Doctors in Russian classical literature. Project work on literature "the image of a doctor in Russian literature" The image of a physician in fiction and journalism

Anikin A.A.

The image of a doctor in Russian literature is a topic that is little touched upon in literary criticism, but its significance for culture is very great. The motives of illness and healing, in literal and symbolic meanings, permeate both folklore, and religion, and any kind of art in any nation, since they "penetrate" life itself. Literature gives an aesthetic, not worldly, but deeply vital cut of being, therefore here we are not talking about professional information proper, here they do not learn any craft, but only understanding, seeing the world: every profession has its own, special angle of view. And we can talk about the artistic, including semantic, meaning of the depicted case. The task of the history of medicine is to show how the appearance of a doctor and his professional qualities are changing. Literature will touch upon this indirectly, only to the extent of reflecting life: what the artist sees in the medical field and what aspects of life are open to the eyes of the doctor.

Literature is also a kind of medicine - spiritual. Poetry has gone far from, perhaps, the first appeals of the word to the cause of healing: in their own way, poetic conspiracies, spells were designed for genuine healing from ailments. Now such a goal is seen only in a symbolic meaning: "Each verse heals the beast's soul" (S. Yesenin). Therefore, in classical literature we are focused on the hero-doctor, not the author-healer (shaman, medicine man, etc.). And in order to comprehend our topic, its antiquity, which goes back in different variations to the pre-written word, should cause some caution in the analysis. One should not be deceived by light and decisive generalizations, such as what doctors-writers say about medicine, because in general, almost every classic novel contains at least an episodic figure of a doctor. On the other hand, the perspective of the theme suggests unconventional interpretations of familiar works.

And how convenient it would be to focus only on A.P. Chekhov!.. To use the famous aphorism about "wife-medicine" and "literature-mistress" ... Here the word "for the first time" so beloved by literary critics could appear: for the first time in Chekhov's literature fully reflected the appearance of the domestic physician, his selflessness, his tragedy etc. Then came Veresaev, Bulgakov. Indeed, as if thanks to Chekhov, literature looked at life through the eyes of a doctor, not a patient. But there were doctors-writers even before Chekhov, and it would be more accurate to say: it's not about the biography of the author; in literature XIX century, a rapprochement with medicine was prepared. Isn't that why literature appealed too loudly to healers, constantly complaining either about hemorrhoids, or about catarrhs, or about "a breeze"? Not jokingly, it is clear that not a single profession was perceived as meaningful as the position of a physician. Was it so important whether the hero of literature is a count or a prince, an artilleryman or an infantryman, a chemist or a botanist, an official or even a teacher? Another thing is a doctor, such an image-profession is always not only meaningful, but symbolic. In one of his letters, Chekhov said that he "cannot come to terms with such professions as prisoners, officers, priests" (8, 11, 193). But there are specialties that the writer recognizes as a "genre" (Chekhov's expression), and it is the doctor who always bears such a genre, i.e. increased semantic load, even when it appears in the work fleetingly, in a short episode, in one line. For example, in Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" it is enough for the lines "everyone sends Onegin to the doctors, They send him to the waters in unison", and the flavor of the genre is obvious. Just as in "Dubrovsky", where only once you will meet a "doctor, fortunately not a complete ignoramus": the profession of "teacher" Deforge hardly carries a semantic accent, in medicine, the intonation of the author is clearly embedded, which, as you know, in his time "ran away from Aesculapius, thin, shaved, but alive." The image of a doctor in Gogol is deeply symbolic - from the charlatan Christian Gibner ("The Government Inspector") to the "Grand Inquisitor" in "A Madman's Notes". Werner is important to Lermontov precisely as a doctor. Tolstoy will show how a surgeon, after an operation, kisses a wounded patient on the lips ("War and Peace"), and behind all this is the unconditional presence of the symbolic coloring of the profession: the doctor, by position, is close to the basics and essences of being: birth, life, suffering, compassion, decline , resurrection, torment and torment, finally, death itself (Compare: "I am convinced of only one thing ... That ... one fine morning I will die" - Werner's words from "A Hero of Our Time"). These motives, of course, capture the personality of everyone, but it is in the doctor that they are concentrated as something due, like fate. That is why, by the way, a bad or false physician is so acutely perceived: he is a charlatan of existence itself, and not only of his profession. The perception of medicine as a purely bodily matter in Russian literature also has a negative connotation. Turgenevsky Bazarov only on the verge of his death realizes that a person is involved in the struggle of spiritual entities: "She denies you, and that's it!" - he will say about death as about acting person life drama, not a medical death. The symbolism of the doctor is directly related to the Orthodox spirituality of Russian literature. The doctor in the highest sense is Christ, who casts out the most ferocious ailments with his Word, moreover, he conquers death. Among the parable images of Christ - a shepherd, a builder, a bridegroom, a teacher, etc. - the doctor is also noted: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Matt. 9:12). It is this context that gives rise to the utmost exactingness to the "esculapius", and therefore even Chekhov's attitude towards the doctor is harsh and critical: he who knows only how to bleed and treat all diseases with soda is too far from the Christian path, if he does not become hostile to it (cf. Gogol : Christian Gibner - the death of Christ), but even the ability of the most capable doctor cannot be compared with the miracle of Christ.

A.P. Chekhov, of course, will stand at the center of our topic, but one cannot fail to note several authors who preceded him, at least giving doctors in Russian literature as the leading heroes of their works. And it will be Dr. Krupov from Herzen's works and Turgenev's Bazarov. Of course, Dr. Werner from A Hero of Our Time meant a lot. So, already before Chekhov, a certain tradition arises, so some seemingly purely Chekhovian finds will most likely turn out to be unconscious, but variations of his predecessors. For example, it will be typical for Chekhov to show the hero's choice of one of two paths: either a doctor or a priest ("Belated Flowers", "Ward No. 6", letters), but this motif will already be found in Herzen; Chekhov's hero has long conversations with the mentally ill - and this is also the motive of Herzen's "Injured"; Chekhov will talk about getting used to someone else's pain - Herzen will also say the same ("Our brother is hard to surprise ... We get used to death from a young age, nerves get stronger, dull in hospitals", 1, I, 496, "Doctor, dying and dead"). In a word, the beloved “for the first time” should be used with caution, and we have so far only touched on particulars, and not the very perception of the medical field, for an example.

Lermontovsky Werner, in turn, was clearly a guide for Herzen. A number of scenes in the novel "Who is to blame?" generally echo the "Hero of Our Time", but we note that it is Herzen, perhaps due to his biography (cruel illnesses and death in his family), who is especially attached to the image of a doctor (see: "Who is to blame?", "Doctor Krupov" , "Aphorismata", - associated with common hero Semyon Krupov, then "For the sake of boredom", "Injured", "Doctor, the dying and the dead" - i.e. all major works of art, except for "Thieving Magpie"). Nevertheless, the presence of just an episodic Lermontov doctor is strong everywhere: a gloomy and ironic state, the constant presence of death in thoughts, disgust for worldly worries and even for family, a sense of being chosen and superior among people, tense and impenetrable inner world Finally, Werner's black clothes, which are deliberately "exacerbated" by Herzen: his hero is already dressed "in two black frock coats: one all buttoned up, the other all unbuttoned" (1, 8, 448). Let us recall Werner's concise summary: "He is a skeptic and a materialist, like almost all doctors, and at the same time a poet, and in earnest - a poet in deed always and often in words, although in his life he did not write two verses. He studied everything living strings of the human heart, as one studies the veins of a corpse, but he never knew how to use his knowledge ... Werner surreptitiously mocked his patients; but ... he wept over a dying soldier ... the irregularities of his skull would have struck a phrenologist with a strange plexus of opposite His small black eyes, always restless, tried to penetrate your thoughts... The youth called him Mephistopheles... it (nickname - A.A.) flattered his vanity "(6, 74). As is customary in Pechorin's journal, Werner only confirms this characterization. Moreover, his character is the imprint of the profession, as can be seen from the text, and not just the play of nature. Let us add or highlight - the inability to use the knowledge of life, unfolding personal destinies, which is emphasized by the usual familylessness of the doctor (“I am incapable of this,” Werner), but often does not exclude the ability to deeply influence women. In a word, there is some demonism in the doctor, but also a hidden humanity, and even naivety in the expectation of good (this can be seen with the participation of Werner in a duel). Spiritual development makes Werner condescendingly treat both a sick person and the possibilities of medicine: a person exaggerates suffering, and medicine gets off with simple means like sour-sulfur baths, or even promises that, they say, it will heal before the wedding (this is how one can understand from Werner's advice).

Herzen generally develops Werner's character, his "genesis". If Chekhov's doctor Ragin from "Ward No. 6" wanted to be a priest, but because of the influence of his father, as if involuntarily became a doctor, then Krupov's choice of a medical field is not coercion, but a passionate dream: born in the family of a deacon, he was supposed to become a minister of the church , but wins - and already contrary to the father - an obscure, but powerful attraction to initially mysterious medicine, that is, as we understand it, the desire for real philanthropy, embodied mercy and healing of one's neighbor wins in a spiritually excited personality. But the origin of the character is not accidental: the religious spiritual height passes to the real path, and it is expected that it is medicine that will satisfy spiritual searches, and in dreams it may also turn out to be the material reverse side of religion. Not the last role here is played by the unattractive, according to Herzen, church environment, which repels the hero, here people "are struck by an excess of flesh, so that they rather resemble the image and likeness of pancakes than the Lord God" (1, I, 361). However, genuine medicine, not in the dreams of a young man, influences Krupov in its own way: in the medical field, he discovers the "backstage side of life" hidden from many; Krupov is shocked by the revealed pathology of man and even of being itself, youthful faith in the beauty of natural man is replaced by a vision of the disease in everything, the painfulness of consciousness is especially acutely experienced. Again, as would later be in the spirit of Chekhov, Krupov spends everything, even festive time, in a lunatic asylum, and an aversion to life ripens in him. Let us compare Pushkin: the famous testament "morality is in the nature of things", i.e. a person is naturally moral, reasonable, beautiful. For Krupov, man is not "homo sapiens", but "homo insanus" (8.435) or "homo ferus" (1, 177): a crazy man and a wild man. Nevertheless, Krupov speaks more definitely than Werner about his love for this "sick" person: "I love children, but I love people in general" (1, I, 240). Krupov, not only in his profession, but also in everyday life, seeks to heal people, and in Herzen this motive is close to his own pathos of a revolutionary publicist: to heal a sick society. In the story “Doctor Krupov”, Herzen with an obsessive claim presents the essentially shallow and not even witty “ideas” of Krupov, who considers the whole world, the whole history as madness, while the origins of the madness of history are in the always sick human consciousness: for Krupov there is no healthy human brain , just as there is no pure mathematical pendulum in nature (1, 8, 434).

