Autobiographical beginning in Konstantin Levin. Konstantin Levin and his reflections on life
Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin - a landowner, lives in the countryside, runs a large and complex household. The ancestral home "was the whole world for Levin." He proudly talks about the true aristocracy, the patriotism of his ancestors. Now the period of the ruin of the “noble nests” is coming, and Levin understands the inevitability of this drama.
Konstantin Dmitrievich is trying to understand the secret of new public relations, their place in these new conditions and the truth of life. Levin is not a dreamer out of touch with life. He soberly looks at life, fights for happiness, trying to find peace of mind.
Levin sees an exemplary way of life for Russia as a large and friendly peasant family, which cares about everything, where everything is done by its members themselves. Levin understands that Western theories of the country's transformations are not suitable for Russia. It is necessary to take into account its specificity. In a peasant country it is necessary to interest the workers in labor, then they will raise the state.
Levin painfully searches for the truth of life, tries to find peace of mind. Closely communicating with the peasants, he was imbued with the "peasant truth of life", an unconscious faith in God. Description of Levin's life forms its own storyline in the novel "Anna Karenina", but does not conflict with the general idea and composition of the work. Anna's mental anguish and Levin's search for truth are interrelated aspects of Russia's life in the post-reform era, revealing a crisis in people's lives and ways to overcome it.
Tolstoy, in this personality shows us the real clash of two internal forces. Let's call them: good and bad. The good one, of course, strove for love and happiness, while the bad one tried to destroy him and kill the desire for happiness in him. He chose the positive option, and tried to direct all his efforts towards the realization of his dream - to be happy. Levin worked hard and thought a lot. Time passed and did its job. He felt that in the depths of his soul something was being established, subdued and settled down.
Levin decides to completely change his economy. He says that he will work hard and try hard, but he will achieve his goal.
Tolstoy in this novel showed and compared the two most important feelings human. Love and hate. Levin experienced love for all the people and problems that surrounded him on his wedding day, and Karenina's feeling of hatred at the moment of death experiences. Levin did not want to accept the Church, but he very correctly understood all the basic spiritual truths inherent in God. And the more he thought and looked for answers, the closer he became to faith and God. Levin found and chose just that narrow and difficult path that leads to salvation. This means that he will not shoot himself, will not deviate from the true faith, and will certainly accept the Church into his life.
Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina" is built on the basis of multi-heroism (several leading characters), diversity of plot. But here the diversity merges into a whole not according to the epic model, as it was in the novel "War and Peace". Different individual destinies are correlated according to a principle akin to polyphony (perhaps because the subject of the image is the current modernity, which was the material for Dostoevsky's polyphonic novel).
For plot"Anna Karenina" is characterized by drama. Here there is a linear composition (outset, development, climax, denouement), there is tension in the plot, aspiration to the result.
In this respect this work closest to the European novel tradition, which Tolstoy usually evaluates as alien. The plot of Anna Karenina is characterized by an abundance of perfections, irreversible accomplishments (in general, this is completely uncharacteristic of Tolstoy's prose): after meeting with Vronsky, it is no longer possible to live as if it had not happened; all the more impossible to reverse events after their proximity; the maximum degree of irreversibility reaches in the last tragic step of Anna (she came to her senses under the wheels of the train, but it was already too late).
The symbolism of the novel, prophetic signs predicting the future, enhance the dramatic tension, a sense of the fatal nature of the events taking place. The beginning of love between Karenina and Vronsky (meeting at railway, followed by the death of a road worker under the wheels of a train) predicts her death. Anna has prophetic dreams about death during childbirth - and she really almost dies.
Milan Kundera in philosophical novel“The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, reflecting on the fact that the connection between the beginning and the denouement of love between Karenina and Vronsky is too literary, suggests seeing the non-literal nature of this correlation. In his opinion, Tolstoy here is not subject to the clichés of a "fatal" love story. The Czech writer, reflecting on whether Tolstoy is realistic or "literary" in this case, points out that in real life we are often unconsciously subjective, literary: when we choose a loved one precisely because in relations with him there is some kind of coherent plot, symbolism, a hint of some kind of meaningfulness; when, about to leave forever, we suddenly change our intention, because something happens that seems to be a continuation of the plot. Tolstoy really has this: the narrator points out that the choice of a way to commit suicide was due to the subconscious influence of a previous impression.
