Despite the author’s indication that Taras Bulba was born in the 15th century, the well-known fact of Bulba’s heavy smoking speaks in favor of the 17th century: the discovery of tobacco by Europeans occurred at the very end of the 15th century (thanks to Columbus) and only by the 17th century did it become widespread.
Pointing out the 15th century, Gogol emphasized that the story is fantastic, and the image is collective, but one of the prototypes of Taras Bulba is the ancestor of the famous traveler Kurennaya ataman of the Zaporozhian Army Okhrim Makukha, an associate of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, born in Starodub at the beginning of the 17th century, who had three Nazar's sons, Khomu (Foma) and Omelko (Emelyan), of whom Nazar betrayed his fellow Cossacks and went over to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army because of his love for the Polish lady (the prototype of Gogol's Andriy), Khoma (the prototype of Gogol's Ostap) died trying deliver Nazar to his father, and Emelyan became the ancestor of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay and his uncle Grigory Ilyich Mikloukha, who studied with Nikolai Gogol and told him the family legend. The prototype is also Ivan Gonta, who was mistakenly attributed to the murder of two sons from his Polish wife, although his wife is Russian and the story is fictional.
Plot
Postage stamp of Romania, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of N.V. Gogol (“Taras Bulba”, 1952)
USSR postage stamp dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of N.V. Gogol, 1952
Russian postage stamp dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Gogol, 2009
After graduating from the Kyiv Academy, his two sons, Ostap and Andriy, come to the old Cossack colonel Taras Bulba. Two stalwart young men, healthy and strong, whose faces have not yet been touched by a razor, are embarrassed to meet their father, who makes fun of their clothes as recent seminarians. The eldest, Ostap, cannot stand his father’s ridicule: “Even though you’re my dad, if you laugh, then, by God, I’ll beat you!” And father and son, instead of greeting each other after a long absence, seriously hit each other with blows. A pale, thin and kind mother tries to reason with her violent husband, who himself stops, glad that he has tested his son. Bulba wants to “greet” the younger one in the same way, but his mother is already hugging him, protecting him from his father.
On the occasion of the arrival of his sons, Taras Bulba convenes all the centurions and the entire regimental rank and announces his decision to send Ostap and Andriy to the Sich, because there is no better science for a young Cossack than the Zaporozhye Sich. At the sight of the young strength of his sons, the military spirit of Taras himself flares up, and he decides to go with them to introduce them to all his old comrades. The poor mother sits all night over her sleeping children, without closing her eyes, wanting the night to last as long as possible. Her dear sons are taken from her; they take it so that she will never see them! In the morning, after the blessing, the mother, desperate with grief, is barely torn away from the children and taken to the hut.
Three horsemen ride in silence. Old Taras remembers his wild life, a tear freezes in his eyes, his gray head hangs down. Ostap, who has a stern and firm character, although hardened over the years of studying at the Bursa, retained his natural kindness and was touched by the tears of his poor mother. This alone confuses him and makes him lower his head thoughtfully. Andriy is also having a hard time saying goodbye to his mother and home, but his thoughts are occupied with memories of the beautiful Polish woman whom he met just before leaving Kiev. Then Andriy managed to get into the beauty’s bedroom through the fireplace chimney; a knock on the door forced the Polish woman to hide the young Cossack under the bed. Tatarka, the lady's servant, as soon as the anxiety passed, took Andriy out into the garden, where he barely escaped from the awakened servants. He saw the beautiful Polish girl again in the church, soon she left - and now, with his eyes cast down into the mane of his horse, Andriy thinks about her.
After a long journey, the Sich meets Taras and his sons with his wild life - a sign of the Zaporozhye will. Cossacks do not like to waste time on military exercises, collecting military experience only in the heat of battle. Ostap and Andriy rush with all the ardor of young men into this riotous sea. But old Taras does not like an idle life - this is not the kind of activity he wants to prepare his sons for. Having met all his comrades, he is still figuring out how to rouse the Cossacks on a campaign, so as not to waste their Cossack prowess on a continuous feast and drunken fun. He persuades the Cossacks to re-elect the Koshevoy, who keeps peace with the enemies of the Cossacks. The new Koshevoy, under the pressure of the most militant Cossacks, and above all Taras, is trying to find a justification for a profitable campaign against Turkey, but under the influence of the Cossacks who arrived from Ukraine, who spoke about the oppression of the Polish lords and Jewish tenants over the people of Ukraine, the army unanimously decides to go to Poland, to avenge all the evil and disgrace of the Orthodox faith. Thus, the war takes on a people's liberation character.
And soon the entire Polish southwest becomes the prey of fear, the rumor running ahead: “Cossacks! The Cossacks have appeared! In one month, the young Cossacks matured in battle, and old Taras loves to see that both of his sons are among the first. The Cossack army is trying to take the city of Dubno, where there is a lot of treasury and wealthy inhabitants, but they encounter desperate resistance from the garrison and residents. The Cossacks are besieging the city and waiting for famine to begin. Having nothing to do, the Cossacks devastate the surrounding area, burning defenseless villages and unharvested grain. The young, especially the sons of Taras, do not like this life. Old Bulba calms them down, promising hot fights soon. One dark night, Andria is awakened from sleep by a strange creature that looks like a ghost. This is a Tatar, a servant of the same Polish woman with whom Andriy is in love. The Tatar woman whispers that the lady is in the city, she saw Andriy from the city rampart and asks him to come to her or at least give a piece of bread for his dying mother. Andriy loads the bags with bread, as much as he can carry, and the Tatar woman leads him along the underground passage to the city. Having met his beloved, he renounces his father and brother, comrades and homeland: “The homeland is what our soul seeks, what is dearer to it than anything else. My homeland is you." Andriy remains with the lady to protect her until his last breath from his former comrades.
Polish troops, sent to reinforce the besieged, march into the city past drunken Cossacks, killing many while sleeping and capturing many. This event embitters the Cossacks, who decide to continue the siege to the end. Taras, searching for his missing son, receives terrible confirmation of Andriy's betrayal.
