Lessons 31 · 1 lessons · M. E. Rozhnova, U. T. Yaminova. Russian Language, Grade 8 (textbook for general secondary schools with Uzbek and other languages of instruction), 2nd revised edition. “Uzbekistan” Publishing and Printing Creative House, Tashkent, 2019
31
V. G. Korolenko: life. An excerpt from «Слепой музыкант»
Textbook: pp. 117–123
GoalLearn about V. G. Korolenko; retell the excerpt from «Слепой музыкант»; explain the feelings of the characters.
New words
слепой · ko‘rмелодия · qo‘shiq yoki kuyжалость · achinishголос · ovoz
Explanation
V. G. Korolenko was born on 27 July 1853 in Zhitomir in a judge’s family descended from old Ukrainian Cossacks. He finished the gymnasium with a silver medal. In 1871 he entered the Petersburg Technological Institute but had to leave because of hunger; he earned money by colouring geographical atlases and drawings. In 1874 he entered the Agricultural Academy in Moscow and was expelled for public activity; in 1877 he became a student for the third time, at the Petersburg Mining Institute, but was soon arrested and spent six years in exile. The next eleven years were the flowering of his writing; from the mid-1880s he held a prominent place in Russian literature. He saw the task of his writing as the struggle against injustice: he tried to awaken kindness, mercy and conscience in readers. He travelled to America in 1893, lived in Poltava from 1900 and died on 25 December 1921.
Worked examples
Summary of the excerpt: on a hill by the river the blind boy Petrus plays his pipe and enjoys the quiet of evening. A strange girl appears and says, “How good!” Petrus dislikes having his solitude broken and shouts at her to go away; the girl leaves offended, calling him a nasty boy.
Continuation: the next day Petrus remembers her pleasant voice and regrets the quarrel. Three days later the girl comes again and they talk. Petrus names the flowers by touch, then feels her face with his hands. The frightened girl cries; Petrus, learning for the first time that his disability can inspire fear as well as pity, weeps too. She comforts him, and when he says “I am blind” she hugs his neck and herself weeps with pity.
Class activity
“Two voices”. Read the conversation of Petrus and the girl in roles with a classmate; name each character’s feeling in one word per line.
Practice
1
What was Korolenko’s main aim in his writing?
The struggle against injustice, awakening kindness, mercy and conscience in the reader.
2
Why did Petrus want the girl to come again the next day?
Her voice was so pleasant and calm; he regretted offending her.
3
What both amazed and frightened the girl?
Petrus feeling her face with his hands and the stillness of his eyes.