Examples of satirical devices in the history of one city. Satirical techniques of Saltykov-Shchedrin: “The History of a City”, “Gentlemen Golovlevs. Satirical techniques of Saltykov-Shchedrin: “The History of a City”, “Gentlemen Golovlevs”

June 21 2011

Shchedrin tells us the history of the city of Foolov, what happened in it for about a hundred years. Moreover, he focuses on the mayors, since it was they who expressed the vices of city government. In advance, even before the start of the main part of the work, an “inventory” of mayors is given. The word “inventory” is usually referred to things, so Shchedrin uses it deliberately, as if emphasizing the inanimate nature of the mayors, who are the key images in each chapter.

The essence of each of the mayors can be imagined even after a simple description of their appearance. For example, the tenacity and cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev are expressed in his “wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile.” The more peaceful Pimple, on the contrary, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips,” “his gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.”

Images are formed in the reader’s imagination with the help of such artistic techniques as hyperbole, metaphor, allegory, etc. Even facts of reality acquire fantastic features. Shchedrin deliberately uses this technique to enhance the feeling of an invisible connection with the true state of affairs in feudal Russia.

Written in the form of chronicles. Some parts, which, according to the author’s intention, are considered found documents, are written in heavy clerical language, and in the chronicler’s address to the reader there are colloquialisms, proverbs, and sayings. The confusion in dates and the anachronisms and allusions often made by the chronicler (for example, references to Herzen and Ogarev) enhance the comedy.

Shchedrin most fully introduces us to the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev. There is a clear analogy with reality here: the surname of the mayor is similar in sound to the surname of the famous reformer Arakcheev. In the description of Gloomy-Burcheev there is less comic, and more mystical, terrifying. Using satirical means, Shchedrin endowed him with a large number of the most “bright” vices. And it is no coincidence that the story ends with a description of the reign of this mayor. According to Shchedrin, “history has stopped flowing.”

“The History of a City” is certainly an outstanding work; it is written in colorful, grotesque language and figuratively denounces the bureaucratic state. “History” has still not lost its relevance, because, unfortunately, we still meet people like Foolov’s mayors.

“History” itself is built by the creator in a deliberately illogical and inconsistent manner. The great satirist prefaced the main content with an appeal from the publisher (in the role of which he himself acts) and an appeal to the readers of the supposedly last Foolov archivist. The inventory of city governors, which supposedly gives the book a historiographical nature and a special meaning, consists of 21 names (from the pasta-traitor Clement to Major Interkhvat-Zalikhvatsky, who burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences). In the “History” itself, attention to the people in charge is clearly unequal: some (Benevolensky, Brudasty, Wartkin, Gloomy-Burcheev) are devoted to many literary pages, others (Mikeladze, Du-Chario) were less fortunate. This can be seen in the structure of “History”; three introductory sections, one final Appendix (Supporting documents containing the city's thinking and legislative exercises) and a total of 5 main sections for the narration of the exploits of 21 rulers.

There has never been a city called “Fool” in the Russian Empire, no one has met such outlandish, implausible bosses (with a stuffed head, like Ivan Panteleevich Pryshch).

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin showed himself to be a brilliant connoisseur of Aesopian language, putting it into a supposedly chronicle form (the city's successes cover about a century, and the years of rule are indicated, albeit approximately). This parody of presentation allowed the writer to talk about modernity and denounce officials without causing censorship interference or the wrath of his superiors. It’s not for nothing that Shchedrin himself called himself “a student of the censorship department.” Of course, the intelligent reader guessed the surrounding environment behind Foolov’s ugly paintings. The power of Shchedrin’s satirical denunciation of the reactionary foundations on which Russian monarchical power rested was so powerful that the grotesque and fantastic images of the book were perceived as the most truthful depiction of life.

Consider, for example, the description of the causes of death of the mayors: Ferapontov was torn to pieces by dogs; Lamvrokakis is eaten by bedbugs; A cormorant is broken in half by a storm; Ferdyshchenko died from overeating; Ivanov - trying to comprehend the Senate Decree; Mikeladze - from exhaustion, etc.

