And you are loyal people to them. Mikhail Lermontov - goodbye, unwashed Russia

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,
Country of slaves, country of masters,
And you, blue uniforms,
And you, their devoted people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I'll hide from your pashas,
From their all-seeing eye,
From their all-hearing ears.

Analysis of Lermontov's poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia..."

In the work of Mikhail Lermontov there are many controversial works that were created under the influence of a momentary impulse or emotional experiences. According to eyewitnesses, the poet was a rather unbalanced, hot-tempered and touchy person who could start a quarrel over any trifle and reacted very painfully to how others treated him. One of such works, which reflects, first of all, the moral state of the author and deliberately presents the world in gloomy tones, is the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”. It was created in the winter of 1841 in St. Petersburg, on the eve of the poet’s departure to the Caucasus. Lermontov spent more than a month in the northern Russian capital, hoping to retire and put an end to the military career that was weighing him down. However, at the insistence of his grandmother, he was forced to abandon this idea. Social events did not appeal to the poet, causing him an acute feeling of irritation; he also did not want to return to work. In addition, hoping to devote his life to literature, Lermontov realized that because of his harsh and accusatory poems he was in disgrace, and the doors of many noble houses were already closed to him.

Being in such a bad mood, the poet saw the world exclusively in black tones. And if his early work contains lyrics, then the poems of the last year are difficult to classify as romantic. “Farewell, unwashed Russia” is a work that turns all the ins and outs of the country inside out. His first line is very capacious and accurate, characterizing not only the social structure, but also the way of thinking of people, “unwashed,” primitive and devoid of grace. In addition, the symbol of Russia for the poet is the “blue uniforms”, which were worn by law enforcement officers who suppressed the Decembrist uprising, as well as the “loyal people”, who did not even think that they could live in a completely different way.

“Perhaps I’ll hide from your pashas behind the wall of the Caucasus,” writes Mikhail Lermontov, making it clear that he is tired of constant censorship and the inability to openly express his views. At the same time, the poet is not only oppressed by the duality of his position, but also frightened by the prospect of repeating the fate of those who have already been sent to hard labor. Therefore, another appointment to the Caucasus seems to Lermontov the best way out of the situation, although he perceives the next round of military service as voluntary hard labor. However, the author expresses the hope that this particular trip will help him hide from the “all-seeing eye” and “all-seeing ears” of the royal secret police, who closely monitor the poet’s every move.

Being by nature a rather freedom-loving and willful person, Lermontov, however, suppresses the desire to openly oppose the existing regime. The attacks and humiliations to which Pushkin was subjected shortly before his death are still fresh in his memory. To be publicly ridiculed for Lermontov is tantamount to suicide, and staying in the Caucasus, in his opinion, will allow the unrest that the poet’s poems, which occasionally appear in print, invariably caused to subside.

However, Lermontov hardly imagined that he was saying goodbye to Russia forever. Although there is an opinion that the poet not only had a presentiment of his death, but also strived for death. Nevertheless, the country that the author loved so much and admired for its heroic past remained in the poet’s creative heritage exactly like this - unwashed, rough, cruel, enslaved and turned into one huge prison for strong-willed and free people, to whom Lermontov undoubtedly belonged. included himself.

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,
Country of slaves, country of masters.
And you, blue uniforms,
And you, their devoted people.
Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I'll hide from your pashas,
From their all-seeing eye,
From their all-hearing ears.

Lermontov wrote the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” in the last year of his untimely interrupted life. At the very time of the flowering of literary talent.

These simple eight lines are perhaps the most recognizable passage among the poet’s rich literary heritage. And it’s not even about any special meaning, beauty or perfection of the syllable of the poem. It’s just that these lines have been part of the compulsory school curriculum for decades and are memorized by each new generation of students.

What did the poet want to say with this eight-line line? What circumstances prompted him to write the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”? How deep is the meaning hidden in a few seemingly simple lines?

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

It is almost impossible to properly understand any work if it is viewed outside the context of its historical background. This statement especially applies to poetry. After all, a voluminous work such as a novel or story allows you to draw this very background that influences our perception, and a short poem most often serves as a kind of manifestation of emotions caused by the environment and needs explanation.

The poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” (Lermontov), ​​the analysis of which will be carried out, dates back to 1841. At this time, the war in the Caucasus, which had lasted for half a century, was in full swing. Russia sought to annex these mountainous territories and strengthen the border, and the freedom-loving mountaineers tried with all their might to preserve their freedom.

At that time, transferring a soldier or officer to units operating in the Caucasus was synonymous with exile with a one-way ticket. Especially if the person was followed by a corresponding order, which encouraged the use of the above-mentioned brave man in the hottest spots of battles.

WRITER'S PERSONALITY

By 1841, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was already 26 years old (he did not live to see his birthday this year). He had already gained fame as a poet, but as a person in society he was not loved. And this attitude, it must be admitted, was well deserved. The writer consciously tried to acquire a reputation as a joker and a rake. Moreover, his jokes were more caustic and impudent than good-natured. Lermontov's poems and his personal qualities as a noisy regular at social salons were so strikingly at odds with each other that most readers considered the experiences reflected in poetry to be a continuous play of a rich imagination. Just beautiful words that have nothing to do with him.

