Andrey Platonov - In a beautiful and furious world (Machinist Maltsev). Platonov, analysis of the work in this beautiful and furious world, plan In a beautiful and furious world brief analysis

The meaning of the title of A. P. Platonov’s story “In the Beautiful and furious world»

Andrei Platonovich Platonov lived a difficult life full of hardships. “I lived and languished, because life immediately turned me from a child into an adult, depriving me of my youth,” he wrote to his wife. Nevertheless, the writer’s heart did not harden. This is evidenced by such works as the story “In a Beautiful and Furious World.”

The plot of the story boils down to an incident that happened to the driver Maltsev. During one of his trips on a steam locomotive, he becomes blind from a lightning bolt, and then regains his sight. And although a locomotive disaster is miraculously avoided, Maltsev is brought to trial. The narrator Kostya, who served as his assistant, tries to help the convicted driver. But as a result of an experiment with electricity, Maltsev goes blind again. Kostya becomes a driver and takes the freed but blind Maltsev on one of his trips. Sitting in the driver's cab and remembering his favorite job, Maltsev regains the ability to see.

The author called the world beautiful and furious. He's truly wonderful. Kostya talks with pleasure about what a wonderful driver Maltsev was, how he drove the locomotive, what a pleasure it was to work with such a person. “He led the train with the courageous confidence of a great master, with the concentration of an inspired artist,” he “understood the machine more accurately” than others. However, Maltsev’s perfection depressed him; he felt lonely.

Maltsev encountered rage and the elements of the world during a thunderstorm, when he was unable to control the locomotive. All his skill was useless. The forces of nature turned out to be beyond the control of man. A dust devil and a thundercloud rushed towards the locomotive. “The light is silent around us; The dry earth and steppe sand whistled and scraped along the iron body of the locomotive. It became difficult for people to breathe, and the locomotive could not break through the dust and wind.

What happened changed Maltsev. His self-confidence disappeared and he turned into a sick old man. Maltsev really missed steam locomotives and spent all his time sitting near the railway.

Having regained his sight, Maltsev began to see everything differently. Now he needed participation, the warmth of other people. The narrator spent the whole night with Maltsev, who had regained his sight, afraid to leave him alone with the beautiful and furious world.

What would have happened to Maltsev if such a misfortune had not happened to him? He would continue to lead an ideal life, but lonely, boring, devoid of spiritual intimacy with other people. A the world What makes it so beautiful is that there remains a particle in it that is beyond the control of man.

Searched here:

• the meaning of the title of the story in a beautiful and furious world
• in a beautiful and furious world analysis
• the meaning of the name in a beautiful and furious world

An old experienced driver becomes blind during a voyage due to a lightning strike, his vision is restored, he is tried and sentenced to prison. His assistant invents a test with artificial lightning and saves the old man.

The narration is told from the perspective of assistant driver Konstantin.

Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev is considered the best locomotive driver at the Tolumbeevsky depot. No one knows steam locomotives better than him! It is not surprising that when the first powerful passenger locomotive of the IS series arrives at the depot, Maltsev is assigned to work on this machine. Maltsev’s assistant, an elderly depot mechanic Fyodor Petrovich Drabanov, soon passes the driver’s exam and leaves for another car, and Konstantin is appointed in his place.

Konstantin is pleased with his appointment, but Maltsev doesn’t care who his assistants are. Alexander Vasilyevich watches the work of his assistant, but after that he always personally checks the serviceability of all mechanisms.

Later, Konstantin understood the reason for his constant indifference to his colleagues. Maltsev feels superior to them because he understands the car more accurately than they do. He does not believe that someone else can learn to feel the car, the path and everything around him at the same time.

Konstantin has been working as Maltsev’s assistant for about a year, and then on July 5th the time comes for Maltsev’s last trip. On this flight they take the train four hours late. The dispatcher asks Maltsev to reduce this gap as much as possible. Trying to fulfill this request, Maltsev drives the car forward with all his might. On the way, they are caught by a thundercloud, and Maltsev, blinded by a flash of lightning, loses his sight, but continues to confidently lead the train to its destination. Konstantin notices that he manages the Maltsev squad noticeably worse.

Another train appears on the way of the courier train. Maltsev transfers control into the hands of the narrator, and admits his blindness:

- Kostya... Then you drive the car, I’m blind.

The accident is avoided thanks to Konstantin. Here Maltsev admits that he sees nothing. The next day his vision returned.

Alexander Vasilyevich is put on trial, and an investigation begins. It is almost impossible to prove the innocence of the old driver. Maltsev is sent to prison, but his assistant continues to work.

In winter, in the regional city, Konstantin visits his brother, a student living in a university dormitory. His brother tells him that in the university's physics laboratory there is a Tesla installation for producing artificial lightning. A certain idea comes to Konstantin’s head.

