What is the unusual composition of the hero of our time. Compositional features of the novel by m.yu

"A Hero of Our Time" can be described as a socio-psychological novel. M.Yu. Lermontov in his work shows the reader the era of the change of ideals in Russian history. Grigory Pechorin (as well as the author himself) can be attributed to the so-called "lost generation", since after the Decembrist uprising, which collapsed, society has not yet acquired new ideals and goals.

Throughout the work, the reader reveals the character of Pechorin, and the composition of the novel serves to solve this artistic problem.

In "A Hero of Our Time" there is no traditional compositional articulation of the text. There is no exposition, since the reader knows little about the life of the protagonist before his arrival in the Caucasus. There is also no plot, and the action is represented by a number of episodes telling about the life of Pechorin. The connection of several storylines forms the polyphonic structure of the novel, which consists of five separate stories. That is why the reader sees five climaxes in the work at the same time. The denouement of the novel can be considered the moment of Pechorin's death, when the main character dies, returning from Persia. Thus, it can be noted that the overall storyline consists only of climaxes and denouement. But it is interesting that in each story one can note the presence of a traditional compositional division of the text. Let's take, for example, the first part of the novel "Bela", in which the plot of the story is a conversation between Bela's brother and Kazbich, about which Pechorin accidentally learns. The direct exposition is the moment of the officer-narrator's acquaintance with the retired staff captain Maxim Maksimovich. The culmination is the scene of Bela's abduction by Pechorin. And the denouement is the death of Bela at the hands of Kazbich, who is in love with her, whose mind was clouded by jealousy and a desire for revenge.

The first thing that catches the reader's eye is the violation of the chronological sequence in the course of the narrative. That is why the denouement is in the middle of the text. Thus, the author gradually revealed the character of the protagonist. At first, readers saw him through the eyes of an officer-narrator and Maxim Maksimovich, and then got acquainted with Pechorin's diary, in which he was extremely frank.

The composition of "A Hero of Our Time" is also unique in that Lermontov characterizes his hero at moments of peak life experiences, such as the case with smugglers, the duel with his former comrade Grushnitsky, the fight with the drunken Cossack killer Vulich.

In the novel A Hero of Our Time, the reception of the ring composition is traced, since we meet Pechorin in the fortress where he served with Maxim Maksimovich, and there we see the hero for the last time before leaving for Persia. It is also characteristic that at the beginning and at the end of the novel there are two heroes - Pechorin and Maxim Maksimovich. Also in the work we meet other compositional techniques, such as a novel in a novel - this is the main character's diary. Another technique is silence, namely, a story about a certain story, after which Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus. There is also a flashback when the main character meets his longtime lover Vera.

It should be noted that the composition of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is interesting, unusual and carries a lot of innovation.

Composition is the arrangement, the structure of the work.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" consists of several stories that can be perceived as separate literary works. However, each of the components is an integral part of the whole.

The peculiarity of the composition is that the individual stories are not arranged in chronological order (i.e., according to the plot), but in a completely different way. The plot, that is, the totality of events in their compositional sequence, does not coincide with the plot. Lermontov was one of the first in the literature to use this technique. For what purpose did he do it?

The plot, which does not coincide with the plot, helps to switch the reader's attention from the eventful, external side to the inside, from the detective to the spiritual.

In "A Hero of Our Time" the "summit composition" characteristic of a romantic poem is recreated. The reader sees the hero only in tense, dramatic moments of his life. The gaps between them are not filled. We meet the hero in the fortress and in the last scene we also see him in the fortress - this creates the effect of a circular composition.

In various parts of the novel, we see the main character from the point of view of different characters: the narrator, Maxim Maksimych, Pechorin himself. Thus, the reader sees Pechorin from the positions of different people.

You can talk about the role of each story in the novel from different points of view: you can focus on the compositional role, you can - on the meaning in revealing the character of Pechorin, on his ability to act in various situations. We will focus on the content of individual stories.

"Bela": Pechorin fulfills the romantic stereotype "natural love for a savage". Lermontov realistically debunks the accepted view that such love can be fruitful. Pechorin is shown through the eyes of the ingenuous Maxim Maksimych.

“Maxim Maksimych”: Pechorin is drawn in his relationship with his old colleague Maxim Maksimych as a witness to his past: most likely, he was dry with Maxim Maksimych and hurried to part with him, because he did not want to awaken memories of the departed. The narrator tells about Pechorin - a young educated officer who has already heard the story about Bel.