However, according to the testimony of his few friends, Mikhail put on the mask in public, and on paper he poured out the secret songs of his soul, tormented by the callousness of the surrounding world.

But no one doubted that the one who wrote “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” was a true patriot. Love for the Motherland was expressed not only in sublime rhymes, but also in military deeds. When the time came to participate in hostilities, Mikhail Yuryevich did not disgrace the honor of his ancient noble family. To be fair, it is worth noting that a military career did not appeal to Mikhail at all. He even tried to resign in order to be able to engage in literary activities without distractions, but did not dare to disappoint the grandmother who raised him, who dreamed of seeing her only grandson as a successful military man.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE

In 1837, Lermontov was convicted for his poem “The Death of a Poet” and sent into exile for the first time in the Caucasus. Thanks to the petition of his grandmother Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, who had connections at court, he did not stay there for long - only a few months. And for the poet this stay was more a treasury of pleasant impressions than a real danger.

At the beginning of 1840, Lermontov got involved in a duel, for which he was sentenced to a second exile to the combat zone. This time, the order was accompanied by an order from the emperor about the need to constantly involve the convict in the first line of attack.

In connection with these events, the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” was written. Lermontov expressed in it his attitude towards the order that existed at that time. He makes daring remarks in which there is an inexpressible bitterness from the fact that arbitrariness is happening in his beloved Fatherland, and all the people slavishly maintain the established order.

This poem, without a doubt, was written impromptu, in one fell swoop. In it, the author poured out all his indignation and desire to leave behind the pain of the ongoing injustice. He expresses the hope of finding peace far from his homeland, in the vast expanses of the Caucasus.

Literally every phrase in these two couplets contains a serious semantic load. It is worth taking a little time to understand the significance of the images used by Lermontov for people living at the end of the turbulent 19th century. Only in this case, the power and beauty contained in the eight-verse in question will appear before you in all its splendor.

"GOODBYE"

The word “farewell” does not raise any special questions at first. The author is sent to a war zone, and such an appeal is quite appropriate here. However, even in this, at first glance, completely obvious and indisputable concept, there is something more hidden. In fact, the poet seeks to say goodbye not to his beloved Motherland, but to the existing social order that is unacceptable to him.

This is a gesture that almost borders on despair. The feeling of indignation seething in the poet’s chest splashes out with a short “Farewell!” He may be defeated by the system, but he is not broken in spirit.

"UNWASHED RUSSIA"

The first and completely legitimate question that arises for everyone who is even slightly familiar with the work of Mikhail Yuryevich is the following: why does the poet use the phrase “unwashed Russia”? Lermontov does not have in mind here the physical uncleanness of his fellow citizens.

Firstly, Lermontov's poems indicate that for him it was simply unthinkable to humiliate ordinary Russian people. Love and respect for them permeates all his work. The poet boldly challenges the way of life of the noble class, but he absorbs the life of ordinary peasants as organically as the harsh beauty of Russian nature.

And secondly, Historically, it so happened that from time immemorial in Russia, maintaining cleanliness was held in high esteem. In the most run-down villages there were baths, and the peasants washed there at least once a week. The same cannot be said about “enlightened” Europe, where sophisticated noble ladies took a bath, at best, two or three times a year. And their gentlemen used gallons of perfume and cologne in order to kill the stench of an unwashed body.

So, with the expression “farewell, unwashed Russia,” Lermontov, whose verse, according to the customs of that time, should have scattered throughout the noble salons without even being published, simply wanted to express his disdain for the state structure. It was an offensive remark, which, by the way, could only offend a Russian person at that time.

"SLAVE COUNTRY"

Even a superficial analysis of the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” does not give reason to believe that by the word “slaves” the author somehow means serfs. No, here he points to the slavish obedience of the upper class. On, in fact, the lack of rights of each of them in the face of the powers that be.

"LORD'S COUNTRY"

The word “gentlemen” here carries a clear negative connotation. It is akin to the concept of “tyrants” - those who carry out reprisals solely at their own discretion. The young poet's dissatisfaction is understandable. After all, the duel for which he was convicted was just childish. When Lermontov's opponent, who was the initiator of the duel, missed while shooting, Mikhail simply unloaded his pistol with a shot to the side - he did not intend to harm Ernest de Barant, who had called him.

However, it was Mikhail who had to bear the punishment, because Ernest de Barant was the son of the French ambassador, and his participation in the unseemly incident was simply hushed up. Perhaps that is why the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”, the history of whose creation is closely connected with a not entirely fair trial, is saturated with such bitterness.

"AND YOU, BLUE UNIFORMS..."

Blue uniforms in the Russian Empire were worn by representatives of the gendarmerie, who were not particularly popular either among the common people or among the military. And the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” depicts them not at all as a force maintaining order, but as accomplices of the existing tsarist tyranny.

