As usual, Gedeonovsky was the first to bring the news of Lavretsky’s return to the Kalitins’ house. Maria Dmitrievna, the widow of a former provincial prosecutor, who at fifty years old has retained a certain pleasantness in her features, favors him, and her house is one of the nicest in the city of O... But Marfa Timofeevna Pestova, the seventy-year-old sister of Maria Dmitrievna’s father, does not favor Gedeonovsky for his inclination invent and talkativeness. Why, a popovich, even though he is a state councilor.
However, it is generally difficult to please Marfa Timofeevna. Well, she doesn’t like Panshin either - everyone’s favorite, an enviable groom, the first gentleman. Vladimir Nikolaevich plays the piano, composes romances based on his own words, draws well, and recites. He is a completely secular person, educated and dexterous. In general, he is a St. Petersburg official on special assignments, a chamber cadet who arrived in O... on some kind of mission. He visits the Kalitins for the sake of Lisa, Maria Dmitrievna’s nineteen-year-old daughter. And it seems his intentions are serious. But Marfa Timofeevna is sure: her favorite is not worth such a husband. Panshin and Lizin are rated low by music teacher Christopher Fedorovich Lemm, a middle-aged, unattractive and not very successful German, secretly in love with his student.
The arrival of Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky from abroad is a notable event for the city. His story passes from mouth to mouth. In Paris, he accidentally caught his wife cheating. Moreover, after the breakup, the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna gained scandalous European fame.
The inhabitants of the Kalitino house, however, did not think that he looked like a victim. He still exudes steppe health and lasting strength. Only the fatigue is visible in the eyes.
Actually, Fyodor Ivanovich is a strong breed. His great-grandfather was a tough, daring, smart and crafty man. The great-grandmother, a hot-tempered, vindictive gypsy, was in no way inferior to her husband. Grandfather Peter, however, was already a simple steppe gentleman. His son Ivan (father of Fyodor Ivanovich) was raised, however, by a Frenchman, an admirer of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: this was the order of the aunt with whom he lived. (His sister Glafira grew up with her parents.) Wisdom of the 18th century. the mentor poured it entirely into his head, where it remained, without mixing with the blood, without penetrating into the soul.
Upon returning to his parents, Ivan felt dirty and wild in home. This did not stop him from paying attention to Mother Malanya’s maid, a very pretty, intelligent and meek girl. A scandal broke out: Ivan’s father deprived him of his inheritance, and ordered the girl to be sent to a distant village. Ivan Petrovich recaptured Malanya on the way and married her. Having arranged a young wife with the Pestov relatives, Dmitry Timofeevich and Marfa Timofeevna, he himself went to St. Petersburg, and then abroad. Fedor was born in the village of Pestov on August 20, 1807. Almost a year passed before Malanya Sergeevna was able to appear with her son at the Lavretskys. And that’s only because Ivan’s mother, before her death, asked the stern Pyotr Andreevich for her son and daughter-in-law.
The baby's happy father finally returned to Russia only twelve years later. Malanya Sergeevna had died by this time, and the boy was raised by his aunt Glafira Andreevna, ugly, envious, unkind and domineering. Fedya was taken away from his mother and given to Glafira while she was still alive. He did not see his mother every day and loved her passionately, but he vaguely felt that there was an indestructible barrier between him and her. Fedya was afraid of Auntie and didn’t dare make a murmur in front of her.
Having returned, Ivan Petrovich himself began raising his son. Dressed him in Scottish clothes and hired a porter for him. Gymnastics, natural sciences, international law, mathematics, carpentry and heraldry formed the core of the educational system. They woke the boy up at four in the morning; ocative cold water, forced to run around a pole on a rope; fed once a day; taught to ride a horse and shoot a crossbow. When Fedya was sixteen years old, his father began to instill in him contempt for women.
A few years later, having buried his father, Lavretsky went to Moscow and at the age of twenty-three entered the university. The strange upbringing bore fruit. He didn’t know how to get along with people, he didn’t dare look into the eyes of a single woman. He became friends only with Mikhalevich, an enthusiast and poet. It was this Mikhalevich who introduced his friend to the family of the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna Korobina. The twenty-six-year-old child only now understood why life was worth living. Varenka was charming, smart and well-educated, she could talk about the theater, and played the piano.
Six months later, the young people arrived in Lavriki. The university was left (not to marry a student), and a happy life began. Glafira was removed, and General Korobin, Varvara Pavlovna’s dad, arrived in the place of the manager; and the couple drove off to St. Petersburg, where they had a son, who soon died. On the advice of doctors, they went abroad and settled in Paris. Varvara Pavlovna instantly settled down here and began to shine in society. Soon, however, a love note addressed to his wife, whom he trusted so blindly, fell into Lavretsky’s hands. At first he was seized with rage, a desire to kill both of them (“my great-grandfather hung men by the ribs”), but then, having ordered a letter about the annual allowance for his wife and about the departure of General Korobin from the estate, he went to Italy. Newspapers circulated bad rumors about his wife. From them I learned that he had a daughter. Indifference to everything appeared. And yet, after four years, he wanted to return home, to the city of O..., but he did not want to settle in Lavriki, where he and Varya spent their first happy days.
From the very first meeting, Lisa attracted his attention. He noticed Panshin near her. Maria Dmitrievna did not hide the fact that the chamber cadet was crazy about her daughter. Marfa Timofeevna, however, still believed that Liza should not follow Panshin.
In Vasilievskoye, Lavretsky examined the house, garden with a pond: the estate had managed to run wild. The silence of a leisurely, solitary life surrounded him. And what strength, what health there was in this inactive silence. The days passed monotonously, but he was not bored: he did housework, rode horseback, and read.
Three weeks later I went to O... to the Kalitins. I found Lemma there. In the evening, going to see him off, I stayed with him. The old man was touched and admitted that he writes music, played and sang something.
In Vasilievsky, the conversation about poetry and music imperceptibly turned into a conversation about Liza and Panshin. Lemm was categorical: she doesn’t love him, she just listens to her mother. Lisa can love one beautiful thing, but he is not beautiful, that is, his soul is not beautiful
Lisa and Lavretsky trusted each other more and more. Not without embarrassment, she once asked about the reasons for his separation from his wife: how can one break off what God has united? You must forgive. She is sure that one must forgive and submit. This was taught to her as a child by her nanny Agafya, who told her the life of the Most Pure Virgin, the lives of saints and hermits, and took her to church. Her own example fostered humility, meekness and a sense of duty.
Unexpectedly, Mikhalevich appeared in Vasilyevskoye. He grew old, it was clear that he was not succeeding, but he spoke as passionately as in his youth, read his own poems: “...And I burned everything that I worshiped, / I bowed to everything that I burned.”
Then the friends argued long and loudly, disturbing Lemm, who continued to visit. You can't just want happiness in life. This means building on sand. You need faith, and without it Lavretsky is a pitiful Voltairian. No faith - no revelation, no understanding of what to do. He needs a pure, unearthly being who will tear him out of his apathy.
After Mikhalevich, the Kalitins arrived in Vasilyevskoye. The days passed joyfully and carefree. “I speak to her as if I were not an obsolete person,” Lavretsky thought about Lisa. As he saw off their carriage on horseback, he asked: “Aren’t we friends now?..” She nodded in response.
The next evening, while looking through French magazines and newspapers, Fyodor Ivanovich came across a message about the sudden death of the queen of fashionable Parisian salons, Madame Lavretskaya. The next morning he was already at the Kalitins'. "What's wrong with you?" - Lisa asked. He gave her the text of the message. Now he is free. “You don’t need to think about this now, but about forgiveness...” she objected and at the end of the conversation she reciprocated with the same trust: Panshin asks for her hand. She is not at all in love with him, but she is ready to listen to her mother. Lavretsky begged Lisa to think about it, not to marry without love, out of a sense of duty. That same evening, Lisa asked Panshin not to rush her with an answer and informed Lavretsky about this. All the following days a secret anxiety was felt in her, as if she even avoided Lavretsky. And he was also alarmed by the lack of confirmation of his wife’s death. And Lisa, when asked if she decided to give an answer to Panshin, said that she knew nothing. She doesn't know herself.
One summer evening in the living room, Panshin began to reproach the new generation, saying that Russia had fallen behind Europe (we didn’t even invent mousetraps). He spoke beautifully, but with secret bitterness. Lavretsky suddenly began to object and defeated the enemy, proving the impossibility of leaps and arrogant alterations, demanded recognition of the people's truth and humility before it. The irritated Panshin exclaimed; what does he intend to do? Plow the land and try to plow it as best as possible.
Liza was on Lavretsky’s side throughout the argument. The secular official's contempt for Russia offended her. Both of them realized that they loved and did not love the same thing, but differed only in one thing, but Lisa secretly hoped to lead him to God. The embarrassment of the last few days disappeared.
Everyone gradually dispersed, and Lavretsky quietly went out into the night garden and sat down on a bench. Light appeared in the lower windows. It was Lisa walking with a candle in her hand. He quietly called her and, sitting her down under the linden trees, said: “... It brought me here... I love you.”
Returning through the sleepy streets, full of joyful feelings, he heard the wonderful sounds of music. He turned to where they were rushing from and called: Lemm! The old man appeared at the window and, recognizing him, threw the key. Lavretsky had not heard anything like this for a long time. He came up and hugged the old man. He paused, then smiled and cried: “I did this, for I am a great musician.”
