What does the story “The Stupid Artist” bring up? Stupid artist story - artistic analysis. Leskov Nikolay Semyonovich

At the end of the story “The Stupid Artist” the date “February 19, 1883” is indicated. Day of liberation of serfs and Saturday of “remembrance of the dead.” The plot of the work is based on the love story of a serf actress and a serf hairdresser, that is, a toupee artist who saved his beloved from the fate of a concubine. Why suddenly, 20 years after the abolition of serfdom, when Russian literature had already begun to forget this topic, does Leskov return to it again? And he doesn’t just return: essentially, the story is written on a well-known plot.

The fact is that the theater of the Counts Kamensky (namely, it served as the prototype of the serf theater in “The Stupid Artist”) has already been described in literature: in 1848, A. I. Herzen created the story “The Thieving Magpie” about a serf actress and her fate. At the end of the 40s, the topic sounded very relevant. But now, in the early 80s?! Is it this fact, or what was published in the “Art Magazine”, aimed at a very narrow circle of readers, but an event in literary life the story didn't. It didn’t even cause serious criticism.

The real reader's discovery of the work took place in the mid-20s of the 20th century. This is understandable: the story exposed the “dark years of tsarism” and the horrors of serfdom. And the readers seemed to succumb to the author’s cunning: “I don’t remember exactly what years it was, but it happened that the sovereign was passing through Orel (I can’t say, Alexander Pavlovich or Nikolai Pavlovich).” And if the author himself doesn’t seem to care exact time action, then the reader probably doesn’t need it either. The main thing is under serfdom. This “mastering” of the story was more than successful: the author’s text was adapted (the dedication and epigraph were removed), entire fragments were removed (for example, the entire first chapter), the work was turned into another social picture on the plot of “serf owners and their morals.” It seems that everything is correct, such “work” with the text only strengthened the author’s idea. After all, Leskov himself once remarked: “... Having seen enough of the suffering... and recognizing the serf peasant not from books, but face to face, with all the strength of his soul he hated it serfdom" And he retained this view even when many reconsidered and gave up their positions. And he didn’t just preserve it, preparing the story for republication in collected works, he even strengthened the revealing beginning, adding in small touches such details that still give goosebumps to this day. However, to interpret the work only as anti-serfdom means to impoverish its content.

Let's turn to the text of the story. Who is to blame for the fact that the heroes’ happiness did not work out? Graph? Of course, he cruelly punished Arkady, but gave him a chance to survive, played “nobility”, of course, quite in his spirit. Who made Lyuba an eternal widow? Again, the count, but he’s not the only one. Here the plot of the story makes absolutely unexpected turn: an ordinary janitor, flattered by Arkady's money, killed him and, having withstood forty-three whips, the branded man went to hard labor. The traditional plot, under the pen of Leskov, received a tragic illumination. Only there seem to be no perpetrators of this tragedy, but only great sufferers. The “stupid artist” Arkady Ilyich suffers for his talent, and Lyubov Onisimovna suffers for her love for him. They perceive the vicissitudes of their fate in a very Russian way. "Now be above us God's will“,” Arkady will say to his beloved when he decides to marry her. “It’s true that I was destined in my family not to be with a sweetheart, but with a hateful one - I didn’t miss that fate,” - this is how Lyuba perceives her fate as a count odalisque, and her reaction to the news of Arkady’s death is striking in its terrible simplicity: “...I immediately drank the whole bottle. It was disgusting, but I couldn’t sleep without it, and the next night too... I drank.” And she remembers her beloved, too, “with a drop from the little bottle.”

“I have never seen a more terrible and soul-rending funeral in my entire life” - this is how the story about these terrible events ends, the story is deliberately dispassionate, because for the rest of their lives Lyubov Onisimovna and other serfs were “accustomed to fear and torment.” And only once will she burst out: “And you, good boy, never tell your mother this, never betray ordinary people: because ordinary people are all sufferers.” With this emotional outburst, the old nanny, a former serf actress, will finish the story about her love, and the voice of the boy narrator will sound, who at the age of nine felt the ordinariness of the tragedy that happened, and it shocked him. And he conveyed this “childish” shock to the reader.

Indeed, what happened is striking in its terrible truth and at the same time ordinariness: “One simple man stabbed another common man because of money; the third simple man started drinking... Herzen never dreamed of such a thing” (L. Anninsky). Where is that hero of Leskov, a simple Russian man who was great precisely in his Everyday life? Or does he have less and less space left on Russian soil? But why? Why are “ordinary people... sufferers”? For what or whose fault are they suffering? This is what Leskov’s story “The Stupid Artist” makes you think about.

Image of the tragic fate of a talented

Russian man in serf Russia

in the story by N. S. Leskov “The Stupid Artist”

Lesson objectives:

1. Understanding the ideological and artistic value of the story;learning to analyze independently read work;consolidation and expansion of students’ knowledge about serfdom and the life of serfs;identification author's position on the issue of serfdom.

2. Formation of skills and abilities of independent research work, development of creative and associative thinking, the ability to analyze and compare works of art,development of historical and literary thinking.

3. Education moral qualities, aesthetic taste, formation of a culture of students’ feelings.

Lesson type: integrated (combined lesson) with interdisciplinary connections.

Lesson type: a lesson in collective analysis.

Shapes: individual, group, frontal.

Methods and techniques: partially search, problem-based, verbal, visual, practical, development of speech skills, ability to analyze and systematize material, work with literary text,analysis style features works.

During the classes:

I. introduction

Russian literature at all times and epochs has persistently and consistently sought in reality and recreated in works of art the images of people of honest, worthy of a person lives, living, as they say, in truth. From ancient times there came a proverb: “A village is not worthwhile without a righteous person.”

home distinctive feature the work of the wonderful Russian writer Nikolai Semenovich Leskov is that the most beloved, cherished heroes of his works were those whom he called “the righteous.” Leskov firmly believed that goodness was inherent in man initially, by nature, and therefore the most vile times, even such as the reign of Nicholas I, cannot destroy honesty and philanthropy in people. “We have not run out of righteous people and will never run out of them. They just don’t notice them, but if you look closely, they are there,” he wrote. And Leskov looked for them and found them - bright people, obsessed with the idea of goodness, justice and sacrifice. M. Gorky, who was very close to Leskov’s search, noted this feature in his work. Leskov, he wrote, is “a writer who discovered the righteous in every class, in all groups.”

Leskov described contemporary life in its present form, with all its contradictions, without hiding dark sides. Therefore, his works more than once caused the displeasure of secular and spiritual authorities and were prohibited by censorship.

During his lifetime, Leskov did not enjoy such fame as, for example, I.S. Turgenev or F.M. Dostoevsky. But the most insightful contemporaries foresaw his future fame: Leo Tolstoy said that Leskov is “the writer of the future” and that “his life in literature is deeply instructive.” A.P. Chekhov called him his favorite writer and, according to A.M. Gorky, said that he “owed a lot to Leskov.”

Most of Leskov's works tell about the tragic fate of talented people from the people. N.S. Leskov called the people “the guardian of Russian tradition”in art, work, and way of life. Who are Leskov's heroes? How does the author feel about Russia?

For Leskov, Russia is a country of righteous people, wanderers, skilled and talented people,who are uneducated and unenlightened. He laments that the natural talent of a Russian person is not associated with education.

In today’s lesson, we will turn to Leskov’s story “The Stupid Artist,” which is one of the writer’s most famous and significant works, and we will reveal the moral meaning of the story.

What is known about where, when, and based on what events it was created?

(The story was first published in 1883, included in the only lifetime collection of Leskov’s works. The story is based on historically reliable material. Leskov heard this story at the age of nine, and it made a painful and indelible impression on him. As A.N. Leskov noted, the writer’s son, “the story is woven from authentic stories or memories faithfully preserved by the people. The result is a sharply impressive picture in which, according to the old saying, “you can’t make out what really happened and what the world put together.” but recreated a typical picture).

What title did Leskov choose for his work?

(Stupid Artist, Story at the Grave).

What is the original mood implied in the title?

What (who) is the story dedicated to?

(The work is dedicated to “the holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861” - on this day the Manifesto on deep reform was signed by Emperor Alexander II government structure Russia, and above all - the abolition of serfdom)

What happened on this day?(On this day serfdom was abolished in Russia)

Why is this day called blessed?(It must have been a very long-awaited day).

Refer to the epigraph. How do you understand its meaning?

(The words from the funeral song are taken as an epigraph - “Their souls will dwell in the good.” “In the good” translated from Church Slavonic means “among the saints, the righteous.” Both the dedication and the epigraph N.S. Leskov points to main topic story and expresses his attitude towards it)

Where and when does Lyubov Onisimovna’s story take place?

