Alexander Pushkin - My uncle of the most honest rules: Verse

My uncle of the most honest rules,
When I fell ill in earnest,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one.

EO, Ch. 1, I

And what does it say? Is it possible to retell it in your own words?

These lines are often quoted, especially in the press. Let's say the goalkeeper takes a penalty - immediately there is an article about how he thereby "forced himself to be respected"! But the venerable Pushkinists, as one, keep deathly silence on this matter.

“And everyone - absolutely everything: fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, children, grandchildren, actors, readers, directors, translators into other languages ​​and even researchers of Pushkin, - they unanimously carried a nonsense about an uncle of high moral qualities, who finally forced himself to be respected , or began to look for another, fantastic meaning.

Got something? I only understood that it was not worthwhile to climb into the Kalash row with a pig's snout, trying to understand the meaning of the lines of our folk poet. In other words, Pushkin is for God-chosen researchers who know exactly what and why the poet wrote, but do not want to explain it in their own words, since the subject of a scientific dispute is too subtle for the uninitiated. By the way, instead of answering the same question, the venerable Pushkinist preferred to step aside, turning his attention to some mediocre proofreader, who once put a comma instead of a semicolon after the word “got sick”. And thus killed the whole Pushkin's plan.

Well, perhaps - the scientist knows better. Only the question, in the end, remained unanswered: what does the phrase “I forced myself to respect” mean anyway? At least with a comma, at least with something else ... Really absolutely nothing?

I did not find the answer to this question in any phraseological or other dictionary. On one of the forums I happened to see a link to the book by M.I. Michelson Russian Thought and Speech. Experience of Russian phraseology. Own and someone else's" of the century before last. Say, there it is! He was delighted, rushed to search, managed to find it, discovered it - alas ... There is nothing about it there.

At the same time, many interlocutors immediately gave an answer that seems to me to be correct, and I will try to get to the justification of which a little later. They were so ... taught at school! Probably, once there were teachers who loved their subject and honestly tried to understand it. And even today, in the newly published versions of Onegin, in some places there are contemporary commentary, which neither Brodsky, nor Nabokov, nor Lotman had ... But I wanted to “invent the wheel” on my own.

The result of the "invention" is below.

Let's start with "fair rules". All researchers nod at Krylov's fable "The Donkey and the Man", the tailed hero of which was just "of the most honest rules." They also say that even without this fable, this phraseology was recognizable in those days.

Let's remember the fable:

Man for the summer in the garden
Having hired the Donkey, he assigned
Ravens and sparrows drive a sassy kind.
The donkey had the most honest rules:
Unfamiliar with rapacity or theft:
He did not profit from the master's leaf,
And the birds, it's a sin to say that he gave a prank;
But the profit from the garden was bad for the Muzhik.
Donkey, chasing birds, from all donkey legs,
Along all the ridges and along and across,
Raised such a leap
That in the garden he crushed and trampled everything.
Seeing here that his work was gone,
Peasant on the back of a donkey
He avenged the loss with a club.
"And nothing!" everyone is shouting: “Cattle deserve it!
With his mind
Take on this business?"
And I will say, not in order to intercede for the Donkey;
He, for sure, is to blame (a calculation has been made with him),
But it seems that he is not right,
Who instructed the Donkey to guard his garden.

I note that Krylov's Donkey is a decent creature. After all, he "... is not familiar with rapacity or theft: he did not profit from the master's sheet." Ordered to guard - he goes and guards as best he can. A kind of disinterested and naive worker - we, as a rule, do not respect such people. And, worse than that - it hurts! An honest Donkey, for example, was beaten with a club on the back ... Only after that Krylov partially removed the blame from him and noticed that it would not be bad to ask the Dunce-Man, who foolishly hired the wrong performer.

Respected in the end, in general.

Onegin, as we know, honored his uncle with the same epithets as Krylov his Donkey. What kind of troubles the old man had - it doesn’t matter: the main thing is that in the end he also “got seriously ill”. And - alas! - only when a person dies or, even worse, has already died, all sorts of “pleasant things” begin to pour in his address, which he lacked so much during his lifetime. As a show of belated respect.

What does the word "respect" mean? According to Dahl's dictionary - “to honor, honor, sincerely recognize someone's virtues; appreciate highly... By the way, already in our time, Faina Ranevskaya said: “In order to receive recognition, it is necessary, even necessary, to die” ...

In my opinion, it was precisely this simple meaning that Pushkin put into Onegin's mouth. It's simple - "I forced myself to respect" means: "died"! For this is a guaranteed way to hear something respectful about yourself, even from those who have always hated you.

Onegin did not give a damn about his uncle all his life - just like everyone else. And he rushed to him exclusively "for the sake of money", in the depths of his soul sincerely wishing that he was dead ("When will the devil take you?").

Suddenly got it really
From the manager's report,
That uncle is dying in bed
And I would be glad to say goodbye to him.
Reading the sad message
Eugene immediately on a date
Rushed through the mail
And already yawned in advance,
Getting ready for the money
On sighs, boredom and deceit
(And so I began my novel);

Well, he really didn’t want to “amuse the half-dead” ... And then - a gift of fate: the uncle turned out to be a fine fellow and quickly died before his arrival!

But, having arrived in the uncle's village,
I found it on the table
As a tribute to the ready land.

Onegin is absolutely sincerely grateful to him for this: after all, out of all the options for the development of events, uncle chose the ideal one!

And I couldn't think of a better one.
His example to others is science;

- Well done, old man! Onegin grins to himself. - I respect!

Rejoice early. If everything is so good, then why is this "But":

His example to others is science;
But my god, what a bore
Sitting with the sick...

And it doesn't matter anymore, because the "but" is preceded by a semicolon! The thought is over, the next one begins. There is no opposition. Here is a similar example from the fifth chapter of the same Onegin:

What joy: there will be a ball!
The girls are jumping in advance;
But food was served.
EO, Ch.5, XXVIII

The ball is not canceled by the upcoming dinner: everything has its time. So it is here: the death of an old uncle is not canceled by arguments about how disgusting it would be for Onegin to sit with a lean physiognomy by his bed. Bored Evgeny is inclined to philosophizing and simply reflects on what would happen if ...

Reading the sad message
Eugene immediately on a date
Rushed through the mail
And already yawned in advance,
Getting ready for the money
On sighs, boredom and deceit
(And so I began my novel);

It turns out that the hints of confidence in the death of the uncle seem to be out of place ... But the novel does not begin with the first stanza of the first chapter, but with the epigraph:

Eugene Onegin
Novel in verse

Petri de vanite il avait encore plus de cette espece d'orgueil qui fait avouer avec la meme indifference les bonnes comme les mauvaises actions, suite d'un sentiment de supériorite peut-etre imaginaire.

Tire d'une lettre particulière

Imbued with vanity, he also possessed that special pride that prompts him to confess with the same indifference both his good and bad deeds - a consequence of a feeling of superiority, perhaps imaginary. From a private letter (French).

Thus, first of all, we are once again informed that people like Onegin indifferently admit that they are doing bad things. Yes, Eugene rushed headlong to sigh and lie for the sake of money. And only then, having made sure that he really inherited his uncle's farm, "the heir to all his relatives" immediately flew off somewhere "in the dust on the mail." Where? Most likely, to the notary! Or settling affairs in the city before moving to the countryside for a long time. That is, in any case - not to the uncle, but from the uncle.

impolite? There, the commemoration is in full swing: priests and guests are eating and drinking ... Yes, the “young rake” did not do very well. And what do you want from him: a rake, according to Dahl's dictionary, is "an impolite, impudent naughty."

So thought the young rake,
Flying in the dust on postage,
By the will of Zeus
Heir of all his relatives.

And everything shows that Onegin is in a good mood. He did not have to humiliate himself in order to become the owner of "factories, waters, forests, lands."

And now let's try to write a mini-essay on the content of the first stanza in our own words.

My uncle is an honest but narrow-minded old hard worker. He, sensing his imminent death, immediately died without giving anyone any trouble. If everyone followed this example, then the world would get rid of the sanctimonious pretense of those who would be forced to hang around the bedside of useless capricious patients for the sake of their inheritance, cursing everything in the world and wishing to go to hell as soon as possible!

It is clear that Pushkin expressed all this more gracefully and briefly.

By the way, one respected researcher of his work, whom I “brought” with my interest in this issue, came to the conclusion that “I forced myself to respect” is an idiom introduced by Pushkin.

It may very well be. Therefore, with thoughtless quoting, you need to be careful. The goalkeeper mentioned at the beginning, who took a penalty, may be offended by this. However, he is unlikely to be interested in such issues ...

Have you ever wondered why some of your acquaintances succeed in life, it seems, without great talents, while others walk in chronic losers?

If you start to analyze what exactly they, and you personally, lack for a successful career, then you will certainly stop at two very important factors: the ability to influence people and earn their respect. Here are two pillars on which any successful career, this is what most people lack, and a few "lucky ones" are given from birth. Then these "lucky ones" become big managers, CEOs companies or go into politics, giving the rest the opportunity to envy them white or black envy.

