Our tormentor Chekhov - Olesya Nikolaeva. The modest charm of the intelligentsia. Novodvorskaya - about A.P. Chekhov

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Introduction

A.P. Chekhov entered the literature of the 80s of the 19th century immediately as an innovator, in many ways unlike either his predecessors or the writers around him. Innovation consisted, first of all, in the choice of genre: Chekhov was a master of “small forms”, short story. Also unconventional was the manner of narration, brevity, laconism; The themes of the stories themselves are also unusual.

Working at the turn of the century, he created many wonderful works telling about the life Russian society. His stories reflected many of the shortcomings and “diseases” of that time, including veneration and philistinism, vulgarity and the desire to protect oneself from active life for the benefit of society. Chekhov, being an irreconcilable fighter against vulgarity and philistinism, fiercely fought against these vices throughout his entire life. creative life. In his stories, as in the works of the luminaries of Russian literature, “the century and modern man are reflected.”1 (Heroes of our time / Alexander Melekhov // Friendship of Peoples, 2010-No. 1.-P.207.)

Over time, the stories of A.P. Chekhov cease to be cheerful and cheerful. Hidden vices begin to come to the fore in them. It was on them that the writer fell with all the power of his talent. The basis of the creativity of the late Chekhov was the fight against false values. Chekhov saw how genuine “forms of life” were replaced by erroneous ideas and aspirations. A person begins to become a servant of ideals that have no future. A.P. Chekhov, like many advanced people of his time, tried to point out to people their mistakes, wanted to direct society to new century on the right road.

Thus, one of the leading themes of the mature period of Chekhov’s work is the depiction of the life of the Russian intelligentsia. Using a variety of artistic media, the author created a number of vivid, typical images of representatives of the working and creative intelligentsia, and also reflected the problems and conflicts that arose among them.

The purpose of our work is to study the image of an intellectual and intelligence in the image of Chekhov.

Chapter 1. Image of an intellectual

Who is an intelligent person? In different ways, in accordance with your worldview and life experience, thinkers, scientists, writers answered him - that is, the intellectuals themselves. "Soviet encyclopedic dictionary" gives the following definition: "intelligent (from the Latin intelligens - understanding, thinking, reasonable), society. layer of people professionally engaged in mental, predominantly. complex, creative labor, development and dissemination of culture. The term "I." introduced by the writer Boborykin (in the 60s of the 19th century) and from Russian. passed into other languages." It would not be worth quoting the dictionary of Soviet, even pre-perestroika times (1980 edition) if this concept about the intelligentsia has not entered so deeply into our national consciousness.

Each period of Russian history introduced new nuances to the concept of “intellectual”. In the last century and the beginning of this one, it had a completely definite socio-political overtones. Naturally, in hindsight this could be called - and is now called - by Russian enlightenment freethinkers of the 18th century, great poets early XIX... But still it was primarily the type of the second half last century- a commoner who became a common man thanks to his thirst for knowledge, a simple person who received an education, who by his very origin was obliged to fight class and social inequality.

On the other hand, at the same time a type of intellectual appeared that can be called Chekhovian. This is an intellectual who strived not so much for a political, but for a moral reorganization of the world. The model representative of this type was Chekhov himself, who not only created works preaching the ideas of goodness and justice, but also opened free hospitals and libraries.

Russian intelligentsia A.P. Chekhov paid a lot of attention in his works. It is possible, without exaggeration, to say that it is precisely where Chekhov speaks about the intelligentsia or about the intelligentsia that they shine through most clearly, through the veils literary form, his worldview, Political Views and a public figure.2 (Berdnikov G.P. A.P. Chekhov. Ideological and creative quests. - L., 1970.P.195.)

Chekhov's ideas about the intelligentsia and intelligentsia are very complexly organized and do not fit into the framework of either a socio-economic or socio-ethical approach. Intelligence is more than education, but it is not a set of specific liberal ideas. The idea of ​​the intelligentsia is formed in a key way for further destinies Russian culture triangle: “people” - “intelligentsia” - “philistinism”, and behind each of these categories there is not so much a set of ideas as a certain lifestyle. It is here that the line separates the domestic intellectual from the Western intellectual passes: “intelligentsia” is connected by strict semantic connections with the concepts of “people” and “philistinism”.