Leskov refuses exact dating. The story takes place in Orel during the reign of Alexander Pavlovich (Alexander I) or Nikolai Pavlovich (Nicholas I) - the narrator does not remember exactly, and for the author this is not so important, the main thing is that it was under serfdom.

Why, in the phrase “...but it happened. That the sovereign passed through Orel (I can’t say, Alexander Pavlovich or Nikolai Pavlovich) ... it is not specified which emperor passed through?

Under all the listed sovereigns, something similar to what is described in the story happened.

Do the heroes of the story have prototypes? What is known about them? Why do you think Leskov didn’t change their names?(Speech by a previously prepared student about the Kamenskys).

Serf owners - Counts Kamensky - not fictional characters. Commentators on the story explain: they mean Field Marshal General Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky (1738–1809) - participant seven years war 1756–1763 and Russian-Turkish wars- and his sons: Nikolai Mikhailovich (1778–1811) - a general, a gifted commander, commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army in 1810, and Sergei Mikhailovich (1771–1835) - a general who retired in 1822 and had a famous serf theater in Orel. He is one of the prototypes of the “Stupid Artist”.

In addition, the story mentions the writer’s maternal grandmother Alferyeva Akilina Vasilyevna, the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Androsov and others who could confirm the authenticity of the events.

For the main idea of the story, it does not matter under which Kamensky and in what reign it was - serfdom and serf owners like the Counts of Kamensky existed in all these reigns, and the same fate awaited our heroes. This is how the writer emphasizes the typicality of what is being described for an entire era.

Sharply, definitely, with one paint, quite in folklore tradition, depicts Leskov serf-owners - Count Kamensky and his brother. The first “was so terribly bad, due to his constant anger, that he immediately resembled all the animals,” while the second “was even worse”)

After reading the story, you saw the abominations of serfdom that remained in its shadow. Why do we, readers, believe everything that is written in the work? // = What do you know about serfdom and the morals of landowners? about serf theaters and the fate of actors? (Speech by a pre-prepared student about the serf theater )

What punishments were invented for serfs? What means of punishment and for what offense did Count Kamensky use? (text)

We learn about the morals of the serfdom era from one who perfectly remembers that bad time when she had to endure so much torment, mental and physical pain (her legs, which were cold during her escape, still hurt), and constant humiliation from her oppressor. She saw everything, experienced everything, managed to endure it, and now she talks about it.

The serf owners in the story are two brothers, the Counts of Kamensky are cruel tyrants. This is reflected in their appearance: the owner Arkady, Count Kamensky Sr., has an “ugly and insignificant face”; “The count’s village brother was even uglier than the city brother and, in addition, in the village he completely “got crazy” and “put such rudeness in his face” that even he felt it himself...” (7).

Lyubov Onisimovna talks about the “torment” the peasants suffered from them. For the slightest offense they were flogged in the stables, they could be given up as soldiers, the guilty women “all their children were subjected to terrible tyranny,” the actresses the master loved were “delivered to the master’s half,” and the disobedient ones were sent “to torture.” “And our torment was such that it was better a hundred times for someone who was destined to die. And the rack, and the string, and the head was bent and twisted - all this was there. After that, government punishment was given for nothing. There were secret cellars under the entire house, where people sat in chains like bears. It used to happen that when you walked past, you could sometimes hear chains rattling and people in chains groaning. It’s true that they wanted the news to reach them or for the authorities to hear about them, but the authorities didn’t even dare to think about intervening. And people were tormented here for a long time, some for the rest of their lives. One sat and sat and came up with a poem:

“Snakes will crawl,” he says, “and suck out your eyes,
And the scorpions will pour poison into your face.

You used to whisper this poem to yourself in your mind and get scared.

And others, even with bears, were chained, so that the bear could not lift it with its paw only half an inch” (11).

The images of the serf-owners in Leskov's story really look like folklore villains. Not a single one is said about them kind words. This expresses the attitude of the author and the narrator towards them.

It turns out that N.S. Leskov is not the only Russian writer who told the world about the ruined life of a talented serf actress. The prototype of Aneta, the main character of Herzen’s story “The Thieving Magpie,” is Kuzmina, the serf of Count Kamensky. But Herzen wrote his story in 1846, during the years of serfdom, and his work is a topical incriminating document. Count Kamensky bears the surname Skalinsky. It should also be said about the difference between the heroines: Herzen’s Aneta is a professional actress who received an excellent education, while Leskov’s Lyuba is a simple, albeit very talented courtyard girl, who remembers roles “by sight,” that is, by memory, watching how others play.

The interesting thing is that both stories are based on the same historical material, merged common theme, is clearly visible in them social conflict. We noticed that the author's feelings are very consonant. They are expressed like this.

Herzen: it was a protestheartbreaking ” - about Aneta’s singing;

Leskov: “More terrible andheartbreaking I have never seen a funeral in my entire life.”

But... comparing these two works is the topic of a separate lesson.

It is also worth saying that A. N. Radishchev, A. S. Pushkin, A. S. Griboedov did not pass over this topic in silence. During the time of Leskov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote about the situation of serfs... everyone who considered himself a citizen wrote and understood that in the country of “slaves and masters,” as Lermontov put it, it was impossible to be happy in the midst of general misfortune .

So, for example, A. S. Pushkin in the poem “Village” drew scary picture serf Russia:

There's a heavy yoke here

Everyone is dragging you to the grave,

Hopes and inclinations

Not daring to feed in my soul,

Here young maidens bloom

For the whim of an insensitive villain.

A.S. Griboyedov in the comedy “Woe from Wit” (1824) told about the fate of serf actors:

Or that one over there, which is for tricks

He drove to the serf ballet on many wagons

From mothers and fathers of rejected children?!

I myself am immersed in mind in Zephyrs and Cupids,

Made all of Moscow marvel at their beauty!

But the debtors did not agree to a deferment:

Cupids and Zephyrs all

Sold out individually!!!

N.S. Leskov picked up, continued and developed this theme, traditional for Russian literature, of the impossibility of happiness in the midst of general misfortune.

What can you say about the composition of the work? How many chapters does it have? How is it built?

Which compositional technique uses Leskov in “The Stupid Artist”?

The composition of the story is simple: the introduction is about talented people from the people, artists of their craft; exposition in which we get acquainted with the scene and the narrator ( former actress Oryol serf theater, and now the nanny of the narrator’s younger brother Lyubov Onisimovna); the main part is the story of Lyubov Onisimovna about the fate of her and the toupey artist Arkady Ilyich; short conclusion - the author’s remark about “soul-tearing wakes”.

The story “The Stupid Artist” is written in N.S.’s favorite form. Leskova - a story within a story. This gives the reader the opportunity to hear about events “first hand.” But the old nanny, an insufficiently educated woman, is not able to tell and reveal everything, and she cannot know everything (for example, the master’s conversations with his brother), so the author recounts some of the events himself, often quoting the narrator. The work has nineteen chapters. From them we learn about the fate of two talented serfs - an actress and a make-up artist, their unsuccessful escape from the cruel count and the punishment that befell them, which was followed by the service of the protagonist “as a regimental sergeant”, and then his death.

From whose perspective is the story told?

On behalf of the boy who listened to the story of the nanny, Lyubov Onisimovna. “The Stupid Artist” is written in the form of a story by the former serf actress Lyubov Onisimovna. The story is not from the author, but on behalf of some literary hero- Darling artistic technique Leskov, which he mastered perfectly.

Lyubov Onisimovna talks about those events in which she herself was a witness and participant. The narration is conducted in a manner characteristic only of her.

Leskov describes not just one of the episodes of the past, not just the fate of certain people - he depicts an era, the era of serfdom. His story naturally takes on the features folk epic.

What does Lyubov Onisimovna tell us about? State the plot in 7-10 sentences.

Plot. The events of the story take place in the Oryol count, known for his cruelty.

The actress and the hairdresser were in love with each other, but “dates face to face were completely impossible and even unthinkable”: actresses were not allowed romances. Arkady decides to take his beloved away after learning that the count is giving her special signs affection and wants to make him his mistress, but in the priest's house they are overtaken by a chase. Lyuba is sent to barnyard, and Arkady - to become a soldier. After several years of service, Arkady, having received “an officer’s rank and a noble title,” returns to Oryol to ransom Lyuba from the count, but at night he is robbed and killed by an inn janitor.

We meet the heroes of the story only in the 2nd chapter. What is chapter 1 about and for what purpose was it written?

Chapter 1 reveals the concept of “artist”. It is not as narrow as we think. An artist should be considered a talented person, dedicated to his work and striving to achieve a good goal: to contribute to the improvement of the world with his creations, to reveal the best sides of people and in people.

