Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Officers and Service to the Fatherland: Expert Analysis

Osadchy is the most cruel character from A. Kuprin's story "Duel"; a company commander who openly admires bloody wars. In the appearance of this man there is something of a predatory beast. He treats his soldiers so cruelly that at least one suicide occurs in his company every year. This captain instills inhuman fear into his subordinates.

At the same time, Osadchy is capable of creating a cell from any company that will withstand any test of fortitude and courage. He is a supporter of the cane discipline and calmly practices assault in the company. Romashov does not have the best opinion of him. He considers this man a monster and a despot. Towards the end of the work, it becomes clear that one of Osadchy's soldiers hanged himself, after which the company goes into unrestrained drunkenness.

According to the author, this character finds pleasure in a bloody battle. The smell of blood makes him drunk. That's how cruel Commander Osadchy is. He always insists on the fatal outcome of the duel. Half measures in his understanding should not be.

Grade 11. Lessons based on the novel by A. I. Kuprin "Duel" (1905)

The purpose of the lesson: to show the significance of Kuprin's story for the awareness of society of the crisis of all Russian life; the humanistic, anti-war pathos of the story.

Methodical techniques: analytical conversation, commented reading.

During the classes

Teacher's word. The revolutionary era has put forward an urgent need for all writers to understand the historical fate of Russia, its people, and national culture. These global issues have led to the creation of large "numerous" canvases. The writers interpreted the pace of the world in a contradictory time. This is how the novellas "Duel", "Sukhodol" and "Derevnya" by Bunin were written; Judas Iscariot by L. Andreev; "Movements", "Bear" by Sergeev-Tsensky.

At first glance, the story (any of them) is simple in content. But according to the author's generalizations, it is multi-layered, reminiscent of a “casket in a casket” that keeps a jewel.

The story " Duel" came out in May 1905, in the days of the defeat of the Russian fleet at Tsushima. The portrayal of a backward, incapable of combat army, decayed officers, slaughtered soldiers had an important socio-political meaning: it was an answer to the question about the causes of the Far Eastern catastrophe. With rigid strokes, as if reckoning with the past, Kuprin draws the army, to which he gave his years of youth.

This story can be defined as psychological and philosophical. With "Fathers and Sons" there was no such work.

Conversation on the story:

What is the theme of the story? The main theme is the crisis in Russia, in all spheres of Russian life. The critical orientation of the story was noted by Gorky, who ranked The Duel as a civic, revolutionary prose. The story had a wide resonance, brought All-Russian glory to Kuprin, and became a pretext for controversy in the press about the fate of the Russian army. The problems of the army always reflect the general problems of society. In this sense, Kuprin's story is still relevant today.

Dedicating "Duel" in its first publication to Gorky, Kuprin wrote to him: " Now, finally, when it's all over, I can say that everything bold and violent in my story belongs to you. If you knew how much I learned from Vasya, how grateful I am for that. "

What, in your opinion, in the "Duel" can be defined as "bold and violent »? From the denial of petty rituals (keeping hands at the seams and heels together in conversation with the authorities, pulling the sock down when marching, shouting "On the shoulder!" that in a reasonably arranged society there should be no wars: « Maybe all this is some kind of common mistake, some kind of worldwide delusion, insanity? Is it natural to kill? " “Let’s say, tomorrow, let’s say, this very second this thought occurred to everyone: Russians, Germans, British, Japanese ... And now there is no more war, there are no officers and soldiers, everyone went home.” Romashov naively believes that in order to eliminate the war, it is necessary that all people suddenly see their light, declared in one voice: "I don't want to fight!" and threw down their weapons.« What courage! - said with admiration L. Tolstoy about Romashov. - And how did the censorship let this pass, and how does the military not protest? "

The propaganda of peacemaking ideas provoked strong attacks in a fierce magazine campaign unleashed around the "Duel", and military officials were especially indignant. The story was the largest literary event that sounded topical.

What thematic lines can be distinguished in the story? There are several of them: the life of officers, the military and barracks life of soldiers, relations between people. It turns out that not all people adhere to the same pacifist views as Romashov.

How Kuprin draws images of officers? Kuprin knew the army environment very well from his many years of experience. The images of the officers are accurate. Realistic with ruthless authenticity. Almost all the officers in "Duel" are nonentities, drunkards, stupid and cruel careerists and ignoramuses.

Moreover, they are confident in their class and moral superiority, they disdain civilians, who are called “ hazel grouses "," shpaki "," shtafirki". Even Pushkin for them " some kind of spak". Among them it is considered "youth to scold or beat a civilian for no apparent reason, put out a lighted cigarette on his nose, pull a top hat over his ears." Arrogance based on nothing, perverted ideas about "the honor of the uniform" and honor in general, rudeness is a consequence of isolation, isolation from society, inaction, stupefying drills. Some kind of blind, animal, senseless rebellion against mortal yearning and monotony. The officers are not used to thinking and reasoning, some seriously believe that in military service in general " not supposed to think”(Such thoughts were visited by N. Rostov).

Literary critic Yu. V. Babicheva writes: “ The officers of the regiment have a single "typical" face with clear signs of caste limitation, senseless cruelty, cynicism, vulgarity and arrogance. At the same time, in the course of the development of the plot, each officer, typical in his caste ugliness, at least for a moment is shown as he could have become if it were not for the destructive influence of the army».

Do you agree that the officers in the story "Duel" have a single "typical" face? If so, how is this unity manifested? The writer shows the officer environment in a vertical section: corporals, junior officers, senior officers, senior command personnel. " With the exception of a few ambitious and careerists, all officers served as a forced, unpleasant, revolting corvee, languishing in it and not loving it". A terrible picture " ugly indiscriminate revelry " officers. 406, ch. eighteen.

In addition to the general features common to most officers, each of them has individual traits, depicted so vividly and expressively that the image becomes almost symbolic :

A) Regimental commander Shulgovich, under his thunderous bourbon style, hides his concern for the officers.

B) What can you say about the image of the Osadchy? The ominous image of the Osadchy. " He is a cruel man ",- says Romashov about him. The brutality of the Siege was constantly experienced by the soldiers, who trembled from his thunderous voice and the inhuman force of the blows. In the Osadchy company more often than in others suicides of soldiers happened. Bestial, bloodthirsty Osadchy in disputes about a duel insists on the need for a fatal duel - “ otherwise it will only be a stupid pity ... a comedy. " At a picnic he makes a toast " for the joy of previous wars, for the merry bloody cruelty". In a bloody battle, he finds pleasure, he is intoxicated by the smell of blood, he is ready to chop, stab, shoot all his life - it doesn't matter who and for what ( ch. 8, 14)

C) Tell us about your impressions of Captain Sliva. « Even in the regiment, which, due to the conditions of wild provincial life, did not differ in a particularly humane direction, it was some kind of outlandish monument to this fierce military antiquity. " He did not read a single book, not a single newspaper, and despised everything that went beyond the limits of the formation, the charter and the company. This is a sluggish, degraded man, he brutally, to the point of blood, beats the soldiers, but he is attentive " to the soldiers' needs: does not hold up money, personally supervises the company boiler"(Ch. 10, 337)

D) What is the difference between Captain Stelkovsky, the commander of the 5th company? Perhaps only the image of Captain Stelkovsky - patient, cold-blooded, persistent - does not cause disgust , "The soldiers truly loved: an example, perhaps the only one in the Russian army"(Ch. 15.376 - 377). "In his company they did not fight and did not even swear, although they were not particularly affectionate, and yet the company was not inferior to any guards unit in terms of its magnificent appearance and training." It is his company at the May review that brings tears to its corps commander.

