School time and high hopes
Luzhin's father had a penchant for writing. In his essays, he often saw a blond boy capable of playing the violin or painting. The father often thought about his son - what future awaits the remarkable and unsolved boy? That is why it was decided to send Luzhin to study, where he could reveal his talents, because the school institution was famous for its special attentiveness to each student. Unfortunately, after entering school, the teachers stated that the boy was lethargic and even if he had abilities, he had not yet shown them. The teachers could not understand the student.
Luzhin, even during breaks, does not show any participation in childish games, preferring to remain alone with his own thoughts. Classmates often joked, calling the boy a hero from his father’s books named Antosha. In an attempt to talk to his son at home about a school topic, he furiously knocked over a cup and saucer on the table.
Enthusiasm
April. It was at this time that Luzhin developed a craving that he was passionate about all his life. During one musical evening, the yearning aunt gave a couple of simple chess lessons. Several days have passed since then, and Luzhin saw a chess game among schoolchildren. It was then that the realization came that the boy knew more about the game than those guys who were competing.
Over time, his performance at school begins to decline, because Luzhin often skips classes and goes to his aunt to play another game. Thus a week passed. A bell rings at home, asking for an explanation for my son’s absence from school. The parents are horrified, and the head of the family demands that his son explain himself. But the boy is bored and in response to all the reproaches he just yawns tiredly. He was sent to his room. After this, a scandal begins in the family, where the mother thinks that everyone around her is deceiving her, and the father, meanwhile, is thinking about his own heavy burden.
Youth protest
One day Sasha watches his classmates play chess. Unexpectedly, the boy discovers that, although he does not know how to play, he understands much more about this magical act than his peers. At this moment, a plan is ripening in his head; Sasha begins to implement his plan the next morning. In the plot of the novel “The Defense of Luzhin,” a brief summary of which cannot contain many important details, one of the climactic moments occurs.
Pretending to go to school, the boy stops attending classes, spending days on end in the house of his second cousin. A young woman gives him his first chess lessons. Then an old man, who often visits his aunt, begins to train Sasha. Parents soon become aware of school truancy, and scandals break out again in the house. But this no longer worries Sasha; he enthusiastically studies magazines, playing chess games using them.
First victories
An elderly man constantly comes to see his aunt and one day Luzhin wins a game against him. The old man was surprised at the boy's early abilities and predicted a good future for him. The kind grandfather explained the notation system to the boy, thanks to which he was soon able to play games even without a board and pieces.
After this, the father of the family disappeared for a long time, and his wife suspected treason. A serious conversation took place, after which the father invited his son to play chess. Luzhin Jr. won several times in a row, after which he realized his son’s passion for chess, which amazed him. The next morning, the head of the family brought a doctor who played chess better than him. This did not help, because the son beat the man too. From that moment on, Luzhin's passion for playing chess takes over his entire imagination and leaves the rest of the world in the background. Soon the boy refused to attend school, and later was able to appear in the magazine
Nabokov “Luzhin’s Defense” - summary
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By the end of summer, the parents of ten-year-old Luzhin finally decide to inform their son that after returning from the village to St. Petersburg, he will go to school. Fearing the upcoming change in his life, little Luzhin, before the train arrives, runs away from the station back to the estate and hides in the attic, where, among other uninteresting things, he sees a chessboard with a crack. The boy is found, and a black-bearded man carries him from the attic to the stroller.
Luzhin Sr. wrote books in which the image of a blond boy who became a violinist or painter constantly flashed in them. He often thought about what could come out of his son, whose remarkableness was undoubted, but unresolved. And the father hoped that his son’s abilities would be revealed at the school, which was especially famous for its attentiveness to the so-called “inner” life of its students. But a month later, the father heard cold words from the teacher, proving that his son was understood at school even less than he was: “The boy undoubtedly has abilities, but there is some lethargy.”
During recess, Luzhin does not participate in general children's games and always sits alone. In addition, peers find strange amusement in laughing at Luzhin about his father’s books, calling him by the name of one of the heroes, Antosha. When parents pester their son at home with questions about school, something terrible happens: he knocks over a cup and saucer on the table like crazy.