This fact also explains the emergence of the concept of “intelligentsia” only in the late 60s of the 19th century: earlier, neither “people” nor “philistinism” had yet become key cultural categories. Of course, the style of life that Chekhov is talking about took shape earlier, but outside of the opposition to the “people” and “philistinism” it had a significantly different cultural meaning.

The 80s of the 19th century and later, the majority of the intelligentsia presented a sad sight. Intimidated, disappointed in the success of the fight against the tyranny of tsarism, intellectuals tried to hide from the struggle and dangers in the shell of personal happiness, in the darkness of mysticism, and from their own conscience - in the bustle of “small affairs” or behind the screen of Tolstoy’s non-resistance.

Chekhov sees this perfectly and ridicules it. There are many cowards among his heroes. For example, Laptev (“Three Years”), who says about himself: “I have a cowardly conscience, I can’t adapt to life, become its master... Neither flexibility, nor strong will: I’m afraid for every step I take, as if I’ll be whipped , I work in front of nonentities, idiots, brutes, who are immeasurably inferior to me mentally and morally: I am afraid of janitors, doormen, policemen, gendarmes - I am afraid of everyone ... "

Ivan Dmitrievich (“Ward No. 6”) was just as afraid of everything, and his fear drove him to a madhouse. But not everyone's fear of life leads them to a madhouse. Some, out of fear of the struggle, save themselves in their own home, fencing themselves off from life with a thorny gooseberry fence, behind which they vegetate in inaction, run wild, fall into bestiality, into swinishness.

In “Gooseberry,” the hero of the story Chimsha-Himalayan is shown by Chekhov in an atmosphere of general pig-likeness.

Chekhov denigrates and ridicules life “in a shell,” the “little world” of family happiness, in every possible way. He shows how small this little world is, how stuffy it is there, and contrasts life in it with another world - the world of the collective, the world of work for the benefit of many: “In addition to the small lamp light, smiling at quiet family happiness, besides this little world in which life is so sweet, there is still another world. And he passionately, to the point of melancholy, suddenly wanted to go to this other world, to work somewhere in a factory... to speak from the pulpit, to compose, to type, to make noise, to get tired, to suffer. He wanted something that would captivate him to the point of oblivion of himself, to the point of indifference to personal happiness” (“Literature Teacher”).

A.P. Chekhov speaks with hatred about that part of the intelligentsia that substitutes words and phrases for participation in the struggle to improve the lives of the people, in the fight against reaction: “For generations they read and hear about truth, about mercy, about freedom, and yet they lie from morning to death until their death.” evenings, they torture each other, and they fear freedom and hate it as an enemy” (“My Life”), because for this freedom one must risk comfort, tranquility, and life.

In the stories, the entire intelligentsia as a social stratum, a certain set of people united by professional characteristics and personal qualities, can be divided into labor (doctors, teachers) and creative (artists, painters, musicians), and this division sometimes even develops into an antithesis, for example in the story "The Jumper". Here, representatives of the creative intelligentsia are described clearly satirically: the author treats the artist Ryabovsky with disdain, as well as all the artists, musicians and writers who visit Olga Ivanovna’s house, main character. The pretense, unnaturalness of words and actions, monotony and vulgarity that reign in the “creative” environment are emphasized. The image of Ryabovsky is reduced: Chekhov mocks his eternal tired appearance and the phrase “I’m tired,” uttered by the hero several times with the same theatrical intonation. Actually, the course of events, the development of the plot reveal inner essence, hidden behind a pleasant appearance are the vices of Ryabovsky, who, as it turned out, considers any of his actions, even immoral ones, to be justified by his “creative” character, inconstancy, and penchant for change.4 (Shcherbakov K. Ascent to Chekhov. - M., 1988.) intellectual Chekhov's intellectual shell

The failure of the intelligentsia is emphasized by Chekhov in the story “The House with a Mezzanine.” The author condemns the two extremes in which the heroes persist. Lida is the embodiment of fanatical, thoughtless action, which is far from the real needs of the peasants. The assistance she provides is too insignificant even for the county. She personifies the “populists”, defeated in practice, in villages. But the artist is not called upon to solve global problems. Its disadvantage is unembodied ideas. Lida’s reproach is fair: “You can’t sit idly by.” Idealistic theories in his presentation remain only in beautiful words. He is not even able to fight for his feelings, allowing his wife to leave and not trying to find her. His whole life is vague fragments of memories.