D) Lieutenant colonel Rafalsky (Brem) loves animals and devotes all his free and non-free time to collecting a rare domestic menagerie. 352.

E) What are the distinctive features of Bek-Agamalov? He boasts of the ability to cut, regretfully says that he probably won’t cut a man in half: “ I'll take my head to hell, I know that, but so that obliquely ... no "My father did it easily…» (« Yes, there were people in our time... "). With his evil eyes, with a humped nose and bared teeth, he “ looked like some kind of predatory, angry and proud bird "(chap. 1)

8) Brutality generally distinguishes many officers... During a scandal in a brothel, this animal essence comes through especially clearly: in the bulging eyes of Bek-Agamalov “ naked round squirrels glittered terribly ", his head " was low and menacingly lowered "," an ominous yellow shine lit up in my eyes». "And at the same time, he bent his legs lower and lower, he cringed all over and absorbed his neck, like an animal ready to take a jump."... After this scandal, which ended in a fight and a challenge to a duel, " everyone dispersed, embarrassed, depressed, avoiding looking at each other. Everyone was afraid to read in other people's eyes their own horror, their slavish, guilty longing - the horror and longing of small, evil and dirty animals"(Ch. 19).

9) Let's pay attention to the contrast of this description with the following description of dawn “ with clear, childishly clear skies and still cool air. Trees, wet, shrouded in barely visible ferry, silently waking up from their dark, mysterious night dreams". Romashov feels " short, ugly, ugly and infinitely alien among this innocent charm of the morning, smiling sleepily».

As Kuprin's mouthpiece says - Nazansky, “All of them, even the best, the most gentle of them, wonderful fathers and considerate husbands - all of them in the service become base, cowardly, stupid animals. You will ask why? Yes, precisely because none of them believes in the service and does not see the reasonable purpose of this service.».

10) How are the "regimental ladies" depicted? The officers' wives are as predatory and bloodthirsty as their husbands. Evil, stupid, ignorant, hypocritical. Regimental ladies are the personification of extreme squalor. Their everyday life is woven of gossip, provincial game of secularism, boring and vulgar connections. The most repulsive image is Raisa Peterson, wife of Captain Talman. Angry, stupid, depraved and vindictive. " Oh, how disgusting she is! "- Romashov thinks of her with disgust. " And from the thought of his previous physical intimacy with this woman, he had such a feeling as if he had not washed for several months and had not changed clothes ”(Ch. 9).

The rest of the "ladies" are no better.... Even outwardly charming Shurochka Nikolaeva the features of Osadchy, who seem not to be like him, appear: she stands up for fights with a fatal outcome, says: “ I would shoot people like mad dogs". There is no truly feminine left in her: “ I don't want a child. Fu, what disgusting! " - she confesses to Romashov (Ch. 14).

What role do images playsoldier? They are depicted as a mass, motley in ethnic composition, but gray in essence. The soldiers are completely powerless: the officers vent their anger at them, beat them, crush their teeth, break the eardrums.

Kuprin gives and individualized looks(there are about 20 of them in the story). A whole host of common soldiers - in chapter 11:

A) poorly thinking, slow-witted B ondarenko,

B) frightened, deafened by shouts Arkhipov, which the " does not understand and cannot memorize the simplest things»,

C) loser Khlebnikov. 340, 375, 348/2. His image is more detailed than others. A ruined, landless and impoverished Russian peasant, " shaved into the soldiers. " Khlebnikov's share of the soldiers is painful and pitiful. Corporal punishment and constant humiliation are his lot. Sick and weak, with a face " in the cam", On which an absurdly upturned dirty nose stuck up, with eyes in which" froze stupid, submissive horror”, This soldier became a general mockery in the company and an object for mockery and abuse. He is brought to the idea of ​​suicide, from which Romashov saves him, who sees his human brother in Khlebnikov. Taking pity on Khlebnikov, Romashov says: “ Khlebnikov, are you feeling bad? And I'm not feeling well, my dear ... I do not understand anything of what is happening in the world. Everything is some wild, senseless, cruel nonsense!But you have to endure, my dear, you have to endure …» Khlebnikov, although he sees in Romashov a kind person, humanly related to a simple soldier, but, first of all, sees in him master.Cruelty, injustice, and the absurdity of life are becoming obvious, but the hero sees no way out of this horror, except patience.

G) educated, smart, independent Fokin.

Depicting gray, impersonal, crushed « own ignorance, general slavery, superior indifference, arbitrariness and violence » soldier, Kuprin evokes compassion for them in the reader, shows that in fact these are living people, and not faceless "cogs" of a military machine .

So Kuprin comes out on another, very important topic - personality theme.

D. z. 1) Prepare messages on the images of Romashov and Nazansky (by groups) (portrait characteristics, relationships with people, views, attitude to the service, etc.)

2) Answer the questions:

How is the theme of love solved in the story?

What is the meaning of the title of the story?

Lesson 2

Topic: The metaphorical nature of the title of A. I. Kuprin's story "Duel".

The purpose of the lesson: analyze the images of heroes expressing the author's position in the story.

Methodical techniques: student messages, work on the text, analytical conversation.

Characteristics of the image of Nazansky. The essence of the story is contained in the conversations between Romashov and Nazansky.

A) We learn about Nazansky from the conversation between the Nikolaevs and Romashov ( ch. 4): it " inveterate man", he " leaves on vacation for one month for domestic reasons ... It means - washed down ”; "Such officers are a disgrace for the regiment, an abomination!"

B) Chapter 5 describes the meeting between Romashov and Nazansky. We see first " a white figure and a golden head"Nazansky, we hear his calm voice, get to know his home:" 288 ", Ch. 5. All this, and even a direct look " brooding, beautiful blue eyes”Contradicts what the Nikolaevs said about him. Nazansky argues “ about sublime matters", Philosophizes, and this, from the point of view of others, -" nonsense, idle and absurd chatter". He thinks about " 289 ". This is for him " 290/1 ". He feels someone else's joy and someone else's sorrow, feels injustice exists with troy, aimlessness of your life, seeks and does not find a way out of the impasse. 431-432.

Description of the landscape of the mysterious night opening from the window, according to his sublime words: « 290/2 ».

The face of Nazansky it seems to Romashov “ beautiful and interesting": Golden hair, a high, clean forehead, a neck of a noble design, a massive and graceful head, similar to the head of one of the Greek heroes or sages, clear blue eyes looking" lively, smart and meek". True, this description of an almost ideal hero ends with an exposure: “ 291/1 ".

Dreaming about " the coming godlike life", Nazansky glorifies the power and beauty of the human mind, enthusiastically encourages respect for a person, enthusiastically speaks about love - and at the same time expresses the views of the author himself:" 293/1 ". According to Kuprin, love is akin to musical talent. Kuprin will develop this theme later in the story "The Garnet Bracelet", and much of what Nazansky said will go directly into the story.