The Poles are organizing forays, but the Cossacks are still successfully repelling them. News comes from the Sich that, in the absence of the main force, the Tatars attacked the remaining Cossacks and captured them, seizing the treasury. The Cossack army near Dubno is divided in two - half goes to the rescue of the treasury and comrades, half remains to continue the siege. Taras, leading the siege army, makes a passionate speech in praise of comradeship.
The Poles learn about the weakening of the enemy and move out of the city for a decisive battle. Andriy is among them. Taras Bulba orders the Cossacks to lure him to the forest and there, meeting Andriy face to face, he kills his son, who even before his death utters one word - the name of the beautiful lady. Reinforcements arrive to the Poles, and they defeat the Cossacks. Ostap is captured, the wounded Taras, saved from pursuit, is brought to Sich.
Having recovered from his wounds, Taras persuades Yankel to secretly transport him to Warsaw to try to ransom Ostap there. Taras is present at the terrible execution of his son in the city square. Not a single groan escapes from Ostap’s chest under torture, only before death he cries out: “Father! where are you! Can you hear? - “I hear!” - Taras answers above the crowd. They rush to catch him, but Taras is already gone.
One hundred and twenty thousand Cossacks, including the regiment of Taras Bulba, rise up on a campaign against the Poles. Even the Cossacks themselves notice Taras’s excessive ferocity and cruelty towards the enemy. This is how he takes revenge for the death of his son. The defeated Polish hetman Nikolai Pototsky swears not to inflict any offense on the Cossack army in the future. Only Colonel Bulba does not agree to such a peace, assuring his comrades that the forgiven Poles will not keep their word. And he leads his regiment away. His prediction comes true - having gathered their strength, the Poles treacherously attack the Cossacks and defeat them.
And Taras walks throughout Poland with his regiment, continuing to avenge the death of Ostap and his comrades, mercilessly destroying all living things.
Five regiments under the leadership of that same Pototsky finally overtake the regiment of Taras, who was resting in an old collapsed fortress on the banks of the Dniester. The battle lasts four days. The surviving Cossacks make their way, but the old chieftain stops to look for his cradle in the grass, and the haiduks overtake him. They tie Taras to an oak tree with iron chains, nail his hands and lay a fire under him. Before his death, Taras manages to shout to his comrades to go down to the canoes, which he sees from above, and escape from pursuit along the river. And at the last terrible minute, the old ataman predicts the unification of the Russian lands, the destruction of their enemies and the victory of the Orthodox faith.
The Cossacks escape from the chase, row their oars together and talk about their chieftain.
Gogol's work on Taras Bulba
Gogol's work on Taras Bulba was preceded by a careful, in-depth study of historical sources. Among them should be named “Description of Ukraine” by Boplan, “History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks” by Myshetsky, handwritten lists of Ukrainian chronicles - Samovidets, Velichko, Grabyanka, etc.
But these sources did not completely satisfy Gogol. He lacked a lot in them: first of all, characteristic everyday details, living signs of the times, a true understanding of the past era. Special historical studies and chronicles seemed to the writer too dry, sluggish and, in essence, of little help to the artist to comprehend the spirit of people's life, characters, and psychology of people. Among the sources that helped Gogol in his work on Taras Bulba, there was another, most important one: Ukrainian folk songs, especially historical songs and thoughts. "Taras Bulba" has a long and complex creative history. It was first published in 1835 in the collection “Mirgorod”. In 1842, in the second volume of his Works, Gogol placed “Taras Bulba” in a new, radically revised edition. Work on this work continued intermittently for nine years: from to. Between the first and second editions of Taras Bulba, a number of intermediate editions of some chapters were written.
Differences between the first and second edition
In the first edition, the Cossacks are not called “Russians”; the dying phrases of the Cossacks, such as “let the holy Orthodox Russian land be glorified forever and ever,” are absent.
Below are comparisons of the differences between both editions.
Edition 1835. Part I
Bulba was terribly stubborn. He was one of those characters that could only have emerged in the rough 15th century, and moreover in the semi-nomadic East of Europe, during the time of the right and wrong concept of lands that had become some kind of disputed, unresolved possession, to which Ukraine then belonged... In general, he was a great hunter of raids and riots; he heard with his nose where and in what place the indignation flared up, and out of the blue he appeared on his horse. “Well, children! what and how? “Who should be beaten and for what?” he usually said and intervened in the matter. |
Edition 1842. Part I
Bulba was terribly stubborn. This was one of those characters that could only emerge in the difficult 15th century in a semi-nomadic corner of Europe, when the entire southern primitive Russia, abandoned by its princes, was devastated, burned to the ground by the indomitable raids of Mongol predators... Eternally restless, he considered himself the legitimate defender of Orthodoxy. He arbitrarily entered villages where they only complained about the harassment of tenants and the increase in new duties on smoke. |
Idioms
- “What, son, did your Poles help you?”
- “I gave birth to you, I will kill you!”
- “Turn around, son! How funny you are!”
- “The Fatherland is what our soul seeks, what is dearest to it.”
- "There is life in the old dog yet?!"
- “There is no bond holier than fellowship!”
- “Be patient, Cossack, and you will be an ataman!”
- “Good, son, good!”
- “Damn you, steppes, how good you are!”
- “Don’t listen to your mother, son! She’s a woman, she doesn’t know anything!”
- “Do you see this saber? Here is your mother!
Criticism of the story
Along with the general approval that critics met with Gogol's story, some aspects of the work were found unsuccessful. Thus, Gogol was repeatedly accused of the unhistorical nature of the story, the excessive glorification of the Cossacks, and the lack of historical context, which was noted by Mikhail Grabovsky, Vasily Gippius, Maxim Gorky and others. This can be explained by the fact that the writer did not have enough reliable information about the history of Little Russia. Gogol studied the history of his native land with great attention, but he drew information not only from rather meager chronicles, but also from folk tales, legends, as well as frankly mythological sources, such as “History of the Rus”, from which he gleaned descriptions of the atrocities of the gentry and the atrocities of the Jews and the valor of the Cossacks. The story caused particular discontent among the Polish intelligentsia. The Poles were outraged that in Taras Bulba the Polish nation was presented as aggressive, bloodthirsty and cruel. Mikhail Grabowski, who had a good attitude towards Gogol himself, spoke negatively about Taras Bulba, as well as many other Polish critics and writers, such as Andrzej Kempinski, Michal Barmut, Julian Krzyzanowski. In Poland, there was a strong opinion about the story as anti-Polish, and partly such judgments were transferred to Gogol himself.
