To give an idea of the connection between the historical and literary processes of the beginning of the 20th century; to find out what is the originality of realism in Russian literature of the beginning of the century; Mark. The inner world of the personality and its relationship with various aspects of reality according to Yu

1. Life and creative path of Trifonov.

The complexity of the fate of the writer and his generation, the talent for the embodiment of spiritual quests, the originality of manner - all this predetermines attention to Trifonov's life path.

The writer's parents were professional revolutionaries. Father, Valentin Andreevich, joined the party in 1904, was exiled to administrative exile in Siberia, and went through hard labor. Later became a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee in October 1917. In 1923–1925. Headed the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

In the 1930s, my father and mother were repressed. In 1965, Y. Trifonov's documentary book "The Reflection of the Fire" appeared, in which he used his father's archive. From the pages of the work rises the image of a man who "kindled a fire and himself died in this flame." In the novel, Trifonov for the first time applied the principle of montage of time as a kind of artistic device.

History will disturb Trifonov constantly ("The Old Man", "The House on the Embankment"). The writer realized his philosophical principle: “We must remember - here is hidden the only possibility of competition with time. Man is doomed, time triumphs.

During the war, Yuri Trifonov was evacuated to Central Asia, worked at an aircraft factory in Moscow. In 1944 he entered the Literary Institute. Gorky.

The memoirs of his contemporaries help to visibly present the writer: “He was over forty. A clumsy, slightly baggy figure, short black hair, in some places in barely visible lamb curls, with rare threads of gray hair, an open wrinkled forehead. From a broad, slightly swollen pale face, through heavy horn-rimmed glasses, intelligent gray eyes looked at me shyly and unprotectedly.

The first story "Students" is the diploma work of a novice prose writer. The story was published by A. Tvardovsky's Novy Mir magazine in 1950, and in 1951 the author received the Stalin Prize for it.

It is generally accepted that the main theme of the writer is everyday life, being dragged into everyday life. One of the well-known researchers of Trifonov’s work, N. B. Ivanova, writes: “At the first reading of Trifonov, there is a deceptive ease of perception of his prose, immersion in familiar situations close to us, collisions with people and phenomena known in life ...” This is true, but only when reading superficially.

Trifonov himself claimed: “Yes, I don’t write life, but life.”

Critic Yu. M. Oklyansky rightly asserts: “The test of everyday life, the imperious force of everyday circumstances and the hero, one way or another romantically opposing them ... is a through and title theme of the late Trifonov ...”.

2. Problems of the story by Y. Trifonov "Exchange".

1) - Remember the plot of the work.

The family of Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev, an employee of one of the research institutes, lives in a communal apartment. Daughter Natasha - a teenager - behind the curtain. Dmitriev's dream of moving in with his mother did not find support from Lena, his wife. Everything changed when the mother was operated on for cancer. Lena herself started talking about the exchange. The actions and feelings of the heroes, manifested in the solution of this everyday issue, which ended in a successful exchange, and soon the death of Ksenia Feodorovna, constitute the content of a short story.

- So, the exchange is the plot core of the story, but can we say that it is also a metaphor that the author uses?

2) The protagonist of the story is a representative of the third generation of the Dmitrievs.

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, humane.

What can you say about the hero's mother?

Find the characteristic in the text:

“Ksenia Fedorovna is loved by friends, respected by colleagues, appreciated by neighbors in the apartment and in the pavlinovskaya dacha, because she is friendly, compliant, ready to help and take part ...”

But Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev falls under the influence of his wife, "gets sloppy." The essence of the title of the story, its pathos, the author's position, as it follows from the artistic logic of the story, are revealed in the dialogue between Xenia Fyodorovna and her son about the exchange: “I really wanted to live with you and Natasha ... - Ksenia Fyodorovna paused. “But now, no.” “Why?” – “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange has taken place."

– What is the meaning of these words?

3) What makes up the image of the main character?

Description of the image based on the text.

- How does the emerging conflict with your wife over the exchange end? (“...He lay down in his place against the wall and turned to face the wallpaper.”)

- What does this pose of Dmitriev express? (This is a desire to get away from the conflict, humility, non-resistance, although in words he did not agree with Lena.)

- And here is another subtle psychological sketch: Dmitriev, falling asleep, feels his wife’s hand on his shoulder, which at first “lightly strokes his shoulder”, and then presses “with considerable weight”.

The hero realizes that his wife's hand is inviting him to turn around. He resists (this is how the author depicts the internal struggle in detail). But ... "Dmitriev, without saying a word, turned on his left side."

- What other details indicate the subordination of the hero to his wife, when we understand that he is a follower? (In the morning, the wife reminded her to talk to her mother.

“Dmitriev wanted to say something,” but he “took two steps after Lena, stood in the corridor and returned to the room.”)

This detail - "two steps forward" - "two steps back" - is a clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the limits imposed on him by external circumstances.

- Whose rating does the hero get? (We learn his assessment from his mother, from his grandfather: “You are not a bad person. But not amazing either.”)

