Appearing during the Russo-Japanese War and in the context of the growth of the first Russian revolution, the work caused a huge public outcry, since it shook one of the main foundations of the autocratic state - the inviolability of the military caste.
The problematics of "Duel" goes beyond the traditional military story. Kuprin also touches upon the question of the causes of social inequality of people, of possible ways to free a person from spiritual oppression, raises the problem of the relationship between the individual and society, the intelligentsia and the people.
The plot outline of the work is built on the ups and downs of the fate of an honest Russian officer, whom the conditions of army barracks life make one think about the wrong relationships between people. The feeling of spiritual decline haunts not only Romashov, but also Shurochka.
The juxtaposition of two heroes, who have two types of world outlook, is generally characteristic of Kuprin. Both heroes seek to find a way out of the impasse. At the same time, Romashov comes to the idea of protesting against bourgeois prosperity and stagnation, and Shurochka adapts to it, despite outward ostentatious rejection. The author's attitude towards her is ambivalent, Romashov's "reckless nobility and noble lack of will" are closer to him. Kuprin even noted that he considers Romashov his double, and the story itself is largely autobiographical.
Romashov is a “natural person”, he instinctively resists injustice, but his protest is weak, his dreams and plans are easily destroyed, as they are immature and thoughtless, often naive. Romashov is close to Chekhov's heroes. But the emerging need for immediate action strengthens his will to active resistance. After meeting with the soldier Khlebnikov, "humiliated and insulted", a turning point occurs in Romashov's mind, he is shocked by the readiness of a person to commit suicide, in which he sees the only way out of a martyr's life. The sincerity of Khlebnikov's impulse especially clearly indicates to Romashov the stupidity and immaturity of his youthful fantasies, which aim only to prove something to others. Romashov is shocked by the strength of Khlebnikov's suffering, and it is precisely the desire to sympathize that makes the second lieutenant think for the first time about the fate of the common people. However, Romashov's attitude towards Khlebnikov is contradictory: talk about humanity and justice bears the imprint of abstract humanism, Romashov's call for compassion is largely naive.
In The Duel, A. I. Kuprin continues the traditions of L. N. Tolstoy’s psychological analysis: in addition to the protesting voice of the hero himself, who saw the injustice of a cruel and stupid life, the author’s accusatory voice (Nazansky’s monologues) is heard in the work. Kuprin uses Tolstoy's favorite technique - the substitution technique for the protagonist of the hero-reasoner. In "Duel" Nazansky is the bearer of social ethics. The image of Nazansky is ambiguous: his radical mood (critical monologues, romantic foreboding of a “radiant life”, foresight of future social upheavals, hatred of the way of life of the military caste, the ability to appreciate high, pure love, to feel the beauty of life) conflicts with his own way of life. The only salvation from moral death is for the individualist Nazansky and for Romashov an escape from all social ties and obligations.
The action of the story refers to the mid-90s of the XIX century. Contemporaries saw in it a condemnation of the army and the exposure of the officers. And this opinion will be confirmed in a few years by history itself, when the Russian army suffers a crushing defeat in the battles near Mukden, Lyaoliang, and Port Arthur. Why did this happen? It seems to me that "" clearly and clearly answers the question posed. Can an army be combat-ready where an anti-human, corrupting and stupefying atmosphere reigns, where officers are at a loss when it is necessary to show resourcefulness, ingenuity and initiative, where soldiers are reduced to stupefaction by senseless drills, beatings and bullying?
“With the exception of a few ambitious and careerists, all officers served as a forced, unpleasant, disgusted corvee, yearning for it and not loving it. Junior officers, quite schoolboyish, were late for classes and slowly ran away from them if they knew that they would not get it for it ... At the same time, everyone was drinking heavily, both in the meeting and visiting each other ... the company commanders went about their service with the same disgust as the subaltern officers ... ”- we read. Indeed, the regimental life that Kuprin draws is absurd, gone and bleak. There are only two ways to get out of it: go to the reserve (and find yourself without a specialty and livelihood) or try to enter the academy and, after graduating from it, climb to a higher step on the military ladder, "make a career." However, few are capable of this. The fate of the bulk of the officers is to pull an endless and tedious webbing with the prospect of retiring with a small pension.
