Internal disgrace is very common and
very skillfully covered by the outer
good looks.
M. Gorky

The image of the city in the poem is made up of a description of the streets, houses, interiors of hotels, taverns and a description of the customs, characters, lifestyle of the characters in a literary work.

Many learned about the city from talking about it, by comparing it with other cities, and most importantly, by the people who inhabit it.

The poem (its composition) is built in such a way that it begins with the arrival in the city of N of a new person, a certain Chichikov. The name of the city is deliberately not specified. This gives the writer the possibility of a deeper development of the idea of ​​typicality of all the provincial cities of Russia at that time.

Life in such cities flows according to a predetermined schedule. Every day begins with visits to officials: "in the morning even earlier than the time appointed in the city of N for visits ...". Evenings were also held according to already established traditions. However, as Gogol notes: “In the lanes and back streets, inseparable from this time in all cities, where there are many soldiers, cabbies, workers and a special kind of creatures in the form of ladies in red hats and shoes without stockings, who, like the bats, darting around intersections.

As for the conversations in the alleys, these were "... those words that will suddenly pour over, like a pitcher, some dreamy twenty-year-old youth." As is customary in provincial cities, the hotels in city N were full of cockroaches, the brick houses were all painted grey, the taverns resembled "Russian huts in a slightly larger size." Oddly enough, in taverns there were images on the shelves, behind which lay gilded porcelain testicles. However, it is also in the order of things that “the mirror shows four eyes instead of two, and some kind of cake instead of a face.” The first understanding, an idea of ​​the city, we get precisely from Chichikov's impressions of it.

Nor did the city remain indifferent to Chichikov. As you know, rumors and gossip spread very quickly. In addition, the inhabitants of such towns like to discuss some news for a long time, because in the county town they happen so rarely: “in a word, rumors went, rumors, and the whole city was talking about dead Souls and the governor's daughter, about Chichikov and the dead souls, about the governor's daughter and Chichikov, and everything rose up like a whirlwind, hitherto, it seemed, a dormant city! In addition, "many explanations and corrections were added to all this, as rumors finally penetrated into the most back streets."

What else has not been mentioned about the main characteristics of such a county town?

The attitude of the inhabitants of this city to Muscovites and Petersburgers. From the questions of residents about the capitals, it is clear what they have about them little performance. One gets the impression that in the understanding of the inhabitants of the city N, St. Petersburg and Moscow are "fabulous" cities.

A very important fact in the understanding, representation of the city is the description of its officials. This small county town contained all the "types" of officials. False virtues, and lovers of jokes, and squanderers of the treasury, and rude people have gathered here. Ho all of them are united by one common quality. All of them perform one "important" function of the city government apparatus. They are called officials. This is their main responsibility. For this kind of high-ranking people of that time, the way of life was determined by playing cards, gaining money and a wide circle of acquaintances. Their alleged actions in the area of ​​their bureaucratic duties - service for the good of the state - were for their minds something distant and unreasonable.

The amazing mastery of the author is manifested in the poem "Dead Souls". The author succeeds admirably in expressing the false life of towns N in a few sentences, aptly emphasizing the fact that the often collapsed apparatus of the urban system and the ordinary life of this city are covered by the image of a small, cozy and charming county town presented by its inhabitants.

THE IMAGE OF THE CITY IN THE POEM OF N. V. GOGOL. Compositionally, the poem "Dead Souls" consists of three externally closed, but internally interconnected circles - the landowners, the city, Chichikov's biography, united by the image of the road, plot-related by the protagonist's scam.

But the middle link - the life of the city - itself consists, as it were, of narrowing circles, gravitating towards the center; this is a graphic representation of the provincial hierarchy. Interestingly, in this hierarchical pyramid, the governor, embroidering on tulle, looks like a puppet figure. True life is in full swing in the civil chamber, in the "Temple of Themis". And this is natural for administrative-bureaucratic Russia. Therefore, the episode of Chichikov's visit to the chamber becomes central, the most significant in the theme of the city.