The story was also criticized for anti-Semitism by some politicians, religious thinkers, and literary scholars. The leader of right-wing Zionism, Vladimir Jabotinsky, in his article “Russian Weasel”, assessed the scene of the Jewish pogrom in the story “Taras Bulba” as follows: “ None of the great literature knows anything similar in terms of cruelty. This cannot even be called hatred or sympathy for the Cossack massacre of the Jews: this is worse, this is some kind of carefree, clear fun, not overshadowed even by the half-thought that the funny legs kicking in the air are the legs of living people, some amazingly whole, indecomposable contempt for the inferior race, not condescending to enmity". As literary critic Arkady Gornfeld noted, Jews are depicted by Gogol as petty thieves, traitors and ruthless extortionists, devoid of any human traits. In his opinion, Gogol’s images “ captured by the mediocre Judeophobia of the era"; Gogol’s anti-Semitism does not come from the realities of life, but from established and traditional theological ideas “ about the unknown world of Jewry"; the images of Jews are stereotyped and represent pure caricature. According to religious thinker and historian Georgy Fedotov, " Gogol gave a jubilant description of the Jewish pogrom in Taras Bulba", which indicates " about the well-known failures of his moral sense, but also about the strength of the national or chauvinistic tradition that stood behind him» .
The critic and literary critic D.I. Zaslavsky held a slightly different point of view. In the article “Jews in Russian Literature,” he also supports Jabotinsky’s reproach for the anti-Semitism of Russian literature, including in the list of anti-Semitic writers Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Leskov, Chekhov. But at the same time he finds justification for Gogol’s anti-Semitism as follows: “There is no doubt, however, that in the dramatic struggle of the Ukrainian people in the 17th century for their homeland, the Jews showed neither understanding of this struggle nor sympathy for it. This was not their fault, this was their misfortune.” “The Jews of Taras Bulba are caricatures. But the caricature is not a lie. ... The talent of Jewish adaptability is vividly and aptly depicted in Gogol’s poem. And this, of course, does not flatter our pride, but we must admit that the Russian writer has captured some of our historical features with evil and aptness.” .
Philologist Elena Ivanitskaya sees “the poetry of blood and death” and even “ideological terrorism” in the actions of Taras Bulba. Educator Grigory Yakovlev, arguing that Gogol’s story glorifies “violence, incitement to war, excessive cruelty, medieval sadism, aggressive nationalism, xenophobia, religious fanaticism demanding the extermination of infidels, incessant drunkenness elevated to a cult, unjustified rudeness even in relations with loved ones” , raises the question of whether this work should be studied in high school.
Critic Mikhail Edelstein differentiates the personal sympathies of the author and the laws of the heroic epic: “The heroic epic requires a black and white palette - emphasizing the superhuman virtues of one side and the complete insignificance of the other. Therefore, both Poles and Jews - yes, in fact, everyone except the Cossacks - in Gogol’s story are not people, but rather some kind of humanoid mannequins that exist to demonstrate the heroism of the main character and his warriors (like the Tatars in the epics about Ilya of Muromets or the Moors in "Songs of Roland"). It’s not that the epic and ethical principles come into conflict - it’s just that the first completely excludes the very possibility of the manifestation of the second.”
Film adaptations
In chronological order:
Musical adaptations
The pseudonym “Taras Bulba” was chosen by Vasily (Taras) Borovets, a leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, who in 1941 created the armed formation of the UPA, called the “Bulbovtsy”.
Notes
- The text says that Bulba’s regiment is participating in the campaign of Hetman Ostranitsa. Ostranitsa is a real historical character, elected hetman in 1638 and in the same year was defeated by the Poles.
- N.V. Gogol. Collection of works of art in five volumes. Volume two. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1951
- Library: N.V. Gogol, “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, part I (Russian)
- N.V. Gogol. Mirgorod. Text of the work. Taras Bulba | Komarov Library
- NIKOLAI GOGOL BLESSED ANOTHER “TARAS BULBA” (“Mirror of the Week” No. 22, June 15-21, 2009)
- Janusz Tazbir. “Taras Bulba” - finally in Polish.
- Comments on "Mirgorod".
- V. Zhabotinsky. Russian weasel
- A. Gornfeld. Gogol Nikolai Vasilievich. // Jewish Encyclopedia (ed. Brockhaus-Efron, 1907-1913, 16 vols.).
- G. Fedotov New on an old topic
- D. I. Zaslavsky Jews in Russian literature
- Weiskopf M. Gogol's plot: Morphology. Ideology. Context. M., 1993.
- Elena Ivanitskaya. Monster
- Grigory Yakovlev. Should we study Taras Bulba at school?
- How a Jew turned into a woman. The story of a stereotype.
- Taras Bulba (1909) - information about the film - films of the Russian Empire - Cinema-Theatre. RU
- Taras Bulba (1924)
- Tarass Boulba (1936)
- The Barbarian and the Lady (1938)
- Taras Bulba (1962)
- Taras Bulba (1962) - Taras Bulba - information about the film - Hollywood films - Cinema-Theater. RU
- Taras Bulba, il cosacco (1963)
- Taras Bulba (1987) (TV)
- Duma about Taras Bulba - Slobidsky region
- Taras Bulba (2009)
- Taras Bulba (2009) - information about the film - Russian films and TV series - Kino-Teatr.RU
- Classical music.ru, TARAS BULBA - opera by N. Lysenko // author A. Gozenpud
Sources
It would be fair to call Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s story “Taras Bulba” both historical and patriotic at the same time. It was written in 1834 and is, in truth, one of the brightest jewels of Russian literature.
Gogol included it in the cycle of stories “Mirgorod” and generously filled the entire space of the work with the brightest palette of memorable characters; varied composition, lively dialect of Cossack speech.
