Lyrical and philosophical digressions in dead souls. "Lyrical digressions" in the poem N

Happy is the traveler who, after a long, boring road with its cold, slush, mud, sleepless stationmasters, with the rattling of bells, repairs, squabbles, coachmen, blacksmiths and all kinds of road scoundrels, he finally sees a familiar roof with lights rushing towards him, and familiar rooms will appear before him, the joyful cry of people running out to meet them, the noise and running around of children and soothing quiet speeches, interrupted by flaming kisses , domineering to exterminate all the sad from the memory. Happy is the family man who has such a corner, but woe to the bachelor!

Happy is the writer who, past boring, nasty characters, striking in their sad reality, approaches characters that show the high dignity of a man, who from the great pool of daily revolving images chose only a few exceptions, who never changed the sublime order of his lyre, did not descend from the top to his poor, worthless brethren, and, without touching the earth, he plunged into his images far removed from it and exalted. His wonderful destiny is doubly enviable: he is among them, as in native family; and meanwhile his glory is far and loudly carried. He fumigated human eyes with an intoxicating smoke; he wonderfully flattered them, hiding the sad in life, showing them beautiful person. Everyone, applauding, rushes after him and rushes after his solemn chariot. They call him the great world poet, soaring high above all other geniuses of the world, as an eagle soars above other high-flying ones. At his name alone, young passionate hearts are already filled with trepidation, response tears shine in all his eyes ... There is no equal to him in strength - he is a god! But such is not the destiny, and another is the fate of the writer, who dared to bring out everything that is every minute before his eyes and that indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, amazing mire of trifles that have entangled our life, the whole depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which ours is teeming. an earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road, and with the strong strength of an inexorable chisel that dared to expose them convexly and brightly to the eyes of the people! He cannot gather popular applause, he cannot see grateful tears and the unanimous delight of the souls excited by him; a sixteen-year-old girl with a dizzy head and heroic enthusiasm will not fly towards him; he will not forget in the sweet charm of the sounds he himself has expelled; finally, he cannot escape from the modern court, the hypocritically insensitive modern court, which will call the creatures cherished by him insignificant and low, will allot him a contemptible corner in the row of writers who insult humanity, will give him the qualities of the heroes depicted by him, will take away his heart, and soul, and the divine flame of talent. For the modern court does not recognize that the glasses are equally wonderful, looking around the suns and conveying the movements of unnoticed insects; for the modern court does not recognize that much depth of soul is needed in order to illuminate the picture taken from a contemptible life and elevate it to the pearl of creation; for the modern court does not recognize that high enthusiastic laughter is worthy to stand next to high lyrical movement and that there is a whole abyss between it and the antics of a farce buffoon! The modern court does not recognize this and will turn everything into reproach and reproach unrecognized writer; without separation, without answer, without participation, like a familyless traveler, he will be left alone in the middle of the road. Severe is his field, and he will bitterly feel his loneliness.

And for a long time it was determined for me by a wonderful power to go hand in hand with my strange characters to survey the whole vastly rushing life, to survey it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to it tears! And the time is still far away when, in a different way, a formidable blizzard of inspiration will rise from a head clothed in holy horror and in the brilliance and will sense in a confused trembling the majestic thunder of other speeches ...

Lyrical digressions in N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls"

Lyrical digressions- the expression by the author of his feelings and thoughts in connection with the depicted in the work. N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" embodied new genre, combining satire and lyrical digressions about Russia. This work is based on a lyrical beginning - excited, emotional perception life of Gogol.
The idea of ​​the poem was three storylines(adventures of Chichikov, biography of the landowners and the activities of city officials), which are connected together symbolically roads - movements, paths, including the historical path of Russia. In this regard, the idea of ​​the Russian people, their fate in the present and future is the main one in the poem.
Author's digressions are organically intertwined in the entire content of "Dead Souls". Respectively ideological concept, they are different: most serve the purpose of expanding and deepening the pictures of Russian life drawn by Gogol. Such, for example, are the arguments about thin and fat gentlemen (Chapter 1), about gentlemen big and middle class(Chapter 4), about the passion to spoil one’s neighbor (Chapter 4), about societies and meetings (Chapter 10), etc. This also includes the writer’s reasoning about the language of the ladies of the city of NN (Chapter 8) and about the language high society- and many others.
Of a completely different nature are those lyrical digressions in which the author reflects on the world of human vulgarity, on the nature of the talent of a satirist writer, on the fate of the Russian people and all of Russia.
Important role lyrical reflections about the fate of the satirist writer play in the poem. Drawing the image of a traveler (Chapter 7), Gogol compares himself with him, and the path traveled - the first half of the first volume - with a long, boring road, which reveals a picture of "despicable life" with all its "silent chatter and bells." In this heroic reflection, the author gives a remarkable definition of the talent of a satirical writer. “Who, if not the author, should tell the whole holy truth!” - therefore, Gogol's lyrical reflections on the Russian people and Russia are distinguished by a high order of patriotic feelings. The people oppose the world of officials and landowners, just as alive soul- dead, as a pledge of hope for a great future.
The most terrible of the landowners is Plyushkin, but "he was once a living soul", "he was a thrifty owner", "was married and a family man ... The economy flowed quickly." Now we see a "hole in humanity" - an ugly miser who ruined his men and lost himself. With the help of a lyrical digression, Gogol utters amazing words addressed to readers: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgustingness a person could descend! .. The current ... young man would jump back in horror if they showed him his own own portrait in old age".
The following lines sound like a real testament of Gogol: “Take it with you on the road, leaving the soft youthful years, severe hardening courage, take everything with you human movements, do not leave them on the road, do not pick them up later! Terrible, terrible is the coming old age ahead, and gives nothing back and back!”
And yet, hope for a bright future sounds in the most famous lyrical digression that concludes the first volume of Dead Souls. At the end of the poem, Gogol uses his favorite image of the road, the traveler. Chichikov (the scoundrel hero), riding in his britzka, disappears somewhere, and at the end of the first volume, the author's excited words are addressed to the readers. As a final chord, there is a lyrical reflection on the undying Russian power, on the rapid and formidable movement towards a great future - reflections on Great Rus'- a troika bird - and wonderful horses carrying it. The Russian soul, which loves fast driving, turns out to be akin to a trio bird, born of a “brisk people”, “in that land that does not like to joke, but ... scattered halfway around the world”, and “horses in a whirlwind, the spokes shifted into one smooth circle , only the road trembled ... - and there it raced! . The poem ends with the majestic image of Rus' - the irrepressible trio, rushing into the unknown distance. In these words, the anxiety, love and pain of the satirist writer: “Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't answer…”
Great amount lyrical digressions are determined by the variety of feelings that the author experiences and expresses in this book. Their purpose is not only to expand and deepen the picture of Russian life, but also to reveal the main meaning of the poem, opposing dead souls landlords and officials are the living soul of the people. It is the thought of the Russian people, of their lively mind and sharp word (Chapter 5), of historical path Rus' (chapter 11), about the fate of the people in the present and future - the main idea of ​​the poem.

I. Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem, thereby emphasizing the equality of the lyrical and epic principles: narrative and lyrical digressions (see Belinsky about the pathos of "subjectivity" in terms of " Genre originality"Dead Souls"). I. Two main types of lyrical digressions in the poem: 1. Digressions associated with epic part, with the task of showing Rus' "from one side". 2. Digressions, opposed to the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author. 1. Digressions associated with the epic part serve as a means of revealing characters and generalizing them. 1) Digressions revealing the images of officials. - A satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. The general problem of the poem (the death of the soul) corresponds to the antithesis on which this digression is built: precisely physical qualities are the main ones in a person, determining his fate and behavior. The men here, as elsewhere, were of two kinds: some thin, who all hung around the ladies; some of them were of such a kind that it was difficult to distinguish them from Petersburg ... Another kind of men were fat or the same as Chichikov, that is, not so fat, but not thin either. These, on the contrary, squinted and backed away from the ladies and looked only around to see if the governor's servant had set up a green table for whist somewhere ... These were honorary officials in the city. Alas! fat people know how to handle their affairs better in this world than thin ones. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are only registered and wag hither and thither; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all direct ones, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will soon crackle and bend under them, and they won’t fly off. (chapter I) - The images of officials and Chichikov are also revealed in digressions: - about the ability to address: It must be said that in Russia, if they have not kept up with foreigners in some other way, then they have far surpassed them in the ability to address ... we there are such wise men who will speak with a landowner who has two hundred souls in a completely different way than with one who has three hundred of them, and with one who has three hundred of them, they will again speak differently than with one who has five hundred, but with the one who has five hundred of them, again, it is not the same as with the one with eight hundred of them - in a word, even ascend to a million, all shades will be found. The author draws the image of a certain conditional ruler of the office, in which he brings the veneration of rank and understanding of subordination to the grotesque, to reincarnation: Please look at him when he is sitting among his subordinates - you just can’t utter a word from fear! pride and nobility, and what does not his face express? just take a brush and draw: Prometheus, decisive Prometheus! He looks out like an eagle, performs smoothly, measuredly. The same eagle, as soon as he left the room and approaches his boss's office, hurries like a partridge with papers under his arm that there is no urine. (Chapter III) - about the millionaire: The millionaire has the advantage that he can see meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness, not based on any calculations ... (Chapter VIII) - about hypocrisy: This is what happens on the faces of officials during an inspection by a visiting boss entrusted to the management of their places: after the first fear had already passed, they saw that he liked a lot, and he himself finally deigned to joke, that is, to utter a few words with a pleasant smile. .. (Chapter VIII) - about the ability to talk with ladies: To the greatest regret, it should be noted that people who are sedate and occupy important positions are somehow a little heavy in conversations with ladies; for this, the masters, gentlemen, lieutenants, and no further than the captain's ranks ... (Chapter VIII) 2) A group of lyrical digressions generalizes the characters of the landlords, raises private phenomena into more general phenomena. - MANILOV: There is a kind of people known by the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, according to the proverb. (chapter II) - wife MANILOVA LIZA (about boarding schools): And as you know, a good upbringing is obtained in boarding schools. And in pensions, as you know, three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: French necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for delivering pleasant moments to the spouse, and, finally, the economic part itself: knitting purses and other surprises. However, there are various improvements and changes in methods, especially at the present time; all this depends more on the prudence and ability of the hostesses themselves. In other boarding schools it happens that first the pianoforte, then the French language, and then the economic part. (chapter II) - Speaking of the KOROBochka, Gogol uses the technique of several stages of generalization: 1) see the digression about landowners like Korobochka in the topic “Means of revealing characters in Dead Souls”. 2) comparison of the landowner with "her aristocratic sister": Perhaps you will even begin to think: yes, it’s true, is Korobochka really standing so low on an endless staircase human improvement ? Is it really so great the abyss separating her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced off by the walls of an aristocratic house ... (Chapter III) 3) A very broad generalization is given through seeming alogism: in fact, it turns out a perfect box. Once you’ve hacked something into your head, you can’t overpower him with anything; no matter how you present him with arguments, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall. (Chapter III) - NOZDRYOV: Maybe they will call him a beaten character, they will say that now Nozdryov is no more. Alas! those who speak thus will be unjust. Nozdryov will not be out of the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only walks in a different caftan; but people are frivolously impenetrable, and a man in a different caftan seems to them a different person. (Chapter IV) - Nozdryov's son-in-law MIZHUEV: The blond was one of those people in whose character, at first glance, there is some kind of stubbornness ... And it will always end with softness in their character, that they will agree precisely rejected, stupid will be called smart and will go to dance as well as possible to someone else's tune - in a word, they will start with a satin stitch, and end with a reptile. (Chapter IV) - SOBAKEVICH: Were you born like a bear, or did your provincial life, grain crops, fuss with peasants, make you bearish, and through them you became what they call a man - a fist? in the palm! And unbend one or two fingers to the fist, it will come out even worse. If he tries a little the tops of some science, he will let them know later, having taken a more visible place, to all those who really have learned some kind of science. (Chapter V) - Only PLYUSHKIN is an atypical phenomenon. The lyrical digression in Chapter VI is built on denial, the generalization is given as if from the contrary: It must be said that such a phenomenon rarely comes across in Rus', where everything likes to turn around rather than shrink. 3) In addition, there are digressions on everyday topics that are close to the epic part in pathos and language and also serve as a means of generalization: - about food and stomachs of middle-class gentlemen: The author must admit that he is very jealous of the appetite and stomach of such people. For him, all the great gentlemen living in St. Petersburg and Moscow, who spend time thinking about what to eat tomorrow and what kind of dinner to compose for the day after tomorrow, mean absolutely nothing ... (Chapter IV) - about scientific reasoning and discoveries: Our brothers , the intelligent people, as we call ourselves, act in almost the same way, and our scientific reasoning serves as proof. (Chapter IX) - about human strangeness: Go and deal with a man! does not believe in God, but believes that if the bridge of the nose itches, he will certainly die... (Chapter X) It can be seen from the analysis that in Gogol's works we are not dealing with traditional typification, but rather with generalization, universalization of phenomena. 