Fyodor Dostoevsky - notes from the dead house. Dostoevsky “Notes from the House of the Dead” - analysis Notes from the House of the Dead read

There were many objectionable musical groups in the Soviet Union; they tried to discredit them or ban them, but, of course, they continued to appear. One of these was the group “Notes of a Dead Man,” formed in Kazan in the mid-80s by martial arts fan Vitaly Kartsev and physicist with honors Vladimir Guskov.

Vitaly became a vocalist and was responsible for all the lyrics, Vladimir became a guitarist and took on backing vocals. Around the same time, a rock club was born in the Kazan Youth Center and it was there that the friends found the rest of the band members. They were joined by drummer, and later by PR manager Andrei Anikin, amazed by the energy of Vitaly’s self-expression and his poems “on the topic of the day.” In the same club they met Vladimir Burmistrov, also a drummer, but in the group he successfully played the role of a “percussionist”. And the fifth member of ZMCH was Vitaly’s old friend – bassist Viktor Shurgin. So, having completed the lineup, ZMCH set out on the path of a rebellious rock band. It was hard work - they had neither a permanent place for rehearsals, nor smart instruments, nor connections in the musical community. However, in the field, in one day, the first album of the ZMCH group “Incubator of Fools” was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder in the utility room in 1986.

Before the appearance of ZMCh, Vitaly Kartsev had been involved in martial arts and martial arts for years - Eastern philosophy in general had a very strong influence on him. And his personality and worldview were transferred to the group’s work - the very name “Notes of a Dead Man” was inspired by the poems of the Japanese poet and Zen master Shido Bunan: “Living like a dead man,” and the music developed in a certain integral direction with elements of post-punk, rock and psychedelics. Vitaly's passion for Eastern teachings is clearly felt in all the constituent groups - abstract texts about the search for life value, mixed with a painful, sometimes mournful sound, are associatively reminiscent of the esotericism of Asia.

Notes of a Dead Man, 1989

In the same 1986, they performed at a rock festival in the House of Pioneers of the Soviet District, where they were noticed by TV presenter Shamil Fattakhov and invited to participate in the “versus” of those times - the musical television program “Duel”. Having appeared on the big screen, ZMCH no longer went unnoticed with their political hints in their songs. According to Kartsev, an order was given from above to merge the group, and in the second part of the program, ZMCH lost and dropped out of the show. Recalling that period, he talked about the judges sent: “The first thing we played on this program was “HamMillioniya” - with a hint of our society. And the second - “The Powerless Contemplator” - was about the fact that one person is powerless to change anything in this world mired in dirty political games. The performance was noticed, and Shamil received an order from above: make another pass to crush us. On the second program, letters began to be read out on air: supposedly people from the districts wrote that this was unacceptable and they did not like this kind of music. And there were also the same dispatched experts.”

ZMCH were amazingly prolific - in 1988 alone they recorded two albums. The first is “Children of Communism”, and the second “Exhumation” was recorded in one night in Moscow, at the Ostankino television studio. Such efficiency surprised both fellow musicians and fans, who did not have time to evaluate the previous album before the new one was released. But Kartsev does not dare take responsibility for the quality of music: “Everyone was surprised: how? And so, our musicians were first-class - they took everything on the fly. Nowadays bands are written for a lot of money in good studios, they sit for months, and the end result is often still crap. Of course, we may also have shit, but at least we did it quickly“, he recalls more than 20 years later. The album “Exhumation” is distinguished by its strong politicization, rebellious spirit and protest against officials and the political system that reigned in the last years of the USSR, but at the same time, the lyrics also contain moments of despair when the author talks about the lost hopes placed on Soviet society in vain.

ZMCH regularly went on small tours around the regions and continued to write music, despite the fact that all members of the group had a life outside the group - Vitaly, for example, studied at the Faculty of Law of Kazan University and continued to engage in martial arts. All ZMCh performances in small towns were accompanied by discontent from local officials and Komsomol members, but they continued anyway. Having gained sufficient popularity for the Kazan group, their music became interesting to directors and radio stations - their compositions were used as soundtracks in the short films “Wanderer in the Bulgars” and “Afghanistan”, and the song “Children of Communism” was heard on BBC radio. Of course, now, in the realities of the 21st century, it’s hard to call this a great success, but the young group from Kazan, who made music for music’s sake, didn’t need more.