V) « 435 - underlined » (chap. 21). Preaches equality and happiness, praises the human mind.

In the passionate speeches of Nazansky a lot of bile and anger, thoughts about the need to fight against"Two-headed monster" - the tsarist autocracy and police regime in the country, premonitions of the inevitability of deep social upheavals: « 433/1 ". Believes in the life to come.

He enemy of military service and the army in general, condemns the brutal treatment of soldiers (chap. 21, 430 - 432). Nazansky's incriminating speeches are full of open pathos. It is kind duel hero with a senseless and cruel system... Some of the statements of this hero, as Kuprin himself later said, “ sound like a gramophone ", but they are dear to the writer, who put in Nazansky a lot that worried him.

D) What do you think, why was such a hero needed in the "Duel" next to Romashov? Nazansky asserts: there is only man, complete freedom of man. Romashov embodies the principle of human lack of freedom. The door is not closed, you can exit. Romashov recalls that his mother tied him with the thinnest thread to the bed. She caused him a mystical fear, although it was possible to break.

Characteristic of Romashov.

Lieutenant Romashov, the protagonist of The Duel, becomes infected with the moods and thoughts of Nazansky. This is a typical Kuprin image of a truth-seeker and a humanist. Romashov given in constant motion, in the process of his inner change and spiritual growth. Kuprin reproduces not all biography hero, but the most important point in it, without a beginning, but with a tragic end.

Portrait the hero is outwardly expressive: “ 260, ch. one ", Sometimes ingenuous. However, in the actions of Romashov one can feel inner strength coming from a sense of righteousness and justice. For example, he, unexpectedly for himself, defends the Tatar Sharafutdinov, who does not understand Russian, from the colonel offending him (Ch. 1, 262-263 )

He stands up for the soldier Khlebnikov when a non-commissioned officer wants to beat him ( Ch. 10, 340/1).

He defeats even the bestial Bek-Agamalov, when he almost hacked to death with a sword a woman from a brothel where officers were drinking: “ Chapter 18, 414 "... Bek-Agamalov is grateful to Romashov for the fact that he did not let him, who had become brutal with drunkenness, hack to death a woman

In all these duels Romashov is on top.

- What kind of life does he lead ? (bored, drunkenness, loneliness, is in connection with an unloved woman)

- There are plans ? Extensive in self-education, study of languages, literature, art. But they remain only plans.

- What is your dream? About a brilliant career, he sees himself as an outstanding commander. His dreams are poetic, but they are wasted. 267-269.

- Where does Romashov like to go ? To meet trains at the station, 265.Chapter 2. His heart strives for beauty. Wed at Tolstoy ("Resurrection"), Nekrasov ("Troika"), Blok ("On the railroad", 439) .Straight reminiscence ( echo, influence of someone else's work in a work of art). The railway is read as a theme of distance, a theme of a life way out

Romashov is a romantic, subtle nature. Him " 264 ". Attractive in the hero spiritual softness, kindness, congenital sense of justice... All this sharply distinguishes him from the rest of the officers of the regiment.

The army situation in a supernumerary regiment is painful, boring. Military practice is senseless, sometimes idiotic. His disappointments are painful.

-Why is Kuprin's hero young? Over the blooming youth, the government deadening the soul reigns. Choosing a young hero, Kuprin intensified the torment " absurdities, incomprehensibility».

- What feeling does Romashov evoke in the reader? Deep sympathy.

Romashov has evolutionary trend... Moves towards the knowledge of life. Collision of a man and an officer first occurs in Romashov himself, in his soul and consciousness. This inner struggle gradually turns into open duel with Nikolaev and with all the officers. S. 312 (Ch. 7), 348, 349, 419.

Romashov gradually freed from false understanding of honor officer's uniform. The turning point was the hero's reflections on the position of the human person in society, his inner monologue in defense of human rights, dignity and freedom. Romashova " stunned and shocked by the unexpectedly bright consciousness of his individuality " and he rebelled in his own way against depersonalization of a person in military service, in defense of an ordinary soldier. He is indignant at the regimental authorities who maintain a state of enmity between soldiers and officers. But his impulses to protest are replaced by complete apathy and indifference, the soul is often overwhelmed by depression: “ My life is gone! "

The feeling of absurdity, confusion, incomprehensibility of life oppresses him. During a conversation with a sick, disfigured Khlebnikov Romashov is experiencing acute pity and compassion for him (ch. sixteen). He, brought up in the spirit of superiority over the mass of soldiers, indifference to the hard fate of a soldier, begins to understand that Khlebnikov and his comrades are impersonal and crushed by their own ignorance, general slavery, arbitrariness and violence, that soldiers are also people who have the right to sympathy. 402/1, 342 .

A. And Kuprin recalled that the scene at the railroad bed made a great impression on Gorky: « When I read the conversation of Second Lieutenant Romashov with the pathetic soldier Khlebnikov, Alexei Maksimovich was moved, and it was scary to see this big man with wet eyes. "

Unexpectedly for himself, he suddenly rises up against God himself, who allows evil and injustice (another duel, maybe the most important). « 402 " . He closed in on myself, focused on my inner world, firmly decided to break with military service in order to start a new life: "403"; "404/1 "- this is how the Romashovs define a worthy purpose of life for themselves.

A modest person grows spiritually, reveals the eternal values ​​of being. Kuprin sees in the hero's youth a hope for the future transformation of the world. Service makes a repulsive impression on him precisely by its unnaturalness and anti-humanity. However, Romashov does not have time to fulfill his dreams and dies as a result of betrayal.

4. Thoughts about the possibility of another life are combined with thoughts of love for Shurochka Nikolaeva... Sweet, feminine Shurochka, with whom Nazansky is in love, essentially guilty of the murder of Romashov in a duel. Self-interest, calculation, lust for power, double-mindedness, « some kind of evil and proud power”, The resourcefulness of Shurochka is not noticed by the enamored Romashov. She demands: " You should definitely shoot yourself tomorrow"- and Romashov agrees for her sake to a duel that could have been avoided.

Types of business people have already been created in Russian literature (Chichikov. Stolz). Shurochka is a business man in a skirt. She seeks to break out of the environment. The only way is for her husband to enter the academy, he seeks to leave for the capital from the bourgeois province. 280, 4 chap.

For the sake of winning his place in the world, he rejects Nazansky's passionate love, for the sake of preserving her husband's reputation and career, he sacrifices Romashov. Outwardly charming and intelligent, she appears disgusting in a conversation with Romashov on the eve of a duel. 440/2.

Discussion of the meaning of the title of the story.

A) The name itself conveys the personal and social conflict underlying the plot.

The plot aspect. P duels, which we have already talked about, is inevitable and natural lead to the roundabout - to the last fight.

Finale feature ... The duel between Romashov and Nikolaev is not described in the story. O death of Romashov communicate dry, formal, soulless lines report captain Dietz ( chap. 23, 443). The ending is perceived as tragic because Romashov's death is meaningless. This last chord is filled with compassion. This duel, the death of the hero is a foregone conclusion: Romashov is too different from everyone, to survive in this society.

