What is the work of Masha Nabokov. Characteristics of the main characters of the work Masha, Nabokov. Their images and description. Russian sentimentalism as an artistic system and literary movement

The protagonist of the work, a Russian emigrant living in Berlin in a cheap boarding house. He lived in it for 3 months, but constantly wanted to move out. IN Lately he became lethargic and gloomy, and before he was so alive - he walked on his hands, he could lift a chair with his teeth - energy beat over the edge.

Alferov, Alexei Ivanovich

Ganina's boarding house neighbor, Mashenka's husband. He married her in 1919, and a year later was forced to leave, leaving her in Russia. Now, four years later, she comes to him, and he just can't wait for her. A few days before his arrival, he shows her card to Ganin, and he is horrified to recognize in her his first love, which he still loves. He decides to intercept her from the train and leave with her, but at the last moment he changes his mind and leaves alone.

Masha

Alferov's wife and Ganin's first love. She loved Ganin desperately for many years. First, after meeting at the dacha, then in St. Petersburg. When Ganin rejected her, she still continued to love him, wrote him letters to the front, tried to maintain relations with him. In 1919, she married Alferov, who left her in Russia a year later, and left for Europe himself. With great difficulty she was able to survive for four years and is now going to her husband in Berlin. She does not know that Ganin lives in the same boarding house with him, who planned to intercept her from the train, but did not dare.

Podtyagin, Anton Sergeevich

Ganin's neighbor at the boarding school, a former Russian poet, now an old man, who has completely lost heart. He is trying to go to France, to his niece, but he can't get a visa. Podtyagin often has heart attacks, and he is afraid that he will die soon. Almost having finally received a visa, he loses his passport and this completely finishes him off. The author leaves him completely broken, lying on the bed after another heart attack.

Clara

Ganin's boarding house neighbor, a friend of his mistress Lyudmila. Clara is 26 years old, she is a buxom girl who secretly loves Ganin. Even once, having noticed Ganin in Alferov's room, and deciding that he wanted to steal money from him, she did not betray him, and even continued to love him. Clara is very unhappy, after Ganin's departure she cries for a long time.

Ludmila

Ganin's mistress, whom he fell out of love with immediately after the first night spent with her. He keeps trying to break up with her, but can not decide on it. In the end, he makes up his mind and rudely dumps her. She makes some attempts to reconcile, writes him a letter, but he does not answer.

Colin and Gornotsvetov

Ganin's boarding house neighbors, dancers living in the same room as a family. They were both short, thin, but with muscular legs. They came to Berlin from the Balkans in search of a place where they could dance. At the end of the work, luck will smile on them, and they will find an engagement.

Lidia Nikolaevna Dorn

The hostess of the boarding house where all the heroes live. She had been married to a German for 20 years, but the year before last he died of brain inflammation. She was not at a loss, rented an apartment, furnished it with her own furniture, bought a little more and opened a boarding house for Russians. She herself was a little old woman, strange and quiet. The hostess lived in the smallest room. She kept a cook, Erica, to help.

Erika

The cook in the boarding house, a large, red-haired woman.

Kunitsyn

An episodic character, Podtyagin's guest, his former classmate, who also lives in Berlin, but despises the poet. After leaving, he thrust 20 marks into Podtyagin's hand, which offended him greatly.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is one of the interesting writers XX century. A lot of controversy and ambiguous judgments caused and causes his work. So it's interesting enough to analyze Nabokov. "Mashenka" is not just a novel, but the first novel of the writer, which makes it even more significant and valuable.

Creativity Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov is an unsolved mystery and an inexplicable riddle of twentieth-century literature. Some consider him a genius, others do not recognize him as a talented writer at all. He was born in the 19th century in St. Petersburg and died at the end of the last century in Switzerland. Most of his life was lived abroad, but not forgotten Russian childhood. Nabokov wrote both in his native language and in English language, translated his novels, lectured on philology.

Many of his texts anticipated the era of modernism, and the style of his works is so original that it has no analogues either in Russian or in foreign literature. The ambiguity and heterogeneity of his works make a complete analysis of Nabokov impossible. "Mashenka" is taken by us for study not only because it is the first novel by Vladimir Vladimirovich, but also because it is the first work written by him in exile.

History of creation

So, let's start the analysis of Nabokov ("Mashenka" is the focus of our attention). The novel was written in 1926 in Berlin. He has many biographical motifs, primarily associated with homesickness, the unbearable sadness of an emigrant for his lost home.

