The story of the snake charmer Shalamov features composition. Kolyma stories. "Condensed milk", "Bread"

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Educational:

Developmental:

TASKS:

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THE TRAGEDY OF THE PEOPLE AS A THEME OF LITERATURE OF THE XX CENTURY.

LESSON-WORKSHOP ON A STORY BY V. SHALAMOV

"SNAKE CHASTER"

Chernokova Valentina Leonidovna,

teacher of Russian language and literature

Municipal educational institution "Konevskaya Secondary School"

Plesetsk district, Arkhangelsk region.

But everything that happened is not forgotten,

Not sewn - covered to the world.

One lie is to our loss

And only the truth comes to court.

A. Tvardovsky

Our dispute is not a church one about the age of books,

Our dispute is not a spiritual one about the benefits of faith,

Our dispute is about freedom, about the right to breathe,

About the will of the Lord to knit and decide.

V. Shalamov

“Kolyma Tales” by V.T. We study Shalamov after works of art about the Great Patriotic War and captivity and works by A.I. Solzhenitsyn about Soviet concentration camps. Shalamov's stories help awaken the souls of schoolchildren, teach them to be caring and humane.

TARGET:

Educational:

Study, comprehension and analysis of the moral experience of generations using the example of V. Shalamov’s stories.

Educational:

Preparing students for adult life, where their moral judgments will become the support and basis of adult moral behavior;

Developmental:

Formation of students’ skills to critically comprehend and analyze the actions of heroes of literary works and real persons, their own,

Development of personal qualities: the ability to understand what is good and evil, responsibility, duty, honor, dignity, pity, etc.

TASKS:

Acquaintance of students with the time in which V.T. Shalamov lived, with the fate and work of the writer who went through all the “circles of hell”;

Revealing the ideological meaning of his “Kolyma Tales”.

EQUIPMENT: multimedia system, collections of stories by V. Shalamov “Kolyma Tales”, portraits of V. Shalamov.

LESSON FORM: lesson-workshop

REFERENCES:

Krupina N.L., Sosnina N.A. Belonging to Time: Contemporary Literature in High School. M.: Education, 1992, p.79.
Khairullin R.Z. Save a living soul: Materials for a lesson about “Kolyma Tales” by V.T. Shalamov // Russian Literature. 1993, no. 5, p. 58.
Shalamov V.T. Kolyma stories. M.: Sovremennik, 1991.

INTERNET ADDRESSES, MULTIMEDIA READERS:

http://autotravel.org.ru
http://www.booksite.ru
http://www.cultinfo.ru/shalamov
http://www.kolyma.ru
http://www.perm36.ru
http://www.sakharov-center.ru
Multimedia anthology “National History, Literature, Art”

LESSON PLAN

During the classes.

Inductor.

On the slide is the word “conjure.”

A) Write the word “spell”, select synonyms for it and give a brief explanation of the meaning of the word. (work in pairs – 2-3 minutes). Additional task: write down what you would like to spell, what to direct the spell towards? The entries are read aloud.

B) - Now let’s look at S.I. Ozhegov’s dictionary: (on the slide)

To conjure - 1. to persistently beg for something in the name of something (high) 2. For superstitious people: to subjugate oneself by uttering magic words (for example, to conjure snakes - this is the name of one of V. Shalamov’s stories).

Why do you think the story is named this way?

(It’s difficult to explain, so let’s try to understand what the author is writing about).

Before us is the story of V. Shalamov “The Snake Charmer”.

C) Write down how you felt while reading the story. While recording, look through it from beginning to end (4-5 minutes), 3-5 works are read aloud, the teacher writes the words on the board.

2. Brief retelling of the plot, clarification of the composition features(story within a story, change of narrators).

Let's turn to the content of the story.

3. Reading the text.(The teacher reads the first 12-14 lines).

1. Write down words and combinations of words that affect the reader’s feelings.

2. Read all the selected words out loud, adding to your findings.

4. Work in groups.

1 group. Indicate artistic details and features of the text that require comprehension, and explain your choice.

2nd group. Write down what problematic questions arise while reading the story.

Read aloud materials compiled by groups.

5. The teacher's word.

“Fearlessness of thought is the main victory of Varlam Shalamov, his feat of writing,” wrote the famous critic V. Lakshin. But it’s not the thought, but the feeling—that’s what shocks today’s readers of Kolyma Tales. The pictures of the distortion of human nature and goodness itself are too realistic, the inhumanity is too obvious, and death is too often - almost everywhere - victorious.

Shalamov repeatedly wrote: “The camp is a completely negative school of life. No one will take anything useful or necessary out of there, not the prisoner himself, not his boss, not his guards, not the unwitting witnesses - engineers, geologists, doctors...” And he even argued that the entire camp experience was unconditionally evil.

Recently, we have been turning to our history more and more often, and this interest is easily explained, because only in the mid-80s of the 20th century was the “Iron Curtain” of censorship removed from our literature, and we finally found the long-awaited truth. It was a terrible truth, the truth about countless repressions that claimed millions of lives, about shameful trials, about the dungeons of the NKVD, where they extracted the necessary testimony from people by any means, about prisons and camps. It was this truth that we learned from the pages of the works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Varlam Shalamov, Yuri Dombrovsky and Georgy Vladimov. These are those writers whose biography was connected with the Gulag - the monstrous creation of the System.

It is precisely this fragility of human life, its insignificance in the overall System that Varlam Shalamov shows us in his tragic book “Kalym Stories”. A person in a camp, according to Shalamov, changes radically; many concepts inherent in normal people atrophy: love, a sense of duty, conscience; often even the vital reflex is lost. Let us recall, for example, the story “Single Standstill,” when the hero, on the eve of his death, regrets not the lost life, but the uneaten ration of bread. Shalamov shows how the camp breaks the human personality, but the author does this not as if from the outside, but tragically experiencing everything together with his heroes. It is known that such stories as “To the Exhibition” and “The Snake Charmer” clearly have an autobiographical background.

There are no rules or regulations in the camp world. They have been abolished because the main means of the System are violence and fear. Not everyone succeeds in getting out from under their influence. And yet they exist - Personalities, for example, Major Pugachev (from Varlam Shalamov’s story “The Last Battle of Major Pugachev”). They could not be broken, and this inspired and continues to instill in readers faith in victory over evil.

Shalamov testifies to the horrors of camps, prisons, isolation wards; he looks at what is happening through the eyes of a person deprived of freedom, choice, who has learned how the state itself destroys a person through repression, destruction, and violence. And only those who have gone through all this can fully understand and appreciate any work about political terror and concentration camps. For us, the book only lifts the curtain, which, fortunately, is not possible to look behind. We can only feel the truth with our hearts, somehow experience it in our own way.

