In 1927, a Soviet writer Yuri Karlovich Olesha wrote a novel called Envy. According to readers, in it the author reveals the tragedy of the “extra man” in a new way: the hero does not dispose of himself, causing positive emotions or empathy, like Chatsky Griboedova, Onegin Pushkina, Pechorin Lermontova, Rudin Turgeneva, Bender Ilfa and Petrova. On the contrary, the “extra man” in Yuri Olesha’s novel “Envy” is more likely to cause hostility: he is envious, cowardly and petty. Olesha shows the reader just such a representative of the intelligentsia in young Soviet society. All this can be seen by reading the brief content of Envy, a brief retelling of the events of this novel.
Meeting of the main characters
A summary of Olesha's novel Envy begins with a narrative on behalf of the protagonist. Nikolai Kavalerov is twenty-seven years old. Being drunk, he had a fight in the pub. Kavalerov thrown out into the street. In such an unsightly form, he was picked up by Andrei Babichev, a communist and successful director of a food industry trust, passing by in his car. The Savior is generous: he brings Kavalerov to his house and allows him to live in a separate room there, warning that the sofa in this room belongs to his adopted eighteen-year-old son, the football player Volodya Makarov. Therefore, the sofa will need to be freed when the son returns from Murom. Babichev also offers Kavalerov simple work: he is required to proofread documents and select materials.
The birth of envy
Summary of "Envy" Olesha continues the story of a short period of time during which the hero's feelings of gratitude for his salvation are transformed into excruciating envy and hostility.
For two weeks, Kavalerov lives with Babichev and watches him. He is annoyed that he is so successful, passionate about his work: Andrei comes up with a name for chocolates, works on creating a new kind of sausage, is engaged in the construction of a communal dining room called Chetvertak.
Kavalerov despises his benefactor, calling him a sausage and considering him a man lower than himself. Kavalerov considers himself to be so refined, possessing a poetic gift, because he composes couplets and monologues for pop music, and his themes are Nepman, financial inspector, co-ladies, alimony. He painfully envies Babichev, his successful life, career, his good health and energy. The cavaliers are struggling to find weaknesses, vulnerabilities. His jealousy of Volodya Makarov, with whom he is not even familiar, is unlimited.
Unfulfilled dreams
Kavalerov dreams of becoming famous, obsessed with some lofty ideas. He would be born and live in a provincial French town, and then leave for the capital and do something grand. And he is doomed to live in a country where a successful person requires a realistic perception of reality. The hero understands that his life did not work out, in it he will not achieve anything. And he should not be famous.
Kavalerov dreams of great love, although he understands that she, too, will no longer be in his life. Forty-five-year-old Anechka Prokopovich, a fat and loose widow, is one with whom he can be content with love as a man. He realizes that he is humbled to the limit, and this enrages him.
Alien glory
The hero is forced to help Babichev: carry sausages made using the new technology at the right addresses.
People congratulate the creator, and Kavalerov is tormented and angry that the sausage goes to fame. Summary of "Envy" Olesha conveys the experiences of the hero, who everywhere painfully feels his uselessness, feels like a stranger. And the people around him constantly remind him of this: either they will not let him go to the airfield, where a completely new airplane should take off, then he will go to the construction site of the greatest dining room, Chetvertak.
Letter
Envy tormented Kavalerov. She robbed him of a quiet life. In desperation, the hero decides to write a letter to Babichev. He reports in him about his hatred of him, in every possible way tries to insult him. The hero writes in a letter that he supports Ivan, the brother of Babichev, whom Andrei called a lazy person and a person harmful to society. Kavalerov recalls the recent scene, which he witnessed, as Ivan asked the girl Valya, his daughter, to return to him. Then, seeing her, the hero decided to make the image of Vali the subject of his romantic dreams.
Unforgivable Oversight
Kavalerov decides to leave the house of Babichev. During his training camp, Volodya Makarov, a student and soccer player, returns. The cavaliers are perplexed, he zealously watches how he took his place on the sofa he loved. The cavaliers are attempting to slander Babichev. However, Makarov calmly ignores his accusations. When leaving, the hero does not dare to leave the letter he wrote, so he takes it with him. However, later he realizes that he accidentally took a completely different letter instead of his letter, and left his own on the table. Summary of J. K. Olesha “Envy” makes it clear that this oversight will play a fatal role. Having discovered his mistake, Kavalerov becomes desperate. He returns to Babichev. The hero is ready to pray for forgiveness and repent. But when he sees his benefactor, he forgets that he wanted to ask for forgiveness. Kavalerov offends Andrei, and when he sees Valya coming out of his bedroom, he completely loses his head from envy and jealousy. He is eventually thrown out the door. The hero is full of evil revenge and threatens to kill his hated savior.