The description of presence is the apotheosis of Gogol's irony. The author recreates the true sanctuary of the Russian Empire in all its ridiculous, ugly form, reveals all the power and at the same time the weakness of the bureaucratic machine. Gogol's mockery is merciless: before us is a temple of bribery, his only "living nerve."

In this alleged temple, in this citadel of depravity, the image of Hell is being revived - though vulgarized, comic - but truly Russian Hell. A kind of Virgil also arises - he turns out to be a “petty demon” - a chamber official who “served our friend, as Virgil once served Dant, and led them into the presence room, where there were only wide chairs and in them in front of a table, behind a mirror and two thick books sat alone, like the sun, the chairman. In this place, Virgil felt such reverence that he did not dare to put his foot there ... ”How brilliant Gogol's irony! How incomparable is the chairman - the "sun" of the Civil Chamber! How inimitably comical is this wretched Paradise, before which the collegiate registrar is seized with awe! And the funniest - as well as the most tragic, terrible! - the fact that the newly-minted Virgil truly honors the chairman with the sun, his office with Paradise, his guests with holy angels ...

How smaller, how fulfilled souls are in such a world! How pathetic and insignificant are their ideas about the fundamental concepts for a Christian - Paradise, Hell, soul!

What is considered a soul is best shown in the episode of the prosecutor’s death: after all, the people around guessed that “the deceased had, for sure, a soul” only when he died and became “only a soulless body.” For them, the soul is a physiological concept! And this is a spiritual disaster.

In contrast to the quiet, measured life of the landowners, where time seems to be frozen, the life of the city is in full swing, bubbling. But this life is illusory, it is not activity, but empty vanity. What stirred up the city, made everything move in it? Gossip about Chichikov. All this is funny and terrible at the same time. Empty talk that develops into spiritual emptiness is the main idea of ​​Gogol's city.

The contrast between fussy external activity and internal ossification is striking. The life of the city is dead and meaningless, like the whole life of this crazy world. The features of alogism in the image of the city are brought to the limit: the story begins with them. Remember the stupid, meaningless conversation of the peasants, the wheel will roll to Moscow or Kazan; the comical idiocy of the signs “And here is the establishment”, “Foreigner Ivan Fedorov” ...

In many ways, the image of the provincial city in Dead Souls resembles the image of the city in The Inspector General. But the scale has been enlarged: instead of a town lost in the wilderness, from where “if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state”, the central city is “not far from both capitals”. Instead of the small fry of the mayor - the governor. But life - empty, illogical, meaningless - is the same: "dead life."

The image of the city NN in the poem by N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

The work of N. V. Gogol “Dead Souls”, according to Herzen, is “an amazing book, a bitter reproach of modern Russia, but not hopeless.” Being a poem, it was intended to sing of Russia in its deep folk foundations. But nevertheless, satirical accusatory pictures of the reality contemporary to the author prevail in it.

As in the comedy The Inspector General, in Dead Souls Gogol uses a typification technique. The action of the poem takes place in the provincial town of NN. which is a collective image. The author notes that "it was in no way inferior to other provincial cities." This makes it possible to reproduce a complete picture of the mores of the whole country. The protagonist of the poem, Chichikov draws attention to the typical “houses of one, two and one and a half floors, with an eternal mezzanine”, to “signboards almost washed away by rain”, to the most common inscription “Drinking House”.

At first glance, it seems that the atmosphere of city life is somewhat different from the sleepy, serene and frozen spirit of landlord life. Constant balls, dinners, breakfasts, snacks, and even trips to public places create an image full of energy and passion, vanity and trouble. But upon closer examination, it turns out that all this is illusory, meaningless, unnecessary, that the representatives of the top of urban society are faceless, spiritually dead, and their existence is aimless. The “visiting card” of the city is the vulgar dandy that Chichikov met at the entrance to the city: “... I met a young man in white canine trousers, very narrow and short, in a tailcoat with attempts on fashion, from under which a shirt-front was visible, buttoned with a Tula a pin with a bronze pistol." This random character is the personification of the tastes of the provincial society.

