The king fish is what the Ignatich passage talks about. Reflections on the role of man on earth, on eternal spiritual values in the story B
- Read the proposed text from Astafiev’s work “The Fish Tsar”, think about its meaning.
- By what artistic means does the writer convey his attitude towards the natural world?
- Analyze Ignatyich's thoughts. What does he regret and why?
- Why did Ignatyich’s soul feel better when the king fish was freed? Why does he promise not to tell anyone anything about her?
- What features of the author's narrative did you notice?
The writer addresses important problems of human existence - the mutual connection between man and nature. In the depicted tragic situation, Astafiev is looking for the key to explaining the moral virtues and moral vices of a person; through the attitude to nature, the spiritual value and consistency of this person is checked.
The genre of “The King of Fishes” is “narration within stories.” One of the leading artistic means of conveying one’s attitude towards the natural world is the use of associations between man and nature. In all the stories in the cycle, the author sees man through nature, and nature through man. To do this, a wide variety of metaphors and comparisons are used. Here is one of these comparisons: “Both the fish and the man grew weaker and bled. Human blood does not clot well in cold water. What kind of blood does a fish have? It's the same red. Fishy. Cold. And there is little of it in fish. Why does she need blood? She lives in Vo-de. She has no need to warm up. It is he, the man, who needs warmth, he lives on earth. So why did their paths cross? The king of the river and the king of all nature - in one trap, in the cold autumn water.”
Astafiev considers the relationship between man and nature as related, the relationship between mother and child, and thereby achieves the idea of unity, the understanding that man is a part, a child of nature. At critical moments, nature helps a person to realize his sins, even very old ones. Even when the most careful and decent of the poachers, Ignatich, was pulled into the water by a giant fish and turned into a prisoner of his own prey, he remembers his past crimes and perceives what happened to him as punishment: “The hour of the cross has struck , it’s time to account for your sins..."
At the moment of being between life and death, Ignatyich thinks about what he has lived, analyzes it, and most acutely feels the loss of spirituality that occurred due to the constant pursuit of profit. Because of her, “the human being was forgotten!” He was overwhelmed by greed!” Ignatyich thinks bitterly about a childhood that never happened. During class I thought about fishing. I spent only four painful winters at school, Ignatyich regrets that after school he didn’t even look at the library and didn’t take care of his children. They wanted to nominate him as deputy, but they rejected him because he fishes quietly, all the time in pursuit of profit. They didn’t save a beautiful girl from bandits because they were out fishing themselves. His conscience became sharper at a critical moment, when he found himself on the brink of an abyss.
It’s easier because death has retreated. Te-lu felt better because he was no longer being pulled down. “And the soul - from some kind of liberation that has not yet been comprehended by the mind.” Perhaps there was hope to fix something in your life. Perhaps Ignatich was glad that this magical king-fish remained alive, seriously wounded, but furious and untamed. Material from the site
It was a cruel, but instructive meeting for Ignatyich with one of the greatest secrets of nature. And he decided not to tell anyone about the king fish, so as not to arouse the interest of poachers in it. “Live as long as you can!”
The author's narration in this passage often merges with the thoughts of the hero, Ignatyich. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the words of Astafiev himself from the reflections of the maturing hero, aware of the meaning of life and responsibility for what he has done. The ability to capture and convey the subtlest shades of the movements of nature is amazing (“Quiet! Such silence that you can hear your own soul, huddled into a ball”). Sometimes the story takes on a fairy-tale character. It should also be noted in the narrative the presence of elements of colloquial speech, a dialogical structure in the internal monologues of the author and his hero.
Works that are in one way or another related to the theme of the village are usually called “village prose.” Books of very different genres have been written about the village: stories by V. Astafiev and V. Rasputin, the socio-epic trilogy of F. Abramov, moral and educational novels by V. Mozhaev, stories by V. Belov and V. Shukshin. What place does the work of V. Astafiev and, in particular, his story “The Tsar Fish” occupy in the literature about the village?
Victor Astafiev is a talented master who knows nature and requires careful treatment of it. From his first steps in the literary field, the writer sought to solve important problems of his time, find ways to improve personality, and awaken a sense of compassion in his readers. In 1976, his work “The Fish King” appeared, with the subtitle “narration in stories.” It takes a fresh look at the constant motifs in Astafiev’s work. The theme of nature acquired a philosophical resonance and began to be perceived as an environmental theme. The idea of the Russian national character, which the writer addressed in the stories “The Last of the Clone” and “Ode to the Russian Vegetable Garden,” also sounds on the pages of the story “The Tsar Fish.”
The work includes twelve stories. The plot of the story is connected with the journey of the author, the lyrical hero, to his native places - Siberia. The end-to-end image of the author, his thoughts and memories, lyrical and philosophical generalizations, appeals to the reader unite individual episodes and scenes, characters and situations into a complete artistic narrative. The basis of "Tsar Fish" consists of stories about fishing and hunting, written at different times. But, as the author himself admits, the narrative began to take shape as a coherent work only after writing the short story “The Drop”: “I started with the chapter “The Drop”, and it led to a philosophical understanding of all the material, leading the rest of the chapters with it. My friends encouraged me to name " "Tsar Fish" as a novel... If I were writing a novel, I would write more harmoniously, but I would have to give up what is most precious, what is commonly called journalism, free speeches, which in this form of storytelling do not seem to look like digressions." . Each individual story is perceived in its immediate, specific content, but in the narrative system they all acquire additional meaning, and also unfold before the reader a gallery of folk types and characters. "The King Fish" opens with the story "Boye". In this story there is a story reminiscent of a parable about Nikolai's hunt for an arctic fox. Nikolai and his partner Arkhip, under the leadership of the “elder” who went through war and prison, agreed to hunt arctic fox in Taimyr, in the remote winter quarters. If successful, this promised big money. However, a pestilence began in the taiga, the arctic fox left, and the hunt failed. People had a choice: to leave and make their way for a long time with their luggage off-road, or to stay for the winter. In the case of such a winter in a deserted region, you need to be able to maintain a human appearance: not to go crazy, not to kill each other, not to go wild from idleness and cold. All of the above happened, but people remained alive. This winter taught them a lot and made them think about a lot. It is interesting that the author does not impose his conclusions on the reader, he simply tells, but he tells so masterfully that he touches the innermost strings of the human soul. Also from this story we learn about the facts of Astafiev’s biography: about a difficult childhood, about a dissolute father, about a stepmother unbridled in anger, about an unsettled relationship with his father’s second family. The restrained manner of narration evokes respect, but one can also discern bitterness, hidden childhood resentment, pity for the unlucky father, an ironic attitude towards oneself and brother Kolka, and sadness for a lost youth. The central chapter of the story is the chapter of the same name - “The Fish King”, in which the motives of the role of man on earth and eternal spiritual values are heard. The main character of "Tsarryba" is Ignatyich, "an intellectual from the people." What is popular about it? Ignatyich is a native Siberian, the best representative of the Siberian national character: “Everywhere and everywhere he got by on his own, but he himself is always ready to help people,” he is a good worker, a strong owner, but not a greedy person or a penny-pincher; neat, clean; the best mechanic in his area and the best fisherman. But all his life, the soul of this person is fraught with sin; it is as if he is waiting for retribution for it. In his youth, Ignatyich mocked Glashka Kukhlina and humiliated her out of false pride. Only he and Glasha know about this act. Everyone has had their own family for a long time, but this act torments Ignatyich, he understands that “no crime passes without a trace,” he tries to ask her for forgiveness, but she replies that may God forgive him, but she does not have the strength to do so. So Ignatyich lives with this guilt, “hoping through humility, helpfulness... to overcome the guilt, to beg for forgiveness.”
