The history of the creation of "Vasily Terkin" - Tvardovsky's poem

Many readers believe that the first linesthe famous "Books about the fighter" A. Tvardovsky appeared in 1942 and the image of the main character is caused solely by the events of the Great Patriotic War. Meanwhile, everything is different, and the first mention of the brave Vasa Terkin dates back to the period of the Russo-Finnish war. Remember, based on the evidence of the author himself, what is the history of the creation of the poem.

"Vasily Terkin" - the beginning

In 1939, when the campaign began with the Finns, A. Tvardovsky worked in the newspaper "On Guard of the Motherland". At this time, and comes to mind the creative team of the publishing house to come up with the image of a kind of entertaining character - a conditional, cheerful and cheerful fighter who would appear on the pages of the publication accompanied by poetic signatures. The name of the hero did not appear right away: we went through several options until we settled on the simple and warm Vasya - as it was called at the time. So the story of the creation of "Vasily Terkin", which was known to practically every Soviet reader, began.

Random coincidence

By the way, in his memoirs Twardowskitells how once, already in the war years, he received a letter, the author of which asked why the main character - a glorious warrior of the Soviet army - bears the name of another literary character. As it turned out, notes Alexander Trifonovich, even earlier appeared a novel by P. Boborykin with the same name. Only Vasily Terkin in him is an unclean merchant, a scoundrel and a hypocrite. The poet admits that after receiving the letter, he found and without much pleasure read the said work, but decided not to change the name of his hero. More precisely, he did not attach any importance to such a coincidence, especially since the history of the creation of the poem "Vasily Terkin" really had nothing to do with the novel - and continued to work in the same way.

But back to the "Book about the fighter."

Development of the ideological plan

The poet remembered the brave hero, already lovedto the reader on the newspaper "On Guard of the Motherland", in the 40th year. It so happened that in the 39th the writers, as it was intended, wrote one or two feuilleton articles each, and then started another work. Only A. Scherbakov for a long time appealed to this image, which very few people attached serious importance. Now Tvardovsky was thinking about how to combine in his artistic work - and this was supposed to be a poem - the hero of satirical articles with the seriousness that the realities demanded. And he began to recall everything that was connected with the Finnish war, including witnesses' testimony, went to Vyborg, read through the printed articles, etc. However, it was not possible to write the work, as it was planned, to the 41st, and then the war began. As a result, the history of the creation of "Vasily Terkin" will be limited for some time only by considering the composition, the plot, the image of the main character.

1942 year

From the first days of the war, Tvardovsky was sent tofront as a correspondent. In the first months, the most cruel and hot, it was not up to the poem. So long ago the idea that had arisen in my head was postponed until the summer of the 42nd, when the history of the creation of the poem by A. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin" gets its continuation. But now it was to be a work about another war - the Soviet people against the fascist invaders. Yes, and the hero from Vasya turned into Basil, personifying the Russian bread-and-butter, a worker, tireless worker, who stood up for the defense of the Fatherland.

The first chapters of Alexander's new workTrifonovich appeared in one of the front-line newspapers in September. Then the poem was printed in parts in many editions, accessible both to the belligerent soldiers, and to those who remained behind. She helped one to experience the hardships of front life, others to expect relatives from this terrible war. "The book about the fighter" fell in love with all readers, and everyone was looking forward to the new chapters, the hero of which was a soldier with a simple Russian name - a new image of it was created by A. Tvardovsky - Vasily Terkin.

The history of the creation of the poem during the war years

The work was written until the year 45, althoughback in the 43rd, after being wounded, safely healed and the hero returned to the system, the author thought that he had come to the finale. The readers intervened, demanding the continuation of the poem, with which it was not fair to argue, as Tvardovsky noted. Vasily Terkin, whose history of development is further developed, once again started to walk through the pages of newspapers and magazines.

The work reflects the main stageswar: tragic retreat in its first months, battles that have become a turning point, a victorious march to the west. There was even a desire to send the hero to the rear of the Germans, but Tvardovsky soon abandoned such a plan, deciding that it would disrupt the overall design of the work and make the history of the fighter private.

During the war years, the author received many letters fromwhich followed that readers are very interested in the history of the creation of "Vasily Terkin", in particular, whether there is a person described in the poem, in fact. And although the hero had many namesakes - one of them, Viktor Vasilievich Terkin, even asked to change his name to his - the poet's answer was always categorical: Vasily Terkin is a completely fictional character and does not have a real prototype. He consisted of personal observations of the author and embodied the best features of the Russian defender.

Farewell to the hero

The history of the creation of Vasily Terkin endsvictorious in the spring of the 45th. In May, Twardowski publishes the final chapter "From the Author", in which he says that he bids farewell to the soldier. And despite the fact that he was again convinced of the need to continue the work, he was unshakable: the time of Terkin passed. In his opinion, now, in peacetime, another character is needed.

This is the story of the creation of Vasily Terkin, briefly described on the basis of A. Tvardovsky's article "How Was Written by Vasily Terkin (the answer to readers)."

Instead of an afterword

Already in the post-war years, knowing about the incrediblethe popularity of the poem and its main character, many unscrupulous writers created "continuations" of the hero's adventures and even "imitation" of the famous book. The answer was that the poem was repeatedly stressed by Tvardovsky - "Vasily Terkin", whose history of creation is described by the author himself, is uniquely finished and no return to it in the future is expected.