The image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is central. He unites the heroes of the work and protects them from danger. Turning events in the country instill anxiety and fear in the souls of people. And only home comfort and warmth can create the illusion of peace and security.

1918

Great is the year one thousand nine hundred and eighteen. But he is also scary. Kyiv was occupied by German troops on one side and the hetman's army on the other. And rumors about Petlyura’s arrival instill increasing anxiety in the already frightened townspeople. Visitors and all sorts of dubious characters are scurrying around on the street. Anxiety is even in the air. This is how Bulgakov depicted the situation in Kyiv in Last year war. And he used the image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” so that its heroes could hide, at least for a while, from the impending danger. The characters of the main characters are revealed within the walls of the Turbins’ apartment. Everything outside of it is like another world, scary, wild and incomprehensible.

Intimate conversations

The theme of home plays an important role in the novel The White Guard. The Turbins’ apartment is cozy and warm. But here, too, the heroes of the novel argue and conduct political discussions. Alexei Turbin, the oldest tenant of this apartment, scolds the Ukrainian hetman, whose most harmless offense is that he forced the Russian population to speak a “vile language.” Next, he spews curses at representatives of the hetman’s army. However, the obscenity of his words does not detract from the truth that lies within them.

Myshlaevsky, Stepanov and Shervinsky, Nikolka’s younger brother - everyone is excitedly discussing what is happening in the city. And also present here is Elena, the sister of Alexei and Nikolka.

But the image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is not the embodiment of a family hearth and not a refuge for dissident individuals. This is a symbol of what is still bright and real in a dilapidated country. A political change always gives rise to unrest and robbery. And the people in Peaceful time, seemingly quite decent and honest, show their true colors in difficult situations. Turbines and their friends are few of those who have not been made worse off by the changes in the country.

Thalberg's betrayal

At the beginning of the novel, Elena's husband leaves the house. He runs into the unknown in a “rat run.” Listening to her husband’s assurances that Denikin will soon return with the army, Elena, “old and ugly,” understands that he will not return. And so it happened. Thalberg had connections, he took advantage of them and was able to escape. And already at the end of the work, Elena learns about his upcoming marriage.

The image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is a kind of fortress. But for cowardly and selfish people, it is like a sinking ship for rats. Talberg flees, and only those who can trust each other remain. Those who are not capable of betrayal.

Autobiographical work

Bulgakov created this novel based on his own life experience. “The White Guard” is a work in which the characters express the thoughts of the author himself. The book is not national, since it is dedicated only to a certain social stratum close to the writer.

Bulgakov's heroes turn to God more than once in the most difficult moments. There is complete harmony and mutual understanding in the family. This is exactly what I imagined perfect home Bulgakov. But perhaps the theme of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is inspired by the author’s youthful memories.

Universal hatred

In 1918, bitterness prevailed in the cities. It had an impressive scale, as it was generated by the centuries-old hatred of peasants towards nobles and officers. And to this we should also add anger local population in relation to the occupiers and Petliurists, whose appearance is awaited with horror. The author depicted all this using the example of the Kyiv events. But only parents' house in the novel “The White Guard” is a bright, kind image that inspires hope. And here it’s not only Alexey, Elena and Nikolka who can take refuge from the external storms of life.

The Turbins’ house in the novel “The White Guard” also becomes a haven for people who are close in spirit to its inhabitants. Myshlaevsky, Karas and Shervinsky became relatives to Elena and her brothers. They know about everything that happens in this family - about all the sorrows and hopes. And they are always welcome here.

Mother's testament

Turbina Sr., who died shortly before the events described in the work, bequeathed her children to live together. Elena, Alexey and Nikolka keep their promise, and only this saves them. Love, understanding and support - the components of a true Home - do not allow them to perish. And even when Alexey is dying, and doctors call him “hopeless,” Elena continues to believe and finds support in prayers. And, to the surprise of the doctors, Alexey recovers.

The author paid much attention to the interior elements in the Turbins' house. Small details create a striking contrast between this apartment and the one on the floor below. The atmosphere in Lisovich's house is cold and uncomfortable. And after the robbery, Vasilisa goes to the Turbins for spiritual support. Even this seemingly unpleasant character feels safe in Elena and Alexei’s house.

The world outside this house is mired in confusion. But here everyone still sings songs, sincerely smiles at each other and boldly looks danger in the eyes. This atmosphere also attracts another character - Lariosik. Talberg's relative almost immediately became one of his own here, which Elena's husband failed to do. The thing is that the arriving guest from Zhitomir has such qualities as kindness, decency and sincerity. And they are mandatory for a long stay in the house, the image of which was depicted so vividly and colorfully by Bulgakov.

"The White Guard" is a novel that was published more than 90 years ago. When a play based on this work was staged in one of the Moscow theaters, the audience, whose fates were so similar to the lives of the heroes, cried and fainted. This work became extremely close to those who lived through the events of 1917-1918. But the novel did not lose relevance even later. And some fragments in it are unusually reminiscent of the present time. And this once again confirms that the present literary work always, at any time relevant.

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov attaches special importance to female images in the novel, although this is not so easy to notice. All male heroes of The White Guard are in one way or another connected with historical events, unfolding in the City and in Ukraine as a whole, we perceive them as nothing less than active protagonists of the civil war. The men of the “White Guard” are endowed with the ability to reflect on political events, take decisive steps, and defend their beliefs with arms in hand. The writer assigns a completely different role to his heroines: Elena Turbina, Julia Reiss, Irina Nai-Tours. These women, despite the fact that death hovers around them, remain almost indifferent to events, and in the novel they actually only engage in personal life. The most interesting thing is that in The White Guard there is, in general, no love in the classical literary sense. Several windy novels unfold before us, worthy of descriptions in “tabloid” literature. Mikhail Afanasyevich portrays women as frivolous partners in these novels. The only exception, perhaps, is Anyuta, but her love with Myshlaevsky also ends quite “tabloid”: as evidenced by one of the options in the 19th chapter of the novel, Viktor Viktorovich takes his beloved away to have an abortion.

