1918-1919 is the time of action in the novel, when tense events are growing in the country civil war. A certain City, in which Kyiv can be guessed, is occupied by German occupation forces. The confrontation is between them and Petliura’s army, which can enter the city any day now. There is an atmosphere of unrest and confusion in the city. Since the election of the Hetman of “all Ukraine”, in the spring of 1918, a continuous stream of visitors from Moscow and St. Petersburg rushed to the City: bankers, journalists, lawyers, literary figures.
The action begins in the Turbins’ house, where Alexey Turbin, a doctor, gathered for dinner; Nikolka, his younger brother, non-commissioned officer; their sister Elena and family friends - Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, Second Lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and Lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant at the headquarters of the commander of all military forces of Ukraine, Prince Belorukov. They are occupied with one single question: “How to live? How to live?”
Alexey Turbin is firmly convinced that his beloved city could have been saved if not for the negligence and frivolity of the hetman. If he had gathered the Russian army in time, Petliura’s army would not have threatened now, but would have been destroyed. And besides, Russia could have been saved if the army had marched on Moscow.
Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, Elena’s husband, talks about the impending separation from his wife: he should be taken away along with her leaving the city German army. But according to his plans, he will return in three months, because there will be help from Denikin’s emerging army. Elena will have to live in the City during his absence.
The formation of the Russian army that began in the City was completely stopped. By this time, Karas, Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin had already joined the military forces. They readily come to Colonel Malyshev and enter the service. Karas and Myshlaevsky were appointed to the position of officers, and Turbin began to serve as a division doctor. But on the night of December 13-14, the hetman and General Belorukov flee the City on a German train. The army is being disbanded. Nikolai Turbin watches with horror the inglorious escape of officers and cadets of the Russian army. Colonel Nai-Tours gives everyone the command to hide as best they can. He orders to tear off shoulder straps, throw away weapons or hide them, and destroy everything that could give away rank or affiliation with the army. Horror freezes on Nikolai's face when he sees the valiant death of the colonel covering the departure of the cadets.
The fact is that on December 10, the formation of the second department of the first squad is completed. With great difficulty, Colonel Nai-Tours obtains uniforms for his soldiers. He understands perfectly well that fighting a war like this, without proper ammunition, is simply pointless. The morning of December 14 does not bode well: Petlyura goes on the attack. The city is under siege. Nai-Tours, by order of its superiors, must protect the Polytechnic Highway. The colonel sends some cadets on reconnaissance: their task is to find out the location of the hetman's units. Intelligence brings bad news. It turned out that there were no military units, and the enemy cavalry had just burst into the city. This meant only one thing - a trap.
Alexey Turbin, who until now did not know about the hostilities and the failure, finds Colonel Malyshev, from whom he learns everything that is happening: The city was taken by Petlyura’s troops. Alexey is trying to hide. He tears off his shoulder straps and strives to break through to his home. However, on the way he comes across the Hetman’s soldiers. They recognize him as an officer, since he completely forgot to take off the badge from his cap. The chase begins. Alexei is wounded. Turbin finds salvation in the house of Yulia Reise. She helps him bandage the wound and changes him into civilian dress the next morning. That same morning, Alexey gets to his home.
At the same time he arrives from Zhitomir cousin Talberga Larion. He is looking for salvation from mental anguish, worried about his wife leaving.
In a large house, the Turbins live on the second floor, the first is occupied by Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich. Vasilisa (this is the nickname of the owner of the house) the day before Petliura’s troops arrive in the City, decides to take care of her property. He makes a kind of hiding place where he hides money and jewelry. But his hiding place turns out to be declassified: an unknown person is closely watching his cunning from a crack in a curtained window. And here's a coincidence - the next night they come to Vasilisa with a search. First of all, the searchers open the cache and take away all of Vasilisa’s savings. And only after they leave, the owner of the house and his wife begin to understand that they were bandits. Vasilisa is trying to gain the trust of the Turbins in order to have protection from a possible next attack. Karas undertakes to protect the Lisovichs.
