"Handlar and the poet": a short summary of the story of the Belarusian writer Ivan Shamyakin

Most of the literary heritage of the writer Ivan Shamyakin is dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War. In his novels, novels and stories, the author describes the fate of people who have survived a terrible hard times, forcing the reader to reflect on moral and ethical issues that are relevant both during the years of hard trials and in peacetime. One of the iconic works of I.P. Shamyakin is the novel "The Handkerchief and the Poet", a summary of which is presented in this publication.

Earthly being

The main heroine Olga Lenovich - a young woman, known throughout the county cheerful brisk merchant on the Komarovsky market of the city of Minsk. The first part of the narrative describes in detail the youth of Olga, the order that reigned in her parents' family, where material well-being was the main value.

The girl's father dies shortly before the war begins under the tram wheels. Soon Olgin's mother is dying, on whose shoulders the whole house was kept. The old Lenovichicha worked from morning till night without ceasing, accustomed from childhood to the work of her children, she was known as a fortunate and cunning trader. This "talent" along with the nickname as if by inheritance passed to Olga.

Sublimity of the senses

What is the meaning of the title of the work "The Handkerchief and the Poet"? The summary could be conveyed with just one phrase "feat in the name of love." Not having read the book yourself, to understand the intricacies of the plot will be very difficult. There is everything: love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, dedication and misunderstanding.

Let's try, within the framework of a small article, to recreate the chronology of the events developing in Ivan Shamyakin's novel "The Handler and the Poet".

Summary of the chapters

I. In the first days of the war, when the German invaders entered Minsk, the heroine lives in her parents' house with her little daughter Svetochka. Olga's husband and younger brother went to the front, she does not lose heart, believing that before the onset of frosts the war will necessarily end.

Taking advantage of the general chaos, a woman takes an active part in the looting of shops, warehouses, bakeries destroyed by shells, makes supplies of food not only for her own food, but also for the purpose of future trade. Olgina mercantile indignation at her school friend Lena Borovskaya, because of this the girls seriously quarreled.

II. Olga successfully trades in the market, enters into the confidence of the fascists and policemen who buy her products. Lena Borovskaya asks Olga to help buy out some important person from the POW camp. The attention of the merchant is attracted by the frail, seriously ill sick young man, whom Olga takes to her house and nurses as a close relative. His name is Alexander (Ales), he is fond of poetry and he writes poetry.

III. Olga likes the intelligence and education of Ales. It is these qualities that the woman herself lacks. The poet reproaches the merchant in the middle class and the inability to empathize with the destinies of millions of people caught in the flames of military events.

IV. At night, the Germans raided the house with a search warrant, the woman gives them valuables, and then confesses to Alesya that she has a lot of other good, which is carefully hidden. Between the young people there is a quarrel, the poet again accuses Olga of thinking only of material goods. Unable to hide her feelings anymore, the woman admits to Alexander in love.

V. Olga continues to develop her trading business. Ales, at first afraid to answer Olga in return, becomes her lover. He learns that the merchant, among other things, has a radio and a gun in the house. About this Alexander tells Lena Borovskoy, suggesting that the girl has a connection with the partisan underground. Lena instructs Alesya somehow to lure Olga from the receiver. The poet, having fulfilled this task, expects that he will be accepted into the ranks of the underground.

VI. Alexander begins to go on walks in the city. He carries a gun with him, which he took from Olga. One day a poet kills a German officer, whom he himself sentenced to death.

VII. Finally, the poet is invited to a meeting with the leaders of the underground. In order not to risk the safety of Olga and her little daughter, Ales leaves the house of the merchant. One of the commanders proposes to take Olga into the detachment as a liaison officer and asks Alexander whether he will be able to vouch for her. The poet answers negatively, doubting the moral and patriotic characteristics of a woman who saved his life by buying him from a concentration camp.

VIII. Olga is worried about Ales's absence, searches for him around the city, even goes to the square where the Germans hung several guerrillas. The commander of the underground Evsei comes to the house to Olga and invites her to join the underground. Merchant refused, but the commander believes that "spontaneously she can do any most desperate deed, but consciously go to the feat will not be able to." Soon Alexander returns, and Olga asks him to tell the commander that he agrees to become connected.

IX. The woman joins the activity of the underground, without raising suspicion among the occupation authorities. Unbeknownst to herself, Olga becomes one of the most active members of the group. In the story "The Handkerchief and the Poet," the brief content of which can not contain all the nuances of the plot, it is vividly shown that a person's ability to feat does not depend on education or living conditions. Of decisive importance are not the external factors, but the integrity of nature and the firmness of character by which the author endowed his heroine.

X. Occasionally Olga meets with Ales. In one of these visits, the poet tells his beloved that the underground members of the prison sentenced Fyodor Droutka to death, and he is to execute the sentence. Alexander admits that he has already killed several Germans with his own hands, but it will be difficult for him to shoot at his "own" person, though he is a notorious scoundrel.

XI. Olga decides to help Alesia. Without saying a word to anyone, she negotiates with the policeman to travel to the surrounding villages to exchange things for food. Fyodor Droutko is pleased with this proposal, he has long seen the woman, even offered himself to her as husbands. Olga intends to surrender it to the partisans, in order to save Alexander from the need to kill.

What ends the story "Gandlar and the poet"? The last part of the last part is tragic. The heroine perishes, having deprived the life of the traitor-policeman and two more fascist henchmen.