Some rather frank expressions that Mikhail Afanasyevich uses in general female characteristics clearly make us understand the writer’s somewhat disdainful attitude towards women as such. Bulgakov does not make a distinction even between representatives of the aristocracy and workers of the oldest profession in the world, reducing their qualities to one denominator. Here are some general phrases about them we can read: “Cocottes. Honest ladies from aristocratic families. Their gentle daughters, pale St. Petersburg libertines with painted carmine lips”; “Prostitutes walked past, in green, red, black and white caps, beautiful, like dolls, and cheerfully muttered to the screw: “Did you smell your mother?” Thus, the reader, inexperienced in “women’s” issues, having read the novel, may well conclude that aristocrats and prostitutes are one and the same.

Elena Turbina, Yulia Reiss and Irina Nai-Tours are completely different women in character and life experience. Irina Nai-Tours seems to us to be an 18-year-old young lady, the same age as Nikolka, who has not yet known all the delights and disappointments of love, but has a large supply of girlish flirtation that can charm young man. Elena Turbina, a 24-year-old married woman, is also endowed with charm, but she is simpler and more accessible. In front of Shervinsky, she does not “break” comedies, but behaves honestly. Finally, the most complex woman in character, Julia Reiss, who managed to be married, is a flamboyant hypocrite and selfish person who lives for her own pleasure.

All three women mentioned not only have differences in life experience and age. They represent the three most common types female psychology, which Mikhail Afanasyevich probably encountered

Bulgakov. All three heroines have their real prototypes, with whom the writer, apparently, not only communicated spiritually, but also had affairs or was related. Actually, we will talk about each of the women separately.

The sister of Alexei and Nikolai Turbins, “Golden” Elena, is depicted by the writer, as it seems to us, as the most trivial woman, the type of which is quite common. As can be seen from the novel, Elena Turbina belongs to the quiet and calm “homely” women who, with the appropriate attitude from a man, are capable of being faithful to him until the end of their lives. True, for such women, as a rule, the very fact of having a man is important, and not his moral or physical merits. In a man, they first of all see the father of their child, a certain support in life, and, finally, an integral attribute of the family of a patriarchal society. That is why such women, much less eccentric and emotional, more easily cope with betrayal or the loss of a man for whom they immediately try to find a replacement. Such women are very convenient for starting a family, since their actions are predictable, if not 100, then 90 percent. In addition, being a homebody and caring for offspring largely makes these women blind in life, which allows their husbands to go about their business and even have affairs without much fear. These women, as a rule, are naive, stupid, rather limited and of little interest to men who love thrill. At the same time, such women can be acquired quite easily, since they take any flirting at face value. Nowadays there are a lot of such women, they get married early, and to men older than them, give birth to children early and lead, in our opinion, a boring, tedious and uninteresting lifestyle. These women consider the main merit in life to be the creation of a family, “continuation of the family,” which is what they initially make their main goal.

There is plenty of evidence in the novel that Elena Turbina is exactly as we described. All her advantages, by and large, boil down to the fact that she knows how to create comfort in the Turbins’ house and perform household functions in a timely manner: “The tablecloth, despite the guns and all this languor, anxiety and nonsense, is white and starchy. This from Elena, who cannot do otherwise, this is from Anyuta, who grew up in the Turbins' house. The floors are shiny, and in December, now, on the table, in a matte, columnar vase, there are blue hydrangeas and two gloomy and sultry roses, affirming the beauty and strength of life..." . Bulgakov did not have any exact characteristics in store for Elena - she is simple, and her simplicity is visible in everything. The action of the novel “The White Guard” actually begins with a scene of Thalberg’s waiting: “In Elena’s eyes there is melancholy (not anxiety and worries, not jealousy and resentment, but melancholy - T.Ya.’s note), and the strands, covered with a reddish fire, sadly drooped.” .

Even her husband’s rapid departure abroad did not bring Elena out of this state. She showed no emotions at all, she just listened sadly, “she grew old and ugly.” To drown out her melancholy, Elena did not go to her room to sob, fight in hysterics, take out her anger on relatives and guests, but began to drink wine with her brothers and listen to the admirer who appeared instead of her husband. Despite the fact that there were no quarrels between Elena and her husband Thalberg, she still began to respond gently to the attentions shown to her by her admirer Shervinsky. As it turned out at the end of The White Guard, Talberg left not for Germany, but for Warsaw, and not in order to continue the fight against the Bolsheviks, but to marry a certain mutual acquaintance, Lidochka Hertz. Thus, Thalberg had an affair that his wife did not even suspect. But even in this case, Elena Turbina, who seemed to love Talberg, did not make a tragedy, but completely switched to Shervinsky: “And Shervinsky? Oh, the devil knows... That’s punishment with the women. Elena will definitely contact him, absolutely... And "What's good? Except maybe the voice? The voice is excellent, but in the end, you can listen to the voice anyway without getting married, isn't it... However, it doesn't matter."

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov himself, although he objectively assessed life credo his wives, always focused on precisely this type of woman, like the one described by Elena Turbina. Actually, in many ways this was the writer’s second wife, Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya, who considered her given “from the people.” Here are some characteristics dedicated to Belozerskaya that we can find in Bulgakov’s diary in December 1924: “My wife helps me a lot with these thoughts. I noticed that when she walks, she sways. This is terribly stupid given my plans, but it seems "I'm in love with her. But one thought interests me. Would she adapt just as comfortably to anyone, or is it selective, for me?" “It’s a terrible state, I’m falling more and more in love with my wife. It’s such a shame - I’ve been denying my own for ten years... Women are like women. And now I’m even humiliating myself to the point of slight jealousy. She’s somehow sweet and sweet. And fat.” By the way, as you know, Mikhail Bulgakov dedicated the novel “The White Guard” to his second wife, Lyubov Belozerskaya.

The dispute about whether Elena Turbina has her own historical prototypes, has been going on for a very long time. By analogy with the parallel Talberg - Karum, a similar parallel Elena Turbina - Varvara Bulgakova is drawn. As you know, Mikhail Bulgakov’s sister Varvara Afanasyevna was really married to Leonid Karum, depicted in the novel as Talberg. The Bulgakov brothers did not like Karum, which explains the creation of such an unpleasant image of Thalberg. In this case, Varvara Bulgakova is considered the prototype of Elena Turbina only because she was Karum’s wife. Of course, the argument is weighty, but Varvara Afanasyevna’s character was very different from Elena Turbina. Even before meeting Karum, Varvara Bulgakova could well have found a mate. Nor was it as accessible as the Turbine. As you know, there is a version that because of her at one time he committed suicide close friend Mikhail Bulgakov Boris Bogdanov, a very worthy young man. In addition, Varvara Afanasyevna sincerely loved Leonid Sergeevich Karum, helped him even during the years of repression, when it was worth caring not about her arrested husband, but about her children, and followed him into exile. It is very difficult for us to imagine Varvara Bulgakova in the role of Turbina, who, out of boredom, does not know what to do with herself, and after her husband leaves, starts an affair with the first man she comes across.

