Saltykov Shchedrin summary. Other biography options

05.09.2018

In this work, which one cannot dare to call a fairy tale, the narrative turned out to be too sad, Saltykov-Shchedrin describes the life of a peasant horse, Konyaga. Symbolically, the image of Konyaga refers to peasants, whose work is just as exhausting and hopeless. The text can be used for reader's diary, shorten it a little more if necessary.

The tale begins with Konyaga lying by the road after plowing a difficult rocky strip and dozing. His owner gave him a break so that the animal could eat, but Konyaga no longer had the strength to eat.

The following is a description of Konyaga: an ordinary work horse, tortured, with a matted mane, sore eyes, broken legs and burnt shoulders, very thin - the ribs stick out. The horse works from morning to evening - it plows in the summer, and in the winter it delivers goods for sale - “it carries goods.”

They feed and care for him poorly, so he has nowhere to gain strength. While in summer you can still pluck grass, in winter Konyaga feeds only on rotten straw. Therefore, by spring he is completely exhausted; to work in the field, he has to be lifted with the help of poles.

But still, Konyaga was lucky with his owner - he is a kind man and in vain “doesn’t hurt him.” They both work until exhaustion: “they will walk a furrow from end to end - and both tremble: here it is, death, has come!”

Next, Saltykov-Shchedrin describes a peasant settlement - in the center narrow road(country road) that connects villages, and along the edges there are endless fields. The author compares the fields with a motionless bulk, within which there should be a fabulous power, as if imprisoned. And no one can free this power, since after all, this is not a work of fairy tales, but real life. Although the man and Konyaga struggle with this task all their lives, the strength is not released, and the man’s bonds do not fall away, and Konyaga’s shoulders do not heal.

Now Konyaga is lying in the sun and suffering from the heat. Flies and gadflies bite him, everything inside hurts, but he cannot complain. “And God denied this joy to the dumb animal.” And rest for him is not rest at all, but agony; and sleep is not a dream, but an incoherent “khmara” (this word symbolically means oblivion, but in fact in Old Russian it meant cloud, cloud, fog).

Konyaga has no choice, the field in which he works is endless, although he radiated it in all directions. For people, the field is space and “poetry,” but for our heroes it is bondage. And nature for Konyaga is not a mother, but a torturer - the hot rays of the sun scorch mercilessly, frost, wind and other manifestations of the natural elements also torment him. All he can feel is pain and fatigue.

It's made for hard work, this is the meaning of its existence. There is no end to his work, so he is given food and rest exactly at the level so that he can still somehow continue to live and can work physically.

Idle dancers pass by him, lying and exhausted - this is what the author calls horses that have a different fate. Although they are brothers, Konyaga was born rude and insensitive, and Pustoplyas, on the contrary, sensitive and courteous. And therefore old horse, their father, ordered that Konyaga work, eat only rotten straw and drink from a dirty puddle, and the other son was always in a warm stall, on soft straw and ate oats. As you might guess, in the image of idle dancers Saltykov-Shchedrin portrays other strata of society - nobles and landowners who do not need to work so hard.

Later in the tale, the empty dancers discuss Konyaga, talk about the reasons for his immortality - although they beat him mercilessly, and he works without rest, for some reason he still lives. The first empty dancer believes that from work Konyaga has developed common sense, from which he simply resigned himself. The second considers Konyaga to be the bearer of the life of the spirit and the spirit of life. These two spiritual treasures supposedly make the horse invulnerable. The third says that Konyaga found meaning in his work, but idle dancers have long lost such meaning. The fourth believes that the horse has long gotten used to pulling its strap, although there is barely a glimmer of life in it, but you can always cheer it up with a whip. And there are many such Horses, they are all the same, use their work as much as you like, they will not go anywhere.

But their argument is interrupted interesting place— the man wakes up, and his shout wakes up Konyaga. And then the empty dancers burst into delight, admire how the animal is trying to rise, and even advise learning from it. “B-but, convict, b-but!” - the fairy tale ends with these words.

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was born on January 15 (27), 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province, into an old noble family. Elementary education future writer received at home - a serf painter, a sister, a priest, and a governess worked with him. In 1836, Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the Moscow Noble Institute, and from 1838 at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

Military service. Link to Vyatka

In 1845, Mikhail Evgrafovich graduated from the lyceum and entered service in the military chancellery. At this time, the writer became interested in the French socialists and George Sand, and created a number of notes and stories (“Contradiction”, “An Entangled Affair”).

In 1848, in a short biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, a long period of exile began - he was sent to Vyatka for freethinking. The writer lived there for eight years, first serving as a clerical official, and then was appointed adviser to the provincial government. Mikhail Evgrafovich often went on business trips, during which he collected information about provincial life for your works.