6. Student’s message about the fate of V. Shalamov.

7. The teacher's word.

Shalamov himself wrote about his book like this: ““Kolyma Stories” is an attempt to raise and solve some important moral questions of the time, questions that simply cannot be resolved using other material. The question of the meeting of man and the world, the struggle of man with the state machine, the truth of this struggle, the struggle for oneself, within oneself - and outside oneself. Is it possible to actively influence one’s destiny, which is being ground by the teeth of the state machine, by the teeth of evil? The illusory nature and heaviness of hope. An opportunity to rely on forces other than hope.”

Results:

What contributes to spiritual degradation? (Hunger and cold, Beatings and bullying, Enormous deadlines, Overwork, Frustration, Lack of perspective, Long distances, Confrontation of the state machine, system).

What helps a person survive?

What helps someone who has gone through all the circles of camp hell to rise up and conquer the trampled person within himself? (Inertia, Hope for a miracle, Love of life, The desire to survive, Human dignity, Compassion and kindness)

I would like to end the lesson with a poem V. Shalamova.

Poems are stigmata

A trace of other people's suffering,

Evidence of Reckoning

For all people, poet.

They will look for salvation

Or they will believe in heaven,

Forgive or forget...

And don’t forget.

You must see forever

The light of other people's suffering,

Love and hate

For all people, poet.

1959

D.Z. Write an argumentative essay or essay“Do not freeze, my friends, neither before lies nor before meanness, learn courage, be decent people” (A. Galich)

Snake charmer

We sat on a huge larch fallen by the storm. Trees in the edge of permafrost barely cling to the uncomfortable ground, and a storm easily uproots them and knocks them to the ground. Platonov told me the story of his life here - our second life in this world. I frowned at the mention of the Dzhanhara mine. I myself have visited bad and difficult places, but the terrible glory of “Janhara” thundered everywhere.

- How long were you on the Dzhanhar?

“A year,” Platonov said quietly. His eyes narrowed, the wrinkles became more pronounced - in front of me was another Platonov, ten years older than the first.

– However, it was difficult only for the first time, two or three months. There are only thieves there. I was the only... literate person there. I told them, “squeezed novels,” as they say in thieves’ slang, I told them in the evenings about Dumas, Conan Doyle, and Wallace. For this they fed me, clothed me, and I worked little. You probably also used this one advantage of literacy here at one time?

“No,” I said, “no.” It always seemed to me like the final humiliation, the end. I never told a novel for soup. But I know what it is. I heard "novelists".

– Is this a condemnation? - said Platonov.

“Not at all,” I answered. – A hungry man can be forgiven a lot, a lot.

“If I stay alive,” Platonov said the sacred phrase that began all thoughts about time beyond tomorrow, “I will write a story about it.” I’ve already come up with a name: “Snake Charmer.” Good?

- Good. We just have to survive. That's the main thing.

Andrei Fedorovich Platonov, a film screenwriter in his first life, died three weeks after this conversation, he died the way many died - he waved his pick, swayed and fell face down on the stones. Intravenous glucose and strong cardiac drugs could have brought him back to life - he wheezed for another hour and a half, but had already calmed down when a stretcher from the hospital arrived and the orderlies carried this small corpse to the morgue - a light load of bones and skin.

I loved Platonov because he did not lose interest in that life beyond the blue seas, behind the high mountains, from which we were separated by so many miles and years and in the existence of which we almost no longer believed, or, rather, we believed as schoolchildren believe in the existence of some America. Platonov, from God knows where, also had books, and when it was not very cold, for example in July, he avoided conversations on topics that the entire population lived with - what kind of soup there would be or was for lunch, whether they would give bread three times a day or immediately in the morning, whether tomorrow it will rain or clear weather.

I loved Platonov, and now I will try to write his story “The Snake Charmer.”

The end of work is not the end of work at all. After the beep, you still have to collect the instrument, take it to the storeroom, hand it in, line up, go through two of the ten daily roll calls under the obscene abuse of the convoy, under the merciless screams and insults of your own comrades, for now even stronger than you, comrades who are also tired and They rush home and get angry about any delay. We still need to go through roll call, line up and go five kilometers into the forest for firewood - the nearby forest has long been all cut down and burned. A team of lumberjacks prepares firewood, and pit workers carry a log each. No one knows how heavy logs that even two people cannot lift are delivered. Cars are never sent for firewood, and the horses are all kept in the stable due to illness. After all, a horse weakens much more quickly than a person, although the difference between its former life and its present one is, of course, immeasurably smaller than that of people. It often seems, and this is probably what it really is, that man rose from the animal kingdom and became a man, that is, a creature who could come up with such things as our islands with all the improbability of their life, because he was physically tougher than any animal. It was not the hand that humanized the monkey, not the embryo of the brain, not the soul - there are dogs and bears that act smarter and more morally than humans. And not by subjugating the power of fire - all this happened after the main condition of transformation was fulfilled. All other things being equal, at one time a person turned out to be much stronger and more resilient physically, only physically. He was as resilient as a cat - this saying is not true. It would be more correct to say about a cat - this creature is tenacious, like a person. The horse cannot stand a month of winter life here in a cold room with many hours of hard work in the cold. If it's not a Yakut horse. But they don’t work on Yakut horses. They, however, are not fed. They, like deer in winter, paw through the snow and pull out last year’s dry grass. But the man lives. Maybe he lives with hopes? But he has no hopes. If he is not a fool, he cannot live in hopes. That's why there are so many suicides. But the sense of self-preservation, tenacity to life, physical tenacity, to which consciousness is also subject, saves him. He lives in the same way that a stone, a tree, a bird, a dog lives. But he clings to life more tightly than they do. And he is tougher than any animal.

Platonov was thinking about all this, standing at the entrance gate with a log on his shoulder and waiting for a new roll call. The firewood was brought, stacked, and people, crowding, hurrying and cursing, entered the dark log barracks.

When his eyes got used to the darkness, Platonov saw that not all the workers went to work. In the far right corner on the upper bunks, having dragged the only lamp, a gasoline smokehouse without glass, to themselves, seven or eight people were sitting around two people, who, crossing their legs in Tatar style and putting a greasy pillow between them, were playing cards. The smoking smokehouse trembled, the fire lengthened and shook the shadows.

Platonov sat down on the edge of the bunk. My shoulders and knees ached, my muscles trembled. Platonov was brought to Dzhanhara only in the morning, and he worked for the first day. There were no free places on the bunks.

“Everyone will disperse,” Platonov thought, “and I’ll go to bed.” He dozed off.

The game above is over. A black-haired man with a mustache and a large nail on his left little finger rolled over to the edge of the bunk.

“Come on, call this Ivan Ivanovich,” he said.

A push in the back woke up Platonov.

