A brief retelling of the chapter Copper Radishchev. Farewell to the army

Having gone to Moscow after dinner with friends, the hero woke up only at the next post station - Sofia. Having difficulty waking up the caretaker, he demanded horses, but was refused due to the night time. I had to give the coachmen some vodka, they harnessed it, and the journey continued.

In Tosna, the hero meets a lawyer who was engaged in composing ancient genealogies for young nobles. On the way from Tosny to Lyuban, the traveler sees a peasant who was plowing “with great diligence,” despite the fact that it was Sunday. The plowman said that six days a week his family cultivates the master’s land and, in order not to die of hunger, he is forced to work on holidays, even though this is a sin. The hero reflects on the cruelty of the landowners and at the same time reproaches himself for the fact that he also has a servant over whom he has power.

In Chudov, the hero is caught up by his friend Ch. and tells him why he had to quickly leave St. Petersburg. Ch., for fun, sailed on a twelve-oar boat from Kronstadt to Sisterbeck. Along the way, a storm broke out, and the boat was pinched between two rocks by the raging waves. It was filling with water, and it seemed that death was inevitable. But two brave rowers made an attempt to climb over the rocks and swim to the shore, which was a mile and a half away. One succeeded, and, having got ashore, he ran to the house of the local chief so that he could urgently dispatch boats to rescue those remaining. But the chief deigned to rest, and the sergeant, his subordinate, did not dare to wake him up. When, through the efforts of others, the unfortunate people were nevertheless saved, Ch. tried to reassure the boss, but he said: “That’s not my position.” Indignant, Ch. “almost spat in his face and walked out.” Finding no sympathy for his actions among his St. Petersburg acquaintances, he decided to leave this city forever.

On the road from Chudov to Spasskaya Polest, a fellow traveler sits down with the hero and tells him his sad story. Having trusted his partner in ransom matters, he was deceived, lost his entire fortune and was put on criminal trial. His wife, experiencing what had happened, gave birth ahead of schedule and three days later she died, and the premature baby also died. Friends, seeing that they had come to take him into custody, put the unfortunate man in a wagon and told him to go “wherever his eyes looked.” The hero was touched by what his fellow traveler told him, and he thinks about how to bring this incident to the attention of supreme power, “for she can only be impartial.” Realizing that he is unable to help the unfortunate man in any way, the hero imagines himself as the supreme ruler, whose state seems to be flourishing, and everyone sings his praises. But then the wanderer of Straight-Gaze ​​removes the thorn from the ruler’s eyes, and he sees that his reign was unjust, that bounties were poured out on the rich, flatterers, traitors, and unworthy people. He understands that power is the duty to uphold the law and justice. But all this turned out to be just a dream.

At Podberezye station the hero meets a seminarian who complains about modern training. The hero reflects on science and the work of the writer, whose task he sees is enlightenment and praise of virtue.

Arriving in Novgorod, the hero remembers that this city in ancient times had popular rule, and questions the right of Ivan the Terrible to annex Novgorod. “But what is right when there is force?” - he asks. Distracted from his thoughts, the hero goes to dine with his friend Karp Dementievich, formerly a merchant, and now an eminent citizen. A conversation turns to trading matters, and the traveler understands that the introduced bill of exchange system does not guarantee honesty, but, on the contrary, contributes to easy enrichment and theft.

In Zaitsev, at the post office, the hero meets an old friend of Mr. Krestyankin, who served in the criminal chamber. He resigned, realizing that in this position he could not bring any benefit to the fatherland. He saw only cruelty, bribery, injustice. A peasant told a story about a cruel landowner whose son raped a young peasant woman. The girl's groom, defending the bride, broke the rapist's head. Together with the groom there were several other peasants, and according to the code of the criminal chamber, the narrator should have sentenced all of them to death or lifelong hard labor. He tried to justify the peasants, but none of the local nobles supported him, and he was forced to resign.

