Illustration by Tom Miller
Spring 1924 Lev Glebovich Ganin lives in a Russian pension in Berlin. In addition to Ganin, mathematician Aleksey Ivanovich Alferov lives in the boarding house, a man “with a thin beard and a shiny plump nose”, “an old Russian poet” Anton Sergeevich Podtyagin, Clara is “a full-breasted, all in black silk, a very comfortable young lady”, working as a typist and in love with Ganina, as well as ballet dancers Kolin and Gornotsvetov. "A special shade, mysterious affectation" separates the latter from other boarders, but, "speaking in conscience, one cannot blame the pigeon happiness of this harmless couple."
Last year, upon arrival in Berlin, Ganin immediately found a job. He was a worker, and a waiter, and an extra. The money he has left is enough to leave Berlin, but for this he needs to break with Lyudmila, the connection with which has been going on for three months and he is rather tired of it. And how to break, Ganin does not know. Its window overlooks the railroad track, and therefore "the opportunity to leave teases relentlessly." He announces to the hostess that he will leave on Saturday.
Ganin learns from Alferov that his wife Masha is coming on Saturday. Alferov leads Ganin to his place to show him photographs of his wife. Ganin recognizes his first love. From that moment on, he is completely immersed in the memories of this love, it seems to him that he is exactly nine years younger. The next day, Tuesday, Ganin announces to Lyudmila that he loves another woman. Now he is free to remember how nine years ago, when he was sixteen years old, while recovering from typhus in a summer estate near Voskresensk, he created for himself female image who met in reality a month later. Mashenka had a “chestnut braid in a black bow”, “Tatar burning eyes”, a swarthy face, a voice “mobile, burry, with unexpected chest sounds”. Masha was very cheerful, loved sweets. She lived in a dacha in Voskresensk. Once, with two friends, she climbed into a gazebo in the park. Ganin spoke to the girls, they agreed to go boating the next day. But Mashenka came alone. They began to meet every day on the other side of the river, where an empty white manor stood on a hill.
When on a black stormy night, on the eve of departure for St. school year, he met her for the last time at this place, Ganin saw that the shutters of one of the windows of the estate were ajar, and a human face was pressed against the glass from the inside. It was the caretaker's son. Ganin broke the glass and began to "beat his wet face with a stone fist."
The next day he left for Petersburg. Mashenka moved to St. Petersburg only in November. The "snow age of their love" began. It was difficult to meet, it was painful to wander in the cold for a long time, so both remembered the summer. In the evenings they talked for hours on the phone. All love requires solitude, and they had no shelter, their families did not know each other. At the beginning of the new year, Mashenka was taken to Moscow. And strangely, this separation turned out to be a relief for Ganin.
In the summer Mashenka returned. She called Ganin at the dacha and said that her father would never want to rent a dacha in Voskresensk again and she now lives fifty versts from there. Ganin went to her on a bicycle. Arrived after dark. Mashenka was waiting for him at the gates of the park. “I am yours,” she said. "Do whatever you want with me." But strange rustles were heard in the park, Mashenka lay too humbly and motionless. “It seems to me that someone is coming,” he said and got up.
He met Mashenka a year later on a country train. She got off at the next station. They didn't see each other again. During the war years, Ganin and Mashenka exchanged affectionate letters several times. He was in Yalta, where “a military struggle was being prepared”, it is somewhere in Little Russia. Then they lost each other.
On Friday, Colin and Gornotsvetov, on the occasion of receiving an engagement, Clara's birthday, Ganin's departure and Podtyagin's alleged departure to Paris, decide to arrange a "feast". Ganin and Podtyagin go to the police department to help him with a visa. When the long-awaited visa is received, Podtyagin accidentally leaves his passport on the tram. He has a heart attack.
The festive dinner is not fun. The pull-up becomes bad again. Ganin waters the already drunk Alferov and sends him to sleep, while he himself imagines how he will meet Mashenka at the station in the morning and take her away.
Having collected his things, Ganin says goodbye to the boarders sitting at the bedside of the dying Podtyagin, and goes to the station. There is an hour left before Masha's arrival. He sits down on a bench in the square near the station, where four days ago he recalled typhus, the estate, Mashenka's foreboding. Gradually, “with merciless clarity,” Ganin realizes that his romance with Masha is over forever. “It lasted only four days - these four days were, perhaps, the happiest time his life." The image of Mashenka remained with the dying poet in the “house of shadows”. And there is no other Mashenka and cannot be. He waits for an express from the north to pass over the railway bridge. He takes a taxi, goes to another station and boards a train going to the southwest of Germany.
retold
Dedicated to my wife
Remembering past years novels,
Remembering the old love...