2. Digressions, opposed to the epic part, revealing the positive ideal of the author. 1) Lyrical digressions about Russia (Rus), linking together the themes of the road, the Russian people and the Russian word. - digression about the aptly said Russian word in Chapter V (see “ Folk images, the image of the people, the nationality of "Dead Souls"). - about barge haulers (an image of the people): And in fact, where is Fyrov now? He walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having arranged with the merchants. Flowers and ribbons on the hat; round dances, songs, the whole square boils ... and the whole grain arsenal peeps out enormously, until it is all loaded into deep ships-suryak and rushes like a goose along with people to an endless valley. There you will earn enough, barge haulers! and together, as you used to walk and rage, you will set to work and sweat, dragging the strap under one endless song, like Rus'. (Chapter VII) - about the bird troika (author's spelling): Eh, troika! bird troika, who invented you? .. Isn’t it you, Rus, that brisk, unbeatable troika, are you rushing? .. Rus', where are you rushing, give me an answer? Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on the earth flies past, and other peoples and states squint aside and give it the way. (Chapter XI) How strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: road! how wonderful she herself is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air ... tighter in a travel overcoat, a hat on your ears, you will snuggle closer and more comfortably to the corner! .. And the night? heavenly powers! what a night is made in the sky! And the air, and the sky, distant, high, there, in its inaccessible depths, so immensely, sonorously and clearly spread out! .. God! how good you are sometimes, distant, distant road! How many times, like a perishing and drowning man, have I clutched at you, and every time you generously endured me and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt! .. (Chapter XI) - about Rus' and its heroes: Rus'! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful far away I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; the daring divas of nature, crowned with the daring divas of art, will not amuse, will not frighten the eyes ... Everything in you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like badges, your low cities imperceptibly stick out among the plains; nothing will seduce or charm the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song heard and heard incessantly in your ears, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea? What is in it, in this song?.. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Is it not here, in you, that an infinite thought is born, when you yourself are without end? Is it not possible for a hero to be here when there is a place where he can turn around and walk around? And menacingly embraces me mighty space, with terrible force reflected in my depth; my eyes lit up with an unnatural power: wow! what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus'! .. (Chapter XI) 2) Lyrical digressions on philosophical themes, approaching in language to lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal. - about the inconsistency of life: Is it a box, is it Manilov, is it a dual life or an uneconomic one - past them! Otherwise, the world is wonderfully arranged: the cheerful will instantly turn into sadness, if you only stagnate in front of it for a long time; and then God knows what will come into your head. Get caught at that time instead of Chichikov by some twenty-year-old youth, whether he is a hussar, whether he is a student, or just just starting a career in life - and God! no matter what wakes up, stirs, or speaks in him! .. (Chapter V) The current fiery young man would jump aside in horror if they showed him his own portrait in old age. Take with you on your journey, emerging from your soft youthful years into a stern, hardening courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, do not pick them up later! , and nothing gives back and forth! (Chapter VI) III. In addition, there are a number of digressions that reveal the author's views on artistic creativity: - About two types of writers. Based on this digression, Nekrasov's poem "Blessed is the Gentle Poet" (on the death of Gogol) was written. Happy is the writer who, past characters that are boring, nasty, striking in their sad reality, approaches characters that show the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily revolving images, has chosen only a few exceptions, who has never changed the sublime order of his lyre ... There is no equal he is in power - he is God! But such is not the destiny, and another is the fate of the writer, who dared to bring out everything that is every minute before his eyes and that indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, amazing mud of trifles that have entangled our life, the whole depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters with which ours is teeming. an earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road, and with the strong strength of an inexorable chisel that dared to expose them convexly and brightly to the eyes of the people! He cannot gather popular applause, he cannot see grateful tears and the unanimous delight of the souls excited by him ... (Chapter VII) - The digression about the portrait of heroes in Chapter II is connected with the problem of method. It is built on the antithesis: the romantic hero (portrait) is an ordinary, unremarkable hero. Much easier to portray characters big size: there, just throw paint with all your hands onto the canvas, black scorching eyes, hanging eyebrows, a forehead cut with a wrinkle, thrown over your shoulder black or scarlet like fire, a cloak, and the portrait is ready; but all these gentlemen, of whom there are many in the world, who look very similar to each other, and meanwhile, as you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features - these gentlemen are terribly difficult for portraits. Here you will have to strain your attention strongly until you force all the subtle, almost invisible features to stand out before you, and in general you will have to deepen your gaze, already sophisticated in the science of probing. (II chapter) - In a lyrical digression about language artwork the principle of democratization of the language is declared, the author opposes its artificial "ennoblement". Guilty! It seems that a word, noticed on the street, has flown from the lips of our hero. What to do? such is the position of a writer in Rus'! However, if a word from the street got into a book, it’s not the writer’s fault, the readers are to blame, and above all the readers of high society: you won’t hear a single decent Russian word from them first, and they will probably endow French, German and English in such quantities, which you don't want. (Chapter VIII) See also " Women's images in The Inspector General and Dead Souls. - On choosing a hero: A virtuous person is still not taken as a hero. And you can even say why not taken. Because it's time to finally give rest to the poor virtuous man, because the word idly revolves on the lips: virtuous man, because they turned a virtuous man into a workhorse, and there is no writer who would not ride him, goading him with a whip and everything ; because they have exhausted a virtuous person to the point that now there is not even a shadow of virtue on him, and only ribs and skin instead of a body remain ... because they do not respect a virtuous person. No, it's time to finally hide the scoundrel. So let's harness the scoundrel! (Chapter XI) Gogol claims the role of the main character of the anti-hero (see "Genre originality of Dead Souls"). - About creative plans, about a positive ideal: But ... maybe, in this same story, other, hitherto unstrung strings will be felt, the incalculable wealth of the Russian spirit will appear, a husband gifted with divine valor will pass, or a wonderful Russian girl, which cannot be found nowhere in the world, with all wondrous beauty female soul, all of generous aspiration and selflessness. And all the virtuous people of other tribes will appear dead before them, just as a book is dead before the living word!.. But why and why talk about what lies ahead? It is indecent for the author, who has long been a husband, brought up by a harsh inner life and the fresh sobriety of solitude, to forget himself like a young man. Everything has its turn, and place, and time! (Chapter XI) See also about the concept "The plot and composition of Dead Souls". - The author is aware of his lofty mission: And for a long time yet it is determined for me by a wonderful power to go hand in hand with my strange heroes, to look around at the whole hugely rushing life, look at it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to it tears! And the time is far off when, in a different way, a formidable blizzard of inspiration will rise from the head clothed in holy horror and in the brilliance, and they will smell in the embarrassed trembling the majestic thunder of other speeches ... (Chapter VII) IV. Unlike Pushkin, Gogol has no autobiographical digressions, except for the poetic "Oh my youth, oh my freshness!" to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time... Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and look indifferently at its vulgar appearance. (Chapter VI) V. From the point of view of the principle of artistic generalization, the lyrical digressions of "Dead Souls" can be divided into two types: 1. From the private, the author ascends to the national. ... but the author likes to be extremely thorough in everything and from this side, despite the fact that the person himself is Russian, he wants to be accurate, like a German. (Chapter II) Such is the Russian man: a strong passion to become arrogant with someone who would be even one rank higher than him ... (Chapter II) Turning to the right, onto the first cross road, he [Selifan] shouted: “Hey you, respectable friends!” - and set off at a gallop, thinking little about where the road taken would lead. (Chapter III) Here Nozdryov was promised a lot of all sorts of difficult and strong desires; there were even bad words. What to do? Russian people, and even in their hearts! (Chapter V) Selifan felt his mistake, but since a Russian person does not like to confess to another that he is guilty, he immediately said, drawing himself up: “Why are you jumping like that? put your eyes in a tavern, or what? (Chapter V) The guest and the host drank a glass of vodka each, ate a snack, as the whole vast Russia snacks in cities and villages ... (Chapter V) In Rus', lower societies are very fond of talking about gossip that happens in higher societies ... (Chapter IX) What did this scratching mean? and what does it mean in general?.. Scratching in the back of the head means many different things for the Russian people. (Chapter X) See also digressions about Plyushkin, Sobakevich. - Russia in "Dead Souls" is a special world that lives according to its own laws. Its wide expanses give birth to wide natures. ... she [the governor's wife] was holding by the arm a young sixteen-year-old girl, a fresh blonde with thin, slender features, with a pointed chin, with a charmingly rounded oval face, which an artist would take as a model for the Madonna and which only a rare case comes across in Rus', where loves everything to be in wide size, everything that is: and mountains, and forests, and steppes, and faces, and lips, and legs. (Chapter VIII) And what Russian does not like to drive fast? Is it his soul, seeking to spin, take a walk, sometimes say: “Damn it all!” - Is it possible for his soul not to love her? (Chapter XI) 2. The path to the universal lies through the all-Russian, national. Many phenomena of life are perceived by the author as common to all mankind (cf. philosophical digressions). We find a global generalization of the historical and philosophical plan in a lyrical digression about the fate of mankind: And in the world annals of mankind there are many whole centuries, which, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many errors have taken place in the world, which it would seem that even a child would not do now. What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable, drifting roads humanity has chosen, striving to reach the eternal truth, while the whole straight path was open before it, similar to the path leading to the magnificent temple appointed by the king to the palaces! (Chapter X) All universal generalizations are connected in one way or another with the plot-forming motif of the road (see "The Plot and Composition of "Dead Souls"). VI. Gogol's poem is built on the thematic and stylistic opposition of epic and lyrical principles. Often this antithesis is specifically emphasized by Gogol, and he pushes two worlds together: And menacingly, mighty space surrounds me, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; my eyes lit up with an unnatural power: wow! what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus'! .. "Hold, hold, fool!" Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I am with your broadsword! shouted a courier with a arshin mustache galloping towards him. And, like a ghost, the troika disappeared with thunder and dust. How strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: road! (Chapter XI) In general, speaking of stylistic originality lyrical digressions, one can note the features of romantic poetics. - conceptually: in opposition to youth and old age. See lyrical digressions on philosophical topics. - V artistic means(hyperbolas, cosmic images, metaphors). See “Genre originality of Dead Souls”. - the voice of the author, a romantic poet, with his tense, emotional intonation is also heard in a digression about the road: God! how good you are sometimes, distant, distant road! How many times, like a perishing and drowning man, have I clutched at you, and every time you generously endured me and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt! .. (Chapter XI) VII. compositional role lyrical digressions. 1. Some chapters open with digressions: - a digression about youth in Chapter VI (“Before, long ago, in the summer of my youth ...”). - a digression about two types of writers in Chapter VII (“Happy is the writer ...”). 2. Digressions can complete the chapter: - about the “accurately spoken Russian word” in Chapter V (“It is expressed strongly Russian people..."). - about the “scratching in the back of the head” in Chapter X (“What did this scratching mean? And what does it mean at all?”) - about the “bird troika” at the end of the first volume (“Oh, troika, troika bird, who invented you? .. "). 3. A digression may precede the appearance of a new hero: a digression about youth in Chapter VI precedes the description of Plyushkin's village. 4. Tipping points the plot can also be marked by lyrical digressions: - Describing Chichikov's feelings when meeting with the governor's daughter, the author again reminds the reader of the division of people into thick and thin. It is impossible to say for sure whether the feeling of love has really awakened in our hero - it is even doubtful that gentlemen of this kind, that is, not so fat, but not exactly thin, were capable of love; but for all that, there was something so strange here, something of a kind that he himself could not explain to himself ... (Chapter VIII) - the author includes discussions about the ability of gentlemen fat and thin to entertain ladies in the description of another novel scenes: Chichikov's conversation with the governor's daughter at the ball. ..people who are sedate and occupy important positions are somehow a little heavy in conversations with ladies; on this master gentlemen lieutenants and no further than captain's ranks ... Here it is noticed so that readers can see why the blonde began to yawn during the stories of our hero. (Chapter VIII) 5. By the end of the poem, the number of lyrical digressions associated with a positive ideal increases, which is explained by Gogol's plan to build "Dead Souls" on the model of " Divine Comedy" Dante (see "The plot and composition of" Dead Souls "). VIII. The language of lyrical digressions (see “Genre originality of Dead Souls”).

