“Garnet Bracelet” - the story of the creation of A. Kuprin’s story

How was it really?

In the book “In a Foreign Land” L. Lyubimov talks about the love (or painful passion - the telegraph operator was considered a maniac in the family) of a simple official Zheltoy for Lyudmila Ivanovna Tugan-Baranovskaya, his mother. For two or three years, he sent her anonymous letters, filled with either declarations of love or grumbling. The reluctance to reveal one’s name was explained by different social status and an understanding of the impossibility of any relationship between them. The mother, according to L. Lyubimov, soon stopped reading these messages, and only the grandmother laughed every morning, getting acquainted with the new letter. Perhaps everything would have ended like this, but one day a telegraph operator in love sent a gift - a garnet bracelet. The creation of a situation that could be regarded as compromising was the last straw: Lyudmila Ivanovna’s brother and fiancé went to Zhelty’s house - it was a miserable attic on the 6th floor - and found him writing another message. The telegraph operator was given back the bracelet and asked not to remind him of himself in any way again. The Lyubimov family heard nothing more about the fate of Yellow. This is how the real story ended. A. Kuprin rethought it and included it in the story “Garnet Bracelet”, adding his own version of the ending.

History of creation

The story uses a story that Kuprin heard from friends when he was looking through a family album while visiting. One famous person received an unusual gift for her birthday: a bracelet. And in the letter attached to the gift there was, in fact, a declaration of love. But the woman was already married. At the same time, there was also a difference in the social status between the admirer (a simple official) and the object of his worship (the princess). The story ended with the tragic death of a fan.

It was this story, once told to the writer, that became the basis of the story, turning from meager data into a touching story of unrequited love, complemented by mysticism and various symbols.

For example, it was not in vain that garnets were used as stones in the bracelet. According to legend, this stone is a symbol of passionate and strong love, but often tragic.

The idea was a story, and initially Kuprin sent for publication a short story called “The Garnet Bracelet,” which he wrote in Odessa on the September evenings of 1910. Working on the work was difficult for Kuprin. However, the writer continued leveling his brainchild. The story was supplemented with new details and expanded. And finally it turned into a story. The author called his further work “polishing”.

The prototypes of the work were real people: the petty official Zheltikov, the princely couple of the Sheins. Kuprin told him about them. Beethoven's music also runs through the entire story of love. The writer always complained that he knew little about music, but this is not visible here.

It's all in the ending

This is exactly what L. Lyubimov thought when assessing the role of real events in the creation of a work of art. A. Kuprin conjectured what happened to Lyudmila Ivanovna. In his story, Zheltkov, a poor telegraph operator, writes a farewell letter to Vera Nikolaevna, the main character, and passes away. Having learned about his death, V.N. Sheina goes to his apartment, wanting to look at the now dead secret admirer, and then fulfills Zheltkov’s last wish - listens to Beethoven’s 2nd sonata. At this moment, she realizes how pure, selfless and hopeless this love was. This is how the “Garnet Bracelet” ends, the creation story of which became a creative rethinking of an essentially common phenomenon in people’s lives.

Heroes

• Vasily Lvovich Shein - prince, provincial leader of the nobility
• Vera Nikolaevna Sheina - the wife of Prince Shein, received letters from Zheltkov
• Georgy Stepanovich Zheltkov - an official of the control chamber, in love with Vera
• Anna Nikolaevna Friesse - Vera's sister, does not love her husband
• Nikolai Nikolaevich Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky - brother of Vera and Anna, comrade prosecutor
• General Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov - military comrade of Vera and Anna's father, Anna's godfather
• Lyudmila Lvovna Durasova - sister of Vasily Shein
• Gustav Ivanovich Friesse - Anna Nikolaevna's husband
• Jenny Reiter - pianist
• Luka - cook
• Vasyuchok - a young rogue and reveler

The role of the epigraph in the story

The appearance of Beethoven's 2nd sonata in the story is not an accident. The fact is that in 1910 A. Kuprin, who lived for some time in Odessa, often visited the Meisels family, where he heard this piece of music. His impression was so strong that after returning home the writer decides to write about the bright and pure feeling that the poor official experienced for the noble lady. His first step was the phrase: “L. van Beethoven. 2 Son. (op. 2, no. 2). Largo Appassionato”, written down on a piece of paper and then served as an epigraph to the story about the love of a telegraph operator.

The narrative begins with Beethoven's sonata and ends with it, giving the work compositional completeness. As a result, Kuprin forms a single trio in the finale. Great music that can awaken dormant feelings in a person and make you look at the world in a new way. True love, which does not require anything in return and therefore exists forever. Death, exalting a person capable of sacrificing himself for the well-being of another.

Thus, “The Garnet Bracelet” is the story of the creation of one great work - literary - under the influence of another - real music.

Option 2

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin worked on the work in Odessa in 1910. Initially, the author intended to write a story about a story that really happened in the lives of his friends. The Lyubimov family occupied a high position in the capital's society. It was the members of this aristocratic family who became the prototypes of the heroes of the story.

The history of writing the work, as well as the events preceding its creation, are unusual and interesting. The tragedy of the love plot will not leave any reader indifferent.