In 1987, they changed the composition, replacing the guitarist and drummer: two brothers joined the group - Alexander (guitar and vocals) and Evgeniy (bass guitar and backing vocals) Gasilov, and Vladimir Burmistrov as a drummer. And former drummer Andrei Anikin began to perform those tasks that in our time are considered the sphere of PR management - he organized performances, negotiated the inclusion of the group in the program of various festivals, made contacts with the owners of recording studios and did other things necessary for the musical group. And he did a great job - ZMCH performed at festivals in different cities (Moscow “Rock for Democracy”, Leningrad “Aurora”, Barnaul “Rock Asia”, Samara “The Worst”), on television programs and in the Moscow House of Culture, recording along the way album after album.

Their complete discography is impressive - over the 10 years of their existence they have released 10 albums, literally one every year. At the same time, there are compositions that were never included in any of the works. Many of the albums were recorded in the shortest possible time - they recorded “The Science of Celebrating Death” in 1990 in Andrei Tropillo’s St. Petersburg studio in three or four days. The 1992 album “Prayer (Empty Heart)” became an important element in the life of the group - it was with it that ZMCH became the first Kazan group to sound at the Melodiya company, releasing the album on vinyl. Now the record is considered a rarity and is found only in the private collections of the most ardent fans, who, however, can sometimes sell any item for a fairly large amount.

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In the last years of the group's existence, Kartsev combined music studies and academic activities, whether studying at the university or teaching. Until 1994, in between tours in Russia, he went to Europe, where he taught qigong and bagua, returned to Russia and went on tour again.

Their texts often display the theme of mysticism, the dead, graves and other components of the cemetery: “I’m very brave today, I played the trumpet, all my grave neighbors applauded me.”– in the song “Brave Dead” Vitaly appears as an example of a deceased person, and in “Master of Silence” he states that "There is no friend more reliable than death". But in addition to thinking about the abstract, ZMCH often turn to politics and the social order that surrounds them, for which they turned out to be disliked by the ruling party. For example, in the song "Incubator of Fools", they sing about a system that "breeds turkeys so that they can be used by each otherinterruptedfaces, otherwise there will be no work for those who guard peace and success - the main cooks, the main parasites" clearly referring the listener to the realities of Soviet reality. But the general message of ZMCH’s work almost always leaves the listener with a feeling of hopelessness and despair. In one of the lines of “Trouble,” Vitaly summarizes that “Today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow, too, from a new line, the meager games of existence and the thrill of life in a dead center.” And this line is typical for all of ZMCH’s lyrics, and discussions about the poverty of life and mental death haunt all of the group’s work.

When listening to the ZMCH archive, a modern listener will find not a single flaw, but given all the conditions of the group’s existence, this is easy to forgive. It is impossible not to note their fertility and efficiency: 10 albums, and the compositions reach 10 minutes in length and are filled with completely different sounds and instruments, creating the overall impression of either a religious ceremony or a funeral procession.

The ZMCH project was closed not because of loss of interest, not because of quarrels among the participants and not because of changes in the country, as some believe, but because of the death of Vitaly Kartsev’s younger brother, which he does not like to talk about. Even during the existence of the group, he did not give up martial arts, and after the dissolution of the group he delved deeper into teaching, while the other participants remained in the musical field, just in other positions. Looking back, we can say that ZMCH left their mark on the Kazan rock movement and entered the galaxy of the best representatives of the Kazan wave of the 80s and early 90s.