“AND YOU, THEIR DEVOTED PEOPLE”

People devoted to the security department? Yes, this has never happened! Here Lermontov speaks not so much about the people as people, but about the state structure as a whole. The author believes that Russia is far behind neighboring powers in Europe in terms of the level of development of the state apparatus. And such a situation is possible only because the people as a whole meekly support the existing order.

“Perhaps I’ll hide behind the wall of the Caucasus”

The desire to hide from anything in a war zone may not seem entirely logical. However, for Lermontov the Caucasus was a truly special place. He first visited it when he was still a little boy, and he carried the vivid impressions of this period throughout his life.

During his first exile, Mikhail traveled more than fought. He admired the majestic nature and felt very comfortable away from social squabbles. Keeping these circumstances in mind, it is easier to understand the poet’s desire to hide in the Caucasus.

"... FROM YOUR PASHAS"

But the word “pasha” looks somewhat incongruous when applied to government officials in the Russian Empire. Why does Lermontov use the title of military leaders of the Ottoman Empire to describe Russian gendarmes?

Some editions put the word “kings” or even “leaders” in this place. However, it is difficult to agree that these were the options that Lermontov initially used. “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” is a poem in which the author speaks out against a specific existing order in which the Tsar played a key role. But there can only be one king, like a leader, in a country. To use such titles in the plural in this case would be simply illiterate.

For Mikhail Yuryevich’s contemporaries, such a phrase would definitely have struck the ears. Imagine that on the news the announcer says something like: “And today the presidents of our country...”. This is approximately how the phrase “hide from the kings” would have sounded to readers in the 19th century.

Literally throughout history, the Turks have been irreconcilable enemies for the Russian people. And to this day, identification with this nationality is used for offensive nicknames. The poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” was written at a time when Turkey for Russian society was staunchly associated with a harsh despotic state. Therefore, representatives of the top gendarmes were sometimes called pashas in order to emphasize the attitude of the common people towards them. Apparently, this is precisely the meaning that the great Russian poet put into his poem.

"ALL-SEEING" AND "ALL-HEARING"

The ill-fated duel between Mikhail Lermontov and Ernest de Barant was, of course, exclusively private in nature. A quarrel between young people took place in the house of a certain Countess Laval, who was giving a ball. The duel itself took place two days later according to all the unwritten rules - in a secluded place and in the presence of seconds on both sides.

Despite the fact that this clash did not have any unpleasant consequences, less than three weeks had passed before Lermontov was taken into custody. He was charged with “failure to report.” Neither the seconds nor his opponent were held accountable.

The reason for the start of the investigation was not any specific denunciation of one of the direct participants, but rumors about a duel that spread among young officers. Therefore, the poet uses the epithets “all-seeing” and “all-hearing” to characterize the work of the security department.

However, some editions of the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” give a diametrically opposed reading of the last two lines. In them, the author complains about the “eye that doesn’t see” and the “ear that doesn’t hear,” talking about the blindness and bias of legal proceedings.

Well, this theory has a right to exist. However, why are there so many variations? In the end, Lermontov’s poems are not works of a thousand years ago that archaeologists have to restore bit by bit. And at the time of writing this poem, the author was already famous enough for his creation to instantly spread among the intelligentsia, thereby leaving a trail of tens and hundreds of copies. Such discrepancies have led many to doubt that Lermontov even wrote this verse. “Farewell, unwashed Russia...” was subjected to a crushing attack by critics.

The main argument given by those who doubt that the author of this poem is Mikhail Lermontov is the time of publication of the work. Almost half a century has passed since the poet’s death - 46 years. And the earliest copy of the handwritten lists that have survived to this day dates back to the early 70s of the century before last. And this implies a gap of three decades between the writing of the original and the copy.

Not a single sketch or draft made by the hand of Mikhail Yuryevich himself also exists. True, Bartnev (the historian who revealed the previously unknown poem to the world) in a personal letter refers to the existence of the original, written by Lermontov, but no one except him has ever seen this document.

Even more bewildering among literary scholars is the very nature of the poem “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”. An analysis of the author’s attitude towards the country he was leaving leaves no doubt not just about disappointment, but even, in some way, about disdain for the Motherland, which Lermontov had never shown before.

But, somewhat besieging lovers of spectacular revelations, it is worth noting that its famous “Farewell!” Lermontov does not abandon the Motherland, but the imperfect state apparatus. And all literary critics and biographers of the poet agree with this.

Another argument used by critics is a comparative analysis of two poems: “Motherland” and “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”. They were presumably written several months apart. However, one is imbued with reverence for the Fatherland, and the second is full of unflattering epithets for the same Motherland.

Could the poet’s mood change so dramatically? Is not it so? Notes of bitterness of loneliness are inherent in most of Lermontov's works. We find them, simply expressed more expressively, in the verse “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”. There is no disdain for the native land here, which critics persistently try to point out. There is pain here because the poet would like to see his country prosperous and progressive, but is forced to come to terms with the fact that these aspirations are stifled by the existing regime.

But, in the end, everyone decides for themselves what to believe. There are enough arguments on both sides. And whoever the actual author of this poem was, it is firmly rooted in Russian literature and can definitely tell a lot about the situation prevailing in the middle of the 19th century.

