Taras Bulba is a fictional character or not. Taras Bulba: is this a fictional character, or based on a real person? The history of the story

The main feature of a work of art on a historical theme is that the author organically combines a story about events that actually took place with the author’s fiction. The story “Taras Bulba” by N.V. Gogol is somewhat unusual in this regard: historical events it is not specified; moreover, when reading, it is sometimes quite difficult to determine at what time the actions take place - in the 15th, 16th or 17th centuries. In addition, none of the heroes is a historical figure, including Taras himself. Despite this, from the moment the work appeared, it has been classified as an epic story, sometimes called a novel. What is the strength and scale of “Taras Bulba”?

The history of the story

The writer’s appeal to the topic of the Cossacks was not accidental. A native of the Poltava province, since childhood he had heard a lot about the heroic feat of the people during the fight against numerous external invaders. Later, when Gogol began to write, he was particularly interested in such brave and devoted people as Taras Bulba. There were many of them in the Sich. Often former serfs became Cossacks - they found a home and comrades here.

N.V. Gogol studied many sources on this issue, including manuscripts of Ukrainian chronicles, historical studies by Boplan and Myshetsky. Not satisfied with what he read (in his opinion, they contained meager information, which was not enough to understand the soul of the people), Gogol turned to folklore. and the Dumas dedicated to them talked about the peculiarities of the characters, morals and life of the Cossacks. They gave the writer excellent “living” material, which became an excellent addition to scientific sources, and some storylines included in the story in a revised form.

Historical basis of the story

“Taras Bulba” is a book about free people who inhabited the territory of the Dnieper region in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their center was the Zaporozhye Sich - its name is due to the fact that it was fortified on all sides with a fence of fallen trees - abatis. It had its own way of life and management. Subject to frequent attacks from Poles, Turks, and Lithuanians, the Cossacks had a very strong, well-trained army. They spent most of their time in battles and military campaigns, and the trophies they obtained became their main means of livelihood. It is no coincidence that the light room in the house where his wife lived alone includes numerous signs of the owner’s camp life.

The year 1596 became fatal for the Ukrainian people, who were at that time under the rule of the Lithuanians and Poles. adopted a union about the unification under the authority of the Pope of two Christian religions: Orthodox and Catholic. Decision made further complicated the difficult relations between the Poles and the Cossacks, which resulted in open military confrontations. Gogol dedicated his story to this period.

Image of the Zaporozhye Sich

The main school for educating persistent, courageous warriors was a special way of life and management, and the teachers were experienced Cossacks who had repeatedly shown their valor in battle. One of them was Colonel Taras Bulba. His biography is a story about the formation of a true patriot, for whom the interests and freedom of the fatherland are above all.

It resembled a large republic based on the principles of humanism and equality. Koshevoy was chosen by a general decision, usually from among the most worthy. During the battle, the Cossacks had to obey him unconditionally, but in peacetime it was his responsibility to take care of the Cossacks.

In the Sich, everything was arranged to ensure the everyday life and military campaigns of its inhabitants: all kinds of workshops and forges worked, and cattle were raised. Ostap and Andriy will see all this when Taras Bulba brings them here.

The history of the short existence of the Zaporozhye Republic showed new way organization of people's lives, based on brotherhood, unity and freedom, and not on the oppression of the weak by the strong.

The main school for the Cossack is the military brotherhood

How the formation of young warriors took place can be judged by the example of the sons of Taras, Ostap and Andriy. They completed their studies at Bursa, after which their path lay in Zaporozhye. The father greets his sons after a long separation not with hugs and kisses, but with a fist test of their strength and dexterity.

The life of Taras Bulba was unpretentious, as evidenced by the feast in honor of the arrival of his sons (“bring... the whole ram, the goat... and more burners” - these are the words the old Cossack addresses to his wife) and sleep in the open air.

Ostap and Andriy had not even been at home for a day before they set off for the Sich, where the best comradeship in the world and glorious exploits for their homeland and religion awaited them. Their father was convinced that a real school for them can only be participation in military battles.

Cossacks

Approaching the Sich, Taras and his sons saw a Cossack picturesquely sleeping in the middle of the road. He spread out like a lion and attracted everyone's admiration. Wide trousers like the sea, a proudly thrown forelock (it was certainly left on a shaved head), a good horse - this is what a real Cossack looked like. Not by chance main character The story appeals to the sons with an appeal to immediately change their “demonic” clothes (in which they arrived from Bursa) for another, worthy of a Cossack. And they really were immediately transformed in morocco boots, wide trousers, scarlet Cossacks and lambskin hats. The image was completed with a Turkish pistol and a sharp saber. The young men riding on the glorious stallions evoked admiration and pride from their father.

The historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba” obliged the author to treat the Cossacks impartially. With all due respect to them and their valor, Gogol also truthfully says that at times their behavior caused condemnation and misunderstanding. This referred to the riotous and drunken life that they led in between battles, excessive cruelty (for the murder of a criminal they were buried in a grave with the victim alive) and a low cultural level.

The Power of Camaraderie

The main advantage of the Cossacks was that in a moment of danger they could quickly mobilize and act as a single army against the enemy. Their dedication, patriotism, courage and devotion to the common cause knew no bounds. In the story, this was proven more than once by Taras Bulba himself. The biography of other prominent warriors, including experienced Tovkach, Kukubenko, Pavel Gubenko, Mosiy Shilo and young Ostap, also emphasizes this.

Bulba said well about the unity and main purpose of the Cossacks in his speech on the eve of the decisive battle: “There are no bonds more holy than comradeship!” His speech is an expression of great wisdom and holy faith that he and his brethren are defending a just cause. At a difficult moment, Taras’s words encourage the Cossacks, remind them of their sacred duty to protect their comrades, always remember the Orthodox faith and devotion to their homeland. The worst thing for a Cossack was betrayal: this was not forgiven to anyone. Taras kills his own son after learning that because of his love for a beautiful Polish woman, he chose personal interests over public ones. So the bonds of brotherhood turned out to be more important than blood. The fact that this fact corresponded to reality is evidenced by the historical basis of the story.

Taras Bulba - the best representative of the Cossacks

A colonel with a stern character who has gone through a glorious battle path. A glorious ataman and comrade who could support with an encouraging word and give good advice in difficult moment. He had a burning hatred for the enemy who encroached on the Orthodox faith, and did not regret own life for the sake of saving the homeland and their brothers in arms. Accustomed to a free life, he was content with an open field and was absolutely unpretentious in everyday life. This is how Gogol portrays the main character. He spent his whole life in battles and always found himself in the most dangerous place. Weapons, a smoking pipe and the glorious horse of Taras Bulba constituted his main wealth. At the same time, he could joke and joke around, he was happy with life.

The hero, disappointed in his youngest son, felt great pride in Ostap. Risking his life, Bulba came to the place of execution to last time to see him. And when Ostap, who steadfastly endured the agony of death, last minute called him, in one word, which made the whole square tremble, he expressed his pride, approval and support not only for his son, but for his spiritual comrade and ally. Until the end of his life, Taras will grieve for his son and take revenge for his death. The experience will add to his cruelty and hatred of the enemy, but will not break his will and fortitude.

The story does not contain the usual description of Taras Bulba for the hero, since this is not so important. The main thing is that he has the qualities that made it possible to survive during that cruel time.

Hyperbolization of Taras in the execution scene

The characterization of the hero is complemented by the description of his death, which is largely absurd. The hero is captured because he bends down to pick up a fallen pipe - he doesn’t even want to give it to the damned enemy. Here Taras resembles a folk hero: about three dozen people were able to defeat him with difficulty.

In the last scene, the author describes not the pain from the fire that the hero experienced, but his anxiety for the fate of his brothers floating down the river. At the moment of death, he behaves with dignity, remaining true to the main principles of partnership. The main thing is that he was sure that he had not lived his life in vain. This is exactly what a real Cossack was like.

The significance of the work today

The historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba” is the liberation struggle of the people against the invaders who encroached on their country and faith. Thanks to such strong-willed people as Taras Bulba, his son and comrades, they managed to defend independence and freedom more than once.

The work of N.V. Gogol and his heroes have become a model of masculinity and patriotism for many, so it will never lose its relevance and significance.

super movie.

do your homework, don't embarrass yourself)

Flax! As I understand it, the previous respondents further school curriculum made no progress on this issue (((As far as I understood correctly, Gogol himself got everything mixed up...

