“Pan Halyavsky” is a historical and everyday satirical novel by Grigory Kvitka-Osnovyanenko . The book describes in detail the life and relationships of Ukrainian landowners at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, and gives a particularly detailed description of the attitude to food and science. The first part was first published in the journal " Domestic Notes " in 1839, in 1840 the novel was released as a separate book in St. Petersburg.
Content
Story
The novel compares past tense with present. We are speaking on behalf of the elderly Ukrainian landowner Trofim Mironovich Khalyavsky. He recalls his childhood, his parents and their way of life, his training, military service, matchmaking , sharing the inheritance with his brothers, a trip to St. Petersburg, marriage and family life. Trune, abundantly fed by his mother, does not perceive change, is not interested in literacy and science, is not adapted to social life, and all his worries relate to food and his round body. Most of all, the hero complains that "the dishes are not the same, and they have forgotten how to eat at all."
Criticism
Criticism was wary of publishing the first parts of the novel. V. G. Belinsky emphasizes that the novel is “amused and funny,” but on the second reading it “makes him sick a little”: “This is not creativity, but piece work, collecting jokes, in a word - raising Little Russian life to the ideal ...” In January 1841, a review by an anonymous author appeared in the library " Reading Library ". He "writes about the author of" Pan Halyavsky "as a terrible provincial, a joker who has survived from humor, who is looking for listeners for his wits" [1] . But already the first publications received approving reviews, for example, by A. A. Kraevsky , editor of the journal Patriotic Notes: “Your“ Pan Halyavsky ”and“ Golovaty “remain forever monuments of Russian literature; and their readers will not forget ” [2] . Belinsky later also praised the "hilarious adventures of this Little Russian eccentric." “Whoever is ridiculous by nature, we advise you not to read“ Pan Khalyavsky ”if you are afraid of getting sick from laughter: you can’t invent anything hilarious [3] .”
Additional Information
Many of the options available on the Internet for the novel Pan Halyavsky have been trimmed. The novel begins with the words “Ugh, abyss, as I look! Do not be surprised, right, how the light changes! .. "
The phrase of anti-Semitic content was also deleted: “They instructed us: more than once mother explained to us that the sparrow between the birds is the same as the Jew between the people, and therefore should not spare them.”
Notes
- ↑ Irina Vitryak. Russian-language prose by G. F. Kvitki-Osnovyanenko on the pages of the journal "Domestic Notes": publication history, reception problems (inaccessible link) . - “Philological sciences. Collection of scientific works ”, Poltava, 2011, No. 1 (7).
- ↑ Naumenko V.P. Grigory Fedorovich Kvitka-Osnovyanenko (Biographical sketch) / V.P. Naumenko // Kiev Old. - 1893. - T. XLII. - S. 154-189.
- ↑ V. G. Belinsky. Works of Osnovyanenka. Pan Halyavsky