The history of the creation of peter 1 alexey tolstoy. "Peter the Great" - a novel about a turning point in the life of Russia

A. N. Tolstoy created the novel "Peter the Great" for about a decade and a half. Three books were written, a continuation of the epic was planned, but even the third book was not completed. Before writing, the author deeply studied historical sources, and as a result, we have the opportunity to see a portrait of the creator of the empire.

"Peter the Great" is a novel about the manners and life of that era, in which magnificent portraits of the time of Peter the Great are given. This is largely facilitated by the language, which conveys the flavor of the 17th century.

Childhood and youth of the king

After the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and then his son, the active and energetic Sofya Alekseevna sought to come to power, but the boyars prophesy the kingdom of Peter, the healthy and lively son of Naryshkina. "Peter the Great" - a novel that describes tragic events in Rus', where antiquity and nobility rule, and not mind and business qualities where life flows the old fashioned way.

Incited by Sophia, the archers demand that they be shown the two young princes Ivan and Peter, who are later installed in the kingdom. But despite this, their sister Sophia really rules in the state. She sends Vasily Golitsyn to the Crimea to fight the Tatars, but returns ingloriously Russian army. Meanwhile, Petrusha is growing up away from the Kremlin. "Peter the Great" is a novel that introduces the reader to those persons who will later be Peter's associates: Aleksashka Menshikov, the clever boyar Fyodor Sommer. In the German Liberty young Peter meets who later becomes the uncrowned queen. Meanwhile, the mother marries her son to Evdokia Lopukhina, who does not understand the aspirations of her husband and gradually becomes a burden to him. This is how the action in Tolstoy's novel develops rapidly.

"Peter the Great" is a novel that in the first part shows the conditions under which the inflexible character of the autocrat is forged: conflicts with Sophia, the capture of Azov, the Great Embassy, work at the shipyards in Holland, the return and bloody suppression of the streltsy rebellion. One thing is clear - there will be no Byzantine Rus' under Peter.

The maturity of the autocrat

How does a king build? new country, shows A. Tolstoy in the second volume. Peter the Great does not let the boyars sleep, elevates the active merchant Brovkin, gives his daughter Sanka in marriage to their former master and owner Volkov. The young king longs to lead the country to the seas in order to freely and duty-free trade and grow rich in it. He organizes the construction of the fleet in Voronezh. Later, Peter sails to the shores of the Bosphorus. By this time, Franz Lefort had died - true friend and an assistant who understood the king better than he understood himself. But the thoughts laid down by Lefort, which Peter could not formulate, are beginning to be realized. He is surrounded by active energetic people, and all the mossy and ossified boyars, like Buynosov, have to be pulled out of their slumber by force. The merchant Brovkin is gaining great power in the state, and his daughter, the noble noblewoman Volkova, is mastering Russian and foreign languages and dreams of Paris. His son Yakov is in the Navy, Gavrila is studying in Holland, Artamosha, who has received a good education, helps his father.

War with Sweden

Already laid on marshy and swampy St. Petersburg - the new capital of Russia.

Natalya, Peter's beloved sister, in Moscow does not let the boyars doze off. She puts on performances, suits the European court of Peter's beloved - Catherine. Meanwhile, the war with Sweden begins. A. Tolstoy talks about 1703-1704 in the third book. Peter the Great leads the army and, after a long siege, takes Narva, and the general commandant of the Horn fortress, who doomed many people to senseless death, is taken to prison.

Personality of Peter

Peter is the central personality of the work. Many are included in the novel. actors from the people who see in him both a ruler who has been replaced abroad, and a reformer tsar who is hardworking and does not shy away from menial work: he himself cuts with an ax when building ships. The king is inquisitive, easy to communicate with, brave in battle. The novel "Peter the Great" presents the image of Peter in dynamics and development: from a young, poorly educated boy who, already in childhood, begins to plan the creation of a new type of army, to a purposeful builder of a huge empire.

On its way, it sweeps away everything that prevents Russia from becoming a full-fledged European state. The main thing for him at any age is to sweep away the old, musty, everything that interferes with moving forward.