Three days later, Nikolka Turbin goes to look for Nai-Tours’ relatives. He tells the colonel's mother and sister the details of his death. After this, Nikolka makes a painful trip to the morgue, where he finds the body of Nai-Tours, and on the same night the funeral service for the valiant colonel is held in the chapel at the anatomical theater.
And at this time, Alexei Turbin’s condition is deteriorating: the wound becomes inflamed, and to top it off, he has typhus. The doctors gather for a consultation and decide almost unanimously that the patient will soon die. Elena, locked in her bedroom, passionately prays for her brother. To the great surprise of the doctor, Alexey regains consciousness - the crisis is over.
A few months later, Alexey visits Julia Reise and, in gratitude for saving her life, gives her his late mother's bracelet.
Soon Elena receives a letter from Warsaw. It immediately reminds her of her prayer for her brother: “Mother intercessor, beg him. There he is. What is it worth to you? Have pity on us. Have pity. Your days are coming, your holiday. Maybe he will do something good, and you too I beg you for your sins. Let Sergei not return... Take it away, take it away, but don’t punish this with death..." In a letter, a friend reports that Sergei Talberg is getting married. Elena sobs, remembering her prayer.
Soon Petliura’s troops leave the City. The Bolsheviks are approaching the City.
The novel ends with a philosophical discussion about the eternity of nature and the insignificance of man: “Everything will pass. Suffering, torment, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will disappear, but the stars will remain, when the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on earth. There is not a single person ", who wouldn't know this. So why don't we want to turn our gaze to them? Why?"
Part one
The winter of 1918 turned out to be snowy and frosty. The young Turbines did not notice how December came. Their mother died a year after her daughter Elena got married to Captain Sergei Ivanovich Talberg. That same week, the eldest son Alexey Vasilyevich Turbin returned to Ukraine.
For many years before her death, little Elenka, elder Alexey and very tiny Nikolka grew up in house number 13 on Alekseevsky Spusk. As time went. The professor's father died. The children have grown up. Only the clock, as before, measured the passage of time. Dying, the mother bequeathed to her children to live together.
And this is the eighteenth year. Alexey, who became a doctor, was twenty-eight, Elena was twenty-four, her husband was thirty-one, and Nikolka was seventeen and a half. The Turbins' house was two-story. The Turbins’ apartment was located upstairs, and the first floor was occupied by “an engineer and a coward, a bourgeois and unsympathetic,” Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa. Alexey and Nikolka went to the barn to get firewood and discovered that someone was stealing fuel. Nikolka suggested setting up an ambush, but Alexey did not agree, and they dragged the firewood home. In the warm room the brothers became exhausted. Alexey asked the young man to play “Shooting” and began to sing along with him. Elena entered the room. She was worried about her husband, who promised to come at three o’clock, and now it was already late evening. The street was restless, and shooting was heard from time to time.
The young people went to the dining room. Nikolka brought the samovar. He began to discuss why they were shooting so close, to which his older brother suddenly declared that the Germans were scoundrels. Elena was afraid that the Germans would leave them to their fate. Petliura’s troops were stationed near the city.
There was a thin ringing sound. Elena is a little disappointed, because it was not her husband who came, but Lieutenant Viktor Viktorovich Myshlaevsky. He asked to stay overnight because he was in such a state that he was afraid he wouldn’t make it home. He's just from the front line. In narrow, smart boots, Myshlaevsky completely froze his feet and was afraid that he would have to cut them off. Alexey calmed him down. Slowly the lieutenant began to come to life. He talked about what was happening at the fortifications, how the city was defending itself from Petliura. The picture is bleak. Complete confusion, it is unclear who is fighting for whom. In one of the villages, the officers met a grandfather who mistook them for Petliurists. He warmly greeted the uninvited guests. Having understood the situation, the grandfather immediately changed tactics and even found sleighs and horses for the wounded. There were no headquarters at the post, the batteries stood undeployed due to the lack of shells, and at that time Colonel Shchetkin locked himself in his carriage with his entourage and drank cognac. The brothers took the guest to wash.
