Contents of the historical novel
Pushkin's work is studied in the 8th grade of secondary school. Adults, before considering the history of the creation of the novel “The Captain's Daughter,” should remember its brief content.
In his declining years, landowner Pyotr Andreevich Grinev talks about some years of his military youth. One of his first assignments was the border Belgorod fortress. On the way, the officer gets caught in a strong snowstorm. But a lucky chance brings him together with Emelyan Pugachev, who at that time was a simple fugitive Cossack. He agrees to escort the officer's sleigh to the inn. In gratitude, Grinev gives Emelyan his sheepskin coat.
While serving in the fortress, a young officer falls in love with the commandant's daughter, Maria Mironova. Rejected by the girl, officer Shvabrin openly mocks Grinev and allows offensive hints towards her.
The conflict resolved itself - the impostor and leader of the revolt, Emelyan Pugachev, seizes the fortress, executes the commandant and his wife, and invites the officers to join his uprising. Shvabrin agrees. Grinev refuses, he must also be executed. But Pugachev recognizes his friend and lets him go.
Pyotr Grinev leaves for Orenburg, but the ill Masha is forced to stay. Subsequently, the young officer receives a letter where the captain’s daughter writes that Shvabrin is forcing her to marry him. Grinev leaves his service without permission and returns to the fortress for his bride. He is arrested by the tsarist troops. The officer must be executed.
Now Masha goes to St. Petersburg to ask the queen for pardon for her fiancé. By coincidence, on the road she meets Catherine and, not recognizing her, tries to tell her story. The Empress frees Grinev. The newlyweds go to Peter’s homeland to ask his parents for a blessing for their marriage.
This is the summary of “The Captain's Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin, where, against the backdrop of a historical uprising, a story is told about a romantic story of love and selflessness.
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Concept and subsequent work
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin has long been interested in the topic of the Pugachev rebellion. Initially, he conceived the novel as a documentary work. Back in 1824, the writer wrote a letter to his brother Lev asking him to send him “The Life of Emelka Pugachev.” In this case, the book “False Peter the Third, or the Life, character and atrocities of the rebel, Emelka Pugachev” was meant.
Pushkin's interest did not wane in subsequent years. Hard times were coming to the country:
- second half of 1820 - there was a wave of peasant indignation, including in the Pskov province, where the writer lived at that time;
- end of 1820 - the issue of serfdom aggravated, necessary reforms in the country were postponed;
- 1830 - there is a message about the revolution in France and unrest in Poland, all this aggravates the situation, some provinces are engulfed in a cholera epidemic.
All these alarming events leave an indelible impression on Pushkin. In a letter to P.A. Osipova, he writes about his fears and the possibility of new peasant unrest. It was then that the idea of writing a documentary study of the Pugachev uprising by analogy with current events arose.
In 1832, Alexander Sergeevich personally appealed to Emperor Nicholas I for access to archival documents and certificates related to the Pugachev rebellion. In the same year, permission was received, and Pushkin was allowed not only to the state archives, but also to the family archives.
The writer gets acquainted with the investigative case, and later travels to the Urals, Volga region, and visits the Orenburg province. He examines the area, drives through the main places where the events took place, and talks with elderly eyewitnesses of the Pugachev riot.
As a result, in 1834 the book “The History of Pugachev” was published. This is a documentary work, most of which was written by Pushkin in Boldino, where the author stayed due to a cholera epidemic. The delay lasted about a month, all this time Pushkin worked hard and fruitfully, which bore fruit, and in 1836 a work of art on the theme of the Pugachev rebellion was published.
Real prototypes of fictional characters
In the original version, the main character was conceived as a nobleman who went over to the side of the rebel. The prototypes were to be Shvanich, who voluntarily became Pugachev’s ally, and Vasharin. He was captured, and later escaped and, joining the banner of General Michelson, opposed Pugachev. Subsequently, Pushkin refused to reproduce such a multifaceted personality and divided it into two antipodes - Grinev and Shvabrin. I revealed the depth of character of each of them through their attitude towards Masha Mironova.
The author did not choose the surname Grinev by chance. Looking through the archives of the Pugachev riot, he discovered lists of arrested participants in the uprising. They included a certain Grinev, who upon further investigation turned out to be innocent and released.
The division into a “good” hero and a “bad” one made it possible to bypass strict tsarist censorship and make the work less political. A few more heroes, without whom the work could not exist:
- Emelyan Pugachev is a historical figure and the true main character of the novel. Pushkin describes it briefly but succinctly. Pugachev appears in the work only in episodes, but not as a cruel rebel, but as an energetic, intelligent and talented leader, prone to sentimentality. He released Grinev for a sheepskin coat and a glass of vodka he had once been given.
- General Andrei Karlovich R. is a hero whose prototype was the governor of the Orenburg region, Ivan Andreevich Reinsdorp. Pushkin transferred the main traits of his character to his character.
- Maria Mironova. There was a lot of controversy about who became the prototype of the lyrical heroine. In fact, this is Maria Vasilievna Borisova. Pushkin met her in Staritsa, Tver province in 1829 at a Christmas ball. Traits such as honesty, openness and firmness were copied from her.
Many heroes have collective images: Vasilisa Egorovna is the keeper of the family hearth, a simple woman, a housewife; Savelich is a devoted servant, stubborn, economical, and grumpy.
History of the missing chapter
Pushkin worked on the novel for 3 years, but in the final edition he had to cut out one of the chapters. Many writers who study the history of the creation of the story “The Captain's Daughter” believe that this was done for the sake of censorship.
