journal articles. A wave of relevant publications swept through the pages of Russian periodicals during the times of perestroika "sensations".
The book "Who wrote" Quiet Flows the Don "? (The problem of the authorship of The Quiet Don). - M., 1989) - translation of the 1982 edition of the work of the Swedish-Norwegian research group: G. Khiesto, S. Gustavsson and others, who conducted a computer analysis of the study of a literary text in a foreign computer center (since Sholokhov is a Nobel Prize winner). The author's speech of Sholokhov ("Quiet Don", "Virgin Soil Upturned", "Don Stories") and the Cossack writer Fyodor Kryukov were analyzed. Scientists in this work presented the results of their analysis: tables, diagrams, etc. and came to the following conclusion that Sholokhov and Kryukov have a different vocabulary structure, frequency of word usage, sentence length, that is, the style of F. Kryukov is completely different from M. Sholokhov , and Sholokhov writes strikingly similar to the author of The Quiet Flows the Don. Thus, the authorship of The Quiet Flows the Don is concretely proved. On the this stage this issue was suspended and no longer caused the previous discussions.
In 1999, a manuscript of The Quiet Flows the Don was found in one of the editions in Moscow. December 4, 1999 Russian newspaper» published an article by the director of the Institute of World Literature named after A.M. Gorky (IMLI) Felix Kuznetsov "Who held Mikhail Sholokhov hostage?". It reported that IMLI managed to find and acquire the manuscripts of the first and second books of The Quiet Flows the Don, which were considered lost: “The manuscript has 885 pages. Of these, 605 were written by M.A. Sholokhov, 280 pages copied in white by the hand of the writer's wife Maria Petrovna Sholokhova and, apparently, her sisters; many of these pages contain edits by M. A. Sholokhov. The pages written by M. A. Sholokhov include drafts, versions and white pages, as well as sketches and inserts for certain parts of the text.
At the beginning of the novel The Quiet Flows the Don, Grigory is a cheerful, lively, mischievous guy:
"A youthfully round and thin neck, a carefree warehouse of constantly smiling lips"
In the veins of Gregory flows the blood of a Turkish grandmother, whom his grandfather married contrary to the opinion of all the villagers. He also inherited the tough temper of his grandfather and father:
“Gregory walked, holding on to the front chair on which his brother was sitting; frowned. From the lower jaw, obliquely to the cheekbones, trembling, the nodules rolled. Petro knew that this was a sure sign that Grigory was seething and ready for any reckless act.
Human feelings are not subject to social rules. A deafening passion for a married neighbor Aksinya covers the guy with his head:
So extraordinary and obvious was their crazy connection, so frenziedly they burned with one shameless fire, people not ashamed and not hiding, losing weight and blackening their faces in front of their neighbors, that now people were ashamed to look at them when they met for some reason.
Grigory's comrades, who had earlier teased him about his connection with Aksinya, were now silent, converging, and felt awkward and connected in Grigory's company. The women, jealous in their souls, judged Aksinya, gloated in anticipation of Stepan's arrival, languished, consumed by curiosity. At the denouement, their assumptions wove.
“If Grigory went to the zhalmerka Aksinya, pretending to be hiding from people, if the zhalmerka Aksinya lived with Grigory, observing this in relative secrecy, and at the same time would not shy away from others, then this would not be unusual, whipping in the eyes"
At some point, Grigory stops communication, fulfills the will of his father and marries a young girl, Natalya. However, the marriage does not turn out to be happy, the son blames his father for this and again shows his rebellious character, takes Aksinya and leaves his father's farm:
“Grigory pulled by the sleeve the sheepskin coat thrown on the bed, flaring his nostrils, trembling in the same seething anger as his father. One, flavored with Turkish admixture, blood flowed into them, and they were miraculously similar at that moment.
Agile and brave, a born warrior, Gregory gets to the front of the First World War, where he manages to distinguish himself and show his young prowess. Still, because the Cossacks were brought up by real fighters, in the spirit of serving the king. However, it soon becomes clear that war, murders change a person, and not in better side:
“Grigory firmly cherished the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, went wild, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without bloodshed, horse-riding a Cossack and felt that the pain over a person that crushed him in the first days of the war had gone forever. His heart hardened, hardened, like a salt marsh in a drought, and just as a salt marsh does not absorb water, so Gregory's heart did not absorb pity. With cold contempt he played with someone else's life and with his own; that's why he was known as brave - he served four St. George's crosses and four medals. At rare parades he stood at the regimental banner, fanned by the powder smoke of many wars; but he knew that he would no longer laugh at him, as before; he knew that his eyes were hollow and his cheekbones were sharp; he knew that it was difficult for him, kissing a child, to openly look into clear eyes; Gregory knew what price he had paid for the full bow of crosses and production.
