Read the story the night before Christmas summary. Brief retelling - “The Night Before Christmas” Gogol N.V.

Novel "Buddenbrooks" (1901)

The work contains many genre characteristics reminiscent of a family chronicle: the story of several (four) generations of one family is told, the history of all of Germany for more than a century is depicted, biographical moments are reflected (Mann’s family even objected to the publication), and a leisurely epic narrative style prevails. At the same time, “Buddenbrooks” is not only a chronicle of the family and burghers in general, but also of the cultural turning point in Germany at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. To put it very briefly, the essence of this turning point is that stability and confidence are replaced by instability and anxiety. The spirit of business, calculation, and clear moral guidelines is being replaced by spirit of music - philosophical doubt about the meaning of life, interest in art, the invasion of a whirlwind of passions and at the same time despondency, sadness, dissatisfaction, vague impulses and dreams. No wonder Ganno, last representative Buddenbrook, a born musician, unable to manage the affairs of the company, leaves the world at the age of only fifteen years. The apparent cause of his death is typhus, but Thomas Mann notes at the end of the story that he did not die of typhus, but because he did not answer the call of life.

The first generation (Johann the elder) and the second (Johann the younger) were still quite viable, physically healthy and morally stable. They died in old age from illnesses - it was a natural death. The turning point begins with the third generation (Thomas, Tony, Clara, Christian). And it is no coincidence that it is they who fall into the spotlight of the author and become the main characters of the story. Christian Buddenbrook is not interested in the affairs of the company, but in the theater; chooses a girl from outside his circle as his wife and, in fact, goes beyond the family; in addition, he is mentally unbalanced, obsessed with various phobias and manias. Toni is one of the most charming images, but she is also a representative of a new time, which bears the stamp of destruction: she is unlucky in her personal life, she is unhappy in love. Although Tony, more than many others, is aware of his duty to his family and tries to fulfill it. Clara is too correct and rather colorless; having married a priest, she determines her fate for the rest of her days - and happily disappears from view. The most interesting is Thomas Buddenbrook. The author put a lot of personal things into this image. Thomas has to be stoic: the company's business is going badly, and he is making enormous efforts to improve it. But not everything depends on him. New times and new people have come - these are the Haggenströmms, clever, unscrupulous businessmen who, for the sake of money, go to any deal and any speculation. Thomas is unhappy in his marriage: his wife Gerda lives in the world of music and has little interest in her husband's life; he feels lonely in his family. His son Hanno also does not live up to expectations; he probably will not go into business; from his mother he inherited detachment from everyday life and a passion for art.

Together with physical decline in late Buddenbrooks there is spiritual elevation: They are more interested in culture than their ancestors, think about death and search for the meaning of life. So Thomas buys a book from a second-hand bookseller (and this is a chapter on death from Arthur Schopenhauer’s famous work “The World as Will and Idea”), which changes his previous ideas and strangely calms him down. Schopenhauer convinces him that the essence of life is suffering, so it is pointless to seek happiness here. And after death we will get rid of suffering, since we will get rid of our individuality and unite with the world Will. Thomas dies stupidly, absurdly (“from a tooth”), right on the street, falling face first into a dirty puddle. His death is not like the death of a philosopher, and Schopenhauer does not have the last word.

In the finale of the novel we see the female representatives of the Buddenbrook family: all the men (including young Hanno) are dead. However, faith and hope have not died; they are heard in the mouth of the “hunchbacked prophetess” Zezemi Weichbrodt, who is sure that after death each of us will meet with those we loved. This does not mean that this is precisely the point of view of Thomas Mann himself, but it is important that it is heard here, and at the very end of the story.

MATERIALS KSH E S T O M UZ A N Y T I

From Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy"

“What if the Greeks, precisely in the wealth of their youth, possessed the will to the tragic and were they pessimists? What if it was madness, to use Plato’s word, that brought Hellas largest blessings? And what if, on the other hand and vice versa, the Greeks, precisely at the time of their collapse and weakness, became more and more optimistic, superficial, more and more infected with acting, and also more and more ardently strived for logic and logicalization of the world, i.e. were at the same time “more joyful” and “more scientific”? What if to spite everyone " modern ideas"and the prejudices of democratic taste win optimism, coming forward dominance reasonableness, practical and theoretical utilitarianism, and democracy itself, contemporary with him, represent, perhaps, only a symptom of declining strength, approaching physiological fatigue?

“And morality itself - what if it is the “will to deny life”, the hidden instinct of destruction, the principle of decline, humiliation, slander, the beginning of the end? And therefore, the danger of dangers?.. So, then, with this dubious book, my instinct, as the intercessory instinct of life, turned against morality, and invented for itself a radically opposite teaching and an opposite assessment of life, purely artistic, anti-Christian... I christened her with the name of one of the Greek gods: I named her Dionysian."

From the main part of the book -

“With their two deities of the arts, Apollo and Dionysus, is connected our knowledge of the enormous opposition in origin and purpose that we encounter in the Greek world between the art of plastic images - Apollonian - and the non-plastic art of music - the art of Dionysus; these two so different aspirations act side by side with each other...”

“To understand both of these aspirations, let us first imagine them as separated art worlds dreams And intoxication" In Apollo there is “a complete sense of proportion, self-restraint, freedom from wild impulses, the wise peace of God - the creator of images.” In Apollo, “all the great joy and wisdom of illusion, together with all its beauty,” speaks to us.

In Dionysian, “the subjective disappears to the point of complete self-forgetfulness.” “The reality of intoxication pays no attention to individual person, but rather seeks to destroy the individual and liberate him with a mystical sense of unity.”

“The Apollonian consciousness is only a veil hiding the Dionysian world.”

“...the chorus of satyrs reflects existence with greater completeness, reality and truth than a cultured person who usually imagines himself to be the only reality.”

“... the Dionysian Greek seeks truth and nature in its highest power - he feels enchanted into a satyr.”

«… mystery teaching of tragedy- the basic knowledge of the unity of everything that exists, a view of individuation as the original cause of evil, and art as a joyful hope for the possibility of breaking the spell of individuation, as a premonition of a newly restored unity.”

“It will be enough to imagine all the consequences of Socrates’ propositions: “virtue is knowledge,” “one sins only through ignorance,” “the virtuous is also happy”—the death of tragedy lies in these three basic forms of optimism.”

“Optimistic dialectics drives with the scourge of its syllogisms music from tragedy, i.e. destroys the essence of tragedy."

“Socrates is the prototype of theoretical optimism, which, based on the above-mentioned belief in the knowability of the nature of things, ascribes to knowledge and knowledge the power of a universal remedy, and sees evil as such in error.”

“For music... differs from all other arts in that it is not a reflection of a phenomenon or, rather, of the adequate objectivity of the will, but a direct image of the will itself and therefore represents, in relation to every physical principle of the world, a metaphysical principle, and to every phenomenon a thing in yourself. Accordingly, the world could with equal right be called both embodied music and embodied will.”

“...only as an aesthetic phenomenon do existence and the world seem justified.”

“Music and tragic myth are equally the expression of the Dionysian ability of the people and are inseparable from each other.”

From Thomas Mann's article "Nietzsche's Philosophy in the Light of Our Experience"

“Developing in line with Schopenhauer’s philosophy, remaining a student of Schopenhauer even after an ideological break with him, Nietzsche throughout his life essentially only varied, developed and tirelessly repeated one and only, the thought present everywhere in his mind...

What kind of thought is this?... Here are its elements: life, culture, consciousness or knowledge, art, aristocracy, morality, instinct... The dominant concept in this complex of ideas is culture. It is almost equal in rights to life: culture is all that is in the life of an aristocrat; Art and instinct are closely connected with it, they are the sources of culture, its indispensable condition; consciousness and knowledge, science and, finally, morality act as mortal enemies of culture and life - morality, which, being the guardian of truth, thereby kills all living things in life, for life is largely based on appearance, art, self-deception, hope, illusions, and everything that lives is brought to life by delusion.”

“Science is declared an enemy, because it does not see and does not know anything except becoming, except historical process... And therefore life under the rule of science is much less worthy of the name of life than life subordinate not to science, but to instinct and powerful illusions».

Nietzsche's moral criticism, according to Mann, lies not only in his personal preferences, but also in the peculiarities of the era. Mann compares Nietzsche to Oscar Wilde, finding many similarities between them.

“Nietzsche’s philosophy, it seems to me, was most perniciously, even fatally influenced by two misconceptions. The first of them is that he decisively and, one must assume, deliberately distorted the real relationship of forces existing in this world between instinct and intellect, portraying the matter in such a way that it was as if the terrible times the dominance of the intellect and it is necessary, before it is too late, to save the instincts from it... Has the world ever been in the slightest danger of perishing from an excess of reason?..

Nietzsche's second error is that he treats life and morality as two opposites and thus completely distorts their true relationship. Meanwhile, morality and life are a single whole. Ethics is the support of life, and a moral person is a true citizen of life... The contradiction in reality does not exist between life and ethics, but between ethics and aesthetics."

“Before us is the story of Hamlet, the tragic fate of a man whose knowledge was beyond his ability.”

“Nietzsche’s aestheticism is a frantic denial of everything spiritual in the name of a beautiful, powerful, shameless life...”