There is also a version that all of Mikhail Afanasyevich’s sisters are in one way or another connected with the image of Elena Turbina. This version is based mainly on the similarity of the name of Bulgakov’s younger sister and the heroine of the novel, as well as some other external characteristics. However, this version, in our opinion, is erroneous, since Bulgakov’s four sisters were all individuals who, unlike Elena Turbina, had their own oddities and quirks. Mikhail Afanasyevich’s sisters are in many ways similar to other types of women, but not like the one we are considering. All of them were very picky in choosing a mate, and their husbands were educated, purposeful and enthusiastic people. Moreover, all the husbands of Mikhail Afanasyevich’s sisters were associated with humanities, which even in those days, in the gray environment of domestic scum, were considered the lot of women.

To be honest, it is very difficult to argue about the prototypes of Elena Turbina’s image. But if we compare the psychological portraits of literary images and women surrounding Bulgakov, we can say that Elena Turbina is very similar... to the writer’s mother, who devoted her entire life only to her family: men, everyday life and children.

Irina Nai-Tours also has a fairly typical for 17-18 year old representatives of the female half of society psychological picture. In the developing novel between Irina and Nikolai Turbin, we can notice some personal details, taken by the writer, probably from the experience of his early love affairs. The rapprochement between Nikolai Turbin and Irina Nai-Tours occurs only in a little-known version of the 19th chapter of the novel and gives us reason to believe that Mikhail Bulgakov still intended to develop this theme in the future, planning to finalize The White Guard.

Nikolai Turbin met Irina Nai-Tours when Colonel Nai-Tours’ mother was notified of his death. Subsequently, Nikolai, together with Irina, made a rather unpleasant trip to the city morgue to search for the colonel’s body. During the New Year celebration, Irina Nai-Tours appeared at the Turbins’ house, and Nikolka then volunteered to accompany her, as a little-known version of the 19th chapter of the novel tells:

“Irina shrugged her shoulders chillily and buried her chin in the fur. Nikolka walked alongside, tormented by a terrible and insurmountable problem: how to offer her his hand. And he just couldn’t. It was as if a two-pound weight had been hung on his tongue. “You can’t walk like that.” Impossible. How can I say?.. Let me... No, she might think something. And maybe it’s unpleasant for her to walk with me on my arm?.. Eh!..”

“It’s so cold,” Nikolka said.

Irina looked up, where there were many stars in the sky and, to the side on the slope of the dome, the moon above the extinct seminary on the distant mountains, she answered:

Very. I'm afraid you'll freeze.

“On you. On,” Nikolka thought, “not only is there no question of taking her arm, but she’s even unpleasant that I went with her. Otherwise, there’s no way to interpret such a hint...”

Irina immediately slipped, shouted “ouch” and grabbed the sleeve of her overcoat. Nikolka choked. But I still didn’t miss such an opportunity. After all, you really have to be a fool. He said:

Let me take your hand...

Where are your pigtails?.. You will freeze... I don’t want to.

Nikolka turned pale and firmly swore to the star Venus: “I will come and immediately

I'll shoot myself. It's over. A shame".

I forgot my gloves under the mirror...

Then her eyes appeared closer to him, and he was convinced that in these eyes there was not only blackness. starry night and already fading mourning for the burry colonel, but slyness and laughter. She herself took his right hand with her right hand, pulled it through her left, put his hand into her muff, laid it next to hers and added mysterious words that Nikolka thought about for twelve whole minutes until Malo-Provalnaya:

You need to be half-hearted.

“Princess... What do I hope for? My future is dark and hopeless. I’m awkward. And I haven’t even started university yet... Beauty...” thought Nikol. And Irina Nay was not a beauty at all. An ordinary pretty girl with black eyes. True, she is slender, and her mouth is not bad, it is correct, her hair is shiny, black.

At the outbuilding, in the first tier of the mysterious garden, they stopped at a dark door. The moon was cut out somewhere behind a tangle of trees, and the snow was patchy, sometimes black, sometimes purple, sometimes white. All the windows in the outbuilding were black, except for one, glowing with a cozy fire. Irina leaned against the black door, threw her head back and looked at Nikolka, as if she was waiting for something. Nikolka is in despair that he, “oh, stupid”, has not been able to tell her anything in twenty minutes, in despair that now she will leave him at the door, at this moment, just when some important words are forming in his mind in a useless head, he became emboldened to the point of despair, he himself put his hand into the muff and looked for a hand there, in great amazement he was convinced that this hand, which had been in a glove all the way, was now without a glove. There was complete silence all around. The city was sleeping.

Go,” Irina Nay said very quietly, “go, otherwise the Petlyugists will persecute you.”

Well, so be it,” Nikolka answered sincerely, “so be it.”

No, don't let it. Don't let it. - She paused. - I will be sorry...

What a pity?.. Eh?.. - And he squeezed his hand in the muff tighter.

Then Irina freed her hand along with the muff, and put it on his shoulder with the muff. Her eyes became extremely large, like black flowers, as it seemed to Nikolka, she rocked Nikolka so that he touched the velvet of his fur coat with the buttons with eagles, sighed and kissed him right on the lips.

Maybe you are smart, but so slow...

Then Nikolka, feeling that he had become incredibly brave, desperate and very agile, grabbed Nai and kissed her on the lips. Irina Nay insidiously threw her right hand back and, without opening her eyes, managed to ring the bell. And that hour the mother’s steps and cough were heard in the outbuilding, and the door shook... Nikolka’s hands unclenched.

Go away tomorrow,” Nai whispered, “everyday.” Now leave, leave..."

