Turgenev's spring waters, a brief retelling. Spring waters of Turgenev

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is known to the reader as a master of words, who skillfully revealed any image, be it natural landscape or a person's character. He could retell any story colorfully, truthfully, with a sufficient sense of tact and irony.

As a mature author, in the late 60s and early 70s of the 19th century, Ivan Sergeevich wrote a number of works from the category of memoirs. The story " Spring waters", written in 1872, is recognized by writers as the most significant of this period.

She talks about love story a weak-willed landowner who, due to his own uncontrollability and stupidity, was unable to independently build his own relationships.

The plot is retold by a man who is already 52 years old. This man is a nobleman and landowner named Sanin. The flood of memories takes him 30 years ago, to his youth. The story itself took place while he was traveling in Germany.

It happened that the main character ended up in the small city of Frankfurt, where he really liked it. Dmitry Sanin decided to visit the confectionery shop, and witnessed the scene where the owner’s son fainted. His sister was fussing around the boy, beautiful girl. Sanin could not help but help her in such a situation.

The family of the owner of the pastry shop was so grateful to him for his help that they offered to stay with them for a few days. Unexpectedly for himself, the narrator agreed and spent several of the best and most delightful days of his life in the company of pleasant and kind people.

Gemma had a fiancé, whom the girl herself saw often. Soon Sanin also met him. That same evening they went for a walk and went into a small cafe, where German officers were sitting at the next table. Suddenly one of them allowed himself a rude joke in relation to their society and Sanin, not used to tolerating such antics, immediately challenged him to a duel. The duel was successful, and none of its participants were injured.

But this had such a strong impact on the lovely girl herself that Jemmy suddenly decided to dramatically change her life. First of all, she forever broke off any relationship with her fiancé, explaining that he could not protect her honor and dignity. And Sanin suddenly realized that he himself loved Gemma. This feeling, as it turned out, was not unrequited. The love of the young people was so strong that one day they came up with the idea of ​​getting married. Seeing their relationship, the girl’s mother calmed down, although at first she was very horrified that her daughter broke up with her fiancé. But now the woman even began to think again about the future of her daughter and about Dmitry Sanin as a son-in-law.

Dmitry and Jemmy also thought about a future together. The young man decided to sell his estate so that there would be money for their joint residence. To do this, he needed to go to Wiesbaden, where his friend from the boarding house lived at that time. Polozov was also in Frankfurt at that time, so he should have visited his rich wife.

But Marya Nikolaevna, the wife of a boarding friend, easily began to flirt with Sanin, since she was rich, young, beautiful and not burdened moral principles. She was able to easily captivate the hero, and soon he became her lover. When Marya Nikolaevna leaves for Paris, he follows, but it turns out that she doesn’t need him at all, that she has new and interesting lovers. He has no choice but to return back to Russia. The days now seem empty and boring to him. But soon life returns to its normal course and Sanin forgets about everything.

One day, while sorting out his box, he finds a small but so cute garnet cross that dear Gemma once gave him. Strangely, the gift was able to survive after all the events that happened to the hero. Remembering his former love, he, without delaying for a minute, immediately leaves for Frankfurt, where he learns that Gemma got married two years after his departure. She is happy with her husband and lives in New York. She gave birth to five wonderful children. Looking at the photographs, Sanin noticed that one of her adult daughters in the photograph looked as lovely as Jemmy herself many years ago.

Characters of the story

In Turgenev's story small quantity heroes. There are main and secondary images that help reveal this interesting twisted plot of the story “Spring Waters”:

♦ Gemma.
♦ Emil.
♦ Döngof.
♦ Friend Polozov.
♦ Gemma's mother.

♦ Kluber.

Ivan Turgenev portrays such a psychological type of nobleman who will be able to reveal the plot in all its details, because we're talking about about the personal life of the noble intelligentsia. The reader sees how people meet, fall in love and separate, but all the characters take part in this endless love. For example, Sanin, who is already over fifty years old, recalls his happiness and how it did not work out for him. Dmitry Pavlovich understands perfectly well that he himself was to blame for this.

There are two main female characters in Turgenev's story. This is Gemma, whom Dmitry Pavlovich meets by chance, and soon makes her his bride. The girl is pretty and young, dark hair large curls simply flowed down her shoulders. At that time, she was barely nineteen years old, and she was tender and vulnerable. Sanin was attracted by his eyes, which were dark and incredibly beautiful.

The very clear opposite is Marya Nikolaevna, whom the main character meets later. The fatal beauty is the wife of Sanin’s friend, Polozov. This woman is no different from the others in her appearance, and she is even inferior in beauty to Jemmy. But she had a great ability, like a snake, to bewitch and bewitch a man, so much so that the man could no longer forget about her. The author appreciates her for her intelligence and talent, education and originality of nature. Marya Nikolaevna skillfully used words, hitting the target with every word, and even knew how to tell a beautiful story. It later turned out that she was simply playing with men.

Analysis of Turgenev's story

The writer himself claimed that his work was primarily about love. And although the storyline brings together and then separates the main characters, first love leaves a pleasant memory in the memory.