– You... Your name is.

- Well, where is he, this Ivan Ivanovich? - they called from the upper bunks.

“I’m not Ivan Ivanovich,” said Platonov, squinting.

- He’s not coming, Fedechka.

- Why doesn’t it work?

Platonov was pushed towards the light.

- Do you think of living? – Fedya asked him quietly, twirling his little finger with the dirty nail that had grown out in front of Platonov’s eyes.

“I think,” Platonov answered.

A strong blow to the face knocked him down. Platonov stood up and wiped the blood with his sleeve.

“You can’t answer like that,” Fedya explained affectionately. – Ivan Ivanovich, was that how you were taught to answer at the institute?

Platonov was silent.

“Go, creature,” said Fedya. - Go and lie down by the bucket. Your place will be there. If you scream, we will strangle you.

This was not an empty threat. Twice before Platonov’s eyes they strangled people with a towel - according to some of their thieves’ accounts. Platonov lay down on the wet, stinking boards.

“Boring, brothers,” said Fedya, yawning, “at least someone would scratch his heels or something...

- Mashka, Mashka, go scratch Fedya’s heels.

Mashka, a pale, handsome boy, a little crow of about eighteen, emerged into the streak of light.

He took Fedya’s worn yellow low shoes off his feet, carefully took off his dirty torn socks and began, smiling, to scratch Fedya’s heels. Fedya giggled, shuddering from the tickling.

“Get out,” he suddenly said. – You can’t scratch. You can not.

- Yes, I, Fedechka...

- Get out, they tell you. Scratching, scratching. There is no tenderness.

The people around nodded their heads sympathetically.

“I had a Jew at Kosoy, who was scratching.” That one, my brothers, was scratching. Engineer.

And Fedya plunged into memories of the Jew who was scratching his heels.

“Oh well,” said Fedya. - Can such people scratch? But, by the way, pick him up.

Platonov was brought out into the light.

“Hey, you, Ivan Ivanovich, fill the lamp,” Fedya ordered. - And at night you will put firewood in the stove. And in the morning - a parachute to the street. The orderly will show you where to pour...

Platonov remained silent obediently.

“For this,” Fedya explained, “you will receive a bowl of soup.” I don’t eat yushka anyway. Go sleep.

Platonov lay down in his old place. Almost all of the workers were sleeping, curled up in twos or threes - it was warmer that way.

“Oh, boredom, the nights are long,” said Fedya. “At least someone would press the novel.” Here I have it on Kosom...

- Fedya, and Fedya, and this new one... Would you like to try?

“And that,” Fedya perked up. - Lift him up.

Platonov was raised.

“Listen,” said Fedya, smiling almost ingratiatingly, “I got a little excited here.”

“Nothing,” Platonov said through clenched teeth.

- Listen, can you squeeze novels?

Fire flashed in Platonov’s dull eyes. Of course he couldn't. The entire cell of the pre-trial prison heard “Count Dracula” in his retelling. But there were people there. And here? To become a jester at the court of the Duke of Milan, a jester who was fed for a good joke and beaten for a bad one? There is, after all, another side to this matter. He will introduce them to real literature. He will be an educator. He will awaken in them an interest in the artistic word, and here, at the bottom of life, he will fulfill his work, his duty. Out of old habit, Platonov did not want to tell himself that he would simply be fed, that he would receive an extra soup not for taking out the bucket, but for other, more noble work. Is it noble? This is still closer to scratching the dirty heels of a thief than to enlightenment. But hunger, cold, beatings...

Fedya, smiling tensely, waited for an answer.

“I-I can,” Platonov said and smiled for the first time during this difficult day. - I can squeeze.

- Oh, my dear! - Fedya was amused. - Come on, get in here. You've got some bread. You'll have a better meal tomorrow. Sit here on the blanket. Light up.

Platonov, who had not smoked for a week, sucked on a cigarette butt with painful pleasure.

- What is your name?

“Andrey,” said Platonov.

- So, Andrei, that means something longer, more challenging. Like The Count of Monte Cristo. No need to talk about tractors.

– “Les Miserables”, maybe? – suggested Platonov.

– Is this about Jean Valjean? They squeezed this for me at Kosom.

– Then “Knaves of Hearts Club” or “Vampira”?

- Exactly. Give me jacks. Hush, you creatures... Platonov cleared his throat.

– In the city of St. Petersburg in one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, one mysterious crime was committed...

It was already dawn when Platonov finally became exhausted.

“This ends the first part,” he said.

“Well, great,” said Fedya. - How does he like her? Lie here with us. You won't have to sleep much - it's dawn. You'll sleep at work. Gain strength for the evening...

Platonov was already asleep.

They took me to work. A tall village guy, who had slept through yesterday's jacks, angrily pushed Platonov in the doorway.

- You bastard, go and have a look.

They immediately whispered something in his ear.

They were forming ranks when a tall guy approached Platonov.

“Don’t tell Fedya that I hit you.” I, brother, did not know that you were a novelist.

“I won’t tell,” Platonov replied.

Plan of an open lesson in the discipline “Literature”

Teacher Matveeva N.A.

05/24/2018, room. 218, group L-17-1

Lesson topic: “The theme of honor and human dignity in V. Shalamov’s story “The Snake Charmer”

Target: Study and analyze V. Shalamov’s story “The Snake Charmer.”

Tasks:

Educational :

To develop educational work skills: understanding the task, production
washing the progress of its implementation;

Provide control of knowledge and skills on the topic;

Learn to reason on a given topic, argue your point of view;

Educational:

Develop the ability to correctly formulate and express your thoughts;

Develop the ability to analyze literary text;

Develop the ability to accept and respect another person's point of view;

Develop public speaking skills

Educational:

To cultivate a love for Russian classical literature, to promote students’ awareness of its value for every person;

Foster a sense of justice and a desire to achieve it when necessary;

Cultivate responsibility for your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Type of lesson: combined

Methodical techniques: discussion, dramatization, reflection

Equipment: Projector, computer, notebooks, text of the work

Interdisciplinary connections: Russian language, psychology, history

Lesson content:

Organizing time

Teacher's readiness for lesson

Students' readiness for the lesson

Checking Absences

Acquaintance with facts from the biography of V. Shalamov

Analysis of new information

Correlating facts from the writer’s life with modern life

Analysis of a lyric work

Expressive reading of the poem “I am poor, lonely and naked”

Analysis of the poem

Studying the story "The Snake Charmer"

Listening to the beginning of the story (audio recording)

Viewing a dramatization prepared by students

Analysis of the characters in the story

Lexical work (drawing up a verbal portrait of the main character of Platonov’s story)

Analysis of the images of Fedechka and Masha

Discussion

Dividing the group into 2 teams, each of which proves a certain point of view

Written assignment

- written answer to a question

Reflection

Continue the sentence

Homework

Reading and analysis of A. Vampilov’s play “The Eldest Son”

Literature:

Esipov V.V. Varlam Shalamov and his contemporaries. - Vologda: Book Heritage, 2007. - 270 p. ISBN 978-5-86402-213-9

Shklovsky E. A. Varlam Shalamov. - M.: Knowledge, 1991. - 64 p. ISBN 5-07-002084-6

http://www.aif.ru/culture/person/zhizn_v_lageryah_za_chto_sazhali_varlama_shalamova

Summary of an open lesson in the discipline “Literature” on the topic:

Hello, please sit down.

