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The main characters of “Quiet Don. Literary language Several interesting essays

Forms of existence of the national language

To understand what a literary language is, it is necessary to answer the question: what is the national Russian language?

Famous linguist I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay once expressed a paradoxical thought:

“First of all, language exists only in human souls. If all of us present here fell silent, if absolute silence reigned in this hall, I would cease to exist. human language in general, and the Russian language in particular? There would be no reason for it to cease to exist, since it already does not exist as a real whole. But there are individual languages as continuously existing wholes. And they exist in our souls regardless of whether we speak or not.

<...>...the concept of a so-called collective, tribal language (for example, the language of Russian, German, Polish, Armenian, etc.) does not correspond to any objective reality. There is no Russian, no German, or any national or tribal language at all. There are only individual languages..."

We agree with I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay? Or will we prove his judgment wrong? What would you do? What is your opinion? Think about it, there are various linguistic dictionaries that reflect the vocabulary of the Russian language. There are grammars that describe parts of speech and syntactic structures. Isn’t language reflected in dictionaries and grammars?

It's like that. But the scientist only claims that there is no language as a real whole that, for example, the Russian language does not correspond no objective reality. He is an abstraction. It is represented only in the minds of all individuals using this language.

We have an idea of the specifics of a particular language thanks to the enormous work of many linguists who study individual languages recorded in various written monuments (chronicles, treaties, charters, decrees, letters, scientific works, artistic and journalistic works), study all kinds of records of oral speech . Data on phonetics, vocabulary, morphology, syntax are summarized and described in scientific works, grammars, and dictionaries. This is how the systemic organization of the structure of the national language emerges.

The national language is a complex phenomenon, since the people who use it as a means of communication are socially heterogeneous. The stratification of society is determined by various factors, namely: territory of residence, work activity, occupation, interests.

Each association of people (society), based on territorial or professional grounds, based on interests, has its own language, which is included in the national language as one of its forms. There are five such forms: literary language, territorial dialects, urban vernacular, professional and social group jargons.

Thus, the indigenous population of farms and villages of the Rostov region communicates in the local dialect. This is reflected in the works of M.A. Sholokhov.

Task 26. Read an excerpt from " Quiet Don" Prove that Gregory and his father speak the local dialect.

Which of the underlined layers in the text have correspondences in the literary language and which do not? How can this be explained?

In Melekhovsky kuren Pantelei Prokofievich was the first to tear himself away from sleep. Buttoning the collar of his shirt embroidered with crosses as he walked, he went out onto the porch, The grassy courtyard was lined with dewy silver. He released the cattle into the alley.

On the sill of the open window, the petals of the cherry tree that had bloomed in the front garden were deathly pink. Grigory was sleeping on his face, throwing his hand outwards.

Grishka, go fishing will you go?

What are you? - he asked in a whisper and dangled his legs from the bed.

Let's go and sit until dawn.

Grigory, snoring, pulled off his pendants everyday trousers, took them into white woolen stockings and put them on for a long time tweet, straightening the back that had turned up.

A bait Did mom cook? - he asked hoarsely, following his father into the hallway.

Cooked. Go to to the longboat, I at once

The old man poured steamed odorous stuff into the jar lively, like a businessman, he swept the fallen grains into his palm and, falling on his left leg, limped towards the descent. Grigory, ruffled, sat in the longboat.

Where to edit?

To the Black Yar. Let's try near entoy karshi, Where nadys sat.

The longboat, scratching the ground with its stern, settled into the water and took off from the shore. The stirrup carried him, rocking him, trying to turn him sideways. Gregory, no getting fucked up drove the oar.

There won't be any work, dad... A month has been lost.

- Serniki captured?

Give it fire.

The old man lit a cigarette and looked at the sun stuck on the other side of the snag.

Sazan, he takes differently. And sometimes it will take the damage.

For certificates. Kuren - square Cossack house with a hipped roof. Suspension - rope for hanging clothes. Tweet - dude. Privada - fish bait. Zaraz - now, soon. Zhito - rye grains Kdpiua - tree fallen into water, driftwood Nadys - recently. Serniki - matches.

Professional jargons are used by people of the same profession. The peculiarity of such jargon was shown by B. Bondarenko in the story “Time Trouble”:

How are you? - Alexey asked dryly.

Yes, here I am... I'm messing around. - Somewhere an extra one slips through, but I can’t figure out where. But the TV doesn't show anything.

Adjusters have their own jargon. They call a TV an oscilloscope, and their reader is not a reader at all, but a bandura, a magnetic drum - a charabanc, a tarataika, a cabinet with tape transport mechanisms - a coffin (and some also have music), and for some reason they called a hammer drill a dromedary. It is unknown who called it that for the first time and why - a dromedary, and that's all. This is what they write in shift logs, despite orders from superiors to “express themselves humanly.”

For certificates. Hammer - 1. Rock drilling machine, drill hammer. 2. A device, an apparatus for punching holes (on paper, film, etc.).

V.I. interestingly described one of the social group jargons. Dahl:

The capital's, especially St. Petersburg's, swindlers, pickpockets and thieves of various trades, known under the name Mazuryks, invented their own language, however, very limited and related exclusively to theft. There are words common to the Ofen language: cool - good, swindler - knife, molding - handkerchief, screen - pocket, propu-lit - sell, but there are few of them, more than our own: butyr is a policeman, pharaoh is a watchman, an arrow is a Cossack, an eland is a boar, a kam-shovka is a crowbar, a boy is a chisel. This language, which they call flannel, or simply, music, All the merchants of the Apraksin yard also say this, presumably due to their connections and the nature of their craft. Know the music - know this language; walk on music - engage in thieves' craft.

What did you steal? He cut down a bumblebee and hatched a pellet. Strema, capillary. And you? He stole the bench and pissed off his freckles.

What did you steal? He pulled out a wallet and a silver snuff box. Chew, policeman. And you? He stole a horse and traded it for a watch.

For certificates. "Afenya And ofenya - petty trader peddling and delivering to small towns, villages, hamlets, with books, paper, silk, needles, with cheese and sausage, with earrings and rings" (V. Dal Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language).

The difference between the literary language and thieves' jargon, their isolation is shown in the work of I. Bolgarin and G. Seversky “His Excellency’s Adjutant.” The mayor walks around prisoners in one of the Kharkov prisons during the civil war:

Why are you imprisoned?

For pharmazon.

What is it?

I sold the copper ring for gold,

What are you for?

I took the bochata from the cheekbone from the friend.

What, aren't you Russian?

This is a pickpocket, your honor. He says that he pulled the watch out of some roc's pocket.

There is also youth slang. This is the most vivid form of modern social group jargon. It characterizes the speech of students, schoolchildren, and students of vocational educational institutions.

Task 27. Read an excerpt from N. Ivanova’s article “Enrico and Domenico,” published in Moskovsky Komsomolets.

Compare the speech of foreign students, one of whom studied Russian using academic grammars, and the other - in a student environment. How and why did Enrico's language change after his first remark? Translate the text into literary Russian.

Enrico boldly extended his hand to Domenico and said in pure Russian:

Good afternoon Let's get acquainted. My name is Enrico. Let me greet you on my own behalf. I didn't expect to see you. What a pleasant meeting! How are you?

Hello?! - Domenico said half-questioningly. - Are you obsessed? In the morning in the dorm they were lying...

Understood. I also flog in Russian. Let's chat, stay calm!

Stop pouring it in, it doesn’t bother me.

You say that you are taking the ball.

There aren't enough money.

It's gray, from the dorm to the reading room, from the reading room to the dorm - there's no time to get wet.

You also have a round face and amazing trousers.

I have roots here. We just rarely communicate. Business up to his neck.

It's time to do your legs.

For reference. Get stuck - go crazy (figuratively). Lukat - look. Be cunning - see each other Sich - understand something, understand something. Stay calm- Don't worry. Doesn't sway - do not care. Descend - talk, talk to someone about something. Why are you taking the ball? easily. Mani - money. Zhistyaka - life. soak - smoke. Face - face. Truzera - trousers. Sidekick - cool, buddy.

The emergence of jargons is associated with the desire of individual social groups to oppose themselves to society or others social groups, isolate yourself from them using language.

The emergence of artisanal jargon was caused by the need to use words that were incomprehensible to others in order to hide the secrets of production.

The jargon of declassed elements (thieves, swindlers, swindlers) arises due to the fact that its speakers have a constant need for conspiracy.

All social jargons are artificial formations, in the formation of which there is necessarily an element of conscious creativity. Unlike the common language, they do not have a special grammatical structure and are characterized only by the specifics of the dictionary, which is created by rethinking the words of the common language, for example: doggy - lock, wash off - steal, horn - traitor, informer; use of borrowings: ban - railway station, fish - fish, staub - small money and in some cases as a result of the creation of new words according to the laws of the grammar of the national language: corkscrewed - robber, corkscrew - rob, shchipach - pickpocket.

All slang words represent stylistically reduced vocabulary and are outside the boundaries of the literary language.

Jargon is sometimes found in the speech of people speaking a literary language. However, they do not contribute to the accuracy of expression of thought, nor do they give imagery and expressiveness to speech. On the contrary, they only spoil and clog it. Therefore, slang words are unacceptable in literary language and can only be used for stylistic purposes to characterize characters - representatives of a certain social environment.

Option No. 455913

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What type of literature does “Quiet Don” by M. A. Sholokhov belong to?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

Name the novel by A. S. Pushkin about the Pugachev uprising, in which, like in “Quiet Don,” the elements of the Russian rebellion are depicted.

From that day on, the roar of guns sounded non-stop for four days. The dawns were especially audible. But when the northeast wind blew, the thunder of distant battles could be heard in the middle of the day. On the threshing floors, work stopped for a minute, the women crossed themselves, sighed heavily, remembering their relatives, whispering prayers, and then the stone rollers began to dully rumble on the threshing floors, the driver boys urged the horses and bulls, the winnowing machines rattled, the working day entered into its inalienable rights. The end of August was fine and surprisingly dry. The wind carried chaff dust through the farm, there was a sweet smell of threshed rye straw, the sun was mercilessly warm, but in everything one could already feel the approach of the near autumn. In the pasture, faded gray wormwood was dimly white, the tops of the poplars beyond the Don turned yellow, in the gardens the smell of Antonovka became sharper, the distant horizons became autumn-like, and the first colonies of migrating cranes already appeared in the empty fields.

Day after day, along the Hetman's Way, carts stretched from west to east, bringing military supplies to the crossings across the Don; refugees appeared in Obdon farmsteads. They said that the Cossacks were retreating in battle; some claimed that this retreat was being carried out deliberately, in order to lure the Reds, and then surround them and destroy them. Some of the Tatars slowly began to prepare to leave. They fed bulls and horses, and at night they buried bread and chests with the most valuable property in pits. The noise of the guns, which had fallen silent on September 5, resumed with renewed vigor and now sounded distinct and menacing. The fighting took place about forty miles from the Don, in the direction northeast of Tatarskoye. A day later it began to thunder upstream in the west. The front was inevitably moving towards the Don.

Ilyinichna, who knew that most of the farmers were going to retreat, invited Dunyashka to leave. She felt a sense of confusion and bewilderment and did not know what to do with the household, with the house; Should I give up all this and leave with people or stay at home. Before leaving for the front, Panteley Prokofievich spoke about threshing, about the plowed winter, about cattle, but did not say a word about what they should do if the front approached Tatarsky. Just in case, Ilyinichna decided this: to send Dunyashka with her children and the most valuable property with someone from the farm, and to remain herself, even if the Reds occupied the farm.

On the night of September 17, Pantelei Prokofievich unexpectedly came home. He came on foot from near the Kazan village, exhausted and angry. After resting for half an hour, he sat down at the table and began to eat as Ilyinichna had never seen in her entire life; the half-bucket cast iron of lean cabbage soup seemed to be thrown behind itself, and then fell onto the millet porridge. Ilyinichna clasped her hands in amazement:

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

Damn if they fed them like that! - Panteley Prokofievich answered, purring like a cat, with his mouth full. - What you find is what you eat, but I haven’t learned how to steal. This is good for the young, they don’t even have a conscience left for a semak [two kopecks]... During this damned war, they became so hands-on with theft that I was horrified, horrified, and stopped. Everything they see is taken, pulled, dragged... Not war, but the passion of the Lord!