Excerpts from Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice"

Description of a random passer-by who gave Aschenbach a desire to wander - “Medium height, skinny, beardless and very snub-nosed, this man belonged to the red-haired type with his characteristic milky-white freckled skin. His appearance was by no means Bavarian, and the wide-brimmed bast hat that covered his head gave him the appearance of a foreigner, a stranger from distant lands... Raising his head so that his Adam's apple was clearly and sharply visible on his thin neck, sticking out from the turn-down collars of his sports shirt, he looked into the distance with his whitish eyes with red eyelashes, between which, in strange correspondence with his upturned nose. There were two vertical energy folds. In his pose - perhaps this was facilitated by his elevated and elevating location - there was something arrogantly contemplative, bold, even wild. And either he made a grimace, blinded by the setting sun, or his face was generally characterized by a certain strangeness, only his lips seemed too short, drawn up and down to such an extent that they exposed his gums, from which long white teeth protruded... Aschenbach, to his surprise, suddenly felt how incredibly his soul expanded; an inexplicable longing took possession of him, a youthful thirst for change of place, a feeling so alive, so new... that he froze in place...”

“But his favorite word was “hold out” - and in his novel about Frederick of Prussia, he saw first of all the apotheosis of this command word, which, in his opinion, personified the essence and meaning of heroic stoicism.”

“After all, perseverance in the face of fate, good behavior in torment mean not only passion-suffering; This active action, a positive triumph, and Saint Sebastian is a most beautiful symbol, if not of art in general. That, of course, is the art we are talking about. It is worth looking into this world... and we will see: graceful self-control, hiding from human eyes until the last breath inner emptiness, its biological decay; a physically damaged yellow monstrosity that can fan its smoldering heat into a pure flame and ascend to full power in the kingdom of beauty; pale weakness, drawing its strength from the burning depths of the spirit and capable of plunging an entire arrogant people to the foot of the cross, to its own foot; pleasant manner with empty but strict service to form; a false life full of dangers, destructive melancholy and the art of a natural deceiver.

Anyone who looked closely at these and similar destinies could not help but doubt whether there was any other heroism in the world other than the heroism of the weak.”

“He didn’t know exactly where he was being drawn, and the question “so where?” remained open for him."

“Who has not experienced instant trepidation, secret timidity and mental embarrassment when sitting down for the first time or after a long break? Venetian gondola? An amazing little boat, passed down to us without the slightest change from fabulous times, and so black, like coffins of all things in the world - it reminds us of silent and criminal adventures in the quietly splashing night, but even more of death, of the ditch, funeral service and the last silent journey."

“The boy entered the glass door and, in the midst of complete silence, crossed the hall obliquely... Aschenbach, seeing his clear profile, was again amazed and even frightened by the god-like beauty of this youth... from this collar... in incomparable beauty grew the flower of his head - the head of Eros in the yellowish shimmer of Parian marble , - with thin, stern eyebrows, with a transparent shadow on the temples, with ears covered with soft waves of curls falling at right angles.”

“The atmosphere of the city, the rotten smell of the sea and swamp that drove him away, he now inhaled slowly, with tenderness and pain.”

“His brain and heart were drunk. He walked forward, obeying the instructions of the demon, who knows no better fun than to trample underfoot the mind and dignity of a person.”

From Thomas Mann's novel Buddenbrooks

“The guests and hosts sat on heavy chairs with high backs, ate heavy, good food with heavy silver forks, washed it down with thick, good wine and slowly exchanged words.”

The precepts of old Johann - “My son, eagerly begin your daily tasks, but take on only those that will not disturb your peace at night.”

About Tony Buddenbrook - “She perfectly understood her responsibilities towards the family and the company, moreover, she was proud of them... Her purpose was to, by entering into a profitable and worthy marriage, contribute to the brilliance of the family and the company.”

Toni's explanation with her father after receiving the news of Grünlich's bankruptcy -

“... for my part, I must openly admit that the step that four years ago seemed so good and reasonable to me now seems to me to be wrong... But you don’t blame me, do you?

Of course not, dad! And why are you saying that? You're taking all this too much to heart, my poor daddy... you've turned pale!.. I'll run upstairs and bring you some stomach drops. “She put her arms around her father’s neck and kissed him on both cheeks.”

“...Tony had the happy gift of quickly and inspiredly, rejoicing from the heart in novelty, adapting to any change in life.”

“The Christian is too busy with himself, too listening to what is happening inside him.”

“...Thomas Buddenbrook began to think, delve into himself, test his attitude towards death, towards the other world. And as soon as he made this attempt, he realized the hopeless immaturity and unpreparedness of his soul for death.

Ritual faith, sentimental traditional Christianity... was always alien to Thomas Buddenbrook; all his life he regarded the beginnings and ends of things with the secular skepticism of his grandfather. But, being a man of deeper needs, a more flexible mind and gravitating toward metaphysics, he could not be satisfied with the superficial love of life of old Johann Buddenbrook.”

Thomas Buddenbrook about Schopenhauer's book “The World as Will and Idea” - “An unknown feeling of joy, great and grateful, took possession of him. He experienced incomparable satisfaction when he learned how this powerful mind had conquered life, an imperious, evil, mocking life - conquered it in order to condemn. It was the satisfaction of a sufferer, still bashful, like a man with a bad conscience, hiding his suffering in the face of the cold cruelty of life, a sufferer who, from the hands of a great sage, suddenly received the solemnly justified right to suffer in this world...

What is death? The answer to this question did not appear to him in pitiful, imaginary words: he felt it, this answer, internally possessed it. Death is a happiness so deep that it can even be measured only in moments overshadowed, as now, by grace. She is a return after an unspeakably painful journey, the correction of a grave mistake, liberation from vile bonds and shackles. She will come - that's all fatal coincidence circumstances no matter what.

End and collapse? Pity is the one who is afraid of these insignificant concepts! What will end and What will it fall apart? This is his body... His personality, his individuality, this is ponderous, difficult to move, erroneous and hateful an obstacle to becoming something different, something better!

Isn't every person a mistake, the fruit of a misunderstanding? Doesn't he end up in prison as soon as he's born? Jail! Jail! There are shackles and walls everywhere! Through the barred windows of his individuality, a person looks hopelessly at the ramparts of external circumstances, until death calls him to return to his homeland, to freedom...

Individuality!.. Ah, what we are. What we can and what we have seems pitiful, gray, insufficient and boring to us; and at what is not us, at what we cannot, what we do not have, we look with melancholy envy, which is called love. - at least out of fear of becoming hatred...

Organism! Blind, thoughtless, pathetic flash of struggling will! Really, it would be better for this will to soar freely in the night, not limited by space and time, than to languish in a prison, poorly lit by the flickering, trembling light of the intellect!

I hoped to continue life in my son? In a personality even more timid, weak, unstable? Childishness, stupidity and extravagance! What is my son to me? I don't need any son! ..Where will I be when I die? I will be in everyone who has ever said, is saying or will say “I”; and above all in those who say this “I” stronger, more joyfully...

Somewhere in the world a young man is growing up, talented, endowed with everything needed for life, capable of developing his inclinations, stately, not knowing sadness, pure, cruel, cheerful - one of those whose personality makes the happy even happier, and destroys the unhappy in despair - this is my son! It's me soon, soon - as soon as death frees me from the pathetic, insane delusion that I am not so much he as I am...”

The ending of the novel (female representatives of the Buddenbrooks family remember the departed dear people) - “Ah, there are moments when nothing consoles me, when - Lord, forgive me, a sinner! - you begin to doubt justice, goodness... everything. Life breaks many things in us, even our faith... Meeting! Oh, if only this could come true!

But then Zezemi Weichbrodt soared over the table. She stood on her tiptoes, stretched her neck and banged her fist so that the cap shook on her head.

It will come true! - she said at the top of her voice and looked defiantly at her interlocutors.

So she stood - the winner in a righteous debate, which she waged all her life with the sober arguments of her mind, experienced in the sciences - a tiny, trembling with conviction, inspired hunchbacked prophetess.

About the work of Thomas Mann

From the Preface to the collected works of T. Mann in 10 volumes

(Moscow, GIHL, 1959) / ed. Boris Suchkov

“He felt himself the heir to the great humanistic tradition nurtured by Goethe and Schiller, and - at the same time - a triad of names stood above his spiritual horizon - Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Wagner...”

“Thomas Mann's prose has a clearly expressed analytical character. Artistic image arises in him as a generalization of what is conscious, is born on soil already deeply plowed by the work of thought. Mann is primarily a thinking writer, for whom the intellect is always a guide in wandering through the unknown labyrinths of life."

About the novel “Buddenbrooks” - “The atmosphere of the novel is permeated by a gloomy melancholy, brought into it not only by the experience of life. Thomas Mann repeatedly pointed out that he received the “right to pessimism” from Schopenhauer, whose admirer he was. But it was a dangerous right.”

“A sober mind and a sense of reality saved Thomas Mann from deifying the Buddenbrooks, but the pessimistic concept of existence as a process of dying rather than development, which he borrowed from Schopenhauer, forces him to give the passing fact of history - the death of the bourgeois class - the features of some kind of cosmic catastrophe.”

“In short stories, Thomas Mann appears primarily as an epic artist. He deliberately neglects the main genre feature of the short story - plot - and builds it on a different basis - on a detailed description of the characters of the characters, on the revelation of their internal drama - the consequence of a discord with life, the cruelty and inhumanity of which is hidden behind the colorless prosaicness of bourgeois existence.

“The non-bourgeois nature of the heroes of his short stories manifests itself in an extremely paradoxical form. They are separated from ordinary people either by the curse of talent or illness... The idea that illness brings liberation from dull everyday life, Mann borrowed from Nietzsche.”