Pushkin
Lev Glevo... Lev Glebovich? Well, you have a name, my friend,
you can twist your tongue...
"You can," Ganin confirmed rather coldly, trying to
to see in the unexpected darkness the face of his interlocutor. He
was annoyed at the stupid situation they were both in, and
this forced conversation with a stranger,
- I inquired about your name for a reason, - carelessly
continued the voice, “In my opinion, every name...
"Come on, I'll press the button again," Ganin interrupted him.
-- Press. I'm afraid it won't help. So: every name
obliges. Leo and Gleb are a complex, rare combination. It's from you
requires dryness, hardness, originality. I have a name
more modest; and his wife's name is quite simply: Maria. By the way,
Let me introduce myself: Alexei Ivanovich Alferov. I'm sorry, I
You seem to have stepped on your foot...
"It's very pleasant," said Ganin, groping in the dark for
hand, which poked him in the cuff. - And what do you think, we still
will we hang around here for a long time? It's time to do something. Crap...
“Let’s sit down on the bench and wait,” sounded again over
in his very ear a perky and importunate voice.--Yesterday, when I
arrived, we ran into you in the corridor. In the evening, I hear
you cleared your throat against the wall, and immediately by the sound of the cough you decided: a fellow countryman.
Tell me, how long have you been living in this boarding house? -- For a long time. Matches at
you have a? -- No. I do not smoke. And the boarding house is dirty, - for nothing that
Russian. I have, you know great happiness: wife from Russia
is coming. Four years - is it a joke to say ... Yes, sir. And now not
long wait. It's already Sunday.
"What darkness..." Ganin said and cracked his fingers.
I wonder what time it is...
Alferov sighed noisily; a warm, languid odor gushed out
a very healthy, elderly man. There is something sad about
such a stink.
So there are six days left. I assume that she is
will arrive Saturday. I received a letter from her yesterday. Very
funny she wrote the address. It's a pity that it's so dark, otherwise he showed
would. What are you feeling there, my dear? These windows do not open. --
I'm not averse to smashing them,' said Ganin. - Come on, Leo.
Glebovich; Shouldn't we play some petit-jo? I know
amazing, I make them myself. Consider, for example, some
two-digit number. Ready?
"Excuse me," said Ganin, and he thumped twice with his fist in
wall.
“The doorman has been resting for a long time,” Alferov’s voice surfaced, “so
that knocking is useless.
"But you must admit that we can't hang around all night
Here.
- Looks like it will. Don't you think, Lev Glebovich,
what is something symbolic in our meeting? While still on
terra firma, we did not know each other, but it so happened that
returned home at the same hour and entered this room
together.
Mashenka is Nabokov's first novel, written during the Berlin period. This is one of the works created by the writer in Russian. This article sets out summary Mashenki by Vladimir Nabokov.
about the author
Vladimir Nabokov was born in 1899 into a wealthy noble family. From an early age he spoke French and English. After the October Revolution, the family moved to the Crimea, where the first literary success came to the beginning writer.
In 1922, Nabokov's father was killed. In the same year, the writer left for Berlin. For a while he made his living by teaching in English. In the capital of Germany, he published several of his works. And in 1926 Nabokov's novel Masha was published. A summary of the chapters is provided below. In addition, the writer is the author of such works as "Luzhin's Defense", "Feat", "Gift", "Despair" and, of course, the famous "Lolita". So, what is Nabokov's novel Masha about?
The work consists of seventeen chapters. If we present a summary of Nabokov's "Mashenka" chapter by chapter, then we will have to follow this plan:
- Ganin's meeting with Alferov.
- Boarding house residents.
- Masha.
- Break with Lyudmila.
- Kunitsyn.
- July evening in Voskresensk.
- Trouble Podtyagin.
- First meeting with Masha.
- Gornotsvetov and Colin.
- Letter from Lyudmila.
- Preparation for the celebration.
- Passport.
- Collections Ganin.
- Farewell evening.
- Memories of Sevastopol.
- Farewell to the boarding house.
- At the station.
If we present a summary of Nabokov's "Mashenka" according to this plan, the presentation will turn out to be very lengthy. We also need a concise retelling with a description of the main events. Below is a brief summary of "Mashenka" by Nabokov in the most abbreviated version.
Lev Ganin
This is the main thing actor novel. Lev Ganin is an immigrant from Russia. Lives in Berlin. The work reflects the events of the twenties. There are such characters as Alexei Alferov, Anton Podtyagin, Clara, whom the author describes as "a cozy young lady in black silk." The boarding house is also home to dancers Colin and Gornotsvetov. Where to start a summary of "Mashenka" by Nabokov? From the story of the main character. This is the story of a Russian emigrant - one of the many members of the nobility who were forced to leave their home after the revolutionary events.