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Notes from a Dead House

Part one

Introduction

In the remote regions of Siberia, among the steppes, mountains or impenetrable forests, you occasionally come across small towns, with one, many with two thousand inhabitants, wooden, nondescript, with two churches - one in the city, the other in the cemetery - towns that look more like good village near Moscow than the city. They are usually quite sufficiently equipped with police officers, assessors and all other subaltern ranks. In general, in Siberia, despite the cold, it is extremely warm. People live simple, illiberal lives; the order is old, strong, sanctified for centuries. The officials who rightly play the role of the Siberian nobility are either natives, inveterate Siberians, or visitors from Russia, mostly from the capitals, seduced by the non-credited salaries, double runs and tempting hopes for the future. Among them, those who know how to solve the riddle of life almost always remain in Siberia and take root in it with pleasure. They subsequently bear rich and sweet fruits. But others, frivolous people who do not know how to solve the riddle of life, will soon become bored with Siberia and ask themselves with longing: why did they come to it? They eagerly serve out their legal term of service, three years, and at the end of it they immediately bother about their transfer and return home, scolding Siberia and laughing at it. They are wrong: not only from an official point of view, but even from many points of view, one can be blissful in Siberia. The climate is excellent; there are many remarkably rich and hospitable merchants; there are many extremely wealthy foreigners. The young ladies bloom with roses and are moral to the last extreme. The game flies through the streets and stumbles upon the hunter. An unnatural amount of champagne is drunk. The caviar is amazing. The harvest happens in other places as early as fifteen... In general, the land is blessed. You just need to know how to use it. In Siberia they know how to use it.

In one of these cheerful and self-satisfied towns, with the sweetest people, the memory of which will remain indelible in my heart, I met Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov, a settler who was born in Russia as a nobleman and landowner, then became a second-class exile and convict for the murder of his wife. and, after the expiration of the ten-year term of hard labor prescribed for him by law, he humbly and quietly lived out his life in the town of K. as a settler. He, in fact, was assigned to one suburban volost, but lived in the city, having the opportunity to earn at least some food in it by teaching children. In Siberian cities one often encounters teachers from exiled settlers; they are not disdained. They teach mainly the French language, which is so necessary in the field of life and which, without them, in the remote regions of Siberia they would have no idea. The first time I met Alexander Petrovich was in the house of an old, honored and hospitable official, Ivan Ivanovich Gvozdikov, who had five daughters, of different years, who showed wonderful hopes. Alexander Petrovich gave them lessons four times a week, thirty silver kopecks per lesson. His appearance interested me. He was an extremely pale and thin man, not yet old, about thirty-five, small and frail. He was always dressed very cleanly, in a European style. If you spoke to him, he looked at you extremely intently and attentively, listening to every word of yours with strict politeness, as if he were pondering it, as if you asked him a task with your question or wanted to extract some secret from him, and, finally, he answered clearly and briefly, but weighing every word of his answer so much that you suddenly felt awkward for some reason and you yourself finally rejoiced at the end of the conversation. I then asked Ivan Ivanovich about him and found out that Goryanchikov lived impeccably and morally and that otherwise Ivan Ivanovich would not have invited him for his daughters; but that he is a terrible unsociable person, hides from everyone, is extremely learned, reads a lot, but speaks very little, and that in general it is quite difficult to get into conversation with him. Others argued that he was positively crazy, although they found that, in essence, this was not such an important flaw, that many of the honorary members of the city were ready to favor Alexander Petrovich in every possible way, that he could even be useful, write requests, etc. They believed that he must have decent relatives in Russia, maybe even not the last people, but they knew that from the very exile he stubbornly cut off all relations with them - in a word, he was harming himself. In addition, we all knew his story, we knew that he killed his wife in the first year of his marriage, killed out of jealousy and denounced himself (which greatly facilitated his punishment). Such crimes are always looked upon as misfortunes and regretted. But, despite all this, the eccentric stubbornly avoided everyone and appeared in people only to give lessons.

