The inner world of the individual and its relationship with various aspects of reality according to Yu. Trifonov “Exchange”

1. Trifonov’s life and creative path.

The complexity of the fate of the writer and his generation, the talent for embodying spiritual quests, the originality of his 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 sent into 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.

In the 30s, father and mother were repressed. In 1965, Yu. Trifonov’s documentary book “Reflection of the Fire” appeared, in which he used his father’s archive. From the pages of the work emerges the image of a man who “kindled a fire and himself died in this flame.” In the novel, Trifonov first used the principle of time montage as a unique artistic device.

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

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

The memories of his contemporaries help to visually imagine the writer: “He was over forty. An awkward, slightly baggy figure, short-cropped black hair, with barely visible lambskin curls here and there, with sparse threads of gray, an open, wrinkled forehead. From a wide, slightly swollen pale face, through heavy horn-rimmed glasses, intelligent gray eyes looked at me shyly and unprotected.”

The first story, “Students,” is the graduate work of a novice prose writer. The story was published by the magazine “New World” by A. Tvardovsky 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, the procrastination of everyday life. One of the famous researchers of Trifonov’s work, N.B. Ivanova, writes: “When reading Trifonov for the first time, 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 asserted: “It’s not everyday life that I write, but being.”

Critic Yu. M. Oklyansky rightly asserts: “The test of everyday life, the power of everyday circumstances and the hero, one way or another romantically opposing them... is the cross-cutting and main theme of the late Trifonov...”

2. Problems of the story “Exchange” by Yu. Trifonov.

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, is behind the curtain. Dmitriev's dream of moving in with his mother did not find support from Lena, his wife. Everything changed when my mother was operated on for cancer. Lena herself started talking about the exchange. The actions and feelings of the heroes, manifested in solving this everyday issue, which ended in a successful exchange, and soon the death of Ksenia Fedorovna, constitute the content of the short story.

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

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

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, and 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 her neighbors in the apartment and at Pavlinov’s dacha, because she is friendly, compliant, ready to help and take part...”

But Viktor Georgievich Dmitriev falls under the influence of his wife and “becomes foolish.” 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 Ksenia Fedorovna and her son about the exchange: “I really wanted to live with you and Natasha...” Ksenia Fedorovna paused. “But now - no” - “Why?” - “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place."

– What is the meaning of these words?

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

Characteristics of an image based on text.

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

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

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

The hero understands 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 hero’s subordination to his wife, when we understand that he is a driven person? (In the morning, my wife reminded me of the need to talk to my 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 clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the boundaries imposed on him by external circumstances.

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

4) Dmitriev was denied the right to be called an individual by his relatives. Lena was denied by the author: “...she bit into her desires like a bulldog. Such a pretty bulldog woman... She didn’t let go until her desires - right in her teeth - turned into flesh..."

Oxymoron* pretty bulldog woman further emphasizes the author’s negative attitude towards the heroine.

Yes, Trifonov has clearly defined his position. This is contradicted by N. Ivanova’s statement: “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 fair: “... behind the external simplicity of presentation, calm intonation, designed for an equal and understanding reader, there is Trifonov’s poetics. And – an attempt at social aesthetic education.”

– What is your attitude towards the Dmitriev family?

– Would you like life to be like this in your families? (Trifonov was able to paint a typical picture of family relations of our time: the feminization of the family, the transfer of 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 forces men to put up with their inferiority in the family. They lose their solid masculinity. The family is left without a head.)

III. Lesson summary.

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

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

Homework.

“The exchange was published in 1969. At this time, the author was criticized for reproducing the “terrible sludge of little things”, for the fact that in his work “there is no enlightening truth”, for the fact that in Trifonov’s stories spiritual dead people roam, pretending to be alive. There are no ideals, man is 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
Life and work of Alexander Trifonovich
Tvardovsky. The originality of the lyrics

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

Progress of lessons

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

S. Ya. Marshak. For the sake of 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 indebtedness to them; he only took up the pen if he believed that he could say the most important thing about life, what he knew better, more thoroughly and more reliably than anyone else.