Chekhov despised and ridiculed vulgarity in all its manifestations, including in creativity.

The writer portrays the working intelligentsia no less critically and strictly. These are mainly doctors, which is probably due to Chekhov’s profession, as well as teachers as the most educated part of the intelligentsia, on whom the future depends. These heroes, as a rule, are presented with a choice by the author: to join the gray mass of vulgar, uninteresting people, to allow themselves to be drawn into the swamp of bourgeois life with its pettiness and routine, or to remain an individual, to preserve human dignity, interest in people and everything new. The stories show the full range of possible solutions to the problem. Perhaps the extreme case is Belikov, the hero of the story “The Man in a Case.” The image is typical for all its grotesqueness; Belikov is a limited man, living in his small, deaf, frightened world with one thought: “No matter what happens.” Chekhov uses an interesting artistic technique: transfer of a person’s properties, indirectly and allegorically depicted, onto his things, directly and specifically: “And he had an umbrella in a case, and a watch in a gray suede case, and when he took out a penknife to sharpen a pencil, he also had a knife was in a case.” These details (like many others, for example the very subject that Belikov taught - Greek. pleasure".

In another story, “Ionych,” Chekhov depicts the change inner world, the degradation of a person who did not resist the surrounding vulgarity. At the beginning the hero's name is Doctor Startsev, in the finale - Ionych. Chekhov again uses detail to depict changes in the soul, in the principles, beliefs, behavior, and lifestyle of Doctor Startsev. For example, at the beginning of the story the hero prefers to walk, leads active image life (“Having walked nine miles and then went to bed, he did not feel the slightest fatigue, but on the contrary, it seemed to him that he would gladly walk another twenty miles”); in the second part he already has “his own pair of horses and a coachman”; in the third - “three with bells”; The very composition of the story, the parallelism of the scenes in the garden, the relationship with Katerina Ivanovna reveal the main character traits and emphasize the irreversibility of the process of degradation, so logical and natural in conditions of general intellectual and spiritual stagnation.

However, in the story “Literature Teacher” main character realizes the danger and contagiousness of everyday life and philistinism, although after making a mistake - marrying the outwardly sweet, but limited girl Manyusa. The story ends with Nikitin’s thought: “There is nothing more terrible, more offensive, more depressing than vulgarity. Run away from here, run away today, otherwise I’ll go crazy!” For him, the surrounding everyday life is unbearable; Chekhov does not show what happens to the hero next; What is important here is the very fact of the decision to flee from vulgarity.

Thus, it is obvious that Chekhov not only does not share the desire of part of the intelligentsia to completely withdraw into their personal lives, build their personal happiness and cover up their inaction, their powerlessness with phrases, but also hates these aspirations, ridicules them, and is indignant at the people who are overwhelmed by them.

Chekhov saw the ability of the intelligentsia to help the people: “The strength and salvation of the people lies in its intelligentsia - in those who honestly think, feel and know how to work.” He devoted all his energy, all the strength of his talent, to, by telling the Russian intellectuals: “You live badly, gentlemen,” to pull them out of the narrow world of family happiness, the darkness of mysticism, from behind the screen of Tolstoyism - into the light, onto the road of struggle for freedom, on the path of exploits, for a clearly realized goal.