The author is not trying to disguise love triangles. All events are described by Ivan Turgenev clearly and accurately. And the characteristics of the main characters and landscape sketches captivate the reader, plunging into the depths of events spanning thirty years.

Not at all in the story random people, and each character has his own specific place. Subtly and psychologically correctly revealed inner world main characters. Minor characters also perform their literary function and add additional flavor.

Symbols in Turgenev's story

The symbols that the author uses in his work are interesting. So, Gemma, on a walk with Sanin and her fiancé, meet a German officer. He behaves rudely and for this Sanin challenges him to a duel. In gratitude for his noble deed, Jemmy gives him a rose, a flower that was a symbol of pure and sincere love.

After a while, Savin is presented with another gift, which is completely opposed to what he received from the naive girl. Marya Nikolaevna also gives Dmitry a gift. Only this inanimate object- iron ring. And after a while the hero saw the same decoration on the finger of another young man, who, most likely, was also the lover of an immoral woman. This cruel and insensitive gift destroys the fate of the main character. So Sanin becomes a slave of love, weak-willed and soon forgotten. The fatal beauty, having played enough with him, loses all interest and simply abandons him. Love never comes in this person's life.

But the hero lives on, gets rich, and suddenly remembers the betrayal he committed in his life. This pain from a bad and ignoble act will always live in him. And he will always think about Jemmy, who experienced pain through his fault. It is no coincidence that memories came flooding back to the main character when he found a garnet cross - a gift from Gemma.

Critical review and ratings of the story

Critics assessed Ivan Turgenev's new work differently. Some spoke disapprovingly of him, believing that the author showed in the plot the most unattractive sides of characters of Russian origin. Foreigners are a completely different matter. In his portrayal, they are honest and noble.

But some critics were still delighted with the plot of this Turgenev story. How the general color is reflected and accents are placed, what qualities the characters are endowed with. When Annenkov read Turgenev’s manuscript, he wrote his opinion about it:

“The result was brilliant in color, in the enticing fit of all the details to the plot and in the expression of faces.”

Ivan Sergeevich wanted to show that first love, even if it is unhappy and deceived, remains in memory for a lifetime. First love is a bright memory that is not erased over the years. The author succeeded in all this.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

Spring waters

Happy years
Happy days -
Like spring waters
They rushed by!

From an old romance

At one o'clock in the morning he returned to his office. He sent out a servant, who lit the candles, and, throwing himself into a chair near the fireplace, covered his face with both hands. Never before had he felt such fatigue - physical and mental. He spent the whole evening with pleasant ladies and educated men; some of the ladies were beautiful, almost all the men were distinguished by their intelligence and talents - he himself spoke very successfully and even brilliantly... and, with all that, never before that “taedium vitae”, which the Romans already spoke about, that “disgust for life” - with such irresistible force did not take possession of him, did not choke him. If he had been a little younger, he would have cried from melancholy, from boredom, from irritation: an acrid and burning bitterness, like the bitterness of wormwood, filled his entire soul. Something persistently hateful, disgustingly heavy surrounded him on all sides, like a languid autumn night; and he did not know how to get rid of this darkness, this bitterness. There was no hope of sleep: he knew that he would not fall asleep.

He began to think... slowly, sluggishly and angrily.

He thought about the vanity, the uselessness, the vulgar falsehood of everything human. All ages gradually passed before his mind's eye (he himself had recently passed his 52nd year) - and not one found mercy in front of him. Everywhere there is the same eternal pouring from empty to empty, the same pounding of water, the same half conscientious, half conscious self-delusion - no matter what the child enjoys, as long as he doesn’t cry, and then suddenly, out of the blue, old age will come - and along with it that constantly growing, all-corroding and undermining fear of death... and crashed into the abyss! It’s good if life plays out like this! Otherwise, perhaps, before the end, weakness and suffering will fall like rust on iron... Covered with stormy waves, as the poets describe, he imagined the sea of ​​life - no; he imagined this sea to be imperturbably smooth, motionless and transparent to the very dark bottom; he himself sits in a small, rickety boat - and there, on this dark, muddy bottom, like huge fish, ugly monsters are barely visible: all everyday ailments, illnesses, sorrows, madness, poverty, blindness... He looks - and here is one of the monsters stands out from the darkness, rises higher and higher, becomes more and more clear, more and more disgustingly clear. Another minute - and the boat supported by him will capsize! But then it seems to fade again, it moves away, sinks to the bottom - and it lies there, slightly moving its reach... But the appointed day will come - and it will capsize the boat.

He shook his head, jumped up from his chair, walked around the room a couple of times, sat down at the desk and, opening one drawer after another, began rummaging through his papers, old letters, mostly from women. He himself did not know why he was doing this, he was not looking for anything - he just wanted to get rid of the thoughts that were tormenting him through some external activity. Unfolding several letters at random (one of them contained a dried flower tied with a faded ribbon), he just shrugged his shoulders and, glancing at the fireplace, threw them aside, probably intending to burn the whole thing. unnecessary trash. Hastily thrusting his hands into one box and then into another, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and, slowly pulling out a small octagonal box of an antique cut, slowly lifted its lid. In the box, under a double layer of yellowed cotton paper, was a small garnet cross.