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

Panteley Prokofyevich uses phrases like “there was no poppy dew in my mouth”, “what you forage is what you eat.” What are these figurative folk sayings called?

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

Establish a correspondence between the characters appearing in this novel and the facts of their future fate: for each position in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

Write down the numbers in your answer, arranging them in the order corresponding to the letters:

A	B	IN

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

Indicate the surname of Pantelei Prokofievich and his sons.

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

The characters in the play are in a state of hostility with the world and often with each other. What is the sharp collision of characters and circumstances in a work of art called?

Read the fragment of the work below and complete tasks B1-B7; C1, C2.

Behind the stage, somewhere far away, there is a dull noise, screams, a policeman's whistle.

The tick sits down to work and creaks with a file.

Satin. I love incomprehensible, rare words... When I was a boy... I served in the telegraph office... I read a lot of books...

Bubnov. Were you also a telegraph operator?

Satin. Was... (Smirking.) There are very good books... and a lot of interesting words... I was an educated person... you know?

Bubnov. I've heard it... a hundred times! Well, he was... how important!.. I was a furrier... I had my own establishment... My hands were so yellow - from the paint: I tinted the furs - so, brother, my hands were yellow - up to the elbows ! I thought that I wouldn’t wash it until I die... so I’ll die with yellow hands... And now here they are, my hands... just dirty... yes!

Satin. So what?

Bubnov. And nothing more...

Satin. What do you mean?

Bubnov. So... just for consideration... It turns out: no matter how you paint yourself on the outside, everything will be erased... everything will be erased, yes!

Satin. Ah... my bones hurt!

Actor (sits with his arms wrapped around his knees). Education is nonsense, the main thing is talent. I knew the artist... he read the roles according to the rules, but could play the characters in such a way that... the theater crackled and swayed from the delight of the audience...

Satin. Bubnov, give me a penny!

Bubnov. I only have two kopecks...

Actor. I say talent, that's what a hero needs. And talent is faith in yourself, in your strength...

Satin. Give me a nickel, and I will believe that you are a talent, a hero, a crocodile, a private bailiff... Tick, give me a nickel!

Mite. Go to hell! There are a lot of you here...

Satin. Why are you swearing? Because you don't have a penny, I know...

Anna. Andrey Mitrich... I feel stuffy... difficult...

Mite. What will I do?

Bubnov. Open the door to the hallway...

Mite. OK! You are sitting on the bunk, and I am on the floor... let me go to my place, and open the door... and I already have a cold...

Bubnov (calmly). I don’t need to open the door... your wife asks...

Mite (sullenly). You never know who would ask for anything...

Satin. My head is buzzing... eh! And why do people hit each other on the head?

M. Gorky “At the Bottom”

Answer:

Indicate the genre to which Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" belongs.

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Answer:

How is the tragedy of the Civil War reflected in the above fragment?

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

What works of Russian literature contain a military theme and in what ways can these works be compared with Sholokhov’s “Quiet Don”?

Lord, how do you eat, Prokofich! Tell me, you haven’t eaten for three days!

And you thought - you ate, you old fool! For exactly three days there was no poppy dew in my mouth!

Well, they don’t feed you there, or what?

(M. A. Sholokhov, “Quiet Don”)

Solutions to long-answer tasks are not automatically checked.
The next page will ask you to check them yourself.

To which literary movement does the poetic work of N. A. Nekrasov belong?

SCHOOLBOY

- Well, let's go, for God's sake!

Sky, spruce forest and sand -

Not a fun road...

Hey! sit down with me, my friend!

Feet bare, body dirty,

And the chest is barely covered...

Don't be ashamed! what's the matter?

This is a glorious path for many.

I see a book in the knapsack.

So you go to study...

I know: father for son

I spent my last penny.

I know: old sexton

Gave me a quarter

That a passing merchant's wife

Gave me some tea.

Or maybe you're a street servant

Of those released?.. Well, well!

The case is also not new -

Don't be shy, you won't get lost!

You'll soon find out at school

Like an Arkhangelsk man

By your own and God's will

Became intelligent and great.

Not without good souls in the world -

Someone will take you to Moscow,

Will you be at the university -

The dream will come true!

There is a wide field there:

Know, work and don’t be afraid...

That's why you're deeply

I love, dear Rus'!

That nature is not mediocre,

That land has not yet perished,

What brings people out

There are so many glorious ones, you know, -

So many kind, noble,

Strong loving soul,

Among the stupid, cold

And pompous of themselves!

(N. A. Nekrasov, 1856)

Answer:

Indicate the number of the stanza (ordinal number in the nominative case) in which the author uses anaphora.

SCHOOLBOY

- Well, let's go, for God's sake!

Sky, spruce forest and sand -

Not a fun road...

Hey! sit down with me, my friend!

Feet bare, body dirty,

And the chest is barely covered...

Don't be ashamed! what's the matter?

This is a glorious path for many.

I see a book in the knapsack.

So you go to study...

I know: father for son

I spent my last penny.

I know: old sexton

Gave me a quarter

That a passing merchant's wife

Gave me some tea.

Or maybe you're a street servant

Of those released?.. Well, well!

The case is also not new -

Don't be shy, you won't get lost!

You'll soon find out at school

Like an Arkhangelsk man

By your own and God's will

Became intelligent and great.

Not without good souls in the world -

Someone will take you to Moscow,

Will you be at the university -

The dream will come true!

There is a wide field there:

Know, work and don’t be afraid...

That's why you're deeply

I love, dear Rus'!

That nature is not mediocre,

That land has not yet perished,

What brings people out

There are so many glorious ones, you know, -

So many kind, noble,

Strong loving soul,

Among the stupid, cold

And pompous of themselves!

(N. A. Nekrasov, 1856)

From that day on, the roar of guns sounded non-stop for four days. The dawns were especially audible. But when the northeast wind blew, the thunder of distant battles could be heard in the middle of the day. On the threshing floors, work stopped for a minute, the women crossed themselves, sighed heavily, remembering their relatives, whispering prayers, and then again the stone rollers began to dully rumble on the threshing floors, and the driver boys urged the horses and bulls. The winnowing machines rattled and the working day began to assume its inalienable rights. The end of August was fine and surprisingly dry. The wind carried chaff dust through the farm, there was a sweet smell of threshed rye straw, the sun was mercilessly warm, but in everything one could already feel the approach of the near autumn. In the pasture, faded gray wormwood was dimly white, the tops of the poplars beyond the Don turned yellow, in the gardens the smell of Antonovka became sharper, the distant horizons became autumn-like, and the first colonies of migrating cranes already appeared in the empty fields.

Examples.
What term denotes a significant detail that carries an artistic function (for example, a half-bucket cast iron of lean cabbage soup, which the hungry Panteley Prokofievich pounced on)?

Panteley Prokofievich uses phrases like “there was no poppy dew in my mouth”, “what you forage is what you eat.” What are these figurative folk sayings called?

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Unified State Exam 2020, Literature, 11th grade, Demo version, Codifier, Specification, Project

The following textbooks and books:

Methodological recommendations for teachers, prepared on the basis of an analysis of typical mistakes of participants in the 2018 Unified State Examination in literature, Zinin S.A., Barabanova M.A., Novikova L.V.

Planning

Lesson I (lessons 1-2). The originality of the epic novel genre. The spiritual world of the Don Cossacks. The character of Grigory Melekhov. Functions of portrait, landscape, crowd scenes. The novel's character system.

Lesson II (lessons 3-4). Search for the truth. The concrete historical and universal in the novel. Deepening the understanding of the techniques of creating and the meaning of crowd scenes in the novel.

Lesson III (lessons 5-6). The problem of “general” and “private” truth. Deepening the understanding of the nature and functions of the Sholokhov landscape. The originality of Sholokhov's linguistic manner. Dramatic principles in an epic work.

Lesson IV (lessons 7-8). The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov. Deepening the understanding of Sholokhov's portrait. “Family Thought” in the novel. Women's images. Theme of motherhood.

Let's take a closer look at the proposed lesson system.

Lesson I

I. Teacher's opening speech

Almost all of M. Sholokhov’s work is dedicated to the Don Cossacks. By the 15th - 16th centuries in Muscovite Rus', Cossacks were free people who worked for hire or were assigned to military service to protect the borders of the state (service Cossacks). Border protection was carried out by separate patrols (stanitsa).

Along with the service Cossacks in Moscow Rus' of the 15th - 16th centuries, there also existed “free” Cossacks or, as they were also called, “walking people”, who were characterized by a complete absence of both real estate and permanent residence. People dissatisfied with the existing order, persecuted by the state, adventurers, seekers of profit, and later fugitive slaves and schismatics, mixed with the remnants of the service Cossacks, who were actually liberated on the outskirts from subordination to the state, and with the local population formed the first Cossack communities on the Don, Terek and the river Yaik (Ural).

In the Cossack communities of Russia, complete equality of members reigned with communal use of land and the absence of any taxes or taxes.

The peculiarity of the life of the Cossack community was that it was governed by custom, not law, and any violation of custom was cruelly punished by lynching.

By the middle of the 17th century. The free Cossacks achieved complete political independence. Moscow was unable to curb the “freedom”, especially since it itself needed the Cossacks; on the other hand, the Cossack communities, considering themselves Russian by blood and faith, listened to Moscow, received the Tsar’s ambassadors and did not refuse salaries for their service. This determined the main goals of the Russian state’s policy towards the Cossacks throughout the 16th - 17th centuries: attracting them to public service, subordinating them to its interests, turning communities into a Cossack army. This policy led to the gradual transformation of the free Cossacks into a privileged military class, whose position was determined by the fact that they were endowed with land for their service to the state.

The domestication of the Cossacks by tsarism was characterized, on the one hand, by limiting their ancient freedom, and on the other, by providing them with economic and socio-legal advantages in comparison with the rest of the country's population. The ruling circles of the empire considered the Cossacks as a conservative, “state” element and actively used them in dispersing demonstrations, in conducting punitive expeditions, in escorting prisoners to places of exile, in developing new territories, etc. The Cossacks confirmed their reputation as the support of the state system, taking an active part in the suppression of the revolution of 1905 - 1906.

During the First World War, Cossack privileges were expanded. It is precisely with adherence to their privileges that the conservatism of the majority of Cossacks is primarily associated.

The rich Cossacks and the ataman elite were supporters and strong defenders of class privileges.

The middle peasant Cossack also clung to his privileges: free medicine and education for children did not bother him, but military service was a burden to him, and he would have said goodbye to it if he had been left with a land plot. The middle peasant, who tenaciously clung to his share, always reacted painfully to the ideas of equalizing redistribution of land; he was characterized by indecision and inconsistency of actions, naivety and inexperience in politics.

Among the poorest Cossacks, income from land shares did not cover all the class hardships. To free themselves from them, the poor were ready to sacrifice their allotment, but the Cossack differed from the peasant in that the latter, having lost the land, could no longer get it again, and the Cossack lost part of the land or all of it only for a while. He was entitled to a share by law, and he was always sure that he would start farming again. This prevented the Cossack from giving up class privileges.

The class privileges of the Cossacks were ensured by infringing on the interests of the rest of the population of the military regions and, first of all, “non-residents”. Planting fees for outbuildings on stanitsa land, fees for grazing on public pastures in excess of the norm, and other levies from the non-resident population of the villages were an inexhaustible source for the stanitsa and military treasury. Thus, the main contradiction within the village matured, which determined the forces that formed two irreconcilable camps in the civil war.

M. A. Sholokhovborn on May 11 (24) in the Kruzhilina village of Veshenskaya village, Donetsk district of the Don Army Region, although this date probably needs clarification. The writer’s father, Alexander Mikhailovich (1865 - 1925), a native of the Ryazan province, repeatedly changed professions: “he was successively a “shibai” (livestock buyer), sowed grain on purchased Cossack land, served as a clerk in a commercial enterprise on a farm scale, as a manager of a steam mill and etc.” Mother, Anastasia Danilovna (1871 - 1942), “half-Cossack, half-peasant,” served as a maid. In her youth, she was married against her will to the Ataman Cossack S. Kuznetsov, but, having met A. M. Sholokhov, she left him. The future writer was born illegitimate and until 1912 bore the surname of his mother’s first husband, while having all the Cossack privileges. Only when Alexander Mikhailovich and Anastasia Danilovna got married and his father adopted him did Sholokhov acquire his real surname, while losing his belonging to the Cossack class, as the son of a tradesman, that is, a “non-resident”.