Memorable pictures were created by A. N. Tolstoy. The novel "Peter the Great" is easy to read and captures the reader immediately. The language is rich, fresh, historically accurate. The artistic skill of the writer is based not only on talent, but also on a deep study of primary sources (the works of N. Ustryalov, S. Solovyov, I. Golikov, diaries and notes of Peter's contemporaries, torture notes). Based on the novel, feature films were staged.

Details Category: Historical prose Published on 27.11.2017 17:57 Views: 1098

The historical novel by Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy "Peter the Great" is dedicated to the first Russian emperor, one of the most prominent statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

This epic depicts one of the brightest and most difficult periods the history of our country, when "young Russia matured with the genius of Peter." Peter the Great was not only the first emperor of Russia, but also a military leader, builder and naval commander.

The historical basis of the novel

P. Delaroche. Portrait of Peter I (1838)
During the preparatory work on the novel, Alexei Tolstoy used a number of historical sources: academic "History of the reign of Peter the Great" by N. Ustryalov; volumes 13-15 "History of Russia from ancient times" by S. Solovyov; "Acts of Peter the Great" by I. Golikov; diaries and notes of Patrick Gordon, I. Zhelyabuzhsky, Johann Korb, D. Perry, B. Kurakin, Yust Jul, I. Neplyuev, P. Tolstoy, F. Berchholz and others; torture records late XVII century, collected by Professor N. Ya. Novombergsky.
The author depicts in the novel some historical events: The Azov campaigns of Peter, the Streltsy rebellion, as well as a number of historical characters: Princess Sophia and her lover Vasily Golitsyn, Lefort, Menshikov, Charles XII, Anna Mons and others.
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov- an associate of the king, the son of a court groom, later the most illustrious prince.

Unknown artist. Portrait of A. D. Menshikov (1716-1720)
Franz Yakovlevich Lefort- Russian statesman and military leader of Swiss origin, the closest assistant and adviser to Tsar Peter I.

Portrait of F. Ya. Lefort (late 17th century)
Anna Mons- Peter's favourite. D.L. Mordovtsev, Russian writer, author of once popular historical novels on themes from the Cossack History XVII-XVIII centuries, described this lady and the consequences of her favoritism: “Anna Mons is a foreigner, the daughter of a wine merchant, a girl, out of love for whom Peter especially diligently turned old Rus' facing the West and turning so sharply that Russia still remains a little wryneck” (“Idealists and Realists”, 1878).

Supposed portrait of Anna Mons
Sofia Alekseevna- Princess, sister of Peter. In 1682-1689. she was regent for the younger brothers Peter and Ivan. Sophia ruled, relying on her favorite Vasily Golitsyn.
May 30, 1689 Peter I turned 17 years old. He, at the insistence of his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, married Evdokia Lopukhina, and, according to the customs of that time, entered the age of majority. The elder Tsar Ivan was also married. Thus, there were no formal grounds for the regency of Sofya Alekseevna, but she continued to keep power in her hands. Peter made attempts to insist on his rights, but to no avail: the archery chiefs and order dignitaries, who received their positions from the hands of Sophia, still carried out only her orders.

Sofia Alekseevna

Vasily Vasilievich Golitsyn- Prime Minister of Sophia
Artamon Sergeevich Matveev- Russian statesman, "the great sovereign's neighbor boyar", the head of the Russian government at the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, one of the first "Westerners".

Patriarch Joachim

Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina- Empress, mother of Peter I
In addition, among the characters of the novel are Fedor Yuryevich Romodanovsky (Prince Caesar), boyar Andrei Golikov (Bogomaz from Palekh), Elder Nektary (head of the schismatic monastery), Charles XII(King of Sweden), August (Elector of Saxony, King of Poland), etc.
Along with major historical figures, the novel depicts simple people from the people. The action of the novel is constantly transferred from the palace to the chicken hut; from the boyar estate to the smoky tavern; from the Assumption Cathedral - to the royal wanted list, etc.