4) The right to be called a person Dmitriev was denied by his relatives. Lena was denied by the author: “... she bit into her desires like a bulldog. Such a pretty bulldog woman ... She did not let go until the desires - right in her teeth - did not turn into flesh ... "

Oxymoron* cute female bulldog further emphasizes the negative attitude of the author to the heroine.

Yes, Trifonov clearly defined his position. This is contradicted by the statement of N. Ivanova: "Trifonov did not set himself the task of either condemning or rewarding his heroes: the task was different - to understand." This is partly true...

It seems that another remark of the same literary critic is more justified: “...behind the external simplicity of presentation, calm intonation, designed for an equal and understanding reader, is Trifonov's poetics. And - an attempt at social aesthetic education.

- What is your attitude to the Dmitriev family?

– Would you like life to be like this in your families? (Trifonov managed to draw a typical picture of family relations of our time: the feminization of the family, the transition of the initiative into the hands of predators, the triumph of consumerism, the lack of unity in raising children, the loss of traditional family values. The desire for peace as the only joy makes men put up with their secondary importance in the family. They lose their firm masculinity, the family is left without a head.)

III. Summary of the lesson.

– What questions did the author of the story “The Exchange” make you think about?

– Do you agree that B. Pankin, speaking about this story, calls a genre that combines a physiological sketch of modern urban life and a parable?

Homework.

“The exchange saw the light in 1969. At that time, the author was criticized for reproducing a “terrible mire of trifles”, for the fact that in his work “there is no enlightening truth”, for the fact that spiritual dead roam in Trifonov’s stories, pretending to be alive. There are no ideals, man has been crushed and humiliated, crushed by life and his own insignificance.

- Express your attitude to these assessments by answering the questions:

џ What comes to the fore in the story when we perceive it now?

џ Does Trifonov really have no ideals?

џ In your opinion, will this story remain in literature and how will it be perceived in another 40 years?

Lessons 81-82
The life and work of Alexander Trifonovich
Tvardovsky. The originality of the lyrics

Goals: consider the features of the lyrics of the largest epic poet of the twentieth century, noting the sincerity of the confessional intonation of the poet; to study traditions and innovation in Tvardovsky's poetry; develop the skills of analyzing a poetic text.

Course of lessons

It is impossible to understand and appreciate Tvardovsky's poetry without feeling to what extent all of it, to its very depths, is lyrical. And at the same time, it is wide, wide open to the world around and everything that this world is rich in - feelings, thoughts, nature, life, politics.

S. Ya. Marshak. For life on earth. 1961

Tvardovsky, as a person and an artist, never forgot about his fellow citizens ... he was never a poet only “for himself” and “to himself”, he always felt his debt to them; he would only take up a pen if he believed that he could say the most important thing about life, that which he knew better, more detailed, and more reliably than anyone else.

V. Dementiev. Alexander Tvardovsky. 1976

And I'm just a mortal. For your own in the answer,

I'm worried about one thing in life:

About what I know best in the world,

I want to say. And the way I want.

A. T. Tvardovsky

1) - Remember the plot of the work.

The family of Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev, an employee of one of the research institutes, lives in a communal apartment. Daughter Natasha - teenager - behind the curtain. Dmitriev's dream of moving in with his mother did not find support from Lena, his wife. Everything changed when the mother was operated on for cancer. Lena herself started talking about the exchange. The actions and feelings of the heroes, manifested in the solution of this everyday issue, which ended in a successful exchange, and soon the death of Ksenia Feodorovna, constitute the content of a short story.

So, the exchange is the plot core of the story, but is it possible to say that this is also a metaphor that the author uses?

2) The protagonist of the story is a representative of the third generation of the Dmitrievs.

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, humane.

And what about the hero's mother?

Find the characteristic in the text:

“Ksenia Fedorovna is loved by friends, respected by colleagues, appreciated by neighbors in the apartment and in the Peacock's dacha, because she is friendly, compliant, ready to help and take part ...”

But Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev falls under the influence of his wife, "gets sloppy." The essence of the title of the story, its pathos, the author's position, as it follows from the artistic logic of the story, are revealed in the dialogue between Xenia Fyodorovna and her son about the exchange: “I really wanted to live with you and Natasha ... - Ksenia Fyodorovna paused. - Not now. - Why? - “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange has taken place."

What is the meaning of these words?

3) What makes up the image of the main character?

(Characterization of the image based on the text.)

How does the emerging conflict with his wife over the exchange end?

("...He lay down in his place against the wall and turned to face the wallpaper.")

What does this pose of Dmitriev express?

(This is a desire to get away from the conflict, humility, non-resistance, although in words he did not agree with Lena.)

And here is another subtle psychological sketch: Dmitriev, falling asleep, feels his wife’s hand on his shoulder, which at first “lightly strokes his shoulder”, and then presses “with considerable weight”.

The hero realizes that his wife's hand is inviting him to turn around. He resists (this is how the author depicts the internal struggle in detail). But... "Dmitriev, without saying a word, turned on his left side."