First, let's figure out what exactly it means to lack influence on others and insufficient respect from them. First of all, that your ideas, needs, comments, views and feelings are not sufficiently taken into account by your colleagues and superiors.

Correcting this state of affairs should begin with a change in your personal image. Neatness and elegance, sufficient prestige of your clothes and their conformity to the tastes of your environment - an indispensable condition for your acceptance in society at least on an equal footing. However, it should be remembered that in any clothes you should feel "at home": if a magnificent jacket is too tight or too large, if yours, even the most branded clothes, make you hold on very tensely, this will certainly be on a conscious and subconsciously noticed by others, and will lower your status.

next very important point: posture. Here, considerable training will already be required to achieve a free and at the same time straight gait, which will emphasize that you are an independent, strong and self-confident person.

And finally, your very behavior should radiate this confidence. At the same time, it should be remembered that many people who lack the ability to influence others often confuse self-confidence with aggressiveness. No, self-confidence is, of course, not aggressiveness at all, which often leads to attempts to intimidate others and violate their rights. AT modern society by such methods, you are unlikely to earn the respect of people and increase the degree of your influence on them.

So let's be clear about what's stopping you from feeling the kind of confidence that gives rise to any true respect. Social psychologists usually name six main reasons that underlie self-doubt:

1. Lack of Practice: You don't practice often enough and don't try to find out if you can be more confident.

2. Your upbringing: your parents and teachers, in one way or another, diminished your ability to stand up for yourself as a child.

3. Vague ideas: You don't have clear patterns of behavior, and you yourself don't know what you want.

4. Fear of Hostility: You are afraid of manifestations of hostility, anger and negative reactions and avoid any conflict.

5. Underestimating yourself: you do not feel entitled to take a firm stand and demand a correct and honest attitude towards yourself.

6. Poor self-presentation: you usually express your thoughts in a vague and unconvincing, contradictory or emotional way.

Now analyze your ability to feel confident in yourself and determine which of these six obstacles is holding you back the most. Are there situations in which you constantly lack confidence? If so, can you find common cause? Do you find that a certain person or environment creates particular difficulties for you?

When you answer these questions with the utmost honesty, you can find ways to really become more confident and start influencing those around you.

You can develop these skills by watching how other people deal with situations that require self-confidence and earn the respect of others. By putting into practice what you learn, you will expand your skill set.

But at the same time, you should remember some basics, without which you will never earn the respect of people, and which you should adhere to from the very first day of your entry into any team:

Avoid confusing emotions: If you are angry, offended, or emotionally hurt, you should expect others to react to your emotions, not to what you want to convey to them.

Keep it simple: sometimes the importance of what you want to convey to others is lost due to excessive complexity or trying to deal with several issues at once.

Get your way: if you have already proposed something, bring it to the end, do not quit the work you have begun, and at any cost make others pay attention to it.

Do not "drop" yourself: if something is important to you, is of fundamental importance, make sure that others know about your position.

Make sure that you are not "knocked down": if you are at some point in the spotlight, and someone wants to switch attention to themselves, make a lot of efforts to ensure that the attention of listeners or viewers is returned to your person again.

Mistake does not weaken: if you make a mistake - which happens to everyone sooner or later - do not let the feeling of inadequacy arise. This feeling undermines your position.

Strive for victory after victory: try to create situations in which your work will bring you victory, but do not stop there and strive for new achievements.

It is certainly not easy to follow all these principles, but it is worth following them. And I can only wish you good luck on this path.

Instruction

To begin with, you must understand for yourself that there are two ways to earn respect: by force and intimidation, or by your unique personal qualities and intellect. The second way is, of course, more difficult. And the first should not be considered because of its incorrectness.

Build your reputation. You are a worthy, solid person and everyone around you should understand this. And to understand for yourself, because. boasting, even very veiled and neat, will not cause people's respect, but contempt or pity. Live only the way you think is right and don't be afraid to be different from other people. Avoid overconfidence and verbosity. The usual firm and calm "no" will command more respect than an angry tirade.

Keep fit. Your appearance must match your inner hardness. It's hard to command respect if you look like a balloon or a bun - so it's worth being like gym and get in shape. Emphasize inner seriousness with stylish and strict clothes. Pay special attention to accessories - a cheap tie and cufflinks with an expensive suit will look silly. However, avoid sticking out the high cost of outfits. Demonstrate it naturally and slightly casually.

Be smart and extraordinary. High intelligence always commands respect, especially if it is combined with a successful career and an interesting appearance. However, it is not always possible to demonstrate your high IQ. For such cases, unusual hobbies that speak of your originality are well suited. Skydive, climb Everest, kayak and more. In this case, you will always be in the spotlight and will be able to show yourself with better side demonstrating his intelligence and education. But never talk about a topic you don't understand. You can answer that you are far from this problem and are not an expert on the subject under discussion. Such honesty is more likely to arouse respect, but pathetic attempts to maintain a conversation on a topic little known to you can cause ridicule or an impartial conclusion for you about your narrow mind.

Be prepared to defend your position. Conflict situations in life are not at all rare and in this case you need to prove your reputation as a respected person. Do not compromise, make it clear that you do not approve of the views of the opponent. Be sure not to take your eyes off him. Answer directly, carefully. Keep yourself under control, even if the interlocutor annoys you. Such behavior always commands respect, unlike the one who proves his case with foam at the mouth.

And lastly, respect others. You will never be able to make people respect you if you yourself do not treat deserving individuals accordingly. Show them that you are interested and their opinion is important, show interest in them, empathize, and then they will answer you in the same way.

Sources:

• how to make her respect me

The need for recognition from others is one of the leading in a person. The quality of life of a respected person is much higher than that of people who do not enjoy authority. To make others respect you, you need to change your behavior and outlook.

Some people confuse respect with fear. A misbehaving thug with pumped up muscles causes concern. The object of respect is a smart, strong, educated person who has neither a sense of humor nor the ability to empathize.

To gain respect, you must show positive traits valued in society. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Even if the person is you, show restraint and do not stoop to his level. By doing this, you will show him and others that he humiliated himself first of all.

Celebrate the victories and achievements of those around you. In a conversation, emphasize the merits of colleagues and friends, not your own. But at the same time, do not become. If you have a negative opinion, express it correctly and openly.

Even if you are completely confident in yourself, always listen to the opinions of others. Show your interlocutors that you are interested in them. Respect people and they will do the same for you.

Constantly develop and learn something new. A person must constantly grow: a person who has stopped in development quickly begins to degrade from time to time. Learn languages, travel, get involved in sports - and you will always be a welcome guest and companion.

Develop leadership qualities. Start small - organize a corporate or family event. Make suggestions at work, don't be afraid to take responsibility, and don't remain silent when initiative workers are needed.

Highlight your strengths and don't expose your weaknesses. If you do not understand the subject of the conversation, say so, and do not invent non-existent facts. But if the conversation touches your area of ​​expertise, don't get lost and show yourself as a competent, educated interlocutor.

Don't neglect your appearance either. Keep fit, buy quality clothes. Your behavior must be appearance and status - do not fuss, in any situation behave calmly and confidently.

In addition to all the techniques described above, your inner mood is also important. If you want others to respect you, first of all, respect yourself. Do not dwell on the failures that even the most authoritative personalities have. But strong and respected people, unlike the weak, are able to admit mistakes and move forward.

Sources:

• how others will respect me

It's not that hard to start loving yourself. It is much more difficult to learn self-respect. This will allow you to always stay afloat and find strength in any, even the most difficult situations. It remains only to figure out how to start respecting yourself.

Always keep your promises. Otherwise, you can forget about self-respect forever. Conscience always remembers our mistakes and will not let us forget them so easily. You can't respect yourself if you let other people down. What authority can a deceiver have? Far from the highest.

Remember all the promises that you have ever made, write them down on a piece of paper and try to fulfill them as quickly as possible. If for objective reasons this cannot be done, then try to at least just apologize to the person.

Reach your goals. This will not only allow you to start respecting yourself, but will also develop your self-confidence, willpower and increase your level of motivation. To begin with, you can set simple goals, the achievement of which does not cause any special difficulties. But then the complexity should grow, and with it your self-esteem. Try to set some challenging goal with a very limited time frame. Having coped with it, you will receive an unprecedented boost of energy and self-satisfaction.

Evaluate yourself objectively. Perhaps the reason low level self-respect is that you treat yourself too prejudiced. Try to describe yourself without prejudice. You will see that there are enough sides in your character worthy of respect.

Respect child to the people around him, their work, opinion and personal life begins with his respect for his parents. But it cannot arise from scratch, respect must begin to be instilled from the first days of a baby's life.

Instruction

No need to arrange interrogations about where he is. He will tell you when he sees fit. There is no need to speak in an impolite tone about his parents, rather admire his mother, who raised her son so amazingly.