As we see, the “insidious” Irina Nai-Tours, probably more sophisticated in life’s issues than the naive Nikolka, completely takes into her own hands the emerging personal relationship between them. By and large, we see a young coquette who loves to please and make men dizzy. Such young ladies, as a rule, are able to quickly “inflame” with love, achieve the favor and love of a partner, and just as quickly cool down, leaving a man at the height of his feelings. When such women want to gain attention, they act as active partners, taking the first step towards meeting, as happened in the case of our heroine. We, of course, do not know how Mikhail Bulgakov planned to end the story with the naive Nikolka and the “insidious” Irina, but, logically, the younger Turbin should have fallen in love, and Colonel Nai-Tours’ sister, having achieved her goal, should have cooled down .

Literary image Irina Nai-Tours has its own prototype. The fact is that in the White Guard, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov indicated the exact address of Nai-Tours: Malo-Provalnaya, 21. This street is actually called Malopodvalnaya. At the address Malopidvalnaya, 13, next to number 21, lived the Syngaevsky family, friendly to the Bulgakovs. The Syngaevsky children and the Bulgakov children were friends with each other long before the revolution. Mikhail Afanasyevich was a close friend of Nikolai Nikolaevich Syngaevsky, some of whose features were embodied in the image of Myshlaevsky. There were five daughters in the Syngaevsky family, who also attended Andreevsky Spusk, 13. It was with one of the Syngaevsky sisters, most likely, that one of the Bulgakov brothers had an affair at school age. Probably, this novel was the first of one of the Bulgakovs (who may have been Mikhail Afanasyevich himself), otherwise it is impossible to explain the naivety of Nikolka’s attitude towards Irina. This version is also confirmed by the phrase Myshlaevsky said to Nikolka before Irina Nai-Tours arrived:

"- No, I’m not offended, I’m just wondering why you were jumping up and down like that. You’re a little too cheerful. You put your cuffs out... you look like a groom.”

Nikolka blossomed with crimson fire, and his eyes drowned in a lake of embarrassment.

“You go to Malo-Provalnaya too often,” Myshlaevsky continued to finish off the enemy with six-inch shells, this, however, is good. You need to be a knight, support the Turbino traditions."

In this case, Myshlaevsky’s phrase could well have belonged to Nikolai Syngaevsky, who was hinting at the “Bulgakov traditions” of alternately courting the Syngaevsky sisters.

But, perhaps, the most interesting woman in the novel “The White Guard” is Yulia Aleksandrovna Reiss (in some versions - Yulia Markovna). The real existence of which is not even in doubt. The characterization given by the writer to Yulia is so exhaustive that her psychological portrait is clear from the very beginning:

“Only in the hearth of peace, Julia, an egoist, a vicious, but seductive woman, agrees to appear. She appeared, her leg in a black stocking, the edge of a black fur-trimmed boot flashed on the light brick staircase, and the gavotte splashing with bells answered the hasty knock and rustle from there, where Louis XIV luxuriated in a sky-blue garden by the lake, intoxicated by his fame and the presence of charming women of color."

Yulia Reiss saved the life of the White Guard hero Alexei Turbin when he was running from Petliurists along Malo-provalnaya Street and was wounded. Julia led him through the gate and the garden and up the stairs to her house, where she hid him from his pursuers. As it turned out, Julia was divorced and lived alone at that time. Alexey Turbin fell in love with his savior, which is natural, and subsequently tried to achieve reciprocity. But Julia turned out to be too ambitious a woman. Having experience of marriage, she did not strive for a stable relationship, and in resolving personal issues she saw only the fulfillment of her goals and desires. She did not love Alexei Turbin, which can be clearly seen in one of the little-known versions of the 19th chapter of the novel:

"Tell me, who do you love?

“No one,” answered Yulia Markovna and looked so that the devil himself could not tell whether it was true or not.

Marry me... come out,” Turbin said, squeezing his hand.

Yulia Markovna shook her head negatively and smiled.

Turbin grabbed her by the throat, choked her, hissed:

Tell me, whose card was this on the table when I was wounded with you?.. Black sideburns...

Yulia Markovna’s face became flushed with blood, she began to wheeze. It's a pity - the fingers unclench.

This is my second... second cousin.

Left for Moscow.

Bolshevik?

No, he's an engineer.

Why did you go to Moscow?

It's his business.

The blood drained, and Yulia Markovna’s eyes became crystalline. I wonder what can be read in crystal? Nothing is possible.

Why did your husband leave you?

I left him.

He's trash.

You are trash and a liar. I love you, you bastard.

Yulia Markovna smiled.

So are the evenings and so are the nights. Turbin left around midnight through the multi-tiered garden, his lips bitten. He looked at the holey, ossified network of trees and whispered something.

Need money…"

The above scene is completely complemented by another passage related to the relationship between Alexei Turbin and Yulia Reiss:

“Well, Yulenka,” said Turbin and took Myshlaevsky’s revolver, rented for one evening, from his back pocket, “tell me, please, what is your relationship with Mikhail Semenovich Shpolyansky?”

Yulia backed away, bumped into the table, the lampshade clinked... ding... For the first time, Yulia's face became genuinely pale.

Alexey... Alexey... what are you doing?

Tell me, Yulia, what is your relationship with Mikhail Semenovich? - Turbin repeated firmly, like a man who has finally decided to pull out the rotten tooth that has tormented him.

What do you want to know? - Yulia asked, her eyes moved, she covered the barrel with her hands.

Only one thing: is he your lover or not?

Yulia Markovna's face came to life a little. Some blood returned to the head. Her eyes sparkled strangely, as if Turbin’s question seemed easy to her, not a difficult question at all, as if she was expecting the worst. Her voice came to life.

You have no right to torment me... you, - she said, - well, okay... for the last time I’m telling you - he was not my lover. Was not. Was not.

Swear it.

I swear.

Yulia Markovna's eyes were as clear as crystal.

Late at night, Doctor Turbin knelt in front of Yulia Markovna, burying his head in his knees, and muttered:

You tortured me. Tormented me, and this month that I recognized you, I don’t live. I love you, I love you... - passionately, licking his lips, he muttered...

Yulia Markovna leaned towards him and stroked his hair.

Tell me why did you give yourself to me? Do you love me? Do you love? Or

“I love you,” answered Yulia Markovna and looked at the back pocket of the man on his knees.

We will not talk about Julia’s lover, Mikhail Semenovich Shpolyansky, since we will devote a separate section to him. But it would be quite appropriate to talk about a real-life girl with the last name Reis.