What other details indicate the subordination of the hero to his wife, when we understand that he is a follower?

(In the morning, the wife reminded her to talk to her mother.

“Dmitriev wanted to say something, but he, “having taken two steps after Lena, stood in the corridor and returned to the room.”)

This detail - "two steps forward" - "two steps back" - is a clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the limits that are imposed on him by external circumstances.

Whose rating does the hero get?

(We learn his assessment from his mother, from his grandfather: “You are not a bad person. But not amazing either.”)

Oxymoron cute female bulldog further emphasizes the negative attitude of the author to the heroine.

Yes, Trifonov clearly defined his position. This is contradicted by the statement of N. Ivanova: "Trifonov did not set himself the task of either condemning or rewarding" his heroes had a different task - to understand "This is partly true ...

It seems that another remark of the same literary critic is more justified “because of the outward simplicity of presentation, calm intonation, designed for an equal and understanding reader, Trifonov's poetics. And - an attempt at social aesthetic education.

What is your attitude towards the Dmitriev family?

Do you want life to be like this in your families?

(Trifonov managed to draw a typical picture of family relations of our time: the feminization of the family, the transition of the initiative into the hands of predators, the triumph of consumerism, the lack of unity in raising children, the loss of traditional family values. The desire for peace as the only joy makes men put up with their secondary importance in the family. They lose their firm masculinity, the family is left without a head.)

III. Summary of the lesson.

What questions did the author of the story “The Exchange” make you think about?

Do you agree that B. Pankin, speaking about this story, calls a genre that combines a physiological sketch of modern urban life and a parable?

Homework.

“The exchange saw the light in 1969. At that time, the author was criticized for reproducing "terrible types of trifles", for the fact that in his work "there is no enlightening truth", for the fact that spiritual dead men roam in Trifonov's stories, pretending to be alive. There are no ideals, man has been crushed and humiliated, crushed by life and his own insignificance.

Express your attitude to these assessments by answering the questions:

What comes to the fore in the story when we perceive it now?

Does Trifonov really have no ideals?

Will this story remain in literature, in your opinion, and how will it be perceived in another 40 years?

Lesson 31

Dramaturgy of the 1950s and 1990s.

Moral issues

Vampilov's play

Goals: give an overview of the life and work of Vampilov; reveal the originality of the play "Duck Hunt"; Develop the ability to analyze a dramatic work

During the classes

I. Introductory talk.

When they say so: “dream in the hand”, “prophetic dream”?

Are dreams really "prophetic"?

“Dear Tasha! - Vampilov's father addresses his wife in anticipation of his birth ... I'm sure everything is fine. And, probably, there will be a robber and I'm afraid that he would not be a writer, because in a dream I see writers.

The first time you and I got together, on the night of departure, in a dream with Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy himself, I was looking for fractions, and they found ... "

August 19, 1937: “Well done, Tasya, after all she gave birth to a son. No matter how I justify the second ... I, you know, have prophetic dreams.

Dreams, indeed, turned out to be prophetic. The son, the fourth child in the family, grew up in the writer-playwright Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov.

Synopsis of a literature lesson in grade 11

"Urban Prose in Contemporary Literature".
Yu. V. Trifonov. story "The Exchange"

Goals: give the concept of "urban" prose of the twentieth century; consider the eternal problems raised by the author against the backdrop of urban life; to determine the features of Trifonov's work (semantic ambiguity of the title, subtle psychologism).

During the classes

Take care of the intimate, intimate: all the treasures of the world are dearer than the intimacy of your soul!

V. V. Rozanov

I. "Urban" prose in the literature of the XX century.

1. Work with the textbook.

Read the article (textbook edited by Zhuravlev, pp. 418-422).

What do you think the concept of “urban” prose means? What are its features?

Draw up your conclusions in the form of a plan.

Sample Plan

1) Features of "urban" prose:

a) it is a cry of pain for a person "turned into a grain of sand";

b) literature explores the world "through the prism of culture, philosophy, religion."

3) "Urban" prose by Y. Trifonov:

a) in the story "Preliminary results" he reasoned with "empty" philosophers;

b) in the story "Long Farewell" reveals the theme of the collapse of the bright beginning in a person in his concessions to the bourgeoisie.

2. Appeal to the epigraph of the lesson.

How is the content of "urban" prose related to the epigraph of today's lesson?

II. "Urban" prose of Yuri Trifonov.

1. Life and creative path of Trifonov.

The complexity of the fate of the writer and his generation, the talent for the embodiment of spiritual searches, the originality of manner - all this predetermines attention to Trifonov's life path.

The writer's parents were professional revolutionaries. Father, Valentin Andreevich, joined the party in 1904, was exiled to administrative exile in Siberia, and went through hard labor. Later he became a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee in October 1917. In 1923-1925. Headed the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

During the war, Yuri Trifonov was evacuated to Central Asia, worked at an aircraft factory in Moscow. In 1944 he entered the Literary Institute. Gorky.