In Krestsy, the hero witnesses the separation of a father from his children going off to serve. The father reads instructions to them about life rules, calls for being virtuous, fulfilling the requirements of the law, restraining passions, and not subservient to anyone. The hero shares his father’s thoughts that the power of parents over children is insignificant, that the union between parents and children should be “based on the tender feelings of the heart” and that a father cannot see his son as his slave.

In Yazhelbitsy, driving past the cemetery, the hero sees that a burial is taking place there. The father of the deceased is sobbing at the grave, saying that he is the murderer of his son, since he “poured poison into his beginning.” The hero thinks he hears his condemnation. He, indulging in lust in his youth, suffered from a “stenchful disease” and is afraid

will it pass on to his children? Reflecting on who is causing the spread of the “stenchful disease,” the traveler blames the state for this, which opens the way to vices and protects public women.

In Valdai, the hero recalls the legend of a monk of the Iversky Monastery who fell in love with the daughter of a Valdai resident. Just as Leander swam across the Hellespont, so this monk swam across Lake Valdai to meet his beloved. But one day the wind rose, the waves raged, and in the morning the monk’s body was found on a distant shore.

In Edrovo, the hero meets a young peasant girl Anyuta, talks with her about her family and fiance. He is surprised how much nobility there is in the way of thinking rural residents. Wanting to help Anyuta get married, he offers her fiance money to get married. But Ivan refuses to take them, saying: “Master, I have two hands, I’ll run the house with them.” The hero reflects on marriage, condemning the still existing customs when an eighteen-year-old girl could be married to a ten-year-old child. Equality is the basis family life, he thinks.

On the way to Khotilovo, the hero is visited by thoughts about the injustice of serfdom. The fact that one person can enslave another he calls a “brutal custom”: “enslavement is a crime,” he says. Only those who cultivate the land have rights to it. And a state where two-thirds of citizens are deprived of civil rank cannot “be called blessed.” Radishchev’s hero understands that forced work produces less fruit, and this prevents the “reproduction of the people.” In front of the postal station, he picks up a paper that expresses the same thoughts, and learns from the postman that the last person passing through was one of his friends. He apparently forgot his essays at the post station, and the hero takes the forgotten papers for some reward. They defined a whole program for the liberation of peasants from serfdom, and also contained a provision for the destruction of court officials.

In Torzhok, the hero meets a man who sends a petition to St. Petersburg for permission to establish a printing press in the city, free from censorship. They talk about the harmfulness of censorship, which “like a nanny, leads a child on a leash,” and this “child,” that is, the reader, will never learn to walk (think) independently. Society itself must serve as censor: it either recognizes the writer or rejects it, just as recognition for a theatrical performance is provided by the audience, and not by the theater director. Here the author, referring to a notebook received by the hero from a person he met, talks about the history of the emergence of censorship.

On the way to Mednoe, the traveler continues to read the papers of his friend. It talks about the auctions that take place if a landowner goes bankrupt. And among other property, people are being auctioned. An old man of seventy-five, the uncle of a young master, an old woman of eighty, his wife, a nurse, a widow of forty, a young woman of eighteen, her daughter and granddaughter of the elderly, her baby - they all do not know what fate awaits them, into whose hands they will fall.

The conversation about Russian versification that the hero has with a friend at a tavern table brings them back to the topic of liberty. A friend reads excerpts from his ode with that title.

In the village of Gorodnya, a recruitment process is taking place, which caused the sobs of the crowd of people. Mothers, wives, brides are crying. But not all recruits are unhappy with their fate. One “master’s man,” on the contrary, is glad to get rid of the power of his masters. He was raised by a kind master along with his son, and traveled abroad with him. But old master died, and the young man got married, and the new lady put the slave in his place.

In Pawns, the hero surveys a peasant hut and is surprised by the poverty that reigns here. The housewife asks him for a piece of sugar for the child. Author in lyrical digression addresses the landowner with a condemning speech: “Hard-hearted landowner! look at the children of the peasants under your control. They are almost naked." He promises him God's punishment, because he sees that there is no righteous judgment on earth.

