Under the protection of the 108 psalm. ("The Little Man" in the novels of Leonid Leonov)

Petisheva Viktoriia Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Russian Literature, Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M. Akmulla 452451, Russia, Respublika Bashkortostan oblast', g. Birsk, ul. Rossiiskaya, 7 kira-02@mail.ru

Starting with A. Pushkin and N. Gogol, the idea that the life of a "little man" can and should become the subject of artistic creativity has been consistently asserted in Russian literature. The appearance of such a hero in art is an exceptional fact, because in the person of a representative of the social grassroots, artists saw not only an exotic phenomenon, but also the creator and keeper of the material and cultural values of the nation.

There are different approaches to depicting the life of socially humiliated characters. F. Dostoevsky, for example, defined one of the most important aspects of his creative manner: "I act by Analysis, not Synthesis <···> Gogol takes the whole directly <···>" ^{[3, pp. 86-87]}. The author of "Poor People", in addition to external attributes and collisions, was no less interested in the inner side – the spiritual microclimate of the hero, the state of his psyche. Indeed, N. Gogol's creative principles are different. After the publication of the novel F. N. Gogol wrote Dostoevsky: "Poor people" I just started, read three pages and looked into the middle to see the warehouse and the manner of speech of the new writer <···> The author of "Poor People" shows talent, the choice of subjects speaks in favor of his spiritual qualities, but it is also clear that he is still young. There is still a lot of talkativeness and little concentration in oneself: everything would have turned out to be much more lively and stronger if it had been more concise" ^{[2, p. 236]}.

L. Leonov (1899-1994) in the process of literary activity relied on the creative achievements of the classics of the last century, on the artistic principles of N. Gogol when depicting "little" people. For example, in the novel "Badgers" (1924), many "heroless" characters are shown – episodic and secondary. A special place among them belongs to Stepan Katushin.

In the beginning of a small chapter "At Katushin", the writer introduced his hero to the reader and already at the beginning of the narrative predetermined his fate. The storyline of "Katushin – Zaryadye" moves slowly and with restraint. The beginning of the story about the life of the hero is preceded by a stingy, but expressive characteristic of one of the districts of Moscow - Zaryadye: "All those who come slyly and unkindly, both blind and sighted, and freaks and clever people, were accepted by Zaryadye and paid them not equally, but according to their silence or their conscience" ^{[4, p. 21]}. It is not easy for a person to decide in Zaryadye, crowded with houses with citizens packed in them, it is even more difficult to go out into the people. "Life here is cool and harsh. In the hopeless stone crevices of the house, various people, of all kinds and crafts, were crammed to the brim: a penny dumb tribe, small ant relatives" ^{[4, p. 17]}.

Katushin was kind, timid and quiet from birth, thoughtful and laconic, therefore, perhaps, it was more difficult for him to find his path in the noisy restlessness of the city. "The thirteen–year-old <···> was brought by the need of Stepushka Katushin to Zaryadye," the author narrated. – And the Charge in the person of shaposhnik Galunov did not reject Stepushka, but accepted and nursed him, threw him bread to live, allocated a bed to sleep... And Zaryadye said to Katushin: "Be a shaposhnik, Stepan." And since then, obeying a strict command, he began to fasten caps and fur hats with a fast, ageless hand to cover other people's heads. He himself ran all his life almost in the same ushanka in which his village threw him out" ^{[4, p. 21]}.

In a new place, life flowed steadily and quietly, obeying forces unknown to man. The years passed monotonously, Katushin day after day quilted caps, sewed fur hats, receiving small pennies for his work: they could not buy decent clothes, they were enough only for bread, and the owner for the corner. By the end of his life, daily work had dried up the artisan's body, almost took the sight and strength from his hands. "He resembled a pea," the author continued the story, "and his eyes, smiling, running over broken and paper–taped glasses. For forty-three years, tirelessly weaving galloon goods, whether by car or by hand, he looks out of a tiny stone window at the warm lights of the pre-morning city sky, at the black cloud shadows that muffle the day. It seems that he has not changed at all, only his eyes began to water and his knees refuse to hold. The only difference is that Stepan Leontyich used to wait for himself a piece of happiness, and now he is waiting for them to take him out of here feet first to the last shelter, beyond the Kaluga outpost" ^{[4, p. 21]}.

