Bitter early romantic stories list. Gorky's works: a complete list. Maxim Gorky: Early Romantic Works. §2. Gorky's early romantic works

The life of A. M. Gorky was varied and contradictory. Childhood was not easy, mother died early, grandfather went bankrupt, and his “life among people” begins. From the hardships and blows of a hard life, he will be saved by the love of reading and the desire to become a writer, to describe what he saw. Literature played a huge role in Gorky's life. She helped him rise above the everyday life, showing how wide, difficult and at the same time wonderful human life.
M. Gorky's first story - "Makar Chud-ra" - was fanned with enthusiastic admiration for the image of the gypsy Radda, who at the cost of her life tested the mighty heart of Loika Zobar. The writing of this story marked the beginning of his further work in the spirit of heroic romanticism, since the writer himself was looking for ways to solve the eternal problems of mankind, striving for a better life. And to change this life for the better, as he understood, people who were deeply inspired, disinterested, decent and purposeful could not think for a minute about their personal well-being, seeing in life its beautiful sides, its spiritual values.
Such heroes in Gorky's works are Danko, Burevestnik, Sokol, Chelkash and others.
The first lines in most of these works by Gorky were a call to heroism. In the story "Old Woman Izergil" a connection is established between the legend and reality. The two legends in the story are opposed to each other. Lar-ra is proud, selfish, selfish, he values ​​only himself and freedom. Danko strives to get freedom for everyone. Larra did not want to give people even a particle of his “I”, and Danko gives his whole self.
The fairy tale "The Girl and Death" is a remarkable expression of the writer's unchanging faith in the ability of the human heart to win, to endure in difficult times.
“Chelkash” is one of the stories from the cycle about people from the people who carry high aesthetic qualities. The conflict is connected with the situation of wandering, flight from home. On the road of complicity in a crime, two people collide - one is driven by habit, the other by chance. Distrust, envy, submissive readiness to serve, fear, Gavrila's servility oppose Chelkash's indulgence, contempt, self-confidence, courage, and love for Chelkash's freedom. The author emphasizes the spiritual superiority of Chelkash. However, society does not need Chelkash, unlike the little master Gavrila. This is both the romantic pathos of the work and the tragic one. Romantic worldview is also present in the description of nature.
The genre of the works “Song of the Petrel”, “Song of the Falcon” is defined as a song. Both songs also have other genre features - they contain the features of a parable. The point of view of the main characters: the opposition of a strong personality and society. Nature reflects the inner state of the characters. In the image of these bold and proud birds, the writer wants to see as many people as possible who are striving to change people's lives for the better, so that all people live in peace and harmony.
Creating his early works, Gorky wanted to see in people who read them, the desire to take an example from his positive heroes, the desire to change their inner and spiritual world, their appearance, and as a result, life itself as a result. This is what the writer is trying to achieve.

Essay on literature on the topic: Early works of M. Gorky

Other writings:

1. The work of A. M. Gorky can be treated differently. The opinion about his work has always been ambiguous: some critics “smashed” Gorky in their articles, others called him a brilliant writer. But whatever Gorky wrote about, he did it with passion Read More ......
2. Gorky's first works "Makar Chudra", "The Girl and Death", "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", "The Song of the Falcon" immediately attracted attention with romantic pathos, images of proud and courageous people, life-affirming humanism. Almost simultaneously with these works, he writes “Twenty-six and one”, Read More ......
3. In his "walking around Russia" M. Gorky peered into the dark corners of life and spent a lot of writing effort to show what kind of hard labor their working days can become for people. He tirelessly searched for something bright, kind, human, Read More ......
4. Turning to prose is a natural process associated with new phenomena in Russian literature of the 1930s. Lermontov could not but be captured by this process. His earliest prose work is the unfinished historical novel Vadim (1832-1834). The novel was dedicated to the extremely topical Read More ......
5. Gorky's Life Universities and Creativity as a Cry of Pain. (The shock experienced by Gorky, who entered the adult life of Tsarist Russia as a boy, was so great that it was impossible to live with it and be silent. After an unsuccessful suicide, writing became the only way to express the pain of a person, Read More ......
6. For me, all of Russia is in Gorky. Just as I cannot imagine Russia without the Volga, so I cannot think that there is no Gorky in it. K. Paustovsky Gorky occupies a large place in the life of each of us. He is the representative of the infinitely talented Read More ......
7. Proud disobedience to fate and impudent love of freedom. Heroic character. The romantic hero strives for unrestricted freedom, without which there is no true happiness for him and which is dearer than life itself. At an early stage of his work, the writer turned to romanticism, thanks to which he created a series of Read More ......
8. M. Gorky is the pseudonym of the writer. His real name and surname is Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov. He is known as a Russian writer, publicist. In the novel "Mother" (1906-1907) he sympathetically showed the growth of the revolutionary movement in Russia. Revealing the different types of life behavior of the inhabitants of the rooming house Read More ......