The “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” ends with “A Word about Lomonosov.” The hero refers to the fact that these notes were given to him by the “Parnassian judge” with whom he dined in Tver. The author focuses on the role of Lomonosov in the development of Russian literature, calling him “the first in the path of Russian literature.”

“Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” contains three main themes: criticism of autocracy and serfdom, and the question of the inevitability of revolution. Radishchev in this work goes beyond sentimentalism and approaches the realistic principle of depicting reality. The book is unique in that it combines various genres: from stories to philosophical discussions, from letters to allegories. All these “pieces” are assembled into a single whole using general idea about the archaic nature of the autocratic system and serfdom. In addition, the through character is the traveler, despite the fact that each chapter has its own plot and its own compositional completeness.

“Spasskaya Polist” is considered one of the most acute socially critical chapters. She sums up Radishchev’s thoughts about the dangers of autocracy. Just look at the story about a governor who used funds for other purposes than civil service, but for personal purposes (purchased oysters). And his assistant, thanks to his “obedient” service, was promoted. That is, there is embezzlement and nepotism. The Traveler's Dream is a satirical allegory of the entire reign of Catherine the Second. According to the writer, it was during her reign that the rottenness and depravity of the autocracy reached its apogee. This can be seen especially clearly in the chapter “Spasskaya Polist”.

Radishchev is a Russian democrat from the 18th century who made an invaluable contribution to Russian culture, literature and social thought. In the chapter “Spasskaya Polist”, as in the entire “Journey”, the author speaks on behalf of the humiliated and tired peasants in order to say his word in response to the oppressors. There was no other like this consistently and revolutionary thinking writer, as the author of a large-scale work, which included the chapter “Spasskaya Polist” (analysis will confirm this).

Censorship

There was no way to get the work published, although Konstantin Ryleev let it pass without even reading it. Then the writer equipped his own printing house and released 25 copies for sale. I kept the remaining 600 for myself. But even twenty-five pieces were enough to make the city buzz. Word reached Catherine. The Empress was angry. Despite the anonymity of the authorship of “Journey,” Radishchev was quickly found. The investigation took a long time. The writer had three tasks: not to betray his accomplices, to protect children and to save his own life. It ended up being death penalty was replaced by exile to Siberia. So the “rebel worse than Pugachev” remained alive. Radishchev committed suicide when, after returning from exile, he realized that the persecution had not ended.

Reality

In Radishchev’s book (and in individual chapters, such as “Spasskaya Polist”), main idea- denunciation of serfdom. Catherine saw echoes in her french revolution, although according to by and large all events were inspired by Russian reality. Each meeting of the traveler only increases his confidence in the arbitrariness and scale of bribery that reigns in the country. The writer was not afraid to openly condemn serfdom. He calls this violence against a person both physically and morally. “Spasskaya Polist” is built on a vivid contrast between the external greatness of the kingdom and its internal rot and despotism. The author draws a sharp line between the court, drowning in luxury, and mendicant Russia. The author openly says that people in power are capable of meanness. The images of embezzlers and swindlers, bureaucrats and tyrants are drawn in many ways. Everyone is tied up and only thinks about how to increase their fortune and rob more peasants. The story “Spasskaya Polist” paints this in a bright light.

Searching for a way out

Radishchev criticizes and, along with him, the clergy and the church. They, according to Radishchev, are the sovereign’s main assistants in the oppression of the serfs. The only way out of this situation is revolution. The writer says that the people have gone to extremes. The moment has come when violence will overthrow violence.

According to Radishchev, republican government is possible in Russia, based on private property. Every person has the right to it. That is, as a result of the overthrow of the monarchy, the land will go to the peasants. Of course, he understood perfectly well that all this would not happen tomorrow. First, the revolution must take place in the minds of the peasants, and then in reality.