The author's thoughts and feelings about ideal Russia are expressed in lyrical digressions filled with a feeling of deep patriotism and love for the Motherland and a feeling of hatred for injustice. In lyrical digressions, the writer's thought goes far from the events in the life of the protagonist and covers the entire subject of the image, "all of Rus'", and even goes to the universal level. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of a person, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are contrasted gloomy pictures Russian life.

Lyrical digressions scattered throughout the poem are organically woven into the narrative and sound like a cry of pain, indignation and delight. They touch upon issues that are relevant for all times and enhance the impression of the paintings depicted. In digressions, the reader gets acquainted with persons who do not act directly in the poem. These are gentlemen "thick" and "thin", gentlemen "big hand" and "middle hand", the head of the office Ivan Petrovich, broken fellows, drunkards and brawlers and others. These episodic faces are drawn by the author with two or three strokes, but they play big role. They never meet the main character - Chichikov, but help the author in creating the image of a united Rus'.

The narrative of the poem is interrupted more than once by upbeat lyrical road sketches, soulful conversations with the reader. In one of the most poetic places in the work, which precedes the story about the life and formation of the personality of the protagonist, the theme of the road and the future of Russia merge. In this lyrical digression, folk colloquial speech is intertwined with an elevated tone of speech, and the reader, together with the author, is imbued with the charm and music of the very word “road” and a sense of delight in front of nature: “What a strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: road ! and how wonderful she herself is, this road: a clear day, autumn leaves, cold air ... "

The author speaks of “churches with ancient domes and blackening buildings”, “dark log and stone houses”, “fields and steppes”, “huts scattered on a slope”, penetratingly conveys the feelings of a person racing on a troika: “God! how good you are sometimes, distant, distant road! How many times, like a perishing and drowning man, have I clutched at you, and every time you generously endured me and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt! .. "

Extra-plot, inserted episodes, scenes, pictures, reasonings of the author organically enter the poem. For example, Gogol casually sketches portraits of "thin" and "fat" officials. "Alas! Fat people know how to better manage their affairs in this world than thin ones, ”writes Gogol. Or a satirical portrait of a certain ruler of the office. Among his subordinates, the ruler is “Prometheus, decisive Prometheus! .. and a little higher than him, such a transformation will take place with Prometheus, which even Ovid will not invent: a fly, even smaller than a fly, is destroyed into a grain of sand!”

IN last chapter, telling about the formation of Chichikov's character, the reader is again immersed in the world of vulgarity and evil. On the example of the life of his hero, the author very accurately formulates the principles that prevail in his modern world: “most of all take care and save a penny”, “get along with those who are richer”, “please the authorities”. With undisguised irony, the writer speaks of a system of education in which abilities and talents have no value, and eternal truths are driven into the heads of young men with the help of flogging and other punishments. The spirit of commerce and profit that reigned in the world of the feudal nobility penetrated into educational establishments and destroyed everything pure and poetic in the souls of young people.

However, plunging once again into the world of self-interest and profit, Gogol again returns us to the positive principles of the Russian character, inspires confidence in the bright future of his people. In a lyrical digression that completes the story, he talks about the giftedness of the Yaroslavl peasant, who made a road wagon with a chisel and a hammer, about a trio bird that originated among a lively people "in that land that does not like to joke, but scattered over half the world with smooth smoothness", about courage and prowess of a simple Russian person. The poem is completed by the grandiose in its expressiveness the image of the rushing Rus' - the troika bird. In the last lyrical digression, the author emphasizes the doom of the world of officials and landowners and faith in endless possibilities Russian people.

Throughout the story, the author draws our attention to the Chichikov troika, more than once indicating even the nicknames of the horses harnessed to it. Troika Chichikov is one of the main and expressive actors works. At the end of the poem, we again see Chichikov's troika: Selifan slaps Chubary on the back, after which he sets off at a trot. The movement of the three gradually accelerates, and the image of the three changes its inner meaning. Instead of the troika of Chichikov, the Russian troika appears, and at the same time the intonation of the narration changes. An image appears before us native land, and the horses rush in a whirlwind, separate from the earth and turn into lines flying through the air, and instead of a troika, Rus' appears in all its rapid movement. The author's speech is singsong, filled with emotional epithets and synonyms, metaphors and exclamations: “Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer." This digression contains the result of many years of Gogol's thoughts about the fate of Russia, about the present and future of its people. After all, it is the people who oppose the world of officials, landlords, businessmen, like a living soul - a dead one.

All topics of the book “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol. Summary. features of the poem. Compositions":

Summary poem "Dead Souls": Volume one. Chapter first

Features of the poem "Dead Souls"

Lyrical digressions in "Dead Souls"

Lyrical digressions in Dead Souls. At every word of the poem, the reader can say: “Here is the Russian spirit, here it smells of Russia!” This Russian spirit is felt in humor, and in irony, and in the expression of the author, and in the sweeping strength of feelings, and in the lyricism of digressions ... V. G.

Belinsky I know; if I now open Dead Souls at random, the volume will open as usual on page 231... “Rus! What do you want from me? What incomprehensible bond lurks between us? Why do you look like that, and why does everything that is in you turn eyes full of expectation at me? ..

And yet, full of bewilderment, I stand motionless, and already a menacing cloud, heavy with coming rains, has already dawned on my head, and my thought has become numb before your space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Is it not here, in you, that an infinite thought is born, when you yourself are without end? Is it not possible for a hero to be here when there is a place where he can turn around and walk around? And menacingly embraces me mighty space, with terrible power reflected in my depths; unnatural power lit up my eyes: Wu!

what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus!" This is a favorite. A hundred times read and re-read. Therefore, the volume always opens itself at page 231...

Why exactly this? Why not something like this: “Oh, a troika! ..” Or: “God, how good you are sometimes, yes, a long, long road!” Or... No, it's still this.

Here he is. Gogol, embraced by the "mighty space" of Rus', which was reflected in his depths with "terrible power" ... And what depth did the immortal writer give to the words, which reflected all his "sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth ...". This is the “incomprehensible connection” between talent and the earth that has nurtured this talent.

“In Dead Souls, his subjectivity is felt everywhere and tangibly-borrowed ... which in the artist reveals a person with a warm heart ... which does not allow him, with apathetic indifference, to be alien to the world he draws, but forces him to pass through his soul I live the phenomena of the external world, and through that I breathe my soul into them ... The predominance of subjectivity, penetrating and animating with itself the entire poem of Gogol, reaches high lyrical pathos and embraces the soul of the reader with refreshing waves ... "( IN.