Try to wear your favorite robe and slippers as little as possible. It is better to do a light make-up, hairstyle, pick up a pretty dress before your arrival. And also treat with understanding and respect for everything related to his work. After all, he is a man, a breadwinner!

Watch football with him, you can even name a few players by their last names. This will greatly surprise your chosen one, but it will also raise you in his eyes. Also, don't forget about boxing. Randomly ask if he forgot about the championship tournament (although before that you yourself will have to sit in).

Learn to find compromises, give in, but you don’t need to indulge in everything either. After all, you know your worth, and you need to keep your status. Then your significant other will begin to realize how lucky he is in life. What an amazing woman he got. And his main task in life is this gift of fate nearby. And for this you need a woman to be happy.

note

If you need something from a person, speak directly, without evasions. If you were asked a specific question, then you need to provide a specific answer, without further ado. I hope you can make people respect you. But it’s better not to force them, but simply change yourself so that they themselves want to respect you. Rules for real men.

Helpful advice

Make it a rule to express your feelings gently and calmly. It is not reasonable to accuse a man of not respecting you, while you have never told him about what exactly affects you. State your needs clearly. If a man deliberately ignores you, then be firm and make it clear that you will not tolerate such behavior. Of course, there are incorrigible men on whom it is simply a pity to waste time, effort and nerves. It is better to stay away from them. How to make a man respect himself.

Many people want to be appreciated and respected. This does not happen by chance, because a respected person feels more comfortable in society, and there are much fewer problems in his life than someone who is used to not paying attention to.

Instruction

Before you start gaining everyone's respect, think about who you are at the moment in. Do people turn to you for advice, do people listen to your opinion? If not, try to find the reason for this: it can consist both in your alienation from people, and in the fact that you are perceived as not strong enough and wise.

Dream up and try to imagine what people could respect you for. Draw a mental picture of "yourself": a strong, confident, reasonable person. This image must be fixed in your head, and only after this happens, serious changes can begin to occur in your life.

Try to think on your own, read more and do not skip informational programs. You don't need to be proficient in all areas, but it's good to be proficient in a few. People who know something well are treated with respect.

In order to achieve respect from others, become, that is, learn to cope and adequately get out of difficult situations. Do not be afraid to part with and change your point of view - only strong people know how to admit their mistakes. Think about what is most important to you, develop a kind of code and strictly follow it.

Don't be lazy. Work and be on the move. However, this is not at all that you should be in a hurry somewhere: calmness must always be maintained, regardless of whether you are in a hurry or not. People who know how to control their emotions are respected for the reason that they seem wise.

And lastly, do not overdo it in an effort to win someone's respect, otherwise you risk becoming a slave to your idea, in addition, becoming dependent on his desires and ideals. And people, as you know, are not respected.

Very subjective notes

IN THE FIRST STRAPHES OF MY LETTER...

The first line of "Eugene Onegin" has always aroused great interest among critics, literary critics and literary historians. Although, in fact, it is not the first: two epigraphs and a dedication are placed in front of it - Pushkin dedicated the novel to P. Pletnev, his friend, rector of St. Petersburg University.

The first stanza begins with the thoughts of the hero of the novel, Eugene Onegin:

"My uncle has the most honest rules,
When I fell ill in earnest,
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one;
His example to others is science:
But my god, what a bore
Sit with the sick both day and night,
Not leaving a single step away!
What low deceit
Amuse the half-dead
Fix his pillows
Sad to give medicine
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!"

Both the first line and the entire stanza as a whole have caused and still cause numerous interpretations.

NOBLE, RAZNOCHINTS AND ACADEMICS

N. Brodsky, the author of the commentary on the EO, believes that the hero ironically applied to his uncle verses from Krylov's fable "The Donkey and the Man" (1819): "The donkey had the most honest rules," and thus expressed his attitude towards the relative: "Pushkin in the thoughts of the "young rake" about the heavy need "for the sake of money" to be ready "for sighs, boredom and deceit" (LII stanza) revealed the true meaning of family ties, covered with hypocrisy, showed what the principle of kinship turned into in that reality, where, in Belinsky's words, "inwardly, out of conviction, no one ... recognizes him, but out of habit, out of unconsciousness and out of hypocrisy, everyone recognizes him."

This was a typical Soviet approach to interpreting the passage, exposing the birthmarks of tsarism and the lack of spirituality and duplicity of the nobility, although hypocrisy in family ties characteristic of absolutely all segments of the population, and in Soviet time it has not disappeared from life at all, since, with rare exceptions, it can be considered an immanent property of human nature in general. In Chapter IV, EO Pushkin writes about his relatives:

Hm! um! noble reader,
Are all your relatives healthy?
Let me: maybe you want
Now learn from me
What does native mean.
The native people are:
We have to caress them
love, sincerely respect
And, according to the custom of the people,
About Christmas to visit them
Or mail congratulations
So that the rest of the year
They didn't care about us...
So, God grant them long days!

Brodsky's commentary was first published in 1932, then repeatedly reprinted in Soviet times, this is a fundamental and solid work of a well-known scientist.

But even in the 19th century, critics by no means ignored the first lines of the novel - the verses served as the basis for accusing both Pushkin himself and his hero of immorality. Oddly enough, a raznochinets, democrat V.G. Belinsky, stood up to defend the nobleman Onegin.
“We remember,” the remarkable critic wrote in 1844, “how ardently many readers expressed their indignation at the fact that Onegin rejoices at his uncle’s illness and is horrified at the need to pose as a saddened relative,”

Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!

A lot of people are still very unhappy with it."

Belinsky analyzes the first stanza in detail and finds every reason to justify Onegin, emphasizing not only the absence of pharisaism in the hero of the novel, but also his mind, natural behavior, ability for introspection, and a host of other positive qualities.

"Let's turn to Onegin. His uncle was a stranger to him in every respect. And what can be common between Onegin, who already yawned equally

Among fashionable and ancient halls,

And between a respectable landowner who, in the wilderness of his village

He looked out the window and crushed flies.

They will say: he is his benefactor. What benefactor, if Onegin was the legal heir to his estate? Here the benefactor is not an uncle, but the law, the right of inheritance.* What is the position of a person who is obliged to play the role of a grieved, compassionate and tender relative on the deathbed of a completely alien and outsider to him? They will say: who obliged him to play such a low role? Like who? Feeling of delicacy, humanity. If, for whatever reason, you cannot help but accept a person whose acquaintance is both difficult and boring for you, are you not obliged to be polite and even amiable to him, although inwardly you send him to hell? That some kind of mocking lightness peeps through Onegin's words - only intelligence and naturalness are visible in this, because the absence of strained heavy solemnity in the expression of ordinary everyday relations is a sign of intelligence. For secular people, this is not even always a mind, but more often a manner, and one cannot but agree that this is a very smart manner.

At Belinsky, if you wish, you can find anything you want.
Praising Onegin for numerous virtues, Belinsky, however, for some reason completely loses sight of the fact that the hero is going to look after his uncle not only and not so much out of a sense of “delicacy” and “compassion”, but for the sake of money and future inheritance, which clearly hints at the manifestation of bourgeois tendencies in the mentality of the hero and directly indicates that, in addition to other virtues, he was by no means deprived of common sense and practical acumen.

Thus, we are convinced that the habit of analyzing the frivolous reflections of the young dandy cited by Pushkin was introduced into fashion by Belinsky. He was followed by N. Brodsky, Yu. Lotman, V. Nabokov, V. Nepomniachtchi. And also Etkind, Volpert, Grinbaum... Surely someone else who escaped our close attention. But unanimity of opinion has not yet been achieved.

So, returning to Brodsky, we state: the literary critic believed that the words "my uncle of the most honest rules" correlate with a line from Krylov's fable and hint at poverty mental abilities uncle Eugene, which, in fact, is by no means refuted by the subsequent characterization given to the uncle in chapter II of the novel:

He settled in that peace,
Where is the village old-timer
For forty years I quarreled with the housekeeper,
He looked out the window and crushed flies.

Yu.M. Lotman categorically disagreed with this version: “The statement found in the comments on the EO that the expression “the most honest rules ...” is a quote from Krylov’s fable “The Donkey and the Man” (“The donkey was the most honest rules ... ”) is not convincing. Krylov does not use any rare speech, but a living phraseological unit oral speech that time (cf .: "... he ruled the pious .." in the fable "The Cat and the Cook"). Krylov could be for Pushkin in this case only an example of an appeal to oral, lively speech. Contemporaries hardly perceived this as a literary quotation.

* The question of the right of inheritance in relation to Onegin requires a comment by a professional lawyer or historian of jurisprudence.

