Putua

The story was first published in the newspaper Le Figaro from October 17 to October 31, 1900 and develops a motive for the ironic rethinking of Christian myths that is characteristic of all of France's work. According to the memoirs of M. Cordet, in the story “Putua” France sought to explain the origin of Christianity, or, as one of the heroes of the story put it, create “a concise formulation of all human beliefs”. “The gods,” said France, “experience three stages in the popular imagination. At first they are purely abstract representations. Then they appropriate the thoughts, actions that created their people. Finally, they descend to the ground. However, in this last stage they are just as little real as in the previous ones ” ^[3] . In the words of M. A. Kuzmin , “... the origin of myths and his attitude to them A. France quite expressed in the story“ Putua “, where from a phrase, by accident, uttered, made up, which was not given any meaning, a whole myth grew up, a creature was born with properties, character, name, deeds so real that even a real living child was attributed to this fictional person ” ^[4] .

The protagonist of the story, Lucien Bergeret , also a protagonist of the famous cycle of novels by France, Modern History , and his sister Zoya tell the daughter of Bergeret, Pauline, a family legend about a fictional gardener named Putua, who had once been invented by their mother as an excuse, relieving the Bergeret family from a visit to the annoying relative, Mrs. Cornuille.

Ms. Cornuille, fascinated by the idea of ​​having Putua as a gardener, persistently asked Mr. Bergeret's mother how to find Putua for several days. Ms. Bergeret's evasive answers rather undermine Putua’s reputation in the eyes of Ms. Cornuillet, rather than give rise to suspicions. Touched by Putua’s natural “unwillingness” to pay a visit to her, she finally affirms her opinion of Putua as a worthless person and a crook, and when three melons disappear in her garden, she does not hesitate to attribute this crime to Putua. Moreover, the case of the theft of Ms. Kornuye’s melons fell into the hands of the newspaper men who decorated the image of Putua with additional details.

“He has,” the newspaper reported, “a low forehead, different colored eyes, a running look, wrinkles on the temples, prominent cheekbones, red and shiny. Flat ears, stooped, frail in appearance, but actually surprisingly strong, he easily bent a hundred sous with two fingers. ”

From now on, Putua acquired all the features of a mythological character. He shows the ability to simultaneously appear in different places in a mysterious way and shows amazing dexterity and elusiveness in all his tricks - now it’s easy to write off all the strange and inexplicable incidents in the city.

So unexpectedly for all, the cook of Mrs. Kornuye, Gudula, who had previously been saved from the vicissitudes of love by a beard, long and forked, was pregnant. The most thorough interrogation by Ms. Cornuille did not give an answer about the paternity of the child. And here it dawns on her an undoubted guess, in her opinion. Rumors immediately circulate around the city that Putua is the father of several more unexpected children. From now on, Putua, this invisible satyr, threatens not only the property of the townspeople, but also the tranquility of the entire female population of Saint-Omer. The inhabitants of the town almost admire the resourcefulness and dexterity of this legendary hero, who, thanks to their efforts, acquired the features of a real person.

“To exist,” Mr. Bergeret himself notes on this subject, “does not in any way imply substance, but presumes only the connection of the subject with the attribute, expresses a pure attitude.”

Putua, in the opinion of Mr. Bergeret, like many mythological creatures, was in a certain sense no less real than many real personalities, for he had no less, and sometimes more, influence on people than they:

“... the deepest and most lasting impact on souls is produced not so much by real as imaginary beings. Always and everywhere creatures, no more real than Putua, inspired people with hatred and love, horror and hope, pushed for crimes, accepted victims, created laws and customs. ”

One day the maid reported to Ms. Bergeret that a visitor who introduced herself as Putua was waiting for her. Intrigued, Ms. Bergeret, went out to meet the guest, but that one had already caught a trace. From now on, Ms. Bergeret herself lost confidence that the existence of Putua was a pure invention.

Evgeni Zamyatin in the article “New Russian prose”, talking about the famous group “The Serapion Brothers ”, the head of which was considered to be his head, wrote: “However, the“ Serapion Brothers ”are generally invented, as the famous Putua from Anatole France: Putua was attributed different actions and even a crime, but there was no Putua - he was invented by Ms. Bergeret. In this case, I was partly this Bergere too ... ” ^[5]

The famous Hungarian mathematician Roger Peter in his book “Games with Infinity” called “imaginary but important mathematical objects”, such as “the famous infinitely distant point , converging parallels or no less famous imaginary numbers ” as “Putua elements” ^[6] .

The critic Arkady Belinkov notes the parallels between the storylines of “Second Lieutenant Kizhe” Yuri Tynyanov and the history of Putyu ^[7] .

• Anatole France Putois // Collected Works in 8 volumes. M. 1958 - Volume 8. - S.175-190.

• Lieutenant Kizhe