About the short story “Death in Venice” - “Thomas Mann likens Aschenbach and people of his type to Saint Sebastian, who by the power of faith and conviction overcomes the torment of torture.”

From an article by T.L. Motyleva “Thomas Mann (before 1918)” (“History of German Literature” in five volumes.

Publishing house "Science", Moscow, 1968, T.4).

“The comparison and conflict of two socio-psychological types - the “burgher” and the “artist” - run through the entire work of Thomas Mann.”

“Buddenbrooks are burghers. Thomas Mann always took this concept very seriously, not only socially, but, perhaps, also philosophical meaning. The burgher, according to the writer, is not just an owner, but also a bearer of certain, very valuable traditions of German culture, the color and foundation of the nation. T. Mann associates with this concept the idea of ​​impeccable honesty, the strength of family and moral principles, hard work, a sense of duty... The term “burger” is not associated in his mind with either greed, predation, or obscurantism... The concept of “burger” for Thomas Mann was a positive concept."

“The decline of the family is interpreted to a certain extent as the effect of fatal hereditary doom.”

“Pictures of family celebrations form key points in the plot of the novel, and the “secret crack” that is revealed each time gives these episodes a taste of haunting bitterness. Thus, the very plot of the novel reveals the fragility of the foundations on which the happiness and power of the Buddenbrooks are based. The theme of decline, which unfolds especially in the second half of the novel, is prepared, in essence, by the entire development of the action.”

“Thomas Mann has repeatedly noted his penchant for leitmotifs. They are for him not just a means of characterizing characters, but also something more significant: they are an integral element of his artistic style. In “Buddenbrooks” we find an exceptional abundance of portrait and speech leitmotifs.”

About the short story “Death in Venice” - its construction - “increasing psychological tension and an unexpected denouement-catastrophe, revealing the hidden tragedy of human destinies and relationships... A painstaking analysis of the irrational vicious feelings of the hero partly brings Thomas Mann’s short story closer to the literature of decadence. But the main thrust of the novella is sharply hostile to decadence.”

Questions for discussion

Why does Nietzsche hate Socrates? What is Thomas Mann's attitude towards Socrates?

Nietzsche's aestheticism and Thomas Mann's aestheticism. Are there any similarities?

What is Thomas Mann’s attitude to Christian values ​​(based on the example of the story “Death in Venice” and the novel “Buddenbrooks”)

Why did Gustav Aschenbach die?

Why is the third generation of Buddenbrooks chosen as the main characters in the novel Buddenbrooks?

Current aspects of the topic (for term papers and dissertations)

Dialogues of Socrates and the dialogism of Thomas Mann's works

Oscar Wilde as one of the prototypes of the hero of the story “Death in Venice” by Gustav von Aschenbach

The city as a symbol (Death in Venice by Thomas Mann)

The theme of antiquity in Thomas Mann's story "Death in Venice"

The theme of music and youth in Thomas Mann's novel "Buddenbrooks"

Apollonian and Dionysian in Thomas Mann's story "Death in Venice"

Key words for this lesson: APOLLONISTIC, DIONYSIAN, SOCRATIC, DEMONIC, DEATH, BEAUTY, ART, SYMBOLICS, VENICE, SCHOPENHAUER, NIETZSCHE, FAMILY CHRONICLE, BURGERSHIP,

L I T E R A T U R A

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The birth of tragedy from the spirit of music. St. Petersburg, “Azbuka”, 2000.

Sokolov B.G. “Passion” according to Nietzsche // ibid., pp. 5 – 30.

Mann, Thomas. Nietzsche's philosophy in the light of our experience // Mann, Thomas. Collection Op. in 10 volumes. Moscow, GIHL, 1959. T.10.

Mann, Thomas. Buddenbrooks // ibid., T.1.

Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice // ibid., T.7.

Suchkov B. Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955) // ibid., T.1. P.5 - 62.

Motyleva T.L. Thomas Mann (before 1918) // History of German literature in 5 volumes, M., “Science”, 1968. Vol.4. P.477 – 495.

Kurginyan M. Novels of Thomas Mann. Forms and method. M., " graduate School", 1967.

XX century. And suddenly... literature? - -Already in the phrase “entertaining” literature" ...

By the end of the 19th century, when outstanding examples of the romantic genre had already been created in the literature of Russia, England, and France, the achievements of German literature in this area remained very modest. Only at the beginning of the 20th century a work appeared here that became a phenomenon on a truly international scale. This was the first novel by the young writer Thomas Mann, “Buddenbrooks,” written in the genre of a family narrative and marking the expansion of the social range of German literature and at the same time the increasing role of the intellectual, ideological element in it, the craving for problematic issues and large generalizations. There is no such immediate topicality in Buddenbrooks. The action here ends long before the unfolding and collapse of the Wilhelmine period. Yet this novel contains deep social criticism, albeit in a complex, confusing form. The artistic form of "Buddenbrooks" is closely related to this special form of social criticism and is also extremely original: in all German literature of the pre-war years there is not a single novel so complete, calm and monumental in form. But not only in German - in all world literature of this period there are not many works that could compare with this novel in artistic terms.

In his novel, Thomas Mann decided to describe the environment familiar to him from childhood. Not limiting himself to the memories of childhood and adolescence, he carefully collected family documents, questioned his mother and other relatives.

Thomas Mann depicts the decline of the old bourgeoisie as internal process. He shows in his novel four generations of an old merchant family from Lübeck. He perfectly individualizes the characters and skillfully draws both differences and family resemblances: “Old Johann Buddenbrook suddenly burst into laughter, or rather, chuckled, loudly and sarcastically; he had been holding this laugh for a long time in readiness. The old man was glad that he was again able to make fun of the catechism, - the purpose for which this whole home examination was probably carried out." “Everyone began to echo his laughter, presumably out of respect for the head of the family. Madame Antoinette Buddenbrook, née Duchamp, giggled just like her husband.” “Elizabeth Buddenbrook, née Kroeger, laughed with that Kroeger laugh, which began with an indefinite hissing sound; laughing, she pressed her chin to her chest.” Before us appear the physical and spiritual features characteristic of all Buddenbrooks; At the same time, we see, on the one hand, how new properties, new character traits appear in each new generation and, on the other hand, how old, inherited properties acquire a new meaning in a new social situation and in connection with the individuality of each person: “Little Antonia, a fragile eight-year-old girl in a dress made of the lightest iridescent silk, slightly turning her blond head away from her grandfather’s face and intensely peering into the emptiness with gray-blue eyes, repeated again: “What does this mean?” - then slowly said: “I believe that the Lord God." - Suddenly, with a clearer face, she quickly added: " created me along with other creatures,” and, having entered into the usual rut, all glowing with joy, in one spirit, she blurted out the entire clause of the catechism, exactly according to the text of the 1835 edition, which had just been published with the permission of the wise Senate.” Thomas Mann wrote: “I actually wrote a novel about my own family... But in fact I myself did not realize that, in telling the disintegration of one burgher family, I heralded a much deeper process of decay and dying, the beginning of a much more significant cultural and social -historical breakdown."

The story about the life of a merchant family became a story about the era. Firstly, the vicissitudes of Mann's family life turn out to be closely connected with the course of history. Signs of the times, the rhythm of historical and social changes are continuously felt in the development of the action: “The Buddenbrooks were sitting in the “landscape” room, on the second floor of a spacious old house on Mengstrasse, acquired by the head of the Johann Buddenbrook company, where his family had recently moved. On good-quality elastic trellises , separated from the walls by a small hollow space, various landscapes were woven in the same faded tones as the slightly worn carpet on the floor - idylls in the style of the 18th century, with cheerful winegrowers, zealous farmers, shepherdesses in flirtatious bows, sitting on the banks of a transparent stream with clean sheep on their knees or kissing languid shepherdesses."

Thomas Mann shows what influence they had on privacy Buddenbrooks real events German life - the establishment of a customs union, the revolution of 1848, the reunification of Germany under the auspices of Prussia: “Well, yes, Köppen, your red wine, and perhaps also Russian products. I don’t argue! But we don’t import anything else! As for exports , then, of course, we send small quantities of grain to Holland, to England, and only. Oh, no, things, unfortunately, are not so good at all, they were going much better in their time. Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holstein will open for us. It may very well be that trade is at your own risk."

The motif of the family tree runs through the entire narrative - the “family notebook” in which everyone is recorded. the most important facts family life: marriage, birth of children, death. The notebook becomes a symbol of the continuity of generations. The sustainability and stability of the Buddenbrooks’ life: “She took the notebook in her hands, leafed through it, began to read - and got carried away. Most of them were simple notes about events familiar to her, but each of the writers adopted a solemn, although not pompous, manner from his predecessor presentation, instinctively and involuntarily reproducing the style historical chronicles, testifying to the restrained and therefore all the more worthy respect of each family member for the family as a whole, for its traditions, its history. There was nothing new here for Tony; this was not the first time she had read these pages. But never before had what stood on them made such an impression on her as it did that morning. The reverent respect with which even the most unimportant events were treated here family history, shocked her."

The second reason why "Buddenbrooks" became a narrative of the era was that. That Mann's family history is subordinated to the idea of ​​decline, which very precisely coincided with the dominant worldview at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Important plot milestones in the novel are pictures of family celebrations, rhythmically and increasingly expressing the idea of ​​degeneration.