The life of the city depends entirely on numerous officials. The author paints an expressive portrait of the administrative power in Russia. As if emphasizing the uselessness and facelessness of city officials, he gives them a very brief characteristics. It is said about the governor that he “was neither fat nor thin, had Anna around his neck ...; however, he was a great kind man and even embroidered tulle himself. It is known about the prosecutor that he was the owner of "very black thick eyebrows and a somewhat winking left eye." It is noted about the postmaster that he was a "short" man, but "a wit and a philosopher."

All officials have a low level of education. Gogol ironically calls them “more or less enlightened people,” because “some have read Karamzin, some have read Moskovskiye Vedomosti, some have even read nothing at all...” Such are the provincial landowners. The two are closely related to each other. The author shows in thinking about “thick and thin”, how gradually statesmen, "having earned universal respect, they leave the service ... and become glorious landowners, glorious Russian bars, hospitality, and live and live well." This digression is an evil satire on robber officials and on the "hospitable" Russian bars, leading an idle existence, aimlessly smoking the sky.

Officials are a kind of arbiters of the destinies of the inhabitants of the provincial city. The solution to any, even a small issue, depends on them. Not a single case was considered without bribes. Bribery, embezzlement and robbery of the population are constant and widespread phenomena. The police chief had only to blink, passing by the fish row, as “beluga, sturgeon, salmon, pressed caviar, freshly salted caviar, herring, stellate sturgeon, cheeses, smoked tongues and balyks appeared on his table - it was all from the side of the fish row.”

“Servants of the people" are truly unanimous in their desire to live widely at the expense of the sums of "the Fatherland dearly loved by them." They are equally irresponsible in their direct duties. This is especially clearly shown when Chichikov draws up bills of sale for serfs. As witnesses, Sobakevich proposes to invite the prosecutor, who, “for sure, is sitting at home, since the lawyer Zolotukha, the first grabber in the world, does everything for him,” and the inspector of the medical board, as well as Trukhachevsky and Belushkin. According to the apt remark of Sobakevich, “they all burden the earth for nothing!” In addition, the author's remark is characteristic that the chairman, at the request of Chichikov, "could extend and shorten ... presence, like the ancient Zeus."

The central place in the characterization of the bureaucratic world is occupied by the episode of the death of the prosecutor. In just a few lines, Gogol managed to express the emptiness of the lives of these people. No one knows why the prosecutor lived and why he died, because he does not understand why he himself lives, what his purpose is.

When describing the life of the provincial city, the author Special attention devotes to the women's party. First of all, these are the wives of officials. They are just as impersonal as their husbands. Chichikov notices not people at the ball, but a huge number of luxurious dresses, ribbons, feathers. The author pays tribute to the taste of provincial ladies: “This is not a province, this is the capital, this is Paris itself!”, But at the same time he exposes their imitative essence, noticing in places “a bonnet not seen by the earth” or “almost a peacock feather”. “But it’s impossible without this, such is the property of a provincial city: somewhere it will certainly break off.” A noble feature of the provincial ladies is their ability to express themselves with "extraordinary caution and decency." Their speech is elegant and ornate. As Gogol notes, “in order to further ennoble the Russian language, almost half of the words were completely thrown out of the conversation.”

The life of bureaucrats' wives is idle, but they themselves are active, so gossip spreads around the city with amazing speed and takes on a terrifying appearance. Because of the ladies' talk, Chichikov was recognized as a millionaire. But as soon as he ceased to honor women's society with attention, absorbed in the contemplation of the governor's daughter, the hero was also credited with the idea of ​​stealing the object of contemplation and many other terrible crimes.

The ladies of the city have a huge influence on their official husbands and not only make them believe in incredible gossip, but are also able to set them against each other. “Duels, of course, did not take place between them, because they were all civil officials, but on the other hand, one tried to harm the other where possible ...”

All Gogol's heroes dream of achieving a certain ideal of life, which for the majority of representatives of the provincial society is seen in the image of the capital, brilliant St. Petersburg. By creating collective image Russian city of the 30-40s of the XIX century, the author combines the features of the province and characteristics metropolitan life. So, the mention of St. Petersburg is found in every chapter of the poem. Very clearly, without embellishment, this image was indicated in The Tale of Captain Kopeikin. Gogol remarks with amazing frankness that it is absolutely impossible to live in this city, sedate, prim, immersed in luxury. little man, such as Captain Kopeikin. The writer speaks in “The Tale ...” about the cold indifference of the powerful of this world to the troubles of the unfortunate disabled person, participant Patriotic War 1812. Thus, in the poem, the theme of the opposition of state interests and the interests of the common man arises.