The excised passage talked about the peasant revolt that took place on the estate of Grinev’s parents. The men locked the old men and Masha in the barn, and the young master himself ended up there when he came to rescue his relatives. They are liberated by a hussar squadron. Landowners forgive their stupid peasants.
In fact, the reasons for removing the chapter from the work are not known for certain. The author did not provide any explanation on this matter. He simply replaced the chapter number “12” with “Omitted” and did not submit it to the publisher for publication.
Moreover, the original “summer” edition of the novel has not survived. It is assumed that Pushkin destroyed it, so it is impossible to thoroughly find out whether the existing “Missing Chapter” is the only one or whether there were other options.
The creative plan for the work was drawn up back in 1833. During the writing, the novel was changed, reworked, and rewritten. But it is the missing chapter that is very close to the original plan . This is evidenced by some excerpts from the writer’s correspondence with censor Korsakov.
“The Missing Chapter” was briefly published after the author’s death in 1880 in the magazine “Russian Archive”. It was released without the main novel as a separate publication with a cover. At that time, the chapter was heavily censored, and some parts were omitted. The author's signature was also missing.
Essay: The history of the creation of Alexander Pushkin’s novel “The Captain’s Daughter”
(545 words) Consider the famous work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin “The Captain's Daughter”. It is studied in the school curriculum, and many who read this novel loved it. And there is a reason for it - a fascinating and poignant plot, ambiguous and interesting characters, the basis of the plot is real events, the dialogues are full of emotions. However, no less interesting is the story of the creation of the novel, and this story will bring clarity to the writer’s thoughts that he put into the novel.
The poet conceived a new work while still working on another novel, “Dubrovsky,” and the first strokes of this work appeared already in the winter of 1833. At that time, he was conducting research on the topic of Pugachev's rebellion, and for this reason he did not have any difficulties in creating the characters.
The writer used many sources to find inspiration for writing the novel, and he received permission from the king to conduct research in the imperial archives. But real facts alone were not enough for the novel, and therefore the poet began to travel to already explored regions - to the cities and towns of the Volga and Ural regions, where he interviewed people who witnessed those events and knew something. The information he collected helped him.
There are five versions of the novel in total, or rather, their plans, preserved in the poet’s archive. He understood that the censor most likely would not like his creation, and therefore sought to write in such a way that the novel would be approved for publication. Work on the novel lasted about three years - he finished the work back in 1833, but made several changes a year later, and finally finished the work only in 1836. Initially, the theme of the novel was documentary, but in the process of work it became more artistic, however, almost all of the real historical places and events remained untouched.
But he made some changes. So, he came up with the Belogorsk fortress, and placed its location on the site of the Tatishchev fortress and reduced the distance between it and Orenburg in order to show the degree of danger hanging over the city. And Emelyan Pugachev in real life visited the Tatishchev Fortress, where during the rebellion a real tragedy unfolded - commandant Grigory Elagin was killed during the battle, and his young daughter Tatyana was taken by the head of the rebels as his concubine. A month later she was killed, and the wife of the deceased commandant was hanged in the square.
The fiction in the novel took place in real life. Shortly before the siege of the fortress, Tatyana married a man, who was later also executed. He also resisted the rebels, but he was executed because he refused to serve Pugachev.
The basis for some of the heroes of the novel were nobles who went over to the side of the enemy, and initially the writer wanted to show and reveal the image of a traitor. Some Shvanvich, who personally went over to Pugachev, and Vasharin, who was captured but escaped and then continued to fight with Pugachev, left their mark on history.
Pushkin decided that the novel about a traitor would not miss the press, and he decided to change the image of the main character, making him innocently convicted. He took the surname for the hero from the list of commanders who went over to Pugachev, however, a man named Grinev did not assist Pugachev and was acquitted. To bypass censorship, the poet made two characters out of one hero in the novel - this is how Grinev and Shvabrin appeared.
Thus, Pushkin fulfilled his plan - he revealed the psychology of the traitor by condemning his image, thanks to which he achieved the favor of the censorship. However, the novel was published without the creator's signature in 1836 in the 4th book. To allow the novel to go into print, Pushkin removed one chapter, which showed the uprising on Grinev’s estate. He released her later, but she came out after his death.
Facts about the history of writing the novel show us that the poet's original plan was changed for the sake of censorship, which greatly changed the plot.
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Publication of the work
The history of writing Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter” has its own brief chronological order. These include the following steps:
- The first draft of the novel was completed on July 23, 1836.
- Countless copyright edits began. The work was finally completed only on October 19. Pushkin tried to finish the novel precisely by this date, since the 25th anniversary of the founding of his lyceum was approaching.
- On November 11, the censorship approved the final version.
- The work was supposed to be published in the fourth issue of Sovremennik magazine. On December 22, the novel was published.
There were 38 days left before the tragic death of the writer. The novel became the last work of A. S. Pushkin published during his lifetime.
On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes
Lesson summary using information technology (ICT) Subject: literature Lesson topic: “The Captain's Daughter.” History of creation. Issues. Lesson type: lesson of new knowledge (lesson etc.
Presentation for a literature lesson in 8th grade. A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter". History of creation. "The Rebellion of Emelyan Pugachev." The presentation is presented in an abbreviated version.
The history of the creation of A.S. Pushkin’s novel “The Captain’s Daughter.”
In this work you will find brief characteristics of the heroes of the novel by A.S. Pushkin's "The Captain's Daughter" and information about their prototypes.
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