Such a "flight" of Krupo's mournful thought in this story seems unexpected for the readers of the novel "Who is to blame?", where the doctor is shown, in any case, outside world-historical generalizations, which looked more artistically true. There, Herzen showed that in a provincial environment, Krupov turns into a resonant inhabitant: "the inspector (Krupov - A.A.) was a man who became lazy in provincial life, but nevertheless a man" (1, 1, 144). In later works, the image of the doctor begins to claim something grandiose. Thus, Herzen sees the ideal vocation of a doctor in an unusually broad way. But ... broadly in design, not in artistic embodiment, in the outline of a great scheme, and not in the philosophy of a doctor. Here the claims of the revolutionary take precedence over the possibilities of the artist in Herzen. The writer is primarily concerned with the "disease" of society, which is why Krupov is already in the novel "Who is to blame?" He does not heal so much as he thinks about everyday life and arranges the fate of the Kruciferskys, Beltov, and others. His purely medical skills are given remotely, they are precisely “told”, but they are not “shown”. Thus, the capacious phrase that Krupov "belongs all day to his patients" (1, 1, 176) remains only a phrase for the novel, although, of course, Herzen's doctor is not only not a charlatan, but the most sincere an ascetic of his work - a work, however, which is in the shadow of an artistic design. It is the human and ideological aspects of a doctor that are important to Herzen: without being a charlatan, his hero must reflect Herzen's understanding of the influence of medicine on the doctor's personality. For example, in the episode when Krupov disregarded the requirements of the arrogant nobleman, did not arrive immediately at his capricious call, but ended up taking delivery from the cook, the social, rather than actually medical, perspective is much more significant.

And here Herzen in the story "For the sake of boredom" speaks of "patriocracy", i.e. about the utopian management of the affairs of society by none other than doctors, ironically calling them "general-headquarters-archiatrs of the medical empire." And, despite the irony, this is a completely “serious” utopia - the “state of doctors”, - after all, the hero of the story rejects irony: “Laugh as much as you like ... But before the advent of the medical kingdom, it’s far away, and you have to treat continuously” (1, 8, 459). The hero of the story is not just a doctor, but a socialist, a humanist by conviction ("I am by profession for treatment, not for murder" 1, 8, 449), as if brought up on the journalism of Herzen himself. As you can see, literature persistently wants the doctor to take up a broader field: he is a potentially wise ruler of this world, he has dreams of an earthly god or a generous king-father of this world. However, the utopian nature of this character in the story "Boredom for the sake of" is obvious, although for the author it is very bright. The hero, on the one hand, often finds himself at a dead end before ordinary everyday vicissitudes, on the other hand, he treats the idea of ​​a “medical kingdom” with bitterness: “If people really start to improve, moralists will be the first to remain fools, then who should be corrected?” (1, 8.469). And Titus of Leviathan from "Aphorismata" will even hopefully object to Krupov in the sense that madness will not disappear, will never be cured, and the story ends with a hymn to "great and patronizing madness" (1, 8, 438) ... So, the doctor remains eternal reasoner, and his very practice gives him a quick succession of observations and - sharp, ironic "recipes".

Finally, let us touch on the last feature of Herzen's hero-doctor in this case. The doctor, albeit utopianly, claims to be much, it is the universe (“a real doctor must be a cook, a confessor, and a judge”, 1, 8, 453), and he does not need religion, he is emphatically anti-religious. The idea of ​​the kingdom of God is his spiritual rival, and he treats both the church and religion in every possible way (“The so-called that light, about which, according to my studies in the dissecting room, I had the least chance to make any observations”, 1, 8, 434 ). The point is not at all in the notorious materialism of the doctor's consciousness: he wants to replace all authorities with his career with the most good goal; "Patrocracy" - in a word. In "The Damaged" the hero already talks about the coming overcoming of death (this closest rival for the doctor) precisely thanks to medicine ("people will be treated for death", 1, I, 461). True, the utopian side of Herzen is everywhere associated with self-irony, but this is rather coquetry next to a seemingly such a bold idea. In a word, here too, with the invasion of the motive of immortality into medicine, Herzen predetermined a lot in the heroic doctors of Chekhov and in Turgenev's Bazarov, to which we now turn: the doctor Bazarov will be spiritually broken in the fight against death; Dr. Ragin will turn away from medicine and from life in general, since immortality is unattainable.

The choice of the hero-doctor in the novel "Fathers and Sons" is rather a spirit of the times than an author's creed; Turgenev generally does not have such an excessive passion for the symbolic interpretation of medicine as Herzen: landowners often treat peasants for nothing to do, using their authority according to their position (cf. Lipin in Rudin, Nikolai Kirsanov and others). However, the perception of Bazarov as a doctor is a necessary perspective for understanding the novel as a whole. Moreover, we will have other doctors in the novel, including Vasily Ivanovich Bazarov, which is far from accidental: the doctors are father and son.

In "Fathers and Sons" Turgenev shows how easily the external side of life changes, how the apparent abyss lies between children and their parents, how the new trend of the times seems omnipotent, but sooner or later a person realizes that being remains unchanged - not on the surface, but in its essence: a powerful, cruel, and sometimes beautiful eternity breaks an arrogant person who imagines himself a "giant" (Evg. Bazarov's word) ... What is the connection with the medical field? ..

The vital content embedded both in the novel and in the hero-doctor is so capacious that sometimes the hero's profession remains in vain. D. Pisarev's textbook and lengthy article "Bazarov" does not seriously concern the professional field of this hero, as if this is not an artistic, but actually a biographical feature: that's how life has developed. "He will engage in medicine partly to pass the time, partly as a bread and useful craft" - this is the most meaningful quote from the article regarding Bazarov the physician. Meanwhile, Bazarov and the doctor are not so ordinary, and most importantly, this character is in many ways due to medicine; again, the point is not in the superficial materialism of the hero of that time, these influences are much more important and subtle.

Unlike Krupov's biography, we do not know how Bazarov came to medicine (although there is a sexton in his family too!); unlike, for example, Zosimov from Crime and Punishment, Bazarov does not value his profession at all, and rather remains an eternal amateur in it. This is a doctor who defiantly laughs at medicine, does not believe in its prescription. Odintsova is surprised at this (“do you yourself say that medicine does not exist for you”), Father Bazarov cannot agree with this (“At least you laugh at medicine, but I’m sure you can give me good advice”), this angers Pavel Kirsanov - in a word, there is an obsessive paradox: the doctor is a nihilist who denies medicine ("We now laugh at medicine in general"). Later, we will show, in Chekhov, that there is no place for laughter here for a genuine doctor: dejection at the state of the hospital, the tragedy of the doctor's impotence, delight in achievements and other things, but not laughter. At the same time, not a single hero will recommend himself as a doctor (or doctor) as strongly as Evg. Bazarov. And although the consciousness of this hero is characterized by an inability to resolve both everyday and worldview contradictions, the explanation here is different: the type of doctor is important for Bazarov, the image of a person who influences his neighbor, rebuilds people and who is expected as a savior. Isn't that what a doctor is? However, he wants to be a savior in a wider field (cf .: "After all, he will not achieve the fame that you prophesy for him in the medical field? - Of course, not in the medical field, although in this respect he will be one of the first scientists" (7, 289): an indicative dialogue between Father Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov at a time when Yevgeny's life is already measured by only weeks, soon, in his own words, "burdock will grow out of him"). Deprived himself of any intuition in the approach of his death, Bazarov holds himself as an unconditional authority, and medicine here plays the role of a constant halo around the hero: touching on the depths of life that medicine reveals, Bazarov obviously surpasses the others who do not dare to so easily throw witticisms about the anatomical theater, hemorrhoids, it’s so easy to practice opening corpses (cf. - just lotions used by patients Nik. Kirsanov). The patient’s appeal to the helpless and “same” bodies in all of them also determines the anti-class position typical of a raznochinets: in illness or an anatomical woman, a man and a pillar nobleman are equal, and the prosector-grandson of a deacon turns into a powerful figure (“after all, I’m a giant,” says Eugene ). From this "gigantomania" - and laughter at a field so necessary for him: medicine itself becomes a kind of rival, which also needs to be destroyed, how to suppress everyone around - from friends to parents.

Is Bazarov good or bad as a doctor? In simple matters, he is a good practitioner, but rather a paramedic (skillfully bandages, tears his teeth), treats the child well ("he ... half jokingly, half yawning, sat for two hours and helped the child" - cf. Zosimov takes care of Raskolnikov "not jokingly and without yawning", is generally capable of not sleeping at night with a patient, without claiming an excessive reputation: every "medical" step of Bazarov has been turned into a sensation). Nevertheless, he treats medicine more as an entertainment, affecting, however, such sensitive aspects of life. So, with his parents, it was out of boredom that Bazarov began to participate in his father's "practice", as always making fun of medicine and his father. The central episode of his "entertainment" - the autopsy and infection - speaks not only of Bazarov's lack of professionalism, but also symbolically - of a kind of revenge on the part of the ridiculed profession. So is Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov wrong when he says that Bazarov is a charlatan, and not a doctor? ..

Professionally, Bazarov will most likely remain a failed doctor, no matter how they exalt him all around (Vasily Ivanovich will say that "Emperor Napoleon does not have such a doctor"; by the way, this is also a kind of tradition: turning to Napoleon (I or III?) reflects on the doctor, such is Lorrey, the doctor of Napoleon I, at Herzen and in the famous episode of wounding Andrei Bolkonsky at Tolstoy; in the latter case, the recovery, almost miraculous, thanks to the icon, at Prince Andrei contrary to the "Napoleonic" verdict of the doctor). So for Turgenev, vital, and not professional, content is important in the novel. Let's return to how the profession leaves its mark on the character. Neither a chemist nor a botanist can so unequivocally reduce a person to corporality as the failed doctor Bazarov: Marriage? - "We, physiologists, know the relationship between a man and a woman"; Eye beauty? - "Study the anatomy of the eye, what is there mysterious"; Perceptual sensitivity? - "Nerves are dissolved"; Heavy mood? - "I overate raspberries, overheated in the sun, and my tongue is yellow." Life constantly shows that such physiology does not explain anything, but his stubbornness is not just a character trait: reducing everything to physicality, Bazarov always puts himself above the world, only this makes him, like his growth, the notorious "giant". Here, by the way, is the source of Bazarov's unbelief: there is no religion in the body, but the idea of ​​God does not allow one to exalt oneself in a satanic way (remark by Pavel Kirsanov): God is the rival of the Bazarovs.

The idea of ​​a sick society or crazy history is logical and simple for a physician (Krupov). Bazarov loves simplifications, and such an idea could not help but arise in him: "Moral diseases ... from the ugly state of society. Correct society - and there will be no diseases." Therefore, he secretly dreams about the fate of ... Speransky (cf. in the novel "War and Peace"), and not Pirogov or Zakharyin (see below in Chekhov). Bazarov will constantly play the role of a healer and diagnostician of the society (instant diagnoses for the entire Kirsanov family and family, almost everyone he meets), because there are patients or "actors" of the anatomical theater around. Of course, Turgenev shows that Bazarov does not cure anything in society, lives only with hints of activity, but his "physiologism" always introduces something sharp, touching, but this is more a boldness of speech than deed. Bazarov's rude, "non-medical" witticisms ("sometimes stupid and senseless," Turgenev notes) introduce some kind of commonplace piquancy, but this piquancy is akin to swearing: this is how Bazarov's "hemorrhoids" sound at the table in a decent Kirsanov's house.