V. Dementyev. Alexander Tvardovsky. 1976

And I'm only mortal. I am responsible for my own,

During my lifetime I worry about one thing:

About what I know better than anyone in the world,

I want to say. And the way I want.

A. T. Tvardovsky

At the center of Y. Trifonov's story "Exchange" is an image of two families, the Dmitrievs and the Lukyanovs, who became related through the marriage of two representatives of their young tribe - Victor and Lena. These two families are to a certain extent the opposite of each other.

However, the author does not show their direct confrontation; it is expressed indirectly through numerous comparisons, through collisions and conflicts in the relations of representatives of these families. Thus, the Dmitrievs are distinguished from the Lukyanovs, first of all, by their ancient roots, the presence of several generations in this family, which ensures the continuity of moral values and ethical principles that have developed in this family. The transfer of these values from generation to generation determines the moral stability of members of this family. Gradually, these values leave the Dmitriev family and are replaced by others.

In this regard, the image of grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is extremely important, since it makes it possible to trace the process of the Dmitriev family’s loss of those qualities and life principles by which their ancestors lived and which distinguished the Dmitriev family from others. The grandfather appears in the story as a kind of ancient “monster”, since many great historical events befell him, but at the same time he remains a real historical figure. The grandfather embodies the best qualities of the Dmitriev family - intelligence, tact, good manners, integrity, which once distinguished all representatives of this family. His daughter, Ksenia Fedorovna, is already somewhat distant from her father: she is distinguished by excessive pride, feigned intelligence, and rejection of his life principles (a scene of an argument with her father about contempt). A trait such as “hypocrisy” appears in her, that is, the desire to look better than you really are. Playing the role of an ideal woman-mother in the story, Ksenia Fedorovna is nevertheless not a positive hero, since she also contains negative qualities. As the plot develops, we learn that Ksenia Fedorovna is not as intelligent and disinterested as she wants to seem.

However, a person is always a combination of negative and positive principles. Despite her shortcomings, Ksenia Fedorovna fully realizes herself as a mother. She treats her only son with a feeling of reverent love, feels sorry for him, worries about him, perhaps blames herself for his unrealized potential (Dmitriev in his youth knew how to draw beautifully, but this gift was not further developed). Thus, Victor’s mother is the keeper of the spiritual ties of this family; with her love, as it were, she spiritually bonds herself with her son. Finally separated, spiritually cut off from his grandfather is Victor, who has only “childish devotion” towards his grandfather. Hence the misunderstanding and alienation in their last conversation, when Dmitriev wanted to talk about Lena, and the grandfather wanted to think about death.

It is no coincidence that with the death of his grandfather, Dmitriev feels cut off from home, family, and the loss of family ties. However, the process of Victor’s spiritual alienation from his family, which became irreversible after the death of his grandfather, began a long time ago, from the moment of his marriage to Lena Lukyanova. It is in the twinning of two houses that one should look for the origins of the destruction of the Dmitriev family, since it marked the beginning of quarrels, scandals and disagreements both between families and within them. The Lukyanov family is different both in origin and in occupation: these are people of practical acumen, “who know how to live,” in contrast to the impractical Dmitrievs, not adapted to life. Their family is presented much narrower: they do not have a home, that is, a family nest, thereby the author, as it were, deprives them of rootedness, support and family ties in this life.

The absence of family ties, in turn, determines the lack of spiritual ties in this family; there is no love, family warmth, or human participation. On the contrary, the relationships in this family bear the imprint of official business, are uncomfortable, and not at home. In this regard, two fundamental traits of this kind are natural - practicality and distrust.

The feeling of love is replaced by a sense of duty, it is precisely because of the feeling of his duty to his family that Ivan Vasilyevich financially equips his home, financially provides for his family, for which Vera Lazarevna feels a sense of dog-like devotion to him, since she herself “never worked and lived dependent on Ivan Vasilievich". Their daughter Lena is an absolute copy of her parents. She combined in herself a sense of duty, responsibility to her family, taken from her father, on the one hand, and Vera Lazarevna’s devotion to her husband and family, on the other, and all this is complemented by the practicality that is inherent in the entire Lukyanov family. That is why Lena is trying to make a profitable apartment exchange during her mother-in-law’s illness, gets him a lucrative job at GINEGA, thereby betraying her childhood friend Levka Bubrik, who at that time had no job at all.