The next day, Lavretsky went to Vasilyevskoye and returned to the city in the evening. In the hallway he was greeted by the smell of strong perfume, and there were trunks standing right there. Having crossed the threshold of the living room, he saw his wife. Confusedly and verbosely, she began to beg to forgive her, if only for the sake of her daughter, who was not guilty of anything before him: Ada, ask your father with me. He invited her to settle in Lavriki, but never count on renewing the relationship. Varvara Pavlovna was all submission, but on the same day she visited the Kalitins. The final explanation between Liza and Panshin had already taken place there. Maria Dmitrievna was in despair. Varvara Pavlovna managed to occupy her and then win her over, hinting that Fyodor Ivanovich had not completely deprived her of “his presence.” Lisa received Lavretsky’s note, and the meeting with his wife was not a surprise for her (“Serves me right”). She was stoic in the presence of the woman whom “he” had once loved.
Panshin appeared. Varvara Pavlovna immediately found the tone with him. She sang a romance, talked about literature, about Paris, and occupied herself with half-secular, half-artistic chatter. When parting, Maria Dmitrievna expressed her readiness to try to reconcile her with her husband.
Lavretsky reappeared in the Kalitin house when he received a note from Lisa inviting him to come see them. He immediately went up to Marfa Timofeevna. She found an excuse to leave him and Lisa alone. The girl came to say that they had only to do their duty. Fyodor Ivanovich must make peace with his wife. Doesn’t he now see for himself: happiness depends not on people, but on God.
When Lavretsky was going downstairs, the footman invited him to Marya Dmitrievna. She started talking about his wife’s repentance, asked to forgive her, and then, offering to accept her from hand to hand, she brought Varvara Pavlovna out from behind the screen. Requests and already familiar scenes were repeated. Lavretsky finally promised that he would live with her under the same roof, but would consider the agreement violated if she allowed herself to leave Lavriki.
The next morning he took his wife and daughter to Lavriki and a week later he left for Moscow. And a day later Panshin visited Varvara Pavlovna and stayed for three days.
A year later, news reached Lavretsky that Lisa had taken monastic vows in a monastery in one of the remote regions of Russia. After some time, he visited this monastery. Lisa walked close to him and did not look, only her eyelashes trembled slightly and her fingers holding the rosary clenched even more tightly.
And Varvara Pavlovna very soon moved to St. Petersburg, then to Paris. A new admirer appeared near her, a guardsman of unusually strong build. She never invites him to her fashionable evenings, but otherwise he enjoys her favor completely.
Eight years have passed. Lavretsky again visited O... The older inhabitants of the Kalitino house had already died, and youth reigned here: Lisa’s younger sister, Lenochka, and her fiancé. It was fun and noisy. Fyodor Ivanovich walked through all the rooms. There was the same piano in the living room, the same embroidery frame stood by the window as then. Only the wallpaper was different.
In the garden he saw the same bench and walked along the same alley. His sadness was tormenting, although the turning point had already taken place in him, without which it is impossible to remain a decent person: he stopped thinking about his own happiness.
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One of the most famous Russian novels about love, which contrasted idealism with satire and consolidated the archetype of Turgenev’s girl in culture.
comments: Kirill Zubkov
What is this book about?
“The Noble Nest,” like many of Turgenev’s novels, is built around unhappy love - the two main characters, Fyodor Lavretsky, who survived an unsuccessful marriage, and young Liza Kalitina, meet, have strong feelings for each other, but are forced to separate: it turns out that Lavretsky’s wife Varvara Pavlovna is not died. Shocked by her return, Lisa goes to a monastery, but Lavretsky does not want to live with his wife and spends the rest of her life farming on his estate. At the same time, the novel organically includes a narrative about the life of the Russian nobility, which has developed over the past several hundred years, a description of relations between different classes, between Russia and the West, debates about the paths of possible reforms in Russia, philosophical discussions about the nature of duty, self-denial and moral responsibility.
Ivan Turgenev. Daguerreotype of O. Bisson. Paris, 1847–1850
When was it written?
Turgenev conceived a new “story” (the writer did not always consistently distinguish between stories and novels) shortly after finishing work on “Rudin,” his first novel, published in 1856. The idea was not realized immediately: Turgenev, contrary to his custom, worked on a new large work for several years. The main work was done in 1858, and already at the beginning of 1859 “The Noble Nest” was published in Nekrasov "Contemporary" .
Title page of the manuscript of the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1858
How is it written?
Now Turgenev's prose may not seem as effective as the works of many of his contemporaries. This effect is caused by the special place of Turgenev's novel in literature. For example, paying attention to the detailed internal monologues of Tolstoy’s heroes or to the originality of Tolstoy’s composition, which is characterized by many central characters, the reader proceeds from the idea of a kind of “normal” novel, where there is a central character who is often shown “from the side” rather than from the inside. It is Turgenev’s novel that now acts as such a “reference point”, very convenient for assessing the literature of the 19th century.
“Here you are, back to Russia, what do you intend to do?”
Ivan Turgenev
“To plow the land,” answered Lavretsky, “and try to plow it as best as possible.”
Contemporaries, however, perceived Turgenev's novel as a very unique step in the development of Russian prose, standing out sharply against the background of typical fiction of its time. Turgenev’s prose seemed a brilliant example of literary “idealism”: it was contrasted with the satirical essay tradition, which went back to Saltykov-Shchedrin and painted in dark colors how serfdom, bureaucratic corruption and social conditions in general destroy people’s lives and cripple the psyche of the oppressed and the oppressors alike. Turgenev does not try to avoid these topics, but presents them in a completely different spirit: the writer is primarily interested not in the formation of a person under the influence of circumstances, but rather in his understanding of these circumstances and reaction to them.
At the same time, even Shchedrin himself, far from being a soft critic and not prone to idealism, wrote in a letter to Annenkov admired Turgenev's lyricism and recognized its social benefits:
Now I have read “The Noble Nest,” dear Pavel Vasilyevich, and I would like to tell you my opinion about this thing. But I absolutely cannot.<…>And what can be said about all of Turgenev’s works? Is it that after reading them it’s easy to breathe, easy to believe, and feels warm? What do you clearly feel, how your moral level rises, what do you mentally bless and love the author? But these will only be commonplaces, and this, this is the impression that these transparent images, as if woven from air, leave behind, this is the beginning of love and light, flowing in every line with a living spring and, however, still disappearing in empty space . But in order to express these commonplaces decently, you need to be a poet yourself and fall into lyricism.
Alexander Druzhinin. 1856 Photo by Sergei Levitsky. Druzhinin is a friend of Turgenev and his colleague at the Sovremennik magazine
Pavel Annenkov. 1887 Engraving by Yuri Baranovsky from a photograph by Sergei Levitsky. Annenkov was friends with Turgenev, and was also the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin’s work
“The Noble Nest” became Turgenev’s last great work, published in "Contemporary" Literary magazine (1836-1866), founded by Pushkin. Since 1847, Sovremennik was led by Nekrasov and Panaev, later Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov joined the editorial staff. In the 60s, an ideological split occurred in Sovremennik: the editors came to understand the need for a peasant revolution, while many of the magazine’s authors (Turgenev, Tolstoy, Goncharov, Druzhinin) advocated slower and more gradual reforms. Five years after the abolition of serfdom, Sovremennik closed by personal order of Alexander II. . Unlike many novels of this time, it was entirely contained in one issue - readers did not have to wait for a sequel. Turgenev’s next novel, “On the Eve”, will be published in the magazine Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (1818-1887) - publisher and editor of the literary magazine "Russian Bulletin" and the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti". In his youth, Katkov was known as a liberal and a Westerner, and was friends with Belinsky. With the beginning of the reforms of Alexander II, Katkov's views became noticeably more conservative. In the 1880s, he actively supported the counter-reforms of Alexander III, waged a campaign against ministers of non-titular nationality and generally became an influential political figure - and his newspaper was read by the emperor himself. "Russian Messenger" Literary and political magazine (1856-1906), founded by Mikhail Katkov. At the end of the 50s, the editors took a moderately liberal position; from the beginning of the 60s, Russian Messenger became more and more conservative and even reactionary. Over the years, the magazine published the central works of Russian classics: “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace” by Tolstoy, “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoevsky, “On the Eve” and “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev, “Soborians” Leskova. , which was economically a competitor to Sovremennik, and politically and literary a principled opponent.
Turgenev’s break with Sovremennik and his fundamental conflict with his old friend Nekrasov (who, however, many biographers of both writers tend to overdramatize) are connected, apparently, with Turgenev’s reluctance to have anything in common with the “nihilists” Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky, who published on the pages of Sovremennik. Although both radical critics never spoke badly about The Noble Nest, the reasons for the breakup are generally clear from the text of Turgenev’s novel. Turgenev generally believed that it was precisely the aesthetic qualities that made literature a means of public education, while his opponents rather saw art as an instrument of direct propaganda, which could just as well be carried out directly, without resorting to any artistic techniques. In addition, Chernyshevsky hardly liked that Turgenev again turned to the image of a nobleman hero disappointed in life. In the article “Russian man at rendez-vous” dedicated to the story “Asya”, Chernyshevsky already explained that he considers the social and cultural role of such heroes to be completely exhausted, and they themselves deserve only condescending pity.
The first edition of "The Noble Nest". Publishing house of bookseller A. I. Glazunov, 1859
Sovremennik magazine for 1859, where the novel “The Noble Nest” was first published
What influenced her?