Everything is so vivid that one gets the impression that Gogol, at first, was an observer of the original life of the Zaporozhye Cossacks; he kept his reading diary, recording in it a dialogue he accidentally overheard, and only then moved on to the creation of his brilliant work.
Immersing yourself in the text of the story, you involuntarily ask questions: why did the author take on the task of writing this particular plot? What did he want to tell his reader then? What is he telling us now? How long did it take to create the story?
By answering these questions, we become even more deeply and multifaceted into the plot and the reader’s emotions. So, first things first.
How the work was created
A little about the history of the creation of the story. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol decided to write a historically true story about the life of the Zaporozhye Cossacks four years before the official date of writing the story, in 1830.
It is known from the memoirs of contemporaries that Gogol was an organized and extremely disciplined person.
A pedant in detail and a perfectionist at heart, striving for creative perfection. Therefore, having written the initial version of the story, the author , for nine long years, he corrected his work, constantly making improvements to it.
Thus, the story, originally written in three chapters, grew to nine, and then to twelve.
Gogol, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, meticulously searched for a long time for the only unique combination of words that would most clearly reflect his thought. He was looking for words to reveal the identity of the Ukrainian people. Therefore, the author refers in the story to many works of Ukrainian folklore. These are, first of all: thoughts, songs.
Gogol based his story “Taras Bulba” on the history of the Cossack uprising of 1638. According to history, Hetman Pototsky was assigned to suppress this uprising.
And, as is known for certain from historical documents, a real ataman named Okhrim Makukha was chosen as the prototype of Bulba himself. He was a noble warrior, a worthy citizen, an associate of Bohdan Khmelnitsky himself.
About the novel “Taras Bulba”
Many people mistakenly call the work “Taras Bulba” a novel, whereas it is a story. The author himself asked to call his work nothing more than a “historical story.”
So what is the main plot of the story? At the very beginning of the work, Bulba and his sons, whose names are Ostap and Andriy, come to the Zaporozhye Sich.
The father wants his sons to become real Cossacks. Literally quoting the text: “they got their wits about them” and “smelled gunpowder.” Thus, Ostap and Andriy, by the will of their father, find themselves in the center of events.
Without having time to fully understand what is happening, young people, being called up for military service in the Zaporozhye army, go to fight with the bloody gentry, against the oppression of the Orthodox, their faith and dignity. The Cossack army goes to war to fight the Polish army, which is much more numerous and powerful.
Of course, with such an unequal balance of forces, the strength of the Cossacks quickly dries up, but they are not ready to accept their defeat, to surrender to the mercy of the enemy. The writer filigree describes the battle of the Cossacks near Dubno: Gogol “paints” the scenes in a special folklore style, where it is easy to draw parallels between the Cossacks and the legendary Russian heroes.
So, for example, Bulba asks his brothers-in-arms a question three times. He asks them: “Do you have gunpowder in your flasks?!” They answer him three times: “Yes, dad! The Cossack strength has not weakened, the Cossacks still won’t bend!” Death for the Motherland on the battlefield - this was the highest good and grace for the Cossacks.
The main characters of the story “Taras Bulba”
The central character is Ataman Taras Bulba, after whom the story is named.
Together with his father, his eldest son Ostap also fights. The courageous Ostap is still young, he is only 22 years old, but in such a young age of his life he is already an ataman, showing unprecedented courage.
The image of Ostap is the image of a true hero, ready, like his father, to give his life for his Motherland to the last drop of blood. Even when captured by enemies and going through terrible torture, Ostap does not become a traitor.
Of course, Bulba suffers, seeing her son’s torment. But at the same time he feels his father’s pride in him. Ostap dies heroically on the chopping block, like all the Cossacks who were captured with him.
The life of Taras Bulba himself ends tragically: he is captured by the Poles, burned at the stake, sentenced to death by burning. But, even dying in inhuman pain, he remains a hero and citizen.
The fate of Bulba’s youngest son, Andriy, was completely different, but also tragic. He falls passionately in love with a beautiful Polish girl, betrays his homeland and takes the side of his enemies.
But still, it would be wrong to judge Andriy’s personality unambiguously. He is a philosopher and romantic by nature. Andriy is against any war, he is only interested in love for his beloved lady. Taras Bulba cannot understand and accept the actions of his youngest son, or share his views on life.
Taras Bulba is close and understandable to his eldest son Ostap: he recognizes himself in him. Andriy, all woven from contradictions and doubts, is far from his powerful and formidable father. They have different value systems and will never agree with each other. Therefore, Taras Bulba makes an ambiguous and terrible decision: to kill his youngest son Andriy. He does it with his own hands.
Gogol is consistent in his judgments and is quite categorical: sinful love for a woman is the cause of many troubles. Such love is akin to a devilish temptation and can deprive a man of his reason and will. According to the writer himself, Andriy’s love story for the beautiful lady is a road leading to a dead end, to death.
Taras Bulba, Ostap and Andriy are the main characters of Gogol’s historical story “Taras Bulba”. Having become acquainted with the main characters, it’s time to move on to getting to know the secondary characters.
The minor characters of the story by N.V. Gogol "Taras Bulba"
It is impossible to ignore the rich variety of secondary characters created by Gogol and appearing on the pages of the story.
Let's, following the plan, move on to getting to know them, list them and name them:
- Bulba's wife, mother of Ostap and Andriy - Nastya;
- Motrya is a pupil in Bulba’s family;
- Voivode of the city of Dubno;
- Mariltsa;
- Tatarka – Marilitsa’s maid;
- Koshevoy is the former chief of the Zaporozhye Cossacks even before the elections of Kirdyaga;
- Kirdyaga - the new commander of the Cossacks;
- Bunchuzhny - standard bearer in the Sich;
- Tovkach - captain of the Cossack army in Ukraine;
- Yankel - sutler of the Cossack army;
- Klyuchar - a monk of a fraternal monastery;
- Kobzar is a blind old man;
- Dovbish – military timpani player;
- as well as numerous colonels, centurions, Cossacks - Cossacks, elders, lords and ladies, students, traders, Bulba's neighbors.
