The problems and artistic originality of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

The book of Saltykov-Shchedrin "Tales" includes thirty-two works. Fairy tales are usually defined as the result of his satirical work.

Saltykov-Shchedrin touched upon many social, political, ideological and moral problems in these small works. He widely presented and deeply illuminated the life of Russian society of the second half of XIX century, reproduced its entire social anatomy, touched on all the main classes and groups.

The works of Shchedrin's fairy tale cycle are united by some common ideas and themes. These common ideas and themes, penetrating each other, give a certain unity to the entire cycle and allow us to consider it as a holistic work, covered by a common ideological and artistic concept.

The most general meaning in the problems of "Fairy Tales" lies in the development of the idea of the irreconcilability of class interests in society, in the desire to understand the self-consciousness of the oppressed, in the promotion of socialist ideals and the need for a nationwide struggle.

In the artistic mirror of "Fairy Tales" are presented: 1) satire on the top government autocracy and exploiters; 2) satire on the behavior of different sections of the intelligentsia; 3) the position of the masses; 4) moral problems and problems of revolutionary outlook.

With words and images full of anger and sarcasm, Shchedrin exposes in fairy tales the principles of an exploitative society, the ideology and politics of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Three tales are distinguished by the sharpness of satire against the tops of the autocracy: "The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Eagle-Maecenas" and "The Bogatyr". In the fairy tale "The Bear in the Voivodship" the tsar, ministers, governors are mockingly ridiculed, signs of a pamphlet on the government are noticeable Alexander III. The main meaning of this tale is to expose the cruel ignorant rulers of the era and the monarchy as an anti-people despotic state system.

The punishing laughter of the satirist does not leave alone the representatives of mass predation - the nobility and the bourgeoisie. They appear in fairy tales either in the usual social appearance of a landowner ("Wild Landowner"), a general ("The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals"), a merchant ("Faithful Trezor"), a fist ("Neighbours"), then - and this is more often - in the images of wolves, foxes, pikes, hawks, etc.

In the story about the wild landowner, the peasant was not found ... And the landowner became wild, overgrown with hair from head to toe, "walked more and more on all fours", "lost even the ability to utter articulate sounds."

Shchedrin ridicules the hypocrisy of predatory parasites and various fine-hearted apologists for robbery. The wolf promised to pardon the hare (" selfless hare"), another wolf once let go of the lamb ("Poor Hare"), the eagle forgave the mouse ("Eagle Patron"), the kind lady gave alms to the victims of the fire, and the priest promised them a happy afterlife ("Village Fire") - they write about this with admiration of others... Saltykov subverts all these panegyrics that lull the vigilance of the victims.Exposing the lie about the generosity and beauty of the "eagles", he says that "eagles are eagles and that's all. They are predatory, carnivorous ... they do not engage in hospitality, but they rob, and in free time(from robbery) doze."

Even more attention than the tops, the satirist paid in his fairy tales to the depiction of life, psychology, the behavior of "variegated people", the heterogeneous masses, and the exposure of the philistine fear of life. In The Wise Scribbler, the satirist exposed to public disgrace the cowardice of that section of the intelligentsia which, during the years of reaction, succumbed to shameful panic. Piskar, in order not to be eaten by predatory fish, hid in a deep hole, lies and "everyone thinks: it seems that I'm alive? Ah, something will happen tomorrow?" He didn't have any family or friends. "He lived and trembled - that's all."

Shchedrin in the tale "The Selfless Hare" ironically, on the one hand, over the arrogant wolf habits of the enslavers, and on the other, over the blind obedience of their victims.

In the fairy tale "Karas-idealist" we are talking about those ideological delusions, utopian illusions that were inherent in a part of the advanced intelligentsia that belonged to the camp of democracy and socialism. It sounds like a motif of naive truth-seeking and criticism of utopian illusions about the possibility of achieving social harmony through the moral re-education of the exploiters.

A mournful thought about the state of the people, about their fate, about their needs, love for them and concern for their happiness run through all of Shchedrin's work. The image of the people is presented in many fairy tales, and, above all, in such as "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals", "The Wild Landowner", "Idle Talk", "Konyaga", "Kissel", etc. In them the writer embodied his many years of observation of the life of the enslaved Russian peasantry, bitter reflections on the fate of the oppressed people and his bright hopes for the strength of the people.

