The main characters of the story are a story about life. II

In 1963, at the peak of K. G. Paustovsky’s popularity, the magazine “New World” published the last story of his autobiographical cycle, “The Tale of Life.” In a conversation with his literary secretary L. A. Levitsky, K. G. Paustovsky admitted that “The Tale of Life” is his main book, which most expresses him as an artist.

The autobiographical cycle consists of six books. In his first story, “Distant Years,” published in 1946, the writer talked about his childhood and studies at the Kyiv gymnasium. Paustovsky was born in 1892 into an intelligent family with Ukrainian-Turkish-Polish roots. His father, a man of progressive and independent views, tried to instill in his son deep respect for people, no matter what their rank and origin.

A real gymnasium brotherhood reigned in the gymnasium, professing noble, humane principles. Paustovsky describes such a case. One day, before the final exams, a meeting was held, which was attended by all the high school students in his class, except for the Jews. It was decided that the best students from Russians and Poles should get a B in at least one subject in the exams, so as not to receive a gold medal. It was decided to give them to Jews, who were not accepted into the university without gold medals.

The noble character of the schoolchildren and their ability to work together to create justice amazes and delights.

The second story, “Restless Youth” (1955), describes entering the university, the beginning of the First World War, service on an ambulance train, and work in the rear. The story ends with the events of the February Revolution.

“The Beginning of an Unknown Century” (1957) and “The Time of Great Expectations” (1959) tell about the October Revolution and the first years of formation Soviet power in Moscow and Odessa, about the work of K. G. Paustovsky in the editorial offices of various newspapers.

In these stories, the hero experiences many amazing (for a person of our time, sometimes even fantastic), deadly adventures. He finds himself in a smallpox-ridden village, escapes death by being late for a ship that is later sunk by the enemy, and fights the elements on a small boat in the open Sea of ​​Azov...

The hero of these stories is a romantic, and he perceives all events in his life through the prism of a romantic, noble view of life. Undoubtedly, in “The Tale of Life” there is a share of artistic fiction, but this does not detract from the value of the work - as an autobiography of an amazing writer and as evidence of an era seen through the eyes of a talented artist.

The language of Paustovsky's prose is fascinating. It has an amazing effect on our soul, brings it to a state of peace and tranquility and fills it with lasting admiration for Russian nature.

“The real life I described... itself took shape in those years according to the laws of drama,” wrote Paustovsky in his fifth story “Throw to the South” (1960), which, according to the laws of the genre, brought some relief after the greatest tension in the writer’s life . The story describes a trip to the Caucasus - Georgia and Abkhazia, friendship with Gaidar and Fraerman.

In the sixth story, the title of which “On Slow Fire” was replaced by “The Book of Wanderings” in the edition of “The New World,” the hero returns to Kyiv, where his last meeting with his mother and sister takes place, and then he leaves for Moscow to work and live...

The sixth story was not supposed to be the last. Paustovsky wanted to write another seventh story and bring the action in it to the mid-50s. But I didn’t have time...

If you are little familiar with the works of K. G. Paustovsky, then you should start getting acquainted with this wonderful writer with his stories - “Telegram”, “In the depths of Russia”, “Basket with fir cones”, “Rose hip”... And if you are touched by the soulful the lyricism of his prose, if you find your writer in Paustovsky, be sure to read “The Tale of Life.” After all, everything that Paustovsky changed his mind and experienced as a writer and a person, he put into his autobiographical books.

Last book published: 1963

The series of books by Paustovsky “The Tale of Life” is considered the main work of the writer included in our site. This series consists of six books, the first three of which are collections of short stories - “Distant Years”, “Restless Youth” and “The Beginning of an Unknown Century”, and the last three separate stories - “A Time of Great Expectations”, “Throw to the South” and “ Time to wander." Individual stories and the entire cycle “The Tale of Life” by Paustovsky must be read according to school curriculum, which greatly contributes to the popularization of this partly autobiographical cycle among young people.

Series “The Tale of Life” summary

In Paustovsky’s first book, “The Tale of Life,” you can read about how the narrator walks with his sister Galya in the Mariinsky Park in Kyiv. She and her sister are reading, sitting on benches in the shade of lilacs wet from the recent rain. The girl, who began to disturb the main character by jumping over an elastic band, received a wet shower from a tree and ran away showing her tongue. At this moment, a midshipman passes along the alley, who is forever imprinted in the narrator’s memory. This was a sailor of the Baltic Fleet, who was strikingly different from the Kyiv infantry officers. Forgetting about everything main character followed the sailor. The midshipman noticed this surveillance and realized that the boy wanted to become a sailor. He treated him to ice cream and gave him a photo of his ship.