The first story "Students" is the diploma work of a novice prose writer. The story was published by A. Tvardovsky's Novy Mir magazine in 1950, and in 1951 the author received the Stalin Prize for it.

Trifonov himself claimed: “Yes, I don’t write life, but life.”

2. Problems of the story by Y. Trifonov "Exchange".

1) - Remember the plot of the work.

So, the exchange is the plot core of the story, but is it possible to say that this is also a metaphor that the author uses?

2) The protagonist of the story is a representative of the third generation of the Dmitrievs.

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, humane.

And what about the hero's mother?

Find the characteristic in the text:

But Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev falls under the influence of his wife, "gets sloppy." The essence of the title of the story, its pathos, the author's position, as it follows from the artistic logic of the story, are revealed in the dialogue between Xenia Fyodorovna and her son about the exchange: “I really wanted to live with you and Natasha ... - Ksenia Fyodorovna paused. - And now - no "-" Why? - “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange has taken place."

What is the meaning of these words?

3) What makes up the image of the main character?

Description of the image based on the text.

How does the emerging conflict with his wife over the exchange end?(“...He lay down in his place against the wall and turned to face the wallpaper.”)

What does this pose of Dmitriev express?(This is a desire to get away from the conflict, humility, non-resistance, although in words he did not agree with Lena.)

What other details indicate the subordination of the hero to his wife, when we understand that he is a follower?(In the morning, the wife reminded her to talk to her mother.

“Dmitriev wanted to say something,” but he “took two steps after Lena, stood in the corridor and returned to the room.”)

This detail - "two steps forward" - "two steps back" - is a clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the limits that are imposed on him by external circumstances.

Whose rating does the hero get?(We learn his assessment from his mother, from his grandfather: “You are not a bad person. But not amazing either.”)

Oxymoron* cute female bulldogfurther emphasizes the negative attitude of the author to the heroine.

It seems that another remark of the same literary critic is more fair: “...behind the outward simplicity of presentation, calm intonation, designed for an equal and understanding reader, is Trifonov's poetics. And - an attempt at social aesthetic education.

What is your attitude towards the Dmitriev family?

Do you want life to be like this in your families?(Trifonov managed to draw a typical picture of family relations of our time: the feminization of the family, the transition of the initiative into the hands of predators, the triumph of consumerism, the lack of unity in raising children, the loss of traditional family values. The desire for peace as the only joy makes men put up with their secondary importance in the family. They lose their firm masculinity, the family is left without a head.)

III. Summary of the lesson.

What questions did the author of the story “The Exchange” make you think about?

Do you agree that B. Pankin, speaking about this story, calls a genre that combines a physiological sketch of modern urban life and a parable?

Homework.

Express your attitude to these assessments by answering the questions:

What comes to the fore in the story when we perceive it now?

Does Trifonov really have no ideals?

Will this story remain in literature, in your opinion, and how will it be perceived in another 40 years?

Lesson 7

and artistic features

stories by Yu.V. Trifonov "Exchange"

Lesson Objectives: give the concept of "urban" prose, a brief overview of its central themes; analysis of Trifonov's story "Exchange".

Methodical methods: lecture; analytical conversation.

During the classes

I. Teacher's word

In the late 60s - 70s, a powerful layer of literature was defined, which began to be called "urban", "intellectual" and even "philosophical" prose. These names are also conditional, especially because they contain a certain opposition to "village" prose, which, it turns out, is devoid of intellectuality and philosophy. But if “village” prose sought support in moral traditions, the foundations of folk life, explored the consequences of a person’s break with the earth, with the village “mode”, then “urban” prose is associated with the educational tradition, it seeks sources of opposition to catastrophic processes in social life in the sphere subjective, in the internal resources of the person himself, the indigenous urban dweller. If in “village” prose the inhabitants of the village and the city are opposed (and this is a traditional opposition for Russian history and culture), and this often constitutes a conflict of works, then urban prose is primarily interested in an urban person with a fairly high educational and cultural level in his problems , a person more associated with "bookish" culture - true or mass culture, than with folklore. The conflict is not associated with the opposition village - city, nature - culture, but is transferred to the sphere of reflection, to the sphere of feelings and problems of a person associated with his existence in the modern world.

Whether a person as a person is able to resist circumstances, change them, or the person himself gradually, imperceptibly and irreversibly changes under their influence - these questions are raised in the works of Yuri Trifonov, Yuri Dombrovsky, Daniil Granin, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Grigory Gorin and others. Writers often act not only and not so much as storytellers, but as researchers, experimenters, reflecting, doubting, analyzing. "Urban" prose explores the world through the prism of culture, philosophy, religion. Time, history is interpreted as the development, movement of ideas, individual consciousnesses, each of which is significant and unique.

II. Analytical conversation

What are the roots of such an approach to man, to personality in Russian literature?

(In many ways, this is a continuation of the traditions of Dostoevsky, who explored the life of ideas, the life of a person is not the limit of possibilities, and raised the question of “the boundaries of man.”)