And for fans of the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, there are enough works whose author, undoubtedly, is the poet. By the way, the same one who during his lifetime was called Pushkin’s successor! His literary heritage, undoubtedly, can be compared with scatterings of precious stones in the treasury of Russian literature.

Lermontov was a rebel poet. Unlike the salon patriots, he loved the best that was in Russia and deeply despised the ugliness of the existing regime. Anyone who thoughtfully reads the poem “Farewell, Unwashed Russia” by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov will be able to feel the poet’s pain and despair.

The poem was created in 1841. Having received a sixty-day vacation, Lermontov arrives in St. Petersburg. He wants to retire, stay in the capital and devote his life to literature. But the authorities refuse him this. The poet does not receive awards for his actions in the Caucasus. He was ordered to return to his duties within two days. Nicholas I knew the power of a word. He rightly feared that Lermontov would infect the youth, among whom there were many supporters of the Decembrists, with his revolutionary spirit. The text of Lermontov’s poem “Farewell, Unwashed Russia,” which is taught in a literature lesson in the 9th grade, is permeated with bitterness and disappointment. Lermontov sincerely admired the heroic past of his homeland. The poet’s bewilderment and contempt are caused by the “gentlemen” who enslaved the great country. The words “and you, the blue uniforms, and you, the people devoted to them,” even today seem sharp and topical. During Lermontov's time, blue uniforms were worn by law enforcement officers who suppressed the Decembrist uprising. But the poet complains not only about the “all-seeing eye” and “all-hearing ears” of Nicholas I’s spies. He is depressed by the people’s blind love for the “Tsar-Father.” The hero of the poem seeks to hide from the royal secret police “behind the wall of the Caucasus.” Only there, in his unloved service, does he have the opportunity to create.

According to some researchers of Lermontov's work, the poet sought to hasten his death. In this case, the work can be called prophetic. You can download it in full or study online on our website.

Lermontov has many brilliant poems, just not nearly comparable in level to the mentioned “verse,” but it is not they that are included in the school curriculum, but this. Crooked style, poor comparisons and a complete lack of depth, so characteristic of Lermontov. It’s hard to find a worse work to represent his work. Undoubtedly, every poet or writer, no matter how great he is, has successful and unsuccessful things, and it would be natural to select the best examples for study in school. Unless, of course, the goal is the development of the younger generation, and not something else. There are very serious reasons to believe that the main purpose of the appearance of this creation in textbooks and its widespread mass circulation was not its literary merits, but its screaming Russophobia. That is, this is an act of competent ideological war.

But maybe the people who introduced it into school textbooks, despite the protests of literary experts, simply have such peculiar literary tastes and “how can we, the wretched,” judge the level of the poem, this is the business of the celestials?

No, this is not a matter of disputes between aesthetes. The fact is that Soviet (and for the most part Russian in the early post-Soviet stage, by inertia) textbooks were built on the principles of strict science. Dubious hypotheses and ambiguous things were not allowed there even close. Errors naturally occurred, but they only reflected the complexities of the development of science and the change of theories.

This, if I may say so, the work is strikingly different from other poems by Lermontov (in addition to off-scale Russophobia, anti-patriotism and, to put it mildly, lack of genius) in that there is no direct evidence that it belongs to him and not to another person. That is, none at all.

There is only a statement repeated thousands of times, which, through repeated repetitions, acquires the status of truth in the mass consciousness. And these repetitions are replicated in school textbooks and editions of the poet’s works. According to the requirements of science, it is those who support the idea that this poem belongs to a given poet and are obliged to prove this. But they are not going to do this, citing... the scientific and literary tradition that they themselves create. Hysterics and arguments are usually passed off as arguments, such as a reference to Korolenko’s opinion from around 1890 (half a century after Lermontov’s death). For some reason, they really need their children to consider their Motherland “unwashed” and wretched from an early age. And what is washed, that is, clean? Maybe Persia, India or China? In no case. The West is pure and progressive, of course, we should take an example from it, or even pray to it.

That is, the purpose of this work is not at all to introduce children to the best examples of great Russian literature, but is completely different - to drive a Russophobic stamp into the heads of children. It can be argued that the only reason why the poem was included in school textbooks is its powerful Russophobic “message”, presented in a wrapper from the poems of the brilliant Russian poet, a stamp that will be embedded in the subconscious of almost the entire population of the country. For what? Of course, for subsequent manipulation of already grown people for evil purposes. Well, if brilliant people spoke about Russia like that, then it must really be wretched, disgusting and stinking?! But if they said, write honestly: “a poem by an unknown poet of the late 19th century.” and the whole halo will fly off of him instantly. Who needs it if it weren’t attributed to Lermontov? So it was not in vain that they included it in textbooks and collections, violating all the principles - it was very necessary.

By the way, if the phrase “unwashed Russia” is notable for anything, it is its meanness and turning the situation upside down. In terms of hygiene, a Russian peasant from the most seedy village, who has washed in a steam bath at least once a week for hundreds of years, cannot be compared not only with European peasants, who washed twice in their lives, but also with the most sophisticated French nobles, who washed in at best, once a year and who invented perfume and cologne to fight off the unbearable stench of an unwashed body several times in their lives and noblewomen wearing flea traps.