Relations with Aksinya deteriorate:
“I felt cold in the letters…” Returning home, where his little daughter died during his absence, Grigory learns that Aksinya is the mistress of the pan's son. Hitting her with a whip in anger, he returns to his wife, but long years remembering a lost loved one:
“Lying here on the hill, for some reason he remembered that night when he was walking from the Nizhne-Yablonovsky farm to Yagodnoye to Aksinya; with a cutting pain he remembered her too. Memory fashioned vague, time-worn, infinitely dear and alien lines of the face. With a sudden beating heart, he tried to restore it to the way he had seen it in last time, contorted in pain, with a crimson trace of a whip on his cheek, but the memory stubbornly slipped another face, slightly tilted to one side, smiling triumphantly. Here she turns her head, mischievously and lovingly, from below she dazzles with a look of fiery black eyes, something indescribably affectionate, hot whispering viciously greedy red lips, and slowly looks away, turns away, on her swarthy neck there are two large fluffy curls. .. he once loved to kiss them so much ... "
A civil war begins, Grigory takes the side of the Reds, but after the brutal senseless execution of prisoners, he goes over to the side of the White Cossacks, and he is different there:
“It began to seem that the truth no longer exists in the world, and, embittered to the extreme, he thought: everyone has his own truth, his own furrow. For a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life, people have always fought .... We must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it, we must fight hard, not swaying - like in a wall - and the heat of hatred, firmness will give the fight ... "
Grigory, without leaving his wife, converges with Aksinya too:
"Love! Unforgettable!
Over time, Grigory Melekhov becomes embittered, cruel. The father is angry with him:
"A hero, a white officer, a true eagle, a division commander, honored, all on bumps, and not a single one can be touched."
Gregory himself understands this and says to his wife:
"Ha! Conscience! I forgot about her! What conscience is there when all life has been stolen! You kill people... It is not known why all this porridge... I was so smeared with someone else's blood that I no longer felt sorry for anyone. Childhood - and I almost do not regret this one, but I don’t even think about myself. The war took everything out of me. I became terrible myself. Look into my soul, and there is blackness, as in an empty well ... "
Soon, seeing the death of friends and relatives, Grigory begins to lose interest in the war. He, like other officers, drinks, seeing the stupidity and senselessness of the killings. He is drawn to peaceful work:
“when he imagined how he would prepare harrows, carts for spring, weave a manger out of the red, and when the earth undresses and dries, he will leave for the steppe: holding on to the chapigi with his hands bored with work; will follow the plow, feeling its living beating and jolts; imagining how he would inhale the sweet spirit of young grass and the black soil raised by plowshares, which had not yet lost the insipid aroma of snow dampness, it warmed his soul. I wanted to clean up cattle, throw hay, breathe in the withered smell of sweet clover, wheatgrass, and the spicy smell of manure. I wanted peace and silence - that's why Grigory kept the shy joy in his stern eyes, looking around: at the horses, at his father's steep, sheepskin-covered back. Broke and his fatigue, acquired in the war. I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused, contradictory. It was difficult to find the right path; like in a swampy gati, the soil clogged up underfoot, the path was crushed, and there was no certainty whether it was going along the right one ... "
Restless nature, difficult fate, a strong character, a man on the border of two eras - the main epithets of the main character of Sholokhov's novel. The image and characterization of Grigory Melekhov in the novel "Quiet Flows the Don" is artistic description the fate of one Cossack. But behind him stands a whole generation of Don peasants, who were born in a vague and incomprehensible time, when family ties were collapsing, the fate of the entire diverse country was changing.
Appearance and family of Gregory
It is not difficult to introduce Grigory Panteleevich Melekhov. The young Cossack younger son Pantelei Prokofievich. There are three children in the family: Peter, Grigory and Dunyasha. The roots of the surname came from crossing Turkish blood (grandmother) with Cossack (grandfather). This origin left its mark on the character of the hero. How many now scientific works dedicated to Turkish roots that changed the Russian character. The Melekhovs' yard is located on the outskirts of the farm. The family is not rich, but not poor either. The average income for some is enviable, which means that there are poorer families in the village. For the father of Natalia, the bride of Gregory, the Cossack is not rich. At the beginning of the novel, Grishka is about 19-20 years old. Age should be calculated at the beginning of the service. The draft age of those years is 21 years old. Gregory is waiting for a call.Character traits:
- nose: hook-nosed, kite;
- look: wild;
- cheekbones: sharp;
- skin: swarthy, brown blushing;
- black like a gypsy;
- teeth: wolf, dazzling white:
- height: not particularly tall, half a head taller than his brother, 6 years older than him;
- eyes: bluish tonsils, hot, black, non-Russian;
- smile: beastly.