The chapter “Spasskaya Polist” tells how, on the way to Polist, the traveler’s fellow traveler tells him his story. Everything was fine with him, he had a wife, but not for long. The fellow traveler was deceived by his companion, as a result of which he was left broke and in debt. A pregnant wife gave birth prematurely due to nervous shock. Neither the baby nor the mother survived. And the deceived one had to hide. The traveler sincerely sympathizes with his companion and even imagines himself on the spot supreme ruler, fair and kind, in which the country flourishes and the people are happy. But then suddenly the veil falls from the ruler’s eyes, and he sees that in fact the country is ruined, and those in power are committing outrages. This is the chapter “Spasskaya Polist”, summary which is presented above.

Traveler

The “journey” genre allows the hero to evolve towards the end of the work, as well as to find the truth. Who is Radishchev's traveler? It is impossible to say for sure that he is the writer himself. In principle, from the work we learn practically nothing about the facts of his biography. They are scattered around individual chapters quite in small quantity. He is an official and a poor representative noble class. From the work it becomes clear that he does not have a wife, but he has children. At the beginning of “The Journey,” the hero himself recalls his shameful act, when he beat his coachman for no reason. This memory of his suggests that he used to be an ordinary serf-owner. The traveler came to understand the negative basis of autocracy later. He repented and even wanted to commit suicide, as he understood his powerlessness to change anything. Despite negative events and the painting, towards the end the narrative still becomes more optimistic. Radishchev believes that this will not last long.

Three ways

The traveler, and with him Radishchev, come to the conclusion that there are three possible ways to rid Russia of serfdom. This is reform (“Khotilov”), enlightenment of the nobles (“Krestsy”), rebellion (“Zaitsevo”). Many contemporaries believed that the author himself was a supporter of rebellion. But that's not true. Radishchev considers all three methods, and gives each of them its due.

Attitude to the church

The man Radishchev believed that the decline of morality, the rampant debauchery and vice are interconnected with each other. At the head of everything is the church and the autocracy. The writer touched on everything: censorship, the royal court, and the immorality of those in power. The source of joy for the author is that healthy beginning that the people have not yet lost. It is in him that the writer seeks and finds support and hope for a brighter, better thing. After all, no matter what, the people work, live and rejoice. It is in ordinary peasants that the author sees the future of the country. Radishchev spoke out not only against the autocracy, but also against reactionary trends, such as Freemasonry. They distracted a person from public affairs and occupied his mind with delirium. The ideal for Radishchev is a brave man, living the life of Russia, caring for the truth. Of course, Radishchev was a hundred years ahead of his time. Today we highly appreciate his service to the fatherland.

Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow

The narrative opens with a letter to friend Alexei Mikhailovich Kutuzov, in which Radishchev explains his feelings that forced him to write this book. This is a kind of blessing for work.

Having taken the travel document, our traveler goes to the commissar for horses, but they don’t give them horses, they say that there are no horses, although there are up to twenty nags in the stable. Twenty kopecks had an effect “on the coachmen.” They harnessed the troika behind the commissar's back, and the traveler set off further. The cab driver sings a mournful song, and the traveler reflects on the character of the Russian man. If a Russian wants to disperse his melancholy, he goes to a tavern; whatever doesn’t suit him, he gets into a fight. The traveler asks God why he turned away from people?

Discussion about a disgusting road that cannot be overcome even in summer rains. In the station hut, the traveler meets an unsuccessful writer - a nobleman who wants to sell him his literary work "about the loss of privileges by the nobles." The traveler gives him copper pennies, and offers to give the “labor” by weight to the peddlers so that they can use the paper for “wrapping”, since it is not suitable for anything else.

A traveler sees a peasant plowing on a holiday and wonders if he is a schismatic? The peasant is Orthodox, but he is forced to work on Sunday, because... six days a week he goes to corvée. The peasant says that he has three sons and three daughters, the eldest is only ten years old. To keep his family from starving, he has to work at night. He works diligently for himself, but only barely for his master. He is the only worker in the family, but the master has many. The peasant envies the quitrent and state peasants, it is easier for them to live, then he re-harnesses the horses so that they can rest, while he himself works without rest. The traveler mentally curses all the exploiting landowners and himself for offending his Petrushka when he was drunk.