Only in April does the day come for a boy when he develops a hobby on which his whole life is doomed to focus. At a musical evening, his bored aunt, his mother's second cousin, gives him a simple lesson in playing chess.
A few days later at school, Luzhin watches a chess game between his classmates and feels that he somehow understands the game better than the players, although he does not yet know all its rules.
Luzhin begins to skip classes - instead of going to school, he goes to his aunt's to play chess. This is how the week goes by. The teacher calls home to find out what’s wrong with him. The father answers the phone. Shocked parents demand an explanation from their son. He is bored of saying anything, he yawns while listening to his father's instructive speech. The boy is sent to his room. The mother cries and says that both father and son are deceiving her. The father thinks with sadness about how difficult it is to fulfill his duty, not to go where he is drawn uncontrollably, and then there are these strange things with his son...
Luzhin wins over the old man, who often comes to his aunt with flowers. Having encountered such early abilities for the first time, the old man prophesies to the boy: “You will go far.” He also explains a simple system of notation, and Luzhin, without pieces and a board, can already play the games given in the magazine, like a musician reading a score.
One day, a father, after explaining to his mother about his long absence (she suspects him of infidelity), invites his son to sit with him and play, for example, chess.
Luzhin wins four games against his father and at the very beginning of the last one he comments on one move in a childish voice: “The worst answer. Chigorin advises taking the pawn.” After he leaves, the father sits thoughtfully - his son’s passion for chess amazes him. Page 1 ]
Diseases and deaths
Soon he runs away from home and goes to his aunt, who greeted him in mourning - his old chess partner had died. Luzhin runs again, and the events of his life flash in his mind, he is unable to understand whether he saw a dead man in the coffin or not. Consciousness becomes clouded, turning the environment into complete nonsense.
The illness lasted a long time, and the parents took the boy abroad for treatment. The mother left for her homeland alone, and the father began to appear in the company of his aunt. A summons arrives - the mother has died in St. Petersburg.
Luzhin began performing and winning in all prestigious competitions throughout Europe and Russia. The father, meanwhile, returns to the idea of a story where a blond guy becomes a famous chess player and dies in his youth. But the book doesn't work. Soon after catching a cold after a rainy walk, my father fell ill and died.
First losses and the beginning of a chess career
A week later, young Luzhin learns about the death of the old man from whom he took playing lessons. This news places a heavy burden on the boy’s fragile psyche. Parents are forced to take Sasha abroad to provide treatment for a prolonged nervous breakdown.
After some time, the mother returns to Russia, Sasha remains with her father. Luzhin Sr. often appears in society with a young lady, in whom the boy recognizes his second cousin. Soon a telegram arrives from St. Petersburg announcing the death of Sasha’s mother.
The father, imbued with his son’s passion for chess, allows him to participate in various tournaments. The growing young man wins one victory after another, this activity begins to bring not only fame, but also money. The organization of chess matches and simultaneous play sessions is carried out by a specially invited person - Mr. Valentinov.
Triumph and failure
Luzhin continues to play and is close to meeting the champion. At that moment he met his future wife, an emigrant from Russia. In the eyes of others, this couple becomes strange. They merried. A meeting took place with an old enemy, which ended in a draw. Luzhin became very ill from overexertion. The wife tries by any means to protect her beloved man from chess, but a past hobby cannot be thrown away so easily. The couple talked several times about visiting their father's grave, which was constantly postponed. Luzhin constantly thinks about the unfinished tournament, thoughts often appear related to people and chess moves that drive him crazy.
"Luzhin's Defense"
The novel “The Defense of Luzhin” was written by Nabokov in 1929 in Le Boulud (a French resort in the Eastern Pyrenees) and in Berlin, and published in 1930. At first glance, it may seem that the book contains the life story of a chess player. But the author also raises deeper problems. The main character, Luzhin, is a unique, extraordinary personality. From childhood, he was distinguished by his individuality, which some took for lethargy, others for stubbornness. Perhaps only the father tried to discern his inner genius in his son, but he also failed to find an approach to the boy’s closed soul. His mother loved his childish playfulness in Luzhin, but when he became a chess genius, she turned away from him and went back to Russia. She felt that Luzhin was more fond of chess than of her. It hurt her to see how the only person close to her was moving away from her, going into his world of black and white figures. Against the backdrop of her husband’s betrayal, she viewed her son’s passion for chess as betrayal and deception. His father saw in him the features of the boy he imagined, who was the main character in all his books. Luzhin himself was not like the images that his father and mother kept in their hearts. He constantly strived for change, stubbornly fought for the right to be himself.