What do you know about Yu. V. Trifonov?

(One of the most prominent authors of "urban" prose is Yuri Valentinovich Trifonov (1925-1981). In Soviet times, he was not an outright dissident, but he was a "stranger" for Soviet literature. Critics reproached him for writing "not about that "that his works are completely gloomy, that he is completely immersed in everyday life. Trifonov wrote about himself:" I write about death ("Exchange") - they tell me that I write about life, I write about love ("Another Farewell" - they say that it is also about life; I write about the breakup of a family (“Preliminary results” - I hear about life again; I write about a person’s struggle with mortal grief (“Another Life” - they again talk about life.)

Why do you think the writer was reproached for being immersed in everyday life? Is it true?

What is the role of "everyday life" in the story "Exchange"?

(The very title of the story “Exchange”, first of all, reveals the hero’s everyday, everyday situation - the situation of exchanging an apartment. Indeed, the life of urban families, their daily problems occupy a significant place in the story. But this is only the first, superficial layer of the story. Life is the conditions of existence heroes. The seeming routine, familiarity, universality of this life is deceptive. In fact, the test of everyday life is no less difficult, dangerous than the tests that fall on a person in acute, critical situations. Dangerous because a person changes under the influence of everyday life gradually, imperceptibly for himself , life provokes a person without internal support, a core for actions, which the person himself is then horrified by.)

What are the main events of the plot

What is the nature of the composition of the story?

(The composition gradually reveals the process of the hero’s moral betrayal. The sister and mother believed “that he had quietly betrayed them”, “he had gone sloppy”. The hero is gradually dressed for one compromise after another, as if by force, due to circumstances, retreats from his conscience: in relation to work, to a beloved woman, to a friend, to his family, and, finally, to his mother. At the same time, Victor "was tormented, amazed, racked his brains, but then he got used to it. He got used to it because he saw that everyone had the same thing, and everyone is accustomed to. And he calmed down on the truth that there is nothing in life more wise and valuable than peace, and it must be protected with all your might. " Habit, calmness are the reasons for readiness to compromise.)

How does Trifonov expand the scope of the narrative, move from describing private life to generalizations?

(The word invented by Victor's sister, Laura, - "to be lukewarm" - is already a generalization that very accurately conveys the essence of changes in a person. These changes concern not only one hero. On the way to the dacha, remembering the past of his family, Dmitriev delays the meeting with his mother, delays the unpleasant and a treacherous conversation about the exchange. It seems to him that he must "think about something important, the last. "Everything has changed on the other side. Everything has been 'looked.' Every year something changed in detail, but when fourteen years passed, it turned out that everything went wrong - completely and hopelessly. The second time the word was already given without quotes, as an established concept. The hero thinks about these changes in much the same way as he thought about his family life: maybe it's not so bad? And if this happens with everything, even with the shore, with the river and with the grass, then maybe this is natural and it should be so? "No one, except the hero himself, can answer these questions. And it is more convenient for him to answer: yes, so it should be - and calm down.)

What is the difference between the Dmitriev and Lukyanov family clans?

(In contrast to the two life positions, two systems of values, spiritual and everyday, the story is in conflict. The main bearer of the Dmitrievs’ values is his grandfather, Fyodor Nikolayevich. He is an old lawyer, with a revolutionary past: “he sat in a fortress, exiled, fled abroad, worked in Switzerland, in Belgium, he was acquainted with Vera Zasulich." Dmitriev recalls that "the old man was a stranger to any kind of Lukyanov, he simply did not understand many things." He could not understand how to "know how to live", like Dmitriev's father-in-law, Lukyanov, therefore, in in the eyes of the Lukyanov clan, Fedor Nikolaevich is a monster who understands nothing in modern life.)

What is the meaning of the title of the story?

(Life changes only outwardly, people remain the same. Let us recall what Bulgakov’s Woland says about this: “only the housing problem spoiled them.” The “housing problem” becomes a test for the hero Trifonov, a test that he cannot stand and breaks down. Grandfather says: "Xenia and I expected something different from you. Nothing terrible, of course, happened. You are not a bad person. But not amazing either."

"Lukyanization" destroys the hero not only morally, but also physically: after the exchange and the death of his mother, Dmitriev had a hypertensive crisis, and he lay at home for three weeks in strict bed rest. The hero becomes different: the thing is not an old man, but already elderly, with limp cheeks, an uncle.

The terminally ill mother says to Dmitriev: “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place... It was a very long time ago. And it always happens, every day, so don't be surprised, Vitya. And don't get angry. It's just so imperceptible…”

At the end of the story is a list of legal documents required for the exchange. Their dry, businesslike, official language emphasizes the tragedy of what happened. Phrases about a favorable decision regarding the exchange and about the death of Xenia Fedorovna stand side by side. The exchange of values took place.)

Homework(by groups):

Present the work of young poets of the 60s: A. Voznesensky, R. Rozhdestvensky, E. Yevtushenko, B. Akhmadulina.