Since 1893, the family of a colonel of the General Staff lived in the city of Kyiv Russian army Vladimir Vladimirovich Flight. Vladimir Reis was a participant Russian-Turkish War 1877–1878, honored and combat officer. He was born in 1857 and came from a Lutheran family of nobles in the Kovno province. His ancestors were of German-Baltic origin. Colonel Reis was married to the daughter of British citizen Peter Theakston, Elizabeth, with whom he came to Kyiv. Elizaveta Thixton's sister Sofia soon moved here too, and settled in the house on Malopodvalnaya, 14, apartment 1 - at the address where our mysterious Julia Reiss from the White Guard lived. The Reis family had a son and two daughters: Peter, born in 1886, Natalya, born in 1889, and Irina, born in 1895, who were raised under the supervision of their mother and aunt. Vladimir Reis did not take care of his family because he suffered from mental disorders. In 1899, he was admitted to the Psychiatric Department of a military hospital, where he remained almost all the time until 1903. The disease turned out to be incurable, and in 1900 the military department sent Vladimir Reis into retirement with the rank of major general. In 1903, General Reis died in the Kiev military hospital, leaving the children in the care of their mother.

The theme of Julia Reiss's father appears several times in the novel The White Guard. Even in his delirium, as soon as he gets into an unfamiliar house, Alexey Turbin notices a mourning portrait with epaulettes, indicating that the portrait depicts a lieutenant colonel, colonel or general.

After death, the entire Reis family moved to Malopodvalnaya Street, where Elizaveta and Sofia Thixton, Natalya and Irina Reis, as well as General Reis’ sister Anastasia Vasilievna Semigradova now lived. Pyotr Vladimirovich Reis was studying at the Kiev Military School by that time, and therefore a large group of women gathered at Malopodvalnaya. Peter Reis would later become a colleague of Leonid Karum, Varvara Bulgakova’s husband, at the Kyiv Konstantinovsky Military School. Together they will walk the roads of the civil war.

Irina Vladimirovna Reis, the youngest in the family, studied at the Kiev Institute of Noble Maidens and the Catherine Women's Gymnasium. According to Kyiv Bulgakov scholars, she was familiar with the Bulgakov sisters, who could even bring her to the house on Andreevsky Spusk, 13.

After the death of Elizaveta Thixton in 1908, Natalya Reis got married and settled with her husband at 14 Malopodvalnaya Street, and Yulia Reis came under the guardianship of Anastasia Semigradova, with whom she soon moved to 17 Trekhsvyatitelskaya Street. Soon Sofia Thixton left, and therefore to Malopodvalnaya Natalia was left alone with her husband.

We don’t know when exactly Natalya Vladimirovna Reis divorced her marriage, but after that she was left completely alone in the apartment. It was she who became the prototype for creating the image of Julia Reiss in the novel “The White Guard”.

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov saw his future wife Tatyana Lappa again only after a long break - in the summer of 1911. In 1910 - early 1911, the future writer, who was then 19 years old, probably had some novels. At the same time, Natalia Reis, 21 years old, had already divorced her husband. She lived opposite the Bulgakovs' friends - the Syngaevsky family, and therefore Mikhail Afanasyevich could actually meet her on Malopodvalnaya Street, where he often visited. Thus, we can safely say that the described romance between Alexei Turbin and Yulia Reiss actually took place between Mikhail Bulgakov and Natalia Reiss. Otherwise there is no way for us to explain detailed description Yulia's address and the path that led to her house, the coincidence of the last name, the mention of a mourning portrait of a lieutenant colonel or colonel with epaulets from the 19th century, a hint of the existence of a brother.

So, in the novel "The White Guard" Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, in our deep conviction, described Various types the women he had to deal with most in his life, and also talked about his novels that he had before his marriage to Tatyana Lappa.

Year of writing:

1924

Reading time:

Description of the work:

The novel The White Guard, which was written by Mikhail Bulgakov, is one of the main works of the writer. Bulgakov created the novel in 1923-1925, and at that moment he himself believed that the White Guard was the main work in his creative biography. It is known that Mikhail Bulgakov even once said that this novel “will make the sky hot.”

However, as the years passed, Bulgakov looked at his work differently and called the novel “failed.” Some believe that most likely Bulgakov's idea was to create an epic in the spirit of Leo Tolstoy, but this did not work out.

Read below for a summary of the novel The White Guard.

Winter 1918/19. A certain City in which Kyiv is clearly visible. The city is occupied by German occupation forces, and the hetman of “all Ukraine” is in power. However, any day now Petlyura’s army may enter the City - fighting is already taking place twelve kilometers from the City. The city lives a strange, unnatural life: it is full of visitors from Moscow and St. Petersburg - bankers, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, poets - who have flocked there since the election of the hetman, since the spring of 1918.

In the dining room of the Turbins' house at dinner, Alexey Turbin, a doctor, his younger brother Nikolka, a non-commissioned officer, their sister Elena and family friends - Lieutenant Myshlaevsky, Second Lieutenant Stepanov, nicknamed Karas, and Lieutenant Shervinsky, adjutant at the headquarters of Prince Belorukov, commander of all military forces of Ukraine , - excitedly discussing the fate of their beloved City. The elder Turbin believes that the hetman is to blame for everything with his Ukrainization: until the very last moment he did not allow the formation of the Russian army, and if this had happened on time, a selected army of cadets, students, high school students and officers, of whom there are thousands, would have been formed, and not only would they have defended the City, but Petliura would not have been in spirit in Little Russia, moreover, they would have gone to Moscow and saved Russia.

Elena's husband, Captain of the General Staff Sergei Ivanovich Talberg, announces to his wife that the Germans are leaving the City and he, Talberg, is being taken on the headquarters train leaving tonight. Talberg is confident that within three months he will return to the City with Denikin’s army, which is now forming on the Don. In the meantime, he cannot take Elena into the unknown, and she will have to stay in the City.

To protect against the advancing troops of Petlyura, the formation of Russian military formations begins in the City. Karas, Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin appear to the commander of the emerging mortar division, Colonel Malyshev, and enter service: Karas and Myshlaevsky - as officers, Turbin - as a division doctor. However, the next night - from December 13 to 14 - the hetman and General Belorukov flee the City on a German train, and Colonel Malyshev dissolves the newly formed division: he has no one to protect, there is no legal authority in the City.