Gogol is sincerely indignant at the social injustice prevailing in Russia, dressing his indignation in satirical forms. In the poem, he uses the "situation of delusion". This helps him to reveal certain aspects of the life of the provincial city. The author puts all officials before one fact and reveals all the "sins" and crimes of each: arbitrariness in the service, lawlessness of the police, idle pastime and much more. All this is organically woven into general characteristics city ​​NN. and also emphasizes its collectivity. After all, all these vices were characteristic of contemporary Gogol's Russia. In "Dead Souls" the writer recreated the real picture Russian life in the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, and this is his greatest merit.

(end) The contrast between fussy external activity and internal ossification is striking. The life of the city is dead and meaningless, like the whole life of this insane modern world. The features of alogism in the image of the city are brought to the limit: the story begins with them. Let us recall the stupid, meaningless conversation of the peasants, whether the wheel will roll to Moscow or to Kazan; the comical idiocy of the signs "And here is the establishment", "Foreigner Ivan Fedorov" ... Do you think Gogol composed this?

Nothing like this! In the remarkable collection of essays on the life of the writer E. Ivanov "Apt Moscow Word" an entire chapter is devoted to the texts of signboards. The following are given: "Kebab master from a young Karachay lamb with Kakhetian wine.

Solomon", "Professor of chansonnet art Andrei Zakharovich Serpoletti". And here are completely "Gogol" ones: "Hairdresser Musyu Zhoris-Pankratov", "Parisian hairdresser Pierre Musatov from London. A haircut, a breeze and a perm. "Where are the poor "Foreigner Ivan Fedorov" before them!

But E. Ivanov collected curiosities at the beginning of the 20th century - that is, more than 50 years have passed since the creation of "Dead Souls"!

Both the "Paris hairdresser from London" and "Mussie Zhoris Pankratov" are the spiritual heirs of Gogol's heroes. In many ways, the image of the provincial city in Dead Souls resembles the image of the city in The Inspector General. But - pay attention! - Enlarged scale. Instead of a town lost in the wilderness, from where "if you ride for three years, you won't reach any state," the central city is "not far from both capitals." Instead of the small fry of the mayor - the governor. And life is the same - empty, meaningless, illogical - "dead life".

The artistic space of the poem consists of two worlds, which can be conditionally designated as the "real" world and the "ideal" world. The author builds the "real" world by recreating the reality of his day Russian life. In this world live Plyushkin, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, the prosecutor, the chief of police and other heroes who are original caricatures of Gogol's contemporaries. D. S. Likhachev emphasized that “all the types created by Gogol were strictly localized in the social space of Russia. For all the universal features of Sobakevich or Korobochka, they are all at the same time representatives of certain groups of the Russian population half of XIX century."

According to the laws of the epic, Gogol recreates a picture of life in the poem, striving for the maximum breadth of coverage. It is no coincidence that he himself admitted that he wanted to show "at least from one side, but the whole of Russia." Having painted a picture of the modern world, creating caricature masks of his contemporaries, in which the weaknesses, shortcomings and vices characteristic of the era are exaggerated, brought to the point of absurdity - and therefore both disgusting and funny - Gogol achieves the desired effect: the reader sees how immoral his world is. And only then the author reveals the mechanism of this distortion of life. The chapter "Knight of the penny", which is placed at the end of the first volume, becomes an "inserted short story" compositionally. Why do people not see how vile their lives are?

And how can they understand this, if the only and main instruction received by the boy from his father, the spiritual covenant, is expressed in two words: "save a penny"?" Comic lies everywhere, - said N.V. Gogol.