A special place in Shchedrin's work is occupied by fairy tales about truth-seekers ("Christ's Night", "A Christmas Tale", "On the Road"). They reveal the difficulty of the struggle for truth and yet its necessity.

Bring consciousness into populace, inspire them to fight for their rights, awaken in them an understanding of their historical significance - this is the main ideological meaning"Fairy Tales" by Shchedrin, and he calls his contemporaries to this.

Fairy tales come to us from the depths folk life. They were passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, slightly changing, but retaining their basic meaning. Fairy tales are the result of many years of observation. In them, the comic is intertwined with the tragic, the grotesque, hyperbole are widely used ( artistic technique exaggeration) and amazing art Aesopian language. Aesop's language is an allegorical, allegorical way of expressing artistic thought. This language is deliberately obscure, full of omissions. It is usually used by writers who are unable to speak directly.

The folk tale form has been used by many writers. literary tales in verse or prose they recreated the world of folk ideas, and sometimes contained satirical elements, for example, the tales of A. S. Pushkin. Saltykov-Shchedrin also created sharply satirical tales in 1869, as well as in the 1880-1886s. Among the vast legacy of Shchedrin, they are perhaps the most popular.

In fairy tales, we will meet heroes typical of Shchedrin: here are the stupid, ferocious, ignorant rulers of the people (“The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Eagle-Maecenas”), here is the people, powerful, hardworking, talented, but at the same time submissive to their exploiters ( “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “Konyaga”).

He masterfully uses vernacular. Turning to oral folk art, the writer enriched folk stories folklore works revolutionary content. He created his images based on folk tales about animals: a cowardly hare, a cunning fox, a greedy wolf, a stupid and evil bear.

A master of Aesopian speeches, in fairy tales written mainly during the years of cruel censorship, he makes extensive use of allegory. Under the guise of animals and birds, he depicts representatives of various social classes and groups. Allegory allows the satirist not only to encrypt, hide the true meaning of his satire, but also to exaggerate the most characteristic in his characters. The images of the forest Toptygins, committing “petty, shameful” atrocities or “major bloodshed” in the forest slum, most accurately reproduced the very essence of the despotic system. The activity of Toptygin, who smashed the printing house, dumped the works of the human mind into a waste pit, ends with the fact that he was “respected by the peasants”, “putting him on a horn”. His activities turned out to be meaningless, unnecessary. Even the Donkey says: “The main thing in our craft is: laissez passer, laissez faire (to allow, not to interfere). And Toptygin himself asks: “I don’t even understand why the governor is sent!”

"The Wild Landowner" is a work directed against the social system, which is not based on the exploitation of the peasant. At first glance, this is just a funny story of a stupid landowner who hated the peasants, but, left without Senka and his other breadwinners, he completely ran wild, and his economy fell into decay. Even the mouse is not afraid of him.

"swarm" of industrious bees living an unconscious herd life. "... They raised a chaff whirlwind, and a swarm of peasants swept away from the estate."

"Wise minnow". Before us appears the image of a frightened inhabitant to death, "a dumbass who does not eat, does not drink, does not see anyone, does not lead bread and salt with anyone, but only protects his hateful life." Shchedrin explores in this tale the question of the meaning and purpose of human life.

The layman-"minnow" considers the main meaning of life the slogan: "Survive and the pike will not get into hailo." It always seemed to him that he lives correctly, according to the order of his father: "If you want to live life, then look at both." But then came death. His whole life flashed before him in an instant. What were his joys? who did he comfort? to whom good advice filed? to whom good word said? who sheltered, warmed, protected? who heard about it? who remembers its existence? He had to answer all these questions: no one, no one. "He lived and trembled - that's all." The meaning of Shchedrin's allegory, depicting, of course, not a fish, but a pitiful one, cowardly man, lies in the words: “Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. Thus, "minnow" is a definition of a person, an artistic metaphor that aptly characterizes the townsfolk.

So, we can say that both the ideological content and the artistic features of the satirical tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are aimed at fostering respect for the people and civic feelings in Russian people. They have not lost their bright vitality in our time. The Tales of Shchedrin still remain an extremely useful and fascinating book for millions of readers.

meaning, denouncing evil and injustice. This happens when the evils of society cannot be spoken openly.

Tales "for children of a fair age" "Tales" is a kind of result artistic activity writer, as they were created at the final stage of life and creative way. Of the 32 fairy tales, 28 were created within four years, from 1882 to 1886.