Immediately after the release of the novel, a review was published in the Niva magazine: “Nabokov embroiders his fate on the canvas of his works ... the fate of a whole human type is reflected - the Russian émigré intellectual.” Life abroad was, as for many who left home country people is difficult. The only thing Nabokov could find solace in was memories of the past, where there was joy, love, home. It was these bright thoughts that formed the basis of the novel.

Before proceeding to the analysis, let us turn to the retelling of the plot of the novel "Mashenka". The summary should begin to be described in the spring of 1934 in Berlin. The main character, Ganin Lev Glebovich, lives in a boarding house for Russians, where, in addition to him, they live:

Alferov Alexey Ivanovich (mathematician);
Podtyagin Anton Sergeevich (old poet),
the "cozy young lady" Clara, who is in love with Ganin and works as a typist;
couple in love - ballet dancers Colin and Gornotsvetov.

Ganin arrived in Berlin a year ago, during which time he changed several jobs: orderly, worker, waiter. He managed to save enough money to leave, but first he needs to part with Lyudmila, with whom they have been in a relationship for three months, which is terribly tired of the hero. But Ganin cannot find a pretext for breaking up. The windows of his room, unfortunately, overlook the railway, and the desire to leave becomes irresistible. In a fit of feelings that overwhelmed him, Lev Glebovich announces to the hostess of the boarding house that he is leaving on Saturday.

First love

A lot of feelings and experiences of Nabokov himself were reflected in the work "Mashenka". The summary of the novel (especially Ganin's memories of the past) also proves this.

Lev Glebovich learns from Alferov that his wife, Masha, will arrive on Saturday. In the photograph of his wife, the mathematician Ganin recognizes the girl with whom he first fell in love. He is captured by memories of the past, he even, according to his feelings, is ten years younger. And the next day he tells Lyudmila that he is in love with another. Ganin feels free and completely surrenders to memories.

He is sixteen years old, he is in a summer estate, where he is recovering from typhus. Out of boredom, the young man creates in his thoughts the image of an ideal lover, whom he meets exactly a month later. It was Masha - a girl with a "chestnut braid in a black bow", burning eyes, a swarthy face and a "moving, burry" voice. She was always cheerful, very fond of sweets. Once Ganin met her with her friends, and they agreed to go boating, but the next day Mashenka came without her friends. Since that time, young people began to meet near the empty estate.

When, on the eve of their departure for St. Petersburg, they saw each other for the last time, Ganin noticed that the shutters at one window were ajar and a face was discerned in the glass. It turned out that the watchman's son was spying on them. Ganin got so angry that he beat him badly.

In the next morning main character left. Mashenka moved to St. Petersburg only in November. Now it has become more difficult for young people to meet - it's cold outside, you can't walk for a long time. The only consolation was the phone - in the evenings they could talk to each other for hours. And shortly before the New Year, the Mashenka family moved to Moscow. To his surprise, Ganin felt relieved by this.

In the summer they had the opportunity to meet again. The only problem is that this year Mashenka's father rented a dacha fifty miles from the Ganins' estate. The young man went to his beloved, but it was already dark. She greeted him with the words: "I'm yours, do whatever you want with me." But there were too many rustles around, it seemed to Ganin that someone was coming, so he quickly left.

They last met a year later on a train and have not seen each other since. Only exchanged a few letters during the war.

Completion of the novel

As you can see, realistic and very life story draws in his novel Nabokov.

In the morning, Ganin says goodbye to the boarders and goes to the station. There is an hour left before the train arrives. Gradually, thoughts begin to creep into Ganin's head that their romance with Masha ended a long time ago. Without waiting for the arrival of the woman, he goes to another station and leaves.

Theme and Idea

With the definition of the theme and idea, one should begin the analysis of the novel "Mashenka" by Nabokov. It seems that the theme of love in the work comes first and is leading, but this is not so. In fact, the novel is dedicated exclusively to the lost homeland - Russia. All other sub-themes and motifs are grouped around this image.

The image of Ganin

The image of the protagonist was largely written off from himself by Vladimir Nabokov. "Mashenka" (an analysis of Ganin's feelings and experiences as an emigrant) once again confirms this. In Berlin, no one needs him, and he also does not care about anyone. Lev Glebovich is lonely and unhappy, oppressed, his soul was taken over by hopeless longing. He has no desire to fight or change anything.

Only memories of Mashenka revive the hero. Thoughts about the past revive his soul and body, illusory happiness warms, pushes him to action, gives hope for the future. But it does not last long Sitting at the station, waiting for Masha, he suddenly realizes that it is impossible to return the past, oh paradise lost(Homeland) you can only dream, but you will never be able to find it again.