In “History” Shchedrin skillfully uses satirical hyperbole: the facts of true reality take on fantastic shapes in him, which allows the satirist to most clearly reveal one side or another. But he does not avoid realistic sketches. Thus, the fire in the Pushkarskaya settlement of the “straw city” is described very naturalistically: “one could see people swarming in the distance, and it seemed that they were unconsciously milling around in one place, and not rushing about in melancholy and despair. One could see scraps of lit straw, torn from the roofs by the whirlwind, circling in the air. Gradually, one after another, the wooden buildings were occupied and seemed to melt away.”

The chronicle of city government is written in a colorful, but also complex language. It also widely uses the stupid bureaucratic style: “let everyone bake pies on holidays, without forbidding themselves from such cookies on weekdays” (Charter on respectable baking of pies - performed by Benevolensky). There is also an old Slavic speech: “I want to tickle the Foolovites, who are dear to me, by showing the world their glorious deeds and the good root from which this famous tree grew and stole the whole earth with its branches.” There was a place and time for popular sayings: “But I’m telling you a word: it’s better... to sit at home with the truth than to bring trouble upon yourself” (Ferdyshchenko).

The portrait gallery of Shchedrin’s “favorites” - Foolov’s mayors - is immediately and strongly remembered. One after another they pass before the reader, absurd and disgusting in their cruelty, stupidity, and malicious hatred of the people. Here are Brigadier Ferdyshchenko, who starved the Foolovites, and his successor Borodavkin, who burned thirty-three villages in order “with the help of these measures” to collect arrears of two rubles and a half, and Major Perekhuvat-Zalikhvatsky, who abolished science in the city, and Theophylact Benevolensky, possessed passion for writing laws (already on the benches of the seminary he wrote several wonderful laws, among which the most famous are the following: “let every one have a contrite heart,” “let every soul tremble,” “let every cricket know the pole corresponding to its rank”).

It is in the description of the main characters that M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin uses a wide variety of artistic means. Thus, the extreme cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev is recorded “in a wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile,” with a “narrow and sloping forehead,” sunken eyes and developed jaws, ready to “crush or bite in half.” On the contrary, the liberal-minded Pimple, the mayor with a stuffed head, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips, from behind which a row of white teeth showed; His gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.” External characteristics are similar to their psychological images: the ferocious Bruddety, aka Organchik, does not look like a native of France, the aristocrat Du-Chariot, having fun in pleasures and entertainment, but “Karamzin’s friend” Grust-tilov, distinguished by “tenderness and sensitivity heart”, is no less far from the “fantastic traveler foreman Ferdyshchenko...

The townspeople and people in “History” evoke an ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, according to the author himself, they are characterized by two things: “the usual Foolovian enthusiasm and the ordinary Foolovian frivolity.” It's scary to live in the city of Foolov. causes laughter, but not cheerful, but bitter and gloomy. The writer himself said that he was counting “on arousing in the reader a bitter feeling, and not at all a cheerful disposition.” It’s scary not only because it is ruled by limited officials “appointed by the Russian government.” It is scary that people endure their misfortunes meekly and patiently.

However, this silent, painful reproach of the writer did not at all mean mockery of the people. Shchedrin loved his contemporaries: “All my works,” he later wrote, “are full of sympathy.” The deep meaning of “The History of a City” lies not only in the images of the mayors, brilliant in their accusatory power, but also in that general characteristic of the Foolovites, which inevitably suggested the future awakening of the people suppressed by the power. The great satirist calls for the inner life of Russian cities like Foolov to once break out and become bright and worthy of a person. It is no coincidence that the “historical” chronicle ends with the flight of the last mayor; Ug-ryum-Burcheev disappeared, “as if melting into air.” The powerful movement of the true history of mankind was unable to restrain the authorities for another century: “the river did not subside. As before, it flowed, breathed, gurgled and wriggled...”

