A.I. Kuprin is rightfully considered one of the best realist writers who worked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of his favorite topics is love, often tragic, but able to rise above the routine and vulgarity of everyday life. Extraordinary lyricism pervaded the works of the writer "Sulamith", "Olesya", "Garnet Bracelet".
Story creation story
For a long time A. Kuprin was friendly with the Lyubimov family, who occupied a high position in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was the second city that became the scene of the story, which the heroine’s son described as anecdotal, and the writer used as the basis when he wrote the work “Garnet Bracelet”. In 1910, under the pen of a talented writer, she turned into the plot of one of the most “fragrant” (K. Paustovsky's definition) works of love.
How was everything in reality?
In the book “In a Foreign Land”, L. Lyubimov talks about love (or painful passion - the family considered the telegraph operator a maniac) of a simple Yellow official to Lyudmila Ivanovna Tugan-Baranovskaya, his mother. For two or three years, he sent her anonymous letters, filled either with a declaration of love or with a grunt. The reluctance to open your name was explained by different social status and understanding of the impossibility of any kind of relationship between them. Mother, according to L. Lyubimov, soon stopped reading these messages, and only the grandmother laughed every morning, getting acquainted with the new letter. Perhaps this would have ended, but once the telegraph lover sent a gift - a garnet bracelet. The creation of a situation that could be regarded as compromising was the last straw: Lyudmila Ivanovna's brother and groom went to the Yellow House - it was a wretched attic on the 6th floor - and caught him writing another message. The bracelet was returned to the telegrapher and asked no more to remind about themselves. About the fate of the Yellow in the Lyubimov family did not hear anything else. So the real story ended. A. Kuprin rethought it and included it in the story “Pomegranate Bracelet”, adding to its ending version.
The whole point in the finale
That is exactly what L. Lyubimov thought when evaluating the role of real events in creating a work of art. A. Kuprin conceived the incident with Lyudmila Ivanovna. In his story, Zheltkov, a poor telegraph operator, wrote to Vera Nikolaevna, the main character, a farewell letter and passed away. Upon learning of his death, V.N.Sheina goes to his apartment, wanting to look at the now dead secret admirer, and then fulfills Zheltkov's last wish - he listens to Beethoven’s 2 sonata. At this moment, she comes to the realization of how pure, disinterested and hopeless this love was. So ends the “Garnet Bracelet”, the history of which has become a creative rethinking of the essence of a common phenomenon in people's lives.
The role of the epigraph in the story
The appearance of Beethoven's 2 sonatas in the story is not an accident. The fact is that in 1910 A. Kuprin, who lived for some time in Odessa, often visited the Meisels family, where he heard this piece of music. His impression was so strong that after returning home, the writer decides to write about the bright and pure feeling that the poor official had for a noble lady. His first step was the phrase: “L. van Beethoven. 2 Son. (op. 2, No. 2). Largo Appassionato ”, recorded on a piece of paper and then served as an epigraph to the telegraph’s love story.
The Beethoven Sonata begins the narrative and ends with it, giving the composition a compositional completeness. As a result, Kuprin forms a single trio in the final. Great music that can awaken drowsiness in a person and make you take a fresh look at the world. True love, which does not require anything in return and therefore exists forever. Death that exalts a person who can sacrifice himself for the well-being of another.
Thus, “Garnet Bracelet” is the story of the creation of one great work - literary - under the influence of another - real music.
The meaning of the name
An equally important role in awakening the heroine was played by the bracelet given to her by Zheltkov. Rough and rustic at first glance, he concealed a great secret. For a long time there are legends that pomegranate, a very rare stone that strikes with its beauty, can bring happiness to the owner. Presented as a gift, he often played the role of an amulet. And in the story of A. Kuprin, this heirloom endowed its owner with the gift of foresight. It can be assumed that, together with the bracelet, Zheltkov wanted to convey to his beloved a piece of his pure and holy soul, which would protect her for the rest of her life.
The realization of the spiritual wealth of a previously stranger to her and the understanding that something most important in life has passed by comes to Vera Nikolaevna after the hero’s death. His experiences and actions forced the secular lady to take a fresh look at herself and the world around. So love in the “Pomegranate Bracelet”, even unrequited and tragic, awakens a person’s soul, fills it with new emotions and feelings.
Anthem of selfless love
A. Kuprin admitted that "... nothing more chaste ..." than "Pomegranate Bracelet", in his life he did not write. He does not give moral assessments in the story and does not try to search for the right and the guilty in what happened. The author simply tells of the vivid and at the same time sad experiences of the heroes at a time when people, according to Anosov, “forgot how to love.” During the conversation, the general notes: "Love must be a tragedy." Maybe because true love is actually very rare in life and available to units. The yolk, not understood by anyone, dies, but he leaves an old garnet bracelet as a memory of himself and as a symbol of sincere, beautiful feelings.
The story behind the story is amazing. Having beaten the usual life situation, A. Kuprin was able to show that true love is the basis of all life on earth.