For several moments he looked at this cross in bewilderment - and suddenly he cried out weakly... Either regret or joy portrayed his features. A similar expression appears on a person’s face when he suddenly meets another person whom he has long lost sight of, whom he once loved dearly and who now unexpectedly appears before his eyes, still the same - and completely changed over the years. He got up and, returning to the fireplace, sat down again in the chair - and again covered his face with his hands... “Why today? today?" - he thought, and he remembered many things that had happened long ago...

This is what he remembered...

But you must first say his first name, patronymic and last name. His name was Sanin, Dmitry Pavlovich.

Here's what he remembered:

It was the summer of 1840. Sanin was 22 years old and was in Frankfurt, on his way back from Italy to Russia. He was a man with a small fortune, but independent, almost without a family. After the death of a distant relative, he had several thousand rubles - and he decided to live them abroad, before entering the service, before the final assumption of that government yoke, without which a secure existence had become unthinkable for him. Sanin carried out his intention exactly and managed it so skillfully that on the day of his arrival in Frankfurt he had exactly enough money to get to St. Petersburg. In 1840 railways there was very little; gentlemen, tourists rode around in stagecoaches. Sanin took a seat in the Beywagen; but the stagecoach did not leave until 11 o'clock in the evening. There was a lot of time left. Fortunately, the weather was fine and Sanin, having lunch at the then famous hotel “ white swan", went to wander around the city. He went to see Danneker’s Ariadne, which he liked little, visited Goethe’s house, from whose works he, however, read only “Werther” - and only then French translation; I walked along the banks of the Main, got bored, as a respectable traveler should; Finally, at six o'clock in the evening, tired, with dusty feet, I found myself in one of the most insignificant streets of Frankfurt. He could not forget this street for a long time. On one of its few houses he saw a sign: “Giovanni Roselli’s Italian Pastry Shop” announcing itself to passers-by. Sanin went in to drink a glass of lemonade; but in the first room, where, behind a modest counter, on the shelves of a painted cabinet, reminiscent of a pharmacy, there were several bottles with gold labels and the same number of glass jars with crackers, chocolate cakes and candies - there was not a soul in this room; only the gray cat was squinting and purring, moving its paws, on a high wicker chair near the window, and, blushing brightly in the slanting ray of the evening sun, a large ball of red wool lay on the floor next to an overturned basket of carved wood. A vague noise was heard in the next room. Sanin stood and, letting the bell on the door ring to the end, said, raising his voice: “There’s no one here?” At the same instant, the door from the next room opened - and Sanin had to be amazed.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. IDEATORICAL AND THEMATIC CONTENT OF THE STORY BY I.S. TURGENEV “SPRING WATER”

CHAPTER 2. IMAGES OF MAIN AND SECONDARY CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

2.2 Women's images in the story

2.3 Minor characters

CONCLUSION

LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

At the end of the 1860s and the first half of the 1870s, Turgenev wrote a number of stories that belonged to the category of memories of the distant past (“Brigadier”, “The Story of Lieutenant Ergunov”, “The Unfortunate”, “Strange Story”, “King of the Steppes Lear”, “Knock, knock, knock”, “Spring Waters”, “Punin and Baburin”, “Knocking”, etc.). Of these, the story “Spring Waters,” the hero of which is another interesting addition to Turgenev’s gallery of weak-willed people, became the most significant work of this period.

The story appeared in the "Bulletin of Europe" in 1872 and was close in content to the stories "Asya" and "First Love", written earlier: the same weak-willed, reflective hero, reminiscent of "superfluous people" (Sanin), the same Turgenev girl (Gemma ), experiencing the drama of failed love. Turgenev admitted that in his youth he “experienced and felt the content of the story personally.” But unlike their tragic endings, “Spring Waters” ends in a less dramatic plot. Deep and moving lyricism permeates the story.

In this work, Turgenev created images of the outgoing noble culture and new heroes of the era - commoners and democrats, images of selfless Russian women. And although the characters in the story are typical Turgenev heroes, they still display interesting psychological traits, recreated by the author with incredible skill, allowing the reader to penetrate into the depths of various human feelings, to experience or remember them himself. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the figurative system of a small story with a small set of characters very carefully, relying on the text, without missing a single detail.

Therefore, our goal course work consists of studying the text of the story in detail to characterize its figurative system.

The object of study is, therefore, the main and minor characters of “Spring Waters”.

The purpose, object and subject determine the following research tasks in our course work:

Consider the ideological and thematic content of the story;

Identify the main plot lines;

Consider the images of the main and minor characters of the story, based on textual characteristics;

Draw a conclusion about Turgenev’s artistic skill in depicting the heroes of “Spring Waters.”

The theoretical significance of this work is determined by the fact that in criticism the story “External Waters” is mainly considered from the standpoint of problem-thematic analysis, and from the entire figurative system the line Sanin – Gemma – Polozov is analyzed, in our work we attempted a holistic figurative analysis of the work.

The practical significance of our work lies in the fact that the material presented in it can be used in the study of Turgenev’s work in general, as well as for the preparation of special courses and elective courses, for example, “Tales of I.S. Turgenev about love (“Spring Waters”, “Asya”, “First Love”, etc.) or “Tales of Russian Writers Second half of the 19th century century", and when studying the general university course "History of Russian literature of the 19th century century."