Confirm with text that Arkady indeed corresponds to the high title of Artist. Describe the main character - the toupee artist Arkady Ilyich. Why is he called an artist, an artist?

Main character story - the toupee artist Arkady Ilyich. “Stupid,” we read from Dahl, “a whipped crest over your head.” A fashionable hairstyle at the time. This means that the toupee artist is a master of hairstyles. According to the narrator, he was a master “of an extraordinary artistic kind.”

“…He was a “stupid artist,” that is, a hairdresser and make-up artist who “drew and combed” all the count’s serf artists. But this was not a simple, banal master with a toupee comb behind his ear and a tin of rouge ground in lard, but this was a man with ideas - in a word, artist . No one could “do better than him in the face of imagination.” This is an “inimitable artist”, that is master of his craft , “a sensitive and courageous young man.” This is how the narrator talks about his appearance from the words of Lyubov Onisimovna: “he was of moderate height, but slender, it’s impossible to say, his nose was thin and proud, and his eyes were angelic, kind, and his thick tuft hung beautifully over his eyes - so he looked, it happened as if from behind a foggy cloud. In a word, the toupee artist was handsome and “everyone liked him”” (4).

How did Arkady live in the manor house? How does he feel about his dependent position? (They talk about life)

= What character traits is Arkady endowed with?

Arkady is a serf of Count Kamensky, a cruel and despotic master. But he is not afraid of either his master or his brother , the same terrible person. For the sake of the planned escape, he disobeyed the first, and when asked by the second whether Arkady was under a spell, since he was not afraid of the master’s pistols, “as if half asleep, he said:

- There is no conspiracy on me, but there is a meaning in me from God: before you raised your hand with a pistol to shoot at me, I would first cut your entire throat with a razor” (9).

It is the gentlemen who are afraid of him: “I advise you as a brother: you should be afraid of him when he shaves with a razor” (10).

Protest is brewing in Arcadia against the constant humiliation of his human dignity. After this incident with the count's brother, he is no longer afraid of anything. His actions decisive and thoughtful : after the performance, when Lyuba was “removed by Cecilia” to take her to the count, he “jumped into... the closet... grabbed the table and suddenly knocked out the entire window...”. And he fled, capturing the unconscious Lyuba.

He didn't give up even after he was caught. Takes all the blame : “...Take me to be tormented, but she is not guilty of anything: I took her away by force.

And he turned to the priest and did nothing but spit in his face” (13).

Why do you think the priest changed his decision to hide the fugitives and handed them over to their pursuers?

The priest was very much afraid of Kamensky, despite the fact that he was considered brave. He knew about the count’s atrocities, and therefore understood that he would not be spared. After all, it was not only the peasants and courtyard people who got it from the master. “The Count himself did not believe in God, and could not stand spiritual people, and once at Easter the Boris and Gleb priests with a cross were hunted down by greyhounds” (4). This episode eloquently and fully shows how dangerous serfdom is, breaking even strong people and pushing them to betrayal.

How did the serf-owner Kamensky “pity” Arkady?

After a failed escape, Arkady was punished and “turned over as a soldier.” Even the hard-hearted master treats him with respect: “I don’t want you to be lower than how you set yourself with a noble spirit... you won’t serve as a simple soldier, but you’ll be a regimental sergeant and show your courage” (15). He sent Arkady not just to the army, but to war, where he could have been killed immediately.

How does Arkady feel about the main character?

Arkady's feeling for Lyuba is filled with a special light. Like the heroes of lyrical folk songs, he loves her reverently, enthusiastically and courteously, and later, having learned that the girl did not escape shame and humiliation, he sympathizes with his beloved and does not blame her for anything.

Why does Arkady decide to escape?

1. He broke his master’s word not to cut anyone’s hair except for him and the actresses, and knew about the impending punishment and exile as a soldier.

2. Touching love young “slaves” of Count Kamensky are waiting severe trials. Lyuba must join the number of concubines of the depraved master, and then Arkady decides to take a DESPERATE act - he commits a crime that is serious from the point of view of the legal norms of that era. He takes his beloved away without fear possible consequences escape, and at the same time - quite in Russian - without thinking it through properly.

Do you think Arkady had any hope of changing his life? Or was this lesson enough for him?

Of course there was, he was not afraid to fight, achieved a high rank, and came to ransom Lyuba.

Having endured torture in the count's basements and won (after 3 years) for himself on the battlefields freedom, officer rank and money (Arkady served the sovereign faithfully and truly, earned “officer rank and noble rank”, “orders and crosses”, leave and five hundred rubles “to heal wounds”), Arkady returns to Orel to his beloved, in order to ransom her from the master and marry her “before the throne of the Almighty Creator.” It would seem that the heroes almost managed to escape from slavery, to defend their right to happiness in confrontation with the “wild lordship”, with the cruelty of the world. But on the eve of Lyuba's release, Arkady is killed by a simple Russian man - a janitor (he was stabbed to death by the owner of the inn), who could not resist the temptation to get rich quickly. The governor himself was present at the funeral of Arkady Ilyich. He was buried with all military honors, as a nobleman and an officer.

What appears before us main character- Lyubov Onisimovna - in your own story and in the author’s perception?

Lyubov Onisimovna, according to the narrator’s recollections, at the time of her story “was not yet very old, but as white as a harrier; Her facial features were thin and delicate, and her high figure was completely straight and surprisingly slender, like that of a young girl. Mother and aunt, looking at her, said more than once that she was undoubtedly a beauty in her time” (2).

Yes, Lyubov Onisimovna then “was not only in the color of her virgin beauty, but also in her very interesting moment developing your multifaceted talent.” The narrator herself modest and talks little about her beauty. She only mentioned her luxurious hair. In her youth, they “were amazingly large and light brown, and Arkady removed them - a sight for sore eyes.” She “wound herself up” with her amazing brown braid, trying to commit suicide (you can imagine what kind of braid it was!), and when she came to her senses, she was frightened: “her head turned white” “even there... they got out of the braid” .

About character its author says this: “she was infinitely honest, meek and sentimental ; I loved the tragic in life and... sometimes I drank” (2). Before her escape, in the theater, she was busy playing leading roles, Arkady loved her, and Count Kamensky wanted to make her his concubine. She probably looked touchingly beautiful in the “dress” of Saint Cecilia: in a white chiton dress and a “thin hoop crown.”

Have you noticed in the text of the story the name of a Catholic saint, like whom Count Kamensky ordered the young actress who attracted his attention to be adorned. How does this circumstance characterize Count Kamensky and what do you know about Saint Cecilia?

(Speech by a previously prepared student)

This is holy catholic church, the image of virginal innocence. Portrayed with musical instruments, was considered the patroness of the performing arts, because one day she would be given the opportunity to hear the singing of angels. She, just like the heroine of our story, suffered for her beliefs - her faith in Christ.

Kamensky is a sensualist who has nothing sacred in his soul.

Why was her fate so tragic? Why couldn't she change it?

She was a serf actress.

What character traits of a Russian person are emphasized in the heroine? Is she different from Arkady or completely consistent with him?

If Arcadia emphasizes such features of the Russian person as fearlessness, spiritual nobility and the ability to self-sacrifice, then in the image of Lyubov Onisimovna a different type of national character is presented. Lyuba resembles the “ideal” folklore heroine or the “quiet” and meek angels of Russian icons. However, this character also reflects the negative psychological consequences of centuries-old slavery - first of all, the inability and inability to resist circumstances. Separated from her beloved, insulted by the master and humiliated to the position of a cowgirl, Lyuba does not protest, does not think about freedom, accepting her new “role” in the world with obedience and humility.

Find a description of the life of serf actresses. Why did actresses dislike “camarina earrings” so much? (A sign of recognition of talent and deprivation of virginity by the “master”)

What detail shows the reader that there were many like Lyuba, runaway, captured, actresses gone crazy?(Cowgirl Drosida, who was supposed to “observe psychoses”)

All goodies stories have speaking names: The name Love comes from an Old Church Slavonic word meaningLove. Arkady (from the Greek words “arkados” and “arkas” - a resident of Arcadia. Arcadia is a happy, idyllic country of shepherds and shepherdesses). The name Arkady symbolizes an active, good and brave beginning. All these qualities are inherent in the main character of “The Stupid Artist”. The name Drosida seems strange to readers, but Leskov introduces it into the work for a reason. Drosida (from Greek - martyr), who accepted martyrdom for Christ. In the story “The Stupid Artist,” Drosida ended up in a barnyard, having suffered for love.

All negative characters do not have names or surnames.Why?