At first I didn’t pay much attention to him, but, I don’t know why, little by little he began to interest me. There was something mysterious about him. There was not the slightest opportunity to talk to him. Of course, he always answered my questions, and even with such an air as if he considered this his primary duty; but after his answers I somehow felt burdened to question him longer; and on his face, after such conversations, some kind of suffering and fatigue was always visible. I remember walking with him one fine summer evening from Ivan Ivanovich. Suddenly I took it into my head to invite him to my place for a minute to smoke a cigarette. I cannot describe the horror that was expressed on his face; he was completely lost, began to mutter some incoherent words and suddenly, looking angrily at me, he started running in the opposite direction. I was even surprised. Since then, whenever he met me, he looked at me as if with some kind of fear. But I didn’t calm down; I was drawn to him by something, and a month later, out of the blue, I went to see Goryanchikov. Of course, I acted stupidly and indelicately. He lived on the very edge of the city, with an old bourgeois woman who had a daughter who was sick with consumption, and that daughter had an illegitimate daughter, a child of about ten years old, a pretty and cheerful girl. Alexander Petrovich was sitting with her and teaching her to read the minute I came into his room. When he saw me, he became so confused, as if I had caught him committing some crime. He was completely confused, jumped up from his chair and looked at me with all his eyes. We finally sat down; he closely watched my every glance, as if he suspected some special mysterious meaning in each of them. I guessed that he was suspicious to the point of madness. He looked at me with hatred, almost asking: “Are you going to leave here soon?” I talked to him about our town, about current news; he remained silent and smiled evilly; It turned out that he not only did not know the most ordinary, well-known city news, but was not even interested in knowing them. Then I started talking about our region, about its needs; he listened to me in silence and looked into my eyes so strangely that I finally felt ashamed of our conversation. However, I almost teased him with new books and magazines; I had them in my hands, fresh from the post office, and I offered them to him, still uncut. He cast a greedy glance at them, but immediately changed his mind and declined the offer, citing lack of time. Finally, I said goodbye to him and, leaving him, I felt that some unbearable weight had been lifted from my heart. I was ashamed and it seemed extremely stupid to pester a person whose main goal was to hide as far away from the whole world as possible. But the job was done. I remember that I noticed almost no books on him, and, therefore, it was unfair to say about him that he reads a lot. However, driving past his windows twice, very late at night, I noticed a light in them. What did he do while he sat until dawn? Didn't he write? And if so, what exactly?

Circumstances removed me from our town for three months. Returning home in the winter, I learned that Alexander Petrovich died in the fall, died in solitude and never even called a doctor to him. The town has almost forgotten about him. His apartment was empty. I immediately met the owner of the deceased, intending to find out from her; What exactly was her tenant doing and did he write anything? For two kopecks she brought me a whole basket of papers left behind by the deceased. The old woman admitted that she had already used up two notebooks. She was a gloomy and silent woman, from whom it was difficult to get anything worthwhile. She couldn’t tell me anything special new about her tenant. According to her, he almost never did anything and for months at a time did not open a book or pick up a pen; but whole nights he walked back and forth across the room and kept thinking about something, and sometimes talking to himself; that he loved and caressed her granddaughter, Katya, very much, especially since he found out that her name was Katya, and that on Katerina’s day every time he went to serve a memorial service for someone. He could not tolerate guests; he only came out of the yard to teach the children; he even glanced sideways at her, the old woman, when she came, once a week, to tidy up his room at least a little, and almost never said a single word to her for three whole years. I asked Katya: does she remember her teacher? She looked at me silently, turned to the wall and began to cry. Therefore, this man could at least force someone to love him.

Notes from the House of the Dead


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in Wikisource

Notes from the House of the Dead- a work by Fyodor Dostoevsky, consisting of a story of the same name in two parts, as well as several short stories; created in -1861. Created under the impression of imprisonment in the Omsk prison in 1850-1854.

History of creation

The story is documentary in nature and introduces the reader to the life of imprisoned criminals in Siberia in the second half of the 19th century. The writer artistically comprehended everything he saw and experienced during four years of hard labor in Omsk (from to 1854), having been exiled there in the case of the Petrashevites. The work was created from 1862 to 1862; the first chapters were published in the magazine “Time”.

Plot

The story is told from the perspective of the main character, Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov, a nobleman who found himself in hard labor for 10 years for the murder of his wife. Having killed his wife out of jealousy, Alexander Petrovich himself confessed to the murder, and after serving hard labor, he cut off all ties with relatives and remained in a settlement in the Siberian city of K., leading a secluded life and earning a living by tutoring. One of his few entertainments remains reading and literary sketches about hard labor. Actually, the author calls the “living House of the Dead”, which gave the title of the story, the prison where the convicts are serving their sentences, and calls his notes “Scenes from the House of the Dead.”