In the image of Bazarov, this angle is also interesting. His healing is always (until the very scene of his death) directed at another, and not at himself. Bazarov himself did not become his patient, although there are plenty of reasons for this. A condescending remark - "Now the cigar is not tasty, the car is stuck" (7, 125) - does not count. For the rest, Bazarov, with unnatural perseverance, creates his image as an exceptionally healthy person (let's cure society, the "other", but not ourselves), healthy both physically and mentally: "than others, but this is not a sin", "that's all, you know , not my part", etc. At the same time, it should be noted that where Bazarov plays "superman", he is uninteresting and monotonous, partly coquettish and deceitful, but all the flavor of the character is in painful states, when some kind of terrible, unhealthy doom blows from Bazarov; feelings of meaninglessness and emptiness of life embrace him, like no other hero of "Fathers and Sons", not even striving to emphasize his absolute health. And this, by the way, is an important medical symptom - only from that area of ​​​​medicine, which Bazarov practically did not touch: psychiatry. Around Bazarov in literature there are heroes-doctors who see in psychiatry, perhaps, the highest medical vocation (Krupov, Zosimov, Chekhov's heroes). Bazarov, on the other hand, is either ignorant of this, or deliberately avoids observations that are dangerous to himself. One day, P.P. Kirsanov is “diagnosed” as an “idiot”: we don’t know if there is a large share of psychiatry here, although Pavel Petrovich’s neuroses will hardly raise doubts, but these are precisely neuroses, maybe a slight paranoia. But wouldn't it be more correct to see features of psychopathy in Bazarov himself? However, Turgenev shows that Bazarov perceives himself far from “adequately”, and the gospel motive “doctor, heal yourself” (Lk., 4, 23) is absolutely alien to this “dokhtur” (until we touch on the scenes of his death). The lively artistic character of Bazarov is dotted with neurotic and paranoid traits: this is not the author's tendency, Turgenev did not force his hero to drink ink or urine, bark like a dog or forget the calendar, but the ground for observations here is the widest, although not entirely relevant to our topic. We will only name a number of details, since the very moment of the doctor’s addressing exclusively to the “other”, and not to himself, is important to us, which we will highlight in Bazarov. So, Zosimova, Krupova or Ragin could not help but be alarmed not only by Bazarov’s feverish and sometimes incoherent * speeches (like “A Russian person is good only because he has a bad opinion of himself” and for some reason: “It is important that twice two - four, and the rest is all nonsense", 7, 207; by the way, and the amusing "falling out" of the link that Bazarov himself is Russian, as he insists nearby). The very plot of the novel rests on nervous restlessness, a kind of mania of avoidance, disappearance from Bazarov: he always runs away somewhere unexpectedly: from the Kirsanovs to the city, from the city to Odintsova, from there to his parents, again to Odintsova, again to the Kirsanovs and again from parents; moreover, he always runs to where his nerves are very restless, and he knows it. For the plot, this is the same as getting up and leaving, without saying a word, from Kukshina, among his favorite champagne, or suddenly disappearing abruptly during a conversation with Odintsova: he "looks angrily and cannot sit still, as if something was tempting him "(7, 255); Bazarov is also covered by other seizures - rabies: in conversations with Odintsova, Pavel Kirsanov; main stage- a conversation with Arkady by a haystack, when Bazarov seriously scares his friend: "I'll grab you by the throat now ... - The face (Bazarova - A.A.) seemed so ominous, such a serious threat seemed to him in the wry smile of his lips, in burning eyes ... "Bazarov sees painful dreams, very convenient for a psychoanalyst. Actually, Turgenev, as if feeling this line in Bazarov, ends the novel not just with the death of the hero, but with death in a state of insanity (cf.: "after all, even the unconscious are communed"). Such is the “death dream” about the “red dogs” (“It’s like I’m drunk,” Bazarov will say), but the dream before the duel is no “weaker”, where Odintsova turns out to be Bazarov’s mother, Fenichka is a cat, Pavel Petrovich is a “big forest” ( cf. in a dream about "red dogs" Bazarov is pursued by his father in the form of a hunting dog, and also, obviously, in the forest: "You made a stand over me, like over a black grouse"). Sleep is always difficult for Bazarov, is it not because he so painfully demands that they not look at him when he sleeps * - more than a capricious demand in a conversation with Arkady: what is more here - concern for his greatness (motive - "everyone has a stupid face in a dream", to prevent the collapse of the idol), fear of one's dreams, but the demand is schizophrenic categorically. The state of hysteria, depression, megalomania - all this is scattered in the speeches and actions of Bazarov. Such a vividly described delirium on the eve of death: "The butcher sells meat ... I'm confused ... There is a forest here" is partly the key to Bazarov's neuroses: excitement from the flesh, love for meat (cf. in the text the opposition of bread - meat) and again the forest - just like in dreams. The roots of neuroses lie in childhood impressions. The hero himself is very stingy with stories about himself, his childhood is also not covered by the plot, and all the more significant is Bazarov’s strange (and extremely rare) and not quite clear recollection that in childhood the circle of his perception was closed on an aspen and a pit in the parental estate, which for some reason they seemed to him some kind of talisman. This is a picture of some painful, lonely childhood in the mind of a painfully impressionable child. Considering Bazarov's dreams, the motives of childhood "mother - father - home" are overgrown with soreness, while "forest", apparently, is associated with children's fear, "pit" is also a rather negative image. We repeat once again that it is too early to generalize such material in this chapter, but it is necessary to note its presence in the novel and its connection with the line of Bazarov the doctor.

Note that the proposed characterization of the famous hero, of course, is debatable. In addition, the proposed specific assessment cannot reject the established tradition in the interpretation of "Fathers and Sons". .

In the picture of Bazarov’s death, they rightly see a high sound, this is not only nonsense, but also a powerful attempt to play the role of a “giant” to the end, even when the chimeras erected by the hero are collapsing: he is already wavering in godlessness (an appeal to parental prayer), he is already frank in requests about help and recognition of a woman ("It's royal" - about the arrival of Odintsova: where is the "anatomical theater" or contempt for a woman). Finally, Bazarov passes away precisely as a doctor: he is all focused on the signs of a fatal illness, firmly sees the course of death; Bazarov finally turned like a doctor to himself. There is no laughter at medicine, as well as at their three colleagues, although both the German and the county doctor are shown by Turgenev almost as a caricature, the maximum exertion of will definitely transforms Bazarov (see also about this in Ch. " Extra person"), but he is already defeated. In line with our topic, we can say that this is a belated transformation of the hero; ridiculed medicine seems to take revenge, as the whole life ridiculed and insulted by Bazarov takes revenge.

So, Turgenev considers the doctor both as a social figure and as a source of deep, sometimes unconscious life impressions that are inaccessible to other heroes. It is impossible, however, not to note that not every doctor will turn out to be Bazarov (maybe for this his nature, his psyche is not enough?). Thus, Vasily Bazarov, a doctor fascinated by medicine, who, unlike his son, will pass in the background in the novel; county doctors are a reason for indignation and irony for both Bazarovs; as we said, even Nikolai Kirsanov tried to heal, and on this basis he built a marriage with Fenichka ... In a word, the presence of a "doctor" is an active, rich field of artistic observation.

Now passing through the line minor characters, let's talk about the doctor in the work of A.P. Chekhov, the main writer of this topic - not only because of his "main" profession (cf. even in the passport O.L. Knipper-Chekhov was called the "doctor's wife"): it was in the works Chekhov, we can find a whole picture of the doctor's fate, in its fundamental turns and connections with worldview searches.

It seems to us that Chekhov fully expressed the interaction in the doctor of existential and Christian motives. The connection between medicine and what he called in the letter to E.M. Shavrova the expression "frantic prose" is more obvious: it was about a literary hero-gynecologist, and although this specialty is also not accidental, it seems that we can replace it in the quote simply with the word "doctor ": "Doctors are dealing with frantic prose, which you have not even dreamed of and which you, if you knew it ... would give a smell worse than a dog's" (8, 11, 524). Combining the two fragments, we will single out further: “You have not seen corpses” (ibid.), “I am used to seeing people who will die soon” (AS Suvorin, 8, 11, 229). It should be noted that Chekhov himself not only healed, but also performed forensic autopsies, we would say, got used to the appearance of bodily death, but did not try to treat it dispassionately in the Bazarov way. It is curious that the doctors-colleagues emphasized this in a special way. One zemstvo doctor wrote to a neighboring county near Moscow that "doctor Chekhov is very willing to go to autopsies" (8, 2, 89), suggesting that in such cases he invite his colleague. In this "really desires" something more than a desire to practice ... In 1886, the experience of the death of the mother and sister of the artist Yanov, who were treated by Chekhov, forced him to permanently abandon private practice and (a symbolic detail) remove the sign "Doctor Chekhov" from his house . The medical writer was especially worried about the "impotence of medicine" (from a letter about D.V. Grigorovich's attack of illness that occurred in the presence of Chekhov), and, on the contrary, any approximation to the ideal of healing inspired him extraordinarily. Let us recall a characteristic episode in a letter to A.S. Suvorin: "If I had been near Prince Andrei, then I would have cured him. It is strange to read that the wound of the prince ... emitted a putrid smell. What a lousy medicine was then" 531). What an important interweaving of literature, medicine and life itself! Chekhov especially valued in himself the recognized gift of an accurate diagnostician, so in his letters it is repeatedly emphasized: in case of illness, "I was the only one who was right."

So, medicine for Chekhov is the focus of truth, and the truth about the most essential, about life and death, and the ability to create life in the most literal and, say, miraculous sense. Is it worth looking for a more significant approximation to the ideal of Christ and does it not force us to rethink the already familiar idea of ​​Chekhov as a non-religious person, for whom only love for the bell ringing remains from all religion (see, for example, M. Gromov: 4 , 168 and compare his own consideration that "medicine is perhaps the most atheistic of the natural sciences", 4, 184). In the end, the biography of the artist is created by his works, which do not always coincide with the accessible (and most often completely inaccessible!) for us his worldly appearance.

Chekhov's Christian feelings did not become the subject of broad statements in letters or diary entries, although in a number of cases one can see in equal measure a cooling towards the faith or expressions of faith of the "fathers" (we mean the religiosity of his family), and dissatisfaction with the state of a person who is losing contact with the church. But in this case too art world Chekhov cannot be understood outside of religion. (In parentheses, we note that this turn in the study of Chekhov is already present in modern literary criticism, and we will call the book by I.A. Esaulov "Category of catholicity in Russian literature", 5.) Works such as "Tumbleweeds", "Holy Night" , "Cossack", "Student", "At Christmas time", "Bishop", certainly speak of the depth of Chekhov's religious experience. With our deeper understanding, we see that all of Chekhov's work at first, as it were, does not contradict Christian spirituality, and in the end it is the embodiment of precisely the gospel vision of a person: a person who is mistaken, does not recognize Christ, awaiting revelation and judgment, often weak, vicious and sick. In this sense, the religious disorder of Chekhov himself turns out to be much closer to the gospel revelation than an open sermon on behalf of Christianity or the Church. Isn't that why Chekhov so rejected Gogol's Selected Places...? So in the disclosure of the image of the doctor, the presence of Christ, it would seem, is not at all obvious, not given as an open tendency, but this only convinces us of the secrecy of the most important features of the writer's spiritual personality: that which cannot be expressed in the style and language of writing, seeks expressions in artistic imagery.