Elena's husband returned and called her into their room for a few words. Talberg told his wife that he urgently needed to leave, since the troops were being defeated, and a huge mass of peasants was fighting on Petlyura’s side. Elena's husband was experienced in military affairs and politics. He felt the situation subtly, and Elena understood that she might never see him again. Thalberg escaped, leaving her in the care of her brothers.
Meanwhile, on the lower floor, Vasilisa checked the locks, the bolt, the chain and returned to his office. He curtained the window and opened the secret door in the wall. There he carefully placed the package in newsprint and again sealed the hiding place door in such a way that even signs of its existence were not noticeable. While Vasilisa was performing this operation, someone was watching him through the window from the street through a narrow crack in the sheet. The Turbinnys' neighbor had three caches, each of which contained money, gold and securities. Counting the bills, Vasilisa identified several counterfeit ones among them. He carefully put them aside, planning to use them to pay the cab driver and at the market. Voices and laughter could be heard from above, and a guitar began to play.
The Turbins actually had guests: Lieutenant Leonid Yurievich Shervinsky and Second Lieutenant Fyodor Nikolaevich Stepanov, nicknamed Karas. Elena, hastily powdering her face, received the guests. During dinner, the conversation was about military operations on the outskirts of the city. Then Shervinsky started talking about the fact that after the war the Germans could help Moscow in the fight against the Bolsheviks. The hetman could solemnly lay Ukraine at the feet of the emperor. Nikolka said that the emperor was killed. Shervinsky objected: it has long been known that the emperor and his family were saved with the help of the heir’s faithful tutor. The young man wanted to believe in this news, and he offered to raise a glass to the emperor. The young people agreed that only the monarchy could save Russia. All together they sang the forbidden royal anthem. On the first floor, Vasilisa woke up and waited in fear for the singing to end. Finally things calmed down upstairs.
Elena was left alone in her room. She began to talk to herself about herself and her husband. Elena realized that she had no respect for her husband at all. In another room, Alexey was thinking about Talberg, coming to the conclusion that he was a scoundrel.
Throughout the winter of 1918, the city lived a strange life. The apartments were overcrowded. Grey-haired bankers with their families, talented businessmen, homeowners, industrialists, merchants, lawyers, public figures and many many others fled here from Russia.
Numerous food stalls opened in the city, selling until late at night. Local newspapers began to publish the best pens in Russia, vilifying the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were hated with cowardly, hissing hatred.
There were many officers who were forced to remain in the City, since it was most difficult for them to obtain false documents and cross the border. However, there were also indigenous residents, such as Alexey Turbin, who returned to the city to organize a new one, not military life. Locked in the city, all these people did not know what was going on outside, in the real Ukraine.
All hope was on the Germans. There were only two forces until a third appeared.
It appeared gradually. Its first sign was the appearance one morning on the streets of the city of women running in their shirts and screaming in terrible voices. There was an explosion of ammunition and gunpowder warehouses on Bald Mountain. The second sign was the murder of the commander-in-chief of the German army in Ukraine, Field Marshal Eichhorn. Food prices began to rise.
When Vasilisa reproached the milkmaid for raising prices and threatened the Germans, she only promised that the Ukrainians themselves would teach them reason. In the fall, a criminal with the simple name Semyon Vasilyevich Petliura was released from prison. For four hundred thousand Germans there were “four times forty times four hundred thousand men with hearts burning with unquenchable anger.” The German officers could not stand it and surrendered the city. The Germans began to leave Ukraine.
The next morning Turbin, Myshlaevsky and Karas got up almost simultaneously and with clear heads. Myshlaevsky performed his morning toilet, became friendly with Anyuta, who had returned, and begged Elena for one glass. Before the young people left, the hostess crossed them.
Karas, together with Alexei Turbin, who wanted to enlist in the army, went to the colonel. Lieutenant Myshlaevsky joined them. The colonel was delighted at the desire of two people to join the division. Myshlaevsky's translation went smoothly. Colonel Turbina first asked about his political position. When he found out that the doctor was a monarchist, at first he did not want to take him into the division. However, after thinking, he ordered the doctor to be given uniforms. Alexey had to report in an hour to the parade ground of the Alexander Gymnasium.
