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Trip around the world writer Ivan Goncharov

In October 1852, the writer Ivan Goncharov, a translator at the Ministry of Finance, was appointed secretary to Admiral Yefim Putyatin. When the young writer began to prepare for a round-the-world voyage with the admiral, the literary circles of St. Petersburg reacted to this with humor: the future author of the novel Oblomov was often called “Prince de Laziness” for his slowness.

Traveling with the frigate Pallada, Goncharov traveled around three continents and at least a dozen countries. During the trip, he kept a travel diary, in which he entered everything that interested him. His first essay was published shortly after his return (in 1855) in the journal Domestic notes". Three years later, the essay was published as a separate book.

Based on the notes of Ivan Goncharov, we have prepared for you a cultural guide to seven countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Frigate "Pallada"

Ivan Goncharov

Travel route of the frigate "Pallada"

Foggy England

Once in England, the ship's crew immediately went to London. Because of the changeable weather and fogs, Goncharov was afraid of “acquiring a spleen”: “Twice I went to see the Thames and both times I saw only impenetrable steam.” During the first week in England, the writer visited all the "official" London sights and began to observe the inhabitants of the city, which was much more interesting to him.

“Than looking at sphinxes and obelisks, I rather like to stand for an hour at a crossroads and watch how two Englishmen meet, first they try to tear off each other’s hand, then they inquire about each other’s health and wish each other every well-being; look at their gait or some kind of amble, and this importance to the comic on the face, an expression of deep respect for oneself, some contempt or, at least, coldness towards another, but reverence for the crowd, that is, for society.

After walks, Goncharov could not deny himself the pleasure of visiting local shops and returning loaded with purchases: “And then, laying out every thing on the table, I am forced to admit that this is not necessary at all, I have it, etc. You will buy a book, which you can’t read, a couple of pistols, with no hope of shooting from them, porcelain, which is not needed at sea and is inconvenient to use, a cigar box, a stick with a dagger.

London, England

London, England

London, England

Warm air of Madeira Island (Madeira, Portugal)

The Atlantic Ocean met travelers with a light storm and "fountains" of whales. On Madera, where the frigate’s crew landed on January 18, 1853, Ivan Goncharov tried bananas for the first time: “I didn’t like it: insipid, somewhat sweet, but sluggish and sugary, the taste is mealy, it looks a bit like potatoes and melon, but not so sweet , like a melon, and without aroma or with its own, somehow rough bouquet. The second gastronomic experience was local wines - white and red.

Goncharov experienced for himself what a trip in a palanquin is like. In a small cart, carried by two guides, he went for a walk. It was assumed that the passenger would ride in it lying down, but natural curiosity haunted Goncharov.

“However, I was tired of lying down: I got up to sit down and look around. A wide hand crept up behind me and gently knocked me over onto my back again. "What's this?" I got up again, the cradle shook and went more slowly. Again the same palm wants to topple me. "I want to sit, goddam!" I shouted. They explained that it was so awkward for them to carry, it was hard ... “Ah, it’s hard? What’s the matter with me: they’ve taken it, so carry it. ” But as soon as I thought about it, the palm carefully tried, as if imperceptibly from myself, to knock me over.

Madeira Island, Portugal

Madeira Island, Portugal

Madeira Island, Portugal

"Scorched Cliffs and the Silence of the Desert" Cape Verde Islands (West Africa)

The ship moored to the Cape Verde Islands on the orders of Admiral Putyatin: it was necessary to replenish food supplies. Goncharov described the “black as coal” inhabitants of the islands and their “picturesque” clothes: “In a skirt, but without a shirt, and something like a paper shawl to the knees is thrown over one shoulder; the other shoulder and part of the chest are exposed. The head is tied with a scarf, and very well: it is unpleasant for the eyes of a European to see short hair on a woman's head, and even curly. Local residents were mainly engaged in salt mining. Pools were arranged on the coast: during high tides, they were filled sea ​​water, which, evaporating, left a salt precipitate.

Ivan Goncharov conducted several “experiments of curiosity” here, tasting local fruits:

“I decided to buy from an old black woman (I always give preference to ladies where possible) a whole basket of oranges.”

Cape Verde Islands, West Africa

Maize plantations at the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)

“We all poured out and looked inquiringly in all directions, as if we wanted to see that wooden rim, which, under the name of the equator, encircles the globe.” On the first walk on the cape Good Hope Ivan Goncharov found himself in "the southernmost tavern from here on a direct path to the Pole."

