A remarkable Russian classic who brilliantly succeeded in short and long stories (just remember “Shulamith”), A. I. Kuprin was born in 1870 in the family of a hereditary nobleman. A man who sincerely loved his homeland experienced a difficult emigration. In 1936 he was allowed to return to Russia, but the writer did not find the strength to recover from his experience, and in 1938 he died in Leningrad. The best years of life came at the turn of the century. There was talent, a desire to write, there were friends and family. A.I. Kuprin, a zest for life and an unusually prolific writer, was incredibly popular in the years that his work flourished. Entering Chekhov (at one time he looked after the playwright’s sister Masha, and even competed with his friend Bunin in this enterprise), the talented prose writer learned the classic’s advice about the brevity of the story as an indicator of talent.
Nikolai Almazov - a typical intellectual
Nothing is said about Kuprin’s appearance in Kuprin’s story “Lilac bush”, and Verochka is described as a beauty. She is mobile, she has a beautiful, nervous face. The fact that she madly loves her husband, no doubt for a second. If a woman is next to a loved one, she is usually happy. Beautiful, loving and beloved, very energetic, resourceful and enterprising - this is the characteristic of Vera Almazova.
Her beloved husband, one can assume, was also handsome - because for something, she loved him so selflessly. A. I. Kuprin in two phrases describes an indecisive, uninitiated, subject to decadent moods of a person. An annoying alarmist is a brief description of Nikolai Almazov. Although, how not to panic when the threat of the rank of a qualified engineer is threatened, and with it the hope of a decent, comfortable life. Everything was given to him with great difficulty. He failed twice in entrance exams to the Academy of the General Staff. If not for the wife, there would be neither a second nor a third (successful) income. The comparative characteristics of Nicholas and Vera Almazovs are clearly not in favor of the first.
There are people who find things harder than others, and this does not produce fierce enthusiasm for them, but on the contrary, plunges them into gloom. But, obviously, he is kind, in his own way recognizes the supremacy of his wife. Everything rests on her. Difficulties seem to be whipping up the wife; she is feverishly seeking and finding a way out of this situation.
Will enter a burning hut ...
The comparative characteristics of Nicholas and Vera Almazovs do not mean that they are antagonists, but that they rather complement each other.
The story begins with the arrival of an extremely upset husband home - he can hardly wait for the moment when his wife opens the door to him. He falls into an armchair, squeezes his hands to a crunch, throws a briefcase, scatters drawings. At the moment, his life is over or passed by. He frustrates his wife. And so, obviously, it was always or often, because the author speaks of the habit developed by Verochka to meet trouble with a cheerful smile.
Although the lieutenant is obviously a talented person. The last, final drawing of the area, according to experts, was made excellently, it is beautifully painted (illuminated), but the trouble is, at the last moment a tired diplomat puts a green blot at 3 a.m. Trying to remove it makes it worse. In order to somehow get out of the situation, he draws bushes in this place. But if he immediately turned to Vera for help, maybe everything would have worked out, because her secretary's talents are enviable. Throughout the four years of her education, she was her husband's right hand. The difficulty is that the teacher, to whom the drawing was handed over, did not believe in the existence of bushes in the place of the blot, because he knew the site, according to Nikolai, "better than his bedroom." Word for word, and in the presence of a large number of people, Nikolai was offered a trip to the area the next day in the early morning. The lieutenant faces the bleak prospect of a shameful return to the regiment, the impossibility of receiving education in the near future, and public accusation of lying. Nikolay is sour, suffering, growling and dormant.
Cell of capitalist Russia
The comparative characteristics of Nicholas and Vera Almazov do not humiliate her husband - he is as he is. It’s just that Nikolai would not have taken place without Vera, in any case, as a specialist. It was she, Verochka Almazova, who stirred him, forced him to tell everything, came up with a plan, collected and laid down her jewelry, including a family ring with a diamond. It was she who found the gardener, persuaded him, convinced him to pick up the workers at night and plant bushes on the site, to overlay them with turf so that everything looked natural. Vera interfered with all her fussiness, so she wanted to implement her plan. Everything worked out. The leader was convinced of the existence of bushes and apologized, explaining everything with forgetfulness in old age. The next day, this young woman, who was fully inherent in the typically Russian selfless sacrifice, peeping out at her husband (it was decidedly impossible to go with him), instantly realized, felt right away that everything would be fine next ..
An amazing story - capacious, interesting and infinitely cute.
Everything ended wonderfully
A very short story (only 4-5 pages) “Lilac Bush”, published in 1894, clearly demonstrates Kuprin's skill as a novelist. Describing just a day in the life of a small (he and his wife) lieutenant's family, the story presents a fairly clear picture of that time - the relationship of people, Russian characters, the purchasing power of the ruble, finally. Laughing couple walking along the street, holding hands, and causing astonishment of passers-by, stands before the eyes of the reader. The street of the suburb (because the object depicted in the drawing was obviously outside the city), a young engineer and his beautiful wife wander along it. They are happy. By presenting this, one can make the first comparative characteristics of Nicholas and Vera Almazov. The family laughed at home, looking at each other and at the same time remembering the same situations.
Reading pre-revolutionary writers is necessary if only to know what kind of Russia we have lost. It is impossible to imagine what happened to this loving couple after 1917 ...