The traveler meets with a university friend, Chelishchev, who talks about his adventure in the raging Baltic, where he almost died because an official refused to send help, saying: “It’s not my position.” Now Chelishchev is leaving the city - “a host of lions”, so as not to see these villains.

Spasskaya field

The traveler got caught in the rain and asked to go into the hut to dry off. There he hears his husband's story about an official who loves "oysters" (oysters). For fulfilling his whim - delivering oysters - he gives ranks and awards from the state treasury. The rain has stopped. The traveler continued his journey with a companion who had asked for it. A fellow traveler tells his story of how he was a merchant, trusted dishonest people, was put on trial, his wife died during childbirth, which began due to worries a month earlier. A friend helped this unfortunate man escape. The traveler wants to help the fugitive, in a dream he imagines himself as an all-powerful ruler, whom everyone admires. This dream reveals to him the wanderer Straight-View, she removes the thorns from his eyes that prevent him from seeing the truth. The author states that the tsar was known among the people as “a deceiver, a hypocrite, a pernicious comedian.” Radishchev shows the discrepancy between Catherine's words and deeds; the ostentatious splendor, the lush, decorative façade of the empire hides behind it terrible scenes of oppression. Pryovzora turns to the king with words of contempt and anger: “Know that you are... the first robber, the first traitor of the general silence, the fiercest enemy, directing his anger at the inside of the weak.” Radishchev shows that good kings no, they pour out their favors only on the unworthy.

See also

Podberezye

The traveler meets a young man going to St. Petersburg to study with his uncle. Here are the young man's thoughts about the detrimental lack of an education system for the country. He hopes that the descendants will be happier in this regard, because... will be able to study.

Novgorod

The traveler admires the city, remembering its heroic past and how Ivan the Terrible set out to destroy Novgorod Republic. The author is indignant: what right did the tsar have to “appropriate Novgorod”?

The traveler then goes to his friend, Karp Dementich, who married his son. Everyone sits at the table together (host, young people, guest). The traveler draws portraits of his hosts. And the merchant talks about his affairs. Just as he was “launched around the world,” now the son is trading.

Bronnitsy

The traveler goes to the sacred hill and hears the menacing voice of the Almighty: “Why did you want to know the secret?” “What are you looking for, foolish child?” Where the “great city” once was, the traveler sees only poor shacks.

The traveler meets his friend Krestyankin, who once served and then retired. Peasant, very conscientious and warm-hearted man, was the chairman of the criminal chamber, but left his position, seeing the futility of his efforts. Krestyankin talks about a certain nobleman who began his career as a court stoker, and tells about the atrocities of this unscrupulous man. The peasants could not stand the bullying of the landowner's family and killed everyone. The peasant justified the “guilty” who were driven to the point of murder by the landowner. No matter how hard Krestyankin fought for a fair solution to this case, nothing happened. They were executed. And he resigned so as not to be an accomplice to this crime. The traveler receives a letter telling about a strange wedding between “a 78-year-old young man and a 62-year-old young woman,” a certain widow who was engaged in pimping, and in her old age decided to marry the baron. He marries for money, and in her old age she wants to be called “Your Highness.” The author says that without the Buryndas the light would not have lasted even three days; he is outraged by the absurdity of what is happening.

Seeing the separation of the father from his sons going to work, the traveler recalls that out of one hundred serving noblemen, ninety-eight “become rakes.” He grieves that he too will soon have to part with his eldest son. The author’s reasoning leads him to the conclusion: “Tell the truth, dear father, tell me, true citizen! Don’t you want to strangle your son rather than let him go into service? Because in the service everyone cares about their own pockets, and not about the good of their homeland.” . The landowner, calling on the traveler to witness how hard it is for him to part with his sons, tells them that they do not owe him anything, but must work for the good of the fatherland, for this he raised and cared for them, taught them sciences and forced them to think. He admonishes his sons not to stray from the true path, not to lose their pure and high souls.

