“Journey of amateurs” Okudzhava in brief summary


The novel, which takes place in 1845-1855, begins with the return of Prince Sergei Myatlev and narrator Amiran Amilahvari after a duel in the spacious St. Petersburg house of the prince, filled with copies of antique masterpieces. The living room was turned into a fencing room, card tables were demolished in one room, and the living quarters were boarded, except for the third floor, where the prince was located. The son of the adjutant general, he belongs to the elite of his time, but, in spite of this, he is disliked by the tsar. Entering the cavalry regiment after the guard corps, he was sent soon for an innocent prank in the Life Guards Grodno Hussar Regiment, and then, after distinction in the Caucasus and the death of the old prince, returned to St. Petersburg, where, after retiring, he keeps a portrait of a state criminal Muravyova, leads an idle life, in conversations with Amilahvari and ” litter “- a descriptor of the genealogical tree by Andrei Vladimirovich Priimkov,

expelled from the capital for his antipatriotic work, exposing the immorality of Russian history. Myatlev seems to be in love with the cold-blooded Aneta, the wife of Baron Fredericks, but their romance is not long: she leaves the prince for the sake of the emperor. will soon become a Muscovite leader. At the same time, Mjatlev acquainted in his park with an eight-year-old child who called himself Mr. van Schoenhoven, he will constantly appear in the Mjatlevsky park, and then in S where he will drink tea and talk with his master. In fact, it is disguised Lavinia Tuchkova, who falls in love with the prince for life, but the novel is not destined to come true soon. The prince is still young, and on Nevsky, during the rain, he meets with twenty-two-year-old Alexandrina Zhiltsova, daughter of the Decembrist, who came to St. Petersburg to pray for his father, who languished in the mines. Her petition was refused, and despite her free life in the house of Myatlev, consumption consumes her strength, and Alexandrina rushes to the Neva. Myatlev remains in the house with the faithful servant Afanasy. The prince, however, quite
quickly gets an affair with the Countess Natalie Rumyantseva. She seduces the prince, becomes pregnant with him, and then raises a wave of rumors all over Petersburg – the prince is even called to himself by the chief of the corps of the gendarmes Count Orlov. Meanwhile, the mother gives Lavinia, living in Moscow, for the landlord’s house, Mr. Ladimirovsky. Myatlev remains in the house with the faithful servant Afanasy. The prince, however, quite quickly gets an affair with the Countess Natalie Rumyantseva. She seduces the prince, becomes pregnant with him, and then raises a wave of rumors all over Petersburg – the prince is even called to himself by the chief of the corps of the gendarmes Count Orlov. Meanwhile, the mother gives Lavinia, living in Moscow, for the landlord’s house, Mr. Ladimirovsky. Myatlev remains in the house with the faithful servant Afanasy. The prince, however, quite quickly gets an affair with the Countess Natalie Rumyantseva. She seduces the prince, becomes pregnant with him, and then raises a wave of rumors all over Petersburg – the prince is even called to himself by the chief of the corps of the gendarmes Count Orlov. Meanwhile, the mother gives Lavinia, living in Moscow, for the landlord’s house, Mr. Ladimirovsky.

