Mayor Brodasty “Organchik”. Artists of Kukryniksy
The novel “The History of a City” is an outstanding work of the great Russian writer M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
This article presents the characteristics of the mayors of the city of Foolov in the novel "The History of a City": a brief description in the table (list). The table is based on information from the chapter “Inventory to the mayors”. It is known that in total there were 22 mayors in Foolovo, although the chroniclers in the "Inventory" list only 21 characters.
Apparently, missing from the list is the “stupid prince”, the founder of the city of Foolov.
See: All materials on the “History of one city”
Mayors of the town of Glupov (1731-1826)
1. Amadeus Manuilovich Klementy(ruled from 1731 to 1734) In Italy he worked as a cook, skillfully cooked pasta. He was brought to Russia by the Duke of Courland as a cook. Then he received the necessary rank and became the mayor of Glupov. In Glupov, he forced the population to cook pasta, which made him famous. In 1734 he was exiled to Berezov for treason.
2. Fotiy Petrovich Ferapontov(ruled from 1734 to 1738) Brigadier. Former barber of the Duke of Courland. He fought hard against tax evaders. He loved the spectacle so much that he was present every time someone was flogged with rods. In 1738 he was torn to pieces by dogs in the forest.
3. Ivan Matveyevich Velikanov(ruled from 1738 to 1740) He drowned the director of economy (an official in charge of economic issues) in the river. He introduced in his favor a tax of 3 kopecks per person. Brutally beat many police captains. In 1740 he was caught in a love affair with Avdotya Lopukhina and exiled to the Cherdyn prison.
4. Manyl Samylovich Urus-Kugush-Kildibaev(ruled from 1740 to 1745) Captain-lieutenant of the Life Guards. He was distinguished by insane courage and even once took the town of Foolov by storm. In 1745 he was dismissed from his post with wide publicity.
5. Lavrokakis(ruled from 1745 to 1756) A fugitive Greek without a name, patronymic and rank. Before coming to Foolov, he traded Greek soap, sponge and nuts at the market in Nizhyn. He was a supporter of classical education. In 1756 he was found in bed, bitten by bedbugs.
6. Ivan Matveyevich Baklan(ruled from 1756 to 1761) Brigadier. He was 3 arshins 3 inches tall (about 2.2 meters). He was proud of what was happening in a straight line from Ivan the Great (the famous bell tower in Moscow). Broken in half during a storm in 1761.
7. Bogdan Bogdanovich Pfeifer(ruled from 1761 to 1762) Guards sergeant, Holstein native. Having accomplished nothing, he was replaced in 1762 for ignorance.
8. Dementy Varlamovich Brodysty(ruled in 1762) Instead of a brain, he had a device like an organ in his head, for which he received the nickname "Organchik". He worked diligently, did not communicate with the residents, and all the time uttered one phrase: “I will not tolerate it!”. He kept the city in horror and fear, actively collecting arrears. After him, there was anarchy and internecine wars in Glupovo for 7 days.
9. Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov(ruled from 1762 to 1770) A very active leader and innovator. He paved two streets in the city, started brewing and mead making, forced the inhabitants to grow and eat mustard and bay leaves, collected arrears, tried to open an academy in Foolov. Constantly whipping the Foolovites with rods to subdue them. He died a natural death in 1770.
10. Marquis Anton Protasievich de Sanglot(ruled from 1770 to 1772) French native and friend of Diderot. He was frivolous and liked to sing obscene songs. Dismissed in 1772.
11. Petr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko(ruled from 1772 to 1779) Brigadier, formerly a simple soldier. Former batman of Prince Potemkin. For 6 years he ruled the city quietly and peacefully, but then he seemed to go berserk. He had a small mind and suffered from tongue-tied (speech defect). Stupid, voluptuous, frivolous ruler. Arrears launched. During his reign, Foolov endured famine and fire. He made an absurd journey around the outskirts of Glupov. He died of overeating during this journey in 1779.
12. Vasilisk Semenovich Borodavkin(ruled from 1779 to 1798) Borodavkin's reign is the longest and most brilliant in Foolov. In the fight against arrears, he burned 33 villages, recovering only 2.5 rubles. Introduced the jacket game lamush and olive oil. He paved one square and greened one street. He tried to found an academy, but, having been refused, he built a movable house (a place for prisoners). He spent 4 wars for education and 3 wars against education in Foolov. He was preparing to burn the entire city, but died suddenly in 1798.
13. Onufry Ivanovich Negodyaev(ruled from 1798 to 1802) By origin - a simple peasant, a former stoker (he heated stoves in Gatchina). He destroyed the streets paved in the city and set up monuments from the extracted stone. Under him, the city fell into decay, and the inhabitants became wild and overgrown with wool. Dismissed in 1802.
14. Xavier Georgievich Mikaladze(ruled from 1802 to 1806) Prince Cherkashenin, a descendant of the voluptuous Princess Tamara. Gentle and meek mayor. The first one began to treat the Foolovites without swearing. He was attractive and loved women. Under him, the population of Glupov almost doubled. He died in 1806 from exhaustion (according to another version - in 1814).
15. Theophylact Irinarkhovich Benevolensky(ruled from 1806 to 1811) State Councilor, Speransky's comrade in the seminary. Under him, the Foolovites lived happily and became very stout. His main passion was writing laws. He had a love affair with the merchant Raspopova, with whom he ate pies with filling on Saturdays. In his free time, he composed sermons for city priests and translated from the Latin works of Thomas a Kempis. Re-introduced mustard, bay leaf and olive oil. The first imposed a tribute on the farm, for which he received three thousand rubles a year. In 1811 he was exiled for a secret relationship with Bonaparte.
16. Ivan Panteleich Pimple(ruled since 1811 for several years) Officer. He gave the Foolovites complete freedom and did not manage the city. Under him, the Foolovites got rich 4 times. Turned out to be a stuffed head. He died at the hands of the local leader of the nobility.
17. Nikodim Osipovich Ivanov(reigned between 1811 and 1819) Councilor of State, stupid man. He was so small in stature that he could not contain extensive laws. He died in 1819 from strain, trying to comprehend the decree.
18. Viscount Angel Dorofeevich Du Chario(ruled between 1811 and 1821) French native. He liked to dress up in a woman's dress and feast on frogs. Upon examination, it turned out to be a girl. Exiled in 1821 abroad.
19. Erast Andreevich Sadtilov(ruled between 1815 and 1825) State Councilor. Friend of Karamzin. He had a melancholic appearance, but a voluptuous, depraved nature. Under him, the city fell into terrible debauchery and polytheism. He left behind several idyllic compositions and died of melancholy in 1825. The tribute from the ransom was raised to five thousand rubles a year.
20. Gloomy-Grumbling A scoundrel and an idiot with a shameless look. He destroyed the old city and built the new city of Nepreklonsk in another place. Slept on bare ground. He made a military settlement out of the city, obliged the inhabitants to wear uniforms, march, work according to a schedule, etc. Disappeared during a strange natural phenomenon.
21. Archangel Stratilatovich Intercept-Zalikhvatsky Major. He rode into Foolov on a white horse, burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences.
The town of Foolov is a self-explanatory name. At first, it tells about, to put it mildly, not very smart people who founded this city. They defeated the neighboring tribes and wanted to improve their lives.
But the kneading of oatmeal in the Volga and the bull in the bathhouse did not bring any sense, because they wanted a ruler who could restore order. Nobody agreed.
For separate money, though one prince, in the end, agreed, but his rule was ruinous for the city.
All the rulers of Glupov were distinguished by peculiarities - oddities.
One was a notorious thief (he committed theft without even hiding this fact), the other was a hater of the sciences (he burned down the gymnasium and abolished the sciences); the third had an empty head detached from the body with a musical organ that performed two phrases; the fourth was loving and because of his adventures in the city there was either a fire or riots; the fifth turned out to be obsessed with planting mustard, the last - on the same type of straight streets and changing the course of the river.
Each mayor was peculiar and unique in his own stupidity. If you take a closer look, you can trace the analogy of the governors of Foolov with historical figures who seized power in Russia during the era of palace coups (for example, a clear parallel with Biron, who was the favorite of Empress Anna Ioannovna).
The inhabitants of the city are no less stupid and one-sided than the governors. They then arrange riots with or without reason, then they initiate a war. They allegedly fight for enlightenment and order, and discord is obtained because of stupid ideas or obvious, quite understandable things (whether it is worth growing Persian chamomile and whether the stone foundations of houses are useful).
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But the most amusing fact that causes a desire to sneer and laugh heartily at the stupidity and promiscuity of the Foolovites is the celebration "in a big way" about the change of each ruler.
Everyone hugs, kisses, cries, congratulates each other, sincerely believing that the new government will be better than the previous one. But the people do not understand one simple truth: as he himself, such is the power. The people are worthy of the power they have chosen.
This trend is clearly visible throughout the work. In real life and in real Russia, too. It's just that not everyone recognizes it.
"History of a City" is a satirical parody of events related to the change of power in Russia. It can be seen what lawlessness, permissiveness and impunity lead to in the state. In all its glory, the stupidity, narrow-mindedness and pliability of the people, as well as the cynicism, stupidity and lust for power of officials are shown.
The novel was written in the early 70s of the 19th century. By genre, this is a satirical novel, which shows the contradictions and absurdities of the Russian society of that time. The author identified himself as the publisher of the notes of a chronicler who allegedly lived in the 18th century. Tsars and ministers became mayors, and the entire state became the city of Foolov.
The main one in the city is the Organ, as it is called, because instead of a brain it has a special mechanism that makes it a merciless and unreasonable doll.
In his head there is room only for punishments and orders, he is insensitive and indifferent to human destinies. By order of the mayor, a person can be flogged for nothing, sent to prison, forcing the people to work slavishly.
He only knows how to “ruin” and “not tolerate”. Thus, Saltykov-Shchedrin denounces the soullessness and mechanicalness in government.
With the help of a character like Pimple, who also became the mayor of a fictional city, the writer laughs at the animal instincts of those in power. Pimple is also called the Stuffed Head, which is stuffed with truffles.
This is an image of the sickly and rotten side of the human form, which is reinforced by gluttony and other passions.
So, he ended his days, being eaten by the leader of the nobility, whose smell of truffles caused an irresistible appetite.
Basilisk Wartkin, who distinguished himself by setting fire to thirty-three villages, reminds the reader of the ancient ruler Nero. In the caricature novel, his stupid malice and tyranny are ridiculed.
His imaginary achievements, such as the popularization of mustard or chamomile from Persia, look comical and ridiculous.
By using tin soldiers in wars, he is trying to solve a military problem, which makes all his undertakings meaningless.
Gloomy-Burcheev, who has become another mayor, is presented as a despot and tyrant. He pursued any manifestations of thought, independence and creativity among the people. One day he just exploded with anger and disappeared. Since then, the river, with the help of which Saltykov-Shchedrin showed the Russian people, still flowed and breathed. Not a single ruler could stop its stormy course.
The work is a description of the century-old history of a town called Foolov, which is a satirical allegory of the life of Russian emperors and historical figures of that time.
The city arose on the initiative of residents who decided to find a mayor to ensure order.
Over the described period of time of a hundred years, the city is replaced one after another by many chiefs who do absolutely nothing to improve the city and improve the life of the population, but only care about their well-being.
All city leaders are not able to responsibly perform the assigned work, they differ only in the desire for career growth and profit. They are deaf to the problems of ordinary citizens and even if they want to, they cannot help them.
The population has no rights before the actions of city governors, and for their deeds the rulers are in no way held accountable and, in exceptional cases, are deprived of their positions.
City residents are accustomed to servility and servility, so they do not defend their rights and doom their families to a life without rights. In addition, the population is overly religious and its fanaticism is brought to the point of absurdity.
The idea of the writer is to reveal the imperfect political system of the state, where the people humbly accept their oppressed position and consider it right. On the example of the city, the author shows that the people cannot exist without a ruler, without the love of the authorities, and in the absence of it, they immediately find themselves in the grip of anarchy.
Thus, the writer seeks to say that the entire centuries-old history of the Russian state is a state of unconscious worship of the people before the authorities, obedience to the orders of the autocrats, and at the same time a feeling of fear and reverence for the ruler.
Using satirical devices of irony and exaggeration, the author expresses his civil position in relation to the situation in the country. He authentically expresses the idea of the need for global changes in society, but at the same time does not call for revolutions and riots.
The writer argues that the people must gain freedom of consciousness and understand their responsibility for what is happening in the state.
Blind obedience of the population to the authorities cannot ensure the welfare of the country, since the representatives of the autocracy use the instruments of power only for their own selfish purposes. And it is inevitable in this situation.
At the end of the novel, the author vividly illustrates this idea by describing the death of another mayor, Glupov, and, as it were, leaves his message that in such a state, without changes, the Russian state has no future.
In this city live the founders of its rather narrow-minded people. But even the fact that they were completely stupid did not stop them from conquering the neighboring tribes, the inhabitants of the city tried their best to improve their lives. They did not have a ruler who would help them restore order in the city. Even for a certain amount of money, no one agreed to rule in their city.
After some time, the prince agrees to take ownership into his own hands, but his reign does not lead to anything good, but only ruins the city in the end. We can say that all the rulers of the city of Glupov were oddities. Maybe it was because the name of the city itself spoke for itself.
Each ruler of the city was stupid in his own way, their actions were peculiar. After all, not only the rulers were narrow-minded, but the inhabitants of the city were also stupid. They organize rallies with or without reason and provoke a military situation. It seems to the residents that they are trying to restore order in the city, but everything turns out, on the contrary, because of their rash ideas, chaos occurs in the city.
But it is ridiculous to voice the fact that when the ruler is changed, the inhabitants of the city are extremely happy, they sincerely believe that the new predecessor will restore order. But it is a pity that they do not understand the simplest thing, what kind of ruler such an order will be. Yes, of course, people deserve the ruler they have chosen. And this is evident throughout the Saltykov-Shchedrin novel.
Summing up this work, the poet makes you think with his novel, because in real life it happens in exactly the same way, it’s just that people don’t realize it themselves either.