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Essay text:

M. E. Salykov-Shchedrin is one of the most famous literary satirists of the 19th century. The novel The History of a City is the pinnacle of his artistic creativity. Despite the name, behind the image of the city of Glupoza lies an entire country, namely Russia. Thus, in figurative form, Salgykov-Shchedrin reflects the most terrible aspects of the life of Russian society that required increased public attention. The main idea of the work is the inadmissibility of autocracy. And this is what unites the chapters of the work, which could become separate stories. Shchedrin tells us the history of the city of Foolov, what happened in it for about a hundred years. Moreover, he focuses on the mayors, since it was they who expressed the vices of city government. In advance, even before the start of the main part of the work, an inventory of the mayors is given. The word inventory is usually referred to as things; in lyricism Shchedrin uses it deliberately, as if emphasizing the inanimateness of the mayors, who are the key images in each chapter. The satirical means used by the author of the chronicle are varied. Taken together, the images of all the mayors create a single image of an autocratic ruler. The essence of each of the mayors can be imagined even after a simple description of their appearance. For example, the tenacity and cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev is expressed in his wooden face, which obviously was never illuminated by a smile. The more peaceful Pimple, on the contrary, was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips, his gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick. Images are formed in the reader’s imagination with the help of such artistic techniques as hyperbole, metaphor, allegory, etc. Even facts of reality take on fantastic features. Shchedrin deliberately uses this technique to enhance the feeling of an invisible connection with the true state of affairs in feudal Russia. The work is written in the form of chronicles. Some parts, which, according to the author’s intention, are considered found documents, are written in heavy clerical language, and in the chronicler’s address to the reader there are also colloquialisms, proverbs, and sayings. Adding to the comicality is the confusion in dates and the anachronisms and allusions often made by the chronicler (for example, references to Herzen and Ogarev). Shchedrin most fully introduces us to the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev. There is a clear analogy with reality here: the surname of the mayor is similar in sound to the surname of the famous reformer Arakcheev. In the description of Gloomy-Burcheev there is less comic, and more mystical, terrifying. Using satirical means, Shchedrin endowed him with a large number of the most striking vices. And it is no coincidence that the story ends with a description of the reign of this mayor. According to Shchedrin, history has stopped flowing. The novel The Story of a City is certainly an outstanding work; it is written in colorful, grotesque language and figuratively denounces the bureaucratic state. The story has still not lost its relevance, because, unfortunately, we still meet people like Foolov’s mayors.

The rights to the essay “Techniques of satirical depiction in M. E. Salykov-Shchedrin’s novel The History of a City” belong to its author. When quoting material, you must provide a hyperlink to

M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the most famous literary satirists of the 19th century. The novel “The History of a City” is the pinnacle of his artistic creativity.
Despite the name, behind the image of the city of Glupoza lies an entire country, namely Russia. Thus, in figurative form, Saltykov-Shchedrin reflects the most terrible aspects of the life of Russian society that required increased public attention. The main idea of the work is the inadmissibility of autocracy. And this is what unites the chapters of the work, which could become separate stories.
Shchedrin tells us the history of the city of Foolov, what happened in it for about a hundred years. Moreover, he focuses on the mayors, since it was they who expressed the vices of city government. In advance, even before the start of the main part of the work, an “inventory” of mayors is given. The word “inventory” is usually referred to things, so Shchedrin uses it deliberately, as if emphasizing the inanimate nature of the mayors, who are the key images in each chapter.
The satirical means used by the author of the chronicle are varied. Taken together, the images of all the mayors create a single image of the autocratic ruler.
The essence of each of the mayors can be imagined even after a simple description of their appearance. For example, the tenacity and cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev are expressed in his “wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile.” The more peaceful Pimple, on the contrary, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips,” “his gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.”
Images are formed in the reader’s imagination with the help of such artistic techniques as hyperbole, metaphor, allegory, etc. Even facts of reality acquire fantastic features. Shchedrin deliberately uses this technique to enhance the feeling of an invisible connection with the true state of affairs in feudal Russia.
The work is written in the form of chronicles. Some parts, which, according to the author’s intention, are considered found documents, are written in heavy clerical language, and in the chronicler’s address to the reader there are colloquialisms, proverbs, and sayings. The confusion in dates and the anachronisms and allusions often made by the chronicler (for example, references to Herzen and Ogarev) enhance the comedy.
Shchedrin most fully introduces us to the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev. There is a clear analogy with reality here: the surname of the mayor is similar in sound to the surname of the famous reformer Arakcheev. In the description of Gloomy-Burcheev there is less comic, and more mystical, terrifying. Using satirical means, Shchedrin endowed him with a large number of the most “bright” vices. And it is no coincidence that the story ends with a description of the reign of this mayor. According to Shchedrin, “history has stopped flowing.”
The novel “The History of a City” is certainly an outstanding work; it is written in colorful, grotesque language and figuratively denounces the bureaucratic state. “History” has still not lost its relevance, because, unfortunately, we still meet people like Foolov’s mayors.