In these places, the writer was most struck by local landscaping traditions:

“The wattle fences are made from cactus and aloe bushes: God forbid, grab a bush - what is our nettle! Not only an honest person, but also a thief, even a lover will not climb over such a fence.

Interested in Ivan Goncharov and manners local residents- Bushmen: “They are agile and courageous, but careless and do not like work. If they manage to acquire a few pieces of cattle by theft, they eat without measure; days and nights are spent in it; and when they have eaten everything, they tie up their bellies tightly and sit for weeks without food.

In Capestat (Cape Town) the traveler found curious souvenirs: “I saw match cases in a tobacco shop, chiseled from a beautiful, two-tone wood. I immediately bought a few as a memento of the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

"Birthplace of poisonous peppers, spicy roots, elephants, tigers and snakes" - Singapore

Ivan Goncharov calls Singapore the kingdom of eternal, merciless summer:

“Ice, ice and snow: not smoke, but the ice of the fatherland is sweet and pleasant for us!”

The city-state seemed to the traveler a “world market”, where everything that is possible flocks: “Here are the necessary fabrics and bread, poison and healing herbs. Germans, French, British, Americans, Armenians, Persians, Indians, Chinese - everything came to sell and buy: there are no other needs and goals here. Luxury sends here for subtle poisons and spices, and comfort sends dress, linen, leather, wine.

The writer noticed how the houses of Singaporeans are different different nationalities: “Malay dwellings are just see-through cages made of bamboo canes, covered with dry coconut leaves, hardly worthy of being called sheds, on stilts, from dampness and from insects too. The Chinese are richer - continuous rows of houses on two floors: shops and workshops at the bottom, housing with blinds at the top. Indians live in huts."

In the interior of a rich Chinese house, Goncharov saw the great-grandfather of a modern fan: “They ordered a Chinese boy to wave a gigantic fan suspended from the ceiling, the entire length of the dining room. This is just a wide piece of linen with a muslin fringe; cords are stretched from it to the doors, for which the servant pulls and refreshes the room.

Singapore

Singapore

"Strange, entertaining so far with its obscurity" Japan

The crew of the frigate "Pallada" went to Japan for diplomatic purposes. Before appearing before the governor, diplomats spent several days studying local traditions. They were mentored by a whole team of Japanese masters of ceremonies.

“The Japanese suggested sitting in their own way, on the floor, on their heels. Get on your knees and then sit on your heels - that's what it means to sit in Japanese. Try it, you will see how cleverly: you don’t sit for five minutes, but the Japanese sit for several hours.

However, the Russians protested against the unusual rules: for example, many refused to sit on the floor, taking their own chairs with them to negotiations. They also did not want to take off their shoes in the palace - they first sewed calico shoes, which they put on over the boots before entering the house. Many travelers found themselves in the awkward situation of getting their shoe covers lost in the hallways and ending up in street shoes at the welcoming ceremony.

"School stage All-Russian Olympiad schoolchildren in Russian literature grade 10 (YaSh) I. Knowledge of the text and facts of the history of literature Who from ... "

School stage of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren

in Russian literature

Grade 10 (YASH)

I. Knowledge of the text and facts of the history of literature

Which Russian writer traveled around the world? Name a work that reflects his impressions.

The plots of what works did A.S. Pushkin N.V. Gogol?

After reading this work, Catherine II came to the conclusion that its author is a rebel worse than Pugachev. What work are you talking about?

Which characters of the comedy "Woe from Wit" own the following aphorisms:

"Happy hours are not observed."

"And the smoke of the Fatherland is sweet and pleasant to us."

“I would be glad to serve, it’s sickening to serve.”

"With feeling, with sense, with arrangement"

Name three novels by I.A. Goncharova.

Which of the landowners gave Chichikov "dead souls"?

Name the articles by N.A. Dobrolyubov about the drama of A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm".

What is the name and patronymic of the following literary characters:

Kabanova, Pechorin, Chichikov, Bashmachkin, Famusov, Oblomov.

What work of M. Yu. Lermontov can be called "the history of the human soul"?

Name the genre of the works "Undergrowth", "Inspector", "Woe from Wit".

II. Theory of literature.

Name the literary terms according to its interpretation:

Type of trail, artistically justified exaggeration of certain properties of the depicted object.

plot element, moment highest voltage actions, the peak of the conflict.

Consonance of the endings of verses.