Buddenbrooks are burghers. Thomas Mann put a special meaning into this concept: he associated with it ideas about impeccable honesty, the strength of family and moral principles, hard work, and a sense of duty. The code of burgher morality is accurately expressed in the Buddenbrook family motto: “Do your business willingly during the day, but only such that we can sleep peacefully at night.”

Thus, in his work, Thomas Mann showed the dramatic fate of the burghers in the imperialist era. He realized that the burgher, intelligent environment could create not only a sophisticated, attractive, but only capable of breaking down, Thomas Buddenbrook, or a talented, but doomed to death, Hanno. The idea of ​​the novel corresponds to its poetics, its artistic logic. The composition of "Buddenbrooks" is amazingly harmonious, the narrative is detailed and at the same time internally dynamic, full of irony, symbolic images and collisions, is distinguished by structural integrity and completeness. The fact that Thomas Mann, in his own words, who wrote a book “purely German in form and content,” managed to create a book interesting not only for Germany, but also for Europe - a book that reflects an episode from spiritual history European burghers. The writer showed the crisis of the family, the fall, the danger, its complete destruction.

67. Genre and composition of the novel “Buddenbrooks” by T. Mann.
The novel ends with a chapter in which old women - the remnants of the Buddenbrook family - mourn the death of the family. And the words of Christian consolation that one of them mutters sound like a powerless mockery of the inevitably operating law of life, the law of society, according to which the old is doomed to destruction. If we remember that the novel begins with a scene of a gala weekly evening, an image of Buddenbrook’s “Thursday”, when the whole crowded family gathered together, then it will also open general composition novel.
At its beginning, the life of a family consists of many intertwined lines. This is live portrait gallery, where the faces of old people, young people, and children's faces flash. T. Mann will talk about each of them during the development of the novel, carefully tracing each of the individual lines and individual destinies in relation to the fate of the entire family. And at the end of the novel we see a group of women in mourning, united by common grief. None of them have a future anymore, just as none of them have one. dead family Buddenbrooks.
The revolutionary events of 1848 are covered in the novel, not without irony. But it refers not so much to the people who demand their rights from their masters, but to the form in which these demands are clothed: the working people, talking about their needs with the “fathers of the Lord,” are still full of patriarchal respect for all these consuls and senators who , however, are pretty frightened by the possibility of revolutionary indignation in their city.
The novel by T. Mann retained the superiority of conciseness, concentrated image with a combination of large social problems and individual aspects of private life.

68. The system of images and symbolism of the novel “Buddenbrooks” by T. Mann.
“The story of the death of one family” is the subtitle of this novel. Its action takes place in one of those beautiful old houses that T. Mann so often wrote about.
Analyzing the process of impoverishment and decline of his beloved burghers as a natural and inevitable process, T. Mann created a realistic picture German society from the first third of the 19th century to its end. The reader gets to know four generations of Buddenbrooks. The elders are gradually dying, those who were the “middle generation” are taking their place, the younger ones are growing up, their children, whose birth we learn about during the course of the novel and whose fates move into the finale of the novel.
In the elder B. - Johann, who in 1813 snuck around in a carriage “in a train” across Germany, supplying the Prussian army with food, like his friend “Antoinette B., née Duchamp”, the “good old” 18th century is still alive. The writer speaks about this couple with emotion and love. T. Mann creates, on the pages dedicated to the older generation of B., a clearly idealized idea of ​​the patriarchal generation of the family and of those who were the founders of its power.
The second generation is the son of the eldest B., “consul” Johann B. For all that he is a businessman, he is no longer a match for the old man B. It is not for nothing that he allows himself to condemn his freethinking. “Dad, you’re making fun of religion again,” he remarks about the very free quotation of the Bible that old Johann is amused by. And this well-intentioned remark is very characteristic: Consul B. not only does not have his own mind, inherent in his father, but also does not have his broad entrepreneurial spirit. “Patrician” by position in the burgher environment hometown, he is already deprived of that aristocratic shine that his cheerful and life-loving father has. The second generation also includes prodigal son family B. - Gotthold. By marrying a bourgeois woman against his father’s will, he violated B.’s aristocratic claims and broke a centuries-old tradition.
In the third generation - in the four children of the consul, in the sons Thomas and Christiana, in the daughters - Tony and Clara - the beginning of the decline makes itself felt to a significant extent. Narrow-minded, although she highly values ​​her origins, Toni, despite all the external characteristics that promise success in society, suffers failure after failure. Traits of Tony's characteristic frivolity are revealed to a much more extreme degree in Christian, a talkative loser. Besides, he is sick. Taking advantage of his illness, in which T. Mann probably wanted to show a symptom of B.’s physical degeneration, his wife locks Christian in a clinic for the mentally ill. Religious sentiments, to which the consul showed inclination, turn into religious mania in Clara. B.’s money is scattered in failed scams and unsuccessful marriages, and goes elsewhere.
Only Thomas B. maintains the former glory of the family and even increases it, achieving the high rank of senator in the old city. But participation in commercial activities, maintaining “business B.” is given to Thomas at the cost of enormous efforts that he makes on himself. The activity so beloved by his grandfather and father often turns out to be a hateful burden for Thomas, an obstacle that does not allow him to devote himself to another life - the pursuit of philosophy and reflection. While reading Schopenhauer, he often forgets about his duties as a businessman and businessman.
These traits are exacerbated in Hanno B., the son of Thomas, who represents the fourth generation of the family. All his feelings are given to music. In the little descendant of businessmen and businessmen, an artist awakens, full of distrust of the reality around him, early noticing lies, hypocrisy, and the power of conventions. But physical degeneration takes its toll, and when a serious illness falls on Hanno, his weak body, undermined by illness, cannot resist it. The forces of destruction, the forces of decline are taking over.

A special place in the novel is occupied by Morten Schwarzkopf, an energetic commoner who, in a conversation with Tony B., dares to decry the life of the German burghers. Morten expresses the aspirations and traditions of the German radical intelligentsia of the middle of the last century. He is depicted by the author with obvious sympathy. If there is a drop of irony in his portrait, it is a friendly irony.
T. Mann was looking for ideals that he could oppose to the domination of the philistines. In those years, he found these ideals in art, in a life devoted to the service of beauty. Already in “Buddenbrooks” T. Mann puts forward next to the image of the little musician Hanno the figure of his friend - Count Kai von Mölln, a descendant of an impoverished northern family. Kai and Hanno were brought together by their passion for art. Count Meln prefers poetry, his favorite is Edgar Allan Poe. Together with Hanno, Kai formed a kind of opposition in relation to the other boys of his class, “with their mother’s milk they absorbed the warlike and victorious spirit of their rejuvenated homeland.”

69. The relationship between everyday life, psychologism and philosophy in the novel “Buddenbrooks”.
The story of the death of the B. family is shown against the broad background of social and cultural life in Germany. Starting from the 30s of the 19th century - from the first “Thursday” that opens the narrative - and until the day of Hanno’s funeral - this is the story of the rise of bourgeois Germany, vulgar, annoying, unscrupulous, the story of the death of everything that embodied German culture in T. Mann’s understanding . Predators Hagenström, speculators and suspicious businessmen are replacing the decorous, decent, impeccable B. Big historical events, which shocked Germany, remain, however, still beyond the writer’s interest. For T. Mann it is only external manifestation a complex and multilateral process taking place in society and leading to the establishment of the power of the vulgar and merciless bourgeois.

The skill of T. Mann, who created a group of images traced in complex living development, is especially reflected in the structure of the literary portrait. The authenticity of the image is achieved by a harmonious combination of means used to describe the appearance of the character and reveal his inner life. The growing fatigue of Senator Thomas B. is felt especially acutely, since the writer speaks of both his physical decline and the painful moods that cloud his everyday train of thought. The further the vicissitudes of Toni B.'s unsuccessful family life unfold, the more ordinary and banal her appearance, once attractive and poetic, becomes, the more vulgar her speech; before the reader is no longer the patrician B., but the bourgeois Permaneder.

In the work of T. Mann, an image of an exceptional person is outlined who discovered the world of art and was therefore saved from the vulgarity and barbarism of bourgeois Germany. The theme of the artist arises, which was destined to play a large role in the writer’s work.
Philosophy: The decline of the family in the novel is not depicted naturalistically - it is not caused by the influence of the environment, heredity, but by general patterns, understood in terms of a certain philosopher. metaphysics, whose sources are the teachings of A. Schopenhauer and partly F. Nietzsche. The burgher movement from healthy life in Buddenbrooks, illness takes not only disgusting and ridiculous forms (Christian), but also leads to greater spirituality and makes a person an artist (Thomas, Hanno).
Psycholgism - revealing images
Life-writing - in the details of life