Fairy tales “for children of a fair age” “Fairy tales” are the ratio of social and universal in creativity Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Assignment to the class: -Explain this statement (what is social and universal)? -What technique does the author use when determining the reader's purpose of fairy tales "for children of a fair age"? Why?

FAIRY TALES by M. E. SALTYKOV-Shchedrin Issues Autocracy and the oppressed people (“The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Eagle is a Patron”) of the people ("Konyaga", "Kisel") The meanness of the bourgeoisie ("Liberal", "Karas-idealist") Cowardice of the layman ("Wise Piskar") Truth-seeking ("The Fool", "Christ's Night") Artistic features Folklore motifs (fairy tale plot, folk vocabulary) Grotesque (weaving fantasy and reality) Aesopian language (allegory and metaphorical) Social satire (sarcasm and real fantasy) Reproof through denial (showing wildness and lack of spirituality) Hyperbolization

Satirical techniques used in fairy tales by the writer. irony - ridicule, which has a double meaning, where the true is not a direct statement, but the opposite; sarcasm is a caustic and poisonous irony that sharply exposes phenomena that are especially dangerous for a person and society; grotesque is an extremely sharp exaggeration, a combination of real and fantastic, violation of the boundaries of plausibility; allegory, allegory, a different meaning hidden behind the external form. Aesopian language is artistic speech based on forced allegory; hyperbole is an exaggeration.

Sample Plan analysis of the tale The main theme of the tale (about what?). the main idea fairy tales (why?). Plot features. How to system actors reveals the main idea of the story? Features of the images of the fairy tale: a) images-symbols; b) the originality of animals; c) being close to folk tales. Satirical techniques used by the author. Features of the composition: inserted episodes, landscape, portrait, interior. Combination of folklore, fantastic and real

The book of Saltykov-Shchedrin "Tales" includes thirty-two works. Fairy tales are usually defined as the result of his satirical work.

Saltykov-Shchedrin touched upon many social, political, ideological and moral problems in these small works. He broadly presented and deeply illuminated the life of Russian society in the second half of the 19th century, reproduced its entire social anatomy, and touched on all the main classes and groups.

The idea of the irreconcilability of classes and the struggle against social inequality is especially pronounced in the fairy tales "The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Eagle-Maecenas", "Karas-Idealist", "Poor Wolf", etc. The satirist, on the one hand, paints a picture of class contradictions, arbitrariness authorities and the suffering of the oppressed, on the other hand, it exposes and stigmatizes the inconsistency and harm of any recipes for the peaceful settlement of class interests.
In the artistic mirror of "Fairy Tales" are presented: 1) satire on the top government autocracy and exploiters; 2) satire on the behavior of different sections of the intelligentsia; 3) the position of the masses; 4) moral problems and problems of revolutionary outlook.

With words and images full of anger and sarcasm, Shchedrin exposes in fairy tales the principles of an exploitative society, the ideology and politics of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Three tales are distinguished by the sharpness of satire against the tops of the autocracy: "The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Eagle-Maecenas" and "The Bogatyr". In the fairy tale "The Bear in the Voivodship" the tsar, ministers, governors are mockingly ridiculed, signs of a pamphlet on the government of Alexander III are noticeable. The main meaning of this tale is to expose the cruel ignorant rulers of the era and the monarchy as an anti-people despotic state system.

Shchedrin ridicules the hypocrisy of predatory parasites and various fine-hearted apologists for robbery. The wolf promised to pardon the hare ("Selfless Hare"), another wolf once let go of the lamb ("Poor Hare"), the eagle forgave the mouse ("Eagle Patron"), the kind lady gave alms to the victims of the fire, and the priest promised them a happy afterlife ("Village fire") - others write about it with admiration ... Saltykov subverts all these panegyrics that lull the vigilance of the victims. Exposing the lie about the generosity and beauty of the "eagles", he says that "eagles are eagles and that's all. They are predatory, carnivorous... they do not engage in hospitality, but they rob, and in their free time (from robbery) they doze."

Shchedrin in the tale "The Selfless Hare" ironically, on the one hand, over the arrogant wolf habits of the enslavers, and on the other, over the blind obedience of their victims.