Let us first turn to the school textbook "Ionych". At the end of the story, Chekhov compares the starets' appearance with the appearance of a pagan god: on a troika, with bells, the red and plump Dr. Ionych and his likeness the coachman Panteleimon ride. With a characteristic dichotomy-polytheism, this comparison shows precisely the anti-Christian character of Startsev, immersed in everything earthly, bodily, both in his appearance, in the consolidation of money, real estate, and in his "huge practice" as a doctor. It would be too rough for an artist to lead his hero from Christ to a pagan god. But that's the point of the story. It would also be untrue for his time to endow Startsev with Orthodox features. The meaning, unlike the plot and character, is created implicitly, by all the details of the context. So, in the beginning of the story, a symbolic date is given - the Feast of the Ascension, when Startsev meets the Turkins. By the way, we note that this is Chekhov's favorite feature, and very significant - to date events according to church calendar(cf .: Nikolin's day, Easter, name day - both in letters and in literary texts). At this time, "work and loneliness" was the motive of Startsev's ascetic life, and therefore the festive mood was so alive. The scene at the cemetery is especially important in the story, when a deeply spiritualized perception of the world develops in Startsev's mind, where death turns out to be a step into eternal life: "in every grave one feels the presence of a secret that promises a quiet, beautiful, eternal life" (8, 8, 327). Peace, humility, withered flowers, a starry sky, a church with a striking clock, a monument in the form of a chapel, the image of an angel are obvious details of the transition of life, time from mortal flesh to eternity. And we will note that for Chekhov, eternal life is not only an attribute of religion, but also an ideal of medicine: this is how he talked about I.I. Mechnikov, who allowed the possibility of extending a person’s life up to 200 years (8, 12, 759). Perhaps it is with this side of Chekhov's worldview that the so often repeated motif of a beautiful, distant, but achievable future should be connected: "We will live a long, long series of days, long evenings ... and there beyond the grave ... God will take pity on us and we will see life is bright, beautiful. We will hear angels, we will see the whole sky in diamonds," sounds in Uncle Vanya as if in response to disappointment in the life of the doctor Astrov (8, 9, 332; cf .: "There is nothing for you to do in the world, you have no purpose in life", 328). Medicine infinitely prolongs life, aspiring to eternity - an ideal that belongs equally to religious and scientific consciousness. However, in Startsev’s mind, the image of eternal life passes fleetingly (“At first, Startsev was struck by what he saw now for the first time in his life and which, probably, will no longer be seen”), quickly losing its depth and religious aspiration, and limited to the experiences of the local, earthly existence: "How badly mother nature jokes on a person, how insulting to realize this!" It seems that it is here that the moment of spiritual breakdown in Ionych lies, and not in some fatal influence on him of the ordinary vulgarities of life. Turning away from the images of eternal life, Chekhov's "materialist" doctor plunges especially sharply into the world of the flesh ("beautiful bodies" buried in graves beautiful women, forever leaving with death warmth and beauty), no longer seeing anything behind this shell of life. Hence - it seemed, unexpected in this episode, Startsev's thought: "Oh, you shouldn't put on weight!"

"Ionych" is a story about how a doctor refuses to feel the meaning of being, if death puts a limit to life, the "beautiful body" becomes decay, but in the world there is nothing but corporality.

Such detachment from the eternal - imagine a hypothetical "Christ" who would not lead to resurrection, but only heal diseases well - leads the Chekhovian doctor to suffering, his own sickness-morbidity, craving for death. True, it will not be superfluous to note that Chekhov has a number of medical heroes who did not join the spiritual abysses at all, even as fleeting as Startsev, the "abysses" of their field, for whom medicine does not outgrow the form of earnings (and rather shameless: paramedic from "Ward No. 6", "Rural Aesculapius", "Surgery", "Rothschild's Violin", etc.), which often has a satirical connotation: for example, in "The Remedy for Binge" healing without any spiritual abysses uses an excellent medicine - a cruel scuffle to which the human body is so responsive. In a number of works ("Lights", "Seizure", "A Boring Story", "A Work of Art", etc.), the professional side of the medical heroes does not play any role at all. symbolic role that only highlights significant images and which, probably, could not have been, given that Chekhov used the image of a doctor 386 times (3, 240). Perhaps, in this amount, which is hardly amenable to exhaustive analysis, Chekhov developed all possible variations in the interpretation of the image, so that naturally he did not avoid the “neutral” option? How would it be on a par with other professions?.. Let us also note the image of the doctor from "Duel", derived rather due to the parody genre of the story: the presence of a doctor in "A Hero of Our Time" made Samoylenko become a military doctor, and not just a colonel, which seems to be in the series of Startsev , Ragin, Dymova, Astrov with some defiant absurdity, but among the heroes of the "Duel" another physician does not emerge.

Let us return, however, to the works that reflect Chekhov's medical credo. If for Startsev "living life" has gone from his "huge practice" into capital, into real estate, then in "Ward No. 6" medicine, without the support of Christian values, completely deprives a person, a doctor of vitality, and spiritual experience greater than that of Startsev does not allows you to be satisfied with anything ordinary.

Only at first it seems that the hospital produces an "impression of a menagerie" due to backwardness, lack of funds, and the decline of culture. Gradually, the leading motive becomes the lack of faith, Grace, perversion of the spirit. Chekhov will show both the barrenness of materialism and the especially ugly features of a false or incomplete faith. So, for the insane Jew Moiseyka, praying to God means "knocking his chest with his fist and picking at the door with his finger"! Such a picture of insanity could be portrayed by Chekhov so convincingly after a deep acquaintance with psychiatry and psychiatric hospitals (see: 8, 12, 168): according to some absolutely incredible associative series, prayer becomes "picking at doors." And Chekhov admitted in a letter to his classmate at the medical faculty, the famous neuropathologist G.I. Rossolimo, that knowledge of medicine gave him accuracy in depicting the disease (8, 12, 356), we note Chekhov’s reproaches to Leo Tolstoy, associated with erroneous ideas about the manifestation of the disease 8, 11, 409).

Turning to God becomes a meaningless habit that accompanies the most godless deeds. Soldier Nikita "calls on God as a witness" and takes beggarly alms from Moiseyka and again sends him to beg. Spiritual emptiness also "hardens" the doctor, as Chekhov put it, and he is no longer "different from the peasant who slaughters rams and calves and does not notice the blood" (8, 7, 127). This will be the relatively young doctor Khobotov, as well as the enterprising, full-fledged practicing paramedic Sergey Sergeevich. In this paramedic, with his significance reminiscent of a senator, Chekhov will note ostentatious piety, love for rituals. The paramedic's reasoning differs little from the soldier Nikita's appeals to God, with the name of God, and he and the other only rob their neighbor: "We suffer and suffer need because we pray badly to the Lord the merciful. Yes!" (8, 7, 136).

In "Ward No. 6" Chekhov shows that modern man religious feeling cannot be given easily and without conflict. The doctor Andrei Efimovich Ragin in his very youth was close to the church, devout and intended to enter the theological academy, but the trends of the times prevent religious formation, so Chekhov will indicate in the text the exact date - 1863 - when Ragin, due to ridicule and categorical demands of his father, entered to the Faculty of Medicine, "I never took the veil as a priest." The very combination of two fields - ecclesiastical and medicinal - speaks volumes, including their incompatibility for a person of the 60-80s. Such inharmony is also expressed in Ragin's appearance, which conveys the conflict of spirit and matter: rough appearance, riot of flesh ("reminiscent of a corroded, intemperate and tough innkeeper", cf. Ionych) and obvious mental depression. The medical field deepens the split in him, forcing him to abandon the main religious idea - about the immortality of the soul: "- Do you not believe in the immortality of the soul?" the postmaster suddenly asks. "No ... I do not believe and have no reason to believe." The absence of immortality turns the life and profession of a doctor into a tragic delusion ("Life is an unfortunate trap"): why treat, why the brilliant achievements of medicine, if all the same "death comes to him - also against his will." So the spiritual state of the hero destroys not only his personality, but also his professional field, in which Chekhov will deliberately designate achievements, and even his own, "Chekhovian" quality - the talent of a faithful diagnostician.

Everything loses its meaning in the face of death, and already Ragin does not see the difference between a good clinic and a bad one, between home and "ward No. b", freedom and prison. Everything sublime in a person only enhances the impression of the tragic absurdity of life, and medicine does not save, but only deceives people: “Twelve thousand incoming patients were admitted in the reporting year, which means, simply arguing, twelve thousand people were deceived. ... Yes, and why prevent people from dying, if death is the normal and legal end of everyone?" (8, 7, 134). Chekhov also draws a number of episodes saturated with actual church images - service in the church, worship of an icon - and shows that without a conscious, with a touch of philosophy and science, acceptance of the basic religious provisions, ritualism will turn out to be only a temporary calm, after which longing and longing arise with even greater force. doom: "I don't care, even in the pit."

So, as in "Ionych", the consciousness of the physician leads to the depth of the experience of life and death, which does not enrich, but depresses the personality, if the hero leaves the field of a powerful spiritual tradition. Ragin, unlike Startsev, utterly rejects life, neglects matter itself, the flesh of the world, and eventually goes into oblivion.

Next to Startsev and Ragin, Osip Dymov, the hero of the story "The Jumper", may seem like an ideal image of a doctor. Indeed, the first two characters, each in their own way, turn away from medicine. Dymov is completely absorbed in science and practice. Chekhov here also emphasizes the closeness of the doctor to death, designating Dymov's position - dissector. Dymov is an example of medical dedication, he is on duty with the patient for whole days and nights, works without rest, sleeps from 3 to 8, accomplishes something really significant in medical science. Even risks his life; like Bazarov, Chekhov's hero wounds himself during the autopsy, but, and this is symbolic, does not die (this is how the author shows a kind of victory over death). Even Dymov's death will be caused by another, most sublime reason, when he, as if sacrificing himself, cures the child (a very significant opposition - "corpse - child" - at the same time shows that death comes to Dymov from life itself, and not from mortal non-existence) . "Christ and sacrifice" - an analogy suggests itself, but ... Chekhov obviously reduces this image. Dymov turns out to be almost helpless in everything that does not belong to his profession. I would like to recognize his extraordinary meekness, tolerance, gentleness as a moral high, but Chekhov allows this to manifest itself in such comical episodes that he definitely speaks of a different author's assessment (suffice it to recall the episode when "two brunettes and a fat actor ate caviar, cheese and white fish" ,7, 59). Even Dymov's mental suffering is comically conveyed: "Oh, brother! Well, what's up! Play something sad" - and the two doctors uncomfortably sang the song "Show me a monastery where the Russian peasant would not moan." Dymov's indifferent attitude to art is deliberately given: "I have no time to be interested in art." This means that Chekhov expects something more from the doctor than Dymov provides, the author writes with more interest about Ragin's painful and decadent reflections than about spiritual world Dymov, moreover, the tragedy of Dymov shows precisely in the combination of the highest qualities with a clear spiritual underdevelopment. The author expects some kind of higher perfection from the doctor: yes, endure, heal and sacrifice himself, like Christ? But then preach like Christ, then again, like Christ, take care of the immortal soul, and not just of the flesh. The context of the story, in Chekhov's way, intimately and impeccably accurately recreates this ideal image of a doctor full of meaning.