If we return to the mentioned work, then literary scholars have long established with a very high probability that the poem “Farewell Unwashed Russia” does not belong to Lermontov and its author is a completely different person.

Here are the main signs of this:

There is no autograph of the author (original).
- the work first appeared 32 years after the death of the poet, and appeared in print only in 1887.
- analysis of the style shows a complete discrepancy with Lermontov’s style. So crooked images of “blue uniforms”, “pashas” are not found anywhere else.
- The most likely true author is quite clearly defined - the poet-parodist Dmitry Minaev, an ardent anti-patriot and anti-statist, even a Russophobe, who actively wrote his parodies and epigrams precisely during the period when “the poem was found.” It is for him that the stylistic turns of this poem are characteristic.
- Initially, there were several versions of the poem. So there were versions with the words “I will hide from your kings” and “I will hide from your leaders,” which would have been strange more than 30 years later.

The first mass injection began in 1961, under Khrushchev. There are rumors among literary scholars that they pushed it from the level of the CPSU Central Committee through the Academy of Sciences. But who exactly was behind the idea of ​​this stuffing and who forced the poem to be included in the complete collection of works, thus making it a literary canon, is still unclear.

Pavel Krasnov

Read very interesting materials from experts on the topic.

About one very old hoax

Inorganic for the entire creativity of M.Yu. Lermontov's poem "Farewell, Unwashed Russia" attributed to him and persistently imposed even in school textbooks has long raised doubts about its authenticity. But it usually happens that if a lie is repeated many times, then people get used to it and it already seems like the truth. So it is with this poem. For several generations they were forced to memorize it in school, and it began to seem to everyone that Lermontov’s authorship was beyond doubt. It is very difficult to escape from this imposed prejudice. But, it would seem, it would be enough to simply put it next to other poems - and the rudeness and clumsiness of the lines would immediately catch the eye. And the very story of the appearance of this poem - many years after the death of the “author” - is very strange.

And one had to really want to still attribute this poem to Lermontov, to include it in the category of undoubtedly the author’s, to make it one of the few compulsory for study in school. And if it had not been attributed to Lermontov, then it certainly would have been attributed to Pushkin.

A.S. Pushkin:

Farewell, free elements!
For the last time before me
You're rolling blue waves
And you shine with proud beauty.

Attributed to M. Yu. Lermontov

"FAREWELL, UNWASHED RUSSIA"

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,
Country of slaves, country of masters.
And you, blue uniforms,
And you, their devoted people.

Typically, a literary hoax, which, unlike a malicious forgery, is simply a funny prank, uses an easily recognizable work as the original, the first lines of which are subject to only minor changes. This technique is also widely used in the genre of parody, in contrast to which hoax still presupposes an element of crafty deception, someone else’s signature.

Like a friend's mournful murmur,
Like his call at the farewell hour,
Your sad noise, your inviting noise
I heard for the last time
(Pushkin)

I will hide among the pashas,
From their all-seeing eye,
From their all-hearing ears...

In the 19th century, literary hoaxes were widespread and a fashionable parlor game. Passing off your original work or pastiche as someone else's or an unknown author was a hilarious writer's prank. This is exactly what was attributed to M.Yu. Lermontov of this poem. But later it was widely propagated for completely different purposes by Russophobic ideologists and from a hoax it turned into falsification on a given topic.

FROM THE EDITORIAL "Literary Russia"

The poem “Farewell, Unwashed Russia” first appeared in a letter from P.I. Barteneva to P.A. Efremov on March 9, 1873 with the note - “copied from the original.” In 1955, a letter from the same Bartenev to N.V. was published. Putyata, written no later than 1877 (the year of Putyata’s death) with a similar note: “from the original by Lermontov.” In 1890, the same Bartenev published another version of this poem (in all three cases there are discrepancies) in the journal “Russian Archive” he published, with a note this time - “recorded from the words of the poet by a contemporary.” Three years earlier, P. Viskovatov published in the magazine “Russian Antiquity” without indicating the source the same Bartenev version with only one word changed - “leaders” (No. 12, 1887). The autograph that Bartenev referred to in his letters, of course, has not survived. Moreover, this is why the professional historian, archaeographer and bibliographer did not say anything anywhere about this autograph: where he saw it, who kept it, etc. For a person who has devoted his entire life to finding and publishing unknown materials and literary and biographical documents about Russian writers, such an unprofessional silence about the address of the source - “the original, the hand of Lermontov” - is simply mysterious.

Thus, in all cases, except one, where the source is not named, we are dealing with the same person - P.I. Bartenev. And each time we encounter serious contradictions: in his letters he refers to an unknown autograph, and in the publication he more carefully points out the “phenomenal memory” of an unknown contemporary, which half a century later made it possible to reproduce this “unknown masterpiece.”

It is logical to ask: who is he, this only source of a strange poem that suddenly surfaced decades after the poet’s death!