It is generally accepted that Turgenev was primarily influenced by the works of Pushkin. The plot of “The Noble Nest” has been repeatedly compared with history. In both works, a Europeanized nobleman who arrived in the province encounters an original and independent girl, whose upbringing was influenced by both noble and common culture (by the way, both Pushkin’s Tatyana and Turgenev’s Liza encounter peasant culture through communication with their nanny). In both, love feelings arise between the characters, but due to a combination of circumstances they are not destined to stay together.
It is easier to understand the meaning of these parallels in a literary context. Critics of the 1850s were inclined to contrast the “Gogol” and “Pushkin” trends in Russian literature with each other. The legacy of Pushkin and Gogol became especially relevant in this era, given that in the mid-1850s, thanks to softened censorship, it became possible to publish fairly complete editions of the works of both authors, which included many works previously unknown to contemporaries. On Gogol’s side in this confrontation was, among others, Chernyshevsky, who saw in the author primarily a satirist who exposed social vices, and in Belinsky the best interpreter of his work. Accordingly, such writers as Saltykov-Shchedrin and his numerous imitators were considered to be part of the “Gogol” movement. Supporters of the “Pushkin” trend were much closer to Turgenev: it is no coincidence that Pushkin’s collected works were published by Annenkov Pavel Vasilievich Annenkov (1813-1887) - literary critic and publicist, the first biographer and researcher of Pushkin, the founder of Pushkin studies. He became friends with Belinsky, in the presence of Annenkov, Belinsky wrote his actual will - “Letter to Gogol”, and under Gogol’s dictation Annenkov rewrote “Dead Souls”. Author of memoirs about the literary and political life of the 1840s and its heroes: Herzen, Stankevich, Bakunin. One of Turgenev’s close friends, the writer sent all his latest works to Annenkov before publication. , a friend of Turgenev, and the most famous review of this publication was written by Alexander Druzhinin Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin (1824-1864) - critic, writer, translator. Since 1847, he published stories, novels, feuilletons, and translations in Sovremennik; his debut was the story “Polinka Sax.” From 1856 to 1860, Druzhinin was the editor of the Library for Reading. In 1859 he organized a Society to benefit needy writers and scientists. Druzhinin criticized the ideological approach to art and advocated “pure art”, free from any didacticism. - another author who left Sovremennik, who was on good terms with Turgenev. During this period, Turgenev clearly orients his prose precisely towards the “Pushkin” principle, as the criticism of that time understood it: literature should not directly address socio-political problems, but gradually influence the public, which is formed and educated under the influence of aesthetic impressions and ultimately becomes capable of responsible and worthy actions in a variety of spheres, including socio-political. The job of literature is to promote, as Schiller would say, “aesthetic education.”
"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969
How was she received?
Most writers and critics were delighted with Turgenev's novel, which combined poetic beginnings and social relevance. Annenkov began his review of the novel like this: “It is difficult to say, starting an analysis of Mr. Turgenev’s new work, which is more worthy of attention: whether it itself with all its merits, or the extraordinary success that met it in all layers of our society. In any case, it is worth seriously thinking about the reasons for that unique sympathy and approval, that delight and passion that were caused by the appearance of the “Noble Nest”. On the author's new novel, people of opposite parties agreed on one common verdict; representatives of disparate systems and views shook hands with each other and expressed the same opinion.” The reaction of the poet and critic was especially impressive Apollo Grigoriev , who dedicated a series of articles to Turgenev’s novel and admired the writer’s desire in the person of the main character to portray “attachment to the soil” and “humility before the people’s truth.”
However, some contemporaries had different opinions. For example, according to the memoirs of the writer Nikolai Luzhenovsky, Alexander Ostrovsky remarked: “The Noble Nest,” for example, is very a good thing, but Lisa is unbearable for me: this girl definitely suffers from scrofula driven inside her.”
Apollo Grigoriev. Second half of the 19th century. Grigoriev devoted a whole series of complimentary articles to Turgenev’s novel
Alexander Ostrovsky. Around 1870. Ostrovsky praised The Noble Nest, but found the heroine Lisa “unbearable”
In an interesting way, Turgenev’s novel quite quickly ceased to be perceived as a topical and relevant work and was then often assessed as an example of “ pure art" Perhaps this was influenced by those that caused a much greater resonance, thanks to which the image of the “nihilist” entered Russian literature, becoming the subject of heated debate and various literary interpretations for several decades. Nevertheless, the novel was a success: already in 1861 an authorized edition was published. French translation, in 1862 - German, in 1869 - English. Thanks to this, Turgenev's novel late XIX century was one of the most discussed works of Russian literature abroad. Researchers have written about its influence on, for example, Henry James and Joseph Conrad.
Why was The Noble Nest such a relevant novel?
The time of publication of “The Noble Nest” was an exceptional period for Imperial Russia, which Fyodor Tyutchev (long before Khrushchev’s times) called the “thaw.” The first years of the reign of Alexander II, who ascended the throne at the end of 1855, were accompanied by a rise in “glasnost” (another expression now associated with a completely different era) that amazed his contemporaries. The defeat in the Crimean War was perceived both among government officials and in educated society as a symptom of the deepest crisis engulfing the country. The definitions of the Russian people and empire adopted in the Nicholas years, based on the well-known doctrine of “official nationality,” seemed completely inadequate. The new era required a reinterpretation of the nation and the state.
Many contemporaries were confident that literature could help with this, actually contributing to the reforms initiated by the government. It is no coincidence that in these years the government invited writers, for example, to participate in compiling the repertoire of state theaters or to compile a statistical and ethnographic description of the Volga region. Although The Noble Nest takes place in the 1840s, the novel reflects actual problems era of its creation. For example, in the dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin main character The novel proves “the impossibility of leaps and arrogant alterations from the heights of bureaucratic self-awareness - alterations that are not justified either by knowledge of the native land or by real faith in an ideal, even a negative one” - obviously, these words refer to plans for government reforms. The preparations for the abolition of serfdom made the topic of relations between classes very relevant, which largely determines the background of Lavretsky and Lisa: Turgenev is trying to present to the public a novel about how a person can comprehend and experience his place in Russian society and history. As in his other works, “the story gets inside the character and works from within. Its properties are generated by a given historical situation, and outside of this they have no meaning" 1 Ginzburg L. Ya. About psychological prose. Ed. 2nd. L., 1976. P. 295. .
"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969 In the role of Lavretsky - Leonid Kulagin
Piano by Konrad Graf. Austria, around 1838. The piano in the “Noble Nest” is an important symbol: acquaintances are made around it, disputes are waged, love is born, and a long-awaited masterpiece is created. Musicality and attitude to music are an important feature of Turgenev’s heroes
Who and why accused Turgenev of plagiarism?
At the end of work on the novel, Turgenev read it to some of his friends and took advantage of their comments, finalizing his work for Sovremennik, and especially valued the opinion of Annenkov (who, according to the recollections of Ivan Goncharov, who was present at this reading, recommended Turgenev to include in the story the background story of the main character Lisa Kalitina, explaining the origins of her religious beliefs. Researchers actually discovered that the corresponding chapter was written into the manuscript later).
Ivan Goncharov was not delighted with Turgenev’s novel. A few years earlier, he told the author of “The Noble Nest” about the idea of his own work, dedicated to an amateur artist who finds himself in the Russian outback. Having heard “The Noble Nest” in the author’s reading, Goncharov was furious: Turgenev’s Panshin (among other things, an amateur artist), as it seemed to him, was “borrowed” from the “program” of his future novel “The Precipice”, and besides, his image was distorted ; the chapter about the ancestors of the main character also seemed to him the result of literary theft, as did the image of the strict old lady Marfa Timofeevna. After these accusations, Turgenev made some changes to the manuscript, in particular changing the dialogue between Marfa Timofeevna and Lisa, which takes place after the night meeting between Lisa and Lavretsky. Goncharov seemed to be satisfied, but in the next large work Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve” again revealed the image of an amateur artist. The conflict between Goncharov and Turgenev led to a big scandal in literary circles. Gathered for its resolution "Areopagus" A government body in Ancient Athens, which consisted of representatives of the family aristocracy. IN figurative meaning- a meeting of authority figures to resolve an important issue. of the authoritative writers and critics acquitted Turgenev, but for several decades Goncharov suspected the author of “The Noble Nest” of plagiarism. “The Precipice” was published only in 1869 and was not as successful as the first novels of Goncharov, who blamed Turgenev for this. Gradually, Goncharov’s conviction of Turgenev’s dishonesty turned into a real mania: the writer, for example, was sure that Turgenev’s agents were copying his drafts and passing them on to Gustave Flaubert, who made a name for himself thanks to Goncharov’s works.
Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, family estate Turgenev. Engraving by M. Rashevsky based on a photograph by William Carrick. Originally published in Niva magazine in 1883
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What do the heroes of Turgenev's novels and stories have in common?
Famous philologist Lev Pumpyansky Lev Vasilyevich Pumpyansky (1891-1940) - literary critic, musicologist. After the revolution he lived in Nevel, together with Mikhail Bakhtin and Matvey Kagan he formed the Nevel Philosophical Circle. In the 1920s he taught at the Tenishevsky School and was a member of the Free Philosophical Association. He taught Russian literature at Leningrad University. Author of classic works on Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Turgenev. wrote that the first four Turgenev novels (“Rudin”, “The Noble Nest”, “On the Eve” and) represent an example of a “test novel”: their plot is built around a historically established type of hero who is tested for suitability for the role of a historical figure. To test the hero, not only, for example, ideological disputes with opponents or social activities, but also love relationships serve. Pumpyansky, according to modern researchers, exaggerated in many ways, but in general his definition is apparently correct. Indeed, the main character is at the center of the novel, and the events that happen to this hero make it possible to decide whether he can be called worthy person. In “The Noble Nest” this is expressed literally: Marfa Timofeevna demands that Lavretsky confirm that he is an “honest man” out of fear for Lisa’s fate - and Lavretsky proves that he is incapable of doing anything dishonest.