70. The theme and poetics of the short story “Death in Venice” by Mann.
IN early work T. Mann's mature realism is most fully anticipated by the short story “Death in Venice” (1912). It is in this short story that it is most noticeable how the relationship between the artist and life begins to mean much more moreover, what they seem to contain. A pair of opposing and at the same time related concepts “art” - “life”, as well as many other oppositions that constantly arise from the writer’s pen: order - chaos, reason - the uncontrollable element of passions, health - illness, repeatedly highlighted from different sides, in the abundance of their possible positive and negative meanings, ultimately form a tightly woven network of differently charged images and concepts, which “catches” much more reality than is expressed in the plot. Mann's technique of writing, which first took shape in Death in Venice, and then masterfully developed by him in the novels The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus, can be defined as writing in a second layer, on top of what is written, on the primer of the plot. Only on a superficial reading can Death in Venice be perceived as simply the story of an elderly writer suddenly seized by a passion for the beautiful Tadzio. This story means so much more. “I cannot forget the feeling of satisfaction, not to say happiness,” wrote Thomas Mann many years after the publication of this short story in 1912, “which sometimes overcame me then while writing. Everything suddenly came together, everything interlocked, and the crystal was clear.”
Mann creates an image of a modernist writer, the author of “Insignificant,” that is striking in its artistry and power of exposure. It is characteristic that Mann chose exactly this name for Aschenbach’s masterpiece. Aschenbach is the one who “cast into such exemplarily pure forms his rejection of boegma, the muddy depths of existence, the one who resisted the temptation of the abyss and despised the despicable.”
The main character of the novel, writer Gustav Aschenbach, is an internally devastated man, but every day, through willpower and self-discipline, he motivates himself to persistent, painstaking work. Aschenbach's restraint and self-control make him resemble Thomas Buddenbrook. However, his stoicism, devoid of moral support, reveals its inconsistency. In Venice, the writer falls under the irresistible power of a humiliating unnatural passion. Internal decay breaks through the fragile shell of self-control and integrity. But the theme of decay and chaos is connected not only with the main character of the novel. Cholera breaks out in Venice. A sweet smell of decay hangs over the city. The motionless outlines of beautiful palaces and cathedrals hide infection, disease and death. In this kind of “thematic” paintings and details, engraving “based on what has already been written,” T. Mann achieved a unique, sophisticated skill.
The figure of the artist turns out to be an indispensable focus, capable of bringing internal and external processes to unity. Death in Venice is not only the death of Aschenbach, it is an orgy of death, which also signifies the catastrophic nature of the entire European reality on the eve of the First World War. It’s not for nothing that the first sentence of the novella talks about “19... the year which, for such a long time, many months looked at our continent with a menacing eye...”
Theme of art and artist- the main one in the short story “Death in Venice” (1912). At the center of the novella is psychologically complex image decadent writer Gustav von Aschenbach. At the same time, it is wrong to believe that Aschenbach is almost the quintessence of decadent sentiments. Aschenbach casts his rejection of bohemia into “exemplary pure forms.” Positive values ​​are important to Aschenbach; he wants to help himself and others. In the form of ch. ger. There are autobiographical features, for example, in the description of his life habits, work characteristics, penchant for irony and doubt. Aschenbach is a renowned master who aspires to spiritual aristocracy, and selected pages from his works are included in school anthologies.
On the pages of the novel, Aschenbach appears at the moment when he is overcome by the blues. And hence the need to escape, to find some kind of peace. Aschenbach leaves Munich, the center of German art, and goes to Venice, “a world-famous corner in the gentle south.”
In Venice, Aschenbach stays in a luxurious hotel, but pleasant idleness does not protect him from inner turmoil and melancholy, which caused a painful passion for the beautiful boy Tadzio. Aschenbach begins to feel ashamed of his old age and tries to rejuvenate himself with the help of cosmetic tricks. His feeling self-esteem comes into conflict with dark attractions; nightmares and visions do not leave him. Aschenbach is even pleased by the outbreak of a cholera epidemic, which is throwing tourists and townspeople into panic. Chasing Tadzio, Aschenbach forgets about precautions and falls ill with cholera (“there are stinking berries” - Ts.’s note). Death overtakes him on the seashore when he cannot take his eyes off Tadzio.
At the end of the story there is a subtle feeling of anxiety, something elusive and terrible.

71. Features of the structure of Hamsun’s story “Hunger”

Attention - the question overlaps with No. 72, because structural features are subordinated to the tasks of psychological analysis

In "Hunger" we see a break in the usual genre form. This story was called "an epic in prose, the Odyssey of a starving man." Hamsun himself said in letters that “Hunger” is not a novel in the usual sense, and even suggested calling it a “series of analyzes” of the hero’s mental state. Many researchers believe that Hamsun’s narrative style in “Hunger” anticipates the “stream of consciousness” technique.

The artistic originality of the novel, which is based on Hamsun’s personal experiences, primarily lies in the fact that the narrative in it is completely subordinated to the tasks of psychological analysis.

Hamsun writes about a starving man, but unlike the authors who addressed this topic before him (he names Kjelland and Zola among them), he shifts the emphasis from external to internal, from the conditions of a person’s life to the “secrets and mysteries” of his soul. The object of the author's research is the hero's split consciousness; his perception of current events is more important for Hamsun than the events themselves.

The hero rebels against humiliating living conditions, recreated in the spirit of Zola in horrific naturalistic detail, angrily attacks God, declaring the misfortunes that haunt him “the work of God,” but never says that society is to blame for his desperate need.

72. Psychologism and symbolism of K. Hamsun’s story “Hunger”

Hamsun's aesthetic principles:

Hamsun proposed his program for the renewal of national art. He criticized Russian literature mainly for the lack psychological depth. “This materialistic literature was essentially more interested in morals than in people, and therefore in social issues more than human souls" “The whole point,” he emphasized, “is that our literature followed the democratic principle and, leaving aside poetry and psychologism, was intended for people who were spiritually underdeveloped.”

Rejecting art focused on creating “types” and “characters,” Hamsun referred to the artistic experience of Dostoevsky and Strindberg. Hamsun said: “It is not enough for me to describe the sum of the actions that my characters perform. I need to illuminate their souls, examine them from all points of view, penetrate into all their hiding places, examine them under a microscope.”

Hunger

Finding himself at the very bottom, at every step faced with humiliation and ridicule, painfully wounding his pride and pride, he still feels, thanks to the power of his imagination and talent, a higher being, not in need of public compassion. He is surrounded by a world extremely narrowed by possibilities his personal perception.

In this mysterious, incomprehensible world, which has almost lost its real outlines, chaos reigns, causing the hero a feeling of internal discomfort, which breaks through in his uncontrollable associations, sudden changes in moods, spontaneous reactions and actions. The hero’s rare spiritual sensitivity is further aggravated by the “joyful madness of hunger,” awakening in him “some strange, unprecedented sensations,” “the most sophisticated thoughts.”

Imagination intricately colors reality: a bundle of newspapers in the hands of an unfamiliar old man becomes “dangerous papers”, a young woman he likes becomes an unearthly beauty with the exotic name “Ilayali”. Even the sound of names should help create an image, Hamsun believed. Imagination carries the hero into wondrous and beautiful dreams, only in dreams does he indulge in an almost static feeling of the fullness of life, at least temporarily forgetting about that dark, disgusting world that encroaches on his spiritual freedom and where he feels, like Camus’ hero, an outsider.

73. THE THEME OF LOVE AND ITS IMAGATIVE SOLUTION IN GAMSUN’S STORY “PAN”

Heroes:
thirty-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Glahn
local rich merchant Mak s
daughter Edwarda and
doctor from the next parish
Eva (supposedly the daughter of a blacksmith, in fact, someone else’s wife)
baron

Problems of love and sex are the most important problems of life for Hamsun; according to G. - love is a struggle between the sexes, a fatal and inevitable evil, for there is no happy love. She is the basis of life. “Love is the first word spoken by God, the first thought that dawned on him” (“Pan”).

In the story “Pan,” Hamsun, in his words, “tried to glorify the cult of nature, the sensitivity and hypersensitivity of its admirer in the spirit of Rousseau.”

Thomas Glahn, a hunter and dreamer, who exchanged his military uniform for “Robinson’s clothes,” is unable to forget the “unset days” of one short northern summer. The desire to fill his soul with sweet moments of the past mixed with pain makes him take up the pen. This is how one is born poetic history about love, one of the most incomprehensible mysteries of the universe.

For Glan, the forest is not just a corner of nature, but truly a promised land. Only in the forest does he “feel strong and healthy” and nothing darkens his soul. The lies that permeate every pore of society disgust him. Here he can be himself and live a truly full life, inseparable from fabulous visions and dreams.

It is the sensory comprehension of the world that reveals to Glan the wisdom of life, inaccessible to naked rationalism. It seems to him that he has penetrated into the soul of nature, that he has found himself face to face with the deity on whom the course of earthly life depends. This pantheism, merging with nature gives him a feeling of freedom inaccessible to a city man.

Admiration for nature resonates in Glan’s soul with an even stronger feeling - love for Edward. Having fallen in love, he perceives the beauty of the world even more keenly, merges with nature even more fully: “Why am I so happy? Thoughts, memories, forest noise, a person? I think about her, I close my eyes and stand very quietly and think about her, I count the minutes.” Love experiences highlight the most secret, intimate things in the hero’s soul. His impulses are unaccountable, almost inexplicable. They push Glan to do things that are unexpected for himself and those around him. The emotional storms raging within him are reflected in his strange behavior.

Hamsun focuses on the tragic side of love, when accusations and insults make the union of two hearts impossible, dooming lovers to suffering. The dominant theme of “love-suffering” in the novel reaches its climax in the farewell episode, when Edward asks her to leave his dog as a souvenir. In his madness of love, Glan does not spare Aesop either: they bring a dead dog to Edward - Glan does not want Aesop to be tortured in the same way as him.

The original working title of the novel was "Edwarda", named after main character, however, it did not reflect Hamsun’s plan. And when the novel was already completed, in a letter to his publisher, he said that he had decided to call it “Pan.”