Returning home, he ponders his guess regarding the Tesla installation and writes a letter to the investigator who was at one time in charge of the Maltsev case, asking him to test the prisoner Maltsev by creating artificial lightning. If the susceptibility of Maltsev’s psyche or visual organs to sudden and close electrical discharges is proven, then his case should be reconsidered. Konstantin explains to the investigator where the Tesla installation is located and how to perform the experiment on a person. For a long time there was no answer, but then the investigator reported that the regional prosecutor agreed to conduct the proposed examination in the university physics laboratory.

The experiment is carried out, Maltsev’s innocence is proven, and he himself is released. But as a result of the experience, the old driver loses his sight, and this time it is not restored.

Konstantin tries to encourage the blind old man, but he fails. Then he tells Maltsev that he will take him on the flight.

During this trip, the blind man’s sight returns, and the narrator allows him to independently drive the locomotive to Tolumbeev:

- Drive the car to the end, Alexander Vasilyevich: now you see the whole world!

After work, Konstantin, together with the old driver, go to Maltsev’s apartment, where they sit all night.

Konstantin is afraid to leave him alone, like his own son, without protection against the action of the sudden and hostile forces of our beautiful and furious world.

Platonov Andrey

In a beautiful and furious world

A. Platonov

IN A BEAUTIFUL AND FURIOUS WORLD

At the Tolubeevsky depot, Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev was considered the best locomotive driver.

He was about thirty years old, but he already had the qualifications of a first-class driver and had been driving fast trains for a long time. When the first powerful passenger locomotive of the IS series arrived at our depot, Maltsev was assigned to work on this machine, which was quite reasonable and correct. Worked as an assistant to Maltsev old man from the depot mechanics named Fyodor Petrovich Drabanov, but he soon passed the driver exam and went to work on another machine, and instead of Drabanov, I was assigned to work in Maltsev’s brigade as an assistant; Before that, I also worked as a mechanic’s assistant, but only on an old, low-power machine.

I was pleased with my assignment. The “IS” car, the only one on our traction site at that time, evoked a feeling of inspiration in me by its very appearance: I could look at it for a long time, and a special, touched joy awakened in me, as beautiful as in childhood when reading Pushkin’s poems for the first time. In addition, I wanted to work in the crew of a first-class mechanic in order to learn from him the art of driving heavy high-speed trains.

Alexander Vasilyevich accepted my appointment to his brigade calmly and indifferently: he apparently did not care who would be his assistants.

Before the trip, as usual, I checked all the components of the car, tested all its servicing and auxiliary mechanisms and calmed down, considering the car ready for the trip. Alexander Vasilyevich saw my work, he followed it, but after me, he again checked the condition of the car with his own hands, as if he did not trust me.

This was repeated later, and I was already accustomed to the fact that Alexander Vasilyevich constantly interfered with my duties, although he was silently upset. But usually, as soon as we were on the move, I forgot about my disappointment. Distracting my attention from the instruments monitoring the condition of the running locomotive, from monitoring the operation of the left car and the path ahead, I glanced at Maltsev. He led the cast with the courageous confidence of a great master, with the concentration of an inspired artist who has absorbed the entire outer world into his inner experience and therefore dominates it. Alexander Vasilyevich’s eyes looked ahead, as if empty, abstractly, but I knew that he saw with them the whole road ahead and all of nature rushing towards us - even a sparrow, swept from the ballast slope by the wind of a car piercing into space, even this sparrow attracted Maltsev’s gaze , and he turned his head for a moment after the sparrow: what will happen to him after us, where did he fly?

It was our fault that we were never late; on the contrary, we were often delayed at intermediate stations, which we had to proceed on the move, because we were running with time, and through delays we were put back on schedule.

We usually worked in silence; Only occasionally did Alexander Vasilyevich, without turning in my direction, tap the key on the boiler, wanting me to draw my attention to some disorder in the operating mode of the machine, or preparing me for a sharp change in this mode, so that I would be vigilant. I always understood the silent instructions of my senior comrade and worked with full diligence, but the mechanic still treated me, as well as the lubricator-stoker, aloof and constantly checked the grease nipples in the parking lots, the tightness of the bolts in the drawbar units, tested the axle boxes on the drive axes and so on. If I had just inspected and lubricated any working rubbing part, then Maltsev followed me again inspecting and lubricating it, as if not considering my work valid.

“I, Alexander Vasilyevich, have already checked this crosshead,” I told him one day when he began checking this part after me.

“But I want it myself,” Maltsev answered smiling, and in his smile there was sadness that struck me.