To give his son a primary education, the father hires a home teacher T. T. Mrykhin, in 1912 he sends his son to the Karginsky men's parish school in the second class of education, and in 1914 he takes him to Moscow for an eye disease (Dr. Snegirev's clinic, where Sholokhov was treated , will be described in the novel “Quiet Don”) and is sent to the preparatory class of Moscow Gymnasium No. 9 named after. G. Shelaputin. In 1915, Mikhail’s parents transferred him to the Bogucharsky gymnasium, but his studies there were interrupted by revolutionary events. It was not possible to complete his education at the Veshenskaya mixed gymnasium, where Sholokhov entered in 1918. Due to the hostilities that flared up around the village, he was forced to interrupt his education, completing only four classes.

From 1919 until the end of the civil war, Sholokhov lived on the Don, in the villages of Elanskaya and Karginskaya, covered by the Verkhnedonsky uprising, that is, he was at the center of those dramatic events that will be reproduced in the final books of “Quiet Don”.

Since 1920, when Soviet power was finally established on the Don, Mikhail Sholokhov, despite his young years (he was then fifteen years old), worked as a literacy teacher, an employee in the village revolutionary committee, an accountant, a clerical worker, and a journalist.

In May 1922, Sholokhov completed short-term food inspection courses in Rostov and was sent to the village of Bukanovskaya as a tax inspector. “I worked in the tough years, 1921 - 1922, on the surplus appropriation system,” the writer recalled. - I drove a steep line, and the time was cool; I was a very good commissioner and was tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal for abuse of power...”

In the fall of 1922, Sholokhov came to Moscow with the intention of enrolling in the workers' faculty, where he could be admitted with four classes of education. However, he had neither factory experience nor a Komsomol permit, which were required upon admission. Getting a job was also not easy, because by that time Sholokhov had not mastered any profession. Sholokhov was forced to work as a loader at the Yaroslavl station, paving cobblestone streets. Only a year later, in August 1923, Sholokhov received a referral from the stock exchange to the position of accountant in the housing department on Krasnaya Presnya. All this time he was actively engaged in self-education. On the recommendation of his friend, aspiring writer Vasily Kudashev, Sholokhov was accepted into the “Young Guard” literary group and began attending classes in its literary studio. On September 19, 1923, Sholokhov’s literary debut took place: his feuilleton “Test” signed by M. Sholokh appeared in the newspaper “Yunosheskaya Pravda”.

The year 1924 can be considered the beginning of Sholokhov’s professional activity as a writer. On December 14, the first of Sholokhov’s “Don Stories” “Mole” appeared in the newspaper “Young Leninist”, on February 14, 1925 the story “Food Commissar” was published in the same newspaper, after which “Shepherd” (February), “Shibalkovo” rapidly appeared one after another seed”, “Ilyukha”, “Alyoshka” (March), “Bakhchevnik” (April), “Road-path” (April-May), “Nakhalenok” (May-June), “Family man”, “Kolovert” ( June), “Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic” (July), “Crooked Stitch” (November). In the same period, Sholokhov became a member of RAPP.

Even while working on “Don Stories,” M. Sholokhov decided to write a story about the chairman of the Don Council of People’s Commissars F. G. Podtelkov and his comrade-in-arms, the secretary of the Don Cossack Military Revolutionary Committee M. V. Krivoshlykov. However, as he himself admitted, when he began to write the scene of the execution of his heroes, he thought that it would not be clear to the reader why the Cossack front-line soldiers refused to shoot the Podtelkovites. Gradually, Sholokhov comes to the idea that “it is not necessary to write a story, but a novel with a broad depiction of the world war, then it will become clear what united the Cossack front-line soldiers with the front-line soldiers.” Only when the writer managed to collect numerous memories of participants in the First World War and rich archival material did he begin work on a novel, which was called “Quiet Don”.

The earliest manuscript of the novel dates from the fall of 1925 and tells about the events of the summer of 1917 related to the participation of the Cossacks in Kornilov’s campaign against Petrograd. “I wrote 5-6 printed sheets. When I wrote it, I felt that it was not right,” Sholokhov later said. - It will remain unclear to the reader why the Cossacks took part in the suppression of the revolution. What kind of Cossacks are these? What is the Region of the Don Army? Doesn't it appear to be a kind of terra incognito for readers? So I quit the job I started. I started thinking about a broader novel. When the plan was mature, I began collecting material. Knowledge of Cossack life helped.” The material written by this time about the Kornilov revolt later became the plot basis for the second volume of the novel. “I started anew and started with Cossack antiquity, from those years that preceded the First World War. He wrote three parts of the novel, which make up the first volume of “Quiet Don”.

The first lines of the first volume were written on November 8, 1926. Work on the book was surprisingly intense. Only on rare days was one page written; more often the writer created at least four pages of text per day, and during periods of greatest creative enthusiasm - entire chapters. By the end of summer, work on the first volume was completed, and in the fall Sholokhov took the manuscript to Moscow, to the magazine “October” and the publishing house “Moscow Writer”. And although the magazine recognized the novel as “everyday writing” and devoid of political urgency, thanks to the active intervention of A. Serafimovich, it was in “October” that the first book of the novel was first published in the first four issues of 1928, and in 5–10 issues for the same year - and the second book. In the same 1928, the first book of the novel was published in Roman-Gazeta and as a separate edition in Moskovsky Rabochiy. The manuscript of the novel, which had not yet been published in Oktyabr, was recommended for publication by the head of the publishing department, Evgenia Grigorievna Levitskaya. There, in the publishing house, in 1927, a meeting took place between twenty-two-year-old Sholokhov and Levitskaya, who was a quarter of a century older than him. This meeting was destined to become the beginning of a strong friendship. Levitskaya repeatedly helped Sholokhov in difficult moments of his life. Sholokhov took an active part in her fate and the fate of her loved ones. In 1956, Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man” was published with a dedication: “Evgenia Grigorievna Levitskaya, member of the CPSU since 1903.”

And difficult days began for Sholokhov immediately after the publication of the first volume of the novel. E. G. Levitskaya writes about this in her notes: “T. D.” first appeared in the magazine. “October”, and then came out at the end of 1928 as a separate book... My God, what an orgy of slander and fabrications arose about “The Quiet Don” and its author! With serious faces, mysteriously lowering their voices, seemingly quite “decent” people - writers, critics, not to mention the common public, conveyed “reliable” stories: Sholokhov, they say, stole a manuscript from some white officer - the officer’s mother, according to one version, it came to gas. “Pravda” or the Central Committee, or the RAPP and asked to protect the rights of her son, who wrote such a wonderful book... At all literary crossroads, the author of “Quiet Don” was ink and slandered. Poor author, who was barely 23 years old in 1928! How much courage was needed, how much confidence in one’s strength and one’s writing talent, to steadfastly endure all the vulgarities, all the malicious advice and “friendly” instructions of “venerable” writers. I once got to one such “venerable” - it turned out to be Berezovsky, who thoughtfully said: “I am an old writer, but I could not write such a book as “Quiet Don”... Can you believe that at 23 years old, not having no education, a person could write such a deep, such a psychologically truthful book... Something is wrong!” It should be noted that Feoktist Berezovsky can hardly be counted among Sholokhov’s enemies, since he was one of the first editors of his early stories. The slander was all the more painful for the writer because it came from literary circles close to him. Despite the fact that the topic of plagiarism was never raised in print, rumors spread so widely that the writer was forced to appear before a specially created Moscow commission (headed by M. I. Ulyanova) with the manuscripts of the novel (it was these manuscripts that remained in Moscow, and were preserved when the writer’s Veshensky archive was destroyed). In the spring of 1929, the leaders of RAPP A. Serafimovich, L. Averbakh, V. Kirshon, A. Fadeev, V. Stavsky were forced to speak in Pravda in defense of Sholokhov, after which the rumors about plagiarism stopped for some time. At the same time, this letter legalized the version of plagiarism.

Already during the publication of the first two books of “Quiet Don”, numerous responses to the novel appeared in the press. Moreover, judgments about him were often very contradictory. In one of his private letters in 1928, Gorky expressed his assessment: “Sholokhov, judging by the first volume, is talented... Every year he nominates more and more talented people. This is joy. Rus' is very, anathemaly talented.”

II. “Quiet Don”. Genre of the work.

Poll (d/z): Why “Quiet Don” can be called an epic novel and what is the difference between Sholokhov’s epic and Tolstoy’s.

Students point out the wide spatial and temporal scope of the narrative, the abundance characters, representing the most diverse strata and categories of the population of Russia and Europe. And although the time frame of Sholokhov’s novel is not so long (ten years is a historically short period), they included events that largely determined the future fate of the world (World War I and the Civil War, the February and October Revolutions) and the fate of the Cossacks (Kornilov rebellion and rebellion General Kaledin, Verkhnedonsky uprising, etc.). But the most important thing is that events on a global scale became an integral part of the destinies of the main characters, and these destinies merged into the general flow of history.

As for the differences from Tolstoy’s epic, students first of all note the absence of philosophical generalizations in Sholokhov, reasoning about “what force moves the worlds.” Indeed, Sholokhov, unlike the author of War and Peace, does not provide a theoretical justification for his historical concept in the novel, despite the fact that his interpretation of historical events often differs from that then dominant in historical science. Another difference is related to the monocentricity of Sholokhov’s epic. The fact that it is the fate of Gregory that is the main core of the narrative will determine the path of studying the novel. But before we talk about his character and fate, let’s consider the environment in which this character is formed.

III. The spiritual world of the Don Cossacks.

Let us analyze a number of episodes from Book I, which reveal the most important components of this world.

1. Labor on earth.Episode of meadow mowing (book 1, part 1, chapter IX):

“Meadow mowing began with Trinity. From the very morning the garden began to bloom with festive women's skirts, brightly sewn curtains, and colorful scarves. The whole farm went out to mow at once. The mowers and rowers dressed as if for an annual holiday. This has been the case since ancient times. From the Don to the distant alder thickets, the devastated meadow stirred and sighed under the scythes.

The Melekhovs were late. We went out to mow when almost half of the farm was already in the meadow.

You've been dawning for a long time, Panteley Prokofich! - the sweaty mowers made noise.

Not my fault, woman! - the old man grinned and hurried the bulls with a whip made of adobe.

Good health, one sum! I’m late, brother, I’m late... - The tall Cossack in a straw hat shook his head, beating his braid off the road.

Will the grass dry out?

If you go at a trot, you will have time, otherwise you will dry out. Where is your place?

And under Krasny Yar.

Well, hurry up the pockmarked ones, otherwise you won’t get there.

Aksinya sat on the cart behind her, covering her entire face from the sun with a scarf. From the narrow slit left for her eyes, she looked at Grigory, who was sitting opposite her, indifferently and sternly. Daria, also wrapped up and dressed up, her legs dangling between the ribs of the cart, fed her long, veiny breast to the child who had fallen asleep in her arms. Dunyashka was jumping up and down on the garden bed, looking with happy eyes at the meadow and the people she met along the way. Her face, cheerful, tanned and freckled at the bridge of her nose, seemed to say: “I am cheerful and good because the day, blue with a cloudless sky, is also cheerful and good; because there is the same blue peace and purity in my soul. I’m happy and I don’t want anything more.” Pantelei Prokofievich, pulling the sleeve of his calico shirt over his palm, wiped away the sweat that was gathering from under his visor. His bent back, tightly covered with his shirt, was dark with wet spots. The sun pierced through the gray astrakhan clouds, lowering a fan of smoky refracted rays onto the distant silver Obdon mountains, steppe, farmland and farmstead.

The day was boiling hot. The clouds, torn by the wind, crawled sluggishly, not overtaking Pantelei Prokofievich’s bulls stretching along the road. He himself lifted the whip heavily and waved it, as if undecided whether to hit the sharp ox rumps or not. The bulls, apparently understanding this, did not increase their pace, just as slowly, gropingly, they rearranged their clawed legs and shook their tails. A dusty golden horsefly with an orange tint circled above them.