Nabokov endowed his hero with a passion for chess for a reason. He, too, had a sincere interest in them, which grew into mania. Considering Luzhin as a genius, a creative person, Nabokov contrasted him with the vulgarity and limitations of the world around him.
In the life of the main character there was only one person who sincerely tried to save him from the empty bustle of the world around him. Luzhin's wife guarded her husband's peace, thought through her leisure time down to the smallest detail, trying to avoid unnecessary pressure on him. It was very difficult for her to fight every day not only with her husband’s insanity, but also with her mother, Valentinov, and society. But for Luzhin she was not only a loving wife. She was part of the world from which he sought to escape, part of the combinations repeating in his head.
Drawing a parallel between Luzhin and Nabokov, it should be said that both of them were people of art. Both knew in advance that they would not be understood by others, but nevertheless they continued to follow their genius. The main character of the novel turned out to be a strong personality. He managed to find a way out of the impasse into which madness had driven him. Falling down, he sees a chessboard on which his jump is calculated as the most faithful and heroic act. He managed to escape the madness that would inevitably have overtaken him. It would grow under the pressure of a European world so alien to the emigrant.
The death of the main character was shown by Nabokov not just as suicide, it proved the impossibility of living under conditions of limited freedom of mind and soul. The desire of a genius for self-development should not be limited by mediocre individuals seeking to profit from his talent. “The Defense of Luzhin” is a novel that tells the story of the struggle against despair and madness, when the passion for art is forced to hide inside the soul of a genius. Nabokov showed Luzhin's life as a struggle with a recurring fatal combination. The rapid running between tournaments, cities, countries, people could not save the main character from the impending threat of the “Shah”. But still he was able to develop his defense, which led him to the tragic acquisition of freedom.
Exodus
Walking shopping with his mother-in-law and wife, Luzhin found a reason to leave them. He again has a feeling of repetition when he enters a store that turns out to be a hairdresser. At home he meets an old guide who organized tournaments. A man offers to star in a film about chess players. Luzhin again thinks that this is a trick, where the moves are thought out and he will be repeated again.
The wife is crying, Luzhin is walking around the rooms and talking nonsense about how the game must end, about the need to fall out of it. Guests are due to arrive soon, and Luzhin locks himself in his own bathroom. He breaks the window and squeezes through the frame. Hanging on the brink of death, he believes that it is necessary to let go of this world. By the time the door was knocked down, he was no longer in the room.
An ingenious solution to a complex multi-pass
Luzhin arrives home and with difficulty climbs to the top floor. He begins to quickly walk through the rooms of the apartment, despite the requests of his crying wife to stop and explain the essence of what is happening. Finally, Luzhin finishes his marathon, puts the contents of his pockets on the nightstand and kisses his wife’s hands. “The only right move has been found! You just need to leave the game, fall out of it!” - such a thought illuminates the fevered imagination of the chess genius.
Guests are invited to the house this evening. The first bell rings at the door, the maid runs to open it, and the wife goes to greet the newcomer. Taking advantage of the moment, Luzhin locks himself in the bathroom. Along the shelves of the chest of drawers standing here, Alexander climbs onto the windowsill of a high window. Dangling his legs onto the street, he deeply inhales the frosty air. The door shakes under the pressure of people, and the wife’s concerned voice is clearly heard. But the chess player has nothing to do with this. He prepared to make the final move leading to victory and unlimited freedom. A minute later, the door to the bathroom was still knocked down, but there was no one to save.
This is how the last chapter of the novel ends, the plot of which contains a description of an entire life, and the title is not particularly ornate (but that’s what the author, V. Nabokov, decided) - “The Defense of Luzhin.” Reviews about this work can be summarized and expressed in just one phrase: not everyone can bear the burden of genius. But this is not the fault, but the misfortune of people endowed with exceptional talents. Is not it?