When Turbin, having been home, went to his destination, he met a crowd along the way, in which there were many people in black coats. It turned out to be a funeral procession. They buried officers who were cut by men and Petliurists in Popelyukha. The crowd surrounded Alexei. There were shouts. Someone from behind shouted: “That’s what they need,” sending Turbin into a rage. However, the young man could not find the screamer.
When Turbin crossed the parade ground, four mortars formed ranks. Captain Studzinski appeared and ordered the formation to follow into the basement passage of the gymnasium. Alexey received a team of paramedics, consisting of two students, and gave them orders. Sharing his impressions among officers, Myshlaevsky complained that fifteen people in his platoon did not even know what a rifle was, but the mood was cheerful.
The division commander, Colonel Malyshev, arrived and greatly surprised Studzinsky with his order to disband the division until tomorrow morning, with the exception of a few officers. Alexey was sent home, and Myshlaevsky remained in charge of lighting the room.
Monsieur Colonel spent a busy night, making several trips between the gymnasium and Madame Anjou's store, where the headquarters was located. Finally, at one in the morning, he finally settled in the headquarters, but did not go to bed, he was constantly talking with someone on the phone. At two o'clock in the morning a motorcycle drove up to the store, and a military man got out. He handed the colonel some kind of voluminous bundle and left. Malyshev ordered the cadet on duty to wake him up at half past seven.
Three people made their way up the hill in the dead of night past the officer guards. Hiding behind the parapet, they watched Aleksandrovskaya Street, along which German cars flew from time to time and military personnel passed by.
A strange bustle reigned in the palace. In one of the bedrooms, a thin, grayish man was dressed in the uniform of a German major, and he became no better or worse than hundreds of other German officers.
Then a military doctor of the German army came in and bandaged the newly promoted major in such a way that only his right eye and thin mouth remained visible.
A German came into the hall and reported that Major von Schratt had accidentally wounded himself in the neck. A car arrived, the patient was placed on a stretcher and taken away. A military man in the uniform of an artillery colonel from the palace called the mortar division headquarters.
In the morning, Malyshev disbanded the division, saying that overnight the situation in the army and in Ukraine in general had seriously changed. Studzinski took the message as treason and made an attempt to arrest the colonel. Malyshev told the division that the hetman fled at night, leaving them to their fate. In addition, the commanding general of the cavalry, Belorukov, also left the army. He also said that Petliura had an army of more than a hundred thousand on the outskirts of the city, so he did not want the people of his division to be killed like dogs. The trumpeter played the last call. Karas and Myshlaevsky went to their apartment
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The action of the novel takes place in the winter of 1918/19 in a certain City, in which Kyiv is clearly visible. The city is occupied by German occupation forces, and the hetman of “all Ukraine” is in power. However, any day now Petlyura’s army may enter the City - fighting is already taking place twelve kilometers from the City. The city lives a strange, unnatural life: it is full of visitors from Moscow and St. Petersburg - bankers, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, poets - who have flocked there since the election of the hetman, since the spring of 1918.
In the dining room of the Turbins' house at dinner, Alexey Turbin, a doctor, his younger brother Nikolka, a non-commissioned officer, their sister Elena and family friends - Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, Second Lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and Lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant at the headquarters of Prince Belorukov, commander of all military forces of Ukraine , - excitedly discussing the fate of their beloved City. The elder Turbin believes that the hetman is to blame for everything with his Ukrainization: until the very last moment he did not allow the formation of the Russian army, and if this had happened on time, a selected army of cadets, students, high school students and officers, of whom there are thousands, would have been formed, and not only would they have defended the City, but Petliura would not have been in spirit in Little Russia, moreover, they would have gone to Moscow and saved Russia.
Elena's husband, Captain of the General Staff Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, announces to his wife that the Germans are leaving the City and he, Talberg, is being taken on the headquarters train leaving tonight. Talberg is confident that within three months he will return to the City with Denikin’s army, which is now forming on the Don. In the meantime, he cannot take Elena into the unknown, and she will have to stay in the City.