Composition

In his early romantic works, Maxim Gorky resorted to the tried-and-true "story within a story" method. The author listens to the wise Nadyr-Ragim-Ogly, an old Crimean shepherd, who tells him legends and fairy tales, sings strange songs, and then conveys what he heard to the readers in beautiful language. This allows the author to achieve the reliability that he needs. We unconditionally believe in the existence of Uzh and Falcon, in their conversation. The author does not need to convince the reader of the authenticity of events. Yes, it does not matter - a fairy tale before us or a true story.

The author shows two philosophies, two ways of life. “The madness of the brave” is already contrasted with “low truths”, he even hides behind ostentatious patriotism: “Let those who cannot love the earth live by deceit. I know the truth. And I will not believe their calls. Creation of the earth - I live on the earth. The author seems to agree with this petty-bourgeois philosophy. But this is only an external impression. Gorky invites the reader to make his own choice, and does not decide everything for him. The author seems to be saying: “Yes, there is life, there is truth, but it is not eternal. The development of life gives birth to new truths.
Gorky is a master of the short story. With short, but vivid phrases, he can say much more than sometimes stands behind long philosophical arguments. The skill and artistic talent of Gorky was already revealed in his early work. “Across the dark blue sky, something solemn, enchanting the soul, confusing the mind with the sweet expectation of some kind of revelation, is written with a golden pattern of stars.” Proof of this is the "Song of the Falcon"

"Makar Chudra" - the first printed work of A. M. Peshkov. It appeared in the Tiflis newspaper "Kavkaz" in 1892 and was signed by a pseudonym that was destined to soon become known to the whole world - Maxim Gorky. The publication of the first story was preceded by years of the author's wanderings around Russia, to which he was driven by an indefatigable desire to know Russia, unravel the mystery of a vast destitute country, and understand the cause of the suffering of its people. The knapsack of the future writer did not always contain a loaf of bread, but there was always a thick notebook with notes about interesting events and people he met on the way. Later, these notes turned into poems and stories, many of which have not reached us.

In his early works, including Makar Chudra, Gorky appears before us as a romantic writer. The main character is an old gypsy Makar Chudra. For him, the most important thing in life is personal freedom, which he would never exchange for anything. He believes that the peasant is a slave who was born only to pick the ground and die before he even had time to dig his own grave. His maximalist desire for freedom is also embodied by the heroes of the legend he tells. A young, beautiful gypsy couple - Loiko Zobar and Rad-da - love each other. But in both the desire for personal freedom is so strong that they even look at their own love as a chain that binds their independence. Each of them, declaring his love, sets his own conditions, trying to dominate. This leads to a tense conflict, ending in the death of the heroes. Loiko yields to Radda, kneels in front of her in front of everyone, which is considered a terrible humiliation among the gypsies, and at the same moment kills her. And he himself dies at the hands of her father.

A feature of the composition of this story, as already mentioned, is that the author puts a romantic legend into the mouth of the protagonist. It helps us to better understand his inner world and value system. For Makar Chudra, Loiko and Rudd are the ideals of love of freedom. He is sure that two wonderful feelings, pride and love, brought to their highest expression, cannot be reconciled. A person worthy of imitation, in his understanding, must maintain his personal freedom at the cost of his own life. Another feature of the composition of this work is the presence of the image of the narrator. It is almost imperceptible, but we can easily guess the author himself in it. He does not quite agree with his hero. We do not hear direct objections to Makar Chudra. But at the end of the story, where the narrator, looking into the darkness of the steppe, sees how Loiko Zobar and Radda “circled in the darkness of the night smoothly and silently, and the handsome Loiko could not catch up with the proud Radda,” his position is revealed. The independence and pride of these people, of course, delight and attract, but these same traits doom them to loneliness and the impossibility of happiness. They are slaves of their freedom, they are not able to sacrifice even for the people they love.

To express the feelings of the characters and his own, the author widely uses the technique of landscape sketches. The seascape is a kind of frame for the entire storyline of the story. The sea is closely connected with the state of mind of the characters: at first it is calm, only a "wet, cold wind" carries "across the steppe the thoughtful melody of the splash of a wave running ashore and the rustle of coastal bushes." But then it began to rain, the wind grew stronger, and the sea rumbles muffled and angrily and sings a gloomy and solemn hymn to the proud pair of handsome gypsies. In general, a characteristic feature of this story is its musicality. Music accompanies the whole story about the fate of lovers. “You can’t say anything about her, this Rudd, in words. Perhaps her beauty could be played on a violin, and even then to someone who knows this violin as his soul.