Despite the name, behind the image of the city of Glupoza lies an entire country, namely Russia. Thus, in figurative form, Saltykov-Shchedrin reflects the most terrible aspects of the life of Russian society that required increased public attention. The main idea of the work is the inadmissibility of autocracy. And this is what unites the chapters of the work, which could become separate stories.
Shchedrin tells us the history of the city of Foolov, what happened in it for about a hundred years. Moreover, he focuses on the mayors, since it was they who expressed the vices of city government. In advance, even before the start of the main part of the work, an “inventory” of mayors is given. The word “inventory” is usually referred to things, so Shchedrin uses it deliberately, as if emphasizing the inanimate nature of the mayors, who are the key images in each chapter.
The satirical means used by the author of the chronicle are varied. Taken together, the images of all the mayors create a single image of the autocratic ruler.
The essence of each of the mayors can be imagined even after a simple description of their appearance. For example, the tenacity and cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev are expressed in his “wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile.” The more peaceful Pimple, on the contrary, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips,” “his gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.”
Images are formed in the reader’s imagination with the help of such artistic techniques as hyperbole, metaphor, allegory, etc. Even facts of reality acquire fantastic features. Shchedrin deliberately uses this technique to enhance the feeling of an invisible connection with the true state of affairs in feudal Russia.
The work is written in the form of chronicles. Some parts, which, according to the author’s intention, are considered found documents, are written in heavy clerical language, and in the chronicler’s address to the reader there are colloquialisms, proverbs, and sayings. The confusion in dates and the anachronisms and allusions often made by the chronicler (for example, references to Herzen and Ogarev) enhance the comedy.
Shchedrin most fully introduces us to the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev. There is a clear analogy with reality here: the surname of the mayor is similar in sound to the surname of the famous reformer Arakcheev. In the description of Gloomy-Burcheev there is less comic, and more mystical, terrifying. Using satirical means, Shchedrin endowed him with a large number of the most “bright” vices. And it is no coincidence that the story ends with a description of the reign of this mayor. According to Shchedrin, “history has stopped flowing.”
The novel “The History of a City” is certainly an outstanding work; it is written in colorful, grotesque language and figuratively denounces the bureaucratic state. “History” has still not lost its relevance, because, unfortunately, we still meet people like Foolov’s mayors.
“History” itself is built by the creator in a deliberately illogical and inconsistent manner. The great satirist prefaced the main content with an appeal from the publisher (in the role of which he himself acts) and an appeal to the readers of the supposedly last Foolov archivist. The inventory of city governors, which supposedly gives the book a historiographical nature and a special meaning, consists of 21 names (from the pasta-traitor Clement to Major Interkhvat-Zalikhvatsky, who burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences). In the “History” itself, attention to the people in charge is clearly unequal: some (Benevolensky, Brudasty, Wartkin, Gloomy-Burcheev) are devoted to many literary pages, others (Mikeladze, Du-Chario) were less fortunate. This can be seen in the structure of “History”; three introductory sections, one final Appendix (Supporting documents containing the city's thinking and legislative exercises) and a total of 5 main sections for the narration of the exploits of 21 rulers.
There has never been a city called “Fool” in the Russian Empire, no one has met such outlandish, implausible bosses (with a stuffed head, like Ivan Panteleevich Pryshch).
