The history of the creation of A. Platonov
The story was published in 1938.
In the events described, one can feel the imprint of that time: constant suspicion towards people, quick judgment.
Andrey Platonovich Platonov (1899-1951)
The work was based on Platonov’s own memories, who by that time had worked as an assistant driver. That is why the author wrote in such detail and knowledgeably about this difficult and responsible profession.
The first editions were published under different names: “Machinist Maltsev”, “Imaginary Light”.
“In a Beautiful and Furious World” - summary of the story
For a reader's diary, it is enough to take a few sentences that can be formed from the retelling below.
Chapter 1
Thirty-year-old Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev worked as a first-class driver at the Tolubeevsky depot and was considered the best in his business. Kostya was appointed his assistant, who was very proud of this. Maltsev was more silent at work and was sad at times.
Gradually, Kostya realized: his partner believed that no one else knew and loved the car as much as he did. Alexander Vasilyevich only once entrusted the control of the steam locomotive to Kostya. As a result, the locomotive began to be late. Maltsev took control again and quickly made up for lost time.
Chapter 2
Kostya has been working with Maltsev for a year. One day, the dispatcher asked the driver to eliminate the backlog on one train. He agreed, and the locomotive quickly ran along the rails.
Suddenly they found themselves in a thundercloud, and a terrible lightning strike illuminated the car and people. Kostya noticed that Maltsev had become worse at driving the train. He decided that the master was tired. Soon firecrackers began to explode under the locomotive, but Maltsev did not react to this.
Kostya screamed, and Maltsev finally stopped the train. At this time they saw another train ahead. Then the master handed over control to an assistant and admitted that he was blind due to lightning.
Kostya took the train to the depot, told about what had happened and went to accompany his blind partner home. Unexpectedly, Maltsev announced that his vision had returned and even described his wife leaving the house.
Chapter 3
Maltsev was convicted. The assistant tried to defend him before the court. But Kostya could not answer the question of why the driver did not immediately give control to him.
Maltsev himself explained this by saying that he saw the path in his imagination. But he didn’t see the red signal, and if it weren’t for Kostya, the two trains would have collided and people would have died.
Chapter 4
When Maltsev was in prison, Kostya learned that there was a facility for creating artificial lightning. He told the investigator about this and suggested conducting an experiment. Kostya wanted to check how susceptible the driver’s psyche is to electrical discharge.
The investigator conducted an experiment, but the unexpected happened: from an artificial lightning strike, Maltsev became blind again. The driver was acquitted, but the investigator was very worried that he had to pay such a price for this. He was afraid that Maltsev’s vision would not be restored.
Kostya also changed, became bitter. He did not understand why this crazy and hostile world crushes the best people.
Chapter 5
Kostya began to manage the train, and often saw the blind master sitting at the station. One day Kostya took him on a flight.
He put one of Maltsev's hands on the brake and the other on the reverse. He put his hands on top of them and controlled the locomotive. He still hoped that the teacher would be able to see and return to what he loved. When a yellow circle of traffic lights loomed ahead, Kostya did not slow down.
Unexpectedly, everything needed was done by Maltsev himself, who said that he saw a traffic light. He also brought the train to the station. Kostya spent that night at his house so as not to leave the teacher alone and to protect him from the hostile forces of the beautiful and furious world.
Essays
Platonov's work In a Beautiful and Furious World was written in 1938. She will tell the story of an experienced locomotive driver and his assistant.
In a beautiful and furious world
This story is interesting because it is a reflection of the experience of the author himself, who in his youth had to work as an assistant driver. We invite you to get acquainted with the summary of the story, which will allow you to prepare for the lesson and write an essay on Platonov’s story.
Chapter 1
In the first chapter, the author introduces the reader to Alexander Maltsev. Alexander is a thirty-year-old man, an experienced driver who has been driving trains for many years. When a new passenger locomotive arrived at the Tolubeevsky depot, everyone already knew who would be appointed driver. At first, Maltsev worked with Fyodor Drabanov, but when he passed the exam and was appointed driver of another car, a narrator was appointed as Maltsev’s assistant. He was very pleased with his new position, because before that he had to work on a low-power machine. Now he was lucky enough to master a modern steam locomotive, and even under the supervision of a highly qualified mechanic. Maltsev calmly accepted a new assistant into his ranks. It seemed like he didn't care who he worked with.
Before each trip, Kostya checked all the components and mechanisms, but only after him Maltsev still double-checked the condition of the locomotive. This offended the assistant, but when the car began its journey, all insults disappeared, and only admiration remained. Konstantin enjoyed watching his mentor’s work and dreamed of being like him. Maltsev, on the other hand, felt superior to others and did not believe that anyone could learn to understand the machine better than himself.
Once the narrator asked to drive the locomotive, but after twenty minutes the car began to be four minutes late. Maltsev easily caught up with the lost time when he took control into his own hands. His locomotive was never late.