Indeed, in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”, a parody of the events taking place in Russia is clearly described in connection with the change of ruler and how the people behave. It is clearly visible that lawlessness has remained as it was.
That the above-placed officials will always go unpunished for their actions. With all combinations of colors, a picture of the stupidity of people and the cynicism of rulers is drawn.
And such a government is inherent in every city and every country. And there is no order. After all, the whole order depends on the person who is in power.
This satirical review novel has become quite famous among a wide range of readers. The author pretends to be a modest publisher of found notes compiled by a once unknown chronicler. At the same time, in the course of the narrative, we understand that he calls the tsars and ministers the mayors, and the current regime in the state is implemented within the boundaries of the small town of Glupov.
All used surnames are speaking, an outside observer immediately understands the absurdity of what is happening in a small town, the rulers behave cruelly and arbitrarily, and they take all actions to destroy everything living and thinking.
The narrator uses the following literary methods, satire becomes fantastic, grotesque, irony, which borders on ruthlessness and absurdity. Despite the fact that the ruler loves the Russian people with all his heart and treats them with sincerity, he condemns the ignorance of individual mayors and the government as a whole with similar ease.
He condescendingly treats officials holding posts, while condemning their actions and the political direction of power in general. The most sinister and unpleasant character becomes Gloomy-Grumbling. The author associates it with the desert area.
His dream of an ideal world is a military-type barracks, where everyone will strictly obey his instructions.
He wants to subjugate even the right to register marriage unions, which should be registered only between people who are suitable for each other in height and physique.
It is this image that shows Shchedrin's attitude to the established system of power. He is not ready for total control by the state authorities, he is not against a political system that should regulate the lives of ordinary citizens and help them cope with emerging problems and difficulties.
His sarcastic attitude to the current system allows him, with the help of literary techniques, to accurately convey the author's attitude to the problems of the society that exists at that time.
He cannot correct the current situation on his own, but he tries to draw attention to it and leave a mark on the history of the state.
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The famous satirical review novel "The History of a City" was written by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in 1869-1870.
The author passed off his work as the notebooks of a chronicler found in the archive, who allegedly lived in the 18th century, and assigned himself only a modest role as a “publisher” of his notes; he presented the tsars and tsarist ministers in the form of city governors, and the state regime established by them - in the image of the city of Foolov.
“The History of a City” is, in essence, a satirical history of Russian society,” wrote I.S. Turgenev. The whole life of the city of Foolov is absurd, contrary to normal human life. Its rulers are vicious, cruel puppets; Their goal is to destroy everything that thinks.
The mayors of Glupov: Organchik (Brusty), Pimple (Stuffed Head), Borodavkin, Negodyaev, Intercept-Zalikhvatsky, Gloomy-Grumbling - personify autocracy and arbitrariness.
This novel uses all the artistic techniques of Shchedrin's satire - satirical fantasy, grotesque, merciless irony and cheerful, triumphant humor. This fantasy is in its essence truthful, realistic, only the external features of images and events are unreal.
“They talk about caricature and exaggeration, but you just need to look around for this accusation to fall by itself ... Who writes this caricature? Is it not reality itself? Isn't she at every step accusing herself of exaggeration? - wrote Saltykov-Shchedrin.
The busty Organchik, despite all the fantasticness of his appearance (instead of a brain, he has a primitive mechanism - an organ), performs actions that are no different from the actions of real-life rulers.
At the entrance to the province, he flogged the coachmen, then day and night he wrote "more and more urges." According to his orders, "they seize and catch, flog and flog, describe and sell." Such management has been tested for centuries, and in order to manage in this way, it was enough to have an “empty vessel” instead of a head.
It is not for nothing that the superintendent of a public school answered the question of the Foolovites: “Have there been examples in history of people giving orders, waging wars and concluding treaties, having an empty vessel on their shoulders?” - replies that this is quite possible that a certain ruler "Charles the Innocent ...
He had on his shoulders, although not empty, but still, as it were, an empty vessel, and he waged wars and concluded treatises.
In addition to "ruin!" and “I won’t stand it!” The organ didn’t need any other words due to the nature of its activity. “There are people,” writes Shchedrin, “whose entire existence is exhausted by these two romances.” In the image of Organchik, the features of automatism and callousness of the rulers are sharpened to the limit.
The mayor Vasilisk Borodavkin, famous for his “wars for enlightenment”, for the introduction of mustard and Persian chamomile into the life of the Foolovites, also appears as an evil, soulless doll and wages his wild wars with the assistance of tin soldiers. But the actions of Wartkin are by no means more fantastic than the actions of any tyrant ruler. Borodavkin "burned down thirty-three villages and with the help of these measures recovered the arrears of two rubles and a half."
In works preceding The History of a City, Shchedrin wrote that vile pimples spring up on the “physiognomy of society”, testifying to its rottenness, internal illness. It is precisely this personification of the disease of the exploitative system that the mayor Pryshch is.
The main feature of the mayor Pimple (aka Stuffed Head) is animality. Pimple invariably stimulates the appetite of the leader of the nobility - his head, stuffed with truffles, spreads a seductive smell.
In the episode where the leader of the nobility eats the head of the mayor, Pimple completely loses his human appearance: “The mayor suddenly jumped up and began to wipe with his paws those parts of his body that the leader had poured with vinegar. Then he twirled in one place and suddenly his whole body crashed to the floor.
Even the image of Grim-Burcheev - this symbol of oppression and arbitrariness - has absorbed many specific features of the anti-people rulers of Russia. The images of mayors lack psychological depth. And this is no coincidence. Gloomy-Grumblings are alien to feelings of grief, joy, doubt. They are not people, but mechanical puppets.
They are the exact opposite of living people, suffering and thinking. Shchedrin draws mayors in a sharply sarcastic and grotesque manner, but sometimes he uses both irony and even cheerful humor.
Shchedrin loved the oppressed people of Russia with all his heart, but this did not prevent him from condemning their ignorance and humility.
When Shchedrin was accused of mocking the people, the writer replied: “It seems to me that two concepts should be distinguished in the word “people”: a historical people and a people representing the idea of democracy.
I really cannot sympathize with the first, who bears the Wartkins, Burcheevs, etc. on his shoulders. I have always sympathized with the latter, and all my writings are full of this sympathy.
In The History of a City, Shchedrin predicted the death of the autocracy. Humiliated, driven to despair, the Foolovites eventually begin to understand the impossibility of their existence under the conditions of the despotic regime of Ugryum-Burcheev. The writer tangibly conveys the growing anger of the people, the atmosphere preceding the explosion.
With a picture of this powerful explosion that shook the city, Shchedrin ends his chronicle. Gloomy-Grumbling disappeared, "as if melted in the air," and "history stopped its course," the story of a gloomy city, its downtrodden and obedient inhabitants, insane rulers. A new period begins in the life of the liberated people.
The true history of mankind is endless, it is like a mountain river, the mighty movement of which was powerless to stop Ugryum-Burcheev. “The river did not let up. As before, she flowed, breathed, murmured and wriggled; as before, one bank of it was steep, and the other represented a meadow lowland, flooded into a distant space with water in springtime.
With a premonition of great historical changes in Foolov, Shchedrin's bright view of the future is connected, vividly embodied in his book.
The chronicle is written in a colorful, very complex language.
It widely uses the high syllable of ancient speech - for example, in the address of an archivist-chronicler to the reader - and folk sayings and proverbs, and the heavy, unreadable syllable of stationery papers in a parodic arrangement (the so-called "Certifying Documents" attached to the chronicle), and journalistic style of contemporary journalism Shchedrin. The combination of the "chronicler's" tale manner with the author's transcription of his notes allowed Shchedrin either to give the story a somewhat archaic character of historical evidence, or to re-introduce obvious echoes of modernity into it.
Shchedrin's satire has always been on the side of those who fought for the triumph of justice and truth. The writer believed in the collapse of the Foolovian system of life on earth, in the victory of the immortal ideas of democracy and progress.
I believe that The History of a City is one of the most unusual books on the history of the Russian state. The originality of the "History of a City" - in an amazing combination of real and fantastic.
The book was created as a parody of Karamzin's History of the Russian State. Historians often wrote history “according to tsars,” which Saltykov-Shchedrin took advantage of.
The author presents a historical chronicle of an allegedly real city, but we understand that the whole history of Russia is hidden here. Probably, the idea arose after the reform of 1861 - it did not lead to the expected results. Completely disillusioned with his former political ideals, Saltykov-Shchedrin decides to write The History of a City.
Russia has never seen such a caustic satire on the political system before. Feeling all the injustice of the attitude towards ordinary people, the author set out to show all the shortcomings of the Russian political system. He succeeded quite well.
The satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin affects several aspects, the main of which can be considered the state system of the country. How did one city become the embodiment of a whole country? The answer to this question can be considered a purely Shchedrin method of mixing geography, historical events, fantastic and real.
The city of Foolov appears before us either as a capital, or as a provincial town, or as a village. Contradictions are constantly encountered in its description: either it is built on a swamp, or like the “great city of Rome” - on seven hills, and right there the citizens of this “great city” graze cattle on their pasture.
Such contradictions, oddly enough, not only do not confuse, but help to build a coherent picture. The city becomes the embodiment of the paradox that is so characteristic of the Russian people. A confusion of time (in the case when, for example, a historian writing chronicles in the 18th - early 19th centuries
He mentions events that took place much later) also plays a role in the appearance of Glupov. As if the author sees his country as an apartment, in which there is a mess, where nothing can ever be found and nothing is in its place.
Another object of satire is the mayors of the city of Glupov, those who make history. Unfortunately, there were no worthy rulers who could change the life of the city of Foolov for the better. An organ in the head, or minced meat instead of brains are very eloquent images of thoughtless kings.
But the people of Glupov do not cause sympathy either. The Foolovites watch the succession of petty tyrants, while remaining almost completely passive. Nothing can make them change themselves. Only the forms of obedience change.
One gets the impression that the Foolovites themselves are not worthy of a noble and sane ruler.
The stupid, but in principle rather harmless rulers are being replaced by the cruel dictator and tyrant Grim-Grumbling, who dreams of turning the city into a prison surrounded by a high fence. Perhaps, in this case, the long-awaited order will reign in the city, but the price for it will be prohibitively high.
The scene of the death of Ugryum-Burcheev is encouraging, although even here it is not complete without a certain amount of regret. Yes, the despot dies, buried by a tornado, a raging element of popular anger, not by a conscious protest, but by an impulse that sweeps away everything in its path. The worst thing is that as a result, an even greater tyrant comes to power.
Destruction does not give rise to creation, the author warns us.
In his work “The History of a City”, Saltykov-Shchedrin was able to vividly show the vices of the political and social sphere in the life of his country.
Home > Literature > Summary of Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel "The History of a City"
"The History of a City" was written by Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. A well-known Russian writer in a satirical novel ridiculed all the vices of contemporary society and rulers.
After the work was published in 1870, reproaches and accusations rained down on the author of belittling the history of Russia and mocking the authorities and people. However, the novel at the same time became very popular, its characters turned out to be too recognizable.
These two chapters can be combined with a brief retelling of the "History of a City" . In the first, the author claims that his work is about a real city.
The novel tells only the biographies of the rulers. But it doesn't have to be taken literally.
Less grotesque, but such events are rather commonplace in many cities that have undergone such changes over time.
The "Appeal" is written on behalf of the last archivist who completed the "Chronicle". He characterizes the work as a history of the relationship between the authorities and the people. Throughout the book, a number of mayors will be introduced, who ruled the city at certain intervals.
The first chapter is a kind of preface to future events. It tells about the war of ancient tribes with speaking names . Among them:
The bunglers won, but they didn’t really know what to do with this victory, which means they needed to find a ruler who would maintain order. But this task was not so easy. To whatever prince they turned, everywhere they were refused, because the people were reputed to be stupid.
There is nothing to do, I had to ask for help from a thief - a newcomer. It was he who found them a prince. Yes, although he agreed to rule, he had no intention of living among the people of the Foolovites, as he called the bunglers, so he made the thief his governor. So Novotor turned out to be the head of the city with the new name of Gluupovo.
The townspeople turned out to be submissive, and the newcomer wanted riots so that there was someone to pacify. In addition, he stole a lot, for which the prince decided to punish him by hanging. But the culprit escaped this fate by killing himself with a cucumber.
So the city was left without a ruler, so the prince had to look for others. Three mayors were sent in turn, but all of them had an unclean hand and stole. The prince had no choice but to come to his people and threaten with flogging.
The "Inventory" contains only information about the twenty-two rulers of Glupovo and what they became famous for.
So, the year 1762 came, and Dementy Varlamovich Brudasty became the head of the city. He was a gloomy and silent ruler. All that was heard from him was that "I will not tolerate" and "I will ruin." The Foolovites were very surprised by this, but soon the reason for such reticence was clarified.
Once the clerk went to Brudastom with a report, but he saw the ruler in a very strange form. Dementy Varlamovich, who was sitting in his place, was without a head, it lay separately from the owner on the table and was completely empty. Not every day you see such a sight, the townspeople were amazed.
A certain Baibakov, who was an organ master, was able to clarify the situation. It turned out that the ruler of Glupov was not an easy one. In his head was an organ that played a couple of pieces of music. They were called "ruin" and "I will not tolerate."
These are the words that the people heard from their mayor. But the head was damp, broken and in need of repair. Yes, so difficult that Baibakov was unable to cope, he had to ask for help in St. Petersburg.
A new serviceable head was expected from there.
But while they were waiting for her, impostors appeared in the city. They did not stay as rulers for long, they were quickly taken away from there. Stupid was once again left without a leader, which was followed by anarchy lasting a week.
During this difficult period, the townspeople undertook whole hostilities, as well as drowned and threw each other from the bell towers. At the same time, mayors appeared near the city. Yes, not one, but six at once:
Each applied for this post for their own reasons. Amalia already had a similar experience in the past, while Iraida believed that she should become a mayor by inheritance from her husband, and Klemantinka from her father. The rest of the women did not have good reasons for such claims at all.