Do you think there was a limit to the patience of serfs or could they endure indefinitely? (“And she still remembered how our people stabbed the old count, and the chief valet himself, because they just couldn’t stand his hellish cruelty.”)

How did you see the “master’s servants” (the Tula executioner) in the story? Why do you think Lyubov Onisimovna talks in such detail about the punishment of the men “for the cruel count” and the “inn janitor” - for Arkady Ilyich? How does this characterize the narrator?

Even more terrible than the actions of tyrant landowners seems to be the behavior of people obsessed with blind obedience and fear of the masters of life. These people, “the master's servants,” are capable of betrayal, like the Judas priest, and even some kind of senseless cruelty towards their own kind, like the Tula executioner who punished the “inn janitor” for murder. “Before the case, they gave him three glasses of rum to drink... he hit a hundred whips, all just for one torment... and then, as the hundred and first snapped, he tore apart the entire spinal bone... He still shouted: “Let’s beat someone else - I’ll kill all the Orlovites”” (19 ).

The fate of serfs in the story (speckled Drosida).

The people were driven to despair. Many lives were ruined, destinies were crippled. We also learn about the unfortunate fate of the mottled Drosida, a kind woman who looked after the sick Lyuba in the barnyard and taught her to drown her grief in wine, because “it is bitter, and the poison of grief is even more bitter, and dousing coal with this poison goes out for a minute.” " Since then, Lyubov Onisimovna has not fallen asleep without the contents of her “little bottle.” This is how she remained in the memory of the author-narrator, who remembers her Arkasha on a “simple grave with an old cross.”

And the final chord of the story is just one sentence: “I have never seen a more terrible and soul-rending funeral in my entire life.” In this short phrase expressed all the author’s emotional pain for what was desecrated human dignity and the ruined lives of their heroes. And the blame for it all is the unfair, ugly public relations- serfdom and the cruelty of people.

Let me remind you that Herzen’s work “The Thieving Magpie” was written in 1846, during the years of serfdom, and therefore was relevant and topical. Leskov’s story appears almost 40 years later, 22 years after the abolition of serfdom, but tells about the same period of landowner permissiveness and serfdom. Why and for what purpose does Leskov remind readers of that slave time?Was it only during the era of serfdom that cruelty manifested itself in people?

Leskov, when he wrote “The Stupid Artist,” faced a different task. It’s been 22 years since serfdom was abolished, all the participants in the tragedy that took place in Count Kamensky’s serf theater had long since died, but nevertheless, the era of serfdom still dominated Russia, the remnants of serfdom still survived in social relations, in government institutions, and most importantly, they tenaciously held on to the consciousness and psychology of both former serfs and former owners of serf souls.

"The Stupid Artist" is a psychologically reliable study of national character, correlated with current state Russian life. It is no coincidence that Leskov’s story of Lyubov Onisimovna is addressed to a child. The author’s goal is to free future generations of Russian people from the moral legacy of serfdom, to get rid of the dark beginnings in the Russian soul, and on the other hand, to glorify in the person of the “stupid artist” and his beloved best features of the Russian people - talent, fortitude, loyalty, ability for sacrificial love.

The connection between the old nanny's story and the author's epigraph to it.

Arkady and Lyuba appear before readers at a decisive moment. They are faced with a difficult choice: to submit, endure humiliation and continue to live as obedient slaves, as many thousands of serfs live, or to rebel against laws that violate human dignity. They choose the second path, although this threatens them with almost inevitable “torment” and death. And this is where hitherto hidden pride, courage, and determination begin to appear in them. The awakened feeling of freedom ennobles their every action and gives them strength” (Vl. Muravyov).

Lyubov Onisimovna recalls that during the escape, noticing the chase, Arkady Ilyich bent down to her and asked: “My dear darling! They’re chasing us... do you agree to die if we don’t leave?”

She “answered that she even agreed with joy” (11).

As already mentioned, Leskov in “The Stupid Artist” continues the theme of righteousness. “Their souls will dwell in good things,” says the epigraph. And the good, that is, the righteous, the saints, in Rus' (and not only in Rus' - it is probably no coincidence that the saint of the Catholic Church - Cecilia is mentioned) have always been called people who are capable of self-sacrifice for the sake of love for God and people, for the sake of the ideas of goodness and justice.

Who is to blame for the plight and lack of rights of the peasants? Where, from whom does evil come?

The drama of the relationship between serf owners and powerless “slaves” is complicated in Leskov by the drama of the relationship of ordinary Russian people with each other. Ultimately, the heroes are destroyed not by the “masters of life” - the Kamenskys, but by “their own”. At first, Arkady and Lyuba are betrayed by the priest in whom they trusted, and subsequently Arkady becomes a victim of the inn's janitor. Evil is by no means an exclusive property of the world of serfs, the author shows. His Dark Materials lives are present both in the nobility and among the people.

Do you think the story of the toupee artist could end happily? Or did you have a feeling when you finished reading the story that good ending will not be? Why did it end like this?

The story told in “The Stupid Artist” could not end happily, this would not be typical for the era, and Leskov remains true to the truth of life. The heroes of the story are twice close to achieving their cherished goal, but both times all their efforts and hopes are destroyed by a seemingly unforeseen event: the first time - the betrayal of the priest, the second - the greed of the innkeeper. But Leskov makes it clear that both of these cases are not accidental at all, they are part of the customs of the era. And besides two obvious disasters, the writer mentions in the story a third, which would inevitably await Arkady and Lyubov Onisimovna if the escape was successful. The fugitives rushed to the “Turkish Khrushchuk”, “where,” as Lyubov Onisimovna explains, “then many of our people fled from Kamensky.” The serfs of Count Kamensky called “Turkish Khrushchuk” Rushchuk, a Bulgarian city on the Danube that was under the rule of the Turks. More than once during the Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th-19th centuries, it passed from hand to hand and was destroyed by war; it could not and was not a haven for fugitives from Russia. Khrushchuk was the same dream and legend as the legends about the country of Belovodye, about the Nut Land and many other “distant lands”. But Leskov retains the obviously mythical Khrushchuk in the story - as a Symbol of the groundless, unfulfilled hopes of the serfs for freedom and happiness in a serfdom state.

It is also possible that the count could not allow the former serf to win and become free himself. Moreover, he bought his love and set him free. Then all serfs will do the same. And Kamensky could not allow this. He had to break these two strong people. Therefore, the watchman was probably persuaded to commit murder.

Such fate ( we're talking about about Arkady) to a certain extent is also characteristic of Russian life - let us remember Gogol, who noticed in “Dead Souls” that Russian people “do not like” to die their own death.

In a serfdom state, enslaved peasants did not have the right to freedom and happiness.

Although in Russian history There was one exception. This is the life story of the serf actress P.I. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova. (Speech by a previously prepared student). “The daughter of the blacksmith Parasha Kovalev, as a thirteen-year-old girl, played the role of Louise in the opera “The Runaway Soldier,” touching and captivating the audience of Count Sheremetev’s serf theater. She had a wonderful voice and great dramatic talent.” This is an exceptional case in the history of the Russian serf theater: the serf Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova became Countess Sheremeteva. But she soon died of consumption.

Why do you think, given that the narrator is a “recent” boy and the one who told him her sad story Lyubov Onisimovna, the story is called “The Stupid Artist”?

In honor of the main character, who was able to speak out against serfdom, and was not afraid to show his love and fight for it.

The main characters of Leskov's story - Lyuba and Arkady - personify the best features of the national character. Both of them are beautiful, noble, capable of true love. In addition, each of the heroes is artistically gifted. According to Leskov, artists are not only painters, sculptors or writers, but every person who feels beauty and strives to achieve perfection in their work. This is Arkady, who not only combed hair, but also “drew” actresses, turning courtyard girls into heroines and even goddesses, and, in addition, if necessary, “drew” the Kamensky brothers in a noble appearance. His special talent lay in “ideology”, in the ability to give his face with the help of “drawing” a sultry, noble expression. While performing the work of a “stupid artist,” the hero experiences moments of creative insight and bright joy.

Among the anti-serfdom works of Russian fiction"The Stupid Artist" by N. S. Leskov, in terms of the strength and depth of the image, in artistic embodiment and emotional impact on the reader, occupies one of the first places along with "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by A. N. Radishchev, "Notes of a Hunter" by I. S. . Turgenev, poems and poems by N. A. Nekrasov. Leskov’s story can rightfully be called the “sentence of the posterity” of feudal Russia.

Reflection

What topic did we discuss in class?

Why were Russian writers not indifferent to the national problem?

Do you think serfdom hampered the development of Russia?

Explain the words of N.S. Leskova "I really want to die for the people.”