After the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (end of the 17th century), a struggle for power begins in Russia. Incited by Princess Sophia, archers rebel. There were two tsars in Moscow (the juvenile Ivan Alekseevich and Pyotr Alekseevich), and above them - the ruler Sophia. “And everything went back to normal. Nothing happened. Over Moscow, over cities, over hundreds of districts, spread over the vast land, the sour century-old twilight - poverty, servility, homelessness.
At the same time, the Brovkin peasant family lives. Once Ivashka Brovkin took his son Alyoshka with him to Moscow, who runs away and meets his peer Aleksashka Menshikov. Alyosha begins independent life. And Aleksashka Menshikov had a fleeting meeting with the boy Peter, the future tsar. Soon they will meet again and will not part until the death of Peter.
Growing Peter and his mother Natalya Kirillovna live quietly and boringly in Preobrazhensky. To kill boredom, Peter visits the German settlement and there he meets Franz Lefort (Aleksashka Menshikov is in the service of Lefort), falls in love with Ankhen Mons. Mother Natalya Kirillovna marries Peter Evdokia Lopukhina.

"Funny" troops
Peter in Preobrazhensky is engaged in a "amusing" army, a prototype of the future Russian army. The tsar takes Aleksashka to his bed, and he becomes an intermediary between the tsar and foreigners. Alyosha Brovkin Aleksashka arranges for the "amusing" army as a drummer. Alyosha helps his father with money, and from this small capital, things immediately begin to improve for Ivan Brovkin: he redeems himself from serfdom, becomes a merchant. Peter gives Sanka Brovkina for Vasily Volkov, the former master of the Brovkins. “From now on, nobility is counted according to suitability” - the future motto of Tsar Peter.
A new streltsy rebellion begins in favor of Sophia, who is defeated, the streltsy leaders are terribly tortured and executed. Vasily Golitsyn is sent with his family to eternal exile in Kargopol, Sophia is locked up in the Novodevichy Convent.
Peter's heir is born - Alexei Petrovich, mother Natalya Kirillovna dies.
Peter begins his reforms. We must go into the new 18th century with new achievements. Lefort plays big role in Peter's transformations.
But the reforms place a heavy burden on the people, who, from exorbitant hardships, begin to rob or go into the forests to the schismatics, but even there they are overtaken the sovereign's servants. “Western contagion irresistibly penetrated into a drowsy being ... Boyars and landed nobility, the clergy and archers were afraid of change, they hated the speed and cruelty of everything innovative ... But those, rootless, quick, who wanted change, who were fascinated by Europe ... these said that they were not mistaken in the young king.
In connection with the preparation of Peter I for military operations against Ottoman Empire by the end of the 17th century. there was a need to build a regular Russian navy, and only at the expense of the state and with the help of domestic specialists. Peter begins to build ships in Voronezh, and with the help of the fleet, Azov is nevertheless taken, but this leads to a clash with the powerful Turkish Empire. Peter understands that allies must be sought in Europe. Under the name of an officer of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Pyotr Mikhailov, he travels with an embassy to Konigsberg, Berlin, Holland, and England. There he lives as a simple artisan, mastering the necessary crafts.

M. Dobuzhinsky "Peter the Great in Holland"
But during his absence, rumors spread that the king had died and that foreigners had replaced him. Sophia again incites the archers to rebellion, but this rebellion is suppressed, and upon Peter's return to Moscow, torture and executions begin. “The whole country was terrified. The old one was huddled in the dark corners. Byzantine Rus' ended.
Tsarina Evdokia Feodorovna is sent to Suzdal, to a monastery, and Anna Mons takes her place. Franz Lefort dies. More and more new ships are being laid down in Voronezh, and now a whole flotilla is sailing to the Crimea, then to the Bosphorus, and the Turks can do nothing with the new Russian naval power that has come from nowhere.
Rich man Ivan Artemyich Brovkin is engaged in deliveries to the army, he has big house, many eminent merchants are his clerks, son Yakov is in the navy, son Gavril is in Holland, the younger Artamon lives with his father. Alexandra Brovkina became a noble lady. And Alexei Brovkin falls in love with Princess Natalya Alekseevna, Peter's sister, she is also not indifferent to him.
In 1700, the young and brave Swedish king Charles XII defeated Russian troops near Narva, occupied Livonia and Poland, wanted to rush after Peter into the depths of Muscovy, but the generals dissuaded him. And Peter rushes between Moscow, Novgorod and Voronezh, re-creating the army; ships are built, new cannons are cast from monastery bells. The army of the nobility is unreliable, now everyone who wants to take its place is recruited, and there are many who want from bondage and peasant captivity. Under the command of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, Russian troops captured the fortress of Marienburg; among the prisoners and soldiers, the field marshal notices a pretty girl with straw in her hair and takes her as a housekeeper, but the influential Alexander Menshikov takes the beautiful Katerina for himself. When Peter learns about the betrayal of Anna Mons, Menshikov slips him Katerina, who is the king's heart. Subsequently, she becomes Tsarina Catherine I.