By December 10, Colonel Nai-Tours completes the formation of the second department of the first squad. Considering waging war without winter equipment for soldiers impossible, Colonel Nai-Tours, threatening the head of the supply department with a Colt, receives felt boots and hats for his one hundred and fifty cadets. On the morning of December 14, Petlyura attacks the City; Nai-Tours receives orders to guard the Polytechnic Highway and, if the enemy appears, to take the fight. Nai-Tours, having entered into battle with the advanced detachments of the enemy, sends three cadets to find out where the hetman’s units are. Those sent return with the message that there are no units anywhere, there is machine-gun fire in the rear, and the enemy cavalry is entering the City. Nai realizes that they are trapped.

An hour earlier, Nikolai Turbin, corporal of the third section of the first infantry squad, receives an order to lead the team along the route. Arriving at the appointed place, Nikolka sees with horror the fleeing cadets and hears the command of Colonel Nai-Tours, ordering all the cadets - both his own and those from Nikolka’s team - to rip off their shoulder straps, cockades, throw away their weapons, tear up documents, run and hide. The colonel himself covers the retreat of the cadets. Before Nikolka's eyes, the mortally wounded colonel dies. Shocked Nikolka, leaving Nai-Tours, makes his way through courtyards and alleys to the house.

Meanwhile, Alexey, who was not informed about the dissolution of the division, having appeared, as he was ordered, at two o’clock, finds an empty building with abandoned guns. Having found Colonel Malyshev, he receives an explanation of what is happening: The city was taken by Petliura’s troops. Alexei, having torn off his shoulder straps, goes home, but runs into Petlyura’s soldiers, who, recognizing him as an officer (in his haste, he forgot to take off the badge from his hat), pursue him. Alexei, wounded in the arm, is hidden in her house by a woman unknown to him named Yulia Reise. The next day, after dressing Alexei in civilian dress, Yulia takes him home in a cab. At the same time as Alexey, he comes to the Turbins from Zhitomir cousin Talberg Larion, who experienced a personal drama: his wife left him. Larion really likes it in the Turbins' house, and all the Turbins find him very nice.

Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa, the owner of the house in which the Turbins live, occupies the first floor of the same house, while the Turbins live on the second. On the eve of the day when Petlyura entered the City, Vasilisa builds a hiding place in which she hides money and jewelry. However, through a crack in a loosely curtained window, an unknown person is watching Vasilisa’s actions. The next day, three armed men come to Vasilisa with a search warrant. First of all, they open the cache, and then take Vasilisa’s watch, suit and shoes. After the “guests” leave, Vasilisa and his wife realize that they were bandits. Vasilisa runs to the Turbins, and Karas goes to them to protect them from a possible new attack. The usually stingy Vanda Mikhailovna, Vasilisa’s wife, does not skimp here: there is cognac, veal, and pickled mushrooms on the table. Happy Crucian dozes, listening to Vasilisa’s plaintive speeches.

Three days later, Nikolka, having learned the address of Nai-Turs’s family, goes to the colonel’s relatives. He tells Nai's mother and sister the details of his death. Together with the colonel's sister Irina, Nikolka finds Nai-Turs's body in the morgue, and that same night the funeral service is held in the chapel at the Nai-Turs anatomical theater.

A few days later, Alexei’s wound becomes inflamed, and in addition, he has typhus: high fever, delirium. According to the conclusion of the consultation, the patient is hopeless; On December 22, the agony begins. Elena locks herself in the bedroom and passionately prays to the Most Holy Theotokos, begging her to save her brother from death. “Let Sergei not return,” she whispers, “but do not punish this with death.” To the amazement of the doctor on duty with him, Alexey regains consciousness - the crisis is over.

A month and a half later, Alexey, who has finally recovered, goes to Yulia Reisa, who saved him from death, and gives her his late mother’s bracelet. Alexey asks Yulia for permission to visit her. After leaving Yulia, he meets Nikolka, returning from Irina Nai-Tours.

Elena receives a letter from a friend from Warsaw, in which she informs her about Talberg's upcoming marriage to their mutual friend. Elena, sobbing, remembers her prayer.

On the night of February 2-3, the withdrawal of Petliura’s troops from the City began. You can hear the roar of Bolshevik guns approaching the City.