Application

SERGEY MIKHAILOVICH KAMENSKY (1771–1835)

There are three known counts of Kamensky, and all of them were called “unheard-of tyrants” by Oryol old-timers.

CM. Kamensky was the eldest son of Field Marshal Count M.F. Kamensky, brother of the commander, with whom he was always on bad terms. A cruel serf owner and a great lover. Born in 1771, he was educated, like his younger brother, in the cadet corps. Less loved by his father than Nikolai. WITH youth He served the Fatherland, distinguished himself in many campaigns and battles, and received the highest military awards. He fought with the Turks, with the Swedes, against Poland. By 1798 he had risen to the rank of major general.

In the campaign of 1805 he distinguished himself in, where he commanded a brigade in the general's column. Conducted three brilliant attacks against the general's division. For the campaign in Galicia he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Kamensky distinguished himself most of all during in the Moldavian army, where he served under the command of his younger brother, which he was very offended by.

Many times Kamensky showed wisdom and courage during battles with enemies, especially during the capture of the Bazardzhik fortress. But willfulness and self-will prevailed in his character. So, when in February 1810 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army, operating against Ottoman Empire, Was assigned brother Sergei Mikhailovich - Infantry General P.M. Kamensky, Kamensky 1st could not come to terms with the second role, and in June 1810 he “thwarted” the operation near Shumla.

On October 19, 1812, he received indefinite leave “to cure the disease”; on March 6, 1822, he was dismissed from service.

Leaving with military service, the count settled in Saburov, his father’s estate several miles from Orel.

Sergei Mikhailovich had a special inclination towards. The entire troupe of his Oryol theater consisted of serfs. The count sold tickets to the theater himself, sitting at the box office. The audience was treated to marshmallows, pickled apples and honey. The Count vigilantly monitored the performance of the artists and wrote down all the mistakes he noticed. There were several whips hanging on the stage, and after each act he went backstage and there made settlements with the guilty actors, whose screams reached the ears of the audience.

The morals of S.M. Kamensky's theater are described in the story "".

A.I. Herzen also wrote about Count S.M. Kamensky in “Magpie Thief" : “He was very rich and lived on the theater. He had a Russian, broad, sweeping nature: a passionate lover of art, a man with great taste and tact for luxury.” Contemporaries called Count Kamensky “crazy,” without denying, however, that he was one of the most educated people of his time, had an extensive library, translated works of drama from European languages, was the author of several books.

TheaterCount S.M. Kamensky (1771–1835), existed from 1815 to 1835 as a traditional serf. In 1815, the count erected on Kamenskaya Square unusual building, tall, wooden, with a bright red roof and white columns, with false windows painted with soot and ocher, and on September 26 (October 8, new style) raised the curtain of the first public theater in Orel.

The serf theater of Count Kamensky in Orel existed from 1815 to 1835, its productions were distinguished by their luxury, there was a school at the theater in which experienced teachers trained serf actresses and actors, Kamensky invited free actors to participate in performances, the great Russian actor M. played for him. S. Shchepkin. At the same time, it was a real serf theater, with all its horrors: with powerless slave actors, whom the owner, a tyrant and tyrant, did not consider as people and humiliated at every step.

The story outlined by Leskov in “The Stupid Artist” is quite real - after all, the owner of the serf theater where the main character played was none other than Count Kamensky. Kamensky was cruel; he personally whipped actors who did not know the text of the role or made any mistake, often right behind the scenes during the intermission, so that the screams of the person being punished could be heard by the audience. The serf actresses he liked became his short-lived favorites. One of the count's quirks was that the new favorite was always brought to him dressed as Saint Cecilia.

I think it would not be a mistake to conclude that similar atrocities reigned in other serf theaters. This means that creativity was not free. It was morally suppressed. And in general, what kind of creativity can we talk about when the artist was not even considered a human being!.. And if you remember how highly their free contemporaries spoke of serf actors, it immediately becomes clear how difficult the roles were for them and how tough it was the environment of so-called creativity.

The serf theater had absolutely no rights, since he remained a serf and, together with the entire troupe, could, by decision of a nobleman, be sold into other hands, punished, or sent to hard work.

The Count Kamensky Theater was public, accessible to everyone. The count himself sold tickets, published the magazine “Friend of the Russians,” where he published excerpts from plays and reflections on performances (6 issues of the magazine were published). Performances were given three times a week, the theater's repertoire included plays by D.I. Fonvizin, A.S. Griboedov, I.A. Krylov, W. Shakespeare, F. Schiller. In addition to the drama troupe, the theater included an opera house, ballet troupe, choir and two orchestras. The decorator was famous Italian artist Domenico Scotti. During the first six months of the theater's existence, 82 performances were given: 18 operas, 15 dramas, 41 comedies and 6 ballets. The count's education, his love for the theater and the breadth of his interests did not prevent Kamensky from brutally flogging and drilling his serf artists, sitting during the performance with a whip in his hand. Subsequently, Count Kamensky went bankrupt at the theater, in 1834 he gave his freedom to serf artists and quietly, in obscurity, passed away in 1835 (he was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery).

Features of speech

storytellers

Examples from the text

Character traits

heroines

1. Constructing phrases:

2. Revolutions colloquial speech

Grief does not sleep (15).

French

“My understanding of the hero of Leskov’s story”

Features of the storyteller's speech

Examples from the text

Character traits

heroines

1. Constructing phrases:

Inversion

The performance went well because we were all like stones, accustomed to both fear and torment: no matter what was in our hearts, we did our performance in such a way that nothing was noticeable (10)

Emotionality

- broken phrases

How I sensed that they were tormenting him... and I rushed... I hit the door to run to him... and the door was locked... I don’t know what I wanted to do... and I fell, and I could hear it even more on the floor... (14)

Passionate nature, capable of strong actions

2. Turns of conversation

And as soon as the whole performance was over, they took off the dress of the Duchess de Bourblian and put it on Cecilia - one sort of white one, just without sleeves, and only tied up at the shoulders with knots - we could not stand this dress. Well, then Arkady comes to comb my head into an innocent style, as depicted in the paintings of St. Cecilia, and fasten the thin crown with a hoop, and Arkady sees that six people are standing at the door of my closet (11)

Simplicity, sincerity
Freedom of storytelling in an effort to convey the experience

3. Visual and expressive means:

Hyperbola

And our torment was such that it is better a hundred times for someone who is destined for death (11)

Sensitivity to the beauty and expressiveness of folk speech

- figurative meaning words

The snow is splashing from under the horses’ hooves... (11)
And suddenly here we flew over some river on the ice... (11)

Personification

Grief does not sleep (15).

Comparisons

These little animals were like children to me (15)
My heart burns like coal, and there is no source (19)

Kindness, the ability to feel subtly, empathize

Vernacular

Visually, torment, sufferers, in the evening, desperate weddings, re-weds, bleeds, ends (dies), etc.

- occasionalisms, words built on the principles of folk etymology

Podpourri (potpourri); Camarina (aquamarine) earrings; little bottle (little bottle + cry); darkness between; spinal bone; in anticipation (expectation + agitation - fromFrench . excitement), Turkish Khrushchuk (Ruschuk is a city in Bulgaria)

4. Appeals

Look, my dear, there... Do you see how scary it is? (3)
Filyushka, father! Haven’t you heard what these people are talking about and talking so curiously? (18)
I can’t, auntie, my heart is burning like coal...
And you, good boy, never tell your mother this, never betray ordinary people...
Thank you, darling, don’t say: I need it (19)

A kind, gentle attitude towards others, despite the experience

5. Diminutive suffixes

Closet; old lady; the entire front half; tied with an old thin muslin; the old priest... shouts quickly; there were calves here... a lot of calves; I made a bed out of fresh oatmeal straws; covered with matting, and taken to prison