I think the correct answer is somewhere in the middle: idea God's judgment still presupposes the action of fatal forces. But the psychological relativization of the plot brings us back to the more familiar Tolstoy. Indeed, all other storylines (as well as their very abundance, which blurs the centralization of the plot) are less perfect, they have more incompleteness and reversibility, and in this sense they are “more Tolstoyan”. Most characteristic in this connection is the story of Levin and Kitty (Kitty's refusal at the beginning of the novel turned out to be reversible). Although in the case of Levin there is a hint of the rigidity of the composition, a fatal prediction (at the beginning of the novel, Konstantin Levin talks with Koznyshev and his philosopher guest about death; the brother’s position is associated with the problem of death, which will later be realized in the story of Nikolai Levin), but this is more of a semantic consonance (as in a similar motif of the story “Childhood”), and not cause and effect, action and reaction.
There is also much in Anna's story that breaks the "romance" of the European type: for example, two climaxes. Traditional European novel would have ended at the point of the first climax, at the bedside of Anna, who almost died during childbirth, forgiven by her husband - here a moral catharsis is reached, the apex of the plot point, an important moral acquisition happened. All this is quite enough for traditional romance. But with Tolstoy, the action continues, catharsis turns out to be relative, Karenin, even with his forgiveness, remains unloved and unpleasant, forgiveness only adds awkwardness to their relationship ... |
In the novel by L. N. Tolstoy, along with storyline Anna Karenina presents another, very significant, line life fate Konstantin Levin. It is with the image of this hero that many important moral, philosophical and social problems works. Levin's spiritual quest largely reflects the author's moods and thoughts that he developed in the critical era of the 1970s. Vigorous, thinking person, sincere, Levin, like some other heroes of Tolstoy (Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky), tirelessly seeks the truth and meaning of life, seeks to penetrate the essence of social relations in order to change and improve them. He does not know the ways to this, and therefore his thoughts are so painful for him.
Levin sees the instability, the steep character of the breaking of the old order. He, as a nobleman-landowner, is worried about the impoverishment of the estate economy under the onslaught of new post-reform relations. Sees Levin and the meager life of the peasants. His attempts, while retaining the rights to land, to reconcile the interests of "conscientious" landowners and the people, to create a rational system of land ownership for these purposes, ended in failure. He is struck by the uncompromisingly hostile attitude of the peasants towards the landowners-nobles, towards everything that the "master" interprets and promises them. He is perplexed and tries to understand the reasons for this attitude, and distrust is prompted to the peasants by all their centuries-old experience, which does not allow the thought that “the goal of the landowner could be anything other than the desire to rob them as much as possible.” In the depths of his soul, Levin agrees with the reproach of brother Nikolai: "You want to be original, to show that you are not just exploiting a peasant, and with an idea."
Levin gets to know different forms activities of the nobility, is present at the election of the leader, in the world court - and from there the impression of a vain emptiness and futility of what is happening comes out. Only in the countryside, in close proximity to nature, in communion with peasant labor, in continuous household chores, does he find consolation and temporary peace.
In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy goes deep into folk life. This is evidenced by the wonderful mowing scene in the Kalinov meadow, Levin's conversations with the peasants, his passion for their natural, wise, working life; The young happiness of Ivan Parmenov and his wife, the fullness and integrity of their feelings excite and attract the hero. He dreams of marrying a peasant woman, of living the same working life that the working village people live. These dreams are not coming true...
Levin's family life is developing happily, but he cannot be satisfied with a narrow personal sphere, even if it is so attractive. The hero seeks to find a way out for himself in the "people's truth", in the naive faith of the patriarchal peasant. From Fyodor's story, he learns the thoughts of old Fokanych about the need to live "for the soul, in truth, in God's way." These words are perceived by Levin as a revelation... Fokanych's concept of good bears a religious connotation, which Levin also perceives,
The hero of the novel, as we see, does not find real ways of social transformation and tries to solve the issues that concern him in terms of abstract moral perfection. This, no doubt, reflects the contradictions of the worldview not only of Levin, but also of Tolstoy. And yet, essential in Levin's spiritual development is his attraction to the people. In essence, the hero remains at a crossroads, his search is not completed, and new opportunities for growth seem to be opening up ahead.