Companionship and surroundings mean a lot to Taras. Therefore, Gogol generously fills the narrative with vivid images, as if spreading a “colorful carpet” of heroes before the readers. Secondary characters help to reveal the images of the main characters, as if being a background for them.
It is important to understand: The main difference in the gradation of heroes into main and secondary ones is that the main characters undergo development throughout the entire work, while the secondary ones do not.
A brief retelling of “Taras Bulba” chapter by chapter
Now, having become acquainted, even in such an abbreviated version, with the main and secondary characters of the story, it’s time to move on to a brief summary of the content of each chapter of Gogol’s story separately. There are 12 chapters in total.
Already from the first chapter, Gogol, as if taking the reader by the hand, carefully leads him from one chapter to another, along an ingeniously constructed “route”.
The story is written clearly and structurally, like a summary, highlighting the important and plot-forming. I suggest that you and I immediately set off along the fascinating, albeit briefly laid out, “route” of the story “Taras Bulba”.
Chapter 1
After studying at the Kyiv Bursa, two sons Ostap and Andriy return to Taras Bulba. The father is very happy to see his grown-up and well-behaved sons, but, being a sincere man, he makes caustic jokes about the students’ clothes.
The elder Ostap does not like his father’s remark, so he starts a playful fight with him until his mother interrupts it.
Bulba decides that after resting a little at home, her sons will go to the Zaporozhye Sich to mature in spirit.
Celebrating the arrival of Taras Bulba's sons, everyone around is having fun and celebrating this event. In the process of general fun, Taras decides to “shake off the old days” and go to the Sich with his children.
The wife is against her husband’s decision and is afraid to let her sons go to war. The woman suffers, realizing the danger of such a decision by Taras. The farewell of a loving mother to her adored children is extremely emotional. Despite the mother's protests, she and her father go to Sich.
Chapter 2
There is silence on the road, as each of the heroes is immersed in their own thoughts and memories. Taras remembers close people, comrades whom he hopes to see soon in the Sich.
Ostap recalls an incident from his studies: he did not like studying and, in the very first year of study, he decided to run away. He disliked studying so much that he even buried his ABC book more than once. Every time he was scolded and given new textbooks.
On the road, Andriy recalls his many pranks, staged so skillfully that no one could guess who was behind them. From his early youth, Andriy fell in love with women and admired their beauty. He remembers how he once saw a lovely Polish woman when the beauty was taking a walk in the company of her father, a Polish gentleman.
Despite the chance meeting, Andriy enters her bedchamber. But his youth and inexperience in love exposed him to ridicule. On the road, memories of the young lady do not leave him.
Tired, the father and sons come to the Zaporozhye Sich. People in it live an ordinary peaceful life.
Chapter 3
The trio lives in the Sich for seven days, devoting their days to studying military wisdom. All the Cossacks around love to walk and feast. This is how they like to relax.
The Sich represents the most diverse public: from beggars to peasants and officers. Moreover, the latter did not care on whose side they fought.
There were no women in the Sich and there could not be. Bulba, having persuaded the Cossacks friendly to him to disobey, contributes to the re-election of Koshevoy. Comrade Taras, the Cossack Kirdyaga, is elected as the new chieftain.
Chapter 4
Kirdyaga, the newly elected chieftain, orders that the peace agreements be disregarded. Suddenly, a ferry with Cossacks arrives in Sich.
These arriving Cossacks talk about the atrocities of the Poles. That they are cruel and unfair to Orthodox Ukrainian Christians. This is what provoked the decision to launch an offensive against the Poles.
Chapter 5
The Cossacks set off on their liberation campaign. The two brothers will improve their skills in military affairs more and more each time.
Bulba rejoices at such skillful sons. At the same time, Ostap and Andriy show themselves differently.
Ostap, according to Bulba, is a born commander, as he is incredibly wise and reasonable. Andriy, on the contrary, has established himself as the complete opposite of his older brother: he is unpredictable and too hot.
One night, the maid of that same lovely lady secretly enters the Cossack camp. It was her charms that once blinded Andriy. Pannochka, recognizing him among the other Cossacks, sends her maid to him with a request to get food, which was not available due to the blockade of the city. Andriy cannot refuse his beloved and enters the fortress through a secret passage.
Chapter 6
Once in the city, Andriy observes widespread desolation and poverty. The city is practically dying of hunger. The townspeople are on the edge, but do not give up, because they know that reinforcements will soon arrive and there will be food.
Andriy meets with his lady and forgets about everything in the world from the surging love. In essence, Andriy becomes a traitor to his father, brother and homeland. Reinforcements finally arrive in the city and food is delivered.
Chapter 7
Cossacks constantly drink and have fun, from morning to evening. Therefore, they let reinforcements pass without noticing them.
The Cossacks send their scout to the city for information. Having returned, the scout tells Bulba that he saw his youngest son there and he asked him to tell him that he would not return back, since he renounced them.
Ostap takes the place of the deceased smoker, which makes his father incredibly happy. Taras is happy with the success of his eldest son and, at the same time, suffers from the actions of his younger son. After all, there is only one name for this act - desertion and betrayal.
Chapter 8
Unexpectedly, information comes from the Sich about a Tatar raid and the theft of the treasury. There is only one way to return the treasury and prisoners - to urgently end the blockade.
The Cossacks argue about this and their opinions are different. Thus, one half of the army leaves, and Bulba, with the remaining half, also continues the siege.
Chapter 9
The city and its inhabitants again become hostages and begin to starve.
The Poles' reconnaissance turns out to be unsuccessful, but the Jews bring the news to the townspeople that there are much fewer Cossacks left than there were.
The residents of the city, having learned about this, believed in salvation and rejoiced. Bulba, realizing this, appears in front of his comrades with the desire to cheer them up and instill hope, to lead them.
There is a fight. In this battle, the Poles take Ostap prisoner. And Andriy, passionately in love with a Polish girl, dies from the punishing hand of his father.
Chapter 10
Bulba is wounded in battle and has a fever for two weeks. He is worried about the thought of his eldest son being captured. Having come to his senses a little, Taras pays the Jew five gold pieces and asks to be transported to Warsaw. After all, it was there that the captive Ostap was taken.