Material for the lesson-seminar on the story "Exchange"

1. Yuri Trifonov recalled how in the 60s the story “Eternal Themes” was returned to him from the editors of Novy Mir, because the editor of the magazine (A. T. Tvardovsky) “was deeply convinced that eternal themes are the lot of what - some other literature - perhaps also necessary, but in some ways irresponsible and, as it were, lower in rank than the literature that he edited.

What does "eternal themes" mean in literature?

Are there "eternal themes" in the story "Exchange"? What are they?

Are the themes of the "Exchange" "inferior in rank" compared to the heroic-patriotic themes?

2. “The hero of Trifonov is, like the writer himself, an urban, intelligent man who survived the Stalin era with difficulty, and even tragically. If he himself did not sit, was not in the Gulag, so almost by accident he put someone there, if he is alive, then he does not know whether to rejoice at this circumstance or be upset. At the same time, all these people, more or less, are sincerely inclined to analyze both their past and present, and for this very reason they hardly fit, if not do not fit at all, into the reality surrounding them, into such insincere Soviet society" ( S. Zalygin).

Is the characteristic given by S. Zalygin suitable for the heroes of the story "Exchange"?

Do the heroes have a pronounced attitude towards the Gulag?

Which of the characters in the story is most prone to "analysis" of both their past and their present? What are the implications of this analysis?

3. “Life for Trifonov is not a threat to morality, but the sphere of its manifestation. Leading his heroes through the test of everyday life, the test of everyday life, he reveals the not always perceptible connection between everyday everyday life and the high, ideal, exposes layer after layer the whole multi-component nature of a person, the whole complexity of environmental influences ”(A. G. Bocharov, G. A. White).

How is life depicted in the story "Exchange"?

Does Trifonov lead his heroes "through the ordeal of everyday life, the ordeal of everyday life"? How is this test present in the story?

What in "Exchange" represents the high, the ideal? Is there a connection between the everyday life depicted in the story and the high, ideal?

4. Literary critics A. G. Bocharov and G. A. Belaya write about Trifonov: “He looks at people, at their everyday life, not from above, not from the mountainous distances of abstraction, but with understanding and sympathy. But at the same time, humanistically demanding, he does not forgive those “trifles” that usually disappear with a generalized enthusiastic look at a person.

Is there really no generalized enthusiastic attitude in Trifonov's view of the heroes of the story? What "little things" in the behavior and characters of the characters does the writer describe? What is his attitude to these "little things"?

5. Literary critic V. G. Vozdvizhensky writes about the story “The Exchange”: “Convincingly, visibly, with the full measure of the author’s condemnation, the writer traces how ordinary “micro-concessions”, “micro-agreements”, “micro-offences”, gradually accumulating, can ultimately lead to to the loss of the truly human in a person, for nothing arises suddenly, from scratch.

What kind of "micro-concessions", "micro-agreements", "micro-misdemeanors" of his character does the writer depict? How is the “full measure of condemnation” of these “microdeeds” manifested?

What is the meaning of adding the part "micro" to the words "concession", "agreement", "misconduct"? Is it possible to use them to characterize the behavior of the hero of the story without her?

Identify the main stages in creating a picture of the loss of "truly human in a person" in the story "Exchange".

6. "Yu. Trifonov, one might say, is chasing not a positive hero, but a positive ideal and, accordingly, denounces not so much obviously “negative characters”, but rather the qualities of a person’s soul that prevent the complete victory of the human” (V. T. Vozdvizhensky).

Try to divide the heroes of the "Exchange" into positive and negative. Did you succeed?

How does the moment of denunciation of negative characters manifest itself in the author's narrative?

7. S. Zalygin notes: “Yes, Trifonov was a classic writer of everyday life ... I don’t know another such meticulous urban writer. There were already enough village writers at that time, but urban ... he was then the only one like that.

What does "everyday writing" mean in literature? What is characteristic of such literature?

Why does the story "Exchange" not go beyond pure "everyday writing"?

Is the definition of "urban" in relation to Yuri Trifonov only an indication of the location of his work, or something more?

8. Yu. Trifonov said: “Well, what is life? Dry cleaners, hairdressers... Yes, it's called everyday life. But family life is also everyday life ... And the birth of a person, and the death of old people, and illnesses, and weddings are also everyday life. And the relationship of friends at work, love, quarrels, jealousy, envy - all this is also life. But that's what life is all about!"

Is life really presented in the story “Exchange” exactly as Trifonov himself writes about it?

How are “love, quarrels, jealousy, envy”, etc., presented and what role do they play in the story?

For the sake of what is life depicted in the story "Exchange"?

9. Critic S. Kostyrko believes that in the case of Yuri Trifonov "we are faced with the development of an image that is directly opposite to the conditions of censorship." The critic recalls the “characteristic” for the writer beginning of the story “Exchange” and notes: “The writer begins, as it were, with a private social and everyday fact and builds, develops his image in such a way that eternal themes for art clearly appear through the specifics ... In other words, from limitedness of a concrete fact, phenomenon - to the boundlessness of its meanings, to the freedom of its artistic comprehension.