Here are a few interesting facts on this issue:

1) When did the events described in the story take place? Gogol, it seems, was confused about this himself, since he begins his story like this (I quote from the 1842 edition):
“Bulba was terribly stubborn. This was one of those characters that could only arise in the difficult 15th century in a semi-nomadic corner of Europe, when all of southern primitive Russia, abandoned by its princes, was devastated, burned to the ground by the indomitable raids of Mongol predators...”
So, Gogol dates the events to the 15th century - when indeed Muscovy was still an ulus of the Horde, and the lands of Ukraine were not at all “abandoned by their princes” and “devastated”, as he invents, but quite flourished as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (about which Gogol nowhere does not mention a word). Until 1569, the Kiev region, Zaporozhye (then “Field”), Podolia, Volyn were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

2) And then there is a contradiction: “The Polish kings, who found themselves, instead of appanage princes, rulers of these vast lands, although distant and weak, understood the importance of the Cossacks and the benefits of such a warlike guard life.”

The Poles became the rulers of Ukraine only at the conclusion of the Union of 1569 (the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), when, in exchange for assistance in the liberation of Polotsk occupied by Ivan the Terrible, we gave the lands of Ukraine to the Poles. Then there was the Church Union of 1596 - after Boris Godunov bargained in 1589 from the Greeks for the right of the united Muscovite Horde religion to be called for the first time the “Russian Orthodox Church” - instead of the Russian Orthodox Church of Kyiv. As follows from the text, the events of the story take place in mid-17th century century, and not at all in the 15th century and not even in the 16th.

3) From Gogol: “There was no craft that a Cossack did not know: to smoke wine, equip a cart, grind gunpowder, do blacksmithing and plumbing work and, in addition to that, go wild, drink and revel as only a Russian can, “All this was within his reach.”

At that time there was no ethnic group “Russians”, but there was an ethnic group “Rusyns”, which meant only Ukrainians. As for the Russians (called Muscovites), in the 15th century there was a “prohibition” in Muscovy, so Gogol’s phrase “to walk recklessly, drink and revel as only a Russian can” is a fiction.

But this whole legend about Taras Bulba simultaneously hides a monstrous genocide over Belarus and Belarusians - the genocide of the war of 1654-1667, in which EVERY SECOND BELARUS died at the hands of the Moscow and Ukrainian occupiers.

There is no doubt that it is about this war that Gogol writes in the last chapter, where he attributes the atrocities of Colonel Bulba to the “Polish lands”, but in fact the Cossacks then engaged in genocide only and precisely in BELARUS, and not in Poland, where they did not reach:

“And Taras walked throughout Poland with his regiment, burned eighteen towns, near forty churches, and already reached Krakow.”

Gogol here calls our Belarus “All Poland,” because it was not in Poland, but precisely and only here, that the Cossacks of Khmelnitsky and Zolotarenko were engaged in robbery and genocide. And the words “already reached Krakow” should apparently be attributed to the occupation of Brest by the troops of the Cossacks and Muscovites - who massacred the entire local population there, including every baby.

“He beat up all the nobles a lot, plundered the richest lands and the best castles; the Cossacks unsealed and poured on the ground the centuries-old meads and wines that had been preserved safely in the master's cellars; They chopped up and burned the expensive cloth, clothes and utensils found in the storerooms. “Don't regret anything!” - only Taras repeated. The Cossacks did not respect black-browed panyankas, white-breasted, fair-faced girls; they could not escape at the very altars: Taras lit them along with the altars. More than one snow-white hands rose from the fiery flame to the heavens, accompanied by pitiful screams that would have made the dampest earth move and the steppe grass would have drooped to the ground in pity. But the cruel Cossacks did not listen to anything and, lifting their babies from the streets with spears, threw them into the flames.”

This was not in Poland, but on our territory of Belarus. During the war of 1654-67. Cossack troops Khmelnitsky and Zolotarenko never reached Polish territory. Together with the allied forces of the Muscovites of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they exterminated 80% of the population of Eastern Belarus (Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel regions), 50% of the population of Central Belarus (Minsk region), about 30% of the population of Western Belarus (Brest and Grodno regions). The invaders did not reach Poland and Zhemoytia.

Just read the review. After that I didn't want to watch it.

300 Spartans?

A great film with a capital letter.. Not to say that it’s a masterpiece, but it’s a really worthwhile film.. the shooting is also worth noting, the footage is indescribable.. at the end it’s completely brutal.. bones are broken, executions..
in general 5

Do your homework yourself

The real character is based on Taras Fedorovich, who led an uprising in Ukraine in 1630.