Catherine I
“The embarrassment near Narva was of great benefit to us,” says Peter. “From beating, iron becomes stronger, a person becomes masculine.” He begins the siege of Narva, its defender, General Gorn, does not want to surrender the city, which leads to senseless suffering of its inhabitants. Narva was taken by a furious storm, in the midst of the battle one can see the fearless Menshikov with a sword. General Gorn surrenders. “You will not be honored by me,” says Peter. - Take him to prison, on foot, through the whole city, so that he can see the sad work of his hands ... "
A. Tolstoy worked on the novel from 1929 until his death. The first two books were published in 1934. Shortly before his death in 1943, the writer began work on the third book, but managed to bring the novel only up to the events of 1704.

The image of Peter in the novel

Peter I in childhood
In the first volume we read about Peter's childhood. For the first time, the author shows him as a still frightened child in a Monomakh hat that has slipped to one side, when, at the request of the rebellious archers, the tsarina and Matveev carry the boy out onto the porch to the people. A. Tolstoy describes other episodes real biography Peter.
Gradually, the image of the hero changes. First, it is a 12-year-old teenager, “a boy with a muffled voice and unblinking owl eyes,” whom Aleksashka Menshikov, his future favorite, teaches tricks. Then this is Peter, already spreading his wings, giving the first rebuff to the imperial claims of his elder sister. During the solemn procession in the Assumption Cathedral, the hero violates the magnificent church ritual, in the presence of the boyars enters into an argument with Sophia. Then this awkward, lanky young man ...
Peter's youth and youth were full of sharp dramatic clashes and a tense struggle for power. The future king has a restless, but active character, he constantly manifests himself in business: at first these are “amusing” regiments, in relation to which the king’s hot, unbridled temper was fully manifested. This was facilitated by unlimited power and permissiveness, the obedience of others. Gradually, the “amusing” troops turn into Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky, become a force, a support for Peter in the fight against the old way of life, the guardian of which is Princess Sophia. It is supported by boyars and archers.
At that time, the question of which way Russia would go further was being decided. Therefore, it can be said without exaggeration that the role of Peter in the fate of our country is exceptionally great.
But his personality is considered demonic. His gaze is "dark, staring, inhuman". His sharpness, intemperance, cruelty towards enemies, suspiciousness, suspicion are extremely aggravated. The character of Peter, well known from documentary sources, acquires artistic authenticity in the novel.
Despite the fact that the novel remained unfinished, the character of the first Russian emperor is described quite fully. In his image, the features of the people's leader, who knows the way to a new a better life and ready for her sake to sacrifice his own and someone else's fate, and his contradictions. The image of Peter I shows the best features national character, he is truly a "people's king-worker", but he is also the arbiter of world history.

V. Serov. "Peter I" (1907)
Not only A. Tolstoy, but also other authors in different time tried to comprehend the role of this outstanding personality. Almost everyone evaluates his character and deeds ambiguously: some consider Peter a great reformer who saved Russia, opened up new prospects for development, others consider him a strong but cruel autocrat who disrupted the smooth course of history.