A two-syllable meter in which the first syllable is stressed and the second is unstressed.

What artistic technique does F. Tyutchev use in the following lines:

The sun is shining, the waters are shining,

A smile on everything, life in everything,

The trees tremble with joy

Swimming in the blue sky

The fourth "extra"

Metaphor, plot, climax, denouement

Drama, epilogue, comedy, tragedy

A stanza of 14 lines in iambic 4-foot?

“A rather beautiful spring britzka, in which bachelors ride, drove through the gates of the hotel in the provincial city of NN ...”

“I lived underage, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys. Meanwhile, I was sixteen years old. Here my fate changed.

“She was good: tall, thin, eyes black, like those of a mountain chamois, and looked into your soul.”

“Yes, mother, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live with my will?

IV. Read the poem below by S. Yesenin

"I left my dear home" and complete the tasks:

I left my home

Blue left Rus'.

Three-star birch forest over the pond

Mother's old sadness warms.

golden frog moon

Spread out on still water.

Like apple blossom, gray hair

My father spilled in his beard.

I won't be back soon!

For a long time to sing and ring the blizzard.

Guards Blue Rus'

Old maple on one leg

And I know there's joy in it

To those who kiss the leaves of the rain,

Because that old maple

Head looks like me.

IN 1. An artistic device that plays the role of figurative, expressive definitions in the poem: “golden frog”, “old maple”, “still water”?

AT 2. What is the name of the repetition of a consonant sound in stanzas 1 and 2, which helps the author convey feelings of tenderness and warmth that overwhelm him?

AT 3. Name the epithet that is repeated twice in the text of the poem and conveys the individual author's vision to the reader. artistic image native land.

AT 4. The stylistic device that S. Yesenin used in line 1 of the 3rd stanza: “I won’t be back soon, I won’t be back soon” to draw the reader’s attention to main idea convey the drama of the situation.

AT 5. Indicate the term that is used in the literature for the figurative and expressive means that allowed the author in the 2nd stanza to create the image of the moon, spread out like a frog, and the father's gray hair, similar to the spring flowering of apple trees. С1. Write a detailed answer (5-10 sentences) to a generalizing question to the text, justify your position.

What theme, which became the leading theme of S. Yesenin's lyrics, can be considered one of the main themes of Russian poetry of the 20th century? (on the example of the work of several poets).

Keys in Literature. Grade 10

Knowledge of the text and facts of the history of literature

1.I.A. Goncharov "Frigate" Pallada "(2b)

2. "Inspector", " Dead Souls» (2b)

3. "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", A.P. Radishchev (1b)

4. A-Sofya, B, V-Chatsky, G-Famusov (4b)

5. "Ordinary story", "Oblomov", "Cliff" (3b)

6.Manilov (1b)

7. "Ray of light in the dark kingdom", "Dark kingdom" (2b)

8.Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova

Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov,

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin,

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov (6 b)

9. "Hero of our time" (1b)

10. Comedy (1b)

Literary theory (1 b each)

1. Hyperbole

2.Climax

5. Personification

6.A-metaphor, B-epilogue

7. "Onegin stanza" total (8b)

1. "Dead Souls" (1b)

2. "Captain's daughter" (1b)

3. "Hero of our time" (1b)

4. "Thunderstorm" (1b)

Analysis of the poem (1b each)

B1 - elegy

B2 antithesis

B3- epithet

B5-third

B6 - metaphor

The maximum score is 47b. Passing score-34b.

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Five famous writers who wrote better on the road

Text: Fedor Kosichkin/Year of Literature.RF
Collage: Year of Literature. RF

The work of writers, it would seem, is conducive to immobility. But there were also those among them who wrote best on the road or in a foreign land - even if, unlike, say, Herzen or, nothing prevented them from living at home.

Like many provincials, in his youth, Nikolai Vasilievich made a swift and rather painful march from the fertile province of Poltava to the harsh metropolitan Petersburg. But, unlike most ambitious young men, he did not stop there.

And, as soon as the fees from the productions of The Government Inspector began to arrive, he began to travel around Europe, especially preferring Italy.

Gogol willingly accepted invitations from his Russian aristocratic friends to spend the winter in their Italian villas. But
"Dead Souls", as you know, were written not in a villa, but in a small apartment in Rome, not far from the Plaza of Spain.

As aptly remarked by one of contemporary critics, it was necessary to move away from Russia as much as possible in order to re-create it in his brilliant novel-poem.