G. Belinsky). Reading lyrical digressions (and not only them, but the whole poem) for the first time, without knowing the name of the author, you can say with confidence: "Wrote Russian." What exact expressions, the very construction of phrases, deep and extensive knowledge of the earth, what you write about! Truly Russian (smooth, a little sad, rich in the most subtle shades of mood) poetry.

You have to be a poet, like Gogol was, to write such a poem in prose! In "Dead Souls" Gogol became "a Russian national poet in the entire space of this word" (V. G. Belinsky). Poet?

Poem? Yes. Poet. And a poem. Gogol did not call his offspring a poem for nothing. Neither in the story, nor in the story, nor in the novel can the author so freely intrude his "I" into the course of the story.

The digressions in Dead Souls are of great value. They are valuable for their high artistic value, the limit of the author's self-expression, and their relevance in a particular context. Gogol ironically talks about "fat" and "thin" representatives of the nobility, about "gentlemen of a big hand" and "gentlemen of an average hand", speaks of the Russian word and Russian song. All this is subtly and skillfully woven into the plot of the work. Remember the beginning of the sixth chapter?

“Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...” Remember: “...O my youth! oh my freshness! And a few pages later: “At one of the buildings, Chichikov soon noticed some figure ... The dress on her was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap, which village yard women wear , only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman.

Bah, it's Plushkin! Well, this “hole in humanity” looks wretched against the background of such a lyrical passage! And between two beautiful digressions ("Rus! Rus! I see you...

"And" What a strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: road! Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I fell-shom! shouted a courier with a arshin mustache galloping towards.

Don't you see, the goblin tear your soul: a state-owned carriage! The vulgarity, emptiness, meanness of life are even more clearly outlined against the background of sublime lyrical lines. This technique of contrast is applied by Gogol with great skill. Thanks to such a sharp contrast, we better understand the vile features of the heroes of Dead Souls. Such is the role of lyrical digressions in the composition of the poem.

But the most important thing is that many of the author's views on art and relations between people are expressed in lyrical digressions. From these short passages one can take out so much spiritual warmth, so much love for the native people and everything they have created, so much smart and necessary, as much as you can’t take out from some multi-volume novels. Gogol pulled out on the pages of the book "all the terrible, amazing mire of trifles, all the depth of everyday characters ...". Gogol, with the strong strength of an inexorable chisel, exposed the boring, vulgar trifles of life convexly and brightly for public viewing and ridiculed them in the proper way.

And here is the road. Such as Gogol draws it: “A clear day, autumn leaves, cold air ... tighter in a travel overcoat, a hat on our ears, we will snuggle closer and more comfortably to the corner! .. God! how good you are sometimes, distant, distant road!

How many times, like a perishing and drowning man, I clutched at you, and every time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt ... ”Honestly, I just want to pack up and hit the road. But now they travel a little differently: by train, by plane, by car. Only steppes, forests, cities, half-stations, clouds sparkling under the sun would flash before my eyes.

Our country is wide, there is something to look at! “Isn’t it true that you too, Rus, are rushing about with a brisk, unbeaten troika? ..” Rus is rushing, always moving for the better. She is already beautiful, Rus', but is there a limit to the best, is there a limit to the human dream? And are we now familiar with this "unknown distance to the earth"?

Mostly familiar. But she still has a lot ahead of her, which we will not see. It is impossible to make out each lyrical digression separately, it is impossible in short essay give an assessment to each passage: in Dead Souls there are many large and non-verbose author's digressions, assessments, remarks, each of which requires and deserves special attention. Many topics are covered. But the common thing is that from each digression we see one of the traits of a writer dear to our memory, as a result of which we get the opportunity to draw the image of a true humanist, a patriotic writer.

___________________________________________________________________________

In the poem by N.V. Gogol, two principles are connected - a satirical denunciation of the contemporary socio-political reality of the writer and the assertion of goodness, beauty and creativity as the foundations of being. The first of them is connected with the series of events, and the second is presented primarily in lyrical digressions.
The author will give a detailed description of the social life of Russia in the poem, using the example of six landowners and a dozen officials, he shows the depressing moral state of the privileged part of Russian society, but at the same time, in his digressions, he speaks of the original beauty human soul, glorifies the creative forces of the Russian people, expresses faith in the great future of Russia.
The idea of ​​the initially pure and good nature of man is one of the leading motives in the writer's worldview. The pain of a person who has completely lost spirituality sounds with special emotional force in the author's commentary dedicated to Plyushkin (chapter six): “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgustingness a person could descend! And does it look like it's true? Everything seems to be true, everything can happen to a person. The current fiery young man would jump back in horror if he were shown his own portrait in old age.
Further, the author points out the only way that can save the soul from decay, will not allow a person to become a living dead like Plyushkin: them on the road, you won’t pick them up later!” The episode connected with Plyushkin is preceded by elegiac reminiscences of his own youth, of the years of "irrevocably flashed childhood". The writer complains that his soul did not escape the deadening influence of time - after all, before, every new impression struck him, "nothing escaped fresh subtle attention." The theme of youth is also connected with a fleeting reflection on the meaning of dreams and "shining joy" that illuminates life, in connection with the description of Chichikov's chance meeting on the road with a young blonde.
Gogol was convinced that only through the denial of the ugly and the ugly could the path to the realization of the true foundations of life be paved. This position of the author is reflected in a lyrical digression at the beginning of the seventh chapter. If the goal of the writer is to create beautiful characters, hiding the “sad in life”, to pluck applause, to soar above the world (“There is no equal to him in strength - he is a god!”), then “this is not the destiny, and another fate of the writer who dared to call out. .. all the terrible, amazing mire of trifles that have entangled our lives, all the depths of cold, fragmented,
everyday characters...
Some digressions are devoted to ridicule "types of little things". So, the writer divides everyone
officials into "fat" and "slushy", recognizing the great adaptability of the "fat" to life: "Alas! fat people know how to handle their affairs better in this world than thin ones. Thin ones... wag to and fro; their existence is somehow too easy, airy and completely unreliable. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all direct ones, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will soon crackle and bend under them, and they will not fly off. Contrasted, of course, are not the physical, but the psychological properties of people. The author draws two types of social behavior on the example of "thick" and "thick" ones. “Fat” are purchasers and savers, for them it is not external brilliance and minute fun that matters, but a serious service career, significant, large acquisitions - houses, lands (variants of this type are presented in the images of Korobochka, Sobakevich, Chichikov); “sludgy” are spenders, life-burners, lowering, “according to Russian custom, on courier all father’s goods” (Nozdrev). The detail noted in passing - “according to
Russian custom" - testifies to a somewhat more good-natured and condescending attitude of the author towards the "thin" (spenders) than towards the "fat" ones (hoarders). This is confirmed by the general meaning of Chichikov's denunciation, which combines the most disgusting features of modern Russian life: service to the "penny", an unbridled craving for acquisition.
The world of corrupt and lazy officials, stupid and greedy, spiritually dead landowners, the “type of trifles” is opposed in the poem by the romantic image of the creative, morally and spiritually healthy, gifted Russian people, the majestic image of Rus' itself.
Every people, “full of the creative abilities of the soul”, is distinguished “each by its own word”, but, according to Gogol, “there is no word that would be so bold, brisk, would break out from under the very heart, would boil and vibrate like well-spoken Russian word.
The image of the road passes through the entire poem, which in Gogol is filled with a variety of meanings. “The Chichikov Road” is an alternation of successes and disasters, movement in a vicious circle, a path to nowhere. "Author's Road" is the road of creative comprehension of life. In the final lyrical digression of the poem, the image-symbol of the road reveals its main content: the author writes about the historical movement of Russia into an unknown future.