The end of the atrocities was put by the newly arrived Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov. He is remembered for his positive influence on the affairs of the city. In Glupovo they began to brew honey and beer, eat mustard and bay leaves. Even the establishment of its own city academy was expected.
"Hungry City", "Straw City" and "Fantastic Traveler" - in all these three chapters we are talking about a new ruler who lingered in the city for six whole years. It was Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko.
And everything was going well in Gluupovo until Pyotr Petrovich fell in love with the coachman's wife Alyonka. The woman refused the courtship of the mayor, for which her husband was sent to Siberia. Then Alyonka changed her mind.
But to covet the neighbor's wife was a sin for which the city paid with drought and the famine that followed.
People were dying and blaming Ferdyshchenko for everything. They sent a walker to him, but they did not wait for him back. Then they sent a petition, but it also remained unanswered. They decided to take revenge on the ruler through a new wife, Alyonka. They threw her from the bell tower, and in the meantime Peter asked for help from his superiors. He asked for bread, to feed the hungry, and instead of food, the military arrived.
However, despite all the hardships endured by the city, Ferdyshchenko's passion for other people's wives did not pass. His next victim was archer Domashka. And this sin did not pass without a trace for the city. Fires started, settlements burned. That's when the mayor took a back seat and let the woman go, but called the team.
He ended the reign and life of Ferdyshchenko on a journey through the city pasture. By order of the ruler himself, he was welcomed everywhere and heartily fed. In less than three days, he could not stand so many meals and died from overeating.
However, he was quickly found a replacement in the form of Vasilisk Semyonovich Borodavkin. He approached the matter thoroughly and studied the entire history of the city. Basilisk liked the government of Dvoekurov, and he decided to imitate him.
However, since the reign of Semyon Konstantinovich time passed, and the Foolovites stopped using mustard. The new mayor gave the order to start sowing again, and even added the production of Provence oil on his own.
But the townspeople did not like this idea.
As a result, Basilisk went to war on the Streltsy settlement, which seemed to him a haven for rebels. The campaign lasted nine days, but was difficult and confusing. It happened to fight with their own, who did not recognize each other in the dark.
Many living soldiers were replaced with tin ones. However, it was possible to reach the intended goal. Yes, but no one was there. There was nothing left to do, as soon as the logs were taken away from the houses, the settlement had to surrender.
Wartkin liked the campaigns, and he spent three more for the sake of enlightenment:
The wars depleted the city's reserves, and the next ruler of the Rogues contributed even more to this.
Then the case was taken over by the Circassian Mikeladze, who, in general, did not care about Glupov, he was hunting for women's skirts, while the city was resting. But this could not continue for a long time, and he was replaced by Feofilakt Irinarkhovich Benevolensky, who was a friend of Speransky.
He, on the contrary, was eager to work, especially legislation. However, he did not have the right to invent his own laws, and then he resorted to secretly writing them, and then anonymously distributing them around the city.
It did not end in anything good, he was expelled from the mayors on charges of connection with Napoleon.
It's Lieutenant Colonel Pimple's time. The city flourished under him, but not for long. The fact is that the head of the head of the city turned out to be stuffed. This was felt by the leader of the nobility, attacked Pimple and ate minced meat.
The next ruler of little use to the city was a state councilor named Ivanov. He was small and unsightly, he soon died. He was replaced by the Viscount de Chario. But the emigrant had too much fun, and besides, he turned out to be a girl. This all led to his return abroad.
Then the time came for the state adviser Erast Andreevich Sadtilov. Not only that, by the time he came to power, the Foolovites suddenly forgot the true religion and began to worship idols, so he completely brought the city to debauchery and laziness.
Nobody cared about the future, they stopped sowing, which naturally ended in famine. Meanwhile, Erast was having fun with balls. So everything would have continued if he had not met the pharmacist's wife, who showed him the right path. Standing on the side of good, he exalted the holy fools and the poor, and the townspeople repented.
But stop the hunger this did not help, and Sadtilov was dismissed.
The last of the bosses described was the idiot Ugryum-Burcheev. He decided that a decent city should have the same streets, houses and people. To do this, Gluupovo had to be destroyed in order to found a new city in its place with the name Nepreklonsk.
But then a new obstacle appeared - the river, which Ugryum-Burcheev in his city did not want to see. Not having come up with a way out better than throwing garbage at the water, the mayor went on the offensive.
This, of course, did not solve the problem, and therefore it was thought up to rebuild the city in a new place.
Why this venture failed, the publisher does not explain. He only says that the records of this were lost, and at the end of history a certain “it” came, because of which the sun faded and the earth shook. Gloomy-Grumbling hastened to disappear.
At the end of the story, there are "Supporting Documents" compiled by some former mayors and containing recommendations for managing the city.
It will be useful to read this work in full, and not just to get acquainted with the summary of the "History of one city" in the chapters given above or on the briefli website. Only in this way can you feel the atmosphere of the book, which cannot be conveyed in abbreviation.
In the novel, one can trace parallels with such historical events as palace coups, and also recognize in some personalities the images of real-life rulers. For example:
Thus, the story of Mikhail Evgrafovich is relevant in all historical eras. The people have the ruler they deserve. Behind the parody, exaggerations and fantastic incidents, one can see the history of not one particular city in Russia, but the situation in the country as a whole. The author masterfully describes the mores of power and the obedience of the people, as well as their relationship.
The full title of the piece is “The history of one city. M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin) published according to original documents. In form, this is a chronicle with a clear time frame of 1731-1826. The author acts in it as a narrator-archivist, compiler of the "Glupov chronicler", as a publisher who published and commented on archival materials.
By genre, this is a review novel, a parody novel on the traditional representation of the history of the state in the form of a successive chain of successive princes-city governors. The writer parodies a number of episodes from "temporary years" and "History of the Russian State".
Karamzin, for example, the origin of the description of fires, famine that befell the Fools. As in the Russian history of the 18th century, a number of false rulers appear in the novel, some of the mayors resemble Russian tsars or their favorites.
For the author, it is not important which of them correlates with historical figures, since the problem of the relationship between the authorities and the people is in the center of attention. The satirist deliberately uses anachronisms: he created novel not about the past, but about the present of Russia, although critics often saw the opposite in the work. For example, I.
Turgenev wrote that “History of a city”, "in essence, a satirical real history of the Russian people in the second part of the past and at the beginning of this century."
History of one city
Saltykov-Shchedrin chooses the city as the place of action of his work - an ordinary city with a square in the center is the house of the mayor and government offices, with a cathedral, a market, wooden houses of inhabitants, numerous suburbs. Everything in it is gray, monotonous, stupid.
Foolov now looks like a county town, sometimes like a capital, sometimes it resembles a village with a wooden fence, sometimes it turns out that behind the stupid pasture there is a border with the Byzantine Empire.
Such inconsistency is explained by the fact that for the author, Glupov was a model of all of Russia, in a generalized way, reflecting all the most typical and most terrible of Russian history, the eternal vices of Russian public and state life.
The novel contains a gallery of mayors. All of them have negative “talking” surnames. Saltykov-Shchedrin identifies three types of mayors: despots, liberals and democrats. However, the author, through satire, hyperbole and the grotesque, shows the relativity of such a division.
The relationship between the rulers and the Foolovites corresponds to the formula: "The mayors whip, and the townsfolk tremble." Mayors are like puppets: they perform their duties like clockwork with stuffed or mechanical heads. Their rise to power is as accidental as sudden death.
The gallery of mayors is opened by the silent, energetic, never smiling Brusty. The image was created using grotesque (only two melodies are needed to rule the city; a body without a head is the literal embodiment of the saying “no head on the shoulders”) and hyperbole (scribbling papers day and night). Shchedrin points to the "brainlessness", bureaucracy of this city governor
Pimple has a lot in common with Brodasty. He arrived in the city “to rest, sir!”, does not interfere in the affairs of the townsfolk at all, so they prosper. The author exaggerates the well-being of the townspeople: “The barns were simply bursting with offerings ... huge chests, they could not hold gold and silver, and banknotes were randomly lying on the floor.”
Shchedrin persistently asserts that, without interfering with the development of the people, the authorities will bring him the greatest benefit. Therefore, Mikalaidze was able to stop the savagery of the Foolovites after the “wars for education” by ordering education to be “stopped” and “laws not to be issued”.
Benevolensky, although he creates completely meaningless laws because of his “irresistible inclination towards legislation,” does not interfere with the natural course of history. He retired from business, therefore, under him, "the well-being of the Foolovites ... gained only a greater affirmation."
The reign of Grim-Burcheev is the apogee of despotism. The goal of this mayor is to break down the old Foolov and build a new, correct, European city, destroying all the buildings in it, changing the course of the river. All day long he is busy with stepping, like an automaton, giving commands to himself.
This is a fanatic, whom the author calls a "gloomy idiot." He is a despot in the family: his hungry, wild children once overate and died. Under the rule of Ugryum-Burcheev, even the simplest Foolovites, for all their narrow-mindedness and downtroddenness, felt that "it is impossible to breathe further in this air."
Stories Gloomy-Burcheev ends the novel with a picture of “either a tornado, or a downpour” that swooped down on Foolov. Critics argued about what sense to invest in "It", which destroyed Ugryum-Bucheev.
Some saw in this image a revolution, since the tornado appeared at the moment when the inhabitants began to feel a sense of shame, something similar to civic consciousness. But Gloomy-Grumbling did not finish his last sentence to the end: "Someone will come after me, who will be much more terrible than me."
Therefore, “It” was considered a symbol of an even tougher reaction, since the “Inventory of the mayors” says that the next ruler was Perechvat-Zalikhvatsky, who entered Foolov “on a white horse”, burned the gymnasium and destroyed science.
The activities of the mayors led to the fact that "history has stopped its course." But this did not last long: the river, which Ugryum-Burcheev tried to curb, swept away the dam and returned to its old course. This is a symbol of natural development, which is opposed to the absurd state power.
The life of the townspeople is depicted not satirically, but tragically, the position of the Foolovites resembles a “black, boundless abyss”. The colors are extremely thickened, there is not a single bright spot. The Foolovites do not have a clear class affiliation: they either go to work or work in the field.
Among them there are "dangerous dreamers", and "little people and orphans", and "bureaucratic archangels". In general, this is a faceless mass: the townsfolk have no names. This is their main difference from the city rulers, who retain their individuality. Saltykov-Shchidrin emphasizes the downtroddenness and loyal feelings of the Foolovites.
To arouse the joy of the townspeople, it is only necessary to show them the ruler, for them it is important “that a friendly smile play on the face of the chief ...”. Foolovites do not know how to defend their interests before the authorities. They “were glad to rebel, but they could not arrange it in any way, because they did not know what the very essence of rebellion was.”
“Rebellion on the knees” could outgrow the real one, but this never happened, although the author points out that the road to the city of Umnov lies through the city of Buyanov.
Critic, and Suvorin reproached M. Saltykov-Shchedrin in “mocking the Russian people”, but the writer himself argued that “one should distinguish between a people representing the idea of democracy and a historical people”. It was the latter, with his weak-willed world outlook, that became the object of satire, and the writer “always sympathized” with the former.
A chronicle of the history of a conditional Russian city, in which the funny is mixed with the terrible. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes a satire on contemporary Russia under the guise of a satire on Russian history - and creates a satire on Russian eternity.
What is this book about?
A chronicle of the history of the conditional Russian city of Glupov and a chronicle of the reign of grotesque, disgusting and intimidating mayors. Foolov is looking for a prince, suffers from mechanical cries of "I will not tolerate" and "I will ruin", bakes pies according to the charter, goes through a period of idolatry, turns into a barracks, burns, starves and drowns. The "History of a City" is often seen as a fantastic satire on the history of Russia, but behind this meaning lies another one: Shchedrin's book is about the "Russian inescapable", about the non-historical, fatal features of the national mentality. Starting as a farce, by the end of the "History of a City" reaches the scope of an eschatological anti-utopia.
When was it written?
Ideas related to the "History of a City" arose from Shchedrin as early as the late 1850s. The Provincial Essays, approaches to the gloomy satire of the History, also belong to this time. Shchedrin worked directly on History in 1869-1870, in parallel with Pompadours and Pompadours. The plan of the book changed even when publication had already begun: for example, in the first edition of the Inventory for Town Governors, there is no Gloom-Burcheev, the most prominent figure in the final version of The History of a City.
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. 1870s
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How is it written?
"The History of a City" is a historical chronicle, which is successively kept by several chroniclers. In accordance with the described eras, the style of narration also changes. Saltykov-Shchedrin resorts to the whole arsenal of satirical devices: "The History of a City" is full of allusions to real events, ironic references to officially recognized historians, deliberate anachronisms, grotesque details, telling surnames and insert documents that brilliantly parody bureaucratic absurdity. Saltykov-Shchedrin hides under the guise of a publisher of archives, but does not try to disguise interference in the "material". Already during his lifetime, Shchedrin was often compared to Gogol. The History of a City confirms the legitimacy of these comparisons, not only because Shchedrin ridiculed the world of bureaucracy, but also because he described catastrophes in a poetic and truly terrible way.
What influenced her?
In the case of The History of a City, it would be more appropriate to speak not of influence, but of repulsion - primarily from official historiography, which presents the history of the country as the history of rulers, and from the bureaucratic style of orders, prescriptions and memos, which Shchedrin met in the years his vice-governorship in the Ryazan and Tver provinces. The description of morals in the "History of a City" and "Pompadours and Pompadours", and before that in the "Provincial Essays" inherits the "physiological" essay tradition natural school. The literary trend of the 1840s, the initial stage in the development of critical realism, is characterized by social pathos, everyday writing, and interest in the lower strata of society. Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Goncharov are considered to be a natural school; Gogol's work significantly influenced the formation of the school. The almanac "Physiology of Petersburg" (1845) can be considered the manifesto of the movement. Reviewing this collection, Faddey Bulgarin used the term "natural school" for the first time, and in a disparaging sense. But Belinsky liked the definition and subsequently stuck. Important for Shchedrin's book are Russian humor and satire of the 1860s - texts by Kozma Prutkov, publications of Iskra and Whistle.