Chapter 11
Taras arrives safely in Warsaw with the goal of organizing an escape and saving his son. He fails to accomplish his plan due to the betrayal of the guard. Bulba can only come to terms with it.
Taras goes to the square, where the execution of the prisoners is planned. In front of his father's eyes, his son is being terribly tortured, subjecting him to monstrous tortures. Ostap calls his father in agony and hears his answer. Taras miraculously manages to avoid captivity and safely reach the Sich.
Chapter 12
A powerful Cossack army goes on the attack. The fearless regiment of this army is commanded by Taras Bulba. The Poles want to reach a peaceful agreement to avoid further bloodshed.
Bulba is not ready to go to peace under any circumstances. The Cossacks managed in this battle, when everything was against them, to gain the upper hand over the enemy.
Taras Bulba, feeling his invincibility, decides to return to the battlefield in search of his lost smoking pipe.
The Poles capture Bulba and execute her by burning her at the stake. His fellow tribesmen and comrades manage to escape.
Conclusion
This is a short story about the main events of the story. In conclusion, I would like to especially note that any, even the most talented description of the content of the work, can never replace even a hundredth part of the pleasure from directly reading this wonderful story.
“Taras Bulba” was written by the brilliant pen of Gogol with the author’s sincere desire to communicate with his readers on many important topics. The theme of love for the Motherland and love for a woman. The theme of everyone's personal choice and responsibility for it. The theme of friendship, betrayal and the possibility of forgiveness.
Gogol conducts a psychological analysis of human characters separately, and, through this, draws a collective image of the entire Cossacks as a whole. The writer talks to us about the danger of degradation of the human soul and teaches us to resist it.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is not our contemporary, but despite this, his thoughts, reasoning and the generalized images he created are relevant and understandable today.
Video taken from the American YouTube resource
The video of the survey conducted in Kyiv by Vesti reporters will be at the end, and the audibility on it is so-so - there is too much city noise, so there will be no transcript
And first, the material itself, which I quote, highlighting some places:
« “Taras Bulba was written by Shevchenko.” Why is the level of knowledge of Ukrainians falling?
Following the shocking results of an external independent assessment in Ukraine, which showed that many graduates are unable to solve basic mathematics problems and do not know what form of government is in Ukraine, Vesti conducted its own survey on the streets of the capital to test the general knowledge of Kiev residents. The findings are disappointing.
The other day, the whole country was surprised by the results of the external assessment, which were published by the Ukrainian Center for Assessment of the Quality of Education. According to official information, 335 thousand applicants took part in the testing this year, which is a third more than last year. Of all the assessment participants, almost a third of schoolchildren, namely 102 thousand people, were hardly able to achieve the minimum passing score (100 points). While the maximum result is only 210 people throughout the country.
The greatest problems for schoolchildren were the test on mathematics. So, for example, half of the participants were unable to cope with the task for the eighth grade: carry out operations with fractions, where it was necessary to reduce the numerator and denominator by 2.
[I already reported in a separate post that this is actually called arithmetic, and when I was at school, they did it NOT in the “seventh grade” (taking into account the change in the age of classes), but in initial grades of school, in the seventh grade - they already took mathematics: algebra and geometry - Hippie End]
In addition, 65% of test participants in Ukrainian language and literature did not see a lexical error in the phrase “in the coming week.”
A third of test participants believe that Ukraine is a federation, confederation or union state, almost half of the graduates did not recognize the building of the Verkhovna Rada in the photograph, and almost 20% believe that icebergs can move across the mainland of Antarctica.
Even more than half do not know what the strength of the wind depends on, in which ocean the Mariana Trench is located, and 85% could not answer the question of which religions Prince Vladimir chose from 1000 years ago. As UTSKO explains, the decline in results is due to the participation of graduates of colleges and vocational educational institutions in EPE - they say, their performance turned out to be significantly lower than that of the rest, and spoiled the overall result.
[Note that my attempt to look up the definitions of “unitary state” and “republican form of government” in the “Academic Dictionary” led to the conclusion that lawyers themselves are still NOT able to give a clear definition of one and the other, since some of their parts are directly in the definitions semantically contradict others - Hippie End]
Vesti experiment
It is curious that after the publication of the results of the 2018 UPE, Ukrainians were divided into two camps. Some believe that this is a disaster in the field of education, while others, on the contrary, blame the developers of the UPE, noting that this testing does not show the real level of knowledge of graduates. To dispel doubts, Vesti took to the streets of the capital and asked questions not from the depths of the school curriculum, which many might have already forgotten, but from the category of “general knowledge.” For the experiment, we prepared questions, in particular, we asked passers-by:
What is the square root of 100?
Who wrote the story "Taras Bulba"?
Who was the first president of Ukraine?
How many continents are there on Earth?
Which composer was deaf?
What is the form of government in Ukraine?
What is the capital of Belgium?
In what year did World War II start?
From which work is the phrase taken: “We are responsible for those we have tamed”?
What is measured in Kelvin?
What is the sum of the squares of the legs?
Who runs the Verkhovna Rada?
It's interesting that most respondents could not answer even half of these questions. For the survey we chose the park named after. Shevchenko, who is near the main university of the country - KNU named after. Shevchenko. Despite the holidays, the park was packed with students and young mothers with children.
The first “victims” we choose are girls who are relaxing on the lawn. By coincidence, they turned out to be first-year students at the Faculty of Economics of the University. Shevchenko. But, having heard the question about who wrote "Taras Bulba" the girls flatly refused to continue the survey. “You said that there would be easy questions... And this is literature... We are not humanities majors, we enrolled in economics,” the girls laugh.
It is worth noting that we encountered such answers quite often. Many young people, embarrassed, stopped talking as soon as they learned that our questions would concern general knowledge and the school curriculum. " What is the square root of one hundred?“- we ask a young man who was in a hurry somewhere. “Oh, no, that’s it... You said there would be easy questions. I don’t know math well,” he told us.
But after some time, luck turned to us, and passers-by began to answer more willingly. In just an hour, we managed to interview about 15 people. And the results were truly unexpected. Let us immediately note that Only one girl was able to answer all the questions correctly., two more guys were close to “excellent”. The rest barely answered half of them.