“Dead Souls” is a lyrical-epic work - a poem in prose that combines two principles: epic and lyrical. The first principle is embodied in the author's intention to draw "all Rus'", and the second - in the author's lyrical digressions related to his intention, which form an integral part of the work.
The epic narrative in "Dead Souls" is continually interrupted by the author's lyrical monologues, evaluating the behavior of the character or reflecting on life, art, Russia and its people, as well as touching on topics such as youth and old age, the appointment of the writer, which help to learn more O spiritual world writer, about his ideals.
Of greatest importance are lyrical digressions about Russia and the Russian people. Throughout the poem, the author's idea of ​​a positive image of the Russian people is affirmed, which merges with the glorification and glorification of the motherland, which expresses the author's civil-patriotic position.
So, in the fifth chapter, the writer praises the “live and lively Russian mind”, his extraordinary ability to verbal expressiveness, that "if he rewards a slanting word, then it will go to his family and offspring, he will drag him with him to the service, and to retirement, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world." Chichikov's reasoning was prompted by his conversation with the peasants, who called Plyushkin "patched" and knew him only because he fed his peasants poorly.
Gogol felt the living soul of the Russian people, their boldness, courage, diligence and love for a free life. In this respect, the author's discourses, put into the mouth of Chichikov, about the serfs in the seventh chapter, are of profound significance. What appears here is not a generalized image of Russian peasants, but specific people with real features, written out in detail. This is the carpenter Stepan Cork - “a hero who would be fit for the guard”, who, according to Chichikov’s assumption, went all over Rus' with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders. This is the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, who studied with a German and decided to get rich at once, making boots from rotten leather, which fell apart after two weeks. On this, he abandoned his work, took to drink, blaming everything on the Germans, who do not give life to the Russian people.
Further, Chichikov reflects on the fate of many peasants bought from Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Manilov and Korobochka. But here's the idea of ​​"revelry folk life” did not coincide so much with the image of Chichikov that the author himself takes the floor and continues the story on his own behalf, the story of how Abakum Fyrov walks on the grain pier with barge haulers and merchants, having worked out “under one, like Rus', song”. The image of Abakum Fyrov indicates the love of the Russian people for a free, wild life, festivities and fun, despite the hard life of a serf, the oppression of landlords and officials.
In lyrical digressions, the tragic fate of a enslaved people, downtrodden and socially humiliated, appears, which is reflected in the images of Uncle Mitya and Uncle Minya, the girl Pelageya, who could not distinguish where the right is, where the left is, Plyushkin's Proshka and Mavra. Behind these images and pictures of folk life lies a deep and broad soul Russian people.
Love for the Russian people, for the motherland, the patriotic and lofty feelings of the writer were expressed in the image of the troika created by Gogol, rushing forward, personifying the mighty and inexhaustible forces of Russia. Here the author thinks about the future of the country: “Rus, where are you rushing to?” He looks to the future and does not see it, but as a true patriot he believes that in the future there will be no manilovs, dogs, nostrils, plushies, that Russia will rise to greatness and glory.
The image of the road in lyrical digressions is symbolic. This is the road from the past to the future, the road along which every person and Russia as a whole develops.
The work ends with a hymn to the Russian people: “Eh! troika! Threesome bird, who invented you? You could have been born among a lively people...” Here, lyrical digressions perform a generalizing function: they serve to expand the artistic space and to create a holistic image of Rus'. They reveal the positive ideal of the author - Russia of the people, which is opposed to landowner-bureaucratic Rus'.
But, in addition to lyrical digressions, glorifying Russia and its people, there are reflections in the poem lyrical hero on philosophical topics, for example, about youth and old age, the calling and appointment of a true writer, about his fate, which are somehow connected with the image of the road in the work. So, in the sixth chapter, Gogol exclaims: “Take with you on the road, emerging from your soft youthful years into severe hardening courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, do not raise them later! ..” Thus, the author wanted to say that all the best things in life are connected precisely with youth and one should not forget about it, as the landowners described in the novel did, becoming “dead souls”. They do not live, but exist. Gogol, on the other hand, calls to preserve a living soul, freshness and fullness of feelings, and to remain so for as long as possible.
Sometimes, thinking about the transience of life, about changing ideals, the author himself appears as a traveler: “Before, long ago, in the summers of my youth ... it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time ... Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and I look indifferently at her vulgar appearance; my chilled gaze is unpleasant, it’s not funny to me ... and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth! O my freshness!”
To recreate the completeness of the image of the author, it is necessary to say about lyrical digressions in which Gogol talks about two types of writers. One of them “never changed the sublime structure of his lyre, did not descend from his top to his poor, insignificant fellows, and the other dared to call out everything that is every minute before the eyes and that indifferent eyes do not see.” The destiny of a real writer who dared to truthfully recreate reality hidden from the eyes of the people is such that, unlike the romantic writer, absorbed in his unearthly and sublime images, he is not destined to achieve fame and experience joyful feelings when you are recognized and sung. Gogol comes to the conclusion that the unrecognized writer-realist, the writer-satirist will remain without participation, that "his field is harsh, and he bitterly feels his loneliness."
The author also speaks of “connoisseurs of literature” who have their own idea of ​​the purpose of a writer (“Better present us with something beautiful and exciting”), which confirms his conclusion about the fate of two types of writers.
All this recreates the lyrical image of the author, who for a long time will still go hand in hand with “a strange hero, looking around at the whole enormously rushing life, looking at it through laughter visible to the world and invisible, unknown to him tears!”
So, lyrical digressions occupy a significant place in Gogol's poem Dead Souls. They are remarkable from the point of view of poetics. They hint at the beginnings of a new literary style, which would later find a bright life in Turgenev's prose and especially in Chekhov's work.