As we already know, back in 1917, Tolstoy tried to find a clue to the present in the past. Then this attempt ended in failure: the idealistic worldview of the writer led him to erroneous conclusions. The story "Peter's Day" is deeply pessimistic. And the point is not that Peter, in the eyes of the author, is a half-mad despot, but in the eyes of the people, he is the Antichrist, who follows the Symbolist Merezhkovsky. Tolstoy sometimes endowed the great statesman features of degeneration. The source of pessimism is that Peter, according to the author, “with one terrible will strengthened the state, rebuilt the land”, that he has no support. The tsar's assistants are drunkards, thieves and swindlers, the people do not understand him and curse him, and Peter himself is guided not by state considerations, but by the base feeling of a petty proprietor who is jealous of his neighbor-fist.

“What was Russia to him, the tsar, the owner, ignited with vexation and jealousy: how is it - his yard and cattle, laborers and all the economy is worse, more stupid than the neighbor's? With a face twisted with anger and impatience, the owner galloped from Holland to Moscow ... He flew in with annoyance - look, what land he got into inheritance, not like that of the Elector of Brandenburg, the Dutch stadtholder. Now, on the same day, turn everything over, redraw it, cut off beards, put on a Dutch caftan for everyone, grow wiser, start thinking differently. And though cracked from top to bottom, all the deadness - the window was still cut through, and fresh breeze He broke into the dilapidated towers - not what Peter wanted happened: “Russia did not enter, elegant and strong, at the feast of the great powers. And pulled up by his hair, bloody and distraught with horror and despair, she appeared to her new relatives in a miserable and unequal form - a slave. With such an interpretation of the personality of Peter and the Petrine era, the deeply pessimistic ending of the story is quite natural: “And the burden of this day and all the days past and future, like lead, fell on his shoulders, who took on an unbearable burden: one for all.”

In the autumn of 1928, Tolstoy returned to the image of Peter in the play On the Rack (Peter the Great). In the twelve years separating the tragedy from the story, the writer's views on the Petrine era have changed. Not the whim of the owner-tyrant, but historical necessity makes the king hold government reforms. But the romantic figure of Peter is still deeply tragic, lonely in his titanic activity and, misunderstood even by his relatives, dooming everyone and everything to the state for the sake of the state: the people, friends, son, wife, himself. Neither the author nor his hero is clear about the main thing: “For whom is this?” That's why it's symbolic last phrase Peter, who sees how his life's work is perishing: "The end is terrible."

The play was written by Tolstoy “on the fly”, in a little over two months (finished on December 12, 1928), without a detailed study of historical materials, without deep penetration into the essence of the era. There are still clear traces of the influence of Merezhkovsky's reactionary writings. All this led to the fact that the play came out symbolically romantic, and even richly flavored with naturalistic details. Tolstoy himself subsequently spoke of her dismissively, rightly pointing out that in the tragedy "On the Rack" "there was no real study of the material", and therefore there was "a lot of romance" and Peter "smelled of Merezhkovsky."

Having completed the play, Tolstoy was going to write a story about Peter and, after serious preparation, took it up in February 1929. “The story begins to unfold the way I wanted it,” he reported to V.P. Polonsky on February 22. A month later, Tolstoy wrote to him: “It seems to me that you will be satisfied with Peter, I have not written better. But it’s so difficult that sometimes you get desperate.” Already in the second chapter, the writer realized that it was not a story, but a novel, and, moreover, a multi-volume one. On May 2, 1929, he admitted: “Having started working on Peter, I thought to put everything in one book, now I see my frivolity.” True, the writer also believed that the third (according to the then plan - the last) chapter of the first book would depict "Holland, the execution of archers, the story of Mons, the beginning of the Northern War and the foundation of St. Petersburg." Tolstoy promised to finish this part in July 1929. However, the work overturned these calculations. The first book of "Peter" was completed only on May 12, 1930, and the last, seventh chapter ends with the execution of the archers. The remaining points of the plan formed the content of the second book, which Tolstoy wrote from December 1932 to April 22, 1934. The writer began working on the third book of the epic on December 31, 1943 and managed to bring it to the sixth chapter.

