"Telegram", Paustovsky. Summary of the chapters

"Never again". Scary sounds? But there is a word that may sound even more desperate: "late." It is this sad meaning that literally imbues the work "Telegram". The brief content of this book, written by the great Soviet writer Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky, we will consider today in our article.

about the author

Konstantin Paustovsky, born in 1892 in Moscow, is well known both at home and abroad. Romanticism and sentimentalism are the main genres in which the author writes. Especially widely known Paustovsky became due to numerous stories and stories about nature for children. In his works the writer skillfully uses the power and richness of the Russian language, he easily and elegantly conveys his view of the beautiful and noble nature of his beloved homeland to the reader.

Paustovsky had to live in hard times. He survived two world wars and two civil revolutions in the country. They did not pass by him, he had to participate actively. This could not but postpone a serious imprint in his soul. And at the same time, nothing could ruin his talent and desire for beauty. He continued to write and create great things. World fame came to the writer soon after the end of the Great Patriotic War, which gave him the opportunity to draw new impressions and inspiration in traveling around the world.

Paustovsky's "Telegram": a brief summary

This small work in the emotional plan is very capacious and affects deep human feelings. The theme of the relationship between parents and children is close and familiar to most people, so few people can remain indifferent after reading the book "Telegram". It can be summarized in just a few sentences.

In a remote and deaf village, a lonely elderly woman is living out her last days. The old woman is so alone that she does not have time to talk to anyone, and sleepless long nights and it's not at all clear how to endure, how to survive until the morning ...

From old age she became quite weak and feeble, her vision weakened. They take care of strangers, neighbors and fellow villagers. And in the meantime in Leningrad the native daughter of this lonely woman lives quietly. She does not often trouble herself with memories of her own mother, occasionally sends money, but she never writes letters to which her mother would be so glad.

And so, in one cold rainy autumn, the old woman, feeling that she did not survive the winter, and her age was coming to an end, wrote a letter to her daughter asking him to come and visit her at last. But she, busy with her own affairs, is in no hurry. At this time she actively helps absolutely strangers. And with her mother at this time are sympathetic to her people, trying to ease her longing for her daughter.

One of these people (guard Tikhon) sends a telegram to Leningrad - a short message with the words that the mother is dying. But it's too late, the daughter does not have time, and the woman dies before her beloved blood.

It would seem that the entire story "Telegram" fit in a few lines. The summary, of course, can also impress the sentimental reader and touch him alive, but only after reading the entire book, a person will be able to feel the whole tragedy of this work. After all, a daughter who seems so unfeeling, also knows how to be sympathetic. And she fully understands her guilt and error afterwards. It's just too late ... And with this heavy burden she will have to live on.

The story of the story

Undoubtedly, the great was the author Konstantin Paustovsky! "Telegram," a brief summary of which we will consider in our article, struck the minds and hearts of many people. One of these people was the Soviet director Yuri Shcherbakov. In 1957, he shot a short film on the book with the same name.

The length of the film is just over half an hour, it's slightly longer than it takes time to read the story itself. However, this film in black and white film adaptation can deeply affect the soul. By its importance and emotionality, it is quite possible to put it on the same level as the story, they are in no way inferior to each other.

Marlene Dietrich and Paustovsky "Telegram"

The content of this book, as it turned out, impressed the hearts of not only compatriots. Novella was translated into other languages. So, the great American movie star and singer Marlene Dietrich read and literally fell in love with her. So much so that in her head sat the dream of meeting the author and thanking him for this masterpiece.

Her wish was destined to come true - in 1964 at her concert in Moscow she met 72-year-old Paustovsky. The writer was after another heart attack, but still went to the singer on stage at her request. He kissed her hand, and she knelt before him, confessing that after reading this book she felt that she was simply obliged to kiss the hand of such a wonderful person. And she added: "I'm happy that I managed to do it." Indeed, after all Paustovsky died four years after this meeting.

About the book

His story "Telegram" Paustovsky (a brief summary of which we will consider) was written in 1946. Somewhat later, the author will talk about what triggered the writing of this work. In 1956, in his book "The Golden Rose" (the chapter of "Nuts on the Heart") Konstantin Georgievich admitted that he once occupied a room in one house with one unhappy abandoned old woman - Katerina Ivanovna. She had a daughter, Nastya, who had left for Leningrad and had not visited her mother for 4 years. The only support of the elderly woman was the neighbor's girl Nyurka and the kind old man Ivan Dmitrievich, who visited her every day and helped with the housework.