Mashenka's image

It is impossible, when analyzing the story "Mashenka" (Nabokov), not to pay attention to the image main character, even though she appears only in Ganin's dreams. Only the brightest and happiest memories are associated with Mashenka in the work. The image of the girl becomes the personification of forever lost happiness, Russia even before the war and revolution.

The fact that Mashenka, merging with the image of the Motherland, never appears in the novel speaks of the unattainability of paradise (Russia). She appears only in memories and dreams, more is not available to emigrants.

The peculiarity of the end of the novel

Very often in this work, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov plays on the deception of the reader’s expectations: Masha (an analysis of her image is presented above) never appears, the supposed one to which the arrangement of the main characters is pushing, turns into zilch, and the ending does not correspond to the traditional ones at all

The end of the novel is more philosophical than psychological. Nabokov does not allow the heroes to meet not because of deep emotional experiences, but because there is no return to the past.

Conclusion

Thus, the originality and some mystery of the work is confirmed by Nabokov's analysis. "Mashenka" in this context is not only the author's first novel, but also a statement about his unusual talent, which only developed in later works.

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 time he earned his living by teaching 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 strange 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. The protagonist this evening adds wine to the already drunk Alferov with the hope that he will oversleep the train on which Masha 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.

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

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is one of the most interesting writers of the 20th century. A lot of controversy and ambiguous judgments caused and causes his work. So it's interesting enough to analyze Nabokov. "Mashenka" is not just a novel, but the first novel of the writer, which makes it even more significant and valuable.

Creativity Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov is an unsolved mystery and an inexplicable riddle of twentieth-century literature. Some consider him a genius, others do not recognize him as a talented writer at all. He was born in the 19th century in St. Petersburg and died at the end of the last century in Switzerland. He lived most of his life abroad, but his Russian childhood was not forgotten. Nabokov wrote both in his native language and in English, translated his novels, and lectured on philology.

Many of his texts preceded the era of modernism, and the style of his works is so original that it has no analogues either in Russian or in foreign literature. The ambiguity and heterogeneity of his works make a complete analysis of Nabokov impossible. "Mashenka" is taken by us for study not only because it is the first novel by Vladimir Vladimirovich, but also because it is the first work written by him in exile.

History of creation

Immediately after the release of the novel, the Niva magazine published a review of it: "Nabokov embroiders his fate according to the canvas of his works ... the fate of a whole human type is reflected - the Russian émigré intellectual." Life abroad was, like for many people who left their native country, difficult. The only thing Nabokov could find solace in was memories of the past, where there was joy, love, home. It was these bright thoughts that formed the basis of the novel.

Alferov Alexey Ivanovich (mathematician);
Podtyagin Anton Sergeevich (old poet),
the "cozy young lady" Clara, who is in love with Ganin and works as a typist;
couple in love - ballet dancers Colin and Gornotsvetov.

First love

A lot of feelings and experiences of Nabokov himself were reflected in the work "Mashenka". The summary of the novel (especially Ganin's memories of the past) also proves this.

The next morning the main character left. Mashenka moved to St. Petersburg only in November. Now it has become more difficult for young people to meet - it's cold outside, you can't walk for a long time. The only consolation was the phone - in the evenings they could talk to each other for hours. And shortly before the New Year, the Mashenka family moved to Moscow. To his surprise, Ganin felt relieved by this.

They last met a year later on a train and have not seen each other since. Only exchanged a few letters during the war.

Completion of the novel

As you can see, Nabokov draws a realistic and very life story in his novel.

Theme and Idea

The image of Ganin

Only memories of Mashenka revive the hero. Thoughts about the past revive his soul and body, illusory happiness warms, pushes him to action, gives hope for the future. But it does not last long Sitting at the station, waiting for Mashenka, he suddenly realizes that it is impossible to return the past, one can only dream of a lost paradise (Homeland), but one will never be able to find it again.

Mashenka's image

It is impossible, when analyzing the story "Mashenka" (Nabokov), not to pay attention to the image of the main character, even if she appears only in Ganin's dreams. Only the brightest and happiest memories are associated with Mashenka in the work. The image of the girl becomes the personification of forever lost happiness, Russia even before the war and revolution.

The peculiarity of the end of the novel

Very often in this work, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov plays on the deception of the reader's expectations: Masha (an analysis of her image is presented above) never appears, the alleged love triangle, to which the arrangement of the main characters is pushing, turns into zilch, and the ending does not correspond to the traditional ones at all

The end of the novel is more philosophical than psychological. Nabokov does not allow the heroes to meet not because of deep emotional experiences, but because there is no return to the past.