IN different years Tolstoy intended to finish the epic novel in various ways. At one time he wanted to show in latest book the death of Peter, the short-term triumph of feudal reaction and complete with the image of another great son of the Russian people - M.V. Lomonosov, thereby giving an optimistic perspective on Russian history after Peter. Already working on the third book, Tolstoy wrote in a letter to V. B. Shklovsky dated November 21, 1944: “I want to bring the novel only to Poltava, maybe to the Prut campaign, I don’t know yet. I don’t want the people in it to grow old - what should I do with them with the old ones? Death prevented the writer from completing his monumental work. But despite this, the epic about Peter is one of the most complete, complete works of Tolstoy himself and the pinnacle achievement of the world historical novel.

Scientific historicism helped Tolstoy to grasp the main patterns of the Petrine era. And the laws found, in turn, illuminated the already familiar concrete historical material with a new light, made it possible not only to imagine what was read in the imagination, but also to supplement it with one's own imagination. And valid historical figures, and the figures created by the imagination of the writer began to move, talk, think - live a full-blooded life.

How great artist Tolstoy was characterized by the ability to "hallucinate", that is, to vividly imagine what is depicted in his imagination. Tolstoy himself believed that this quality can and should be developed in oneself, since it is an indispensable condition for literary mastery in general. “It is the law for the writer,” he argued, “to create works by internal vision of those objects that they describe.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop this ability of vision in oneself. You need to work on yourself in this regard.

The behavior of any character outlined in one scene, even in passing, is psychologically conditioned by Tolstoy, and the psychology of a person, in turn, is determined both by the course of history and the situation this person in the surrounding world, and the specific circumstances in which he lives and acts. At the same time, the writer, creating an image, takes into account the smallest details, sometimes bringing to the fore such as modern reader may appear to be of minor importance. Here, for example, is a very short scene, only one page long, in which Peter, in the presence of the deacon Andrey Andreevich Vinius, receives the merchant Zhigulin. The rich and intelligent merchant, obviously, has heard enough about Peter, therefore he does not thump at the feet of the king and does not pray, banging his forehead on the floor, as it would be before, but only bows. For him, a Russian man from the bottom, who grew up in the consciousness that the tsar is an earthly god, Peter's command to sit down in his presence sounds wild. However, after all, Peter is not such a king as they were: no matter what “king of all Russia” condescended to a conversation with a rootless, unnamed merchant, received him personally, and even without boyars, without Byzantine pomp, with one clerk, in a run-down house on the shore Dvina, not in luxurious attire, - in a linen shirt stained with tar, with sleeves rolled up to the elbow? But Zhigulin is a "merchant", he is used to everything in trade - to pretend to be indifferent, to be hypocritical, to hide his feelings: the first commandment of a merchant is "you will not deceive - you will not sell."

"Peter the First"

"Peter's Day" is deeply pessimistic. And the point is not that Peter, in the eyes of the author, is a half-mad despot, but in the eyes of the people, he is the Antichrist, who follows the Symbolist Merezhkovsky. Tolstoy sometimes endowed the great statesman with features of degenerateness. The source of pessimism is that Peter, according to the author, “with one terrible will strengthened the state, rebuilt the land”, that he has no support. The tsar's assistants are drunkards, thieves and swindlers, the people do not understand him and curse him, and Peter himself is guided not by state considerations, but by the base feeling of a petty proprietor who is jealous of his neighbor-fist.

“What was Russia to him, the tsar, the owner, ignited with vexation and jealousy: how is it - his yard and cattle, laborers and all the economy is worse, more stupid than the neighbor's? With a face contorted with anger and impatience, the owner rode from Holland to Moscow ... He flew in annoyance - look, what land he got into inheritance, not like that of the Elector of Brandenburg, the Dutch stadtholder. Now, on the same day, turn everything over, redraw it, cut off beards, put on a Dutch caftan for everyone, grow wiser, start thinking differently. And although all the impermanence cracked from top to bottom - the window was still cut through, and the fresh wind Tore into the dilapidated towers - it didn’t happen what Peter wanted: “Russia did not enter, elegant and strong, at the feast of the great powers. And pulled up by his hair, bloody and distraught with horror and despair, she appeared to her new relatives in a miserable and unequal form - a slave. With such an interpretation of the personality of Peter and the Petrine era, the deeply pessimistic ending of the story is quite natural: “And the burden of this day and all the days past and future, like lead, fell on his shoulders, who took on an unbearable burden: one for all.”