Mark those who are absent.

Today we will get acquainted with the life and work of a man who became a writer and poet by the will of fate; life, one might say, forced him to tell his country the truth about one of the most terrible places a person can find himself in.

For what reasons or articles of the criminal code do you think people now end up in prison? (murder, theft, drugs, causing physical harm to health)

Today we will find out for what reasons Varlam Shalamov served his sentence.

But first

2 words Varlam Shalamov was born on June 5 (June 18), 1907 in Vologda in the family of priest Tikhon Nikolaevich Shalamov. Varlam Shalamov's mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna, was a housewife.

3 words In 1914 he entered the gymnasium, but completed his secondary education after the revolution. In 1924, after graduating from the Vologda second-level school, he came to Moscow and worked for two years as a tanner at a tannery in Kuntsevo.

4 words From 1926 to 1928 he studied at the Faculty of Soviet Law of Moscow State University.

Tell me, for what reasons are people expelled from higher and secondary specialized educational institutions now? (for omissions, tails, inappropriate behavior)

And Varlam Shalamov was expelled “for concealing his social origin” (he indicated that his father was disabled, without indicating that he was a priest). And, as you understand, in Soviet times this was a “terrible crime.”

Thus, Varlam Shalamov was unable to receive an education in a country in which freedom, equality and fraternity supposedly flourished.

Pay attention to the choice of specialty - "Soviet Law".

What does this mean? (the man was not indifferent to the fate of his country, his people, he wanted to study science designed to protect the rights of his citizens and fight injustice).

In his autobiographical story about his childhood and youth, “The Fourth Vologda,” Shalamov told how his beliefs developed, how his thirst for justice and his determination to fight for it strengthened. The Narodnaya Volya became his youthful ideal - the sacrifice of their feat, the heroism of resistance to the full might of the autocratic state. Already in childhood, the boy’s artistic talent is evident - he passionately reads and “plays” for himself all the books - from Dumas to Kant.

5 words First arrest (3 years)

On February 19, 1929, Shalamov was arrested for participation in an underground Trotskyist group and for distributing an addition to Lenin's Testament. Out of court, as a “socially harmful element,” he was sentenced to three years in forced labor camps.On February 19, 1929, Shalamov was arrested for the first time. He was not at all surprised by his arrest - he understood why. He was among those who actively disseminated Lenin’s testament, his famous “Letter to the Congress.”In this letter, Lenin pointed out the danger of concentrating power in the hands of Stalin - due to his human qualities. However, Ilyich also “did not favor other comrades” in the letter. However, this letter was kept silent at that time. After his arrest, Shalamov was sent to Butyrka prison, and then exiled to the Vishera camps for three years. Due to his youth, Shalamov reacted philosophically to his arrest. He perceived what was happening to him as a school of life that every writer needs to go through.

What role did the writer play in society in those distant times? (This was a person who was read, listened to, believed in, this was the voice of the people).Tell me, what kind of people in our time are “listened to” and respected? (bloggers, rappers, comedians). The difference is that now you can say anything and you don’t necessarily have to have any knowledge or talents. And even more so, not everyone knows and has experienced what they are talking about.

6 words Second arrest (5 years)

Returning in 1932, Shalamov seemed to have calmed down. He worked in magazines, wrote essays and stories. “The camp is a negative school from the first to the last day for anyone,” he wrote. It seemed that the cruel lesson had been learned. But Shalamov was not going to put up. After five years of “free floating,” in January 1937, the writer was again convicted of counter-revolutionary Trotskyist activities. The result is arrest andfive years of camps . He spent his second term in Kolyma. This test was especially difficult for him. He was repeatedly on the brink of death, and every now and then he found himself in a hospital bed, but he never gave up his beliefs. “From the first minute in prison, it was clear to me that there were no mistakes in the arrests, that there was a systematic extermination of an entire “social” group - everyone who remembered from Russian history of recent years something that should not have been remembered,” he recalled.

Do you think Shalamov did the right thing by continuing his activities? Wouldn’t it be more correct to think about your life, find a family and build your life according to a different, happy scenario?

7 words Third arrest

On June 22, 1943, he was again sentenced to ten years for anti-Soviet agitation, which, according to the writer himself, consisted of calling Bunin a Russian classic: “... I was sentenced to war for declaring that Bunin is a Russian classic.”

He was released when the war began. Shalamov understood that, despite the difficult military situation in the country, the authorities would not simply abandon him. Turned out to be right. Less than a year later he was sentenced for the third time - already to 10 years. The pretext was ridiculous: Shalamov publicly called Bunin a Russian classic. The authorities saw anti-Soviet propaganda in this statement and no longer stood on ceremony with the writer.Apparently, for insurance purposes, according to the accusations of E. B. Krivitsky and I. P. Zaslavsky, false witnesses in several other trials, of “praising Hitler’s weapons.”

Ivan Bunin did not support the revolution and was forced to leave the country to avoid repression.

Tell me, did Shalamov realize the danger of his statement? (Hardly. After all, he assessed the Writer’s work, which was far from politics, and not his views on the state structure). But again, his honesty and thirst for justice did not give him a choice.

8 words In 1951, Shalamov was released from the camp, but at first he could not return to Moscow. Since 1946, having completed an eight-month paramedic course, he began working at the Central Hospital for Prisoners on the left bank of the Kolyma in the village of Debin and on a forest “business trip” for lumberjacks until 1953. It saved his life. Shalamov owes his career as a paramedic to the doctor A. M. Pantyukhov, who personally recommended Shalamov for paramedic courses.

9 words Upon his release, Shalamov immersed himself in literature. Naturally, his works were based on the experience he gained in the camps.“I don’t know if I would have succeeded as a writer if it weren’t for those years of endless horror and humiliation I spent in the camps,” he said.

Now let's listen to contemporaries and people who knew Varlam Shalamov personally (video, 5 min.)

10 words

I'm poor, lonely and naked

I'm poor, lonely and naked
Devoid of fire.
Lilac polar darkness
Around me.

I trust the pale darkness
My poems.
She's barely on her mind
My sins.