Further in Paustovsky’s “Tale of Life” series, you will learn that this meeting changed the narrator’s life. He began to read a lot about the sea, ships and everything that was somehow connected with them. The mother even began to fear this hobby. Therefore, one day she announced that their family was going to the sea in Gelendzhik. The mother hoped that this would cure her passion for the sea, and gray Gelendzhik, without vegetation, practically coped with this task. But soon the main character met the Greek Anastas, who took him on a sail for the first time.

Further in Paustovsky’s “Tale of Life” series, you can read about how the whole family of the main character went to Mikhailovsky Pass. The striking difference between Gelendzhik and the pass literally crossed the line. The pass was surrounded by greenery, and during the journey they even had to dismount, otherwise the lush vegetation would hurt their faces. Here the main character saw the dolmen for the first time. Already returning home, he realized that he had fallen in love with the Caucasus.

After returning home, this passion resulted in a search for more and more accurate data about this region. Which again began to worry the mother. But these obsessions of the protagonist were quiet. After all, he did not pester anyone with requests or questions, but he honestly tried to find out. And already in adulthood, the main character remembers his hobbies with gratitude.

The story describes the memories of a young dreamer fascinated by the sea. It tells about events and people, each of which influenced the future fate of the young navigator.

Among them are the relatives and friends of the main character and amazing people met on life path hero. These people are simple at first glance, be it a boatman, a midshipman or a cab driver, but they delighted the hero and excited his childhood imagination. People and events are intertwined with detailed description the magnificent nature of the Caucasus, sea adventures and travels into impassable dense forests.

Picture or drawing A story about life

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Sections: Literature

The purpose of the lesson is to create conditions for:

1. formation in students of the concepts of “autobiographical work”, “hero of the work”, “author” through the analysis of the chapter “Midshipman” “Tales of Life”;
2. developing skills in analyzing literary and life materials, skills in expressive, conscious reading, and working in a team;
3. nurturing a caring attitude towards the word, towards the art of speech, education through familiarization with the biography of K. G. Paustovsky.

Materials and equipment: personal computer, multimedia projector, interactive whiteboard, training board, workbook.

Lesson format: frontal, individual, pair.

Lesson delivery methods: heuristic, explanatory and illustrative, critical thinking technology, ICT.

Lesson type: lesson on learning new material.

Time: 1 academic hour (45 minutes).

1. Introductory speech by the teacher.

The teacher focuses the children's attention on the fact that the selection of works that they study in the 6th grade allows them to imagine the lives of their peers, presented by different authors.

2. Brainstorming.

Task 1.

Name the character traits of literary characters your peers.

On at this stage All versions are accepted and recorded by the teacher on the board.

Task 2.

Select from the listed those qualities that you think you possess.

What do you think brings you and literary heroes together? Why is this happening?

What work can we call autobiographical?

3. Goal setting.

The teacher invites students to independently determine the topic of the lesson and goals, then the proposed options are compared with the teacher’s option.

2. Working with text. Reading “with stops” and commented.

Before reading each passage, the teacher asks the children to think about what this or that part of the text may be devoted to, and after reading, compare the proposed version with the available literary material .

– The chapter is called “Midshipman,” who do you think a midshipman is? Why did the author title this chapter this way?

Students express their assumptions, all versions are accepted.

"Midshipman"

Stage 1.

…One spring I was sitting in Mariinsky Park and reading “Treasure Island” by Stevenson. Sister Galya sat nearby and also read. Her summer hat with green ribbons lay on the bench. The wind moved the ribbons.

Galya was short-sighted, very trusting, and it was almost impossible to get her out of her good-natured state.

It had rained in the morning, but now the clear spring sky shone above us. Only belated drops of rain flew from the lilacs.

A girl with bows in her hair stopped in front of us and began jumping over the rope. She stopped me from reading. I shook the lilac. A little rain fell noisily on the girl and Galya. The girl stuck her tongue out at me and ran away, and Galya shook the raindrops off the book and continued reading.

And at that moment I saw a man who poisoned me for a long time with dreams of my unrealistic future.

– Did the initial versions match? Have we found out who the midshipman is? Who did we meet? What will we talk about next?

A tall midshipman with a tanned, calm face walked easily along the alley. A straight black broadsword hung from his lacquered belt. Black ribbons with bronze anchors fluttered in the quiet wind. He was all in black. Only the bright gold of the stripes set off his strict form.

In land-based Kyiv, where we hardly saw sailors, this was an alien from the distant legendary world of winged ships, the frigate “Pallada”, from the world of all the oceans, seas, all port cities, all the winds and all the charms that were associated with the picturesque work of seafarers . An ancient broadsword with a black hilt seemed to have appeared in the Mariinsky Park from the pages of Stevenson.

The midshipman passed by, crunching on the sand. I got up and followed him. Due to myopia, Galya did not notice my disappearance.