However, in understanding the character of the main character, the incident with the fish plays the most important role. One day Ignatyich caught a huge sturgeon, but couldn’t get it out. “You can’t miss such a sturgeon. The Tsar Fish comes across once in a lifetime, and even then not every Yakov.” This fish was truly amazing. “There was something rare, primitive not only in the size of the fish, but also in the shape of its body,” the fish looked like “a prehistoric lizard.” Trying to pull out the sturgeon, the fisherman fell overboard, the fish began to fight and stuck many hooks into itself and the catcher. “Both the fish and the man were weakening, bleeding,” “the same painful death was guarding them.” Ignatyich fought for his life, losing consciousness, and the fish kept clinging to him, pushing him to the bottom. The hero realized that “the time has come to account for his sins,” and half-forgotten asked Glasha for forgiveness. He was saved by chance: a wave from a passing boat helped the fish fall off the hooks. “And he felt better. The body - because the fish was not pulling down... the soul - from some kind of liberation not yet comprehended by the mind.”
In Ignatich's fight with the sturgeon, the king fish personifies nature, and Ignatich represents man. Moreover, a person’s character is tested for strength in extreme conditions, in which he himself becomes the prey instead of a hunter. In a duel with the king fish, the hero comprehends the truth: the meaning of human life is not in the accumulation of wealth, but in the fact that one must always remain human and not go against one’s conscience. The very root of the word “nature” contains a deep meaning: it is what gives birth, what gives life. Nature is a feminine noun, and so is its personification in the book - the king fish. During the fight, she protects her belly, filled with caviar, which symbolizes the continuation of life. In such situations, a person begins to feel the mystery of what is happening, Ignatyich remembers his life, his grandfather, who taught the young: “If there is a grave sin in your soul, do not get involved with the king fish.” And so Ignatyich reports to his conscience for his sins, especially for the one that he considers the most difficult. His mood changes: from the joy of owning a fish - to hatred and disgust for it, then - to the desire to get rid of it. In the face of death, he reconsiders his life, confesses to himself and repents, thereby removing grave sin from his soul. The active work of the soul and complete moral rebirth save Ignatyich from death. I believe that the pathos of the entire book “The King Fish” is in admiration for the beauty of our land, in denouncing those who destroy this beauty. The protection of nature, the protection of the human in man is the main idea that runs through Astafiev’s entire work, and it is connected with the high humanistic traditions of Russian classical literature. Therefore, V. Astafiev’s work teaches us, readers, real lessons of kindness, humanity, love for our native land and people.
Test on the work of V. Astfiev “The Tsar is a Fish” 11th grade
(written)
- What problem did Astafyev touch upon in his work “The Fish Tsar”?
- By what artistic means does the writer convey his attitude towards the natural world? Give examples.
- Describe Ignatyich’s thoughts. What does he regret and why?
- Why did Ignatyich’s soul feel better when the king fish was freed? Why did he decide not to tell anyone about her? Give an example.
- What features of the author's narrative did you notice?
Reply orally:
2. What does V. Astafiev say about poachers? Who is called a poacher?
Why did you pay so much attention to them?
4.What is Ignatyich’s main fault?
5.What can you say about the idea of the work?
V. Astfiev “The Tsar is a Fish”
What can you say about the idea of the work?
By interfering with the life of nature, grossly violating the ecological environment, a person commits a moral crime. He who is merciless to nature is merciless to all living things, and therefore, to himself. In the symbolic picture of the combat between man and nature, there can be no victory on either side, since man and nature are “tied by one mortal end”
It pains Astafiev to watch how his fellow countrymen transgressed the ancient commandment and decided to engage in predatory, brutal fishing. He does not judge the heroes, but cares about their mental healing, speaks from the positions of goodness, humanity, and against the barbaric position
The novel “The Tsar Fish” is Astafiev’s largest work. Nature and man are presented here as something inseparable. This is a reflection on nature, that there is life, heaven, earth; this is pain on earth, by nature. A person’s relationship to nature is already the person himself, his soul, character, philosophy. The writer paints man and nature together. The heroes of the book live a difficult life, and the nature surrounding them is harsh. It is here, in this test, that people are divided into those for whom she still remains a beloved mother, and others for whom she is no longer a mother. but something from which you need to take more.
Our focus is on the story “The King is a Fish.” He gave the name to the entire collection, becoming the focus of all the philosophical and moral thoughts of the author.
Where does the action take place?
Who is the main character of the story?
What was Ignatyich's job?
Why is everyone calling the main character Ignatyich?
How does he stand out among his fellow villagers?
How do the Chushens treat Ignatyich?
Why can’t he improve his relationship with his brother?
- Read the proposed text from Astafiev’s work “The Fish Tsar”, think about its meaning.
The writer addresses important problems of human existence - the mutual connection between man and nature. In the depicted tragic situation, Astafiev is looking for the key to explaining the moral virtues and moral vices of an individual; through the attitude to nature, the spiritual value and consistency of this individual is tested.
- By what artistic means does the writer convey his attitude towards the natural world?