To protect against the advancing troops of Petlyura, the formation of Russian military formations begins in the City. Karas, Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin appear to the commander of the emerging mortar division, Colonel Malyshev, and enter service: Karas and Myshlaevsky - as officers, Turbin - as a division doctor. However, the next night - from December 13 to 14 - the hetman and General Belorukov flee the City on a German train, and Colonel Malyshev dissolves the newly formed division: he has no one to protect, there is no legal authority in the City.
By December 10, Colonel Nai-Tours completes the formation of the second department of the first squad. Considering waging war without winter equipment for soldiers impossible, Colonel Nai-Tours, threatening the head of the supply department with a Colt, receives felt boots and hats for his one hundred and fifty cadets. On the morning of December 14, Petlyura attacks the City; Nai-Tours receives orders to guard the Polytechnic Highway and, if the enemy appears, to take the fight. Nai-Tours, having entered into battle with the advanced detachments of the enemy, sends three cadets to find out where the hetman’s units are. Those sent return with the message that there are no units anywhere, there is machine-gun fire in the rear, and the enemy cavalry is entering the City. Nai realizes that they are trapped.
for an hour formerly Nikolai Turbin, a corporal of the third section of the first infantry squad, receives an order to lead the team along the route. Arriving at the appointed place, Nikolka sees with horror the fleeing cadets and hears the command of Colonel Nai-Tours, ordering all the cadets - both his own and those from Nikolka’s team - to rip off their shoulder straps, cockades, throw away their weapons, tear up documents, run and hide. The colonel himself covers the retreat of the cadets. Before Nikolka's eyes, the mortally wounded colonel dies. Shocked Nikolka, leaving Nai-Tours, makes his way through courtyards and alleys to the house.
Meanwhile, Alexey, who was not informed about the dissolution of the division, having appeared, as he was ordered, at two o’clock, finds an empty building with abandoned guns. Having found Colonel Malyshev, he receives an explanation of what is happening: The city was taken by Petliura’s troops. Alexei, having torn off his shoulder straps, goes home, but runs into Petlyura’s soldiers, who, recognizing him as an officer (in his haste, he forgot to take off the badge from his hat), pursue him. Alexei, wounded in the arm, is hidden in her house by a woman unknown to him named Yulia Reise. The next day, after dressing Alexei in civilian dress, Yulia takes him home in a cab. At the same time as Alexey, Talberg’s cousin Larion comes to the Turbins from Zhitomir, who has experienced a personal drama: his wife left him. Larion really likes it in the Turbins' house, and all the Turbins find him very nice.
Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa, the owner of the house in which the Turbins live, occupies the first floor of the same house, while the Turbins live on the second. On the eve of the day when Petlyura entered the City, Vasilisa builds a hiding place in which she hides money and jewelry. However, through a crack in a loosely curtained window, an unknown person is watching Vasilisa’s actions. The next day, three armed men come to Vasilisa with a search warrant. First of all, they open the cache, and then take Vasilisa’s watch, suit and shoes. After the “guests” leave, Vasilisa and his wife realize that they were bandits. Vasilisa runs to the Turbins, and Karas goes to them to protect them from a possible new attack. The usually stingy Vanda Mikhailovna, Vasilisa’s wife, does not skimp here: there is cognac, veal, and pickled mushrooms on the table. Happy Crucian dozes, listening to Vasilisa’s plaintive speeches.
Three days later, Nikolka, having learned the address of Nai-Turs’s family, goes to the colonel’s relatives. He tells Nai's mother and sister the details of his death. Together with the colonel's sister Irina, Nikolka finds Nai-Turs's body in the morgue, and that same night the funeral service is held in the chapel at the Nai-Turs anatomical theater.
A few days later, Alexei’s wound becomes inflamed, and in addition, he has typhus: high fever, delirium. According to the conclusion of the consultation, the patient is hopeless; On December 22, the agony begins. Elena locks herself in the bedroom and passionately prays to the Most Holy Theotokos, begging her to save her brother from death. “Let Sergei not return,” she whispers, “but do not punish this with death.” To the amazement of the doctor on duty with him, Alexey regains consciousness - the crisis is over.