The daily life of officers consisted of directing drill exercises, monitoring the study of "literature" (i.e., military regulations) by soldiers, attending an officer's meeting. Drinking alone and in company, cards, romances with other people's wives, traditional picnics and "beams", trips to the local brothel - these are all the entertainments available to officers. "Duel" reveals the dehumanization, spiritual devastation to which people are subjected in the conditions of army life, the refinement and vulgarization of these people.
But sometimes they see clearly for a while, and these moments are terrible and tragic: ““ Occasionally, from time to time, the days of some kind of general, wholesale, ugly revelry came in the regiment. Perhaps this happened in those strange moments when people, accidentally connected with each other, but all together condemned to boring inactivity and senseless cruelty, suddenly saw in each other's eyes, far away, in a confused and oppressed consciousness, some mysterious spark of horror, longing and madness, and then calm , well-fed like that of breeding bulls, life seemed to be thrown out of its channel. " Some kind of collective madness began, people seemed to lose their human appearance. "On the way to the meeting, the officers behaved a lot. They stopped a passing Jew, called him and, tearing off his hat, they drove the cab forward; then they threw this hat somewhere behind the fence, on a tree. Bobetinsky beat the cabman. The rest sang loudly and shouted stupidly. "
Army life, cruel and senseless, gives rise to peculiar "monsters". These are people who have gone down and stupid, stagnant in prejudice - campaigners, vulgar philistines and moral freaks. One of them is Captain Plum. This is a stupid campaigner, a narrow-minded and rude person. “Everything that went beyond the limits of the order, charter and company, and that he contemptuously called nonsense and mandrake, certainly did not exist for him. Dragging all his life a harsh service strap, he did not read a single book and a single newspaper ... "
Although Plum is attentive to the needs of the soldiers, this quality is negated by his cruelty: “This lethargic, down-to-earth man was terribly harsh with the soldiers and not only allowed the non-commissioned officers to fight, but he himself beat cruelly, to the point of blood, to the point that the offender fell from his feet under his blows. Even more terrible is Captain Osadchy, who inspires "inhuman awe" to his subordinates. Even in his appearance there is something bestial, predatory. He is so cruel to the soldiers that every year someone in his company committed suicide.
What is the reason for such spiritual devastation, moral deformity? Kuprin answers this question through the mouth of Nazansky, one of the few positive characters in the story: “... so are all of them, even the best, most gentle of them, wonderful fathers and attentive husbands - they all become base, cowardly, evil in the service , stupid little animals. You will ask why? Yes, precisely because none of them believes in service and does not see a reasonable goal of this service”; "... for them, service is a complete disgust, a burden, a hated yoke."
Escaping from the deadly boredom of army life, the officers are trying to come up with some kind of side occupation for themselves. For most, it is, of course, drunkenness and cards. Some are engaged in collecting and needlework. Lieutenant Colonel Rafalsky takes his soul away in his home menagerie, Captain Stelkovsky turned the corruption of young peasant women into a hobby.
What makes people rush into this pool, to devote themselves to military service? Kuprin believes that the ideas about the military that have developed in society are partly to blame for this. So, the main character of the story, lieutenant Romashov, trying to comprehend life phenomena, comes to the conclusion that “the world was divided into two unequal parts: one - the smaller one - the officers, which surrounds the honor, strength, power, magical dignity of the uniform and, together with the uniform, for some reason and patented courage, and physical strength, and arrogant pride; the other - huge and impersonal - civilians, otherwise shpaks, shtafirkas and hazel grouses; they were despised...” And the writer pronounces a sentence on military service, which, with its illusory prowess, was created by “a cruel, shameful, all-human misunderstanding.”