The hero of the novel is connected with Pan (the pagan “deity of everything”) by many invisible threads. Glan himself has a heavy “animal” look that attracts the attention of women to him. Is the figurine of Pan on the powder flask a hint that Glan owes his successes in hunting and in love to his patronage? When it seemed to Glan that Pan, “shaking with laughter,” was secretly watching him, he immediately realized that he could not control his love for Edward.

Pan is the embodiment of the elemental life principle that lives in each of the heroes: in Glan, and in Edward, and in Eve. This feature of the novel was noted by A. I. Kuprin: “... the main person remains almost unnamed - this is a powerful force of nature, the great Pan, whose breath is heard in a sea storm, and in white nights with northern lights... and in the mystery of love irresistibly uniting people, animals and flowers"

74. Themes and images early poetry Rilke.

The most significant role in Rilke’s works belongs to two thematic complexes - “things” and “god”. By “thing” (Ding), R. understands both natural phenomena (stones, mountains, trees) and objects created by man (towers, houses, a sarcophagus, stained glass windows of a cathedral), which are alive and animate in his depiction. In his lyrics, Rilke provides a number of masterful images of “things.” However, even in such emphatically “material” tendencies of the poet, his hypertrophied subjectivism is reflected: not a thing in its objective existence or in its significance for the practical needs of man, but a thing in the subjective perception of the individual, in his emotional self-disclosure, constitutes the main value of this “gospel of things.” In his book

about Rodin Rilke theoretically defends such a subjective value of “things.” However, the cult of the “thing” reflected not only the general individualistic, but also the direct antisocial aspirations of the poet. According to R., “things”, without opposing themselves to the subject, or their “counterfeelings” (Gegengefühl), to the subject’s feelings, thereby inspire his trust and help him overcome loneliness (Nichtalleinsein). However, it is obvious that such overcoming “loneliness” is only a fiction, only a way to get away from people, from their “anti-feelings”, one of the types of self-closure of the subject. Another thematic complex of Rilke's lyrics - God - is closely related to the first: God for Rilke is “a wave passing through all things”; the entire “Book of Hours” (Das Stundenbuch, 1905), Rilke’s best collection, is devoted to this interpenetration of God and things. However, the theme of God is not a way out of R.’s individualism, but only a deepening of it, and God himself appears as an object of mystical creativity (Schaffen) of the subject: “With my maturation, your kingdom matures,” the poet turns to his god. IN

Two strong external impressions will give special poignancy to this poetic dilemma.
Until the spring of 1899, the poet lived mainly in the hothouse atmosphere of literary bohemia in Prague, Munich, and Berlin. The spirit of the “end of the century” settles in the early lyrics with fashionable moods of loneliness, fatigue, longing for the past - moods that are still mostly secondary, borrowed. But little by little, one’s own, unborrowed, is being developed: first of all, a fundamental focus on “silence”, on self-absorption. This self-absorption did not mean for Rilke narcissism, an arrogant denial of the outside world; he sought to remove from himself only that which he considered vain, unreal and transitory; first of all, the modern bourgeois-industrial urban world, this is the focus, so to speak, of existential “noise”, to which he contrasted the principle of “silence”. As a poetic and life position, this principle took shape in the poet and quite consciously: Rilke was never of a fighting, “agitator” nature. The complex of silence (even to the point of silence, to silence), attention to silent sign language - all this will become one of the most significant features of Rilke’s poetics.

Rilke's early lyrics are typical of neo-romantic poetry. His collection Crowned with Dreams (1897), filled with vague dreams with a touch of mysticism, revealed vivid imagery and an extraordinary mastery of rhythm, meter, alliteration techniques and melody of speech. A thorough study of the legacy of the Danish poet J.P. Jacobsen inspired him and filled him with a strict sense of responsibility. Two trips to Russia, his “spiritual homeland” (1899 and 1900), resulted in a collection of Books of Hours (1899-1903), in which an incessant melody sounds a prayer addressed to the undogmatically understood God of the future. A prosaic addition to the Book of Hours was Stories about the Good God (1900).

The last day before Christmas has passed. Night has fallen. The moon has risen to heaven. All residents of Sorochin are looking forward to caroling. The streets are so quiet that any rustling noise can be heard. And then suddenly a large plume of smoke poured out of the chimney of one house, and from it a witch appeared riding on a broom. Nobody saw her. However, if the Sorochinsky assessor was passing by, he would immediately notice her.

Since not one witch could hide from him. And in general he knew everything, even how many piglets someone had. The witch rose high into the sky, and the stars gradually began to disappear from the sky. She was the one who stole them. I collected a large pile in my hands and finished with this matter. However, suddenly something else appeared in the sky that looked like a person. From a distance he looked exactly like a German, but up close one could see that he was completely black, thin, with a tail and a heel on his face. And only by the horns could one understand that it was the devil. He has one last day left to walk free, since the next day, after the bells, he will run, tail between his legs, to his den.

The devil began to sneak around by the month. He took it, but immediately let go because he got burned. Then it cooled down and he grabbed the heavenly body and put it in his pocket. And then the whole world became dark. On Dikanka, no one saw how the villain stole the month. Only the clerk noticed how the moon suddenly seemed to dance in the sky.

The devil stole the month in order to take revenge on the blacksmith, who loved to draw and painted a wall in the church on which the Last Judgment was depicted, and the devil who was shamed. The villain’s strategy included the following thoughts: The fact is that the rich Cossack Chub was going to the clerk for a kutya, and the blacksmith Vakula wanted to come to his daughter Oksana. The road to the clerk led through a cemetery, ravines and generally outside the village. And if it’s so dark on the street, then it’s not a fact that something will force the Cossack to leave his house. And since the blacksmith and Chub did not get along well, Vakula would not risk going to Oksana.

The witch, seeing herself in the dark, screamed. And the Devil quickly ran up to her and began to whisper something in her ear, thereby seducing her, like a real man.

Cossack Chub went out into the street with his godfather, they talked about their own things. And then they notice that there is no month in the sky. They don’t understand what’s going on, and they need to go to the clerk. They are thinking about whether to stay or not, but Chub says that if they don’t go, then it won’t be convenient for the clerk’s other guests, since they might think that these two are lazy and cowards. Eventually they hit the road. At this time, the daughter of the Cossack Chuba Oksana was preening in her room. She was the most beautiful girl, according to all the boys in the whole area. Crowds ran after her, but she was adamant. And the guys slowly chose others, those who were much less spoiled than the beauty. Only the blacksmith Vakula was stubborn and, no matter what, continued to pursue the girl. She stood and admired herself in the mirror. She was talking to herself. She told me that she was not good-looking and didn’t understand what there was to like about her. But then she jumped up and began to praise herself. To say that everything about her is beautiful, both herself and the clothes that her dad bought her so that the most eligible groom could marry her. Vakula watched all this through the window. And suddenly the girl saw him and screamed. I asked what he was doing here. She started saying that all the guys are so good at going to her when their father is away, they are so brave. Then she asked how things were going with her chest, which Vakula forged especially for her. He replied that he took the best iron, no one had anything like it. And when she paints it, it will be better than any other girl’s. Oksana kept preening and spinning around the mirror. With her permission, Vakula sat down next to her and wanted to kiss her. He said that he would give anything to have this girl as his. But she behaved so rudely that Vakula was deeply broken in his soul, because he understood that she did not feel anything for him at all. Someone knocked on the door.

Meanwhile, the Devil, suffering from the cold, and the witch, who is also Vakula’s mother, climbed through the chimney to her house. Vakula’s mother, the witch Solokha, was already an adult woman. She was about forty. She was not a beauty, but at the same time she was pretty. And, despite her wisdom, she attracted all the most sedate Cossacks. They came to her, and the head sat down, and the clerk, and the Cossack Chub, and the Cossack Kasyan Sverbyguz. She accepted these men so much that not one of them had any idea about the existence of competitors. But most of all she liked the father of the beautiful Oksana - the Cossack Chub. He was a widower and had a lot on his farm. Solokha dreamed of taking it all for herself. However, she was afraid that her son Vakula would marry Oksana, and this farm would belong to him. Therefore, she did everything to scold Chub and the blacksmith as much as possible. And because of this, all the old women around said that Solokha was a witch. And they came up with different stories, then they saw her tail, then something else. However, only the Sorochinsky assessor could see the witch, and he was silent, and therefore all these stories were not taken seriously. Having flown through the pipe, Solokha began to clean everything up. And the devil, while flying to the pipe, saw Chub and his godfather who were going to the clerk, and began to shovel snow in their direction, which started a blizzard. The devil wanted Chub to go back home and scold the blacksmith. And his plan came true. As soon as the snowstorm began, Chub and his godfather immediately got ready to go back home. But nothing was visible around. And then the godfather went a little to the side to look for the way, and if he found it, he had to shout. And Chub, in turn, remained in the same place and also looked for the way. But the godfather immediately saw the tavern, and, forgetting about his friend, went there. And at that time Chub saw his house. He began to shout to his daughter to open it, but the blacksmith Vakula came out and, not realizing that it was Chub with the question “what do you want?” threw him out the door. Chub thought that he had not come to his home. Since the blacksmith has nothing to do with him, and he would not have found the way back so soon. He knew that only the lame Levchenko, who had recently married a young wife, had a similar house. But the lame man himself is now definitely visiting the clerk. And Chub then thought that Vakula came to his young wife. The Cossack received several blows on the back and shoulder from the blacksmith and, with offended shouts and threats, went to Solokha. However, the snowstorm really bothered him.