2. Ivan Turgenev

The most European of the Russian classics, the handsome and rich man Turgenev studied in Berlin, spoke almost all European languages, was the first to write poems in prose, communicated on an equal footing with Flaubert and Zola, and beautifully loved the European celebrity Pauline Viardot. No wonder he wanted to be closer to her.

But not the last role in his desire for Europe was played by decades of disagreements with the Russian state machine that had been accumulating.

Everyone remembers the exile in Mikhailovsky, but it is much less known that in 1852–1854 the author of the Hunter’s Notes, which allegedly denounced serfdom, was also strongly recommended to enjoy the charms of Spassky-Lutovinovo village life, indulge in hunting pleasures (which he did with big hunt), and by no means visit the capitals. And then the Third Department did not deprive him of their attention. By 1863, the 45-year-old Turgenev finally chose Baden-Baden for residence. So when he describes at the end of Fathers and Sons (1862) Pavel Petrovich living in Germany: “In Dresden, on the Bryulevskaya terrace, between two and four o’clock, at the most fashionable time for a walk, you can meet a man of about fifty, already completely gray-haired and as if suffering from gout, but still handsome, elegantly dressed and with that special imprint which is given to a person only by a long stay in the upper strata of society ", is actually an ironic self-portrait. However, unlike Herzen, a friend of his youth, he did not break with Russia, periodically returning to it.

3. Ivan Bunin

Bunin is credited with the aphorism:

“Three things make a person happy: love, an interesting job and the opportunity to travel”.

Ivan Alekseevich himself took full advantage of this opportunity, and wrote about it with inspiration, whether it was the spicy "Rose of Jericho", the exotic "Shadow of a Bird" or "Heinrich" - the most delightful hymn to rail travel: “There will again be the smell of gas, coffee and beer at the Vienna railway station, the labels on the bottles of Austrian and Italian wines on the tables in the sunny dining car in the snows of Semmering, the faces and clothes of European men and women filling this car for breakfast…”

After the revolution, in exile, Ivan Alekseevich again had to run into.

But these movements around France no longer gave him pleasure - a journey from which it is impossible to return is bitter.

4. Ernest Hemingway

After the First World War, the French franc fell sharply against the US dollar. What novice American writers and artists hastened to take advantage of. Having accumulated a sum ridiculous by American standards, they could rent an apartment in the center of Paris and for months enjoy all the delights of European bohemia, which they could only read about in books in their native wilderness - sit for a long time in a cafe, drink red wine in jugs, take private lessons French at charming midiettes. However, Hemingway not only enjoyed, but also worked hard (as he later described in the book “A Holiday That Is Always With You”) - and indeed became a great writer.

But even after becoming one, he was absent from his homeland for a long time - either to hunt in Africa, or to the second European war.

Since 1949, he settled in Cuba - but a year after the establishment of the Castro regime, in 1960, he was forced to leave his Cuban home. And a year later he preferred to leave this world as well.

5. Jonathan Littell

Perhaps it is somewhat premature to put Littell, who was born in 1967, “on the same level” with Turgenev and Heminway, but his literary fate is painfully unusual.

He was born in New York, from 3 to 13 years old he was brought up in France, from 27 to 34 years old, working in a humanitarian organization, he traveled to hot spots around the world, from the Congo to Chechnya, and in 2001

gave up this job and sat down in a room on Chistye Prudy (!) to write in French (!!) "The Benevolent" - a thick novel about an SS officer (!!!) on the Eastern Front.

The novel, released in 2006, was extremely successful. In addition to awards and fees, he, in particular, brought the author French citizenship, granted to the newly minted French writer in recognition of services to French literature. But for now, American Frenchman Littell prefers to live with his Belgian wife in Barcelona.

Writer's World Tour

Around the world trips in the middle of the 19th century were carried out primarily in connection with the creation and expansion of colonies, the division of spheres of influence. capitalist countries Western Europe And North America were interested in suppliers of raw materials and slaves, in markets. The world ocean, in the absence of cheap ways to transport goods by land, has become the main highway of international trade.

Russia abandoned its colonial policy and overseas possessions. But as one of the largest maritime powers, she sought to establish diplomatic and trade relations with countries located on different continents. It was necessary to monitor general situation in the oceans. Finally, one of the routes from the western outskirts of the country to Far East went through the Baltic and Black Sea to the Atlantic, and from there to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Such a route was to be made by the frigate Baltic Fleet"Pallada".