Yazhelbitsy

Driving past the cemetery, the traveler sees a heartbreaking scene when a father, rushing at his son’s coffin, does not allow him to be buried, crying that they are not burying him with his son in order to stop his torment. For he is guilty that his son was born weak and sick and suffered so much as long as he lived. The traveler mentally reasons that he, too, probably passed on to his sons diseases with the vices of his youth.

This ancient town is famous for its love unmarried women. The traveler says that everyone knows “Valdai bagels and shameless girls.” Next, he tells the legend of a sinful monk who drowned in a lake during a storm while swimming to his beloved.

The traveler sees many elegant women and girls. He admires their healthy appearance, reproaching the noblewomen for disfiguring their figures by wearing corsets, and then dying from childbirth, because they have been spoiling their bodies for years for the sake of fashion. The traveler talks to Annushka, who at first behaves sternly, and then, getting into conversation, said that her father died, she lives with her mother and sister, and wants to get married. But they ask a hundred rubles for the groom. Vanyukha wants to go to St. Petersburg to earn money. But the traveler says: “Don’t let him go there, there he will learn to drink and get out of the habit of peasant labor.” He wants to give money, but the family won’t take it. He is amazed by their nobility.

Project in the future

Written on behalf of another traveler, even more progressive in his views than Radishchev. Our traveler finds papers left by his brother. Reading them, he finds arguments similar to his thoughts about the harmfulness of slavery, the evil nature of landowners, and the lack of enlightenment.

Vyshny Volochok

The traveler admires the locks and man-made canals. He talks about a landowner who treated peasants like slaves. They worked for him all day, and he gave them only meager food. The peasants did not have their own plots or livestock. And this “barbarian” flourished. The author calls on the peasants to destroy the estate and tools of this nonhuman, who treats them like oxen.

Vydropusk (again written from someone else’s notes)

Project of the future

The author says that the kings imagined themselves to be gods, surrounded themselves with a hundred servants and imagined that they were useful to the fatherland. But the author is sure that this order needs to be changed. The future is enlightenment. Only then will there be justice when people become equal.

The traveler meets a man who wants to open a free printing house. What follows is a discussion about the harmfulness of censorship. “What harm will it do if books are printed without a police stamp?” The author claims that the benefits of this are obvious: “Rulers are not free to separate the people from the truth.” The author in “A Brief Narrative of the Origin of Censorship” says that censorship and the Inquisition have the same roots. And tells the history of printing and censorship in the West. And in Russia... in Russia, what happened with censorship, he promises to tell “another time.”

The traveler sees a round dance of young women and girls. And then there is a description of the shameful public sale of peasants. A 75-year-old man is waiting for someone to give him to. His 80-year-old wife was the nurse of the mother of a young master who mercilessly sold his peasants. There is also a 40-year-old woman, the master’s wet nurse, and the entire peasant family, including the baby, going under the hammer. It is scary for a traveler to see this barbarity.

The traveler listens to the arguments of the tavern interlocutor “at lunch” about the poetry of Lomonosov, Sumarokov and Trediakovsky. The interlocutor reads excerpts from Radishchev’s ode “Liberty,” allegedly written by him, which he is taking to St. Petersburg to publish. The traveler liked the poem, but he did not have time to tell the author about it, because... he left quickly.

Here the traveler sees a recruitment drive, hears the screams and cries of the peasants, and learns about the many violations and injustices happening during this process. The traveler listens to the story of the servant Vanka, who was raised and taught together with a young master, called Vanyusha, and sent abroad not as a slave, but as a comrade. But the old master favored him, and the young master hated him and was jealous of his success. The old man died. The young master got married, and his wife hated Ivan, humiliated him in every possible way, and then decided to marry him to a dishonored courtyard girl. Ivan called the landowner an “inhuman woman,” and then he was sent to become a soldier. Ivan is happy about this fate. Then the traveler saw three peasants whom the landowner sold as recruits, because... he needed a new carriage. The author is amazed at the lawlessness happening around.