"Duel" A. Kuprin. The issue of honor. The main conflicts and their artistic expression in the work.
"I gotta get rid of the burden cargo logo of my war years. ... The army language, the language of soldiers, officers and senior commanders, still very little touched upon by me in the stories, will come to my aid "5, - Kuprin said back in the autumn of 1902, working on the story "Duel". The work has been delayed. It went on especially intensively at the end of 1904, when Gorky got acquainted with fragments of the manuscript and gave them a high appraisal.
The course of the Russo-Japanese War also influenced the perception of "Duel". On January 2, 1905, Port Arthur fell. At the end of May 1905 (during the publication of the story) the Russian fleet was defeated at Tsushima. “Society was feverishly looking for clues to the catastrophe. Tale<...> gave a clue, all the more true because it was written before the war and<...>painted a broad, complete and truthful everyday picture of army life" 1 - wrote about the reasons for the success of "Duel" S. A. Vengerov. Russian Wealth magazine explained the relevance"Duel" for 1905: "Who are they - these people who have recently been entrusted with the "honor of Russia" in the fields of distant Manchuria?<...>The author of "The Duel" draws - masterfully draws: it becomes cold at heart - pictures of moral non-existence, which his characters crave at times.
“Everything bold and violent in my story belongs to you. If you only knew how much I have learned from you and how grateful I am to you for that,” 3 the author wrote to Gorky (the story was originally dedicated to Gorky). The connection of Kuprin's new book with the position of Znanie and Gorky was emphasized by conservative criticism, noting that the Znanie collections "delete one estate after another from the list of viable ones" 4 . But even more benevolent reviewers pointed out that the story was born of "a critical transitional time, when everything is vacillating and centuries-old authorities are falling to the ground" 5 .
Gorky, in an interview with Birzhevye Vedomosti, emphasized that “Kuprin rendered the officers a great service. He helped them, to a certain extent, to realize themselves, their position in life, all its abnormality and tragedy...” 6 . The story was highly appreciated by V.V. Stasov and I.E. Repin.
Due to the feeling of global hopelessness, "Duel" was compared with L.N. Andreev's story "The Life of Vasily of Thebes". They wrote about Chekhov's traditions in "Duel" (especially about the connection of the story with the play "Three Sisters"). Vershinin's traits were seen in Romashov (amazingly, Solyony was never mentioned!).
Many personal traits and details of the biography bring Lieutenant Romashov and young Kuprin closer. According to contemporaries, the prototypes of Shurochka, Nikolaev, Colonel Shulgovi- cha, eccentric Brem were people from the regimental environment of Kupriat the beginning of the 1890s. In 1908, Kuprin dreamed of making a "resurrected"
Romashov as the protagonist of the novel "Beggars", which would have depicted "years of reporting in terrible poverty and cheerful youth<...>pier, lodging houses.
In Romashov’s internal monologues, the fear of the “Moloch” of society, characteristic of the heroes of Kuprin’s early prose, and a deep distrust of all levels of the established world order, from catechism to regimental regulations, characteristic of the heroes of Kuprin’s early prose, are brought to the limit.
Romashov comes to the conclusion: “the vast majority of intelligent professions are based solely on distrust of human honesty”, the activities of “priests, doctors, teachers, lawyers and judges” necessarily degenerate into “negligence, into cold and dead formalism, into habitual and shameful indifference.”
As the very concept of a duel degenerates from Petrusha Grinev and Shvabrin to Tuzenbakh and Solyony (critics noted that the title of the story refers to the powerful tradition of Russian literature of the 19th century, they mentioned the duels of Onegin and Lensky, Bazarov and P.P. Kirsanov), so it degenerates and dies the whole value system of Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. to the era of "Duel".