In the autumn of 1928, Tolstoy returned to the image of Peter in the play On the Rack (Peter the Great). In the twelve years separating the tragedy from the story, the writer's views on the Petrine era have changed. Not the whim of the owner-tyrant, but the historical necessity forces the king to carry out state reforms. But the romantic figure of Peter is still deeply tragic, lonely in his titanic activity and, misunderstood even by his relatives, dooming everyone and everything to the state for the sake of the state: the people, friends, son, wife, himself. Neither the author nor his hero is clear about the main thing: “For whom is this?” That is why the last phrase of Peter, who sees how his life's work perishes, sounds symbolically: "The end is terrible."

the great son of the Russian people - M.V. Lomonosov, thereby giving an optimistic perspective to Russian history after Peter. Already working on the third book, Tolstoy wrote in a letter to V. B. Shklovsky dated November 21, 1944: “I want to bring the novel only to Poltava, maybe to the Prut campaign, I don’t know yet. I don’t want the people in it to grow old - what should I do with them with the old ones? Death prevented the writer from completing his monumental work. But despite this, the epic about Peter is one of the most complete, complete works of Tolstoy himself and the pinnacle achievement of the world historical novel.

not only imagine what you read in your imagination, but also supplement it with your own imagination. Both real historical figures and figures created by the writer's imagination began to move, talk, think - to live a full-blooded life.

“hallucinate”, that is, vividly imagine what is depicted in your imagination. Tolstoy himself believed that this quality can and should be developed in oneself, since it is an indispensable condition for literary mastery in general. “It is the law for the writer,” he argued, “to create works by internal vision of those objects that they describe.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop this ability of vision in oneself. You need to work on yourself in this regard.

in the surrounding world, and the specific circumstances in which he lives and acts. At the same time, when creating an image, the writer takes into account the smallest details, sometimes bringing to the fore those that may seem minor, insignificant to the modern reader. Here, for example, is a very short scene, only one page long, in which Peter, in the presence of the deacon Andrey Andreevich Vinius, receives the merchant Zhigulin. The rich and intelligent merchant, obviously, has heard enough about Peter, therefore he does not thump at the feet of the king and does not pray, banging his forehead on the floor, as it would be before, but only bows. For him, a Russian man from the bottom, who grew up in the consciousness that the tsar is an earthly god, Peter's command to sit down in his presence sounds wild. However, after all, Peter is not such a king as they were: no matter what “king of all Russia” condescended to a conversation with a rootless, unnamed merchant, received him personally, and even without boyars, without Byzantine pomp, with one clerk, in a run-down house on the shore Dvina, not in luxurious attire, - in a linen shirt stained with tar, with sleeves rolled up to the elbow? But Zhigulin is a "merchant", he is used to everything in trade - to pretend to be indifferent, to be hypocritical, to hide his feelings: the first commandment of a merchant is "you will not deceive - you will not sell."

And therefore Zhigulin almost does not betray spiritual confusion (“he just moved his eyebrows”), only slowness, caution in movements (“sat down with great care”) are visible, restraint is heard in words. Nevertheless, setting out a request in a business-like manner, without superfluous words, the merchant does not forget to promise in his own way the king's benefit - "we will serve our own."

The history of writing the novel "Peter the Great"
Not enough for Peter the Great equestrian statue on St. Isaac's Square: altori should be erected for him in all the squares and streets of the great Russian state ". - Belinsky wrote about Peter 1.

The turning point in the history of Russia, which took place during the reign of Peter the Great, determined the path of our country for many years to come.

The personality of Peter and his era excited the imagination of writers,

artists, composers of many generations. From Lomonosov to the present day. Pushkin, Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, Blok and others addressed her.

For more than twenty years, the topic of Peter and Alexei Tolstoy was worried. He experienced the history of Russia as own life; his creative principle and it was: before writing a novel about Peter, get used to the image of any of the characters.