Later I understood the meaning of his sadness and the reason for his constant indifference towards us. He felt superior to us because he understood the car more accurately than we did, and he did not believe that I or anyone else could learn the secret of his talent, the secret of seeing both a passing sparrow and a signal ahead, at the same moment sensing the path, the weight of the composition and the force of the machine. Maltsev understood, of course, that in diligence, in diligence, we could even overcome him, but he could not imagine that we loved the locomotive more than him and drove trains better than him - he thought it was impossible to do better. And that’s why Maltsev was sad with us; he missed his talent as if he were lonely, not knowing how to express it to us so that we would understand.

And we, however, could not understand his skills. I once asked to be allowed to drive the train myself: Alexander Vasilyevich allowed me to drive about forty kilometers and sat in the assistant’s place. I drove the train - and after twenty kilometers I was already four minutes late, and I covered the exits from long climbs at a speed of no more than thirty kilometers per hour. Maltsev drove the car after me; he took the climbs at a speed of fifty kilometers, and on the curves his car did not throw up like mine, and he soon made up for the time I had lost.

The original title of the story was “Machinist Maltsev.” Under this title, it was published in an abbreviated form in the second issue of the magazine “30 Days” for 1941, and in the third issue of the magazine “Friendly Guys” for 1941 under the title “Imaginary Light.” The story was written in 1938.

The work reflects the experience of the writer, who in 1915-1917. worked as an assistant driver in the vicinity of Voronezh, and his father was a mechanic and assistant driver.

Literary direction and genre

In some editions, “In a Beautiful and Furious World” is printed with the subtitle “ Fantastic story" Indeed, double blinding by lightning and double restoration of vision have no scientific evidence. And it is completely unknown how lightning and the electromagnetic wave preceding it affect the vision of individual people. It doesn’t even matter to the reader whether this electromagnetic wave exists at all.

All these physical and biological explanations for the blinding of driver Maltsev and his miraculous healing are truly fantastic, but on the whole the story is realistic. The main thing in it is not the fantastic elements, but the characters of the narrator and the driver Maltsev, shown in development.

Topics and problems

The theme of the story is the loneliness of the master. The main idea is that talent often leads to pride, which makes a person blind. To see the world, you need to open your heart to it.

The work raises the problem of exaltation and sympathy, loneliness, the problem of the justice of man's punishment of man, the problem of guilt and responsibility.

Plot and composition

The short story consists of 5 parts. The narrative is dynamic and spans two years. The narrator becomes an assistant to driver Maltsev on the new locomotive and works with him for about a year. The second chapter is dedicated to that very trip, during which the driver went blind and almost drove into the tail of a freight train. The third chapter describes the trial of Maltsev and his accusation.

The fourth part tells about events taking place six months later, in winter. The narrator finds a way to prove Maltsev's innocence, but artificial lightning causes irreversible blindness to the prisoner. The narrator is looking for ways to help the blind man.

The fifth part tells about the events that happened six months later, in the summer. The narrator himself becomes a driver and takes a blind driver with him on the road. The narrator controls the car by placing his hands on the hands of the blind driver. At some point, the blind man was able to see the yellow signal, and then became sighted.

Each part of the story records an episode from the story of Maltsev: an ordinary trip - a fateful trip - a trial - an experiment with lightning and liberation - healing.

The title of the story is related to last words a narrator who wants to protect Maltsev from the hostile forces of a beautiful and furious world.

Heroes and images

Image beautiful world, hostile to man - the main one in the story. The story has two main characters: the driver Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev and the narrator, whom Maltsev calls Kostya. The narrator and Maltsev are not particularly friendly. The story is the story of their relationship, rapprochement, finding a friend in trouble.

Machinist Maltsev is a true master of his craft. Already at the age of 30, he was qualified as a first-class driver, and it was he who was appointed driver of the new powerful IS machine. The narrator admires the work of his driver, who drives the locomotive “with the confidence of a great master, with the concentration of an inspired artist.” The main feature that the narrator notices in Maltsev is indifference to the people working with him, a certain aloofness. One of Maltsev’s features upsets the narrator: the driver double-checks all the work of his assistant, as if he does not trust him. While working, Maltsev does not speak, but only knocks on the boiler with a key, giving silent instructions.

Over time, the narrator realized that the reason for Maltsev’s behavior was a sense of superiority: the driver believed that he understood the locomotive better and loved it more. This pride, a mortal sin, may have been the cause of his trials. Although no one really could understand Maltsev’s talent, how to surpass him in skill.

Maltsev did not see the lightning, but, having gone blind, he did not understand it. His skill was so great that he drove the car blindly, seeing with his inner vision, imagining the entire familiar path, but, of course, not being able to see the red signal, which seemed green to him.

After leaving prison, blind Maltsev cannot get used to his new situation, although he does not live in poverty, receiving a pension. He humbles himself before the narrator, who offers him a ride on his locomotive. Perhaps it was this humility that marked the beginning of Maltsev’s recovery, who managed to trust the narrator. His inner world opened up, he cried and saw “the whole world.” Not only the material world, but also the world of other people.