She felt bitter in her soul; She didn't deserve such humiliation. Love did not express itself to her with gaiety: for the second time she cried since yesterday evening.
Ivan Turgenev
The themes of happiness, self-denial and love, perceived as the most important qualities of a person, were already raised by Turgenev in his stories of the 1850s. For example, in the story “Faust” (1856) main character literally kills the awakening of a love feeling, which she herself interprets as a sin. The interpretation of love as an irrational, incomprehensible, almost supernatural force, which often threatens human dignity or at least the ability to follow one’s convictions, is characteristic, for example, of the stories “Correspondence” (1856) and “First Love” (1860). In “The Noble Nest,” the relationships of almost all the characters, except Liza and Lavretsky, are characterized in exactly this way—suffice it to recall the characteristics of the relationship between Panshin and Lavretsky’s wife: “Varvara Pavlovna enslaved him, she enslaved him: in no other word can one express its unlimited, irrevocable, unrequited power over him."
Finally, the backstory of Lavretsky, the son of a nobleman and a peasant woman, is reminiscent of the main character of the story “Asya” (1858). Within the framework of the novel genre, Turgenev was able to connect these themes with socio-historical issues.
"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969
Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1988
Where are the references to Cervantes in The Noble Nest?
One of the important Turgenev types in “The Noble Nest” is represented by the hero Mikhalevich - “an enthusiast and poet” who “still adhered to the phraseology of the thirties.” This hero in the novel is presented with a fair amount of irony; it is enough to recall the description of his endless nightly argument with Lavretsky, when Mikhalevich tries to define his friend and every hour rejects his own formulations: “you are not a skeptic, not disappointed, not a Voltairian, you are bobak Steppe marmot. In a figurative sense - a clumsy, lazy person. , and you are a malicious bobak, a bobak with consciousness, not a naive bobak.” In the dispute between Lavretsky and Mikhalevich, a topical issue is especially evident: the novel was written during a period that contemporaries assessed as a transitional era in history.
And when, where did people decide to screw around? - he shouted at four o’clock in the morning, but in a somewhat hoarse voice. - We have! Now! in Russia! when each individual has a duty, a great responsibility before God, before the people, before himself! We are sleeping and time is running out; we are sleeping…
The comedy is that Lavretsky believes main goal It is a completely practical matter for a modern nobleman to learn to “plow the land,” while Mikhalevich, who reproaches him for laziness, could not find anything to do on his own.
You joked with me in vain; my great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather himself was a man
Ivan Turgenev
This type, a representative of the generation of idealists of the 1830-40s, a man whose greatest talent was the ability to understand current philosophical and social ideas, sincerely sympathize with them and convey them to others, was brought out by Turgenev back in the novel “Rudin”. Like Rudin, Mikhalevich is an eternal wanderer, clearly reminiscent of the “knight of the sad image”: “Even sitting in the tarantass, where they carried out his flat, yellow, strangely light suitcase, he still spoke; wrapped in some kind of Spanish cloak with a reddish collar and lion paws instead of fasteners, he was still developing his views on the fate of Russia and moved his dark hand through the air, as if scattering the seeds of future prosperity.” For the author, Mikhalevich is the beautiful and naive Don Quixote (Turgenev’s famous speech “Hamlet and Don Quixote” was written shortly after “The Noble Nest”). Mikhalevich “fell in love endlessly and wrote poems about all his lovers; He sang especially passionately about one mysterious black-haired “lady,” who, apparently, was a woman of easy virtue. The analogy with Don Quixote’s passion for the peasant woman Dulcinea is obvious: Cervantes’s hero is similarly incapable of understanding that his beloved does not correspond to his ideal. However, this time it is not a naive idealist who is placed at the center of the novel, but a completely different hero.
Why does Lavretsky sympathize so much with the peasant?
The father of the novel's protagonist is a Europeanized gentleman who raised his son according to his own “system,” apparently borrowed from the works of Rousseau; his mother is a simple peasant woman. The result is quite unusual. The reader finds himself in front of an educated Russian nobleman who knows how to behave decently and with dignity in society (Lavretsky’s manners are constantly poorly assessed by Marya Dmitrievna, but the author constantly hints that she herself does not know how to behave in really good society). He reads magazines on different languages, but at the same time closely connected with Russian life, especially common people. In this regard, his two love interests are remarkable: the Parisian “lioness” Varvara Pavlovna and the deeply religious Liza Kalitina, raised by a simple Russian nanny. It is no coincidence that Turgenev’s hero aroused delight Apollo Grigoriev Apollo Aleksandrovich Grigoriev (1822-1864) - poet, literary critic, translator. Since 1845, he began to study literature: he published a book of poems, translated Shakespeare and Byron, and wrote literary reviews for Otechestvennye Zapiski. Since the late 1950s, Grigoriev wrote for Moskvityanin and headed its circle of young authors. After the magazine closed, he worked at Library for Reading, Russian Word, and Vremya. Due to alcohol addiction, Grigoriev gradually lost his influence and practically stopped publishing. , one of the creators pochvennichestvo Social and philosophical trends in Russia in the 1860s. The basic principles of pochvennichestvo were formulated by employees of the magazines “Time” and “Epoch”: Apollo Grigoriev, Nikolai Strakhov and the Dostoevsky brothers. The Pochvenniki occupied a kind of middle position between the camps of Westerners and Slavophiles. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in “Announcement of subscription to the magazine “Time” for 1861,” considered the manifesto of pochvennichestvo, wrote: “The Russian idea, perhaps, will be a synthesis of all those ideas that Europe is developing with such tenacity, with such courage in its individual nationalities ; that, perhaps, everything hostile in these ideas will find its reconciliation and further development in the Russian people.” : Lavretsky is really able to sincerely sympathize with a peasant who has lost his son, and when he himself suffers the collapse of all his hopes, he is consoled by the fact that those around him simple people suffer no less. In general, Lavretsky’s connection with the “common people” and the old, non-Europeanized nobility is constantly emphasized in the novel. Having learned that living according to the latest French fashion his wife cheats on him, he experiences something other than secular rage: “he felt that at that moment he was able to torment her, beat her half to death, like a peasant, strangle her with his own hands.” In a conversation with his wife, he indignantly says: “You joked with me in vain; My great-grandfather hung men by the ribs, and my grandfather himself was a man.” Unlike the previous central characters of Turgenev’s prose, Lavretsky has a “healthy nature”, he is a good owner, a man who is literally destined to live at home and take care of his family and household.
Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1845 Private collection
What is the meaning of the political dispute between Lavretsky and Panshin?
The main character's beliefs correspond to his background. In a conflict with the capital official Panshin, Lavretsky opposes the reform project, according to which European public “institutions” (in modern language- “institutions”) are capable of transforming people’s life itself. Lavretsky “demanded, first of all, recognition of the people’s truth and humility before it - that humility without which courage against lies is impossible; “Finally, he did not deviate from the well-deserved, in his opinion, reproach for frivolous waste of time and effort.” The author of the novel clearly sympathizes with Lavretsky: Turgenev, of course, himself had a high opinion of Western “institutions,” but, judging by “The Nest of Nobles,” he did not have such a good opinion of the domestic officials who were trying to introduce these “institutions.”
"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969
Coach. 1838 The carriage is one of the attributes of secular European life, which Varvara Pavlovna indulges in with pleasure
The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
How does the characters' family history influence their fate?
Of all Turgenev's heroes, Lavretsky has the most detailed pedigree: the reader learns not only about his parents, but also about the entire Lavretsky family, starting with his great-grandfather. Of course, this digression is intended to show the hero’s rootedness in history, his living connection with the past. At the same time, this “past” turns out to be very dark and cruel for Turgenev - in fact, this is the history of Russia and the noble class. Literally the entire history of the Lavretsky family is built on violence. The wife of his great-grandfather Andrei is directly compared to a bird of prey (for Turgenev this is always a significant comparison - just remember the ending of the story “Spring Waters”), and the reader literally learns nothing about their relationship, except that the spouses were always at war with each other friend: “Goggle-eyed, with a hawk nose, with a round yellow face, a gypsy by birth, hot-tempered and vindictive, she was in no way inferior to her husband, who almost killed her and whom she did not survive, although she was always squabbling with him.” The wife of their son Pyotr Andreich, a “humble woman,” was subordinate to her husband: “She loved to ride trotters, was ready to play cards from morning to evening, and always used to cover with her hand the penny winnings written on her when her husband approached the gambling table; and she gave all her dowry, all her money, to him at his unrequited disposal.” Lavretsky’s father Ivan fell in love with the serf girl Malanya, a “modest woman” who obeyed her husband and his relatives in everything and was completely excluded by them from raising her son, which led to her death:
Ivan Petrovich’s poor wife did not endure this blow, did not endure the second separation: she died without a murmur, within a few days. Throughout her life, she did not know how to resist anything, and she did not fight the disease. She could no longer speak, the shadows of the grave were already falling on her face, but her features still expressed patient bewilderment and constant meekness of humility.