Fedorovich (also Taras Tryasilo, Hassan Tarassa, Hassan Trassa) (d. ca. 1637) - hetman of the Zaporozhye unregistered Cossacks (since 1629), an active participant in the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine from the rule of Poland.

By origin - baptized Crimean Tatar. Participant Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 as a mercenary on the side of the Habsburg Empire (fought in Silesia and Hungary), where he distinguished himself by significant cruelties towards the Protestant population.

In 1625-1629 - Korsun colonel.

From 1629 - hetman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks; in the same year he led the Cossack campaign to Crimea. In March 1630, he became the head of the peasant-Cossack uprising against Poland, caused by an attempt by the Polish military command to station Polish units in Cossack territories. In the battles of Korsun and Pereyaslav (battle of May 20, 1630, known as “Tarasova Night”) the rebels defeated Polish army under the command of S. Konetspolsky and S. Lashch and in June 1630 forced Hetman Stanislav Konetspolsky to sign an agreement in Pereyaslav.

Dissatisfied with the agreement, Tryasilo was overthrown from the post of hetman and withdrew with disgruntled Cossacks to the Zaporozhye Sich, where he tried to raise a new uprising.

He took part in the Russian-Polish war of 1632-1634, which was fought for the Chernigov-Seversk and Smolensk lands. At the Cossack Rada in Kanev in the winter of 1634-1635. Shaky called for an uprising against gentry Poland; Later, with part of the Cossacks, he left for the Don.

In 1635, he negotiated with the Moscow government about the resettlement of 700 Cossacks to Sloboda Ukraine. In the spring of 1636, after returning from the Don, Tryasilo traveled to Moscow with a request for the transfer of part of the Ukrainian Cossacks to the service of the Moscow state. However, his proposal was rejected, since the Moscow government did not want to aggravate relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the unsuccessful Muscovite-Polish war of 1632-1634.

Further fate Shaking unknown; according to Cossack chronicles, he “lived with glory for nine years and died peacefully” in 1639. According to family legends, the Cossack elder family of Tarasevich (XVII - XVIII centuries) considered themselves descendants of Tryasil.

The leader of the Cossack uprising of 1638, Yakov Ostryanitsa, had previously participated in the uprising under the leadership of Taras Tryasilo.

The general contradictory concept of the novel, its heterogeneity individual parts, undoubtedly, made themselves felt as work on the novel unfolded. At the same time, insufficient knowledge of the era was clearly reflected. All this together, in all likelihood, was the reason that Gogol stopped working on the novel “Hetman”; however, he did not give up the idea of ​​writing a work, dedicated to topics events that were touched upon in the novel.

There are undoubted similarities between “Taras Bulba” and “Hetman”; individual images and scenes of “Hetman” are, as it were, sketches for “Taras Bulba”. In addition to the already noted connection between the image of Pudko’s mother and Taras Bulba’s wife, one can point to the well-known overlap between the image of Ostranitsa and the image of Andriy. The scene of Ostranitsa’s meeting with Pudko is the basis for the scene of Taras Bulba’s meeting with his comrades in arms, in which the dead friends are remembered. In "Taras Bulba" Ostranitsa is also mentioned - the Cossack hetman, to whose troops the regiment led by Taras Bulba belongs. For all that, the epic is a work with immeasurably higher ideological and artistic qualities than Hetman. The source of the fundamental difference between Taras Bulba and the first experiments on historical themes is its deep penetration into the era, into the historical past.

Gogol approached the historical epic when his realistic method was more clearly defined. Before this, not only “ Old world landowners"and the story about the quarrel, along with the couplings of "Vladimir of the Third Degree", the first edition of "Marriage". The idea has often been expressed that the main source that fed Gogol when creating Taras Bulba was oral folk poetry. In this case, the writer’s real knowledge is called into question in the same way. historical material. This kind of view incorrectly illuminates both the very process of Gogol’s creative work and its results.

As is known, in the second half of 1833 and 1834, Gogol intensively studied the history of Ukraine, intending to write a scientific work. In order to collect unpublished materials as widely as possible, he published the “Announcement on the publication of the history of Little Russia,” in which he addressed the general public with a request to send him unpublished chronicles, recordings, songs, business papers, etc. in copies or originals. All sources that managed to collect it, Gogol carefully studied it. Scientific work he did not have to write about the history of Ukraine, but materials related primarily to the history of the Cossacks were used by him in his creative work over the epic.