It is immediately obvious that, in comparison with Dymov, his wife’s passion for art is contrasting, her exalted and ostentatious passion for any attributes of spirituality, craving for public recognition, and turning to God. Without Dymov's perseverance and some, albeit one-sided, but strength and depth, this looks ugly and vulgar, but, oddly enough, the "jumping girl" makes up for Dymov's one-sidedness: he heals the body, saves for life, but does not heal souls, as if evading Ragin's questions "why live?" - Olga Ivanovna, endowed with an absolutely false consciousness, on the contrary, is all focused on the spiritual. And above all, she is emphatically devout, and not ostentatiously and sincerely in her own way. It is she who is depicted in a state of prayer (exceptional artistic technique), she believes that she is "immortal and will never die", she lives by purely spiritual ideas: beauty, freedom, talent, condemnation, damnation, etc. - this series seems even unexpected for the characterization of Olga Ivanovna, because these ideas are most often extremely perverted, but - they are embedded in this image! Finally, just as Dymov “influences” the patient’s body, Olga Ivanovna imagines that she influences souls: “After all, she thought, he created this under her influence, and in general, thanks to her influence, he changed a lot for the better” (8, 7, 67). It is interesting to compare Dymov and Olga Ivanovna in the episode of the Christian holiday: the second day of the Trinity, Dymov goes to the dacha, incredibly tired after work, with one thought "to have dinner with his wife and fall asleep" (8, 7, 57) - his wife is all passionate about the device the wedding of a certain telegraph operator, in her mind - church, mass, wedding, etc., which unexpectedly gives rise to the question "what will I go to church in?" Nevertheless, we recognize that the features of spirituality are fixed in the mind of Olga Ivanovna, albeit with an invariably false, lightweight connotation. Actually, on the collision of the elements of a healthy body and perverted spirituality, "The Jumper" is built. So, in response to the repentance and suffering of O.I., albeit dark and infrequent, Dymov will calmly say: "What, mother? - Eat hazel grouse. You are hungry, poor thing." Dymov himself will suffer secretly, subtly avoid exacerbations (for example, "allow O.I. to remain silent, that is, not to lie," "8, 7, 66), but in the ideal of a doctor Chekhov sees perfect spiritual experience, sophistication and activity, strengthened by strong faith, which Dymov will be deprived of, and only sparing his hero, Chekhov will remove the heading "The Great Man" from the story.

A surprisingly significant situation for our topic is created by Chekhov in the story "The Princess": the doctor Mikhail Ivanovich is in the walls of the monastery, where he has a permanent practice. Such a rapprochement between a doctor and a clergyman is also reminiscent of the numerous representations of Chekhov himself in the guise of a monk (see: 2, 236), letters with schema names of himself (up to "Saint Anthony"), frequent visits to monasteries (cf. in his father's diary: Anton " was in the Desert of David, laboring in fasting and labors", 2, 474). And as a physician, the hero of the "Princess" is presented flawlessly: "the doctor of medicine, a student at Moscow University, has earned the love of everyone for a hundred miles around" (8, 6, 261), but he is assigned the role of accuser and preacher, as we expect. At the same time, we note in him the features of a churched person, an Orthodox: invocations to the name of God, unconditional respect for the church and its servants, direct participation in the life of the monastery and a pronounced rapprochement with the monks (cf.: "together with the monks at the porch was and doctor", 8, 6, 264), the defense of Orthodoxy and the denunciation of anti-Orthodox trends (spiritualism) - it seemed, all the qualities that Dymov lacked, and in general a rare fullness of personality. But here we note once again that Chekhov does not depict the very grace of spirit and faith, but the present-day reality of an evangelical person who is mistaken even when there are all the attributes of being right (cf. the servants of the Sanhedrin). So is Mikhail Ivanovich: in his moral denunciations of the princess, not only sincerity is visible, but even rightness, there is knowledge of people, the ability to clearly expose, judge, correct vices, as well as diseases of the body. But - at the same time, Chekhov emphasizes the cruelty, gracelessness of M.I. her ears were pounding, and it still seemed to her that the doctor was pounding her on the head with his hat" (8, 6, 261). The doctor's denunciations turn into some kind of frenzy, an intoxication with moral torment: "Go away!" she said in weeping voices, raising her hands to shield her head from the doctor's hat. "Go away!" - And how do you treat your employees! - continued indignant doctor ... "(8, 6, 261). Only a perfect fit of his victim will suddenly make the doctor suddenly stop: “I succumbed to an evil feeling and forgot myself. Is this not good? , and as furious as Mikhail Ivanovich. M.I. he completely repents of his cruelty (“A bad, vengeful feeling”), and the princess, who was so cruelly denounced by him, in the end remained completely unshaken by his speeches (“How happy I am!” she whispered, closing her eyes. “How happy I am!”). So, besides the weakness and wrongness of M.I., Chekhov also emphasizes the futility of his sermon. Later, in the story "The Gooseberry", Chekhov will give the role of an accuser, and even calling for everything high (remember the image of a "man with a hammer"), although a doctor, but a veterinary doctor - I.I. Chimshe-Himalayan, whose pathos also leaves his listeners indifferent. As you can see, the ideal of a doctor becomes truly unattainable! But this would be the wrong opinion.

The ideal of a doctor will turn out to be much simpler, more accessible, closer to the ground, to the ordinary. The doctor will not assume the unbearable role of Christ, but will approach him, as if in moderation. human strength healing both the body and the soul of the neighbor. It turns out that Chekhov's high demands on the doctor will be completely satisfied with the plot of the story "A case from practice."

Again, the color of this story is associated with the Orthodox way of life: the trip of the doctor Korolyov to the patient takes place on the eve of the holiday, when everything is set to "rest and, perhaps, pray" (8, 8, 339). In the story, everything is extremely ordinary: there is no bright search, there is no pointed plot (like betrayal in the family, love, an unfair act, etc.), there is not even a fatal patient (cf. - a terminally ill child in "The Jumper", "Enemies", "Tife"). On the contrary, the patient "everything is in order, the nerves spree." The motifs of the general disorder of life, factory monotony, people and relationships mutilated by capital, are sketched out only in a distant background, but this is all the usual earthly circle, and Chekhov clearly reduces the social pathos of Korolev's observations, translating it with one stroke into the eternal layers of religious metaphysics - a remark that would become in another style with the most pathetic gesture: "the main thing for whom everything is done here is the devil" (8, 8, 346). Chekhov recognizes who the “prince of this world” is, and leads his hero away from a direct fight with the devil - to sympathy, compassion for his neighbor, whom the doctor will treat as if at himself, equal in the common destiny of mankind, without towering over his suffering "patient". So, the "patient" Koroleva will say: "I wanted to talk not with a doctor, but with a loved one" (8, 8, 348), which in the semantic context of the story sounds exactly like the motive of the merger in the doctor of the physician and, say, "the closest" from relatives (it is no coincidence that a contrasting alienation to each other in the family and in the Lyalikovs' house is shown, and the doctor makes up for this disorder). Korolev heals the soul not by denunciation and is not even ready to preach (“How can I say it?” Korolev pondered. “And is it necessary to speak?”), but sympathy and hope for future happiness (an analogue of immortality), expressed, as the author emphasizes, “in a roundabout way "(8, 8, 349), lead not so much to the resolution of the hardships of life, but to general peace, spiritual humility and at the same time to spiritual mobility, growth: the" roundabout words "of the Queen were a clear boon for Lisa, who finally looked "better celebratory,” and “she seemed to want to tell him something especially important.” Thus, according to Chekhov, the deepest healing of the soul is even inexpressible in words. The enlightened state of man and the world determines the festive finale of the story: "It was heard how the larks sang, how they rang in the church." Elevation of the spirit changes and gloomy picture life: “Korolev no longer remembered either the workers, or the piled buildings, or the devil” (8, 8, 350), and is this not a real victory over the “prince of this world”, the only possible one, according to Chekhov? More than this tense and enlightened state, the doctor is not given to achieve, here is the highest step of approaching the "zemstvo" - earthly doctor to the ideal of healing Christ.

We do not undertake to unravel the secret of the artist's personal fate, but, perhaps, the pairing of medicine with literature, so characteristic of Chekhov, was a kind of service to Christ: the treatment of the body, the treatment of the soul.

Indeed, even after Chekhov, professional doctors come to literature - up to our contemporaries. But Chekhov will be a kind of completion of the development of the theme in line with domestic classics saturated with the spirit of Orthodoxy. In other times - "other songs". In this understanding, the path leading from the atheist Krupov to Chekhov's ideal of the healer Christ is the path to the final and at the same time higher, overcoming contradictions and temptations, interpretation of the image of the doctor in the spirit of the Russian tradition.

Bibliography

1 Herzen A.I. Works in 9 vols. M., 1955.

2 Gitovich N.I. Chronicle of life and creativity of A.P. Chekhov. M., 1955.

3 Gromov M.P. Book about Chekhov. M., 1989.

4 Gromov M.P. Chekhov. Series "ZhZL". M., 1993.

6 Lermontov M.Yu. Complete collection. compositions. T. 4. M., 1948.

7 Turgenev I.S. Collected works in 12 vols. T. 3. M., 1953.

8 Chekhov A.P. Collected works in 12 vols. M., 1956.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.portal-slovo.ru/ were used.

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In the text proposed for analysis, Sergei Ivanovich Sivokon raises the problem of a person's devotion to his profession, which is relevant at all times.

Arguing over this problem, the author cites as an example a case from the biography of Samuil Yakovlevich Marashak. Sivokon notes that the poet remained true to his work until the end of his life. Sergei Ivanovich emphasizes that when “doctors fought not even for days, but for hours of life” for Marshak, he found the strength to call the editor-in-chief of the journal to amend the journal. Sivokon focuses our attention on the fact that Marshak could not have done otherwise and let down “a million readers”, because they were waiting for the magazine. This call, according to Boris Polevoy, editor-in-chief, sounded like an order. This indicates that Samuil Yakovlevich was unshakable in his decision to complete the work.

I fully agree with the opinion of the publicist and also believe that a person should be devoted to his profession all his life. If a person has chosen the field of his activity, he must do the work with high quality, in order to inspire other people to do it later.

IN literary works There are many examples on this issue. Let us recall the story of A.P. Chekhov “The Jumper”. The main character is a doctor Dymov was faithful to his profession all his life. He worked hard to be useful to people. The doctor died a heroic death. Wishing to help a boy with diphtheria, Dymov sucks out diphtheria films through a tube. He didn't have to do it, but he couldn't do otherwise. The boy was saved thanks to Dr. Dymov. This is a vivid example of the fact that a person devoted to his profession, without hesitation, can sacrifice his life for the sake of his duty.