Pyotr Ivanovich Bartenev was born in October 1829, and at the time of Lermontov’s murder he was only 11 years old. Among his works are a number of books and articles about Pushkin (“Stories about Pushkin, recorded from the words of his friends by P.I. Bartenev in 1851-1860,” etc.) In 1858, it was he who conveyed to A.I. Herzen's sensational "Notes of Catherine II", published by the latter in London in 1859. Since 1863, he has been publishing the Russian Archive magazine for half a century, specializing in the publication of unknown documents about Russian writers. However, according to the review of the Brief Literary Encyclopedia, “Bartenev’s numerous publications in archaeographic and textual terms were not at a high enough level.” And that's putting it mildly. Cooperation with Herzen and his uncensored press characterizes the socio-political position of P. Bartenev. The intensity of political passions and needs at the time the authority of national poets recognized by the entire society required precisely such revealing documents. And demand, as we know, creates supply, and if a professional publisher who has devoted his life to publishing a magazine specialized for these purposes does not have the necessary material at hand, then what can’t you do to maintain interest in your magazine, to save the circulation? Bartenev was well acquainted with Pushkin’s work, sympathized with exposing propaganda, and got his hands on “sensational discoveries” and their publication. He wrote eight oaky lines, albeit with difficulty, with the help of borrowings from Pushkin - he was quite capable of it. But there was no risk. Exposed, such a gross hoax threatened him with nothing but laughter and public attention. But it is unlikely that Bartenev himself expected that this prank would have such consequences.

It is interesting that the compilers of the collected works of M.Yu. Lermontov (1961) commented quite wittily on this poem. Unable (for obvious reasons) to openly expose this hoax, which was turned into a fake by speculators, they pasted a facsimile of M.Yu. Lermontov’s original “Motherland” into the commentary to it (vol. 1, p. 706). And in fact, nothing exposes a fake better than comparing it with the original. However, if you really need to, then you don’t have to see the original and stubbornly insist on a mediocre fake. Although it is clear even to a layman that Lermontov and this imitative daub have nothing in common.

G. Klechenov

"Literary Russia", 1994, 02/18/94

Parodying the poet

D.D. Minaev is a poet of Iskra, a parodist, a re-performer, who did not ignore a single great creation of the previous “aristocratic” era and rewrote them in the spirit of liberalism - “nothing sacred.” I think it’s time to return “Farewell, Unwashed Russia” to the real author.
Modernity always seeks support in the past and seeks to interpret it in its own interests. On this basis there is a lot of opportunism and falsehood, when the past turns into a hostage of the present. The struggle with the past and for the past takes place in the social and symbolic universe. In the symbolic universe, one of its main directions is fiction, which, more than any other writing (text), is closer to the masses, to practical consciousness. The main reason for the hoaxes and disguises and deceptions undertaken at different times is (although this sounds unfashionable now) social struggle. Many hoaxes are based on the ideological reworking of literary masterpieces in order to adapt to the demands of the new reality. Thus, “Eugene Onegin”, “Woe from Wit”, “Dead Souls”, “Demon” and other great and popular works were “corrected”.

The poem "Farewell, unwashed Russia" is attributed to M.Yu. Lermontov.

It was first mentioned in a letter from P.I. Bartenev in 1873, 32 years after the poet’s death. The strange thing is that the poet’s contemporaries almost did not react to this discovery. There was no reaction from them even after the first publication in 1887. No joy was expressed, no controversy arose in the press. Perhaps the reading public knew who these lines belonged to?

Literary scholars who value their reputation usually stipulate the absence of an autograph and never attribute a work to the author without at least a lifetime list. But not in this case! Both publications - by P.A. Viskovatov, and then by P.I. Bartenev, although they were repeatedly convicted of dishonesty, were accepted without doubt and further disputes arose only over discrepancies. And here a controversy arose that has not subsided to this day. However, the arguments of opponents of Lermontov’s authorship in this dispute were not taken seriously into account. The poem became canonical and included in school textbooks as a masterpiece of the great poet's political lyrics.

Here is an eight-line line that really casts doubt on the patriotism of M.Yu. Lermontov:

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,
Country of slaves, country of masters.
And you, blue uniforms,
And you, their devoted people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I'll hide from your pashas,
From their all-seeing eye,
From their all-hearing ears.

It was because of the first line that the poem became popular, and for some it is now extremely relevant.

Today, everyone who speaks and writes about Russia disdainfully, with mockery, complete rejection of its social system, both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary, will certainly quote the famous line, taking it as an ally and referring to the authority of the great national poet. This is symptomatic. It is difficult to imagine a stronger literary argument for discrediting Russia than a reference to its national poetic genius.