Gorky's work at the initial stage bears a strong imprint of a new literary trend - the so-called revolutionary romanticism. Philosophical ideas of a young talented writer, passion, emotionality of his prose, new

approach to man differed sharply both from naturalistic prose, which had gone into petty everyday realism and chose the hopeless boredom of human existence as a theme, and from the aesthetic approach to literature and life, which saw value only in “refined” emotions, heroes and words.

For youth, there are two most important components of life, two vectors of existence. This is love and freedom. In Gorky's stories "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil" love and freedom become the theme of the stories told by the main characters. Gorky's plot find - that old age tells about youth and love - allows us to give a perspective, the point of view of a young person who lives by love and sacrifices everything for it, and a person who has lived his life, who has seen a lot and is able to understand what is really important, what remains at the end of a long journey.

The heroes of the two parables told by the old woman Izergil are the exact opposite. Danko is an example of love-self-sacrifice, love-bestowal. He cannot live, separating himself from his tribe, people, he feels unhappy and not free if the people are not free and unhappy. Pure sacrificial love and the desire for achievement were characteristic of romantic revolutionaries who dreamed of dying for universal ideals, could not imagine life without sacrifice, did not hope and did not want to live to old age. Danko gives the heart that lights the way for people. This is a fairly simple symbol: only a pure heart full of love and altruism can become a beacon, and only a selfless sacrifice will help free the people. The tragedy of the parable is that people forget about those who sacrificed themselves for them. They are ungrateful, but well aware of this, Danko does not think about the meaning of his dedication, does not expect recognition, rewards. Gorky polemicizes with the official church concept of merit, in which a person does good deeds, knowing in advance that he will be rewarded. The writer gives an opposite example: the reward for a feat is the feat itself and the happiness of the people for whose sake it is accomplished.

The son of an eagle is the exact opposite of Danko. Larra is single. He is proud and narcissistic, he sincerely considers himself superior, better than other people. It causes disgust, but also pity. After all, Larra does not deceive anyone, he does not pretend that he is able to love. Unfortunately, there are many such people, although their essence is not so clearly manifested in real life. For them, love, interest come down only to possession. If it cannot be possessed, it must be destroyed. After killing the girl, Larra, with Cynical candor, says that he did it because he could not possess her. And he adds that, in his opinion, people only prioritize that they love and observe moral standards. After all, nature gave them only their body as property, and they own both animals and things. Larra is cunning and can talk, but this is a hoax. He overlooks the fact that a person always pays for the possession of money, labor, time, but ultimately a life lived this way and not otherwise. Therefore, the so-called truth of Larra becomes the reason for his rejection. The tribe expels the apostate, saying: you despise us, you are superior - well, live alone if we are unworthy of you. But loneliness becomes an endless torture. Larra understands that his whole philosophy was only a pose, that even in order to consider himself superior to others and be proud of himself, others are still needed. You cannot admire yourself alone, and we all depend on the assessment and recognition from society.

Freedom and love is the theme of the parable about Radda and Loiko. There is no love in slavery, no true feelings in self-deception. The heroes love each other, but freedom is above all for them. Gorky's freedom is not lawless freemen, but the opportunity to preserve one's essence, one's "I", that is, one's humanity, without which there can be neither love nor life.

The work of the early Gorky should not be reduced only to romanticism: in the 1890s. he created both romantic and realistic works in style (among the latter, for example, the stories "Beggar", "Chelkash", "Konovalov" and many others). Nevertheless, it was precisely the group of romantic stories that was perceived as a kind of calling card of the young writer, it was they that testified to the arrival in literature of a writer who stood out sharply against the background of his predecessors.

First of all, the type of hero was new. Much in Gorky's heroes made us recall the romantic literary tradition. This is the brightness, the exclusivity of their characters, which distinguished them from those around them, and the drama of their relationship with the world of everyday reality, and the fundamental loneliness, rejection, mystery for others. The Gorky romantics make too strict demands on the world and the human environment, and in their behavior they are guided by principles that are "insane" from the point of view of "normal" people.

Two qualities are especially noticeable in Gorky's romantic heroes: this is pride and strength, forcing them to contradict fate, to boldly strive for unlimited freedom, even if one has to sacrifice one's life for freedom. It is the problem of freedom that becomes the central problem of the writer's early stories.

Such are the stories "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil". In itself, the poeticization of freedom-loving is a feature that is quite traditional for the literature of romanticism. It was not fundamentally new for Russian literature and the appeal to the conventional forms of legends. What is the meaning of the conflict in Gorky's early romantic stories, what are the specific Gorky signs of its artistic embodiment? The originality of these stories is already in the fact that the source of conflict in them is not the traditional confrontation between "good" and "evil", but the clash of two positive values. Such is the conflict between freedom and love in Makar Chudra, a conflict that can only be resolved tragically. Loving each other, Radda and Loiko Zobar value their freedom so much that they do not allow the thought of voluntary submission to a loved one.