Gogol's style, and not only satirical one, had a direct influence on the "History of a City" (one can recall the infernal description of the fire in Foolovo). The idea was probably influenced by Pushkin's "History of the village of Goryukhin". The great European satirists indirectly influenced Shchedrin: Francois Rabelais, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire. Possible important pretext The original text that influenced the creation of the work or served as a background for its creation. "The Stories of a City" - Christoph Wieland's novel "The History of the Abderites" (1774) - a satire on the German province, hidden behind the description of the inhabitants of the Thracian city of Abdera, who from Antiquity had a reputation as fools and dupes, European Foolovites. However, there is no evidence that Shchedrin was familiar with Wieland's novel; From the well-known satirical chronicles, he definitely caught the eye of Edouard Laboulet's pamphlet "Prince-Dog", published in "Notes of the Fatherland". Ultimately, the "History of a City" is deeply original - Turgenev, who knew European literature perfectly, called Shchedrin's book "strange and amazing."
In the journal "Domestic Notes" in 1869-1870. This journal, whose editorial board included Shchedrin, was the only publication in Russia where such a poignant work could be published.
The first book edition of The History of a City was published in 1870 and was seriously different from the magazine version: Shchedrin removed many digressions and reasoning from the final version - a very witty, but "braking" text. Subsequently, he returned to the text twice more and revised it for new publications - the last lifetime edition was published in 1883. The first scientifically verified edition appeared in 1926 in the first volume of the collected works of Shchedrin, Konstantin Khalabaev and Boris Eikhenbaum were responsible for its preparation. Another scientific publication appeared in the Academia in 1935. Today we are reading "The History of a City" according to the text of the last lifetime edition, taking into account the work of Soviet literary critics.
Journal "Domestic Notes", which published "History". March 1869
The first book edition of the History of a City. St. Petersburg, Andrey Kraevsky printing house, 1870
How was it received?
In the criticism of the majority of contemporaries, "The History of a City" "did not find a proper assessment and general recognition" 1 Nikolaev D.P. “The History of a City” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Abstract dis. ... cand. philol. Sciences. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1975. C. 2. : the work was considered only as a "historical satire", an excursion into the past. Turgenev gave such an assessment to the book: “... Too true, alas! picture of Russian history. Aleksey Suvorin, the author of a review in Vestnik Evropy that offended Shchedrin, spoke in the same vein. Suvorin saw in The History of a City "a mockery of the Foolovites", Shchedrin (who read it as a "mockery of the people") objected vehemently and even published criticism in response. Other contemporaries understood that Glupov was a satire not only on the past, but rather on Russian life in general, including its provinciality. In this context, Dostoevsky refers not too sympathetically to The History of a City in Possessed; It is noteworthy that in The History of a City there is a mayor with the surname of one of the characters in The Idiot - Ferdyshchenko, and post-Soviet researchers have found many parallels between these two works, mainly in terms of criticism of socialist utopianism.
Writers of the following generations emphasized the inescapable relevance of The History of a City: “When I became an adult, a terrible truth was revealed to me. Atamans, good fellows, dissolute Klemantinki, rukosuy and bast shoes, Major Pryshch and the former scoundrel Moody-Grumbling survived Saltykov-Shchedrin. Then my view of the environment became mournful, ”wrote Mikhail Bulgakov 2 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. P. 78. . Shchedrin's style influenced the best Soviet satirists such as Ilf and Petrov and Yuri Olesha, the works of Bulgakov and Platonov 3 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. S. 407-417. . At the same time, Soviet propaganda gave Saltykov-Shchedrin a place in the pantheon of revolutionary democrats, roughly corresponding to Gogol's position in the previous era; In 1952, Stalin uttered the phrase “We need Gogols. We need Shchedrins,” and for a short time, “Gogols and Shchedrins” became part of the cultural agenda. The inertia of ideology persisted in Shchedrin studies even after Stalin, but gradually the History of a City began to be considered in the context of the world satire 4 Nikolaev D.P. Shchedrin's satire and realistic grotesque. M.: Hood. lit., 1977. and - not without reason - to see in the last chapters skepticism in relation to the "revolutionary democracy" 5 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991; Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. . In 1989, director Sergei Ovcharov made the film “It” based on “The History of a City”: this film adaptation draws clear parallels with the history of not only Tsarist Russia, but also the USSR.
The genre of satirical chronicle (including the chronicle of the future), replete with anachronisms, is reflected in such recent works as Sasha's "Palisandria" Sokolova 6 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. C. 61-72. and the novels of Viktor Pelevin in the 2010s. Finally, in the 1990s, the modern writer Vyacheslav Pietsukh published two direct sequels to The History of a City - the novels The History of the City of Foolov in Modern and Contemporary Times and The City of Foolov in the Last Ten Years.
The film "It", based on the "History of a City". Directed by Sergei Ovcharov. 1989
Is "The History of a City" a parody of traditional historiography?
Formally, The History of a City is the documents of the Foolovsky Chronicler published by Shchedrin. This is the name of the collection of historical information recorded by Foolov's archivists (there are four of them - an obvious ironic reference to the evangelists; two of them bear the Gogol surname Tryapichkin). Shchedrin imitates "church-book ornate syllable" 7 Ishchenko I. T. Parodies of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mn.: Publishing house of the Belarusian State University. V. I. Lenin, 1974. C. 51. , but at the same time - contemporary historiography: the books of Nikolai Kostomarov, the "state" history of Boris Chicherin and Vladimir Solovyov. Gets, and with the mention of names, less serious "feuilletonists-historians" (Mikhail Semevsky, Pyotr Bartenev, Sergei Shubinsky) and fiction writers writing on historical topics. According to Dmitry Likhachev, the writer “parodies not so much the chronicle as the historians of the state school, who used the features of the chronicle depiction of the historical process to substantiate their provisions" 8 Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. L.: Hood. lit., 1967. C. 344. . Likhachev adds that “the chronicle manner of depiction provided unlimited possibilities for a satirical depiction reality" 9 Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. L.: Hood. lit., 1967. C. 337. : thus, the reference to "things of bygone days" is a screen for deeper generalizations.
If you feel that the law places an obstacle for you, then, having removed it from the table, put it under you
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
The very structure of the "History of a City" is a parody of the traditional approach to the history of the people as the history of rulers. The Russian reader has come across such a presentation of history since childhood - for example, in Alexandra Ishimova's History of Russia in Stories for Children. Almost all elements of the myth about the emergence of Russian statehood, in particular the Norman theory of the calling of the Varangians, are cruelly parodied by Shchedrin. Even the number of city governors of Glupov “clearly hints at the number of Russians kings" 10 Nikolaev D.P. “The History of a City” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Abstract dis. ... cand. philol. Sciences. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1975. C. 16. . Events and terms of “big history” are projected onto the private history of the provincial Foolov: high politics and military campaigns (from Benevolensky’s relations with Napoleon to the siege of the “bug plant” in the chapter on six city governors). This creates a comic effect of a rather ancient quality: we can recall the ancient Greek "War of Mice and Frogs" and the "Battle of the Books" by Jonathan Swift.
It is worth mentioning another parody of official historiography, written almost simultaneously with The History of a City: a poem by Alexei K. Tolstoy, the leitmotif of which is the same lack of order in Russia, noted in The Tale of Bygone Years. The poem was not published during Tolstoy's lifetime and went around in lists. According to Shchedrin scholar Dmitry Nikolaev, The History of a City escaped such a fate thanks to its grotesque, semi-fantastic features that confuse censorship 11 Nikolaev D.P. “The History of a City” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Abstract dis. ... cand. philol. Sciences. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1975. C. 22. .
Semyon Remezov. Brief Siberian chronicle. Fragment. The end of the 17th century - 1703. Shchedrin writes "History of a City" in an annalistic manner. According to Dmitry Likhachev, the writer “parodies not so much the annals as historians of the state school, who used the features of the annalistic depiction of the historical process to substantiate their positions”
Wikimedia Commons
What else does Saltykov-Shchedrin parody?
In The History of a City, parodies of the bureaucratic style of documents of the 18th-19th centuries are of great importance - "Supporting Documents", collected in the appendix to the "History of a City". Here are the “Thoughts on the Mayor’s Unanimity” written by the mayor Borodavkin and the “Charter on Respectable Cooking Pies” created by the mayor Benevolensky, which regulates the completely natural course of things - not without benefit for the legislator: a part from the middle, let him bring it as a gift. The "Corporate Documents" used entire passages from the "Code of Laws of the Russian empire" 12 Ishchenko I. T. Parodies of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mn.: Publishing house of the Belarusian State University. V. I. Lenin, 1974. C. 58. . This was a matter in which Shchedrin, at one time himself a major official, understood perfectly well. In addition, before his eyes he had an example of such a parody: "Project: on the introduction of unanimity in Russia" by Kozma Prutkov.
The essay tradition of the 1860s, to which The History of a City adjoins, is characterized by ironic references to the Bible and other religious texts. As researcher Tatyana Golovina points out, “associations with the Old and New Testaments permeate all chapters and all levels of the text” of the book. Shchedrin 13 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. C. 6. . The most obvious example is the chapter “Affirmation of repentance. Conclusion”, which ends with the apocalyptic catastrophe of Glupov. But there are many other allusions in the book: “the beheading of Major Pimple” (a reference to John the Baptist); the construction by the Foolovites of a tower to the sky (similar to the Babylonian); likening the depraved Ferdyshchenko and his mistress Alyonka to the Old Testament Ahab and Jezebel; the boss spits in the eyes of the subordinate and heals him of blindness (like Christ) 14 Mk. 8:23. and so on. According to Golovina, Shchedrin develops Karamzin's idea of history as a "sacred book of peoples" and consistently compares episode after episode of Foolov's history with biblical stories 15 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. C. 8-13. . City governors, likened to kings, are not content with this: they need to “establish themselves in the role God" 16 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. P. 13. or feel like its plenipotentiary governors (in Shchedrin they are called “placed from the highest authorities” - as G. Ivanov points out, the word “highest” in the 19th century was used almost exclusively in relation to God) 17 Ivanov G. V. Comments. “History of one city” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M .: Hood. lit., 1969. S. 558 . This trend reaches its apogee in the reign of Ugryum-Burcheev, followed by the Foolovsky end of the world.
Sergei Alimov. Illustration for the "History of a City"
Saltykov-Shchedrin hinted at some specific rulers and specific historical events?
Yes, everywhere. Even the names of the tribes, among which were the proto-stupid bunglers, are taken from Ivan Sakharov's Tales of the Russian People and parody the enumeration of the tribes in The Tale of Bygone Years; from there - the story of the search for the prince, clearly hinting at the calling of the Varangians. Often in the town governors of Glupov one can recognize several historical figures at once: for example, in Ugryum-Burcheev one sees a portrait not only and not so much of the terrible Minister of War Arakcheev, but of Nicholas I, who was proud of his terrifying glance 18 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. P. 237. . There are attempts to compare Ugryum-Burcheev even with Peter I 19 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. C. 779-786.; Alyakrinskaya M. A. On the problem of historical consciousness of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin // History and Culture. 2009. No. 7. S. 181-189. .
The sentimental Dvoekourov and the mystic-minded Sadtilov are reminiscent of Alexander I, while the German Pfeifer is reminiscent of Peter III. “Comrade Speransky in the seminary” Benevolensky is a caricature of Speransky himself, as evidenced by his typical for bursaka A student of the theological seminary, colloquially - bursy. a Latin surname, and Vicomte Du Chario, "on examination turned out to be a maiden," a reference to the adventurer Charles d'Eon de Beaumont, the French ambassador to Russia, who had a penchant for dressing in women's clothes. The mayors of the 18th century come out "from the mud" - they are former barbers, stokers, cooks; all these are allusions to the career of favorites and dignitaries under the Russian empresses. The chapter “The Tale of the Six Mayors” in a caricature form describes the era of palace coups: Anna Ioannovna is recognized in the mayor Iraidka, and Catherine II is recognized in Amalia Karlovna. The journey of Governor Ferdyshchenko through his possessions is a reminiscence of Catherine's trip to Tavrida and numerous ostentatious voyages of Russian governors. When in 1761 a storm breaks out over Glupov, breaking the mayor Baklan in half, this is an allusion to “that political storm that agitated Russia in 1762, suddenly ending the life of the feeble-minded Peter III and enthroning his ambitious spouse" 20 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. P. 220 . Such examples can be multiplied and multiplied.
Who are the mayors?
The word “mayor” in the official language denoted the head of the city, “separated from the province into an independent administrative unit due to its special significance or geographical provisions" 21 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016, p. 19 . The mayor should not be confused with the mayor - the head of the police in the county town (Gogol's Gorodnich from the "Inspector" - the actual owner of the city, but his position is not analogous to the modern mayor or governor). The mayors were appointed personally by the emperor. This is not very much in line with either Glupov's unimportant nature or the dubious qualities of all his rulers.
Why is Shchedrin talking specifically about city governors? Probably, in order to enhance the satirical effect and give additional "fluidity", vagueness to the status of Glupov - the "prefabricated city" representing the whole of Russia. Some of Shchedrin's mayors demonstrate quite provincial, and even royal manners. And others go even further: the mayor Borodavkin secretly writes a charter “On the non-restriction of city governors by laws”, the only clause of which reads: “If you feel that the law puts an obstacle for you, then, having removed it from the table, put it under you.” G. Ivanov, commenting on this place, points to the following story by Vladimir Odoevsky: “Governor Hoven was present in the provincial government (during it), and when, in a dispute, they showed him the Code, he took it and sat on it, saying: well, where is yours now law?" 22 Ivanov G. V. Comments. “History of one city” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M .: Hood. lit., 1969. S. 572.
The building of the boarding school of the Ryazan provincial gymnasium. From the album "Ryazan in photographs of the 19th - the first third of the 20th century." 1868–1869. In 1858-1860, Shchedrin served as vice-governor of the Ryazan province.