A month and a half later, Alexey, who has finally recovered, goes to Yulia Reisa, who saved him from death, and gives her his late mother’s bracelet. Alexey asks Yulia for permission to visit her. After leaving Yulia, he meets Nikolka, returning from Irina Nai-Tours.
Elena receives a letter from a friend from Warsaw, in which she informs her about Talberg's upcoming marriage to their mutual friend. Elena, sobbing, remembers her prayer.
On the night of February 2-3, the withdrawal of Petliura’s troops from the City began. You can hear the roar of Bolshevik guns approaching the City.
Year of writing:
1924
Reading time:
Description of the work:
Novel White Guard, which was written by Mikhail Bulgakov, is one of the main works of the writer. Bulgakov created the novel in 1923-1925, and at that moment he himself believed that the White Guard was the main work in his creative biography. It is known that Mikhail Bulgakov even once said that this novel “will make the sky hot.”
However, as the years passed, Bulgakov looked at his work differently and called the novel “failed.” Some believe that most likely Bulgakov's idea was to create an epic in the spirit of Leo Tolstoy, but this did not work out.
Read below for a summary of the novel The White Guard.
Winter 1918/19. A certain City in which Kyiv is clearly visible. The city is occupied by German occupation forces, and the hetman of “all Ukraine” is in power. However, any day now Petlyura’s army may enter the City - fighting is already taking place twelve kilometers from the City. The city lives a strange, unnatural life: it is full of visitors from Moscow and St. Petersburg - bankers, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, poets - who have flocked there since the election of the hetman, since the spring of 1918.
In the dining room of the Turbins' house at dinner, Alexey Turbin, a doctor, his younger brother Nikolka, a non-commissioned officer, their sister Elena and family friends - Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, Second Lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and Lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant at the headquarters of Prince Belorukov, commander of all military forces of Ukraine , - excitedly discussing the fate of their beloved City. The elder Turbin believes that the hetman is to blame for everything with his Ukrainization: until the very last moment he did not allow the formation of the Russian army, and if this had happened on time, a selected army of cadets, students, high school students and officers, of whom there are thousands, would have been formed, and not only would they have defended the City, but Petliura would not have been in spirit in Little Russia, moreover, they would have gone to Moscow and saved Russia.
Elena's husband, Captain of the General Staff Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, announces to his wife that the Germans are leaving the City and he, Talberg, is being taken on the headquarters train leaving tonight. Talberg is confident that within three months he will return to the City with Denikin’s army, which is now forming on the Don. In the meantime, he cannot take Elena into the unknown, and she will have to stay in the City.
To protect against the advancing troops of Petlyura, the formation of Russian military formations begins in the City. Karas, Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin appear to the commander of the emerging mortar division, Colonel Malyshev, and enter service: Karas and Myshlaevsky - as officers, Turbin - as a division doctor. However, the next night - from December 13 to 14 - the hetman and General Belorukov flee the City on a German train, and Colonel Malyshev dissolves the newly formed division: he has no one to protect, there is no legal authority in the City.
By December 10, Colonel Nai-Tours completes the formation of the second department of the first squad. Considering waging war without winter equipment for soldiers impossible, Colonel Nai-Tours, threatening the head of the supply department with a Colt, receives felt boots and hats for his one hundred and fifty cadets. On the morning of December 14, Petlyura attacks the City; Nai-Tours receives orders to guard the Polytechnic Highway and, if the enemy appears, to take the fight. Nai-Tours, having entered into battle with the advanced detachments of the enemy, sends three cadets to find out where the hetman’s units are. Those sent return with the message that there are no units anywhere, there is machine-gun fire in the rear, and the enemy cavalry is entering the City. Nai realizes that they are trapped.
An hour earlier, Nikolai Turbin, corporal of the third section of the first infantry squad, receives an order to lead the team along the route. Arriving at the appointed place, Nikolka sees with horror the fleeing cadets and hears the command of Colonel Nai-Tours, ordering all the cadets - both his own and those from Nikolka’s team - to rip off their shoulder straps, cockades, throw away their weapons, tear up documents, run and hide. The colonel himself covers the retreat of the cadets. Before Nikolka's eyes, the mortally wounded colonel dies. Shocked Nikolka, leaving Nai-Tours, makes his way through courtyards and alleys to the house.