However, all these “deals” are not immoral for Lena, since for her the concept of benefit is initially moral, because her main life principle is expediency. Lena's practicality reaches its highest degree. This is confirmed by the “mental defect”, “mental inaccuracy”, “underdevelopment of feelings”, which Victor notes in her. And from here follows her tactlessness, first of all, in relation to close people (an apartment exchange started at the wrong time, a quarrel over Lena moving her father’s portrait in the Dmitrievs’ house). In the Dmitriev-Lukyanov house there is no love, no family warmth, daughter Natasha does not see affection, because the “measure of parental love” for Lena is an English special school. Hence one senses constant falsehood and insincerity in the relations between members of this family.

In Lena’s consciousness, the spiritual is replaced by the material. Proof of this is not only the English special school, but also the fact that the author never mentions any of her spiritual qualities or talents; everything comes down to the material.

At the same time, Lena is much more viable than her husband, she is stronger and more courageous than him morally. And the situation shown by the author of the union of two families, the merging of spiritual principles and practicality leads to the victory of the latter. Dmitriev turns out to be crushed by his wife as a person, he finally “goes off” and becomes a “henpecked” husband. It should be noted that the story begins at the climax of the hero’s life - the mother’s fatal illness, an apartment exchange started in connection with this. The author, thus, puts his hero in a situation of choice, since it is in a situation of choice that the moral essence of a person is revealed. As a result, it turns out that Dmitriev is a weak-willed person who constantly makes everyday compromises.

Already from the beginning of the story, his model of behavior becomes clear - this is an avoidance of decisions, from responsibility, a desire to preserve the usual order of things at all costs. The result of the choice made by Victor is deplorable - the death of his mother, whom he exchanged for material well-being, for a comfortable life. But the worst thing is that Victor has no sense of guilt, he does not blame himself either for the death of his mother or for the severance of spiritual ties with his family, he places all the blame on circumstances that he could not overcome, on the “fooling” that he did not was able to overcome.

And if earlier, in the plot situation of the story, when Lena started talking about the exchange, Dmitriev was still capable of some kind of fight against “bullying”, to defend his life principles, then at the end of the story he himself bitterly admits that he “really doesn’t care.” no need" that he is only looking for peace. From this moment on, Dmitriev begins to quickly “go crazy”, that is, lose those spiritual qualities, the moral education that were originally laid down in him by the ancestors of the Dmitriev house. Gradually, Victor turns into a cold-blooded, mentally callous person who lives by self-deception, taking everything for granted, and his youthful aspirations and real dreams turn into unattainable dreams. The result of “polarization” is the spiritual death of the hero, degradation as a person, loss of family ties.

An important semantic load in the story is carried by the image of Tanya, who is the embodiment of normal human connections, relationships, true love. In her world, there is a completely different system of moral values than in Dmitriev’s world, according to which Tanya finds it impossible to live with an unloved person, even if he loves her. In turn, this man who loves her leaves, without causing scenes or scandals, without sharing rags and meters, but allowing Tanya to live her life. This is true love - the desire for good and happiness for a loved one. Another important thing about Tanya’s character is that, despite all the misfortunes that befell her, she managed to preserve her inner, spiritual world.

It was thanks to her spiritual fullness, strong moral foundations, spiritual strength that she managed to survive in this life, thanks to these qualities she is much stronger and stronger than Dmitriev. The “exchange” carried out by Tanya turned out to be much more honest than Victor’s “exchange”, since it was made not in pursuit of material gain, but in accordance with feelings, at the call of the heart. Thus, Yu. Trifonov’s exchange is not only a material transaction, but also a spiritual and psychological situation. “You have already exchanged, Vitya.

An exchange took place,” says Dmitriev’s mother, meaning not an exchange of an apartment, but an exchange of the lifestyle, moral values and life principles of the Dmitriev family for the lifestyle of the Lukyanov family, that is, “olukyanivaniye.” Thus, the exchange from the sphere of everyday, material relations moves into the sphere of spiritual relations. In the story by Yu. Trifonov, the leitmotif is reflections on the diminishing spiritual relationships between people, thinning human connections. This leads to the main problem of the individual - the lack of spiritual connections with other people and, above all, with one’s family.