CHAPTER 1. IDEATORICAL AND THEMATIC CONTENT OF THE STORY

I.S. TURGENEV “SPRING WATER”

The figurative system of a work directly depends on its ideological and thematic content: the author creates and develops characters in order to convey some idea to the reader in order to make it “alive,” “real,” “close” to the reader. The more successfully the images of the heroes are created, the easier it is for the reader to perceive the author’s thoughts.

Therefore, before proceeding directly to the analysis of the images of the heroes, we need to briefly consider the content of the story, in particular, why the author chose these particular characters and not other characters.

The ideological and artistic concept of this work determined the originality of the conflict and special system, a special relationship between characters.

The conflict on which the story is based is a clash between a young man, not entirely ordinary, not stupid, undoubtedly cultured, but indecisive, weak-willed, and a young girl, deep, strong-willed, holistic and strong-willed.

The central part of the plot is the origin, development and tragic ending of love. It is to this side of the story that Turgenev’s main attention, as a writer-psychologist, is directed; in revealing these intimate experiences, his artistic skill is predominantly manifested.

The story also contains a connection to a specific historical period of time. Thus, the author dates Sanin’s meeting with Gemma to 1840. In addition, in “Spring Waters” there are a number of everyday details characteristic of the first half of the 19th century (Sanin is going to travel from Germany to Russia in a stagecoach, mail carriage, etc.).

If we turn to the figurative system, we should immediately note that along with the main storyline - the love of Sanin and Gemma - additional storylines of the same personal order are given, but according to the principle of contrast with the main plot: the dramatic end of the story of Gemma's love for Sanin becomes clearer from comparison with side episodes concerning the history of Sanin and Polozova.

The main plot line in the story is revealed in the usual dramatic way for such works by Turgenev: first, a brief exposition is given, depicting the environment in which the heroes must act, then there is a plot (the reader learns about the love of the hero and heroine), then the action develops, sometimes meeting along the way obstacles, finally comes the moment of highest tension of the action (explanation of the heroes), followed by a catastrophe, and then an epilogue.

The main narrative unfolds as the memoirs of a 52-year-old nobleman and landowner Sanin about the events of 30 years ago that happened in his life when he was traveling in Germany. Once, while passing through Frankfurt, Sanin went into a pastry shop, where he helped the young daughter of the owner with a fainting woman. younger brother. The family took a liking to Sanin and, unexpectedly for himself, he spent several days with them. When he was on a walk with Gemma and her fiancé, one of the young German officers sitting at the next table in the tavern allowed himself to be rudely behaved and Sanin challenged him to a duel. The duel ended happily for both participants. However, this incident greatly shook up the girl’s measured life. She refused the groom, who could not protect her dignity. Sanin suddenly realized that he loved her. The love that gripped them led Sanin to the idea of ​​marriage. Even Gemma's mother, who was initially horrified by Gemma's breakup with her fiancé, gradually calmed down and began to make plans for their later life. To sell his estate and get money for living together, Sanin went to Weisbaden to visit the rich wife of his boarding house friend Polozov, whom he accidentally meets in Frankfurt. However, the rich and young Russian beauty Marya Nikolaevna, on her whim, lured Sanin and made him one of her lovers. Unable to resist Marya Nikolaevna’s strong nature, Sanin follows her to Paris, but soon turns out to be unnecessary and returns to Russia with shame, where his life passes sluggishly in the bustle of society. Only 30 years later, he accidentally finds a miraculously preserved dried flower, which became the cause of that duel and was given to him by Gemma. He rushes to Frankfurt, where he finds out that Gemma got married two years after those events and lives happily in New York with her husband and five children. Her daughter in the photo looks like that young Italian girl, her mother, to whom Sanin once proposed marriage.

As we can see, the number of characters in the story is relatively small, so we can list them (as they appear in the text)

· Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin - Russian landowner

· Gemma is the daughter of the owner of the pastry shop

· Emil is the son of the owner of the pastry shop

· Pantaleone – old servant

· Louise – maid

· Leonora Roselli – pastry shop owner

· Karl Kluber - Gemma's fiance

· Baron Dönhof – German officer, later – general

· von Richter – second of Baron Dönhof

· Ippolit Sidorovich Polozov – Sanin’s boarding comrade

· Marya Nikolaevna Polozova - Polozov’s wife

Naturally, the heroes can be divided into main and secondary. We will consider images of both of them in the second chapter of our work.

CHAPTER 2. IMAGES OF MAIN AND SECONDARY

CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

2.1 Sanin – main character"Spring Waters"

At the beginning, we note once again that the conflict in the story, and the selection of characteristic episodes, and the relationship of characters - everything is subordinated to one main task of Turgenev: the analysis of the psychology of the noble intelligentsia in the field of personal, intimate life. The reader sees how the main characters meet, love each other and then separate, and what part other characters take in their love story.

The main character of the story is Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin, at the beginning of the story we see him already 52 years old, remembering his youth, his love for the girl Dzhema and his unfulfilled happiness.