Meanwhile, Alexey, who was not informed about the dissolution of the division, having appeared, as he was ordered, at two o’clock, finds an empty building with abandoned guns. Having found Colonel Malyshev, he receives an explanation of what is happening: The city was taken by Petliura’s troops. Alexei, having torn off his shoulder straps, goes home, but runs into Petlyura’s soldiers, who, recognizing him as an officer (in his haste, he forgot to take off the badge from his hat), pursue him. Alexei, wounded in the arm, is hidden in her house by a woman unknown to him named Yulia Reise. The next day, after dressing Alexei in civilian dress, Yulia takes him home in a cab. At the same time as Alexey, Talberg’s cousin Larion comes to the Turbins from Zhitomir, who has experienced a personal drama: his wife left him. Larion really likes it in the Turbins' house, and all the Turbins find him very nice.
Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa, the owner of the house in which the Turbins live, occupies the first floor of the same house, while the Turbins live on the second. On the eve of the day when Petlyura entered the City, Vasilisa builds a hiding place in which she hides money and jewelry. However, through a crack in a loosely curtained window, an unknown person is watching Vasilisa’s actions. The next day, three armed men come to Vasilisa with a search warrant. First of all, they open the cache, and then take Vasilisa’s watch, suit and shoes. After the “guests” leave, Vasilisa and his wife realize that they were bandits. Vasilisa runs to the Turbins, and Karas goes to them to protect them from a possible new attack. The usually stingy Vanda Mikhailovna, Vasilisa’s wife, does not skimp here: there is cognac, veal, and pickled mushrooms on the table. Happy Crucian dozes, listening to Vasilisa’s plaintive speeches.
Three days later, Nikolka, having learned the address of Nai-Turs’s family, goes to the colonel’s relatives. He tells Nai's mother and sister the details of his death. Together with the colonel's sister Irina, Nikolka finds Nai-Turs's body in the morgue, and that same night the funeral service is held in the chapel at the Nai-Turs anatomical theater.
A few days later, Alexei’s wound becomes inflamed, and in addition, he has typhus: high fever, delirium. According to the conclusion of the consultation, the patient is hopeless; On December 22, the agony begins. Elena locks herself in the bedroom and passionately prays to the Most Holy Theotokos, begging her to save her brother from death. “Let Sergei not return,” she whispers, “but do not punish this with death.” To the amazement of the doctor on duty with him, Alexey regains consciousness - the crisis is over.
A month and a half later, Alexey, who has finally recovered, goes to Yulia Reisa, who saved him from death, and gives her his late mother’s bracelet. Alexey asks Yulia for permission to visit her. After leaving Yulia, he meets Nikolka, returning from Irina Nai-Tours.
Elena receives a letter from a friend from Warsaw, in which she informs her about Talberg's upcoming marriage to their mutual friend. Elena, sobbing, remembers her prayer.
On the night of February 2-3, the withdrawal of Petliura’s troops from the City began. You can hear the roar of Bolshevik guns approaching the City.
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"White Guard"
(Novel)
Retelling.
Terrible 1918. The mother of Alexei, Elena and Nikolka died. Alexey Vasilievich Turbin is a young doctor, 28 years old. His sister Elena is married to Captain Talberg, and Nikolka is seventeen and a half years old. The elder Turbin talks about life with the priest Alexander, who reads him the Book of Revelation, a description of the apocalypse.
Elena is waiting for her husband, but Viktor Myshlaevsky appears. He talks about the unrest in the city, about the appearance of Petliura. Talberg arrives, offers to escape, and leaves. Elena knew him well. He was the first member of the revolutionary military committee. Then, after a chain of significant events, he calls everything that happens an operetta. Elena remains in the city, Talberg leaves.
Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich (Vasilisa) reveals his hiding places.
Second Lieutenant Stepanov, aka Karas, is visiting the Turbins. He, Shervinsky, Turbin are talking about the death of the emperor. Elena is experiencing separation from her husband.