Each of the heroes will never agree to be led: the only role worthy of these heroes is to dominate, even if it is a mutual feeling. “Will, Loiko, I love you more than you,” says Radda. The exclusivity of the conflict lies in the complete equality of equally “proud” heroes. Not being able to conquer his beloved, Loiko at the same time cannot give up on her. Therefore, he decides to kill - a wild, "crazy" act, although he knows that by doing so he sacrifices pride and his own life.

The heroine of the story “Old Woman Izergil” behaves in a similar way in the sphere of love: feelings of pity or even regret recede before the desire to remain independent. “I was happy ... I never met after those whom I once loved,” she tells the interlocutor. “These are not good meetings, it’s all the same with the dead.” However, the heroes of this story are involved not only and not so much in love conflicts: it is about price, meaning and various options for freedom.

The first option is represented by the fate of Larra. This is another “proud” person (such a characterization in the mouth of the narrator is more of a praise than a negative assessment). The story of his "crime and punishment" receives an ambiguous interpretation: Izergil refrains from a direct assessment, the tone of her story is epicly calm. The verdict is entrusted to the nameless "wise man":

“- Stop! There is a punishment. This is a terrible punishment; you won't invent something like that in a thousand years! His punishment is in himself! Let him go, let him be free. Here is his punishment!

So, the individualistic freedom of Larra, not enlightened by the mind, is the freedom of exclusion, which turns into its opposite - the punishment of eternal loneliness. The opposite "mode" of freedom is revealed by the legend of Danko. With his position “above the crowd”, his proud exclusivity, and finally, his thirst for freedom, at first glance, he resembles Larra. However, the elements of similarity only emphasize the fundamental difference between the two "freedoms". Danko's freedom is the freedom to take responsibility for the team, the freedom to selflessly serve people, the ability to overcome the instincts of self-preservation and subordinate life to a consciously defined goal. The formula “in life there is always a place for a feat” is an aphoristic definition of this freedom. True, the ending of the story about the fate of Danko is devoid of unambiguity: the people saved by the hero are assessed by Izergil in no way complimentary. Admiring the daredevil Danko is complicated here by a note of tragedy.

The central place in the story is occupied by the story of Izergil herself. The framing legends about Larra and Danko are deliberately conditional: their action is devoid of specific chronological or spatial signs, attributed to indefinite antiquity. On the contrary, the story of Izergil unfolds against a more or less specific historical background (in the course of the story, well-known historical episodes are mentioned, real toponyms are used). However, this dose of reality does not change the principles of character development - they remain romantic. The life story of the old woman Izergil is the story of meetings and partings. None of the heroes of her story is honored with a detailed description - the characterization of the characters is dominated by the metonymic principle (“a part instead of the whole”, one expressive detail instead of a detailed portrait). Izergil is endowed with character traits that bring her closer to the heroes of legends: pride, rebelliousness, disobedience.

Like Danko, she lives among people, for the sake of love she is capable of a heroic deed. However, in her image there is no integrity that is present in the image of Danko. After all, a series of her love interests and the ease with which she parted with them evokes associations with the antipode of Danko - Larra. For Izergil herself (namely, she is the narrator), these contradictions are invisible, she tends to bring her life closer to the model of behavior that makes up the essence of the final legend. It is no coincidence that, starting with a story about Larra, her story rushes to the "pole" of Danko.

However, in addition to Izergil's point of view, the story also expresses another point of view, which belongs to that young Russian who listens to Izergil, occasionally asking her questions. This persistent character in Gorky's early prose, sometimes referred to as "passing", is endowed with some autobiographical signs. Age, range of interests, wandering around Russia bring him closer to the biographical Alexei Peshkov, therefore, in literary criticism, the term “autobiographical hero” is often used in relation to him. There is also another version of the terminological designation - "author-narrator". You can use any of these designations, although from the point of view of terminological rigor, the concept of "the image of the narrator" is preferable.

Often, the analysis of Gorky's romantic stories comes down to a conversation about conditional romantic heroes. Indeed, the figures of Radda and Loiko Zobar, Larra and Danko are important for understanding Gorky's position. However, the content of his stories is wider: the romantic plots themselves are not independent, they are included in a more voluminous narrative structure. Both in "Makar Chudra" and "Old Woman Izergil" legends are presented as stories of old people who have seen the life of old people. The listener of these stories is the narrator. From a quantitative point of view, this image occupies little space in the texts of stories. But for understanding the author's position, its significance is very high.