Here is another excerpt from the initial text of the chapter "At Katushin", which completes the noiseless story of the worker-worker, brings it to its logical end: "For the whole life," the author said, "Katushin's only good was acquired: a greenish chest, one to carry away, and a basket. In the trunk rested old linen, another watch with a sagging lid, a winding key, another cloth jacket, more newly sewn boots. And on top of everything, so as not to look for someone else, everyday things lay on his death rite: a pound of skinny funeral candles, two equal cuts of mitkal and sarpinki, incense in a pharmacy box and money, seventeen and a half, the net profit of Katusha's life in rubles" ^{[4, 21-22]}.

With this, the detailed narrative in the novel about the life of the "little" hero is almost over. The author outlined the fate of the "penny" person briefly, sparingly and figuratively. It would be possible to put a point: the character was a success, his biography is not devoid of real meaning. But L. Leonov continued his artistic research of the literary type. The writer faced the following tasks: to comprehensively assess the actions of the hero and his relationships with other characters, to identify their role in the figurative structure of the book. There are no more scenes from the life of Katushin in the novel (except for the funeral), only occasionally new and new scanty information about the hero slips into the work, deepening the literary image, helping the artist to complete the creation of an impressive figure of the "little man".

Katushin is hardworking. This is his main advantage. («<···> One cap a day – count how many I've made in my whole life <···>" ^{[4, p. 78]}, so the dying man simply appreciated his hard work). All other qualities of any person, L. Leonov argued, are derived from diligence. The important actions of shaposhnik are to teach others kindness and humility without being intrusive ("A person, if you remember about every day, will burn from vain anger" ^{[4, p. 23]}; "You fart, but there is no way to humble yourself... Still looking for something! You will not find anything lost" ^{[4, p. 24]}. He is the antipode of Dudin, who is convinced that a person should not suffer, "patience is given to a person in mockery. Fight, don't give in! A man will be born a soldier, and teeth are given for that..." ^{[4, p. 25]}. Stepan Leontievich communicated openly with people, helping them with advice to survive, overcome life's adversities; he had "<···> almost childlike humility before fate, an unshakable faith in the predestination of events" ^{[10, p. 175]}. His attitude to the dying Katerina Ivanovna, to Semyon Rakhleev, who is beginning his journey, to everyone around him – strong and weak, talkative and silent, evil and kind - is marked by a feeling of genuine love. Katushin is a type of righteous man, corresponding to Christian morality. Stepan Leontyich's righteousness is not only an honest and just life, but also Christian piety.

The concept of "righteous" is semantically ambiguous. At the heart of one is the prevailing "<...> socio–legal connotation - a man–a truth-seeker; a man seeking justice and legality. The second, unlike the first, is devoid of a specific household orientation and is interpreted as a saint, a carrier of the ideas of holiness" ^{[9, p. 85]}. The religious and philosophical motivation of the characterology of the righteous is determined by Christian anthropology - the need for repentance for the salvation of the soul.

Senya Rakhleev, torn away from his native village against his will, found shelter in Katushin's sympathetic heart from the first meeting. Senya often visited the master's closet, often found in conversation with him that cherished word that softened the soul, made it better. The "dried-up Kaluga old man" spared no effort and time, teaching the boy to read and write. "It is unlikely that Katushin," the author noted, "has had a greater revival in his whole life than on the evening when Senya wrote the first four illiterate words" ^{[4, p. 22]}.

Katushin is a poet at heart. His temporary life consisted of two halves: the first (prose) consisted of sewing caps and caps; the second (poetic) – reading books and composing poems. The second half for the hero was no less important than the first, because it did not let Katusha's dream die. L. Leonov's "Little Man" is endowed with a sense of faith in a better tomorrow. Living and "acting" in a desacralized plane, being an optimist, he was needed first of all by the people around him; only then did the hero think about himself and his well-being.