It is impossible not to mention Lidia Mikhailovna from Rasputin's story “French Lessons. Teacher Volodya, having entered his difficult financial situation, wanted to help the student financially. Faced with the boy's pride, the teacher goes on a professional crime - she sits down to play with him in gambling for money and loses for good. Such assistance turns out for Lydia Mikhailovna to be dismissed from school. The boy was no one to the teacher, but she decided to help him. After all, a teacher does not have to only teach at school, he instructs life path helps students in difficult life situations. That is why Lidia Mikhailovna did this, she could not do otherwise.

In conclusion, I will say once again that when a person has chosen a profession for himself, it is very important to remain devoted to it to the end, because it is then that you can achieve success and truly benefit people.

Bulletin of the Samara Humanitarian Academy. Series “Philosophy. Philology". 2010. No. 2 (8)

LITERATURE AND MEDICINE: TRANSFORMATION OF THE IMAGE OF THE DOCTOR IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE XIX CENTURY*

© I. A. Baranova

The article summarizes the key ideas about doctors and medicine in Russian literature of the 19th century, shows the mutual influence of literature and social life, literature and medicine. Using the example of the transformation of the image of a doctor in the Russian literature of this period, the author shows how literature becomes part of the general development of society, reflects current cultural concepts.

Keywords: image of a doctor, transformation, soul, body, suffering.

The image of a doctor is not the most popular topic in Russian literary criticism. And although literary critics and culturologists have repeatedly noted the presence of great potential in the study of this issue, nevertheless, in general, the images of doctors in Russian literature are spoken of as “having great importance” without explaining this wording, or there are attempts to reduce them to some common denominator, although in reality they have undergone significant changes and can only be generalized very conditionally.

We can agree that the image of a doctor is most often one of the most interesting, deep and important, not only because the indicated period of time is rich in works that can serve as an example -

* The article was prepared as part of a study that received grant support (Presidential grant MD-333.2009.6).

Baranova Irina Alekseevna

postgraduate student of the Department of Philosophy

Faculty of Humanities Samara

State University

links between medicine and literature. Of course, among writers and other figures of Russian culture, doctors were also not uncommon1, but the connection between Russian literature and medicine is manifested not so much at the level of quantitative references to certain medical realities, but in the general atmosphere and inclination of the authors, according to K. A. Bogdanov, to pathographic discourse. Psycholinguist V.P. Belyanin, having analyzed a significant part of Russian classical literature, concluded that most of it “turns out to be “sad””3. In 1924, M. Gorky spoke very sarcastically about Russian literature: “Russian literature is the most pessimistic literature in Europe; in our country, all books are written on the same topic about how we suffer - in youth and adulthood: from a lack of reason, from the oppression of autocracy, from women, from love for one's neighbor, from an unsuccessful arrangement of the universe; in old age: from the consciousness of the mistakes of life, lack of teeth, indigestion and the need to die. However, one can come across more emphatic opinions, according to which “moral masochism and the cult of suffering”5 are the defining characteristics of Russian literature and culture in general.

Thus, it can be said that the depiction of doctors, their relationships with patients and various kinds of diseases, as a rule, is only part of the overall picture of the “total disease of society” and is not an end in itself. Only by considering the transformation of the image of a doctor in Russian literature, one can see that he not only conveys the idea of ​​medicine as a social phenomenon with its inherent signs of the times, but also generates a new, deeper understanding of it. Such a transformation is genetically connected with the changes that all Russian literature and culture underwent during the 19th century. But here we should immediately make a reservation that we are primarily interested in the change in the image of the doctor in the literature of the 19th century, and not the presence of the image of the doctor in each specific work. During this period, the image of a doctor is found in a wide range of writers and in a large number of works. Exploring them all is the task of an extremely interesting and important, but larger study than this article. We will rather outline the line along which the change in these images took place, therefore, as examples, we will cite only those works that, in our opinion, made a great contribution to changing the idea of ​​the image of a doctor, both among literary critics and among the general reading public.

1 Bogdanov K. A. Doctors, patients, readers: Patographic texts of Russian culture of the XVII-XIX centuries. M. : OGI, 2005. S. 9-33.

2 Ibid. S. 9.

3 Belyanin V.P. Texts about death in Russian literature // www.textology.ru/article.html

4 Cit. by: Bogdanov K. A. Decree. op. S. 22.

5 Yarskaya-Smirnova E. R. Russianness as a diagnosis // www.soc.pu.ru/publications/jssa/2000/1/19jarskaja.html

First of all, it is worth noting that the doctor was not always perceived as a hero, in charge of not only the patient's body, but also his soul. Even in post-Petrine Russia, despite the ruling spirit of rationalism and the active promotion of science in general and medicine in particular (for example, in the journals of that time one could meet along with artistic, historical, philosophical and scientific-medical texts), the profession of a doctor was not in honor 6. In Russian folklore of this period, as well as in epigrams, a skeptical or even clearly hostile attitude towards medicine and doctors is predominantly encountered. Researchers attribute this, firstly, to the sinful, from the point of view of the common people, desire to treat the disease as something separate from the patient's soul. It is worth recalling that before the advent of medicine, the functions of doctors were performed by various healers, healers or representatives of the church (most often, monks). It was believed that the disease is a continuation of the personality and a consequence of the patient's life. Illness is a punishment for a sinful life and adherence to one or more vices. Having healed the soul, the sick person, as a rule, also healed the body (this motive, for example, is quite common in the lives of the saints)7. In addition, in such texts one could often find almost anatomical details in the description of death and illness, which were intended to demonstrate the frailty of the bodily shell and reminded of “a different fate.” human soul”, that is, they pursued didactic goals. The sudden break from the usual tradition caused distrust. In addition, up to mid-nineteenth in. most doctors in Russia were foreigners. Thus, the strangeness of the profession was, as it were, intensified by the strangeness of origin. Numerous examples of this can be found not only in folklore or epigrams, but also in the literature of the “middle” style, such as the novels of F. Bulgarin or V. Narezhny, as well as in the classical texts of Russian literature. Suffice it to recall the lyrical hero of A. S. Pushkin, who happily “eluded Aesculapius, thin, shaved, but alive”9, and the image of Christian Ivanovich Gibner, a county doctor, capable of pronouncing only a sound “partly similar to the letter “and” and somewhat on “e” 10, from N. V. Gogol’s comedy The Inspector General.

In traditional romantic works the image of a doctor penetrates along with their characteristic aesthetics of life as suffering, decline, destruction, torment, which ends only with death. Writers

6 Bogdanov K. A. Decree. op. pp. 81-82.

7 Smilyanskaya E. Sacred and bodily in folk narratives of the XVIII century about miraculous healings // Russian literature and medicine: Body, prescriptions, social practice: Sat. Art. M. : New publishing house, 2006. S. 28-40.

8 Bogdanov K. A. Decree. op. pp. 119-140.

9 Pushkin A. S. NN (V. V. Engelhardt) (“I eluded Aesculapius ...”) / A. S. Pushkin // Collected. op. in 10 t. M. : State publishing house of fiction, 1959. T. I. S. 72.

10 Gogol N.V. Inspector // Complete Works [In 14 volumes] / N.V. Gogol. M.; L: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1951. T. 4. S. 13.

eras of romanticism do not skimp on physiological details to emphasize the break with the tradition of sentimentalism. "Medically detailed pictures of illness, death and post-mortem decay express radicalism" new literature” and “new philosophy””11. And although such works have much in common with folk and religious ideas about the soul imprisoned in a bodily shell, the theme of death here is nevertheless devoid of the didactic unambiguity of popular prints. A peculiar motif of love for death and thirst for death appears. Death is perceived as a cure for all worldly sorrows and diseases. The aesthetics of romanticism include the composition of epitaphs, attendance at funerals, in cemeteries, looking at dead bodies, etc. The motif of hope for a “otherworldly recovery” arises.

The propaganda of scientific knowledge, its dissemination and the growing interest of the reading public in it gradually lead to the fact that romantic aesthetics is noticeably trivialized, a large number of parodies of works of “graveyard” poetry appear and, ultimately, its popularity fades. In society, the most common idea of ​​the body is the understanding of it as a kind of integral and unchanging given, and anatomical studies and experiments are of interest not only to scientists, but also to the secular public, numerous confirmations of this can be found in the diaries, memoirs and letters of contemporaries12.

In this regard, the image of Dr. Werner from the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time", which is partly romantic and partly a realistic hero, is of particular interest. On the one hand, “he is a skeptic and materialist, like almost all doctors”13, and on the other hand, “the irregularities of his skull would strike any phrenologist with a strange interweaving of opposite inclinations”, and “the youth called him Mephistopheles”14. In this character, it is equally easy to detect both demonic features and his extraordinary humanity and even naivety. For example, Werner was well versed in people, in the properties of their character, but “never knew how to use his knowledge”, “mocked his patients”, but “wept over a dying soldier”15. This character indicated the direction in which the image of a doctor developed in Russian literature, from Dr. Krupov A.I. Herzen to Bazarov I.S. Turgenev.

"The dominant feature of the medical theory of the second half of XIX in. becomes an apology for the “laboratory” as opposed to the clinical observation of the patient “at the bedside” at home and in the hospital”16, writes

11 Bogdanov K. A. Decree. op. S. 164.

12 See: Stochik A. M., Paltsev M. A, Zatravkin S. N. Pathological anatomy at Moscow University in the first half of the 19th century. M. : Medicine, 1999. 297 p.

13 Lermontov M. Yu. Hero of our time. M. : OLMA Media Group, 2007. S. 93.

14 Ibid. S. 94.

15 Ibid. S. 93.

16 Bogdanov K. A. Decree. op. S. 19.

K. A. Bogdanov. Obviously, in this atmosphere, the human contact between the patient and the doctor fades into the background. In the era of great discoveries in medicine, medical ethics received much less attention. The physicians of this period are most often portrayed in literature as nihilists or materialists disillusioned with human nature. If in the literature of the second half of the 19th century there is a positive image of a doctor, then, according to E. S. Neklyudova, he, as a rule, is eccentric, lonely and unhappy in family life. Dealing with the human body by the nature of his profession, he does not understand the human soul. Helping people to live, he, nevertheless, is deeply disappointed in life. So, in Russian literature, the image of a doctor appears, responsible not only for human health, but also for the meaning of his existence. For example, Dr. Krupov from the story of the same name by A. I. Herzen, who began his career as a doctor, driven by the desire to help people. He believed that the human being is rational and in the likeness of God, but, however, moving from theory to practice, he found that disease and pathology are also part of human nature. By the nature of his profession, dealing mainly with diseases, Krupov comes to the conclusion that the course of history is ruled not by reason, but by madness, that human consciousness is sick, that there is no healthy human brain, just as there is no “pure mathematical pendulum” in nature. 19. In the novel "Who is to blame?" Krupov no longer “heals so much as he thinks about everyday things and arranges the fate of the Kruciferskys, Beltov and others.”20. In general, in the whole novel, in contrast to the story "Doctor Krupov", the emphasis is on the social nature of the disease. A. I. Herzen speaks, rather, about the "disease of society", therefore here the profession of Krupov acquires a symbolic meaning.