Several times in the story are mentioned duels, a painful, stuffy atmosphere is compressed. Chapter 19 describes how drunken officers pull funeral tune(in Vetkin's silly eyes, this motive causes tears), but pure sounds memorial services suddenly interrupted " terrible, cynical curse " Osadchego , 419. The offended Romashov tries to bring people to their senses. After that, a scandal was played out, which led to the fact that Romashov challenged Nikolaev to a duel, 420, 426.

B) The meaning of the name is in Romashov's duel with the evil that is in him. This conflict is presented as a philosophical one, the hero's comprehension of freedom and necessity.

C) The theme of the fight - a sign of reality itself, disunity of people, misunderstanding of one person by another.

G) Civilian - Officers, 411-412. Caste officers' prejudices.

E) Officers and soldiers(humiliated, remember the Tatar, the orderly Romashov, finishing his coffee after him, finishing his meals)

E) But the name is also metaphorical, symbolic meaning. Kuprin wrote: “ With all the strength of my soul, I hate the years of my childhood and youth, the years of the corps, the cadet school and service in the regiment. About everything. What I have experienced and seen, I must write. And with my novel I will challenge the tsarist army to a duel". The name has another, much larger social aspect. The story is Kuprin's duel with the entire army, with the entire system that kills the personality in a person and kills the person himself. In 1905, this tale was, of course, taken by the revolutionary forces as a call to struggle. But almost a hundred years after it was written, the story remains a call to respect for the human person, to reconciliation and brotherly love.

5. So, traditions of Russian literature:

1) Kuprin's hero is closely related to the concept of an extra person, a Tolstoyan hero.

2) Subtle psychological drawing (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy). As L. Tolstoy, he deeply explores the struggle of feelings, the contradictions of the awakening consciousness, their collapse. Romashov is close to Chekhov's characters. Kuprin's approach to his hero is akin to Chekhov's. An embarrassed, myopic and baggy second lieutenant, thinking of himself in 3 persons with the words of stilted novels, 375, 380. 387., evokes a mocking and compassionate attitude. This is how the figure of Petya Trofimov is illuminated.

3) Spontaneous democracy, sympathy for the little man. (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky)

4) Socio-philosophical definition of good and evil.

5) Orientation to some kind of doctrine. Tolstoy is looking for his "green stick". Kuprin doesn't know how to rebuild the world. His work contains a rejection of evil.

The story "Duel" by Kuprin was first published in 1905. The work belongs to the tradition of neorealist prose in Russian literature. The central storyline of the story, associated with its title, is the conflict between two officers, Romashov and Nikolaev, over the second's wife. Their quarrel led to a duel and the death of the protagonist. In the work, the author touches on the problem of the relationship between the individual and society, reveals the theme of cruelty in the army, humiliation of ordinary soldiers by the commanding staff, exposes the horror and vulgarity of the officer society.

main characters

Georgy Alekseich Romashov- 22 years old, second lieutenant, "who served only his second year in the regiment"; “Was of average height, thin”, “from great shyness, awkward”; dreamy young man.

Alexandra Petrovna Nikolaeva (Shurochka)- the woman with whom Romashov was in love; Nikolaev's wife.

Vladimir Efimych Nikolaev- the lieutenant, the husband of Shurochka, with whom Romashov shot.

Other characters

Vasily Nilovich Nazansky- an officer, a drunkard, was in love with Alexandra Petrovna.

Raisa Alexandrovna Peterson- "regimental lady", Romashov's mistress, wife of Captain Peterson.

Shulgovich- regiment commander.

Chapter 1.

Sixth company, exercises are underway. Colonel Shulgovich, who arrived in the company, reprimanded Second Lieutenant Romashov for the fact that the soldiers met the commander in an inappropriate manner. Romashov began to justify one of the soldiers, for his insolence he was subjected to house arrest for four days.

Chapter 2.

Romashov more and more often experienced "a painful consciousness of his loneliness and being lost among strangers, hostile or indifferent people." Instead of going to the officers' meeting, Gregory went home.

Chapter 3.

Arriving home, Romashov asked the orderly if there was anyone from Lieutenant Nikolayev, but the answer was negative. Grigory has been at the Nikolaevs almost daily for the last three months.

After graduating from a military school, Romashov thought that in the service he would be engaged in self-education. However, instead of this he has a "dirty and boring connection with the regimental lady", "and more and more often he is burdened by his service, his comrades, and his own life."

The batman brought a letter from Romashov's mistress Raisa. The woman invited him to visit, invited to the square dance next Saturday. Having tore up the letter, Romashov decided "for the last time" to go to the Nikolaevs.

Chapter 4.

Alexander Petrovna's husband, Vladimir Yefimich Nikolaev, "had to take the exam at the General Staff Academy and spent the whole year preparing for it stubbornly, without rest." This was the third exam - the two previous years it had failed and the third was the last chance. Shurochka really wanted her husband to act, as she hated the life they were living now.

When Romashov came to the Nikolaevs, during the conversation Shurochka remembered that officer fights had become legalized. She believed that fights were necessary for Russian officers: “then we will not have card-sharpers among the officers” and “needless drunks”, like officer Nazansky.

Chapter 5.

Leaving the Nikolaevs, Romashov "to spite her" goes to Nazansky. While talking, the men started talking about love. Nazansky believed that love "has its peaks, accessible only to a few out of millions." Nazansky read to Romashov a letter from the woman he loved. Romashov realized that this woman was Alexandra Petrovna. Nazansky also guessed about Grigory's feelings for Shurochka.

Arriving home, Romashov found a letter from Raisa. She knew that Grigory visited the Nikolayevs every evening and wrote that she would "severely repay" him.

Chapter 6.

Romashov was under house arrest. Shurochka came to him and brought some pies. Romashov kissed the woman's hand. At parting, Shurochka said that Grigory was her only friend.

Chapter 7.

Gregory was taken to the colonel. Shulgovich scolded Romashov because of rumors: it was reported that the officer was drinking. After the conversation, the colonel invited Gregory to an officer's dinner. Romashov returned home "feeling lonely, yearning, lost in some strange, dark and hostile place."

Chapter 8.

Romashov came to the ball at the officers' meeting house. Ladies gradually began to arrive, and Raisa also arrived. In the expression of her eyes, Romashov saw "some kind of cruel, vicious and confident threat."

The officers discussed the duels in the army, their opinions differed - some considered duels stupid, others were of the opinion that the insult can only be washed off with blood.

Chapter 9.

Romashov, as promised, danced a square dance with Raisa. During the dance, the woman angrily said that she would not allow her to be treated like that, she began to loudly insult Shurochka. Raisa claimed that she sacrificed everything for the sake of Romashov: "I did not dare to look my husband, this ideal, wonderful person in the eyes." Gregory involuntarily smiled: her numerous novels were known to everyone.

Raisa's husband, Captain Peterson, was a "thin, consumptive man." He was madly in love with his wife, so he forgave her all the intrigues.

Chapter 10.

During the morning classes, the officers discussed the punishment of the soldiers. Romashov believed that in the army they specifically "try to maintain rudeness and martyrdom in relations between officers."

Chapter 11.