KRYLOV AND ANNA KERN

It is difficult to say how Pushkin's contemporaries perceived this line, but the fact that the poet himself knew the fable is reliably known from the memoirs of A. Kern, who very expressively described the reading of it by the author himself at one of the secular receptions:

“On one of the evenings at the Olenins, I met Pushkin and did not notice him: my attention was absorbed by the charades that were then played out and in which Krylov, Pleshcheev and others participated. I don’t remember, for some phantom Krylov was forced to read one of his fables. He sat down on a chair in the middle of the hall; we all crowded around him and I will never forget how good he was reading his Donkey! And now I still hear his voice and see his reasonable face and the comical expression with which he said: "The donkey had the most honest rules!"
In the midst of such charm, it was surprising to see anyone but the culprit of poetic pleasure, and that is why I did not notice Pushkin.

Judging by these reminiscences, even if A. Kern’s “child of charm” is attributed more to her coquetry than sincerity, Krylov’s fable was well known in Pushkin’s circle. In our time, if they heard about her, then first of all in connection with the novel "Eugene Onegin". But it is impossible not to reckon with the fact that in 1819, in the Olenins' salon, with a confluence of society and in the presence of Pushkin, Krylov read the fable "The Donkey and the Man". Why did the choice of the writer fall on her? Fresh fable, recently written? Quite possible. Why not present a new work to a demanding and at the same time benevolent public? At first glance, the fable is quite simple:

Donkey and man

Man for the summer in the garden
Having hired the Donkey, he assigned
Ravens and sparrows drive a sassy kind.
The donkey had the most honest rules:
Unfamiliar with rapacity or theft:
He did not profit from the master's leaf,
And the birds, it's a sin to say that he gave a prank;
But the profit from the garden was bad for the Muzhik.
Donkey, chasing birds, from all donkey legs,
Along all the ridges and along and across,
Raised such a leap
That in the garden he crushed and trampled everything.
Seeing here that his work was gone,
Peasant on the back of a donkey
He avenged the loss with a club.
"And nothing!" everyone is shouting: “Cattle deserve it!
With his mind
Take on this business?"
And I will say, not in order to intercede for the Donkey;
He, for sure, is to blame (a calculation has been made with him),
But it seems that he is not right,
Who instructed the Donkey to guard his garden.

The peasant instructed the donkey to guard the garden, and the zealous but stupid donkey, chasing the birds that eat the crop, trampled all the beds, for which he was punished. But Krylov blames not so much a donkey as a peasant who hired a diligent fool.
But what was the reason for writing this simple fable? After all, on the topic of a helpful fool, which " more dangerous than the enemy”, Krylov wrote the rather popular work “The Hermit and the Bear” back in 1807.

LITERATURE AND POLITICS

It is known that Krylov liked to respond to current political events both international and domestic. So, according to Baron M.A. Korf, the reason for creating the Quartet fable was the transformation of the State Council, the departments of which were headed by Count P.V. Zavadovsky, Prince P.V. Lopukhin, Count A.A. Arakcheev and Count N.S. Mordvinov: "It is known that we owe the witty fable of Krylov's Quartet to a lengthy debate about how to seat them and even several successive transplants.
It is believed that Krylov meant Mordvinov under the Monkey, Zavadovsky under the Donkey, Lopukhin under the Goat, Arakcheev under the Bear.

Was not the fable "The Donkey and the Man" a similar response to well-known events? For example, such an event, to which the attention of the whole society was drawn, can be considered the introduction of military settlements in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century.
In 1817, military settlements began to be organized in Russia. The idea of ​​the formation of such settlements belonged to Emperor Alexander I, and he was going to entrust this undertaking to Arakcheev, who, oddly enough, was actually an opponent of their creation, but obeyed the will of the Sovereign. He put all his energy into fulfilling the order (it is well known that Arakcheev was an excellent organizer), but did not take into account some peculiarities of the psychology of the peasants and authorized the use of extreme forms of coercion when creating settlements, which led to unrest and even uprisings. Noble society had a negative attitude towards military settlements.

Did not Krylov depict under the guise of a too executive donkey, a tsar's boobie, but not heavenly, but quite earthly - the all-powerful minister Arakcheev, and the tsar himself under a short-sighted peasant, who so unsuccessfully chose an honest donkey for the execution of an important business (Arakcheev was known for his conscientiousness and incorruptibility ), but overly diligent and zealous? It is possible that, portraying a nearby donkey, Krylov (despite outward good nature, the famous fabulist was a sharp-tongued man, sometimes even poisonous) aimed at the Sovereign himself, who borrowed the idea of ​​​​military settlements from various sources, but was going to introduce the system mechanically, not taking into account neither the spirit of the Russian people, nor the practical details of the implementation of such a responsible project.

A. Kern's meeting with Pushkin at the Olenins took place at the end of the winter of 1819, and already in the summer a strong unrest broke out in one of the settlements, ending with the cruel punishment of the dissatisfied, which by no means added popularity either to the idea of ​​such settlements or to Arakcheev himself. If the fable was a response to the introduction of military settlements, then it is no wonder that it was well known among the Decembrists and nobles, who were distinguished by freethinking.

PHRASEOLOGISM OR GALLICISM?

As for the “living phraseological unit of oral speech of that time” as a model of addressing oral, living expression, this remark does not seem so impeccably true. Firstly, in the same line of the fable "The Cat and the Cook", which Y.M. Lotman resorts to quoting to prove his thought, the word "feast" is not used at all, and the lines themselves represent the speech of the author, the person educated, able to apply literary turnover. And this literary turn is most appropriate here for the reason that the lines sound ironic and parody the statement of one of the characters in the fable - the Cook, a person who is very prone to the art of rhetoric:

Some Chef, literate,
He ran from the kitchen
In a tavern (he was pious rules
And on this day, according to the godfather, the triznu ruled),
And at home, guard food from mice
Left the cat.

And secondly, in such a phraseological unit there is little oral lively speech - the phrase “an honest person” would sound much more natural in the mouth of a Russian person. A man of honest rules is clearly a book education, it appears in literature in the middle of the 18th century and, perhaps, is a tracing paper with French. A similar turn, perhaps, was used in letters of recommendation, and it can rather be attributed to written business speech.

“It is significant that, although Gallicisms, especially as a model for the formation of phraseological units of the Russian language, actively influenced Russian language processes, both Shishkovists and Karamzinists preferred to blame each other for their use,” Lotman writes in comments to EO, confirming that the very idea that it was often Gallicisms that were the source of the formation of Russian phraseological units.

In Fonvizin's play "The Choice of a Governor", Seum recommends the nobleman Nelstetsov to the prince as a mentor: ". These days I made the acquaintance of Mr. Nelstetsov, a staff officer who recently bought a small village in our district. We became friends on our first acquaintance, and I found in him a man of intelligence, honest rules, and well-deserved. The phrase "honest rules" sounds, as we see, in an almost official recommendation for the position of educator.

Famusov recalls Madame Rozier, Sophia's first governess: "The temper is quiet, of rare rules."
Famusov is a middle-class gentleman, an official, a person who is not very educated, funny mixes colloquial vocabulary and official business turns in his speech. So Madame Rosier, as a characteristic, got a conglomerate from colloquial speech and office work.

In I.A. Krylov’s play “A Lesson to Daughters”, he uses a similar phrase in his speech, equipped with book expressions (and I must say, often these book phrases are tracing papers from French, despite the fact that the hero is fighting in every possible way against the use of French in everyday life ), an educated nobleman Velkarov: “Who will assure me that in the city, in your charming societies, there were no marquises of the same cut, from whom you gain both mind and rules.”

In the works of Pushkin, one of the meanings of the word "rules" is the principles of morality, behavior. The Pushkin's Dictionary of Language provides numerous examples of the use by the poet of phraseologism (gallicism?) with the word "rule" and the usual phrase "honest person".

But the firmness with which she was able to endure poverty does honor to her rules. (Byron, 1835).

He is a man of noble rules and will not resurrect the times of words and deeds (Letter to Bestuzhev, 1823).

Pious, humble soul
Punishment of pure muses, saving Bantysh,
And the noble Magnitsky helped him,
Husband firm in the rules, excellent soul
(Second letter to the censor, 1824).

My soul Paul
Stick to my rules
Love something, something
Don't do that.
(To the album to Pavel Vyazemsky, 1826-27)

What will Alexei think if he recognizes his Akulina in the well-bred young lady? What opinion would he have of her behavior and rules, of her prudence? (Young lady-peasant, 1930).

Along with the book circulation of “noble rules”, we also find colloquial “honest fellow” in Pushkin’s texts:
. "My second?" Eugene said:
"Here he is: my friend, monsier Guillot.
I foresee no objection
For my presentation:
Although he is an unknown person,
But certainly an honest fellow. "(EO)

Ivan Petrovich Belkin was born from honest and noble parents in 1798 in the village of Goryukhino. (History of the village of Goryukhin, 1830).

HOPE FOR YOUR UNCLE, AND DON'T BAD YOURSELF

The first line is interesting not only from the point of view of linguistic analysis, but also in terms of establishing archetypal connections in the novel.