Let us return to the analysis of the central plot of the story "Old Woman Izergil". This segment of the story - the story of the heroine's life - is in a double frame. The inner frame is made up of legends about Larra and Danko, told by Izergil herself. External - landscape fragments and portrait characteristics of the heroine, reported to the reader by the narrator himself, and his short remarks. The outer frame determines the spatio-temporal coordinates of the "speech event" itself and shows the narrator's reaction to the essence of what he heard. Internal - gives an idea of ​​the ethical standards of the world in which Izergil lives. While Izergil's story is directed towards the Danko pole, the narrator's mean statements make important adjustments to the reader's perception.

Those short remarks with which he occasionally interrupts the old woman's speech, at first glance, are purely official, formal in nature: they either fill in the pauses or contain harmless "clarifying" questions. But the direction of the questions itself is revealing. The narrator asks about the fate of the “others”, the life companions of the heroine: “Where did the fisherman go?” or “Wait! .. Where is the little Turk?”. Izergil is inclined to talk primarily about herself. Her additions, provoked by the narrator, testify to a lack of interest, even indifference to other people ("Boy? He died, boy. From homesickness or from love ...").

It is even more important that in the portrait description of the heroine given by the narrator, features are constantly recorded that associatively bring her closer not only to Danko, but also to Larra. Speaking of portraits. Note that both Izergil and the narrator act as "portrait painters" in the story. The latter seems to deliberately use in his descriptions of the old woman certain signs that she endowed the legendary heroes, as if “quoting” her.

The portrait of Izergil is given in the story in some detail (“time bent her in half, her once black eyes were dull and watery”, “the skin on the neck and arms is all wrinkled”, etc.). The appearance of the legendary heroes is presented through characteristics snatched out separately: Danko - "a handsome young man", "a lot of strength and living fire shone in his eyes", Larra - "a handsome and strong young man", "only his eyes were cold and proud".

The antithetical nature of the legendary heroes is already set by the portrait; however, the appearance of the old woman combines the individual features of both. “I, like a sunbeam, was alive” is a clear parallel with Danko; “dry, chapped lips”, “a wrinkled nose, curved like an owl’s beak”, “dry ... skin” are details that echo the features of Larra’s appearance (“the sun dried up his body, blood and bones”). Particularly important is the common motif of the “shadow” in the description of Larra and the old woman Izergil: Larra, having become a shadow, “lives for thousands of years”; the old woman - "alive, but dried up by time, without a body, without blood, with a heart without desires, with eyes without fire - is also almost a shadow." Loneliness turns out to be the common fate of Larra and the old woman Izergil.

Thus, the narrator by no means idealizes his interlocutor (or, in another story, Makar Chudra's interlocutor). He shows that the consciousness of a “proud” person is anarchic, not enlightened by a clear idea of ​​the price of freedom, and his love of freedom itself can take on an individualistic character. That is why the final landscape sketch sets the reader up for concentrated reflection, for the counter activity of his consciousness. There is no straightforward optimism here, the heroism is muted - the pathos that dominated the final legend: “It was quiet and dark in the steppe. Clouds were all crawling across the sky, slowly, boringly ... The sea was muffled and mournful. The leading principle of Gorky's style is not spectacular external depiction, as it might seem if only "legends" would fall into the reader's field of vision. The inner dominant of his work is conceptuality, the tension of thought, although this quality of style in his early work is somewhat “diluted” with stylized folklore imagery and a tendency to external effects.

The appearance of the characters and the details of the landscape background in Gorky's early stories are created by means of romantic hyperbolization: spectacularity, unusualness, "excessiveness" are the qualities of any Gorky image. The very appearance of the characters is depicted in large, expressive strokes. Gorky does not care about the pictorial concreteness of the image. It is important for him to decorate, highlight, enlarge the hero, draw the reader's attention to him. The Gorky landscape is created in a similar way, filled with traditional symbolism, permeated with lyricism.

Its stable attributes are the sea, clouds, moon, wind. The landscape is extremely conventional, it plays the role of a romantic scenery, a kind of screen saver: "... dark blue patches of the sky, adorned with golden specks of stars, shone affectionately." Therefore, by the way, within the same description, the same object can be given contradictory, but equally catchy characteristics. So, for example, the initial description of the moonlit night in "Old Woman Izergil" contains color characteristics that contradict each other in one paragraph. At first, the "disk of the moon" is called "blood red", but soon the narrator notices that the floating clouds are saturated with the "blue glow of the moon".

The steppe and the sea are figurative signs of the infinite space that opens up to the narrator in his wanderings in Russia. The artistic space of a particular story is organized by correlating the boundless world and the “meeting point” of the narrator with the future narrator (the vineyard in “Old Woman Izergil”, the place by the fire in the story “Makar Chudra”) allocated in it. In a landscape painting, the words “strange”, “fantastic” (“fantasy”), “fabulous” (“fairy tale”) are repeated many times. Pictorial accuracy gives way to subjective expressive characteristics. Their function is to represent the “other”, “otherworldly”, romantic world, to oppose it to a dull reality. Instead of clear outlines, silhouettes or "lace shadow" are given; lighting is based on the play of light and shadow.