The most perplexing question in the eyes of Kiev residents was the question of the capital of Belgium. "Copenhagen? No? Oslo? Okay, let's move on. But what is the capital of Belgium?” — 23-year-old Kiev resident Olga is embarrassed. However, only three out of twelve people to whom we asked it were able to answer this question correctly.
Also a problem for most was the seemingly obvious question about the legendary deaf composer Beethoven. Whoever our compatriots have not “deprived of hearing”... “Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. Clearly one of them. But I don’t remember... Well, that’s a disgrace. Now my family doesn’t recognize me,” laughs Alina, a graduate of one of the Kyiv schools. The rest skipped this question altogether.
It was also striking that almost all the Kiev residents we interviewed were unable to answer the question about what form of government there is in Ukraine without prompting. Most often, Ukraine was called a republic or a federation, and only a few gave the correct answer - a unitary state.
[I have already written my opinion: let the lawyers themselves first give clear and specific definitions of what a unitary republic is, in particular, why Ukraine, which still includes Autonomous Republic of Crimea, is legally “unitary”? And also why are “unitary” and “republic” generally on the same page??? -- Hippie End]
“I know that Ukraine is a parliamentary-presidential state. I won’t even say what device. Probably a republic,” says schoolgirl Nastya, who immediately after finishing the survey began Googling this question and promised that she would now forever remember the correct answer. However, there were also those who clearly did not believe in themselves. “We are stupid losers. There’s no point in asking us questions,” a couple of informals who looked to be 16-18 years old told us.
Curiously, only 9 out of 15 respondents were able to give the correct answer to the “tricky” question in what year the Second World War began. “Oh, that's easy. In 1941. Let’s make it more difficult,” answers 23-year-old KPI student Andrey with a grin.
Slightly fewer people responded to the question about the author of “Taras Bulba” - 6 out of 15. Moreover, there were those who sincerely believed that Nikolai Gogol had nothing to do with it, but wrote the work Taras Shevchenko.
AND only a few knew from which work the quote was taken: “We are responsible for those we have tamed”. “I heard her, of course. But I don’t know from which work,” unemployed Alexey tells Vesti. But almost everyone gave the correct answer about how many continents there are on Earth and what the sum of the sides is equal to. So the Pythagorean theorem was not ignored in school.”
And finally, the videos themselves
And in it, pay attention - in the very heart of Kyiv - at the walls of the now unambiguously national-patriotic Kyiv University. Taras Shevchenko - the red building against which the survey is taking place - all respondents, with the exception of only two people(i.e. probably 13 out of 15) answer... purely Russian the language of the country of “aggressor and occupier” (!)
This is so Ukrainian, and I suspect that it is far from only Ukrainian, but also, so to speak, a nationwide post-modern
(Remembering how students of one of the current commercial universities in Moscow answered questions of a similar level of “complexity” - I once put a video in this magazine)
And what kind of "Taras Bulva", already banned as a Bortko film, in today's Ukraine (?)
What “foreign writer Gogol” are you talking about (???)
The idea of creating the great work "Taras Bulba" appeared to the writer around 1830. It is worth noting that the creation of this work took more than ten years. However, according to critics and experts in the field of literature and art, it never reached its logical conclusion.
The writer Nikolai Gogol himself was extremely dissatisfied with the published printed text, considering the edits to be illogical. As for the census, this work was rewritten by the author about eight times. And it was never approved by himself. Although this work was first published in 1835, it was later completely rewritten by the author. And already in 1842, in a new collection of Gogol’s works, readers could find a new version of this text, which was subsequently revised more than once.
If readers sometimes didn’t even notice some changes, then one of the biggest changes in the work was impossible not to notice. And this change was the increase in the work from the original nine chapters to twelve in the revised version.
It is worth noting that Gogol did not listen to the opinions of his colleagues, who were sure that the work did not need alterations or additions. The author himself adamantly stood his ground, believing that the original work generally loses all meaning and cannot be presented to the judgment of a huge number of readers. He said that readers would simply stop respecting him if he allowed the work to remain in its original form.
As for the readers, they sincerely fell in love with this work with all their hearts, recognizing that it very competently and truthfully described love and devotion to the homeland.
If you haven’t read this work yet, be sure to do so, and read it in both versions and you will understand what exactly the writer wanted to convey.
A brief history of the creation of Gogol's story Taras Bulba
One of the most interesting topics in Gogol’s work, in my opinion, is the history of the creation of his popular work “Taras Bulba”. The author's responsible approach to writing his masterpiece is striking in its thoroughness and depth of research. In addition to studying printed sources, such as Ukrainian chronicles of various authors, “Description of Ukraine” by Boplan, Cossack history of Myshetsky, he gave a cry to the common people - his beloved readers. Through newspapers and magazines, Nikolai Vasilyevich asked citizens to review their personal archives and transfer to him the available unpublished information from Ukrainian history, manuscripts, and compile memoirs.
However, this was not enough for Gogol. The dry story was unpoetic, devoid of emotions and feelings, and this did not satisfy the great literary figure, whose goal in his work was to show and reflect the almost lost ideals of past years. Yes, the writer greatly valued the property of the people, namely folklore. The core of the background of the story - its national color - was precisely Ukrainian songs and other genres. Thanks to them, the characters of the heroes were even created: for example, in Andria the features of the images of the folk heroes Savva Chaly and a certain renegade Teterenka were embedded. Gogol gleaned certain details of everyday life and materials for developing the plot from the people's thoughts he collected. The influence of folklore is noticeable in the entire structure of the text, which is rich in figurative expressions, trinity, and rhetorical figures, which makes the language of the text more artistic and lyrical.
People's history, the facts from which formed the basis of the story "Taras Bulba", was very important for Gogol's contemporaries, and he knew this well. He also understood the high value of folk art for his fellow tribesmen, samples of which he included in large quantities in his work. However, the story cannot be classified as purely historical. The reason for this is the harmonious interweaving of fantastic episodes with history, as well as the interweaving of hyperbole and idealization of images. It is these contradictory moments that are the reason for the debate among many critics: what category should “Taras Bulba” be classified into? But the artistic and literary values of the beautiful work were not diminished in the least by the complexity of the situations, and the story still remains and will always be considered the greatest asset of Russian classical literature.