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Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is a complex writer, but at the same time, he clearly and simply presents the highest philosophical questions in his works. His novel “The White Guard” tells about the dramatic events unfolding in Kyiv in the winter of 1918-1919. The novel opens with an image of 1918, a symbolic star reminder of love (Venus) and war (Mars).
The reader enters the Turbins' house, where there is high culture life, traditions, human relationships. In the center of the work is the Turbin family, left without a mother, the keeper of the hearth. But she passed on this tradition to her daughter, Elena Talberg. The young Turbins, deafened by the death of their mother, still managed not to get lost in this scary world, were able to remain true to themselves, maintain patriotism, officer honor, camaraderie and brotherhood.
The inhabitants of this house are devoid of arrogance, stiffness, hypocrisy, and vulgarity. They are hospitable, condescending to the weaknesses of people, but irreconcilable to violations of decency, honor, and justice.
The Turbins' house, where kind, intelligent people live - Alexey, Elena, Nikolka - is a symbol of a highly spiritual, harmonious life based on the best cultural traditions of previous generations. This house is “included” in national existence, it is a stronghold of faith, reliability, and stability in life. Elena, the Turbins’ sister, is the keeper of the traditions of the house, where they will always welcome and help, warm you up and seat you at the table. And this house is not only hospitable, but also very cozy.
Revolution and civil war invade the lives of the novel's heroes, confronting everyone with the problem of moral choice - who to be with? The frozen, half-dead Myshlaevsky talks about the horrors of “trench life” and the betrayal of the headquarters. Elena's husband, Talberg, forgetting about his duty as a Russian officer, secretly and cowardly runs to Denikin. Petlyura surrounds the city. It is difficult to navigate this difficult situation, but Bulgakov’s heroes - Turbins, Myshlaevsky, Karas, Shervinsky - make their choice: they go to the Alexander School to prepare for the meeting with Petlyura. The concept of honor determines their behavior.
The heroes of the novel are the Turbin family, their friends and acquaintances - that circle of people who preserve the original traditions of the Russian intelligentsia. Officers Alexey Turbin and his brother cadet Nikolka, Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky, Colonel Malyshev and Nai-Tours were thrown out by history as unnecessary. They are still trying to resist Petliura, fulfilling their duty, but the General Staff betrayed them, led by the hetman, leaving Ukraine, handing over its inhabitants to Petliura, and then to the Germans.
While fulfilling their duty, the officers try to protect the cadets from senseless death. Malyshev is the first to learn about the betrayal of the headquarters. He disbands the regiments created from the cadets so as not to senselessly shed blood. The writer very dramatically showed the position of people called upon to defend ideals, the city, the fatherland, but betrayed and abandoned to the mercy of fate. Each of them experiences this tragedy in their own way. Alexei Turbin almost dies from a Petliurite bullet, and only a resident of the Reis suburb helps him protect himself from the gangsters’ reprisal, helps him hide.
Nikolka is saved by Nai-Tours. Nikolka will never forget this man, a true hero, not broken by the betrayal of the headquarters. Nai-Tours fights his own battle, in which he dies, but does not give up.
It seems that the Turbins and their circle will perish in this whirlwind of revolution, civil war, bandit pogroms... But no, they will survive, since there is something in these people that can protect them from senseless death.
They think, dream about the future, try to find their place in this new world that has so cruelly rejected them. They understand that the Motherland, family, love, friendship are enduring values ​​that a person cannot part with so easily.
Centrally the work becomes a symbol of Home, hearth. Having gathered the characters into it on the eve of Christmas, the author thinks about the possible fate of not only the characters, but also of all of Russia. The components of the space of the House are cream curtains, a snow-white tablecloth, on which there are “cups with delicate flowers on the outside and golden ones on the inside, special, in the form of figured columns,” a green lampshade above the table, a stove with tiles, historical records and drawings: “Furniture old and red velvet, and beds with shiny cones, threadbare carpets, colorful and crimson... the best bookcases in the world - all seven magnificent rooms that raised the young Turbins..."
The small space of the House is contrasted with the space of the City, where “the blizzard howls and howls,” “the alarmed womb of the earth grumbles.” In the early Soviet prose images of wind, blizzards, and storms were perceived as symbols of the breakdown of the familiar world, social cataclysms, and revolution.
The novel ends on an optimistic note. The heroes are on the threshold of a new life, they are sure that the most difficult trials are behind them. They are alive, surrounded by family and friends, they will find their happiness, inseparable from a new, not yet entirely clear future perspective.
M.A. Bulgakov optimistically and philosophically solemnly ends his novel: “Everything will pass, suffering, torment, blood, hunger and pestilence. The sword will disappear. But the stars will remain when the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on earth. There is not a single person who does not know this. So why don't we want to turn our gaze to them? Why?"

In the novel “The White Guard,” the writer addresses many serious and eternal topics. From the very first pages of the novel, the themes of family, home, faith, moral duty - as the beginning of all beginnings, the source of life and culture, the guarantee of preservation - sound at all times. best traditions and moral values.

Bulgakov happened to live in difficult times for Russia. Revolution and then Civil War forced people to rethink all previously acquired values. The writer had a hard time experiencing the events taking place and tried with all his soul to understand the reality around him. And he realized that the main trouble in Russia was the decline in the level of morality, lack of culture and ignorance, which, in his opinion, was associated with the destruction of the intelligentsia, which for a long time acted as the main bearer of moral values.

The heroes of the novel “The White Guard,” like the writer himself, are representatives of the intelligentsia. Not all of the Russian intelligentsia accepted and understood the great achievements of October. Fears for the fate of the country's culture played an important role in the rejection of these achievements, the path to achieving which was difficult and often contradictory. The main theme of the novel, which is usually associated with the tragic motive of disappointment of the heroes, with the need they feel to break with their past, is revealed in a new way. The past that remains happy childhood heroes, not only does not disappoint them, but is preserved by them in every possible way in an environment where it seems that “everything is destroyed, betrayed, sold.”

The entire novel is permeated with a sense of disaster. The heroes still sing the hymn “God Save the Tsar” and make a toast to the health of the now non-existent monarch, but this shows their despair. Everything that happens to them appears as a tragedy of people who faithfully and truly served this system, which suddenly revealed all its inconsistency, hypocrisy, and falsehood. The position of Bulgakov's heroes could not be different, because the writer himself did not feel nostalgia for the old, bourgeois Russia, its monarchical past.

House and City are the two main characters of the novel. The Turbins' house on Alekseevsky Spusk, depicted with all the features of a family idyll crossed out by the war, breathes and suffers like Living being. When it’s frosty outside, anxious and scary, there is an intimate conversation in the house, warmth emanates from the tiles of the stove, you can hear the tower clock striking in the dining room, the strumming of a guitar and the familiar voices of Alexei, Elena, Nikolka and their cheerful guests. And the City, tormented by endless battles and shelling, filled with crowds of soldiers, also lives its own life. “Beautiful in frost and fog...” - this epithet opens the narrative about the City and becomes dominant in its depiction. The image of the City emits an extraordinary light - the light of life, which is truly unquenchable. Bulgakov’s City is under God’s protection: “But the electric white cross sparkled best of all in the hands of the enormous Vladimir on Vladimirskaya Hill, and it was visible far away, and often... they found by its light... the way to the City...”

In the morning Turbin began to dream about the City. It is not called Kiev anywhere, although its signs are clear, it is just a City, but with a capital C, as something generalized, eternal. It is described in detail in the dreams of Alexei Turbin: “Like a multi-tiered honeycomb, the City smoked and made noise and lived. Beautiful in the frost and fog on the mountains, above the Dnieper. The streets were smoking with haze, the downed giant snow creaked... The gardens stood silent and calm, weighed down by white, untouched snow. And there were so many gardens in the City as in no other city in the world... In winter, like in no other city in the world, peace fell on the streets and alleys of both the upper City, on the mountains, and the lower City, spread out in the bend of the frozen Dnieper.. The City played with light and shimmered, glowed and danced and shimmered at night until the morning, and in the morning it faded away, covered in smoke and fog.” This symbolic picture combines the memories of youth, the beauty of the City and anxiety for its future, for the fate of everyone.