Finding himself in prison, the nobleman Goryanchikov acutely experiences his imprisonment, which is aggravated by the unusual peasant environment. Most of the prisoners do not accept him as an equal, at the same time despising him for his impracticality, disgust, and respecting his nobility. Having survived the first shock, Goryanchikov begins to study with interest the life of the inhabitants of the prison, discovering for himself the “common people”, their low and sublime sides.

Goryanchikov falls into the so-called “second category”, into the fortress. In total, in the Siberian penal servitude in the 19th century there were three categories: the first (in the mines), the second (in the fortresses) and the third (factory). It was believed that the severity of hard labor decreases from the first to the third category (see hard labor). However, according to Goryanchikov, the second category was the strictest, since it was under military control, and the prisoners were always under surveillance. Many of the second-class convicts spoke in favor of the first and third classes. In addition to these categories, along with ordinary prisoners, in the fortress where Goryanchikov was imprisoned, there was a “special department” in which prisoners were assigned to hard labor indefinitely for especially serious crimes. The “special department” in the code of laws was described as follows: “A special department is established at such and such a prison for the most important criminals, pending the opening of the most severe hard labor in Siberia.”

The story does not have a coherent plot and appears before readers in the form of small sketches, however, arranged in chronological order. The chapters of the story contain the author’s personal impressions, stories from the lives of other convicts, psychological sketches and deep philosophical reflections.

The life and morals of prisoners, the relationships of convicts to each other, faith and crimes are described in detail. From the story you can find out what jobs convicts were hired for, how they earned money, how they brought wine into the prison, what they dreamed about, how they had fun, how they treated their bosses and work. What was prohibited, what was allowed, what the authorities turned a blind eye to, how the convicts were punished. The national composition of convicts, their attitude towards imprisonment and towards prisoners of other nationalities and classes is considered.

Characters

Goryanchikov Alexander Petrovich is the main character of the story, on whose behalf the story is told.
Akim Akimych is one of the four former nobles, a comrade of Goryanchikov, a senior prisoner in the barracks. Sentenced to 12 years for shooting a Caucasian prince who set fire to his fortress. An extremely pedantic and stupidly well-behaved person.
Gazin is a kissing convict, a wine merchant, a Tatar, the most powerful convict in the prison. He was famous for committing crimes, killing small innocent children, enjoying their fear and torment.
Sirotkin is a 23-year-old former recruit who was sent to hard labor for the murder of his commander.
Dutov is a former soldier who rushed at the guard officer in order to delay the punishment (being driven through the ranks) and received an even longer sentence.
Orlov is a strong-willed killer, completely fearless in the face of punishment and testing.
Nurra is a highlander, Lezgin, cheerful, intolerant of theft, drunkenness, pious, a favorite of the convicts.
Alei is a Dagestani, 22 years old, who was sent to hard labor with his older brothers for attacking an Armenian merchant. A neighbor on the bunk of Goryanchikov, who became close friends with him and taught Aley to read and write in Russian.
Isai Fomich is a Jew who was sent to hard labor for murder. Moneylender and jeweler. He was on friendly terms with Goryanchikov.
Osip, a smuggler who elevated smuggling to the level of an art, carried wine into the prison. He was terrified of punishment and many times swore off smuggling, but he still broke down. Most of the time he worked as a cook, preparing separate (not official) food (including for Goryanchikov) for the prisoners’ money.
Sushilov is a prisoner who changed his name at the stage with another prisoner: for a silver ruble and a red shirt, he exchanged his settlement for eternal hard labor. Served Goryanchikov.
A-v - one of the four nobles. He received 10 years of hard labor for false denunciation, from which he wanted to make money. Hard labor did not lead him to repentance, but corrupted him, turning him into an informer and a scoundrel. The author uses this character to depict the complete moral decline of man. One of the escape participants.
Nastasya Ivanovna is a widow who selflessly takes care of the convicts.
Petrov is a former soldier who ended up in hard labor after stabbing a colonel during training because he unfairly hit him. He is characterized as the most determined convict. He sympathized with Goryanchikov, but treated him as a dependent person, a wonder of the prison.
Baklushin - ended up in hard labor for the murder of a German who had betrothed his bride. Organizer of a theater in a prison.
Luchka is a Ukrainian, he was sent to hard labor for the murder of six people, and while in prison he killed the head of the prison.
Ustyantsev is a former soldier; to avoid punishment, he drank wine infused with tobacco to induce consumption, from which he later died.
Mikhailov is a convict who died in a military hospital from consumption.
Zherebyatnikov is a lieutenant, an executor with sadistic tendencies.
Smekalov - lieutenant, executor, who was popular among convicts.
Shishkov is a prisoner who was sent to hard labor for the murder of his wife (the story “Akulkin’s Husband”).
Kulikov - gypsy, horse thief, guarded veterinarian. One of the escape participants.
Elkin is a Siberian who was imprisoned for counterfeiting. A cautious veterinarian who quickly took away his practice from Kulikov.
The story features an unnamed fourth nobleman, a frivolous, eccentric, unreasonable and non-cruel man, falsely accused of murdering his father, acquitted and released from hard labor only ten years later. Dmitry's prototype from the novel The Brothers Karamazov.