The archetype of the uncle-nephew relationship has been reflected in literature since the time of mythological legends and in its embodiment gives several options: uncle and nephew are at enmity or oppose each other, most often not sharing the power or love of a beauty (Horus and Set, Jason and Pelius, Hamlet and Claudius , Ramo's nephew); uncle patronizes his nephew and is on friendly terms with him (epics, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Madosh" by Alfred Musset, later "My Uncle Benjamin" by C. Tillier, " ordinary story» I. Goncharova, «Philip and others» by Says Noteboom).

Within the framework of this paradigm, transitional models can also be distinguished, characterized by varying degrees of certainty in the relationship between relatives, including an ironic or completely neutral attitude towards an uncle. An example of an ironic and at the same time respectful attitude towards an uncle is the behavior of Tristram Shandy, and the relationship between Tristan and King Mark (Tristan and Isolde), which repeatedly change throughout the story, can serve as a transitional model.

Examples can be multiplied almost endlessly: in almost every literary work there is his own, even if he is lying, uncle - a reasoner, guardian, comedian, oppressor, benefactor, opponent, patron, enemy, oppressor, tyrant and so on.

Numerous reflections of this archetype are widely known not only in literature, but also directly in life, it is enough to recall A. Pogorelsky (A.A. writer A.K. Tolstoy; I.I. Dmitriev, a famous writer of the early 19th century, a fabulist, and his nephew M.A. Dmitriev, a literary critic and memoirist, who left memoirs in which many interesting information from the life of literary Moscow at the beginning of the nineteenth century and from the life of VL Pushkin; uncle and nephew of the Pisarevs, Anton Pavlovich and Mikhail Alexandrovich Chekhov; N. Gumilyov and Sverchkov, etc.
Oscar Wilde was the great-nephew of the very famous Irish writer Maturin, whose novel Melmoth the Wanderer, which had a noticeable influence on the development of European literature in general and on Pushkin in particular, began with the hero, a young student, going to his dying uncle.

First of all, of course, we should talk about Alexander Sergeevich himself and his uncle Vasily Lvovich. Autobiographical motifs in the opening lines of EO have been noted by many researchers. L.I. Volpert in his book Pushkin and French Literature writes: “It is also important that in Pushkin’s time direct speech was not distinguished by quotation marks: the first stanza did not have them (we note, by the way, that even now few people keep them in memory). The reader, having met the familiar "I" (in the form of a possessive pronoun), was filled with the conviction that we are talking about the author and his uncle. However, the last line (“When will the devil take you!”) plunged me into amazement. And only after reading the beginning of the second stanza - "So the young rake thought" - the reader could come to his senses and breathe a sigh of relief.

I can’t say exactly how things stand with the publication of individual chapters, but in the famous edition of 1937, which repeats the lifetime edition of 1833, there are quotation marks. Some of the writers complained about the youth and innocence of the Russian public, but still not to the same extent she was ingenuous, so as not to understand - EO is still not an autobiography of the poet, but work of fiction. But, nevertheless, some game, allusiveness, of course, is present.

L.I. Volpert makes a completely charming and accurate observation: “The author somehow mysteriously managed to "crawl" into the stanza (into the hero's internal monologue) and express an ironic attitude towards the hero, the reader, and himself. The hero sneers at his uncle, the "well-read" reader and at himself.

GOOD UNCLE

The uncle of Alexander Sergeevich, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, a poet, wit and dandy, for all that was a good-natured, sociable person, in some ways even naive and childishly simple-minded. In Moscow, he knew everyone and enjoyed great success in secular living rooms. Almost all prominent Russian writers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were among his friends. Yes, and he himself was a fairly well-known writer: Vasily Lvovich wrote messages, fables, fairy tales, elegies, romances, songs, epigrams, madrigals. An educated man who knew several languages, he successfully engaged in translation activities. Vasily Lvovich's poem "Dangerous Neighbor", extremely popular due to its spicy plot, humor and lively, free language, was widely diverged in the lists. Vasily Lvovich played a significant role in the fate of his nephew - he took care of him in every possible way and arranged for him to study at the Lyceum. A.S. Pushkin answered him with sincere love and respect.

To you, O Nestor Arzamas,
In battles, a trained poet, -
Dangerous neighbor for singers
At the terrible height of Parnassus,
Defender of taste, formidable Here!
To you, my uncle, in the new year
The fun of the old desire
And weak hearts translation -
In verse and prose I have a message.

In your letter you called me brother; but I did not dare to call you by this name, too flattering for me.

I haven't lost my mind yet
From the rhymes of bakhiche - staggering on Pegasus -
I have not forgotten myself, although I am glad, although I am not glad.
No, no - you are not my brother at all:
You are my uncle and on Parnassus.

Under the playful and free form of addressing the uncle, sympathy and good relations, slightly, however, diluted with irony and mockery.
Pushkin did not manage to avoid (and perhaps it was done deliberately) a certain ambiguity: reading the last lines, one involuntarily recalls famous expression- the devil himself is not his brother. And although the letter was written in 1816, and the poems were published in 1821, nevertheless, you involuntarily correlate them with the lines of EO - when the devil takes you. You correlate, of course, without any conclusions, let alone organizational conclusions, but some kind of devilry creeps between the lines.

In the message to Vyazemsky, Pushkin again recalls his uncle, whom in this short poem he flattered very cleverly, calling him a writer "gentle, subtle, sharp":

Satirist and love poet,
Our Aristipus and Asmodeus],
You are not Anna Lvovna's nephew,
My late aunt.
The writer is gentle, subtle, sharp,
My uncle is not your uncle
But, darling, the muses are our sisters,
So, you are still my brother.

This, however, did not prevent him from making fun of a kind relative, and sometimes writing a parody, though not so much offensive as witty.

In 1827, in “Materials for “Excerpts from Letters, Thoughts and Notes,” Pushkin writes, but does not publish (published only in 1922), a parody of uncle’s aphorisms, which begins with the words: “My uncle once fell ill.” The construction of the name with its literalness involuntarily makes you remember the first lines of the EO.

“My uncle once fell ill. A friend visited him. “I’m bored,” my uncle said, “I would like to write, but I don’t know what.” political, satirical portraits, etc. It is very easy: this is how Seneca and Montagne wrote. "The friend left, and the uncle followed his advice. In the morning they made bad coffee for him, and this made him angry, now he philosophically reasoned that he was upset by a trifle, and wrote: sometimes sheer trifles upset us. At that moment a magazine was brought to him, he looked into it and saw an article on dramatic art written by a knight of romanticism. Uncle, a radical classic, thought and wrote: I prefer Racine and Molière to Shakespeare and Calderon - despite to the cries of the latest critics.- Uncle wrote two dozen more similar thoughts and went to bed. The next day he sent them to a journalist who politely thanked him, and my uncle had the pleasure of re-reading his printed thoughts.

It is easy to compare the parody with the original text - the maxims of Vasily Lvovich: "Many of us are ready for advice, rare for services.
Tartuffe and Misanthrope are more excellent than all the present Trilogies. Without fear of the wrath of fashionable romantics, and despite the strict criticism of Schlegel, I will say sincerely that I prefer Molière to Goethe, and Racine to Schiller. The French adopted from the Greeks, and themselves became models in the Dramatic Art.

And to draw a simple conclusion, quite obvious: Pushkin's parody is a kind of tracing paper that makes fun of uncle's truisms. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea. Talk to smart, polite people; their conversation is always pleasant, and you are not a burden to them. The second statement, as you might guess, belongs to the pen of Vasily Lvovich. Although, it must be admitted, some of his maxims are very fair, but at the same time they were still too banal and suffered from sentimentality, reaching sentimentality.

However, you can see for yourself:
Love is the charm of life; friendship is the consolation of the heart. Much is said about them, but few know them.
Atheism is utter madness. Look at the sun, at the moon and stars, at the structure of the universe, at yourself, and say with tenderness: there is God!

Interestingly, both Vasily Lvovich's text and Pushkin's parody echo an excerpt from L. Stern's novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Vol. 1, Ch. 21):

Tell me what the man was called - I write so hastily that I
no time to rummage in memory or in books - for the first time made the observation "that our weather and climate are extremely fickle"? Whoever he is, his observation is absolutely correct. - But the conclusion from it, namely "that we are indebted to this circumstance for such a variety of strange and wonderful characters," does not belong to him; - it was made by another person, at least a hundred and fifty years later ... Further, that this rich storehouse of original material is the true and natural reason for the enormous superiority of our comedies over French ones and all in general that were or could be written on the continent - this discovery was made only in the middle of the reign of King William - when the great Dryden (if I am not mistaken)
happily attacked him in one of his long prefaces. It is true that at the end of the reign of Queen Anne the great Addison took him under his protection and interpreted him more fully to the public in two or three numbers of his Spectator; but the discovery itself did not belong to him. - Then, fourthly and lastly, the observation that the above-noted strange disorder of our climate, which gives rise to such a strange disorder of our characters, - in some way rewards us, giving us material for cheerful entertainment when the weather does not allow to leave the house - this observation is my own, - it was made by me in rainy weather today, March 26, 1759, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning.