Cossack clothes
Melekhov dresses in the usual Cossack uniform. Traditional Cossack set:- everyday bloomers;
- festive with bright stripes;
- white wool stockings;
- tweets;
- satin shirts;
- short fur coat;
- hat.
Attitude towards children
Gregory loves children, but awareness full of love comes to him very late. The son of Mishatok is the last thread that connects him with life after the loss of his beloved. He accepts Tanya, Aksinya's daughter, but is tormented by thoughts that she might not be his. In the letter, the man confesses that he dreams of the girl in a red dress. There are few lines about the Cossack and children, they are mean and not bright. It's probably right. It is difficult to imagine a strong Cossack playing with a child. He is passionate about communicating with children from Natalia when he returns on a visit from the war. He wants to forget everything he has experienced, plunging into household chores. For Gregory, children are not just a continuation of the family, they are a shrine, part of the homeland.Male character traits
Grigory Melekhov is a male image. He bright representative Cossacks. Character traits help to understand the complex problems that are happening around.Waywardness. The guy is not afraid of his opinion, he cannot retreat from it. He does not listen to advice, does not tolerate ridicule, is not afraid of fights and brawls.
Physical strength. The guy is liked for his valiant prowess, strength and endurance. He receives his first St. George Cross for patience and endurance. Overcoming fatigue and pain, he carries the wounded from the battlefield.
Diligence. A working Cossack is not afraid of any work. He is ready to do anything to support his family, to help his parents.
Honesty. Gregory's conscience is constantly with him, he is tormented by doing things, not of his own free will, but due to circumstances. The Cossack is not ready for looting. He refuses even his father when he comes to him for the loot.
Pride. The son does not allow his father to beat him. He doesn't ask for help when he needs it.
Education. Gregory is a literate Cossack. He knows how to write, and conveys thoughts on paper clearly and understandably. Melekhov rarely writes, as befits secretive natures. Everything is in their soul, on paper only mean, precise phrases.
Gregory loves his farm, village life. He likes nature and the Don. He can admire the water and the horses splashing in it.
Gregory, war and homeland
The most difficult story line- this is a Cossack and power. The war from different sides appears before the eyes of the reader as the hero of the novel saw it. There are practically no differences between whites and reds, bandits and ordinary soldiers. Both kill, loot, rape, humiliate. Melekhov is tormented, he does not understand the meaning of killing people. He is struck by the Cossacks, who live in war, enjoying the deaths around. But time changes. Grigory becomes more callous, cold-blooded, although he does not agree with unnecessary murders. Humanity is the basis of his soul. Melekhov does not have the categoricalness of Mishka Korshunov, the prototype of revolutionary activists who see only enemies around them. Melekhov does not allow his superiors to speak rudely to him. He fights back, immediately puts in place those who want to command him.Sholokhov created a whole gallery of images in his novel Quiet Flows the Don. The heroes of the novel have become extraordinary characters in world literature.
The most controversial and attractive hero of the book is Grigory Melekhov. In the image of the hero, the author personified the individual character traits of a simple person. Melekhov is the most common Cossack who was born into a wealthy family. From early childhood, the hero lives a peasant life. It contains love for nature, pity for all living things. In addition, Gregory is very honest and sincere with everyone. After growing up, he falls in love with Aksinya and forever keeps love in his heart. Aksinya was married. Despite her marriage, Gregory did not try to hide his feelings. Melekhov married Natalya and confessed to her that he did not love her.
The hero was distinguished as an economic, brave and hard-working guy. Once in the center of the war, the young Cossack behaved like a staunch and courageous fighter. He was smart, fearless and determined, and proud at the same time. He always acted honorably and adhered to the principles he learned in childhood.
Melekhov joined the ranks of the Red Revolutionaries. However, having learned that the revolutionaries support violence and cruelty, Gregory was greatly disappointed. Before his eyes, the Red Army killed all unarmed prisoners and shot all the Cossacks, plundered the Cossack villages and raped women.
During the battles, the hero constantly saw the ruthlessness and cruelty of the white and red revolutionaries. Therefore, class hatred for him seemed meaningless. In his heart he wanted peace, love and simple work. Gregory did not know how to understand the contradictions of society. He took everything that happened close to his heart, and therefore often changed camp. The hero did not know how to understand his thoughts and began to obey the will of other people.