Zavidovo

The traveler sees a warrior in a grenadier's hat, who, demanding horses, threatens the headman with a whip. By order of the headman, fresh horses were taken away from the traveler and given to the grenadier. The traveler is outraged by this order of things. What will you do?

The traveler listens to the mournful song of the blind man, and then gives him a ruble. The old man is surprised by the generous alms. He's more excited about the birthday cake than the money. For the ruble can lead someone into temptation, and it will be stolen. Then the traveler gives the old man his scarf from his neck.

The traveler treats the child with sugar, and his mother tells her son: “Take the master’s food.” The traveler is surprised why this is bar food. The peasant woman replies that she has nothing to buy sugar with, but they drink it at the bar because they don’t get the money themselves. The peasant woman is sure that these are the tears of slaves. The traveler saw that the owner's bread consisted of three parts of chaff and one part of unsown flour. He looked around for the first time and was horrified by the wretched surroundings. With anger, he exclaims: “Cruel-hearted landowner! Look at the children of the peasants who are subject to you!” He calls on the exploiters to come to their senses.

Black mud

The traveler meets the wedding train, but is very sad, because... They are going down the aisle under the compulsion of their master.

A word about Lomonosov

The author, passing by the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, entered it in order to honor the grave of the great Lomonosov with his presence. He remembers life path a great scientist striving for knowledge. Lomonosov eagerly studied everything that could be learned at that time and studied poetry. The author comes to the conclusion that Lomonosov was great in all matters that he touched.

And now it’s Moscow! Moscow!

Departure

Sofia

Tosna

Lyubani

Miracle

Spasskaya field

Podberezye

Novgorod

The traveler then goes to his friend, Karp Dementich, who married his son. Everyone sits at the table together (host, young people, guest). The traveler draws portraits of his hosts. And the merchant talks about his affairs. Just as he was “launched around the world,” now the son is trading.

Bronnitsy

Zaytsovo

Sacrum

Yazhelbitsy

Valdai

Edrovo

Khotilov

Vyshny Volochok

Vydropusk (again written from someone else’s notes)

Torzhok

Copper

Tver

Gorodnya

Zavidovo

Wedge

Pawns

Black mud

A word about Lomonosov

And now it’s Moscow! Moscow!!!

In the chapter “Sofia” the traveler reflects on the peculiarities of Russian national character: “A barge hauler who goes to a tavern with his head hanging and returns stained with blood from slaps in the face can solve a lot of things that have hitherto been guesswork in Russian history.”

“Lyubani”: the author describes his meeting with a peasant who is plowing a field on a holiday. Six days a week he works as a corvee. When asked by the author, when does he manage to get bread to feed big family, he replies: “Not only holidays, but the night is ours. If our brother is not lazy, he will not die of hunger. You see, one horse is resting, and when this one gets tired, I’ll take on the other; the matter is controversial.” The traveler is shocked by the peasant’s confessions. He ends his reflections with the words: “Fear, hard-hearted landowner, I see your condemnation on the forehead of each of your peasants.”

At the Chudovo station, the hero meets a friend who tells him a story that happened to him. Having set off on a small ship on a journey by sea, he and his companions found themselves in a storm. The ship got stuck one and a half kilometers from the shore between two rocks and did not move. Twelve or ten people barely had time to pump out the water. One brave man, risking his life, managed to get to the shore, ran to the nearest village and came to the chief, asking for help. The chief was sleeping, but the sergeant did not dare to wake him up and pushed the man out the door. He turned to ordinary fishermen, who saved the rest. Returning to the village, the narrator went to the chief. He thought that he would punish his sergeant by learning that he had not been awakened when twelve people were in danger. But the boss only replied: “It’s not my job.” Then the narrator turned to the higher authorities, and “someone” answered him: “But in his position he is not ordered to save you.” “Now I say goodbye to the city forever,” exclaims the narrator. “I will not enter this dwelling of tigers again.” Their only joy is to gnaw at each other; Their joy is to torment the weak to the point of exhaustion and to servile the authorities.”