Almost all houses are occupied new government- Bolsheviks. Everyone scolded and feared the Bolsheviks, hated them. There were officers from the former front and cadets in the city. A hetman is elected. The city stands between two forces - the Germans and the Bolsheviks.
A third force appears. Petlyura's army descends from Bald Mountain. “Petlyura, Petlyura - jumped from the walls. The city is frozen in ignorance.”
Myshlaevsky and Turbin are placed at the disposal of the colonel. Myshlaevsky trains cadets of the Alekseevsky School. The Germans in the city maintain a curfew.
Colonel Malyshev invites the entire composition of his army to hide. They want to arrest him, but he talks about the hetman's betrayal. The cadets and officers disperse.
Colonel of the Petliura army Kozyr-Lyashko led the army to the city, on the other side Colonel Toropets was advancing there. The cadets oppose Colonel Bolotun. Shpolyansky denies both Petliura and the hetman. He spends the night with Yulia, and 2 days later, together with the mechanic and Shchur, he contributes to the breakdown of the cars. After this, they disappear from the sight of the hetman's captains.
Colonel Nai-Tours puts pressure on the general and gets clothes for his unit. Nai-Tours leads the cadets into battle, and Nikolka Turbin and her team go to his aid.
Alexey Turbin gets into urban chaos and meets with Malyshev. After they learn about the capture of the city by Petlyura, they tear off their shoulder straps and burn them along with their documents. Both are trying to escape.
Nai-Tours also offers the only way to save young cadets - escape. He is wounded and dies in Nikolka’s arms. Nikolka takes the Nai-Tours Colt and runs home. All the gates are locked, Nikolka gets to the house by a roundabout route.
In the Turbins’ house, everyone is worried about Alexei. He did not return, and his family assumed the worst thing - death. Lariosik arrives, along with the wounded Alexey. Elena calls the doctor.
Lariosik gives Elena money. He is extremely fond of Turbines, and to show this in action, he helps them arrange their homes. Turbin Sr. has a fever, and he, being a doctor, diagnoses himself. Turbin loses himself in delirium, Elena is very worried about her brother.
Lariosik and Nikolka decided to hide the box with the Nai-Tours revolver and Nikolka and Alexey’s shoulder straps outside the window, on the twine.
Wanda, Lisovich’s wife, ran to the Turbins and was told that Alexei had typhus. Turbin lies delirious. He was wounded by the Petliurists. He was saved by a woman who helped him treat his wounds. They get acquainted, he finds out that her name is Yulia Aleksandrovna Reis. She is married but lonely. In the morning she takes him home.
Myshlaevsky returns to the Turbins' house. He, Shervinsky, Karas, Lariosik are playing cards. But Lisovich bursts into their room - with crazy eyes, terrible.
Vasilisa tells her story. It was an ordinary evening, he and his wife were hiding money and securities under the table.
Suddenly, three people came to them with a search, they were looking for hiding places, and chaos reigned in the house. They take everything away - shoes, securities, then demand a receipt that he gave it all himself. After such looting, Vasilisa cannot come to her senses for a long time and rushes to the officers for support.
After Vasilisa’s story, Nikolka discovers the revolver is missing. Myshlaevsky, Nikolka, Lariosik are boarding up the attic, Vasilisa shows a lively interest in what is happening. Everyone sits down to dinner together, Wanda sets a luxurious table.
A religious procession to Moscow is taking place in the Sofia Cathedral. Petliura's parade takes place on the square in front of the cathedral. None of those present in the square knows exactly where Petliura is, what he is doing, or whether he is in Russia.
Nikolka is looking for Nai-Tours's house and reports the unpleasant news to the colonel's mother. Irina, Nai-Tours' sister, goes with him to search for the corpse. The search is crowned with success, Nai-Turs with a crown on his head is buried in the chapel, according to custom.
Turbin is slowly dying. Elena turns with prayer to God, to the Intercessor Mother of God. Alexey survived and resumed his medical practice at home. A man comes to him who is suffering from a venereal disease, and repeats the same words from the Holy Scriptures that Father Alexander once told Alexei: “The third angel poured out a cup of blood into the springs of water, and it became blood.”