Chapter 2. Intelligentsia

Intelligence, according to Chekhov, is a complexly organized characteristic that does not lend itself to strict formalization. It includes, but by no means exhausts, the idea of ​​a good education. Intelligence is not so much education as a certain lifestyle, formed in early childhood and manifested in such features as voice, tone, figure, facial expression, clothing, speech. Intelligence cannot be learned, but you notice it immediately, and by subtle, often unconscious signs. The context of the use of the concepts “intelligent life”, “intelligent city”, “intelligent society” is indicative: Passengers on the train talk about trade, new singers, about Franco-Russian sympathies; everywhere you can feel a living, cultured, intelligent, vigorous life... (Duel, 1891); “intelligent appearance”: I look at Rublev... His face is worn out and worn, but in all his appearance there is still so much decency, lordly elegance and decency that this rude “gave me in the neck” does not at all fit with his intelligent figure (Taper , 1885). The footman's laughter, his words, jacket and mustache gave Anna Akimovna the impression of impurity. She closed her eyes so as not to see him, and, without wanting to, imagined Pimenov having dinner with Lysevich and Krylin, and his timid, unintelligent figure seemed pitiful, helpless to her, and she felt disgust (Woman's Kingdom, 1894).

Intelligence for Chekhov is a positive characteristic. When he talks about negative qualities, he involuntarily makes a reservation: “... intelligent, more precisely, belonging to an intelligent circle.” Intelligence according to Chekhov is not necessarily associated with bright mind and great talent, but undoubtedly associated with inner dignity with restraint, tact, emphasized respect for the interlocutor; Opposition to power is not a mandatory or even essential characteristic of an intelligent person; intelligence, let us emphasize, is not “what”, but “how”, not a set of ideas, but a certain style, in which it is not so much the ideas that are important, but the intonation with which they are pronounced. 3(Glebkin V.V. IS IT POSSIBLE TO “SPEAK CLEARLY” ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE?

All this is confirmed by the words of Chekhov himself, explaining to his brother who should be called an intelligent person: “In order to feel at ease in an intelligent environment, in order not to be a stranger among it and not be burdened by it, you need to be in a known way educated... Talent brought you into this environment, you belong to it, but... you are pulled away from it, and you have to balance between the cultural public and the vis-a-vis residents. The flesh of the bourgeoisie, grown on rods near the Rhine cellar, on handouts, takes its toll. It is difficult to defeat her, terribly difficult.

Well-mannered people should, in my opinion, satisfy the following conditions:

1) They respect human personality, and therefore are always lenient, soft, polite, compliant... They do not rebel because of a hammer or a missing rubber band; when they live with someone, they don’t make a favor out of it, and when they leave, they don’t say: I can’t live with you! They forgive noise, cold, overcooked meat, witticisms, and the presence of strangers in their home...

2) They are compassionate not only towards beggars and cats. They hurt their souls even from what you can’t see with the naked eye. So, for example, if Peter knows that his father and mother are turning gray with melancholy and do not sleep at night due to the fact that they rarely see Peter (and if they do, they are drunk), then he will rush to them and spit on the vodka. They don’t sleep at night to help the Polevaevs, pay for their student brothers, and clothe their mother.

3) They respect other people's property, and therefore pay debts.

4) They are sincere and fear lies like fire. They don't lie even about trifles. A lie is offensive to the listener and vulgarizes him in the eyes of the speaker. They do not show off, they behave on the street the same way as at home, they do not throw dust in the eyes of the smaller brethren... They are not talkative and do not barge in with frankness when they are not asked... Out of respect for other people's ears, they are often silent.

5) They do not humiliate themselves in order to arouse sympathy in others. They do not play on the strings of other people's souls, so that in response they sigh and coddle them. They don’t say: “They don’t understand me!” or: “I exchanged it for a small coin! I [...]!..”, because all this has a cheap effect, vulgar, old, false...

6) They are not vain. They are not interested in such fake diamonds. like meeting celebrities, the handshake of a drunken Plevako, the delight of someone they meet at Salon, being famous for their porters... They laugh at the phrase: “I am a representative of the press!!”, which suits only the Rodzevichs and Levenbergs. Making money for pennies, they do not rush with their folder worth a hundred rubles and do not boast that they were allowed to go where others were not allowed... True talents they always sit in the dark, in the crowd, away from the exhibition... Even Krylov said that an empty barrel is more audible than a full one...

7) If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice peace, women, wine, vanity for him... They are proud of their talent...