Part one

I. House of the Dead
II. First impressions
III. First impressions
IV. First impressions
V. First month
VI. First month
VII. New acquaintances. Petrov
VIII. Determined people. Luchka
IX. Isai Fomich. Bathhouse. Baklushin's story
X. Feast of the Nativity of Christ
XI. Performance

Part two

I. Hospital
II. Continuation
III. Continuation
IV. Akulkin's husband Story
V. Summer time
VI. Convict animals
VII. Claim
VIII. Comrades
IX. The escape
X. Exit from hard labor

Links

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Notes from a Dead House

Part one

Introduction

* PART ONE *

INTRODUCTION

In the remote regions of Siberia, among the steppes, mountains or impenetrable forests,
Occasionally you come across small towns, with one, many with two thousand
inhabitants, wooden, nondescript, with two churches - one in the city, the other
in a cemetery - cities that look more like a nice village near Moscow than like
city. They are usually quite sufficiently equipped with police officers, assessors
and all other subaltern ranks. In general, in Siberia, despite the cold,
serve extremely warmly. People live simple, illiberal lives; orders
old, strong, time-honored. Officials playing fair
the role of the Siberian nobility - either natives, inveterate Siberians, or visiting
from Russia, mostly from the capitals, seduced by what was issued without being taken into account
salary, double runs and tempting hopes of
future. Of these, those who know how to solve the riddle of life almost always remain in
Siberia and take root in it with pleasure. Subsequently they bring rich
and sweet fruits. But others, people who are frivolous and do not know how to resolve
the mystery of life, they will soon become bored with Siberia and ask themselves with longing: why are they
did you go into it? They are eagerly serving their legal term of service, three
year, and at the end of it they immediately bother about their transfer and return
go home, scolding Siberia and laughing at it. They are wrong: not only with
official, but even from many points of view one can be blissful in Siberia.
The climate is excellent; there are many remarkably rich and hospitable merchants;
there are many extremely wealthy foreigners. Young ladies bloom with roses and are moral
to the last extreme. The game flies through the streets and stumbles upon the hunter.
An unnatural amount of champagne is drunk. The caviar is amazing. There is a harvest
in other places it’s fifteen... In general, the land is blessed. You just need
be able to use it. In Siberia they know how to use it.
In one of these cheerful and self-satisfied towns, with the sweetest
population, the memory of which will remain indelible in my heart,
I met Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov, a settler born in Russia
nobleman and landowner, who later became an exiled convict of the second category
for the murder of his wife and, after the expiration of the law determined for him
ten-year term of hard labor, humbly and silently living out its life in
town of K. as a settler. He, in fact, was assigned to one suburban
volost, but lived in the city, having the opportunity to mine at least some
feeding children's education. In Siberian cities you often meet teachers from
exiled settlers; they are not disdained. They teach mainly
the French language, so necessary in the field of life and about which without them
in the remote regions of Siberia they would have no idea. The first time I met
Alexander Petrovich in the house of an old, honored and hospitable
official, Ivan Ivanovich Gvozdikov, who had five daughters, different
years that showed great promise.