At every word of the poem, the reader can say: “Here is the Russian spirit, here it smells of Russia!” This Russian spirit is felt in humor, and in irony, and in the expression of the author, and in the sweeping strength of feelings, and in the lyricism of digressions ...

V. G. Belinsky

I know; If I now open Dead Souls at random, the volume will open as usual at page 231...

"Rus! What do you want from me? What incomprehensible bond lurks between us? Why do you look like that, and why did everything that is in you turn eyes full of expectation at me? and the thought became numb in front of your space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Is it not here, in you, that an infinite thought is born, when you yourself are without end? Is it not possible for a hero to be here when there is a place where he can turn around and walk around? And menacingly embraces me mighty space, with terrible power reflected in my depths; unnatural power lit up my eyes: Wu! what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus!" This is a favorite. A hundred times read and re-read. Therefore, the volume always opens itself at page 231...

Why exactly this? Why not something like this: “Oh, a troika! ..” Or: “God, how good you are sometimes, yes, a long, long road!” Or... No, it's still this. Here he is. Gogol, embraced by the "mighty space" of Rus', which was reflected in his depths with "terrible power" ... And what depth did the immortal writer give to the words, which reflected all his "sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth ...". This is the “incomprehensible connection” between talent and the earth that has nurtured this talent.

“In Dead Souls, his subjectivity is felt everywhere and tangibly-borrowed ... which in the artist reveals a person with a warm heart ... which does not allow him, with apathetic indifference, to be alien to the world he draws, but forces him to pass through his soul I live the phenomena of the external world, and through that I breathe my soul into them ... The predominance of subjectivity, penetrating and animating with itself the entire poem of Gogol, reaches a high lyrical pathos and refreshing waves covers the soul of the reader ... ”(V. G. Belinsky).

Reading lyrical digressions (and not only them, but the whole poem) for the first time, without knowing the name of the author, you can say with confidence: "Wrote Russian." What exact expressions, the very construction of phrases, deep and extensive knowledge of the earth, what you write about! Truly Russian (smooth, a little sad, rich in the most subtle shades of mood) poetry. You have to be a poet, like Gogol was, to write such a poem in prose! In "Dead Souls" Gogol became "a Russian national poet in the entire space of this word" (V. G. Belinsky).

Poet? Poem? Yes. Poet. And a poem. Gogol did not call his offspring a poem for nothing. Neither in the story, nor in the story, nor in the novel can the author so freely intrude his "I" into the course of the story.

The digressions in Dead Souls are of great value. They are valuable for their high artistic value, the limit of the author's self-expression, and their relevance in a particular context.

Gogol ironically talks about "fat" and "thin" representatives of the nobility, about "gentlemen of a big hand" and "gentlemen of an average hand", speaks of the Russian word and Russian song. All this is subtly and skillfully woven into the plot of the work.

Remember the beginning of the sixth chapter? “Before, long ago, in the years of my youth...” Remember: “...O my youth! oh my freshness! And a few pages later: “At one of the buildings, Chichikov soon noticed some figure ... The dress on her was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap, which village yard women wear , only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman. Bah, it's Plushkin! Well, this “hole in humanity” looks wretched against the background of such a lyrical passage!

And between two wonderful digressions ("Rus! Rus! I see you ..." and "What a strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: the road!"), Which at the beginning of the eleventh chapter, sounds like a nightmarish dissonance: "Hold Hold on, fool! Chichikov shouted to Selifan. “Here I fell-shom! shouted a courier with a arshin mustache galloping towards. “Don’t you see, goblin tear your soul: government carriage!”

The vulgarity, emptiness, meanness of life are even more clearly outlined against the background of sublime lyrical lines. This technique of contrast is applied by Gogol with great skill. Thanks to such a sharp contrast, we better understand the vile features of the heroes of Dead Souls.

Such is the role of lyrical digressions in the composition of the poem.

But the most important thing is that many of the author's views on art and relations between people are expressed in lyrical digressions. From these short passages one can take out so much spiritual warmth, so much love for the native people and everything they have created, so much smart and necessary, as much as you can’t take out from some multi-volume novels.

Gogol pulled out on the pages of the book "all the terrible, amazing mire of trifles, all the depth of everyday characters ...". Gogol, with the strong strength of an inexorable chisel, exposed the boring, vulgar trifles of life convexly and brightly for public viewing and ridiculed them in the proper way.

And here is the road. Such as Gogol draws it:

“A clear day, autumn leaves, cold air ... tighter in a travel overcoat, a hat on our ears, let’s snuggle closer and more comfortably to the corner! .. God! how good you are sometimes, distant, distant road! How many times, like a perishing and drowning man, I clutched at you, and every time you generously carried me out and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt ... ”Honestly, I just want to pack up and hit the road. But now they travel a little differently: by train, by plane, by car. Only steppes, forests, cities, half-stations, clouds sparkling under the sun would flash before my eyes. Our country is wide, there is something to look at!

“Isn’t it true that you too, Rus, are rushing about with a brisk, unbeaten troika? ..” Rus is rushing, always moving for the better. She is already beautiful, Rus', but is there a limit to the best, is there a limit to the human dream? And are we now familiar with this "unknown distance to the earth"? Mostly familiar. But she still has a lot ahead of her, which we will not see.

It is impossible to make out each lyrical digression separately, it is impossible to evaluate each passage in a short essay: in "Dead Souls" there are many large and non-verbose author's digressions, assessments, remarks, each of which requires and deserves a special attention. Many topics are covered. But the common thing is that from each digression we see one of the traits of a writer dear to our memory, as a result of which we get the opportunity to draw the image of a true humanist, a patriotic writer.