What is the beginning of the story "The Exchange"? Why in this beginning we are talking about a private social fact?

Do the “eternal themes for art” appear through the image placed in the center of the narrative? What "eternal" themes does the writer associate with "exchange"?

What is the “boundlessness of meanings” of the fact of exchange manifested in?

10. The American writer John Updike wrote in 1978 about Yury Trifonov's Moscow Tales: “The typical hero of Trifonov considers himself a failure, and the surrounding society does not dissuade him from this. This communist society makes itself felt through the bonds of rules and interdependence, allowing for maneuverability within certain limited limits, and has an effect of “chest tightness” and “unbearable anxious itching” ... Trifonov’s heroes and heroines draw courage not from officially proclaimed hope, but from bestial vitality person."

What is the reason for the representation of some of the characters in the story about themselves as losers?

What is the society that surrounds the heroes of the story "The Exchange"? Does this society of heroes bind "by bonds of rules and interdependence"? How is it shown in the story?

How does the “bestial vitality of man” manifest itself in the characters of the story “The Exchange”?

11. Literary critic N. Kolesnikova (USA) noted that “Trifonov looks at his heroes from the inside rather than from the outside ... refuses to pass an open sentence on them, but simply portrays the heroes as they are, leaving the reader to draw conclusions ... Dignity Trifonov's stories in that they show the complexity of human nature, without dividing people into good or bad, altruists or egoists, smart or stupid.

How is Y. Trifonov's portrayal of the heroes "rather from the inside than from the outside" manifested in the text?

Is it fair to say that the writer refuses to pronounce open judgment on his characters? Do the characters in The Exchange do anything worthy of being judged?

Does The Exchange really show the "complexity" of human nature without dividing people into "good or bad"?

12. Literary critic A. I. Ovcharenko writes about one category of heroes of Yuri Trifonov: “... they are assertive, tenacious, resourceful, unceremonious in the means of achieving the goal. And merciless. Talent, conscience, honor, principles - everything, both their own and someone else's, will be given by them for good luck, most often turning into material and spiritual comfort.

Are there among the heroes of "The Exchange" those that the critic writes about? What is their role in the story?

Which of the heroes of Yuri Trifonov's story is most interested in "material and spiritual comfort"? What is the idea of the heroes of the story about this and that comfort?

13. Yuri Trifonov stated: “I do not agree with those critics who wrote that the author's position is not visible in the “Moscow” stories ... The author's assessment can be expressed through the plot, dialogues, intonations. One important circumstance must be kept in mind. It is hardly necessary to explain to readers that selfishness, greed, hypocrisy are bad qualities.

How is the attitude of the writer to the characters and phenomena expressed in the story "The Exchange" "through the plot, dialogues, intonations"?

How are the explanations that “selfishness, greed, hypocrisy are bad qualities” manifested in the “Exchange”?

14. Critic L. Denis wrote about the stories of Yuri Trifonov: “The language is free, unconstrained, the author tries to reproduce oral speech, without hesitation, uses argotism where necessary. But everything is not limited to this. We can say that in this writer there is something from Dostoevsky: the extreme internal complexity of the characters, the difficulty with which they try to understand themselves, make decisions. Thus, we come across extremely long paragraphs, self-twisting phrases; the difficulty of being is partly transmitted through the external difficulty of writing.

What is the role of oral speech in the story?

Are there often "extremely long paragraphs" in "self-twisting phrases" in Trifonov's works? What does the critic's phrase mean that the difficulty of being of the characters in the story is "transmitted through the external difficulty of writing"?

In the 1950s and 1980s, the genre of so-called "urban" prose flourished. This literature primarily addressed the individual, the problems of everyday moral relations.

The culminating achievement of "urban" pro-se were the works of Yuri Trifonov. It was his story "The Exchange" that marked the beginning of the cycle of "urban" stories. In the "urban" stories, Trifonov wrote about love and family relationships, the most ordinary, but at the same time complex, about the clash of different characters, different life positions, about the problems, joys, anxieties, hopes of an ordinary person, about his life.

In the center of the story "The Exchange" is a rather typical, ordinary life situation, which nevertheless reveals very important moral problems that arise when it is resolved.

The main characters of the story are engineer Dmitriev, his wife Lena and Dmitrieva's mother Ksenia Fedorovna. They have a rather complicated relationship. Lena never loved her mother-in-law; moreover, the relationship between them "was minted in the form of ossified and enduring enmity." Previously, Dmitriev often started talking about moving in with his mother, an elderly and lonely woman. But Lena always violently protested against this, and gradually this topic arose less and less in the conversations of husband and wife, because Dmitriev understood that he could not break Lena's will. In addition, Ksenia Fedorovna became a kind of instrument of enmity in their family skirmishes. During quarrels, the name of Xenia Fedorovna was often heard, although it was not at all that she served as the beginning of the conflict. Dmitriev mentioned his mother when he wanted to accuse Lena of selfishness or callousness, and Lena talked about her, trying to put pressure on the patient or just sarcastically.