"Pechorin's Journal": Pechorin himself talks about himself.

"Taman": Pechorin works out a romantic situation of falling in love with an "honest smuggler", which ends badly for him. The peculiarity of the story is that it does not contain fragments of introspection, but there is a narrative close to colloquial speech (this is how Pechorin could tell his comrades about what happened to him).

"Princess Mary": the genre basis is a secular story, the events in which, as a rule, are connected with a love affair in secular society and the idea of ​​rivalry between two men. Taman differs from the colloquial narrative style in detailed descriptions of the environment and detailed introspection (reflection), and is similar to the sharpness of the plot. It is a diary entry.

Contains a view of Pechorin from Werner's side, includes remarks from other characters (Vera, Mary, Grushnitsky), describing various manifestations of Pechorin's character.

"Fatalist": again we have before us the style of oral narration (as in "Taman"), The content of the story is an attempt to understand the driving forces of the world (rock, fate or the conscious will of a person).

Features of the composition of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" come from the fact that the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov became an advanced work of its time: in it the author used a new genre of a psychologically oriented novel, a new image of the protagonist and, accordingly, a new compositional articulation of the work.

The author himself, after the publication of his novel in its finished form, admitted that not a single word, not a single line in it arose by chance, everything written was subordinated to one main goal - to show readers their contemporary - a man with noble and bad inclinations, who, obeying the feeling selfishness, he was able to realize in life only his vices, and his virtues remained only good desires.

When the novel was just published, critics and ordinary readers had a lot of questions that related to the compositional division of this work. We will try to consider the main of these issues.

Why was the chronology of the presentation of the episodes of the main character's life broken?

The features of the composition of "A Hero of Our Time" are related to the fact that we learn about the life of the protagonist in a very inconsistent way. The first part of the novel tells how Pechorin kidnapped the Circassian Bela from his own father, made her his mistress, and later lost interest in this girl. As a result of a tragic accident, Bela was killed by the Circassian Kazbich, who was in love with her.

In the second part, entitled "Maxim Maksimovich", readers will learn that several years have passed since the death of Bela, Pechorin decided to go to Persia and died on the way there. From Pechorin's diary, it becomes known about the events that happened to the main character before meeting Bela: Pechorin got into a funny adventure with smugglers on Taman and in the city of Kislovodsk met the young Princess Mary Ligovskaya, whom, unwittingly, he fell in love with himself, and then refused to share her feelings. There was also a duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky, as a result of which the latter was killed.

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" ends with the part "Fatalist", which tells about a private episode from the life of Pechorin.

Studying the plot and composition of "A Hero of Our Time", literary critics agree that the author violated the chronological presentation of the main character's life in order, on the one hand, to emphasize the chaotic life of Pechorin, his inability to subordinate his fate to one main idea, on the other hand, Lermontov tried to reveal the image of his main character gradually: at first, readers saw him from the side through the eyes of Maxim Maksimovich and the narrator-officer, and then only got acquainted with Pechorin's personal diary, in which he was extremely frank.

What is the relationship between plot and plot in a novel?

The innovation of Lermontov as a prose writer contributed to the fact that the plot and plot of the novel "A Hero of Our Time" do not coincide with each other. This leads to the fact that the reader pays more attention not to the external outline of events from the life of the protagonist, but to his inner experiences. Literary critics have dubbed this method of constructing a work “tense composition”, when readers see the heroes of the novel at the peak moments of their fate.

Therefore, the composition of Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" is a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian literature: the author talks about key episodes from the life of his hero, giving him a description precisely at the moments of the highest life trials: these are Pechorin's love experiences, his duel with Grushnitsky, his skirmish with drunken Cossack, his dangerous adventure with smugglers on Taman.

In addition, Lermontov resorts to the reception of a ring composition: for the first time we meet Pechorin in the fortress in which he serves with Maxim Maksimovich, the last time we see the hero in the same fortress, before he leaves for Persia.

How does the compositional division of a work help to reveal the image of the protagonist?

According to most literary critics, the originality of the compositional solution of the novel helps to consider in detail the image of Pechorin.
In the first part of Bela, Pechorin's personality is shown through the eyes of his commander, the kind and honest Maxim Maksimovich. The author debunks the myth of beautiful love between a savage woman and a young educated nobleman that existed in the literature of that time. Pechorin does not in any way correspond to the image of a young romantic hero, which was created in the works of the writer's contemporaries.