Ganin arrived in Berlin not so long ago, but has already worked as an extra and as a waiter. He saved up a small amount, and this allowed him to leave the German capital. In this city, he was kept by a disgusted connection with a woman who he was rather tired of. Ganin languishes, he suffers from boredom and loneliness. Relations with Lyudmila make him sad. However, for some reason he cannot admit to a woman that he no longer loves her.
Outlining the summary of "Mashenka" by Nabokov, it is worth paying special attention to the image of the protagonist. He is unsociable, withdrawn, even somewhat gloomy, yearns for a foreign land and dreams of leaving Berlin. The windows of his room overlook the railway, which every day awakens the desire to escape, to leave this cold and alien city.
Alferov
Ganin's neighbor, Alferov, is extremely verbose. One day he shows him a photograph of his wife Maria. And from this moment the main events of the novel "Mashenka" by Nabokov begin. In a summary, the experiences of the protagonist are not easy to convey. The writer vividly describes the feelings of Ganin, who engulfed him after he saw a photograph of a girl. This is Masha, whom he loved once upon a time, in Russia. Most of the work is devoted to the memoirs of a Russian emigrant.
Break with Lyudmila
After Ganin found out who Alferov's wife was, his life completely changed. Mashenka was to arrive soon. The realization of this gave the hero a feeling of happiness (albeit an illusory one), a sense of freedom. The very next day he went to Lyudmila and confessed to her that he loved another woman.
Like any person who feels boundless happiness, Nabokov's hero became cruel in some way. "Mashenka", a summary of which is set out in this article, is a story about a man who delved into memories, protecting himself from others. Parting with Lyudmila, Ganin did not feel guilt and compassion for his former lover.
nine years ago
The hero of the novel is waiting for Masha's arrival. These days it seems to him that there was no last nine years, there was no separation from his homeland. He met Masha in the summer, during the holidays. Her father rented a dacha near the family estate of Ganin's parents, in Voskresensk.
First meeting
One day they agreed to meet. Mashenka was supposed to come to this meeting with her friends. However, she came alone. From that day on, a touching relationship began between young people. When the summer came to an end, they returned to Petersburg. Lev and Masha met occasionally in the northern capital, but it was painful to walk in the cold. When the girl told him that they were leaving for Moscow with their parents, he, oddly enough, took this news with some relief.
They also met the following summer. Masha's father did not want to rent a dacha in Voskresensk, and Ganin had to travel several kilometers on a bicycle. Their relationship has remained platonic.
The last time they met was on a suburban train. Then he was already in Yalta, and this was a few years before leaving for Berlin. And then they lost each other. Did Ganin think all these years about the girl from Voskresensk? Not at all. After meeting on the train, perhaps, he never once thought about Mashenka.
Last evening at the guesthouse
Gornotsvetov and Colin have a small celebration in honor of the engagement, as well as the departure of Podtyagin and Ganin. Main character that evening, he pours wine to the already drunk Alferov with the hope that he will oversleep the train on which Mashenka will arrive. Ganin will meet her and take her away with him.
The next day he goes to the station. He languishes for several hours waiting for the train. But suddenly, with merciless clarity, he realizes that that Mashenka from Voskresensk is no more. Their romance is over forever. Memories of him are also exhausted. Ganin goes to another station, gets on a train heading to the south-west of the country. On the way, he is already dreaming about how he will make his way across the border - to France, Provence. To sea…
Analysis of the work
Not love, but homesickness is the main motive of Nabokov's novel. Ganin lost himself abroad. He is an undesirable immigrant. Ganin sees the existence of other inhabitants of the Russian boarding school as miserable, but he understands that he is not much different from them.
The hero of the work of Vladimir Nabokov is a man whose life was calm and measured. Until the revolution broke out. In a sense, Masha is an autobiographical novel. The fate of an emigrant is always bleak, even if he does not experience financial difficulties in a foreign country. Ganin is forced to work as a waiter, an extra - to be "a shadow sold for ten marks." In Germany, he is lonely, despite the fact that his neighbors in the boarding house are people with a similar fate, the same unfortunate emigrants from Russia.
The image of Podtyagin in the novel is symbolic. Ganin leaves for the station when he is dying. He cannot know the thoughts of his former neighbor, but he feels his longing. Podtyagin in the last hours of his life is aware of its absurdity, the futility of the past years. Shortly before that, he loses his papers. Last words, addressed to Ganin, he says with a bitter smile "Without a passport ...". In emigration, without a past, without a future and without a present...
It is unlikely that Ganin really loved Mashenka. Rather, she was just an image from a bygone youth. The hero of the novel missed her for several days. But these were feelings similar to the usual nostalgic experiences of an emigrant.