Pyotr Andreich, who learned about his son’s love affair, is also compared to a bird of prey: “He descended on his son like a hawk, reproaching him for immorality, godlessness, pretense...” It was this terrible past that was reflected in the life of the protagonist, only now Lavretsky himself found himself in the power of his wife. Firstly, Lavretsky is a product of his father’s specific upbringing, because of which he, a naturally intelligent, far from naive person, got married without completely understanding what kind of person his wife was. Secondly, the very topic of family inequality connects Turgenev’s hero and his ancestors. The hero got married because his family past did not let him go - in the future his wife will become part of this past, which at a fateful moment will return and destroy his relationship with Lisa. The fate of Lavretsky, who is not destined to find his native corner, is connected with the curse of his aunt Glafira, expelled by the will of Lavretsky’s wife: “I know who is driving me away from here, from my ancestral nest. Just remember my words, nephew: you won’t build a nest anywhere, you’ll wander forever.” At the end of the novel, Lavretsky thinks of himself that he is a “lonely, homeless wanderer.” In the everyday sense, this is inaccurate: before us are the thoughts of a wealthy landowner - however, internal loneliness and the inability to find happiness in life turn out to be a logical conclusion from the history of the Lavretsky family.
The head is all gray, and when he opens his mouth, he lies or gossips. And also a state councilor!
Ivan Turgenev
The parallels with Lisa's backstory are interesting here. Her father was also a cruel, “predatory” man who subjugated her mother. There is also a direct influence of folk ethics in its past. At the same time, Liza feels her responsibility for the past more acutely than Lavretsky. Liza’s readiness for humility and suffering is connected not with some kind of internal weakness or sacrifice, but with a conscious, thoughtful desire to atone for sins, not only her own, but also those of others: “Happiness did not come to me; even when I had hopes of happiness, my heart still ached. I know everything, both my sins and those of others, and how daddy acquired our wealth; I know everything. All this must be prayed away, it must be prayed away.”
Pages from the collection “Symbols and Emblems”, published in Amsterdam in 1705 and in St. Petersburg in 1719
The collection consisted of 840 engravings with symbols and allegories. This mysterious book was the only reading for the impressionable and pale child Fedya Lavretsky. The Lavretskys had one of the reissues revised by Nestor Maksimovich-Ambodik early XIX centuries: Turgenev himself read this book as a child
What is a noble nest?
Turgenev himself wrote in an elegiac tone about “noble nests” in the story “My Neighbor Radilov”: “When choosing a place to live, our great-grandfathers certainly took out two tithes of good land for an orchard with linden alleys. Fifty, many seventy years later, these estates, “noble nests,” gradually disappeared from the face of the earth, the houses rotted or were sold for removal, the stone services turned into piles of ruins, the apple trees died out and were used for firewood, fences and wattles were destroyed. Some linden trees still grew to their glory and now, surrounded by plowed fields, they speak to our windy tribe about “the fathers and brothers who died before.” Parallels with “The Noble Nest” are easy to notice: on the one hand, the reader is not presented with Oblomovka, but with the image of a cultural, Europeanized estate, where alleys are planted and music is listened to; on the other hand, this estate is doomed to gradual destruction and oblivion. In “The Noble Nest,” apparently, this is precisely the fate destined for the Lavretsky estate, whose family line will end with the main character (his daughter, judging by the epilogue of the novel, will not live long).
The village of Shablykino, where Turgenev often hunted. Lithograph by Rudolf Zhukovsky based on his own drawing. 1840 State Memorial and Natural Museum-Reserve of I. S. Turgenev “Spasskoye-Lutovinovo”
Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Does Lisa Kalitina resemble the stereotype of the “Turgenev girl”?
Lisa Kalitina is probably now one of the most famous Turgenev images. They have repeatedly tried to explain the unusualness of this heroine by the existence of some special prototype - here they also pointed to the Countess Elizabeth Lambert Elizaveta Egorovna Lambert (née Kankrina; 1821-1883) - maid of honor imperial court. Daughter of the Minister of Finance Count Yegor Kankrin. In 1843 she married Count Joseph Lambert. She was friends with Tyutchev and had a long correspondence with Turgenev. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was deeply religious. From Turgenev’s letter to Lambert dated April 29, 1867: “Of all the doors into which I, a bad Christian, but following the gospel rule, pushed, your doors opened easier and more often than others.” , a secular acquaintance of Turgenev and the addressee of his numerous letters filled with philosophical reasoning, and on Varvara Sokovnin Varvara Mikhailovna Sokovnina (monastic Seraphim; 1779-1845) - nun. Sokovnina was born into a wealthy noble family, at the age of 20 she left home for the Sevsky Trinity Monastery, took monastic vows, and then the schema (the highest monastic level, requiring the performance of severe asceticism). She lived in seclusion for 22 years. In 1821, she was elevated to the rank of abbess of the Oryol nunnery, and ruled it until her death. In 1837, Abbess Seraphim was visited by Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Nicholas I. (in the monasticism of Seraphim), whose fate is very similar to the story of Lisa.
Probably, first of all, the stereotypical image of the “Turgenev girl” is built around Lisa, which is usually written about in popular publications and which is often discussed at school. At the same time, this stereotype hardly corresponds to Turgenev’s text. Lisa can hardly be called a particularly refined person or a lofty idealist. She is shown as a person of exceptionally strong will, decisive, independent and internally independent. In this sense, her image was rather influenced not by Turgenev’s desire to create the image of an ideal young lady, but by the writer’s ideas about the need for emancipation and the desire to show an internally free girl so that this internal freedom would not deprive her of poetry. A night date with Lavretsky in the garden for a girl of that time was completely indecent behavior - the fact that Lisa decided on it shows her complete internal independence from the opinions of others. The “poetic” effect of her image is given by a very unique manner of description. The narrator usually reports about Lisa’s feelings in rhythmic prose, very metaphorical, sometimes even using sound repetitions: “No one knows, no one has seen and will never see how, from bath to life and flourishing, pours and in sight no zer but in the womb ze mli." The analogy between love growing in the heroine’s heart and a natural process is not intended to explain some psychological properties heroine, but rather to hint at something that is beyond the capabilities of ordinary language. It is no coincidence that Lisa herself says that she “doesn’t have her own words” - in the same way, for example, at the end of the novel the narrator refuses to talk about her and Lavretsky’s experiences: “What did they think, what did they both feel? Who will know? Who's to say? There are such moments in life, such feelings... You can only point to them and pass by.”
"Noble Nest". Director Andrei Konchalovsky. 1969
Vladimir Panov. Illustration for the novel “The Noble Nest”. 1988
Why do Turgenev's heroes suffer all the time?
Violence and aggression permeate Turgenev’s entire life; a living being cannot help but suffer, it seems. In Turgenev’s story “The Diary of an Extra Man” (1850), the hero was opposed to nature, because he was endowed with self-awareness and acutely felt approaching death. In “The Noble Nest,” however, the desire for destruction and self-destruction is shown as characteristic not only of people, but of all nature. Marfa Timofeevna tells Lavretsky that no happiness for a living creature is possible in principle: “Why, I used to envy the flies: look, I thought, who has a good life in the world; Yes, one night I heard a fly whining in the spider’s legs - no, I think there’s a thunderstorm on them too.” At his own, simpler level, Lavretsky’s old servant Anton, who knew his aunt Glafira, who cursed him, speaks about self-destruction: “He told Lavretsky how Glafira Petrovna bit herself on the hand before her death,” and, after a pause, said with a sigh: “Every person, master-father, he is devoured to himself.” Turgenev's heroes live in a terrible and indifferent world, and here, unlike historical circumstances, it will probably not be possible to improve anything.
Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) - German philosopher. According to his main work, “The World as Will and Representation,” the world is perceived by the mind, and therefore is a subjective representation. The objective reality and organizing principle in man is will. But this will is blind and irrational, therefore it turns life into a series of suffering, and the world in which we live into “the worst of worlds.”—and researchers drew attention to some parallels between the novel and the main book of the German thinker, “The World as Will and Representation.” Indeed, both natural and historical life in Turgenev’s novel are full of violence and destruction, while the world of art turns out to be much more ambivalent: music carries both the power of passion and a kind of liberation from the power of the real world.Andrey Rakovich. Interior. 1839 Private collection
Why does Turgenev talk so much about happiness and duty?
The key debate between Lisa and Lavretsky is about the human right to happiness and the need for humility and renunciation. For the heroes of the novel, the theme of religion is of exceptional importance: the non-believer Lavretsky refuses to agree with Lisa. Turgenev does not try to decide which of them is right, but shows that duty and humility are necessary not only for a religious person - duty is also significant for public life, especially for people with such a historical background as Turgenev’s heroes: the Russian nobility in the novel is depicted not only as a bearer of high culture, but also as a class whose representatives have oppressed each other and the people around them for centuries. The conclusions from the disputes, however, are ambiguous. On the one hand, the new generation, free from the heavy burden of the past, easily achieves happiness - it is possible, however, that this succeeds due to a more successful combination of historical circumstances. At the end of the novel, Lavretsky addresses the younger generation with a mental monologue: “Play, have fun, grow, young strength... you have life ahead of you, and it will be easier for you to live: you won’t have to, like us, find your way, fight, fall and get up in the midst of darkness; we were trying to figure out how to survive - and how many of us didn’t survive! “But you need to do something, work, and the blessing of our brother, the old man, will be with you.” On the other hand, Lavretsky himself renounces claims to happiness and largely agrees with Lisa. If we consider that tragedy, according to Turgenev, is generally inherent in human life, the fun and joy of “new people” turn out to be in many ways a sign of their naivety, and the experience of misfortune that Lavretsky went through can be no less valuable for the reader.
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Full list of references
The famous Russian writer I. S. Turgenev wrote many wonderful works, “The Noble Nest” is one of the best.
