Kirjahaku

By delving into the life of Catherine the Great, this acclaimed biographer reveals the rich tapestry of Russia's past, giving insight into the paradoxical character of its people and their stunning evolution from feudalism to communism to their present-day struggle for a free-market democracy. This is history as it is rarely written today--elegant, witty, dramatic, and with an intimate knowledge of its characters. And what better subject for a biography than one of history's most powerful women, the German-born Russian empress whose adopted language and culture were French, and whose most loyal correspondents were Voltaire and Diderot? Troyat details the various lives of Catherine II: the ambitious child, the acquiescent yet firm grand duchess, the forceful politician and patron of the arts, the belligerent war maker, and the doting grandparent. "A remarkable woman . . . A riveting book."--Mary Renault "Brilliantly captures one of the most colorful figures of all time."--Doubleday Book Club News

Leo Tolstoy embodies the most extraordinary contradictions. He was a wealthy aristocrat who preached the virtues of poverty and the peasant life, a misogynist who wrote Anna Karenina, and a supreme writer who declared, "Literature is rubbish." From Tolstoy's famously bad marriage to his enormously successful career, Troyat presents a brilliant portrait that reads like an epic novel written by Tolstoy himself.

This book is a vivid account of life in Moscow, "the most Russian of Russian cities," in the year 1903, a year before Russia's disastrous war with Japan and two years before the momentous Revolution of 1905. Though the undercurrents of social change were running swiftly, the surface stability of the Tsarist regime show no indication of the turmoil ahead. The author, who is perhaps best known for his biography Tolstoy, describes Russian life through the eyes of a fictional young Englishman visiting a prosperous Russian merchant family. All facets of Moscow life are covered, from entertainment and night life to family life and the devotions of the Orthodox. We learn about Russia's factory workers and peasants, its soldiers and lawyers, its priests and its city officials, its Tsar and his entourage: what they do and what they wear, what they think and what they dream. Concluding chapters take our visitor to the famous fair at Nizhny-Novgorod, which was held every year from July 15 to September 10, and on a boat trip down the Volga.

V etoj knige Anri Truajja ne tolko rasskazyvaet o stikhijnoj i momentalnoj slave velikogo prozaika, no i staraetsja raskryt obraz Maksima Gorkogo kak cheloveka.

Annotatsija Esche Tolstoj zametil, chto schastlivye semi schastlivy odinakovo, neschastnye zhe neschastlivy po-osobennomu. Istorija semi Egleter - tomu podtverzhdenie. Eti ljudi vygljadjat blagopoluchnymi lish na pervyj vzgljad. Glava semi Filipp Egleter - nastojaschij khozjain zhizni, vsegda uverennyj v sobstvennoj pravote. U nego est vse, o chem mozhno tolko mechtat: roskoshnyj dom, uspeshnaja karera, bolshaja semja, molodaja krasavitsa supruga. No znaet li on, chem po-nastojaschemu zhivut ego domochadtsy? Dogadyvaetsja li, chto mladshij syn Daniel mechtaet issledovat Afriku, a doch Fransuaza perezhivaet sereznuju pervuju vljublennost? I, glavnoe, ponimaet li, chto na serdtse u Karol, ego molodoj i prekrasnoj suprugi, i kem tak silno uvlechen ego pervenets i naslednik Zhan-Mark? Eto kniga ob otnoshenijakh mezhdu ljudmi, o tom, kak neprosto ikh vystroit i sokhranit, i o tom, kakoe kolossalnoe vlijanie na zhizn vsekh nas okazyvaet semja.

Istorija semi Egleter podkhodit k finalu. "Lvjata" vyrosli i bolshe ne nuzhdajutsja v podderzhke ottsa. Starejuschij Filipp Egleter, naprotiv, presytivshis vysshim svetom, ischet obschenija s detmi. No imeet li on pravo trebovat ot nikh ljubvi i zaboty? Molodye Egletery srazhajutsja za sobstvennoe schaste. Fransuaza proschaetsja s detskimi illjuzijami i khochet videt v sputnike zhizni podderzhku i oporu, Zhan-Mark podvergaetsja nezasluzhennomu izgnaniju, a legkomyslennyj Daniel vserez zadumaetsja o smysle svoej zhizni. Korabl moguschestvennoj semi Egleterov vot-vot naletit na rify, poetomu prishlo vremja dlja vzroslykh reshenij.