Lyudmila Ivanovna Lyubimova has been receiving love messages from a secret admirer for several years. Telegraph employee Zheltikov writes letters. The contents of the letters are contradictory. The lyrics either express tender feelings and admiration, or dissatisfaction and grumbling. Different social status left no chance to establish personal relationships. Lyubimova and her relatives, over time, stop taking the intrusive messages seriously. One day, a garnet bracelet was enclosed in a letter. The woman's inner circle considered this an offensive act.

Lyudmila Ivanovna's brother and fiance found the lover. They returned the incriminating gift to the telegraph operator and forbade Zheltikov from disturbing the society lady. No more letters arrived. The official was no longer mentioned. This is where the real story ends. Time passed, and the author’s attitude towards this story changed.

Living in Odessa at that time, Kuprin was friendly with the family of Dr. Meisels. While visiting them, Alexander Ivanovich first heard a musical work by Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata 2. Under the impression received from listening to music, Kuprin, in his story, gives a continuation of the story that ended in life, filling the plot with deep meaning.

A minor official, Zheltkov, writes a farewell letter to his beloved Vera Nikolaevna Sheina and passes away. The heroine decides to see her secret admirer. He finds the official dead at his home. The princess fulfills the last request of the unhappy lover. Listening to Beethoven's second sonata. To the sound of music, the woman realizes how real and pure the feelings of this poor man were for the exquisite aristocrat.

The main theme of the story is relevant at all times. The feeling of sincere love from one person to another has no boundaries or limitations. It is impossible to force someone to love or hate; this feeling always comes from the depths of the soul, regardless of the discrepancy in status, moral assessments or public opinion. The main character passed away, only the symbol of his true feelings remained - a garnet bracelet.

Almost a year later, in 1911, the almanac “Earth” published the story. The epigraph was the first line of music from the great composer’s brilliant work: “L. van Beethoven. Son. No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato.”

Prototypes of heroes and history of writing

Meaning of the name

The bracelet given to her by Zheltkov played no less role in the awakening of the heroine. Rough and rustic at first glance, he concealed a great secret. For a long time, there have been legends that garnet, a very rare and strikingly beautiful stone, can bring happiness to its owner. Presented as a gift, it often played the role of an amulet. And in A. Kuprin’s story, this family heirloom also endowed its owner with the gift of foresight. It can be assumed that along with the bracelet, Zheltkov wanted to convey to his beloved a piece of his pure and holy soul, which would protect her for the rest of her life.

The awareness of the spiritual wealth of a previously stranger to her and the understanding that something most important in life has passed by comes to Vera Nikolaevna after the death of the hero. His experiences and actions forced the society lady to take a fresh look at herself and the world around her. Thus, love in “The Pomegranate Bracelet,” even if unrequited and tragic, awakens the human soul, fills it with new emotions and feelings.

Plot

On her name day, Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina received a bracelet decorated with a rare green garnet as a gift from her longtime anonymous admirer. Being a married woman, she considered herself not entitled to receive any gifts from strangers.

Her brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, assistant prosecutor, together with Prince Vasily Lvovich found the sender. He turned out to be a modest official Georgy Zheltkov. Many years ago, he accidentally saw Princess Vera in a box at a circus performance and fell in love with her with pure and unrequited love. Several times a year, on major holidays, he allowed himself to write letters to her.

Now, after talking with the prince, he felt ashamed of those actions that could compromise an innocent woman. However, his love for her was so deep and selfless that he could not imagine the forced separation that the princess’s husband and brother insisted on.

After they left, he wrote a farewell letter to Vera Nikolaevna, in which he apologized to her for everything and asked her to listen to Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2. Then he took the bracelet that had been returned to him to the landlady with a request to hang the decoration on the icon of the Mother of God (according to Catholic custom), locked himself in his room and shot himself, seeing no point in the rest of his life. Zheltkov left a suicide note in which he explained that he shot himself because of embezzlement of government money.

Vera Nikolaevna, having learned about the death of G.S.Zh., asked her husband’s permission and went to the suicide’s apartment to look at least once at the man who had unrequitedly loved her for so many years. Returning home, she asked Jenny Reiter to play something, without doubting that she would play exactly the part of the sonata that Zheltkov wrote about. Sitting in a flower garden to the sounds of beautiful music, Vera Nikolaevna pressed herself against the trunk of an acacia tree and cried. She realized that the love that General Anosov spoke about, which everyone dreams of, passed her by. When the pianist finished playing and entered the princess, she began to kiss her and said: “No, no,” he has forgiven me now. Everything is fine".

Hymn to selfless love

A. Kuprin admitted that “... he never wrote anything more chaste ...” than “The Garnet Bracelet” in his life. He does not give moral assessments in the story and does not try to look for right and wrong in what happened. The author simply tells about the bright and at the same time sad experiences of the heroes at a time when people, according to Anosov, “forgot how to love.” During the conversation, General Fr. Maybe because true love is actually very rare in life and is available to only a few. Zheltkov, understood by no one, passes away, but he leaves behind an old garnet bracelet as a memory of himself and as a symbol of sincere, wonderful feelings.

The story behind the story is amazing. Having played out an ordinary life situation, A. Kuprin was able to show that true love is the basis of all life on earth.