While the devil was flying from the created blizzard into the Solokhin chimney, a month got out of his pocket and, taking advantage of the opportunity, returned to its place. It became light outside and it was as if the snowstorm had never happened. All the young people ran out into the street with bags and began to sing carols. Then they went into the house of the Cossack Chub and surrounded Oksana, showed them carols, and the girl had a lot of fun. Although Vakula, despite the fact that he loved caroling, at that moment hated it. Oksana saw her friend’s shoes and began to admire them. And Vakula told her not to be upset, he would buy her slippers that no one else had. And then the pampered beauty declared in front of everyone that if Vakula gets her the slippers that the queen herself wears, then she will immediately marry him.

Vakula was in despair, he understood that the girl did not love him. And he wanted to promise himself to forget about her, but still love won, and he began to think about how he could continue to woo the girl.

Meanwhile, in Solokha’s house, the devil wanted to set a condition for the witch to please her. And that if she does not agree to satisfy his passions and, as usual, reward him, then he is ready for anything, will throw himself into the water, and send his soul straight to hell.

Solokha wanted to spend this evening alone, but a sudden knock on the door alarmed both her and the devil with his plans. He knocked his head, shouted, open it. Solokha hid the devil in a bag, and she opened it for the man and gave him a glass of vodka to drink. He said that because of the snowstorm he did not go to the clerk. And seeing her light in the window, he decided to spend the evening with Solokha. But, before he had time to finish this, they began to knock on the door again, this time it was the clerk himself, who, due to the blizzard, had lost all his guests, but he was glad, because he wanted to spend the evening with her. The head, meanwhile, also hid in a sack of coal. He began to touch his hand, then the witch’s neck, and who knows what he would touch next time, when there was a knock again. It was the Cossack Chub. The clerk also ended up in the bag. Chub came in, also drank a glass of vodka, and began joking about whether Solokha had any men. In this way she consoles her pride, since she thinks that he is the only one she has. And then they knock again, this time it was the witch’s son - the blacksmith Vakula. Solokha hastily seated Chub in the same bag where the clerk was already sitting. But he didn’t even make a sound when Chub placed his boots, cold from the frost, right at his temples. Vakula entered the house and sat down on the bench. There was a knock on the door again, this time it was the Cossack Sverbyguz. But the bag was no longer there, and so Solokha took him out into the garden to ask what he wanted.

Vakula sits and wonders why he needs Oksana. He sees the bags and decides that he needs to bring himself to his senses, since he has completely neglected everything with his love. He decides to take these bags outside. He threw them over his shoulder, although it was hard, he endured it. There was noise in the yard. There was a lot of caroling there. Fun all around. Suddenly Vakula hears Oksana’s voice and, throwing the bags, all except one, the one with the devil in him, he goes towards her voice. She talks to some guy and laughs. When Vakula approached her, she began to say that he had a very small bag and began to laugh about little slippers and the wedding. The guy's patience ran out and he decided to drown himself. And then, he approached the girl and said “goodbye” to her; before she had time to answer, he left. The boys shouted after him, but he said that perhaps they would see each other in the next world, but there was nothing for him to do in this world. And the grandmothers immediately began to mutter that the blacksmith had hanged himself.

Vakula walked without realizing it. Then, having come to his senses a little, he decided to seek help from a healer - pot-bellied Patsyuk. When he went into his house, he saw that he was eating dumplings without using his hands, he simply took them out of the plate with his mouth. Vakula began asking what to do and how to find the devil. He replied that everyone knows who has the devil behind him. Afterwards, this Patsyuk continued to eat dumplings, which flew off the plate on their own, dipped in sour cream, and just as independently flew into his mouth. Vakula came out, and the devil came out of the bag. He thought that Vakula was now in his hands. He began to say that he would do everything that the guy needed, but he needed to sign a contract. However, the blacksmith was not stupid. He grabbed the devil by the tail, threatened him with a cross, and after that the devil became very obedient. Then the blacksmith climbed onto his back and told him to fly to St. Petersburg to the queen, and felt himself taking off. Meanwhile, Oksana was walking with her friends and thinking that she was too strict with Vakula. The girl is sure that he would not exchange such a beauty for anyone. She decides that the next time he comes, she will let herself be kissed, as if reluctantly.

They go and see the bags left by Vakula. They think that they contain a lot of sausage and meat, although they contain a head, a clerk and a Chub. They decide to go get a sled and bring the bags to Oksana’s house. However, while they were going to get the sled, godfather Chuba came out of the tavern. I saw the bags and wanted to take one, which contained a clerk and a forelock. But the sack was heavy, so when the godfather met Tkach, he asked him to help him carry the sacks home, in return he divided them in half. He agreed. When they went to their godfather’s house, they were afraid to find his wife. Since she constantly took away everything that she and her husband had acquired. And she was still at home. The three people got into a fight over the bag. And the godfather’s wife won, using a poker. And when the godfather and the Tkach wanted to try to take the loot again, the forelock came out of the bag, followed by the clerk. Chub realized that the other bags also contained men who came to Solokha. And this made him upset, because he thought that he was the only one.

Meanwhile, the girls ran up to the sacks with the sled, but there was only one there. They took him, the head that was sitting in him decided to endure everything, just so as not to leave him on the street. The bag was dragged into the house, but the man began to hiccup and cough. The girls were scared, but Chub just arrived, took his head out of the bag, and realized that Solokha had it too.

While Vakula was flying astride the line, he was both scared and surprised. He periodically frightened him with a cross. When they arrived in St. Petersburg, the devil turned into a horse. There he met familiar Cossacks who were just heading to the queen, and Vakula then asked them to take him with them. They agreed. They got into the carriage and rushed off.

Everything in the royal palace was very beautiful. Vakula walked and at the same time looked at everything he saw. Finally, having passed through numerous halls, they found themselves at the princess's hall. Potemkin came out and told the Cossacks to speak as he taught them. Suddenly everyone suddenly fell to the floor. Female voice several times he ordered them to get up, but they continued to lie on the floor, saying that they would not get up and addressing her as “mom.” It was Tsarina Catherine. She began to ask the Cossacks about life and soon asked what they wanted. And then Vakula plucked up courage and asked where he could find such slippers for his woman. The queen ordered her servants to bring the most beautiful slippers with gold. They wanted to reason with her, but she did not change her decision. When they were brought, Vakula made a very beautiful compliment to the queen. Calling her legs “made of real sugar.” And then he whispered to the devil in his pocket to take it away and then find himself behind the barrier.

On Dikanka, meanwhile, they were arguing whether Vakula had hanged himself or drowned himself. All this pandemonium, quarrels, therefore, and in general the rumors about the death of the blacksmith greatly upset Oksana. She cannot sleep and realizes that she has fallen in love with a guy. And when she doesn’t see him at the church service, she completely loses heart.

Vakula rode very quickly across the line. He found himself near his house. The devil wanted to leave, but Vakula took the whip and hit the villain a couple of times, who himself wanted to teach the blacksmith a lesson, and in the end he himself was fooled. The guy entered the house, but Solokha was not there. He went to bed and slept until lunchtime. He was upset because he was not present at the service. I thought that the Almighty punished him in this way because Vakula got involved with the devil. The guy promised that he would atone for this sin for a whole year. Then he dressed in his best. He took the belt and hat, and, of course, the slippers, and went to the forelock. Chub did not expect to see him. Vakula fell in front of his feet and began to ask for forgiveness for everything, saying that he should hit him, which the forelock did not do too much, but three times. Vakula gave him a belt and a hat as a gift. The blacksmith then asked for his daughter's hand in marriage. He, remembering the unfaithful Solokha, agreed and told him to call the matchmakers.

This story is part of the series “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, which became the first book of the great writer published under his own name. Of all that he created, “The Night Before Christmas,” the summary, or summary, which is given below, according to Pushkin, is the most striking example of real gaiety without affectation and stiffness.

Despite its relatively short length, The Night Before Christmas is extremely densely packed with characters, although not all of them are of equal importance to the development of the plot.

The heroes of the story can be divided into main and secondary.

Some go through the story from beginning to end, others appear in it only once, but they also add notes of good humor to this Christmas tale, filled with the aroma of Little Russia.

The list of main characters includes:

• Vakul is a strong man and a good fellow, a poor young blacksmith and an amateur artist who earns money by painting huts, fences, chests, dishes, and also decorates the Dikanka temple with icons and wall paintings for free.
• Oksana is the first beauty of Dikanka, confident in her own irresistibility, a proud and capricious girl, with whom Vakula is unrequitedly and hopelessly in love.
• The rich Cossack Chub - Oksana's father, a widower who does not like the poor, but proud and rebellious blacksmith, who dared to lay an eye on his only daughter.
• Solokha - Vakula's mother, a woman of forty in the prime of her life, a witch who uses great success from local respectable men. Solokha has designs on Chub and, wanting to prevent his son from marrying Oksana, deliberately quarrels Vakula with her father.
• The devil, who has “love affairs” with the witch and who fiercely hates her son Vakula for the icons and paintings he painted that shame evil spirits.
• Pot-bellied Patsyuk - Zaporozhye Cossack retired, who has been living in Dikanka for many years and is known as an experienced healer, as well as a person familiar with dark forces.

The remaining characters: the clerk, godfather Panas, godfather's wife, head (in modern terms, head of the rural administration) Dikanka, as well as the Cossacks, Tsarina Catherine II and others, serve as additions to the group of main characters.

Together they create a fascinating storyline a story that young Gogol wrote almost 200 years ago.