Speaking of this, Trifonov points to the flourishing of hostile, hostile relations where, it would seem, there should always be only mutual understanding, patience and love.

The main conflict of the story is connected with the severe illness of Xenia Fedorovna. Doctors suspect "the worst." This is where Lena takes the "bull by the horns". She decides to urgently settle the issue of the exchange, to move in with her mother-in-law. Her illness and, possibly, approaching death become for Dmitriev's wife a way to solve the housing problem. Lena does not think about the moral side of this enterprise. Hearing from his wife about her terrible idea, Dmitriev tries to look into her eyes. Perhaps he hopes to find there doubt, awkwardness, guilt, but he finds only determination. Dmitriev knew that his wife's "spiritual inaccuracy" was exacerbated "when Lena's other, strongest quality came into play: the ability to achieve one's own." The author notes that Lena "bit into her desires like a bulldog" and never retreated from them until they were realized.

Having done the most difficult thing - having said about her plans, Lena acts very methodically. As a subtle psychologist, she "licks" her husband's wound, seeks reconciliation with him. And he, suffering from lack of will, cannot, does not know how to resist it. He perfectly understands all the horror of what is happening, he is aware of the price of the exchange, but he does not find the strength in himself to somehow prevent Lena, just as he once did not find the strength to reconcile her with his mother.

The mission to tell about the upcoming exchange of Ksenia Fedorovna Lena, naturally, entrusted to her husband. This conversation is the most terrible, the most painful for Dmitriev. After the operation, which confirmed the “worst neck”, Ksenia Fedorovna felt better, she gained confidence that she was on the mend. To tell her about the exchange means to deprive her of the last hope for life, because this smart woman could not fail to guess the reason for such loyalty for many years of her daughter-in-law, who was at war with her. The realization of this becomes the most painful for Dmitriev. Lena easily draws up a conversation plan for her husband with Ksenia Fedorovna. "Get it all on me!" she advises. And Dmitriev seems to accept Lenin's condition. His mother is simple-hearted, and if he explains everything to her according to Lenin's plan, she may well believe in the selflessness of exchange. But Dmitriev is afraid of his sister Laura, who is "cunning," shrewd and dislikes Lena very much. Laura has long seen through her brother's wife and will immediately guess what intrigues are behind the idea of \u200b\u200bthe exchange. Laura believes that Dmitriev quietly betrayed her and her mother, “loked himself”, that is, he began to live according to the rules that Lena and her mother, Vera Lazarevna, rely on in life, which their father, Ivan Vasilievich, an enterprising man, once established in their family. , a "powerful" person. It was Laura who noticed Lena’s tactlessness at the very beginning of their family life with Dmitriev, when Lena, without hesitation, took all their best cups for herself, put a bucket near Ksenia Fedorovna’s room, and without hesitation took a portrait of her father-in-law with walls of the middle room and outweighed it in the entrance. Outwardly, these are just everyday little things, but behind them, as Laura managed to see, lies something more.

Lena's blasphemy is revealed especially vividly in the morning after the conversation with Dmitriev. She is in a bad mood because her mother, Vera Lazarevna, fell ill. Vera Lazarevna has cerebral spasms. Why not be sad? Of course, the reason. And no foreshadowing of the mother-in-law's death can compare with her grief. Lena is callous in soul and, moreover, selfish.

Not only Lena is endowed with egoism. Dmitriev's colleague Pasha Snitkin is also selfish. The question of his daughter's admission to a music school is much more important to him than the death of a person. Because, as the author emphasizes, the daughter is her own, dear, and a stranger dies.

Lena's inhumanity contrasts with the soulfulness of Dmitriev's former mistress, Tatyana, who, as Dmitriev realizes, "would probably be his best wife." The news of the exchange makes Tanya blush, because she understands everything perfectly, she enters into Dmitriev's position, offers him a loan and shows all kinds of sympathy.

Lena is also indifferent to her own father. When he lies with a stroke, she only thinks that she has a ticket to Bulgaria, and calmly goes on vacation.

Ksenia Fedorovna herself is opposed to Lena, whom “friends love, colleagues respect, neighbors in the apartment and in the peacock dacha appreciate, because she is virtuous, compliant, ready to help and take part.”

Lena still gets her way. The sick woman agrees to the exchange. She dies soon after. Dmitriyev suffers a hypertensive crisis. The portrait of the hero, who yielded to his wife in this merciless deed, realizing the significance of his act and experiencing mental suffering because of this, changes dramatically at the end of the story. “Not an old man yet, but already elderly, with limp cheeks, an uncle,” this is how the narrator sees him. But the hero is only thirty-seven years old.

The word "exchange" in Trifonov's story takes on a broader meaning. It is not only about the exchange of housing, a “moral exchange” is being made, a “concession to dubious life values” is being made. “The exchange has taken place...,” Ksenia Fedorovna says to her son. - It was a long time ago".