But neither the consolidated works nor the individual chronicles completely satisfied Gogol. Not only were there contradictions in the annals and chronicles, but the material itself was often very meager and gave little food to the artist’s imagination. “I have lost interest in our chronicles, trying in vain to find in them what I would like to find,” the writer declared. And here he received invaluable help folk art, folk songs that he studied starting from the Nizhyn period of his life. The writer gave a sketch of this general picture in the article “A Look at the Compilation of Little Russia.” Describing the origin of the Cossacks, Gogol wrote there about the southern Russian steppes: “... this defenseless, open land was the land of Devastation and raids, a place where three warring nations collided, It was a land of fear; and therefore only a warlike people, strong in their unity, a desperate people, whose whole life was entwined and nurtured by war, could be formed in it. And so the immigrants, free or involuntary, homeless, those who had nothing to lose, for whom life is a penny, whose violent will could not tolerate laws and authorities, who were threatened with the gallows everywhere, settled down and chose the most dangerous place in view of the Asian conquerors - the Tatars and Turks. This crowd, having grown and increased, constituted a whole people, which cast a different character and, one might say, flavor over the whole of Ukraine...” With great insight, Gogol pointed out the origins of the formation of the Cossacks. Fleeing from serfdom, peasants fled to the southern outskirts, to the steppes, where they found themselves outside the power of the feudal lords and became free people. The desire for freedom, escape from the oppression of law and power - this is what he saw as the most important reason for the emergence of the Cossacks and the Zaporozhye Sich. The breadth of Gogol's historical views becomes especially clear if we compare his statements with the views on this problem that existed at that time. D. N. Bantysh-Kamensky wrote in “The History of Little Russia”: “The Cossacks, one must think, moved across the Dnieper from the Caucasus, where the Circassians now live, a warlike people practicing robbery. One name, a lonely disposition, a lonely tendency to raids confirm this guess. Either they were expelled from their homeland by internecine warfare, common among Asian peoples, or, having devastated adjacent lands, they chose a new home for themselves in places watered by the majestic Dnieper.”

IN historical concept“Taras Bulba” and its other constituent elements are very significant. For Gogol, the Cossacks are the force that played the largest role in protecting the Russian land from external enemies. “He was knocked out of the people's chest by the flint of troubles. Instead of the former fiefs, small towns filled with huntsmen and hunters, instead of petty princes warring and trading in cities, formidable villages, kurens and outskirts arose, connected by a common danger and hatred against non-Christian predators. Everyone already knows from history how their eternal struggle and restless life saved Europe from these indomitable aspirations that threatened to overturn it.”

Gogol contrasts the Cossacks’ devotion to their homeland, its fearless defense from attacks from without, with the selfish, petty enmity in which the princes were, neglecting the interests native land. The writer deeply and correctly shows the importance of the Cossacks in the defense of the country from foreign enemies. The Cossacks formed on its outskirts defended the Russian land in severe battles from the devastating raids of steppe nomads, Crimean Tatars, and Turks.

The Ukrainian people responded to the ever-increasing social and national oppression with violent liberation movement. In the early 90s of the 16th century, a major uprising took place under the leadership of Kosinski. Before the Polish magnates had time to cope with it, a new uprising broke out in 1594, even wider in scope, led by Nalivaiko, who initially won a number of serious victories. At the end of the 20s of the 17th century, a major uprising was led by Taras Tryasilo, then in the 30s, uprisings led by Pavlyuk, Guni, and Ostryanin followed one after another. In 1648, the great historical struggle of the Ukrainian people for their liberation began, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a struggle that led to the reunification of two fraternal peoples - Ukrainian and Russian.

The story “Taras Bulba” by N.V. Gogol was included in the compulsory program in Russian literature for all Soviet Union, included for Russian schoolchildren even now. I just re-read this story, in both versions.