M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin showed himself to be a brilliant connoisseur of Aesopian language, putting it in a supposedly chronicle form (the chronicle of the city's successes covers about a century, and the years of reign are indicated, albeit approximately). This parody of presentation allowed the writer to talk about modernity and denounce officials without causing censorship interference or the wrath of his superiors. It’s not for nothing that Shchedrin himself called himself “a student of the censorship department.” Of course, the intelligent reader guessed the life around him behind Foolov’s ugly paintings. The power of Shchedrin’s satirical denunciation of the reactionary foundations on which Russian monarchical power rested was so powerful that the grotesque and fantastic images of the book were perceived as the most truthful depiction of life.
Consider, for example, the description of the causes of death of the mayors: Ferapontov was torn to pieces by dogs; Lamvrokakis is eaten by bedbugs; A cormorant is broken in half by a storm; Ferdyshchenko died from overeating; Ivanov - trying to comprehend the Senate Decree; Mikeladze - from exhaustion, etc.
In “History” Shchedrin skillfully uses satirical hyperbole: the facts of true reality take on fantastic shapes in him, which allows the satirist to most vividly reveal one or another side of the image. But the writer does not avoid realistic sketches. Thus, the fire in the Pushkarskaya settlement of the “straw city” is described very naturalistically: “one could see people swarming in the distance, and it seemed that they were unconsciously milling around in one place, and not rushing about in melancholy and despair. One could see scraps of lit straw, torn from the roofs by the whirlwind, circling in the air. Gradually, one after another, the wooden buildings were occupied and seemed to melt away.”
The chronicle of city government is written in a colorful, but also complex language. It also widely uses the stupid bureaucratic style: “let everyone bake pies on holidays, without forbidding themselves from such cookies on weekdays” (Charter on respectable baking of pies - performed by Benevolensky). There is also an old Slavic speech: “I want to tickle the Foolovites, who are dear to me, by showing the world their glorious deeds and the good root from which this famous tree grew and stole the whole earth with its branches.” There was a place and time for popular proverbs: “only here’s what I say to you: it’s better... to sit at home with the truth than to bring trouble upon yourself” (Ferdyshchenko).
The portrait gallery of Shchedrin’s “favorites” - Foolov’s mayors - is immediately and strongly remembered. One after another they pass before the reader, absurd and disgusting in their cruelty, stupidity, and malicious hatred of the people. Here are Brigadier Ferdyshchenko, who starved the Foolovites, and his successor Borodavkin, who burned thirty-three villages in order “with the help of these measures” to collect arrears of two rubles and a half, and Major Perekhuvat-Zalikhvatsky, who abolished science in the city, and Theophylact Benevolensky, possessed passion for writing laws (already on the benches of the seminary he wrote several wonderful laws, among which the most famous are the following: “let every man have a contrite heart,” “let every soul tremble,” “let every cricket know the pole corresponding to its rank”).
It is in the description of the main characters that M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin uses a wide variety of artistic means. Thus, the extreme cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev is recorded “in a wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile,” with a “narrow and sloping forehead,” sunken eyes and developed jaws, ready to “crush or bite in half.” On the contrary, the liberal-minded Pimple, the mayor with a stuffed head, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips, from behind which a row of white teeth showed; His gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.” External characteristics are similar to their psychological images: the ferocious Bruddety, aka Organchik, does not look like a native of France, the aristocrat Du-Chariot, having fun in pleasures and entertainment, but “Karamzin’s friend” Grust-tilov, distinguished by “tenderness and sensitivity heart”, is no less far from the “fantastic traveler foreman Ferdyshchenko...
The townspeople and people in “History” evoke an ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, according to the author himself, they are characterized by two things: “the usual Foolovian enthusiasm and the ordinary Foolovian frivolity.” It's scary to live in the city of Foolov. The book makes you laugh, but not funny, but bitter and gloomy. The writer himself said that he was counting “on arousing in the reader a bitter feeling, and not at all a cheerful disposition.” It’s scary for Foolov not only because it is ruled by limited officials, “appointed by the Russian government.” It is scary that people endure their misfortunes meekly and patiently.