We immediately learn a lot about him, the author tells us everything without hiding: “Sanin was in his 22nd year, and he was in Frankfurt, on his way back from Italy to Russia. He was a man with a small fortune, but independent, almost without a family. After the death of a distant relative, he ended up with several thousand rubles - and he decided to live them abroad, before entering the service, before finally taking upon himself that government yoke, without which a secure existence had become unthinkable for him.” In the first part of the story, Turgenev shows the best that was in Sanin’s character and what captivated Gemma in him. In two episodes (Sanin helps Gemma’s brother, Emil, who has fallen into a deep faint, and then, defending Gemma’s honor, fights a duel with German officer Döngof) reveals such traits of Sanin as nobility, straightforwardness, and courage. The author describes the appearance of the main character: “Firstly, he was very, very handsome. Stately, slender stature, pleasant, slightly blurry features, affectionate bluish eyes, golden hair, whiteness and blush of the skin - and most importantly: that ingenuously cheerful, trusting, frank, at first somewhat stupid expression, by which in former times one could immediately recognize children of sedate noble families, “father’s” sons, good noblemen, born and fattened in our free semi-steppe regions; a stuttering gait, a whispered voice, a smile like a child’s, as soon as you look at him... finally, freshness, health - and softness, softness, softness - that’s all Sanin for you. And secondly, he was not stupid and learned a thing or two. He remained fresh, despite his trip abroad: the anxious feelings that overwhelmed him the best part the youth of that time were little known to him.” The peculiar artistic media, which Turgenev uses to convey intimate emotional experiences. Usually this is not a characteristic of the author, not statements of the characters about themselves - these are mainly external manifestations of their thoughts and feelings: facial expression, voice, posture, movements, style of singing, performance of favorite musical works, reading of favorite poems. For example, the scene before Sanin’s duel with an officer: “Just once a thought came over him: he came across a young linden tree, broken, in all likelihood, by yesterday’s squall. She was positively dying... all the leaves on her were dying. "What is this? an omen?" - flashed through his head; but he immediately whistled, jumped over that same linden tree, and walked along the path.” Here the hero’s state of mind is conveyed through the landscape.

Naturally, the hero of the story is not unique among other Turgenev characters of this type. One can compare “Spring Waters,” for example, with the novel “Smoke,” where researchers note the closeness storylines and images: Irina - Litvinov - Tatiana and Polozova - Sanin - Gemma. Indeed, Turgenev in the story seemed to change the novel's ending: Sanin did not find the strength to abandon the role of a slave, as was the case with Litvinov, and followed Marya Nikolaevna everywhere. This change in the ending was not random and arbitrary, but was precisely determined by the logic of the genre. The genre also updated the prevailing dominants in the development of the characters’ characters. Sanin, just like Litvinov, is given the opportunity to “build” himself: and he, outwardly weak-willed and characterless, surprising himself, suddenly begins to commit actions, sacrifices himself for the sake of another - when he meets Gemma. But the story is not dominated by this quixotic trait; in the novel it dominates, as in the case of Litvinov. In the “characterless” Litvinov, it is precisely character and inner strength that are actualized, which are realized, among other things, in the idea social service. But Sanin turns out to be full of doubts and self-contempt; he, like Hamlet, is “a sensual and voluptuous man” - it is Hamlet’s passion that wins in him. He is also crushed by the general flow of life, unable to resist it. Sanin's life revelation is consonant with the thoughts of the heroes of many of the writer's stories. Its essence lies in the fact that the happiness of love is as tragically instantaneous as human life, however, it is the only meaning and content of this life. Thus, the heroes of the novel and story, who initially display common character traits, in different genres realize different dominant principles - either quixotic or Hamletian. The ambivalence of qualities is complemented by the dominance of one of them.

The story is prefaced by a quatrain from an ancient Russian romance:

Happy years
Happy days -
Like spring waters
They rushed by

Apparently, we will talk about love and youth. Maybe in the form of memories? Yes, indeed. “At one o’clock in the morning he returned to his office. He sent out the servant, who lit the candles, and, throwing himself into a chair near the fireplace, covered his face with both hands.”

Well, apparently, “he” (from our point of view) is living well, no matter who he is: the servant lights the candles, lit the fireplace for him. As it turns out later, he spent the evening with pleasant ladies and educated men. In addition: some of the ladies were beautiful, almost all the men were distinguished by their intelligence and talents. He himself also shone in the conversation. Why is he now choked by “disgust for life”?

And what is he, (Dmitry Pavlovich Sanin), thinking about in the silence of a cozy, warm office? "About vanity, uselessness, the vulgar falsehood of everything human." That's it, no more, no less!

He is 52 years old, he remembers all ages and sees no light. “Everywhere there is the same eternal pouring from empty to empty, the same pounding of water, the same half conscientious, half conscious self-delusion... - and then suddenly, just like out of the blue, old age will come - and with it... the fear of death... and crash into the abyss!" And before the end of weakness, suffering...

To distract himself from unpleasant thoughts, he sat down at his desk and began rummaging through his papers, in old women’s letters, intending to burn this unnecessary trash. Suddenly he cried out weakly: in one of the drawers there was a box in which lay a small garnet cross.