During the exercises, Romashov performed automatic techniques. He thought about the phrase said by one of the officers: if you think like Grigory, then you have to leave the service.

Chapter 12.

In the morning Romashov received a letter from Shurochka. The woman invited him to a name day for a picnic.

Chapter 13.

Approaching the Nikolaevs' house, Romashov felt a strange, unreasonable uneasiness. Shurochka greeted George with joy.

Chapter 14.

During the picnic, Shurochka seemed especially charming to Romashov. When in the evening everyone scattered across the clearing, Grigory and Alexandra withdrew into the depths of the grove. Shurochka admitted that today she is in love with Romashov, but does not love her husband - “he is rude, he is insensitive, indelicate”. She kissed George, but then asked that Romashov not come to them anymore - her husband was besieged with anonymous letters.

Chapter 15.

The officers were preparing for the May review "and knew no mercy, they were tired." Romashov watched as the company commanders beat their soldiers with particular cruelty.

When, during the review, the commanders who arrived visited all the companies, Romashov felt “that these arrogant people live some kind of special, beautiful, higher life beyond his reach.” The inspection became a complete "failure of the regiment" - "the soulless, routine and negligent attitude of the officers to the service" was revealed.

During the final march, Romashov, intoxicated with music and general excitement, dreamed and led to the right, because of which his entire half company "was an ugly, broken crowd." After what happened, everyone made fun of Romashov.

Chapter 16.

Romashov left the camp and met Nikolaev. Vladimir said that he was waiting for him here on purpose, and started a conversation about Aleksandra Petrovna. Nikolaev began to receive "boorish anonymous letters" with gossip about his wife and Romashov. Vladimir demanded that Romashov do everything to stop the spread of gossip.

Chapter 17.

Romashov "began to retire from the society of officers." George firmly understood that he would not remain in the army and, when the obligatory three years of service had passed, he would go to the reserve.

Chapter 18.

At the end of May, a soldier hanged himself in the company. In the evening of the same day, the officers drank, joked, sang songs. At night, already pretty drunk, they went to the women. There was a scuffle: a drunken officer began to chop everything with a sword, but Romashov calmed him down.

Chapter 19.

The officers drove to the meeting and continued drinking and having fun. Many officers in the regiment were "from the clergy", unexpectedly one of them pulled on a panahida, and they "served" it in chorus all. Romashov hit the table with his fist, forbidding such a singing. The drunken officers began to rage again. Nikolaev, who suddenly appeared next to Romashov, said that people like Georgy and Nazansky disgrace the regiment. Romashov hinted at "mysterious reasons" for which Nikolaev was dissatisfied with Nazansky. A fight broke out between them. Romashov shouted that he was calling Nikolaev to a duel.

Chapter 20.

In the morning Romashov was summoned to court. A few days later, the court came to a decision that the quarrel between Nikolayev and Romashov could only be resolved by a duel.

Chapter 21.

Frustrated Romashov went to Nazansky. The officer tried to dissuade George from the duel, believing that Romashov needed to abandon the army and not be afraid of life.

Chapter 22.

When Romashov returned home, he found Shurochka at his place. She said that although she didn’t love Vladimir, she “killed part of her soul for him”. She has more pride than her husband - it was she who made him try to enter the academy again and again. If Nikolaev refuses to fight, he will not be admitted to the academy. Therefore, they will certainly need to shoot themselves tomorrow - none of them will be injured. At parting, Shurochka and Georgy kissed.

Chapter 23.

Report to the regiment commander. On June 1, a duel took place between Nikolaev and Romashov. Nikolaev shot first and wounded Romashov in the right upper abdomen. Romashov could no longer shoot back. A few minutes later Romashov died of internal hemorrhage.

Conclusion

"The Duel" is considered the most significant work in the work of Kuprin. The main character of the story, a young second lieutenant Romashov, is portrayed as a romantic, intelligent person with a fine mental organization. It is difficult for him to come to terms with the monotonous, philistine life in the provincial infantry regiment - during the years of training, the military seemed to him completely different, more noble people. Realizing that he will not be able to remain in the service, Romashov decides to leave the army after three compulsory years. However, an unfortunate combination of circumstances and pressure from Shurochka lead to the sudden death of George. The duel becomes an attempt by Romashov to confront the world and society, but he loses in this confrontation.

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The story "Duel" was published in 1905. This is a story about the conflict of a humanistic worldview and violence that flourished in the army at that time. The story reflects the vision of the army order by Kuprin himself. Many of the heroes of the work are characters from the real life of the writer, whom he encountered during the service.

Yuri Romashov, a young second lieutenant who is seriously experiencing the general moral decay that reigns in army circles. He often visits Vladimir Nikolaev, with whose wife Alexander (Shurochka) he is secretly in love. Romashov also maintains a vicious relationship with Raisa Peterson, the wife of his colleague. This romance ceased to give him any joy, and one day he decided to break off the relationship. Raisa intended to take revenge. Soon after their break, someone began to bombard Nikolaev with anonymous letters with hints of a special connection between his wife and Romashov. Because of these notes, Shurochka asks Yuri to no longer visit their house.

However, the young second lieutenant also had other troubles. He did not allow the non-commissioned officers to start fights, constantly arguing with the officers who supported the moral and physical violence against the wards, which caused the discontent of the command. Romashov's financial situation also left much to be desired. He is lonely, the service for him loses its meaning, his soul is bitter and dreary.

During the ceremonial march, the second lieutenant had to endure the most terrible shame in his life. Yuri was simply daydreaming and made a fatal mistake by breaking the formation.

After this incident, Romashov, tormenting himself with memories of ridicule and universal censure, did not notice how he found himself close to the railway. There he met the soldier Khlebnikov, who wanted to commit suicide. Khlebnikov, through tears, talked about how they mocked him in the company, about beatings and ridicule that had no end. Then Romashov became even more vividly aware that each faceless gray company consists of separate destinies, and each destiny matters. His grief faded against the background of the grief of Khlebnikov and those like him.

A little later, a soldier hanged himself in one of the mouths. This incident led to a wave of drunkenness. During the drinking bout, a conflict broke out between Romashov and Nikolaev, which entailed a duel.

Before the duel, Shurochka came to Romashov's house. She began to appeal to the second lieutenant's tender feelings, saying that they must shoot, because refusing to duel could be misinterpreted, but none of the duelists should be wounded. Shurochka assured Romashov that her husband agreed to these conditions and their agreement would remain secret. Yuri agreed.

As a result, despite Shurochka's assurances, Nikolaev mortally wounded the second lieutenant.

The main characters of the story

Yuri Romashov

The central character of the work. A kind, shy and romantic young man who does not like the harsh military manners. He dreamed of a literary career, often walked, plunging into reflections, dreams of another life.

Alexandra Nikolaeva (Shurochka)

The object of Romashov's sighing. At first glance, this is a talented, charming, energetic and intelligent woman, she is alien to gossip and intrigue, in which local ladies participate. However, in practice, it turns out that she is much more insidious than all of them. Shurochka dreamed of a luxurious metropolitan life, everything else did not matter to her.

Vladimir Nikolaev

Shurochka's unlucky husband. He does not shine with intelligence, fails the entrance exams to the academy. Even his wife, helping him to prepare for admission, mastered almost the entire program, but Vladimir did not succeed.

