"Red Laughter" - a story by Leonid Andreev . The work was written at the end of 1904 and was published in the Collection of the Knowledge Partnership for 1904, dedicated to the memory of A.P. Chekhov . It narrates the horrors of abstract war and the transformation of human society into chaos. The work was the response of the writer to the tragic events of the Russo-Japanese War , which struck him with senseless cruelty.
| Red laugh | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the collection of the partnership “Knowledge” for 1904 | |
| Author | Leonid Andreev |
| Original language | Russian |
| Date of writing | 1904 |
| Date of first publication | 1905 |
Content
Story
The story is presented in the form of excerpts from a manuscript found.
In the first part, the narration is conducted on behalf of an anonymous narrator, an artillery officer. Gradually plunging into the abyss of madness, he describes the events taking place in the war, completely contrary to common sense. During one of the battles, in which two parts of the same army, blinded by an incomprehensible rage, shot each other, the hero takes both legs off and is commissioned home. Having returned, he is trying to resume a normal life, but one day, sitting in his office, he completely goes crazy, beginning without stopping, inspiredly writing about “flowers and songs” ...
In the second part, the narrative begins on behalf of the brother of the narrator, from whom it becomes known that the hero subsequently died. His works, to which he devoted all his time, simply did not exist - he scratched with a pen on the sheets, thinking that he was writing a brilliant work. The narrator’s brother himself does not consider himself normal. Convinced that he "must go crazy", he talks about what is happening in the city.
In modern culture
Famous song of the same name by Roman Neumoev , with the refrain “ red laughter walking around the country ”, rehearsed in 1990 by Yegor Letov for the album “ Instructions for Survival ” [1] . Ilya Kukulin notes the similarity of this story by Leonid Andreev and Letov’s early songs as a whole [2] .
Notes
- ↑ Boeva Galina Nikolaevna. Russian literature of the XX-XXI centuries: border crossing // Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Language and literature. - 2014. - Issue. 4 . - ISSN 2541-9358 .
- ↑ Ilya Kukulin. How to use ball lightning in psychoanalysis // UFO . - 2001. - No. 52 .
Links
- Dziga Ya.O. Artistic solutions to the theme of war in the story of L.N. Andreyev's “Red Laughter” and the story of I.S. Shmeleva “It Was” // Bulletin of the Voronezh State University: series: Philology. Journalism. - ISSN 1814-2958. - 2011 .-- 2.
- Shishkina L.I. The Russo-Japanese War and its depiction in the work of L. Andreev: “Red Laughter” - the cultural aspect // History and Culture. - ISSN 2222-2960. - 2009 .-- 7.
- Mikheicheva E.A., Bondareva N.A. Andreev and Germany: Perception of the work of Leonid Andreev in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century // Uchenye Zapiski Oryol State University. - 2016 .-- 3.