The “Eternal Golden City” is contrasted with the City of 1918, the existence of which brings to mind the biblical legend of Babylon. Confusion and turmoil reign in the city, which the writer often emphasizes by repeating the words: “Germans!! Germans!! Germans!!,” “Petlyura. Petliura. Petliura. Petliura”, “Patrols, patrols, patrols”. The author cannot remain indifferent to what is happening in the City (mobilization, rumors, the hetman, the proximity of Petliura, theft, murder, stupid orders of the bosses, deception, mysterious Moscow in the northeast, the Bolsheviks, close shooting and constant anxiety). Thanks to the expressive author's characteristics, the reader finds himself at the mercy of a unique effect of presence: he breathes the air of the City, absorbs its anxieties, hears the voices of the cadets, feels Elena's fear for her brothers.

With the beginning of the war, a diverse audience flocked under the shadow of the Vladimir Cross: aristocrats and bankers who fled from the capital, industrialists and merchants, poets and journalists, actresses and cocottes. Gradually, the appearance of the City loses its integrity and becomes shapeless: “The City swelled, expanded, and climbed like sourdough from a pot.” The natural course of life is disrupted, the usual order of things disintegrates. Almost all the townspeople find themselves drawn into a dirty political show.

The theme of preserving spiritual, moral and cultural traditions runs through the entire novel, but it is most clearly embodied in the image of the house. Life in this house goes against the surrounding unrest, bloodshed, destruction, and cruelty. The mistress and soul of the house is Elena Turbina-Talberg - “beautiful Elena”, the personification of beauty, kindness, and Eternal Femininity. The two-faced opportunist Talberg leaves this house. And the Turbins’ friends find shelter here, healing their wounded bodies and souls in it. And even the opportunist and coward Lisovich seeks protection here from robbers.

The Turbins' house is depicted in the novel as a fortress that is under siege, but does not surrender. The author gives his image a tall, almost philosophical meaning. According to Alexey Turbin, home is the highest value of existence, for the sake of which a person “fights and, in essence, should not fight for anything else.” The only purpose that allows one to take up arms, in his opinion, is to protect “human peace and hearth.”

Everything in the Turbins’ house is beautiful: old red velvet furniture, beds with shiny cones, cream curtains, a bronze lamp with a lampshade, books in chocolate bindings, a piano, flowers, an icon in an ancient setting, a tiled stove, a clock with a gavotte; “the tablecloth, despite the guns and all this languor, anxiety and nonsense, is white and starchy... The floors are shiny, and in December on the table in a matte vase there are blue hydrangeas and two gloomy and sultry roses, affirming the beauty and strength of life.” The atmosphere of the house is inspired by music and ever-living art. Cousin Lariosik from Zhitomir, who has found shelter in the Turbins’ house, blesses the family comfort with a simple-minded confession: “Lord, cream curtains... you can rest your soul behind them... But our wounded souls are so thirsty for peace...” The Turbins and their friends read from in the evenings and sing with a guitar, play cards, love and worry, and sacredly preserve family traditions.

For each of the novel's heroes, the war becomes a test, a test moral principles personality. It is no coincidence that in the epigraph to the novel Bulgakov places the famous lines from the Apocalypse: “and everyone will be judged in accordance with their deeds.” The main topic The novel becomes the theme of retribution for one’s actions, the theme of moral responsibility for the choices that every person makes.

Among the defenders of the monarchy were different people. Bulgakov hates high-ranking officials who think not about saving the Fatherland, but about saving their own skin. He does not hide his attitude towards the opportunist Talberg with “double-layer eyes”, the cowardly and greedy engineer Lisovich, and the unprincipled Mikhail Semenovich Shpolyansky.

But if Thalberg is a “damn doll, deprived the slightest idea about honor,” running away from a sinking ship, abandoning his brothers and wife, then the main characters of the novel are the embodiment of the best knightly qualities. Ordinary participants in the white movement, according to the author, are the heirs of the military glory of the Fatherland. When the Mortar Regiment, formed to protect the City, marched along the corridors of the Alexander Gymnasium, in the vestibule right in front of it, it was as if “the sparkling Alexander flew out,” pointing to the Borodino field. The song that was played to the words of Lermontov's "Borodino", according to the author, is a symbol of valor, courage, honor, that is, everything that distinguishes the Turbins, Myshlaevsky, Malyshev from other "gentlemen officers".

Officer's honor required the protection of the white banner, loyalty to the oath, the fatherland and the tsar. In a situation where it seems “everything is destroyed, betrayed, sold,” Alexey Turbin asks himself with bewilderment and pain: “We need to protect now... But what? Emptiness? The sound of footsteps? And yet he is not able to stay away from terrible events, to violate his duty as an officer, and rushes to those who are trying to save the Fatherland without giving its fate into the unclean hands of Petliura or Hetman Skoropadsky. Nai-Tours also follows the laws of honor and nobility. Covering the cadets, he entered into an unequal duel, left alone with his machine gun in front of the advancing cavalrymen. Colonel Malyshev is also a man of honor. Realizing the futility of resistance, he makes the only correct decision in the current situation - he dismisses the cadets to their homes. These people are ready to be with Russia in its troubles and trials, ready to defend the Fatherland, City and Home. Meeting new guests of the City, each of them sacrifices his life. The Almighty Himself takes them under His protection. With slight irony, Bulgakov depicted in the novel the kingdom of God, where the Apostle Peter receives the dead. Among them is Colonel Nai-Tours in a luminous helmet, chain mail, and a knight’s sword from the times of the Crusades. Next to him is Sergeant Zhilin, who died in the First world war, and the Bolsheviks from Perekop, and many others who grabbed “each other by the throat”, and now calmed down, having fought for their faith. The Lord God utters prophetic words: “All of you with me... are the same - killed in the battlefield.” Rising above the battle, the author sincerely mourns for all those who died: “Will anyone pay for the blood? No. Nobody. The snow will simply melt, the green Ukrainian grass will sprout, weave the ground... lush shoots will come out... the heat will tremble under the fields and there will be no traces of blood left. Cheap blood is on the fields of hearts, and no one will buy it back. Nobody".

Bulgakov believed in the natural human order on earth: “Everything will be right, the world is built on this.” In the novel “The White Guard,” the writer showed how terrible and irreversible the consequences of deviation from the accepted norms of good and bad, consecrated by more than one millennium of human culture. In this retreat the writer saw the greatest danger to humanity. He calls on his readers to remain faithful to the main principles of humanity, devotion to the ideals of Justice, Goodness and Beauty.