According to Yu. Trifonov, relationships within a family largely depend on spiritual closeness, on the depth of mutual understanding, and these are very complex and subtle things that require special talent, which the Dmitriev-Lukyanov family lacks. Without these qualities, the existence of a family is impossible; only the outer shell remains with absolute internal destruction and spiritual disconnection.

IV. Lesson summary.

– What are your impressions of poetry from the 50s to the 90s? Are there any of your favorite poets of this era?

Lesson 79
"Urban prose in modern literature."
Yu. V. Trifonov. "Eternal themes and moral
problems in the story "Exchange"

Goals: give an idea of “urban” prose of the twentieth century; consider the eternal problems raised by the author against the backdrop of urban life; determine the features of Trifonov’s work (the semantic ambiguity of the title, subtle psychologism).

Lesson progress

Take care of the intimate, the intimate: the intimacy of your soul is more valuable than all the treasures of the world!

V. V. Rozanov

I. “Urban” prose in the literature of the 20th century.

1. Working 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?

– Present your conclusions in the form of a plan.

Rough plan

1) Features of “urban” prose:

a) this is a cry of pain for a person “being turned into a grain of sand”;

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

3) “City” prose by Yu. Trifonov:

a) in the story “Preliminary Results” he reasons with “empty” philosophers;

b) in the story “The Long Farewell” he reveals the theme of the collapse of the bright principle in a person in his concessions to philistinism.

2. Appeal to the epigraph of the lesson.

II. “Urban” prose by Yuri Trifonov.

1. Trifonov’s life and creative path.

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

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

Trifonov himself asserted: “It’s not everyday life that I write, but being.”

2. Problems of the story “Exchange” by Yu. Trifonov.

1) – Remember the plot of the work.

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

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

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, and humane.

– What can you say about the hero’s mother?

Find the characteristic in the text:

– What is the meaning of these words?

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

Characteristics of an image based on text.

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

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

– What other details indicate the hero’s subordination to his wife, when we understand that he is a driven person? (In the morning, my wife reminded me of the need to talk to my 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 clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the boundaries imposed on him by external circumstances.

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

Oxymoron* pretty bulldog woman further emphasizes the author’s negative attitude towards the heroine.

– What is your attitude towards the Dmitriev family?

III. Lesson summary.

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

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

Homework.

– 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
Life and work of Alexander Trifonovich
Tvardovsky. The originality of the lyrics

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

Progress of lessons

S. Ya. Marshak. For the sake of life on earth. 1961

V. Dementyev. Alexander Tvardovsky. 1976

And I'm only mortal. I am responsible for my own,

During my lifetime I worry about one thing:

A. T. Tvardovsky

I. Biographical origins of Tvardovsky’s creativity.

Being a reader of poetry is a rather subtle and aesthetically delicate matter: the direct meaning of a poetic statement does not lie on the surface, it most often consists of the totality of its constituent artistic elements: words, figurative associations, musical sound.

Tvardovsky’s poems reflect what determined the content of his spiritual life, “the measure of personality,” as the poet himself said. His lyrics require concentration, thought, and an emotional response to the poetic feelings expressed in the poem.

– What do you know about the life and work of Alexander Tvardovsky?

It is possible for a prepared student to report on the topic “The main stages of the life and work of A. T. Tvardovsky.”

II. The main themes and ideas of Tvardovsky's lyrics.

1. After listening to the lecture, write it down in outline form, listing the main themes and ideas of the poet’s lyrics.

Among the poets of the twentieth century, A. T. Tvardovsky occupies a special place. His lyrics attract not only figurative precision and mastery of words, but also the breadth of topics, the importance and enduring relevance of the issues raised.

A large place in the lyrics, especially in the early ones, is occupied by the “small homeland,” the native Smolensk land. According to Tvardovsky, the presence of “a small, separate and personal homeland is of great importance.” “All the best that is in me is connected with my native Zagorye. Moreover, this is me as a person. This connection is always dear to me and even painful.”

