The great master of Russian fable I.A. Krylov
Ivan Andreevich Krylov (February 13, 1769, Moscow - November 21, 1844, St. Petersburg) - Russian publicist, poet, fabulist, publisher of satirical and educational magazines. He is best known as the author of 236 fables, collected in nine lifetime collections. The plots of a number of Krylov's fables go back to the fables of Lafontaine (who, in turn, borrowed them from Aesop, Phaedrus and Babrius), although there are also many original plots. Many expressions from Krylov's fables have become winged. Father, Andrey Prokhorovich Krylov, knew how to read and write, but "did not study the sciences", served in a dragoon regiment, in 1772 he distinguished himself in the defense of the Yaitsky town from the Pugachevites, then was the chairman of the magistrate in Tver. He died as a captain in poverty. Mother, Maria Alekseevna, after the death of her husband, remained a widow.
Ivan Krylov spent the first years of his childhood traveling with his family. He learned to read and write at home (his father was a great lover of reading, after him a whole chest of books passed to his son); studied French in a family of wealthy neighbors. In 1777, he was enrolled in the civil service as a sub-clerk of the Kalyazinsky Lower Zemstvo Court, and then the Tver Magistrate. This service was, apparently, only nominal, and Krylov was probably considered on vacation until the end of the training.
Krylov studied little, but read quite a lot. According to a contemporary, he "visited with particular pleasure folk gatherings, shopping areas, swings and fistfights, where he pushed between a motley crowd, listening eagerly to the speeches of commoners." Since 1780, he began to serve as a subclerk for a penny. In 1782, Krylov was still listed as a subclerk, but "this Krylov did not have any cases in his hands."
At this time, he became interested in street fighting, wall to wall. And since he was physically very strong, he often emerged victorious over adult men.
At the end of 1782, Krylov went to St. Petersburg with his mother, who intended to petition for a pension and a better arrangement for her son's fate. The Krylovs remained in St. Petersburg until August 1783. Upon his return, despite a long-term illegal absence, Krylov resigned from the magistrate with the rank of clerk and entered the service of the St. Petersburg State Chamber.
At this time, Ablesimov's The Miller enjoyed great fame, under whose influence Krylov wrote, in 1784, the opera libretto The Coffee House; he took the plot from Novikov's "The Painter", but significantly changed it and ended with a happy denouement. Krylov took his book to Breitkopf, who gave it to the author of the book for 60 rubles (Racine, Molière and Boileau), but did not print it. The Coffee Pot saw the light of day only in 1868 and is considered to be an extremely young and imperfect work. However, after removing many of the publisher's oversights and the young poet's obvious slips of the tongue, the verses of the Coffee House can hardly be called clumsy.
In the state chamber, Krylov then received 80-90 rubles a year, but he was not satisfied with his position and moved to Her Majesty's Cabinet. In 1788, Krylov lost his mother, and his young brother Leo remained in his arms, whom he took care of all his life as a father about his son (he usually called him “tyatenko” in his letters). In 1787-1788. Krylov wrote the comedy "Pranksters", where he brought to the stage and cruelly ridiculed the first playwright of that time, Ya. B. Knyazhnin. "Pranksters" not only quarreled with Krylov and Knyazhnin, but also brought on him the displeasure of the theater directorate.
In 1789, in the printing house of I. G. Rachmaninov, an educated and devoted person to the literary business, Krylov prints the monthly satirical magazine Spirit Mail.
His journal business displeased the authorities, and the empress offered Krylov to travel abroad for five years at the expense of the government, but he refused.
On December 7 of the same year, Krylov retired; the next year he became the owner of the printing house and from January 1792 he began to print the magazine The Spectator in it, with a very wide program, but still with a clear inclination towards satire, especially in the editor's articles.
His articles show how Krylov's worldview is expanding and how his artistic talent is maturing.
In 1797, he met in Moscow with Prince S. F. Golitsyn and went to him in the Zubrilovka estate, as a teacher of children, a secretary, etc., at least not in the role of a parasite-habiter. At this time, Krylov already had a broad and versatile education (he played the violin well, knew Italian, etc.), and although he was still weak in spelling, he turned out to be a capable and useful teacher of language and literature. For a home performance in Golitsyn's house, he wrote the clown-tragedy "Trumf" or "Podchipa", a rude, but not devoid of salt and vitality parody of the classical drama.
In 1801, Prince Golitsyn was appointed Governor-General of Riga, and Krylov decided to be his secretary. In the same or the following year, he wrote the play "Pie", a light comedy of intrigue, in which, in the face of Uzhima, sentimentalism, which is antipathetic to him, is touched in passing. Despite friendly relations with his boss, Krylov resigned again on September 26, 1803. What he did for the next 2 years we do not know; they say that he played a big game of cards, once won a very large amount, traveled to fairs, etc. For playing cards, he was at one time forbidden to appear in both capitals.
In 1805, Krylov was in Moscow and showed I. I. Dmitriev his translation (with French) two fables by La Fontaine: "The Oak and the Cane" and "The Picky Bride". According to Lobanov, Dmitriev, after reading them, said to Krylov: “this is your true family; finally you found it." Krylov always loved Lafontaine and, according to legend, already in his early youth he tested his strength in translating fables, and later, perhaps, in altering them; fables and "proverbs" were in vogue at that time. Great connoisseur and artist plain language, who always loved to clothe his thought in the plastic form of an apologist, besides being strongly inclined to mockery and pessimism, Krylov, indeed, was, as it were, created for a fable, but still he did not immediately stop at this form of creativity: in 1806 he printed only 3 fables, and in 1807 three of his plays appeared, of which two, corresponding to the satirical direction of Krylov's talent, were also very successful on stage: these are “Fashion Shop” and “A Lesson for Daughters” The object of satire in both is the same, in 1807 quite modern - the passion of Russian society for everything French; in the first comedy, Frenchmania is associated with debauchery, in the second it is brought to the Herculean pillars of stupidity; in terms of liveliness and power of dialogue, both comedies represent a significant step forward, but there are still no characters.