The mood of the protagonist of the novel has big influence his older brother Nikolai, a man of sharp mind, seriously ill, dying painfully. A brother who makes Levin think deeply not only about the "eternal questions" of life and death, but also about how to find a way out of the cruel social contradictions that required a "decoupling". Levin talked with his brother about the future of Russia, about the social revolution, about the Paris Commune, about communism. Nikolai Levin was convinced that a revolution was necessary: this, he said, "is reasonable and has a future, like Christianity in the first centuries." Associated with the revolutionaries (many then called them nihilists), Nikolai Levin condemned his brother for his unwillingness to give up his privileges. So, he ridiculed his intentions to conduct his economy on an artel basis with the peasants. Nikolai directly tells him about this: "... You want to be original, to show that you are not just exploiting men, but with an idea."
Konstantin Levin was terribly offended by his brother for these words. And no matter how hard it is for him, but he must recognize as fair, accurately expressing the truth of life, the words of his brother: "... The men are now the same slaves as they were before." Caring about the "common good," Levin, who remains a landowner, also thinks about his own interests. To the words of his old housekeeper, Agafya Mikhailovna, that he cares too much about the peasants, Levin replies: “I don’t take care of them, but I do it for myself ... It’s more profitable for me if the peasants work better.” The point here, of course, is not one of profit, but also Levin's attachment to the countryside and the peasants that arose from childhood. Like Tolstoy, Levin despises high-society society with its hypocrisy, ambition, conventions, and false morality. At the same time, Levin is inclined to deny the entire urban culture, the entire civilization. His ideal is country life in the manor house. He only wants this life to be based on the fair attitude of the master towards the peasant. Levin tries to conduct his "business" jointly with the peasants, but runs into their distrust. Levin's dreams of a "bloodless revolution" in which the interests of neither the peasant nor the landowner would suffer, were not destined to come true.
As was the case with other Tolstoy's heroes, Levin's search ends with the fact that he comes to religion, but, of course, to a special one - not a church one. Levin decides that he must live as the old peasant Fokanych, respected by the people, lives. People say about him that he "lives for the soul, remembers God." In a conversation with him, Levin discovered the true meaning of life, which could illuminate all his future activities.
IN critical literature about Tolstoy, an analogy has been drawn more than once between this finale of Levin's spiritual quest and the spiritual crisis experienced by Tolstoy in the late 70s and early 80s, about which he spoke in his Confession. However, Tolstoy himself warned against an excessive convergence of the final chapters of Anna Karenina and Confessions. Indeed, we know a lot of sharp and not always fair comments about Tolstoy's contemporary critics. But it does not at all follow from this that he rejected the literary and art criticism, did not recognize its high value. Acquainted with critical reviews of his works, Tolstoy was often indignant and indignant. Even as he embarked on the path of writing, the young Tolstoy sought to define his relationship with criticism. In the first completed story "Childhood" he intended to include the chapter "To those gentlemen critics who want to take it personally." In it, the aspiring author scathingly denounced superficial journal articles, with a savage attack on " good essays» Gogol and Tyutchev, Goncharov and Grigorovich. The task of real criticism, Tolstoy argued, is "to give an idea of the literary progress, of the meaning and merits of new books." And therefore - "criticism is a very serious thing." In these words of Tolstoy is the key to assessing his own literary-critical activity and to understanding the full dramatic history of the writer's complex relationship with the magazine criticism of his era. Let us recall how War and Peace was received by its first readers, writers and critics - Tolstoy's contemporaries.
N. N. Strakhov, who then enjoyed the favor of Tolstoy and bowed before his talent in the following way described the confusion of the reading society and magazine criticism caused by the appearance of "War and Peace": "People who approached this book with preconceived views - with the idea of finding a contradiction in their trend, or its confirmation - were often perplexed, did not have time to decide what to do - to be indignant or admired, but all equally recognized the extraordinary mastery of the mysterious work."