Stepan Leontievich is in many ways similar to Akaky Akakievich. Bashmachkin's life, like Katushin's, is outwardly unassuming, boring and monotonous. This is not life at all, but the slow existence of an inconspicuous official who spent himself in full in the office and at home. But this is the outer side of the hero's life. For the character, it is less significant than the inner one – the dream of a greatcoat. Bashmachkin's dream is amazing and majestic in its own way, because it made an ordinary person out of a weak and defenseless hero, who, like all people, became inherent in dignity and vices, the desire to live and love. The overcoat in the perception of the hero is not a thing, but a whole world of joyful hopes that warm his soul in moments of disappointment and despair, in hours of incessant boring rewriting of official papers under the hurtful ridicule of colleagues. When the dream of a greatcoat became a reality, Bashmachkin was reborn: he began to perceive the world, objects and people differently; he had other internal needs. But as soon as the overcoat became the prey of robbers, the desire to live disappeared. Such is Katushin in "Badgers": with the arrival of a feeble old age, the purpose in life and its dreams disappear. But even in the last hours before his death, the hero remains faithful to his humane principles, not forgetting about the closest person – Sena. (That's how Katushin works!): "<···> I'll leave you some underwear here," the dying man said to Rachleyev, "don't refuse. Hem it, and you'll wear it! <···>" ^{[4, p. 78]}. At the moment of death, Katushin resembles a peasant from L. Tolstoy's story "Three Deaths".

The theme of "heroless" types is developed in "The Thief" (1927), in the structure of which lies the antithesis: Vekshin is a "little man". The main character of the novel Vekshin is a tragic figure, he is the author's symbol: where Dmitry is, human destinies are broken. Ksenia died, cursing the thief for heartlessness; the broken Masha Dolomanova morally dies; Mitka became the culprit of his sister's death; inflicted a heart wound on Babkin; other inhabitants of Blagusha suffered from him. "Cynicism, cruelty and unbelief,– V. Matushkina wrote, "leading to the death of the spiritual and physical – this is the reality of the novel "Thief". A hardened, inhuman world surrounds the heroes of the novel, erasing the human, spiritual from them. All the attempts of the heroes to merge with the era are utopia. Ideals are illusory. People become victims of their chosen ideals" ^{[7, p. 142]}.

Pukhov (Pchkhov) – a righteous man and a dreamer – is opposed to Vekshin. The "little" hero carries a complex conceptual load in the novel. «<···> He was calm inside himself," the novel says, "like people who see far away are calm <···> He secretly believed in the land where golden willows grow and silver-throated birds whistle all day long" ^{[5, p. 18]}. Very many "<···> the most speechless and untalented of the earth–footed, found affection from Pchkhov <···>" ^{[5, p. 18]} - he did not push Mitka away; sympathized with Agey; he sheltered Puglya; often bestowed the goodness of his soul on other characters who were destitute and lost themselves. The old craftsman resembles Katushin. He, like shaposhnik, lived in the world under the protection of the 108th psalm, not forgetting about his neighbor, always ready to help the suffering. And his death resembles Katushinskaya's: behind Pukhov's coffin, only one person walked along the last path of the deceased – an old circus performer, wild and drooping from new orphanhood.