And when Katerina Ivanovna fell ill, Paustovsky personally sent her daughter to Leningrad a telegram. But the daughter did not have time and arrived only after the funeral.

As you can see, the writer has changed little in this life story. He even retained the names of some of the characters. Obviously, this incident left a deep imprint on his heart, the so-called notch.

Structure of the story

"Telegram" (Paustovsky) is a short work. In print, it takes literally 6 sheets, that is 12 pages. And on average it takes no more than 20 minutes to read the whole of this book - K.G. Paustovsky's "Telegram". A brief outline of the chapters we will now consider. Although formally the story does not have this division, however, when reading it is possible to distinguish several semantic parts:

• Part one - "Mother";

• Part two - "Daughter";

• Part three - "Telegram: Under the Gloomy Sky";

• Part four - "I did not wait";

• Part five - "Epilogue: The Funeral."

Each of the parts selected by us carries its own meaning and is important in the structure of the book. All of them we will consider separately, this will allow to add a single picture.

"Telegram" by Paustovsky. Abstract: "Mother"

It is worth a rare rainy and cold autumn. From the river drags friable clouds, from which pours a pesky rain. Katerina Petrovna is getting harder day by day - her eyes and body are weakening, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get up in the morning, and to take care of herself and her home is an altogether impossible task. And even her voice is so weak that she talks in a whisper. And the excessive loneliness only aggravates her situation, because she does not even have a soul talk with anyone. The description of the surrounding nature and the house in which the woman lives, show that her life has long since been over.

But there are people who genuinely sympathize with the old woman and help her. This is the neighbor's little girl Maniushka and the elderly watchman Tikhon. Manyushka visits her grandmother every day, brings her water from the well, sweeps the house, helps in the kitchen. Tikhon, out of sympathy, as he could, also tried to help: chopped dead trees in the garden, chopped wood for the stove.

From loneliness Katerina Petrovna often cries, does not sleep at night and hardly waits for dawn. Her only daughter Nastia lives far away from her, in Leningrad, and since her last visit, it's been three years already. Once in a couple of months, Nastia makes money transfers to her mother, but she does not have time to write this letter.

One night Katerina Petrovna heard that someone was knocking on her gate. She is going for a long time and with great difficulty comes to the fence. Then she realizes that she fancied herself and on the same night wrote a letter to her daughter asking to come and visit her before her death. "I can not survive this winter, come for a day at least." Here is an excerpt from her touching and sorrow-filled letter. Manyushka refers her message to the post office.

"Telegram" by Paustovsky. Summary: "Daughter"

And Nastya, her own daughter, worked as a secretary in the Union of Artists. Her duties included the organization of exhibitions and competitions.

She received a letter from her mother at work, but did not read it. These letters made her feel mixed. On the one hand, relief: the mother writes, which means she is alive. But on the other - each of them was like a mute reproach.

After work, Nastya goes to the studio to the young sculptor Timofeev. He works in rather bad conditions, the premises are cold and damp. The sculptor complains to Nastya that all his efforts remain unnoticed, and he himself is unrecognized.

Looking at the sculpture of Gogol, Nastya for some moment feels a prick of conscience: a letter from her mother lies in her purse unopened.

Having seen the talent in the sculptor Timofeev, she decides that by any means she will drag this person to the light, and goes to the chairman to organize an exhibition for him. She managed to agree and the next two weeks, Nastia is busy preparing. The letter was put on hold in the "long box". Thoughts about the trip, memories of the mother and her inevitable tears, caused only annoyance.

The exhibition is a success. Visitors admire the works of the sculptor, Nastya also gets a lot of flattering words, which was able to show sensitivity and care to the artist and helped to extract Timofeev.

And at the height of the exhibition of the courier Dasha gives her a telegram, in which only three words are written: "Katya is dying." Tikhon. " Nastya is so passionate about what is happening in the hall that she does not immediately understand who she is talking about and decides what should be, the message is not addressed to her. However, after reading the address it understands that there is no mistake. The news comes at a point so unsuitable for her that she crumples the telegram, frowns and continues to listen to the speakers.