So, Taras Bulba, together with his sons Ostap and Andriy, goes to the Sich. In the Sich they crave “business,” but there is no “business.” Koshevoy says that it is impossible to go to Turkey, since the Cossacks have made peace with the Sultan. Taras is convinced that there can be no peace with the Busurmen, because “God and Holy Scripture command that the Busurmen be beaten.” He gives water and persuades some of the foreman and the Cossacks, they convene a rada and overthrow the old koshevoy and elect Taras’s friend to the koshevoy (and in the first version they simply force the old koshevoy to announce a campaign to Turkey at the rada). None visible reasons no for hiking. The new-old Koshevoi speaks and names the reasons, the first of which: many Cossacks drank everything they could and owed money to the Jews and their comrades. And the second: there are many young people in the Sich who have never smelled gunpowder, and “a young man cannot be without war.” And the third is that the icons in the church in the Sich still stand without frames. And based on these three reasons The Koshevoy considers it possible to break the peace with the Sultan, which the Cossacks swore to observe in the Bible. And the Cossacks, at the mention of icons without frames, are immediately seized by a “religious impulse”: we, they say, for the sake of our Christ, will destroy half of Turkey. If you look at this situation with an objective gaze, then this gaze will have to recognize the classical robbers who are covering up with Orthodoxy their robber deeds.

But the Cossacks did not go to Turkey. IN last moment Cossacks sail to the island and announce what is happening in the hetmanate. What is going on there that the Cossack army immediately decides to go on a campaign against Poland, “to defend the Christian faith”? 1. The “Jews” have leased churches and have to pay them in order, among other things, to celebrate mass and celebrate Easter. 2. Priests harness Orthodox Christians to their tarantays instead of horses and ride like that. 3. “Jews” sew their own skirts from the priest’s vestments. 4. And finally, when asked how the hetman and the colonels allowed such lawlessness, they answer that the colonels were chopped up and the hetman was fried in a copper bull. All this does not seem convincing to me. Points 2 and 3 are actually some kind of stories. What does it mean “the Jews rented churches”? As I understand it, this means that some churches were on private land, or perhaps were built by the owners of the land. And these landowners had the opportunity to rent out their land along with the church, and maybe one church without land, to the Jews. And the Jews could take additional payment from the peasants for their “requirements.” Surely there have been such cases. But, for sure, it was a process extended in space and time. But according to Gogol, it turns out that within a maximum of a few months, in a large part of Ukraine, Jews received churches for rent and began to charge Christians. The arriving Cossacks do not say that in such and such a village or in such and such a district, Christians must henceforth pay the Jews and something must be done. No, this happened in general “in the hetmanate.” Also, “in the hetmanate,” a significant part of the priests suddenly began to harness Orthodox Christians to tarantays, and most of the “Jews” began to sew skirts from the priest’s vestments. By the way, the question of how they end up with these vestments has not been clarified: in rented churches do Jews take for themselves everything they want? That is, these vestments did not belong to priests, but to church owners? In any case, I see the situation in such a way that Gogol had to somehow psychologically justify the campaign in Poland, present it as a response to the oppression of the Orthodox faith. And, “please don’t shoot,” he did the best he could. In reality, in XVI - XVII centuries, both registered Cossacks (under the hetman, the official military of the Polish army), and unregistered (Zaporozhye) went to infinite number campaigns with the “oppressors” Poles and against the Turks, and against the Tatars, and against Russia. And also with the Busurman-Tatars against the Poles.

The Cossacks begin to defend the Christian faith by organizing a Jewish pogrom on the outskirts of the Sich, where the Jews serving them live and there are obviously no tenants. Then the Cossacks go to Poland, and according to modern times, to western Ukraine (the city of Dubno is located between Lvov and Rivne) and “the Jewish tenants were hanged in heaps along with the Catholic clergy” - this is in the old version of the story. And in the new one, “fires engulfed villages; cattle and horses that did not follow the army were beaten right there on the spot... Beaten babies, cut off breasts of women, skin flayed from the legs up to the knees of those released, in a word, the Cossacks repaid their former debts with a large coin.” Gogol in this place seems to apologize for the Cossacks, saying that all these were “signs of the ferocity of a semi-savage age.” And when he writes about Jewish pogroms, he doesn’t even apologize, but almost admires them. Then the Zaporozhye army goes to take the city of Dubno, but not because the Orthodox faith was somehow especially oppressed there. No, they go there because “there were rumors that there were a lot of treasury and rich people there.”

So why did the Cossacks go on a campaign against Poland (Western Ukraine) when they heard about the oppression of Orthodoxy in the Hetmanate (Eastern Ukraine)? I think Gogol represents the following situation: there was oppression from Jews and priests in the Hetmanate - Polish autonomy; the hetman and colonels stood up, and the Poles punished them. And from this moment all of Poland and all the “Jews” become legal for the Cossacks military purpose. And it doesn’t matter that the people killed by the Cossacks had nothing to do with the oppression.