However, this silent, painful reproach of the writer did not at all mean mockery of the people. Shchedrin loved his contemporaries: “All my works,” he later wrote, “are full of sympathy.” The deep meaning of “The History of a City” lies not only in the images of the mayors, brilliant in their accusatory power, but also in that general characteristic of the Foolovites, which inevitably suggested the future awakening of the people suppressed by the power. The great satirist calls for the inner life of Russian cities like Foolov to once break out and become bright and worthy of a person. It is no coincidence that the “historical” chronicle ends with the flight of the last mayor; Ug-ryum-Burcheev disappeared, “as if melting into air.” The powerful movement of the true history of mankind was unable to restrain the authorities for another century: “the river did not subside. As before, it flowed, breathed, gurgled and wriggled...”
It turns out that Shchedrin looked far ahead. He believed in the collapse of Foolov's system of life, in the victory of the ideals of reason, human dignity, democracy, progress, civilization. His works, including “The History of a City,” were predicted to have a great future. Turgenev compared Saltykov-Shchedrin with Swift, Gorky admitted that it was for this work that he “really fell in love” with the writer. And so it happened. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin has become one of the most read writers in our country and abroad.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the most famous literary satirists of the 19th century. The novel “The History of a City” is the pinnacle of his artistic creativity.
Despite the name, behind the image of the city of Foolov lies an entire country, namely Russia. Thus, in figurative form, Saltykov-Shchedrin reflects the most terrible aspects of the life of Russian society that required increased public attention. The main idea of the work is the inadmissibility of autocracy. And this is what unites the chapters of the work, which could become separate stories.
Shchedrin tells us the history of the city of Foolov, what happened in it for about a hundred years. Moreover, he focuses on the mayors, since it was they who expressed the vices of city government. In advance, even before the start of the main part of the work, an “inventory” of the mayors is given. The word “inventory” is usually referred to things, so Shchedrin uses it deliberately, as if emphasizing the inanimate nature of the mayors, who are the key images in each chapter.
The satirical means used by the author of the chronicle are varied. Taken together, the images of all the mayors create a single image of the autocratic ruler.
The essence of each of the mayors can be imagined even after a simple description of their appearance. For example, the tenacity and cruelty of Gloomy-Burcheev are expressed in his “wooden face, obviously never illuminated by a smile.” The more peaceful Pimple, on the contrary, “was rosy-cheeked, had scarlet and juicy lips,” “his gait was active and cheerful, his gesture was quick.”
Images are formed in the reader’s imagination with the help of such artistic techniques as hyperbole, metaphor, allegory, etc. Even facts of reality acquire fantastic features. Shchedrin deliberately uses this technique to enhance the feeling of an invisible connection with the true state of affairs in feudal Russia.
The work is written in the form of chronicles. Some parts, which, according to the author’s intention, are considered found documents, are written in heavy clerical language, and in the chronicler’s address to the reader there are colloquialisms, proverbs, and sayings. The confusion in dates and the anachronisms and allusions often made by the chronicler (for example, references to Herzen and Ogarev) enhance the comedy.
Shchedrin most fully introduces us to the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev. There is a clear analogy with reality here: the surname of the mayor is similar in sound to the surname of the famous reformer Arakcheev. In the description of Gloomy-Burcheev there is less comic, and more mystical, terrifying. Using satirical means, Shchedrin endowed him with a large number of the most “bright” vices. And it is no coincidence that the story ends with a description of the reign of this mayor. According to Shchedrin, “history has stopped flowing.”
The novel “The History of a City” is certainly an outstanding work; it is written in colorful, grotesque language and figuratively denounces the bureaucratic state. “History” has not yet lost its relevance, because, unfortunately, we still meet people like Foolov’s mayors. L.N. Tolstoy