But here’s how, in the year of his centenary, the poet’s importance for Russia was assessed by the “Bulletin of Literature” for 1914: “Lermontov is the pride and glory of Russian poetry, to whom, along with other “heroes of the pen,” we owe the strength of our national feelings, especially manifested in the times we are experiencing significant days. After all, Lermontov, undoubtedly, was one of those poets who taught us to love our homeland and made us be proud of it..." V.O. Klyuchevsky, characterizing Russian painting, wrote: "... you are trying to remember what is where - this impression has already been expressed that the Russian brush on these canvases only illustrated and reproduced in detail some general picture of Russian nature and life familiar to you, which made the same impression on you, a little cheerful and a little sad - and remember the MOTHERLAND Lermontov... Poetry, warmed by the personal feeling of the poet, becomes a phenomenon of people’s life, a historical fact. No Russian poet has hitherto been so capable of being deeply imbued with the people’s feeling and giving it artistic expression as Lermontov.” And even earlier, N.A. Dobrolyubov noted that “Lermontov understands love for the fatherland truly, sacredly and wisely... The fullest expression of pure love for the people, the most humane view of their life cannot be demanded from a Russian poet.”

In the last decades of the twentieth century, convincing, well-reasoned evidence emerged that Lermontov could not have written these lines. But, as you know, there is nothing more durable than a century-old delusion. On the anniversary of the 190th anniversary of the poet’s birth, the director of the Pushkin House, respected scientist N.N. Skatov, presented undeniable arguments that M.Yu. Lermontov could not share such views.

When studying a literary work whose authorship has not been identified, the biography of the alleged author, the historical and literary environment of that time, the language and character of the era are taken into account. It is known that outstanding writers develop their own original style, unique vocabulary, live and create in a historically determined cultural everyday life. The poem in question reveals the spirit of a completely different time, not inherent in the poetic country called “Lermontov”. It has a different cultural context. Let's ask ourselves what is most puzzling here and what is inconsistent with all the other lines. Let’s ask and admit: the first line is “unwashed Russia.” Brought up in a noble environment, a boarding house at Moscow University, and moving in the highest aristocratic circles, Lermontov could hardly write and say “unwashed” in relation to the Motherland, to which he had just dedicated lines of astonishing power of love. It is quite possible to assume: he did not use it in everyday life. It was not in the vocabulary of the nobility, and it has nothing to do with poetry at all. Perhaps for a parody, an epigram, a rehash. And this is a different era. Let's talk about her.

This is how the newspaper “Day” in 1889 characterized the theoretical principles of post-reform Russia: “Everything elegant, aristocratic, bearing the imprint of nobility, seemed incompatible with the feeling of a citizen. The emancipated “peasant” became a favorite cult, which was worshiped and imitated. Then the notorious red ones came into fashion shirts and greased boots..."

The most prominent representative of satirical and social poetry of the 60s, who opposed the culture of the nobility, the opponent of the crowd of “renegades, cliques, temporary workers and Neva Cleopatras” was D.D. Minaev - a virtuoso of verse who had a rich, unsurpassed supply of rhymes. In his satires and rehashes, not a single noble poet is ignored: Pushkin, Lermontov, Maikov, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky, Pleshcheev, Fet, Tyutchev, Turgenev, Benediktov. Everyone fell on his sharp tongue. He was a bright and ardent destroyer of noble aesthetics, as was D. Pisarev. It is no coincidence that D. Minaev’s parody of “Eugene Onegin” coincides in a number of its attacks against A.S. Pushkin with D. Pisarev’s criticism of this novel. Poetic parody was D. Minaev’s leading genre in the field of satire: mockery, ridicule, magazine polemics were his favorite style. “Without sparing a word or his own father, Minaev cracked his satirical whip at both enemies and friends, and it was this illegibility that made his figure in the sense of convictions very vague.”

The peculiarity of parody as a type of literary satire is that it was and is usually used to attack a hostile ideology.

For D. Minaev, this is a noble ideology. The vulgar democratic jargon of parody diminished high aristocratic literature. (From RP: This is precisely the pattern followed by the ideological hysteria of “perestroika” and the destruction of the country)

Exposure was achieved by ridiculing sophistication, by contrasting themes, characters, and language. Minaev constantly parodied M.Yu. Lermontov.

He did not ignore even such prophetically tragic poems as “The Dream” (1841).

M.Yu. Lermontov:

In the midday heat, in the valley of Dagestan,
With lead in my chest I lay motionless.
The deep wound was still smoking,
Drop by drop my blood flowed...

D.D. Minaev:

In the midday heat at the Bezborodko dacha
I lay motionless with the Russian Conversation.
It was a burning noon, the air flowed meekly,
Cradling me...

In another epigram:

When I get sicker day by day,
I went to the Caucasus,
Lermontov met me there,
Sprayed me with mud once...

In the poem "Moonlit Night" the motifs of Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri" are sung, and each stanza ends with the refrain: "... From the blue sky... The moon looked at me." All this to the tune of “Everything is fine, beautiful marquise...”

As they say, nothing is sacred. Minaev himself admits:

I understood the secret perfectly,
How to write original:
I’ll start the poem pompously
And I’ll end trivially...
Suddenly bringing together all kinds of objects,
I am sure - O reader! -
What talent will you find in me?

It is no coincidence that the parody “Farewell, Unwashed Russia” surfaced in 1873. Most likely, it was then that it was written by D. Minaev. As Klelenov convincingly showed in Literary Russia, this is most likely a parody of Pushkin’s “To the Sea.”
In 1874-1879, D. Minaev wrote a satirical poem “The Demon”, which contains the following lines:

"The demon is rushing.
No interference
He doesn’t see on the night air
On his blue uniform
Stars of all ranks sparkle..."