The success of his plays was great; in 1807, his contemporaries considered him a famous playwright. his plays were repeated very often; "Fashion Shop" was also in the palace, in the half of the Empress Maria Feodorovna. Despite this, Krylov decided to leave the theater and follow the advice of I. I. Dmitriev. In 1808, Krylov, who again entered the service, published 17 fables in the Dramatic Herald, and between them several quite original ones. In 1809, he published the first separate edition of his fables, 23 in number, and with this little book he won a prominent and honorable place in Russian literature, and thanks to subsequent editions of fables, he becomes a national writer to such an extent that no one else has been until then . Since that time, his life has been a series of continuous successes and honors, in the opinion of the vast majority of his contemporaries - well deserved. In 1810, he entered the Imperial Public Library as an assistant librarian, under the command of his former boss and patron A. N. Olenin; at the same time, he was given a pension of 1,500 rubles a year, which subsequently, “in respect for excellent talents in Russian literature”, doubled, and even later quadrupled, with which he rises in rank and position (since March 23, 1816, he was appointed librarian); upon his retirement, he, "unlike others", is assigned to retire his full content in the library, so that in total he receives 11,700 rubles. ass. in year. Krylov has been a respected member of the Conversations of Russian Literature Lovers from its very foundation. December 16, 1811 he was elected a member Russian Academy, on January 14, 1823, he received a gold medal from her for literary merits, and when the Russian Academy was transformed into the department of the Russian language and literature of the Academy of Sciences, he was approved as an ordinary academician. On February 2, 1838, the 50th anniversary of his literary activity was celebrated in St. Petersburg with such solemnity and at the same time with such warmth and sincerity that such a literary celebration cannot be mentioned earlier than the so-called Pushkin holiday in Moscow.
Ivan Andreevich Krylov died on November 9, 1844. He was buried on November 13, 1844 at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On the day of the funeral, friends and acquaintances of I. A. Krylov, along with an invitation, received a copy of the fables published by him, on the title page of which, under the mourning border, was printed: “A tribute to the memory of Ivan Andreevich, at his request.”
Cauldron and Pot
The pot with the Cauldron brought together a great friendship;
Although the Cauldron is a more knowledgeable breed, But in friendship, what's at the expense?
A cauldron with a mountain for a matchmaker: A pot with a cauldron for a familiar;
Friend without friend they can't be in any way;
From morning to evening we are inseparable from each other;
And by the fire they are bored separately; And, in a word, every step together,
From hearth to hearth. Here it occurred to the Cauldron to ride around the world,
And he calls a friend with him; Our pot does not lag behind the Cauldron
And together he sits on the same cart with him.
Friends set off along the shaking pavement,
They push each other in the cart. Where are the hills, potholes, potholes - a trifle to the Cauldron;
Pots are weak in kind: From each push the Pot is a big burden;
However, he does not think back, And the clay pot is only happy about it,
That he was so friendly with the cast-iron cauldron.
How far their wanderings were, I don't know; but I knew for sure
That home is intact The cauldron returned from the road, And from the Pot only shards remained.
Reader, this fable has the simplest idea: That equality in love and friendship is a sacred thing.
Pig under the oak
Pig under the ancient oak
I ate acorns to my fill, to satiety; Having eaten, she slept under it;
Then, piercing her eyes, she stood up And began to undermine the roots of Oak with her snout.
"After all, it harms the tree, - Raven says to her from the Oak,
“If you expose the roots, it can dry out.”
“Let it dry,” says the Pig, “It doesn’t bother me at all,
I see little use in it; Even if you don’t have it for a century, I won’t regret it at all;
If only there were acorns: after all, I get fat from them.
"Ungrateful!" Oak said to her here,
- When you could lift your snout up, you would have seen
That these acorns are growing on me."
The ignoramus, also in blindness, He scolds science and learning And all scientific works, Not feeling that he eats their fruits.
Donkey and nightingale.
The donkey saw the Nightingale And said to him: "Listen, my friend!
You, they say, are a great master of singing.
I would very much like to judge myself, hearing your singing,
Is your skill truly great?" Then the Nightingale began to show his art:
Snapped, whistled In a thousand frets, pulled, shimmered;
That tenderly he weakened
That small fraction suddenly crumbled through the grove.
Everyone then listened to the Favorite and the singer of Aurora:
The winds subsided, the choirs of birds fell silent, And the herds lay down.
Breathing a little, the shepherd admired him And only sometimes,
Listening to the Nightingale, the shepherdess smiled. The singer died.
Donkey, staring at the ground with his forehead; "Fairly," he says, "it's not false to say,
You can listen without boredom; It's a pity that You are unfamiliar with our rooster;
If only you would have sharpened yourself more, If only you could have learned a little from him.
Hearing such a court, my poor Nightingale Fluttered and - flew to distant fields.
Deliver us, God, from such judges.
SQUIRREL
In the village, on a holiday, under the window of the landowner's choir, the people crowded.
He yawned at Belka in the wheel and wondered. Near the birch, Drozd also marveled at her:
She ran so that her paws only flickered And her magnificent tail swelled.
"Old compatriot," Drozd asked here, "is it possible to say what you are doing here?"
- "Oh, dear friend! I've been working all day: I'm a messenger for a big master;
Well, there is no time to drink or eat, Not even to translate the spirit.
And the Squirrel in the wheel started running again.
"Yes, - flying away, Drozd said: - it's clear to me That you're running, but you're still on the same window."
You look at another businessman: He is busy, rushing about, everyone marvels at him:
He seems to be torn from the skin, Yes, but everything does not move forward, Like a squirrel in a wheel.
Two Barrels
Two barrels rode; one with wine, the other empty.
Here is the first - to itself without noise and with a step Weaves, The other gallops rushing;
From her on the pavement and clatter, and thunder, And a pillar of dust;
A passer-by to the side rather shrinks from fear, Hearing her from afar.
But no matter how loud that Barrel is, And the benefits in it are not the same as in the first, great.
Who shouts about his deeds to everyone incessantly, That, it’s true, is of little use,
Whoever is truly businesslike is often quiet in words. * (Delov - businesslike, hardworking.)
A great man is only loud in business,
And he thinks his thoughts firmly Without noise.
Monkey and glasses.
The monkey has become weak in his eyes in old age; And she heard people
That this evil is not yet so big: It's only worth getting Glasses.
She got half a dozen glasses for herself; Twirls his glasses this way and that:
Now he will press them to the crown, then he will string them on his tail, Then he will sniff them, then he will lick them;
The glasses don't work at all. “Pah the abyss!” she says, “and that fool
Who listens to all people's lies: Everything about Points was just lied to me;
And there is no use in them for a hair. "The monkey is here with annoyance and sadness
O stone so sufficed them, That only the splashes sparkled.
Unfortunately, the same thing happens with people: No matter how useful a thing is, without knowing its price,
The ignoramus about her tends to get worse all the time;
And if the ignoramus is more knowledgeable, So he also drives her away.