The meadow, mowed near the farm barns, brightened with pale green spots; where the grass had not yet been removed, the breeze roughened the green grass silk with glossy black.

Here is our plot. - Panteley Prokofievich waved his whip.

Will we start from the forest? - asked Grigory.

It’s possible from this edge too. Here I cut out the verb with a shovel.

Gregory unharnessed the tired oxen. The old man, his earring sparkling, went to look for the mark - a verb carved at the edge.

Grab your braids! - he soon shouted, waving his hand.

Grigory went, cutting the grass. A swaying trail followed him from the cart across the grass. Panteley Prokofievich crossed himself at the little white pod of the distant bell tower and took the scythe. His hooked nose shone as if it had been freshly varnished, and perspiration languished in the hollows of his black cheeks. He smiled, at once revealing in his raven beard an innumerable number of white, frequent teeth moistened with saliva, and raised his braid, turning his wrinkled neck to the right. A planted semicircle of brushed grass lay under his feet.

Grigory followed him, his eyes half-closed, spreading the grass with a scythe. Ahead, women's curtains bloomed like a scattered rainbow, but he looked with his eyes for one, white with a stitched border; looked back at Aksinya and, again adapting to his father’s step, waved his scythe.”

-What is the mood of the episode?

- With the help of what artistic means is it created?

- What role do collective and individual portraits play?

- Which literary associations does this episode bother you?

Bright clothes, smiles, the kind, simple humor of the Cossacks, portraits of heroes and especially the cheerful face of Dunyashka, as if expressing the general mood - everything creates a feeling of celebration. Peasant workers experience joy from communicating with the land, from working on it. The heroes of L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” experience a similar feeling from closeness with nature and with each other in the hunting scene, where the general mood allows you to feel the joyful squeal of Natasha Rostova.

- How is the earth depicted in the episode you read?

- What feeling do the Cossacks experience from communicating with the land and with each other?

The kinship of the Cossacks and the land, the feeling of its spirituality is emphasized by the metaphor “the meadow sighed.” During the war, Gregory will yearn for peasant labor: “It would be nice to take up the chapigs and follow the plow along the wet furrow, greedily taking in with your nostrils the damp and insipid smell of loosened earth, the bitter aroma of grass cut by a ploughshare” (4-8-VI; p. 546) .

2. Military duty.However, the Cossacks are not only workers, but also warriors. Let's ask students to indicate the episodes of the first book that, in their opinion, most clearly characterize the attitude of the novel's heroes to military duty.

Students recall training for the service of Peter and Grigory Melekhov, and note the fact that among the reasons why Grigory does not agree to go with Aksinya to the mines, he names this: “Again, to serve me this year” (1-1- XII; p. 66). It is worth dwelling on the figure of Pantelei Prokofievich Melekhov, an old Cossack who once received “the first prize for horse riding at the imperial review.” It should be remembered that Panteley Prokofievich signs his letters to his son for service, filled mainly with everyday content, indicating his military rank: “Your parent, senior officer Panteley Melekhov” (1-3-I; p. 192). The clearest proof of the pride aroused in him by the military valor shown by his son is the episode of receiving a letter from which Panteley Prokofievich learns that Grigory was awarded the St. George Cross and promoted to junior officer:

“It was a pity to look at Pantelei Prokofievich, scalded by joy . Having grabbed both letters, he walked around the farm with them, caught the literate ones and forced them to read - no, not for himself, but the old man boasted about his late joy in front of the whole farm.

Yeah! See, how is Grishka mine? A? - He raised his hoofed palm sticking out when the reader, stumbling through the warehouses, reached the place where Petro described the feat of Gregory, who dragged a wounded lieutenant colonel six miles on himself.

“He has the first cross in the entire farm,” the old man was proud and, jealously selecting the letters, buried them in the lining of his crumpled cap, and moved on in search of another literate one” (1-3-XVII; pp. 277 - 278).

3. Relations in the Cossack family. It is impossible to understand the spiritual world, the way of life of the Cossacks, without turning to their family relationships. Already in the first book we will find many episodes that reveal the principles on which the Cossack family is built.

a) Let’s look at one of these episodes:

“Panteley Prokofievich, gurgling something into his beard, chirped towards the house.

He found Grishka in the upper room. Without saying a word, he pulled it out along his back with a crutch. Grigory, bending over, hung on his father's hand.

For what, dad?

Get to work, son of a bitch!..

For what?

Don't be mean to your neighbor! Don't be afraid of your father! Don't hang around, little dog! - Pantelei Prokofievich wheezed, dragging Grigory around the room, trying to pull out the crutch.

I won't let you fight! - Grigory muffled and, clenching his jaw, pulled on the crutch. On his knee and - grunt!..

Panteley Prokofievich - hit his son in the neck with a tight fist.

I’ll screw it up at the meeting!.. Oh, you damned seed, damned son! - He kicked his feet, intending to strike again. - I’ll marry the fool Marfushka!.. I’ll emasculate you!.. Look!..

The mother came running at the noise.

Prokofich, Prokofich!.. Cool off a little!.. Wait!..

But the old man got angry in earnest: he brought it to his wife, knocked over the table with the sewing machine and, having fought a lot, flew to the base. Before Grigory had time to take off his shirt, the sleeve torn in the fight, the door slammed hard, and Panteley Prokofievich again stood on the threshold like a storm cloud.

Marry the son of a bitch!.. - He tapped his foot like a horse and fixed his gaze on Grigory’s muscular back. - Zhenya!.. Tomorrow I’ll go to woo! He lived to see his son laugh in his face!

Let me put on a shirt, then you’ll get married.

Zhenya!.. I’ll marry a fool!.. - He slammed the door, steps rattled along the porch and died down” (1-1-X; p. 62).

- On what principles are relationships built in a Cossack family?

- What ethical standards underlie these relationships?

Reading this episode, we are convinced that the concepts of family honor (“Don’t be afraid of your father!”), community with fellow countrymen (“Don’t be dirty to your neighbor!”) are unshakable for the Cossacks. The “cult of the elderly” reigns in the family: relationships here are built on strict obedience to elders, sometimes instilled with the help of brute force.

- How and why does Gregory react to his father’s threats?

- How does this episode reveal the similarity of the characters of the father and son of the Melekhovs?

- How will Grigory behave when Panteley Prokofievich fulfills his intention to marry him?

And even if at the first moment Grigory gives a tough rebuff to his father, then later he will unquestioningly obey him and marry Natalya Korshunova. And the origins of Gregory’s violent, hot-tempered nature should also be sought in the family. This comes from his father. Clan, family are sacred concepts for the Cossacks. It is no coincidence that the novel begins with the prehistory of the Melekhov family, and already in the first chapter the author gives a family portrait.

b). Mastery of portraiture.

“Under the slope of the sliding years, Panteley Prokofievich began to grow heavy: he spread out in width, slightly stooped, but still looked like a well-built old man. He was bone-dry, lame (in his youth he broke his left leg at an imperial horse-racing show), wore a silver crescent-shaped earring in his left ear, his raven beard and hair did not fade into old age, in anger he reached the point of unconsciousness and, apparently, this prematurely aged his once beautiful, but now portly wife, completely entangled in a web of wrinkles.

His eldest, already married son Petro resembled his mother: small, snub-nosed, with wild, wheat-colored hair, brown eyes; and the youngest, Grigory, took after his father: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as his father’s, a drooping kite nose, in slightly slanting slits, blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory was slouched in the same way as his father, even in their smile they both had something in common, a beastly quality.

Dunyashka - her father’s weakness - a long-armed, big-eyed teenager, and Petrov’s wife Daria with a small child - that’s the whole Melekhov family” (1-1-1; pp. 31 - 32).

- What features of the characters’ appearance does the author focus on?

In this portrait, Sholokhov especially emphasizes the features of family resemblance: wheat-colored hair - on the maternal side, the bestial expression of the almond-shaped eyes, the kite nose - on the paternal side. One should immediately note the originality of Sholokhov’s portrait: it is not only picturesque, but also psychological. In a few details, the author reveals the character’s temperament, type of behavior in life, his character traits, and sometimes in one phrase outlines his fate (this is exactly what Ilyinichna’s portrait is).

As for the family, despite the strict, sometimes harsh relationships, it is a single organism. Everyone feels their inextricable connection with her, as well as with the farm, with their native kuren. Even when love for Aksinya drives Grigory from his native place, he does not see the opportunity to leave the farm: “You are a fool, Aksinya, a fool! You play guitar, but there’s nothing to listen to. Well, where do I go from farming? Again at my service this year. This is no good... I won’t move anywhere from the ground. Here there is a steppe, there is something to breathe, but there?<...>I won’t go anywhere from the farm” (1-1-XII; p. 66).

4. Cruel morals of the Cossacks. However, students should not get the impression that Sholokhov idealizes the way of life of the Don Cossacks.

- Find in the first book of the novel examples of cruelty, fanaticism, and moral depravity of the Cossacks.

An angry crowd of farmers brutally deals with the wife of Prokofy Melekhov, Prokofy himself chops the battery officer Lyushnya (1-1-I) to the waist, Aksinya’s fifty-year-old father rapes his daughter, for which his wife and son beat him to death, Stepan Astakhov “deliberately and terribly” beats young wife the day after the wedding (1-1-VII), and then again, returning from military training, “woos” her with boots in front of the indifferently smiling Alyoshka Shamil, the Melekhov brothers enter into a fight with Stepan, “peck” him, “like carrion vultures” (1-1-XIV), the Cossacks pounce with wild fury on the innocent Tavrichans who came to the mill (1-2-V). There are many dishonest among the Cossacks, and during the war, theft and looting not only does not bother anyone, but almost becomes a source of pride:

“- Our brother will not be alive, so as not to slam him.

Every thing sticks to a Cossack.

Let him not put it badly” (1-3-V; p. 214).

Sholokhov does not hide the savagery of morals that sometimes reigned among the Cossacks, but it is not this, according to the writer, that determines the spiritual world of the Cossack. Land and labor on it, military duty, family, farm, kuren - these are its most important components, these are the conditions that shaped the character of Grigory Melekhov (talk about these fundamental moral values in the first lesson, it is necessary, in our opinion, also because the tragedy depicted in the novel “Quiet Don” is the tragedy of rejection from the land, disappointment in military duty, the collapse of the Family, the destruction of the Home).

IV. The character of Grigory Melekhov.

Let's look at several episodes to get an idea of what traits are inherent in a hero who is on the threshold of terrible historical events.

1. To begin with, let’s return again to the scene of meadow mowing:

“I’ll get to that bush over there and I’ll break the scythe,” thought Grigory and felt the scythe pass over something sticky. He bent down to look: a small wild duckling hobbled into the grass from under his feet, squeaking. Near the hole where the nest was, there was another one lying, cut in two with a scythe, the rest scattered on the grass, squawking. Gregory placed the cut duckling in his palm. Yellow-brown, having just hatched from an egg the other day, it still harbored a living warmth in the cannon. There is a pink bubble of blood on the flat, open beak, the beady eye is cunningly closed, and there is a slight trembling of the still hot paws.

Grigory looked with a sudden feeling of acute pity at the dead lump lying in his palm.

What did you find, Grishunka?..

Dunyashka ran bouncing along the mown rows. Finely braided braids fluttered across her chest. Wincing, Gregory dropped the duckling and angrily waved his scythe” (1-1-IX, pp. 58 - 59).

- What role does the image of a duckling play in the episode?

- How did Gregory feel when he carelessly killed a living creature?

- How does the hero’s condition in this episode characterize him?

- Why does Gregory feel angry at the end of the episode?

Love for all living things, an acute sense of other people's pain, the ability to compassion, revealed in this episode constitute the deep essence of the character of Sholokhov’s hero and will appear more than once in the novel.

Looking ahead a little, let us compare the scene we read with one of the wartime events, when Gregory kills an Austrian soldier (1-3-V). But let’s focus our attention not on the murder episode itself, but on the hero’s experiences:

“I, Petro, have lost my soul. It’s as if I’m somehow half-baked... It’s as if I’ve been under a millstone, they crushed me and spat me out. - His voice is complaining, cracked, and the furrow (Petro had just noticed it, with a feeling of inner fear) was darkening, flowing diagonally across his forehead, unfamiliar, frightening with some kind of change, alienation.