The genre of “The King of Fishes” is “narration in stories.” One of the leading artistic means of conveying one’s attitude towards the natural world is the use of associations between man and nature. In all the stories in the cycle, the author sees man through nature, and nature through man. To do this, a wide variety of metaphors and comparisons are used. Here is one such comparison: “Both the fish and the man grew weaker and bled. Human blood does not clot well in cold water. What kind of blood does a fish have? Also red. Fishy. Cold. And there is little of it in fish. Why does she need blood? She lives in the water. She has no need to warm up. It is he, the man, who needs warmth; he lives on earth. So why did their paths cross? The king of the river and the king of all nature are in one trap, in cold autumn water.”
Astafiev considers the relationship between man and nature as related, the relationship between mother and child, and thereby achieves the idea of unity, the understanding that man is a part, a child of nature. At critical moments, nature helps a person to realize his sins, even very old ones. Even when the most careful and decent of the poachers, Ignatyich, was pulled into the water by a giant fish and turned into a prisoner of his own prey, he remembers his past crimes and perceives what happened to him as punishment: “The hour of the cross has struck, it’s time to account for your sins...”
- Analyze Ignatyich's thoughts. What does he regret and why?
At the moment of being between life and death, Ignatyich thinks about what he has lived, analyzes it, and most acutely feels the loss of spirituality that occurred due to the constant pursuit of profit. Because of her, “man was forgotten in man!” He was overwhelmed by greed!” Ignatyich thinks bitterly about a childhood that never happened. During class I thought about fishing. I spent only four painful winters at school, Ignatyich regrets that after school he didn’t even look at the library and didn’t take care of his children. They wanted to nominate him as a deputy, but they rejected him, because he fishes quietly, all the time in pursuit of profit. They didn’t save a beautiful girl from bandits because they were out fishing themselves. His conscience became sharper at a critical moment, when he found himself on the brink of an abyss.
- Why did Ignatyich’s soul feel better when the king fish was freed? Why does he promise not to tell anyone anything about her?
It’s easier because death has retreated. The body felt better because it was no longer being pulled down. “And the soul - from some kind of liberation not yet comprehended by the mind.” Perhaps there was hope to fix something in your life. Perhaps Ignatyich was glad that this magical king-fish remained alive, seriously wounded, but furious and untamed. Material from the sitehttp://iEssay.ru
It was a cruel, but instructive meeting for Ignatyich with one of the greatest secrets of nature. And he decided not to tell anyone about the king fish, so as not to arouse the interest of poachers in it. “Live as long as you can!”
- What features of the author's narrative did you notice? 2.
The author's narration in this passage often merges with the thoughts of the hero, Ignatyich. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the words of Astafiev himself from the reflections of the hero who is gaining insight, realizing the meaning of life and responsibility for what he has done. The ability to capture and convey the subtlest shades of the movements of nature is amazing (“Silence! Such silence that you can hear your own soul, huddled into a ball”). Sometimes the story takes on a fantastic character. It should also be noted in the narrative the presence of elements of colloquial speech, a dialogical structure in the internal monologues of the author and his hero.
The story “The King Fish” raises a very complex and important psychological question, which is the relationship between the individual and society. Ignatyich plays the role of the first, and the inhabitants of his native village of Chush play the second.
Ignatyich is a jack of all trades, ready to help anyone and demanding nothing for it, a good owner, a skilled mechanic, and a true fisherman. But this is not the main thing about it.The main thing in Ignatyich- this is his attitude towards the rest of the Chushans with a certain degree of condescension and superiority. It is this condescension and superiority, although not shown by him, that creates the gulf between them. From the outside it looks as if Ignatyich is one step higher than his fellow countrymen.
As the author himself talks about Ignatyich: “He was from here by birth - a Siberian, and by nature he was accustomed to honor the “optchestvo”,respect him, don’t irritate him,However, don’t break your hat too much, or, as they explain here, don’t let the ax drop on your feet.”
This is exactly one sentenceand contains the whole meaning of the story. You need to understand Ignatyich’s character consistently. In no case do strict, unambiguous labels of a “negative” or “positive” hero apply to him.
And so, the first thought when reading the story is “Ignatich’s character is very contradictory.” Yes, this is true, but this is easily explained by his independence. Yes, exactly independence. Ignatyich, simply Zinka in childhood, grew up relying only on himself. He did not want to ask for help from others, believing that he could achieve everything himself. ANDhe really achieved it all on his own,but only while growing up did he become so alienated from the society in which he lived that,Having achieved everything, he remained on his own.
In my opinion, while he was growing up like this, his own little world with its own orders and laws formed in his soul. Plus, helping other peopleseemingly disinterested, Ignatyich actually developed in them a special attitude towards his personality. At first it was not noticeable, but as soon as Ignatyich confidently stood on his feet, he declared his position in society. Most likely, he thought like this: "I do everything you needand as it should be, but I also don’t take anything for it, so don’t touch me and don’t teach me how to live.” All this was aggravated by the habit of silent communication acquired by Ignatyich, the one that so repelled people from him.
Having risen to his feet, Ignatyich involuntarily stands above the society he has been helping all the time. This is explained by the fact that everyone most likely owes him something, since at one time he helped them in some way. This explains some of Ignatyich’s psychological terror, which consists of clean clothes, a good house, and brilliant fishing skills. He subjects the entire village to this pressure. That is, in fact, the definition given by the author himself of the relationship between the “optists” and Ignatyich is refuted. In fact, he does not respect him, does not take him into account and constantly irritates him with his behavior.
Having shown this, making it clear to the reader: who Ignatyich really is, the author begins to carry out punishment for his hero. This punishment appeared to him in the form of the king fish, from which he learned a lot from his grandfather the fisherman. Relying, as always, only on his own strength, this time Ignatyich paid severely. This rash decision almost cost him his life. But while he was in the water with this fish, it seems to me that he changed a lot. The whole point is that for the first time he truly asked everyone for forgiveness, almost unable to control his mouth, but still hoping that at least someone would hear him. And only after asking for forgiveness, he felt in his soul some kind of special liberation, not yet comprehended by his mind.
Only now, in my opinion, the real life of the fisherman Ignatyich begins, and not the pitiful imitation of the one he led before meeting the Tsar Fish.
Viktor Petrovich Astafiev (1924-2002) passed away quite recently.People like himcalled the conscience of the nation. Receptivity and sensitivity to people, rage when meeting evil, extreme honesty and the ability to see the world in a new way, strict demands on oneself and
Sentimentality is just some of the traits of his extraordinary personality.