Shulgovich

A demanding and stern colonel, often dissatisfied with Romashov's behavior.

Nazansky

An officer-philosopher who loves to talk about the structure of the army, about good and evil in general, is prone to alcoholism.

Raisa Peterson

Romashov's mistress, wife of Captain Peterson. This is a gossip and schemer, not burdened with any principles. She is busy playing at secularism, talking about luxury, but inside her there is spiritual and moral poverty.

In "Duel" A. Kuprin demonstrates to the reader all the defectiveness of the army. The main character, Lieutenant Romashov, is more and more disappointed in the service, finding it meaningless. He sees the cruelty with which officers treat their subordinates, becomes a witness to assault, which is not suppressed by the leadership.

Most of the officers have come to terms with the existing order. Some find in him an opportunity to take out their own grievances on others through moral and physical violence, to show the cruelty inherent in character. Others simply accept reality and, not wanting to fight, seek an outlet. Drunkenness often becomes this outlet. Even Nazansky, an intelligent and talented person, drowns in a bottle the thoughts of the hopelessness and injustice of the system.

A conversation with the soldier Khlebnikov, who constantly endures bullying, asserts Romashova in the opinion that this whole system is rotten through and through and has no right to exist. In his reflections, the second lieutenant comes to the conclusion that there are only three occupations worthy of an honest person: science, art and free physical labor. The army, on the other hand, is a whole class, which in peacetime uses the benefits earned by other people, and in wartime it goes to kill the same warriors like themselves. It makes no sense. Romashov thinks about what would happen if all the people in one voice said “no” to the war, and the need for an army disappeared by itself.

The duel between Romashov and Nikolaev is a confrontation between honesty and deceit. Romashov was killed by betrayal. Both then and now, the life of our society is a duel between cynicism and compassion, adherence to principles and immorality, humanity and cruelty.

You can also read one of the most prominent and popular Russian writers of the first half of the twentieth century.

Surely you will be interested in a summary of the most successful, according to Alexander Kuprin, imbued with a fabulous, or even mystical atmosphere.

The main idea of ​​the story

The problems raised by Kuprin in "Duel" go far beyond the army. The author points out the shortcomings of society as a whole: social inequality, the gap between the intelligentsia and the common people, spiritual decline, the problem of the relationship between society and an individual.

The story "Duel" received a positive response from Maxim Gorky. He argued that this work should deeply affect "every honest and thinking officer."

K. Paustovsky was deeply touched by the meeting between Romashov and the soldier Khlebnikov. Paustovsky ranked this scene among the best in Russian literature.

However, "Duel" received not only a positive assessment. Lieutenant General P. Geisman accused the writer of slander and an attempt to undermine the state system.

• Kuprin dedicated the first edition of the story to M. Gorky. According to the author himself, all the most daring thoughts expressed in the pages of "Duel", he owes to the influence of Gorky.
• The story "The Duel" was filmed five times, the last one in 2014. "The Duel" was the last episode of the four-part film, which consisted of adaptations of Kuprin's works.

Writing

The story of A. I. Kuprin "The Duel" was published in May 1905 in the sixth volume of the collection "Knowledge" with a dedication to A. M. Gorky. She immediately attracted general attention and made the name of the still little-known writer famous yesterday. Twenty thousand copies "of the collection sold out so quickly that a new edition was required within a month. After that," Duel "was more than once published as a separate book and translated into many foreign languages. sharp protests of the reactionary press, representatives of the then military clique, the story was and remains the most socially significant work of Kuprin, the pinnacle of his democracy.

It is difficult to name in the preceding and subsequent literature another work in which, with such artistic force and psychological skill, the true state of the tsarist army, the unnaturalness and inhumanity of military service in tsarist Russia would be shown, a work that would protect everything that is bright in man, so mercilessly suppressed by an inert and ignorant military environment.

The story was published after the historical events of the fall of Port Arthur and January 9, 1905, when the heavy defeat of tsarism in the Russian-Japanese war and the rapid growth of the revolutionary movement became obvious. Administrative oppression and censorship were somewhat weakened at this time, but still "Duel" was able to avoid a ban or serious deletions from the text only thanks to the cunning maneuvers of the commercial director of the publishing house "Knowledge" KP Pyatnitsky.

The material for "The Duel" was given to AI Kuprin by life itself. The future writer studied at the cadet corps, then at the cadet school, after graduating from which in 1890 he was assigned to the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment. Here he served for almost four years and at the beginning of 1894 retired with the rank of lieutenant. During his service in the regiment stationed in Kamenets-Podolsk, Proskurov, Volochisk, Kuprin accumulated the impressions and knowledge that allowed him to create a whole cabinet of curiosities of types of officers and soldiers and true, relief pictures of army life in the provincial backwater.

The regimental life that Kuprin depicts in "The Duel" is absurd, gone, cheerless, stupefying. There are only two ways to get out of it: to leave the army or try to enter the academy and, after graduating from it, rise to the higher rungs of the military ladder, "make a career." The fate of the bulk of the officers depicted by Kuprin is to pull the endless and tedious strap with the long-term prospect of retirement, having received a small pension. The officers 'daily life consisted of being present at drill exercises and "literature" (that is, studying military regulations by soldiers), visiting officers' meetings in the evenings, drinking alone or in company, vulgar relationships with other people's wives, traditional balls and picnics, playing cards, sometimes trips to the local brothel. Shows, parades, and maneuvers brought some variety to this life.

The story contains a long line of officers. With undoubted common features due to the nature of the service, everyday life, environment, each of them is distinguished by its originality. There is also an unassuming, good-natured, not thinking about anything Vetkin, and a stupid campaigner company commander Captain Plum, and Bek-Agamalov with constant outbursts of wild bloodthirsty instincts, and Osadchy, singing "a fierce merciless war", and a beggar lieutenant Zegrzha his miserable salary is not enough to feed his four children, and Lieutenant Colonel Rafalsky, nicknamed Bram, takes away his soul in his home menagerie, and Bobetinsky, a fat and a dummy, striving to resemble a guardsman playing the role of a socialite, and a card sharper Archakovsky, and many other. Even the best of the officers that Kuprin brought out in "Duel" do not evoke sympathy. Rafalsky-Bram, carefully nourishing his menagerie, was once enraged that the bugler, who was stunned with fatigue, played the wrong signal, and he hit the soldier on the horn so hard that the bugler spat out his teeth with blood on the ground. Stelkovsky takes care of his soldiers, he has the best company in the regiment, but he himself is a libertine.

The story is set in the mid-90s of the last century (it is known that duels between officers, previously prohibited, were reintroduced by order of the military department issued in May 1894). But the pictures of army life ten years ago did not hide from the readers the modern sound of "Duel": they could see an explanation of the catastrophe that the tsarist army suffered in the battles of Mukden, Liaoyang, Port Arthur. Contemporaries, as can be seen from the reviews of criticism and memoir testimonies, saw in the story, first of all, a condemnation of the order of the tsarist army, the exposure of its officers, and in the image of a sick, clumsy, beggar, tortured soldier Khlebnikov, tortured by a senseless drill, the personification of an oppressed and trampled people. Pictures of soldiers training in the ranks or in the classroom (study of regulations), conducted by illiterate junior commanders Rynda, Shapovalenko, Seroshtan, scenes of constant abuse of soldiers awakened feelings of indignation and protest in the reader.