He again sat down in the chair by the fireplace - and again covered his face with his hands. "...And he remembered many things that had long passed... That's what he remembered..."

In the summer of 1840 he was in Frankfurt, returning from Italy to Russia. After the death of a distant relative, he ended up with several thousand rubles; he decided to live them abroad and then enter the military service.

At that time, tourists traveled in stagecoaches: there were still few railways. Sanin had to leave for Berlin that day.

Walking around the city, at six o’clock in the evening he went into the “Italian Confectionery” to drink a glass of lemonade. There was no one in the first room, then a girl of about 19 years old “with dark curls scattered over her bare shoulders, with her bare arms outstretched forward” ran in from the next room. Seeing Sanin, the stranger grabbed his hand and led him along. “Hurry, hurry, come here, save me!” - she said “in a breathless voice.” He had never seen such a beauty in his life.

In the next room, her brother was lying on the sofa, a boy of about 14, pale, with blue lips. It was a sudden faint. A tiny, shaggy old man on crooked legs hobbled into the room and said that he had sent for the doctor...

"But Emil will die for now!" - the girl exclaimed and extended her hands to Sanin, begging for help. He took off the boy's frock coat, unbuttoned his shirt and, taking a brush, began to rub his chest and arms. At the same time, he glanced sideways at the extraordinary beauty of the Italian. The nose is a little big, but “beautiful, eagle-shaped,” dark gray eyes, long dark curls...

Finally, the boy woke up, and soon a lady with silver-gray hair and a dark face appeared, as it turns out, the mother of Emil and his sister. At the same time, the maid appeared with the doctor.

Fearing that he was now superfluous, Sanin left, but the girl caught up with him and begged him to return in an hour “for a cup of chocolate.” “We are so indebted to you - you may have saved your brother - we want to thank you - mom wants. You must tell us who you are, you must rejoice with us...”

An hour and a half later he appeared. All the inhabitants of the candy store seemed incredibly happy. On the round table, covered with a clean tablecloth, stood a huge porcelain coffee pot filled with fragrant chocolate; around there are cups, carafes of syrup, biscuits, rolls. Candles were burning in antique silver candlesticks.

Sanin was seated in an easy chair and forced to talk about himself; in turn, the ladies shared the details of their lives with him. They are all Italians. The mother, a lady with silver-gray hair and a dark complexion, was “almost completely Germanized” since her late husband, an experienced pastry chef, settled in Germany 25 years ago; daughter Gemma and son Emil “very good and obedient children”; a little old man named Pantaleone, it turns out, was once upon a time opera singer, but now “was in the Roselli family somewhere between a friend of the house and a servant.”

The mother of the family, Frau Lenore, imagined Russia this way: “eternal snow, everyone wears fur coats and everyone is military - but extreme hospitality! Sanin tried to provide her and her daughter with more accurate information.” He even sang “Sarafan” and “On the Pavement Street,” and then Pushkin’s “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” to Glinka’s music, somehow accompanying himself on the piano. The ladies admired the ease and sonority of the Russian language, then sang several Italian duets. Former singer Pantaleone also tried to perform something, some “extraordinary grace,” but failed. And then Emil suggested that his sister read to the guest “one of Maltz’s comedies, which she reads so well.”

Gemma read “quite like an actor,” “using her facial expressions.” Sanin admired her so much that he did not notice how the evening flew by and completely forgot that his stagecoach was leaving at half past ten. When the clock struck 10 in the evening, he jumped up as if stung. Late!

“Did you pay all the money or just give a deposit?” asked Frau Lenore.

All! - Sanin cried with a sad grimace.

“You now have to stay in Frankfurt for several days,” Gemma told him, “what’s your hurry?!”

He knew that he would have to stay “due to the emptiness of his wallet” and ask a Berlin friend to send money.

“Stay, stay,” said Frau Lenore. “We will introduce you to Gemma’s fiancé, Mr. Karl Klüber.”

Sanin was slightly taken aback by this news.

And the next day guests came to his hotel: Emil and with him a tall young man “with a handsome face” - Gemma’s fiancé.

The groom said that he “wanted to express my respect and gratitude to Mr. Foreigner, who provided such an important service to the future relative, the brother of his bride.”

Mr. Kluber hurried to his store - “business comes first!” - and Emil still stayed with Sanin and told him that his mother, under the influence of Mr. Kluber, wants to make him a merchant, while his vocation is the theater.

Sanin was invited to new friends for breakfast and stayed until the evening. Next to Gemma, everything seemed pleasant and sweet. “Great delights lurk in the monotonously quiet and smooth flow of life”... When night fell, when he went home, the “image” of Gemma did not leave him. And the next day, in the morning, Emil came to him and announced that Herr Klüber, (who had invited everyone to a pleasure ride the day before), would now arrive with a carriage. A quarter of an hour later, Kluber, Sanin and Emil drove up to the porch of the pastry shop. Frau Lenore stayed at home because of a headache, but sent Gemma with them.

We went to Soden - a small town near Frankfurt. Sanin secretly watched Gemma and her fiancé. She behaved calmly and simply, but still somewhat more seriously than usual, and the groom “looked like a condescending mentor”; He also treated nature “with the same condescension, through which the usual boss’s severity occasionally broke through.”