And my bronchi are torn by frost
And his mouth tightens.
And, like stones, drops of tears
And frozen sweat.

I speak my poems
I scream them.
The trees are bare and deaf,
A little scary.

And only echoes from distant mountains
Sounds in my ears
And with full breasts it’s easy for me
Breathe again.

11 words - The last three years of Shalamov’s life were, in fact, also prison years. Being a seriously ill person suffering from dementia, he was placed in a Home for the Elderly and Disabled. He was deprived of the right not only to a dignified life, but also to a dignified death. On January 17, 1982, Shalamov died of pneumonia. About 150 people came to see him off on his final journey.

12 words V was openedasteroid main belt and named3408 Shalamov in honor of , Russian prose writer and poet, creator of a series of literary cycles about . Perhaps space is the only place where justice reigns and real stars, though not recognized on Earth, shine.

Remember, the most important thing: camp is a negative school from the first to the last day for anyone. The person - neither the boss nor the prisoner - needs to see him. But if you saw him, you must tell the truth, no matter how terrible it may be. For my part, I decided long ago that I would devote the rest of my life to this truth.

Perhaps the main work in the work of Varlam Shalamov was “Kolyma Stories,” which he wrote from 1954 to 1973. They were published as a separate publication in London in 1978. In the USSR they were mainly published only in 1988-1990.

Break

Audio recording (fragment of a story)

re-enactment

Drawing up a verbal portrait of Platonov

Let's select epithets for the hero of the story, Platonov. Name and write down adjectives that characterize this hero. How does he appear to us?

Was Platonov an enlightener or the same as Mashka? Why? (Entertained local authorities and served them). But you can entertain in different ways: by singing obscene ditties, for example. He instilled culture in them, introduced them to great literature. Or not?

Could Platonov refuse to read?

Analysis of the image of Masha.

? How do you assess Masha's behavior?

Why is he acting this way?

Did he have the opportunity to behave differently under these conditions?

Characteristics of Fedechka's image.

? Who is Fedechka?

Why did Fedechka smile almost ingratiatingly when he found out that Platonov could read novels, because 5 minutes ago he had threatened him?

Why didn’t he order to read, because he had power over everyone present. (Platonov was the only source of knowledge, and for thieves - entertainment. He was, one might say, the Internet, if translated into modern life).

Discussion.

And now I will ask you to divide into 2 teams.

Your task is to prove or disprove the statement, which can be called a proverb.“A hungry man can be forgiven a lot, a lot of things"

These are the words of the main character. (hand out papers). One argument at a time.

Thanks for your opinions.

Serving a sentence in prison is a difficult ordeal in itself, but Kolyma is a place where you had to survive, overcoming yourself every day, working almost 24 hours in the terrible cold.

Let's turn to the text of the story.

Tell me, what is the hardiest creature on earth? Maybe a horse? Car engine power is measured in horsepower.

Cars are never sent for firewood, and the horses are all kept in the stable due to illness. After all, a horse weakens much more quickly than a person, although the difference between its former life and its present one is, of course, immeasurably smaller than that of people. It often seems, and this is probably what it really is, that man rose from the animal kingdom and became a man, that is, a creature who could come up with such things as our islands with all the improbability of their life, because he was physically tougher than any animal. It was not the hand that humanized the monkey, not the embryo of the brain, not the soul - there are dogs and bears that act smarter and more morally than humans. And not by subjugating the power of fire - all this happened after the main condition of transformation was fulfilled. All other things being equal, at one time a person turned out to be much stronger and more resilient physically, only physically. He was as resilient as a cat - this saying is not true. It would be more correct to say about a cat - this creature is tenacious, like a person. The horse cannot stand a month of winter life here in a cold room with many hours of hard work in the cold. If it's not a Yakut horse. But they don’t work on Yakut horses. They, however, are not fed. They, like deer in winter, paw through the snow and pull out last year’s dry grass. But the man lives. Maybe he lives with hopes? But he has no hopes. If he is not a fool, he cannot live in hopes. That's why there are so many suicides.

But the sense of self-preservation, tenacity to life, physical tenacity, to which consciousness is also subject, saves him. He lives in the same way that a stone, a tree, a bird, a dog lives. But he clings to life more tightly than they do. And he is tougher than any animal.

So when people say, “I can’t stand this,” it’s not true.

As the hero of one famous Soviet film said: “Every person is capable of much, but not everyone knows WHAT he is capable of.” Remember this when you start to feel sorry for yourself and think that you are the worst in the world and you will not survive this.

Written answer to the question:

? What did I think about after studying the biography of Varlam Shalamov and the story “The Snake Charmer”?

Reflection

Continue the sentence:

- I realized that...

- I was thinking about...

- I understood how...

- I was able...

- I realized that...

- I concluded that I...

- It was interesting to me...

- It was difficult for me...

- I wanted...

- I had a desire...

Homework.

I would like to end our lesson with wordsSoviet engineer, doctor of technical sciences, professorYuri Shneider about Shalamov: “He never wrote anything against his conscience.”

I want to wish you never anything in your lifenot to do against conscience.

If an unusual incident happened to you, you saw a strange creature or an incomprehensible phenomenon, you had an unusual dream, you saw a UFO in the sky or became a victim of alien abduction, you can send us your story and it will be published on our website ===> .

Do you think the most dangerous profession in the world is a miner or a firefighter? No. In terms of injury rates and number of deaths, nothing compares to the profession of a snake charmer. But nevertheless, this mysterious art, which originated in the Ancient world, exists to this day.

To this day, a bearded Hindu in a turban sits in front of a wicker basket with his pipe to show people the miracle of man's power over the evil poisonous cobra.

Deadly

Dr. Hamilton Fairley, who was interested in this dangerous activity, followed the lives of 25 snake charmers over a 15-year period. During this time, 19 of them died from snake venom. Bertie Pierce, known to scientists and naturalists around the world, was the most famous among them. His main occupation was selling snakes for museums and milking snake venom to make anti-bite serum. And in his spare time, he entertained tourists who were going to gawk at his art. One day, a viper bit him on the hand when there was no serum nearby. So he decided to burn off the poison, and from then on the sleeve of his shirt hid the terrible scars.

And one day he went to his usual place, where he staged performances with snakes, when his assistant was absent due to illness. A small cobra bit him on the ankle - and bites to this place are always especially dangerous, since there are many small blood vessels there. Pierce received medical assistance, but this time it did not help. Before this, snakes had bitten him nine times.

You may ask why spellcasters don't "<до-ят» змей перед тем, как начать представление, Дело в том, что яд в специальном мешочке накапливается у пресмыкающихся достаточно быстро, А заставлять змей кусать кусочек ткани снова и снова, пока мешочек не опустеет, довольно кропотливое занятие. Конечно, заклинатель может совсем вырвать ядовитые зубы, но люди, которые по-настоящему гордятся своей работой, редко делают это. Такие змеи становятся вялыми, больными и живут недолго.