Chapter 2
For a year now, Konstantin has been working with Alexander Maltsev as an assistant. July 4 was Maltsev's last flight on the courier train. He is given a train that is four hours late. The head of the depot asks to reduce the delay time, and Maltsev accelerates the locomotive to full power, but a thundercloud awaits them ahead. The driver admires the elements and compares it with his car. The locomotive is covered by a dust devil, making the view worse, but the movement does not stop. Lightning struck, but everything worked out well, except that Konstantin began to notice oddities in Maltsev’s work. It will either accelerate the train to one hundred kilometers, or drop the speed to forty. Kostya attributed this to fatigue, but the reason was different. The mentor was blinded by a flash of lightning and drove the car at random, from memory. The driver could not see the warning lights that indicated a different train. Konstantin noticed something was wrong in time, and Maltsev admitted to his assistant that he was blind and gave him control.
On the second day, Kostya brought the train back and told the depot manager about what had happened. Afterwards, he took Alexander Vasilyevich home, but he refused help, since his vision had already returned.
Chapter 3
Kostya wants to understand why the mentor did not give control of the squad to him, and goes to Maltsev for answers. He claims that he was so used to the road, and his imagination painted familiar pictures, that he himself did not understand how he became blind. Maltsev tells the investigator about this. But the investigation does not believe Maltsev, besides, his vision has already been restored and it was impossible to prove otherwise. As a result, Alexander was convicted.
Chapter 4
Maltsev is in prison, and Konstantin is appointed as an assistant to another driver. He's very careful. Drives carefully, slows down long before the yellow light appears on the horizon. In a word, it was boring with him, and the narrator remembers Maltsev more and more often.
Somehow Kostya ends up visiting his student brother. He, talking about his studies, told about the physics room and about the Tesla installation, which helps to cause artificial lightning. Upon returning home, the hero of the story sends a letter to the investigator and asks for an experiment on the convict, telling about the Tesla installation. This experiment should prove the sensitivity of Maltsev’s body to electricity. The investigator does not respond for a long time, but eventually sends a positive answer.
The experiment ends with a positive result, Maltsev is released, but after the test Alexander loses his sight. The investigator blames himself for this. Kostya sets himself the goal of bringing Maltsev back to life. He has no idea how to do this yet, but he feels responsible for this person.
Chapter 5
In the summer, Kostya passes the exam and is appointed driver of a local locomotive. Before each departure, Konstantin sees Maltsev on the platform, sitting on a bench, looking into the distance with his clouded eyes and greedily inhaling the burning aromas. But no one could console the mentor in this beautiful and furious world.
Days passed, but one day, having met Alexander Vasilyevich, Konstantin invites him to go on a trip with him. Maltsev agrees, because he really wants to be in the car again.
The next day, Kostya sat Alexander Vasilyevich in his place, giving him the opportunity to control the locomotive. Maltsev enjoyed the ride, forgetting about his grief. In quiet sections, the driver completely moved away from the blind man, watching him from the side. And so, approaching the final destination, Kostya notices a yellow traffic light on the tracks, but decides not to slow down. As a result, he hears Maltsev’s advice to reduce the steam, since there is a yellow light ahead. The result of the trip was the return of Maltsev’s vision.
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Analysis of the work
The genre of “In a Beautiful and Furious World” is short story. Some publications published it with the subtitle “A Fantastic Story.”
Indeed, it contains many fantastic details, for example, the scientifically unproven effect of lightning on vision, a miraculous epiphany. But fantasy in the story recedes into the background. Heroes and their characters are much more important to the reader.
The main idea of the work is how a person should endure trials. The story teaches you to achieve your goal, not to give up and not to despair.
Using the example of heroes, the author encourages people to fight for a happy destiny and believe in themselves.
1. In our Tolubeevsky depot, Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev was considered the best locomotive driver. I was assigned to his assistant, on the powerful steam locomotive "IS".
Andrey Platonov. In a beautiful and furious world. Brief retelling
Maltsev treated the members of his brigade calmly and indifferently. It seemed that he did not trust us: he personally rechecked all the components of the machine, although we had already done the check before him. Maltsev drove trains with some kind of inspiration. It was as if he had absorbed the entire external world around the railway track into his inner experience and therefore dominated it. Our train was never late. We usually worked in silence; Only occasionally did Maltsev, without turning in my direction, knock on the boiler with the key, wanting me to turn my attention to some disorder. I followed his silent instructions with complete diligence.
See also the full text of this story.
Maltsev felt superior to us. He understood the machine more accurately than we did, and did not believe that I or anyone else could learn the secret of his talent to simultaneously feel the path, the weight of the train and the force of the machine. We really couldn't match his driving skills.
2. But one summer the unexpected happened. We took a train of eighty passenger axles, which was four hours late on its way to us. The dispatcher asked Maltsev to reduce this delay by at least an hour.
It was already evening. Our path went along the steppe. Maltsev drove the car forward, putting the reverse into full throttle. A huge cloud appeared on the horizon ahead. From inside she was torn by fierce, irritated lightning.
Andrey Platonov. In a beautiful and furious world. Listen to the audiobook with the full text of the story
The wind carried a thunderstorm towards us. Soon everything around me darkened, and then an instant blue light flashed at my eyelashes and penetrated me to my shuddering heart.
