Officers and service to the Fatherland: expert analysis. Kuprin, "The Duel"

Outstanding Russian writer Alexander IvanovichKuprin since childhood dreamed of becoming an officer. A noble dream of becoming a defender of the Fatherland led him in 1880 to the Second Moscow Cadet Corps, and then in 1887 - to the Alexandrov Military School. In 1890, Lieutenant Kuprin began his service in the 46th Dnieper Regiment. And in 1894, in the rank of lieutenant, he resigned and resigned. Obviously, the reason for dismissal should be sought in the bitter disappointment, in the inconsistency of the realities of the military garrisons, to the ambitious expectations of the officers.

Not firsthand, knowing the background of the army, thoroughly and truthfully recreates in her work her profound analysis of Kuprin. "Duel" was published in 1905.

The deep crisis of the Imperial Army

Tsarist army of the late XIX - early XX centurywas portrayed by court writers as embellishments. Kuprin had the courage to show her very inferiority, lack of care, indifference of the powers that be to her problems. On the one hand, the army represented disenfranchised soldiers subject to corporal punishment. At the same time, the commander possessed sufficient power to bury the soldier to death with rods or to rot in a guardhouse. The officers received a small salary and were engaged in a stupid drill of troops. Kuprin devotes his vast analysis to the neglect of the vast military economy. "Duel" clearly shows that this blemish has not been introduced from outside, it was laid down initially, organizationally. The commander of the regiment, Shulgovich, in order to manage, one has to correspond most to such a deformed army. He is, in principle, a caring commander, but in order to be adequate to the system, he must raise his voice on his subordinates, and at times simply pretend to be an idiot. Among the officers there is a flourishing of drunkenness and unbridled cruelty. The life of military garrisons is isolated from the life of the rest of civil society. A lot of officer wives are garrison gossip and mouse fuss for the household. Such a hopeless picture draws to us the deep social analysis presented in the story. Kuprin "Duel" wrote his own, like an artist, from nature. The city of Proskurov, where the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment was, is shown in detail in it, many of Kuprin's colleagues transformed into heroes of the story.

Storyline of the story

"How does the army potentially feel its bestofficers? "- begins his topical analysis Kuprin. "Duel" introduces us to the main character, second lieutenant Georgy Alexeyevich Romashov. This is a young officer who does not accept the corrupt garrison spirit, crippling people and killing in them the best and sublime. He is also disgusted by Lieutenant Vassily Nilovich Nazansky, who became a drunkard, and Archakovsky, who turned from an officer into a dishonorable card cheater. True, there is also a weakness in Georgy Alekseevich: he twisted the affair with the married lady Raisa Aleksandrovna Peterson, a lover of adultery. But with this it's time to finish, according to Romashov himself. He thinks about what is wrong in the surrounding life, in an idiotic drill? At the same time came to the conclusion that a decent occupation for a person is free physical labor, science and art. In the opinion of the lieutenant, the officers are full-fledged and not-so-called members of society. Even if unjust war is unleashed, the soldiers and officers of the opposing sides have the right to say: "I do not want to!" - and go home. What is easier, the war will immediately stop. Characteristically, even in the army years came to these conclusions, making such an analysis, Kuprin. "Duel" is a creative space where the classic character puts the thoroughly familiar prototype - himself - into the main character. Romashov inherent features that most appreciated the classic in men: "noble silence" and "reckless nobility."

The Second Lieutenant is a frequent visitor to the Nikolayevs, a youngfamily, whose head, Vladimir Efimovich, for the rank of captain, for the second time failed to enter the Academy of the General Staff. His wife, Alexandra Petrovna (Shurochka), even more than her husband, tried to escape from the garrison. Shurochka is an educated woman. She is already better than her husband, mastered the sciences, which will give exams. She likes the second lieutenant Romashov. Vengeful Raisa Peterson decides to spoil Georgy Alekseyevich's personal life and career, sending anonymous letters to Captain Nikolayev and all the garrison officials about the connection of the lieutenant and Shura.

Service in the garrison is not only nervous and dull, butand frankly cruel. Soldiers who are in the position of powerless slaves, sometimes do not stand up to bullying. Romashov literally pulls the soldier Khlebnikov, who decided to commit suicide, from the rails of the exhausted mockery.

After I hanged myself in the company of Captain Osadchysoldiers, the officers of the regiment have drunk. Between mournful speeches, intermittent mats, Captain Nikolayev quarreled with the lieutenant Romashov. Just the day before the officers, by decree from above, a duel was resolved as a way of radically eliminating interpersonal contradictions. The captain became the initiator of this action.

The tragic ending in many ways predeterminedthe meanness of Shura. On the eve of the duel, she secretly met with Romashov, misinformed that the duel would be formal, Vladimir Yefimich would shoot into the air and called on the lieutenant to do the same. In response to the safe shot of Romashov, Captain Nikolayev, angered by anonymous letters, mortally wounded him in the stomach.

Why I chose for my most favorite talesuch a title Kuprin - "Duel"? The analysis shows the reason: the ideological conflict of the person of the educated person and the suffocating atmosphere of the out-of-the-way garrison.

conclusions

It is significant that it was after the creation of thisa new classic was born in Russia - Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. The story "Duel" was highly appreciated in the officer's environment. The best representatives of this part of Russian society (for example, Lieutenant Schmidt) personally expressed their deep recognition to Kuprin for the profound truthfulness of the narrative. Maxim Gorky considered "Duel" the most significant work about the life of the army.

Even being a recognized master of the pen, Kuprin onhis world view remained a noble protector of the Fatherland. His relations with the new Bolshevik power were not developed smoothly. Individual perception of officer's honor was not linked with official propaganda. In 1919, in the rank of second lieutenant, a fifty-year-old writer took part in Yudenich's attack on Petersburg. After the defeat of the North-Western army he emigrated to Paris. And only a year before his death, in 1937, at the invitation of the Soviet government, the classic arrived in the USSR to die on his native land. Until the end of his life, as the most valuable relic, he has left officers' shoulder straps.