Can't snakes hear?

How does the performance usually take place? A fakir in a wide dokha, with a lush mustache and beard, crowned with a white turban, sits cross-legged in front of a wicker basket covered with a rag. The rods fit tightly together, so it is impossible to see what is inside.

Taking out a traditional pipe, half an arm long, from his sleeve, he undoes the string that is tied around the neck of the basket and carefully folds back the cloth. And from the depths of the prison a snake rises. Most often it is a cobra. She menacingly spreads her hood, but the enchanting trills that the caster extracts from the musical instrument make her obediently freeze in place. The snake seems to be moving after the flute, its unblinking cold eyes gaze intently at the instrument, She is fascinated by... What?

First of all, it is worth understanding the main thing: the hearing organs of reptiles are extremely poorly developed; generally, snakes are able to perceive only vibrations propagating along the ground or in water. They perceive the world around them completely differently. Then what makes them obey the fakirs?

And yet snakes do respond to high-pitched flute music. There is a theory that a certain vibration in the air strikes the scales of the skin or the tips of the ribs of the snake - much in the same way as the feet hit the ground when walking. So playing the flute excites the cobra rather than bewitches it.
Watch a snake charmer with his cobra baskets and you will see that he does not rely on his pipe when he needs to lure snakes out of there to start the show. He hits the basket lightly and then a snake appears.

Spellcasters do have true skill, but viewers rarely realize that what actually happens is not what they think. The swaying of the cobra to the rhythm of the music of the caster is nothing more than the snake’s attempts to follow the movements of the human hand. It is worth carefully studying the behavior of a snake charmer, and you will see the following: thoughtful movements of his hand and body seem to control the behavior of the snake. He approaches her slowly, always trying not to alarm the animal. And as soon as she shows signs of irritation, he puts her back in the basket and, to continue the performance, chooses another, more accommodating “artist.”

Secrets of mastery

The famous French journalist Andre Villers became interested in the secret of the snake spell. He shared his unique observations in his famous “Five Lessons on a Spell.”

He rented a room in the most expensive hotel in Benares, where wealthy tourists who came to see the wonders of the holy city of India settled. Next door, in the park, fakirs-charmers deftly laid out their equipment and, for ten rupees, took out a flute in order to lure their formidable pets out of round wicker baskets. There was everyone here - from the king cobra, whose bite causes almost instant death, to the boa constrictor, whose embrace also guarantees death - perhaps a little later.

Andre became the most diligent spectator of the fakir's performances. Soon he developed friendly relations with almost all the spellcasters. Like most Indians, they were very considerate of strangers. However, they immediately completely forgot English as soon as anyone moved on to detailed questions concerning the secrets of their craft.

Villers decided to start a conversation with the oldest and most authoritative fakir named Ram Dass. In it, he hinted that he was well aware that the flute did not play any role in the spell. The answer was only a polite smile.

The fakir did not want to answer the stranger’s questions for a long time. But he was persistent and charming. And ultimately, the journalist asked to conduct a “young fakir course” with him for a reasonable fee. After the traditional Eastern haggling, they agreed on a price of $25 for each lesson. It was a breakthrough. Before that, no European could even come close to this closed and mysterious group of professionals.

- What if a cobra bites me? - the journalist timidly asked.

The gods will not allow this. But even if this happens, we have our own medicines. Most likely you won't die.
Well, all that remained was to rely on the serum of the Pasteur Institute, but more on my own luck.

Spell Lessons

The first lesson was tough and scary. The fakir invited Andre to stretch his hands forward. Then he laid out several tiny snakes on them. These were small flower snakes - reptiles that are absolutely harmless and live in abundance throughout India. A kind of test of nerves. Ram Dass wanted to test how strong the man's spirit was. So that the fear of snakes does not blind the student and does not become a hindrance at a crucial moment.

The journalist endured all the trials with courage. Both the two-headed snake (a highly developed large earthworm) and the banana snake, the fastest and most agile snake of the Hindustan Peninsula, did not frighten him.
Villers realized another important point for himself: when a python was hung around his neck, which slowly but surely began to squeeze the rings and strangle him, and things took a serious turn, the caster took his flute out of his sleeve, and the python immediately released the steel grip of its deadly embrace - not only cobras, but also other snakes could be trained. Apparently, cobras simply looked more impressive.

The second lesson revealed all the secrets of spellcasting. Ram Dass brought with him a basket covered with a rag. Then he shook out a magnificent cobra more than two meters long. She perked up, unraveled her hood with a visible pattern and rushed at the trainer. He was on guard and hit the aggressor in the teeth with a flute. Cobra fell, but immediately rushed into the attack again, and it ended disastrously for her.

Time after time, the cobra showed its evil temper until it was completely exhausted and took flight. Not so! Ram Dass was in her way again, threatening her with his musical club. The dangerous game lasted about a quarter of an hour. The snake, receiving a cruel blow with each attempt to attack, lost its pugnacity and in the end, exhausted, darted into the basket.

Ram Dass, wiping away sweat, explained that the main thing is to break the will of the snake. Show her your strength. And the pipe should serve as a kind of stop signal. When the snake sees her, she instinctively knows that she will be punished if she tries to attack. It takes several weeks of hard training to achieve complete submission.

There are snakes that refuse to obey even after a course of punitive “flute therapy”. These are usually sent to the ring (another entertainment in India is fights between snakes and mongooses).

During the last lessons, the journalist himself learned to control the cobras, which had already been trained. And he even gave a small performance together with fakirs in front of the hotel where he lived. The spectacle attracted a lot of people. Still would. after all, no European had ever appeared before in the guise of a real snake charmer.

Vasily Amelkin

Municipal educational institution

Platoshin secondary school

Perm district of Perm region

Literature lesson notes

in 11th grade

The tragic fate of a person in a totalitarian state

prepared

teacher of Russian language and literature

Petrova Elena Ivanovna

Platoshino, 2014

Lesson topic:

… the fate of man in a totalitarian state

(based on the book by V.T. Shalamov “Kolyma Tales”)

Lesson objectives:

using the example of stories by V.T. Shalamov to find out what is the fate of a person in a totalitarian state;

try to find the answer to the question: “Can a person survive in extreme conditions and remain human?”

Board design:

Life in its depths, in its underground The currents have remained and will forever be the same - Thirsting for real truth, yearning for truth.