Then lunch, coffee; nothing remarkable. But behind one of neighboring tables Some rather drunk officers were sitting and suddenly one of them approached Gemma. He had already visited Frankfurt and, apparently, knew her. “I drink to the health of the most beautiful coffee shop in the whole Frankfurt, in the whole world (he “slammed” the glass at once) - and in retribution I take this flower plucked by her divine fingers!” At the same time, he took the rose lying in front of her. At first she was scared, then anger flashed in her eyes! Her gaze confused the drunken man, who muttered something and “went back to his people.”

Mr. Klüber, putting on his hat, said: “This is unheard of! Unheard of insolence!” and demanded from the waiter an immediate payment. He also ordered the carriage to be pawned, since “decent people cannot travel here, because they are subject to insults!”

“Get up, Mein Fraulein,” said Mr. Klüber with the same severity, “it is indecent for you to stay here. We will settle down there, in the inn!”

He walked majestically towards the inn, arm in arm with Gemma. Emil trudged after them.

Meanwhile, Sanin, as befits a nobleman, approached the table where the officers were sitting and said in French to the insulter: “You are a poorly brought up impudent man.” He jumped up, and another officer, an older one, stopped him and asked Sanin, also in French, who he was to that girl.

Sanin, throwing his business card, declared that he was a stranger to the girl, but could not indifferently see such insolence. He grabbed the rose taken from Gemma and left, having received the assurance that “tomorrow morning one of the officers of their regiment will have the honor of coming to his apartment.”

The groom pretended not to notice Sanin’s act. Gemma didn't say anything either. And Emil was ready to throw himself on the hero’s neck or go with him to fight the offenders.

Kluber ranted all the way: about the fact that it was in vain that they did not listen to him when he proposed dinner in a closed gazebo, about morality and immorality, about decency and a sense of dignity... Gradually, Gemma clearly became embarrassed for her fiancé. And Sanin secretly rejoiced at everything that happened, and at the end of the trip he gave her that same rose. She flushed and squeezed his hand.

This is how this love began.

In the morning, a second appeared and reported that his friend, Baron von Dongof, “would be satisfied with a light apology.”

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

Spring waters

Happy years

Happy days -

Like spring waters

They rushed by!

From an old romance

...At one o'clock in the morning he returned to his office. He sent out a servant, who lit the candles, and, throwing himself into a chair near the fireplace, covered his face with both hands.

Never before had he felt such fatigue - physical and mental. He spent the whole evening with pleasant ladies and educated men; some of the ladies were beautiful, almost all the men were distinguished by their intelligence and talents - he himself spoke very successfully and even brilliantly... and, with all that, never before that “taedium vitae”, which the Romans already spoke about, that “disgust for life” - with such irresistible force did not take possession of him, did not choke him. If he had been a little younger, he would have cried from melancholy, from boredom, from irritation: an acrid and burning bitterness, like the bitterness of wormwood, filled his entire soul. Something persistently hateful, disgustingly heavy surrounded him on all sides, like an autumn dark night; and he did not know how to get rid of this darkness, this bitterness. There was no hope of sleep: he knew that he would not fall asleep.

He began to think... slowly, sluggishly and angrily.

He thought about the vanity, the uselessness, the vulgar falsehood of everything human. All ages gradually passed before his mind's eye (he himself had recently passed his 52nd year) - and not one found mercy in front of him. Everywhere there is the same eternal pouring from empty to empty, the same pounding of water, the same half conscientious, half conscious self-delusion - no matter what the child enjoys, as long as he doesn’t cry - and then suddenly, out of the blue, it will come old age - and with it that constantly growing, all-corroding and undermining fear of death... and crash into the abyss! It’s good if life plays out like this! Otherwise, perhaps, before the end, weakness and suffering will follow, like rust on iron... Covered with stormy waves, as the poets describe, he imagined the sea of ​​life; No; he imagined this sea to be imperturbably smooth, motionless and transparent to the very dark bottom; he himself sits in a small, rickety boat - and there, on this dark, muddy bottom, like huge fish, ugly monsters are barely visible: all everyday ailments, illnesses, sorrows, madness, poverty, blindness... He looks - and here is one of the monsters stands out from the darkness, rises higher and higher, becomes more and more clearly, more and more disgustingly clearly... Another minute - and the boat propped up by him will capsize! But then it seems to fade again, it moves away, sinks to the bottom - and it lies there, slightly moving its reach... But the appointed day will come - and it will capsize the boat.

He shook his head, jumped up from his chair, walked around the room a couple of times, sat down at the desk and, opening one drawer after another, began rummaging through his papers, old letters, mostly from women. He himself did not know why he was doing this, he was not looking for anything - he just wanted to get rid of the thoughts that were tormenting him through some external activity. Having opened several letters at random (one of them contained a dried flower tied with a faded ribbon), he just shrugged his shoulders and, looking at the fireplace, threw them aside, probably intending to burn all this unnecessary trash. Hastily thrusting his hands into one box and then into another, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and, slowly pulling out a small octagonal box of an antique cut, slowly lifted its lid. In the box, under a double layer of yellowed cotton paper, was a small garnet cross.