In the “narration in the cycle of stories “The King Fish” (1976), the author talks about the need for urgency of a “return to nature” V.P. Astafiev is interested in the connection between man and nature in the moral and philosophical aspect. The attitude towards nature acts as a test of the spiritual viability of an individual.
II. Work on the content of the story.
Summary of the story “The King Fish”
The poacher Ignatyich caught a huge sturgeon fish on the Yenisei, but while trying to transfer it into the boat, he himself fell into the water and got caught in the hooks of the airplane. So the man found himself trapped along with his victim. Exhausted, entangled in the hooks of his own traps, tied by one fatal chain to the king fish, the hero eventually repented of his sins and abandoned the prey. At the end the fish is released and leaves.
“Man is part of nature,” man and nature are one whole.”
(Poaching is a terrible evil. The author shows the poacher Ignatyich. Which has its own little piece of human love, human dignity, but all this is suppressed by limitless predation, which has turned into the desire to snatch an extra piece).
What is the point of showing the fate of this hero?
(the meaning is that a person who does evil and finds justification for himself admits the existence of evil everywhere).
What is Ignatyich’s main fault? (This is an abuse of the girl who loved him. It turns out that once you start doing evil, it is almost impossible to stop. The killer of the Commander’s daughter is Ignatyich’s spiritual double. The circles of cruelty are spreading widely and mercilessly).
(Astafiev condemns poaching as a multifaceted evil and terrible in its destructive power, and the writer is talking not only about the destruction of living and inanimate nature outside of us, he speaks about a kind of suicide, about the destruction of nature inside man, human nature).
What causes the author’s openly hostile attitude towards people like Goga and poachers? 1.
(This is lack of spirituality. Lack of spirituality not in the sense of a lack of cultural interests, but in the sense of a refusal to recognize the moral laws that unite people and nature, a lack of responsibility for everything that is not “I”).
VI. Discussion of ideological content.
(It is painful for Astafiev to watch how his fellow countrymen transgressed the ancient commandment and decided to commit atrocious and brutal fishing. He does not judge the heroes, but cares about their mental healing, speaks from the position of goodness, humanity, against the barbaric position).
What can you say about the idea of the work?
(By interfering with the life of nature, grossly violating the ecological environment, a person commits a moral crime. He who is merciless to nature is merciless to all living things, and therefore to himself. In the symbolic picture of man’s combat with nature, there can be no victory on either side, since man and nature are “tied by one mortal end”)
The harmony of relationships can only be preserved thanks to the spiritual and historical experience of previous generations. Astafiev’s man does not triumph, proving his superiority, but begging for salvation from the fish. We can agree that people act against the laws of nature, but they obey the laws of nature.
The world for V.P. Astafiev is the world of people and nature, abiding in the eternal. An inextricable and contradictory unity, the violation of which threatens degeneration and death. His faith is great in the triumph of good, in the fact that each of us can know ourselves as humans.
Read the proposed text from Astafiev’s work “The Fish Tsar”, think about its meaning.
The writer addresses important problems of human existence - the mutual connection between man and nature. In the depicted tragic situation, Astafiev is looking for the key to explaining the moral virtues and moral vices of an individual; through the attitude to nature, the spiritual value and consistency of this individual is tested.
By what artistic means does the writer convey his attitude towards the natural world?
The genre of "The King of Fish" is "narration in stories." One of the leading artistic means of conveying one’s attitude towards the natural world is the use of associations between man and nature. In all the stories in the cycle, the author sees man through nature, and nature through man. To do this, a wide variety of metaphors and comparisons are used. Here is one of these comparisons: “Both the fish and the man grew weaker and bled. Human blood does not clot well in cold water. What kind of blood does a fish have? Also red. Fish. Cold. And there is not enough of it in a fish. Why does it need blood? It lives in the water. She has no need to warm herself. It is he, man, who needs warmth; he lives on earth. So why did their paths cross? The king of the rivers and the king of all nature - in one trap, in the cold autumn water."
Astafiev considers the relationship between man and nature as related, the relationship between mother and child, and thereby achieves the idea of unity, the understanding that man is a part, a child of nature. At critical moments, nature helps a person to realize his sins, even very old ones. Even when the most careful and decent of the poachers, Ignatyich, was pulled into the water by a giant fish and turned into a prisoner of his own prey, he remembers his past crimes and perceives what happened to him as punishment: “The hour of the cross has struck, it’s time to account for your sins...”
Analyze Ignatyich's thoughts. What does he regret and why?
At the moment of being between life and death, Ignatyich thinks about what he has lived, analyzes it, and most acutely feels the loss of spirituality that occurred due to the constant pursuit of profit. Because of her, “man was forgotten in man! Greed overwhelmed him!” Ignatyich thinks bitterly about a childhood that never happened. During class I thought about fishing. I spent only four painful winters at school, Ignatyich regrets that after school he didn’t even look at the library and didn’t take care of his children. They wanted to nominate him as a deputy, but they rejected him, because he fishes quietly, all the time in pursuit of profit. They didn’t save a beautiful girl from bandits because they were out fishing themselves. His conscience became sharper at a critical moment, when he found himself on the brink of an abyss.
Why did Ignatyich’s soul feel better when the king fish was freed? Why does he promise not to tell anyone anything about her?
It’s easier because death has retreated. The body felt better because it was no longer being pulled down. “And the soul - from some kind of liberation not yet comprehended by the mind.” Perhaps there was hope to fix something in your life. Perhaps Ignatyich was glad that this magical king-fish remained alive, seriously wounded, but furious and untamed.
It was a cruel, but instructive meeting for Ignatyich with one of the greatest secrets of nature. And he decided not to tell anyone about the king fish, so as not to arouse the interest of poachers in it. "Live as long as you can!"
The author's narration in this passage often merges with the thoughts of the hero, Ignatyich. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the words of Astafiev himself from the reflections of the hero who is gaining insight, realizing the meaning of life and responsibility for what he has done. The ability to capture and convey the subtlest shades of the movements of nature is amazing (“Silence! Such silence that you can hear your own soul, huddled into a ball”). Sometimes the story takes on a fantastic character. It should also be noted in the narrative the presence of elements of colloquial speech, a dialogical structure in the internal monologues of the author and his hero.
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Viktor Petrovich Astafiev
(1924–2001)
And since it fell to the lot of native literature to replace the church, to become the spiritual support of the people, it had to rise to this holy mission. And she got up!