The ability to endure and forgive, tolerance towards people who have done evil

1 brief information about the writer
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov was born in 1831. His father served as an official in Orel and, as his friends said about him, was distinguished by “stupid disinterestedness.” Therefore, the Leskovs always lived poorly, and after the death of their father, real need came to the family. Leskov, who was then sixteen years old, had to leave the gymnasium. He served as a scribe in the Oryol Criminal Chamber, then, a few years later, joined the private company Shcott and Wilkens. Here, as part of his service, Leskov had to accompany migrant peasants, drive carts with goods, and make trade transactions.
These letters were read by the once famous writer I.V. Selivanov and found them “worthy of publication,” and in their author he “read a writer.” Since 1860, Leskov began publishing. At first these were essays and newspaper articles, then short stories appeared. Leskov moves to St. Petersburg and becomes a professional writer.
Leskov came to literature already mature man, with a rich store of observations, with a wide and deep knowledge folk life and with an independent look at it. For more than thirty years of literary work (he died in 1895), Leskov wrote many works of different genres - novels, novellas, short stories, essays, articles. In his works, the reader is presented with a wide panorama of Russian life. “He pierced all of Rus',” M. Gorky said about Leskov.
2-theme of the work (what the author wanted to say)
Leskov wrote the story “The Stupid Artist” in 1883. The story has a dedication; “In blessed memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861” and the epigraph: “Their souls will be settled in good things.” “In the good” - translated from Church Slavonic into Russian means: “among the saints, among the righteous.” With the dedication and epigraph, Leskov seems to indicate to the reader what the main theme of the story is and what the author’s attitude towards it is.
"The Stupid Artist" talks about tragic love serf hairdresser-"toupee" Arkady - "sensitive; and brave young man"and the serf actress Lyubov Onisimovna, whom the owner of the serf theater, Count Kamensky, wanted to make his concubine. The young people flee in despair, they are caught, and after cruel punishment, the actress, by order of the count, is exiled to the barnyard, and the hairdresser is given up as a soldier.
3-features of the composition and language of the work (all means of artistic expression)
In "The Stupid Artist" Leskov follows artistic laws folk story, folk legend, which, while maintaining the main historical essence phenomena, freely handles everything else: violates chronology, alters details, subordinating them to the main idea. This is how folklore is created artistic image, which, without being an exact depiction of any one fact or phenomenon of reality, expresses the essence of the entire series of similar facts and phenomena, that is, it expresses an era. Leskov describes not just one of the episodes of the past, not just the fate of certain people - he depicts an era, the era of serfdom. His story naturally takes on the features of a folk epic. Sharply, definitely, in one color, quite in the folklore tradition, Leskov depicts the serf-owners - Count Kamensky and his brother. The first “was so terribly bad, through his constant anger, that he immediately resembled all the animals,” while the second “was even worse.”
4-thoughts, feelings that the work evokes
The story told in “The Stupid Artist” could not end happily, this would not be typical for the era, and Leskov remains true to the truth of life. The heroes of the story are twice close to achieving their cherished goal, but both times all their efforts and hopes are destroyed by a seemingly unforeseen event: the first time - the betrayal of the priest, the second - the greed of the innkeeper. But Leskov makes it clear that both of these cases are not accidental at all, he

Olga Valentinovna CHERNOVA (1966) - teacher of Russian language, literature, MHC course at the Sudogskaya Municipal Educational Institution high school No. 2" Sudogda, Vladimir region. Submitted to the “Methodological Development” competition.

Lesson-research based on the story by N.S. Leskova “Stupid Artist”

We have not run out of righteous people and will never run out of them. They just don’t get noticed, but if you look closely, they are there.
N.S. Leskov

Poverty, humble and hardworking, is superior to self-righteous wealth.
A.I. Herzen

Epigraphs(initially hidden from the class).

Reproductions: N.I. Argunov. “Portrait of P. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova”; Raphael. "Saint Cecilia..."

Musical recording: P.I. Chaikovsky. "Symphony No. 6", finale (theme of growing protest).

Lesson Objectives

Consolidation of basic concepts related to the work of N.S. Leskova (righteous people and righteousness, Russian national character in the understanding of the writer, hagiography, tale).
Formation of skills and abilities of independent research work.
Development of creative and associative thinking, the ability to analyze and compare works of art.
Developing tactfulness and a sense of collectivism (during group work).
Education of moral qualities and aesthetic taste of students.

Preparing for the lesson

Assignments are distributed to research groups (search sheets), group and individual consultations are held (it is important to take students’ opinions seriously), a list of references and books on the topic of the lesson available in the office and library are offered.

The class is divided into five study groups. Desks (tables) are arranged so that students can work together. Each group has tablets with conventional names: “History of Creation”, “Composition”, “Main Characters”, “Image of Serfdom”, “Language of the Story”.

Stage I of the lesson- organizational.

Tchaikovsky's music plays softly.

Teacher announces the topic of the lesson and asks the children to write down the main idea of the story in the form of an aphorism. Each group writes down their notes on a piece of paper with markers and hands them over to the teacher. The teacher hangs them on a magnetic board, then asks if the children are familiar with the piece they heard; if unfamiliar, calls it.

The left wing of the board with epigraphs opens. Epigraphs are read and compared with students’ aphorisms.

Stage II- discussion in groups of the results of research work, selection of speakers.

Stage III- speeches by seniors in groups (there may be several speakers, but time is limited - no more than 5 minutes).

Search sheet of the 1st group

Direction of research: history of the story; time and place of action; prototypes.

“The Stupid Artist” N.S. Leskova and “The Thieving Magpie” by A.I. Herzen.

Questions and tasks

1. Read the notes for the story. What is known about where, when, and based on what events it was created? What (whom) is it dedicated to? How do you understand the meaning of the epigraph?

2. Where and when does Lyubov Onisimovna’s story take place?

3. Do the heroes of the story have prototypes? What is known about them? Why do you think Leskov didn’t change their names?

4. Read the story by A.I. Herzen "The Thieving Magpie". When was it written? Is it possible to compare the fates of Aneta and Lyuba? Why?

Research results

The story was first published in 1883 and was included in the only lifetime collection of Leskov’s works. As noted by A.N. Leskov, the writer’s son, “the story is woven from genuine stories or memories faithfully preserved by the people. The result is a sharply impressive picture in which, according to the old saying, “you can’t make out what really happened and what the world put together.”

The work is dedicated to the “holy memory of the blessed day of February 19, 1861” - on this day, Emperor Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the profound reform of the Russian government, and above all, the abolition of serfdom. Epigraph - words from a funeral song - “Their souls will dwell in the good,” which translated from Church Slavonic means “among the saints, the righteous.” Both the dedication and the epigraph by N.S. Leskov points to the main theme of the story and expresses his attitude towards it.

The story takes place in Orel during the reign of Alexander Pavlovich (Alexander I) or Nikolai Pavlovich (Nicholas I) - the narrator does not remember exactly, and for the author this is not so important, the main thing is that it was under serfdom.

The serf owners - Counts Kamensky - are not fictional characters. Commentators on the story explain: this means Field Marshal Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky (1738–1809) - a participant in the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 and the Russian-Turkish Wars - and his sons: Nikolai Mikhailovich (1778–1811) - general, gifted commander, 1810, commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army, and Sergei Mikhailovich (1771–1835) - a general who retired in 1822 and had a famous serf theater in Orel. He is one of the prototypes of the “Stupid Artist”.

In addition, the story mentions the writer’s maternal grandmother Alferyeva Akilina Vasilyevna, the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Androsov and others who could confirm the authenticity of the events. We read the story by A.I. Herzen "The Thieving Magpie". It turns out that N.S. Leskov is not the only Russian writer who told the world about the ruined life of a talented serf actress. The prototype of Aneta, the main character of Herzen's story, is Kuzmina, the serf of Count Kamensky.

But Herzen wrote his story in 1846, during the years of serfdom, and his work is a topical incriminating document. Count Kamensky bears the surname Skalinsky. It should also be said about the difference between the heroines: Herzen’s Aneta is a professional actress who received an excellent education, while Leskov’s Lyuba is a simple, albeit very talented courtyard girl, who remembers roles “by sight,” that is, by memory, watching how others play.

It is interesting that both stories are based on the same historical material, united by a common theme, and social conflict is clearly visible in them. We noticed that the author's feelings are very consonant. They are expressed like this.

Herzen: it was a protest heartbreaking” - about Aneta’s singing;

Leskov:“More terrible and heartbreaking I have never seen a funeral in my entire life” (19; taking into account that different editions of the story may be used, I give in parentheses in Arabic numerals a link only to its chapters; italics are mine. - O.Ch.)

In general, we believe that comparing these two works is the topic of a separate lesson or serious research, for example, an essay.

Search sheet of the 2nd group

Direction of research: plot and composition of the story; images of storytellers.

Questions and tasks

1. What can you say about the composition of the work? How many chapters does it have? How is it built?

3. Do you think the story of the toupee artist could end happily? If not - why?

Research results

The composition of the story is simple: the introduction is about talented people from the people, artists of their craft; an exposition in which we are introduced to the setting and the narrator; the main part is the story of Lyubov Onisimovna about the fate of her and the toupey artist Arkady Ilyich; short conclusion - the author’s remark about “soul-tearing wakes”.

The story “The Stupid Artist” is written in N.S.’s favorite form. Leskova - a story within a story (remember “The Enchanted Wanderer”). This gives the reader the opportunity to hear about events “first hand.” But the old nanny, an insufficiently educated woman, is not able to tell and reveal everything, and she cannot know everything (for example, the master’s conversations with his brother), so the author recounts some of the events himself, often quoting the narrator. The work has nineteen chapters. From them we learn about the fate of two talented serfs - an actress and a make-up artist, their unsuccessful escape from the cruel count and the punishment that befell them, which was followed by the service of the protagonist “as a regimental sergeant”, and then his death.