In the fairy tale "Karas the Idealist" we are talking about those ideological errors, utopian illusions that were inherent in a part of the advanced intelligentsia that belonged to the camp of democracy and socialism. It sounds like a motif of naive truth-seeking and criticism of utopian illusions about the possibility of achieving social harmony through the moral re-education of the exploiters.

To bring consciousness into the masses, to inspire them to fight for their rights, to awaken in them an understanding of their historical significance - this is the main ideological meaning of Shchedrin's "Fairy Tales", and he calls his contemporaries to this.

He is haunted by blasphemy:
He catches the sounds of approval
Not in the sweet murmur of praise,
And in the wild cries of anger.
And believing and not believing again
Dream of a high calling,
He preaches love
With a hostile word of denial...
N.A. Nekrasov

The theme of the cycle of fairy tales (1869 - 1886) M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin - allegorical (in the form of fairy tales) image modern author Russian reality. The idea of the cycle, on the one hand, is to expose the entire state system of autocracy and show the failure of the main foundations of society - the family, property, official nationality, and on the other hand, the recognition of the creative power of the people. At the same time, the author's sad thoughts about people's humility and long-suffering, the author's sympathy for the people in their powerless position sound in fairy tales. Thus, Saltykov-Shchedrin touched upon in his fairy tales not private, but fundamental social problems. This showed the wise talent of the writer, who argued that "all great writers and thinkers were great because they talked about the basics." Humanism, intransigence to violence, the search for social justice - this is the main ideological pathos of fairy tales.

Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote thirty-two fairy tales. According to the ideological content, all fairy tales can be conditionally divided into four groups. The first group consists of fairy tales that expose the autocracy and the noble state: "The Wild Landowner", "The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals". These works emphasize the idea that the noble state is based on the labor of a simple peasant. The generals, who miraculously ended up on a desert island, were dying of hunger, although the river was teeming with fish, tree branches were bursting with fruits, etc. The wild landowner, left without peasants on his estate, was very happy: first he ate all the gingerbread from the buffet, then all the jam from the pantry, then he switched to pasture, and in the end he went wild to the point that he began to run on all fours and overgrown with wool. In the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the noble forest governors Toptygins dreamed of becoming famous, arranging bloodshed and tirelessly fighting against “internal adversaries”.

The second group of fairy tales includes those in which the downtrodden, submissive, but hardworking and good-natured Russian people are shown: “Konyaga”, “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”. (Since several social problems are considered in the fairy tale "The Tale of How ...", insofar as it can be placed in different thematic groups.) In the fairy tale "Konyaga" a peasant horse with broken legs, with protruding ribs, which plows the land with the peasant and feeds well-fed and smooth "waste dances" is depicted. They proudly and contemptuously look at Konyaga, as if they do not understand that it is thanks to him that they can merrily prance and beautifully philosophize. In the fairy tale “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals,” the generals, starving on a desert island, prayed for only one thing: that God would send them a man. And God took pity on them - the sent man turned out to be a fisherman, and a hunter, and a jack of all trades, because he even contrived to cook soup in a handful. The peasant, in addition to handicraft, had another important virtue: he was submissive to the will of the masters to the point that he himself twisted the rope with which they tied him up at night so that he would not run away.

The third group includes fairy tales where Saltykov-Shchedrin makes fun of Russian liberals: “Karas-idealist”, “Wise minnow” (there is also another spelling of the title of this tale - “Wise scribbler”). The writer satirically depicts beautiful-hearted liberals who are sure that the evil in the world can be corrected. beautiful words. The idealist crucian seriously preaches peace between pikes and crucian carp, urging predators to switch to herbal food. This sermon ends with the fact that the talkative idealist is swallowed by a pike, and mechanically: she was struck by the absurdity of the rantings of a small crucian. However, another life position ridiculed by the author - the position of the wise minnow. The purpose of his life was to survive at all costs. As a result, this sage managed to live to old age, but, constantly hiding in his mink, he became blind, deaf, more like a sea sponge than a living, nimble fish. Was it worth saving your life at all costs if it long years was essentially a vegetative, meaningless existence?

The last group can be combined fairy tales that depict morality modern society: “Conscience is gone”, “Fool”. The protagonist of the last fairy tale is called by everyone around him in a quite fairy-tale way - Ivanushka the Fool: he rushes into the water to save a drowning child; plays with Lyovka, whom everyone around beats and scolds; gives the beggar all the money in the house, and so on. The irony of Saltykov-Shchedrin lies in the fact that the normal human actions of Ivanushka are perceived by others as stupid. This indicates that society itself is extremely corrupted.