V. P. Astafiev
The main idea of V.P. Astafiev’s works is human responsibility for everything that is on Earth. The writer proclaims the ethical values inherent in people's life. Among his works are “Starodub”, “Theft”, “War is thundering somewhere”, “Last bow”, “The Shepherd and the Shepherdess”, “The Sad Detective”, “Living Life”, “The King Fish”, “Cursed and killed."
"Tsar Fish" turned out to be one of the most profound works of Russian prose of the 70s. The author-narrator, observing the so-called ecological robbery, came to the conclusion that two types of people now predominate: poachers (reborn descendants of peasants) and “tourists in life” (such as Goga Hertsev). The author ends his story with a quote from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is an hour and a time for every task under heaven.” There is a world-historical necessity and inevitability in the destruction of nature. Throughout the post-war period, people have not slowed down the pace of logging, despite the warning of scientists: if this pace is maintained in the future, then the last tree on earth will be felled in seventy years. In the Book of Ecclesiastes there are also these words: “What good does it profit a living man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? What ransom will a mortal then give for his soul?”
There is a bitter truth in the words “there is no answer for me” that ends the story: the process of devastation of the Earth has no national, human dimension. In this book, Astafiev shows interest not in the act, but in the processes of cognition of the world, not in the event, but in its philosophical explanation. All plot lines of “The King Fish” are subordinated to the author’s journalistically passionate study of the contradictions of life. “I wrote about what was personal and intimate for me, but it turned out that my anxiety was shared by many, many...” Free composition, looseness of plot, the form of a parable - these are the features of V. Astafiev’s narrative.
In the village of Chush they called him politely and slightly ingratiatingly - Ignatyich. He was the elder brother of the Commander and treated both his brother and all the other Chushans with a certain degree of condescension and superiority, which, however, he did not show, he did not turn back from people, on the contrary, he was attentive to everyone, came to the aid of anyone if such was required, and, of course, he did not become like his brother when dividing up the spoils, he did not pick for money.<…>
In the icy autumn haze, Ignatyich went out to the Yenisei and hung on the planes. Before lying down in the pits, numb in the long winter slumber, the red fish greedily fed on the pupated jig, twirled around the underwater stone ridges, satedly played with the corks and hung thickly on the hooks.
Ignatyich took about seventy sterlets from the first two samolov, and hurried to the third, which was better and had the best catch of all. Apparently, he hit them right under the hag, and this is given only to masters of the highest standard, so as not to throw it into the ridge - the plane will hang and not swim far - the fish will pass the plane. Flair, experience, dexterity and a sniper's eye are required. The eye becomes sharper, the sense of smell does not sharpen on its own, from an early age become familiar with water, stand on the river, get wet and then rummage around in it, as in your closet...
Ignatyich arrived at the third end in the dark, a landmark on the shore - a poppy-cut fir tree, so clearly visible with a dark bell even on liquid snow, rested against low clouds, brainy air covered the shore, the ground, the river, gleaming tinny and raggedly in the night, broke and concealed the distance. The fisherman swam in five times and pulled the cat along the bottom of the river, he lost a lot of time, seemed to be frozen to the very bones, but he just hooked it, lifted the plane, and immediately felt that there was a large fish on it!
He did not remove the sterlet from the hooks, but the sterlet, the sterlet!.. A sterlet was seething, bent into a roll, on almost every hook - and all alive. Some fish unhooked, went away, some immediately went deeper, some were shot and splashed into the water, pecked the side of the boat with the tip of their nose - these had a damaged spinal cord, the ellipse was pierced, this fish was finished: with a damaged spine, with a pierced air bladder, with torn gills does not live. Burbot is a strong beast, but as soon as it runs into illegal fish, the spirit is out of it and the guts are on the phone.
A heavy, large fish was walking, striking the string rarely, confidently, not pushing in vain, not poking back and forth in panic. She pressed deeper, led to the side, and the higher Ignatyich raised her, the heavier she became, the more stable she rested. It’s good, even if you didn’t make any sharp jerks, then the hooks click on the side, the matches break, beware, don’t be lazy, fisherman, the hook will bite the meat or clothes. And okay, the hook will break off or you will have time to grab the side and peel off the nylon elbow with a knife, which is attached to the backbone of the fishing rod, otherwise...
The unenviable, risky lot of a poacher: take a fish, but at the same time fear the fisheries inspection more than death - it will sneak up in the darkness, grab it - you will get a shame, you will not consider the loss, if you resist, you will go to prison. You live on your native river Tatem and have trained yourself to such an extent that it would be like some kind of unknown, additional organ in a person - here he is leading a fish, dangling on the fishing end, and he is completely absorbed in this work, captured by excitement, his aspirations are to take the fish, and only! Eyes, ears, mind, heart - everything in him is directed towards this goal, every nerve is pulled out into a thread, through the hands, through the tips of the fingers the fisherman is soldered to the bowstring of the airplane, but something or someone is there, above the stomach, in the left half breast lives its own separate life, like a fireman, on vigilant duty around the clock. Ignatyich fights with the fish, guides the prey to the boat, and it, in its chest, moves its ear, probes the darkness with its wide-awake eye. In the distance, a light flashed like a spark, and it was already fluttering and quickening: what ship? What is the danger from him? Should I unhook from the fishing rod and let the fish go deeper? But she is alive, healthy, and can contrive and leave.
Everything in the person is tense, the heartbeats are thinning, the hearing is strained to the point of ringing, the eye is trying to be stronger than the darkness, it is about to shock the body, the red light is blinking, like in a fire: “Danger! Danger! We're on fire! We're on fire!"