Another well-known image of a doctor in the second half of the 19th century. - the image of a medical student Bazarov from the novel by I. S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". This character was a little more fortunate than most doctors in Russian literature, more than one scientific work is devoted to him, so we will not dwell on this figure in detail. Suffice it to say that this image is very different from the image of Dr. Krupov. Bazarov's belonging to doctors does not have such a deep symbolic meaning like Herzen. Some researchers note that Bazarov's profession throughout the novel remains, as it were, on the periphery, on the

17 Merten S. Poetics of Medicine: From Physiology to Psychology in Early Russian Realism // Russian Literature and Medicine: Body, Prescriptions, Social Practice: Sat. Art. M. : New publishing house, 2006. S. 103-122.

18 Neklyudova E. S. House doctor and women's secrets // Mythology and everyday life: Gender approach in anthropological disciplines. SPb. : Aletheya, 2001. S. 363-364.

19 Herzen A.I. Doctor Krupov // Collected. op. in 9 vol. M. : Goslitizdat, 1955. T. 8. S. 434.

20Anikin A. A. The image of a doctor in Russian classics // www.portal-slovo.ru/philology/37293.php?ELEMENT_ID=37293.html

The main plan is his confidence in his own knowledge of life and people, in fact, his complete inability to resolve even his own worldly and worldview contradictions, he knows poorly and is poorly versed even in himself, which is why many of his thoughts, feelings, actions turn out to be so unexpected for himself. However, the theme of the connection between diseases and the structure of society is not bypassed in this work. Prone to simplifications, Bazarov says: “Moral illnesses ... from the ugly state of society. Fix the society and there will be no diseases.”21 Many of Bazarov's statements sound bold enough, but these are more hints at actions than the activity itself.

In the second half of the XIX century. the image of the nihilist doctor is becoming very common. There is an idea of ​​a doctor as a rough materialist, who is only interested in the bodily shell of a person. In L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”, the main character, describing the society that gathers at the table in her house, says about the doctor: “... a young man, not only a complete nihilist, but, you know, eats with a knife”22 . Karenina and Vronsky, having violated the laws of the world, are forced to gather in their society a society that is practically indecent for people of their position. The young doctor puts food in his mouth with a knife instead of a fork, "eating with a knife", demonstrating his bad manners. “According to Anna, 'nihilists' should have had such bad manners,”23 writes S. L. Tolstoy. O. S. Muravyova points out that “a casually thrown remark by Tolstoy’s heroine about a young doctor who “is not just a complete nihilist, but eats with a knife” indicates that a clear connection between ideological positions and everyday skills was fixed at the level of everyday consciousness”24 . That is, when we say that in society there was an image of a doctor as a rude materialist, the word “rude” can also be taken literally. Rough means neglecting the beautiful form “in which human relationships are clothed”25, and ultimately neglecting the patient’s spiritual needs as well.

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, L. N. Tolstoy again demonstrates how great is the gulf between the patient and the doctor, who understands the disease in a purely materialistic way. “For Ivan Ilyich, only one question was important: is his position dangerous or not? But the doctor ignored this irrelevant question. From the doctor's point of view, this question is idle and not subject to discussion; only the weighing of probabilities is essential - wandering

21 Turgenev I. S. Fathers and children // Collected. op. in 12 t. M. : Nauka, 1953. T. 3. S. 289.

22 Tolstoy L. N. Anna Karenina. Kuibyshev: Prince. publishing house, 1985. S. 77.

23 Tolstoy S.Yo. On the reflection of life in Anna Karenina: From the memoirs // L.N. Tolstoy / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In-t rus. lit. (Pushkin House). M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1939. Book. II. pp. 584-586.

24 Muravyova O. S. “In all the splendor of his madness” (Utopia of noble education) / O.S. Muravyova // Russian utopias (Almanac "Eve"). You are t. 1. St. Petersburg. : Terra Fantastic Publishing House, Corvus House Publishing House, 1995. P. 172.

giving kidney, chronic catarrh and diseases of the caecum. There was no question about the life of Ivan Ilyich, but there was a dispute between a wandering kidney and a caecum ... "26. The "suffering personality" of Ivan Ilyich is simply absent in the eyes of the doctor, he solves completely different tasks: he tries to cure the patient's body, while the origins of the disease may be hidden in his soul. "Ivan Ilyich's question is 'out of place' in literally- “places” for a person experiencing danger - a threat to his life, are not provided in this world. Embedding moral discourses in the apparatus of biotechnology leads to the complication of the practice of telling case histories. The patient as a person receives a special “place” in them - the place of a “moral subject”. However, the gift of one's own place at the same time turns into its withdrawal. After all, the true “place” of this place is not known to the layman,”27 writes P. Tishchenko. In medicine, which deals only with the human body, answers to the existential questions of Ivan Ilyich “What is wrong with me?”, “Is my position dangerous?”, “Why the torment?” either does not exist, or they are given in an even more frightening, incomprehensible language for the “profane”.

The connection between literature and medicine, perhaps, has never manifested itself as fully and diversely as in the work of A.P. Chekhov, on the one hand, absorbing the experience of previous generations, on the other hand, giving it new depth and authenticity. You can often find the opinion that the images of doctors created by the writer complete the development of this topic and all subsequent representatives of this profession (up to our contemporaries) in Russian literature are just variations of what has already been created. In Chekhov's works, the doctor, as a rule, is entrusted with the duty to treat not only the bodies, but also the souls of his patients. The impotence of medicine in the face of human sorrows often causes mental breakdown and apathy among Chekhov's characters, on the contrary, approaching the ideal of healing inspires them extremely. In the story “Ward C 6”, doctor Andrey Efimovich Ragin is broken precisely by the uselessness of medicine in the face of death, the inability of medicine to give people eternal life, which turns all the efforts of the doctor into a “tragic delusion”, delaying the inevitable. “Why prevent people from dying if death is the normal and legal end of everyone?”28 he asks.

Thus, in Chekhov, the theme of the relationship between religion and medicine again sounds, their common claims to the salvation of man. However, the inevitability of the destruction and death of the human body deprives the doctor of the opportunity to act as the Savior, which paralyzes the will of many of his characters. In one of the most famous works Chekhov about the doctor

26 Tolstoy L. N. Death of Ivan Ilyich // Novels and stories. L.: Artist. lit., 1983. S. 153.

27 Tishchenko P. Bio-power in the era of biotechnology. Bioethics as a moral autopsy // http://polbu.ru/tischnko_bioauthority/ch30_all.html

28 Chekhov A.P. Chamber c 6 // Collected. op. in 12 t. M. : State publishing house of fiction, 1956. T. 7. S. 134.

Che, the story "Ionych", main character not so much mired in the little things of life, as is commonly believed, as he refused to understand the meaning of being, if death “puts the limit of life”, if “there is nothing in the world but corporeality”. Startsev's spiritual breakdown takes place in a cemetery, where he thinks about the once beautiful female bodies, now buried in graves and decayed. “How badly mother nature plays a joke on a person, how insulting it is to realize this!”29 - thinks Startsev. After realizing the instability of everything beautiful and spiritual, this character begins to lead an earthly, bodily life, gradually acquires money, real estate, and he himself also increases in volume. Now he is only interested in the most mundane things. The reason for this, in our opinion, is still not the gradual oblivion of former values, but rather disappointment in former values ​​and ideals, the realization of one's own powerlessness.

Startsev lets everything take its course, because he does not know what to do to change the status quo. But not all Chekhov's characters are like that. Some of them do not take on complex global tasks, but try to approach the ideal to the best of their ability, saving the human body and soul as much as possible. Such, for example, are Dr. Dymov from the story "The Jumper" and the doctor Korolev from "A Case Study". It should be added that in many of Chekhov's works there are also negative images of doctors who treat their profession solely as a source of income ("Rural Aesculapius", "Surgery", etc.). He also has neutral images of doctors that do not have an obvious symbolic role. Considering that the doctor appears on the pages of this author's works 386 times30, one can indeed assume that Chekhov "developed all possible variations in the interpretation of this

image"31.

Summing up, we can say that the image of a doctor in Russian literature of the 19th century is not only one of the most common, but also one of the deepest and most filled with the number of those problems and questions that he was called upon to highlight and sharpen. This is a question of the social structure of the state, and questions of religion, morality and ethics. The image of a doctor is often of great importance when the work deals with the basic modes of human existence: care, fear, determination, conscience. This is not surprising, since it is possible to penetrate into the very root of human existence only in such borderline situations that the doctor often deals with: struggle, suffering, death. In Russian literature, the image of a doctor has come a long and interesting way from a charlatan to a romantic hero, from romantic hero to a mundane materialist and from a materialist to a bearer of morality, a hero who knows the truth, who knows everything about life and death, who is responsible for others in the broadest sense.

29 Chekhov A.P. Ionych // Stories / A.P. Chekhov. M. : Art. lit., 1963. S. 212.

30 Gromov M. P. The book about Chekhov / M. P. Gromov. M. : Sovremennik, 1989. S. 240.

31 Anikin A. A. Decree. op.

REFERENCES Sources

1. Herzen, A.I. Doctor Krupov // Collected. op. in 9 volumes / A. I. Herzen. - M.: Goslitizdat, 1955. - T. 8.

2 Gogol, N. V. Inspector // Complete Works. In 14 volumes / N. V. Gogol. -

M.; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1951. - T. 4.

3. Lermontov, M. Yu. A hero of our time - M. : OLMA Media Group, 2007.

4. Pushkin, A. S. NN (V.V. Engelhardt) (“I eluded Aesculapius ...”) //

Sobr. op. in 10 volumes / A. S. Pushkin. - M.: State publishing house of fiction, 1959. - T. I.

5. Tolstoy, L. N. Anna Karenina. - Kuibyshev: Prince. publishing house, 1985. - S. 77.

6. Tolstoy, L. N. Death of Ivan Ilyich // Novels and stories / L. N. Tolstoy. - L .: Artist. lit., 1983.

7. Turgenev, I. S. Fathers and children // Sobr. op. in 12 volumes / I. S. Turgenev. - M.: Nauka, 1953. - T. 3.

8. Chekhov, A. P. Ionych // Stories / A. P. Chekhov. - M.: Artist. lit., 1963.

9. Chekhov, A.P. Chamber c 6 // Collection. op. in 12 volumes / A.P. Chekhov. - M.: State publishing house of fiction, 1956. - T. 7.

critical literature

I. Anikin, A. A. The image of a doctor in Russian classics // www.portal-slovo.ru/philology/37293.php?ELEMENT_ID=37293.html

2 Belyanin, V.P. Texts about death in Russian literature // www.textology.ru/article.html

3. Bogdanov, K. A. Doctors, patients, readers: Patographic texts of Russian culture of the XVII-XIX centuries. - M. : OGI, 2005.

4. Gromov, M. P. The book about Chekhov. - M.: Sovremennik, 1989.

5. Muravyova, O. S. "In all the splendor of his madness" (Utopia of noble education) // Russian utopias (Almanac "Eve"). - Issue. 1. - St. Petersburg. : Publishing House "Terra Fantastic": Publishing House "Corvus", 1995.

6. Neklyudova, E. S. House doctor and women's secrets // Mythology and everyday life: Gender approach in anthropological disciplines. - St. Petersburg. : Aletheia, 2001.