In the novel "Anna Karenina" the motives that foreshadowed a sharp change in the views of the writer, which determined the direction and content of his further creativity. Suffice it to recall the conversations that Konstantin Levin has with his brother Nikolai. No one explained to him more clearly than Nikolai the causes of the most severe crisis that engulfed post-reform Russia, and no one more than he made Konstantin Levin think about the future of the country and people. The tighter the knot of social contradictions tightened, the more gloomy the social atmosphere became, the more unbearable the oppression became. Describing this period of Russian life, Shchedrin wrote: “Something monstrous seems to me, as if the whole world had become stiff. Wooden times, wooden people.
And at the same time, the whole old way of life was being abruptly broken in the country: capitalism was clearing its way, bringing new torments to the people.
Konstantin Levin is one of the primary characters in the novel Anna Karenina. Compared to a storyline involving Vronsky or Karenina, his life seems to be more calm, without particularly sharp turns. But the finely written movements of Levin's soul testify that the author endowed him with his own experiences and considered them as important as the events of the outside world. The similarity of the hero and his creator is evidenced by the consonance of names (Lev - Levin), and the external description: "a strongly built broad-shouldered man with a curly beard", "an intelligent, courageous face".
From the very first chapters of the novel Tolstoy describes Levin as a restless person: he blushes easily and gets angry easily, scoffs at the way of life he does not understand. He is proud and does not tolerate when he is perceived not as Konstantin Levin, but as the brother of the famous Koznyshev. He is extremely shy and values himself so low in front of the girl with whom he is in love, "that there could be no thought that others and she herself would recognize him as worthy of her."
These feelings, which so easily take possession of Levin, testify to the fact that he fully and passionately feels every minute of his life. For Konstantin, there are almost no halftones: doing housework, you need to go into every little thing and go to the mowing; having received the bride’s consent to marriage, you need to endow everyone you meet with your euphoria; while idolizing your wife, you need to protect her so much from everything “unworthy” that you can even put the guest out (as they did with Vasenka Veslovsky).
His nature can be called immature, and not only because of the almost teenage maximalism, but also because eternal search the meaning of life, the "truth of life".
Tolstoy created his hero after the night of the "Arzamas horror", which made him rethink everything that exists. The only chapter of the novel that has a special title ("Death") shows us Levin's special attitude to leaving for another world. What was "understood" for his brother Nikolai remained a mystery to the observer. “Horror at the unsolved and at the same time the nearness and inevitability of death,” Levin feels, the same feelings swept over Leo Tolstoy in Arzamas. As if not wanting to leave his hero alone with these experiences, the author shows Levin a new miracle - the expectation of a child.
In this period, Konstantin is again shown as a man of great passions: his attitude towards his wife ("you are such a shrine to me"), his behavior during Kitty's birth are extremes. But extremes, coming from sincerity, from the fullness of the feeling of life. This strong man has the same strong nature, which captivates him beyond conventions and limitations.
For a nobleman of that time, these features are not very characteristic: the younger generation was just beginning to seriously think about whether everything in this world should be arranged as it is. Levin's views, expressed in his small world (after all, he prefers his cozy, calm estate to a noisy life), throwing nature in these quite comfortable conditions sometimes look a little ridiculous. And this, perhaps, is the only thing in which Tolstoy condemns his hero: he is limited only by his own life, does not want to look beyond its limits, to think about reorganizing not only the economy, but society as a whole. The revolutionary views characteristic of Lev Nikolaevich are not reflected in the image of Levin.
A special desire for sincerity, passionate, stubborn, which distinguishes Konstantin, is extremely rare in men. To give diaries describing intimate experiences to your beloved, innocent, “like a dove”, is an act as bold as it is short-sighted. This desire is selfish: caring only that there are no barriers between him and his wife, Levin does not at all think about how much pain these records will cause Kitty.
The same applies to his attempts to comprehend life: in thinking about its meaning and purpose, he comes to a standstill, and this affects him so much that Konstantin, a happy family man and a hospitable host, seriously thinks about suicide, again completely ignoring his loved ones. And when he begins to seek healing in the family, in the usual household chores, he immediately “grounds himself”, high aspirations leave him. The author is both happy about this change in the life of his hero, and condemns a little for it: exchanging for a comfortable life, according to Tolstoy, meant the end of spiritual life.
Standing firmly on the ground, a passionate, sincere and thinking person, Levin remains so until the last line about him. And only his reconciliation, a compromise with the "wrongly arranged" reality shows that the author himself wanted to avoid such a fate and considered it unworthy of such a person.