Living among it, we do not see it: but if the artist transfers it to art, to the stage, then we ourselves will roll over ourselves with laughter. "This principle artistic creativity he embodied in Dead Souls. After letting readers see how scary and comical their life is, the author explains, why people they themselves do not feel it, at best they do not feel it acutely enough. The author's epic abstraction from what is happening in the "real" world is due to the magnitude of the task he faces to "show all of Russia", to let the reader see for himself, without the author's pointer, what the world around him is like. The "ideal" world is built in strict accordance with true spiritual values, with that lofty ideal to which the human soul aspires.

The author himself sees the "real" world so voluminously precisely because it exists in a "different system of coordinates", lives according to the laws of the "ideal" world, judges himself and life by the highest criteria - by striving for the Ideal, by proximity to it. The title of the poem contains the deepest philosophical meaning. Dead souls are nonsense, the combination of the incompatible is an oxymoron, because the soul is immortal. For the "ideal" world, the soul is immortal, for it is the embodiment of the Divine principle in man.

And in the "real" world there may well be a "dead soul", because the day of his soul is only what distinguishes a living person from a dead person. In the episode of the prosecutor's death, those around him guessed that he "was definitely a soul" only when he became "only a soulless body." This world is insane - it has forgotten about the soul, and lack of spirituality is the cause of decay, the true and only one. Only with an understanding of this reason can the revival of Russia begin, the return of lost ideals, spirituality, the soul in its true, highest meaning. The "ideal" world is the world of spirituality, the spiritual world of man.

There is no Plyushkin and Sobakevich in it, there cannot be Nozdryov and Korobochka. It has souls - immortal human souls. It is ideal in every sense of the word, and therefore this world cannot be recreated epic. Spiritual world describes a different kind of literature - lyrics. That is why Gogol defines the genre of the work as lyrical-epic, calling "Dead Souls" a poem.Recall that the poem begins with a meaningless conversation between two peasants: will the wheel reach Moscow; from a description of the dusty, gray, endlessly dreary streets of a provincial town; with all sorts of manifestations of human stupidity and vulgarity. The first volume of the poem is completed by the image of Chichikov's chaise, which was ideally transformed in the last digression into a symbol of the ever-living soul of the Russian people - a wonderful "bird-troika". The immortality of the soul is the only thing that gives the author faith in the obligatory revival of his heroes - and of all life, therefore, of all of Russia.

Based on materials: Monakhova O.P.

Malkhazova M. V. Russian literature XIX century.