How is it? - Petro asked, pulling off his shirt, revealing a white body with an evenly incised tan line on the neck.

But you see how,” Grigory hurried, and his voice grew stronger in anger, “they set people against each other, and don’t get caught!” The people have become worse than the biryuks. There is anger all around. I now think that if I bite a person, he will go mad.

Have you ever had to... kill?

I had to!.. - Grigory almost shouted and crumpled and threw his shirt at his feet. Then he rubbed his throat with his fingers for a long time, as if pushing through a stuck word, and looked to the side.

Speak! - Petro ordered, avoiding and afraid to meet his brother’s eyes.

My conscience is killing me. I stabbed one with a pike near Leszniow. In the heat of the moment... There was no other way... Why did I cut this one down?

Well?

So, well, I cut down a man in vain and because of him, the bastard, my soul is sick. I dream at night, you bastard. Is it my fault?” (1-3-X; p. 242).

- How are the episodes considered connected to each other?

- What personality traits of the hero are revealed in them?

Killing a person, even an enemy in battle, is deeply contrary to the humane nature of Gregory. His condition in this episode makes me remember Nikolai Rostov after the Ostrovnensky case, when the hand of Tolstoy’s hero trembled in front of the “room” face of a young Frenchman with a hole in his chin.

- What role do the author’s remarks play in the dialogue between the Melekhov brothers?

- How do they reveal the hero’s attitude towards violence?

- What changes have occurred in the portrait of the hero?

Observing the author's remarks reflecting Gregory's psychological state in this episode, let us pay special attention to an important portrait detail - the furrow that appeared on his face after this murder: this is how the war leaves an indelible mark on the hero's appearance from the very beginning. In what follows we will make sure that Sholokhov's portrait always records important changes in the human psyche, turning points in the fate of the heroes.

2. Speaking about the character of Grigory Melekhov, it should be noted that the hero a feeling of inextricable connection with the outside world. Let us turn to the episode of the horse bathing:

“Along the Don obliquely - a wavy, untrodden lunar road. There is fog over the Don, and starry millet above. The horse behind carefully rearranges its legs. The descent to the water is bad. On the other side, a duck quack, near the shore in the mud, a catfish hunting for small things turned up and splashed through the water with an Omaha.

Grigory stood by the water for a long time. The shore breathed fresh and damp. Small drops fell from the horse's lips. There is a slight sweet emptiness in Gregory’s heart. Good and thoughtless. Returning, I looked at the sunrise; the blue twilight had already dissolved there” (1-1-III; p. 39).

- What details of the landscape reveal the uniqueness of the hero’s worldview?

- What are the linguistic features of this fragment?

- What the hell spiritual world Are the characters revealed in this episode?

The landscape of a starry, moonlit night, traditional for Russian literature, is given here through the perception of a Don Cossack. Students confirm this with linguistic details (moon path, star millet, etc.). It is no coincidence that the mention of catfish did not escape the attention of Gregory - not only a farmer, but also a fisherman. The feeling of nature is also heard in the hero’s direct speech. In the next chapter, he says, addressing Aksinya: “Your hair smells like a bad drunk. You know, with such a white flower...” (1-1-IV; p. 47).

4. However, being acutely receptive to beauty, Gregory remains a man of strong passions, decisive actions and actions. The scene of the beating of Evgeny Listnitsky testifies, for example, to what violence, to what wild anger a hero can reach, scorched by blind jealousy and hatred:

“Gregory briefly swung his whip and hit the centurion in the face with terrible force. Having intercepted the whip, he hit him in the face and hands with the whip, not allowing the centurion to come to his senses. A shard of broken pince-nez cut into him above his eyebrow. Streams of blood fell into the eye. At first the centurion covered his face with his hands, but the blows became more frequent. He jumped up, his face disfigured by smudges and rage, and tried to defend himself, but Grigory, retreating, paralyzed his right arm with a blow to the wrist.

For Aksinya! For me! For Aksinya! Thank you for Aksinya! For me!

The whip whistled. The blows splashed softly. Then he threw him onto the cruel bumpy road with his fists and rolled him along the ground, beating him brutally with the shackled heels of his soldier’s boots. Exhausted, he sat down in the carriage, whooped and, losing his trotting strength, moved the horse to the tent” (1-3-XXIV; pp. 308 - 309).

- What artistic techniques give expressiveness to the read episode?

- What are the features of syntax, rhythm, and vocabulary in this fragment?

- What role do portrait details play?

- How is contrast used?

The exceptional expressiveness of this scene is given by short, chopped phrases, elastic, dynamic rhythm, abundance of verbs, repeated repetition of words whip,beat, blows, details of the portrait of a helpless centurion, contrasting with the image of Melekhov, overcome with rage.

5. But in order to comprehend the true essence of the hero’s character, it is worth dwelling on two more seemingly insignificant, but very revealing episodes. The first of them is the inspection of horses before conscription for military service:

“Gregory fussily turned away the crooked corner that covered the twenty-fourth ukhnal, his fingers, rough and black, lightly touched the white sugar fingers of the bailiff. He jerked his hand, as if he had been stabbed, and rubbed it on the side of his gray overcoat; Wrinkling his face in disgust, he put on his glove.

Gregory noticed this; straightening up, he smiled evilly. Their glances collided, and the bailiff, blushing the tops of his cheeks, raised his voice:

How can you see! How are you looking, Cossack? - His cheek, with a razor cut that had dried on his cheekbone, turned red from top to bottom. - Why are the pack buckles not in order? What is this? Are you a Cossack or a peasant’s bast shoe?.. Where is father?” (1-2-XXI; p. 190)

- What made the self-confident bailiff lose his temper?

Immense inner strength expressed in the look and evil grin of Melekhov, who did not say a single word.

Here's another episode:

“Five days later, at a watering hole, Grigory dropped a chicken into the well, the sergeant flew at him like a kite, raising his hand.

Don’t touch it!.. - Grigory muffled, looking into the rippling water under the log house.

What? Get in, you bastard, take it out! I'll burn your face!..

I’ll take it out, but don’t touch it! - Without raising his head, Grigory slowly drawled out his words.

If there had been Cossacks at the well, things would have turned out differently: the sergeant would undoubtedly have beaten Gregory, but the horse guards were at the fence and could not hear the conversation. The sergeant, approaching Gregory, looked back at them, wheezed, and rolled out predatory eyes, meaningless with anger.

What are you telling me? How do you get along with your boss?

You, Semyon Egorov, don’t get too full!

Are you threatening?.. Yes, I'll make you wet!..

That’s it,” Gregory tore his head away from the frame, “if you hit me, I’ll still kill you!” Understood?

The sergeant yawned in amazement with his square carp mouth and could not find an answer. The moment for reprisal was missed. Gregory’s lime-colored face did not promise anything good, and the sergeant was at a loss” (1-3-II; pp. 203 - 204).

- What allowed Grigory, the junior in rank, to win the psychological duel?

Comparing the behavior, gestures, facial expressions and intonations of Gregory and the sergeant in this scene, we come to the conclusion that Gregory wins this psychological duel primarily due to the exceptional self-esteem, which becomes a real force and is capable of exerting a powerful influence on other people, regardless of their rank and position.

- Which episode of this chapter indicates that Gregory can stand up not only for his own, but also for the dignity of others?

Gregory's attempt to stand up for Franya, who was abused by the Cossacks. And you should definitely think about why “Melekhov almost cried” when his intercession failed? (Perhaps it was here that he first experienced his own powerlessness in front of a brutal crowd.)

So, vitally connected with his native nature, loving all living things, passionate to the point of violence, with a heightened sense of self-esteem - this is how we see Grigory Melekhov at the beginning of the First World War. Now his individual fate, like the fate of all his fellow countrymen, will be caught up in turbulent historical events, although the first phrase of the novel “Melekhovsky yard is on the very edge of the farm” is reminiscent of the well-known saying “My hut is on the edge.”

I. World War is the central historical event of the first book of the novel.

1. Military episodes are preceded by the following scenery:

“The summer was dry and smoldering. Opposite the farmstead, the Don shallowed, and where the stray stirrup had previously rushed, a ford formed, and bulls crossed to the other bank without getting their backs wet. At night, a thick, flowing stuffiness crawled into the farmstead from the ridge; the wind saturated the air with the spicy smell of scorched grass. At the outlet, dead weeds were burning, and sweet marigold hung like an invisible canopy over Obdon. At night, clouds thickened behind the Don, thunderclaps burst dryly and loudly, but rain did not fall on the ground, bursting with feverish heat; lightning burned in vain, breaking the sky into sharp-angled blue edges.

At night, an owl roared in the bell tower. Unsteady and terrible cries hung over the farmstead, and an owl flew from the bell tower to the cemetery, fossilized by calves, moaning over the brown, grassy graves” (1-3-I; p. 194).

- What is the general atmosphere of the landscape?

- What parts are used to create it?

- What is the color and sound scale of the landscape?

- Which epithets seem most expressive to you?

Students will find in this landscape many details that prepare the reader for the depiction of a national disaster, and perhaps they will remember the solar eclipse, which became a menacing omen before Prince Igor’s campaign against the Polovtsians.

- What is the place of this landscape in the text?

- What is its artistic function?

It should be noted that Sholokhov’s landscapes are connected with the events of the novel according to the principle epic parallelism: events in the life of people and in the life of nature are given in unity, the world of people and the world of nature are interpreted by the author as a single life stream.

2. Continuing the conversation about the war, let us turn to the scene of mobilization (1-3-IV; pp. 208 - 210) and using its example we will find out Sholokhov’s techniques for constructing crowd scenes.

- Which artistic media uses Sholokhov to create the image of the Cossack masses?

- Find portrait sketches in this fragment. What is specific about the portraits included in the episode?

In this episode, Sholokhov creates the image of the masses, united common event. The most important means of creating this image is group portrait: “The gray crowd thickened in the square. In the rows of horses, Cossack on the right, uniforms with different shoulder strap numbers. A head taller than the Cossack army, like Dutch geese among small poultry, the Atamans walked in blue caps.<...>Drunk, hot faces.” However, the Cossack mass, although it is called a crowd, does not seem homogeneous and faceless to Sholokhov, it consists of individual human characters, therefore, adjacent to the collective portrait are details of portraits of individual characters, including episodic ones (a gloomy and preoccupied military police officer, a hefty black ataman, a short Cossack woman with sunflower husks in unkempt hair, a sergeant in a red beard frame, etc.).

- What is the peculiarity of the dialogue?

- What general principle underlies the creation of a portrait and dialogue?

- What is the artistic function of polyphonic dialogue, the combination of collective and individual portraits?

According to the same principle of combining the general and the particular, the speech characteristics of the collective hero are built, the most important form of which becomes polyphonic dialogue. Giving an idea of the mood of the Cossacks as a whole, it at the same time reveals purely individual views, characters and destinies.

- What characters, in your opinion, are behind this or that line of non-personalized dialogue?

- Determine how differently the Cossacks relate to the upcoming war.

- Observe how the discussion of the main issue is combined with conversations on other topics.

War is the main topic that the characters discuss and constantly return to throughout the scene. However, the Cossacks have different attitudes towards the impending danger. Someone speaks about it with fear (“How’s the war?”), someone with ease and confidence in their strength (“What power can stand against us?”), someone is indifferent to the strife of governments (“We I don’t care about them”), someone is sad only because of the ban on the sale of alcohol introduced during the war (“Monopoly was closed!”). Perhaps only old people who have gone through more than one war can imagine what scale the upcoming events can acquire (“When they start crushing the people, they will get to their grandfathers”). And yet, dissatisfaction with the war prevails in the conversation, and it is connected primarily with the fact that the war tears the Cossacks away from the land, from fulfilling their main, grain-growing duty:

“-... Let them fight, but we haven’t lost our bread!

This is a disaster! Looking at the world, they drove them away, but nothing - the day feeds the year.

The heaps of cattle will be poisoned.

We have already started mowing barley.”

And then again:

“ __ ... As soon as I return home, I’ll go to the fields.

Yes, it's worth it!

Tell me, what do the bosses think? I have more than a hundred acres of sowing.”

Note that the Cossacks are accustomed to living in accordance with the cyclical nature of natural time. Historical time invades the usual cycle of life, regardless of its laws, destroys what is determined by nature itself.