The external musicality of speech is also palpable in the stories: the flow of the phrase is leisurely and solemn, replete with a variety of rhythmic repetitions. The romantic "excessiveness" of the style is also manifested in the fact that nouns and verbs are entwined in the stories with "garlands" of adjectives, adverbs, participles - a whole series of definitions. This stylistic manner, by the way, was condemned by A.P. Chekhov, who in a friendly way advised the young writer: “... Cross out, where possible, the definitions of nouns and verbs. You have so many definitions that the reader finds it difficult to understand and gets tired.

In Gorky’s early work, “excessive” colorfulness was closely connected with the young writer’s worldview, with his understanding of real life as a free play of unfettered forces, with the desire to bring a new, life-affirming tone to literature. In the future, the style of M. Gorky's prose evolved towards greater conciseness of descriptions, asceticism and accuracy of portrait characteristics, syntactic balance of the phrase.

In his "walking around Russia" M. Gorky peered into the dark corners of life and spent a lot of writing effort to show what kind of hard labor their working days can become for people. He tirelessly searched at the “day” of life for something bright, kind, human, which could be opposed to the mundane, soulless world. But Gorky had little to say about how badly people live. Gorky began to look for those who are capable of a feat. He dreamed of strong, strong-willed natures, of fighters, but did not find them in reality. The writer contrasted the gray existence of people with the bright, rich world of the heroes of his stories.
The main theme of Gorky's romantic stories was the theme of love and freedom. Already in one of his first stories - "Makar Chudra" - Gorky expresses his own point of view: freedom for a person is the main thing in the world. A hymn to freedom and love is the story of young gypsies Loyko Zobar and Radda. Their love burned with a bright flame and could not get along with the world of ordinary, dull living people. In the gray life that people have created, the beloved would have to "submit to the tightness that squeezed them." But Radda and Loiko preferred death. Heroes do not want to sacrifice their will even for each other. For them, freedom, will is the main thing in life. “I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. Also, I love free will. Will then, Loiko, I love more than you. Even love turned out to be powerless before a person's desire for freedom, which is achieved at the cost of life.
In another story by Gorky - "Old Woman Izergil" - the writer combines the legend of Larra, the story of the life of Izergil and the legend of Danko. The main idea repeated in all three parts - the dream of people ready for a feat - makes the story a single whole. A special place in the story is occupied by the image of Izergil, who carried self-esteem throughout her life. The story of her life is the personification of freedom, beauty, moral values ​​of a person. And a reproach to the wingless, boring life of people, a reproach to many generations that have disappeared from the face of the earth without a trace: “In life, you know, there is always a place for exploits ... everyone would want to leave their shadow behind in it. And then life would not devour people without a trace.” She knew what a feat was, but she could not live her life with dignity. The heroine can only rely on her mistakes to show people the right path.
The old woman Izergil is frightened by the fate of Larra, casting a shadow on her own life. The strength of character, pride and love of freedom in Larr turn into their opposite, because he despises people, treats them cruelly. In a rush to freedom, he set foot on the path of crime, for which people punish him, dooming him to eternal loneliness. Protesting against the everyday life, Larra forgot about moral laws. Thus, Gorky says that life for the sake of freedom in solitude loses its meaning. The writer condemns Larra's selfishness and cruelty, his pride and contempt for people.
According to Izergil, Danko's distinguishing feature was his beauty, and "beautiful ones are always bold." Danko was driven only by love and compassion for people, and despite all their evil thoughts, his heart “flared with the desire to save” them. He takes it upon himself to lead the people out of the dark forest. Saving people, the hero gives the most precious thing he has - his heart. Gorky calls for self-sacrifice in the name of people. But Danko's act was not appreciated: “People. they did not notice his death and did not see what was still burning. his brave heart. Only one careful person. afraid of something, he stepped on a proud heart with his foot. By this, Gorky says that the time for such heroes has not yet come.
Thus, in Gorky's romantic works, the author clearly protests against a meager life, humility, humility, contempt, selfishness, and slave psychology. The heroes of the works destroy the usual course of life, strive for love, light, freedom. They refuse the miserable fate of serving things and money, their life has meaning, the main thing is will. Glorifying the beauty and grandeur of a feat in the name of people, they oppose people who have lost their ideals. Bright, passionate, freedom-loving - they glorify activity, the need to act. "The folly of the brave is the wisdom of life."