Goals:
- Repetition and deepening of students' knowledge of Krylov's fables;
- Acquaintance with the concepts of “quartet”, “bass”, “alto”, “prima”, “second”
- The interpenetration of music and literature, the mutual enrichment of the two arts.
Equipment: Portrait of I. Krylov, illustration for the Quartet fable, painted instruments.
During the classes
1. Organizing moment.
2. Statement of the topic and purpose of the lesson.
I love where there is a chance, to pinch vices.
I. Krylov
3. The concept of a fable.
What literary genres do you know?
A fable is also a literary genre.
Fables are loved by adults and children. And I offer a quiz "Guess the fable."
That's what gives me the spirit,
That I'm completely without a fight,
I can get into big bullies
(“Elephant and Pug”)
How many times have they told the world
That flattery is vile, harmful,
But everything is not for the future,
And in the heart the flatterer will always find a corner.
("A Crow and a fox")
Unfortunately, that's what happens to people.
No matter how useful a thing is, without knowing the price,
The ignoramus about her tends to get worse,
And if the ignoramus is more knowledgeable,
So he chases her
(“The monkey and glasses”)
And Vaska listens and eats.
(“The Cat and the Cook”)
When there is no agreement among comrades,
Their business will not go well,
And nothing will come out of it, only flour.
(“Swan, Pike and Cancer”)
Forward someone else's misfortune do not laugh, dove.
("Chizh and Dove")
And nothing has changed.
(“Swan, Pike and Cancer”)
5. The history of the fable.
The fable arose long ago, when there was no written language. And Aesop is considered the first fabulist. Aesop lived in ancient Greece and wrote his Fables in the 5th - 6th century BC. In his fables, he spoke about the shortcomings of people, but he did not speak directly, but allegorically, i.e. gave animals, birds features of a human character. And until now the language of allegory is called the Aesopian language. Let's listen to one of Aesop's fables "The Horse and the Wheel".
Many poets Fedor, Jean Lafontaine, Sumarokov, Kozma Prutkov and others turned to Aesop's fables. But Krylov is considered the most famous fabulist. his fables are light, simple and interesting.
6. A word about I. Krylov (a boy in a top hat)
I, Ivan Andreevich Krylov, was born in the family of a captain. The greatest treasure in the family was books. My father collected a lot of them and spent the last pennies on them. Very early, he began to teach me to read and write, my mother also studied with me. she was illiterate.
Once, my father took me to visit the rich landowner Lvov. There were many guests, I recited poetry, played the violin. The guests were surprised at my abilities and said that I needed to study. Lvov suggested that I live in his house and study with his children. And the children of the landowner Lvov had Frenchmen - tutors, teachers went to them who taught them various sciences, and I learned a lot from them. But I had to go through a lot of insults and humiliations in the manor house. Here, for the first time, I understood what inequality was: the teachers treated me with disdain and showed that they taught me out of pity, and the adults let me know that I was not equal to their children. But I studied hard.
When I was 9 years old, my father died, my mother rushed to look for a job so as not to tear me away from my studies.
I was 11 years old when I joined the Tverskoy Court, with the rank of subcallerist. I copied papers, delivered packages, cleaned goose feathers and slowly read books, for this I was beaten more than once by the boss. Gradually, I began to understand: where is the truth and where is the lie, how people are deceived, that the poor man is to blame, and the rich man is always right.
Soon I am leaving for St. Petersburg, hoping to see the Bolshoi Theatre. And I saw him.
Nature gave me a talent, I could become an artist. I drew beautifully almost self-taught, I learned to play the violin, later the musicians were amazed at my playing the instrument, but I decided to become a writer.
In St. Petersburg, I published magazines, even wrote the opera Ilya Muromets, which brought me success. But everything remains in Russia the old way and it was necessary to write in such a way that censorship could not find fault, and the meaning of the work, so that it was understandable to everyone. The fable attracted me. At first glance, this is a small innocent story in which it is easier to deceive censorship if the characters are not people, but animals, birds, things.
7. Analysis of the fable “The Cuckoo and the Rooster”
What is this work in terms of volume, in form?
Who are the heroes of this fable?
What is this fable about?
Why are Cockerel and Cuckoo capitalized?
Why are they praising each other?
Morality helps the reader to understand the fable. Morality is the conclusion of the author, his assessment of what he depicted.
What do you think a fable is? Try to define a fable.
Let's write the definition in a notebook.
The fable can be staged and a group of guys prepared a short performance.
8. Dramatization of Krylov's fable "Quartet"
What is a quartet?
What instruments are played in the fable?
What characters are in the fable?
Can you imagine what nonsense, what nonsense, what falseness these unfortunate musicians turned out to be? And if these instruments are in the hands of real musicians, then the most diverse music = slow and fast, gentle and courageous, sad and joyful sounds beautiful, expressive, fascinating. Now you will hear the “Second Quartet” by A. Borodin - fr. from 3 parts.
What music was played?
How many instruments have you heard? Which?
So what does it take to make music sound beautiful, harmonious?
9. Generalization.
Who is the first fabulist?
Why are Krylov's fables loved by children and adults?
What is a fable, morality?
10. Homework. By heart the fable "Quartet".
Russian writer, best known as a fabulist who wrote 205 fables.
Ivan Krylov Not received a good education, but since childhood he read a lot, was engaged in self-education and mastered French, English, Italian, ancient Greek (the last - on a dispute in 50 years).
In his youth, "... means of subsistence began to bring him card game, in which he turned out to be the greatest and most daring master (and they say, a magician). Tour Krylova remembered in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tambov, Kyiv, Mogilev, Serpukhov, Tula.
In the end, the cards probably would have ruined him, but at the beginning of 1797 he became close friends with Prince S.F. Golitsyn. The prince invited Krylov to take the place of his personal secretary and home teacher. Now Krylov spent a lot of time on the prince's estate - the village of Cossack in the Kyiv province. Knowing several languages, he taught the prince's sons languages and literature, played musical instruments. Especially for the home theater of the Golitsyn Krylov, he wrote the clownish tragedy “Trumf, or Podshchipa” and himself played the role of Trumpf, the impudent German prince, in it.
On March 11, 1801, a palace coup took place in Russia: the emperor Pavel I was strangled, ascended the throne Alexander I.
