"Walking through the agony" is a trilogy of the famous Russian and Soviet writer Alexei Tolstoy. It is so called because it consists of three books: The Sisters (1921-1922), The Eighteenth Year (1927-1928), and Gloomy Morning (1940-1941). They show the fate of the Russian intelligentsia, which had to endure very difficult tests during the 1917 revolution. Tolstoy wrote “Walking through the agony” for twenty years, and during this time he was able to revisit and rethink his views and his life. In this matter, oh, how hard it was for him, distrust of one or the other constantly tormented his soul.
"Walking through the agony": a book of life and rethinking
When the Russian Empire, which the writer loved so much, collapsed, he emigrated abroad, then returned again. Tolstoy was not sure that the new government could change the life of the country for the better. “Walking through the agony” is a book depicting all the throwing and doubts that he had been experiencing for several decades, and yet in the end he came to the conclusion that the Russian people nevertheless made the right choice, supporting the Bolsheviks who were once so hated by him.
The book "Walking in agony" the author brought the Stalin Prize in 1943. Its size then amounted to 100 thousand rubles. It was a very large fee, which Tolstoy, without hesitation, immediately sent to the Defense Fund, and the Grozny tank was built on them.
Summary: "Going through the throes"
The first book is called “Sisters,” and it tells how a young and straightforward girl, Bulavina Daria Dmitrievna, arrived in St. Petersburg from Samara in early 1914 to study law. Her sister Ekaterina Dmitrievna lives with this husband and her husband, a well-known lawyer, Nikolay Ivanovich Smokovnikov. Their family leads a bohemian lifestyle, and therefore guests often visit their house, among which there is progressive talk about dying art and about a democratic revolution. Among them was the poet Alexei Alekseevich Bessonov . In his poems, he writes that Russia is carrion, and those who compose poetry will burn in hell. In general, the naive and pure Daria Dmitrievna falls in love with this vicious folly. It could never have occurred to her that her adorable sister Katya had already cheated on him with her sweet and good-natured husband.
Treason
The novel “Walking in agony” continued with the fact that Nikolai Ivanovich began to speculate about his wife’s infidelity and even told Dasha about it, but Katya very quickly convinced them that this was complete nonsense. But Dasha nevertheless gets to the truth through Bessonova and then, with her characteristic ardor and spontaneity, makes Katya confess her husband to everything and ask him for forgiveness. As a result, the couple parted, Nikolai Ivanovich - to the Crimea, Katya - to France.
At the same time, Ivan Ilyich Telegin, a decent and kind engineer, was renting out part of his apartment to some strange young people, who often had “futuristic” parties at home, on Vasilievsky Island. And on one of these evenings, thanks to his friend, Dasha comes. She does not understand everything that happens there, but she was attracted by the young engineer Telegin.
Love
The author continues “walking in agony” by the fact that in the summer, Dasha goes to Samara to visit her father - Dmitry Stepanovich Bulavin - and quite unexpectedly on the boat he meets the engineer Ivan Ilyich, who was already dismissed from the factory due to work strikes. They talk nicely and are very sympathetic to each other.
Dasha, having visited her father, goes to the Crimea on his instructions to talk with Katya’s husband and persuade him to reconcile with his wife. In Crimea, she also saw Bessonov completely lost in her thoughts, but the most important thing was that Telegin came to say goodbye to him, he was going to go to the front, because the First World War had begun, and he decided now to confess Daria Dmitrievna's love.
After some time, Bessonov accidentally perishes at the front, this will end his poetic torment. The trilogy goes on to say that when Katya came from France to Moscow, Smokovnikov reconciled with her.
Roshchin
Now, when the war was around, the sisters began to work in a military hospital. Once Nikolai Petrovich leads to the house of the White Guard captain Vadim Petrovich Roshchin who was seconded to the capital to receive equipment. He almost immediately falls in love with Ekaterina Dmitrievna and soon declares her love to her, but does not receive reciprocity.
Tolstoy, “Going through the agony,” continues by saying that one day the sisters would find out to their newspapers that Ensign Telegin was missing. Dasha fell into despair, she still had no idea that he was captured and then several times escaped from the concentration camp, he was almost even shot. But a miracle saved him, and he safely reaches Moscow.
The long-awaited meeting with Dasha was short-lived, and Ivan Ilyich rushed by order to the Baltic plant in Petrograd. On the way, he becomes an accidental witness of how conspirators throw off the body of the murdered Grishka Rasputin into the Neva.
So in front of Telegin, the February Revolution began . Telegin goes to Moscow for Dasha and brings her to Petrograd.
Riots
Katya’s husband takes the post of Commissioner of the Provisional Government and goes to Moscow with great enthusiasm, where rebel soldiers kill him.
Vadim Roshchin comes to the widow to console her. He himself already does not know what to do: neither the Russian army, nor the front are gone. He speaks of Russia as manure under arable land, and that now everything needs to be re-created, and the state, and the army, and then squeeze another soul into people.
On a summer evening in 1917, Vadim and Katya went for a walk along the avenue in Petrograd. And here he decides to confess to Katya in love. At this time, they passed the mansion of the former famous ballerina, which housed the headquarters of the Bolsheviks, who were preparing to seize power. So ends the first part of the novel.
Revolution
The summary (“Going through the agony”) continues in the second book, entitled “The Eighteenth Year.” It describes how terrible, hungry and cold Petersburg has become in a short time, life in it turns into a real torment. Dasha, pregnant with her firstborn, is attacked by robbers, this stress causes premature birth, she has a boy who dies on the third day. Dasha cannot recover from her misfortune, Ivan Ilyich understands that there is no more strength or desire to sit at home, so he goes to serve in the Red Army.