In crowd scenes, the life of the Cossacks appears in an endless variety of colors, and it is no coincidence that conversations about the war are interspersed with remarks of an everyday nature, serious and comic. It should also be noted that in this episode, as in most crowd scenes, the writer reveals not only the mood of the Cossacks at the moment. Behind the various, sometimes unrelated remarks of the polyphonic dialogue arise the historical fate of the Cossacks, their traditions and way of life. Here is the age-old hatred of non-residents (“I kill them, the peasants! Know the Don Cossack!”), and the participation of the Cossacks in the suppression of the revolution (“I, brother, was in the pacification of one thousand nine hundred and five. What a laugh!” ), and a reluctance to once again find themselves in the ranks of the suppressors (“Let the police go, but we’re ashamed, anyway”).

3. Crowd scenes are not presented in isolation in the novel; their rhythmic alternation with the narration of individual destinies gives the depicted events an amazing volume and stereoscopic quality. Therefore, let's return to the main character and continue observing his fate. To find out what Gregory saw and experienced in the first months of the war, let us again turn to landscape:

“Where the fighting was going on, the gloomy face of the earth was torn up with smallpox by shells: fragments of cast iron and steel rusted in it, yearning for human blood. At night, beyond the horizon, handy scarlet glows stretched to the sky, villages, towns, and towns blazed with lightning. In August, when the fruit ripens and the bread is ripe, the sky, washed by the wind, turned unsmilingly grey, and the rare fine days were oppressive with steamy heat.

August was drawing to a close. In the gardens, the leaves turned richly yellow, filled with a dying crimson from the cuttings, and from a distance it looked like the trees had lacerations and were bleeding with ore-like tree blood” (1-3-X; p. 239).

- What are the specifics of this landscape?

- What signs of war are included in the landscape?

- What is the nature of metaphors and personifications?

- How does the figurative structure of the passage reveal the perception of war by the author and the hero?

- Which of Sholokhov’s predecessors, contemporaries or followers depicted the war in this way?

Thanks to unexpected metaphors and vivid personifications, one gets the feeling that nature itself is participating in the war. We saw a similar method of depicting war in Tolstoy (the final scenes of the Battle of Borodino), and in Sholokhov’s contemporaries: Mayakovsky (“Mother and the evening killed by the Germans”) and Babel (“Crossing the Zbruch”); from more recent literature, students may be familiar with military lyrics V. Vysotsky (“The Ballad of the Earth”, “We Rotate the Earth”). For these authors, war is not a confrontation between armies, but a universal disaster.

But the landscape shown not only gives the story an epic scope, but also reveals the inner state of people caught up in the war. Sholokhov widely uses in the novel psychological parallelism. The changes taking place in nature correspond to what is happening in the soul of every person.

Note that this landscape is immediately followed by brief but expressive portraits of the Cossacks, fellow soldiers of Grigory Melekhov: “Prokhor Zykov... still concealed pain and bewilderment in the corners of his lips”, “Egorka Zharkov... swore with heavy obscene curses, lewdly more, than before, he cursed everything in the world,” “Emelyan Groshev... he was all somehow charred, blackened.” “Changes took place on every face, each in his own way nurtured and raised the iron seeds sown by the war, and all together, the young Cossacks, freshly torn from the villages and farmsteads, in the atmosphere of mortal horror happening all around, resembled the stems of a mown, withering and changing its outlines of the grass” (ibid.). It is noteworthy that, summarizing observations of the psychological changes occurring with Gregory’s comrades in the hundred, the writer resorts to a comparison, also drawn from the natural world.

4. Despite the fact that the war in the novel appears in blood and suffering, Sholokhov portrays Grigory Melekhov as a courageous warrior who deservedly received a high award - the St. George Cross. Melekhov fights fearlessly and at the same time thoughtlessly, not knowing why he is shedding his own and others’ blood. But the war confronts Gregory with different people, communication with whom makes him think, not only about the essence of the war itself, but also about his own life, and about the world in which he lives.

The system of characters in the novel, the center of which is Grigory Melekhov, is constructed in such a way that next to the main character there appear characters who embody polar views and life positions. During the World War, Grigory Chubaty and Garange became such poles.

- What philosophy of life does Chubaty profess?

- How does Gregory feel about his position?

“Cut the man boldly. “He’s a soft man, like dough,” Chubaty taught, laughing with his eyes. - Don’t think about how or what. You are a Cossack, your job is to chop without asking. In battle, killing an enemy is a sacred thing. For every person you kill, God forgives you one sin, just like for a snake. You cannot destroy an animal without need - a heifer, say, or something like that - but destroy a person. He is a filthy man... Evil spirits, he stinks on the earth, he lives like a toadstool mushroom” (1-3-XII; p. 256). Such an inhumane position, even in conditions of war, turns out to be unacceptable for Gregory. That’s why he shoots Chubaty when he cut down a captive Magyar for no reason. “...if I killed you, it would be one less sin on my soul,” he will say later. (1-3-XX; p. 287).

- What feelings did Gregory take away from the experience of the war?

Perhaps only fatigue and disappointment. It is at this moment that fate brings him together with Garanzha. Let's find out what Gregory Garang is trying to convince and what the hero experiences under his influence? Modern high school students are unlikely to find Garanzhi’s “political” ideas convincing: “What are we fighting for, boy?<...>We fought for the bourgeoisie, do you hear it? What is it - bourgeois? The bird is alive in hemp.<...>You say - for the Tsar, but why is this one - the Tsar? The Tsar is a wimp, the Tsarina is a whore, the gentlemen's pennies are increased from the war, and on our necks... there is a noose. Can you hear it? Axis! The whacker drinks the vodka, - the soldier beats the lice, it’s hard for both... The kicker is with a profit, and the worker is naked, so that’s how it goes... serve, Cossack, serve!” (1-3-XXIII; pp. 299 - 300).

- Why did Garanzhi’s instructions sink into Gregory’s soul so much (why did Bolshevik ideas spread so rapidly in a war-weary country)?

Let's give students the opportunity to think about this. Most often, they come to the conclusion that the war brought disappointment in previous values: in the Tsar, in Cossack military duty. It was on this fertile soil that the seeds of “Bolshevik truth” fell, overthrowing these previously seemingly unshakable concepts.

Here Gregory's attempts to understand the complex structure of life begin. Here begins his tragic path to the truth, to the people's truth.

1916 October. The senseless war continued. There is mud all around, the rain doesn’t stop. Bunchuk entered the dugout. Having awakened the sleeping Listnitsky, Kalmykov and Chubov came in. There was talk that the regiment was going to be removed from its positions. Bunchuk said that thanks to the swamps near which the regiment is located, they have no offensive. But the officers objected, believing that it was better to attack than to rot here alive. Bunchuk shared his thoughts that the Cossacks are being held back for the time being, and when the soldiers get tired of the war and unrest begins in the army, then the Cossacks will be needed to pacify them. The officers did not believe him, and were convinced of the successful end of the war. According to Bunchuk, the end of the war is not yet in sight, much less a brilliant one. He was on vacation, saw hungry Petrograd, and noticed that the discontent of the workers was growing.

Bunchuk’s position, advocating the defeat of his homeland in the war, outraged Listnitsky. He could not understand the Cossack machine gunner; he seemed strange to him: he did not finish his sentences, expressed himself ambiguously, as if he was against the war, but he himself went to the front. One night, Bunchuk, who by that time had risen to the rank of officer (cornet), revealed himself to him. I read Lenin’s words to the officers and explained the position of the Bolsheviks. Listnitsky’s political illiteracy surprised Bunchuk, who was firmly convinced that tsarism would sooner or later be destroyed, the dictatorship of the proletariat would come, the advanced intelligentsia and peasantry would follow him, and the Bolsheviks would “capture” all those lagging behind. After these frank conversations, Bunchuk went to his dugout, burned some papers, took cans of canned food, cartridges and left. After he left, Merkulov sat down at the table in the officer’s dugout and drew a portrait of Bunchuk. When Merkulov fell asleep, Listnitsky wrote a report to his superiors on the back of Bunchuk’s portrait about Bunchuk’s party affiliation and Bolshevik agitation. In the morning he sent a report to division headquarters. Walking through the wet trench, Evgeniy saw that the Cossacks had lit a fire on the shield, which was strictly prohibited. Listnitsky knocked the fire out from under the pot, and this angered the Cossacks. After some time, Evgeniy learned that Bunchuk had deserted from his positions.

In the morning, the sergeant reported to Listnitsky that anti-war leaflets were found in the trenches, calling on soldiers to fraternize with the enemy. Evgeniy called the regiment headquarters and received orders to urgently conduct a search of the Cossacks and seize the outrageous leaflets. The search aroused different feelings and thoughts among the Cossacks, most of them thought that a theft had occurred. During the search, nothing serious was found. Only one Cossack was found to have a crumpled piece of proclamation in his overcoat pocket, which he picked up to use for rolling cigarettes. A day later, the regiment was removed from its location and sent to the rear. Having settled in a new place, the regiment cleaned itself up and became cheerful. People, mortally tired of the war, were resting. The Cossacks were drawn home, and this was felt in everything.

Three days after escaping from the front, Bunchuk entered a large trading place. Having difficulty finding the address he needed, he entered a nondescript house. An elderly woman opened the door for him. Bunchuk asked Boris Ivanovich and was invited into the house. A day later, he was heading to the station with the documents of soldier Ukhvatov, who had been dismissed from the army due to injury.

In the Vladimir-Volyn and Kovel directions, the Special Army was preparing for an offensive. It was pulled to the indicated place a large number of artillery. On the first day, as soon as the shelling began, the Germans left the trench line, leaving only observers. On the tenth day, units of one of the corps went on the offensive. They attacked in a special way - in waves. Sixteen waves left the Russian trenches, but only three reached the enemy fortifications. Other regiments moved into the breakthrough and marched for three days without a break. A hundred Cossacks were also sent there, including the Shamili brothers, the mill driver Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov, Kalinin and other Cossacks from the Tatarsky farm. Ivan Alekseevich, a former driver of the Mokhovsk steam mill, met Valet here. They remembered Shtokman well and thought that he would explain to them what was happening. They said that Shtokman was exiled to Siberia. Ivan Alekseevich noticed that Knave, once angry and firm, had changed a lot. He replied: life has collapsed. After a short conversation, they parted, going to their own parts.

As the advance progressed, the wounded came across more and more often. Walking through the forest, the Cossacks came across a “long line of corpses,” most of whom were young (20 to 25 years old) officers. The Cossacks counted 47 people killed. Shocked by what they saw, the Cossacks hastily left this place and walked in silence for a long time.

The Hundred received orders to drive the Germans out of the first line of defense. From the order it became known that the Germans were using poisonous gases. Moving forward, the soldiers noticed a man standing motionless, leaning against a pine tree. As they got closer, they realized that he had been poisoned with asphyxiating gas and died standing up. Having walked a little forward, the soldiers came across a second corpse. Then the dead began to come across even more often. Jack and the soldier who had accosted him went in different directions.

Suddenly a machine gun hit. Artillery preparation began, and then the attack began again. The soldiers crawled between trees and bushes, seeking protection. Some got up and ran. Seventeen people died in the attack. They killed Prokhor, Shamil, Evlampy Kalinin, Afonka Ozerov, and eight people were missing from the second platoon. The Cossacks retreated, but an order came from headquarters to resume the attack. Towards evening, when the attack was still ongoing, Ivan Alekseevich fell under a pine tree and saw Likhvidov approaching him. With a floating gaze and trembling knees, Likhvidov began to sing, and Ivan Alekseevich realized that his comrade had gone crazy from everything he had seen.

Forty versts down the Skhod there were battles. The 12th Cossack Regiment was stationed here. Grigory came out of the smoky dugout, the sky was all sparkling with stars. Lying on the hill, he remembered Aksinya, her beauty, the smell of her hair. Then he remembered home, the time spent in the family: Natalya’s hot caresses, the ingratiating attention of relatives, the attention of old people to the Knight of St. George and the pride of his father walking nearby in the farmstead. Everything sown by Garanzha disappeared. Grigory came to the farm as one person, and left as another - “his own, Cossack, sucked in with his mother’s milk, nurtured throughout his life, took precedence over the great human truth.” Grigory returned to the front as a good Cossack - “not putting up with the senselessness of war, he honestly cherished his Cossack glory.” Lying on the hill, he recalled everything that had happened since he left the farm.