Government activities. Mature creativity

Returning from exile in 1855, Saltykov-Shchedrin entered service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1856-1857 his “Provincial Sketches” were published. In 1858, Mikhail Evgrafovich was appointed vice-governor of Ryazan, and then Tver. At the same time, the writer was published in the magazines “Russian Bulletin”, “Sovremennik”, “Library for Reading”.

In 1862, Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose biography was previously associated more with career than with creativity, left public service. Stopping in St. Petersburg, the writer gets a job as an editor at Sovremennik magazine. Soon his collections “Innocent Stories” and “Satires in Prose” will be published.

In 1864, Saltykov-Shchedrin returned to service, taking the position of manager of the treasury chamber in Penza, and then in Tula and Ryazan.

The last years of the writer's life

Since 1868, Mikhail Evgrafovich retired and was actively involved in literary activity. In the same year, the writer became one of the editors of Otechestvennye Zapiski, and after the death of Nikolai Nekrasov, he took the post of executive editor of the magazine. In 1869 - 1870, Saltykov-Shchedrin created one of his most famous works - “The History of a City” (summary), in which he raises the topic of relations between the people and the authorities. Soon the collections “Signs of the Times”, “Letters from the Province”, and the novel “The Golovlev Gentlemen” will be published.

In 1884, Otechestvennye zapiski was closed, and the writer began to publish in the journal Vestnik Evropy.

IN last years Saltykov-Shchedrin's creativity reaches its climax in the grotesque. The writer publishes the collections “Fairy Tales” (1882 – 1886), “Little Things in Life” (1886 – 1887), “Peshekhonskaya Antiquity” (1887 – 1889).

Mikhail Evgrafovich died on May 10 (April 28), 1889 in St. Petersburg, and was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery.

Chronological table

Other biography options

While studying at the Lyceum, Saltykov-Shchedrin published his first poems, but quickly became disillusioned with poetry and left this activity forever.
Mikhail Evgrafovich made it popular literary genre a social-satirical tale aimed at exposing human vices.
The exile to Vyatka became a turning point in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s personal life - there he met his future wife E. A. Boltina, with whom he lived for 33 years.
While in exile in Vyatka, the writer translated the works of Tocqueville, Vivien, Cheruel, and took notes on Beccari’s book.
In accordance with the request in his will, Saltykov-Shchedrin was buried next to the grave of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.

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Satirical tale " The wise minnow» (« The wise minnow") was written in 1882 - 1883. The work was included in the cycle “Fairy Tales for Children of considerable age" In Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, cowardly people are ridiculed who live their whole lives in fear, having never done anything useful.

Main characters

The wise minnow- “enlightened, moderate liberal”, lived more than a hundred years in fear and loneliness.

Father and mother of the gudgeon

“Once upon a time there was a minnow. Both his father and mother were smart." Dying, the old minnow taught his son to “look both ways.” The wise minnow realized that there were dangers lurking around him - a large fish could swallow him, a crayfish could be cut with his claws, a water flea could torment him. The minnow was especially afraid of people - his father once almost hit him in the ear.

Therefore, the minnow hollowed out a hole for itself, into which only he could get. At night, when everyone was sleeping, he went out for a walk, and during the day, “he sat in the hole and trembled.” He didn't sleep enough, didn't eat enough, but avoided danger.

Once a gudgeon dreamed that he had won two hundred thousand, but when he woke up, he discovered that half his head had “sticked out” from the hole. Almost every day danger awaited him at the hole and, having avoided another, he exclaimed with relief: “Thank you, Lord, he’s alive!” "

Fearing everything in the world, the minnow did not marry and had no children. He believed that before, “the pikes were kinder and the perches didn’t bother with us small fry,” so his father could still afford a family, and he “would just have to live on his own.”

The wise minnow lived in this way for more than a hundred years. He had neither friends nor relatives. “He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls.” The pikes had already begun to praise him, hoping that the minnow would listen to them and get out of the hole.

“How many years have passed since the hundred years is unknown, only the wise minnow began to die.” Reflecting on own life, the gudgeon understands that he is “useless” and if everyone lived like this, then “the entire gudgeon family would have died out long ago.” He decided to crawl out of the hole and “swim like a goldeneye all over the river,” but again he got scared and trembled.

Fish swam past his hole, but no one was interested in how he lived to be a hundred years old. And no one called him wise - only a “dumb,” “a fool and a disgrace.”

The gudgeon falls into oblivion and then again he has an old dream about how he won two hundred thousand, and even “grew by a whole half a larshin and swallows the pike himself.” In a dream, a minnow accidentally fell out of a hole and suddenly disappeared. Perhaps the pike swallowed him, but “most likely he himself died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and a wise one at that?” .