Prince Golitsyn, who enjoyed the confidence of the new tsar, was appointed governor-general of Livonia, and his secretary was promoted to ruler of the office. Two years Krylov served in Riga, and in the autumn of 1803 he moved to Serpukhov to his brother Lev Andreevich, an officer of the Oryol Musketeer Regiment. At the same time in St. Petersburg for the first time the play was staged Krylova- "Pie".
This success allowed Krylov to return to literature. His plays "Fashion Shop", "Lazy" appeared, and friendship with the fabulist Dmitriev prompted the translation of some fables La Fontaine.
In the end, Krylov returned to St. Petersburg and settled there forever, renting an apartment in the house A.N. Venison».
Prashkevich G.M., The most famous poets of Russia, Veche, 2001, p. 23-24.
In "Northern Bee" (in 1846 - Note by I.L. Vikentiev) a curious recollection of a contemporary is placed: “Our famous fabulist Krylov belongs especially to our Tver: here he was brought up and spent the first years of his youth; here he began his civil service. I found another old man in Tver, his former school friend. He told me about the youth Krylov that he could notice something especially remarkable in his character. “Ivan Andreevich,” he said among other things, “visited with particular pleasure folk gatherings, shopping areas, swings and fistfights, where he pushed between a motley crowd, listening with greed to the speeches of commoners. Often he sat for hours on the banks of the Volga, opposite the car wash, and when he returned to his comrades, he passed on to them familiar anecdotes and sayings that he caught from the lips of the talkative laundresses who converged on the river from different parts of the city from the houses of the rich and the poor.
Shaginyan M.S. , I.A. Krylov / Collected works in 9 volumes, Volume 7, M., " Fiction", 1974, p. 49.
“... Krylov translated fables into Russian La Fontaine, altering them a little bit naturally, as he imagined them more correctly and more necessary. His fables were useful, they gave an example of behavior, they gave an analysis of what was happening, they were allegorical, symbolic, they were beautiful! They were understandable to relatively simple people - and at the same time they could be read by educated people.
Weller M.I. , Aesthetics of energy evolutionism, M., "Ast", 2010, p. 256.
From 1812 to 1841 I.A. Krylov served in the Imperial Public Library, where he cataloged books. Here, for the first time in Russia, he used ciphers to indicate the place of a book in a vault.
“He was famous for his laziness, sloppiness, good appetite, insight and crafty mind. His overweight figure was an indispensable accessory of the St. Petersburg drawing rooms, where he sat for whole evenings without opening his mouth, half-closed his small eyes or staring into emptiness. But most often he dozed in an armchair, expressing with all his appearance boredom and utter indifference to everything that surrounded him.
Krylov's fables consist of nine books. Most of them were written between 1810 and 1820: after that, the productivity of the fabulist began to dry up and he wrote only occasionally.
From the very beginning, his fables received universal unanimous recognition; after the first few years they were no longer criticized. They were equally admired by the most cultured critics and the most illiterate ignoramuses.
Throughout the 19th century, Krylov's Fables were the most popular book; the number of copies sold can no longer be counted, but it certainly exceeded million.
Krylov's enormous popularity was due to both his material and his artistic style. The views of Krylov the fabulist represented the views that were probably most typical of a Great Russian of the lower or middle class. These views are based on common sense. The virtue that he reveres above all else is skill and dexterity. The vices that he most willingly ridicules are self-satisfied mediocrity and arrogant stupidity. Like the typical middle-class philosopher that he was, Krylov does not believe in big words or lofty ideals. He did not sympathize with intellectual ambition, and in his philosophy of life there is a lot of philistine inertia and laziness.
She is extremely conservative; Krylov's most poisonous arrows were aimed at newfangled progressive ideas. But his common sense could not put up with the absurdities and mediocrity of the upper classes and those in power. His satire is smiling. His weapon is ridicule, not resentment, but it is a sharp and powerful weapon that can hurt its victim."
Svyatopolk-Mirsky D.P. , History of Russian literature from ancient times to 1925, Novosibirsk, "Svinin and sons", 2007, p. 126-127.
“I read aloud the fable “The Writer and the Robber”. Briefly, it looks like this: The Writer and the Rogue are roasting in hellish cauldrons in the next world. From century to century, under the Robber, the fire subsides and finally goes out completely, and under the Writer in the same centuries, the fire flares up hotter and hotter. The writer complains about this circumstance and asks Mehera: why such injustice? The robber killed people, and he? .. And he receives a very intelligible answer:
And do you equate yourself with the Rogue?
Nothing is his fault before you.
By his ferocity and anger, he was harmful,
While only lived;
And you ... Your bones have long decayed,
And the sun will never rise
So that new troubles from you do not illuminate,
Your creations poison not only does not weaken,
But it spills, rages from century to century ...
Are you not dressed in a deceptive, charming look
And passion, and vice?
And out drunk on your teachings
There is a whole country
Murder and robbery
Strife and rebellion
And brought to death by you!
In it, every drop of tears and blood - you are to blame.
And you dared to arm yourself with blasphemy against the gods?
And how many more will be born
From your books in the world of evil!
Be patient; here on business and execute the measure!” -
Said the angry Vixen
And slammed the lid on the cauldron
Rozov V.S. , Surprise before life, M., Vagrius, 2000, p. 8.
Krylov - fabulist
Nomadic life. - Riga. - Maps. - Petersburg. - Krylov's position in society. - Life in the capital. - War and patriotism. - Krylov's comedies. - "Doll". - The success of the Fashion Store. - Olenin's house. - "Ilya the hero." - The first fables. - Glory. - Friends. - Dmitrevsky. - A. N. Olenin. - Prince Shakhovskoy. - Khvostov's epigram. - Revenge of Krylov. - Restraint. - Caution Krylov. - Literary evenings. - Dramatic Bulletin. - Tolerance Krylov. - The artistic significance of his fables. - Development of Krylov. - Mind and heart. - Leaves and Roots. - "Kolos". - Laughter Krylov.
Krylov continues to lead a nomadic life, either secluding himself in the countryside, or forgetting himself among the entertainments of the capital. They say that in Riga he won a large amount of cards, thirty thousand, which, however, he again lost. He continues the game in St. Petersburg; once he got involved in some gang of cheaters and, on the orders of the governor-general, was almost expelled from the capital. Derzhavin, known for his directness and honesty, was also subjected to accusations of this kind - to such an extent was the game fascinated by many at that time.
However, the whole subsequent life of Krylov to talk about the fact that he, by the power of will and mind, came out clean from all these hobbies and passions. And even at that time, despite some shortcomings, Krylov enjoyed the respect and love of many.