Saltykov-Shchedrin created a special genre in Russian literature - literary satirical tale, which combines traditional fairy tale fiction with realistic, topical political satire. According to the unpretentious plot, these tales are close to folk tales. The writer uses techniques from the poetics of a folk tale: traditional beginnings (once upon a time), sayings (according to pike command, not in a fairy tale to say), transparent morality, which is easy to understand from the content. At the same time, the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin differ significantly from folk tales. The satirist did not imitate folk tales, but on their basis he freely created his own, author's ones. Using the usual folklore images, the writer filled them with a new (socio-political) meaning, successfully invented new - expressive images(wise gudgeon, idealist carp, dried vobla). Folklore tales (magic, everyday, zoological) usually express universal morality, show the struggle between good and evil forces, an obligatory victory goodies thanks to their honesty, kindness, intelligence - Saltykov-Shchedrin writes political fairy tales filled with content relevant to his time.

In Shchedrin's fairy tales, it is not good and evil that oppose each other, but two social forces - the people and their exploiters. The people act under the masks of kind and defenseless animals, and often without a mask - just like a man. The exploiters are represented as predators or simply as landowners, generals, and so on. In such fairy tales, the primary attention is paid not to personal, but to social psychology characters. The writer deliberately avoids the "portrait" of the characters, but creates types, that is, satirically ridicules not individuals, but entire sections of society (the highest officials of the state, stupid police officers, cowardly intelligentsia, unprincipled politicians, etc.).

The fantasy of Saltykov-Shchedrin is real, since it does not distort life phenomena; transfer of human traits (psychological and social) to animal world creates a comic effect, exposes the absurdity of the existing reality. For example, in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the author declares that large and serious atrocities are recorded on the tablets of history, and all the Toptygins wanted to “get on the tablets”. Such reasoning immediately makes it clear that we are not talking about bears, but about people.

Writing his fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin, of course, took into account the artistic experience of I.A. Krylov and borrowed through the domestic fabulist "Aesopian language" and Russian zoological masks, and also used the techniques of a literary satirical fairy tale Western Europe(for example, "The Tale of the Fox"). At the same time, Shchedrin's fairy tales reflected a very original art world images and pictures of Russian life in the last third of the 19th century.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the literary talent of Saltykov-Shchedrin manifested itself in satire, that is, in the depiction and merciless ridicule of public and human vices. Although the fate of the satirist is difficult, and his work is ungrateful (N.V. Gogol wrote about this in the author's digression from the poem "Dead Souls", ch. 7), Saltykov-Shchedrin believed that in modern Russian conditions it is a shame to leave real problems and " To sing the beauty of the valleys, the skies and the sea And to sing sweet affection ... ”(N.A. Nekrasov“ Poet and Citizen ”), However, in order to expose the negative aspects of life, an ideal is needed, in the name of which vices and shortcomings are ridiculed. The works of Saltykov-Shchedrin contain not only harsh, bleak pictures of modern reality (reality), but also love for Russia, faith in its future (ideal). The laughter of the satirist writer is merciless, but at the same time this laughter brings an optimistic feeling of moral victory over evil: “Nothing discourages vice so much as the consciousness that it has been guessed and that laughter has already been heard about it,” the author stated.

Saltykov-Shchedrin created a new genre in Russian literature - a political satirical tale "for children of a fair age." Fairy tales written primarily in last years the life of the writer, contain problems and images of the previous work of the satirist. Consequently, they are for Saltykov-Shchedrin a kind of result of writing activity. Reflected in fairy tales salient feature The creative manner of the author is a combination of the artistic principle and topical journalism, it is not without reason that the writer called himself a "historian of the present", "chronicler of the minute". In fairy tales, representatives of antagonistic classes act in direct and sharp conflict: peasant and generals, peasants and wild landowner, "forest men" and governors Toptygins, crucian carp and pike, Konyaga and idle dances. The cycle of fairy tales by Saltykov-Shchedrin is, as it were, a “social portrait Russian society”, from the point of view of the author.

In fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin demonstrated: the brilliant art of satire and "open" irony; techniques of hyperbole, fairy-tale fantasy and allegory; skill in creating bright, memorable images-symbols; taste for expressive, concise literary language - in a word, artistic perfection.

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