Uncle Toby's characterization is also close to Onegin's statement about his uncle:

My uncle, Toby Shandy, madam, was a gentleman who, in addition to the virtues usually characteristic of a man of impeccable directness and honesty, also possessed, and, moreover, in the highest degree, one rarely, if not at all, placed on the list of virtues: that there was an extreme, unparalleled natural modesty ...

Both of them were uncles of the most honest rules. Of course, everyone had their own rules.

UNCLE NOT MY DREAMS

So, what do we learn about Uncle Eugene Onegin? Not very many lines were dedicated by Pushkin to this off-stage character, this simulacrum, no longer a man, but a periphrastic “tribute, a ready land.” This is a homunculus, made up of an English inhabitant of a Gothic castle and a Russian lover of a downy sofa and apple tinctures.

The venerable castle was built,
How castles should be built:
Superbly durable and calm
In the taste of smart antiquity.
Everywhere high chambers,
In the living room damask wallpaper,
Kings portraits on the walls,
And stoves in colorful tiles.
All this is now dilapidated,
I don't know why;
Yes, but my friend
There was very little need
Then that he yawned equally
Among fashionable and ancient halls.

He settled in that peace,
Where is the village old-timer
For forty years I quarreled with the housekeeper,
He looked out the window and crushed flies.
Everything was simple: the floor is oak,
Two wardrobes, a table, a downy sofa,
Not a speck of ink anywhere.
Onegin opened the cupboards:
In one I found an expense notebook,
In another liquor a whole system,
Jugs of apple water
And the calendar of the eighth year;
An old man with a lot to do
Haven't looked at other books.

Uncle's house is called a "venerable castle" - we have before us a solid and solid building, created "in the taste of smart antiquity." In these lines it is impossible not to feel a respectful attitude towards the past century and love for the old times, which for Pushkin had a special attraction. “Ancient” for the poet is a word of magical charm, it is always “magic” and is associated with the stories of eyewitnesses of the past and fascinating novels in which simplicity was combined with cordiality:

Then romance in the old way
Will take my cheerful sunset.
Do not torment secret villainy
I will portray menacingly in it,
But I'll just tell you
Traditions of the Russian family,
Love captivating dreams
Yes, the customs of our antiquity.

I will retell simple speeches
Father or UNCLE old man ...

Onegin's uncle settled in the village about forty years ago - Pushkin writes in the second chapter of the novel. Based on Lotman's assumption that the action of the chapter takes place in 1820, then the uncle settled in the village in the eighties of the eighteenth century for some reason unknown to the reader (maybe a punishment for a duel? Or disgrace? - it is unlikely that the young man would have gone to live in the village of his own free will - and he obviously did not go there for poetic inspiration).

At first, he equipped his castle with the latest fashion and comfort - damask wallpaper (damask is a woven silk fabric used for wall upholstery, a very expensive pleasure), soft sofas, colorful tiles (a tiled stove was a luxury and prestige item) - most likely, more metropolitan habits were strong. Then, apparently succumbing to the laziness of the ordinary course of life, or perhaps to the stinginess developed by the village view of things, he stopped monitoring the improvement of the house, which was gradually dilapidated, not supported by constant worries.

Uncle Onegin's lifestyle was not distinguished by a variety of entertainment - sitting by the window, squabbling with the housekeeper and playing cards with her on Sundays, killing innocent flies - these are, perhaps, all his amusements and amusements. In fact, the uncle himself is the same fly: his whole life fits into a series of fly phrases: like a sleepy fly, what kind of fly has bitten, flies die, white flies, flies eat you, under a fly, as if swallowed a fly, they die like flies, - among which the one given by Pushkin has several meanings, and each characterizes the uncle's philistine existence - to be bored, drink and destroy flies (the last meaning is direct) - this is a simple algorithm of his life.

There are no mental interests in the uncle's life - no traces of ink were found in his house, he only keeps a notebook of calculations, and reads one book - "the calendar of the eighth year." What kind of calendar, Pushkin did not specify - it could be the Court calendar, Monthly calendar for the summer from R. Khr. 1808 (Brodsky and Lotman) or Bryusov calendar (Nabokov). The Bryus calendar is a unique reference book for many occasions, containing extensive sections with advice and predictions, which were considered the most accurate in Russia for more than two centuries. The calendar published planting dates and views of the harvest, predicted the weather and natural disasters, victories in wars and the state of the Russian economy. Reading is entertaining and useful.

The uncle's ghost appears in the seventh chapter - the housekeeper Anisya recalls him when she shows Tatiana the manor house.

Anisya immediately appeared to her,
And the door opened before them,
And Tanya enters an empty house,
Where did our hero live recently?
She looks: forgotten in the hall
The cue was resting on billiards,
On a crumpled couch lay
Manezhny whip. Tanya is far away;
The old woman told her: “But the fireplace;
Here the gentleman sat alone.

Here I dined with him in the winter
The late Lensky, our neighbor.
Come here, follow me.
Here is the master's office;
Here he rested, ate coffee,
Listened to the clerk's reports
And I read a book in the morning ...
And the old gentleman lived here;
With me, it happened on Sunday,
Here under the window, wearing glasses,
I deigned to play fools.
God bless his soul,
And his bones rest
In the grave, in the damp mother earth!

Here, perhaps, is all that we learn about Uncle Onegin.

The appearance of the uncle in the novel resembles a real person - Lord William Byron, to whom the great English poet was a great-nephew and sole heir. In the article "Byron" (1835), Pushkin describes this colorful personality as follows:

"Lord Wilhelm, brother of Admiral Byron, his grandfather, was
a strange and miserable person. Once in a duel he stabbed
his relative and neighbor Mr. Chaworth. They fought without
witnesses, in a tavern by candlelight. This case made a lot of noise, and the Chamber of Pens found the murderer guilty. He was however
released from punishment, [and] has since lived in Newsteed, where his quirks, avarice and gloomy character made him the subject of gossip and slander.<…>
He tried to ruin his possessions out of hatred for his
heirs. [His] only interlocutors were an old servant and
the housekeeper, who also occupied another place with him. Moreover, the house was
full of crickets, which Lord Wilhelm fed and raised.<…>

Lord Wilhelm never entered into relations with his young
heir, whose name was none other than the boy who lives in Aberdeen.

The miserly and suspicious old lord with his housekeeper, crickets and unwillingness to communicate with the heir is surprisingly similar to Onegin's relative, with one exception. Apparently, the well-bred English crickets were better trained than the unceremonious and importunate Russian flies.

And Uncle Onegin's castle, and "a huge neglected garden, a shelter for pensive dryads", and a werewolf housekeeper, and tinctures - all this was reflected, as in a crooked magic mirror, in N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls". Plyushkin's house has become an image of a real castle from Gothic novels, smoothly moved into the space of postmodernist absurdity: some kind of exorbitantly long, for some reason, multi-storey, with staggering belvederes sticking out on the roof, it looks like a man who watches the approaching traveler with blind eyes-windows. The garden also resembles an enchanted place, in which the birch tree rounds in a slender column, and the chapyk looks like the face of the owner. The housekeeper who met Chichikov quickly turns into Plyushkin, and the liquor and inkwells are full of dead insects and flies - aren't they the ones that crushed Uncle Onegin?

The provincial landowner-uncle with the housekeeper Anisya also appears in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Tolstoy's uncle noticeably ennobled, the housekeeper turned into a housekeeper, gained beauty, a second youth and patronymic, she was called Anisya Fedorovna. The heroes of Griboyedov, Pushkin and Gogol, migrating to Tolstoy, are transformed and acquire humanity, beauty and other positive qualities.

And another funny coincidence.

One of the features of Plyushkin's appearance was an exorbitantly protruding chin: "His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old people, one chin only protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time, so as not to spit ... - this is how Gogol describes his hero.

F.F. Vigel, memoirist, author of the well-known and popular in the 19th century "Notes", familiar with many figures of Russian culture, represents V.L. Pushkin as follows: “He himself is very ugly: a loose, thickening torso on thin legs, a slanting belly, a crooked nose, a triangle face, a mouth and chin, like a la Charles-Quint **, and most of all, thinning hair is not more than thirty years it was old-fashioned. In addition, toothlessness softened his conversation, and his friends listened to him, although with pleasure, but at some distance from him.

VF Khodasevich, who wrote about the Pushkins, apparently used Vigel's memoirs:
“Sergey Lvovich had an older brother, Vasily Lvovich. They were similar in appearance, only Sergey Lvovich seemed a little better. Both had flabby pot-bellied bodies on thin legs, sparse hair, thin and crooked noses; both had sharp chins sticking out forward, and their lips were folded were a tube."