A writer already with a well-known name, a young man who knew how to develop in himself several talents for which they are so loved in the world, a dramatic writer who entered into friendly relations with the first theater artists, a journalist with whom modern writers were in touch - Krylov could not almost notice how he eluded him year after year in the midst of the entertainments of the capital. He participated in friendly concerts of the first musicians of that time, playing the violin beautifully. Painters sought his company as a man of excellent taste. In addition to manuals on literature, Krylov learned Italian and freely read books in that language. He was no longer alien and high society capitals, where at that time people with talents were so cordially received. Life in Petersburg flowed at this time cheerfully and variously. Not without reason, on the day of the accession of Alexander I, on the streets of the city, people they met hugged and kissed, congratulating each other. The capital is alive. Literature and art returned. A special commission looked for ways to organize and decorate the city, and Guarenghi and other architects built palaces, canals, bridges, etc. The French emigrants and constant disputes and talk about Napoleon and the events of the war gave a special revival to the salons. The latter caused a strong rise in the patriotic spirit. In the theater, some noble people often gathered in the boxes to learn news from the battlefield and forgot about the performance. On the stage, all the works hinting at current events were successful, especially everything related to the greatness of Alexander I. Together with the fashions, the satire on them also returned. Krylov wrote two comedies: A Lesson for Daughters and Fashion Shop. The latter was especially successful. In one scene of the comedy, the landowner wants to see the owner of the fashion store, Madame Kare. The girl Masha says that she will go to report to her.
Sumburova. And report, my life! because it is only for the nobles.
Masha. And, madam, he is already distinguished, to whom many need.
Before the French milliner, everyone had a need, and not only in Russia. "Has the doll arrived?" This is the question that worried all of Europe. “Every week a doll dressed in latest fashion adopted at the Tuileries. She was supposed to educate the ladies in London, Vienna and St. Petersburg about how to itch, put on shoes and perfume in order to keep up with fashion. She penetrated, they say, even into the harem of the Turkish sultan, where she delighted the sultanas and all his other more or less legitimate wives. In this famous doll, on which fifty working hands and twenty different arts worked, everything deserved attention, from the shirt to the fan, from the buckles on the shoes to the curls on the head. On Bastille Day, the doll was detained for the first time. Soon she began to appear inaccurately. Paris has not lost its primacy of taste, but the Republicans treated the doll as an aristocrat. Now, at the beginning of the new century, Europe's indignation against Napoleon again turned to all of France: Europe still meekly accepted Parisian fashions, but the soldiers of the coalition detained the doll, like a new Trojan horse, as an emissary of revolutionary ideas.
In St. Petersburg, even in high society, salons arose that set themselves the goal of fighting French influence out of hatred for Napoleon, the enemy of Russia. These salons are beautifully depicted in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. At literary evenings with Derzhavin, Olenin, Prince Shakhovsky, a war was also vigorously waged against this influence. Krylov belonged with all his heart to this circle, was connected by the most friendly ties with all its members, and at the request and suggestion of these friends, he took up the pen, writing the already mentioned comedy Fashion Shop. “During the performance, her stalls were always full and the laughter did not stop,” in a word, the success was huge, but not for long. The comedy was soon forgotten, as soon as the militant enthusiasm passed. Prince Shakhovskoy was in charge of the theatre's repertoire. He did not like translated comedies, and in order to destroy the then very beloved light Viennese honorary "Mermaid", which, however, had already been altered into the "Dnieper Mermaid", he begged Krylov to write a new opera. Krylov actually wrote the opera Ilya Bogatyr, which was staged with an unusually luxurious setting. The rise of the patriotic spirit created success for this weak work as well. In any case, Krylov was and remained the main spokesman for hostility to imitation and borrowing.
In 1809, for the first time, 23 Krylov's fables were published as a separate edition, ending with the fable "The Rooster and the Pearl Grain". Never before has any book in Rus' been so successful. His fables penetrated everywhere, equally arousing delight in the rich palaces of the nobles, and in the poorest back street, and among the warriors abandoned to a foreign land.
From the same moment, children, and sometimes adults, began to learn to read and write from this book. Together with the diploma, they began to learn from it both honor and truth. Just as the wind brings flying seeds into a crack in a rock, and a beautiful bush grows on a barren stone, so these fables, falling into the dark realm of lies, ignorance and vice, gave new, fresh shoots in the hearts of people.
They brought many bright minutes with them, and with each new fable, the echoes of fresh, sonorous laughter began to awaken the dark, unawakening realm. The glory of Krylov began already before the release of the book.
At the end of 1805, Krylov already recognized his strength in this kind of literature and in Moscow, as we said above, he handed over to the then glorious poet I. I. Dmitriev his first translation from La Fontaine. “This is your true race,” he said to him, “at last you have found it.”
Thus, Krylov was convinced that instinct and reason did not deceive him. But if there could still be doubts in him, then the success of the first fables eliminated them. Although more than a year cautious Krylov takes more plots from Lafontaine, the freshness of his talent, the strength and originality in the transfer and mastery of the story are such that a halo of glory will immediately surround his name in the capital. Krylov becomes the center and soul of that circle of people where he was previously patronized as a talented person. They are looking for him everywhere. Playwriters seek his approval; sometimes they are unhappy with his appearance in the theater - his original figure and ugly face distract the attention of the audience from the stage. His appearance is eagerly awaited at literary evenings, and the question: “Will Krylov read anything” occupies everyone and attracts listeners. But Krylov reads masterfully, but it is not always possible to beg him. Caressed and loved by everyone - simple and noble, the subject of special care for women - housewives, this is no longer the Krylov that they saw before. Heavy on his feet, but gentle and good-natured, he is always equally witty and affectionate. The integrity of nature and the power of talent combined in harmonious peace. The fermentation of forces subsided, the unrest of youth subsided, and his personality, the nature of everyday relationships, closely merged with his epic talent.
The aged Dmitrevsky, who once cruelly struck the hopes of the young Krylov, now joyfully welcomes his successes. The difference of 32 years disappears completely. “Krylov came to him, as to the house of his relative. At a hearty dinner, which always consisted of some purely Russian dishes, in dressing gowns (if there were no outsiders), they were luxurious in their own way, and after the table, both loved, according to the custom of their ancestors, to get a decent sleep.