8) They cultivate aesthetics in themselves. They cannot sleep in their clothes, see cracks on the wall with bedbugs, breathe crappy air, walk on a spit-stained floor, or eat from a kerosene stove. They try to tame and ennoble the sexual instinct as much as possible... What they need from a woman is not bed, not horse sweat, [...] not intelligence, expressed in the ability to cheat with a fake pregnancy and lie tirelessly... They, especially artists, need freshness , grace, humanity, the ability to be not [...], but a mother... They do not casually crack vodka, do not sniff cupboards, because they know that they are not pigs. They drink only when they are free, on occasion... Because they need mens sana in corpore sano” (Letter to N.P. Chekhov, March 1886).

Chapter 3. Chekhov's favorite hero

The works of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who became a writer of the diverse democratic Russian intelligentsia, reflected both the best and weaknesses this part of the intelligentsia. Along with the growth of artistic mastery, the image of Chekhov’s beloved hero of his work deepened - an ordinary, ordinary Russian man, in whose name the writer lived and worked, and for whom he felt responsibility so deeply until the end of his days. In every line, in every word, under the cover of a restrained and impartial narrative, one must discern passionate love for the working man, contempt for his enemies - meanness, vulgarity, parasitism, rudeness, selfishness, violence against man.

A simple man, a hard worker - this is one of the variants of the main Chekhov image. This is the hero of the story “The Jumper”. Doctor Dymov is mentally rich and strong man, whose spiritual gentleness, kindness, timid, always slightly guilty delicacy, simplicity only emphasize his will, tirelessness in work, perseverance in achieving goals, dedication to his science.

Among the celebrities surrounding his wife, Olga Ivanovna, Doctor Dymov seemed too ordinary, ordinary, insignificant. And when Dymov dies, having contracted diphtheria from a boy from whom he sucked out the diphtheria bacillus through a tube, one of his colleagues, Doctor Korostelev, tells Olga Ivanovna that he “was a great, extraordinary man. What talents! And what moral strength! A kind, pure, loving soul - not a person, but glass! He served science and died from science. And he worked like an ox, day and night, no one spared him, and the young scientist, future professor, had to look for an internship and do translations at night in order to pay for these... vile rags!”

Diphtheria - no main reason, because of which Dymov’s young life was cut short. Diphtheria was only Olga Ivanovna’s “accomplice”. She did not understand that the great man, whom she had been searching for all her life, lived next to her. She overlooked, “skimmed over” the main thing, did not understand either the beauty or the strength of Dymov, was unable to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

In the entire appearance of Dymov, the reader guessed the features of Sechenov, a great Russian scientist. Chekhov felt deeply national character people of this type, the everyday heroism of their gigantic labor, their boundless modesty, moral strength, unbending perseverance, dedication to the cause of culture, noble love to the homeland and people. When creating the image of Dymov, Chekhov put into it his admiration for the type of Russian scientist.

In the novel that began between Ryabovsky and Olga Ivanovna, the theme of ordinariness and exceptionalism of personality develops. Olga Ivanovna, the “jumper,” seeks greatness in the extraordinary, the exceptional; in her understanding, a great person is a chosen person, towering high above the crowd of “ordinary,” “small,” people. It is characteristic of Chekhov that Olga Ivanovna’s very betrayal of Dymova expressed her contempt for “ordinary”, “little” people, her ideas about a great man as a chosen individual rising above the crowd. The image of the “jumping girl”, “jumping” all her life in search of an exceptional, great person, is ultimately a satirical image.

Chekhov first called his story about Doctor Dymov and his wife “ Great man" With this title, he sent it to the editors of the magazine “North”. But the name did not satisfy him. He wrote to the editor of the magazine: I don’t like “The Great Man” at all. It needs to be called something else - that's a must. Call it that - “Jumping”. Don’t forget to change.”

It is possible that the name “Great Man” seemed immodest to Anton Pavlovich. But it correctly conveys the whole essence of the matter. Chekhov contrasted false greatness in the story with the true greatness of a simple and modest, “ordinary” person. Chekhov's favorite heroes are ordinary Russian people. In each of them we clearly see not only an individual person, but also his entire environment, entire layers of life itself. Behind the figure of Chekhov's Dymov we clearly sense many working people.