When Taras, at the end of the story, went to Poland to celebrate a wake for Ostap, the description of his “exploits” takes up half a page, the most memorable of which is how the girls tried to escape at the altars, but Taras lit them up along with the churches, and “cruel Cossacks lifted them up with spears.” their babies were taken from the streets and thrown into the flames with them.” With all this, Gogol considers Taras a hero of his people, and the Cossacks as true Christians, defenders of the “eternally beloved Russian land by Christ.” In one place, Gogol directly depicts the posthumous fate of one of the Cossacks: “Sit down, Kukubenko, at my right hand! - Christ will tell him, “you did not betray your partnership, you did not do a dishonorable deed, you did not betray a person in trouble, you kept and preserved my church.” The murder of babies and defenseless women, or at least being present and “not interfering,” is apparently not a “dishonorable deed” for the Cossack and Gogol Christ. The time, they say, was such and the natures were broad. Yes, the Poles also broke their joints and abused the captured Cossacks in a different way, but Gogol says nothing about their taking their revenge on women and children. They probably didn’t have a broad enough soul. Well, burning churches and killing Catholic priests seems to be generally a godly deed for Gogol.

The first thing that Christ gives to the Cossack is: “You have not betrayed your comradeship.” Before the battle, Taras Bulba gives a heartfelt and chaotic speech about comradeship, which we were forced to learn by heart at school. True, there is almost nothing in the conversation about partnership. Taras says that 1) the Urussian land had a wonderful past and 2) a sad present, because 3) “the Busurmans took everything,” that 4) Russians differ from other peoples for the better in their soul: “to love like a Russian soul , no one can,” but 5) today many Russians think only about money, adopt “the devil knows what Busurman customs,” “disdain their tongue,” etc. At the end, Taras expresses the hope that 6) even “the last scoundrel” will awaken “a grain of Russian feeling”, and he will go through torment to atone for the “shameful deed” and will be ready for such a death that no one else “has enough of their mouse nature” . In general, it repeats all the myths and hopes of Russian Slavophilism-pochvennichestvo-nationalism-Nazism. And not only Russian, but any other, you just have to replace the adjective “Russian” with “Ukrainian”, “Polish”, “Turkish”, etc. But as for camaraderie itself, loyalty to friends, this feeling can cause admiration not in itself, but only as a means to achieve righteous goals. Partnership is always for some kind of joint work. Friendship is realized at the moment of doing something together, overcoming obstacles, learning, the rest of the time it, at best, smolders (this is another topic). In the case of the Cossacks, 90% of the cases in which their partnership was manifested were joint robberies, robberies, murders and battles with those who tried to prevent such robberies, robberies and murders.

By the way, you need to understand who were those babies whom the Cossacks raised on spears, those girls whom they burned in churches. Now those events are presented as a national liberation war of Ukrainians against the Poles. But the concept of “Ukrainian” was not used at all then, and “Pole,” as far as I know, meant “nobleman, subject of the Polish king.” To become a full-fledged Polish nobleman, it was necessary to convert to Catholicism. Any “Ukrainian”, having moved from the east to Lvov or Warsaw and converted to Catholicism, automatically became indistinguishable from the surrounding “Poles”. Among the peasants and other “non-nobles,” no one distinguished and could not distinguish between Poles and Ukrainians. All were subjects of the Polish state and spoke dozens of dialects. They differed only in faith. To the east of the Dnieper (in the territory of modern Poltava, Cherkassy, ​​part of the Kyiv and Chernigov regions) there was a hetmanate, Polish autonomy with special privileges for Orthodoxy and the Orthodox. Taras Bulba was an Orthodox Christian and a colonel, in modern terms, the head of the district administration. Therefore, the Cossacks did not go on campaigns to the hetmanate; they themselves exercised some powers there. And everything west of the Dnieper was Poland, a legitimate place for robberies. Most of the peasants up to the Carpathians were Orthodox, and the majority of landowners, nobles and representatives of other classes were Catholics, often converting from Orthodoxy for the sake of security, career, business, etc. That is, I want to say that the babies and women killed by the Cossacks, not to mention the men, were Catholics from Western Ukraine, the ancestors of modern Ukrainians, and, to this day, the most “Ukrainian” among Ukrainians. The inhabitants of the burned villages, the owners of the livestock killed for fun, were, I think, almost exclusively Orthodox. And in besieged Dubno, it was primarily the Orthodox who died of hunger, as they were poorer, and the garrison consisted not only of Catholics, but also women who threw stones, sandbags, etc. from the walls at the Cossacks. were not entirely Catholics. And if the Cossacks had broken into the city, they would probably have robbed and killed everyone without asking about religion.