Roshchin at that time in Moscow, he was shell-shocked after the October clashes with the revolutionaries. With Katya, they decide to go to her father in Samara to wait out the revolution there. They were sure that the power of the Bolsheviks would not last until spring. Then Roshchin and Katya leave for Rostov, where a volunteer white army is already being formed, but they do not have time to get there (the detachment received a new task and was forced to leave the city).
Makhnovtsy
Roshchin also feels himself as a fish thrown ashore. “Walking through the agony” further tells that a quarrel occurs on ideological grounds between Vadim and Katya. He leaves to catch up with the volunteers, but before that he enters the Red Guard unit to get to the battle line and go over to his own, which he will do in the end. The brave officer still remains dissatisfied with himself, he begins to suffer greatly from a break with Katya.
Ekaterina Dmitrievna, living in Rostov, soon receives false news about the death of Vadim and is now forced to go to Ekaterinoslav. But on the way, the Makhnovists attack the train. In captivity at the Makhnovists, she meets the former subordinate of Roshchin - Aleksey Krasilnikov, who begins to patronize her.
Vadim, as soon as he received leave, urgently goes for Katya to Rostov, but he does not find her there. At the station, he accidentally meets with Telegin, who was conspiratorial in the White Guard officer. Vadim Petrovich does not betray him, for which he quietly thanks him and instantly disappears.
Dasha
At the same time, Daria Dmitrievna lives in Petrograd, where the Reds and Lenin are building a new workers 'and peasants' state. Once, her old acquaintance Kulichek, a Denikin officer, brought her a letter from her sister. From it she learns that Roshchin died.
Kulichek drags Dasha into underground work against the Bolshevik government, and she moves to Moscow. So the girl works under the leadership of Boris Savinkov, spends time with the anarchists of Mamont Dalsky to cover himself. On the instructions of her underground, she begins to attend various meetings, where Lenin speaks, at which their group is preparing an assassination attempt. His performances make a strong impression on her. And then Daria Dmitrievna breaks all ties with the conspirators and leaves for her father in Samara. Telegin in the form of a white officer also gets there.
Telegin comes to Bulavin and wants to get at least some news about Dasha. Dmitry Stepanovich immediately realized that he was facing a “red reptile”, he distracted Telegin with an old letter from Dasha, and he himself called the counterintelligence. And then there was an unexpected meeting of Telegin with Dasha, at which time she was in her room. They manage to explain themselves, and Ivan Ilyich runs away.
Literally after a while, Telegin, already commanding the regiment, returned for Dasha to Bulavin’s apartment, but she was empty, the windows were broken and Dasha was gone.
Defense of Tsaritsyn
A brief summary (“Walking through the agony”) in the third part of Gloomy Morning tells us that the train of Daria Dmitrievna was attacked by white Cossacks, and now she and her random companion bake potatoes somewhere in the steppe. They need to be in Tsaritsyno, but they find themselves in the position of the Reds, who immediately suspected them of espionage, especially since Dashin's father was the Minister of the White Samara government. However, it later became clear that the regiment commander Melshin knew Dasha’s husband from the German war and the Red Army.
Telegin at this time was transporting ammunition and guns along the Volga to the warring Tsaritsyn. During his defense, he was badly wounded and ended up in a hospital. After a few days, unconscious, having regained consciousness, he sees next to the nurse, who turned out to be his beloved Dasha.
Roshchin and Katya
Roshchin’s ordeals at this time continue, he is absolutely disappointed in his whole life, in Yekaterinoslavl he suddenly finds out that the train in which Katya rode was captured by the Makhnovists. Leaving the suitcase in the hotel and ripping off the shoulder straps of the white officer, he goes to look for her in Gulyaypole at the headquarters of Makhno. There he falls into the hands of Leva Zadov - the head of the Makhnovsky counterintelligence. He tortures Roshchin. But then Makhno takes him to him, so that the Bolsheviks think that he is flirting with the whites, concludes a favorable alliance with the Bolsheviks and, together with them, is going to take Ekaterinoslav, who was under the Petliurists. Roshchin manages to visit the farm where Katya and Alexei Krasilnikov lived, but they have already left, no one knows where.
Vadim Petrovich boldly participates in the battles, but the Petliurists do not surrender the city. Roshchin is injured, and the Reds deliver him to the Kharkov hospital.
Passions run high to the limit in the novel "Walking through the agony." Katya, having barely freed herself from Krasilnikov, who forced her to marry him by force, became a teacher in one of the village schools.
From the hospital, Vadim Petrovich is sent to Kiev to Commissar Chugay. With him, he participates in the defeat of the Green gang and kills Krasilnikov. He does not find Katya.
Happiness
Going through the throes is the main theme in the work, it is very close to the heroes of the novel, everyone will get his own, because the times were really so scary that it’s hard to imagine it.
So, Ivan Ilyich becomes a brigade commander, and one day they introduce him to the chief of staff, in which he recognizes Roshchin. He wanted to arrest him, but everything quickly cleared up.
Katya returns to Moscow to her old apartment on the Arbat, where she once buried her husband and explained to Vadim. Then she gets a job as a teacher, and at one of the meetings for the front-line soldiers she recognizes Vadim Petrovich and faints right there. Telegin and Dasha come to Kate.
Now, finally, everyone has reunited and is in the hall of the Bolshoi Theater. There is a report of Krzyzhanowski on the electrification of Russia. Roshchin points to Lenin and Stalin and tells Katya that they defeated Denikin, that the shed blood and all efforts were not in vain for the sake of such a great thing, when the world began to be rebuilt for good, and that in this hall everyone was ready to give their lives for this. This is a new Russia. Ivan Ilyich, also inspired by these speeches by popular leaders, tells Dasha that he really wants to work. This can be the end of the summary. “Walking through the agony” is a worthy reading work.