In N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" a panorama of Russia of the 30s of the 19th century is revealed to the reader, because the writer's intention was to "show at least from one side, but all of Russia." It is this global intention that explains genre originality works: the genre of the poem allows you to combine both epic and lyrical beginnings in one text, that is, the author's voice, his position, his pain are very strong in Dead Souls, and the poem also implies a wider coverage of the events depicted. One of the tasks of the work is to characterize all social strata of society, which is why the poem includes the landlords, the provincial nobility, the bureaucracy, the metropolitan society, and the peasants.
The piece starts with a description provincial town NN, a typical Russian city of that time (it is no coincidence that the city does not have a specific name, because any other one can be in its place).
First, the reader gets acquainted with the inhabitants of the city - two peasants who are discussing the cart that has entered the gate with Chichikov sitting in it. Their conversation is very colorful: the peasants wonder if the wheel of the chaise will reach Moscow first, and then Kazan. Gogol, on the one hand, ironically draws his characters: two idle peasants solve a completely useless problem; on the other hand, the reader is already ready for the perception of "dead souls", which later will turn out to be both officials of a provincial city and landowners. Against their background, the peasants are the only "living souls", distinguished by their lively mind, curiosity, thirst for life, and interest in it.
The reader gets a second impression of the provincial city when he gets acquainted with the hotel where Chichikov stays. The author in every way emphasizes the fact that the hotel is no different from similar establishments in other cities: it is long, two stories high, the top of which is painted with “eternal yellow paint”, and there are shops in the bottom; "dead" rooms with cockroaches and doors lined with chests of drawers. The author does not hide his irony in relation to the life of a provincial town, for example, he compares the face of a sbitennik with his own samovar, emphasizing that the difference between them is only in the beard.
To characterize the city, the reaction of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is important, who, having rested, went to inspect the surrounding area. The hero was satisfied, because "the city was in no way inferior to other provincial cities." The wretchedness and gloom of the Russian provinces are striking: yellow and gray paint, a wide street with randomly located houses on it, endless wooden fences, shabby shops, the absurdity of which Gogol emphasizes with the inscription on one of them: "Foreigner Vasily Fedorov"; drinking establishments were most often encountered, which indicates the main hobby of the city's residents. The writer draws attention to the condition of the pavement, since roads are, in a sense, the face of the city. The city garden, which, according to newspaper reports, was supposed to be “shady, broad-branched trees that give coolness on a hot day,” actually consisted of thin twigs, and this fact testifies, firstly, to the activities of city rulers, and in - secondly, about the venality and hypocrisy of the city press.
Thus, without getting acquainted with the city authorities yet, the reader gets an idea about them and their activities “for the benefit of the city”. When Gogol presents a gallery of local officials whom (without exception) Chichikov visits to pay his respects, they are first of all characterized by the fact that Pavel Ivanovich is treated kindly by everyone and accepted as one of his own, he is immediately invited to a house party, some to lunch, some for Boston, some for a cup of tea.
It is natural that calling card of the city is its governor, whose belonging to the class "neither fat nor thin" gives him a peculiar right to power. Usually, when introducing a person, they try to point to him. best qualities, and if this is a person on whom the fate of a city or country depends, then it is necessary to determine his business qualities. The distinctive feature of the governor was that he had Anna around his neck. Sneering at him, Gogol emphasizes that, despite "Anna", the governor was a good-natured man and even embroidered on tulle. It is unlikely that all this can be useful for the head of the city, as well as for a huge number of other city officials: vice-governor, prosecutor, chairman of the chamber, police chief, farmer, head of state-owned factories, and so on (all, the author hints, it is impossible to remember) .
It is significant that the "powerful ones" do not even have names, because the most important thing that is valued in this society is rank, and only this criterion is important for evaluating Gogol's officials. In addition, the author makes it clear to the reader that in the place of the city NN there can be any other provincial city and there will be the same set of "performing service" people. The ladies of the city do not have names either, because for them the main thing is appearance, so one will be considered “a lady just pleasant”, the other - “a lady pleasant in all respects”. Describing them, Gogol claims that they "were what they call presentable", thereby emphasizing that compliance with conventions, following etiquette are the meaning of life for this circle of people.
The climactic scene of the episode is the scene of the governor's ball. Gogol chooses very subtly artistic means to describe the local community. The most convex is the comparison of the audience present with black flies on "white shining refined sugar during the hot July summer..." , then fly away again, then fly again. That is, their movement is completely meaningless, chaotic, and the fly people themselves do not cause any positive emotions.
In addition, Gogol gives a certain classification of the men present at the ball, thereby showing that we are not faced with individuals, but only human types, and their typicality is determined primarily by external factors, and these factors “work” not only in the provincial town of NN , but also "everywhere". Men were divided into thin, fat, and also not too fat, but not thin either, and the fate of each turned out to be predetermined precisely by which group he belonged to. The faces are also extremely colorful: the fat ones are full and round, with warts, pockmarked; hair either cut low or slicked down; facial features are rounded and strong; Naturally, these are honorary officials of the city and they know how to "do their own business." Among the thin, courting ladies and dancing are considered the most important occupations at the ball, and among the thick ones - cards, which officials indulge in with all seriousness: “All conversations have completely stopped, as always happens when they finally indulge in a sensible occupation.”
Thus, a provincial town is, as it were, a cross-section of the life of Russia as a whole, with its structure, political and social, with its vices and shortcomings, with its bureaucratic apparatus, unusually numerous and just as bankrupt, with its dullness and lack of education, eternal drunkenness, idleness. etc. Getting acquainted with Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov with the provincial city of NN, the reader comprehends the originality of Russian life in the thirties of the nineteenth century and plunges into the position of the author, shares his pain and his hope for the future of Russia.
Review. The writing is distinguished by literacy and thoughtfulness. The author is fluent in the text of Gogol's poem and skillfully uses it to prove his thoughts. From the work it becomes clear that the author understood Gogol's position and realized that the image of a provincial town is a significant page in the characterization of all of Russia.