This expedition, according to its results, can be compared with the journey of Charles Darwin on the Beagle ship. It's about also about diary entries, but belonging not to a scientist, but to a writer: Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (1812–1891). Thanks to him travel essays, who compiled a voluminous book, this expedition remains in the memory of posterity. Generations of readers experience it again and again.

For those who are familiar with the work, character and lifestyle of Goncharov, the decision of this sedate and not alien to laziness writer in the fifth decade of his life to go on a long, almost three-year voyage may seem like an act extravagant or at least strange. As if the hero of his novel, Oblomov risked changing the soft couch to the shaky deck of a sailboat.

Frigate "Pallada" 1847. Artist A.P. Bogolyubov

He himself admitted: “Everyone was surprised that I could decide on such a long and dangerous path - I'm so lazy, spoiled! Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by such determination. Sudden changes make up my character."

As a child and at the university, he was seriously interested in natural science, the history of geographical discoveries. And when he had the opportunity to go on a long voyage, he did not hesitate. The frigate "Pallada" was the flagship of the squadron, which carried out, according to official version, a campaign to the Russian possessions in America. But the main task was different: to establish trade relations with Japan.

The expedition was led by Admiral N.V. Putyatin. Goncharov was his secretary, kept a ship's log and was, one might say, a chronicler of the campaign. He performed his duties excellently.

Well, what about the description? exotic countries, outlandish savages, wonders of nature? He frankly admitted that his notes would not be able to satisfy readers who yearn for something extraordinary: “I said that they do not exist, these miracles; travel has lost its miraculous character. I have not fought lions and tigers, I have not tasted human flesh.”

And an unexpected passage: “I left miracles: they don’t exist in the tropics. It's all the same, just." In his opinion, our Russian nature gives us genuine diversity and amazing beauty, if only we have not forgotten how to feel and understand this. “And let me ask,” he writes, “is there anything that is not beautiful in nature? Do you need poetry, bright features of nature - do not follow them under the tropics: draw the sky wherever you see it.

Goncharov knew how to see the extraordinary in the ordinary; did not invent paradoxes, trying to overwhelm with original judgment. His writing is fascinating for those who are interested in traveling with a witty, observant and insightful companion, not satisfied with stereotyped delights and information gleaned from travel guides.

Here is a description of the storm: “I stood at the spire, looked at how the sea suddenly disappears from my eyes completely under the frigate and the deck stands upright in front of you, then suddenly the deck disappears and instead of it there is a wall of water that climbs on you. But do not be afraid: she will hide again now, just hold on to something with both hands. It's beautiful, but the same...

The boring business of pitching; everyone is dissatisfied: it is impossible to read, write, sleep properly; only pale suffering faces are visible. The order of day and night is broken...

Perhaps it is poetry, when viewed from the shore, but to be the hero of this performance, with which nature treats the swimmer from time to time, is rightly uninteresting. Judge for yourself, what is good here? Huge hills with a white crest, pushing each other with a howl, rise, fall, rise again, as if a crowd of wild animals suddenly released into the wild are fighting in a frenzy, only splashes, like smoke, rise and a groan is carried in the air ...

At first, pitching induces fear out of habit. When a ship rolls from the top of a wave to its bottom and passes to another wave, it makes such a swing that it seems that it will now crumble to smithereens; but when you are convinced that this will not happen, then it becomes boring, annoying, annoyance turns into bitterness, and then into despondency.

True, as it turns out, he did not have to be bored for a long time: he was shaken and thrown around the cabin, rolled on the floor, hit against chairs and walls. Only experienced sailors, and his batman Fadeev, treated such inconveniences and troubles with philosophical calm, continuing to do their job.

Goncharov did not aim to debunk the romance of long-distance voyages, to tear the veil of mystery from exotic countries. He simply and clearly testified about what he saw, experienced, thought out. He does not need to invent fables, to entertain the reader with fairy tales and legends of different peoples. And without that, he has something to say. Gorgeous descriptions of tropical nights in the open ocean; landscapes different countries, people and customs of different peoples.

For a large number modern people it is not difficult if you have the means and desire to visit any, even the most remote point, even in Antarctica. Other tourists get the opportunity to look at the Earth from outer space. However, without leaving the room, millions of viewers make exciting film journeys. At the same time, you can see such beauty, such rare shots, such pictures from the life of people and animals that are inaccessible to an ordinary tourist.

What is the point in our time to bother reading travel descriptions? Isn't it better to see than to hear or read?