V. Shalamov - B. Pasternak

This is where the soul is buried before, Locking the body. V. Shalamov

Figure: Figure:

Prison tower Burning candle, entangled in thorny wire. Words: REPRESSION OF DEBT TOTALITARIANISM DIGNITY CONSCIENCE LOVE

(These words will appear on the board

at the end of the lesson, when they are

conclusions have been drawn)

Lesson topic message.

Name the keywords in the title of the lesson topic.

(Students name the words “state”, “person”).

We find out what is included in the concepts: “state”, “totalitarian state” (the words appear on the board: repression, totalitarianism). We come to the conclusion that the state is power, man is a piece people.

How these relationships are built (state - people), how they influence a person’s fate, let’s look at the example of the stories of V.T. Shalamov.

Student's message about the fate of V.T. Shalamov. (When preparing the message, the book by E.A. Shklovsky “Varlam Shalamov” was used).

Teacher's word:

Before us is the tragedy of a distorted life, the fate of one of the martyrs not of the enemy, but of their own concentration camps, and at the same time the one and onlyfate writer. Here is an excerpt from one of V. Shalamov’s letters to the famous writer and poet B. Pasternak. (Pay attention to the epigraph). Thisthe real truth the writer conveyed to us in his short stories. He lived to tell us what he and many millions of people had to experience.

The works of V. Shalamov can be called “an encyclopedia of Kolyma life.” Each has a name, but all are united in the cycle “Kolyma Stories”. This is not only a general name indicating the place of action, but also, according to the author, “a passionate narrative about the destruction of man,” about “the corruption of the mind and heart, when the vast majority becomes clearer day by day that it is possible, it turns out, to live without meat, no sugar, no clothes, no shoes, and also without honor, without conscience, without love, without duty.”

It turns out to be the majority, but was this discovery perceived as the norm?

GULAG is the main administration of the camps. State within a state. A whole system of physical and moral destruction of people was created in the camp.

In his book, V. Shalamov writes: “The worst thing was the cold. After all, only frost above 55 degrees was activated. We caught this 56 degrees Celsius, which was determined by the spit that got cold on the fly. Hunger is the second force that destroys man; in 2 weeks the person “arrived”. The third force is the absence of force. They are not allowed to sleep, the working day is 14 hours (order in 1938). Beating is the fourth force. Everyone beats the goner: the convoy, the orderly, the brigadier, the thug, the company commander. You become a stalwart when you become weak due to backbreaking labor, no sleep, hard work in 50-degree weather.”

(Students are explained the meaning of the word “blatar”, often used in Shalamov’s stories).

The idea of life in Kolyma is based on real cases:

“A fugitive who was caught in the taiga and shot by “operatives.” They cut off both hands so as not to transport the corpse several miles away to print. And the fugitive got up and trudged to our hut.”

“The gate of the adit opening. The log with which the gate is turned, and the seven exhausted people walk in a circle instead of a horse. And there’s a guard at the fire.”

The most difficult fate befell the people convicted under Article 58 (political prisoner, “enemy of the people”).

Formulation of the problem:

Can a person withstand extreme conditions and remain human? – This is the main question to which we will try to find an answer.

Analysis of the story “To the Show” (1956)

Let's find out the meaning of the story's title.

What artistic means does the author use to show us the life of prisoners?

Description of the barracks : “In the right corner of the barracks, on the lower bunks, multi-colored cotton blankets were spread out. In the corner post there is a burning “stick” fastened with wire - a homemade light bulb powered by gasoline steam.” “There was a dirty down pillow on top of the blankets.”.

V. Shalamov talks in detail about the production of prison cards. This is a whole science!

Let's compare portrait characteristics playing cards:

Sevochka– “a dirty hand with thin, white, non-working fingers. The nail of the little finger was of supernatural size - also a criminal chic.", "sticky and dirty blonde hair", “low forehead without a single wrinkle, yellow eyebrow bushes, bow-shaped mouth” – all this gave his physiognomy an important quality of a thief’s appearance—invisibility.”. Sharpie.

Naumov– “a black-haired fellow with a pained expression of black, deeply sunken eyes”, railway thief.

We come to the conclusion that Sevochka is the “master” of the situation. This is evidenced by author's characteristics character lines:

Sevochka:“... muttered through his teeth... with endless contempt...”

"...said firmly"

“...said vividly”

Naumov:"...there was a loud, verbose swearing..."

“... Naumov said hoarsely”

“... Naumov shouted”

“..said ingratiatingly...”

What “thought flashed in Naumov’s brain”?

Naumov decided to play on the things of Garkunov, a textile engineer who was sent to Kolyma under Article 58 as an enemy of the people. His words sound cynical: “Come on, take it off.”

How can one explain Naumov’s behavior: he just humiliatingly fawned over Sevochka, and now he is humiliating Garkunov?

What does a sweater mean to him?

(This is a thread connecting him with his former life, giving him hope to survive).

The thread turned out to be thin, like a defenseless human life, a toy in the hands of non-humans. In one paragraph - the fate of a person, his past, present and future. This is the skill of Shalamov, the writer.)

Which lines particularly shocked you?

(“Sashka stretched the dead man’s arms, tore his undershirt and pulled the sweater over his head. The sweater was red, and the blood on it was barely noticeable. Sevochka carefully, so as not to stain his fingers, folded the sweater into a plywood suitcase.” The attitude towards a person is shocking. Death is perceived as a common occurrence that has lost its tragedy).

Garkunov was killed. Will the killer be punished?

Let's look at the beginning of the story: “We played cards at Naumov’s horse-driver’s. The guards on duty never looked into the barracks of the horsemen, rightly believing that their main service was monitoring those convicted under the fifty-eighth article. Horses, as a rule, were not trusted by counter-revolutionaries.”

What did this story make you think about?

Teacher's word:

The next story is also about the power of “thieves” over “enemies of the people.”

Reference: “the thieves, a work refuser, the eternal enemy of any state, suddenly turns into a friend of the state, into an object of reforging”(“Kolyma Tales”). For a high percentage of output, these prisoners (thieves, murderers...) were released from prison. It turned out that “friends of the people,” which are repeat offenders, officially fulfill the 300% norm and are subject to early release. And 300% is someone else's blood. Anyone convicted of a domestic crime knew that his crime was not at all considered a crime in the camp. On the contrary, the imprisoned murderer feels the support of the state - after all, he is a “domestic worker” and not an enemy of the people.

The state entrusted the “friends” of the people with the re-education of those who ended up in Kolyma under Article 58.

Analysis of the story “The Snake Charmer” (1954)

What is this story about?

Based on the writer’s word, let’s imagine one day in the life of prisoner Platonov.

“The end of work is not the end of work at all. After the beep, it was necessary to collect the tool, take it to the storeroom, hand it over, line up and go five kilometers into the forest for firewood.” The impression of hopelessness is created, it seems that there will never be rest for the tired body. Platonov reflects on human endurance: “A horse cannot stand living here for a month in a cold room with long hours of work in the cold... But a person lives...”.