Krylov is all friends: both old and young. The former appreciate in him especially wisdom, the latter - the charm of a genius artist. He - deer, that is, he belongs to the circle that gathers in Olenin's house. Olenin bureaucrat, who holds a prominent public position with various positions, is considered the center of St. Petersburg patriots. His house becomes the center, mainly due to the purely Russian hospitality of his wife, Elizaveta Markovna. She calls Krylova by the affectionate name "Wing", making Krylov laugh, who himself is not averse to making fun of his weighty figure. He knows how to take revenge now on a careless enemy or a mocker, but so, "as soon as the smart and kind Krylov knows how to take revenge." No matter how restrained Krylov was, he could not help laughing at the famous Count D. I. Khvostov, a mediocre versifier who mercilessly tormented the public by reading his works aloud. This Khvostov also wrote fables, and even reproached Krylov for borrowing from him, Khvostov. Krylov laughed at him. Khvostov composed a crude epigram:
Unshaven and unkempt,
Climbed up on the sofa
As if uncouth
Some chump, L
eats completely scattered
Zoil Krylov Ivan:
Was he overeating or drunk?
Not daring to betray his name, Khvostov unraveled these verses with an air of regret that there are people who sting talents with absurd epigrams. But the word "zoil" already betrayed him. Restrained Krylov never blamed, rather, on the contrary, he praised everything or was silent, as if agreeing. If Khvostov evoked his epigram or satirical remark, it was only because he was ridiculous with his indispensable desire to be a poet at all costs. Krylov guessed the author, the epigrams and said: “dress up whatever skin you want, my dear, but you can’t hide the ear”; under the pretext of wanting to listen to some new poems by Count Khvostov, he managed to deceive the gullible count in this weakness, asked for his dinner and ate for three. “When, after dinner, Amphitrion, inviting a guest to his office, began to read his poems, he collapsed on the sofa without ceremony, fell asleep and slept until late in the evening.” Epigrams were not offended at that time. And they, in imitation of the French, came into fashion. Serfdom made it possible to live cheerfully and freely, and no one has yet thought about the inconveniences of this order. In the living rooms they heatedly argued about various issues, but without anger, only "to boil the stomach." Some were famous for their witticisms and impromptu. One of the main members of the patriotic circle of Olenin and Shishkov, A. S. Khvostov, is especially famous in this kind. When General Lvov, a lover of strong sensations, decided to go up with Garnerin in a balloon, A. Khvostov told him impromptu:
General Lvov
Flying up to the clouds
Ask the gods
About the payment of debts.
To which he answered without hesitation:
Foxes have tails, wolves have tails,
Whips have tails.
"Watch out for Tails!"
Krylov retained all the sharpness of his language for his fable, more and more withdrawing into himself in life. The greatest talents now valued his opinion. Ozerov gave him one of the first to read his works. Krylov praised everything. No matter how restrained Dmitrevsky was, he was not silent, but on the other hand he knew how to speak. When he spoke to the author of some new play, people who knew him well turned in their chairs with restrained laughter. When Derzhavin noticed some of the shortcomings of Ozerov's Dmitry Donskoy, a tragedy that was an extraordinary success, since all the words in it referred to current events, to Alexander and the French, - “yes, of course,” Dmitrevsky answered: “other and wrong, but how to be! One could say a lot of things about the content of the tragedy, but by the way, we must thank God that we have authors who work without compensation for the theater. Circumstances are not right to criticize such a patriotic play. People like Ozerov should be coveted and extolled, otherwise it is unequal, God bless him, he will be offended and stop writing. No, it’s better to leave criticism to time: it will take its toll, and now we won’t upset such a worthy person with untimely remarks. Krylov was silent, but of course he thought the same.
The same tastes and sympathies connected Krylov with friendship not only with the Olenin family, but also with Prince Shakhovsky. Krylov settled in the same house of Gunaropulo near the Blue Bridge, at the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya. Their apartments were nearby. Neither reading at the literary evening, nor tea drinking began before Krylov arrived. “Now everything is on the face, Katenka,” said the prince, “as if tea.” - “Ivan Andreevich is not yet here,” she answered and sent to tell Krylov that the tea was ready. When he came, he always found his chair in the corner, near the stove, unoccupied. “Thank you, clever girl, that my place is not occupied,” he said to Ekaterina Ivanovna: “it’s warmer here.” If they read a new play and praised the author immoderately, Krylov never objected, and only occasionally smiled or exchanged glances with someone smarter from society. “Why, without fear of sin, does the cuckoo praise the rooster? Because he praises the cuckoo." So he said in his fable, many years later. However, Shakhovskoy, who, as the head of the repertoire, was bombarded with works, himself once answered the advice to heat his cold apartment with these plays, that it would become even colder for him, there is so little life and fire in them. "It would freeze completely."
“But you haven’t heard,” Prince Shakhovskoy says to Count Pushkin, “that Krylov wrote a new fable, and lurked, villain!” With this word, he jumps up from the sofa and bows at the waist to Krylov. Prince Shakhovskoy is fat and clumsy, but agile. His whole figure is very original, but the most original thing is his nose and small, lively eyes, which he constantly squints; he says quickly and whispers.
“Father, Ivan Andreich,” he asks, “be merciful to us poor ones, tell us one of those fairy tales that you know how to tell so well.” Krylov laughs, "and when Krylov laughs, it's not for nothing, it should be funny." Those who hear the fable for the first time already know it by heart. Usually they beg him to read it again. Sometimes - to everyone's delight - he has two or three fables, sometimes, on the contrary, you cannot beg him to read. He usually reads at the end of a literary evening, thus rewarding everyone for their boredom. It is saved for the end also because after it no one can dare to read. Here, at the evening at Shakhovsky's, in May 1807 Krylov read his first original fable, The Casket, then The Oracle. Of course, even earlier Krylov would not have lacked an original plot, but the cautious author, realizing what a great path he was embarking on, and having a rival in the then famous and popular fabulist Dmitriev, considered it more prudent to start by imitating him and La Fontaine. But how soon he surpassed him! "Larchik" - Krylov's first original fable; it almost did not undergo changes, while he remade the first translated fable "The Oak and the Cane" 11 times, ever closer to the original. On the other hand, The Picky Bride was written by him freely and therefore required very little alteration. Also, subsequently, all the fables, the plots of which he took from La Fontaine or Aesop, are processed so freely, in the spirit of the Russian people and language, that under his pen they became completely original and the skill of the story often surpasses even La Fontaine. Such, for example, is the fable “The Fly and the Road”, where the color of Russian life and nature is so beautiful:
“Gutorya servants are nonsense, weaving after a step,
The teacher and the lady whisper softly,
The gentleman himself, having forgotten how he is needed in order,
He went with a maid to the forest to look for mushrooms for dinner.