Why didn't Shchedrin describe in detail all the mayors of Glupov?
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the fragmentation, lack of integrity of the chronicle is an element of a parody of the archival chronicle, which may not be preserved in its entirety, or of the publishing strategy of “historian feuilletonists”, who chose mostly anecdotes for their writings. Secondly, following these “feuilletonists” in a parody, Shchedrin exhausts the “stupid plot”: the most remarkable, most typical, most odious and “catastrophic” city governors are described in detail in the text; the rest of the boards are rather touches to the picture. Finally, in the "History of a City" there is a direct explanation why some mayors are remembered by the Foolovites, while others are not:
“There were truly wise mayors, those who were not alien even to the thought of establishing an academy in Foolov (such, for example, is the civilian adviser Dvoekurov, listed under the “inventory” under No. 9), but since they did not call the Foolovites either “brothers”, nor "robyats", then their names remained in oblivion. On the contrary, there were others, although not really stupid ones - there were no such people - but those who did average things, that is, flogged and collected arrears, but since they always said something kind at the same time, their names not only were recorded on the tablets, but even served as the subject of a wide variety of oral legends.
Why did Shchedrin change the plan of "The History of a City" so much?
This often happens with large works that are published in parts: for example, the beginning of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" was published under the title "1805", and as work on the continuation of the plan was radically revised. Saltykov-Shchedrin also deepened the idea of the "History of a City", returning to this work until the end of his life. The two most notable changes are the appearance of the last head of Foolov, Ugryum-Burcheev, who is not in the first published version of the Inventory of Town Governors. According to the researcher Vladimir Svirsky, Shchedrin decided to introduce Ugryum-Burcheev and entrust him with the actions of Intercept-Zalikhvatsky, who remained only in the Inventory, after the disclosure of the Nechaev case at the end of 1869 of the year 23 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. P. 26-28. . Another example of a drastic change in the plan is the complete reworking of the chapter about the mayor Broudust: from the "Unheard-of sausage" he becomes a mechanical "Organ", and another mayor, Pimple, gets the edible stuffed head. As a result, the gallery of chiefs is enriched. There are different types of rulers - brainless-protective and brainless liberal 24 Nikolaev D.P. Shchedrin's satire and realistic grotesque. M.: Hood. lit., 1977. C. 144-164. .
Konstantin Gorbatov. Evening in the Russian province. 1931 Historical, architectural and art museum "New Jerusalem", Istra
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Province in the 1830s. 1907 State Russian Museum
What is Shchedrin actually making fun of: history or the present?
"The History of a City" is not only a satire on the past of Russia from 1731 to 1825 (dates from the forewarning). Shchedrin's satire is essentially timeless. Shchedrin himself, responding in a private letter to Suvorin's review, stated: “I don't care about history: I mean only the present. The historical form of the story was convenient for me because it allowed me to more freely refer to the known phenomena of life. Further, already in print, Shchedrin again clarified his intentions: “I had in mind not “historical”, but quite ordinary satire, satire directed against those characteristic features of Russian life that make it not quite convenient.”
This was well felt by vigilant contemporaries. The censor, who was reading The History of a City, spoke of Borodavkin’s project to establish an educational institute for city governors as “an application of the author’s satire to the present state of affairs, and not to the past.” time" 25 Evgeniev-Maksimov V. E. In the grip of reaction. M., L.: 1926. C. 33. . This is how Soviet commentators read The History of a City (turning a blind eye to the similarities between the gloomy-grumbling Glupov and the totalitarian social order of his day).
“If the Foolovites with firmness endured the most terrible disasters ... then they owed this only to the fact that in general any disaster seemed to them something completely independent of them, and therefore inevitable”
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
To reinforce the feeling of "completely ordinary satire," Shchedrin uses anachronisms throughout, which allude to the most recent past. Far from all such references are easy to read: “The History of a City” is magazine prose, perceived by the reader against the backdrop of the topical context of periodicals and largely built on playing up the reader’s recognizable current allusions" 26 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar's curls and lordly arrogance: from the comments to the "History of one city" // Shchedrinskiy collection. Issue. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. S. 175. . A real commentary will help the reader here. So, the primary source of the ideas of the Foolov mayors about the connection between education and executions are the real memos of the governors 1860s 27 Elsberg Ya. Shchedrin and Glupov // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. The history of one city. L.: Academia, 1934. S. IX-X. . The "secret intrigue" of lords Kshepshitsilsky and Pshekshitsilsky reflects the mood of the patriotic press of the late 1860s, which maniacally attributed all the troubles of Russia to " Polish The Kingdom of Poland was part of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1915. In 1830 and 1863, the Poles rise in revolt, in both cases it ends in failure. The uprisings intensify anti-Polish sentiments in Russia - many problems in the country are attributed to the political intrigues of the Poles. After the assassination attempt, Alexander II first asks Karakozov, who shot him: “Are you a Pole?” intrigue" 28 Ivanov G. V. (Comments. "History of one city") // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M .: Hood. lit., 1969. S. 564. . The Foolovites, who decided to worship Perun, sing the “Slavophile” poems of Averkiev and Boborykin contemporary to Shchedrin, and then save themselves by the articles of the critic Nikolai Strakhov Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov (1828-1896) was an ideologue of pochvennichestvo, a close friend of Tolstoy and the first biographer of Dostoevsky. Strakhov wrote the most important critical articles about Tolstoy's work, so far we are talking about "War and Peace", largely relying on them. Strakhov was an active critic of nihilism and Western rationalism, which he contemptuously called "enlightenment". Strakhov's ideas about man as "the central node of the universe" influenced the development of Russian religious philosophy. . The holy fool Paramon utters the enigmatic incantation “Without practice, there are no bands of bells” (distorted Polish “Bez pracy nie będzie kołaczy”, “There will be no rolls without labor”) - the signature phrase of the famous holy fool Ivan Koreysha, who died in 1861. His figure signified the extreme spread of foolishness in Russia; the numerous religious insanities of the Foolovites are a response to this phenomenon. The portrait of the Greek governor Lamvrokakis is related to the education reform, after which the ancient Greek language returned to the gymnasium as a compulsory language. subject 29 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar's curls and lordly arrogance: from the comments to the "History of one city" // Shchedrinskiy collection. Issue. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. S. 178-179. . Finally, the chapter "The Hungry City" reflects the real famine that hit Russia in 1868. Similar examples can be called and called.
But the “real” Shchedrin is still not a calendar year of 1869, but a historical narrative. Although Shchedrin calls it only a formal device, it is indeed full of references to Russian history. The conclusion suggests itself that history and modernity in the "History of a City" are not delimited, but merged into one: Foolov is eternal Russia.
Sergei Alimov. Illustration for the "History of a City"
What cities does Foolov look like?
The city of Foolov appears in Shchedrin's essays even before The History of a City - it was a typical provincial Russian city, a suitable environment for satirical exercises. Foolov "History of one city" - the place is much more complex: "The city has become somehow strange, mobile, changeable," Dmitry notes Nikolaev 30 Nikolaev D.P. “The History of a City” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (grotesque as a principle of satirical typification). Abstract dis. ... cand. philol. Sciences. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1975. C. 9. . Foolov turns into a testing ground for experiments of concentrated Russian history, into some kind of "enchanted place"; in this respect, he does not pretend to be similar to any real Russian city. It turns out to be "sometimes a district obscure town, then a state, empire, 31 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. P. 458. vast territory bordering on Byzantium. In some ways, it also resembles Russian capitals: “it was founded on a swamp through which a river flows - like Petersburg, and at the same time it is located on seven hills and has three rivers - like Moscow" 32 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016, p. 21. . Philologist Igor Sukhikh brings Glupov closer to the concept of a “prefabricated city”, as Gogol called the scene "Auditor" 33 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2016. P. 458. .
At the same time, one real prototype of Glupov is established easily and accurately. The self-name of the Foolovtsy - bunglers, according to the "Tales of the Russian people" by I. P. Sakharov, referred to the Yegorievtsy, however, in the description of Glupov, much clearly refers to Vyatka (modern Kirov), where Saltykov-Shchedrin lived in exile in 1848-1855. The name “Folupov” is reminiscent of “Khlynov” (that was the name of Vyatka from 1457 to 1780), in the chapter “The War for Enlightenment” Saltykov-Shchedrin refers to the legendary battle between the Vyatichi and Ustyuzhans, the memory of which was celebrated with a local folk festival - Svistoplyaskaya. Krutogorsk is also clearly written off from Vyatka from Shchedrin's earlier work, Provincial Essays.
Tver station. From the album of Joseph Goffert "Views of the Nikolaev railway". 1864 From 1860 to 1862 Shchedrin served as vice-governor of Tver.
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
Who makes up the population of Glupov?
The population of Foolov is quite homogeneous (the Foolovites often do something all the same - either they graze cattle, or rebel against mustard, or destroy the city) - and at the same time changeable in its composition: “then suddenly they turn out to have “favorite” citizens and a club where they play boston; now they have intelligentsia and priests, then again the differences are obscured”; “estates in Foolov are a very ghostly" 34 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016, p. 34. . Glupovsky's "revolt on his knees" is more reminiscent of literary descriptions of the morals of the Russian peasantry, but the unsuccessful "debut of Foolov's liberalism" (the fate of Ionka Kozyr) is an ironic reference to the Russian perception of Voltairianism. The Foolovites are a model of a society that acts as a single mass, subject to external factors. Inside herself, she can be heterogeneous, but she is always opposed to power and fate. This passive opposition helps her to survive: “If the Foolovites with firmness endured the most terrible disasters ... then they owed this only to the fact that in general any disaster seemed to them something completely independent of them, and therefore inevitable.” Attempts at self-organization turn into chaos: for example, during the reign of six city governors, the crowd tries to conduct a dialogue with the world, cracking down on its random representatives.
Sergei Alimov. Illustrations for "The History of a City"
Was Saltykov-Shchedrin himself a good official?
Public service for Shchedrin was a predestined matter: since he studied at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum at public expense, he had to spend six years in the service. years 35 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016. S. 8-9. . In 1844 he entered the office of the War Office. His career was soon interrupted: the young Shchedrin was a member of the circle of Mikhail Butashevich-Petrashevsky (the same one in which Dostoevsky almost paid with his life), and after leaving it, he wrote the satirical story "A Tangled Case", where he brought out the radical Petrashevsky. The Nikolaev censorship, frightened by the revolutionary events in Europe in 1848, mistook Shchedrin's satire for genuine propaganda, and the writer went into exile in Vyatka (the features of this city are recognizable in Foolov). There he was brought closer to himself by the governor Akim Sereda: the exiled Shchedrin received the post of adviser to the Vyatka provincial government and, in particular, “correctly testified to the reliability of the myself" 36 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016, p. 11. . “The Vyatka experience of state activity was painful and paradoxical,” writes researcher Elena Gracheva. - On the one hand, Saltykov, an official in the fight against lawlessness, rushed to restore order and used all his strength to bring life in line with the Law. On the other hand, every single day he was convinced that the Order in its Russian version is violence no less than lawlessness. This conviction is presented in an exaggerated form in the History of a City.
I saw how the audience writhed with laughter while reading some of Saltykov's essays. There was something almost terrible in this laughter, because the audience, laughing, at the same time felt how the scourge whipped itself
Ivan Turgenev
In 1855, Shchedrin received a pardon from the new Emperor Alexander II, returned to St. Petersburg and entered the service of the Ministry of the Interior. Soon he began to publish "Provincial Essays", in which he summarized his administrative experience. The essays became very popular - and, according to legend, Alexander II, after reading them, said: "Let him go to serve, but he does as he writes." So Shchedrin became vice-governor of the Ryazan province - it was a high, but not a formal position, forcing him to enter into the private circumstances of the inhabitants and revise the work of local departments. His further career was connected with the Ministry of Finance, he worked in Penza and Tula. Gracheva characterizes Shchedrin the official as follows: “Saltykov ... everywhere, day and night, eradicated abuses, redid all poorly drafted papers with his own hands, audited the negligent and inspired awe and admiration in his subordinates. He was an excellent official: smart, honest and competent, but at the same time a monstrous boss and subordinate: rude, constantly irritated and cursing like a cab driver, regardless of faces.<…>Having spat with all the bosses as much as possible, in 1868 Saltykov went into final and irrevocable resignation. When M. I. Semevsky will talk with Saltykov on February 6, 1882, Saltykov will tell him: “I try to forget about the time of my service. And don't post anything about her. I am a writer, this is my vocation" 37 Gracheva E. N. “The history of one city” by M. E. Saltykov (Shchedrin), or “The complete image of historical progress with continuously walking reptiles” // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. History of one city. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, Azbuka-Atticus, 2016, p. 16. . The Soviet literary critic Yakov Elsberg, an odious personality in the history of Russian philology, writes that “Shchedrin’s sharpest hatred for Glupov is ... hatred for such elements of ideology, politics and everyday life that were in one form or another in the past of the Saltykov" 38 Elsberg Ya. Shchedrin and Glupov // Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. The history of one city. L.: Academia, 1934. S. XIV. .
Vyatka. Cathedral and spiritual consistory. End of the 19th century. In 1848, Shchedrin was exiled to Vyatka (modern Kirov), where he spent seven years. The features of this city are recognizable in Glupov
Paul Fearn/Alamy/TASS
On what methods is the "History of one city" built? Can we call it grotesque?
The grotesque, strictly speaking, is not necessary for satire, but it is often present in it. It is characterized by attention to the ugly and fantastic at the same time - and the "History of a City", especially its first chapters, is all built on this combination. From the mechanized head of Brusty, we move on to the stuffed (and disgustingly devoured) head of Pimple. One mayor's brains dried up "from the uselessness of their use," the other "legs were turned back with their feet." Tin soldiers are filled with blood, come to life and destroy the huts. Popular anger manifests itself in large-scale and unmotivated killings. And so on and so forth. Such events do not turn the "History of a City" into a notorious fairy tale: like the fantastic realists of the 20th century, they amaze, but are built into the logic of the work, into the atmosphere of the place.