However, the meaning of the story is not only in the merciless criticism of the tsarist army, as a backward military organization with a sluggish officer caste and soldiers driven into a stupor. The "duel" reveals the dehumanization, the spiritual devastation to which people are subjected, placed in the conditions of army life, the grinding and vulgarization of these people. The humanistic meaning of the story is manifested in the opposition to the army environment of the hero of the "Duel" lieutenant Romashov and his senior friend officer Nazansky.

Critics and literary historians rightly noted many of Kuprin's autobiographical features in Romashov. Like the writer himself, Romashov comes from the city of Narovchata, Penza province, he has only a mother, he does not remember his father, he spent his childhood in Moscow, he studied at the cadet corps, and then at a military school. All this coincides with the circumstances of Kuprin's life. Romashov tries his hand at literature, composes the "third in a row" story "The Last Fatal Debut" (Kuprin, while still in the cadet school, wrote and published in 1889 in the Moscow magazine "Russian Satirical Leaf" the story "The Last Debut").

However, the similarity between the biographies of the hero and his creator is important primarily for the literary historian. For the reader, Romashov is first of all a charming image of a young man that attracts with its spiritual purity, drawn by a writer with great psychological skill. Romashov, with his rich and vivid imagination, youthful, sometimes almost childish dreaminess, inherent humanity, compassion for other people's misfortune, it is impossible to get along in the army environment. He is a man, and he is surrounded for the most part by the degraded and dull, bourbons, stagnant in prejudices and forgotten how to think - campaigners, vulgar philistines, moral monsters. Romashov is burdened by service in the army and seeks to leave it for the open space of life, this intention is ardently supported by Nazansky. Romashov's humanity is reflected in everything: in his condemnation of the officers' reprisals against the "shpaks", in the way he treats his orderly cheremis Gaynan and, by the way, to his pagan beliefs, in a dramatic night meeting with the desperate Khlebnikov, in how Romashov risking his life, he was left alone in front of the distraught Bek-Agamalov and protected the woman from him, in how painfully Romashov was burdened by a vulgar affair with Raisa Peterson, in how, finally, how purely and selflessly he fell in love with Alexandra Petrovna. In the image of Romashov, even his youthfully naive features are attractive, for example, the habit of thinking about himself in the third person in the words of stereotyped novels, which he had already read, or his overly enthusiastic attitude towards Nazansky.

However, the worldview of Romashov, his understanding of history and society is also characterized by a certain limitation, characteristic, apparently, in the period when "Duel" was created, and for Kuprin himself.

So, for example, in his dreams, Romashov sees himself as a brilliant officer of the general staff, achieving success not only in maneuvers, in war, or as a secret intelligence officer, but also in the role of ... suppressor of the workers' uprising. Of course, the pictures that arise in Romashov's imagination are emphatically written with precisely those banal, pseudo-beautiful words of "stereotyped novels" that the twenty-year-old second lieutenant was fond of. But for Romashov, espionage in the enemy camp, battles in the war and the suppression of the revolutionary movement are generally equivalent, this is a fight with the enemy. Elsewhere in the story, when Romashov is strongly and unexpectedly vividly aware of his I, his individuality, in further reasoning he comes to individualistic conclusions. It seems to him that the concepts of the fatherland, foreign enemies, military honor and others live only in his mind. "But disappear homeland, and honor, and uniform, and all the great words - my I will remain inviolable. So, after all, my I is more important than all these concepts of duty, honor, love?"

Moreover, it seems to him that it costs only those millions of I who make up humanity to suddenly say: "I don’t want to!" - I do not want to fight - "and now the war will become inconceivable." "All this military prowess, and discipline, and honor, and the honor of the uniform, and all military science - everything is based only on the fact that humanity does not want, or does not know how, or does not dare to say" I don’t want to! "

In these arguments, Romashov's subjectivist, illusory thought is exposed, as if one desire alone can change the course of history, abolish certain social institutions, for example, the army.

In a more developed and supplemented form, we find the same thoughts in Nazansky, another character in The Duel, who, apparently, expresses the writer's cherished views and, in fact, exists in the story only for this purpose. Nazansky is the least vital figure in this work, he is, in fact, a reasoner, designed to complement Romashov, who, due to his youth and level of education, could not have become an exponent of such an expanded philosophy.

Kuprin put into the mouth of Nazansky a merciless criticism of the tsarist army of that time and its officers, criticism, which, as it were, generalizes the pictures of the life of the regiment drawn in the story and the types of officers created by the writer. "No, think about us, the unfortunate armies, about the army infantry, about this main core of the glorious and brave Russian army. After all, all this is a blockage, rags, garbage," Nazansky said.

Kuprin gave Nazansky his great love of life, his admiration for the joy and beauty of life. “But look, no, just look how beautiful, how seductive life is!” Nazansky exclaimed, spreading his arms wide around him. “O joy, oh divine beauty of life!” He continues: "No, if I get hit by a train, and my stomach is cut open, and my insides are mixed with sand and reeled on wheels, and if at this last moment I am asked:" Well, is life beautiful now? " with grateful delight: "Oh, how beautiful she is!"

Equally close to the writer are the inspired words about love for a woman that Nazansky says. He worships a woman: "I often think about gentle, pure, graceful women, about their bright tears and lovely smiles, I think about young, chaste mothers, about lovers who go to death for love, about beautiful, innocent and proud girls with a snow-white soul who know everything and are not afraid of anything. " Nazansky devotes the most enthusiastic tirades to unrequited love. "Do you understand how many different happiness and charming torment lies in indivisible, hopeless love? When I was younger, there was one dream in me: to fall in love with an unattainable, extraordinary woman, such, you know, with whom I can never do anything to be in common. To fall in love all my life, to devote all my thoughts to her. " Nazansky speaks of happiness at least once a year to accidentally see this woman, kiss her footprints on the stairs, touch her dress once in a lifetime, “use all the forces of ingenuity and perseverance for days, months, years, and now - a great, mind-blowing delight: you have in her hands is a handkerchief, a piece of candy, a dropped poster. " He enthusiastically sings the readiness to give for this woman, "for her whim, for her husband, for her lover, for her beloved dog" and life, and honor, "and everything that is possible to give!" The agitated Romashov accepts Nazansky's words with all his heart, this is how he loves Alexandra Petrovna. The dream of such love Kuprin turned into the images of the "Garnet Bracelet", written five years after the "Duel". This is exactly how the official Zheltkov loves Princess Vera Sheina, keeping the handkerchief she had forgotten for years, her only note, with which she forbade Zheltkov to write to her, the program of the art exhibition that she had forgotten.

The obvious connection of these thoughts of Nazansky with Kuprin's worldview gives reason to believe that other views of this hero on the present and the future, on the history of mankind are of a programmatic nature for the writer. And there is a lot of erroneous, contradictory and false in them.