The story of Ivan Babichev
In the summary of Olesha's Envy, one cannot fail to mention yet another hero - brother Andrei. After the final break with Andrei Babichev, Kavalerov becomes an ally of his brother Ivan, who turned out to be a similar loser in life. From his confession, the hero learns that from childhood Ivan showed the ability to invent, for which he was called the Mechanic. Having been educated at the Polytechnic Institute, he did not work long as an engineer. And now his life is the beer halls in which he seeks himself: he paints portraits, composes impromptu and preaches.
Ivan calls on everyone who is not alien to human feelings to protest against the soullessness that, according to him, carries socialism, which makes a car out of a person. With undisguised hatred, he refers to his brother Andrei, who, in his opinion, took his daughter Valya from him, as well as to his adopted son Volodya Makarov. All this brings Ivan to Kavalerov.
"Ophelia"
Ivan intends to show his newly invented ally his invented machine, in which a huge number of different functions are concentrated. According to the creator, this device can do everything, but he forbade him to do this. This machine could make all people happy, but Ivan decided to avenge his era by corrupting it. He put the most vulgar human feelings into her. It is no coincidence that the inventor called this device “Ophelia” - the name of a girl who went crazy with despair and love. Kavalerov is watching Ivan, who seems to be talking to someone on the other side of the fence. A piercing whistle terrifies Ivan and Kavalerov. They run away together.
Another tale
Kavalerov is ashamed of his fear. After all, he saw a boy who whistled piercingly in two fingers. In addition, he does not believe in the existence of the machine that Ivan allegedly created. The cavaliers inform him of this. After the disagreement that followed, the Cavaliers surrender. Ivan immediately comes up with a new fairy tale - the story of how he sends his invented car to the Chetvertak construction site, and it destroys it. Brother Andrew, defeated, crawls to him.
New meeting
Kavalerov was among the spectators at the football match, where Volodya Makarov played.
With painful jealousy, he watches Volodya, Andrei Babichev and Valya. It seems to them that they are surrounded by universal attention and are happy with it. Kavalerov himself no one notices. He is tormented by the fact that Valya is inaccessible to him.
The drunk hero returns home at night. Caught in bed with Anechka Prokopovich and after hearing from her comparisons with her ex-husband, Kavalerov is furious. He beats the widow, which also delights her. The hero gets sick. Anechka takes care of the patient. The happy Valya and Volodya come to him in delirium, and Ophelia, having pinned the wall with Ivan’s needle, is chasing him.
Last refuge
Having recovered from his illness, Kavalerov is full of hope to change his failed life for the better. He runs from the widow, sleeps on the boulevard. Having decided to deal with Anechka, he returns to her. The last scene in the summary of “Envy” by Olesha takes place in the widow's room. Returning to her, the hero suddenly finds Ivan sitting on her bed, who offers him a drink. Like the Cavaliers, he finds solace here.
Afterword
A summary of Envy, Olesha's reviews of her, written in his diaries, testify to the author’s special attitude to the image of Kavalerov. He made it autobiographical. The hero is an intellectual, poet and dreamer; he has become an extra person in socialist reality. However, for all its humiliation, the Kavalerov does not look like a loser, unlike Andrei Babichev, a successful and purposeful sausage maker. Sausage in this novel is a symbol of the well-being of the socialist system.
According to readers, the conflict in "Envy" by Yu. Olesha is a conflict between the poet and society. The strength and purpose of a poet in society is to tell the truth. The relationship of the artist and the crowd can not be simple. The author contrasts the image of a creative person contemplating reality with a representative of the new government, a person of a business warehouse, and practice.
Considering the brief contents of the works of Yuri Olesha, it can be noted that the novel "Envy" is the pinnacle of his work, literary success. The high artistic merit of this work was unanimously recognized by critics. However, philosophical issues, according to readers, caused heated debate.