In the novel “The Noble Nest,” Turgenev describes the morals and customs of life of the Russian nobility, their interests and hobbies.
The main character of the work - nobleman Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky - was brought up in the family of his aunt Glafira. Fyodor's mother, a former maid, died when the boy was very young. My father lived abroad. When Fyodor was twelve years old, his father returned home and raised his son himself.
Novel "The Noble Nest" summary The works give us the opportunity to find out what kind of home education and upbringing children in noble families received. Fedor was taught many sciences. His upbringing was harsh: he was woken up early in the morning, fed once a day, taught to ride a horse and shoot. When his father died, Lavretsky left to study in Moscow. He was then 23 years old.
The novel “The Noble Nest”, a brief summary of this work will allow us to learn about the hobbies and passions of the young nobles of Russia. During one of his visits to the theater, Fyodor saw a beautiful girl in the box - Varvara Pavlovna Korobyina. A friend introduces him to the beauty’s family. Varenka was smart, sweet, educated.
Studying at the university was abandoned due to Fyodor's marriage to Varvara. The young couple move to St. Petersburg. There their son is born and soon dies. On the advice of a doctor, the Lavretskys go to live in Paris. Soon, enterprising Varvara becomes the owner of a popular salon and starts an affair with one of her visitors. Having learned about accidentally reading a love note from her chosen one, Lavretsky breaks off all relations with her and returns to his estate.
One day he visited his cousin, Kalitina Maria Dmitrievna, who lived with two daughters - Liza and Lena. The eldest - the pious Lisa - interested Fyodor, and he soon realized that his feelings for this girl were serious. Lisa had an admirer, a certain Panshin, whom she did not love, but on her mother’s advice she did not push away.
In one of the French magazines, Lavretsky read that his wife had died. Fyodor declares his love to Lisa and learns that his love is mutual.
The young man's happiness knew no bounds. Finally, he met the girl of his dreams: gentle, charming and also serious. But when he returned home, Varvara was waiting for him in the foyer, alive and unharmed. She tearfully begged her husband to forgive her, at least for the sake of their daughter Ada. Notorious in Paris, the beautiful Varenka was in dire need of money, since her salon no longer provided her with the income she needed for a luxurious life.
Lavretsky assigns her an annual allowance and allows her to settle on his estate, but refuses to live with her. Smart and resourceful Varvara talked to Lisa and convinced the pious and meek girl to give up Fyodor. Lisa convinces Lavretsky not to leave his family. He settles his family on his estate, and he himself leaves for Moscow.
Deeply disappointed in her unfulfilled hopes, Lisa breaks off all relations with the secular world and goes to a monastery to find the meaning of life in suffering and prayer. Lavretsky visits her in the monastery, but the girl did not even look at him. Her feelings were revealed only by her fluttering eyelashes.
And Varenka again left for St. Petersburg, and then to Paris to continue her cheerful and carefree life there. “The Noble Nest”, the summary of the novel reminds us how much space in a person’s soul is occupied by his feelings, especially love.
Eight years later, Lavretsky visits the house where he once met Lisa. Fyodor again plunged into the atmosphere of the past - the same garden outside the window, the same piano in the living room. After returning home, he lived for a long time with sad memories of his failed love.
“The Noble Nest”, a brief summary of the work, allowed us to touch on some of the features of the lifestyle and customs of the Russian nobility of the 19th century.
The work “The Noble Nest” was written in 1858. Turgenev set himself the task of depicting a typical image of a Russian landowner's estate, in which the life of all the provincial nobility of that time took place. What was this society like? Splendor and wretchedness merged here into a single canvas of secular existence. The life of the nobles consisted of receptions, balls, trips to the theater, the pursuit of Western fashion, and the desire to look “worthy.” In this work, Turgenev revealed the concept of “ noble nest"not only as estates of a noble family, but also as a social, cultural and psychological phenomenon.
The case took place in 1842. On a fine spring day in the Kalitins’ house it becomes known that a certain Lavretsky is coming. This is a significant event for the city. Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky arrives abroad. He was in Paris, where he accidentally discovered the betrayal of his own wife, the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna. He broke off relations with her, and as a result of this she became famous in Europe.
The news is brought by a certain Gedeonovsky, a state councilor and big man. The widow of the former provincial prosecutor Maria Dmitrievna, whose house is considered the most respected in the city, has sympathy for him.
“In her youth, Marya Dmitrievna enjoyed the reputation of a pretty blonde; and at fifty years old her features were not devoid of pleasantness, although they were a little swollen and blurred. She was more sensitive than kind, and retained her college habits until her mature years; she spoiled herself, became easily irritated and even cried when her habits were violated; but she was very affectionate and kind, when all her wishes were fulfilled and no one contradicted her. Her house was one of the most pleasant in the city.”
Maria Dmitrievna's aunt, seventy-year-old Marfa Timofeevna, does not like Pestov or Gedeonovsky, considering him a talker and a writer. Marfa Timofeevna generally doesn’t like anyone. For example, she does not at all favor the official from St. Petersburg on special assignments, the chamber cadet Vladimir Nikolaevich Panshin, whom everyone loves so much. The first groom in the city, a wonderful gentleman who plays the piano so amazingly, and also composes romances, writes poetry, draws, and recites. He has a lot of talents, and he carries himself with such dignity!
Panshin arrived in the city on some mission. Often happens at the Kaliti's. They say he likes Lisa, Maria Dmitrievna's nineteen-year-old daughter. Surely he would have proposed long ago, but Marfa Timofeevna does not let him off the hook, believing that he is no match for Liza. And his music teacher, the no longer young Khristofor Fedorovich Lemm, also doesn’t like him. “Lemm’s appearance was not in his favor. He was short, stooped, with crooked shoulder blades and a retracted stomach, with large flat feet, with pale blue nails on the hard, unbent fingers of his sinewy red hands; his face was wrinkled, sunken cheeks and compressed lips, which he constantly moved and chewed, which, given his usual silence, gave an almost sinister impression; his gray hair hung in tufts over his low forehead; His tiny, motionless eyes smoldered dully like freshly lit coals; he walked heavily, throwing his clumsy body over at every step.” This unattractive German was very fond of his pupil Lisa.
Everyone in town is talking about personal life Lavretsky and come to the conclusion that he does not look too pitiful as expected. He behaves cheerfully, looks good, and is bursting with health. Only sadness hides in the eyes.
Lavretsky is a man of the type who is unusual in becoming slack. His great-grandfather Andrei was a tough, smart, cunning man, he knew how to stand up for himself and achieve what he needed. His wife was actually a gypsy, she had a quick-tempered character, it was fraught with offending her - she would always find a way to take revenge on the offender. “Andrei’s son, Peter, Fedorov’s grandfather, was not like his father; he was a simple steppe gentleman, rather eccentric, loud and loud, rude, but not evil, hospitable and a canine hunter. He was over thirty years old when he inherited two thousand souls from his father in excellent order, but he soon dissolved them, sold part of his estate, spoiled his servants... Pyotr Andreich’s wife was a humble woman; he took her from a neighboring family, by his father's choice and order; her name was Anna Pavlovna... She gave birth to two children with him: a son, Ivan, Fedorov’s father, and a daughter, Glafira.
Ivan was brought up by a rich old aunt, Princess Kubenskaya: she appointed him as her heir, dressed him like a doll, and hired him all kinds of teachers. After her death, Ivan did not want to stay in his aunt’s house, where he suddenly turned from a rich heir into a hanger-on. Involuntarily, he returned to the village, to his father. His birthplace seemed dirty, poor and trashy to him, and everyone in the house, except his mother, looked unfriendly. His father criticized him, “everything here is not like him,” he used to say, “he’s picky at the table, doesn’t eat, can’t stand the smell of people, the stuffiness, the sight of drunk people upsets him, don’t you dare fight in front of him either, doesn’t want to serve: he’s weak, you see.” , health; wow, you such a sissy!”
Hardening for life's troubles, obviously, passed from his ancestors to Fyodor Lavretsky. Even in infancy, Fedor had to endure trials. His father became involved with the maid Malanya, fell in love and wanted to tie his fate with her. His father was furious and disinherited him, ordering Malanya to be sent away. On the way, Ivan intercepted her and got married. He left her with his distant relatives, went to St. Petersburg himself, and then abroad. Malanya had a son. For a long time The elder Lavretskys did not accept her, and only when Ivan’s mother was dying did she ask her husband to accept her son and his wife. Malanya Sergeevna appeared with little Fedor at the house of her husband’s parents. The latter came to Russia twelve years later, when Malanya had already died.
Fyodor was raised by his aunt Glafira Andreevna. This woman was terrible: angry and ugly, loving power and obedience. She kept Fyodor in fear. He was given to her to raise while his mother was still alive.
Upon his return, the father himself began raising his son. The boy's life has changed, but has not become easier. Now he wore a Scottish suit, he was taught mathematics, international law, heraldry ^ natural sciences, they forced me to do gymnastics, get up at four in the morning, douse myself with cold water, and then run around a pole on a rope. They fed him once a day. In addition, he was taught to ride a horse, shoot a crossbow, and when Fyodor turned seventeen, his father began to instill in him contempt for women.
A few years later, Fyodor's father died. Young Lavretsky went to Moscow, where he entered the university. Here the traits that were nurtured in him first by his evil, wayward aunt, then by his father, began to appear. Fedor did not find anyone common language. As for women, it was as if they did not exist at all in his life. He avoided them and was afraid.