"Golod lvjat" - prodolzhenie istorii semi Egleter. Geroi vzroslejut: ikh kharaktery stanovjatsja mnogogrannee, interesnee. Vosprijatie zhizni uslozhnjaetsja, v dushe rozhdajutsja pervye silnye protivorechivye chuvstva. Mir uzhe ne kazhetsja takim prostym - Zhan-Mark, poterjav pokrovitelstvo ottsa, stremitsja obuzdat rokovuju strast i ustroit zhizn po-svoemu, Fransuaza poznaet vse grani zapretnoj i prichinjajuschej bol ljubvi, a optimistichnyj i legkomyslennyj Daniel uznaet tsenu glubokikh, sereznykh otnoshenij.Pervye bolshie reshenija. Pervye vzroslye postupki. Neizbezhnye oshibki i - rastsvet junosti, svezhest i polnota chuvstv, bolshie iskrennie mechty - vse eto "Golod lvjat", istorija vne vremeni i geroi, uzhe uspevshie zavoevat serdtsa chitatelej.

1814 god. Bonapart poverzhen, russkaja armija pobedno vkhodit v Parizh. Zdes potrjasajusche krasivo vse: ulitsy, prospekty, sobory i ploschadi. I esche - zdes potrjasajusche krasivye zhenschiny.Poruchik Nikolaj Ozarjov porazhen vsem uvidennym. No glavnoe vperedi - on znakomitsja s Sofi de Shamplit. Gordaja, svobodoljubivaja krasavitsa nosit traur po umershemu muzhu i ne srazu prinimaet znaki vnimanie russkogo ofitsera, srazhavshegosja protiv frantsuzskoj armii. No v kontse kontsov emu udaetsja zavoevat ee serdtse. Nikolaj kljanetsja, chto Sofi ni razu ne pozhaleet o tom, chto doverila emu svoju sudbu. I ni razu ne pozhaleet, chto soglasilas uekhat s nim v dalekuju, neznakomuju Rossiju.Tak oni okazyvajutsja v Sankt-Peterburge - kholodnom, velichestvennom, no dlja Sofi chuzhom gorode. I eto tolko pervaja chast ikh romana - i pervaja chast tsikla Anri Truajja, chej tsikl "Svet pravednykh", posvjaschennyj dekabristam napisan s bolshoj ljubovju k rossijskoj istorii i bolshoj ljubovju k gerojam, prototipy kotorykh i sovershali etu istoriju.

Poruchik Nikolaj Ozarjov vozvraschaetsja posle zagranichnogo pokhoda v Rossiju ne odin. Vo Frantsii on bez uma vljubljaetsja v krasavitsu Sofi de Shamplit - umnuju, samostojatelnuju, rezkuju v suzhdenijakh, k tomu zhe respublikanku i dobivaetsja ee ruki i serdtsa.Sofi mnogogo ne ponimaet i ne prinimaet v rossijskoj zhizni, i prezhde vsego ej kazhetsja chudovischnym, chto zdes vse esche suschestvuet rabstvo. Ona pytaetsja oblegchit zhizn krepostnykh, k neudovolstviju svekra. No dazhe na nego, despotichnogo, brjuzglivogo starika, dejstvuet ocharovanie Sofi, ee obajanie, krasota, gotovnost pomoch kazhdomu, kto nuzhdaetsja v ee uchastii.No ee sobstvennomu gorju pomoch ne mozhet nikto - oni s Nikolaem poterjali perventsa, i perezhit eto neprosto.Mezhdu tem v Rossii nespokojno - vernuvshiesja iz zagranichnogo pokhoda ofitsery vpitali idealy svobody, ravenstva, bratstva i ne khotjat ikh zabyvat. Blizitsja 1825 god.