Another technique that provides the grotesque is the literalization of the metaphor. For example, Elena Gracheva points out that "Organchik" Brodysty "was rather generated by the turnover speeches" 39 Gracheva E. N., Vostrikov A. V. Tsar's curls and lordly arrogance: from the comments to the "History of one city" // Shchedrinskiy collection. Issue. 5: Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of time. M.: MGUDT, 2016. S. 45. : Saltykov's correspondence includes "fools with music and just fools"; "with music" - that is, those who, like clockwork, repeat the same thing. In the late Soviet uncensored literature, this technique was actively used by conceptualists, especially Vladimir Sorokin. His "Norma" is full of literal linguistic clichés: a literal understanding of banal and vulgar metaphors from official Soviet poetry creates a grotesque effect. Both Sorokin and Saltykov-Shchedrin pay special attention to the language, one way or another ideologized, providing a social atmosphere.
In the story of Grim-Burcheev, a timeless plot is played out again. So, in his desire to “calm down the river”, whose course is not subject to his geometric ideals, echoes of ancient history are felt (the Babylonian king Cyrus punishes the Gind River by shallowing it with completely straight channels; his grandson Xerxes orders to carve the sea in which his soldiers drowned) . A hundred years after Shchedrin at Alexander Galich, a retired Stalinist investigator will want to send the Black Sea through the stage: “Oh, you are the Black Sea, Sea, Sea, Black Sea, / Not under investigation sorry, not a prisoner! / I would have brought you to Inta for business, / You would have turned white from black!
“God, how sad is our Russia!” - said, according to Gogol, Pushkin, after listening to the first chapters of Dead Souls. “God, how funny and scary she is,” one could add after reading “The History of a City”
Igor Sukhikh
Historical legends are not the only source of the gloomy grumbling plot. The town-barracks of Ugryum-Burcheev is a mirror image of the socialist utopias of Tommaso Campanella, Charles Fourier and Henri Saint-Simon, in which freedom and rationalism turn into their own. opposites 40 Golovina T. N. “The History of a City” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Literary Parallels. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State University, 1997. C. 40-55; Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. P. 46. . If these utopians have chiefs living on a hill in the center of the city, then in Shchedrin's grotesque the mayors literally soar above the city. According to Vladimir Svirsky, the absurd cruelty of the gloomy-grumbling Glupov is Shchedrin’s reaction “to the idea of Nechaev’s barracks communism.” sense" 41 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991. . (Soviet interpreters preferred not to notice this; for example, Evgraf Pokusaev writes that Shchedrin’s criticism of communism and socialism is a hidden accusation of the imperial power: “... The very bestial regime that you attribute to socialism is your regime, there is your order, just such a system of life follows from the principles of despotic monarchism, tsarist autocracy, from the principles of any other anti-people state. controls the state in accordance with biological and astrological indications.The Shchedrinsk city-barracks is a mirror image of such a socialist utopia.
The phalanstery in the teachings of the utopian socialist Charles Fourier is a special building in which a commune of 1600-1800 people lives and works. In The History of a City, the chronicler remarks: “In general, it is clear that Borodavkin was a utopian and that if he had lived longer, he probably would have ended up either being exiled to Siberia for freethinking, or would have built a phalanstery in Foolov.”
What is "it"?
The idiotic will of Grim-Burcheev, as in modern anti-utopias about zombies, infects all the inhabitants of Glupov: they demolish their city, and then seem to see clearly and begin to rebel - but there is no citizenship here, but, according to commentator G. V. Ivanov, only "natural protection life" 44 Ivanov G. V. (Comments. "History of one city") // Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works: in 20 volumes. T. 8. M .: Hood. lit., 1969. S. 584. . After that, Foolov experiences his apocalypse (here he refers to the plot of the last biblical book in many details).
According to the “Inventory of the Mayors”, after Grim-Burcheev, the Archangel Stratilatovich Intercept-Zalikhvatsky enters the city on a white (again, apocalyptic) horse (an archangel is the name of the archangels, in ancient Greek this word meant a commander). He administers his own court over Foolov, which is expressed quite ordinary by Foolov's standards: "he burned down the gymnasium and abolished the sciences." But in the finale of the last chapter there is no Intercept-Zalkhvatsky.
Knowing that Shchedrin changed the contours of the idea of the "History of a City" as it was written and published, we can assume that Zalikhvatsky was eventually rejected by him. Gloomy-Grumbling - this adamant idiot - prophesies in an unexpectedly clear voice: “Someone is coming after me, who will be even more terrible than me” - and at the very end, before disappearing with a bang: “It will come ...” And indeed, a certain catastrophe comes, which Shchedrin calls the word “it” familiar to viewers of modern horror:
“The north darkened and covered with clouds; from these clouds something rushed to the city: either a downpour, or a tornado. Full of anger, it rushed, drilling the ground, rumbling, humming and groaning, and from time to time belching out some kind of dull, croaking sounds. Although it was not yet close, the air in the city trembled, the bells began to hum by themselves, the trees were ruffled, the animals went mad and rushed about the field, not finding the way to the city. It drew near, and as it approached, time stopped its run. At last the earth shook, the sun went dark... the Foolovites fell on their faces. Inscrutable horror appeared on all faces, seized all hearts.
It came...
History has stopped flowing."
In the Soviet literary criticism 45 Kirpotin V. Ya. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. M.: Soviet writer, 1955. C. 12; Pokusaev E. I. Revolutionary satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin. M.: GIHL, 1963. C. 115-120; Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S. F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. P. 248. the interpretation of “it” as a revolutionary storm dominated, after which “a new existence of the people began, taking power in their arms" 46 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991, p. 97. . But with the same success one can present "it" as a counter-revolutionary storm, a terrible revenge on the rebels, which has never been equaled in strength in Foolov. There are attempts to present "it" as the reign of Nicholas I, which overshadowed the Arakcheev reaction. However, the eschatological intensity of the previous pages is such that the political interpretation seems too weak. Most likely, before us is again a phenomenon of a suprahistorical plan. Foolov, having gone through a full cycle - perhaps, having exhausted his demonstration resource within the framework of the work - ceases to exist; something similar will happen in the 20th century with the city of Macondo under Gabriel Garcia Márquez. The researcher is left with only the archive, which allows him to restore the chronicles of the movement towards the catastrophe and draw conclusions from them.
In the essay of 1862 "Folupov and the Foolovites", which is not included in the "History of a City", Shchedrin writes: "Folupov has no history." Researcher Vladimir Svirsky believes that the timeless Foolov turns out to be a “failure” in the history of world civilization, a model of Russia isolated from world civilization in the understanding Chaadaeva 47 Svirsky V. Demonology: A Handbook for the Democratic Self-Education of a Teacher. Riga: Zvaigzne, 1991 C. 108-109. . In this case, the end of Foolov is a kind of physical revenge of history, which does not tolerate "nowhere places." It is significant in this sense to compare Alfred Kubin's novel The Other Side (1909) with The History of a City, in which another "city of nowhere", conceived as a utopia, perishes. The catastrophic “it” (options: “she”, “THIS”, etc.) is foreseen and destroys cities in the works of Russian followers of Shchedrin: Vasily Aksyonov, Alexander Zinoviev, Boris Khazanov, Dmitry Lipskerova 48 Soviet writers about Shchedrin // M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: Pro et Contra. Anthology: in 2 books. / Comp., intro. st., comm. S.F. Dmitrenko. Book. 2. St. Petersburg: RKhGA, 2016. C. 644-645. .
All bibliography
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"History of a city". (“Life under the yoke of madness”) Shchedrin wrote, answering those who saw “historical satire” in The History of a City, that he “does not ridicule history at all, but a certain order of things”, that is, “the same the foundations of life that existed in the 18th century”, but which “exist even now”. The fantastic "world of miracles", recreated using the historical realities of the 18th - early 19th centuries, a world that threatens the present, and even more so the future, is a deeply tragic world. And "mockery", or ridicule, plays a special role in Shchedrin's satire. “This is not even laughter, but a tragic situation.<...>Depicting life under the yoke of madness, I counted on arousing a bitter feeling in the reader, and by no means cheerfulness ”(from Saltykov’s letter to A.N. Pypin dated April 2, 1871).
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What is the "order of things", those "foundations of life" that are ridiculed in the "History of a City"? In "Appeal to the reader from the last archivist-chronicler" - Pavlushka Masloboinikov - this same chronicler writes enthusiastically about the "touching correspondence" between the Foolovites and their superiors. The “publisher” (Shchedrin) in the preface reveals the meaning of such a “correspondence”: “all of them,” that is, Foolov’s mayors, “flog the townsfolk,” and the townsfolk “tremble” at the same time. "Section" - a sign of suppression and violence, a certain denominator, artistically summarizing the "miracles" of the administrative zeal of the mayors. "Awe" is also a sign, also a common denominator, this time - of the philistine "bosses' love". And the common denominator of both is a “touching correspondence”, in other words, a grotesque depiction of the relationship between the authorities (cutters) and the townsfolk (insects). Such is the political life of the city of Glupov at any moment of its history.
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The first chapter of the "History of one city" - "On the root of the origin of the Foolovites", following the "Appeal to the reader from the last archivist-chronicler" - is designed to show what determined just such a history of the city. In the chapter “On the Origin of the Foolovites,” Shchedrin parodies the chronicler’s story and the historian’s presentation of it, but bases his understanding and assessment on a different source - oral folk art with its characteristic self-irony, “self-mockery”. So, from well-known connoisseurs and collectors of folklore I.Sakharov and V.Dal, he takes those mocking nicknames that were exchanged between residents of different Russian cities and towns: “goofballs” - Yegoryevtsy, “sea-eaters” - Arkhangelsk, “onion-eaters” - Arzamas, etc. e. Shchedrin also knew those anecdotes that are attributed to the "blind breeds" - the Poshekhones, who got lost in the three pines. N.M. Karamzin in "History of the Russian State", using as a source "The Tale of Bygone Years" - the oldest monument of Russian chronicle, created at the beginning of the XII century by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, tells about the numerous tribes that lived in prehistoric times on the territory of the future Russia, calling glades, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Drevlyans and others. In the Nesterov Chronicle it is said about them: “... and there was no truth among them, and clan upon clan stood up, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." For: "Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it." Nestor's story about the calling of the Varangian princes in 862 is repeated by Karamzin, drawing conclusions from it that correspond to his concept of the history of Russian statehood.
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In enmity and internecine strife, - says the chronicler of Foolov, - the bunglers finally won, because other tribes did not know how to chop their heads. But, having won, the bunglers are doing all the same senseless deeds here. Then, on the advice of the elder Dobromysl, the bunglers decide to look for a prince. Only the third prince of those to whom the bunglers go agrees to “rule” and “push” them: “And since you didn’t know how to live on your own, and you yourself, stupid, wished for bondage, then you will no longer be called bunglers, but Foolovites” . And “arrived in my own person to Foolov”, “shout: - I’ll screw up!” So for the first time this word-omen sounded, the word-symbol, with which "historical times began", the history of the city of Glupov began, in fact. And the Foolovites are called Foolovites because they exchanged their liberty for the princely power, which chose violence as the main instrument of its rule - cutting. This is the "root" of their origin.
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The real historical basis of the work The story of Glupov in the description of the “Glupovsky Chronicler” begins in 1731, when Anna Ioannovna, the niece of Peter I, entered the imperial throne, and ends in the years 1825 (the death of Alexander I and the uprising of the Decembrists) or 1826 (the coronation of Nicholas I). At the same time, the names of people who actually existed and ruled in Russia are called (the “temporary worker” under Empress Anna Ioannovna, the Duke of Courland Biron, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna - “meek Elizabeth”, the all-powerful favorite of Catherine II, Prince Grigory Potemkin and others). And much more in this "Inventory" hinted at the real facts of Russian history.
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The real historical basis of the work of the Alternation of Mayors in the "History ..." is not accidental. It serves, on the one hand, to achieve an ideological and artistic goal, and on the other hand, it is based on actual historical chronology. The reign of the first two - according to the "Inventory" - mayors falls on the years of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the time of the so-called "Bironism", when the autocratic, cruel and immoral "temporary" Duke of Courland Ernst Johann Biron actually became the head of state. "Bironovshchina" as a characteristic embodiment of the system of political favoritism can be compared with "Arakcheevshchina" - the omnipotence under Alexander I Arakcheev - the organizer of the system of "military settlements" of peasant soldiers: "gloom-grumbling" in the last chapter of the "History of a City" is an undoubted pseudonym of "Arakcheevshchina ". With a satirical interpretation of these two epochs in the history of Russia, Shchedrin begins and ends The History of a City as a satire on a certain type of political and social organization, not at all limited to the century that served as the "model" of such a device.
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Organchik Dementy Varlamovich Brudasty" ("Organchik"), "jumped" into the Foolov "municipal" in August 1762, that is, soon after the June coup that brought the wise and enlightened Catherine to power. The boss-loving Foolovites naturally rejoiced. even dangerous dreamers," who claimed that "under the new mayor, trade and<...>under the supervision of quarter guards<то есть полицейских!>sciences and arts will arise” “I had barely broken into the boundaries of the city pasture, when right there, on the very border, I crossed a lot of coachmen.” And the Foolovites had to "experience what bitter trials the most stubborn love of the authorities can be subjected to." And at the reception of the "bureaucratic archangels", that is, the city authorities, Brodysty, "flashing his eyes, said:" I will not tolerate it! and disappeared into the office. That is how those significant words sounded, that motive that will determine both the political and moral atmosphere of Foolov's unreasonable life. “Unheard-of activity suddenly boiled in all parts of the city.<...>They seize and catch, flog and flog, describe and sell.<...>A rumble and crackle rush from one end of the city to the other, and over all this hubbub, over all this confusion, like the cry of a bird of prey, the ominous reigns: "I will not tolerate it!" And hung over the city, "ominous and unaccountable fear" penetrated into the philistine hearts, caused by the insanely feverish activity of either a person or a clockwork doll.