**
Charles V (1500 - 1558), Holy Roman Emperor. The Habsburg brothers Charles V and Ferdinand I had pronounced family noses and chins. From the book by Dorothy Gies McGuigan "Habsburgs" (translated by I. Vlasova): "Maximilian's eldest grandson, Karl, a serious boy, outwardly not very attractive, grew up with his three sisters in Mechelen in the Netherlands. Blond hair, smoothly combed like a page, only slightly softened the narrow, sharply cut face, with a long, sharp nose and an angular, projecting forward lower jaw- the famous Habsburg chin in its most pronounced form."

UNCLE Vasya and cousin

In 1811, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin wrote the comic poem The Dangerous Neighbor. A funny, although not entirely decent plot (a visit to a matchmaker and a fight started there), a light and lively language, a colorful protagonist (the famous F. Tolstoy - an American served as a prototype), witty attacks against literary enemies - all this brought the poem well-deserved fame. It could not be printed due to censorship obstacles, but it was widely dispersed in the lists. The protagonist of the poem Buyanov is the narrator's neighbor. This is a man of a violent temper, energetic and cheerful, a careless drunkard who squandered his estate in taverns and entertainment with gypsies. It doesn't look very presentable.

Buyanov, my neighbor<…>
Came to me yesterday with an unshaven mustache
Disheveled, in fluff, in a cap with a visor,
He came - and carried everywhere a tavern.

This hero A.S. Pushkin calls his cousin (Buyanov is the creation of his uncle) and introduces him into his novel as a guest at Tatyana's name day, without changing his appearance at all:

My cousin, Buyanov,
In down, in a cap with a visor
(As you, of course, know him)

In EO, he behaves as freely as in "Dangerous Neighbor".
In the draft version, during the ball, he has fun with all his heart and dances so that the floors crack under his heel:

... Buyanov's heel
So it breaks the floor around

In the white version, he dances one of the ladies:

Buyanov rushed off to Pustyakova,
And everyone poured out into the hall,
And the ball shines in all its glory.

But in the mazurka he played a peculiar role of fate, bringing Tatyana and Olga to Onegin in one of the figures of the dance. Later, the arrogant Buyanov even tried to woo Tatyana, but was completely refused - how could this direct cap-maker compare with the elegant dandy Onegin?

Pushkin is worried about the fate of Buyanov himself. In a letter to Vyazemsky, he writes: “Something will happen to him in the offspring? I am extremely afraid that my cousin will not be considered my son. How long until sin? However, most likely, in this case, Pushkin simply did not miss the opportunity to play with words. In the EO, he accurately determined the degree of his relationship with Buyanov, and brought out his own uncle in the eighth chapter in a very flattering way, giving a generalized image of a secular man of a past era:

There he was in fragrant gray hair
The old man, joking in the old way:
Superbly subtle and smart
Which is kind of funny these days.

Vasily Lvovich, indeed, joked "excellently subtly and cleverly." He could kill opponents with one verse:

Two guests hefty laughed, reasoned
And Stern the New was marvelously called.
Direct talent will find defenders everywhere!

The snake bit Markel.
He died? - No, the snake, on the contrary, died.

As for the “scented gray hairs”, one involuntarily recalls the story of P.A. Vyazemsky from the “Autobiographical Introduction”:

“On my return from the boarding house, I found Dmitriev, Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, the young man Zhukovsky and other writers with us. Pushkin, who even before his departure had already given a report on his travel impressions with Dmitriev’s pen, had just returned from Paris. "He was dressed to the pinnacle of Parisianism from head to toe. His hair: la Titus, angled, anointed with ancient oil, huile antique. In simple-hearted self-praise he let the ladies sniff his head. I can't tell whether I looked at him with reverence and envy or with a touch of derision.<...>He was a pleasant, not at all ordinary poet. He was kind to infinity, to the ridiculous; but this laughter does not reproach him. Dmitriev correctly portrayed him in his playful poem, saying for him: I really am kind, ready to heartily embrace the whole world.

UNCLE'S SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

The joke poem is "Journey of N.N. to Paris and London, written three days before the trip”, created by I.I. Dmitriev in 1803. M. A. Dmitriev, his nephew, tells the story of the creation of this short poem in his memoirs “Trifles from the stock of my memory”: “A few days before his (Vasily Lvovich’s) departure to foreign lands, my uncle, who was briefly acquainted with him guards service, described in joking verse his journey, which, with the consent of Vasily Lvovich and with the permission of the censor, was printed in Beketov's printing house, under the title: Journey N. N. to Paris and London, written three days before the trip. A vignette was attached to this edition, on which Vasily Lvovich himself is depicted in an extremely similar way. He is presented listening to Talma, who gives him a lesson in recitation. I have this book: it was not for sale and is the greatest bibliographic rarity.

The joke was really a success, it was appreciated by A.S. Pushkin, who wrote about the poem in a short note “The Journey of V.L.P.”: “The Journey is a cheerful, gentle joke on one of the author’s friends; the late V.L. Pushkin went to Paris, and his infantile enthusiasm gave rise to the composition of a small poem in which the whole Vasily Lvovich is depicted with amazing accuracy. “This is an example of playful lightness and jokes, lively and gentle.”

The Journey was also highly rated by P.A. Vyazemsky: "And although the verses are comic, they belong to the best treasures of our poetry, and it is a pity to keep them under wraps."

From the first part
Friends! sisters! I am in Paris!
I began to live, not breathe!
Sit closer to each other
My little journal to read:
I was in the Lyceum, in the Pantheon,
Bonaparte bows;
Stood close to him
Not believing my luck.

I know all the paths of the boulevard,
All new fashion stores;
In the theater every day
In Tivoli and Frascati, in the field.

From the second part

Against the window in the sixth housing,
Where are the signs, carriages,
Everything, everything, and in the best lorgnettes
From morning to evening in the mist
Your friend is sitting still uncombed
And on the table where the coffee is,
"Mercure" and "Moniter" scattered,
There is a whole bunch of posters:
Your friend writes to his homeland;
And Zhuravlev will not hear!
Breath of the heart! get to him!
And you, friends, forgive me for that
Something to my liking;
I'm ready when you want
Confess my weaknesses;
For example, I love, of course,
Read my couplets forever
At least listen, at least don't listen to them;
I love and strange outfit,
If only he would be in fashion, flaunt;
But with a word, a thought, even a glance
Who do I want to offend?
I'm really good! and with all my heart
Ready to hug, love the whole world!..
I hear a knock! .. is it possible for me?

From the third

I'm in London, friends, and to you
I'm already stretching out my arms -
How I wish to see you all!
Today I will give to the ship
Everything, all my acquisitions
In two famous countries!
I'm beside myself with admiration!
In what boots will I come to you!
What coats! trousers!
All the latest styles!
What a wonderful selection of books!
Consider - I'll tell you in a moment:
Buffon, Rousseau, Mably, Cornelius,
Homer, Plutarch, Tacitus, Virgil,
All Shakespeare, all Pop and Gum;
Magazines Addison, Style...
And all Didot, Baskerville!

The light, lively narration excellently conveyed the good-natured character of Vasily Lvovich and his enthusiastic attitude to everything he saw abroad.
It is easy to see the influence of this work on EO.

SAY, UNCLE...

A.S. Pushkin knew I. Dmitriev from childhood - he met him at his uncle's house, with whom the poet was friendly, read Dmitriev's works - they were part of the study program at the Lyceum. Makarov Mikhail Nikolaevich (1789-1847) - a Karamzinist writer, left memories of a funny meeting between Dmitriev and the boy Pushkin: “In childhood, as far as I remember Pushkin, he was not one of tall children and all with the same African facial features He was an adult, but in childhood his hair was so curly and so gracefully curled by African nature that one day I. I. Dmitriev said to me: “Look, this is a real Arab.” The child laughed and, turning to us, said very quickly and boldly: "At least I will distinguish myself in this and will not be a hazel grouse." The hazel grouse and the arabic remained with us all evening on our teeth.

Dmitriev rather favorably treated the poems of the young poet, the nephew of his friend. A black cat ran between them after the publication of Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. Contrary to expectations, Dmitriev reacted to the poem very unkindly and did not hide it. A.F. Voeikov added fuel to the fire by quoting Dmitriev’s oral private statement in his critical analysis of the poem: “I don’t see any thoughts or feelings here: I see only sensuality.”

Under the influence of Karamzin and Arzamas, Dmitriev tries to soften his harshness and writes to Turgenev: “Pushkin was a poet even before the poem. Although I am an invalid, I have not yet lost my flair for elegance. How can I want to humiliate his talent?" This seems like a kind of justification.

However, in a letter to Vyazemsky, Dmitriev again balances between compliments through his teeth and caustic irony:
"What can you say about our" Ruslan ", about which they shouted so much? It seems to me that this is a premature baby of a handsome father and a beautiful mother (muse). I find in him a lot of brilliant poetry, lightness in the story: but it's a pity that he often falls into into burlesque, and it is even more a pity that I did not put in the epigraph the well-known verse with a slight change: "La mХre en dИfendra la lecture a sa fille"<"Мать запретит читать ее своей дочери". Без этой предосторожности поэма его с четвертой страницы выпадает из рук доброй матери".