Literary evenings, however, were not particularly cheerful, especially for a person with Krylov's mind and taste. Only friendships forced him to appear, and dinners redeemed some of the obligation to be bored. Many, like him, looked forward to supper, and usually no one could complain in this regard. Krylov said that he would stop having dinner only on the day when he stopped having lunch. They tried to please him with heavy Russian dishes, and it was impossible to tire him with their quantity. An enemy of foreigners, he was not an enemy of foreign oysters, exterminating them at a time, although not more than 100 pieces, but not less than 80.
In early spring, the favorite place for festivities in all of St. Petersburg was, as now, Nevsky Prospekt and even Admiralteisky Boulevard. But the Exchange also became then the club of the whole city; the discovery of navigation and the arrival of the first foreign ship constituted an epoch in the life of a Petersburger. In the shops, at the laid tables, they were tempted by gastronomic oysters brought by a well-known Dutch fisherman at that time on a small boat, in the community of one cabin boy and a big dog. Immediately, a stocky Dutchman, in a clean apron, quickly opened them with a piece of a knife. Krylov saluted the oysters like a deli, and at the same time remained an observer. Pretty pink faces looked out of the small windows of the three-masted ship - German, Swiss, English, French women who came to positions in the manor houses. English bucephali were immediately unloaded, and they were surrounded by connoisseurs. The embankment and shops turned into improvised groves of orange and lemon trees, palms, figs, cherry blossoms, etc. There were also overseas birds and other rarities. There were also fisticuffs on the Neva on Sundays. Krylov loved entertainment and spectacles of all kinds. After dinner, in the evening, he walked in the Summer Garden, listening to music. Even in Catherine's time, festivities were held here for the people, and the walkers were attracted by the horn music of the court rangers in magnificent uniforms, then green, but now red with a gold braid, and in triangular black hats with white plumes. In the pleasure gardens, Krylov willingly watched pantomimes, amusing lights and performances of "masters of the physical arts", etc. Only one part of St. Petersburg was still in desolation - the Neva Islands, which remained uninhabited. There was no communication between them, i.e. bridges. “The dense greenery of these islands delighted me,” says a contemporary: “the greenery of the banks was reflected in the mirror of the Neva. The very deep silence that reigned around and was interrupted only by the noise of the oars had something majestic. Occasionally skiffs loaded with a merchant family and a samovar came across. The Neva had not yet had time to put on her granite, but even this happened before the eyes of "grandfather" Krylov, in his long life.
Prince Shakhovskoy, with his origin on the one hand, service and love for the stage on the other, connects two worlds: nobles and noble persons with a circle of writers. But his literary friends often occupy a prominent position: Olenin, Derzhavin, Shishkov, and others - all people with a high position and connections. At the literary evenings that took place in turn with them, as well as with Senator Zakharov, the society is such that the evening often looks more like a reception at the diplomat's. In fact, here they are talking about the war - sometimes Commander-in-Chief Kamensky himself, also a lover of literature, is present - or about measures of domestic policy. Disputes about Napoleon and Europe sometimes end with Shishkov's statement that the emperor knows, in any case, what to do. The liberal measures of Alexander and his friendship with Napoleon after the Peace of Tilsit are dissatisfied here, especially since this rapprochement is again reflected in borrowings, which these people do not like so much. This mood of displeasure against change was reflected in Krylov's fables: "The Gardener and the Philosopher", "Parnassus", "Titmouse", "The Education of a Lion" and others. The Literary Evenings were the prelude to the famous Conversations of the Lovers of the Russian Word concert, a society better known simply as Conversations. Before the formation of society, the Dramatic Herald served as the spokesman for the opinions of this circle.
Its publisher was Prince Shakhovskoy, but its main support was Krylov. There were not many subscribers, but, thanks to the fables that Ivan Andreevich posted here, his numbers passed from hand to hand and sometimes ended up in the most distant corners of the province. This body struggled with a new trend in literature and on the stage - with the school of Karamzin, with Europeanism. Of the entire circle of Shishkovites and Olenists, Derzhavin alone understood the merits of Karamzin. Krylov undoubtedly felt the extremes of Shishkov's narrow patriotism in language and style, and spoke of his "leadership" that one should read it, but one should not be guided by it; however, the patriarchy of his nature, his upbringing, which was rooted in the soil of the last century, the gaps in his education and complete unfamiliarity with Europe, made him an enemy of everything foreign, for all his humanity and love for enlightenment. Friendly relations with Olenin and his friends confirmed in him the views and convictions, the spokesman of which he remained forever. However, he differed from all other members of the friendly circle in his sober mind and talent. Both saved him from intolerance for other people's opinions. He never raised persecution against anything new, fresh. He noticed only the funny, comical side of the phenomenon and laughed at it in fables. True, this was also untimely, when the new, fresh, already with difficulty made its way, but, thanks to the allegorical form, Krylov left a lot of value even in those fables for which some accused him, while others unsuccessfully defended him. Krylov's entire justification is that, thanks to artistic talent, these fables are good, and now we can understand and interpret them in addition to the morality that was imposed on them then, even if only by the author himself. A brilliant fabulist and satirist, he could not and was not a public writer, because he was not ahead of his age in development, and also because he had wisdom, a sober mind and a talent for a satirist, but not mood and feeling. When he wrote the comedy A Lesson for Daughters and Fashion Store, he was praised for the "complete absence of the author himself" in the play. Of course, the presence of the author should not be noticeable, but his pulse should be heard in the play, which Krylov never showed.
His attitude to his brother and to the Olenin family shows, however, that he was generous, kind and affectionate. Everyone loved him. “He wished everyone happiness and goodness, but he did not have ardent impulses to deliver them to his neighbor,” those who understood his funeral, who knew his thoughts, noble motives and deeds, say about him. He had a balance of mind and heart. However, a sober mind prevailed, perhaps due to physical qualities, and he lived according to the calculation of reason: “whether physical heaviness, strength of nerves, love of peace, laziness or carelessness, only Krylov was not so easy to move for a favor or to help his neighbor.” "Krylov in every possible way deviated from complicity in the fate of this or that person." This calculation of a cold, sober mind he introduced into his fables.