7. Russian literature and medicine: Body, prescriptions, social practice: Sat. Art. - M.: New publishing house, 2006.

8. Stolik A. M., Paltsev M. A., Zatravkin S. N. Pathological anatomy at Moscow University in the first half of the 19th century. - M.: Medicine, 1999.

9. Tishchenko, P. Bio-power in the era of biotechnology. Bioethics as a moral autopsy // http://polbu.ru/tischnko_bioauthority/ch30_all.html

10. Tolstoy, S. L. On the reflection of life in Anna Karenina: From the memories / USSR Academy of Sciences. In-t rus. lit. (Pushkin. House). - M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1939. - Book. II.

II. Yarskaya-Smirnova, E. R. Russianness as a diagnosis // www.soc.pu.ru/publications/jssa/2000/1/19jarskaja.html

Essay: "The Image of a Medical Worker in Russian Literature". NAME OF THE AUTHOR: Chistova Anastasia Alexandrovna (supervisor Sanfirova S.V.) City of Naberezhnye Chelny, Naberezhnye Chelny Medical College, specialty "Nursing", group 111, 1st year e-mail: [email protected]"The medical profession is a feat. It requires dedication, purity of soul and purity of thoughts." A. P. Chekhov The symbolism of a medical worker is directly related to the Orthodox spirituality of Russian literature. The doctor in the highest sense is Christ, who casts out the most ferocious ailments with his Word, moreover, he conquers death. Among the parable images of Christ - the shepherd, the builder, the bridegroom, the teacher - the doctor is also noted: "The healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick" (Matt., 9, 12). It is this context that gives rise to the utmost exactingness to the "esculapius", and therefore at all times the attitude towards physicians is harsh and critical: one who can only bleed and regale all diseases with soda is too far from the Christian path, if he does not become hostile to it (Christian Gibner - death Christ), but even the ability of the most capable doctor cannot be compared with the miracle of Christ. "What is more important for a medical worker: kindness and sensitivity or professional skills?" We will get the answer to this question by tracing the images of physicians in Russian literature. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not much favor the doctors of that time, the poet, as you know, at one time "ran away from Aesculapius, thin, shaved, but alive." In "Eugene Onegin" he has only two lines about doctors, but how much secret meaning and despair about the state of medicine and the professional level of doctors: "Everyone sends Onegin to the doctors, They send him to the waters in unison ..." And in "Dubrovsky" "the doctor, fortunately not a perfect ignoramus" appears only once, but the reader will easily understand with what a sigh of relief the Russian genius wrote these lines, they say, thank God, at least there is hope for someone. In Nikolai Gogol's "Inspector General" we meet the charlatan Christian Gibner and the "Grand Inquisitor" from the Notes of a Madman. Mothers are holy, how terrible it is for a patient to live! It seems that the attitude of writers towards the doctor has reached its bottom. And then, like a beacon in a raging sea of ​​negativity, Mikhail Lermontov brings Werner (A Hero of Our Time) onto the literary stage, and Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace shows how a surgeon leans over a wounded patient after an operation to kiss him. This is how the essence of the profession of a doctor is revealed, close to the basics and essences of being: birth, life, suffering, compassion, decline, resurrection, torment and torment, and finally, death itself. These motives, of course, capture the personality of everyone, but it is in the doctor that they are concentrated as something due, like fate. That is why, by the way, a bad or false physician is so acutely perceived: he is a charlatan of existence itself, and not only of his profession. A literary hero can be different: in one book he is a warrior who fought for the honor and glory of his people, in another book he is a pirate seeking adventure in the depths of the sea, and somewhere he is a doctor, yes, yes, a doctor. After all, people simply do not notice what a medical worker feels when he saves a person, what he does for the sake of his recovery. What he is willing to do to save hundreds of lives. Physicians are representatives of one of the most difficult professions. The life of a person is in their hands. Not many people in Russian classical literature took medicine and its setting into the genre: A. Solzhenitsyn "Cancer Ward", A. Chekhov "Ward No. 6", M. Bulgakov "Notes of a Young Doctor", "Morphine", etc. Moreover, many of the most talented writers came to Russian literature from medicine: Chekhov, Veresaev, Bulgakov, etc. Literature and medicine are brought together by the deepest interest in the human personality, since it is precisely an indifferent attitude towards a person that determines a true writer and a true doctor. The profession of a doctor was imprinted on the entire work of Bulgakov. But of particular interest are those works that depict the medical activity of the writer himself and the experiences associated with it, and these are, first of all, "Notes of a Young Doctor" and "Morphine". These works contain deep human problems contact between the doctor and the patient, the difficulty and importance of the first contacts of the practitioner, the complexity of his educational role in contact with the sick, suffering, frightened and helpless element of the population. "MA Bulgakov is an interesting writer, with his own special creative destiny. It is worth noting that that initially Bulgakov was engaged in a completely different activity. He studied as a doctor and worked by profession for a long time. Therefore, in many of his works there is a medical theme. So, Bulgakov creates a whole cycle of stories and novellas, united by the name "Notes of a Young Doctor". They are connected by a single hero - the narrator - the young Dr. Bomgard. It is through his eyes that we see all the events described. The story "Morphine" shows the gradual transformation of a person into a complete slave of a narcotic dope. This is especially scary, because a doctor, university friend of Dr. Bomgard Sergey Polyakov becomes a drug addict. Doctor Polyakov in left a warning to all people in his diary. go deeply sick person. The author gives us very reliable material precisely because he uses the diary form of recording. It shows the reverse development of a person, from a normal state to the final enslavement of the soul by drugs." We see that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov paid great attention to both medical activity and writing, and believed that medical, natural science knowledge helped him avoid many mistakes in writing and helped to deeply reveal the world of feelings and experiences of the heroes of his works.I want to focus on the story "Ionych", in which the author told the story of a young doctor who came to work in the province, and after years turned into a layman living lonely and boring.He became hardened and became indifferent to his patients. The image of Ionych is a warning to all young doctors embarking on the path of serving people: do not become indifferent, do not harden, do not stop in your professional development, faithfully and disinterestedly serve people. Chekhov wrote about his first and main profession: "Medicine is as simple and as complex as life." Summing up, we can say, that the image of a medical worker in Russian literature is not only one of the most common, but also one of the deepest and most filled with the number of problems and questions that it was intended to highlight and sharpen. This is a question of the social structure of the state, and questions of religion, morality and ethics. The image of a doctor is often of great importance when the work deals with the basic modes of human existence: care, fear, determination, conscience. This is not surprising, since it is possible to penetrate into the very root of human existence only in such boundary situations with which the physician often deals: struggle, suffering, death. In Russian literature, the image of a doctor has traveled a long and interesting path from a charlatan to a romantic hero, from a romantic hero to a mundane materialist, and from a materialist to a bearer of morality, a hero who knows the truth, knows everything about life and death, and is responsible for others in the broadest sense. "Being even an ordinary average person, the physician, nevertheless, by virtue of his very profession, does more good and shows more disinterestedness than other people." V. V. Veresaev

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A long time ago, in those days when the profession of a psychiatrist had not yet been invented, literature played the role of a healer of souls. With the help of books, people could understand themselves and find solutions to problems. However, modern researchers look with suspicion at the heroes of our favorite works: many of them can be safely diagnosed with a serious diagnosis.

website decided to figure out what mental illnesses the heroes suffered from popular works. To do this, we shoveled mountains of medical literature - it turns out that doctors are still studying diseases using characters from books as an example.

Disease history: A young noblewoman, Ophelia, is slowly losing her mind. The girl begins to speak in riddles and hums meaningless songs. Three events immediately affected Ophelia's mental health: the death of her father, the obsessive demands of her brother, who is literally obsessed with his sister's chastity, and the betrayal of Hamlet, who tells the girl to go to the monastery and generally behaves extremely harshly.

Disease history: Edward Rochester's parents married him to Bertha Mason for the title and money. However, the woman's relatives concealed a family tendency to insanity. In a couple of years, from a pretty woman, Berta turned into a violently crazy monster: she attacked her husband and even tried to burn down the house. In Bert's book, Rochester appears as an antagonist main character Jane Eyre.

The presumptive diagnosis is Huntington's disease. Neurologists from New York carefully studied the novel by Charlotte Bronte and came to the conclusion that Bertha Rochester suffered from a genetic disease of the nervous system.

With this disease, the nerve cells of the brain are destroyed, which leads to a slow disintegration of the personality. In Victorian England, Bertha had no chance: mentally ill patients were not even considered human beings. This disease is still incurable, but its progression can slow down.

Disease history: Cinderella lives with a toxic stepmother and sisters who do nothing but bully the girl. However, the heroine does not make any effort to leave the house, or at least to repulse the unbridled women.

The alleged diagnosis is an unconscious fear of independence. Psychologists today call this state the Cinderella complex. In the hope of winning the love and respect of loved ones, Cinderella suffers inconvenience, but does not want to take responsibility for her life. She prefers to hope that a third force (fairy godmother, prince) will intervene and save her.

Disease history: Holmes does not know how to conduct a dialogue, and conversations with him are more like boring lectures. The detective's knowledge is deep, but he is only interested in very narrow areas. He is aloof, cold-blooded and does not make friends with anyone. In addition, Sherlock is prone to frequent mood swings and tries to fight them with the help of drugs.

Disease history: Nurse Annie Wilks lives all alone, and her only joy in life is reading novels by writer Paul Sheldon. One day, Annie saves a man who was in a car accident. It turns out that the man is Annie's favorite writer. The woman first admires Sheldon, and then instantly goes crazy and gives the writer a personal hell.

Disease history: The mysterious revolutionary V fights against the totalitarian regime. V never shows his face and uses very controversial methods of fighting: he kills people without hesitation and arranges terrorist attacks.

The alleged diagnosis is PTSD and partial amnesia. From the plot of the comic, it becomes clear that V is a veteran and has experienced traumatic events in the past. However, V has driven the memories into the depths of his subconscious and now feels only aggression and a thirst for revenge. He does not realize that his motives are deeply selfish, and hides behind bright ideas.

Disease history: The "good" sorceress Glinda brings down the house on her rival. And then he publicly mocks the Wicked Witch of the West, who mourns her sister, and even takes away the only memory of her relative from the unfortunate woman - red shoes.

The alleged diagnosis is Sadistic Personality Disorder. Persons with this disorder are characterized not only by the lack of pity for the victims, but also by the phenomenon of “reverse empathy” (the tormentor specifically causes horror in the victim). In addition, sadists are great at manipulating people to achieve their goal: Glinda without hesitation makes Ellie and her friends risk their lives and does not hesitate to revel in the humiliation of enemies.

Disease history: Scarlett needs constant attention from the outside, behaves provocatively to gain benefits, uses men for her own purposes, dramatizes any event and has poor control over anger.

Disease history: The Duke of York (future King George VI of Great Britain) decides to treat stuttering, which he has suffered since childhood. The doctors could not help George, and he was saved by a man whom everyone considered a charlatan. Lionel Logue saw the psychological roots of the disease.

The proposed diagnosis is chronic anxiety. Apparently, in childhood, the future king experienced a traumatic situation that triggered a pathological process. Surprisingly, doctors have become