It's gone! A cargo self-propelled gun, grunting like a breeding poros from the Rumbling pig farm, passed through the middle of the river.<…>
At that moment the fish reminded, announced itself, went to the side, the hooks clicked on the iron, and blue sparks shot out from the side of the boat. Ignatyich retreated to the side, setting off the planes, immediately forgetting about the beautiful boat, without ceasing, however, to listen to the night that closed around him. Reminding itself, as if doing a warm-up before the fight, the fish calmed down, stopped wilding and just pressed, pressed down into the depths, with dull, unshakable stubbornness. By all the habits of the fish, by the weight of this blind pressure into the darkness of the depths, a sturgeon was guessed on the plane, large, but already killed. Behind the stern, the heavy body of the fish seethed, spun around, rebelled, scattering the water like rags of burnt, black rags. Pulling the backbone of the samolov tightly, the fish did not go deeper, but went forward, towards the guard, lashing the water and the boat with torn knees, plugs, hooks, dragging crumpled sterlets in a heap, shaking them off the samolov. “I've had enough of the air. I’m getting carried away!” - Ignatyich thought, instantly picking up the slack of the fishing rod, and then he saw a fish near the side of the boat. I saw and was taken aback: a black, varnish-gleaming bag with branches broken off at angles; steep sides, strongly marked by the sharp shells of the cloaks, as if the fish were surrounded by a chainsaw chain from gills to tail. The skin, which was crushed by water, tickled by threads of streams spinning along the cloaks and curling far behind the steeply curved tail, only looked wet and smooth, but in fact it was exactly like crushed glass mixed with wood. There was something primitive and rare not only in the size of the fish, but also in the shape of its body, from the soft, lifeless, worm-like whiskers hanging under the evenly planed head at the bottom, to the webbed, winged tail - the fish looked like a prehistoric lizard, which is shown in the picture in my son’s zoology textbook.
The current on the guard is vortex and ragged. The boat was moving, being pulled from side to side, being tossed around in streams, and one could hear the sturgeon’s cloaks, rounded with water, grinding against the metal of the prowling duralumin. The summer sturgeon is not even called a sturgeon, it’s just a bonfire, after that it’s called a karysh or a pan, it looks like an oddly splayed cone or on a spindle with spines sticking out. There is no appearance, no taste in the fire and no predator can eat it - it will tear open the fire and pierce the womb. And here you go! - from a sharp-nosed thorn this kind of hog grows! And what kind of food are you on? On jigs, on boogers and bindweeds! Well, isn’t it a mystery of nature?!
Somewhere very close, a corncrake quacked. Ignatyich strained his ears – did he sound like he was quacking on the water? The corncrake is a long-legged, running, land-dwelling bird and must escape to the warmer side before the deadline. But come on, he quacks! On close hearing, it seems like underfoot. “Are my pants quacking?!” Ignatyich wanted playful, even somewhat ironic little things to relieve the tension from him, to get him out of his tetanus. But the light mood that he desired did not visit him, and there was no excitement, that wild excitement, burning, all-consuming passion from which the bone howls and the mind goes blind. On the contrary, it seemed to be washed with warm, sour cabbage soup there, on the left, where it, the watchful ear, was on duty.
The fish, and it was its gristly mouth that creaked like a crake, spitting out air; the long-awaited, rare fish seemed ominous to Ignatyich. “What am I? – the fisherman was amazed. “I’m not afraid of God or the devil, I only revere the dark force... So, maybe that’s the point?” - Ignatyich grabbed the bowstring of the samolov by the iron rowlock, took out a flashlight, stealthily, from his sleeve, illuminated the fish from the tail. The round back of the sturgeon flashed over the water with sharp buttons, its curved tail worked tiredly, warily, as if sharpening a crooked Tatar saber on the stone blackness of the night. From the water, from under the bone shell protecting the fish’s wide, sloping forehead, small eyes with a yellow rim around dark, buckshot-sized pupils were drilled into the man. They, these eyes, without eyelids, without eyelashes, naked, looking with serpentine coldness, were hiding something within themselves.
The sturgeon hung on six hooks. Ignatyich added another heel to him - the hog didn’t even flinch from the sharp pricks that cut through the rawhide-hard skin, he just crawled to the stern, scratching against the side of the boat, gaining acceleration to rush through the tightly gushing water into it, taking a bowstring to the tip to break the leashes Samolov, break all these tiny, insignificant, but so sharp and destructive pieces of iron.<…>
You can't miss out on this kind of prey. The King Fish comes across once in a lifetime, and even then not every Jacob.<…>
Ignatyich shuddered, accidentally uttering, albeit to himself, fatal words - he had heard too much about the king fish, he wanted, of course, to catch it, to see it, but, of course, he was timid. Grandfather used to say: it’s better to let her go, damn her, quietly, as if by accident, to cross herself and move on with her life, think about her again, look for her. But once the word comes out, that means so be it, that means taking the sturgeon by the gills, and the whole conversation! Obstacles have been torn apart, there is firmness in the head and in the heart - you never know what the early people weaved, all sorts of healers and the same grandfather, lived in the forest, prayed to the wheel...
“Ah, it was - it wasn’t!” - successfully, with all his might, Ignatyich slammed the butt of his ax into the forehead of the “tsar fish” and by the way it clicked loudly, and not dully, and boomed without recoil, he guessed that it had landed casually. It was not necessary to hit with a stupid blow, it was necessary to hit briefly, but more precisely. There was no time to repeat the blow, now everything was decided in moments. He grabbed the fish with a hook and almost threw it into the boat. Ready to let out a victorious scream, no, not a scream - he’s not a city idiot, he’s been a fisherman for centuries - just here, in the boat, hit the convex skull of the sturgeon one more time with the butt of his butt and laugh quietly, solemnly, victoriously. Another breath, effort – kick harder into the side, push harder. But the fish, dispersed in tetanus, turned sharply, hit the boat, thundered, and the river overboard exploded in a black rising heap of not water, no, but in clods. It burned, hit the fisherman on the head, pressed on his ears, and cut through his heart. “A-ah!” - burst out of his chest, as if in a genuine explosion, throwing him up and dropping him into a silent void: with his weakening mind he still managed to note - “so this is how it is, in war...”.
The insides, heated by the struggle, were stunned and squeezed with cold. Water! He took a sip of water! Sinking! Someone was dragging him by the leg into the depths. "On hook! Hooked! Gone!” - and felt a slight angle in the shin of the leg - the fish continued to fight, landing self-propelled hooks into itself and into the catcher. In Ignatich’s head, sadly and in agreement, completely in agreement, a sluggish resignation sounded, a flash of thought: “Then well... Then that’s it...” But the catcher was a strong, wiry man, a fish exhausted, tortured, and he managed to overcome not her, but first this one, submission in the soul, agreement with death, which is already death, turning the key to the gate to the next world, where, as is known, the locks for all sinners are turned in one direction: “It is useless to knock at the gates of heaven...”<…>
Both the fish and the man weakened and bled. Human blood does not clot easily in cold water. What kind of blood does a fish have? Also red. Fishy. Cold. And there’s not enough of it in fish. Why does she need blood? She lives in water. She has no need to warm up. It is he, the man, who needs warmth; he lives on earth. So why, why did their paths cross? The king of the river and the king of all nature - in one trap, in cold autumn water. The same painful death awaits them. The fish will suffer longer, it’s at home, and it doesn’t have enough intelligence to finish this bagpipe sooner. And he’s smart enough to let go of the side of the boat. That's all. The fish will push him deep, tremble, ooze with ouds, help him...