In the poet’s works, memories of childhood and youth often arise: the forested side of Smolensk, the farmstead and village of Zagorye, conversations of peasants at their father’s forge. This is where poetic ideas about Russia came from; here, from my father’s reading, the lines of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Tolstoy were memorized. I started composing myself. He was captivated by “the songs and fairy tales that he heard from his grandfather.” At the beginning of the poetic path, M. Isakovsky, who worked in the regional newspaper “Rabochiy Put”, provided assistance - he published and advised.

The early poems “Harvest”, “Haymaking”, “Spring Lines” and the first collections - “Road” (1938), “Rural Chronicle” (1939), “Zagorye” (1941) are associated with the life of the village. The poems are rich in signs of the times, generously filled with specific sketches of the life and everyday life of peasants. This is a kind of painting with words. Poems are most often narrative, plot-based, with conversational intonation. Whose poetic traditions does this remind us of (remember the features of Nekrasov’s poetry)?

The author succeeds in creating colorful peasant types (“the hunchbacked peasant”, “Ivushka”), genre scenes, and humorous situations. The most famous is “Lenin and the Stove Maker” - a story in verse. The early poems are full of youthful enthusiasm and joy of life.

Pillars, villages, crossroads,

Bread, alder bushes,

Planting the current birch tree,

Cool new bridges.

The fields run in a wide circle,

The wires sing lingeringly,

And the wind rushes against the glass with effort,

Thick and strong, like water.

In the war and post-war collections “Poems from a Notebook” (1946), “Post-War Poems” (1952), the main place is occupied by the patriotic theme - in the most important and highest meaning of the word: military everyday life, long-awaited victory, love for the motherland, memory of experiences , memory of the dead, the theme of immortality, anti-militaristic appeal - this is a modestly outlined range of problems. The poems are varied in form: they include sketches from life, confessional monologues, and solemn hymns:

Stop, show off in the lightning

And the lights of celebration,

Dear mother, capital,

Fortress of Peace, Moscow!

The theme of war is one of the central ones in Tvardovsky’s work. Those who died in the war did everything to liberate their homeland (“Having given everything, they left / Nothing with them”), therefore they were given the “bitter”, “formidable right” to bequeath to those who remained to cherish the past in memory, to complete the long journey in Berlin and never forget , at what cost the long-awaited victory was won, how many lives were given, how many destinies were destroyed.

A. T. Tvardovsky writes about the great brotherhood of soldiers, born during the years of trials. The magnificent image of Vasily Terkin accompanied the soldiers on the front roads. The thought of the need to “be happy” for all those brother-warriors who survived this war sounds life-affirming.

We can say that the memory of the war lives in one way or another in every post-war poem. She became part of his worldview.

The student reads by heart.

I know it's not my fault

The fact that others did not come from the war,

The fact that they - some older, some younger -

We stayed there, and it’s not about the same thing,

That I could, but failed to save them, -

This is not about that, but still, still, still...

– What gave the literary critic the right to say that the memory of the war in the poem “I know, it’s not my fault...” “comes out with a huge, piercing force of pain, suffering and even some kind of own guilt before those who remained forever on the distant shore of death "? Please note that in the poem itself there is no high vocabulary, and there is no “distant shore of death” that the researcher writes about.

In his works about the war, A. T. Tvardovsky pays tribute to the lot of widows and mothers of dead soldiers:

Here is the mother of one who fell in battle with the enemy

For life, for us. Take off your hats, people.

In the late work of A. T. Tvardovsky one can see a whole range of themes that are usually called “philosophical”: reflections on the meaning of human existence, old age and youth, life and death, the change of human generations and the joy of living, loving, working. Much in a person’s heart, in his soul, is implanted in childhood, in his native land. One of the poems dedicated to the homeland begins with a word of gratitude:

Thank you, my dear

Earth, my father's home,

For everything I know about life,

What I carry in my heart.

Tvardovsky is a subtle lyrical landscape painter. Nature in his poems appears at the time of awakening of life, in movement, in bright, memorable images.

The student recites by heart:

And, sleepy, melting, And with the wind, tender green

The earth will barely wither, Alder pollen,

Threading through old foliage, brought from childhood,

He'll go cut the grass. Like a shadow, it touches your face.