In two conversations with Romashov, Nazansky appears as a preacher of anarcho-individualism mixed with Nietzscheanism, and his outpourings find the most enthusiastic approval of Romashov. At the last meeting, he wants to say to Nazansky: "Goodbye, teacher." Nazansky's head appears to Romashov to resemble "the head of one of those Greek heroes or wise men" whom he saw in the engravings.

Nazansky says, for example: "New, brave, proud people have appeared, fiery free thoughts light up in their minds. As in the last act of a melodrama, old towers and dungeons are crumbling, and because of them a dazzling radiance is already seen." Nazansky sees the "terrible and irreparable" guilt of the officers in the fact that the officers are "blind and deaf" to this "huge, new, radiant life," that they greet it with exclamations: "What? Where? Silence! Riot! I will shoot!"

At first it may seem to the modern reader that these "new, brave and proud" people mean revolutionaries, fighters against autocracy. But Naeansky's further reasoning shows that he means something quite different. He rejects not only the Gospel teachings: "Love your neighbor as yourself", but in general any idea of ​​public duty and service. “The more honest, the stronger, the more predatory told us:“ Let us join hand, let's go and perish, but we will prepare a bright and easy life for future generations. ”But I never understood this,” Nazansky declares. - what have I got to do with this - damn him! - to my neighbors, with a vile slave, with an infected, an idiot? .. Wow, I hate! I hate lepers and do not love my neighbors. And then, what interest will make me break my head for the sake of happiness people of the thirty-second century? "

But that's not all. What is Nazansky's idea of ​​the future, what is his ideal? He claims that love for humanity is being replaced by "a new, divine faith ... This is love for yourself, for your beautiful body, for your omnipotent mind, for the infinite wealth of your feelings. No, think, think, Romashov: who is dearer to you? and closer to yourself? Nobody. You are the king of the world, its pride and adornment. You are the god of all living things. Everything that you see, hear, feel belongs only to you. Do what you want. Take whatever you like. Do not be afraid there is no one in the whole universe, because there is no one above you and no one is equal to you. The time will come, and great faith in your Self will overshadow, like the fiery tongues of the holy spirit, the heads of all people, and then there will be no slaves, no masters, no cripples, no pity, no vice, no anger, no envy. Then people will become gods. "

The magnificent and loud tirade of Nazansky contains the preaching of individualism, anarchy and a divine strong personality in the spirit of Nietzsche's philosophy. It reflected the weakness and falsity of Kuprin's socio-philosophical views, which explain his departure from the advanced democratic positions in the years of reaction, his divergence from Gorky, the creation of works that are far in their subject matter and spirit from the social events of the time.

That love for your I, "divine faith" in this I, which Nazansky proclaims, the assertion in the thought that there is no one dearer and closer to man, the rejection of everything "that binds my spirit, violates my will, humiliates my respect for my personality ", is fraught with the most callous egoism. A. V. Lunacharsky rightly noted in his article that if for a person his life is "above everything", then he, therefore, "can always be bought with life" ", that is, for the sake of his precious personality, he can sacrifice other lives, go to any crime and meanness.

Nazansky is brought closer to Romashov by aversion to the order, traditions, the life of the tsarist army and its officers, to the suppression of the human in man under these conditions, to vegetation in the mud of everyday vulgarity.

However, Romashov is alien to Nazansky's Nietzschean contempt for the weak, for the "neighbor, vile slave, infected, idiot", it is enough to remember how carefully he treated Khlebnikov. This - and not only this - distinguishes Romashov from Nazansky. Romashov does not live according to the theoretical concepts of his teacher. After going over in his mind a lot of human activities, Romashov comes to the conclusion that "there are only three proud vocations of man: science, art and free physical labor." Of course, Romashov would strive in the future for one of these vocations, and although his dream of "free" labor was unrealizable in tsarist Russia, it evokes sympathy and disposition in readers for him.

The antihuman, decaying and stupefying atmosphere of army life covers everyone who comes into contact with it.

The officers' wives, like their husbands, live meagerly, monotonously, vulgarly, bogged down in the swamp of ignorance and philistinism. The most prominent type of such an officer's wife is presented in the story by Raisa Peterson. We first get to know her from two letters she sent to Romashov, and already these letters, vulgar, stupid, sentimental and at the same time spiteful, clearly outline Peterson's appearance. Her explanation with Romashov at the ball and her disgusting revenge on him - anonymous letters that led to the duel and to the death of Romashov - complement this image.

But the talent and sensitivity of the artist Kuprin are manifested almost more in the creation of the image of Shurochka - Alexandra Petrovna Nikolaeva.

At first, she looks almost the direct opposite of Peterson - she has a charming appearance, she is smart, sensitive, tactful, and the reader fully understands why Romashov fell in love with such a woman in this musty backwater, just as Nazansky fell in love with her even earlier. She is frightened by the prospect of vegetation: "Ober-officer, forty-eight rubles of salary, six children, diapers, poverty ... Oh, what a horror!" - exclaims Shurochka. But what does she want? “You know,” she says to Romashov, “I hate to shiver this petty-bourgeois, beggarly officer society. I want to be always beautifully dressed, beautiful, graceful, I want worship, power!” For the sake of this dream, she lives with her unloved husband, whose caresses are disgusting to her, strives for him to enter the academy and make a career, because of her plans, she refuses to love Nazansky and, finally, betrays Romashov for them. She gives herself to Romashov in order to finally bind his will so that he does not even accidentally destroy her intentions.

Shurochka appeared before us at first as a charming person, her soul seems close, kindred to the soul of Romashov. But Shurochka is already distorted, dehumanized. The desire to get out of the dull provincial life at all costs, to enter the highest privileged circle, to be successful in this circle - all this turned Shurochka into a ruthless egoist and a predator.

The story as a whole is an unusually strong and vivid work of Kuprin. Despite the false theories put into the mouth of Nazansky, "Duel" is basically a democratic work. A man with all the wealth of his talents and needs, with his love for nature, with a thirst for life, beauty and striving for a high moral ideal, is opposed in him to that society that suppresses and distorts the individual. And this was especially clearly felt in the tsarist army, in its entire structure. This opposition is the revolutionary, humanistic meaning of the story. Kuprin's criticism of the army grows into criticism of the entire anti-human, anti-people regime that gave birth to it.

It was not without reason that AM Gorky, having familiarized himself with the first chapters of the story, in every possible way encouraged Kuprin to bring his work to the end. Many years later, returning home from emigration, Kuprin recalled: "If he had not breathed confidence in me in my work, I probably would never have finished my novel." K. Paustovsky justly called "The Duel" "one of the most remarkable and merciless works of Russian literature."

According to a number of testimonies Kuprin was dissatisfied with the end of the story: he was in a great hurry and, throwing away the scene of the duel that was not given to him, ended the "Duel" with a report about it.

Subsequently, at the end of 1907 or the beginning of 1908, Kuprin, in a letter to I. A. Bunin, offered the Moscow publishing house of writers "an unwritten chapter from" The Duel ", namely, how Romashov goes to a duel, his thoughts and feelings" at the time of the duel. However, Ditz's report, which suddenly ends the story, is a wonderful artistic completion of it. He interrupts the narration, as Romashov's short life ends with an ominous shot.

Reprinted from the publication: A. I. Kuprin. Duel. Moscow, publishing house "Artistic Literature", 1967