Before us is a fairy tale form, the narrator’s speech predominates here. There is a listener - a nine-year-old boy with his remarks, for example:

“- Look, my dear, there... Do you see how scary it is?

It's scary, nanny.

Well, what I’ll tell you now is even worse” (3).

Or at the end of the story: “I was touched and promised that I would never, ever tell about her “little baby”” (19).

The heroine’s speech, dialogues, and listener’s remarks create a fantastic situation.

The main means of creating the image of the narrator is her speech. It reflects her character, social status, cultural development, occupation, etc.

The author-narrator's speech is literary correct; it is difficult to say anything about the character. But his position is clear: although the story was written many years after the events described, we hear the author’s fierce protest against the serfdom, because its remnants still survive in the minds of the former serfs and their former owners.

We think that the story of Arkady Ilyich and Lyuba could hardly have ended happily. This was atypical for that time. Leskov remains true to the truth of life. In addition to the cowardly priest-traitor and the greedy killer - the “inn janitor”, one more circumstance stood in their way. “The fugitives rushed to Turkish Khrushchuk,” “where,” says Lyubov Onisimovna, “many of our people fled from Kamensky.” The serfs of Count Kamensky called “Turkish Khrushchuk” Rushchuk, a Bulgarian city on the Danube that was under the rule of the Turks. More than once during the Russian-Turkish wars of the 17th–19th centuries, it passed from hand to hand and was destroyed by war; it could not and was not a haven for fugitives from Russia. Khrushchuk was the same dream and legend as the legends about the country of Belovodye, about the Nut Land and many others.” distant lands" But Leskov preserves this mythical city in the story as a symbol of the unfulfilled hopes of the serfs for freedom and happiness in a serfdom state.

Teacher demonstrates a reproduction of a portrait of the serf actress P.I. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova by the serf artist Nikolai Ivanovich Argunov. “The daughter of the blacksmith Parasha Kovalev, as a thirteen-year-old girl, played the role of Louise in the opera “The Runaway Soldier,” touching and captivating the audience of Count Sheremetev’s serf theater. She had a wonderful voice and great dramatic talent” (Encyclopedic Dictionary young viewer. M.: Pedagogika, 1989. P. 137). This is an exceptional case in the history of the Russian serf theater: the serf Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova became Countess Sheremeteva. But she soon died of consumption.

Search sheet of the 3rd group

Direction of research: the characters of the main characters; can we call them righteous?

Questions and tasks

1. Describe the main character - the stupid artist Arkady Ilyich. Why is he called an artist, an artist?

2. How does the main character, Lyubov Onisimovna, appear before us in her own story and in the author’s perception?

3. Do you agree with the words of literary critic Vl. Muravyova: Arkady and Lyuba are “full-blooded realistic images, their characters appear, develop and finally take shape throughout the story” (Vl. Muravyov. Verdict of posterity // N. Leskov. Stupid artist. - http://tmn.fio.ru/woks/76x/3n/index.htm)? Justify your opinion.

Research results

The main character of the story is the toupee artist Arkady Ilyich. “Stupid,” we read from Dahl, “a whipped crest over your head.” A fashionable hairstyle at the time. This means that the toupee artist is a master of hairstyles. According to the narrator, he was a master “of an extraordinary artistic kind.”

“...He was a “stupid artist,” that is, a hairdresser and make-up artist, who “drew and combed” all the serf artists of the count. But this was not a simple, banal master with a toupee comb behind his ear and a tin of rouge ground in lard, but this was a man with ideas- in a word, artist. No one could “do better than him in the face of imagination.” This is an “inimitable artist,” that is, a master of his craft, “a sensitive and courageous young man.” This is how the narrator talks about his appearance from the words of Lyubov Onisimovna: “he was of moderate height, but slender, it’s impossible to say, his nose was thin and proud, and his eyes were angelic, kind, and his thick tuft hung beautifully over his eyes - so he looked, it happened as if from behind a foggy cloud. In a word, the toupee artist was handsome and “everyone liked him”” (4).

Arkady is a serf of Count Kamensky, a cruel and despotic master. But he is not afraid of either his master or his brother, an equally terrible person. For the sake of the planned escape, he disobeyed the first, and when asked by the second whether Arkady was under a spell, since he was not afraid of the master’s pistols, “as if half asleep, he said:

There is no conspiracy on me, but there is a meaning in me from God: before you raised your hand with a pistol to shoot at me, I would first cut your entire throat with a razor” (9).

It is the gentlemen who are afraid of him: “I advise you as a brother: you should be afraid of him when he shaves with a razor” (10).

A protest is brewing in Arcadia against the constant humiliation of his human dignity. After this incident with the count's brother, he is no longer afraid of anything. His actions are decisive and well thought out: after the performance, when Lyuba was “removed by Cecilia” to take her to the count, he “jumped into... the closet... grabbed the table and suddenly knocked out the entire window...”. And he fled, capturing the unconscious Lyuba.

He didn't give up even after he was caught. She takes all the blame upon herself: “...Take me to be tormented, but she is not guilty of anything: I took her away by force.

And he turned to the priest and did nothing but spit in his face” (13).

Three years have passed. Arkady served the sovereign faithfully and truly, earned “an officer’s rank and a noble title,” “orders and crosses,” leave and five hundred rubles “to heal his wounds.” He returned to Orel in the hope of ransoming Lyuba and marrying her “before the throne of the Almighty Creator.” But he was stabbed to death by the owner of the inn, who coveted his money. The governor himself was present at the funeral of Arkady Ilyich. He was buried with all military honors, as a nobleman and an officer. Lyubov Onisimovna, according to the narrator’s recollections, at the time of her story “was not yet very old, but as white as a harrier; Her facial features were thin and delicate, and her high figure was completely straight and surprisingly slender, like that of a young girl. Mother and aunt, looking at her, said more than once that she was undoubtedly a beauty in her time” (2).

Yes, Lyubov Onisimovna then “was not only in the bloom of her virgin beauty, but also at the most interesting moment in the development of her multifaceted talent.” The narrator herself is modest and talks little about her beauty. She only mentioned her luxurious hair. In her youth, they “were amazingly large and light brown, and Arkady removed them - a sight for sore eyes.” She “wound herself up” with her amazing brown braid, trying to commit suicide (you can imagine what kind of braid it was!), and when she came to her senses, she was frightened: “her head turned white” “even there... they got out of the braid” .

The author says about her character: “she was infinitely honest, meek and sentimental; I loved the tragic in life and... sometimes I drank” (2). Before her escape, in the theater, she was busy playing leading roles, Arkady loved her, and Count Kamensky wanted to make her his concubine. She probably looked touchingly beautiful in the “dress” of Saint Cecilia: in a white chiton dress and a “thin hoop crown.”

Teacher draws the attention of ninth-graders to a reproduction of Raphael’s painting “Saint Cecilia...”. This is the saint of the Catholic Church, the image of virginal innocence. Depicted with musical instruments, she was considered the patroness of the performing arts, because one day she would be given the opportunity to hear the singing of angels. She, just like the heroine of our story, suffered for her beliefs - faith in Christ (Information about Saint Cecilia: http://www.212.188.13.168/izdat/Svyat/Nov22.htm).

“Arkady and Lyuba appear before readers at a decisive moment. They are faced with a difficult choice: to submit, endure humiliation and continue to live as obedient slaves, as many thousands of serfs live, or to rebel against laws that violate human dignity. They choose the second path, although this threatens them with almost inevitable “torment” and death. And this is where hitherto hidden pride, courage, and determination begin to appear in them. The awakened feeling of freedom ennobles their every action and gives them strength” (Vl. Muravyov).

Lyubov Onisimovna recalls that during the escape, noticing the chase, Arkady Ilyich bent down to her and asked: “My dear darling! They’re chasing us... do you agree to die if we don’t leave?”

She “answered that she even agreed with joy” (11).

Group 4 search sheet

Direction of research: depiction of serfdom in the story.

Questions and tasks

1. Count Kamensky is the owner of the serf theater. Can we say that his image is given “entirely in the folklore tradition” (Vl. Muravyov)? Why?

2. Who are the other serf owners and how are they depicted in the story?

3. The fate of serfs in the story (speckled Drosida).

4. Images of “the master’s servants” (priest, Tula executioner). Why do you think Lyubov Onisimovna talks in such detail about the punishment of the men “for the cruel count” and the “inn janitor” - for Arkady Ilyich? How does this characterize the narrator?