In the gallery of L. Leonov's "little" heroes, Kalina Glukhov from the "Russian Forest" (1953), Ivan Vikhrov's mentor, occupies a special place. His worldview was formed under the influence of various factors, while a special role was played by the communication and conversations of the teenager Vanya with Kalina, who in boyish gossip seemed to be either a kind and mischievous goblin, or a formidable and fair henchman of Stenka Razin. The forester Glukhov willingly explained his faith, which later became the faith of Ivan Matveich himself. And if the uncomplicated words of the elder were smoothed out, the narrator noted, then "<···> it would turn out that there is no god on earth, but only the never-cooling hops of life, and the joys of the most enlightened mind, and even a yellow grave pit in addition – to melt them into even more perfect values of universal existence..." ^{[6, p. 89]}. The blue glow of the laconic friendship of a soldier of indefinite royal service and a small peasant boy remained in the heart of Vikhrov for life. The forest lord generously shared with Vanya the secrets of human wisdom, "<···> taught his pet to recognize the weather by dew, and the harvest by the roots of forest grasses – and other secret letters of the forest, in which the millennial experience of the people has accumulated" ^{[6, p. 88]}. Kalina is a new type of Leon's righteous man. Glukhov's righteousness is based on living in harmony with the surrounding nature, the sacred meaning of human life with its inevitable end – melting into other, even more perfect forms of being. Such qualities of Kalina as "<···> his bright cheerfulness of spirit and sense of beauty ("good looks"), his active love for his neighbors, humility, cheerfulness <···>" ^{[8, pp. 145-146]}, resemble the spiritual properties of Tolstoy's Plato Karataev.

Kalina is the "main" hero among the episodic characters of the book, widely representing the social lower classes and the author's symbol of the national spirit and immortality. (Over the years, it seemed to Ivan Matveich that the fairy-tale keeper of the forest). Other "heroless" characters are a mirror image of a literary symbol. Among the episodic characters is the truth–loving Matvey Vikhrov. "The greatness of the Russian peasantry was evident in his calm melodious speech, in his sedate beard, slightly touched with gray, in the slowness of heavy hands, fit even for epic exploits" ^{[6, p. 63]}. Noteworthy are the types of hardworking Karel Ananias – a "tree" man, a master of "tree creations", a laughing well–maker Efrem; a witty, half-impoverished peasant Nefeda; wise old women (an episodic image of an old woman who, as if performing a sacred act, washed a girl in an ancient trough during the bombing) and children (an arrested unnamed boy who shamed Hitler in the occupied Enge). It should be noted that the archetype of "wise old men (old women)", symbolizing the ever-living spirit hidden behind the chaos of the earthly universe, is found in all the novels of L. Leonov.

When creating episodic characters, the writer was attracted by "<···> the conscious beginning of people's life, and not how it epically unfolds, but how it withstands the test of strength under the "compression" of time, space and internal forces" ^{[1, p. 15]}. Individual representatives of the popular mass are recreated in novels in the traditions of oral folk art, manifested not only in the depiction of mythical character traits or the actions of heroes who resembled epic images, but also the speech of the characters – in edifying language phrases, such as "You walk with a bag, you will be a merchant, you will live your century alone: the need makes people related, and wealth separates them!" ^{[6, p. 79]}, or in proverbial expressions: "It's always warmer on someone else's fire", "Someone else's soul is a dense forest", "The best kinds of lies are prepared from half–truths", etc. The edifying tone of the narrative "<···> prompts us to recall how, in response to the questionnaire question: "From whom did you learn to write?", our author confessed: "In terms of language, poetic temperament, the remarkable monument "The Life of Habakkuk" was of great importance to me ^{[11, pp. 160-161]}.

So, the problem of the "little man" in Russian literature has been and remains a complex and diverse phenomenon. Despite the individuality of each of the types of "little man" created by different authors, modern reality is reflected in them, as in a mirror. Each writer approached the troubles of the "little man" in his own way: some, like social utopians, saw a "way out" in the development of his character, in awakening a sense of self–esteem, and finally, in correcting society, guilty of the position of a socially disadvantaged hero, others - in Christian humility, in the moral rebirth of society. However, despite the different attitude of the authors to their heroes, there is a general tendency in the work of writers to sympathize with the "poor man", to forgive and justify his mistakes.

Thus, we can talk not only about a certain typology of the "little man" created by writers of different centuries, but also about the continuity (in the sense of solving the image) of the theme of the "little man" from A. Pushkin, N. Gogol and F. Dostoevsky to L. Leonov and other writers of the XX and XXI centuries.