The following fact is interesting. In the first version of the story there is no speech by Taras about partnership (the Slavophile program), and no mention of the “Russian land”. There is a mention of “Ukraine” as a synonym for the Getmash region. But the Cossacks are fighting not for “Ukraine” or even for the Hetmanate (this is still a political-administrative term, like a military district), but for the Christian faith and for the Sich. The “Russian land” that Taras speaks of and which every dying Cossack wishes to live forever, appears only in the second version! I think that the historical Cossacks did not say anything about the “Russian land”, and all this is Gogol’s Slavophile distortion.

The portrait of Taras the hero is completed by his attitude towards his own wife: “She endured insults, even beatings; she saw out of mercy only affections provided, etc.” “Don’t listen to your son, mother: she is a woman. She doesn't know anything."

So, the conclusion: the story “Taras Bulba” is a poeticization of robbery, robbery, vandalism, unmotivated violence (barbarism), sexism, and, most importantly, the destruction of people on national and religious grounds. But the worst thing is that several generations of children were forced and are forced to see in Taras Bulba a national hero, a defender of the Russian land, an exponent of the Russian (or Ukrainian) national character, corroding their moral sense. Since this story to a certain extent reflects historical realities, then I have a question for modern Ukrainian (and not only) singers of ancient Cossack traditions: “What, exactly, do you admire? What exactly are you trying to revive?” Maybe you can find something positive there, but “you can’t wash a black dog white”!

Despite the author's indication that Taras Bulba was born in the 15th century, he also speaks in favor of the 17th century. known fact avid smoker Bulba: the discovery of tobacco by Europeans occurred at the very end of the 15th century (thanks to Columbus) and only XVII century spread widely.

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

They come to the old Cossack Colonel Taras Bulba after graduating from Kyiv Academy his two sons - Ostap and Andriy. 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 droops. 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 he met just before leaving Kyiv. 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 him 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 they were asleep, 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 thorough, in-depth study 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 folk life, characters, 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.

Catchphrases

• “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 obtained 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 comes not 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 it is necessary to study this work 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

1. The text says that Bulba’s regiment is participating in the campaign of Hetman Ostranitsa. Opage - real historical character, elected hetman in 1638 and in the same year was defeated by the Poles.
2. N.V. Gogol. Collection of works of art in five volumes. Volume two. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1951
3. Library: N.V. Gogol, “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, part I (Russian)
4. N.V. Gogol. Mirgorod. Text of the work. Taras Bulba | Komarov Library
5. NIKOLAI GOGOL BLESSED ANOTHER “TARAS BULBA” (“Mirror of the Week” No. 22, June 15-21, 2009)
6. Janusz Tazbir. “Taras Bulba” - finally in Polish.
7. Comments on "Mirgorod".
8. V. Zhabotinsky. Russian weasel
9. A. Gornfeld. Gogol Nikolai Vasilievich. // Jewish Encyclopedia (ed. Brockhaus-Efron, 1907-1913, 16 vols.).
10. G. Fedotov New on an old topic
11. D. I. Zaslavsky Jews in Russian literature
12. Weiskopf M. Gogol's plot: Morphology. Ideology. Context. M., 1993.
13. Elena Ivanitskaya. Monster
14. Grigory Yakovlev. Should we study Taras Bulba at school?
15. How a Jew turned into a woman. The story of a stereotype.
16. Taras Bulba (1909) - information about the film - films of the Russian Empire - Cinema-Theatre. RU
17. Taras Bulba (1924)
18. Tarass Boulba (1936)
19. The Barbarian and the Lady (1938)
20. Taras Bulba (1962)
21. Taras Bulba (1962) - Taras Bulba - information about the film - Hollywood films - Cinema-Theater. RU
22. Taras Bulba, il cosacco (1963)
23. Taras Bulba (1987) (TV)
24. Duma about Taras Bulba - Slobidsky region
25. Taras Bulba (2009)
26. Taras Bulba (2009) - information about the film - Russian films and TV series - Kino-Teatr.RU
27. Classical music.ru, TARAS BULBA - opera by N. Lysenko // author A. Gozenpud

Sources