For several moments he looked at this cross in bewilderment - and suddenly he cried out weakly... Either regret or joy portrayed his features. A similar expression appears on a person’s face when he suddenly meets another person whom he has long lost sight of, whom he once loved dearly and who now unexpectedly appears before his eyes, still the same - and completely changed over the years.

He got up and, returning to the fireplace, sat down again in the chair - and again covered his face with his hands... “Why today? today?" - he thought - and he remembered a lot of things that had happened long ago.

This is what he remembered...

But you must first say his first name, patronymic and last name. His name was Sanin, Dmitry Pavlovich.

Here's what he remembered:

It was the summer of 1840. Sanin was twenty-two years old, and he was in Frankfurt, on his way back from Italy to Russia. He was a man with a small fortune, but independent, almost without a family. After the death of a distant relative, he had several thousand rubles - and he decided to live them abroad, before entering the service, before the final assumption of that government yoke, without which a secure existence had become unthinkable for him. Sanin carried out his intention exactly and managed it so skillfully that on the day of his arrival in Frankfurt he had exactly enough money to get to St. Petersburg. In 1840 there were very few railways; tourists rode around in stagecoaches. Sanin took a seat in the Beywagen; but the stagecoach did not leave until eleven o'clock in the evening. There was a lot of time left. Fortunately, the weather was fine - and Sanin, having had lunch at the then famous White Swan Hotel, went to wander around the city. He went to see Danneker’s Ariadne, which he liked little, visited Goethe’s house, of whose works he, however, read only “Werther” - and that in a French translation; I walked along the banks of the Main, got bored, as a respectable traveler should; Finally, at six o'clock in the evening, tired, with dusty feet, I found myself in one of the most insignificant streets of Frankfurt. He could not forget this street for a long time. On one of its few houses he saw a sign: “Giovanni Roselli’s Italian Pastry Shop” announcing itself to passers-by. Sanin went in to drink a glass of lemonade; but in the first room, where, behind a modest counter, on the shelves of a painted cabinet, reminiscent of a pharmacy, there were several bottles with gold labels and the same number of glass jars with crackers, chocolate cakes and candies - there was not a soul in this room; only the gray cat squinted and purred, moving its paws on a high wicker chair near the window, and, blushing brightly in the slanting ray of the evening sun, a large ball of red wool lay on the floor next to an overturned carved wooden basket. A vague noise was heard in the next room. Sanin stood there and, letting the bell on the door ring until the end, said, raising his voice: “Is there no one here?” At the same instant, the door from the next room opened - and Sanin had to be amazed.

A girl of about nineteen rushed into the pastry shop, with her dark curls scattered over her bare shoulders, with her bare arms outstretched, and, seeing Sanin, immediately rushed to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him along, saying in a breathless voice: “Hurry, hurry, come here, save me!” Not out of unwillingness to obey, but simply from an excess of amazement, Sanin did not immediately follow the girl - and seemed to stop in his tracks: he had never seen such a beauty in his life. She turned to what - and with such despair in her voice, in her gaze, in her movement clenched hand, convulsively raised to her pale cheek, said: “Yes, go, go!” - that he immediately rushed after her through the open door.

In the room where he ran after the girl, on an old-fashioned sofa made of horsehair lying all white - white with yellowish tints, like wax or like ancient marble - a boy of about fourteen, strikingly similar to the girl, obviously her brother. His eyes were closed, the shadow of black thick hair fell like a spot on his petrified forehead, on his motionless thin eyebrows; Clenched teeth were visible from under his blue lips. He didn't seem to be breathing; one hand fell to the floor, he threw the other behind his head. The boy was dressed and buttoned up; a tight tie squeezed his neck.

The girl screamed and rushed towards him.

- He died, he died! - she cried, - now he was sitting here, talking to me - and suddenly he fell and became motionless... My God! can't you help? And no mother! Pantaleone, Pantaleone, what about the doctor? “- she suddenly added in Italian: “Have you gone to see the doctor?”

“Signora, I didn’t go, I sent Louise,” a hoarse voice came from behind the door, “and a little old man in a purple tailcoat with black buttons, a high white tie, short nankeen trousers and blue woolen stockings entered the room, hobbling on crooked legs. His tiny face completely disappeared under a whole mass of gray, iron-colored hair. Rising steeply upward on all sides and falling back in disheveled braids, they gave the old man's figure a resemblance to a tufted hen - a resemblance all the more striking since under their dark gray mass all that could be seen was a pointed nose and round yellow eyes.

“Louise is quickly running away, but I can’t run,” the old man continued in Italian, one by one raising his flat, gouty legs, shod in high shoes with bows, “but I brought water.”

With his dry, gnarled fingers he squeezed the long neck of the bottle.

- But Emil will die for now! – the girl exclaimed and extended her hands to Sanin. - Oh my lord, oh mein Herr! Can't you help?

“We need to bleed him - this is a blow,” remarked the old man, who bore the name Pantaleone.

Although Sanin did not have the slightest idea about medicine, he knew one thing for sure: blows do not happen to fourteen-year-old boys.

“It’s a fainting spell, not a blow,” he said, turning to Pantaleone. - Do you have