Conclusion

In their short stories Chekhov posed great problems of our time, deeply explored life phenomena, exposing the causes of social disorder; Chekhov saw with pain that, under conditions of reaction, the Russian intelligentsia openly broke with the ideals of progress and democracy. Standard social behavior became lack of spirituality, pessimism, and sometimes direct betrayal of the ideals of goodness, which reflected the general crisis of noble-bourgeois culture. Chekhov was not associated with the emerging proletarian movement, but, anticipating a radical restructuring of all forms public life, the writer opposed inertia, stagnation, and resolutely denied the existing order. “His enemy was vulgarity, he fought against it all his life... No one before him knew how to so mercilessly and truthfully paint people a shameful and dreary picture of their life in the dull chaos of petty-bourgeois everyday life” (M. Gorky).

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Everyone's favorite artist Yuri Yakovlev Since childhood, I learned to distinguish the real from the superficial. He was a teenager when the Great War began Patriotic War. The family was evacuated from Moscow to Ufa, where the 13-year-old Yura worked in the hospital with my mother.

Upon returning to the capital, he gets a job in a garage, refueling and repairing cars. The young man spends the money he earns on his family, and in the evenings he takes his classmates for rides in a jeep rented from his garage. "Willis". And he feels like the happiest guy on the planet. On May 9, young Yura got drunk, as he himself said, for the first time in his life.

The first truly high-profile film role for Yakovleva became the role Prince Myshkin from the film “The Idiot”, which was directed by the classic of Soviet cinema Ivan Pyryev based on the novel by Dostoevsky. Today it is fashionable to denounce excessive theatricality, affectation, pathos in the old Soviet cinema, but no one will raise their hand to the sacred - Yakovlev in the image Myshkina deadly convincing, terrifyingly convincing. He is a holy fool and at the same time full of nobility, he is perplexed and empathizes, he looks with his open, luminous eyes straight into the viewer’s heart, appealing to the thinnest strings of his soul. This movie with Yakovlev no need to watch every one New Year in order to get into it, it hooks you the first time and forever.

In general, supporting roles Yakovleva have always been difficult. Take the same Solomatina from "Carnival". It would seem that the passing image of a father who awkwardly tries to establish contact with adult daughter, but something is stopping him. Even here, in passing, Yuri Vasilievich dumped the whole world on the viewer. The world of a man, decent on the outside, but empty, broken on the inside. And somehow it immediately became clear: a simpleton Nina- strong, and he, her smart, all important and complex father, is weak. Not an intellectual, but just an intellectual.

And in conclusion, one cannot help but say something about the hero, who became practically a dear person to all of us. Even if it happens that your parents or friends will not join you for the New Year, Hippolyte There is no doubt that he will come to every home, cheer up, make you laugh and worry about him again, such an unlucky person. Of course, for the average person, this image is from the film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! » is comical - an adult man in an unsightly coat climbs into the shower in this very coat and plaintively asks to rub his back. It's funny!

But the truth is that genius Yakovleva extended far beyond this buffoonish role. His Hippolytus- this is a separate and very serious drama of a man who knows his worth, from under the nose of which some, excuse me, whip stole his beautiful Nadenka. In fact, the whole world Hippolyta Georgievich collapsed with the realization that an intelligent, beautiful woman does not care about status, or representative appearance, or stability and "positivity" men.

Last few years Yuri Yakovlev I felt worse and worse, but did not draw anyone’s attention to this - so as not to upset my family and fans. He still appeared on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theater, and answered questions about his health modestly: "I'm in no hurry".

Great artist left us on the night of November 30, 2013. And this loss is irreparable.

A textbook school text. It would seem, why repeat what they read at school? There are works that are interpreted in a new way at every age, and this applies to all eras and genres.

D.S. Likhachev in his article “Talks about intelligence” wrote: “Education cannot be confused with intelligence. Education lives on the old content, intelligence lives on the creation of the new and the awareness of the old as new. Moreover... Deprive a person of all his knowledge, education, deprive him of his memory itself, but if at the same time he retains receptivity to intellectual values, love of acquiring knowledge, interest in history, taste in art, respect for the culture of the past, skills of an educated person, responsibility in resolving moral issues and the richness and accuracy of one’s language - spoken and written - this will be intelligence.