“Lightning,” said the fireman. “I wanted to hit us, but I missed a little.”
-What kind of lightning? – Maltsev asked him. - I did not see.
“The boiler almost exploded when the light came on, but he didn’t see,” the fireman was surprised.
We didn't hear any thunder. Thunder strikes with a delay after lightning, and while its rumble appeared at the site of the lightning, we managed to pass it at high speed.
Maltsev stood calmly in his place, but after the lightning strike, I noticed that he was driving the car much worse. We were thrown around on turns, the speed either fell or increased. I thought that Maltsev was probably very tired.
The lights in the cabin suddenly almost went out. The turbodynamo voltage has dropped. I turned away to adjust it, surprised that Maltsev, after a problem with the light, did not knock on me with the key, as usual.
Turning again to the front window of the cabin, I suddenly saw a red streak of light not far in our path.
- Brake, Maltsev! – I shouted.
He immediately applied the emergency brake. I was pressed against the cauldron by inertia. The wheels creaked terribly on the rails.
When we stopped, I saw that there was a steam locomotive standing just ten meters away from us on our line. Some man on it, as we approached, was waving a long, red-hot poker in the air at the end, warning us of an imminent collision. These waves of his seemed to me like a red streak of light.
It turned out that while I was adjusting the turbo dynamo and not looking ahead, we passed yellow and red traffic lights. But why didn’t Maltsev notice them?
He suddenly turned to me and said:
- Kostya... You drive the car further, I’m blind...
The next day I brought the train back to our station and took the blind Maltsev to his home. But when we were already approaching the house, his vision suddenly returned.
3. Maltsev was put on trial for almost causing a crash and killing hundreds of passengers we were carrying. An investigator called me on this case. I tried to explain to him: Maltsev is not guilty - and told the investigator about my guess. Maltsev was blinded by an electromagnetic wave that went ahead of the lightning light, so he no longer saw the lightning itself.
But the investigator didn't believe me. He asked why, immediately after the onset of blindness, Maltsev did not transfer control of the locomotive to me, the assistant. I couldn’t answer this and went to Maltsev himself for clarification.
He thoughtfully said that at first he did not notice his blindness.
“I was used to seeing the light, and I thought that I saw it, although at that time it was already only in my mind, in my imagination. I was blind, but I didn't know it. I always felt the path along which the locomotive drove with my whole being, so even after losing my sight it seemed to me that I saw the line, the signals, the wheat in the steppe, the work of the machine.
– But why didn’t you tell the investigator about this? – I exclaimed.
“I said,” Maltsev hung his head. “But he replied that he needed facts, and he couldn’t check the work of my imagination.”
4. Maltsev was sent to prison. And in the winter I met with my brother, a student, and he told me that at the university they have a Tesla installation in their physics laboratory for producing artificial lightning.
Returning home, I wrote a letter to the investigator who was in charge of Maltsev’s case. I asked, using a Tesla installation, to test the prisoner Maltsev to determine his exposure to electrical discharges.
Quite a lot of time passed, and I was called to the investigator. Looking at me sadly, he said: the regional prosecutor gave permission to conduct an experiment on Maltsev with the help of Tesla. And when Maltsev walked under artificial lightning, he became blind again. Experience proved his innocence, Maltsev was released from prison. However, now his vision has not returned and he has become disabled.
I really sympathized with Maltsev. I wanted to protect him from the grief of fate and was fierce against the fatal forces that destroy man. In my life, I have more than once encountered the fact of the existence of disastrous circumstances hostile to man, which almost always crushed chosen, exalted people. I decided to fiercely resist these fatal forces, although I did not know how to do this.
5. I passed the driver’s exam and began driving a steam locomotive on my own. And almost always, when leaving the station, I saw the blind Maltsev sitting on a station bench. He greedily breathed in the smell of burning and lubricating oil from the locomotive and listened to the operation of his machine. Maltsev grew haggard and older. The melancholy of a lifeless fate consumed him. I sometimes went up to him and tried to console him, but he drove me away.
Once I told him that tomorrow I would drive the train and I could take him with me into the car. Maltsev was very happy about this.
The next day I helped him climb into the cabin, and we set off. I put Maltsev in the driver’s seat, put one of his hands on the reverse, the other on the brake machine, and put mine on top of his hands. I moved my hands as needed, and his hands worked too. Maltsev silently obeyed me, enjoying the movement of the car and the wind in his face.
We drove back the same way. Maltsev had already gotten used to turning the reverse with my help so that a light pressure on his hand was enough for me. The former, perfect master longed to overcome his lack of vision and feel the world in order to work and justify his life.
On the approach to Tolubeev there was a yellow traffic light. I looked at Maltsev with secret hope.
- Shut down the steam! - Maltsev suddenly told me. – I see a yellow light.
He stood up and closed the steam himself. The volitional effort to return to his former life and activity, which burned him throughout the trip, returned Maltsev’s sight! He turned to me and began to cry.
Maltsev drove the car to Tolubeev without my help, and then the two of us sat at his house all night. I was afraid to leave him alone, like my own son, without protection against the sudden and hostile forces of our beautiful and furious world.
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