5. Was it only during the era of serfdom that cruelty manifested itself in people?

Research results

As you know, the story was written in 1883, twenty-two years after the abolition of serfdom on February 19, 1861. Dedicates N.S. to the “Holy memory” of this “blessed day”. Leskov his work.

The serf owners - in the story these are two brothers, the Counts of Kamensky - are cruel tyrants. This is reflected in their appearance: the owner Arkady, Count Kamensky Sr., has an “ugly and insignificant face”; “The count’s village brother was even uglier than the city brother and, in addition, in the village he completely “got crazy” and “put such rudeness in his face” that even he felt it himself...” (7).

“Snakes will crawl,” he says, “and suck out your eyes,
And the scorpions will pour poison into your face.

You used to whisper this poem to yourself in your mind and get scared.

And others, even with bears, were chained, so that the bear could not lift it with its paw only half an inch” (11).

Not only peasants and courtyard people got it from the master. “The Count himself did not believe in God, and could not stand spiritual people, and once at Easter the Boris and Gleb priests with a cross were hunted down by greyhounds” (4).

The images of the serf-owners in Leskov's story really look like folklore villains. Not a single good word has been said about them. This expresses the attitude of the author and the narrator towards them.

But what seemed even more terrible to us was the behavior of people obsessed with blind obedience and fear of the masters of life. These people, “the master's servants,” are capable of betrayal, like the Judas priest, and even some kind of senseless cruelty towards their own kind, like the Tula executioner who punished the “inn janitor” for murder. “Before the case, they gave him three glasses of rum to drink... he hit a hundred whips, all just for one torment... and then, as the hundred and first snapped, he tore apart the entire spinal bone... He still shouted: “Let’s beat someone else - I’ll kill all the Orlovites”” (19 ).

And the final chord of the story is just one sentence: “I have never seen a more terrible and soul-rending funeral in my entire life.” This short phrase expressed all the author’s emotional pain for the desecrated human dignity and ruined lives of his heroes. And the culprit is unjust, ugly social relations - serfdom and the cruelty of people.

Group 5 search sheet

Direction of research: story language.

Research results drawn up in the form of a table that is hung on a magnetic board; The student speaking gives explanations and draws conclusions.

Stage IV. Teacher makes a final speech, summarizing what has been said.

Leskov’s favorite heroes are talented people from the people: artisans from the story “The Captured Angel”; groom Ivan Flyagin, hero of The Enchanted Wanderer; blacksmith, Tula gunsmith from the story “Lefty”; serf hairdresser, theater make-up artist Arkady Ilyich from “The Stupid Artist”; soldier Postnikov from the story “The Man on the Clock”... All of them are united by the desire to live according to the commandments of God, active love towards people, self-sacrifice, selflessness, hard work, modesty...

This is probably why the stories of many of them want to be compared with how the righteous are told in the lives of the saints.

V stage. Homework. Final creative work “My comprehension of the hero of Leskov’s story.”

Features of the storyteller's speech	Examples from the text	Character traits of the heroine
1. Constructing phrases:
- inversion	The performance went well because we were all like stones, accustomed to both fear and torment: no matter what was in our hearts, we did our performance in such a way that nothing was noticeable (10)	Emotionality
- interrupted phrases	How I sensed that they were tormenting him... and I rushed... I hit the door to run to him... and the door was locked... I don’t know what I wanted to do... and I fell, and I could hear it even more on the floor... (14)	Passionate nature, capable of strong actions
2. Turns of conversation	And when the whole performance was over, they took off my Duchess de Bourblian dress and put it on Cecilia - one of those white ones, just without sleeves, and only tied up at the shoulders with knots - we couldn’t stand this dress. Well, then Arkady comes to comb my head into an innocent style, as depicted in the paintings of St. Cecilia, and fasten the thin crown with a hoop, and Arkady sees that six people are standing at the door of my closet (11)	Simplicity, sincerity Freedom of storytelling in an effort to convey the experience
3. Visual and expressive means:
- hyperbole	And our torment was such that it is better a hundred times for someone who is destined for death (11)	Sensitivity to the beauty and expressiveness of folk speech
- figurative meaning of words	The snow is splashing from under the horses’ hooves... (11) And suddenly here we flew over some river on the ice... (11)
- personification	Grief does not sleep (15).
- comparisons	These little animals were like children to me (15) My heart burns like coal, and there is no source (19)	Kindness, the ability to feel subtly, empathize
- vernacular	Visually, torment, sufferers, in the evening, desperate weddings, re-weds, bleeds, ends (dies), etc.
- occasionalisms, words built on the principles of folk etymology	Podpourri (potpourri); Camarina (aquamarine) earrings; little bottle (little bottle + cry); darkness between; French spinal bone; in anticipation (expectation + agitation - from

4. Appeals	. excitement), Turkish Khrushchuk (Ruschuk is a city in Bulgaria) Look, my dear, there... Do you see how scary it is? (3) Filyushka, father! Haven’t you heard what these people are talking about and talking so curiously? (18) I can’t, auntie, my heart is burning like coal...	And you, good boy, never tell your mother this, never betray ordinary people...
Thank you, darling, don’t say: I need it (19)	A kind, gentle attitude towards others, despite the experience	5. Diminutive suffixes

Closet; old lady; the entire front half; tied with an old thin muslin; the old priest... shouts quickly;

there were calves here... a lot of calves; I made a bed out of fresh oatmeal straws; covered with matting, and taken to prison The ability to endure and forgive, tolerance towards people who have done evil
Literature Bukhshtab B.Ya.

The work has the subtitle: “A Story at the Grave (To the Holy Memory of the Blessed Day of February 19, 1861).” The fortress theater of Count Kamensky in Orel is described here, but the author says that he cannot clarify under which of the Counts Kamensky - under Field Marshal M. F. Kamensky or his sons - these events took place.

The story consists of nineteen chapters. IN this work the theme of the death of folk talents in Rus' is heard, as well as the theme of denunciation of the serfdom system, and they are solved by the author with great artistic skill. This story tells about brutally trampled love, about life destroyed by a despot who, by virtue of certain circumstances has unlimited power over people. There are a small number of books in Russian literature that depict the period of serfdom with such artistic power.

The story of the serfs is reminiscent of the plot of Herzen’s story “The Thieving Magpie.”

The genre of “The Stupid Artist” is very unique. This is a story written in satirical and elegiac tones. The subtitle sets an elegiac tone: “A Story at the Grave.” The epigraph further strengthens this impression: “Their souls will end up in good things... The development of the plot is preceded by the narrator’s reasoning about the very concept of “artist.” The first chapter of the story begins with such a polemical approach. Next, the narrator gives several examples that illustrate exactly how other people understand this word. The Russian “stupid artist” Arkady, peering into a living, unique face, finds in him every time “a new imagination.” Even giving nobility and importance to the face of the serf-owning count, tough by nature, Arkady does not lie with his art, but, as it were, releases that good start, which necessarily lurks in any person, even in the most insignificant and worthless. According to Leskov, the highest talent lies precisely in the purity of moral feeling and humanity.

The narrative style of this work is multi-stage, since it is complexly intertwined different times. The events that form the plot basis of the story are reproduced by a seventy-year-old woman, and they occurred in her distant youth. In turn, the narrator, already a mature person, shares his childhood memories with readers. The former serf actress was his nanny. This is how a living unity of times appears in the story. Mutual understanding and sympathy between the nanny and the little boy, which is born in this communication, strengthens the connection between people, thereby preventing the chain of generations from falling apart. Here, in the heroes, the past is organically present, showing its enormous significance for the present. Material from the site

The words from the funeral song given in the epigraph mean to the writer that the good done by man is not in vain. After all, everything that happens in life does not disappear without a trace. Arkady, defending his love, defended the good, bright, truly human principles of life. Everything that happened to him and his beloved girl was not in vain, since their story had such a strong moral influence on at least one person - the narrator. The events of someone else's fate, arising in memory, reveal simple but wise truths to an adult man, taking part in his spiritual development, and the feeling of compassion to which the nanny called him entered the child’s soul and armed the person for the rest of his life with a passionate desire for active goodness and beauty.

Thus, tragic fate serf makeup artist Arkady and actress Lyubov Onisimovna confirms the author’s main idea: “Ordinary people must be taken care of, ordinary people are all sufferers.”

In this story, Leskov appears as a social satirist, thereby rising to the level best works“Gogolian” literary movement.

Plan

Discussion about artists.
Nanny Lyubov Onisimovna.
Dumb guy Arkady.
The count's favor.
Unsuccessful escape.
Arkady's return from the war and his death.

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