"How? What will it help with? Die? Go crazy? No! I won’t give in, I won’t give in!...” The catcher gripped the hard side of the boat tighter, rushed out of the water, tried to outwit the fish, with a surge of anger, he picked himself up in his arms and fell over the side of such a close, such a low boat! But the disturbed fish irritably slurped its mouth, twisted, moved its tail, and immediately several almost inaudible mosquito bites pinched the fisherman’s leg. “What is this!” - Ignatyich sobbed, sagging. The fish immediately calmed down, moved closer, sleepily poked itself not into its side, but under the armpit of the catcher, and because its breathing could not be heard, the water stirred faintly on it, he was secretly happy - the fish was falling asleep, it was about to tip over with its belly up! She was starved of air, she bled to death, and was exhausted in the fight with the man.
He fell silent and waited, feeling that he himself was falling into slumber. As if knowing that they were tied by one mortal end, the fish was in no hurry to separate from the catcher and from life. She worked with her gills, and the man seemed to hear the soothing creak of the dry ripples. The fish steered with its tail and wings, keeping itself and the man afloat. A haze of restful sleep rolled over her and the man, quieting their body and mind.
Beast and man in pestilence and fires, in all times of natural disasters, more than once or twice were left alone - a bear, a wolf, a lynx - chest to chest, eye to eye, sometimes waiting for death for many days and nights. Such passions and horrors were expressed about this, but for a man and a fish to become one and the same, cold, stupid, in the shell of cloaks, with yellow, waxy melting eyes, similar to the eyes of a non-animal, no - the animal has smart eyes, but like a pig, it’s meaningless - well-fed eyes - has something like this ever happened in the world?
Although everything and anything has happened in this world, not all people know it. So he, one of many people, will become exhausted, become numb, let go of the boat, go with the fish into the depths of the river, hang out there until the knees are unlocked. And the knees are made of nylon, they will last until winter! The fish will tear it to pieces, fish and loaches will suck it, various bugs will eat it, and water fleas will eat away the remains. And who will know where he is? How did it end? What kind of torment did you endure? Here is the old man Kuklin, about three years ago, somewhere here, near Oparikha, he sank into the water - and that was the end. The scrap was not found. Water! Element! In the water there are stone ridges, crevices, they will drag you, push you somewhere...<…>
- I don’t want to! I don't want to! – Ignatyich twitched, squealed and began to hit the fish in the head. - Leave! Leave! Ear-di-i-i-i!
The fish moved away, churned heavily in the water, dragging the catcher along with it. His hands slid along the side of the boat, his fingers unclenched. While he was beating the fish with one hand, the other completely weakened, and then he pulled himself up with all his strength, stood up, reached the side with his chin, and hung on it. The vertebrae of the neck were crunching, the throat was hoarse, it was torn, but the hands felt better, but the body and especially the legs moved away, they became strangers, the right leg could not be heard at all. And the catcher began to persuade the fish to die quickly:
- Well, what do you want? - he rattled in a ragged voice, with that pathetic, feigned flattery that he did not imagine in himself. – You’ll die anyway... – I thought: suddenly the fish understands the words! Corrected: -...You'll fall asleep. Humble yourself! It will be easier for you, and it will be easier for me. I'm waiting for my brother, and who are you? - and trembled, whispered with his lips, calling in a fading whisper: - Bra-ate-elni-i-i-ik!..
I listened - no echo! Silence. Such silence that you can hear your own soul, huddled into a ball. And again the catcher fell into oblivion. The darkness moved closer around him, his ears began to ring, which meant he was completely drained of blood. The fish turned sideways - it also withered, but still did not allow itself to be overturned by the water and death on its back. The sturgeon's gills no longer quacked, they only creaked, as if a tiny bark beetle was eating away at the woody flesh, soured from dampness under a thick coat of bark.
The river became a little lighter. The distant sky, tinted from the inside with the moon and stars, the icy shine of which was washed between heaps of clouds, similar to hastily raked hay, for some reason not swept into stacks, became higher, more distant, and a cold glow came from the autumn water. It's getting late. The upper layer of the river, warmed by the weak autumn sun, cooled, peeled off like a pancake, and the white-faced vision of the depths from the bottom of the river penetrated upward. No need to look at the river. It's chilly and miserable there at night. It's better to go up and look at the sky.
I remembered the mowing on the Fetisovaya River, for some reason yellow, evenly illuminated by a kerosene lantern or lamp. Mowing without sounds, without any movement and crunching underfoot, a warm, hay crunch. Among the mowing there is a long combed head with the tip of poles sticking out along the hollow sagging top. Why is everything yellow? Voiceless? As soon as the ringing thickens, there would be a tiny blacksmith hiding under every stem of mown grass, and they ring without a break, filling everything around with the endless, monotonous, soporific music of a withered, sluggish summer. “Yes, I’m dying! - Ignatyich woke up. - Maybe I’m already at the bottom? Everything is yellow..."
He moved and heard a sturgeon nearby; he felt the half-asleep, lazy movement of his body - the fish was tightly and carefully pressing against him with its thick and tender belly. There was something feminine in this care, in the desire to warm, to preserve the emerging life within.
“Isn’t this a werewolf?!”
By the way the fish dozed freely, with well-fed laziness, on its side, crunching its mouth as if biting into plastic cabbage, its stubborn desire to be closer to a person, its forehead, as if cast from concrete, along which stripes were scratched evenly with a nail, the buckshot eyes, rolling without sound under the armor of the forehead, aloof, but not without intent, the fearless gaze staring at him - everything, everything confirmed: a werewolf! A werewolf carrying another werewolf, there is something sinful and human in the torment of the king fish, it seems that she remembers something sweet, secret before her death.
But what can she remember, this cold water creature? There are worm-like tentacles moving, stuck to the frog's liquid skin; behind the whiskers there is a toothless hole, now shrinking into a tightly sunken gap, now belching water into a tube. What else did she have besides the desire to feed, digging in the muddy bottom, choosing boogers from the trash?! Did she feed the eggs and once a year rub herself against the male or against the sandy water dunes? What else did she have? What? Why didn’t he notice before how disgusting this fish looked! Her tender woman’s meat is also disgusting, completely covered in layers of candle-colored, yellow fat, barely held together by cartilage, stuffed into a bag of skin; rows of shells in addition, and a nose and eyes floating in jaundiced fat, tripe filled with the mud of black caviar, which is also not found in other fish - everything is disgusting, nauseating, obscene!