Of course, education cannot be confused with intelligence, but for a person’s intelligence great importance he is educated. The more intelligent a person is, the greater his desire for education. And here one attracts attention important feature education: the more knowledge a person has, the easier it is for him to acquire new ones. New knowledge easily “fits” into the stock of old ones, is remembered, and finds its place.”
"A nation that does not value intelligence is doomed to destruction." - writes D.S. Likhachev. Semi-intellectuals are the most terrible category of people. They imagine that they know everything, they can judge everything, they can make decisions, decide destinies, etc. They don’t ask anyone, don’t consult, don’t listen (they are deaf and morally). Everything is simple for them. A real intellectual knows the value of his “knowledge.” This is his basic “knowledge”. Hence his respect for others, caution, delicacy, prudence in deciding the fate of others and a strong will in upholding moral principles.
And Yuri Lotman also says well about intelligence:
What characterizes an intellectual?
The ability not to impose your problems on others.
Awareness of purpose and life management
The ability to be happy
Curiosity
The pursuit of knowledge
The ability to understand and empathize with art
The intelligentsia carries a humanistic and creative beginning
Rudeness is inhibitory and destructive.
The property of intelligence is to understand another. Thinking - the right to doubt
The position of an unintelligent person - I am certainly right.
An intelligent person has mature thoughts from which beliefs are born.
An intellectual defends the right of others to their opinions
A.P. Chekhov wrote in a letter to his brother Nikolai:“You have only one drawback - this is your extreme bad manners. Well-mannered people must satisfy the following conditions: They respect the human person, and therefore are always condescending, soft, polite, compliant... They are compassionate not only towards beggars and cats... They are sincere and They are afraid of lies like fire. They do not lie even in trifles. Out of respect for other people’s ears, they are often silent. They do not humiliate themselves in order to arouse sympathy in others. If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice peace, women, wine, vanity for him... They cultivate aesthetics in themselves."
You can't pretend to be an intellectual! - That's what it is. You can pretend to be smart and kind, but you can’t pretend to be intelligent.

A.P. Chekhov "On Intelligence"

A person must be intelligent. What if his profession does not require intelligence? And if he could not get an education: did the circumstances develop that way? What if environment doesn't allow it? What if intelligence makes him a “black sheep” among his colleagues, friends, relatives, and simply interferes with his rapprochement with other people?

No, no and no! Intelligence is needed under all circumstances. It is necessary both for others and for the person himself.
This is very, very important, and above all in order to live happily and long: yes, long! For intelligence is equal to moral health, and health is needed to live long - not only physical, but also mental. People say: honor your father and mother and you will live long on earth. This applies to both an entire nation and an individual. That's wise.
But first of all, let’s define what intelligence is, and then why it is connected with the commandment of longevity.
Many people think: an intelligent person is one who has read a lot, received good education(and even mainly humanitarian), has traveled a lot, knows several languages.
Meanwhile, you can have all this and be unintelligent, and you can not possess any of this to a large extent, but still be an internally intelligent person.
Deprive a truly intelligent person of his memory completely. Let him forget everything in the world, he will not know the classics of literature, he will not remember greatest works art, will forget the most important historical events, but if at the same time he remains susceptible to cultural values, aesthetic sense, will be able to distinguish a real work of art from a crude “thing” made only to surprise, if he can admire the beauty of nature, understand the character and individuality of another person, enter into his position, and having understood the other person, help him, will not show rudeness, indifference, gloating, envy, but will appreciate the other at their true worth - this will be an intelligent person... Intelligence is not only in knowledge, but in the ability to understand another. It manifests itself in a thousand and a thousand little things: in the ability to argue respectfully, in the ability to quietly (precisely imperceptibly) help another, to take care of nature, even in the habit of behaving modestly at the table, not littering around oneself - not littering with cigarette butts or swearing, bad ideas (this also rubbish, and whatnot!).
I knew peasants in the Russian North who were truly intelligent. They kept their homes amazingly clean and knew how to value good songs, knew how to tell “happenings” (i.e., what happened to them or others), lived an orderly life, were hospitable and friendly, treated both the grief and joy of others with understanding.
Intelligence is the ability to understand, to perceive, it is an attitude towards the world and towards people.
Intelligence must be developed, trained, trained mental strength how to train and physical strength. And training is possible and necessary in any conditions.
What a workout physical strength promotes longevity - this is understandable. Much less understands that longevity requires training of spiritual and mental strength.
The fact is that an angry and angry reaction to the environment, rudeness and lack of understanding of the environment is a sign of mental and spiritual weakness, human inability to live... Pushing around in a crowded bus is weak and nervous man, exhausted, reacting to everything incorrectly. Quarreling with neighbors is also a person who does not know how to live. An aesthetically unresponsive person is also an unhappy person. Not able to understand another person, attributing to him only evil intentions A person who is always offended by others is also a person who impoverishes his life and interferes with the lives of others. Mental weakness leads to physical weakness. I'm not a doctor, but I'm convinced of this. Long-term experience has convinced me of this.
Friendliness and kindness make a person not only physically healthy, but also beautiful. Yes - beautiful.
The face of a person, which is often distorted by malice, becomes ugly, and the movements of this evil person are devoid of grace, not deliberate grace, but natural grace, which is much more expensive.
A person's social duty is to be intelligent. This is a duty to yourself. This is the key to his personal happiness and “aura” [From lat. aura (breath of wind)] goodwill around him and towards him (directed towards him).
Everything I talk about with young readers in this book is a call to intelligence, to physical and moral health. Let us live long as people and as a people! And honoring father and mother should be understood broadly - as honoring all the beautiful aspects of our past - the past, which is the father and mother of our modernity, great modernity, to which it is great happiness to belong.