In the spring and autumn of 1915, the 12th Cossack Regiment took part in battles, and Grigory bravely and skillfully took part in the attacks. In East Prussia, fate again brought him together with Stepan Astakhov. Going on the attack, Grigory saw Stepan jump from the horse that had been killed under him. A hundred almost crushed the Cossack. Grigory galloped up to Stepan and shouted to him to hold on to his stirrup. Stepan then ran alongside for half a mile, asking only that Grigory not ride fast. Astakhov was wounded, the Germans were approaching, bullets whistled over the heads of the Cossacks. Grigory put Stepan on his horse, and he ran alongside. In the forest, Grigory helped Astakhov bandage his wounded leg, and he admitted that he shot Grigory up to three times when they went on the attack, but God saved Melekhov. Astakhov thanked Grigory for saving him, but he could not forgive Aksinya. They separated unreconciled. In May, Grigory led a hundred people into the attack and took a German sentry.

How many such days have time scattered across the fields of recent and ancient battles? Grigory firmly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without bloodshed, performed horseback riding as a Cossack and felt that the pain for a person that oppressed him in the first days of the war was gone forever. The heart became coarse, hardened, like a salt marsh in a drought, and just as a salt marsh does not absorb drought, so Gregory’s heart did not absorb pity. With cold contempt he played with other people's and his own life; That’s why he was known as brave - he won four St. George’s crosses and four medals. At rare parades he stood at the regimental banner, covered in the gunpowder smoke of many wars; but he knew that he would no longer laugh as before; he knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply; he knew that it was difficult for him, when kissing a child, to look openly into clear eyes; Gregory knew what price he paid for a full bow of crosses and production.

Remembering everything he had experienced, Grigory returned to the dugout and fell asleep. As he fell asleep, he saw his native village, and the next day he woke up with an insurmountable melancholy. Chubatiy constantly lived in a dugout with Grigory. The war changed him a lot. Over time, he came to a complete denial of the war. Melekhov tried to retell Garanzhi’s speeches to him, but Chubaty did not recognize the revolution; According to him, Russia needs a firm tsar, and the revolution is nothing but self-indulgence.

At the beginning of November, the regiment in which Gregory served stood in positions in the Transylvanian Mountains, and on November 7 went on the offensive. Melekhov embarrassedly admitted to Chubaty that he was timid, as if he was going into battle for the first time. Chubaty got angry: “Your face has turned yellow, Grishka... You’re either sick, or... they’ll kill you now...”

After the first volley, Grigory fell, knocked down by a bullet. He wanted to bandage his wounded hand, and saw the Cossacks retreating. Grigory ran after them, and was even able to overtake some. Mishka Koshevoy, on whose hand Grigory leaned as he entered the forest, shouted angrily: “Bitch people!.. He will bleed all over, then he will understand why he is nailed on the head.”

The wind ruled over the Tatarsky farm. Three years of war had a noticeable impact on the economy. Every day it fell into more and more decay. Only Panteley Prokofievich’s base still looked well-groomed, although the old man’s hands didn’t reach much. And the family has not shrunk - at the beginning of last fall, Natalya gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl. On the day of her birth, she left the yard, embarrassed by her father-in-law, and returned with the children. Ilyinichna cried and laughed with joy. Pantelei Prokofievich also burst into tears when he learned the news. Natalya could not stop looking at the children; she breastfed them all year, breastfeeding them both at once. She herself lost weight and turned pale, putting her whole soul into them. That year generally turned out to be profitable for Pantelei Prokofievich: the cow calved twins, the sheep gave birth to twins.

Natalya devoted all her free time to children. Grigory sent news home infrequently, but along with letters he also sent his salary. Peter wrote to his family more often, and in his letters he threatened his wife (he had heard rumors about her free behavior).

The brothers' paths spread apart: the war bent Gregory, sucked the color from his face, painted him with bile, did not expect to wait for the end of the war, but Petro quickly and smoothly walked up the mountain, received a sergeant in the autumn of the sixteenth year, earned, by sucking up to the commander of the hundred, two crosses and already talked in letters about how he was struggling to be sent to study at an officer's school... Life itself smiled at Peter, and the war made him happy because it opened up extraordinary prospects: was it for him, a simple Cossack who had been twisting the tails of bulls since childhood? think about officership and another sweet life... From one side only, Petrov’s life showed Shcherbatin: bad rumors about his wife circulated around the farm. Stepan Astakhov was on leave in the fall of this year and, having returned to the regiment, boasted to the whole hundred that he had lived happily with Petrova’s wife. Petro didn’t believe it, listening to the stories of his comrades...

But one day, by accident or on purpose, while leaving the trench dugout, Stepan dropped his embroidered rag; Petro followed him, picked up a lace, skillfully embroidered cloth and recognized it as his wife’s handicraft. Once again, the Kalmyk knot of anger between Peter and Stepan began.

One day Stepan left to take a guard and did not return. According to the stories of the Cossacks, the German sentry heard that they were cutting the barriers and threw a grenade. Stepan knocked down the German, but the sentry managed to shoot at him. The Cossacks picked up Astakhov and wanted to carry him away, but he turned out to be too heavy, so they had to abandon him. Stepan begged his comrades not to abandon him, but the Cossacks, hearing machine-gun fire, crawled away. When Peter heard about Stepan’s trouble, he felt better. He decided to beat his wife in such a way that she would remember her for the rest of her life.

And Daria Melekhova this fall behaved as if she wanted to make up for lost time throughout her husbandless life. On the first day of the Intercession, Panteley Prokofievich, going out onto the porch early in the morning, saw a gate lying in the middle of the road. He immediately put them in place, and then poured them into Daria, but regretted that it was not enough. Later, he punished Ilyinichna to chase Daria more often, because she had only games on her mind. Daria decided to mock her father-in-law, attacked him in the barn, he barely fought her off. Afterwards, she explained to her father-in-law that he shouldn’t have beaten her the other day: her husband had been gone for a year, and she couldn’t live like that. Panteley Prokofievich was confused: is there really truth on her side?

In November, severe frosts hit, and the Don began to fall. The Melekhovs received a letter from Grigory, in which he reported that in the first battle the bone of his left hand was crushed, and he was sent to his district for treatment. The letter came from distant Romania. At the same time, a second disaster happened. Once Panteley Prokofievich borrowed one hundred silver rubles from Mokhov, but was unable to pay it back on time. Soon Melekhov received a writ of execution, which ordered him to collect a debt of one hundred rubles, plus three rubles for legal expenses. The penalty was imposed on the bailiffs. After listening to the “definition”, Pantelei Prokofievich promised to deposit the money today and immediately went to the matchmaker Korshunov. On the way, he learned that Mitka Korshunov had returned from the front. The matchmaker met Pantelei Prokofievich, already cheerful, and invited him to the table to celebrate his joy. Mitka has changed a lot in three years: “he has grown, his shoulders have broadened, he has stooped and gained weight.” Having learned what business the matchmaker had come for, Miron Grigorievich counted out the money with the words: “Our people - we’ll be numbered!”

Mitka Korshunov stayed on the farm for five days, spending the night with Anikushka’s wife, and during the day walking around the farm and showing indifference to the cold. One day he visited the Melekhovs. Mitka lived carelessly and was often put on trial, either for rape or theft. But his cheerful disposition and dashing spirit helped him get out of any situation. On the sixth day, Mitka’s father took him to the station. And after Christmas, the Melekhovs were informed that Grigory would soon arrive.

Mokhov saw a lot in his life. I remembered 1905 well. Despite the fact that he had significant savings in his bank account, the situation in the country frightened him. There were rumors about an imminent revolution, and in March 1917 news broke about the overthrow of the monarchy. The Cossacks gathered in groups, discussed how they would now live without a king, they were afraid of change - they had something to lose. And at the same time, everyone expected the new government to end the war.

Mokhov received a letter from his daughter in which she asked for money. Reading it, he thought about his life, trying to understand why he lived, fussed and cheated. The revolution has broken out, and tomorrow everything can be taken away; the daughter is a stranger, the son is stupid. In the morning he learned that Evgeny Listnitsky had come to Yagodnoye to see his father, and went to them. Mokhov was greeted by a plump, black-eyed woman, whom he hardly recognized as Aksinya.

From the Listnitskys, Mokhov hoped to learn about the true state of affairs, about what could be expected in the near future. Evgeniy said that the army was disintegrated, the soldiers refused to fight, “turned into gangs,” leaving positions, killing civilians and officers, and looting. All this is the work of the Bolsheviks, who want to end the war, and are even ready to enter into separate negotiations, to give the factories to the workers and the land to the peasants. With such populist slogans they gain trust among the masses. Evgeniy said that he was forced to flee from the regiment, fearing the revenge of the Cossacks. At this time, Emelyan was talking to Aksinya in the human coachman. She asked if her chicken house had collapsed, how the neighbors were living; Having learned that Grigory came on vacation, she asked what he looked like.

Before February, the first brigade of one of the infantry divisions with the Cossack regiment attached to it was removed from the front and taken to the rear to be sent to the capital to prevent unrest. But on the day of dispatch it became known that the emperor had abdicated the throne. The brigade was returned. The brigade commander announced this news to the Cossacks; power passed to the Provisional Government and the State Duma. He called on the Cossacks to stay away from politics and do their duty - to defend their homeland; there should be no politics in the army.

A few days later, the military at the station swore allegiance to the Provisional Government and attended rallies in groups. All Cossacks hoped for the end of the war, and the order to return to the front was met with discontent. The Cossacks were perplexed: why freedom if we have to continue the war again? Spontaneous rallies arose at which the Cossacks demanded to be sent home. With great difficulty they managed to get the regiment into the carriages. The Tatars were traveling in the car: Petro Melekhov, Mitka Koshevoy’s uncle, Anikushka, Merkulov... The Cossacks talked about the terrible predictions of old men that were coming true, they scolded the war, they promised that they would soon begin to leave without permission if the war did not end in the near future. Then the Cossacks began to sing and dance as they warmed themselves up in the wind-blown carriage.

A day later the regiment was not far from the front. Pyotr Melekhov was summoned to the regiment commander. On the way, he saw a Cossack deserter surrounded by a crowd of curious people. The deserter's face seemed familiar to Peter, and he tried to remember where he could have seen him before. Hearing his voice, Peter immediately remembered Fomin from the Elanskaya village, from whom he and his father bought a bull. Peter called out to him and asked what made his fellow countryman desert, to which he replied: “I can’t bear to fight.”

At the meeting, the commander announced that it was necessary to strictly monitor the Cossacks and report all free conversations. Returning to the hundred, Peter met his wife, who came to visit him. Looking at them, the Cossacks said: “Peter’s happiness failed...” At that moment, Peter forgot that he was going to mutilate Daria, he rejoiced at her arrival.

After his leave, Listnitsky was assigned to the 14th Don Cossack Regiment. By this time he had the rank of captain. There was no point in returning to the old regiment: his subordinates hated Evgeniy. Listnitsky happily accepted the new appointment. The regiment was located near Dvinsk. The regiment stayed here for about two months. There was not enough food and ammunition, and soldiers' anger was accumulating in the armies. At the beginning of July the order came to march on Petrograd. The regiment was stationed on Nevsky. Listnitsky's hundred were placed in an empty retail space. The city authorities warmly welcomed the Cossacks. Evgeniy was summoned to the regiment commander. He walked along the avenue and tried to sort out his feelings, determine his opinion and attitude to the events taking place, and could not understand which side he supported. But he was firmly confident that he could, without hesitation, give his life for his old cause. At the headquarters of the esaulu, they determined the area of the city where his hundred should stand guard. The passing Cossacks were greeted by wealthy residents of Petrograd.

The appointment of General Kornilov as Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Front was met with great sympathy by the officers of the 14th Regiment. They spoke of him with love and respect, as a man with an iron character and undoubtedly capable of leading the country out of the dead end into which the Provisional Government had led it.