It seems that it is not because there is no meaning in the life and service of Romashov that everything around him is terrible. Rather, on the contrary: the environment seems terrible, because the hero does not see the point either in the service or in life. “Before us is a characteristic average man of his time...” 1 - critics wrote about the characters of Kuprin in the 1900s and 1910s. Behind the accusatory pathos of "Duel" is deeply hidden the subconscious horror of the average person of the 1900s before the imminent collapse of the system of norms, ideas and meanings of society.
A quarter of a century later, Georgy Adamovich would unexpectedly and shrewdly compare The Duel with the European prose of the 1920s and 1930s, generated by the experience of the First World War, the prose of the “lost generation” 2 .
Man and environment. How often do we see this expression in newspaper articles, in television programs and, finally, in ordinary speech.
Often, exaggerating his strength, a person considers himself the king of everything. But it's not. He is just a toy in the hands of fate. It does not depend on him what environment he will find himself in, and to change it, that is, to make it acceptable to himself, is often beyond his power. The environment shapes a person's personality. She "sculpts" him according to her laws, alas, not always fair. It is not surprising that the question of the relationship between man and the environment has become widespread in the literature. Kuprin did not bypass him in his story "Duel".
The protagonist of the work is Georgy Alekseevich Romashov. It was before him that the task was set - to fight for life in a difficult garrison environment. At the end of the story, we find out whether Romashov's environment broke or he defeated her. But it will be later, but for now we have a young man full of hope.
Romashov left the military school as a "twenty-year-old boy". Then he saw life in pink, and it seemed to him that everything was in his hands. With what joy he bought things for his room, “what a strict program of life was outlined! In the first two years, a thorough acquaintance with classical literature, the systematic study of French and German. In the last year - preparation for the academy ... "And our hero had many other plans for self-education.
But a year of service has passed. And how do we find Romashov? During this time, much has changed in his life. Now he, like all officers, goes to the meeting, where he drinks a lot. Romashov, like all his colleagues, is burdened by the service, for him it is a heavy daily duty. What about the plans he made for the future? They didn't come true. The magazines ordered by him lie unopened, and only the batman occasionally wipes the dust off them. All those things that were once purchased with such enthusiasm now just annoy the owner. And even holy love is stained. Romashov had a vulgar relationship with Raisa Peterson, which was very burdensome.
Is Romashov really “no”, is it really that the environment has molded a doll out of him, and now all that remains is to pull the strings? No, he still has a soul that reaches out to the beautiful no matter what. Perhaps the harmful environment affected Romashov, but only outside, inside - there is a struggle. This means that he is able to live, not to exist. If his soul is alive, then a turning point in his life should come. And the fracture occurs, and it is very difficult and painful. Oddly enough, life itself pushes Romashov to change. The turning point comes when the world invented by him, in which our hero was always the first, the best, is destroyed. Suddenly, in an instant, this world collapses. It happens at the show. Romashov had just walked along the parade ground ahead of his company, imagining how he would be praised, how the general would want to take him as an adjutant. But it turned out that instead of two straight, slender lines, his “half-mouth” was an ugly crowd, broken in all directions, shy, like a flock of sheep. This happened because the lieutenant, intoxicated with his enthusiasm and his ardent dreams, did not himself notice how he moved step by step from the middle to the right, pressing at the same time on the half-company, and finally found himself on its right flank, crushing and upsetting the general movement ". Romashov's romantic nature could not bear this shame. That same night, dejected by what happened, he decides to end his life. But he runs into his soldier Khlebnikov. After talking with the unfortunate soldier, the lieutenant realizes how small his own problems are.
“From that night, a deep spiritual breakdown occurred in Romashov. He began to retire from the company of officers, dined mostly at home, did not go to dance evenings at the meeting at all, and stopped drinking. He immediately matured, became older and more serious in recent days, and he himself noticed this by that sad and even calmness with which he now treated people and phenomena. But something remained unchanged in Romashov's life - this is love for Shurochka Nikolaeva. It was a pure and bright feeling. Romashov, like a child, rejoiced at her every word and look. But for Shurochka, he was too weak-willed, unpromising, did not meet her life needs.