His peace was not embarrassed by serfdom, despite his humanity. In the fable "Leaves and Roots" he expressed a sober conviction only in importance producing class, in the fable "Spike" he seems to respond to those who find this insufficient, and complements the meaning of the fable "Leaves and Roots" with the idea that every state has its own rights and requirements. All the shortcomings of Krylov, as a representative of the patriarchal past, are significantly redeemed by his tolerance. Under the canopy of this oak, a new generation flourished, and the famous words of Griboyedov -
“And who are the judges? .. For the antiquity of years,
Their enmity is irreconcilable to a free life.
did not touch the old already then Krylov. On the contrary, he was one of the first who sympathetically listened to the young poet, when he was the last to read his comedy, not yet published, in a small circle of the elite.
It is not for nothing that a thin smile so often appeared on Krylov's lips in archaic conversations of members of the Conversation. Krylov was not ahead of his time and did not understand many new phenomena, which was reflected in some of his fables, but this did not prevent him from waking up the sleeping kingdom with his laughter ...
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Krylov's fables did not recede into the distant past, but continued their lives in the public consciousness and in literature. Krylov's fable does not age, it still accompanies us in various occasions life. His winged lines serve as a sentence for us over obsolete phenomena of reality, help to formulate thoughts briefly and colorfully, and retain their satirical sharpness.
“The significance of Krylov for our literature is not limited to the field of fables. Like Lomonosov, like Pushkin, Krylov had a profound effect, gave a powerful impetus to the entire movement of our literature. Krylov's fables were our first truly folk and truly realistic works, ”said D. Blagoi (11, p. 57).
From Aesop to Krylov, the fable has always responded to the demands and events of its time, mercilessly smacked inertia, bureaucracy, and philistinism. According to Belinsky: “The fable, like satire, has been and will always be a wonderful kind of poetry, as long as people with talent and intelligence will appear in this field” (8, vol. 12, p. 576).
Thus the fable owes its appearance to folklore; having strong roots in fairy tales, in proverbs, in sayings. The fable has come a long way from the legendary Aesop to the Russian fable of Krylov. Thanks to Krylov, the fable passed from a low genre into the realm of true poetry. The fabulist touched with his pen all aspects of life, penetrated into its very depths, he recreated the picture of the Russian national world, revealed the most colorful national types, enriched the Russian literary language, opened up new horizons of development for literature.
Krylov's fables are the wisdom of the people. They included philosophical and aesthetic content, embodied in an aesthetically perfect form. This allowed the writer to reach such limits of skill that he almost exhausted the possibilities of this genre, surpassing his predecessors, contemporaries and followers.
All Krylov's fables created a historically specific image of Russia. In them the national history came to life, distinguished by the national moral norms clarified by the fabulist, and the Russian nation in them morally realized itself, its national character so plastically, vividly vividly embodied. Krylov's fables not only captivate with the unfading poetry of verse, the richest painting of verbal colors, but are also an expression of folk wisdom, reflect the national character of the Russian people.
According to D. Blagoy, “... the great people-lover Krylov not only depicts in his fables the lawlessness and oppression of the people, he also expresses with them his deep faith in the people, his conviction that it is the people who play the main role, the main significance in the life of the country. This most sincere and most ardent conviction of Krylov is, as it were, the main tone, the leitmotif of his fabled work ”(11, p. 23). But at the same time, Krylov's fables are characterized by "soberness of mind, realism" in understanding what hard way socio-political, spiritual and moral development, the people themselves must still go through in order to acquire the right to freely and wisely build their lives.
Thus, the true democracy of Russian literature begins with Krylov, and the genius of the realist unfolded most fully in the depiction of life in Russia. Krylov placed a simple peasant in the center of the artistic image of Russian life,
peasant V quality the active subject of life, its protagonist; in Krylov's fables, Russian common sense triumphs, and the fabulist alwayson the side truth. The moral of his fables expresses the moral ideas and ideals of the people and the whole nation. Krylov painted a vivid picture of reality in all the interweaving of its contradictions, in all contrasts and extremes.As V.I. Korovin rightly noted, “Krylov’s fable is both a way of folk thinking that retains signs of a parable-like, crafty, not direct insight into the essence of things, and a clot of folk wisdom, and a living story in which the characters act independently, in accordance with their characters. Through their direct relations come the visible features of that unjust world where they live” (35, p. 381). In turn, this world, in their behavior and through their mouths, passes judgment on itself. Krylov's fable points to vice, shows it and looks for those healthy spiritual and moral foundations in culture, religion, traditions, human nature that could overcome it.
Without changing the classic fable rules, Krylov rebuilds the relationship between the story and morality, fills the story with picturesque details, creates the characters' characters and the image of the narrator.
The great fabulist solved the problem of combining folk elements with the structure of poetic speech, thanks to which he made a significant contribution to the formation of Russian literary language and raised the Russian fable to an unprecedented aesthetic height. The Russian fabulist developed the principles of realistic typification and contributed to the further movement of Russian literature along the path of an ontologically voluminous, realistic depiction of the Russian national character.
The skill of the fabulist was reflected in the fact that he was able to give the impersonal appearance of the narrator the very specific features of the wise "grandfather Krylov". He managed to convey in his fables the immediacy of the author's attitude, to create a memorable image of a narrator wise by life experience.
Morality, the moral and educational meaning of the fable is closely connected with the appearance of the folk sage. It is in the moral, instructive beginnings and endings of his fables that Krylov speaks with his opinion, frankly and directly expresses his condemnation and censure, his moral ideal.
D. Blagoy wrote: “Krylov had great predecessors in world fable literature, but none of them managed to bring so much nationality and realism into their fables, to give them such a high artistic finish, such incomparable perfection. The great fabulist Krylov is also the greatest fabulist in the world” (11, p. 7).
The skill of Ivan Andreevich lies in the universality of his works. Written for specific events, due to their ambiguity, they can be applied to any suitable moment. They exist outside of time and space, this is their main advantage. They are as relevant today as they were a hundred years ago. How to explain this phenomenon? He himself has many components: this is Krylov's talent, which found its way out in satire, in the genre of fables. And the beautiful, figurative and concise language that the author uses so skillfully, moving from literary to colloquial, even sometimes dialectal. And, of course, knowledge of the material that Ivan Andreevich Krylov writes about.
Krylov takes a position next to his hero, tries to understand a person in endless various life collisions and reveal hidden potential and take a sober look at vices and shortcomings. This sobriety of the social, aesthetic study of life, combined with aesthetic play, allowed Krylov to enter the road of classical realism, to open the way for Griboyedov and Gogol.
In the genre of fable, the poet-sage did the impossible, realized, exhausted the aesthetic potential of the genre. After Krylov, writing fables is hopeless.