The writer began to work on his "best" work in 1929.

The novel by A.N. Tolstoy "Peter the Great" A.M. Gorky called "the first real in our literature historical novel"," a book - for a long time ".

This novel introduces the reader to the life of Russia at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 171st century, depicts the struggle of the new young Russia, striving for progress, with the old, patriarchal Russia.

However, A. Tolstoy turned to the era of Peter February Revolution 1917 in the story "Guidance". This is a story from the time of Peter the Great, but there is no Peter in it yet. Why did the writer turn to this era? The Peter's era - the time of transformative reforms, a radical break in patriarchal Rus' - was perceived by him as something reminiscent of 1917.

In the story "Peter's Day" (1918), Tolstoy sought to show Peter

The first masterful landowner who wants to change his life home country, but is trying to rebuild Russia on a European model alone.

In the play "On the Rack", written ten years later (1928), the writer gives a broader description of the time of Peter and his entourage. However, Peter appears before us just as alone in the transformations: even his closest assistants think not about Russia, but only about their own self-interest.

But time changed, and Tolstoy's understanding of Peter and his role in history changed. In the work on the novel, Tolstoy overcame himself - the former one. He now knew much more about Peter and the Russia of his time, and understood that time much more deeply.

The beginning of work on the novel coincides with important events in the life of our country. 1929 is the year of a historical turning point.

It was at this time that Tolstoy again turned to the image

Peter's era. He feels the roll call of distant Petrovsky,

"when it cracks and collapses old world", with our time, feels a certain consonance between these two eras.
First of all, the writer had to determine what would be the main thing for him in the novel, and from these positions select the appropriate material in the works of historians and historical documents.

This main thing for Tolstoy, according to him, was

"the formation of personality in the era and this is one of the tasks of my novel."

The whole course of the story, the whole system artistic images should, in the opinion of the writer, emphasize the progressive significance of transformative measures, their historical pattern and necessity.

One of the most important tasks for Tolstoy was "identifying the driving forces of the era" - resolving the problem of the people, its historical role in all the transformations of the country, finally, the image of the complex relationship between Peter and the people.

These are the main tasks that Tolstoy was able to solve only at the end of the 1920s.

In the center of Tolstoy's novel is Peter, the formation of his personality. However, the novel did not become only a biographical work. Why? It was important for Tolstoy to show not only Peter as a great historical figure, but also the era that contributed to the formation of this figure.

Tolstoy is not limited to depicting life and work

his hero, he creates a multifaceted composition, which gives him

an opportunity to show the life of the most diverse segments of the population of Russia,

life populace. All classes and groups of Russian society

represented in the novel: peasants, soldiers, archers, artisans,

nobles, boyars. Russia shown in stormy stream historical

events, in the clash of social forces.

The wide coverage of the events of the Petrine era is striking, the variety

created characters.

The first book of the novel (Peter's childhood and youth) is devoted to showing the initial difficulties, the most difficult for the reformer. The writer convinces the reader of the need for Peter's reforms. The book ends with Peter's brutal suppression of the Streltsy

rebellion. “All winter there were tortures and executions ... The whole country was seized with horror. Baltic coasts ghosts of merchant ships.

In the second book, A. Tolstoy leads Peter to the solution of the main foreign policy task of the time - Russia's access to the Baltic Sea.

The last book of the novel was written during the war years (Tolstoy began work on it in 1943). The author saw one of the tasks of this book in reminding the reader of the historical victories of the Russian troops. The book fully corresponded to this task: it dealt with the successes of the Petrovsky soldiers in the Northern War.

The novel is not finished. However, the scene at which the novel ends seems to be its natural conclusion. Narva is taken.
In Tolstoy's novel, in every line of his pulse is felt big country, the movement of a people who with honor came out of all severe trials: both in creative work and in struggle, they gained glory for their homeland.

A.S. Makarenko admired the peppy sound of Tolstoy's novel: "The most important and most beautiful thing in the book is the living movement of living people ... this is a healthy and always cheerful movement of the Russian people."