Pushkin was offended and remembered the offense for a long time - sometimes he was very vindictive. Vyazemsky wrote in his memoirs: “Pushkin, for this, of course, is about him, did not like Dmitriev as a poet, that is, it would be more correct to say, he often did not like him. Frankly, he was, or used to be, angry with him. At least that's my opinion. Dmitriev, a classicist - however, Krylov was a classic in his literary concepts, and also French - did not very affectionately welcome Pushkin's first experiments, and especially his poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". He even spoke of her caustically and unfairly. Probably, this review reached the young poet, and it was all the more sensitive to him, because the Sentence came from a judge who towered over a row of ordinary judges and whom, in the depths of his soul and his talent, Pushkin could not help but respect. Pushkin in everyday life, in everyday life, in everyday relationships, was exorbitantly kind-hearted and simple-hearted. But in his mind, under certain circumstances, he was vindictive, not only in relation to ill-wishers, but also to strangers and even to his friends. He, so to speak, strictly kept in his memory a book of accounts, in which he entered the names of his debtors and the debts that he considered to be due to them. To help his memory, he even essentially and materially wrote down the names of these debtors on scraps of paper, which I myself saw from him. This comforted him. Sooner or later, sometimes quite by accident, he collected a debt, and he collected it with a vengeance.

Having recovered with interest, Pushkin changed his anger to mercy, and in the thirties his relationship with Dmitriev again became sincere and benevolent. In 1829, Pushkin sent I.I. Dmitriev the newly published Poltava. Dmitriev responds with a letter of appreciation: “I thank you with all my heart, dear sovereign Alexander Sergeevich, for your priceless gift to me. This very hour I begin to read, confident that when I meet in person I will thank you even more. Dmitriev, who is devoted to you, is hugging you.”

Vyazemsky believes that it was Dmitriev who was brought out by Pushkin in the seventh chapter of the EO in the form of an old man straightening his wig:

Meeting a boring aunt Tanya,
Somehow Vyazemsky got hooked on her
And he managed to occupy her soul.
And, noticing her near him,
About her, adjusting her wig,
The old man is informed.

The characterization is quite neutral - not warmed by special sincerity, but also not destroying with murderous sarcasm or cold irony.

The same chapter is preceded by an epigraph from I. Dmitriev's poem "The Liberation of Moscow":

Moscow, Russia's beloved daughter,
Where can you find your equal?

But all this was later, and while writing the first chapter of the EO, Pushkin is still offended, and who knows if, when writing the first lines of the EO, he remembered Uncle I.I. Dmitriev and his nephew M.A. Dmitriev, who in his critical articles acted as a "classic", was an opponent of new, romantic, trends in literature. His attitude to Pushkin's poetry invariably remained restrained and critical, and he always bowed before his uncle's authority. The memoirs of Mikhail Aleksandrovich are simply full of the words "my uncle", to which one would just like to add "the most honest rules." And already in the second stanza of EO Pushkin mentions the friends of "Lyudmila and Ruslan". But the ill-wishers remain unnamed, but implied.

By the way, I.I. Dmitriev enjoyed the reputation of an honest, exceptionally decent and noble person, and this was well deserved.

IN CONCLUSION A LITTLE MYSTICITY

An excerpt from the memoirs of Alexander Sergeevich's nephew
Pushkin - Lev Nikolaevich Pavlishchev:

Meanwhile, Sergei Lvovich received privately from Moscow news of the sudden illness of his brother and also a sincere friend, Vasily Lvovich.

Upon his return from Mikhailovsky, Alexander Sergeevich stayed in St. Petersburg for a very short time. He went to Boldino and visited Moscow on his way, where he witnessed the death of the poet Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, who loved his uncle dearly ...

Alexander Sergeevich found his uncle on his deathbed, on the eve of his death. The sufferer lay in oblivion, but, as his uncle reported in a letter to Pletnev dated September 9 of the same year, “he recognized him, grieved, then, after a pause, said:“ how boring Katenin’s articles are ”" and not a word more.

At the words of the dying man, - says in his memoirs a witness of the last days of Vasily Lvovich, Prince Vyazemsky, who then arrived from St. very touched by all this spectacle and all the time he behaved as decently as possible.

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with an elderly teacher. Not at all philosophical, it should be noted. We discussed travels in Europe and, talking about one of his trips to France, he told about his acquaintance with the descendants of Pushkin.

If you read "Onegin", then you probably thought about the meaning of the lines:
My uncle of the most honest rules,
When I seriously fell ill
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one.
His example to others is science;

I think everyone remembers the version about how Krylov climbed under the table when he played forfeits with Pushkin and Vyazemsky. There he had to write a fable and the fable about the Donkey of the most honest rules was born.

There is another version. That in the first editions there was a semicolon. What does the semicolon decide in the meaning of a quatrain?

My uncle of the most honest rules
When I fell ill in earnest;
He forced himself to respect
And I couldn't think of a better one.
His example to others is science;

So, the semicolon changes the meaning that we see with the naked eye - "A decent uncle made himself respected when he got sick" to another: "Uncle became decent when he got sick."

And now I will tell you about the third version, which was discussed with those very descendants of Pushkin, and which impressed me a lot yesterday.

In the time of Pushkin, a man who drinks was called a man of "honest rules". And "the most honest rules" - this is already a drunken alcoholic, you need to understand.
"I forced myself to respect", as those about whom Nepomniachtchi writes correctly noted, arguing about the meaning of the same phrase - he died. Because the dead are either good or nothing.

And it turns out that:
My uncle is a terrible alcoholic
When seriously ill
He died,
Which is for the best.
And others should do the same;

You, like my husband, will begin to remember how Yevgeny Onegin looked after his uncle hard:

But my god, what a bore
With the sick to sit day and night,
Not leaving a single step away!
What low deceit
Amuse the half-dead
Fix his pillows
Sad to give medicine
Sigh and think to yourself:
When will the devil take you!"

But you, like him, forget that the young rake THOUGHT so.

But in fact, a little lower in the same Eugene Onegin we read:

Suddenly got it really
From the manager's report,
That uncle is dying in bed
And I would be glad to say goodbye to him.
Reading the sad message
Eugene immediately on a date
Rushed through the mail
And already yawned in advance,
Getting ready for the money
On sighs, boredom and deceit
(And so I began my novel);
But, having arrived in the uncle's village,
I found it on the table
As a tribute to the ready land.

So, whether my uncle was an alcoholic or not, he died without straining his relatives. It’s also beautiful about alcohol, but I don’t have reliable sources of how alcoholics were called allegorically among the nobles.

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with an elderly teacher. Not at all philosophical, it should be noted. We discussed travels in Europe and, talking about one of his trips to France, he told about his acquaintance with the descendants of Pushkin. If you read "Onegin", then you probably thought about the meaning of the lines: My uncle has the most honest rules, When he seriously fell ill He forced himself to respect himself And he could not invent better. His example to others is science; Then we all remember how really boring it is to sit with the sick day and night. I think everyone remembers the version about how Krylov climbed under the table when he played forfeits with Pushkin and Vyazemsky. There he had to write a fable and the fable about the Donkey of the most honest rules was born. There is another version. That in the first editions there was a semicolon. What does the semicolon decide in the meaning of a quatrain? My uncle of the most honest rules When he fell seriously ill; He forced himself to respect And could not invent better. His example to others is science; So, the semicolon changes the meaning that we see with the naked eye - "A decent uncle made himself respected when he got sick" to another: "Uncle became decent when he got sick." And now I will tell you about the third version, which was discussed with those very descendants of Pushkin, and which impressed me a lot yesterday. In the time of Pushkin, a man who drinks was called a man of "honest rules". And "the most honest rules" - this is already a drunken alcoholic, you need to understand. "I forced myself to respect", as those about whom Nepomniachtchi writes correctly noted, arguing about the meaning of the same phrase - he died. Because the dead are either good or nothing. And it turns out that: My uncle is a terrible alcoholic, When he became seriously ill, He died, Which is for the best. And others should do the same; You, like my husband, will begin to remember how Eugene Onegin took care of his uncle: But, my God, what a bore To sit with the sick day and night, Without moving a single step away! What a low treachery to amuse the Half-dead, to straighten his pillows, sadly to bring medicine, to sigh and think to himself: When the devil takes you!" We read to Eugene Onegin: Suddenly he actually received a report from the steward, That his uncle was dying in bed And would be glad to say goodbye to him. For sighs, boredom and deceit (And that's how I started my novel); But, having flown to my uncle's village, I found him already on the table, As a tribute to the ready land. So, whether uncle was an alcoholic or not, he died without straining his relatives About alcohol is also beautiful, but I don’t have any reliable sources, how they called alcoholics among the nobles allegorically..html" target="_blank">Stolen from work_and_life