Essay on literature on the topic: Romantic works of M. Gorky

Other writings:

1. The work of A. M. Gorky can be treated differently. The opinion about his work has always been ambiguous: some critics “smashed” Gorky in their articles, others called him a brilliant writer. But whatever Gorky wrote about, he did it with passion Read More ......
2. For me, all of Russia is in Gorky. Just as I cannot imagine Russia without the Volga, so I cannot think that there is no Gorky in it. K. Paustovsky Gorky occupies a large place in the life of each of us. He is the representative of the infinitely talented Read More ......
3. Maxim Gorky is known to us as a classic of proletarian literature. His work reflects the real events of the early 20th century, which shook Russia and the whole world. The singer of the revolution, M. Gorky entered the history of literature not only as a realist. At an early stage of creativity Read More ......
4. Proud disobedience to fate and impudent love of freedom. Heroic character. The romantic hero strives for unrestricted freedom, without which there is no true happiness for him and which is dearer than life itself. At an early stage of his work, the writer turned to romanticism, thanks to which he created a series of Read More ......
5. Gorky's early stories are filled with romanticism, and the image of a person in them is also somewhat romantic. For him, love of freedom and pride are above all. Reading the story “Makar Chudra”, we meet precisely such heroes, only, in addition to freedom and pride, Gorky grants them extraordinary beauty. Read More ......
6. The central image of the romantic works of M. Gorky of the early period is the image of a heroic person, ready for a selfless feat in the name of the good of the people. These works include the story “Old Woman Izergil”, with which the writer sought to awaken in people an effective attitude to life. The plot is built on Read More ......
7. Gorky's first works "Makar Chudra", "The Girl and Death", "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", "The Song of the Falcon" immediately attracted attention with romantic pathos, images of proud and courageous people, life-affirming humanism. Almost simultaneously with these works, he writes “Twenty-six and one”, Read More ......

Composition

The romantic works of A. M. Gorky saw the light in the 90s of the XIX century. It was a time of indifference to ideals and bold aspirations. The historical paths followed by the populists caused disappointment among the intelligentsia. The slogan of the 1990s was: "Our time is not the time of great tasks." The hero is overthrown, the average man is glorified. Life loses its high meaning.

Gorky was the spokesman for the new stage of the liberation movement in literature. The dullness of bourgeois reality led him not to deny the feat, but to the need to search for the heroic in a romantic, fictional environment. The romantic rebelliousness of young Gorky was a form of rejection of philistinism. But his desire for a different life dressed up in romantic attire only until the moment when the living impressions of reality did not point the artist to a concrete historical, and not a fabulously romantic way out.

In a letter to Chekhov, Gorky welcomed the new century: "I recently saw the play Cyrano de Bergerac and was delighted with it:" Way to the free Gascons! We are the sons of the southern sky. We are all under the midday sun, And born with the sun in our blood!

This admiration for people "with the sun in their blood" manifested itself in Gorky already in his very first story "Makar Chudra". The daring gypsies Loiko Zobar and the fabulous Rada loved each other deeply. But they loved freedom even more. And in her name they did not spare their lives. Gorky bows before the strong, mighty passion of a "natural" person who was born on the free steppes, free and removed from the world of petty thoughts, calculation, self-interest. The gypsy camp is a community where there are their own harsh laws, but they, according to the author, do not humiliate, but glorify a person, his unbending will. Such a choice of heroes is determined by the writer's hatred for the class of philistines, slaves of a penny, living on petty passions.

In the "Song of the Falcon" the dispute between the Falcon (hero) and Uzh (philistine) leads the reader to the idea that a feat is necessary, even if others are not able to appreciate it. Gorky glorifies the "madness" of those who sacrifice themselves, not hoping for respect and understanding. This idea was especially important in an era when people lost their need for the heroic. The writer deeply believes that there are no vain sacrifices in the name of a brighter future. His revolutionary optimism was expressed with particular force in the "Song of the Petrel", which was a direct call for revolution, "storm".

The artistic style of Gorky's early romantic works is very peculiar: it is full of symbolism, hyperbole, and contrasts. Landscape plays a big role: sea, steppe, mountains. The speech of the characters is excited, pathetic, devoid of ordinary expressions. The fabulousness of the style of the young Gorky came from the desire to introduce "into a poor life such fictions" that would awaken in people a desire for an unusual, free, heroic life.

However, Gorky begins to realize the importance of specific social and everyday characteristics of the characters. And he endows them with the real features of the "bottom people", just as the romantics of the 19th century endowed their heroes with the distinctive features of "knights" or "noble savages."

Gorky creates his own world. In it, one can often observe some features of contemporary Russia. Nevertheless, the artistic reality of the writer lives according to its own internal laws. And these laws differ from the laws that existed for the realists of the 19th century.