And because of her, because of this kind of bastard, man was forgotten in man! He was overcome by greed! Even childhood has faded and moved to the side, but childhood, as it were, did not exist. I spent four winters at school with difficulty and agony. In class, at the desk, he writes a dictation, or listens to a poem, but mentally he is on the river, his heart is twitching, his legs are shaking, a bone in his body is howling - she, the fish, is caught, she is coming! It's coming, it's coming! Here she is! The biggest! King fish! Yes, be it... As far as I remember, everything is in the boat, everything is on the river, everything is in pursuit of it, after this damned fish. On the Fetisovaya River, the parents' mowing was delayed and overwhelmed. I haven’t looked at the library since school—no time. He was the chairman of the school parents' committee - he was removed, he was re-elected, but he did not go to school. They appointed him as a deputy to the village council at the production site - a hard worker, an honest production worker, and silently took him away - quietly fishing, grabbing, which deputy is he? They don’t even take you into the people’s squad, they reject you. Deal with the hooligans yourself, tie them up, educate them, he has no time, he is always in pursuit. No bandit can get him! And they got it. My secret, my nephew, my favorite!..
A-ah, you bastard, bandit! The car hits a pole, a young, beautiful girl, in full color, a poppy bud, a soft-boiled pigeon egg. The girl probably at the last moment remembered her dear father, her beloved uncle, albeit mentally, she called out to herself. And they? Where were they? What did you do? They ran along the river, across the water in motorboats, chased fish, cheated, dodged, losing their human appearance...<…>
Ignatyich released his chin from the side of the boat, looked at the fish, at its wide, emotionless forehead, which protected the cartilage of its head with armor; yellow and blue veins were tangled between the cartilage. Illuminated, in detail, it became clear to him that from which he had been defending himself almost all his life and which he remembered immediately as soon as he fell for the planes, but he pushed away the obsession from himself, shielded himself with deliberate forgetfulness, but there was no strength to continue resisting the final verdict.
Night closed over the man. The movement of water and sky, cold and darkness - everything merged together, stopped and began to turn to stone. He didn't think about anything else. All regrets, remorse, even pain and mental anguish moved away somewhere, he calmed down within himself, passed into another world, sleepy, soft, calm, and only the one that had been there for so long, in the left half of his chest, under the nipple , did not agree with reassurance - he never knew it, he guarded himself and guarded the owner, without turning off his hearing. The thick mosquito ringing was cut through by an assertive, confident ringing from the darkness and poked - a light flashed under the nipple, in the still warm body. The man tensed, opened his eyes - the Whirlwind engine sounded along the river. Even on the perilous edge, already detached from the world, he identified the brand of the engine by his voice and was ambitiously delighted, first of all, with this knowledge, he wanted to shout out to his brother, but life took possession of him, awakening a thought. With her first shock, he ordered himself to wait: a waste of energy, there was only a crumb left, to yell now. When the engines turn off, the fishermen hang on the ends, then call and work hard.
A wave from a passing boat rocked the vessel, hit the fish against the iron, and it, rested, having accumulated strength, suddenly reared itself, sensing the wave that once pumped it out of the black soft egg, cradled it in the days of well-fed rest, happily chased in the shadow of the river depths , sweetly tormented during marriage, at the mysterious hour of spawning.
Hit. Jerk. The fish turned over on its stomach, felt the stream with its rearing comb, whipped its tail, pushed against the water, and it would have torn the man off the boat, tearing off his nails and skin, but several hooks would have burst at once. The fish beat its tail again and again until it got off the trap, tearing its body to shreds, carrying dozens of deadly hooks in it.
Furious, seriously wounded, but not tamed, she crashed somewhere already invisibility, splashed in the cold swirl, a riot gripped the freed, magical king-fish.
“Go, fish, go! I won't tell anyone about you. Live as long as you can!” - said the catcher, and he felt better. The body - because the fish did not pull down, did not hang on it like a slouch, and the soul - from some kind of liberation, not yet comprehended by the mind.
Questions and tasks
1. Read the proposed text from Astafiev’s work “The Fish Tsar”, think about its meaning.
2. Analyze Ignatyich's thoughts. What does he regret and why?
3. Why did Ignatyich’s soul feel better when the king fish was freed? Why does he promise not to tell anyone anything about her?
1. By what artistic means does the writer convey his attitude towards the natural world?
The idea of continuity of generations is central to the story. "Last bow". It is largely autobiographical and tells about the childhood and youth of the main character Vitya, whose fate is connected with the lives of many people, happy and unsuccessful. His grandmother played a big role in his life; she was outwardly stern, but very kind, sympathetic, and gave people a lot of warmth and kindness. “During the days of my grandmother’s illness, I discovered how many relatives my grandmother had and how many people, including non-relatives, also came to take pity on her and sympathize with her. And only now, albeit vaguely, did I feel that my grandmother, who had always seemed to me like an ordinary grandmother, was a very respected person in the village, but I did not listen to her, quarreled with her, and a belated feeling of repentance tore through me.
“What kind of illness do you have, grandma?” - I wondered, as if for the first time, sitting next to her on the bed. Thin, bony, with rags in her split braids, the grandmother slowly began to talk about herself:
- I’ve been planted, father, worn out. All planted. From an early age I have been at work, at work. I gave money to my aunt and mother, but I raised my own tithes... It’s easy to just say. How about growing?! But she spoke about the pitiful only at first, as if for starters, then she talked about various incidents from her long life. It turned out from her stories that there were much more joys in her life than adversity. She did not forget about them and knew how to notice them in her simple and difficult life.”
When his grandmother died, Vitya was in the Urals, working at a factory, and he was not allowed to go to the funeral: he was not allowed to go to his grandmother.
“I did not yet realize the enormity of the loss that had befallen me. If this happened now, I would crawl from the Urals to Siberia to close my grandmother’s eyes and give her my last bow.
And lives in the heart of wine. Oppressive, quiet, eternal. Guilty before my grandmother, I am trying to resurrect her in my memory, to tell other people about her, so that they can find her in their grandparents, in close and beloved people, and her life would be limitless and eternal, just as human kindness itself is eternal.”