– Were our assumptions correct? Who is a midshipman? What is a frigate, hilt? What new did you learn about the hero? What will we talk about next?

My whole dream of the sea came true in this man. I often imagined seas, foggy and golden from the evening calm, distant voyages, when the whole world changed, like a quick kaleidoscope, behind the windows of the porthole. My God, if only someone had thought of giving me at least a piece of fossilized rust, broken from an old anchor! I would treasure it like a jewel.

The midshipman looked around. On the black ribbon of his cap, I read the mysterious word: “Azimuth.” Later I learned that this was the name of the training ship of the Baltic Fleet.

I followed him along Elizavetinskaya Street, then along Institutskaya and Nikolaevskaya. The midshipman saluted the infantry officers gracefully and casually. I was ashamed in front of him for these baggy Kyiv warriors. The midshipman looked around several times, and at the corner of Meringovskaya he stopped and called me over.

– What is true in our assumptions? What is azimuth? What did the hero dream of? How will the meeting with the midshipman end?

“Boy,” he asked mockingly, “why were you in tow behind me?”

I blushed and didn't answer.

“Everything is clear: he dreams of being a sailor,” the midshipman guessed, for some reason speaking about me in the third person.

The midshipman put his thin hand on my shoulder:

- Let's get to Khreshchatyk.

We walked side by side. I was afraid to look up and saw only the strong boots of a midshipman, polished to an incredible shine.

On Khreshchatyk, the midshipman came with me to the Semadeni coffee shop, ordered two servings of pistachio ice cream and two glasses of water. We were served ice cream on a small three-legged marble table. It was very cold and covered with numbers: stockbrokers gathered at Semadeni’s and counted their profits and losses on tables.

We ate the ice cream in silence. The midshipman took from his wallet a photograph of a magnificent corvette with a sailing rig and a wide funnel and handed it to me:

- Take it as a souvenir. This is my ship. I rode it to Liverpool.

He shook my hand firmly and left. I sat there a little longer until my sweaty neighbors in boaters started looking back at me. Then I awkwardly left and ran to the Mariinsky Park. The bench was empty. Galya left. I guessed that the midshipman pitied me, and for the first time I learned that pity leaves a bitter aftertaste in the soul.

-What is a corvette? What conclusion does the hero make after talking with the midshipman? Could we have foreseen such an outcome? How does this characterize the hero? What could be the consequences of the meeting, other than a bitter conclusion?

Stage 5.

After this meeting, the desire to become a sailor tormented me for many years. I was eager to go to the sea. The first time I saw him briefly was in Novorossiysk, where I went for a few days with my father. But this was not enough.

For hours I sat over the atlas, examined the coasts of the oceans, looked for unknown seaside towns, capes, islands, and river mouths.

I came up with a complex game. I compiled a long list of ships with sonorous names: “Polar Star”, “Walter Scott”, “Khingan”, “Sirius”. This list swelled every day. I was the owner of the largest fleet in the world.

Of course, I was sitting in my shipping office, in the smoke of cigars, among colorful posters and schedules. Wide windows looked out, naturally, onto the embankment. The yellow masts of steamships stuck out right next to the windows, and good-natured elms rustled behind the walls. Steamboat smoke flew cheekily into the windows, mingling with the smell of rotten brine and new, cheerful matting.

I have come up with a list of amazing voyages for my ships. There was no more forgotten corner of the earth wherever they went. They even visited the island of Tristan d'Acuña.

I removed ships from one voyage and sent them to another. I followed the voyages of my ships and unmistakably knew where the Admiral Istomin was today and where the Flying Dutchman was: the Istomin loaded bananas in Singapore, and the Flying Dutchman unloaded flour in the Faroe Islands.

In order to manage such a vast shipping enterprise, I needed a lot of knowledge. I read guidebooks, ship's handbooks and everything that had even a remote connection to the sea.

That was the first time I heard the word “meningitis” from my mother.

“He’ll get to God knows what with his games,” my mother once said. - As if all this would not end in meningitis.

I have heard that meningitis is a disease of boys who learn to read too early. So I just grinned at my mother’s fears.

It all ended with the parents deciding to go with the whole family to the sea for the summer.

Now I guess that my mother hoped to cure me with this trip from my excessive passion for the sea. She thought that I would be, as always happens, disappointed by the direct confrontation with what I so passionately strived for in my dreams. And she was right, but only partly.

– Did our initial ideas about the content and hero of the work coincide? What have we learned about the main character?

3. Working with the table of associations in groups.

Fill in the columns of the table dedicated to the hero of the work. Present results orally and in writing.

1. Listen to the syncwine about K. G. Paustovsky.
2. Fill in the columns of the table dedicated to the writer.
3. Based on the data in the table, answer the question: “Can we call “The Tale of Life” an autobiographical work?”
4. Homework
.