And the heart will feel again,

That the freshness of any pore

Not only was it, but it disappeared,

And it is and will be with you.

“The snow will darken blue”, 1955

– “The sweetness of a hard-won life,” light and warmth, goodness and “bitter unkindness” are perceived by the poet as enduring values of existence, filling every hour lived with meaning and significance. Inspired work gives a person, according to Tvardovsky, a sense of dignity and awareness of his place on earth. Many lines are devoted to the work of writers: friends and enemies, human virtues and vices, revealed in a difficult time of historical timelessness. As a truly Russian poet, Tvardovsky dreams of free creativity, independent of politicians, cowardly editors, and double-minded critics.

...I am responsible for my own,

During my lifetime I worry about one thing;

About what I know better than anyone in the world,

I want to say. And the way I want.

The poet emphasized his unity with all people:

It’s just that everything that is dear to me is the same to people,

I sing everything that is dear to me.

This is how A. T. Tvardovsky remained until the last, “control” hour of his life.

2. Read the article “Lyrics” in the textbook (pp. 258–260), supplement your plan with material.

3. Checking and discussing the resulting lecture plans.

In the 50-80s, 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” prose was the work of Yuri Trifonov. It was his story “Exchange” that marked the beginning of the cycle of “urban” stories. In his “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.

At the center of the story “Exchange” is a fairly 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 Dmitriev’s mother Ksenia Fedorovna. They share a rather complicated relationship. Lena never loved her mother-in-law, moreover, the relationship between them “was minted in the form of ossified and lasting enmity.” Previously, Dmitriev often started a conversation about moving in with his mother, an elderly and lonely woman. But Lena always protested violently against this, and gradually this topic arose less and less in conversations between husband and wife, because Dmitriev understood: he could not break Lena’s will. In addition, Ksenia Fedorovna became a kind of instrument of hostility in their family clashes. During quarrels, the name of Ksenia Fedorovna was often heard, although it was not she who started 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 simply be sarcastic.

Speaking about 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 related to the serious illness of Ksenia Fedorovna. Doctors suspect “the worst.” This is where Lena takes the bull by the horns. She decides to urgently resolve the issue of the exchange and move in with her mother-in-law. Her illness and, possibly, approaching death become a way for Dmitriev’s wife to resolve the housing issue. Lena doesn’t think about the moral side of this enterprise. Having heard from his wife about her terrible idea, Dmitriev tries to look into her eyes. Perhaps he hopes to find doubt, awkwardness, guilt there, but he finds only determination. Dmitriev knew that his wife’s “mental inaccuracy” worsened “when Lena’s other, strongest quality came into play: the ability to get her way.” The author notes that Lena “bit into her desires like a bulldog” and never deviated from them until they came true.

Having done the hardest thing - saying what she had planned - Lena acts very methodically. Like a subtle psychologist, she “licks” her husband’s wound and achieves reconciliation with him. And he, suffering from lack of will, cannot, does not know how to resist her. He perfectly understands the horror of what is happening, realizes the price of the exchange, but does not find the strength to do anything to prevent Lena, just as he once did not find the strength to reconcile her with his mother.

Naturally, Lena entrusted the mission of telling Ksenia Fedorovna about the upcoming exchange to her husband. This conversation is the worst, most painful thing for Dmitriev. After the operation, which confirmed the “worst neck”, Ksenia Fedorovna felt an improvement, she had confidence that she was on the mend. To tell her about the exchange means to deprive the latter of her hope for life, for this smart woman could not help but guess the reason for such loyalty of her daughter-in-law who had been at war with her for many years. The realization of this becomes the most painful thing for Dmitriev. Lena easily plans a conversation with Ksenia Fedorovna for her husband. “Put it all on me!” - she advises. And Dmitriev seems to accept Lenin’s condition. His mother is simple-minded, and if he explains to her everything according to Lenin’s plan, she may well believe in the selflessness of the exchange. But Dmitriev is afraid of his sister Laura, who is “cunning, “perceptive and really doesn’t like Lena.” Laura has long figured out her brother’s wife and will immediately guess what intrigues are behind the idea of exchange. Laura believes that Dmitriev quietly betrayed her and her mother, “got crazy,” that is, he began to live by the rules that Lena and her mother, Vera Lazarevna, rely on in life, which their enterprising father, Ivan Vasilyevich, once established in their family , a “mighty” man. It was Laura who noticed Lena’s tactlessness at the very beginning of her family life with Dmitriev, when Lena, without hesitation, took all their best cups for herself, placed a bucket near Ksenia Fedorovna’s room, and without hesitation took a portrait of her father-in-law from the walls of the middle room and hung it into the hallway. Outwardly, these are just everyday trifles, but behind them, as Laura was able to discern, lies something more.