Picture or drawing The story of the creation of the story Taras Bulba
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The question of who wrote “Taras Bulba” should not raise doubts among schoolchildren, since this story is one of the most famous in Russian classical literature. Even those who have not read this wonderful work probably know who the author belongs to. The plot of the book is also generally known to everyone, so this work will provide a brief overview of it.
Writer's style
A literary lesson on this work traditionally begins with a brief description of the author’s work and the idea of writing this story. It is known that N. Gogol throughout his life was very strongly attached to his homeland - Ukraine, which was reflected in his works. The writer himself has repeatedly said that he strives to combine the features of Russian and Ukrainian cultures into a single whole.
This was reflected in the fact that many of his works are devoted to Ukrainian themes, but at the same time they are written in excellent Russian (by the way, Gogol made a significant contribution to the development of the Russian literary language, begun by A. Pushkin). Therefore, when discussing in class the question of who wrote “Taras Bulba,” the teacher invariably draws the attention of schoolchildren to the combination of these two important features in the author’s work.
History of creation
Gogol seriously studied the life, traditions, people, and folklore of Ukraine. He read the local chronicles of this country, works on its history, but the most important source for writing the book was, of course, folk historical songs, the so-called thoughts, which are imbued with an epic spirit and ancient motifs.
The first version of the story appeared in 1835. However, the writer himself was dissatisfied with the original text and subjected it to significant revision. The teacher’s story on the topic of who wrote “Taras Bulba” includes a short historical background about the author’s many years of work on the manuscript. For nine years Gogol revised his story until it was published in 1842 in the form in which we know it now. N. Prokopovich provided great assistance to the writer in editorial work and publication.
Differences between the two manuscripts
Here we should briefly point out the differences in the first and second versions of the story. The latter, as mentioned above, was censored by the author and publisher himself. However, it has the undoubted advantage that it most fully reveals the national life and traditions of the Ukrainian people. The historical background in the second edition turned out to be more colorful, expressive, and colorful. The image of the main character has also undergone changes.
In the original manuscript he is presented as an active Cossack who was prone to unexpected travels and raids. Subsequently, the author changed the motivation for his actions, indicating that the main character considered himself a defender of Orthodoxy, the common people. This is how N.V. gave his story an ideological basis. Gogol. Taras Bulba in the first edition easily intervened in any popular movement only because he had a restless character. However, in the second manuscript he considers it his duty to protect the offended and help all defenseless people. This approach gave the story a completely new sound.
Introduction
At the beginning of the story, the author introduces the reader to the main characters: the old Cossack colonel Taras Bulba, who is visited by his two sons, Ostap and Andriy, who graduated from the Kyiv Academy. The father immediately decided to send them to the Sich, since he believed that the best science for a young Cossack was a test in battle. After some time, he himself decides to go with his children to his old comrades.
The beginning
N.V. Gogol attached great importance to the description of epic battles. “Taras Bulba” is a story into which the author introduced several large-scale scenes filled with the spirit of ancient historical songs and thoughts. He depicts in detail the free Cossack life, but shows that the main character does not like such behavior. The main character wants to fight the Poles, and under his pressure the village re-elects the Koschevoi, who decides to go on a campaign.
The condensed story about the siege of the city of Dubno in the first edition of the story was replaced by an epic narrative in which the author shows in detail the war, battles and battles. According to the plot of the story, the city was under siege, and the residents were left without food. Under these conditions, Andria’s secret lover, a Polish lady, asks him for help.
Development of action
The main part of the story “Taras Bulba”, a brief summary of which is the subject of this review, is devoted to a description of the fighting between the Cossacks and Poles. In a besieged city, the youngest son of the old chieftain abandons his comrades, father and brother for the sake of his beloved.
Meanwhile, the Cossack army was divided: part of it was forced to leave for the Sich, which was attacked. The other part continued the siege. Bulba, having learned about his son’s betrayal, attacks him in the forest during the battle and, after a short explanation, kills him. However, his eldest son Ostap was captured. Bulba wanted to redeem him, but did not have time. He was present at the terrible execution of Ostap, who died remembering his father.
Climax and denouement
When characterizing a story in lessons, the historical theme is indicated. “Taras Bulba” is a work that, although it tells about fictitious events, is nevertheless imbued with the spirit of ancient songs and legends that lend authenticity to the plot. After Ostap's execution, the main character gathered his regiment and began to fight the Poles with particular ferocity. He did not make any compromises and rejected any proposals for peace.
Thus, the old chieftain took revenge for the death of Ostap. When analyzing this episode, one should take into account who wrote “Taras Bulba”. Gogol knew the history of the Cossacks well, so he described this war very truthfully. During one of the battles, the main character was captured. The scene of his execution is the most dramatic in the entire story. At the same time, this episode makes the strongest impression on readers. The work ends with the old chieftain’s comrades escaping from pursuit, and the realization that they managed to escape persecution softened the torment of the main character before his death. The author's final remark that the Cossacks sailed away, remembering their chieftain, says that the memory of this extraordinary man will live on among the people after his death.
Characters
The heroes of the story “Taras Bulba” are no less colorful than the plot itself. The author focuses on the old chieftain, the main character, who is depicted by the author with special warmth and love. The writer highlights such traits of his character as good nature, warm humor, fatherly affection for his sons and pride in them. At the same time, Gogol shows him as a strong-willed and principled man, who does not forgive betrayal even to his own son.
Taras Bulba tried to raise his children in the principles of fidelity to his duty. The characterization of Ostap and Andriy, however, shows that for the second, the feeling of love came first, for which he was killed by his father. The chieftain's eldest son was just like his father: he remained faithful to his duty even in the moment of terrible death. It is significant that both died in the same way: they were executed in captivity. Andriy is shown by the author as a sensitive and dreamy young man. He was not as warlike as his older brother, which determined his fate. The named heroes of the story “Taras Bulba” were distinguished by bright individual features, which gave them special expressiveness. So, the work "Taras Bulba", a brief summary of which shows its epic nature, is one of Gogol's most powerful works.