Conclusion

In the fairy tale “The Wise Piskar” Saltykov-Shchedrin reflected contemporary social phenomenon, common among the intelligentsia, who were concerned only with their own survival. Despite the fact that the work was written more than a hundred years ago, it does not lose its relevance today.

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Retelling rating

Average rating: 4 . Total ratings received: 1261.

The main character of this work is a stupid and rich landowner, whose fate and character flaws are described by the author. In addition to the landowner, special attention in the tale is paid to the landowner's servants. Minor characters the works are Mitka (the landowner's servant), the landowner's neighbors, peasant friends, a mouse living in the landowner's house. Also during the narration, the author mentions the fictional hero Urus Kuchum Kildirbaev.
The main character of the work is an uneducated, flattering, self-righteous and deceitful person. He calls himself the support of the Russian state. Its main advantage is the presence title of nobility, which he boasts of in front of the first acquaintance he comes across. Like Oblomov in novel of the same name Goncharov, the landowner spends his life in meaningless conversations with men, in pleasure and idleness. The goal of the landowner's life comes down to one thing - a pleasant pastime, so that his “soft, white and crumbly” body does not get tired of everyday worries.
The landowner communicates only with his men, the peasants who are in his service. At the same time, he is afraid of them and cannot stand “common people.” The work describes how all the peasant people instantly disappeared from the landowner's yard. The landowner is glad to get rid of the annoying men, but soon realizes that he is unable to live without them. The short-sightedness and stupidity of the main character is shown with exaggeration; in each part of the story the author makes references to the stupid actions of the landowner.
It is worth noting that the peasants themselves consider their master to be uneducated, a narrow-minded, stupid hereditary nobleman. In the legend, the peasants call the landowner stupid three times (the author uses the principle of triple repetition). Everyone who knows the landowner notes his stupidity and incorrect approach to farming, but the hero himself does not notice this and leads a riotous lifestyle, indulging in unrealistic dreams.

The cloudless life of a landowner

Prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev, an average landowner - moderately rich and very stupid. He lives a serene life, spending his days playing solitaire, playing card debates, and reading the local newspaper "Vest". Once, having nothing to do, the landowner asked to rid him of the annoying peasant men. But God was much smarter than the prince and did not “hear” his requests. Reading the newspaper, the landowner began to look for ways to fine the peasants. And the life of the peasants became so difficult that they prayed to God - God heard them and delivered the landowner from the peasants.

An estate without peasants

The landowner was delighted that in one day all the men disappeared from his property. But everyone comes and calls him a fool. I tried to play solitaire and won (from which I concluded that I was not stupid at all). And the landowner began to indulge in dreams of how to turn his farm into a large estate. The landowner dreamed and dreamed - but the garden was overgrown, he was tormented by hunger and all the livestock ran away.

One day the police officer came to the landowner and saw that everything was abandoned, the cattle were not fed, there was no meat or bread at the market, and the landowner was not going to pay taxes. The prince was afraid that his estate might be taken away for debts, but he did not give up his dreams. The landowner slowly began to go wild - he stopped washing and cutting his hair, began hunting birds and hares, and began talking to the bear.

The return of the men

When the provincial authorities found out about the disappearance of the peasants, they began to look around the world for men. At that time, a bunch of men were flying over the city. The men were lowered to the ground and taken to the landowner to be brought back to life.

The first thing the men did was take the newspaper “Vest” from the landowner so that he would no longer dream of exorbitant fines and German cars. The men quickly put the household in order, and the prince was washed and re-taught how to play solitaire.

Test on the fairy tale The Wild Landowner

Konyaga’s life is not easy; all she has is hard everyday work. That work is tantamount to hard labor, but for Konyaga and the owner, this work is the only opportunity to earn a living. True, I was lucky with the owner: the man doesn’t hit in vain, when it’s really hard, he supports him with a shout. He releases the skinny horse to graze in the field, but Konyaga takes this time to rest and sleep, despite the painful stinging insects.

For everyone, nature is a mother, for him alone she is a scourge and torture. Every manifestation of her life is reflected in him as torment, every flowering is reflected in him as poison.

His relatives pass by the dozing Konyaga. One of them, Pustoplyas, is his brother. The horse's father prepared a hard fate for his uncouthness, and the polite and respectful Pustoplyas is always in a warm stall, feeding not on straw, but on oats.

Empty Dancer looks at Konyaga and marvels: nothing can penetrate him. It would seem that Konyaga’s life should already end from such work and food, but no, Konyaga continues to pull the heavy yoke that has befallen him.

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Brief summary of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “Horse”