In the second part of "Maxim Maksimovich" we meet a more detailed description of the personality of the protagonist. Pechorin is described through the eyes of the narrator. Readers get an idea of ​​the character's appearance and behavior. The romantic halo around Grigory Alexandrovich flutters completely.

In "Taman" Lermontov refutes the myth of romantic love between a girl engaged in smuggling activities and a young officer. A young smuggler with the romantic name Ondine does not behave at all sublimely, she is ready to kill Pechorin only because he turned out to be an unwitting witness to her crime. Pechorin is also characterized in this part as a man of an adventurous warehouse, ready for anything to satisfy his own desires.

Part "Princess Mary" is built on the principle of a secular story: it has a love story and a conflict between two officers for possession of the girl's heart, which ends tragically. In this part, the image of Pechorin receives a complete realistic characterization: readers see all the external actions of the hero and the secret movements of his soul.

In the last part of the novel The Fatalist, Lermontov poses the most important questions for him about the meaning of human life on earth: is a person the master of his own destiny or is he led by some kind of evil fate; is it possible to cheat one's fate or is it impossible, etc.? In the last part, Pechorin appears before us in the form of a man who is ready to fight fate. However, readers understand that this struggle will eventually lead him to an early death.

The role of composition in the novel "A Hero of Our Time" is very important. It is thanks to the unusual compositional division of the work that the author manages to achieve the full realization of his creative idea - the creation of a new psychologically oriented genre of the novel.

The presented compositional features of the work can be used by students of grade 9 when preparing material for an essay on the topic “Features of the composition of the novel“ A Hero of Our Time ””.

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Critics have defined the genre "Hero of our time" how psychological novel. When writing this work, M. Yu. Lermontov aimed to show the “history of the human soul”, to reveal the inner world of the protagonist. M. Yu. Lermontov began work on the novel under the impression of his first exile to the Caucasus. First, separate stories were written, which were published as they were written: “Bela”, “Fatalist” were published in the journal “Notes of the Fatherland” in 1839, followed by the story “Taman”. Later, all five stories: "Bela", "Maxim Maksimych", "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist" - were combined into a novel under the title "A Hero of Our Time".

Critics, readers ambiguously perceived the image of the protagonist: some considered Pechorin a caricature of a modern person, and the novel itself was immoral; others - that the image of Pechorin is a portrait of the author himself. M. Yu. Lermontov was forced to write a preface to the second edition, in which he commented on his perception of the hero and explained his creative principles. The author writes that his main principle when writing a novel is following the truth of life and critical evaluation of the hero.

The stories that make up the "Hero of Our Time" are arranged in a certain sequence. This was done with a specific purpose: the author gradually immerses the reader into the inner world of the protagonist, reveals his character.

There are three narrators in the story. In the story "Bela" we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, the staff captain, who notes "strangeness" in the behavior of Grigory Alexandrovich, selfishness, mystery. In "Maxim Maksimych" the role of the narrator is given to a wandering officer - a person who is closer in attitude and social position to the hero. He notes in the appearance of Pechorin the features of a strong, but internally lonely personality. In the next three stories - "Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist" - Pechorin himself is the narrator, who tells about his adventures in the seaside town, about his stay in Pyatigorsk, about the incident in the Cossack village. The reader learns about the feelings, experiences of the hero from the lips of the hero himself, who impartially analyzes his actions, his behavior, and motives. For the first time in Russian literature, much attention was paid not to events, but to the “dialectics of the soul”, and the form of a diary confession allows to show all the “movements of the soul” of Pechorin. The hero himself admits that his soul knows such feelings as envy, pity, love, hatred. But reason still prevails over feelings: we see this in the scene of the pursuit of Vera.

The author shows the hero in various life situations, surrounds him with a variety of characters (Pechorin among the highlanders, in the circle of "honest smugglers" and "water society"). I believe that this is an exceptional and at the same time typical hero of that time: he is looking for love, but he himself only bears suffering and even death; this is a person who lives a complex spiritual life, but is absolutely inactive or wastes energy on trifles; aware of his vices and ruthlessly condemning them in other people; a person who, according to V. G. Belinsky, “furiously chases ... after life, looking for it everywhere” and at the same time looking for death.