Pay attention! The book was published in 1832, and since then has enjoyed constant success among readers. It is read and re-read with pleasure by Russians of all ages, from middle school to retirement.

Annotation

The book tells about what happened one day in the Poltava village of Dikanka. This semi-fairy tale story, giving a vivid and lively description of the life and customs of the Ukrainian peasantry in the last third of the 18th century, opens the second book of “Evenings...”. It is more convenient to retell the story in chapters, briefly outlining their contents.

dark night

On a cold and clear night before Christmas, a witch on a broom flew up into the sky through the chimney of her hut. At the same time, the devil also happened to be there, and at dawn he had to return to hell, since on this holiday evil spirits are forbidden to walk around the world.

The devil planned to steal the month in order to prevent Chub from going with his godfather to the clerk for a housewarming and a festive evening meal. The devil knew that in this case the girl would be alone at home, and Vakula would come to her to declare his love.

But if her father does not go to the clerk, the blacksmith will not succeed. The idea was a success and, having stuffed the month into a bag hanging over his shoulder, the devil flew up to the witch and began to whisper pleasantries in her ear.

Chub and his godfather leave the house, and suddenly notice that there are neither stars nor a month in the sky. Godfather offers to return.

Chub, who was thinking about this himself, out of stubbornness decides to act contrary to the wise advice and get to the clerk at any cost.

Kum doesn’t care, he’s ready to go, and he and Chub set off in complete darkness.

Left alone, Oksana dresses up and talks to herself in front of the mirror. Flirting, the girl says that she is not at all as good as they say about her, but, after thinking, she decides that she is amazingly good.

The blacksmith watches her through the window of the hut, then enters. Vakula asks permission to sit on the bench next to her, then dares to ask for a kiss, but receives a sharp refusal.

Oksana is waiting for the girls and boys to come to her, and they will all go caroling together. The upset guy understands that Oksana doesn’t need him at all.

Cherevichki

A blizzard breaks out outside, Chub and godfather lose their way and decide to return. The godfather turns into a tavern, and Chub knocks on the door of his hut.

Vakula opens it for him, and Chub thinks that he was mistaken and ended up in the house of Levchenko, similar to his hut, who was also going to the clerk and who had a young wife left at home.

Chub comes to the conclusion that Vakula is visiting his wife while her husband is not at home. The Cossack changes his voice, pretending to be a caroler.

The blacksmith beats him and pushes him out of his hut. Chub realizes that since Levchenko has a blacksmith, Solokha is now alone, and decides to visit her.

When the devil and the witch, frozen, return to her house through the chimney, the month slips out of the bag and flies up into the sky. It immediately becomes light, and young people go out to carol. As she expected, a crowd of boys and girls comes to Oksana.

One of her friends, Odarka, is wearing new shoes and, continuing to flirt, says that Odarka is very lucky that someone gave her such wonderful shoes, but no one gives her, Oksana, such gifts.

Vakula promises to give his beloved the best slippers. The beauty declares that if the blacksmith brings her the queen's slippers, she will marry him. Everyone laughs at the unlucky lover.

Bags

Solokha, confident that her gentlemen are now at the clerk’s party, is being nice to the devil and suddenly hears a knock on the door and the head’s voice. She goes to open it, and meanwhile the devil hides in one of the bags standing by the wall of the hut.

Before the head had time to accept a glass of vodka from the witch’s hands, there was a knock again - the clerk came to visit, having canceled his banquet due to darkness and a snowstorm. The head, not wanting to lose his authority by meeting the clerk in such a piquant situation, asks his mistress to hide him and climbs into the largest bag.

The clerk's pleasantries are interrupted by a knock and Chub's voice, and he also goes into the bag. But Chub is also unlucky - the upset Vakula returns after him. Frightened Chub hides in the bag where the clerk is already sitting. Entering the house, the guy notices the bags and decides to take them to the forge.

The bags are heavy, but the blacksmith thinks that it only seems to him and that it’s all because of the heaviness in his soul.

Going out into the street, the blacksmith sees a crowd of girls and boys, and among them Oksana, who, laughing, reminds him of her promise to become his wife if he gets the queen’s slippers.

Throwing large bags onto the snow, Vakula puts the bag with the devil on his back and goes, not knowing where.

Realizing that he cannot forget the cruel Oksana, he thinks that it is better to give up his life than to suffer like this.

In response to the question of the meeting friends where he is going, the lover bids them farewell. Hearing this, the idle gossip is going to tell the whole village that the blacksmith hanged himself.

After cooling down in the cold, the young man changes his mind. Vakula decides to call upon evil spirits for help and goes to Pot-bellied Patsyuk for advice. Opening the door of his hut, he sees the owner sitting on the floor with his legs crossed cross-legged.

There are two bowls in front of him, one with sour cream, the other with dumplings, and Patsyuk, without touching his hands, directs the dumplings into the sour cream with his eyes, then opens his mouth, where the dumplings fly in by themselves. In surprise, Vakula opens his mouth, and one of the dumplings falls into it.

Frightenedly wiping his lips, because the Christmas fast has not yet ended, when it is forbidden to eat meat and dairy dishes, the blacksmith asks Patsyuk how he can find his way to hell.

Patsyuk replies that those who have the devil behind their back do not need to go anywhere. The blacksmith does not understand that Patsyuk means the bag with which he came.

Not understanding anything, Vakula runs out of Patsyuk’s hut and lowers the bag to the ground.

The devil jumps out of the bag, sits on the blacksmith’s shoulders and begins to persuade him to sell his soul, promising in exchange to fulfill all his wishes.

The guy regains his composure, he pretends that he wants to reach into his pocket for a nail in order to prick his finger and sign a contract with blood. He himself, having contrived, grabs the devil by the tail, pulls it off his back and raises his hand to cross him. The frightened devil begs him not to do this, and Vakula agrees if the devil takes him to St. Petersburg and helps him see the queen.

Oksana and her friends find the bags left by Vakula, and think that they contain various goodies that he collected during carols. Realizing that they cannot carry such a weight, they go for the sled.

The godfather walking along the road also finds the bags and wants to take them to the tavern to exchange them for booze, but changes his mind, and together with the weaver he met along the way, he drags one of them, where Chub is sitting, to his home. There they are met by the godfather's wife and rushes at her husband and neighbor, intending to take the contents of the bag for herself.

During the fight, Chub gets out of there and pretends that he deliberately climbed into the bag in order to play a trick on the neighbors.

They climb into the bag, hoping to find a pig there, but they find a sexton. The amazed Chub understands that Solokha is not giving her favor to him alone.

The girls returning with the sled find only one bag on the road and take it to Chub’s house to share the treat that they believe is in it.

Hearing the hiccups of the head from the bag, they scream in fear and, rushing out of the door, stumble upon Chub entering. Having learned that the girls found a bag on the road with someone sitting in it, Chub comes up and sees a head coming out of the bag.

Confused, Chub and Head, not knowing what to say, exchange phrases about the weather and how best to clean boots. The head goes away, and Chub is completely disappointed in Solokha.

Oksana

Vakula flies to St. Petersburg on horseback and joins a delegation of Cossacks who have an appointment with the Tsarina.

During the reception, Catherine asks the Cossacks what they want.

Without hesitation, Vakula decides to seize the moment and declares that he would like to receive the slippers that the queen wears on her beautiful slender legs.

Amazed and touched by the simple-minded naivety of the compliment, the empress gives him a pair of shoes, and the blacksmith flies back.

Meanwhile, the residents of Dikanka, confident that the blacksmith committed suicide, argue about whether he hanged himself or drowned himself.

Oksana hears these conversations, she feels sorry for the guy, she repents of being so cold with him, and realizes that she loves him. On Christmas morning, a festive service is held in the church, everyone pays attention to the absence of Vakula and is finally convinced that he is no longer alive.

Having returned from St. Petersburg, Vakula lets the devil go home, giving him three blows with a stick, and falls asleep. Waking up, he realizes that he overslept the church service.

Next week the blacksmith is going to confess his sins, but for now, the dressed-up man goes to Chub with gifts to woo Oksana, taking with him the slippers.

Chub makes peace with him and agrees to accept the matchmaking, and Oksana says that she doesn’t need little slippers - she already loves Vakula.

A few years later, a bishop passed through Dikanka, and, seeing a young woman standing with a child near a white hut painted with patterns and flowers, he asked whose house it was so elegant.

“Blacksmith Vakula!” – answered the young woman who was Oksana. This is how the story “The Night Before Christmas” ends happily, the summary of which was outlined above.

Variations "The Night Before Christmas"

Such a wonderful fairy-tale plot could not but serve as a source of inspiration for many authors working in various genres.

Works on the theme “Nights...” began to appear several years after the book was published, and the process continues to this day.

Here's what the list of these works looks like:

1. The opera “Blacksmith Vakula”, composed by P.I. Tchaikovsky in 1874, in the second edition (1887) called “Cherevichki”, under which it was preserved in history.
2. The opera “The Night Before Christmas”, written by N. Rimsky-Korsakov in 1887.
3. Silent film "The Night Before Christmas", produced in 1913 by director Vladislav Starevich.
4. 1951 animated film of the same name.
5. Film-opera "Cherevichki" 1944.
6. “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” 1961 is a famous feature film directed by Alexander Rowe.
7. Television musical “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” 2002.

Pay attention! This proves that even a small work written by a brilliant author can become a real masterpiece.

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Let's sum it up

“Evenings...” absolutely deservedly entered the golden list of works of Russian literature created in the century before last.