The narrator is a man who loves his job, just like Maltsev. Even the contemplation of a good car evokes inspiration in him, a joy comparable to reading Pushkin’s poems in childhood.

A good attitude is important for a storyteller. He is an attentive and diligent person. It contains an amazing and rare ability to sympathize and protect. This trait of the narrator, like his profession, is autobiographical.

For example, the narrator imagines that the locomotive is rushing to protect distant lands. Likewise, concern for Maltsev prompts the narrator to seek justice in court, to meet with the investigator in order to acquit the innocent Maltsev.

The narrator is a straightforward and truthful person. He does not hide the fact that he is offended by Maltsev, he directly tells him that prison cannot be avoided. Still, the narrator decides to help Maltsev “in order to protect him from the grief of fate”, from “fatal forces that accidentally and indifferently destroy a person.”

The narrator does not consider himself to blame for Maltsev’s secondary blindness; he is friendly, despite the fact that Maltsev does not want to forgive him or talk with him. After Maltsev’s miraculous healing, the narrator wants to protect him like his own son.

Another hero of the story is a fair investigator who conducted an experiment with artificial lightning and is tormented by remorse because he proved “the innocence of a person through his misfortune.”

Stylistic features

Since the story is written in the first person, and the narrator Kostya, although he loves Pushkin. A technical person, Platonov rarely uses his specific, strangely metaphorical language. This language breaks through only at moments that are especially important for the author, for example, when the author explains in the words of the driver that the driver Maltsev has absorbed the entire external world into his inner experience, thus gaining power over it.

The story is replete with professional vocabulary related to the work of a steam locomotive. Obviously, even in Platonov’s time, few people understood the details of the operation of a steam locomotive, and today, when there are no steam locomotives, these details are generally incomprehensible. But professionalism does not interfere with reading and understanding the story. Probably, every reader imagines something different when he reads that Maltsev gave “reverse to full cutoff.” It is important that the Machinist did his difficult job well.

Details are important in a story. One of them is Maltsev’s look and eyes. When he drives a car, his eyes look “abstractly, as if empty.” When Maltsev pokes his head out, looking at the world around him, his eyes sparkle with inspiration. The driver's blind eyes become empty and calm again.

At the Tolubeevsky depot, Alexander Vasilyevich Maltsev was considered the best locomotive driver.

He was about thirty years old, but he already had the qualifications of a first-class driver and had been driving fast trains for a long time. When the first powerful passenger locomotive of the IS series arrived at our depot, Maltsev was assigned to work on this machine, which was quite reasonable and correct. An elderly man from the depot mechanics named Fyodor Petrovich Drabanov worked as an assistant for Maltsev, but he soon passed the driver exam and went to work on another machine, and I, instead of Drabanov, was assigned to work in Maltsev’s brigade as an assistant; Before that, I also worked as a mechanic’s assistant, but only on an old, low-power machine.

I was pleased with my assignment. The IS machine, the only one on our traction site at that time, made me feel inspired by its very appearance; I could look at her for a long time, and a special, touched joy awakened in me - as beautiful as in childhood when reading Pushkin’s poems for the first time. In addition, I wanted to work in the crew of a first-class mechanic in order to learn from him the art of driving heavy high-speed trains.

Alexander Vasilyevich accepted my appointment to his brigade calmly and indifferently; he apparently did not care who his assistants would be.

Before the trip, as usual, I checked all the components of the car, tested all its servicing and auxiliary mechanisms and calmed down, considering the car ready for the trip. Alexander Vasilyevich saw my work, he followed it, but after me, he again checked the condition of the car with his own hands, as if he did not trust me.

This was repeated later, and I was already accustomed to the fact that Alexander Vasilyevich constantly interfered with my duties, although he was silently upset. But usually, as soon as we were on the move, I forgot about my disappointment. Distracting my attention from the instruments monitoring the condition of the running locomotive, from monitoring the operation of the left car and the path ahead, I glanced at Maltsev. He led the cast with the courageous confidence of a great master, with the concentration of an inspired artist who has absorbed the entire outer world into his inner experience and therefore dominates it. Alexander Vasilyevich’s eyes looked ahead abstractly, as if empty, but I knew that he saw with them the whole road ahead and all of nature rushing towards us - even a sparrow, swept from the ballast slope by the wind of a car piercing into space, even this sparrow attracted Maltsev’s gaze, and he turned his head for a moment after the sparrow: what would become of it after us, where it flew.

Text provided by LitRes LLC.

You can pay for your book safely by bank card Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, from account mobile phone, from a payment terminal, in an MTS or Svyaznoy salon, via PayPal, WebMoney, Yandex.Money, QIWI Wallet, bonus cards or any other method convenient for you.