Lena’s blasphemy is revealed especially clearly the morning after her conversation with Dmitriev. She is in a bad mood because her mother, Vera Lazarevna, is ill. Vera Lazarevna has brain spasms. What is not a reason for sadness? Of course there is a reason. And no harbinger of the mother-in-law’s death can compare with her grief. Lena is callous in soul and, moreover, selfish.

It’s not only Lena who is endowed with selfishness. 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, but a stranger dies.

Lena’s inhumanity contrasts with the spirituality of Dmitriev’s former lover, 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 puts herself in Dmitriev’s position, offers him a loan and shows all sorts of sympathy.

Lena is also indifferent to her own father. When he lies with a stroke, she only thinks about the fact that her trip to Bulgaria is on fire, and she calmly goes on vacation.

Contrasted with Lena is Ksenia Fedorovna herself, who “is loved by friends, respected by colleagues, appreciated by neighbors in the apartment and at Pavlinov’s dacha, because she is virtuous, compliant, ready to help and take part.”

Lena still achieves her goal. The sick woman agrees to the exchange. Soon she dies. Dmitriev suffers a hypertensive crisis. The portrait of the hero, who yielded to his wife in this merciless matter, realizing the significance of his act and therefore experiencing mental suffering, changes dramatically at the end of the story. “Not yet an old man, but already an elderly man with limp cheeks,” 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. We are talking not only about an exchange of housing, a “moral exchange” is being made, a “concession to dubious life values” is being made. “The exchange took place...” says Ksenia Fedorovna to her son. “It was a long time ago.”

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Lesson 79
"Urban prose in modern literature."
Yu. V. Trifonov. "Eternal themes and moral
problems in the story "Exchange"

Goals : give an idea of “urban” prose of the twentieth century; consider the eternal problems raised by the author against the backdrop of urban life; determine the features of Trifonov’s work (the semantic ambiguity of the title, subtle psychologism).

Lesson progress

Take care of the intimate, the intimate: the intimacy of your soul is more valuable than all the treasures of the world!

V. V. Rozanov

I. “Urban” prose in the literature of the 20th century.

1. Working 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?

– Present your conclusions in the form of a plan.

Rough plan

1) Features of “urban” prose:

a) this is a cry of pain for a person “being turned into a grain of sand”;

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

3) “City” prose by Yu. Trifonov:

a) in the story “Preliminary Results” he reasons with “empty” philosophers;

b) in the story “The Long Farewell” he reveals the theme of the collapse of the bright principle in a person in his concessions to philistinism.

2. Appeal to the epigraph of the lesson.

II. “Urban” prose by Yuri Trifonov.

1. Trifonov's life and creative path.

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

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

Trifonov himself asserted: “It’s not everyday life that I write, but being.”

2. P issue of the story Y. Trifonova “Exchange”.

1) – Remember the plot of the work.

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

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

Grandfather Fyodor Nikolaevich is intelligent, principled, and humane.

– What can you say about the hero’s mother?

Find the characteristic in the text:

– What is the meaning of these words?

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

Characteristics of an image based on text.

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

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

– What other details indicate the hero’s subordination to his wife, when we understand that he is a driven person? (In the morning, my wife reminded me of the need to talk to my 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 clear evidence of the impossibility for Dmitriev to go beyond the boundaries imposed on him by external circumstances.

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

Oxymoron* pretty bulldog woman further emphasizes the author’s negative attitude towards the heroine.

– What is your attitude towards the Dmitriev family?

III. Lesson summary.

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

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

Homework.

– 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?