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Organchik In a fever of general fear, an absurdly fantastic situation is brewing - Foolov's sedition (they said in a whisper that Brodysty was not a gradon-head at all, but a werewolf sent to Foolov "out of frivolity"!) And a Foolov rebellion on his knees (a typical way for Foolovites to declare their " love of the bosses”): the daredevils “offered to fall on their knees without exception and ask for forgiveness” (in what?) - “What, if deemed necessary<вышней властью>so that in Foolov, for his sake, there would be just such, and not another, mayor? (The theme of Foolov's "sins" will appear more than once on the pages of the "History of a City"). The phantasmagoria of Foolov's life is growing: it is here that it is discovered that on the shoulders of Brudasty is not a head, but an empty box - "organ", the spoiled mechanism of which is not able to play even a simple melody, but filled with some kind of inhuman threat. The fantastic takes on hyperbolic dimensions - the mayor - "organ" suddenly doubles: two grotesque characters with a mechanical "musical" box-head, mounted on a human body, appear before the crowd rebellious in the name of love of the bosses. Another sacramental word flies out of the mouth of one of them with a deafening cry: !" Only one sound is capable of making the mechanism of the "Organchik", only one frightening motive to lose, and this motive also doubles, intensifies in the cry of a double suddenly appearing in front of the crowd: "I'll rip it!". Mechanical man-"organ", a soulless doll symbolizes the stupid mechanism of power. The comedy of the situation acquires a tragic force in the grotesque.
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Wartkin "Contained ... in himself" a lot of crying. In his essay “Thoughts on the mayor’s unanimity, as well as on the mayor’s autocracy and other things,” not only his “ideals” were reflected, but the everyday life of his communication with the townsfolk, each of whom, in his opinion, “is always to blame for something ”: “Speech should be jerky, a look promising further orders, the gait is uneven, as if convulsive.” And although he complained that his hands were tied, and secretly composed a charter “on the non-restriction of city governors by laws”, in fact he was not shy about anything and, waging wars “for enlightenment”, went on a campaign against the townsfolk, ruining houses and settlements. Borodavkin Vasilisk Semenovich - the type of mayor, "whose legs were ready to run at any time, no one knows where."
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Wartkin For all the fantastical nature of individual details (Borodavkin's army consisted of tin soldiers, whose faces were filled with blood at the right time), these episodes had a very real historical basis: the forced introduction of potatoes, starting from the time of Catherine. What were the "troubles" in converting to the potato "faith" can be seen from the official report on the Vyatka province, probably known to Saltykov who served there: "To bring the crowd into some confusion, the governor ordered a volley of 46 guns to be fired. 30 people were thrown to the ground. " The peasants no longer persisted, "convinced," as stated in the same document, "in favor of the government's measures to cultivate this vegetable." Let us compare with this what was said in Wartkin's essay: "... It may also happen that the crowd, as if frozen in its rudeness and inveterateness, becomes stagnant in bitterness. Then it is necessary to fire."
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characteristics of fools. The Foolovites are the inhabitants of the city, the image of which first appeared in the early 1860s. in the writer's essays "Stupid and Foolovites" and "Folupov's Debauchery", banned by censorship. The Foolovites, as Shchedrin explained in a polemic with critics of the book, are “historical people”, that is, real, not idealized, “people, like all others, with the only caveat that their natural properties have been overgrown with a mass of superficial atoms ... Therefore there is no talk of real "properties", but there is ... only about superficial atoms. These "atoms" - passivity, ignorance, "loving the bosses", downtroddenness, gullibility, the ability to outbursts of blind rage and cruelty - are depicted by the satirist in an extremely exaggerated form. Foolovets - "a man who is hammered with amazing constancy and who, of course, cannot come to any other result than stunned." The manifestation of other "properties" has the most tragic consequences for their owners.
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"He was terrible" In 1810, Alexander I put forward the idea of a special form of cantonment of troops, the so-called "military settlements", which Arakcheev, then chairman of the Department of Military Affairs of the State Council of the Russian Empire, immediately began to implement. However, the main activities of Arakcheev, with the active participation of the king himself, in organizing "military settlements" unfolded after 1815. As a result of this reform of the army, a whole socio-political system took shape in ten years, capturing a significant part of the territory of Russia and up to several hundred thousand peasants (“military settlers”). Remaining peasants, they had to work on their field plot, but at the same time they became soldiers, subject, together with their families, to the strictest discipline, regulated to the smallest detail not only by the military, but also by the labor and everyday regime. In this case, life itself presented something so insane that Shchedrin had only to insert this fantastic "project" into the satirical frame of "The History of a City." The Foolovists had to go through one more "repentance" - immeasurably more terrible. The terrible figure of Grim-Burcheev directly and immediately evoked in the minds of readers the appearance and, in particular, the activity of Alexander's "temporary worker", the almighty A.A. Arakcheev.
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Moody-Grumbling Among the elements that made up the nature of Moody-Grumbling, there were no traces of any emotions: everything human was replaced in him by "inflexibility, acting with the regularity of the most distinct mechanism." Again, before us is a doll, a mechanism "programmed" only for a straight line, brought to the point of absurdity, to nakedness. Such a perversion of the very essence, the very nature of human nature is, at the same time, the complete realization of the idea of autocracy in its utterly purified form from any moving form, iridescent with numerous shades and colors of life. The portrait of Grim-Burcheev, preserved in the city archive, is the face (mask) of such power: “The purest type of idiot rises before the eyes of the viewer, who has made some kind of gloomy decision and swore an oath to carry it out.” "Ka-za-r-rmy!" - this is the short, final, exhaustive formula of the gloomy-grumbling ideal. Stunning in its barracks simplicity and inhumanity, the gloomy-burcheev “dystopia” is such an idea of the ideal of a social structure that aims not to achieve the fullness of human existence, but, on the contrary, its humiliating simplification.
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The Interception-Zalikhvatsky Chronicle, maintained by four archivists, breaks off in 1825. This year, “someone” comes who turns out to be “more terrible” than Ugryum-Burcheev, and it was then, as the preface to “From the Publisher” says, “apparently, even for archivists, literary activity ceased to be accessible.” The symbol of the “historical impasse” that occurred in 1825 (or 1826) was to be the Interception-Zalikhvatsky Archangel Stratilatovich, a major, about whom the “Inventory to the mayors” only says: “I will keep silent about this. He rode into Foolov on a white horse, burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences. Is this ominous figure a deeply hidden allegorical allusion to the coming of a new, “ahistorical” era or a historical dead end after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising and the accession of Nicholas I? Aesop's language of Shchedrin is so rich that unambiguous interpretations are impossible here, because they distort the deep meanings of his satire, although such a comparison suggests itself.
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End of story. What is "it"? Some researchers of Shchedrin's work believed that "it" symbolizes the expression of popular anger, the anger of the "ashamed" Foolovites - an uprising, a revolution. Such an assumption is based on the fact that the Foolovites, when the “cup overflowed”, after secret night meetings, probably took some action for the sake of their release. However, it seems beyond doubt that Shchedrin quite deliberately leaves the question unanswered: what are these actions and what did they lead to? It is “after this” that the mysterious “it” appears to the “stupefied crowd”. In any case, it is obvious that "it" affects not only the mayor Ugryum-Burcheev, but also the Foolovites themselves. "It" appears as retribution, as a verdict on Foolov's story in general.
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CONCLUSION "The history of one city" by Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889) was called by his contemporaries "a libel on the history of the Russian state". This book remains relevant in our time, being, in fact, not a merciless verdict on "Russian reality", but a ruthless surgical operation that reveals and heals the "ulcers" of society.
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In 1870, after a series of publications of individual chapters, the work of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin "The History of a City" was published. This event received a wide public outcry - the writer was accused of mocking the Russian people and denigrating the facts of Russian history. The genre of the work is a satirical story, exposing the morals, the relationship between power and people in an autocratic society.
The story "The History of a City" is full of such devices as irony, grotesque, Aesopian language, allegory. All this allows the author, in individual episodes, bringing what is described to the point of absurdity, to vividly depict the absolute obedience of the people to any arbitrary power. The vices of the society contemporary to the author have not been eliminated even today. After reading the “History of a City” in a summary of the chapters, you will get acquainted with the most important moments of the work, clearly demonstrating the satirical orientation of the story.
The main characters of the story are the mayors, each of whom managed to be remembered in some way in the history of the city of Glupov. Since the story describes a lot of portraits of mayors, it is worth dwelling on the most significant characters.
busty- shocked the inhabitants with his categoricalness, with his exclamations on any occasion “I will ruin!” and "I will not stand it!".
Dvoekurov with his "great" reforms regarding bay leaves and mustard, seems completely harmless against the background of subsequent mayors.
Wartkin- fought with his own people "for enlightenment."
Ferdyshchenko– his greed and lust almost killed the townspeople.
Acne- the people were not ready for such a ruler as he was - people lived too well under him, not interfering in any affairs.
Gloomy-Grumbling- with all his idiocy, he managed not only to become the mayor, but also to destroy the entire city, trying to realize his crazy idea.
If the main characters are the mayors, the secondary ones are the people with whom they interact. The common people are shown as a collective image. The author generally depicts him as obeying his ruler, ready to endure all oppression and various oddities of his power. They are shown by the author as a faceless mass that rebels only when there is a mass death of people around from hunger or fires.
"History of one city" tells about the city of Foolov, its history. The chapter "From the Publisher" in the voice of the author assures the reader that the "Chronicle" is genuine. He invites the reader to "catch the physiognomy of the city and follow how its history reflected the various changes that simultaneously took place in the higher spheres." The author emphasizes that the plot of the narrative is monotonous, "almost exclusively limited to the biographies of mayors."
Appeal to the reader from the last archivist-chronicler
In this chapter, the author sets himself the task of conveying a “touching correspondence” to the authorities of the city, “daring to the extent” of the people, “thanks to the extent possible”. The archivist tells that he will present the reader with the history of the government in the city of Glupovo of the mayors, one after the other replacing in the highest post. The narrators, four local chroniclers, recount in turn the "genuine" events taking place in the city from 1731 to 1825.
This chapter tells about prehistoric times, about how the ancient tribe of bunglers defeated the neighboring tribes of onion-eaters, thick-eaters, walrus-eaters, frogs, kosobryukhy and so on. After the victory, the bunglers began to think about how to restore order in their new society, since things were not going well for them: either “The Volga was kneaded with oatmeal”, or “they dragged the calf to the bathhouse”. They decided they needed a ruler. To this end, the bunglers went to look for a prince who would rule them. However, all the princes to whom they addressed with this request refused, because no one wanted to rule stupid people. The princes, having “taught” with a rod, the bunglers were released in peace and with “honor”. Desperate, they turned to an innovative thief who managed to help find the prince. The prince agreed to manage them, but he did not begin to live with the bunglers - he sent an innovative thief as his deputy.
Golovotyapov renamed them “Stupid”, and the city, accordingly, became known as “Folupov”.
It was not at all difficult for the Novotor to manage the Foolovites - this people was distinguished by humility and unquestioning execution of orders from the authorities. However, this did not please their ruler, the newcomer wanted riots that could be pacified. The end of his reign was very sad: the thief-innovator stole so much that the prince could not stand it and sent him a noose. But the newcomer managed to get out of this situation - without waiting for the loop, he "killed himself with a cucumber."
Then other rulers, who were sent by the prince, began to appear in Foolov one by one. All of them - Odoevets, Orlovets, Kalyazin - turned out to be unscrupulous thieves even worse than an innovator. The prince was tired of such events, personally appeared in the city with a cry: "I'll screw it up!". With this cry, the countdown of "historical time" began.
Inventory to the mayors, at various times in the city of Foolov from the higher authorities appointed (1731 - 1826)
This chapter lists the names of the mayors of Glupov and briefly mentions their "achievements". It speaks of twenty-two rulers. So, for example, about one of the city governors in the document it is written as follows: “22) Intercept-Zalikhvatsky, Archangel Stratilatovich, Major. I will keep silent about this. He rode into Foolov on a white horse, burned the gymnasium and abolished the sciences. ”(The meaning of the chapter is not clear)
The year 1762 was marked by the beginning of the reign of the mayor Dementy Varlamovich Brodasty. The Foolovites were surprised that their new ruler is sullen and says nothing but two phrases: "I will not tolerate it!" and "I'll ruin it!" They did not know what to think until the secret of Brodystoy was revealed: his head is completely empty. The clerk accidentally saw a terrible thing: the mayor's torso, as usual, was sitting at the table, but the head was separately lying on the table. And there was nothing in it at all. The townspeople did not know what to do now. They remembered Baibakov, the watchmaker and organ maker, who had recently visited Brudastom. After questioning Baibakov, the Foolovites found out that the head of the mayor was equipped with a musical organ, which played only two pieces: “I won’t stand it!” and "I'll ruin it!" The organ broke down, damp on the way. The master could not fix it on his own, so he ordered a new head in St. Petersburg, but the order was delayed for some reason.
There was an anarchy, the ending of which was put by the unexpected appearance of two absolutely identical impostor rulers at the same time. They saw each other, "measured each other with their eyes," and the inhabitants, who watched this scene, silently slowly dispersed. A messenger who arrived from the province took both "mayors" with him, and anarchy began in Glupovo, which lasted a whole week.
This time was very eventful in the field of city government - the city survived as many as six mayors. Residents watched the struggle of Iraida Lukinichna Paleologova, Klementinka de Bourbon, Amalia Karlovna Stockfish. The first assured that she was worthy of being a mayor because her husband had been engaged in mayoral activities for some time, the second had her father, the third had once been a mayoral pompadour. In addition to those named, Nelka Lyadokhovskaya, Dunka the fat-footed and Matryonka the nostril also claimed power. There were no grounds for the latter to claim the role of city governors at all. Serious battles broke out in the city. The Foolovites drowned and threw their fellow citizens from the bell tower. The city is tired of anarchy. And then, finally, a new mayor appeared - Semyon Konstatinovich Dvoekurov.
The newly-minted ruler of the Dvoekurs ruled the Foolovs for eight years. He is noted as a person of advanced views. Dvokurov developed activities that became beneficial for the city. Under him, they began to engage in honey and brewing, ordered mustard and bay leaf to be eaten. His intentions included the establishment of the Academy in Foolov.
Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko replaced Dvoekurov's board. The city lived for six years in prosperity and prosperity. But in the seventh year, the mayor fell in love with Alena Osipova, the wife of the coachman Mitka. However, Alenka did not share Pyotr Petrovich's feelings. Ferdyshchenko took all sorts of actions to make Alenka fall in love with him, even sent Mitka to Siberia. Alenka became supportive of the courtship of the mayor.
A drought began in Foolovo, followed by famine and human deaths. The Foolovites lost patience and sent a messenger to Ferdyshchenko, but the walker did not return. The petition was also not answered. Then the inhabitants rebelled and threw Alenka from the bell tower. A company of soldiers came to the city to suppress the riot.
The next love interest of Pyotr Petrovich was the archer Domashka, whom he recaptured from the “optism”. Along with the new love, the fires caused by the drought came to the city. Pushkarskaya Sloboda burned down, then Bolotnaya and Negodnitsa. The Foolovites accused Ferdyshchenko of a new misfortune.
The new stupidity of Ferdyshchenko hardly brought a new disaster to the townspeople: he went on a journey through the city pasture, forcing the inhabitants to present themselves with food supplies. The journey ended three days later with the death of Ferdyshchenko from gluttony. The Foolovites were afraid that they would be accused of deliberately "feeding the brigadier." However, a week later, the fears of the townspeople dissipated - a new mayor arrived from the province. The decisive and active Borodavkin marked the beginning of the "golden age of Glupov." People began to live in full abundance.
Vasilisk Semenovich Borodavkin, the new mayor of Glupov, studied the history of the city, and decided that the only previous ruler worth emulating was Dvoekurov, and he was struck not even by the fact that his predecessor had paved the streets of the city and collected arrears, but by the fact that under him sowed mustard. Unfortunately, the people have already forgotten it and even stopped planting this culture. Wartkin decided to remember the old days, to resume sowing mustard and eating it. But the inhabitants stubbornly did not want to return to the past. The Foolovites rebelled on their knees. They were afraid that in the event that they obeyed Wartkin, in the future he would force them "whatever else there is an abomination." The mayor undertook a military campaign against Streletskaya Sloboda, "the source of all evil," in order to suppress the rebellion. The campaign lasted nine days and it is difficult to call it completely successful. In absolute darkness, their own fought with their own. The mayor suffered a betrayal by his supporters: one morning he discovered that a larger number of soldiers were fired, they were replaced by tin soldiers, referring to a certain resolution. However, the mayor managed to survive by organizing a reserve of tin soldiers. He reached the settlement, but found no one there. Wartkin began to dismantle the houses by logs, which forced the settlement to surrender.
The future brought three more wars, which were also fought for "enlightenment". The first of the three subsequent wars was fought for explaining to the inhabitants of the city the benefits of stone foundations for houses, the second - because of the refusal of the inhabitants to grow Persian chamomile, and the third - against the establishment of an academy in the city.
The result of Borodavkin's rule was the impoverishment of the city. The mayor died at the moment when he once again decided to burn the city.
In summary, the subsequent events look like this: the city finally became impoverished under the next ruler, Captain Negodyaev, who replaced Borodavkin. Negodyaev was fired very soon for disagreeing with the imposition of the constitution. However, the chronicler considered this reason to be formal. The true reason was the fact that the mayor once served as a stoker, which to a certain extent was regarded as belonging to a democratic principle. And the wars for enlightenment and against it were not needed by the city, exhausted by battles. After Negodyaev's dismissal, "Circassian" Mikeladze took the reins of government into his own hands. However, his reign did not affect the situation in the city in any way: the mayor did not deal with Stupid at all, since all his thoughts were connected exclusively with the fair sex.
Benevolensky Theophylact Irinarkhovich became Mikeladze's successor. Speransky was a friend in the seminary of the new mayor, and from him, obviously, Benevolensky inherited a love for legislation. He wrote such laws: “Let every person have a contrite heart”, “Let every soul tremble” and “Let every cricket recognize the heart corresponding to its title.” However, Benevolensky did not have the right to write laws, he was forced to publish them secretly, and at night to scatter his works around the city. This did not last long - he was suspected of having links with Napoleon and fired.
Lieutenant Colonel Pryshch was appointed next. It was surprising that under him the city lived in abundance, harvests were huge, despite the fact that the mayor did not at all engage in his direct duties. The townspeople got suspicious again. And they were right in their suspicions: the leader of the nobility noticed that the head of the mayor exudes the smell of truffles. He attacked Pimple and ate the ruler's stuffed head.
In Glupov, a successor to the eaten Pimple appeared - State Councilor Ivanov. However, he soon died, because "he turned out to be so small in stature that he could not contain anything spacious."
He was replaced by the Viscount de Chario. This ruler did not know how to do anything except to have fun all the time, arrange masquerades. He “did not manage affairs and did not interfere in the administration. This last circumstance promised to prolong the well-being of the Foolovites without end ... ”But the emigrant, who allowed the inhabitants to convert to paganism, was ordered to be sent abroad. Interestingly, he turned out to be a special female.
The next person to appear in Glupovo was Erast Andreyevich Sadtilov, a state councilor. By the time of his appearance, the inhabitants of the city had already become absolute idolaters. They forgot God, plunging into depravity and laziness. They stopped working, sowing the fields, hoping for some kind of happiness, and as a result, famine came to the city. Sadtilov cared very little about this situation, since he was busy with balls. However, things soon changed. The wife of the pharmacist Pfeyer influenced Melancholy, pointing out the true path of goodness. And the main people in the city became the wretched and holy fools, who in the era of idolatry found themselves on the sidelines of life.
The inhabitants of Foolov repented of their sins, but this was the end of the matter - the Foolovites did not start working. At night, the city beau monde gathered to read the works of the city of Strakhov. This soon became known to the higher authorities and Sadtilov had to say goodbye to the post of city governor.
The last mayor of Glupov was Ugryum-Burcheev. This man was a complete idiot - "the purest type of idiot," as the author writes. For himself, he set the only goal - to make the city of Nepreklonsk out of the city of Glupov, "eternally worthy of the memory of the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich." Nepreklonsk was supposed to look like this: city streets should be the same straight lines, houses and buildings should also be identical to each other, people too. Each house should become a "settled unit", which will be watched by him, Ugryum-Burcheeva, a spy. The townspeople called him "Satan" and experienced a vague fear of their ruler. As it turned out, not without reason: the mayor developed a detailed plan and began to implement it. He destroyed the city, leaving no stone unturned. Now the task was to build the city of his dreams. But the river violated these plans, it interfered. Gloomy-Grumbling started a real war with her, using all the garbage that remained as a result of the destruction of the city. However, the river did not give up, washing away all the dams and dams being built. Gloomy-Grumbling turned around and, leading the people, walked away from the river. He chose a new place for the construction of the city - a flat lowland, and began to build the city of his dreams. However, something went wrong. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out what exactly prevented the construction, since records with the details of this story have not been preserved. The denouement became known: “... time stopped its run. Finally the earth shook, the sun went dark... the Foolovites fell on their faces. Inscrutable horror appeared on all faces, seized all hearts. It has come…” What exactly came, the reader remains unknown. However, the fate of Ugryum-Burcheev is as follows: “the scoundrel instantly disappeared, as if dissolved in the air. History has stopped flowing."
At the end of the narration, "Supporting Documents" are published, which are the works of Borodavkin, Mikeladze and Benevolensky, written as an edification to other mayors.
A brief retelling of the "History of a City" clearly demonstrates not only the satirical direction of the story, but also ambiguously points to historical parallels. The images of the mayors are written off from historical figures, many events also refer to palace coups. The full version of the story, of course, will provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the content of the work in detail.
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By creating the ironic grotesque "History of a City," Saltykov-Shchedrin hoped to arouse in the reader not laughter, but a "bitter feeling" of shame. The idea of the work is built on the image of a certain hierarchy: a simple people who will not resist the instructions of often stupid rulers, and the tyrannical rulers themselves. In the face of the common people in this story, the inhabitants of the city of Foolov act, and their oppressors are the mayors. Saltykov-Shchedrin notes with irony that this people needs a leader, one who will give them instructions and keep them in "hedgehogs", otherwise the whole people will fall into anarchy.
The concept and idea of the novel "The History of a City" were formed gradually. In 1867, the writer wrote the fairy-tale-fantastic work "The Tale of the Governor with a Stuffed Head", which subsequently formed the basis of the chapter "Organchik". In 1868 Saltykov-Shchedrin began working on The History of a City and finished in 1870. Initially, the author wanted to give the work the name "Glupovsky Chronicler". The novel was published in the then popular magazine Otechestvennye Zapiski.
(Illustrations by the creative team of Soviet graphic artists "Kukryniksy")
The story is told from the perspective of the chronicler. He talks about the inhabitants of the city, who were so stupid that their city was given the name "Stupid". The novel begins with the chapter "On the Root of the Origin of the Foolovites", in which the history of this people is given. It tells in particular about the tribe of bunglers, who, after defeating the neighboring tribes of onion-eaters, thick-eaters, walrus-eaters, kosobryukhy and others, decided to find a ruler for themselves, because they wanted to restore order in the tribe. Only one prince decided to rule, and even he sent a thief-innovator instead of himself. When he stole, the prince sent him a noose, but the thief was able to get out in a sense and stabbed himself with a cucumber. As you can see, irony and the grotesque coexist perfectly in the work.
After several unsuccessful candidates for the role of deputies, the prince appeared in the city in person. Becoming the first ruler, he marked the "historical time" of the city. Twenty-two rulers with their accomplishments are said to have ruled the city, but the Inventory lists twenty-one. Apparently, the missing one is the founder of the city.
Each of the mayors performs its task in implementing the writer's idea through the grotesque to show the absurdity of their government. In many types, the features of historical figures are visible. For greater recognition, Saltykov-Shchedrin not only described the style of their government, ridiculously distorted the names, but also gave apt descriptions pointing to a historical prototype. Some of the personalities of the mayors are images collected from the characteristic features of different people in the history of the Russian state.
So, the third ruler Ivan Matveyevich Velikanov, famous for drowning the director of economic affairs and imposing taxes at three kopecks per person, was exiled to prison for having an affair with Avdotya Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I.
Brigadier Ivan Matveyevich Baklan, the sixth mayor, was tall and proud of being a follower of Ivan the Terrible's line. The reader understands what is meant by the bell tower in Moscow. The ruler found death in the spirit of the same grotesque image that fills the novel - the foreman was broken in half during a storm.
The personality of Peter III in the image of Guards Sergeant Bogdan Bogdanovich Pfeifer is indicated by the characteristic given to him - "a Holstein native", the style of government of the mayor and his outcome - removed from the post of ruler "for ignorance".
Dementy Varlamovich Brodysty is nicknamed "Organchik" for the presence of a mechanism in his head. He kept the city at bay because he was gloomy and withdrawn. When trying to take the head of the mayor for repair to the capital's masters, she was thrown out by a frightened coachman from the carriage. After the reign of Organchik, chaos reigned in the city for 7 days.
The short period of prosperity of the townspeople is associated with the name of the ninth mayor, Semyon Konstantinovich Dvoekurov. A civilian adviser and innovator, he took care of the appearance of the city, started honey and brewing. Tried to open an academy.
The longest reign was marked by the twelfth mayor, Vasilisk Semenovich Borodavkin, who reminds the reader of the style of government of Peter I. His “glorious deeds” also indicate the connection of the character with the historical figure - he destroyed the Streltsy and Dung settlements, and the difficult relationship with the eradication of the ignorance of the people - spent four years in Foolov wars for education and three - against. He resolutely prepared the city for burning, but suddenly died.
Onufriy Ivanovich Negodyaev, a former peasant by origin, who heated stoves before serving as a mayor, destroyed the streets paved by the former ruler and erected monuments on these resources. The image was copied from Paul I, which is also indicated by the circumstances of his removal: he was fired for disagreeing with the triumvirate about constitutions.
Under the state councilor Erast Andreevich Sadtilov, the stupid elite was busy with balls and night meetings with reading the works of a certain gentleman. As in the reign of Alexander I, the mayor did not care about the people, who were impoverished and starving.
Scoundrel, idiot and "Satan" Ugryum-Burcheev bears a "talking" surname and is "written off" from Count Arakcheev. He finally destroys Foolov and decides to build the city of Neprekolnsk in a new place. When trying to implement such a grandiose project, the “end of the world” occurred: the sun faded, the earth shook, and the mayor disappeared without a trace. Thus ended the story of "one city".
Saltykov-Shchedrin, with the help of satire and the grotesque, aims to reach out to the human soul. He wants to convince the reader that the human institution must be based on Christian principles. Otherwise, a person's life can be deformed, mutilated, and in the end can lead to the death of the human soul.
"The History of a City" is an innovative work that has overcome the usual framework of artistic satire. Each image in the novel has pronounced grotesque features, but is recognizable at the same time. That gave rise to a flurry of criticism against the author. He was accused of "slandering" the people and rulers.
Indeed, the story of Glupov is largely written off from the chronicle of Nestor, which tells about the time of the beginning of Rus' - "The Tale of Bygone Years". The author intentionally emphasized this parallel in order to make it clear who he means by the Foolovites, and that all these mayors are by no means a flight of fancy, but real Russian rulers. At the same time, the author makes it clear that he is not describing the entire human race, namely Russia, rewriting its history in his own satirical way.
However, the purpose of creating the work Saltykov-Shchedrin did not make a mockery of Russia. The writer's task was to encourage society to critically rethink its history in order to eradicate existing vices. The grotesque plays a huge role in creating an artistic image in the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The main goal of the writer is to show the vices of people who are not noticed by society.
The writer ridiculed the ugliness of society and was called the "great mocker" among such predecessors as Griboyedov and Gogol. Reading the ironic grotesque, the reader wanted to laugh, but there was something sinister in this laughter - the audience "felt how the scourge was whipping itself."