Before you is an essay on the topic “Compositional features of the novel by M. Lermontov“ A Hero of Our Time ”. Let's, before starting to write an essay, recall and name the compositional features of the novel "A Hero of Our Time".

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Composition COMPOSITIONAL FEATURES OF THE NOVEL "HERO OF OUR TIME".

"Desires? What is the use of wanting in vain and forever?

And the years pass - all the best years.

M. Yu. Lermontov

A Hero of Our Time is one of the first attempts to create a psychological realistic novel in Russian literature. Purpose, intention of M.Yu. Lermontov - to show a contemporary person, his psychology, as the author himself notes, " a portrait composed of the vices of our generation, in their full development".

In order to realize his plan, to reveal the character of the hero most fully, objectively, the writer uses an unusual compositional structure of the novel: the chronological sequence of events is violated here. Not only the composition of the novel is unusual. This work is a unique genre fusion - a combination of various genres already mastered by Russian prose: travel notes, a secular story, and a diary-confession, beloved by romantics, are used here.

Lermontov's novel is socio-psychological and moral-philosophical. " At the heart of the novel lies the important contemporary question of the inner man. Belinsky writes. The author's desire to achieve maximum objectivity and versatility in depicting the main character forces him to resort to a non-standard narrative structure: the author, as it were, entrusts the story about his hero to either a traveling officer, or Maxim Maksimych, or Pechorin himself.

If we want to restore the chronology of the events described in the novel, then we should start with the incident in Taman, through which the hero's journey to the Caucasus passes. Pechorin will stay in Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk for about a month (“Princess Mary”), from where he will be exiled for a duel with Grushnitsky to the fortress. From the fortress, Pechorin leaves for the Cossack village (“Fatalist”). Upon his return to the fortress, the story of the abduction of Bela is played out. Then there is the last meeting of the reader with Pechorin, no longer a military man, but a secular man who is leaving for Persia (“Maxim Maksimych”). And from the foreword of the officer-narrator, we learn about the death of the hero. These are the events of the life of Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin in their chronological sequence. But Lermontov determined the order of the parts that follow one after another outside the chronology of real events, because each of the stories played its own special significant role in the system of the whole work.

Reading the story "Maxim Maksimych", we get acquainted with the portrait of Pechorin, so psychologically subtly and deeply written by an educated officer-narrator familiar with writing. He notices the whiteness of Pechorin's skin, and the eyes that do not laugh, full of sadness, and the "noble forehead", and the "pedigreed" beauty, and the coldness of Pechorin. All this attracts and repels the reader at the same time. A direct look at the portrait of the hero makes him incomparably closer to the reader than the system of narrators through which we get to know Pechorin in the chapter "Bela". Maksim Maksimych tells the story to the traveler-officer, he keeps travel notes, and the reader will learn about everything from them.

Then the author opens before us the confessional pages of Pechorin's Journal. We see the hero again in a new perspective - the way he was alone with himself, the way he could appear only in his diary, but would never open up to people. This is also confirmed by the words from the preface to Pechorin's Journal, from which it is clear that it was not intended for someone else's eyes, and even more so for printing. It was "the consequence of the observation of the mature mind upon itself" and was written "without a vain desire to excite, sympathize, or wonder." So Lermontov, using a similar "arrangement" of the chapters of his novel, brings the main character as close as possible to the reader, allows you to look into the very depths of his inner world.

Carefully turning over the pages of "Taman", "Princess Mary" and "The Fatalist", we finally comprehend the character of Pechorin in his inevitable duality. And, learning the causes of this "illness", we delve into the "history of the human soul" and think about the nature of time. The novel ends with a "fatalist", this story plays the role of an epilogue. And it's so wonderful that Lermontov built his novel just like that! It ends on an optimistic note. The reader learns about Pechorin's death in the middle of the novel and by the end manages to get rid of the painful feeling of death or the end. Such a feature in the composition of the novel made it possible for the author to end the work with a “major intonation”: “the novel ends with a perspective into the future - the hero’s exit from the tragic state of inactive doom. Instead of a funeral march, congratulations are heard on the victory over death.”

Creating the novel "A Hero of Our Time", M. Yu. Lermontov found new artistic means that literature did not know and that delight us to this day by combining a free and wide depiction of faces and characters with the ability to show them objectively, revealing one hero through the perception of another.