The only person Fedor became friends with was a certain Mikhalevich. He wrote poetry and looked at life with enthusiasm. They became serious friends with Fedor. When Fyodor was twenty-six, Mikhalevich introduced him to the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna Korobina, and Lavretsky lost his head. Varvara was indeed good-looking, charming, educated, possessed many talents and could bewitch anyone, not just Fyodor. Because of this, he had to suffer in the future. Well, in the meantime there was a wedding, and six months later the newlyweds arrived in Lavriki.
Fedor did not graduate from university. Together with his young wife he started family life. Aunt Glafira no longer ruled in his house. General Korobin, Varvara Pavlovna’s father, was appointed manager. The young family went to St. Petersburg.
Soon they had a son, but he did not live very long. Doctors advised the family to move to Paris to improve their health. So they did.
Varvara Pavlovna liked Paris immediately and forever. She conquers the French world and gains herself an army of fans. In society she is accepted as the first beauty of the world.
Lavretsky never even dreamed of doubting his wife, but a love note addressed to Varvara fell into his hands. The character of his ancestors awakened in Fyodor. In a rage, he first decided to destroy both his wife and her lover, but then he ordered a letter about an annual allowance for his wife and about the departure of General Korobin from the estate, and he himself went to Italy.
Abroad, Fyodor continued to hear rumors about his wife’s affairs. He learned that she had a daughter, possibly his daughter. However, by this time Fedor didn’t care anymore. For four years he lived in voluntary distance from everything that was in his former life. Then, however, he decided to return home to Russia, to his Vasilievskoye estate.
IN hometown Lisa liked him from the first days. However, he himself imagined her to be Panshin’s lover, who did not leave her a single step. Lisa's mother openly said that Panshin could become Elizabeth's chosen one. Marfa Timofeevna desperately opposed this.
Lavretsky settled in his estate and began to live alone. He did housework, rode horseback, and read a lot. After some time, he decided to go to the Kalitins. This is how he met Lemm, with whom he became friends. In the conversation, old Lemm, who was rarely treated with respect, began talking about Panshin. He was sure that Lisa didn’t need this man, that she didn’t love him, her mother was urging her on. Lemm spoke poorly of Panshin as a person and believed that Liza simply could not love such a nonentity.
Lisa lost her father early, however, he took little care of her. “Swamped with affairs, constantly preoccupied with increasing his fortune, bilious, harsh, impatient, he did not skimp on giving money for teachers, tutors, for clothing and other needs of children; but he couldn’t stand, as he put it, babysitting squeaky babies, and he had no time to babysit them: he worked, tinkered with business, slept little, occasionally played cards, worked again; he compared himself to a horse harnessed to a threshing machine...
Marya Dmitrievna, in essence, was not much more concerned with Liza than her husband, although she boasted to Lavretsky that she raised her children alone; she dressed her like a doll, stroked her on the head in front of guests and called her smart and darling to her face - and that’s all: the lazy lady was tired of all the constant worries.” During her father's life, Lisa was in the arms of a Gufnante, the maiden Moreau from Paris; and after his death, Marfa Timofeevna took over her upbringing. Turgenev shows the typical attitude of parents towards children in the so-called “noble nests”.
Lisa and Lavretsky become closer. They communicate a lot, and it is obvious that there is mutual trust in their relationship. One day, in great embarrassment, Lisa asked Lavretsky why he broke up with his wife. In her opinion, it is impossible to break what God has united, and Lavretsky had to forgive his wife, no matter what she did. Lisa herself lives by the principle of forgiveness. She is submissive because she was taught this as a child. When Lisa was very little, her nanny named Agafya took her to church and told her about the life of the Blessed Virgin, saints and hermits. She herself was an example of humility and meekness, and a sense of duty was her main life principle.
Unexpectedly, Mikhalevich arrives in Vasilyevskoye, aged, obviously living poorly, but still burning with life. He “did not lose heart and lived as a cynic, an idealist, a poet, sincerely caring and lamenting about the fate of humanity, about his own calling - and caring very little about how not to die of hunger. Mikhalevich was not married, but he fell in love endlessly and wrote poems about all his lovers; he sang especially passionately about one mysterious black-haired woman<панну»... Ходили, правда, слухи, будто эта панна была простая жидовка, хорошо известная многим кавалерийским офицерам... но, как подумаешь -чразве и это не все равно?»
Lavretsky and Mikhalevich argue for a long time on the topic of happiness in life. What can give a person joy and bring him out of an apathetic existence? - this is the subject of their dispute. Lemm follows their thoughts without interfering in the discussion.
The Kalitins come to Vasilyevskoye. Lisa and Lavretsky communicate a lot, it is clear that they both enjoy it. They become friends, which they confirm when parting during a short dialogue.
The next day, Lavretsky, in order to keep himself busy, looks through French magazines and newspapers. One of them contains a message that the queen of fashionable Parisian salons, Madame Lavretskaya, died suddenly. Fyodor Ivanovich thus finds himself free.
In the morning he goes to the Kalitins to meet with Lisa and tell her the news. However, Lisa received him rather coolly, saying that he should not think about his new position, but about receiving forgiveness. In turn, Lisa says that Panshin proposed to her. She doesn't love him, but her mother persistently convinces her to marry him.
Lavretsky begs Lisa to think first, not to marry without love. “I only ask you one thing... don’t make up your mind right away, wait, think about what I told you. Even if you didn’t believe me, even if you decided to marry based on reason, then you shouldn’t marry Mr. Panshin: he can’t be your husband... Don’t you promise me not to rush?
Lisa wanted to answer Lavretsky - and did not utter a word, not because she decided to “hurry”; but because her heart was beating too hard and a feeling similar to fear took her breath away.”
She immediately tells Panshin that she is not yet ready to give an answer and must think about it. That same evening she reported her words to Lavretsky, and then seemed to disappear for several days. When he asked what she decided regarding Panshin, Lisa avoided answering.
One day at a social event, Panshin begins to talk about the new generation. In his opinion, Russia has lagged behind Europe. As arguments, he cites, for example, the fact that even mousetraps were not invented in Russia. His anger and irritation are obvious; regarding the topic of conversation - Russia - Parshin shows contempt. Lavretsky enters into an argument, unexpectedly for everyone.
“Lavretsky defended the youth and independence of Russia; he sacrificed himself, his generation, but stood up for new people, for their beliefs and desires; Panshin objected irritably and sharply, declared that smart people should redo everything, and finally became so arrogant that, forgetting his rank as a chamber cadet and bureaucratic career, he called Lavretsky a backward conservative, and even hinted - albeit very distantly - at his false position in society."
As a result, Panshin and his arguments are defeated. He is irritated by this fact, especially because Liza clearly sympathizes with Lavretsky. In the argument, she accepted his point of view.
Lavretsky says that while there is bustle and numerous reforms around, he personally intends to plow the land as best and conscientiously as possible.
Lisa is offended and insulted that Panshin speaks about Russia in such a way. She completely moves away from him, but, on the contrary, feels strong sympathy for Lavretsky. She sees that they have a lot in common. The only discrepancy is the attitude towards God, but here too Lisa hopes that she will be able to introduce Lavretsky to the faith.
Lavretsky himself also feels the need to see Lisa, to be with her. The guests are leaving the social party, but Fyodor is in no hurry. He goes out into the night garden, sits down on a bench and calls out to Lisa as she passes by. As she approaches, he confesses his love to her.
After the confession, joyful and happy for the first time in a long time, Lavretsky returns home. In a sleeping city, he suddenly hears wondrous, alluring sounds of music. They pour out of Lemm's home. Lavretsky listens in fascination, and then, calling the old man, hugs him.
The next day, Lavretsky was overtaken by an unexpected blow - his wife returned. Her numerous things filled the entire living room, and she herself begs him to forgive her.
“ - You can live wherever you want; and if your pension is not enough for you...
Oh, don’t say such terrible words,” Varvara Pavlovna interrupted him, “spare me, although... although for the sake of this angel...” And, having said these words, Varvara Pavlovna quickly ran out into another room and immediately returned with the little one, a very elegantly dressed girl in her arms. Large brown curls fell over her pretty, ruddy face and over her large, black, sleepy eyes; she smiled and squinted from the fire, and rested her plump little hand on her mother’s neck.”
The daughter of Ada arrived with Varvara, and she forces her to also beg her father for forgiveness.
Lavretsky suggested that Varvara Pavlovna settle in Lavriki, but never count on renewing relations. She meekly agrees, but on the same day she goes to the Kalitins.
Meanwhile, the Kalitins had a final explanation between Lisa and Panshin. Varvara Pavlovna wins everyone over to the Jewish person, conducting small talk, and achieves the favor of Maria Dmitrievna and Panshin. Lisa's mother promises to help her reconcile with her husband. Among other things, Varvara hints that he has not yet forgotten “fee.” Lisa is very worried about this, but tries to hold on with all her might.
“Lisa’s heart began to beat strongly and painfully: she could barely overcome herself, she could barely sit still. It seemed to her that Varvara Pavlovna knew everything and, secretly triumphant, was making fun of her. Luckily for her, Gedeonovsky spoke to Varvara Pavlovna and diverted her attention. Lisa bent over the embroidery frame and watched her furtively. “He loved this woman,” she thought. But she immediately drove the very thought of Lavretsky out of her head: she was afraid of losing power over herself; she felt that her head was quietly spinning.”
Lavretsky receives a note from Lisa asking for a visit and goes to the Kalitins. There he first of all sees Marfa Timofeevna. Thanks to her assistance, Fyodor and Lisa remain alone. Lisa says that now there is nothing left but to fulfill his duty, Fyodor Ivanovich must make peace with his wife. Now, she says, one cannot help but see that happiness depends not on people, but on God.