Myatlev rushes to the capital, but the meeting with Lavinia and the acquaintance with her mother end in nothing. But on his return to the northern capital prince forced to appoint a wedding with the pregnant Natalie at the end of October. The bride is embarking on a decisive alteration of her beloved prince’s house. The prince is even forced to join the department of Count Nesselrode. Returning from the latter, Mjatlev goes into the shop of Mr. Sverbeev, where he meets a certain Mr. Kolesnikov, who preaches notoriously rather seditious ideas – a revolution in Europe, etc. After that his life acquires an almost mystical character: Mr. Timofei Katakazi, pulling out information about Messrs. Priimkov and Kolesnikov. The emperor personally connects the hands of Natalie and the prince – to go nowhere, Myatlev marries, but the influenza takes the life of a young wife and baby. Recovering from the shock, Myatlev sits down for his memoirs about his lost companion-poet, Mr. Lermontov. “Rereading what was written, he suddenly realized that he was writing not so much about the murdered comrade as he was taking personal scores with the tsar.” However, having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to that. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by moping and an obscure desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! Myatlev sits down for his memoirs about his comrade-poet, Lermontov, who died. “Rereading what was written, he suddenly realized that he was writing not so much about the murdered comrade as he was taking personal scores with the tsar.” However, having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to that. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by moping and an obscure desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! Myatlev sits down for his memoirs about his comrade-poet, Lermontov, who died. “Rereading what was written, he suddenly realized that he was writing not so much about the murdered comrade as he was taking personal scores with the tsar.” However, having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to that. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by moping and an obscure desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! Rereading what was written, he suddenly realized that he was writing not so much about the murdered comrade as he was taking personal scores with the king. “However, having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to him. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by a spleen and an unclear desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova nevertheless is more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him non-existent The same, however, begins to feel the burning longing for Lavinia, and finally she arrives in Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! Rereading what was written, he suddenly realized that he was writing not so much about the murdered comrade as he was taking personal scores with the king. “However, having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to him. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by a spleen and an unclear desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova nevertheless is more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him non-existent The same, however, begins to feel the burning longing for Lavinia, and finally she arrives in Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to that. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by moping and an obscure desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! having met by chance Mr. Kolesnikov, the prince for some reason decides to show his manuscript to that. The writer is terrified. And the prince, tormented by moping and an obscure desire for Lavinia, decides to visit her mother – allegedly to buy a portrait of Prince Sapieha, in fact – in order to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! in fact – to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house! in fact – to find out the plan of the house and try once to steal Lavinia. Mrs. Tuchkova is nevertheless more perceptive than the prince and in complete parables speaks to him of the impracticability of such intentions. He, however, begins to feel a burning longing for Lavinia. Finally, she arrives in St. Petersburg and personally visits the prince in his house!

There is a decisive explanation, during which Lavinia asks the prince to just keep patience, and then happiness will overtake them on their own. Here, the former Mr. van Schoenhoven admits that two verse lines: “Do you remember the trumpet’s mournful sounds, / Splashes of rain, half-light, half-darkness? ..” – taken from Nekrasov.

But the attempt of lovers to speak at the October ball in the Anichkov Palace ends in failure: the husband does not lag behind Lavinia, the emperor himself shows an increased interest in the young beauty, some horse-guard unflattering about her. .. Only meeting with Aneta brings joy: she undertakes to arrange their visits at home. But Lavinia admits for some reason in her connection to her husband, and he takes her to the village. Returning to St. Petersburg in the spring, Mr Ladimirovsky nevertheless loses his wife: on May 5 she escapes with the prince, after which the family house of Myatlev collapses by itself. Nicholas orders to grab the fugitives, for which they are equipped with a chase in all possible directions. The lovers fled to Moscow. On the way, they get acquainted with the lovely landowner Ivan Evdokimovich, who is delayed for a long time and who was also somehow connected with the events of December 14. Only on the day of departure it turns out that this is Avrosimov.

Through Moscow and Tula fugitives go to Pyatigorsk, but an unexpected meeting with a friendly Colonel von Mufling makes them turn to Tiflis, to Amiran’s relatives. Following, driven by intuition, the colonel is also traveling, but hospitable Georgians convince him not to do anything against the happy couple. Von Mufling makes a promise – but then, in trouble, appears Timothy Katakazi, who detains Lavinia and the prince. They are escorted to St. Petersburg: the prince to the fortress, Lavinia to the legal spouse. The latter hopes to restore family relations, but it is useless. Although the prince is deprived of the title, the fortunes are sent to the perpetual by the rank and file of the Caucasus, Lavinia still loves him. The soldier’s torments intensify because they have to endure in the same garrison, where the lovers restored their strength during their journey and where, apparently, Alexandrin’s days came to an end. After the wounding of the prince, Lavinia again throws her husband and, under a false name, goes to the nurses of mercy – to be near to her beloved, but she is returned to the capital under escort. After a while, Amiran receives a letter from her, where she reports her desire to reconcile with her husband and go with him to Italy. Soon Nikolai dies, and the despairing prince has already received a full pardon. He settles in his estate in the Kostroma province, where Lavinia, exhausted by this life, appears under the guise of the housekeeper. Their happiness is not long: trying to open a hospital for the peasants, and then school, the prince dies. Published in the epilogue letters shed light on some of the details of this story. So,


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“Journey of amateurs” Okudzhava in brief summary