At that time, laudatory words sound from the pulpit. Well-known and respected in the circles of artists, the First Person personally conveys words of gratitude to Nastya. He thanks her for the care and attention to Timofeev, who was undeservedly forgotten by the author. At the end of the speech, the speaker bows to Nastya, calling her Anastasia Semyonovna, and the whole hall applauds her for a long time, embarrassing to tears.

At this point, one of the artists asks Nastya about the telegram crumpled in her hand: "Nothing unpleasant?". To which she replies that it is so ... from one friend.

"Telegram" by Paustovsky. Abstract: "Telegram: Under the Gloomy Sky"

Everyone looks at the speaker Pershin. But Nastya feels for a long time someone's heavy and piercing look. She is afraid to look up, she seems to have guessed. Raising her eyes, she sees Gogol looking at her - a statue made by the sculptor Timofeyev. The figure seems to tell her through clenched teeth: "Oh, you!"

At the same time, the heroine descends insight. She hastily dressed, runs out of the hall into the street, where the wet snow dribbles, and the gloomy sky descends and presses on the city and Nastya. She recalls the previous letter, the warm words addressed to her by her mother: "My beloved!" Later, enlightenment comes to Nastya, she realizes that no one loved her so much as this abandoned old woman, and that she would never see her mother again.

The girl rushes to the station in the hope of getting to her mother. All her thoughts are only about one thing: only to have time to see her mother and forgive her. Wind, the snow gushes into your face. She's late, all the tickets are sold. Nastya can hardly restrain her tears. But by some miracle the same evening she leaves by train to the village.

"Telegram" by Paustovsky. Abstract: "I did not wait"

While Nastya was fussing over the exhibition, her mother went blind. For 10 days she did not get out of bed, and with her were strangers. Manyushka spent days and nights near Katerina Petrovna. In the daytime she drowned the stove, making the room more comfortable, and then the grandmother mentally returned to her days when her daughter was still around. These memories cause her a lonely tear.

Meanwhile, the good watchman Tikhon, in the hope of easing the expectation of an elderly woman, decides for a little deception. He negotiates with the local postman, takes a telegraph form and writes in it a message in a clumsy handwriting. Having come to Katerina Petrovna, he coughs for a long time, blows his nose and gives out his excitement. With a cheerful voice he says that it is good that snow will soon fall and frost will hit, that this will make the road better and Nastasya Semyonovna will be easier to go. After these words he extends a telegram to his grandmother. A telegram, the summary of which is as follows: "Wait, left".

But the woman immediately recognizes his deception, thanks for the kind words and care, with difficulty turns to the wall and seems to fall asleep. Tikhon is sitting in the hallway, head down, smoking and sighing. After a while, Manyushka comes out and calls the old woman into the room.

Paustovsky, "The Telegram." Summary: "Epilogue: The Funeral"

The next day, Katerina Petrovna was buried in the cemetery, which was located beyond the village, above the river. The snowball froze and fell. Guys and old women gathered in the last way. The coffin was carried by Tikhon, the postman Vasily and two other old men. And Mania and her brother carried the lid of the coffin.

An important point is the appearance of a young teacher. When she sees the funeral, she remembers that she has the same old mother in her other city. She can not pass by and joins the procession. The teacher accompanies the coffin to the grave. There the fellow villagers say goodbye to the deceased, the coffin is bowed. The teacher also approaches the body, bends down and kisses the dried hand of Katerina Petrovna, then leaves to the brick fence. After that, she remains in the cemetery for a long time, listens to old people's conversations and the clatter of earth on the lid of the coffin.

Nastia also comes to Zaboria the next day after the funeral. She found only a fresh grave mound in the cemetery and the cool room of her mother. Nastia cried all night in this room, and the next morning hurried to leave the Zaborye unnoticed, so that no one would meet her or ask uncomfortable questions. She understood that no one but her mother could have lifted her grave and indelible guilt.

Conclusion

So we dismantled the entire story "Telegram". The summary of the chapters highlighted the book's story almost completely, and perhaps even made a lot of thinking. But in order not to miss important details, which were invested by the author literally in every part of the book, of course, it is worth reading the entire work, especially since it will not take much time. Perhaps this short story "Telegram" will remind the reader that in everyday vanity and worries, in no case should we forget that there are the most important people in our life-our relatives and close people. So then it's not too late.