Lavretsky, at the invitation of a servant, goes to Marya Dmitrievna. She tries to persuade him to forgive his wife. She convinces him of her enormous repentance, then brings Varvara Pavlovna herself out from behind the screen, and they both beg him to have mercy. Lavretsky gives in to persuasion and promises that he will live with her under the same roof, but only on the condition that she does not leave the estate. The next morning he took his wife and daughter to Lavriki and a week later he left for Moscow.
The next day Panshin came to Varvara Pavlovna and stayed with her for three days.
Lisa, in a conversation with Marfa Timofeevna, says that she wants to go to a monastery. “I know everything, both my sins and those of others... I need to pray for all this, I need to pray for it. I feel sorry for you, sorry for your mother, Lenochka; but there is nothing to do; I feel that I can’t live here; I had already said goodbye to everything, bowed to everything in the house for the last time; something calls me back; I feel sick, I want to lock myself away forever. Don’t hold me back, don’t dissuade me, help me, otherwise I’ll leave alone...”
A year has passed. Lavretsky learned that Lisa had become a nun. She was now in a monastery located in one of the most remote regions of Russia. After some time, Lavretsky went there. Lisa clearly noticed him, but pretended not to recognize him. They didn't even talk.
Varvara Pavlovna soon moved to St. Petersburg, and then went back to Paris. Fyodor Ivanovich gave her a promissory note and bought her off from the possibility of a second unexpected attack. She has grown older and fatter, but is still sweet and graceful. She had a new lover, a guardsman, “a certain Zakurdalo-Skubyrnikov, a man of about thirty-eight, with an unusually strong build. French visitors to Ms. Lavretskaya’s salon call it “1e gros taureau de 1’Ukraine” (“fat bull from Ukraine”, French). Varvara Pavlovna never invites him to her fashionable evenings, but he enjoys her favor completely.”
Eight years passed, and Lavretsky again went to his hometown. Many people in the Kalitin house have already died. Everything in the house was now run by the young people, their younger sister Lisa and her fiancé. Through the noise and cheerful voices, Fyodor Lavretsky walked around the house, saw the same piano, the same furnishings that he remembered. He was overcome by “a feeling of living sadness about the disappeared youth, about the happiness that he once possessed.” In the garden, the same bench and the same alley reminded him of what was irretrievably lost. Only he no longer regretted anything, since he stopped wanting his own happiness.
“And the end? - a dissatisfied reader may ask. - And what happened to Lavretsky later? with Lisa? But what can we say about people who are still alive, but have already left the earthly field; why return to them?
It was not for nothing that this work was called “The Noble Nest”. The theme of such “nests” was close to Turgenev. With the greatest talent, he conveyed the atmosphere of such places, described the passions seething in them, worried about the fate of the heroes - Russian nobles, and predicted their prospects. This work confirms that this topic is respected in the writer’s work.
However, this novel cannot be called optimistic from the point of view of the fate of a particular “noble nest”. Turgenev writes about the degeneration of such places, which is confirmed by many elements: the heroes’ remarks, the description of the serfdom system and, in contrast, the “wild lordship”, idolatry of everything European, the images of the heroes themselves.
Using the example of the Lavretsky family, the author shows how the events of the era influence the formation of individuals living at that time. It becomes clear to readers that a person cannot live in isolation from what is happening on a large scale around him. He describes the characteristic features of the wild nobility, with its permissiveness and stereotyping, then moves on to denounce idolatry before Europe. All this is the history of one kind of Russian nobility, very typical of its time.
Moving on to the description of the modern noble family of the Kalitins, Turgenev notes that in this seemingly prosperous family, no one cares about Lisa’s experiences, the parents do not pay attention to the children, there is no trust in relationships, while at the same time material things are highly valued. So, Lisa’s mother is trying to marry her off to a man she doesn’t love. A woman is guided by considerations of wealth and prestige.
Lavretsky's ancestors, the old gossip Gedeonovsky, the dashing retired captain and famous player of Father Panigin, the lover of government money, retired General Korobin - all these images symbolize time. It is obvious that numerous vices flourish in Russian society, and the “nests of the nobility” are deplorable places in which there is no place for the spiritual. Meanwhile, the aristocrats themselves consider themselves the best people. There is a crisis in Russian society.
“The Noble Nest” - “story” by I.S. Turgenev. This work was, according to the author, “the greatest success that has ever befallen him.”
History of creation
The idea for “The Noble Nest” arose in early 1856, but actual work on the work began in mid-June 1858 in Spassky, the writer’s family estate, and continued until the end of October of the same year. In mid-December, Turgenev made the final amendments to the text of the “story” before its publication. “The Noble Nest” was first published in the Sovremennik magazine in 1859 (No. 1). The last lifetime (authorized) edition, considered as a canonical text, was carried out in 1880 in St. Petersburg by the heirs of the Salaev brothers.
The creation of “The Noble Nest” was preceded by a difficult stage in Turgenev’s personal life, and in the public life by a period of preparation for deep social changes in Russia. In August 1856, the writer left his homeland and lived abroad for almost two years. Then there was an actual break in his long-term relationship with Pauline Viardot. The writer tragically experienced loneliness and restlessness; acutely felt his inability to start a family and gain a strong foothold in life. To this painful state were added physical ailments, and then a feeling of creative impotence, debilitating spiritual emptiness. Turgenev experienced a sharp age-related change in his life, which he experienced as the onset of old age; such a dear past was crumbling, and there seemed to be no hope ahead.
Russian social life was also in a crisis stage. The death of Nicholas I and the defeat in the Crimean War shocked Russia. It became clear that it was no longer possible to live as before. The government of Alexander II faced the need to reform many aspects of life and, first of all, the need to abolish serfdom. The question of the role of the noble intelligentsia in the life of the country inevitably came to the fore. This and other topical problems were discussed by Turgenev during his stay abroad in conversations with V. Botkin, P. Annenkov, A.I. Herzen - contemporaries who personified the thought and spirit of the century. A double crisis: personal and public - was expressed in the problems and collisions of “The Noble Nest”, although formally the action of the work is assigned to another era - the spring and summer of 1842, and the background of the main character Fyodor Lavretsky - even to the 1830s. For Turgenev, working on the work was a process of getting over his personal drama, saying goodbye to the past and acquiring new values.
Genre "Nobles' Nest"
On the title page of the autograph of the work, Turgenev indicated the genre of the work: story. In fact, “The Noble Nest” is one of the first socio-philosophical novels in the writer’s work, in which the fate of an individual is closely intertwined with national and social life. However, the formation of a large epic form occurred in Turgenev’s artistic system precisely through the story. “The Noble Nest” is surrounded by such stories as “Correspondence” (1854), “Faust” (1856), “Trains to Polesie” (1857), “Asya” (1858), in which determined the type of hero characteristic of the writer: a nobleman-intellectual who values the rights of his personality and, at the same time, is not alien to the consciousness of duty to society. These kind of heroes, writes V.A. Niedzwiecki, are obsessed with longing for absolute values, a thirst for life in unity with the universal. They are not so much in a relationship with real contemporaries as they are face to face with such eternal and endless elements of existence, such as nature, beauty, art, youth, death and most of all - love. They strive to find in their concrete life the fullness of endless love, which predetermines their tragic fate. Going through the test of life and love, the hero of the stories comprehends the law of the tragic consequences of high human aspirations and is convinced that for a person there is only one way out - sacrificial renunciation of his best hopes.
This philosophical and psychological level of conflict, developed in the genre of the story, is an essential component in the structure of Turgenev’s novel, complemented by a conflict of a socio-historical nature. In the novel genre, the writer eliminates the direct lyrical method of narration (most of his stories are written in the first person), sets the task of creating a generalized picture of objective existence in its many components, and places the hero with a traditional set of individual and personal problems in the wide world of social and national life.
The meaning of the name “Noble Nest”
The title of the novel uses one of the symbolic leitmotifs of Turgenev’s work. The image of a nest is deeply connected with the problems of the work, the main character of which is focused on personal happiness, love, and family. The “instinct of happiness” is so strong in Lavretsky that even after experiencing the first blow of fate, he finds the strength for a second attempt. But happiness is not given to the hero, the prophetic words of his aunt come true: “...You won’t build a nest anywhere, you’ll wander forever.” Liza Kalitina seems to know in advance that happiness is impossible. Her decision to leave the world is intricately intertwined with a “secret sacrifice for everyone,” love for God, repentance for her “illegal” heartfelt desires and a peculiar search for a “nest” in which she will not be a plaything of the dark forces of existence. The “nest” motif, being the starting point in the development of the plot, expands its content to a universal generalization of noble culture as a whole, merging in its best capabilities with the national culture. For Turgenev, a person’s personality is as artistically comprehended as it can be inscribed in the image of a particular culture (this is the basis for the distribution of the novel’s heroes into different groups and clans). The work contains the living world of a noble estate with its characteristic everyday and natural way of life, habitual activities and established traditions. However, Turgenev is sensitive to the discontinuity of Russian history, the absence in it of an organic “connection of times” as a feature of the national spirit. The meaning, once acquired, is not retained and is not passed on from generation to generation. At each stage you need to look for your goal again, as if for the first time. The energy of this eternal spiritual anxiety is realized primarily in the musicality of the novel’s language. The elegy novel, “The Noble Nest” is perceived as Turgenev’s farewell to the old noble Russia on the eve of the impending new historical stage - the 60s.