Melekhov did not want to betray his principles and himself, and therefore became an outcast in the camps of the revolutionaries. To know the truth, he went over to the ranks of the white revolutionaries. He became a stranger to everyone and constantly experienced loneliness.
Some time later, he attempted to escape with Aksinya. But on the way, a misfortune happened to his beloved, which led to her death. Instead of a strong and brave fighter, Gregory turned into a heartbroken man who will suffer until the end of his life.
By the end of the work, Melekhov completely abandoned weapons and war. He returned to his native lands because he could not accept the cruelty of the mortal world.
Option 2
Mikhail Sholokhov wrote the most interesting epic novel Quiet Don. A simple, life story about ordinary people who are destined to experience more than one hardship. Life is difficult, and the author of the Quiet Don wanted to demonstrate this to us.
Quiet Don pro ordinary people, one of these was Grigory Melekhov. The fate of Gregory is intertwined with many life events. He is the kind of person who searches for the truth all his life. He is looking for justice, honesty, he wants to know the answers to many life questions. Grigory Melekhov is a controversial personality, certain people condemn him, and many praise him, nevertheless he is a man, and a man is constantly changing.
It was difficult for him to cope with the realization that he had killed a man. He never imagined that the time would come when he would have to kill. He searched for the truth, but did not find it either in the environment of the whites or in the environment of the reds during the civil war. Thus, it can be said that he was not for a certain side, he searched, but did not find those who were right in honor ...
He was often unlucky in life. He encountered difficulties along the way, but always overcame them. It was difficult, but he managed. Grigory Melekhov got along with many, he was surrounded by many of his friends. Grigory's best friend can be considered Mikhail Koshevoy, but it was his best friend kills sibling Gregory. Is it possible after that to consider Michael a friend?
But the main interweaving in the epic novel was love story Grigory Melekhov. He was a free man and no girl was able to rein him in. But he was popular with the girls. He had 2 companions in life, Aksinya and Natalya. Grigory's parents forced Natalya to marry, but he could refuse, but did not do it. He claimed, and everyone knew that he did not love Natalia. They still had two children.
Grigory had a beloved - Aksinya. She was the inspiration for him. In their relationship there was passion, love, mutual attraction. It was a real relationship, but Grigory still could not decide with whom he needed to be - with his wife Natalya or his mistress Aksinya. Gregory even took birth with Aksinya. They worked on the field, being pregnant Aksinya also helped. But suddenly the fights start. He took her in a wagon, went to the village, but did not have time to get there, he had to take delivery himself.
Grigory Melekhov is a controversial character, with a very difficult fate, but personally I respect him for the fact that he never changed his principles. He always sought to achieve truth and justice.
Composition The image and characteristics of Melekhov
In one of the most famous novels Sholokhov, the author, having revealed one of the problems - the relationship between the individual and the people, with special artistic skill showed the tragedy of the life path of Grigory Melekhov. The character and beliefs of the hero are significantly different from Peter. The writer, singling out the 19-year-old Grishka from the Melekhov family, shows his amazing attractiveness. Appearance Gregory is set off not by what class he belongs to, but by his peculiar character.
As a teenager, he was a hardworking guy, subtly feeling native nature. Remarkable abilities, directness and openness are continuously noted by Sholokhov. He opposes the cruelty of his villagers, stands up for Aksinya because of the terrible treatment of her husband, and contemptuously treats the act of Daria, who kills Kotlyarov without a twinge of conscience.
Gregory sympathizes with those who are always courageous and maintain their dignity in the most dangerous situations. life situations. He always denounced cowardice and weak-heartedness, and at various stages of his quest he held firm. Gregory's patriotism is especially clearly shown. So, for example, he cannot see the presence of English troops on the Don and speaks disapprovingly about them. Together with the positive qualities of a gifted person, a self-willed character was early discovered in him. As a worker, he is drawn to the best and new trends, however, his interest in possessiveness draws him back, confuses him in choosing the right path. He hesitates for a long time between the two political camps and searches for his own path in the revolution.
The main character can't figure out his personal relationships either. He is drawn to Natalya by the vein of the owner, home comfort, children. Aksinya is close to him with her ardent love and love of freedom. This position of Gregory between two women is explained by the desire to reconcile love for Aksinya with family traditions. The author showed on the image of Gregory the features characteristic of the middle peasants. He showed his views and moods, which distinguished the small owner. The tragedy of his fate was manifested in the fact that he was completely lost in his searches, opposed historical events, against the people of which he was a native.