In this world, nature is closely connected with the state of mind of the characters, which corresponds to the canons of romanticism. The sea in the story "Chelkash", the forest in the legend of Danko, the steppe in the story "Grandfather Arkhip and Lenka" change as the plot develops. If at the beginning of the work nature is calm and ordinary, then during the main conflict it "reflects" the spiritual tension of the characters. This is how a thunderstorm or storm begins. In addition, nature has a dual character. She either helps people, creating a natural background for free life, as at the beginning of the story "Old Woman Izergil", or opposes them. Rather, it is not nature itself that participates in this confrontation, but rather its "false likeness" created by people.

The embodiment of this "false likeness" is a port city that "breathes with the powerful sounds of a passionate hymn to Mercury", or a "living" forest that arose because of people's fear of nature. In both cases, the reality created by people "enslaved and depersonalized them", so it should disappear at the moment when people manage to conquer their fear. On the contrary, true nature is always alive. She embodies the immutable and eternal laws of life, so most of the stories end with landscapes symbolizing "eternity", the beauty and harmony of nature that is not subject to petty passions.

The protagonist is usually associated with nature. The whole story revolves around him. So, Chelkash feels free only in the sea, the dying Larra looks at the sky. Such a connection allows you to highlight the main character, which corresponds to the tradition of romanticism. This hero is an outcast in society, he is always alone. Far from being the "second self" of the author, he, nevertheless, embodies certain ideas close to Gorky.

The main character usually has an antagonist. Between them, a conflict arises, on the basis of which the plot unfolds. Thus, the main conflict is not only interpersonal, but also ideological. "Free" heroes oppose heroes dependent either on money, or on "traditions", or on "ignorance". Freedom for all is very different from freedom for oneself. Danko embodies the first, Larra embodies the second. Only freedom for all can bring happiness to people, teach them to "see life," as the old woman Izergil says. Her fate is opposed to the petty-bourgeois ideal of a "quiet life."

And Gavrila's dream "of a house", and Grandfather Arkhip's "care" for Lenka, and the "wisdom" of Uzh - this is a "philistine ideal" for Gorky. Traditional in romanticism, the confrontation between the "personality" and the "crowd" is complicated by Gorky. The characters are also evaluated from the point of view of ethics, so a paradoxical result is obtained: the "man of the crowd" is like a "demon" striving for "a will for himself" (in the sense that both of them can commit a crime). And here they oppose Danko, who sacrifices himself for the sake of others and therefore is a true "person".

Gorky saw that all ethical assessments are relative. He himself, for example, spoke out against Christian charity and ethics in the story "The Case with the Clasps." Gorky believed that man is not only an accumulation of sins and vices, but also a being capable of changing himself and the world. Because of this, any ethics must be "active", that is, it must evaluate a person from the point of view of his ability to "live, not reconcile."

The plot twist often turns out to be a problem to which two different belief systems give different answers. This is a stolen handkerchief in the story "Grandfather Arkhip and Lenka", the problem of "price of money" in "Chelkash" or "freedom" in "Old Woman Izergil". Then the conflict develops and a denouement occurs, and the hero may die, but his ideas win. They win not in real life, but in the reader's assessment of what is happening. The Falcon could not prove "his truth" to Uzh, for whom the happiness of flight is revealed in the fall. But it is the Falcon that appears before readers as a positive hero.

The confrontation between the two worldviews is manifested both in the appearance of the characters and in their perception of reality. "Beautiful people" are always compared to birds, they are "able to fly", as opposed to "born to crawl". In appearance and speech, they differ sharply from the surrounding people. The world "beautiful people" see in their own way, for them there is nothing terrible and incomprehensible in it. For Chelkash, the "fiery blue sword" seen by Gavrila is a simple "electric lantern".

Thus, the artistic originality of Gorky's early works is connected with the worldview of his heroes. The plot is built on the basis of the opposition of two sets of ideas. Heroes who carry these ideas, even when they die, remain victorious. From the very beginning of the work, they are compositionally singled out and opposed to the rest of the characters due to the fact that they strive to "live, not reconcile." Due to the fact that they oppose the bourgeois ideal, goodies are often embodied in such characteristic images as "tramps". This is manifested in speech, and in the desire for "free nature", and in conflict with the existing society. Such social isolation allows us to talk about their similarity with the romantic heroes of the 19th century. At the same time, Gorky endows his heroes with the distinctive features of the "people of the bottom", which can be perceived as a desire for a realistic description of the life of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Young people are especially fond of Gorky's romantic works, because in youth a person is most of all obsessed with the desire to remake, rebuild life. Ideal, bright, noble heroes, even a hundred years later, attract the reader with their dissimilarity to the people around us. "The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life!" Yes, the existing life with its way of life is presented as a kind of truth, but it is not eternal. The struggle to change life, the eternal movement forward - this is the real truth!