Why?

We find the answer to this question in Platonov’s thoughts: "...he is clinging to life."

Why doesn’t Platonov manage to relax in the barracks after a hard day?

Read Platonov’s conversation with Fedechka. What's amazing?

As in the previous story, Fedechka is a thief, the master of the situation.

Fedechka calls Platonov Ivan Ivanovich, for him people like Platonov are Ivan Ivanovichs, by this he depersonalizes people, for him they are creatures: “Go, creature. Go, lie down by the bucket. Your place will be there. If you scream, we’ll strangle you...” This is what is amazing.

Shalamov uses a diminutive suffix in his name. This is the author's irony.

What feeling does Platonov have?

Does he have a way out?

The fate of the only literate person at the mine is terrible. He is forced to retell Dumas and Conan Doyle to the thieves... For this they feed him and clothe him. This is also humiliation for the sake of a bowl of “soup” that Fedechka will give him, because he doesn’t eat soup.

“A hungry man can be forgiven a lot, a lot.”

What about you guys?

What is the meaning of the story's title? Was Platonov successful in his role as a snake charmer?

Teacher's word:

The Gulag archipelago appears as a terrible, insatiable monster. Almost every story by V. Shalamov involves death.

The story became such a resounding slap in the face "Tombstone word".

Expressive reading by a student of a fragment of a story.

- What moved you about this story?

The lines are especially striking:

“And I,” and his (Volodya Dobrovoltsev’s) voice was calm and unhurried, “I would like to be a stump. A human stump, you know, without arms, without legs. Then I would find the strength to spit in their faces for everything they do to us...”

Against the background of music, the student reads a poem by V. Shalamov:

Roll away this gray stone, blocking the way, And go deep into the cave Look at my suffering.
Chained to a rock with a rusty chain And looking like a dead man This pain is centuries old There is no end in sight.
Our destinies are simple masks That one, great destiny. Tales of the one who, fearing publicity, Slaves chained to the wall.
Lesson summary: - Can a person survive in extreme conditions and remain human? Students pay attention to the words of V. Shalamov: “Here they bury the soul first, locking the body.” - What gives a person strength?The words appear on the board: duty, love, patience, dignity, conscience. - There is a question mark before the title of the lesson topic. So what is the fate of a person in a totalitarian state?- What is its tragedy?
Homework: essay “My reflections after the lesson.”

List of used literature

1. From “Kolyma notebooks”, (1937-1956): Poems // Banner. 1993. No. 1.

2. “Conversations about the most important things...”: Correspondence between B. L. Pasternak and V. T. Shalamov / Publ., intro. word and comment. I. Sirotinskaya // Youth. 1988. No. 10.

3. Shalamov V.T. Kolyma stories / Publ. I. Sirotinskaya // Youth. 1988. No. 10.

4. Shklovsky E.A. "Varlam Shalamov." - M.: Knowledge, 1991

Varlam Shalamov

Snake charmer

- How long were you on the Dzhanhar?

“A year,” Platonov said quietly. His eyes narrowed, the wrinkles became more pronounced - in front of me was another Platonov, ten years older than the first.

– However, it was difficult only for the first time, two or three months. There are only thieves there. I was the only... literate person there. I told them, “squeezed novels,” as they say in thieves’ jargon, I told them about Dumas, Conan Doyle, and Wallace in the evenings. For this they fed me, clothed me, and I worked little. You probably also used this one advantage of literacy here at one time?

“No,” I said, “no.” It always seemed to me like the final humiliation, the end. I never told a novel for soup. But I know what it is. I heard "novelists".

– Is this a condemnation? - said Platonov.

“Not at all,” I answered. – A hungry man can be forgiven a lot, a lot.

- Good. We just have to survive. That's the main thing.

I loved Platonov, and now I will try to write his story “The Snake Charmer.”

“Everyone will disperse,” Platonov thought, “and I’ll go to bed.” He dozed off.

The game above is over. A black-haired man with a mustache and a large nail on his left little finger rolled over to the edge of the bunk.

“Come on, call this Ivan Ivanovich,” he said.

A push in the back woke up Platonov.

– You... Your name is.

- Well, where is he, this Ivan Ivanovich? - they called from the upper bunks.

“I’m not Ivan Ivanovich,” said Platonov, squinting.

- He’s not coming, Fedechka.

- Why doesn’t it work?

Platonov was pushed towards the light.

- Do you think of living? – Fedya asked him quietly, twirling his little finger with a dirty nail polished in front of Platonov’s eyes.

“I think,” Platonov answered.

A strong blow to the face knocked him down. Platonov stood up and wiped the blood with his sleeve.

“You can’t answer like that,” Fedya explained affectionately. – Ivan Ivanovich, was that how you were taught to answer at the institute?

Platonov was silent.

“Go, creature,” said Fedya. - Go and lie down by the bucket. Your place will be there. If you scream, we will strangle you.

This was not an empty threat. Twice before Platonov’s eyes they strangled people with a towel - according to some of their thieves’ accounts. Platonov lay down on the wet, stinking boards.

“Boring, brothers,” said Fedya, yawning, “at least someone would scratch his heels or something...

- Mashka, Mashka, go scratch Fedya’s heels. Mashka, a pale, handsome boy, a little crow of about eighteen, emerged into the streak of light.

He took Fedya’s worn yellow low shoes off his feet, carefully took off his dirty torn socks and began, smiling, to scratch Fedya’s heels. Fedya giggled, shuddering from the tickling.

“Get out,” he suddenly said. – You can’t scratch. You can not.

- Yes, I, Fedechka...

- Get out, they tell you. Scratching, scratching. There is no tenderness.

The people around nodded their heads sympathetically.

“I had a Jew at Kosoy, who was scratching.” That one, my brothers, was scratching. Engineer.

And Fedya plunged into memories of the Jew who was scratching his heels.

“Oh well,” said Fedya. - Can such people scratch? But, by the way, pick him up.

Platonov was brought out into the light.

Platonov remained silent obediently.

“For this,” Fedya explained, “you will receive a bowl of soup.” I don’t eat yushka anyway. Go sleep.

Platonov lay down in his old place. Almost all of the workers were sleeping, curled up in twos or threes - it was warmer that way.

“Oh, boredom, the nights are long,” said Fedya. “At least someone would press the novel.” Here I have it on Kosom...

- Fedya, and Fedya, and this new one... Would you like to try?

“And that,” Fedya perked up. - Lift him up.

Platonov was raised.

“Listen,” said Fedya, smiling almost ingratiatingly, “I got a little excited here.”

“Nothing,” Platonov said through clenched teeth.

- Listen, can you squeeze novels?