In Spasskaya Polest, the hero gets caught in the rain and is forced to spend the night in a hut. There he hears whispers: a husband and wife, who also spent the night on the road to Novgorod, are talking. The husband tells his wife a story worthy of the pen of Saltykov-Shchedrin. We see Radishchev with new side: before us is a sharp satirist who tells how the governor spends government money on his own whims (he is very fond of “oysters,” that is, oysters), and couriers and officers receive money and ranks for fulfilling these whims.

Thinking about former greatness Novgorod (chapter “Novgorod”), the author writes with bitter irony about the law of nations: “When enmity arises between them, when hatred or selfishness directs them at each other, their judge is the sword. Whoever falls dead or is disarmed is guilty; obeys this decision unquestioningly, and there is no appeal against it. “That’s why Novgorod belonged to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. That’s why he ruined it and appropriated its smoking remains for himself.”

Anticipating Tolstoy's thought, Radishchev says that during war “great violence is covered up by the law of war” (“Zaitsovo”); reflects on the greed of the authorities, on the lack of rights of the peasants, touches on economic problems, issues of education and relationships between husband and wife - both in peasant and noble families.

In the chapter “Edrovo” the traveler meets a girl Anyuta and talks to her. He admires not only her beauty, but the nobility in her way of thinking. Anyuta is going to get married, and the hero pure heart offers her mother one hundred rubles as a dowry for her daughter. The mother refuses, although this is a lot of money for a peasant family. Anyuta’s chastity and innocence delight the hero, and he thinks about her for a long time.

In the same chapter he tells an episode of the Pugachev uprising. Pugachev’s name was forbidden to even mention, but Radishchev boldly talks about the tyranny of the landowner and the reprisal of the peasants against him, who were later convicted, and sums up his thoughts: “But the peasant is legally dead...”

The chapters “Khotilov” and “Vydropusk” are subtitled “Project in the Future.” This is the most important document of social thought - the first Russian utopia. What kind of state can a state become when, “enjoying internal silence, having no external enemies,” society will be brought “to the highest bliss of civil coexistence”? The only guardian of society will be the law: “under its sovereign protection our heart is free,” Radishchev wants to believe in this.

What do you need for this? The author answers us in the chapter “Torzhok”. Start civil society- freedom, and the first element of freedom is “free printing”, when there is no censorship printing press“nurse of reason, wit, imagination, everything great and graceful.” But “the freedom of the government’s thoughts is terrible for you.”

A passer-by whom the traveler meets gives him a notebook with an essay to read, the title of which is “ Brief narrative on the origin of censorship." The notebook contains the history of the struggle between power and social thought from the time of Socrates to the latest European events.

In the chapter “Copper” - tragic scene sale of a family of serf peasants at auction. Who has the power to establish freedom for peasants in Russia? “But the freedom of rural residents will offend, as they say, the right to property. And all those who could fight for freedom are all great lords, and freedom should not be expected from their advice, but from the very severity of enslavement.”

In Tver, the traveler meets a poet who reflects on the meaning of poetry in society and reads him the ode “Liberty.” How to understand liberty? “It should be called liberty if everyone obeys the laws equally.” The ode was written by Radishchev himself and had a huge influence on Pushkin. Pushkin admitted this in the draft version of “Monument”: “Following Radishchev, I glorified freedom...”.

Now we are amazed by phrases that sound like prophecies: “I wished that the farmer would not be a prisoner in his field...”; “The next 8 stanzas contain prophecies about the future lot of the fatherland, which will be divided into parts, and the sooner the more extensive it is. But the time has not yet come. When will it come, then

They will meet the rivets of a difficult night.

The elastic power, with its last gasp, will put a guard on the word and gather all its forces in order to crush the emerging freedom with its last blow... (...) But humanity will roar in chains and, guided by the hope of freedom and indestructible natural law, will move. ..”

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On this page there is material on the following topics:

• characteristics of the journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow
• Chapter Copper from a trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow
• Chudovo chapter analysis
• the life story of a peasant from the chapter "Luban"
• Radishchev journey analysis of chapters