Of course, for a pleasant pastime, entertainment or for teaching schoolchildren, this is interesting and useful. But there are people who are not enough to admire beautiful pictures and listen to comments on what you see. They want to comprehend the life of their own and other people, their people and humanity. And for this, a smart, frank interlocutor with considerable life experience is indispensable. Even if he is from another century... This is even apt, because then it becomes possible to compare his observations with what actually happened.

True, I.A. Goncharov is not customarily classified as a great teacher of mankind, or even only of the Russian people. However, his travel notes during the expedition on the Pallas, in my opinion, they help us understand the path of development of modern technical civilization and the changes that take place with the human personality.

The writer, who had to be content with very limited comfort, and sometimes experienced considerable inconvenience, did not complain about this. He believed that it is natural for a person to strive for everyday amenities, for cleanliness and order. But this justified desire is decisively different from the thirst for luxury, which "is madness, an ugly and unnatural deviation from the needs indicated by nature and reason." “Vanity and gross excess in pleasures distinctive features luxury ... For luxury, wealth is needed ... Luxury tries to make me have what you cannot have.

This judgment is directly related to our era. All the main troubles and tragedies of our time are determined by the exorbitant desire for luxury of many millions of those who have capital and power. They are not satisfied with normal comfort. They need as much personal property as possible, luxury and the main criterion for wealth - money. For the sake of this, they do not consider either earthly nature or other people and nations.

In the time of Goncharov, the most greedy power was Great Britain, "the mistress of the seas." The Russian writer spoke of its citizens without much sympathy: “The treatment of the British with the Chinese, and with other peoples, especially those subject to them, was not only cruel, but imperious, rude or coldly contemptuous, so it hurts to watch. They do not recognize these peoples as people, but as some kind of working cattle.

“The shamelessness of this bestial people comes to some kind of heroism, as soon as it touches the sale of goods, whatever it may be, even poison!” (At that time, the British were waging an “opium war”, poisoning the Chinese with narcotic poison). As Goncharov noted, the supply of opium was constantly increasing, reaching four-fifths of the value of all goods imported into China.

“I don’t know which of them could civilize whom: whether the Chinese are English with their courtesy, meekness and ability to trade, too.”

Seems like a strange argument. Has not European civilization come to dominate the world? Hasn't she proved her superiority by this? Hasn't she become the flagship of the scientific technical progress? And why is Russian serfdom better than Western civilization? Isn't the Russian master Goncharov a retrograde, a supporter of the patriarchal order?

No, he perfectly understood the merits of technological progress. He is not touched by handsome sailboats. He admires steam engines that free the navigator from the power of wind and sea currents. A person gets the opportunity to rule over nature, to overcome the violence of the earth's elements ...

“I don’t say anything about the nature of England: what kind of nature is there! it does not exist, it has been cultivated to the point that everything grows and lives according to the program ... The same thing has been done with trees and grass as with horses and bulls. The grass is given the appearance, color and softness of velvet... Everything is purebred here: sheep, bulls, dogs, like men and women. Everything is large, beautiful, cheerful; in animals, the striving for the fulfillment of one's destiny seems to be extended to the level of rational consciousness, while in humans, on the contrary, it is reduced to the level of animal instinct ...

Not only social activity, but the whole life of each and every one has developed and operates very practically, like a machine.

It would seem that in all this is bad? Do we not see an example worthy of emulation? The germ of that ideal sphere of reason, the noosphere, built rationally and on scientific basis? (Unless, of course, we digress from the blessed natural conditions Britain, as well as from its policy of plundering and enslaving other countries.)

But the question is: what does the person himself become?

According to Goncharov, it is turning into an appendage of a mechanical natural-technical social system. A person is becoming more and more like a machine, designed to perform specific work in its narrow specialty, receiving a certain payment for this. He becomes "virtuous by car, by tables, by demand." It turns out a civilized herd of consumers of goods available to everyone in accordance with his capital and position in society.

It turns out, moving from savagery to civilization, gaining comfort and luxury, transforming in his own way surrounding nature, a person, without noticing it, turns into a kind of machine, loses the meaning of his existence as a reasonable, spiritualized, creative personality aspiring to high ideals of goodness, freedom, justice, brotherhood.

These are the thoughts suggested by the results of the almost round-the-world trip of the Russian writer on the frigate Pallada. And such results of the expedition are perhaps more important than its scientific, commercial or diplomatic achievements.