In a letter to his brother, Chekhov formulated eight traits of a true intellectual, which he himself undoubtedly was.

...they respect the human person and know how to forgive...
And we're not just talking about petty grievances like a friend saying something mean or losing your wallet. Forgiving your enemy and not making a hero out of it is the main thing.

...they are compassionate and their souls ache for what is not visible to the naked eye...
When a teacher from the province asks that a talented student be auditioned at a good educational institution, when an alcoholic son stops drinking for the sake of his exhausted parents, or when all the neighbors help cure a sick child - doesn’t this evoke respect and gratitude?

...they do not humiliate themselves for the sympathy of others...
"They don't understand me!" - this phrase is simply not in the vocabulary of an intellectual. They don't engage in self-flagellation. As you know, thought is material, and who knows what will happen if you constantly talk bad about yourself. Maybe they will really stop understanding you and begin to truly feel sorry for you.

...they respect other people's property, and therefore pay their debts...
After all, repaying a debt is not only the favor of loved ones, but also a gift of peace and moral satisfaction to oneself.

...they are not vain and not boastful...
Imagine a person who talks all the time about where he has been, how much his new fur coat, with whom he spoke yesterday and which celebrity smiled at him yesterday, and also how smart and good he is. Unpleasant, right?))

...they are sincere and afraid of lies...
It is difficult to imagine a person who does not lie. And above all to yourself. But somewhere there probably are or were once - after all, Chekhov knew what he was writing about.

...they respect their talent and sacrifice everything for it...
Bach ruined his eyesight by copying notes at night, Beethoven became deaf, but even this could not keep him from composing, and Paul Wittgenstein, having lost his life in the war right hand, continued to play concertos specially written for him on the piano with his left hand.

...they cultivate aesthetics in themselves - external and internal...
An intelligent person (according to Chekhov - “well-mannered”) will never dress like a man, he will dress differently. No matter what situation an intellectual finds himself in, he will not lose his sense of taste. Remember all these photographs of writers, scientists, musicians, doctors of the 19th century? They sit or stand pomaded, with neat mustaches, in suits and polished shoes - in whatever financial situation they were not there. They cannot “fall asleep in their clothes, see cracks with bugs on the wall, breathe crappy air, walk on a spit-stained floor... They, especially artists, need freshness, grace, humanity...”
In order not to be an empty doll with good manners, you need to take care of the internal aesthetics. Give her constant nourishment. Read as much as possible - and not everything that came to hand or newfangled “things,” but the most trivial classics. Educate the eye with painting, architecture, and the ear with music and theater.