Listnitsky warmly welcomed Kornilov's appointment and, through junior officers and Cossacks, tried to find out what kind of reaction this caused among the Cossacks. However, the Cossacks answered all his questions reluctantly, but still hoped that peace would come with the arrival of the new commander-in-chief. Kornilov was appointed supreme commander in chief. He demanded to tighten rules and discipline in the army by introducing the death penalty. The officers, approving and supporting Kornilov, patiently explained to the Cossacks the current situation and their tasks at this stage. But the Cossacks had already fallen under the influence of the Bolsheviks, because the officers fenced themselves off from their subordinates with class prejudices. Listnitsky subconsciously felt the inevitability of civil war, and thought that it would be necessary to rely on the loyal Cossacks, since otherwise they would shoot their officers.

The Cossack of the Bukanovskaya village, Ivan Lagutin, served in Listnitsky’s hundred. Recently Listnitsky was informed that Lagutin has connections with the Council, often conducts conversations with the Cossacks and influences them in a negative way. Listnitsky decided to take a closer look at Lagutin, and one day he went on a road trip with him.

The Cossacks caught the man who threw the stone at them and began to beat him. Lagutin interceded, but could not stop them. The Cossacks almost beat the attacker to death. Listnitsky wanted to kill Lagutin, whom he considered a traitor, and had difficulty removing his finger from the trigger. After an unsuccessful “rapprochement” with Lagutin, Listnitsky decided to better get to know another activist, Atarshchikov. In the cafe, Evgeniy met former colleagues: Kalmykov and Chubov. Kalmykov expressed the same thoughts that Listnitsky had. Everyone pinned their hopes on Kornilov.

On August 6, the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief received a message about the concentration of the Native Division on the line Velikie Luki - Nevel - N. Sokolniki. Lukomsky went to Kornilov to find out why he chose this particular line. Kornilov planned to concentrate the cavalry where it would be easy to transfer it to the Northern or Western fronts. Lukomsky, catching Kornilov’s train of thought, said that it would be convenient to transfer the cavalry to Petrograd or Moscow. Kornilov confirmed Lukomsky’s guess. The general expressed his thoughts about the government, from which it followed that he had a low opinion of the leadership - “slugs rule the country.” Convinced that the Bolsheviks would easily sweep them away, he wanted to protect his homeland from new shocks. Lukomsky admitted to Kornilov that in achieving this noble goal he would go with him to the end.

The day before Kornilov arrived in Moscow, Listnitsky arrived there with an errand. Having completed the task, Evgeniy went the next day to meet the general at the Alexander Station. Moscow greeted Kornilov enthusiastically, the ladies showered him with flowers. At the exit they picked him up and carried him. Listnitsky, wanting to carry Kornilov along with everyone else, barely made his way to the general and grabbed his boot. A day later, Listnitsky left for Petrograd. Having settled down on the top bunk, he spread out his overcoat, smoked, thinking about Kornilov: “At the risk of his life, he escaped from captivity, as if he knew that he would be so needed by the Motherland. What a face! Like something carved from native stone - nothing superfluous, ordinary... The character is the same. For him, everything is probably clear and calculated. An opportune moment will come and it will lead us.”

Around the same time, in the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, two generals (one of whom was Kaledin) were talking about the mood of the Cossacks, about what needed to be done to keep the situation under control. An hour later, Don Ataman Kaledin gave a speech to the Cossacks. “Throughout the Cossack lands... the threads of a great conspiracy have spread like a black web since that day.”

The former driver of the Mokhovsky mill, Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov, saw Zakhar Korolev running, shouting that neighboring infantry units were leaving the front, exposing their line. In fact, it turned out that the infantry replaced the Cossacks who were sent through Pskov to be pacified in Petrograd. The Cossacks rode reluctantly and were worried. The commander gave Kotlyarov a telegram from Kornilov, which contained a call not to obey the Provisional Government, but to defend the Motherland, and asked him to read it to the Cossacks.

At the next station the train was delayed. The Cossacks discussed Kornilov’s telegram and Kerensky’s telegram that he had just read, in which he called Kornilov a traitor. Everything was confused in the minds of the Cossacks. It was almost impossible to understand the cycle of events. The regiment commander announced to the Cossacks that they were subordinate to Kornilov, not Kerensky. Ivan Alekseevich firmly decided to stop the advance of the hundred towards Petrograd in any way and try to win them over to his side. Kotlyarov recalled Shtokman and his instructions that the Cossacks needed to be persuaded carefully.

Ivan Alekseevich persuaded the Cossacks to ask to go to the front, instead of being sent to the capital to beat their own. The Cossacks willingly agreed with him. The campaigning was successful, and at the first stop the Cossacks gathered for a rally, demanding to be sent to the front. The driver drove the train to a dead end. The commander objected, but an hour later the hundred, without a single officer, set off on their own to the southwest. Ivan Alekseevich took command. At the halt, the Cossacks became worried, like mischievous children, about to turn back. The next morning the hundred set off on a hike. On the way, they were overtaken by officers from the Native Division, who had come for negotiations. The Cossack officer called on the villagers to come to their senses and return to the station; announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government and that all institutions in Petrograd were now guarded by Cossacks. Judging by the mood of the Cossacks, Ivan Alekseevich realized that they were about to change their decision and return. He boldly turned to the officer, asking if he had a telegram about the capture of Petrograd. The officer replied that there was no telegram, and that was not the point.

Yeah! No!.. - the hundred sighed with relief.

And many raised their heads, hopefully fixed their eyes on Ivan Alekseevich, and he, raising his hoarse voice, shouted mockingly, confidently and angrily, imperiously drawing attention to himself:

No, you say? Will we believe you? Do you want to sit on the chaff?

Deception! - the hundred sighed with a roar.

The telegram is not addressed to me! Stanichniki! - The officer pressed his hands to his chest convincingly.

But they no longer listened to him. Ivan Alekseevich, sensing that the sympathy and trust of hundreds had again spread to him, cut like a diamond on glass:

Even if they took it, we’re not on the same road! We don't want to fight with our own people. We will not go against the people! Do you want to play off? No! There are no more fools in this world! We don’t want to put the general government on its feet. So that!

The Cossacks began to shout in unison, the crowd swayed and burst into shouts:

Wow!

Driven into the cut!

That's right!..

Drive them out, these nobles!

The Cossacks drove the envoys. One of them, an Ingush officer, made another attempt to return the Cossacks - he intimidated that regiments of highlanders were coming behind the hundred, capable of crushing them. He called on the Cossacks to arrest the Bolshevik (pointing to Ivan Alekseevich) and come under the authority of the commanders. The Cossacks wavered, but the situation was saved by Turilin, who shouted that they could be surrounded while they hung their ears and held a meeting. The Cossacks mounted their horses, and Ivan Alekseevich, taking a carbine, threatened the envoys that from now on he would speak to them only in this language. On August 29, Kornilov realized that his plan to seize power had failed. He sent a telegram to Kaledin, calling on him to cooperate, “to jointly save the homeland.”

Units of the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the Native Division were sent to Petrograd. They stretched from Revel to Luga. Inconsistency in command heightened the already tense atmosphere. On the way, the Cossacks met resistance from railway workers. The Provisional Government sent orders to return the regiments to the front, but Kornilov drove them to Petrograd. A confusing situation has developed. Bunchuk approached one of the echelons and explained to the Cossacks that they were being sent to Petrograd to overthrow the Provisional Government and put Kornilov in its place. Under Kerensky it is better than under Kornilov, but after Kerensky, Bunchuk promised, it will be even better when power passes to the workers. In the meantime, the most sensible thing to do is to defend the Provisional Government, otherwise, having come to power, Kornilov will flood half the country with blood.

Already at night, Chikamasov proved to Bunchuk that Lenin was from the Cossacks, and refused to believe that Lenin was from Simbirsk. Chikamasov tried to convince his comrade. But Chikamasov, firmly convinced that he was right, never believed Bunchuk. In the morning, while walking around the train, Bunchuk met an officer, whom he recognized as Esaul Kalmykov. Esaul mockingly asked Bunchuk why he came to Petrograd: was it to save his own skin? Bunchuk did not like the tone with which Kalmykov spoke, and he hurried to leave. Dugin met Bunchuk at the carriage, and they went to the rally. Kalmykov read Kornilov’s telegram to the Cossacks, calling on the troops to save the fatherland. Kalmykov added that if it is impossible to travel by rail, they will go on their own. Bunchuk began to dissuade the Cossacks, to convince them that they were going against their brothers and sisters, because the workers hoped for the prudence of the Cossacks. Speakers adhering to different opinions, replaced each other. The atmosphere became increasingly tense. The Cossacks were inclined not to go to Petrograd. Dudin noticed that Kalmykov was up to something and prepared his machine guns. Bunchuk went to the station and found Kalmykov near one of the carriages, who, with three officers, was loading their horses with machine guns. Taking a revolver out of his pocket, Bunchuk arrested Kalmykov and the officers, and ordered the Cossacks to put all the officers under arrest. Bunchuk led Kalmykov to the water pump. On the way, the arrested man shouted and swore, calling Lenin a German spy, and the Bolsheviks - boors who sold their homeland. Bunchuk shot Kalmykov, who did not flinch even in the face of death.

On August 31, General Krymov, summoned by Kerensky, shot himself. He did not comply with Kornilov's orders, so he chose suicide. His disgraced generals went to Zimny for forgiveness. General Alekseev was appointed instead of Kornilov. Kornilov planned to go all the way, but Lukomsky convinced him that further actions were criminal. This is how the Kornilov movement ended ingloriously.

At the end of October, Listnitsky received an order to arrive with a hundred on foot at Palace Square. On the square, Evgeniy learned that the second, fifth and sixth hundreds had not arrived. The Cossacks rebelled. An assault on the palace was expected that night. Listnitsky thought that it would be nice to leave everything and go to the Don, away from this mess. The women's battalion has arrived. The Cossacks, making the drummers laugh, had fun. But by evening they calmed down. The kitchen didn't arrive. Lagutin agitated the Cossacks to leave the palace. The elected representatives left the Cossacks and an hour later returned with Baltic Fleet sailors, who suggested that the Cossacks leave quietly. The Bolsheviks promised not to touch the Cossacks. Before the Cossacks left, officers appeared, but they could do nothing to detain the hundred. The Cossacks also invited the women's battalion with them, but it remained.

Participants in the Kornilov rebellion were awaiting trial. The general himself corresponded animatedly with Kaledin, clarifying the situation on the Don. The generals took all measures in their power to prevent the Bolsheviks from capturing headquarters. Mogilev and all nearby cities were occupied by the Polish Corps, and the Czech-Slovak Corps was concentrated there. The headquarters was surrendered without a fight, and the prisoners were released.

The 12th Regiment retreated slowly, with fighting. By evening it became known that he was in danger of being completely surrounded. Mishka Koshevoy and Beshnyak, captured by the Germans an hour before their shift, were kept in secret. Beshnyak was torn to pieces with a bayonet, and Mishka, having been stunned with a butt, was dragged by a huge German. Having regained consciousness, Mishka ran away. The Germans fired at the fugitive, but he managed to escape. After this, the regiment was removed from the front line and taken to the rear so that the Cossacks could catch deserters. The villagers stopped the fleeing soldiers. They grabbed bayonets and then started talking. The Cossacks shamed the soldiers who abandoned their comrades and exposed the front. Deserters offered money to the Cossacks. Mishka Koshevoy felt ashamed: “Why am I... myself against the war, but I’m holding people back - what rights do I have?..” The Cossacks released the soldiers, but scolded them for the money they offered. Koshevoy shouted after the soldiers to wait out the day in the forest and go at night, otherwise they would run into the post again.

In early November, the Cossacks heard rumors about the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the seizure of power in Petrograd by the Bolsheviks. Many rejoiced, awaiting the end of the war. The front was collapsing. If in October they left in units, now companies, battalions, and regiments were removed from their positions. They left, killing the officers, seizing weapons and regimental property. In this situation, it was pointless to keep the 12th regiment to detain deserters. He was transferred to positions in order to eliminate the holes and gaps created after mass desertion. The regiment was sent through Ukraine to the Don. The Bolsheviks tried to disarm the Cossacks, but they replied that they were going to beat their bourgeoisie and Kaledin, and did not part with their weapons. However, later most of the regiment was disarmed. The Cossacks reached Millerovo, and then to the Kargin farm. There they sold the trophies, divided the monetary allowance and went home.