It is quite logical that here the author used his own find - “blue uniforms”. As we can see, it is more characteristic of D. Minaev and is typical for him. But M.Yu. Lermontov has nothing like that. Why are frequency dictionaries of great writers created, if not to study poetic images and vocabulary? In the famous eight-line line, all the laws of parody are observed: discrepancy between style and thematic material; reduction, discrediting of the stylized object and even the entire artistic and ideological complex of the original, the poet’s worldview as a whole. This is exactly what the authors of Iskra did, parodying the poets of “pure art.”

Gradually (and especially now, in our time), the hoax that the parody publishers were carried away by turned into a falsification that works for Russia’s opponents. Especially in the eyes of the younger generation, who accept it on faith as the work of a great poet. It seems that the duty of all responsible researchers of Russian literature is to put everything in its place.

Who played a cruel joke and attributed poor poems about “unwashed Russia” to the Russian genius poet Mikhail Lermontov? Not a visiting foreigner who pulled the whole story about the “Potemkin villages” out of thin air, but a commoner who wrote a parody. But the Soviet school, which stubbornly imposed this cheapness as lines from a great classic, is much more guilty.

These eight lines were and are included in the Soviet collected works of M. Yu. Lermontov with a modest postscript “attributed”:

Goodbye, unwashed Russia,

Country of slaves, country of masters.

And you, blue uniforms,

And you, their devoted people.

Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus

I'll hide from your pashas,

From their all-seeing eye,

From their all-hearing ears.

In 1989, the Soviet writer, critic and communist Vladimir Bushin suggested that Lermontov scholars carefully double-check their authorship. Let's give the floor to the experts.

Academician N.N. Skatov, in his article for the 190th anniversary of Mikhail Lermontov, confirmed: “All this again and again makes us return (the last time this was done by M.D. Elzon) to one of the most famous poems attributed to Lermontov. As you know, there is no autograph of this poem. What well, it happens. But for more than thirty years, no evidence of any oral information has appeared: this is about Lermontov’s poem of such a degree of political radicalism. There is not a single list, except for the one referred to by P. I. Bartenev, p. whose submission the poem became known in 1873, and which is also allegedly lost, the speech in the poem is about the desire to hide behind the “wall of the Caucasus” while Lermontov was going to serve in the North Caucasus, that is, strictly speaking, without reaching it. to his wall. Finally, the main thing is that this contradicts the entire system of views of Lermontov, who was increasingly strengthened in his Russophilia, who is even called a Russoman and who writes (here is the autograph in Vl. F. Odoevsky has just been preserved): “Russia has no past: it is all in the present and future. A fairy tale tells: Eruslan Lazarevich sat for 20 years and slept soundly, but in his 21st year he woke up from a heavy sleep - he got up and walked... and he met 37 kings and 70 heroes and beat them and sat down to reign over them... Such is Russia..."

In 2005, an article by A. A. Kutyreva, candidate of philosophical sciences from Nizhny Novgorod, was published, which convincingly proved the real authorship, but first a small preface. Kutyreva writes: “Literary scholars who value their reputation usually stipulate the absence of an autograph and never attribute a work to the author without at least lifetime lists. But not in this case! Both publications by P.A. Viskovatova, and then by P.I. Bartenev, although they were repeatedly convicted of dishonesty, were accepted without doubt and further disputes arose only over discrepancies. But here a controversy developed that has not subsided to this day. However, the arguments of opponents of Lermontov’s authorship in this dispute were not taken seriously into account. The poem became canonical and included in school textbooks as a masterpiece of the great poet's political lyrics.

It was because of the first line that the poem became popular, and for some it is now extremely relevant. Today, everyone who speaks and writes about Russia disdainfully, with mockery, complete rejection of its social system, both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary, will certainly quote the famous line, taking it as an ally and referring to the authority of the great national poet. This is symptomatic. It is difficult to imagine a stronger literary argument for discrediting Russia than a reference to its national poetic genius."

Before mentioning the name of the author, let us pay attention to several features of the mentioned poem. First of all, the adjective "unwashed". Let's turn to Lermontov's older brother. In his essay “A Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg” (the title was given in controversy with the essay by the liberal Alexander Radishchev “A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”), Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin cites the following dialogue between the author and an Englishman:

"I. What struck you most about the Russian peasant?

He. His neatness, intelligence and freedom.

Me: How is that?

He. Your peasant goes to the bathhouse every Saturday; He washes himself every morning, and in addition washes his hands several times a day. There is nothing to say about his intelligence. Travelers travel from region to region in Russia, not knowing a single word of your language, and everywhere they are understood, their demands are fulfilled, their terms are concluded; I have never seen between them what our neighbors call un badoud, I never noticed in them either rude surprise or ignorant contempt for the things of others. Their variability is known to everyone; agility and dexterity are amazing...

I. Fairly; but freedom? Do you really consider the Russian peasant to be free?

He. Look at him: what could be more free than his circulation! Is there a shadow of slavish humiliation in his behavior and speech? Have you been to England?"