Between Romashov and Shurochka's husband there is a quarrel, which led to a duel. On the last evening before the duel, Shurochka comes to Romashov, asks to shoot past the duel, assuring that her husband will do the same. She gives her love to our young officer, for whom this night was the happiest in his life.
And yet Romashov was killed in a duel. Who is to blame for his death? Jealous husband? Or the woman you love? Most likely no. He was killed by the environment in which he lived, and his own inability to resist it.
The story "Duel" is one of the links in the chain of works by A. I. Kuprin dedicated to the Russian army. Before the “Duel”, Kuprin wrote numerous stories, such as “The Lilac Bush”, “Inquiry”, “Hiking”, “Accommodation”, etc., the story “At the Turning Point”. The “Duel” was followed by the stories “The Wedding” and “Garnet Bracelet”, “Sashka and Yashka” - a story about military pilots of the First World War, the novel “Junkers”. The views of the writer changed, but the interest in the topic remained unchanged. And this is not surprising - military life was familiar to Kuprin firsthand. He was associated with the army from 10 to 24 years old and garrison life, the problems of the officer environment affected him directly. In the story "Duel" with anger and pain, the writer talks about the problems of the Russian army.
Kuprin's contemporaries noted that the author clearly and accurately outlined in "Duel" the social problems of the Russian army in the early 1900s: the problem of misunderstanding and alienation between soldiers and officers, the problem of the hardships of family life in the garrison, the lack of education and limited officers.
Almost hopeless despair reigns on the pages of the story. The heroes are doomed, just as the army itself is doomed. The protagonist of the story, lieutenant Romashov, does not find any sense in the very existence of the army. Teachings, statutes, barracks everyday life seem to him and his fellow soldiers absolutely meaningless.
"Duel" is a story that has two plans: a love story and a duel of Lieutenant Romashov. The protagonist is betrayed by the infinitely selfish and prudent Shurochka and absurdly dies at the end of the story. The story presents a rich gallery of faces and characters of the provincial army environment: from the miserable and downtrodden Khlebnikov to the philosophizing "Nietzschean" Nazansky; from the stupid and cowardly Nikolaev to the quick-tempered and fearless Bek-Agamalov. Each portrait is so convincing that behind it you immediately see a living person with features inherent only to him. None of the painted portraits repeats the other.
The heroes of the "Duel" appear before the readers as desperate people. Nazan-sky dreams of light, tormented by severe alcoholic nightmares. Osadchy sings of "the joy of former wars, cheerful and bloody cruelty." Shurochka, a charming, educated woman, patiently prepares her husband for admission to the Academy of the General Staff and prudently, calmly brings Romashov, who loves her, under the barrel of a gun.
The theme of compassion in the story appears only in the scene of Romashov's nighttime conversation with the soldier Khlebnikov on the slope of the railway. We see compassion in the actions of the second lieutenant, in the conversation of soldiers recalling the tales of the Petrine era. In the rest of the moments, Romashova continues to be haunted by "a sense of absurdity, confusion, incomprehensibility of life."
The accusatory pathos of the story was immediately noted by critics. The story was published in 1905 at the time of the defeat of the Russian fleet on the Japanese front, which preceded the catastrophe of the Russian army in the Japanese war. M. Chunosov wrote: “For a long time there has not been a novel published in Russian that would immediately capture the reader with such force as Kuprin’s novel “The Duel”, dedicated to army life in all its terrible and tragic ugliness.”
Interestingly, the story has retained its significance to this day and is still fresh and interesting. I think that the reason for the relevance of the story in our days lies in the fact that "The Duel" depicts the tragedy of a person (a natural and spiritual being), outgrowing the framework in which society encloses him. And in his desire to break out of this circle, a person either descends, as Shurochka's husband descended, or dies, like Romashov.
At the beginning of the century, most people believed that the Revolution would solve these problems and the human spirit would be reborn. However, this question remains open to this day. Perhaps, each person solves this problem himself, based on his own spiritual experience.
